technoblue

Scyla: That's a great idea. I still need the Sound Booster for my VF-19 Kai. I'll check out angolz to see if they have any left.

I bought Jaguar and Frumble Red from Robotkingdom. They have a good price for the set---better than most retailers nowadays. However, I have yet to buy from Madarake...

Please excuse the messy table. I have some eBay auctions ending this week, and it is loaded with packaging materials.

The Yamato VF-17S arrived with the Super Parts today. I picked up both of these items from hkcollectibles. Soundwave's cassettes arrived last week. MP-10B arrived a week before that, and the Gurren Lagann box set a week before that (Hm, I guess that last one doesn't rate as a toy; still, I got a good deal at amazon.jp).

I was able to sneak out to a late show of this. Around here, it is still drawing a good crowd, which is nice to see. I also thought it was a very good adaptation of the book. I think it is one of the better book to movie adaptations that I have seen in some time.

I saw the film this afternoon with my niece in 3D. It was a great time. Thor is one of her favorite Marvel super heroes. The first bonus scene felt more plot driven. The second scene, after the rolling credits seemd more fun to me, and felt much like the Shawarma scene after the Avengers credits.

I'm also really looking forward to the new X-men moviie and the new Captain America movie coming out next year.

The right one is the supposed Arcadia VF-1S and the left is the Yamato, right?

Yes. In the other close-ups of the Yamato VF-1S, there appears to be some kind of weathering applied to it as well. Apparently, the Yamato is the one without the stickers (the "no step" decals are missing from the wings). Personally, outside of decals, I cannot see too many differences in that specific shot of the two Valkyries together. I agree with YF-29, I hope we get better photographs with higher resolution and better lighting.

The white is a curious change, even for the DYRL VF-1. It does make sense to me if Arcadia is hoping to release more Macross TV Valkyries. But I'm motivated to search for more Yamato toys on auction. Maybe I'll collect Vermillion Squadron as my toast to Yamato.

For the record, I agree with Einherjar.

DG2099, You question about spoiler tags was already answered by azrael above. In my experience, I have learned that the internet is no place to be obtuse. As an example, you wrote this:

You mean those 3/10 and 5/10 movies that have nothing going for them outside of looking pretty?

But what you meant was this:

"You mean those movies that I rated 3/10 and 5/10 because I thought they have nothing going for them outside of looking pretty?"

Your original statement is stating an opinion as fact, which can be construed as trolling in this context, even if that is not your intention. The second statement that I rewrote based on your last comment, is clearly stating an opinion. Generally, people are good with opinions, because we are all different and have our own way of looking at things and enjoying the world around us. However, when a person tries to push one opinion as a fact for everyone else, that is problematic and can lead to social misunderstandings, especially on forum where you have a number of folks with different cultural backgrounds and varying skill with writing English.

I hope you come to understand this, but I need to take break and get back to discussing anime, sooooo....that's all for now.

I do not know what sources you are referencing, DG2009, or even if you know what movies I am talking about. Yojimbo has an 8.3/10 rating on IMDB, and a 97% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and the late Roger Ebert gave it five stars in his own personal review:

1. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0055630/
2. http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/yojimbo/
3. http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-yojimbo-1961

I now must question where you get your information from. Can you provide a link to those poor reviews?

Similarly, here are the reviews for Seven Samurai:

1. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047478/
2. http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1018639-seven_samurai/
3. http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-the-seven-samurai-1954

Again, these are hardly 3/10 or 5/10 reviews. I'm starting to agree with Keith and mecha2241. It seems your only interest is to troll.

All Good, reminds me of busting on my friends back home. It was welcome People on this site are great.

I'm going to +1 that right there.

Thanks for the review, Knight26. I'll wait to read the spoiler later.

I read the first book a few times and have read through the entire series (including the Ender's Shadow stuff) once. I was planning to see either this movie or Thor this weekend, but I might have opportunity to see both now. I think I'll take it.

DG2099: The best free advice I can give you when commenting on and criticizing anime on an anime forum is to do research about the subject matter, and to stop shooting down people like Marzan when they take time to help you. It's okay if you don't know anything about samurai myths. However, saying that the Japanese are handling their own myths poorly when you admit to not knowing anything but a vague understanding of a few choice terms is far out there.

If you really want to understand this stuff, and if you really are not trolling for attention or whatever, I think a good place to start in film is with the live-action black-and-white Yojimbo by Akira Kurosawa. From there, I would recommend other Kurosawa films like the original Seven Samurai (from which many anime are based). Of course, you could also read up on the subject if you are so inclined.

Anyway, I agree with Marzan on this. You opinions are your own and no one here will change them. KLK may get better for you or it may just be one of your stinkers, and that's okay.

As for spoiler tags, yes, please start using them!

[ spoiler ] stuff goes here [ / spoiler ]

The code does not always appear, so I typed the syntax above in case you were wondering about it. All you need to do to make that work is remove the spaces within the bold brackets.

Right...I was distracted...

Thank you both!

I don't know how much more color tweaking Arcadia can do to please fans and potential new customers. The pictures that are already posted look fairly anime accurate to me, except for the gunpod which I agree could be a slighlty darker olive drab. Plain white and even the creamy off-white DYRL color brings the wrong shade to my mind. Floral white has a subtle brown tone, and I can see Mr. K trying to match that color to add some pop while getting away from beige.

Hm... Maybe even Old Lace

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shades_of_white

Marzan: I agree. I've been enjoying what Trigger is doing with the show. It seems to be finding its own groove too, which is a very good thing.

The ice cream parfait accessory is very funny. Another Instant preorder.

I appreciate the photos and the link, taksraven!

Another good episode. I think the writers are doing a good job with enhancing the back story of the main characters.

to sum it up, it just means the inverted triangle is not tampo'd on like Mr. K said it wouldn't.

In the discussion above, this is what David told me and Valkyrie addict. I hope that means the rest of the Tampo is safe for this release, but I'll let David chime in, in case I missed something.

Okay. You were criticising the fact that it was hard for him to piece apart his cell art collection because there was another, more expensive piece of cell art shown in the video. I can only assume that room where he is shooting the video is a home office or something and he decorated it appropriately. Please don't read too much into what I wrote. I wasn't trying to put words into your mouth or anything.

Are there better presented Kickstarters out there? I'm sure of it. I have backed a handful, but for me what sets a good Kickstarter apart from the rest is activity, communication, and forward progress. To me, this has both, and that is a very good sign.

And you may be right. Had this Kickstarter not happened, Animeigo might have struggled through and released HD BGC anyway, or they may have sold the license to another U.S. distributor, or they may have let the Japanese licensor handle the release. Whatever the case, I question whether this 2-disc set with the extras would have become a reality. I do think in this scenario we might have been given retimed DVD subtitiles and the barebones HD remaster. I also think we would have been looking at a MSRP of about $175 US to discourage reverse importing. The thing is, this is all speculation. What is known is that you can sign up for this Kickstarter today and get a copy HD BGC for just $50, or pledge more and get involved.

I think Keith has the right idea. This is a good project because it brings subtitled HD BGC to the US next year, along with the music videos and the live concert. The Japanese import release costs four times as much as backing this Kickstarter (to get the Blus) and is a true barebones release.

The other bonuses (like the digital artwork) are great, but the cores stuff is what I am really focusing on. Since it appears Woodhead is a big BGC fan, I'm not sure what you are getting at in your criticism of the layout of his office, and the collections he keeps. Personally, I do not know the guy and will not judge his character based off of a promo video. That is a little silly.

That is so true. I feel like I missed the Yamato bandwagon. They seem like golden years for the VF-1.

Yeah, thanks for catching that! I was thinking about the later Yamato releases which seem to be holding their value.

i can't put my finger on it, maybe it was the director or maybe it was the screenplay, but the last episode just felt a bit anticlimactic in some ways. there was a lot of emotional moments for sure, but there was no more struggle, no more tension, no more fighting against their fates, just the drama of coping with it. the important characters no longer had a say on whether their ending would be a a tragedy or whether they could still could do something, a sacrifice if necessary, to fight for their happy ever after.

My comparison is with the original animated series, but I agree with all these points. Although there is a lot to like in 2199, the impact is not as strong. Maybe that is the nostalgia talking? Maybe there were too many changes? I don't know. I cannot put my finger on it, whatever it is.

A Max 1S would be quite nice. For those of us that came into this late, though, the Arcadia releases are still a good option (even with less markings out of the box). I guess these differences mean that Yamato VF-1 types will still be able to pull a premium on the secondary market? I noticed that the 30th Anniversary VF-1 Valkyries are getting betweem $200 and $250US on ebay. I haven't checked any other sites.

Mr. March: I agree. A trackball device has its own learning curve, but can be very ergonomic if one puts the time into mastering it. I use one for my diy HTPC instead of a remote. If the Valve controller shares certain characteristics with a trackball device, then I can imagine it having a cetain advantage over traditional analog sticks. However, I have yet to be convinced that this is an all-in-one device that will replace all controllers in the PC space. It could very well be an improvement to other console controllers, though. But I would love to try one out for myself first, before saying anything definitive.

After all, it could also be trading one set of compromses for another.

I'm also curious about how flexible the controller will be outside of the SteamOS environment. Will a customer be able to buy one and use it with a more traditional diy or pre-built PC running Windows or another Linux OS?

On my desktop monitor, I can tell there is a cool tapestry affect going on with Shinobu's hair--a history of sorts.

Keith, is there a link to a larger version of that picture?