Chronocidal
-
Posts
10759 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Events
Gallery
Everything posted by Chronocidal
-
Macross Δ (Delta) - Mission 18 - READ 1st POST
Chronocidal replied to azrael's topic in Movies and TV Series
While I love Plus to death, it does have a lot of inferred development by way of flashbacks. It's a pretty quick and easy one-shot story with not a lot of room for massive development though. I do think the development in the movie showed a little better than the OVA though. I really don't know where things are going to go with Delta, and I can hope and dream all I like about minor things, but the feeling I cannot shake is that the bombing of Windermere saved the planet. Whether by way of stopping a NUNS group that was about to dig up a Protoculture doomsday device, or by stopping the Windermereans from doing the same. What gets more and more confusing is the way the pseudo-science, song energy, fold wave generation stuff keeps working like an out of control McGuffin. We get it, the Protoculture liked their music. But more seriously, I really appreciated that (despite the naked out-of-body weirdness) they gave a very sensible reason for what singing was doing with the Vajra in Frontier. Now though, it looks like they've stepped beyond "practical" use for the songs, and are tapping into something more similar to Galaxy's plot to link humanity into a hive mind. I guess here's what gets me... the wacky trance state Hayate is getting pulled into looks close enough to Alto's experiences to be relatively the same thing. The only reason Sheryl and Ranka could do that was because they were both carrying around Vajra bacteria, and Alto was wearing Sheryl's earring. In fact, the "riding the wind" stuff going on looks an awful lot like Alto in the YF-29. Up until now, this has all seemed to depend on proximity to fold quartz, which seems to, for lack of a more scientific explanation, turn focused emotions into EM emissions that exist in the same frequency domain as the energy associated with fold drives. The big question then... Why does Windermere seem to have the ability to mess with the minds of people who are nowhere near any sort of fold quartz? Or, barring that, is that entire cluster of planets so chock full of Protoculture technology (and possible massive amounts of fold quartz) that the entire cluster acts like a giant fold wave amplifier? -
Macross Δ (Delta) - Mission 18 - READ 1st POST
Chronocidal replied to azrael's topic in Movies and TV Series
What I'm saying is that relative velocity doesn't matter in terms of closure rate. It matters because a moving platform can launch missiles a lot farther. If you launched a mach 2 missile from a plane also going mach 2, you might be launching a missile at mach 4. While the math isn't that simple in reality, let's say that also extends the missile's range to double. The fighter will be able to fire off salvos of missiles at the battroid with impunity, and the battroid won't be able to touch him, because his missiles can't fly that far starting from zero velocity. Even if they're using cannon rounds, the same rough physics will be in play, though if standard gatling gun physics apply, your round grouping is going to be terrible at those sorts of ranges. With guns, as long as you account for ballistic trajectory, there's still a chance they could hit. Micro missiles in the Macross universe though seem very dependent on thrust vectoring, so once they run out of fuel, they might just drop out of the sky. No worries about the debate, glad you're enjoying the discussion. It's a fun diversion from real life problems. -
Macross Δ (Delta) - Mission 18 - READ 1st POST
Chronocidal replied to azrael's topic in Movies and TV Series
That actually occurred to me about Shin and Nora first meeting in Zero. If it weren't for slow motion coming into play there, Shin may have been out of range of Nora by the time she actually opened fire. -
Just don't ever expect AmiAmi to care if they send you a broken product. Or most any of the online shops really, I think HLJ's the only source for these things that you have any remote chance of getting replacement for if they arrive with broken or missing parts.
-
Not that I've noticed, it's mostly just that the pieces don't interlock enough, or have stiff enough connections to survive the stresses put on them by transforming. They've greatly simplified the construction compared with the VF-25 kits, but the cost of that has been that quite a few of the pieces don't interlock nearly as solidly or from as many directions. Rotating the gerwalk twist will often pop the outer panel of the hips clean off, possibly detaching the front of the intake. The most surprising to me though is the main wing hinge connection. On the VF-25, the hinge was sandwiched between two layers of fuselage plate. This one just has a dinky tab that's supposed to hold onto two little pegs to support the entire wing.
-
Judging by how fast it disappeared? I imagine they only had it up for a few minutes at best.
-
Actually, this is what's got me entirely confused right now. For this particular preorder NY is way below the retail price. And on top of that, when did they stop their trend of opening up increasingly higher priced lots? I'd gotten to where I was fairly comfortable with the way they did their business, just for the reassurance that, yeah, I might pay a bit more, but I'll be able to get one of whatever I'm trying to order. With all the recent orders though (HMRs and DXs), I haven't seen any more appear on their site.
-
Man, got my hopes up. Probably only had a couple. Actually, what kind of irks me is that they'll cancel people's preorders entirely, then have stock appear out of nowhere and not fill those orders. Wish they would keep the preorders under some sort of "at risk" or "waiting list" status if you manage to get through the order process, but they don't know if they'll get stock to fill it. I'm just going to wait until release and hope it reappears, can't spend every waking moment waiting on a preorder to pop.
-
Macross Δ (Delta) - Mission 18 - READ 1st POST
Chronocidal replied to azrael's topic in Movies and TV Series
Pretty much, yep. The thrust to weight ratios of valks must be insane to do the things they do. Modern tactics and technology are irreversibly intertwined, so trying to apply tactics in a future like this is just a mental exercise at best. All this isn't to say there's no use for battroid mode, but in an atmosphere, it just imposes a lot of limits, no matter how powerful your engines are. Unless you've got technology allowing you to generate and dissipate momentum instantaneously, you're still fighting a classic air battle where energy is the most precious resource you have. -
I might have gotten a lemon somehow, but I would say don't expect the VF-31 kits to stay together without glue either. The one I've built pretty much falls apart at the seams any time I start to transform it. Worst offender is the tails coming off every time I try to fold them, second would be a tie between the hips falling apart and the entire wing assemblies popping off. Or maybe they expect the stickers to hold it all together?
-
Macross Δ (Delta) - Mission 18 - READ 1st POST
Chronocidal replied to azrael's topic in Movies and TV Series
If the pilot staying in fighter knows what's good for him? He's not going to go anywhere near the range of the guy in battroid. And he wouldn't have to. That's one other thing speed gains you: range. The guy who zips around at arm's length lobbing missiles at the relatively stationary battroid isn't at much risk from most of his weaponry, because his own weapons inherit a massive energy advantage from his speed. He may still have energy weapons to contend with, but the guy in battroid is a relatively fixed point to unload on, and the fighter can just let loose with everything he has at his own maximum range, while he might be outside of the battroid's max range entirely. Even if the fighter closes with the battroid, the battroid's missiles are at an absolute minimum level of performance, making them that much easier to avoid or outrun. On top of that, if he does close in, because he's moving so fast, his missiles might be coming from more angles than the battroid can effectively cover simultaneously, and he'll have to run. Note, that's all using current day tactics and missile performance, but even 50 years in the future, missiles launched from a moving platform are going to go faster and farther. -
So, question about these, how big are the boxes for them? I'm assuming pretty small, but I'm thinking about grabbing a few and wondering how many I have space in my closet for. I'm starting to think getting the DXs might not be worth the struggle, and these will be much easier to display, and a whole heckuva lot cheaper.
-
Macross Δ (Delta) - Mission 18 - READ 1st POST
Chronocidal replied to azrael's topic in Movies and TV Series
-
I spent a few hours doing a quick and dirty build-up this past weekend, no painting or markings. I just cut loose everything and slapped it all together with minimal cleanup where it was necessary. Overall I'd agree that this kit was better thought out than the VF-25, and it's really nice to see some sort of thigh swivel, but I think it still has some serious compromises for transformation. Warning, nitpicky comments ahead, read at your own risk. Nowwww... all that said, I do like the kit, despite my own issues with the kit design. It went together smoothly, and the fit was close to perfect all around. The newer joint designs allow for a larger variety of poses than the VF-25 kits, and the variety of sliding/locking joints in the fuselage adds a lot to a sturdy fuselage. I admit, I haven't transformed the entire kit yet, but I fiddled with all the mechanisms as I built it, so I can kind of see how it all functions. Outside of the kit itself though, I'm tempted to make a few mods to this and try to fix some of the more annoying features of the design. I really want to slice open the outer surface of the legs, and put some reasonable looking landing gear in there. The angled surface is really just begging for a simple door and an angled F-16 style strut. I might even fill in the slots for the canards, I actually think the design looks better without them. I also want to see if I can come up with a way to streamline the butt end of the spine, because it's an eyesore. I don't know why they ended the fuselage so bluntly, it's like they looked at the YF-30's spine and asked "How can we make this uglier in every way possible?" All they had to do was taper the surface down to blend with the upper side of the weapons pod, but nope, they decided to give it a blunt edge, and leave the pod looking like it was wedged uncomfortably between the engines. I really want a version of this without all the ridiculous airshow colors though. Never going to touch the decals (I'll do my own panel lining, thanks), and that paintscheme is a nightmare.
-
Wow, I completely blanked on this one, forgot about it entirely. Guess I'll wait for round two to pop up... Well maybe, after building up my 1/72 kit yesterday, maybe it killed some of my enthusiasm. Just not that impressed by the design maybe? I don't know. The kit's transformation design felt pretty lacking to me, hopefully the DX is a lot better.
-
I'm actually thinking this one has double gerwalk joints, since you can see the leg twisting in two places in gerwalk. The models don't like trying to add the twisty knee joint section, probably for structural reasons.
-
Ever since the VF-19 Advance, I don't trust any of Bandai's "production" photos. But yeah... Delta is doing a lousy job showcasing the planes, and an even worse job making me want to buy any add-ons. Maybe that effect will carry over into more of the fanbase, and things won't be so hard to order? I don't know.
-
The nose cone literally can't be upside down, because the rotation joint is at an angle, and turning it 180 degrees bends it downwards. I love the way the joint works actually. The problem is, it looks like they either stuck a misprinted or misshapen nose on there, because none of the markings line up. Really, the nose cone looks too short and stubby, as if someone trimmed a few millimeters off the back edge, and stuck it on.
-
Wow... that's a pretty big screw-up with the nose cone there. Makes me wonder just what they did to cause that one.
-
I'm not sure I remember what those were, are we talking the old TOS-style Federation mashups that had the saucer stuck on a single warp nacelle, and the three-nacelle dreadnaught? See, I worked on Bridge Commander so long and saw so many amazing custom designs, I don't think anything the people working on an actual budget make is ever going to measure up.
-
See, I'm thinking from the lighting there, that might actually be the door hanging in front of the gear strut, combined with a bit of glint off the lower half of the strut. Otherwise, I don't see any gear doors there. The pic is too low resolution to really tell.
-
Guessing you mean the Miranda class? That did get used now and again, though I think the original USS Reliant model was modded into the Soyuz class at some point? I don't remember if it was a permanent change or not. The Miranda got seen now and again when DS9 started moving toward big fleet battles. I believe Sisko was also stationed on one at Wolf 359, the USS Saratoga. Looking at the ship again though, it's clearly got TMP-styled phaser bank turrets all over the saucer, and minimal blue glowy stuff on the nacelles, so I'm assuming this is supposed to be a similar timeframe to TOS. It's just that nothing else looks like it fits really.
-
Macross Δ (Delta) - Mission 17 - READ 1st POST
Chronocidal replied to azrael's topic in Movies and TV Series
Haven't seen this yet, but I'm looking forward to seeing how this goes. -
Looking at the legs there, I just realized. Judging by the angles of hip, thigh, and lower leg, I think they actually put in two separate joints for sideways rotation: one above the knee like on the renewal VF-25, and one above the thigh, like the VF-19 Advanced has. Not sure why they felt the need to make it double jointed (yay, more tiny moving parts ) but it should open up some interesting posing options for gerwalk mode.
-
I feel like this is just targeted at the same type of collectors who like to have 1/18th aircraft to hang from the ceiling. Based on the shape and details, I really don't expect it to transform though, unless it's setup to work as a multi-mode kit that you can assemble in different ways. This would probably be the perfect scale to attempt a more sturdy version of the true-to-animation leg transformation that Bandai put in its 1/72 kit, but the whole thing is just too huge to be practical, and you're going to need a massively strong internal skeleton to keep everything from drooping. Aside from the "whoa" factor, this thing is really just too big to display anywhere, and if I was going to spring for such a huge centerpiece, I'd want a fully loaded strike pack set anyway.