Dio

Will expressing love for Masami Obari's character designs get me ostracized around here? I do enjoy the more stylized character drawings like in Fatal Fury and Gravion. The characters are able to convey a lot of emotion (frequently in extreme or over the top ways), but at the same time provide unique and very recognizable personalities. I'd really like to see him exercise his capacity for drawing more muted characters like Toga (from Gravion), who really seemed to have a hidden depth about him. That being said, his stuff tends to go hand in hand with a lot of fan service and/or blatantly adult material, which I think is a step in the wrong direction for someone with his talent for edgy and stylized characters. Seems like the easy way out to me.

Sivil's expert medical advice after trying to give him back his spiritia. "Basara... is dead. KAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWWW...."

A slight aside from the hero/messiah debate... I don't try to apply a critical, mature analysis to Basara because I don't think that's the way he's meant to be viewed. I'd classify Basara as "naive and hard-headed" rather than "selfish." He's like a child - he sees the world through his own rose-colored John Lennon glasses (and not just metaphorically!), and fails to understand why others might not see things the same way he does. Sure enough, Basara is most frequently seen among fans, his band-mates, and hot vampire alien chicks who want to jump his bones - and in the scenes where he's positioned next to the "grown-up" characters (Max & Millia - prime examples) he rarely deals on the same level as they do, usually ending up leaving the scene in a temper tantrum or frustrating the heck out of them. His personality and actions would be very appropriate for a character younger than Mylene, but in order to put him in a Valkyrie and have it make sense, the character had to be post-adolescent, physically. In contrast, Gamlin is the character meant to appeal to more mature fans. He's the character who deals with the mature issues of love and loss, doing the right thing versus following orders, and maintaining order through responsibility. He's been through school and training. His hair is combed, his uniforms pressed, and his actions are predictable because he is surrounded by stability. Occasionally, that stability is upset for comic relief and character development, but his first personal goal is always to return to that stable condition. Both of these characters are diametrically opposed to one another. Basara wonders why the bad guys ran off without letting him finish his song. Gamlin is left to survey the wreckage and unconscious/dead bodies of his fellow soldiers, and file a report. Childish naivete vs adult realism. And to add another kerosene-soaked log to this fire... we have Mylene. She's the character at the same age as the average viewer of the series - a teenager struggling with the issues of growing up and letting go of her childhood. Basara and Gamlin are much more like plot foils, in this respect - She is torn between the two of them because she wants to play and have fun with Basara, but is developing adult romantic feelings for Gamlin at the same time. In that respect, there's no real "love" triangle to the series, so much as the internal struggle of growing up. In the end, I think the point to the series was that growing up doesn't mean you have to let go of the magic of your childhood (measured quantitatively in Chiba Song Units). Since the show is marketed primarily at a younger audience, the end result is going to be biased toward that sweet, sweet childish magic, which reinforces the feelings and opinions of the young viewer (and us adults who still buy toys). Contrast this with Macross Zero, where the target audience is older - the ending is a rather dark and poignant look at warfare.

Didn't he want to move a mountain with his music? i.e. he wanted his music so powerful, it could accomplish the impossible. A sort of "believe in yourself and follow your dreams" motif. Unlike Gamlin, whose message seemed to be more "stay on the straight & narrow" in order to succeed at life (an equally valid message). Did I just turn Mac7 into a morality play?

The Stealth 1J would be the only 1/48 Valkyrie I've ever gotten, and I'm quite happy with it. I'll give you my full rundown below. I'm a sort of "sampler" fan, meaning I'm fine owning just one figure from each mold set, rather than having to have every individual character's repaint, head style, etc - unless the character or paint style is just so plain awesome I have to have it (I.E. Ivanov's SV-51 vs. the inevitable SV-51 Nora recolor which will come out later). That being said, and with what I currently own, here's my comments on each type of Yamato toy I own (in no particular order): 1/72 Macross Plus YF-21 Lots of metal and a very complicated transformation that, unfortunately, makes posing the toy rather difficult. Very pretty to look at otherwise, especially in jet mode. You'll also have a pretty hard time tracking one of these down nowadays for a decent price. I don't own a Mac+ YF-19 (or the 19A repaint) but I'd imagine they follow similar suit - not very good poseability, high price tag, lots of metal. The toy reviews on the site would help you further if you're looking at these, but I most certainly would not recommend them as a "first Yamato" experience. 1/60 DYRL Jenius VF-1A Honestly, I find this to be a really good balance between materials used, details, and overall playability. The downside to this one is parts swapping to change modes (the cockpit heat shield being the most salient example). It looks very good posed, is pretty durable, and locks together nicely in all the modes, with Gerwalk being a sort of sticky point because of interference between the shoulders and the wings. I would consider it the most photogenic of the bunch, and honestly recommend it as a first purchase if you don't mind swapping out a few parts. www.gundamstoreandmore.com has fantastic prices on the few 1/60 toys they've got left. 1/48 Super Stealth VF-1J Perfect transformation. A little more plastic than I expected, especially at that price point, but it's still quite durable. The paint scheme is awesome, no doubt about it, but I think the arms are a little bit twiggy for my taste. Expect it to take you some time to transform this bad boy the first couple times, and you'll probably worry about breaking it at a couple of steps The high price tag for a piece like this (with all the add-ons) makes it a toy I wouldn't recommend for a first-timer, though it's a very popular, solid representation of the engineering Yamato is capable of. 1/65 Bandai VF-19 Fire Valkyrie Don't even worry about this one, it has nothing to do with Yamato, and I'm just listing it because I'm excited I found it at the bottom of my toy trunk again Toys I Don't Own, But Plan To Get I'm definitely on preorder for the VF-0A Shin model - it has the perfect transformation, is very nice to look at, and is a very good next step in Yamato toy evolution (i.e. they've worked out most of the bugs in their designs at this point and have made one very sexy toy). I'm also going to get the YF-19 w/ packs when they release the bundle, because the current YF-19 toy is getting some rave reviews around here (and it's just sooooooo pretty I can't pass it up). Of course, I'm in the SV-51 crowd as well, no need to elaborate on that one. In conclusion - my recommendation is to start off with a slightly less expensive 1/60 DYRL valk and work your way up from there. If you can find a cheap 1/48 scale valkyrie, you might go that route as well unless you absolutely must have the add-on parts, in which case it'll probably end up costing ya a bit more. Everyone's probably going to have a slightly different opinion around here though, so it's really up to you to decide what features are most important to you, and ultimately which toy will make you the happiest.

That animal is the single reason my wife watches this show with me... and she squeaks like he does, too.

Nah, more like emphasizing my shameless preference for the show Honestly though... Gamlin busting out some Planet Dance was even more of a step for his character than Gigil singing, that's why I give him the credit. Purely personal opinion, though - and no doubt there's some bias in my thinking because I'm a much more professional, organized sort of person in the same way Gamlin's character is. I'd probably lump Gamlin and Basara in as 50/50 responsible for saving the universe, if I had to really think about it. At many points in the series, they're pretty much nothing without each other. One segment of the show intro also juxtaposes them against one another in a very half-and-half orientation, which would probably suggest to me that the writers had that scheme in mind the whole time.

I'm probably not in the majority when I say Mac7 is my single favorite series in the whole continuity... and I feel it's my duty to point out that Gamlin is the one who saves the day in the end, not Basara

I'm eagerly awaiting Metroid Prime 3. Heatseeker looks like a potentially fun game as well, but I'm not sure when it'll come out so I'm not sweating it. To date, I've actually spent more time playing Gamecube games on my Wii than actual Wii games. Getting "Primed," as it were, by beating the first 2 Metroids in anticipation Only other one I'm on the edge of my seat for is the Transformers Movie game, coming out in a couple months. However, I'm tempted to get it for my PS2 instead of the Wii because of the controller differences. Time will tell, though. There seems to be a lot of love around here for Paper Mario... maybe I'll have to give that one a look.

Oddly enough, the first toy I remember owning from a Macross series was the Bandai VF-2SS model from Macross II. I spent a good deal of time putting that bad boy together and displaying it on my shelf in various modes, but it wasn't until I started collecting and displaying toys en masse (gotta give credit to Transformers for inspiring that one) that I started looking into Macross/Robotech figures.

Full gallery available at Transtopia I'd honestly love to get into customizing valk toys, I just haven't felt justified in repainting something so pricey yet (especially with the amount of time I have to spare lately, for that sort of thing I'd probably end up rushing it). Irony being, I work for an aircraft customizer

Correct. It's my "Masterpiece Soundwave" I made a few years back. I would be remiss not to allow him a spot among my favorites

Here's what I like to think of as a few highlights of my collection. Unfortunately, apartment living offers me only so much space right now, but when I get a house (and consequently, my man room) I'll probably be able to showcase a little more. Obviously, it's a little heavy on the Transformers since I didn't discover Yamato toys until my friend Zeta_Otaku sold me his YF-21, but since then I've been hooked.

In support of the VF-11 theory (and as my first official post as a member of Macrossworld!), I interpret it this way: In Macross Plus, the VF-11 did catch a falling YF-21 (as stated above). The jean pocket thing I'm lost on - perhaps he just threw it in to rhyme, or maybe it's a general statement that it will be a toy? I think "jeans" rhymes with "beans" is about as deep as the line goes, just my gut talking. But the last two lines make sense this way: Cigarette lighter/can opener? It was the only model to feature a bayonet on its gun pod (as stated above), but also recall that gun pods have been used to light giant cigarettes for Zentraedi. Either way, I'm happy to be here and hopefully I can bring something positive to the community.