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Bobby

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Everything posted by Bobby

  1. As you know this design can E...A...S...I...L...Y be milked (albeit hopefully with some significant improvements), and since canonization has been debateable for years and years...could that work to a VF-2SS lovers advantage and get milked into fantasy territory? Probably not but it won't prevent inevitable customizations which could look like previous bandai mods such as this made by a VF-2SS fan... Which without armor could look something like...
  2. Wow, that's pretty good. If anything, I think you might appreciate the battroid mode and enjoy its presence. It's tall, commanding and has 90's vibe going on strong. Knowing what I've seen of your work, I think you could do it some heavy photo justice and capture a nostalgic representation of this rather rare bird previously only scene in art or renderings but now finally in 3D
  3. Completely understandable and makes a ton of sense. However if for any reason you change your mind cuz you think it could somehow make casting simpler...here's an idea that I appreciate you at least humoring if nothing else ... note: the tab in the middle is about as far forward it can be and still 1)provide adequate clearance for the central canard when it's down, 2)would help for alignment/placement when inserting the piece, and 3)would continue to further fill in gaps! I know, I know it's a lot to ask and prolly not gonna happen (which again is completely understandable)...but one can dream
  4. Since you're taking suggestions ... the intake underneath the chest plate might look a little better in profile (more sleek) if you reduce the thickness and imo better mirror the line art i.e. have a much steeper angle like... ____ __/ Hopefully there will still be enough behind the actual inlet to conceal most of the bar.
  5. Ur welcome! And at least its got the intakes jutting out right
  6. Thanks Yes it is. I bought it about 5 yrs ago and that is actually the small version. It was emodelairplanes and I was given the chance to send them edits as to what I hoped they would change/improve and I was happy with the final outcome. I don't know if they still do that but back then they offered a "proofing" process to make sure you were happy. Each one is hand-carved and hand-painted therefore a little different. Some parts are really smooth and sleek while other parts are crude and not as shiny. They are spots where the airbrush was held a little to long and heavy but the markings are crisp and straight. I touched it up with various paint markers/pens after I received it. There are a few online right now (red, white, SAPP) and my guess is you would be buying the one you see unless you request they carve another one. Here are some pics (you can pull a still from any pause). I really enjoy having a rather large dedicated fighter version on the shelf I'm sure he still is and will be buying 5 of these just to re-enact the transformation sequence from #9 Hobby Japan '92 Yes, the 3 fighters on the left are the licensed Bandai 1/250 scale Macross Fighter Collection Set #1 that was originally released in '09 and can still be found on ebay. The little battroid next to them is a custom featured here and on my friend's site here. The next 2 battroids are customs of the Bandai kit (more here and here) and the fighter on the right is wood and was just described earlier.
  7. As a looong time fan my input is: Not that great... ...but great to have! It's like it just walked off Issue #79
  8. Actually, I think ET has the placement correct, the issue is more in that D (see pic) is not long enough and able to point downwards to give that effect. In G-walk, it appears to me that the relationship from A and D is they are stacked on top of each other and very close compared to how far away those corresponding points are in Fighter. The lineart seems to show that the top of the valks hip/intake actually sits underneath the intakes on the underside of the chestplate. The relationship in Fighter between B and D is that they are more side-by-side (i.e. D's distance from A is greater). Our old Bandai kit kinda got it right when they provided us with 3 hip-socket sets where the G-walk set spacing was in between Battroid and Fighter width, but closer to the spacing of battroid.
  9. Hopefully, it looks like the diecast hip joints will allow the top of the legs to swivel out to create that "parallel" look with the intakes. When they are tucked in and make that "V" you described it loses that cool look that's kinda reminiscent of wing-mounted Frontier Super Parts I totally agree. Here's an experiment photochop below...the intakes on the underside of the chest plate should have a higher profile (not to mention more pronounced intakes) so that the shoulders can line up/tuck under them better to hide them. This piece could clip on (parts-former...booooo ) or, ideally be hinged (possibly sharing the underbody front canard hinge) so that it can open and close (swings open towards nose) to allow the diecast hip swivels a chance to get in and out of the way for transformation!!! (one can dream, right?) (underbody photoshop possibility...) (click below only if you wanna see the bare underbody overlayed w/idea) http://www.vf2ss.com/transfer/underbody.gif
  10. After seeing the unboxed pic...it looks like at the very least the proportioning from top down got better. Check out this overlay of the B-Club drawing on the final. That iconic (recolored) rendering from the DEC 91 issue in three dimensions would almost fit
  11. Bobby

    VE-1 Geshapon??

    Hmmm...that pose it's in really looks like the Toynami Veritech Super Poseable Figure line. However they never made a VE-1 to my knowledge. It might be a one-of-a-kind custom or a possible future release! Here's a link to the first release w/out armor <LINK> and the second release w/armor <LINK> I personally liked wave 1 more and got a couple since their posing was so dynamic (note the similarities in the OP pic)...
  12. It sure would make things a lot easier if the forum had a more noticeable favicon in a bookmarks bar. Instead of this... (which promotes vbulletin?) Could it be this... ? I attached the file in .ico format which just needs to be dropped into the root folder. Thoughts? favicon.ico
  13. ^ oh man flashback...i used to love that game...now I've got the 8-bit moonlight sonata stuck in my head
  14. Dodonpachi was a series of popular (and very difficult) Japanese shooter games from the late 90's for the schmups genre. Google image Donpachi ship or Dodonpachi ship to see all the variants which included several winged helicopters somewhat reminiscent of the Veritech Copter. Thanks. From left to right it's sort of a hybrid of a VF-11chest/front, a VF-22 head, VF-4 arms/legs, equipped w/a built-in VF-1 A-E Booster
  15. I always liked the aircraft in Dodonpachi and thought this would be a cool chop...
  16. Bobby

    BANDAI DX YF-19!!

    Here's a slightly better angle...(still no closeup tho )
  17. Yes, I've spoken to him on a few occasions and he's placed his pre-orders (yes...with an "s") and featured it in his blog in July --> http://valkyrie.cloud-line.com/blog/2015/07/22247/
  18. ^ Lol. I'm bummed you don't like it but I can understand. You're welcome technoblue. I completely acknowledge the many visible flaws and misgivings as mentioned in the previous posts. The only reason I like it is because (and this will sound like settling) it is "good enough" and is really just a measure of personal expectations being met. If I had little to no connection to Mac II, then with the exposure to the lengthy history of quality engineering of Bandai in various genres, plus Yamato and (the inherited engineering of) Arcadia, I can clearly see how this would disappoint. To compare, there is no comparison when it comes to the fine details of all the complicated transformational prowess that decades long veteran toymakers are putting out these days. My forgiveness quotient or willingness to overlook these visible shortcomings would be very little paired with high engineering standards and design expectations. The above would be the norm for me. -but- It's a VF-2SS for cryin' out loud! Which betrays the fact that I am overlooking many things. Personally, I do have a connection to Mac II as it came out during my college years and believe that this design captured some pretty timeless lines in this archetypal valkyrie. Years and years have gone by of literally just hoping that someday someone would attempt to make it happen. As such, I'll be the first to admit that it's really more just about the idea of actually buying a fully transformable VF-2SS (and fulfilling a longtime dream), more so than it is truly buying a high-quality, anime-accurate, superbly-engineered valkyrie. Besides...I have plenty of those
  19. I really like it and am looking forward to it very much. (quick reference from previous link photos below...) --FIGHTER-- --G–WALK-- --BATTROID--
  20. wow...granbeetle_san practically predicted the future
  21. Great...glad everyone can (at least) enjoy the possibilities Yes, thanks for pointing that out. There are indeed some nuances that Evolution will need to make a determination on...one being the UN Spacy emblem. - The licensed Bandai kit that originally came out in the 90's and then re-released in '08 for the 25th anniversary celebration hit the shelves with the asymmetrical blue "kite" as you probably know. When the licensed Bandai 1/250 scale Macross Fighter Collection Set #1 was released shortly after in '09, however, it came already stamped with the traditional symmetrical red "kite". Somewhere in all of this it is my understanding that Macross II become (part of the) canon. Bandai's decision to opt for the red kite here on this release is a curious one. I wondered if it was to appease any reluctant parties of the MII canonization or just done out of sheer practical assembly-line convenience? I personally like the blue one, just on this valk w/all of its sui generis, but I went with the red one instead since that's what the powers-that-be had decided for this latest official release-to-date. - The other nuance is landing gear (but it already looks like they decided on that one). This decision might have been relegated to the age old form vs. functionality debate. No line art exists with it (as mentioned in the podcast) so to stay true to "form" (aka the design) there shouldn't be any. But then plain ol' practicality kicks in and somebody thinks, "meh, might as well give it some 'three down and locked' so you can admire it on your desk!" and voila! there it is. Either that or a stand would need to be provided. Personally, I am indifferent on this one in comparison to the next decision. - The third nuance is "to stripe, or not to stripe" specifically on the leg. The original "eye catch" sequence on the tail end of the shows opening does not have a colored stripe which was the first sight of the valk many fell in love with. In "This is Animation Special - Macross II" none of the colored cels or renderings have a colored stripe and most of the time the SAP armor is in place covering it. Renderings over the decades have gone back and forth on this...e.g. the Sept '92 Hobby Japan opted to include the stripe in their customized version w/out SAP (both in blue and in red); ...the PSP release, Macross Ultimate Frontier, the VF-2SS w/out SAP has no colored stripe; Entertainment Bible #51 has colored stripes in red, blue, green, and yellow; B-Club #79 has some with stripes and some without; B-Club #73 has them all with colored stripes; the aforementioned 1/250 Bandai scale fighters have the red stripes for Gena and the blue stripes for Nexx; and perhaps the most relevant (and recent), "Macross Chronicle No.21" documents a red, blue, green and yellow striped VF-2ss with the blue "kite" emblem. In the end, the design has surely had a chance to age and to be evaluated and be re-evaluated over time. My personal preference would be to include the corresponding color stripes as I think it really adds a unique beneficial character attribute that compliments the design overall. I am torn on the emblem. The blue one is unique to this valk and also official...while the red one is the emblem that has a full blown Macross heritage immediately associated with it when you lay eyes on it and is representative of the whole Macross universe in some sense. What might be best is if they offered a sticker sheet of the symmetrical red "kite" and asymmetrical blue "kite" for us to choose from! Yes, totally...and that is the existing slit I was trying to reference for providing an alternative for. What I was trying to get at was saying that if they instead had the hinge arm not only telescope up and down, but also slide back and forth, that that would have eliminated the rather unsightly slit behind the hinge...but perhaps it would also introduce a mega design transformation headache under the backplate to have this hinged arm move in all these different directions.
  22. ... That is correct. After the scram-jet pods flip over 180 degrees, if the hinge was lower, then they would not sit flush on the battroids back. Instead they will be protruding outwards at a slight angle (ref A). ^ This would solve this issue. The hinge could then be placed just like the line art (much lower) since the arm could now telescope up and away (ref B) to allow full 180 degree rotation of the scram-jet pods. Something that would be great to implement would be being able to slide the pods hinge arms forwards/backwards (ref C) which would eliminate the opening on the rear slit of the pod. The pods overall final position in battroid mode after it's flipped would still result in matching the line art and being visible from the front since it needs to be up high behind the battroid's head (ref D) . Another thing would be telescoping wings (ref E). That would probably be the most significant improvement. The problem I noticed when building my custom years ago was that short wings look great in battroid mode but appear too short for the fighter. Now compare that to the custom Sera Hobby Labs did (see post #279) where he extended the overall wing length and in fighter mode it looks great but in battroid mode it looks like this valk is about to conduct Beethoven's Symphony No. 5. You could have the best of both worlds if the wings could be pushed in for battroid and slide out for fighter to complete the "anime magic".
  23. Still can't believe this is actually happening! ... So unbelievably excited! ... I photochopped out the masking tape, landing gear, added in some color, panel lines, etc. just so fans can get a quick glimpse of this valk's incarnate potential (at least to hold us over until the event)!
  24. What's nice about this (if they ever got around to it) is that it is still a transforming valkyrie albeit much simpler. You get gerwalk, a unique modification at the winglets, and an almost yukikaze-like (but long before it) cockpit, which would all make for some simple yet cool poses. I think the best part may be that unlike most modern valkyries that often require a huge time commitment to transform, this would bring you back to the good ol' days of lickety-split-takatoku-transformation-times
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