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Chronocidal

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  1. Chronocidal
    Thanks, I'm really hoping to figure out some fancy methods to get the shape of the VF-19 correct, and keep about 90% of the Yamato transformation mechanisms intact. What I do remember about what I'd finished was that the entire forward fuselage mechanism works, minus the cockpit rotation. The opening cockpit might still be possible, but I don't really like the available options for clear canopies. Aside from that, the fuselage shortening joint is built-in, the nose cone and underside flap both fold down, and the small angled plates ahead of the 2x2 black plate fold in to form the underside of the chest, just like the Yamato. The 2x2 black plates are actually pivots that allow the leading edge plates to fold back behind the hips. I was really thrilled to see that the proportions of the 1/60 VF-19 translate almost directly to whole numbers of studs when scaled up 2x to 1/30. Anyway, as far as the body shape goes, I'll admit, I don't generally like the way curved bricks and slopes work, because they rarely result in a correct shape. They can be useful, but I'm going for accurate shape over anything else, and while they work nicely for the nose sensors, layering bunches of sloped and curved panels generally winds up looking like a mess of disconnected slopes and curves. For accurate surface contours, you really can't beat layering plates of various angles. Like, I absolutely love the UCS Slave I, and the curved plates on the upper half of the body work nicely to make a smoothly contoured surface, but the lower end is a sloppy, layered mess, and I think it would have been improved greatly if they hadn't tried to half-ass the shape with so many shapes that don't form any kind of continuous surface. I think it would have been much better if they'd just built the entire lower half out of layers of curved and angled plates, or even just stacked rows of single-stud-wide slopes side by side along the curvature to get the right shape. All those quarter-round plates just stick out horribly to me.
  2. Chronocidal
    Honestly, the thought of HG foaming at the mouth and trying to prevent these products getting sold in the US is the best part of this situation. Best part is, they'd be fighting to defend Big West's IP. Or my personal best case scenario? HG starts importing the bootlegs to sell on Robotech.com. I don't know if the legal system works this way, but in my personal fantasy, it would be gloriously satisfying to see Big West step in and destroy HG for supporting the illegal reproduction and sale of their licensed property.
  3. Chronocidal
    Heh, well my workspace is fairly well taken up by other projects at the moment, but someday I hope to. The 1/18th one needed a massive rebuild to be workable, but the arms were probably my favorite mechanism I've ever built. The VF-19 might have gotten farther than this, but this is all I can find for screenshots. The digital designer wasn't meant for such complicated stuff, so testing out the transformation got really tricky.
  4. Chronocidal
    I'd say the Porsche is definitely a render, but they might be using a type of pearly silver color for the main body pieces. I need to get my digital designer software back running and see if I can finish my 1/32 VF-19.. I had the dimensions and such all planned out, and was basically building a direct lego copy of the Yamato 1/60, with pretty much everything working. Unfortunately, a lot of elements it would need just flat out don't exist yet, like versions of the AT-AT knee joints that have axial attachments, instead of lever arms. Would be really easy for them to make, too.
  5. Chronocidal
    Anyone tried the lil'draken kits? People commented on them looking too big for the 1/72, maybe they'd look better on the DX.
  6. Chronocidal
    Fortunately for our wallets, most of the Aerial Knights were completely inconsequential characters. I'll probably buy one or two of the green ones, but having a bunch of identical ones with different numbers is silly. I'll get the ones with the best colors, pretty much.
  7. Chronocidal

    Bandai DX VF-31

    Chronocidal replied to UN Spacy's topic in Toys

    Yeah, I just always find myself catching my fingers against the antenna, and wishing it laid flat like the VF-25G. I haven't installed the lasers on my models because I don't want to snap them off. The VF-19 Advance has that issue too, the laser sticks up too far to be of any use directly rearward. It's pretty much entirely because of the way Bandai redesigned the shield too. If it was the proper distance away from the head, there'd be plenty of room to lay it back further.
  8. Chronocidal
    Depending on how things work out with later releases, you might be able to swap parts around from the green versions, since they'll likely have all those gold bits molded in silver. Just waiting on LAX customs now.. Hopefully will arrive some time this week, but you never really know with USPS.
  9. Chronocidal
    I don't know if the pun was intended, but bravo either way. The thing that gets me with the whitewashing bit is that everyone assumes that the cyborg body the Major used was designed to look Asian. I don't quite recall where I remember it from, but I was under the impression that both the Major and the Puppetmaster from the original film were actually using identical cyborg bodies, and the Puppetmaster's was very distinctly blonde-haired and blue-eyed. Edit: So.. I don't know if this is diving too deep, or thinking too hard, but it kind of occurred to me, upon reading a review that highlights a few of the philosophical issues discussed in the original 1995 film. But the entire debate over the casting of the characters just seems rather oddly relevant to the film itself. I need to re-watch the original to hear it myself, but one of the issues the Major discusses is whether it even means anything to claim any identity at all, being a cybernetic being whose self isn't necessarily attached to a physical body. And by the end of the movie, I don't think she could be clearly defined as any particular nationality, race, or even species. I don't pretend to think that Hollywood would ever think that hard about such a thing, but I have to wonder if Shirow is sitting back with a box of popcorn and reveling in the fact that the movie is creating such a debate over something so directly relevant to the subject matter itself.
  10. Chronocidal

    Hi-Metal R

    Chronocidal replied to joppewo's topic in Toys

    Really liking the simplicity of easy pre-orders on these. Got a pair ordered.
  11. Chronocidal
    That is a thing of beauty. Bravo! I'm actually really wondering what Bandai could pull off with a 1/72 kit now.
  12. Chronocidal
    Also remember that plastic this dark is going to show stress marks like crazy, and a lot of those joints are probably undergoing minor stress just from assembly. Might not be anything you did, or anything you can prevent, and may not even be related to the motion of the hinge.
  13. Chronocidal
    Not to disparage the art, because it's great otherwise, but anyone else bugged by Makina having two left hands in the middle picture?
  14. Chronocidal
    A Bandai 1/72 Falcon is fine by me, would love to get one that's not $400. Freakin Revell... But what else is there to make from the new movies? The designs in TFA were mostly incredibly boring, and the most interesting ones have already been done. What are they going to make, the dropships? Han's space barge that no one could even see? Leia's flying taco stand? I'd much rather see them churn out more Rogue One editions of stuff. And please Bandai.. give us some markings for something besides Luke's X-wing... you included all the physical parts for multiple ships, then got stupid lazy with the decals and painting guide. At least Fine Molds had the decency to get that right.
  15. Chronocidal
    See... LEGO stuff is a special case here... LEGO bricks have never gone out of production. Even if a particular set is gone from the market? Likelihood is that you can find the pieces for it somewhere else, and the instructions are often archived online. There are some unique elements, yes, but I don't think any pieces in any of the UCS sets I've gotten were unique (unique colors and printings notwithstanding), save for the original UCS X-Wing's canopy, and even that's been updated and replaced with a new version. People charging so much for the UCS Falcon at this point might seem ridiculous, but what's the comparative cost of buying the parts to build it yourself? I'm honestly curious what it would total up to. Anyway.. as far as why the original Hi-Metal line died, Bandai couldn't compete with the old Yamato pricing. People weren't going to buy a 1/100 VF-1 that cost as much as (or even more than) a 1/60 with more features. Yamato was underselling and overproducing compared to the competition. Arcadia's new pricing level makes the 1/100 line viable again, because you can't find 1/60s going for less anymore. It would be very funny if HG stepped in and started buying up the bootleg merchandise to sell in the US though. Maybe it would finally get BW upset enough to bring the hammer down and resolve the nonsense once and for all.
  16. Chronocidal
    It did, but they just got used as plot points and set pieces. And you can't convince me that the cat-person planet was not one big setup for nekomimi merchandising. At least they went into some sort of detail with how Windermereans were different from humans, and explored their history, but there's a whole lot of history to explore for all the aliens in that sector of space, if you don't want your aliens to be written off like your typical cliché alien of the week on Star Trek. "Here's our planet of mer-people. They do ocean things, and like seafood. And here's our planet of cat-people. They're like humans... but with cat ears." Just do something with them.
  17. Chronocidal
    Any news from Bandai about continuing their kit line, or are they ditching the 1/72 series to make micro machines of everything? Still need my B-Wings and Tie Bombers, folks, come on.
  18. Chronocidal
    I want a v.3 VF-1 mold like I want to dive face first into a woodchipper. I know some people would love seeing further improvements, but I'd much rather see either new products, or variants of old ones that people have been wanting for years (coughcoughsupernovaschemes). But I mean.. if the labor involved in assembly and painting of these is what's driving the cost? Issue kits of everything and be done. Arcadia seems to be chasing its tail every 5 minutes trying to appease every single fan who makes some comment about paint colors, or build quality control, or whatever. They need to just save themselves the headache, and release kits of all their molds (in various base colors of course), so they can breathe easy and just let the customers make everything how they like. Seriously, I would probably spend more on kit versions than pre-made ones, because whether I ever get to doing them or not, the number of things I can imagine building far exceeds what any company would ever even come close to releasing.
  19. Chronocidal
    I want to say that there's a photo of a superhornet loaded for bear with 12 AIM-120s on the box of Janes F/A-18 sim, but I'll have to dig it out. The internet's being entirely unhelpful there. I cringe at the thought of seeing that many outward-canted pylons on an E/F at once though.. it's bad enough with just the tanks. Far as the F-22 is concerned though, I did read somewhere that Lockheed kept all the tooling intact, and precisely documented the production processes. Not like there's the money (or assembly line space) to do it right now, but they could theoretically restart production.
  20. Chronocidal
    See.. this would be an issue for Arcadia, except that there's no business to lose, since they're not producing anything to compete with the bootlegs. I almost halfway think these might even benefit Arcadia, if only by showing what sort of demand exists for the things they aren't making. If and when they start, it'll be an issue for them, but at the moment, it's really just in Big West's court to knock down the companies producing bootleg stuff of their IP.
  21. Chronocidal

    Bandai DX VF-31

    Chronocidal replied to UN Spacy's topic in Toys

    Hard to believe they could seemingly just forget the right color for Mirage's plane... especially considering the 1/72, 1/144, and non-scaled kits have already been released with the right colors, not to mention the display prototypes from the very start of the VF-31 DX line. Like... I can see why they'd think it should be red, and it's not a bad color. It doesn't change that it's wrong.
  22. Chronocidal
    Keep in mind, I don't think the intakes move on gerwalk mode for the animation either, but they have to for the model and the DX it appears.
  23. Chronocidal
    I was waiting for this literally the entire series. It would have actually made things in the second half interesting too. Delta pushed the mathematical limits of what can be considered a triangle... the angle was so narrow, it may as well have been Hayate and Freyja hugging in L.A. while Mirage watched from New York. I know it's probably not popular for a reason, but I'd really love to see them get back to something more akin to Zero. Actual military, actual conflict, with Protoculture craziness providing the backdrop instead of the key plot points. Do some jumping around and actually explore all these other planets and alien races. Or you know, if fold-wave sensitivity is some sort of new step of human evolution, we could go the full shounen route, and have humans developing superhuman abilities related to music. Then we can have the idols go the full-on magical girl, flying around in MAXL-style valks, and singing in combat to choreograph their attacks and power themselves up... See.. while I want to say I just threw up in my mouth a little, I'm also extremely curious what that would look like, or how good it could actually get.
  24. Chronocidal
    I'm perfectly ok with them going for less metal, it generally just means there's less paint to chip away from transformations. Really glad I'm getting two of these eventually, this might be one of the only valks I'll keep a display of in battroid mode. That head is just amazing to me. For those of you thinking the wings look goofy in gerwalk, it was discussed a little in the model thread, and if the toy isn't designed to prevent it, you could always just flip the wings back around to face the normal direction.
  25. Chronocidal
    I figure I've waited this long for it (since the first previews of the series), so I figure a few days more to wait isn't so bad. With any luck, I should have mine by this weekend, that's usually how long SAL takes for me. In the meantime, I'll practice transforming my 1/72 kits instead.
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