Felix

Hikaru VF-1J up and available at HLJ. http://hlj.com/product/BANN11262

Okay, been a long time since I posted, but I just wanted to say how much I am enjoying these releases. Haven't been this interested in Macross in a long time. Anyway, I secured Milia now I have to figure a way to get Max since I missed his preorder. I haven't had any trouble locating the standard releases after they are in the wild before, but now I need to figure out a way to lock down Max. Ideas?

Okay, it has been a while since I have posted here, but I lurk all the time. I have seen every episode online of Yamato 2199 and I do indeed love it. Is it perfect? Not at all, but If nothing else it is pretty. Anyway I would love to give someone money for legit copies of the Blu-Rays that work in my player, but at the moment there doesn't seem to be a decent outlet. The Starblazers releases are crazy expensive and seem to have stopped, and while getting copies of the Japanese Blus is not that hard there is also the issue of region. Idealy I'd like to buy a box set....Any ideas?

Been a long time since I posted here...out of the loop sort of thing....anyway, I love that after being off of the Macross radar for so long I can come back here and see a good old fashioned joke machine posted up as someone's favorite toy...warms the cockles of my almost 40 year old heart....

I know that the lack of landing gear seems to be odd, but for the life of me I can't remember the Fire Valk using landing gear in the show...It has been a while though... Lets hope they get the bugs worked out before trying the VF-1....

Yeah me too, I never really liked the look or the transformation of the original 1/60th line, but it is proving really hard to resist these. Now if they'll jut do a "Virgin Road" 1d we'd be in business

You know, I had been quietly ignoring this entire line....I mean who needs another VF-1s Roy....I have about 8 or 9 different versions, but then Yamato lets the VF-1d out of the bag (and lets face it the last version left a lot to be desired...) and now this Max 1a....looks like I'm jumping in...

Hey I don't care what kind of box it comes in as long as I can get 'em at a decent price...

The MSRP appears to be 6550yen. Today's (4/1/08) exchange rate is 100.511 yen to the US Dollar. That makes the MSRP in US Dollars $65.12. Now let's talk shipping...EMS for a similarly sized object is around 3200yen ($31.84 US)...SAL 1480yen (14.72 US) Given this, BBTS price seems to be a right on if you order yours and then ship it EMS...It seems a little high for a retailer, but if you can't wait these out a little bit then by all means feel free to pay $90.00 US (plus whatever BBTS charges for shipping these days) for something that will probably wind up on clearance then be my guest. Is the price worth it? Yes if they reissue the VE-1, VT-1, and VF-1s strike....for a naked VF-1J or VF-1S, the answer is nope...? Now if the last time Bandai reissued these things is any indication then we will all be picking up discount Valks by Christmas....MMMmmmm....cheap Valks....

I feel your pain. I, fortunately, managed to scrape together a full set of the volumes. I bought a lot of them from Barnes and Noble online (believe it or not). Try using their used and out of print search. Try the same thing on Amazon. Obvious, I know, but I scored a few volumes that way a while back. Next, try calling a Kinokuniya bookstore (http://www.kinokuniya.com/). They were very helpful in tracking down the last couple of issues that I needed. Finally, poke around on www.gearsonline.net they actually have a FSS section (including a FSS trade section)in their forums. I believe that it is the ancestral descendant of the old waxtrax forum... Hope this helps...

Hmmm....the real key here is the word "popular" which pretty much leaves out: :Southern Cross(Graham already poo pooed this) :Mospeada :Orguss :Dorvak Also off the table is ANYTHING that Bandai has the rights to: : Gundam (of any kind...) : Dunbine (Yes a couple of those bugs transformed) : Ideon (their SOC version is due later this year) Others to rule out are: : Voltron (he's a combiner not a transformer) : Danougar (same as Voltron and he's Bandai's) My personal pick would have to be Bubblegum Crisis for serveral reasons: : To my knowledge no major player holds the rights. : It was popular and an OVA (see Graham's previous hint) : There is a Yamato precedent, in that they have already made a transforming bike with rider. (Garland) Personally I would love to see a line of Bubblegum Crisis figures similar to the microman scale DMZ Votoms from Takara. How cool would that be...

Again, Tolkien did not intend for his books to act as an analog for anything. He was not being political, and actively derided anyone who implied that he was. Clearly his involvement the Great War gave him an insight into battle, but ultimately he was just telling a story. This means that all those people who wrote Theses and Dissertations on the underlying meanings of Tolkien's work and how it is some great allegory for the 20th century were/are engaged in a activity that Tolkien himself spent much time and effort trying to discourage....He hated allegory (well, at least as it was attached to his work)

Very good point in that when something is referred to as "black" it means fallen, not black as in a race of people. Also, a good point that we don't know what what was going on in the lands of the Easterings and Southrons. We do know that there were 5 Istari (wizards) sent to middle earth to aide men. Two we know well Gandalf and Saruman. Radagast we only hear of in passing. Alatar and Pallando went off into the world and their tales are not recorded by Tolkien. In all probability they were aiding peoples in both the East and the South...

I think that we are getting ahead of ourselves. The racial overtones and such that seem evident are in fact not really an issue. Tolkien himself HATED the idea that his stories might be interpreted as ANY sort of metaphor for the real world. He created them (and intended them) to be epic myths. Think Beowulf, the Odyssey, Ring Cycle, etc... This means that any interpretation of differing races as being evil or good is based solely on their alignment with the Dark lord. If one looks at the extensive history that Tolkien created for his world, it is revealed that there was a war being waged throughout Middle-Earth not just in the locales of the books (and by books I mean the Lord of the Rings) or movie. Many of the races of men who fought with Sauron were in fact enslaved or tricked into alliance. In addition, Sauron was not trying to destroy the world of men, but to enslave it. In effect his war was against all of the free peoples of Middle-Earth, which included many tribes to the south and east... I hope this helps...

Okay, a few thoughts...Gatchaman rules (given), and in order for this to be any good at all it needs not to be live action, and I hasten to add not mo-capped. I would prefer a new animated feature, but if CGI is as close as I'm going to get I'll take it. Also, I am all in favor of anything that will get me some new Gatachaman toys.

Hmmmm..... The valks are okay, and I know for a fact I'll buy at least one of any valk that costs around $20. As will most of us that frequent this board. I like the idea of having a cheapie to play with....I just hope that they aren't as floppy as the banprestos. However, the man doll is a little pricey at $80. My interest is directly proportional to how much stuff comes with him. If it is just a doll in a box (even a really fancy box) then I'm out. As for how it looks, there are a few issues that stand out to me. First, I know he has an anime sculpt, but the head is too big. Secondly, the seams where the legs of the jumpsuit meet the rest of the outfit look a little bulky. I can live with these though... I just can't get over the price. Look at th stuff that BBI, Dragon, and Sideshow do for aout half the price. To me it looks like about $30 or $40 worth of figure....I'm in a wait and see mood on this one.

I am going to agree with you about the movie. I have always loved the books and the film doesn't compare. I can honestly say that very little of the production design is anywhere close to what I had in mind when I first read the books. Don't even get me started on the whole Duncan issue.

I know what you mean about can find any. I gave up of looking and start to recast again so i can have parts for all my alphas. I am wondering if i should make an alpha all from resin but its just a thought. I am making the old gakken parts but i will post update when finished. 352599[/snapback] You probably could cast each individual piece, but I doubt that it would work as a whole. Resin is way to brittle to survive the abust that the ABS of a transforming toy takes.

Right now i am doing the 1/35 scale. 352316[/snapback] By 1/35 I assume you mean the old Gakken versions... I am very interested in a gun and a guy to go with an old green one that I have assembled from parts of several broken ones. I can't seem to find a gun anywhere, and believe me i have been looking.

Ususally internships are a part of any BFA/MFA program. I know an internship was part of mine, and I did, in fact, give up sleeping there for awhile Anyway, I get the idea that money is an issue. May I ask what Nationality/Race/Religon you are? You would be surprised how much financial aide money there is out there for people of all types...Not to mention there are many federal programs that can provide assistance for people looking to go back to school. Talk to a financial aide advisor at the school and see if they can help. Heck even a standard Stafford student loan is better than most loans you can get from financial institutions. There is money to be hadall you have to do is find it....Heck the internet is full of scolarship search engines. Can't hurt to look.... A couple of years ago I found a full ride for an Asian girl that was in one of my classes simply because the university had very few Asian females enrolled in their Graduate program. Now admittedly the school was in North Carolina, but it was a free ride at a University.

You are right Carnegie Mellon is excellent....And way more reputable than AI. When it comes to higer education you would be surprised how much reputation has to do with it....

Does Cal-State Longbeach offer BFA programs in graphic design or studio?

I have taught art and design on all levels from elementary school age kids right on up through university age students. A vast majority of that time was spent teaching high schoolers, and I frequently answered this type of question. There is an AI franchise here in the area, and so they do a lot of recruiting in the high schools. Yes, it is expensive to go there, and their programs are geared at getting people jobs in the industry, but what they do not tell you is that they are not part of ANY university system. That means that they have no accreditation from a regional association of colleges and schools. What that means is that essentially their degrees are worthless if you ever want to get an advanced diploma. To put that into perspective lets look at an example. If you get an AI degree, a job in the industry, and then realize that, you need to work toward an MFA in order to advance your career you cannot because most Universities will not acknowledge the credits/degree of a non-accredited school. Now they might accept some of your credits and allow you to work toward a BFA at their school, but this is really a judgment call by the Art and Design department of each specific University. Now is a good time to mention that a vast majority of the Art and Design Professors I know look down on AI as being beneath their notice. There is a fairly large bias against this type of franchise school in the world of higher education. Is this justified? Not in my opinion, but I do know that AI is expensive and offers a degree that makes it difficult to go back to school and work toward an MFA. So..........It has been my experience that getting an art degree at a local University is a much better way to go. If you love it and want to go on then you can. Credits from inside the University system generally transfer one to one. In addition, University systems across the US honor the degrees of other University systems, so if you get a BFA in California, and then want to go to NYU for graduate school it only becomes an issue of being accepted to NYU. Now let me talk about degrees. There has been a recent movement in the world of art education toward more specialized degrees, like game art. This has been a result of many universities looking for a way to incorporate as much technology as they possibly can into each department. Now I am not saying that technology is not an important part of art these days, but the reality of computer art is that it is just another medium, like paint, or pen and ink, or pastel… It is not a substitution for actually knowing how to draw…This is key. A BFA from a University is going to concentrate on teaching you how to create art in the traditional sense: Drawing, painting, sculpture, printmaking, and design. AI is going to teach you how to use technology to create images and animations not how to be an artist. Now I will not say that you will not have to take drawing or painting classes, but the emphasis is on teaching you technology NOT technique. Technique is acquired trough years of study using a variety of different media (including technology). Now put yourself in the shoes of an employer. Which would you rather have working for you: Someone who is a trained artist or someone who is a computer tech with some art training? Radd is right, internships are key in almost all of areas of the art world. That means working long hours for free just to get your foot in the door. Be prepared for this. It stinks, but those of us in the art world have all had to do it. Finally, a vast majority of concept artists that I have known have had a variety of degrees from different Universities. What they all have in common is a VAST portfolio of high quality work. It is good to see that you are not concerned about the amount of hard work that you are facing. The key is to work constantly, and get as much as you can in your portfolio. Diversity, range, and quality are what I look for in a good portfolio when I am working on senior portfolios with my college students, because that is what the industry is looking for as well as graduate schools. Good luck and keep us posted…..let me know if there is anything I can do to help.

If you didn't like Bugs then by all means don't look at this........... The thing I find strange is that companies spend a lot of money on ideas lke this, and never once does it occur to them that they just defy common sense. Bugs and the gang are iconic for a reason. From a design point of view there is nothing to be done to make them better........ Why re-invent the wheel? Oh well, let WB fail.........As long as they keep putting out the Golden collection I'll be happy....

Don't forget destroids! They are mostly brown/beige.....Except for that green one. Now that I think about it I think some company (idon't really care which one) needs to make some destroids and some Zentradi toys so that the we acan all balance out the color wheel on our Macross shelves.