wraith1701
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Posts posted by wraith1701
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More Tallgeese pics!
I think the HCM-PRO line is the best line of Gundam figures around. Nearly MG detail and articulation at only 1/200 scale!
Will PreOrder!!!
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I have and recommend Tomino's original Gundam novels, collected in this handy English editon.
Yeah; the trilogy is pretty cool; I've read it many times.
Try The Sand Wars books by Charles Ingrid. All of them have been collected into two omnibus volumes.Thanks, Ginrai, I'll check it out!
Any other suggestions?
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Hey folks. I greatly enjoy reading Sci-Fi, and I'm a big fan of Giant Robots. Unfortunately, I'm having trouble finding any sci-fi novels featuring mecha.
The closest thing to mecha fiction I've come across in the past few years are Heinlein's Starship Troopers, the novel Armor (both of which feature armored suits, not actual mecha), and the various Battletech books. I've read all of these, and enjoyed them, but they just aren't quite what I'm looking for. I've also read the novelizations of the Harmony Gold Robotech show and the English version of Tamino's Gundam trilogy, but I NEED MORE.
Does anyone out there know of any English language novels featuring Giant Robots?
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I still contend it has bounced back and forth. Episode 4 was the same studio in my eyes as episode 6. The character designs look the same (2D and flat). I think Episode 4 just sneaked past a lot of you guys because of the abundant backgrounds and heavy CG sequences...the normal character designs were the same bad style as they were in episode 6. I think that as the budget comes and goes depending on how much CG they need to do, they allot animation here and there in the schedule and it will go back and forth throughout the series. I noticed early on that episode 4 was the worst one in terms of character design and animation long before I saw episdoe 6.
Episode 4 had very "off" looking characters (Look at Klan Klein's fullsize face) that seemed to lack accentuation/roundness. All of SMS (especially the bridge bunnies) were drawn in the same "ugly" style in episode 4 as episode 6. Episode 5 was completely different and of much higher quality and detail.
Episode 4 has actually been the worst overall in many instances.
I'm sure that the bigger episodes in terms of stories do logically get the higher budgets and we'll see that throughout Frontier that the "filler" episodes will go to the cheaper studios.
Sheryl looks like crap at the end of episode 4 when she trips Alto. Just a 2D face with two holes for nostrils, I'd never go on a date with that! But she magically becomes more rounded and refined and beautiful in time for Stardate. Then she goes back to ugly in episode 6.
Excellent screen caps, ComicKaze! Looking at them gave me an idea: Do you guys think that maybe in the scenes featuring complex mechanical designs, the animators might possibly slack off a bit on character design? I haven't gone back and reviewed many scenes, but it seems as though much more effort is put into the rendering of the characters in scenes where they are the featured attraction. On the other hand, it seems as though in the scenes where the characters share screen time with mechs or complex set designs, the mechanical designs are given more focus than the characters.
I wonder if there are two teams of animators; one specializing in tech/mechanical design, and one specializing on character design? Anyone know?
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That was a pretty cool video ron5864. That soundtrack brought back memories!
Which Queadluun Rau and Valkyrie figures were those?
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Great work. I love the weathering.
I agree; it looks like the mech is actually constructed out of metal. Did you dry-brush on the metallic surfaces along the edges, or did you apply the green over a metal-colored base-coat, and then sand off the exposed areas?
The decal application is outstanding as well-- they look painted on! Very impressive!
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I just watched this episode again after reading the plot summary, and actually got chills during the last few scenes featuring the Diamond Crevasse song... very well put together episode!
While I envy and respect the discerning eye of many of the fans here, I have to say that I had no problems whatsoever with the animation quality. While I'm sure that they are there, I'm having trouble finding all of the flaws that have been mentioned.
Just one of the few advantages of being an old fart who grew up during a time when the animation quality of shows like Super Dimensional Fortress Macross and Gatchaman was considered outstanding , I guess.
By the way; if anyone else out there had trouble following exactly what was going on in the RAW of this episode, here's the summary-
(source: Raymond Santos Estrella blog)
After having heard Ranka singing at the mall, an agent from Vector Promotion named Elmo Kridanik sets up a meeting with Ozma to ask him to allow Ranka to be taken in by the agency. Sometime later, Alto is in class looking at the earring that he had finally found, and Mikhail teases him about it being a present for his girlfriend. Mikhail thinks that Alto had been on a date with Sheryl, and when Alto denies that it was a date, Mikhail brings up the kiss. What Mikhail is more concerned about is the kind of relationship Alto has with Ranka, and while they’re talking, Nanase comes running with news about Ranka being scouted. The group joins Ranka for drinks to congratulate her, and Nanase is so thrilled that she announces the formation of the Ranka Lee Fan Club. While the others are talking, Ranka apologizes to Alto because she wanted to tell him first but also didn’t want to bother him. Alto uses the chance to reveal that he had been at the mall, but he claims that he was alone at the time. He also gives Ranka the ticket to Sheryl’s farewell concert.
Shortly thereafter, the group’s attention is turned to a message being broadcast throughout the colony ship by the Frontier President Howard Glass. To everyone’s surprise, he makes public the existence the Vajra and how the Vajra have attacked the Macross Galaxy fleet. While the President is speaking, Mikhail gets a call from Ozma ordering them back to base. Ozma also calls up Ranka to reassure her that neither he nor any of the other pilots are going to die. After returning to his bunk at the SMS, Alto watches a press conference held by Sheryl where she asserts her belief that the Macross Galaxy fleet—her home—is safe. She also insists that her concert tonight will go forward as planned and that she’ll return to the Galaxy fleet. Hearing all this motivates Alto to go see her at the concert hall. The staff there try to stop him backstage, but Sheryl hears the commotion and declares that Alto is her friend.
Once the two are alone, Sheryl reveals that the earrings are a memento from her mother. She then asks Alto if he likes this ship, and he answers that he hates it because there is no sky there. Though he asks her back the same question with regard to the Macross Galaxy, she doesn’t get to respond because he suddenly gets a phone call. Mikhail is the one who called and wants Alto to return immediately because they’re being sent to one of the surviving Galaxy ships that was discovered along with a large swarm of Vajra. After Mikhail hangs up, Sheryl asks if Alto is going, and so he reminds her that he’s a pilot. He then tries to return the earring, but Sheryl decides that he should hold on to it since it’s a good-luck charm. She goes on to admit that she actually hated Macross Galaxy since she didn’t have any relatives there, and seeing her talk like this causes Alto to tell her to give him a break because he has a hard time reacting to it. Regardless, he takes the earring as good luck, and Sheryl makes it clear that she’s only lending it to him.
Alto quickly heads back to the SMS ship where launch preparations are already well underway, and he ends up hanging the earring in his VF-25’s cockpit. As the SMS ship is launching, Ozma tells Kanaria of his promise to Ranka not to die, and he informs all of his pilots that none of them are allowed to die either. While this is going on, Ranka is racing towards the concert hall where Sheryl has already begun performing Diamond Crevasse, and she happens to see the ships make the space fold jump to their destination.
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I initially checked out the show because it was a new Macross show, and I've always been a fan of the mecha designs in the Macross shows. What keeps me coming back each week is the story (and the hope of seeing more mecha action).
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Understand, MEN, that Klan Klan is Zentraedi and may have slightly different proportions than a human female. BE MEN AND LET IT GO!!!!!
LOL!
I'm surprised by how much I enjoyed this episode, especially considering that it was another character building episode.
As with the other episodes, I could kind of figure out what was going on from context, but some of the details and technical aspects escape me. Can someone explain to me what was going on with the drinks table at the 'creation of the Ranka fan club' scene? The characters seemed to be sending electrical pulses through the table's surface by tapping on it... what was going on there?
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Nice looking work, man; very impressive.
You've put an amazing amount of detail in such a small subject. How many points of articulation will be on this? Will it be flexible at the knees, arms, elbows as well as the hip? And with it being a resin cast, are you including commercial joints (like the ones made by yellowsub and wave) with the kits? -
Nice pics, eriku! God Mars is pretty cool; the SOC looks great! My favorite SOC, however, is this bad boy-
The photos are courtesy of Nakajo at the Robot Japan forums. Not sure if he is the photographer, but whoever it is is a true artist!
This 'gokin is THE BEST version out there of what I think is THE ICON of Japanese super-robots. The engineering put into this thing is amazing; Bandai manages to provide a huge amount of articulation without drastically altering the clean, anime-faithful lines of the 'bot. The metal content is decent- the thighs, upper arms, and lower torso/pelvis area are solid metal, giving Raideen a nice, solid feel. I swear; this thing is hard to put down!
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DECULTURE!!!
Do want! Now how do I go about tracking down these little things?
ToysLogic has them up for pre-order; release date September.
I like the fact that products are coming out, but the SD characters aren't my cup of tea. They look well-made, but I'm looking forward to more anime-accurate depictions of the characters and mechs.
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Wow, I'm in the only one in Kentucky. Big shock
You aren't the only one-- I'm in Louisville KY.
And let me tell you, this city has a disturbing lack of any type of anime-themed stores.
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If you dont want to deal with all the spoiler tags then do the simple thing. Hold down the CTRL button then press A on the key board and browse. Spoiler tags are gone and you can be lazy and not swing your mouse around.
Enjoyed the Episode hope to get a better understanding of everything when a translation comes out. My Japanese sucks.
Same here!
I think I got the jist of what was going on from context, though, and I enjoyed the episode. I liked the tour of the colony ship; it was cool to take a peek at "Zentradi-Town". Speaking of Zentradi, can someone clear something up for me? Mikhail Buran is a Zentradi, right? Any explanation yet why he seems to be living life full-time as a micronized guy? KK seems pretty comfortable switching back and forth...
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I just found out that my SOC Raideen is on the way from BBTS!
Now I have to hurry up and decide if I want to get the Deluxe version as well, before it sells out! 
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Rockhound pretty much summed it up, but I'll add a little. I'm assuming you are applying water-slide decals, not actual stickers.
Unless the surface you are applying the decals to is already glossy smooth, you should prep the surface with either future or testors gloss-coat. In my experience, decals wont set right if applied to a rough or non-gloss surface. The more polished and smooth the surface, the better. This helps the decal to conform entirely to the surface, helping you to achieve a "painted-on" appearance.
After your surface is prepped, you can use decal set to soften up the decal. This will further help the decal to conform to the surface you are applying it to, and is handy if you are applying the decal to a surface that has raised details, like rivets or panel lines. Be sure to carefully blot the decal before it sets and dries to remove any air bubbles that might be trapped beneath it.
Once the decal dries, you can use any commercial overcoat to seal the decal to the surface. I personally like using testors semi-gloss coat. Just be sure to follow the instructions on the can-- use light passes, spraying past the surface. The idea is to apply the surface coat in miniscule layers at a time. Otherwise, you risk having a visible layer of laquer covering your surface, which wont look so hot.
After you have sealed the decal, you are pretty much done. Depending on how much you want to detail or weather your mech. The only thing I'll add is if the initial surface treatment leaves your subject looking too glossy (which isn't very realistic for a military subject), you can fix it with a light coat of testors dull-coat. This will cut any glare, and leave your subject with a matt, or non-shiny finish.
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VFTF1; glad you are enjoying the SOC line. These things are incredible! I have the Gunbuster, and it is magnificent... If I'm not careful, I can end up spending hours posing and re-posing it.
I also have a couple of the EVA 01 SOCs (yeah, I know; the EVA isn't even technically a mech, but I'm a fan of the series and the design). The standard version is actually pretty "meh"; inaccurate coloring and proportions, and the joints are very floppy. The SOC-Spec version, on the other hand, is very impressive-- it features removable armor, much of which is die-cast metal, which lets you pose the beast in standard or "unmasked" mode.
Right now, I'm waiting on the arrival of a SOC Raideen I preordered in March. From the pictures I've seen, this will be the crowning jewel of my collection!
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Oh, and there's way too much fan service and boobage jokes for me in a Macross feature. Especially with fan service focused on pubscent girls like Ranka with even more pedi-factor than Mylene.
You took the words right out of my mouth. I'm enjoying this show more than I have any other Mecha series in a long time, but I wouldn't mind a little less pre-teen fan-service. Unfortunately, this seems almost like a required element in a lot of anime... I guess producers try to include a little of everything to appeal to as wide an audience as possible. I've sort of trained myself to ignore it.
I have to admit though; I'm enjoying the tension between Alto and Cheryl.
As far as the homages to the original series are concerned, I like them.
I probably haven't seen the first series as many times as a lot of fans here, but I remember enough to pick up on the more obvious nods. Seeing them helps connect this show with the rest of the Macross universe for me.
I like the idea of inter-agency rivalry; that would be pretty sweet.I think getting some NUNS aces (one-three) would be interesting, add a little tension between NUNS and SMS instead of just chucking insults, and you can keep the political and organization incompetence of NUNS along with the other poorly trained pilots.
I'd also like to see exactly how the chain of command/jurisdiction works out.. is SMS an autonomous agency with the same authority as NUNS, or is it sort of a mercenary force that is employed by NUNS? I'm also curious; how do the Zentradi fit into the picture? Are the Zentradi pilots a part of the government space force, or are the Zentradi a seperate military that is allied with the humans?
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...Ya' know, I was thinking today it would be great if Bandai released some Frontier gashapon toys. Not, because I really like or want gashapons, but just beacuse it would be so cool to be able to walk into a 7-11 and see Frrontier toys in their gashapon machines, instead of the same old Gundam and Eva stuff.
Graham
I'm all for gashapons as well, preferably made of ABS instead of PVC. Articulation would make my day; something like Bandai's Gundam Ultimate Action trading figures. In this small size, I wouldn't be too concerned about part swapping for transformation. Hell; I wouldn't even be too broken up if the small figures didn't transform. I just want tiny, poseable MF mechs that I can pose next to my SOC's and other 'bots.
Of course, I'd like the 1/60 to transform as smoothly and anime-accurately as possible!
The article mentions that he was particularly drawn by the "palm-sized" model of a Valkyrie. Then an interesting quote from Kawamori in the article. He says he likes small-size models (considers them 'cute') and that he'd like to have a small-size Valkyrie model even if it means not being perfect transformation (ie. parts exchange).Hmmm... 1/144 VF-25 kits?
This would be sweet, but I'd still like some 1/200 (7 to 9 cm) trading figure mechs.
Gashapon machines at 7-11!!! Man I live in the wrong area of the frickin' planet.
:lol: You and me both, buddy. I guess I have to look on the bright side, though... If there were gashapon machines at every corner 7-11, my bank account would be in serious jeopardy!
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Right now, my favorite character is Ozma Lee; he reminds me of Fokker, my favorite character from SDF Macross. Like Fokker, he's an experienced ace pilot, but with more of an edge. This, along with his mysterious past involving Ranka and the Vajra, gives his character a lot of potential for further development. I just hope he doesn't get killed off before his potential can be realized.
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Hey all; new guy here just chiming in on how great this episode was. As someone mentioned earlier, it had the perfect blend of character development, humor, and good old-fashioned mecha action! The dogfights seemed a little fast paced and hard for me to follow at the beginning of the series, but I'm starting to appreciate their chaotic energy-- it goes a long way towards conveying just how intense it would be to find yourself in that type of situation. I don't care how much pilot training I had; I'd be toast in a second!
Would someone mind capturing a good pic of KK in both Zentran form and Micron Form? ^^ I'd appreciate it!These are the best that I could come up with; Zentran KK isn't in the episode for all that many frames:
Hope that helps.
Macross F gashapon (capsule toys)
in Toys
Posted
Yep; the Swing 1 box is the set of SD figures. I'm gonna pass on those.
The Diorama sets, on the other hand...
I'm planning on getting multiple sets!
One to display as-is, and at least one extra set to use for a customization scheme I've been cooking up involving Yellow Sub joint-sets.
Thanks for the heads-up, CF18! I've been waiting for this news!