VFTF1

Gi Joe? Action Man? Ghostbusters? He-Man? Revoltech Streetfighter figures? (or whatever those guys were called) Plenty of male figures around. Alto is a great figure. Heck they finally even got around to making a RAH Shinji Ikari! But point taken - in general... yes... Pete

Speaking as a retailer here - these are just my opinions basd on my personal experience - no statistic or "hard" facts to back it up on a universal scale: Yamato have lowered their prices and retailers are doing their best to pass those lower prices on to customers And just to be exact, Yamato have not so much "lowered their prices" overall as they have set up certain pricing schemes which make it possible to secure Yamato products at less (in Yen) than was possible last year. And retailers are doing their best, as far as I can tell, to offer these products at lower prices. The only reason YOU aren't seeing the benefits of this is the weak USD dollar, not the "appreciatng Yen." The Dollar is collapsing because the Prime Interest rate in America is nearly Zero and the US has done nothing but print money for the last two years. Also - keep in mind another thing - while I have no proof of this regarding Yamato's Macross products, it is widely known that many toy factories went out of business in China due to the huge fall in consumer demand (buying) resulting from the financial crisis. I am fairly convinced that Takara-Tomy, Yamato, Kaiyodo, even Bandai have now limited the production of their goods, and that retailers who, two years ago, used to order "blindly" in massive bulk, with a plan to "over-stock" due to the generally appreciating value of these items, have now reversed course and are ordering ONLY what they get in pre-orders. In fact, producers sometimes base their production runs on how many units are ordered up to a certain date by retailers. So ironically - if you want cheaper Valkyrie but you are one of those people who say "no - I'll wait...I won't pre-order and pre-pay now, but I'll wait until later when the price falls" - then ironically you are contributing to the higher price of the new stuff (like the VF-22S Max/Millia and VF-11C that's been complained about here). Why? Becaue if you don't pre-order, then the retailer has that much less units on order with the producer - and the producer JUST DOESN'T MAKE MORE. It's that bad. That's how piss poor the economy is right now. Nobody wants to risk over-stocking or over-producing. And consumers who don't place pre-orders in the hopes of "waiting for lower prices" only guarantee LOWER SUPPLY - ergo HIGHER PRICES. I'm not saying anybody in particular is to "blame" here - everybody's in the sewers with this bad economy. But please don't think Yamato and others haven't done all they could to put good prices on fantastic products - I'm convinced they have. Pete

I'm with Gubaba on this one. I don't mind labelling myself a Macross Purist, and while I can tolerate the existence of Robotech somewhat like I can tolerate the existence of other franchises I don't happen to enjoy, what makes it stand out as a bunch of bad people is their history of Cease and Decists and their history of trying to monopolize the market and keep Macross goods out. And mind you, I don't even live in the United States, so their activities haven't directly effected me, but I think that what they are doing is outside the bounds of civil competition - they are trying to use laws to muscle away their competitors. Thankfully, in the age of the internet - that fails. Finally - they are the people who are responsible for the feud. Why? Because they don't produce anything beyond trouble - no new toys worth mentioning, no new series worth mentioning. And yeah, yeah, there was a Cyclone and the Betas - but that was like a year or more ago. Yamato, Bandai, Kaiyodo - they keep churning out new stuff - you can SEE how hard they work to make stuff that is better and better. Same with anime shows. HG just made a couple of things and Shadow Chronicles and that's it. So - they make lame products which are not interesting, and then they feel compelled to try and muscle themselves into a good market position. "Dag- nobody wants to buy our crap - so we'll just send the lawyers out so that people don't get to buy Yamato's stuff either!" If HG just left Macross alone, and allowed original-Macross fandom to flourish - they could focus on Robotech and that would be it. But they won't do that because they fear that Macross will win. This is a strange fear. If I owned a production company that had some rights to some designs and concepts, I'd be churning out tons of cool ideas, coming up with my own plots and designing my own toys and going all out to make a mark on the American cartoon market. But apparently HG is so mentally bankrupt that all they can do is try to use lawyers against competition and generally pretend that it's still 1983 and nobody knows about Japanese anime, the internet doesn't exist, and people will accept what- by today's modern standards SURELY - would qualify as a cheap bootleg as being a "great animation." Pete Macross Purist roar!

OOOh! Another idea just flashed before my mind! Macross: Crossroads His name is Ram. He is a valkyrie pilot by day. Her name is Lam. She is a nightclub singer by night. But, when the [fill in some evil enemy] hords attack the collony, a choice must be made: Does Ram give up his male self and dedicate himself fully to being Lam, and singing to the enemy...or does Lam put away naive dreams and take up the fight alongside her comrades in arms as Ram? The ultimate Macross story! A story of one transvestite's personal struggle - which destiny to follow? Will he believe in the power of love or the power of mecha? Pete

Yeah - but the guy said he's sorry I understand the question. He's saying: 1) UN Spacy says Megaroad 1 dissapeared in 2016. 2) Opening to MF shows Megaroad 1 floating around until 2033 But "disapear' does not mean 'destroyed,' and also.... I dunno...I dunno how accurate is that space map? I mean - I don't know if we can take elements from the opening as cannon? But...yeah...wrong forum... pete

Ok - it's pure coincidence that this should go in the DragonBall Z topic, but I'm not going to put it in Gunpla, because even though it's a snap fit model and it's an MG kit - it's not a Gundam... Still, I don't necessarily feel like discussing how accurate a representation of Son Goku it is... but instead... Do people think this has a future? Bandai made an MG Goku kit - a snap fit model of a human. It looks ok - except the arm joints are extremely robotic. I guess you can photoshop that away for photography purposes.... On the one hand - its quite an achievement. I'm curious if Bandai will make human MG kits from other lines? On the other hand - I'm sceptical. Good anime human figures are hard enough to make/come by as is...making MODELS of them...that's wierd. But a welcome novelty to be sure. DBZ fans can rejoice at least, right? Pete

Generally agree with Killer Robot (have I mentioned how much I love the fact that you're called "Killer Robot" ? ) ... Just one question - not even issue - but general question to see what everybody thinks. Is the "mainstream fan" any more healthy, less shallow and more tasteful? I would say that the fact that anime is becoming more niche is a good thing - because it can also become more alternative, underground, rebellious and generally not be constrained by the chains of mass market success. Given what happens to franchises when they go "mainstream" (cough! Transformers! cough!) - I'll take niche anime any day. Besides - it's provocative (sometimes) and they seem to keep "racing to the bottom" in terms of thinking up more and more zany stuff. I actually haven't seen all that much anime - but what I have watched I really REALLY like and I like it, amongst other reasons, for being so unconventional. Pete

The topic did serve one purpose: namely - it demonstrated Keith's powers of condensation. I swear - if I knew how to pack that much meaning into so few words, I would be a far better communicator. This way, all I do is babble on and on and on. It's not so much incoherent babble, as it is simply too much - a stream of thought perhaps? Anyways - yeah... this should go in the TV/Movies forum - a mod can move it. And then it can get locked there where it belongs Pete

Aaaah. THAT song. Ok - so now I can say that I HAVE heard Angela's Panties. But I wouldn't say Angela's Panties is my favorite song. You could make an MP3 of her singing in a cracking, crying, depressed and half-drunk voice like that one time after she heard Hikaru invite Minmey into his house.... Poor Misa. Just thinking about it makes me mad at that blockhead pilot. I swear - sometimes Hikaru had less common sense than Kakizake. In fact, the only difference between the two is that Kakizake was loud while Hikaru was quiet. The only one with any brains was Max... Hikaru was just lucky. He was cute and he didn't talk much. Girls love that. That's my main weakness. I'm cute, but I talk too much. I have found that the less I say, the more I get laid. But sometimes, I just can't NOT comment on one or a million things and fwooosh! the girl slips through my fingers....alas. Um - but anyways... I am happy SOMEONE voted for Love Drifts Away. I was considering voting for that - and now I'm kind of sad I didn't since Oboeteimasuka got soooo many votes - I guess not suprisingly... But Love Drifts Away is one of the most moving songs and I do enjoy it very much. Pete

Not unpopular at all. I for one totally agree with your implication that Macross 7 is the only plain good Macross show out there. But I don't know if they'll have the gutts to really make it a continuation of Fire Bomber's adventures. Pete

Hm. You're right. So it was just a case of your photos being poor But that does look good. And the props - Nagato's glasses even. Does Megahouse make other poseable dolls like this? I would prefer them to static statues...althoough I guess this one works very well because the dress is long so you don't see the joints unless you undress her. Pete

Well - now we have a tangible reason for the differences in our opinions I LOVE the Rise Up figure. I thought the first 1/8 Sheryl, in the blue uniform which you could take off was way way too tame and boring. The Rise Up figure is Sheryl done right I would love more episodes like episode 8 or stories like what Gubaba translated for us from My Fair Minmay. I don't want to transform Macross into a porno because pornos usually have little to no plot, bad acting and stiff characters. A better analogy would be that I'd like Macross to be a cosmic soap opera with mecha, aliens, and music I guess ultimately I thought MF did a very very good job of meeting my basic expectations, which is why I just don't agree with Itano's sentiments here Pete

This is apparently this is my specialty See- and I thought this was really subtle actually. Because I think it's great that the focus isn't on the mecha, but on the main characters - mainly the girls. Besides, the poster isn't just a thoughtless ass shot with lingerie. Those gears and the tentacles are there to suggest that Sheryl is a pawn, is being used and manipulated. And in fact, here lingerie is part of that manipulation. The poster caters to our baser instincts while criticizing them at the same time. On that note... What's wrong with sexy girls being the focus instead of mecha? I almost fell asleep to episode 7. Over-using mecha can destroy their awesomeness and make them mundane. Girls never get overused no matter how many times you use them. Plus - you can always change their hair, put some new outfit on them... Mecha - you can't really do much. I mean, you can customize I guess...but.. hmm... I dunno - I guess I just got surprised by the guys' passionate negativity. If he just made his points in a normal calm way I would have been like - yeah ok - there's some of that - true... But it just came across as pretty over-bearing, thus my equally over-bearing reaction But I will freely admit that I LOVE over-sexualization in anime and think there's still not enough of it to go around. Whenever I make a point to show that, say, Macross Frontier doesn't over-sexualize the girls... I don't mean that as a compliment. I see that as a missed opportunity. Pete

Yeah - he wouldn't look pretty. Instead, he'd look totally gay. Personally, I prefer Alto looking more like a woman than like a gay guy. And people say MF is shallow and doesn't lead to interesting conversations! Pete

That already exists. It's called Macross Frontier. It's about a Zentran shipping magnate who has a secret desire to find Lyn Minmei and therefore is bent on developing an advanced fold system that will allow for the integration of the entire universe and, ultimately - finding the SDF-1 and Minmei. Sadly, things go completely not according to this scenario, and the story is side tracked and builds into an overall mythos of the Protoculture. Pete

Hm. Really? See - to me, this is another example of where Itano is flat wrong insofar as Macross Frontier goes. I mean - have we already forgotten the extent to which Macross Frontier makes fun of the anime industry's obsession with moe, ecchi, and the general sexualization of girls and focus on boobs? I mean, episode 4 is one of the prime examples of this, but I think there's enough humor in the series - erotic humor - where this stuff is clearly done in a playful manner, and not "vulgarly." I just don't see what Itano is talking about, if you will... I take the opposite radical position. I see his statements as blanket condemnations of things that maybe are happening in the anime industry in general, but certainly aren't happening in Macross Frontier in particular. I mean... I would like an example of where Macross Frontier goes overboard in terms of sexualizing girls? What? Klan Klan? She's a grown woman with a genetic defect that makes her look moe. I think that' a hilarious joke. It's an obvious fanwank dream that "gets around" the whole "pedophile/child molestor/age of consent" moral conundrum by introducing a scientific hypothesis - namely "what if the girly only LOOKS moe, but actually isn't?" To me - that's funny. That's also intelligent and whitty. It's not just throwing a young girl out there for guys to oogle at. Particularly since there's some serious history behind Klan and Micheal's friendship - and in fact for all intents and purposes they share NO sexual or erotic relationship at all, but instead a very deep love that turns into a heroic, tragic love. Shallow? Vapid? Empty? Moe? No. Is the concept of Moe in there somewhere? Yes. But it's treated intelligently and does not deserve to be lumped into whatever bad examples Itano is thinking about. Next - Ranka Lee. Well, Mr. Itano - you can't have it both ways. If Ranka were not moe, but instead looked like a lucious sexy mature babe - you would be bashing MF for catering to the uber-sexualization of women. But, since the main heroine (Ranka) is skinny, has small breasts, short fruffy hair and is generally still a little girl - suddenly that's bad too becuase...it's moe. You could be cynical and say MF covers both bases by having Moe Ranka and the sumptuous bib t&a delight that is Sheryl... But Sheryl is SELF-CONSCIOUSLY using her sexuality as part of her ACT. Over and Over and Over Sheryl states that her boobs help sell her music, and that it's all part of her performance because that's what people expect. And guess when Sheryl's career really takes off? Guess when her music gains a new and subtle and more serious dimension - guess when people take the MOST note of her performances? It's in the bunker and later in the smoky back ally night clubs where she sings after she stops being such a popular super idol. EDIT: That is to say - her best performances that move the hearts of people really deeply are not sexualized in some kinky sense - but are mature and serious performances sung by a beautiful woman with flashing lights and boobs and BDSM get ups. Hm.... lack of plot? No - in fact, what MF shows us is that this woman who self-consciously marketed her boobs realizes that her music and her songs are powerful enough to move human hearts without her necessarily having to wiggle her ass. Meanwhile, even when she's marketing herself - since she does so explicitly - she is at the same time COMMENTING on the state of the market - on what people demand. And - maybe if Itano were capable of critical thinking and reflection - he'd understand the concept of introspection and irony - because it is ironic to have a big boobed "stereotypical" anime sex idol symbolically making it know that she would not necessarily be dressing like that or wiggling her butt like that if not for the fact that that's what people demand. In this sense, Macross Frontier ADDRESSES the issues that Itano is complaining about - or is at least conscious of them. So Itano, in attacking Macross Frontier, seems to be attacking a show that agrees with him. As for Ranka being "moe" and lacking a good plot and character development - I seriously don't see how anybody could make that argument. On what basis? The whole series from a to z is one big character arc for Ranka who is totally the main character of the show and not just some random moe girl for boys to oogle at and fantasize over. So on this count - I don't know what Itano is talking about. Pete Fanatical MF fan

Well you know - it's all a matter of the underlying emotions or approach someone has. And of course this dude has the right to his emotions just like his feelings but - he's just a bit more negative whereas some of us are gushing positive. Take the whole "physics in MF/asteroid" thing - like I noted in my earlier post - this is a legitamite point of contention - but to me, every anime is open to people pointing out the flaws in its' scientific logic - this doesn't necessarily make the anime bad. This Itano dude takes ONE small example of what he considers bad physics (and from the discussion here it turns out that the example isn't all that clear cut) and uses it to illustrate his passionate dislike of MF. I guess it's going too far to say he's being "mean." When I read the translation of the interview it sounds more like he's having a bad day or PMSing (the male equivalent at least)... In any case - I just didn't find his reasons matching his compelling emotions. But I guess the same could be said for someone like me who totally love-gushes MF and coats all the "simple" logic with ranka-loving-emotions... Which is to say - I don't begrudge this guy his critical opinions - what bothers me more are his emotions It's like - I don't mind people who write long winded reasons for why something in MF sucks - it's interesting to think about. But when someone is negative about MF, I get sad I think Itano needs to have May'N and Megumi pay him a suprise visit with flowers and song. Maybe that will change his view? Pete

Couldn't sleep last night, and ended up watching 80s cartoons intermitently with Asian porn. Wait. Still groggy. Ended up watching 80s cartoons on youtube Some episodes of Inhumanoids (not as cool as I remembered the monsters being - I really love the toys!), and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (very very well done cartoon in terms of whitty dialogue).... And of course Transformers. Good lord. I swear - it's not a nostalgia thing - but honest to gosh those were some excellent, excellent cartoons! I watched Countdown to Extinction part 1, Rebirth Part 1, and the first Episode of TMNT as well as a later one (with Baxter Stockman). Now - I always liked the original B&W Eastman/Laird comics better, but the cartoon was pretty top notch too. As for Transformers, the characters were sooo likable. The voice acting was great, and the interaction was spot on. Also, there was some pleasant continuity going on in the cartoon which felt nice... In any event, I really don't feel like it was nostalgia talking. I really feel like I was just lucky enough to be a kid when superior cartoons were on tv... and Transformers the original cartoon really had a great, great feel to it. It was hard NOT to be caught up in the excitement and adventure... I really need to get G1 on DVD. I've got the Titan paperbacks with the UK comics, which I do so enjoy - but really I need to also finally secure the Marvel comics trade paperbacks and the DVDs as well. I guess my problem with Transformers nowadays is that... nobody really remembers the original G1 or cares much for it. All discussion is Bayformers focused, or the latest TV series and the most popular toys are the modern ones... Hm... I have truly become an old, old man.. Pete

Your welcome. My general advise would be to focus on sensual, mature, mood music and maybe try dating an older woman who likes Jazz. That'll help get you in a Misa mood Here's another good slow love song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZjGMoQcZqg...feature=related I dunno. The 80s are not mellow enough for Misa and her lost love... Pete

Ok - the fact that I am giving you this link, rather than you giving it to me makes me feel useful to you. Here you go : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSU2kqyTeXE And remember to keep it in the 70s only. Pete

The sculpt on the face for both Figma and Revoltech is better - here I think the focus was on clothing being made of real cloth though? I dunno... But it's kind of like the titanic Minmey doll from Yamato - we have some members who are into a more traditional doll look for anime girls. I think it's interesting. Pete

Pete

Reading this brief exchange between Gubaba and Noriko - I am just so happy Macrossworld exists... So many people who know so much about this stuff Awesome! I will have to check out these new girls' music. First time I ever heard of it. As for you,Gubaba - and your mood music... see - this is the kind of stuff fans might be interested in learning, and would be perfect material for a translator's essay. It sounds like it was quite an adventure to do this book Pete

I have the TFC versions of both. I am particularly fond of the Insecticon Box because of the three energon cubes it comes with - very nice! (borat voice) Pete

I'm personally a big fan of the Combat Waitress outfit. I love my Revoltech Fraulein Asahina The maid outfit is my least favorite - but it's still nice You need to give her some tea and porcelen But generally I admire your enthusiasm! Pete