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Chronocidal

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Everything posted by Chronocidal

  1. You know, this is going to sound ridiculous, but of all the things to nitpick at... I think it'd improve things a little if you actually beefed up the gear doors. Granted, it's overtech and all that, but take a look at the front gear on an F-14, or maybe an F-18. The doors just look paper thin right now, as beautiful as they are. What really looks funny to me is how tiny the hinges are holding them on. Newer planes seem to have pretty small joints, but the actual pivots usually get buried inside the walls of the gear well. I couldn't find any good shots of an F-18's gear as an example of what I mean about the pivots, and it's probably a better reference, but the F-14 has pretty big hinges on the front gear doors.
  2. Wow, the VF-19S and VF-17S sold out already? I guess it's understandable, they're both pretty incredible. I do wonder though.. I hope Yamato realizes what a gold mine they are, and ups the production on both molds, especially if it means getting more colored variants. I seriously want a white or low-vis VF-19F like nothing else, and that orange/white trainer version VF-17 from Macross Plus would be an instant buy. With the VF-1 kit version, they kind of catered to every custom scheme idea at once, so we haven't seen many non-canon VF-1 schemes this time around (the only one that comes to mind is the low-vis Focker). But the complexity on the VF-17/19 designs is so much higher, I wonder if they would even consider a kit version. If they do, I'll buy a couple of each, and be set.
  3. Now, if Hasegawa wants my money, they'll make the Falken, Wyvern, Morgan, and Nosferatu. I'd probably buy at least two of each.
  4. That brings up another question though.. Despite HG's best efforts to stifle it, people still seem to be able to get copies of Macross Plus here in the US. Is that only because the Manga Entertainment release slipped through a loophole, and only they can still distribute it, or does that loophole apply to the title itself, and any new release could also be sold here? Either way, with it being the only Macross release to get an official dub and subtitles, it would be sad if they left them out. It also begs the question of how they would release it.. combined OVA/Movie edition, or each separately? I almost wish they would combine the best of both, but the intro to the movie edition would lose a lot of its impact if the VF-11 battle was patched into it.
  5. K, maybe it wasn't AmiAmi that got upset for cancelling orders, but I guess I'll find out. I usually prefer HLJ anyway since I can use FedEx, and I've had less trouble with them than the normal mail. Also checked on the SDFM sets, and yeah, I didn't realize there were two versions. I can't say I'm really interested in that set though, since the animation isn't anything that HD would really improve. The bonus materials are nice, but I really can't justify spending that much for them. I've gotta save for that VF-19F and VF-17D (not to mention the VF-171) later this year.
  6. Thanks for that link, it's ordered now. Well hm, it seems like I'll be getting two copies then, unless I go cancel my order with AmiAmi. I've never cancelled with them before, but I remember people saying they can get annoyed with you, and block you from the site if you do.
  7. Well... when you're talking about a 50+ episode series, you're already going to be paying a ridiculous amount for a bluray release. Having a limited edition on top of that would get prohibitively expensive. I haven't paid much attention to the SDFM bluray set, but did they release a limited box for that series?
  8. I just found a 4 pack of the other TMNT movies the other day for about $10 and had to pick it up for nostalgia purposes... and some odd sense of justice by spending money on something other than something new.
  9. I just gave up and ordered the regular pack from AmiAmi. The extra materials would be nice, but I'm most interested in the game anyway. Once it hits the market, all the materials will probably pop up in other places as well anyway, but I really want some classic VF-1 action on my (yet to be purchased) PS3.
  10. I think I recall at least one item I got where the sale price carried over to when the item came back in stock. It was a Michael VF-25G kit, and I ordered it at about half price when it was backordered. It came much later, but I'm pretty sure the final price was still discounted. If this is a stock clearing sale though, the prices might not apply later.
  11. I kind of regret jumping on the VF-19s at full price, but not terribly. I love them too much for that. I might preorder the F when it comes up too, but given the non-main-character-ness of them, I'm sure they'll wind up at big discounts later on. I just tend to be impatient with the VF-19 series. Aside from those, I used to be pretty good about waiting for sales. I think every Yamato I have except for the VF-19s and my M&M VF-1s was bought from HLJ's sales. I've gotten bad about waiting though, and the shenanigans with preorders for Bandai's stuff has gotten me jumpy.
  12. Always been a huge WC fan, since a cousin gave me the old WCI disks to install on an old computer we had. Played through WCI-III, but never bothered to try IV or Prophecy. I might have to some day. I grew up on these games, and the change to full textured 3D in WCIII was mindblowing. It's still my favorite of the three. I've played Freespace I and II as well, but always preferred the more personal stories in WC. Freespace is a great sim, and the engine has some amazing possibilities (anyone play the "Beyond the Red Line" demo that was released? if you haven't, DO IT), but I always loved how up close and personal the WC universe was. The ship designs too.. Freespace had some good ones, but I always found myself building LEGO WC ships. These days though, I've gotten spoiled rotten by more modern things like X-Wing Alliance, and other military sims that use a full 3D cockpit. Freespace always bugged me with the HUD only viewpoint, and no real point of reference for side views, while WC and the X-Wing/Tie Fighter series always offered views out the actual cockpit. These days, I tend to fly mostly using a padlock-view to track my target, so the old games feel weird. I've been quietly plotting a concept for a new X-Wing game in my spare time for years now (to sum it up quickly: party-based, tactical rpg space combat sim), and if I ever get into game development, I'll be pitching it to LucasArts, but I honestly don't know if they even care about those games anymore. You'd think over the years the demand for a new one would build up, but I think the lackluster reception of Alliance convinced them to ignore the franchise. I'd love to bring some of the old fun of those games back, and the hardware today could probably push the series much closer to the Rogue Squadron games in terms of visuals.. which would go a long way toward making up for the half-assed Death Star II battle in Alliance.
  13. Actually.. I'd say the bottom line is more that Bandai is still focusing on making toys for the mass market, while Yamato's stuff falls more under the collectible market. They overlap a ton obviously, but comparing the quality of productions still leaves a huge gap. Bandai has come a long way with their designs, and they're catching up, but the engineering is still quite a ways behind where Yamato is now. The quality and precision of the manufacturing of the VF-19 is incredible, and it goes a ways toward explaining the higher cost compared with Bandai's stuff. And all engineering issues aside, Yamato's attention to the little details and dedication to accurate representation of the source material consistently blows Bandai out of the water.
  14. I don't think it's that attractive really for it to become that much of a collectors item. I mean, sure it's nice to see, but I don't care for the scheme myself. The low-vis was a rarity because it wasn't something anyone expected to see, and people love doing all the time on customs. This one.. no one expected it because it's so obscure, but I've also never seen a custom of this scheme, so I can't imagine it's that popular.
  15. The Angel Bird is a bit tempting, but eh, I have enough of the VF-1 to last me for a long time. I am tempted to grab a Max VF-22 for my brother though, as a future birthday gift or something. Actually, the ghost for the VF-0 might not be a bad idea. I do have a VF-0A and S after all, and this is the other color scheme.
  16. Nah, with 3D rendering you just get clipping errors out the wazoo. Slow down any of the scenes involving battroid/gerwalk, and watch as the various components of the valks magically pass straight through each other, and fly off their mounting points! If I recall, the scene where Alto hijacks Gilliam's valk in eps 1-2 is absolutely full of that kind of thing. I don't think the limbs are actually physically attached in gerwalk mode.
  17. You know, I honestly don't remember the 171 carrying the gunpod there.. is it because the EX did, but the normal CF version didn't? Ok.. just checked.. the rendering is just really inconsistent. One moment it shows them with the gunpods mounted underneath, the next they aren't there. And whether the gun is shown or not, tracers are still coming from that spot.
  18. Wait... What? Ok, you know, that's actually something I would buy for the laughs. I'm just weirded out by the cross genre/company references. Course.. it actually makes sense in a weird sort of way. I mean.. could be just another time paradox. Actually, now that I think of it.. those paradoxes caused so much weirdness, you could probably explain away almost anything appearing in the game. Now I'm picturing the game going cross universe with Chrono Trigger/Cross, and having Lavos drop in, on top of having Adam pull the Borg into Academia... right before Richard Dean Anderson pops through a gate, and rigs the whole place to explode with a gum wrapper and some duct tape.
  19. I think it's a ratio of about 4/5 in terms of yen/cents, at least last I checked. So, something 8000 yen would be about $100. That's probably very out of date though. Shipping will depend on what method you use, but for a small package like this, it shouldn't be anything near as much as a valk.
  20. You know, I can't help but nitpick at one thing here.. is Bandai just completely unaware that pretty much all modern aircraft have their landing gear painted white, or did they actually change this on the VF-25? The ones attached to the super packs look like they could be painted (or silver, who knows, since the VF-27's were silver), but the VF-25's gear all look like some oddball dark bronze metallic shade. I mean, it's been obvious for a while that Bandai doesn't really have much of a knack for aircraft, but missing that still surprises me... unless they just ignored it.
  21. When you say that, do you mean AmiAmi will be reopening the preorder? I don't have any experience buying movies from them, so I don't know how this situation compares with the VF-171 fiasco. Assuming AmiAmi is already completely sold out on the collectors box (still amazes me how fast they sell out), what other sites will carry it? Amazon and CD Japan, sure, but any other recommended import places to get it? I'm not used to buying actual movies, so my usual list of places to check (HLJ, et all) doesn't really apply here. Also, I'm curious exactly how "limited" this box set is. Limited as in "limited to XXX copies," or just produced for a limited time?
  22. I'll need to see about getting a version hosted at one of the major Flight Sim sites, I'm kind of surprised it hasn't found its way there already. I have to find the files myself first though. I know I still have them, but I've rebuilt this thing so many times, I'll probably need to just make a new one. What I might do is use the GMax version I built instead.. I started working on a serious Combat Flight Sim 3 version, and did a lot work on the landing gear and virtual cockpit, so I should probably see if I can get that version into FS9 and FSX instead. I don't think GMax can export FSX format files though. I don't know how long it might take though, I rarely get long stretches to work on these projects anymore. Real life tends to like distracting me with other things.
  23. Between this and the Sayonara no Tsubasa game, I might have to finally get a PS3. Question though, what's the difference between the collectors box version and the regular hybrid pack? Just the fancy box? I mean, they're both called the "Hybrid Pack" in the listing above... EDIT: Nevermind, just looked at the images. The normal one is just the movie itself it seems, so definitely will be wanting the box set. And yeah, in this case, I'm really not worried about no subtitles. Also.. AmiAmi is already sold out of the collector version.. Is this going to be a repeat of Bandai's shenanigans with the VF-171?
  24. Hell, I'd help fund that. I only have vague memories of the original anyway, I'd just love seeing the concept revisited. I could be wrong, but I don't think it ever had nearly as much of a fanbase as TMNT. Honestly.. I remember exactly 4 things about that series: 1. Space Dinosaurs with awesome spaceships 2. Kids that found out about them and got recruited to help them 3. A flying pink three-wheeled ATV with a tail 4. The Maltese Pterodactyl. Film noir with space dinosaurs. Awesome.
  25. Man, I can feel that pain about not having strong enough rotating joints. Large transforming stuff often times just doesn't work with Lego versions, because the typical rotation joint is only held together by a simple axle, and those are nowhere near sturdy enough for heavy duty assemblies like these (or the hips on my 1/18 VF-1 from ages ago). There are certain joints that make heavy rotating sections possible, but they're not shaped well to be used the way I need them. While they work fine for things like arms, they aren't very useful for things like hips and shoulders. This thing is big enough that the largest type of detended pivot could possibly work though. I don't know the official name of them, but I could show you a picture. I've been using the Lego Digital Designer program recently to work out the proportions and construction for a 1/32 VF-19F, and it's been really helpful for laying out the dimensions, but it can't tell you how heavy something is going to be, or if it will work in real life.
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