F-ZeroOne

Turn-A Gundam. Possibly best appreciated after seeing a couple of other Tomino-directed Gundams first, to see where its come from, and after seeing Gundam SEED/SEED Destiny, to see what the difference is between Tominos vision for Gundam and Bandais.

Patlabor on TV. 'cause every time you don't, a puppy dies. (I will get more people to watch this series, if I have to die trying...! )

If anything, Patlabor 2 is even more talky than the first...

I did say "probably". I have done Japan without a rail pass, though my experience is it does require a little planning. I've also travelled from Hokkaido to Kyushu and back to Tokyo over nearly three weeks on a rail pass, and if you consider that a one way ticket between Tokyo and Osaka costs £60 or so, it can be worth it in some cases. You pays your yen, you takes your choice...

Wow. I'd heard a live action movie was planned, but never released they actually made a trailer. Can't say I like the Ingram redesign too much (if that is meant to be an Ingram), but still...

Rule one of visting Tokyo: YOU WILL GET A GOOD MAP OF TOKYO. THERE ARE NO EXCEPTIONS TO THIS RULE! Seriously, Tokyo is a fun city to get lost in but there will be times when you don't want to be lost. Even the taxi drivers don't know their way round, thats why they all have GPS. Kodansha publishing do a handy, A5-size Tokyo city atlas that also covers Yokohama and should probably cover most of the things you're likely to be doing in the amount of time you have. If you have a PDA, theres a freeware program called Metro that covers Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka, and whioch can be very helpful if you get stuck. It sometimes suggests a slightly more roundabout route than strictly neccesary, but I'd still be going round and round Osaka without it! You will probably want to investigate a Japan Rail Pass; these cover a specific period (up to 21 days, IIRC) and are well worth it if you're going to be travelling around a bit. Prices start at about £150 or so for a 7-day pass. 2 -3 days is nowhere near enough time to see all Kyoto and the surrounding area has to offer, but you could probably see the most famous sights. Do try to get to see Himeji castle while you're there. If you want any advice on anime shopping for while you're there, please PM me and I can send you some tips. Bear in mind you need to arrange a time to visit the Ghibli museum before you get to Japan.

The Patlabor on TV series is perhaps one of the most overlooked anime around, and well worth investing in. I just wish it could have enjoyed the same quality of treatment as ADVs Gatchaman release... The New Files make the perfect follow-on, and feature one of the best-written anime episodes ever made, with Captains Goto and Shinobu finding themselves looking for hotel accomodation one rainy night... I have the large scale (1/32) Bandai plastic Ingram toy. In many respects its a crap toy - a largely fixed lump of plastic that doesn't really do anything and lacks almost any detailing. However, it does have quite a presence, especially if you have other Patlabor toys in your collection - it towers over them!

R.e. Cameo. e e e e e e e e e E E EE EEE EEEEEEEEE! <THUNK!> Penny just dropped from great height.

Just a note, the Doctor Who spin-off series "Torchwood" aired last night in the UK. Its apparently had the highest non-sports viewer ratings for a UK satellite channel. I'm still absorbing my initial impressions, but wow - they don't say "B*****ks!" on Doctor Who! Also, the series is set in Wales. Note to the translators of Magister Negi Magi: thats NOT ENGLAND.

The OP toy issue could be settled by the fact that a number of toys released as Transformers were originally part of the so-called "pre-Transformers" toys from Japan. Many of the designs were re-used for Transformers, and some of them had minature pilot figures (this includes the toy that would eventually become Starscream, for example). However, as far as I know, it wasn't possible to fit a pilot figure into the actual OP cab, although that was the original purpose of the "Roller" six-wheeled buggy. http://1500bc.com/pretf/diaclone_toys.html for more information. I also remember Jetfire as being huge as a child, so maybe thats the answer there...!

If you're looking for game scenario material based around potential on-going reserach into BDI, you could try reading Dale Browns "Day of the Cheetah", which - entirely coincidentally - has a number of plot elements similar to Macross Plus.

Ah, okay - sorry, must have missed your confession. About the wrongness, not the nekkid Zero-G lovin'.

The Germans also experimented with a prototype FSW jet bomber during World War II.

Er... correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the very first shot in DYRL the Macross in battleship mode gradually emerging out of the darkness...?

Sorry, what can I say? I was never a truly serious Battletech player, but when we played, for whatever reason, Thunderbolts tended to still be standing when everything else was scrap metal. Sorry. (Of course, this was with the original rules. The introduction of gauss rifles and ER PPCs sort of changed things a touch... )

Ah, the self-described "Lesbian trapped in a mans body" and the closest thing we will ever get to a real-life Berg Katse...

wolfx, I found out about removing the rings after too much time spent fiddling trying to the hands in with them on - D'OH! As for the Devil Strarf, its still mostly in its box. However, its various bits certainly look nicer in the flesh than I originally thought from seeing the photos.

If I said that in Battletech, that one was called "Thunderbolt", you'd love it then right? Because everyone on Macross World loves Thunderbolts, right? (it was also, in Battletech at least, made of awesome).

http://www.microforever.com/main.htm should be your first information stop.

A little set-up I've been wanting to try for a while - introducing AcroYear Voltech and his personal harem of MicroLady slave-girls!

Someone wanted pictures? You get pictures! "Waffe Bunny" has some faults. It shares with Microman a tendency for bits to fall off whenver you're trying to adjust anything, and it suffers from perhaps the worst fault any figure of this kind can have - loose hands that can only just hold the outsize weapons its provided with. (tip: each "fixed" set of hands has a small ring attached; remove that and you'll find that the hands fit better, although still annoyingly loose). Theres also the whole "having to buy two kits to get one body" issue. Damn you, Konami. Damn you to heck. On the other hand - its freakin' bunny-gal with a Vulcan cannon! Plus two very wicked swords for those "Deunan Nut" moments and a pair of pistols. It also looks nice with the magnum pistol from the "Devil Strarf" set. Toy Engrish of the week - apparently MMS figures are "Customaize".

Okay, I got some new MicroLady figures today - MicroLady Marl, Eriss and MicroLady-gone-bad, AcroLady Spiria. Disappointments first - Spiria. She looks awesome in photos, like the Terminator crossed with one of those "sexy" android designs from th 80s. Unfortunately, Takara didn't follow up the great design with the execution. Instead of being chromed plastic, as I was expecting, the figure is mostly painted silver plastic. Its not nearly as nice in real life as images make it look. It also suffers from the traditional Microman weakness of fiddly armour parts that have trouble staying in place. I still think its a great piece of design as a character, but this really should have been a much better product. Fortunately theres some good news - MicroLadys Marl and Eriss are pretty damn good. Although theres still a fiddly aspect to them, one gets the feeling this is more due to their size than their design this time round. Marl has perhaps the tightest joints I've yet encountered on a Microman figure, but Eriss slightly lets the side down by being a bit looser. Both lovelies come with huge "Medical Weapons" which you would not want to see anywhere near you in a hospital! Eriss has an item that like a giant syringe, and it has some really clever touches - the plunger actually pulls out, and the transparent parts can form giant, propellor-like blades for reasons I'm sure have nothing to do with healing! These large items do create slight problems of balance, and keeping arms straight, but early experience suggests that its possible to find poses that shouldn't cause too many problems. Besides, if you get tired of these huge implements of medical destruction, they also convert into little jet-scooters for the girls to ride around on! These figures also benefit from recent improvements in the MicroLady line, such as "anime"-type hands, which lack the moveable connectors of previous versions - although both kinds are included. Theres also a saddle-like seat for the included figure stand, but I'm a little unsure just how to balance the figure on them - it certainly looks uncomfortable! So, overall, as always with Microman figures, a bit of a mixed bag, but Marl and Eriss are two of the nicest Microman types I've met yet. NURSE!

Thanks for the correction. All we need now is for some Typhoon brylcreem boy to break the ROE on the next training exercise and get himself a photo of a gun kill on a F-22... [1] [1] Yes, I know that the infamous "F-18" shot wasn't the full story, and was also really, really silly on the part of the Navy pilot.

Just got this about a week ago too. So far, I've found it too be a little bit harder than the last game on "Normal" setting - I've actually been shot down, rather than killing myself by flying into the ground. Your wingman - depsite having the most ridiculous wingman name in the history of aviation - actually does things this time round, too! "Hey, that was my kill!". I really liked the fact that the Draken is one of the starting aircraft, too...

Mine only shipped this week - and the actual figure I need for the body a couple of days after that. Its coming via SAL, so its going to be a little while before I receive them. I'm intending to post images when I do get them. FedEX Delivery Valkyries are expensive...