Chronocidal

Ok, I couldn't resist, and read the about the first half of book 10, and the last half of book 11, since that's what's been translated. Obviously a lot of stuff was left out, but the overall plot was still pretty much complete. One reviewer was sad that a lot of the characters recently introduced don't seem to be permanent additions to the plot, but I seriously doubt we've seen the last of them by far.

Yep, I'll be grabbing at least a few of these. Thumbs-up for a kickass gerwalk stance, and being able to see the ventral fins from directly above. Can't wait. You know though, I have to admit being really picky in this case.. but one of the most annoying features (to me) of the original? Why couldn't they let the wings sweep straight out? I hope they fix that on this release. They clearly did in the show, and I want to be able to fly my VF-25F across the window at sunset while humming "Cat's Diary" I mean, it's not a huge deal, and probably would be pretty easy to mod, but I'd like more detents in the wing sweep this time around.

If you need proof of how they have improved, look to the topics about the YF-29 and the new v.2 VF-25.

Oh, by the way, more head stripe weirdness. The one Alto crash lands near the SDF on Gallia IV? No headstripe there either. Just randomly watched that scene the other day and noticed it. Seems like the stripes tend to be missing if you get a lot of close-up shots of fighter/gerwalk, but never in battroid.

Yep, really glad I settled for the heavily discounted blue-tinted Alto the first time, and didn't spring for any websclusives. I will indeed be buying one of these, if not two, and can finally have a nicely colored and properly built VF-25. This thing looks good enough, I might not even mind buying a second one to get a bundle with super parts. Curses.. I might have to get them all this time. I just hope they have the sense not to make so much stuff exclusive this time. Alto's armor I can kind of understand, but he used super packs for most of the series. You know.. maybe they'll take a cue from the kits, and release a general super pack set with a set of color coded stickers? That would kind of go against everything they did with the first line (and actually make sense), but boy do I ever hope they will do that. They can have their exclusive bundle packs if they want, but just have the decency to release a customizable generic set that any of the VF-25s can mount. Do that, and I will probably buy each and every one. Now, bring on the fighter mode pics!

I always thought wheels were a nice thing for when you want to move things around on the ground without having to start the engines, but that's just me. Anyway, I'm just hoping to see some of these new cad images I keep hearing about. I can't wait to see what they can pull off with this design.

Still haven't seen the last Shrek movie (thought the third fell a little flat) but I thought Puss was one of the best parts of the sequels. I love actors who can poke this kind of fun at themselves. Probably won't see it in theaters because I prefer my own living room, but it looks awesome. Even awesomer they got Salma Hayek as his counterpart. Here's hoping for a sequel, "Once Upon a Time In Far Far Away." That title just fits the subject matter far too well to not make use of. Bonus points if they can get Johnny Depp to play a blind foreign cat who tries to help them.

Maybe near completion in the sense that they're approaching a kind of climax in the story, but there is still a ton left unresolved. The author has already been reported to be working on book 12. I may have to come up with a massive infographic type thing to show the timelines soon. The timeline in this story has so many loops and twists it's starting to look like someone's knitting a temporal sweater. If the whole masquerade of hiding Haruhi's powers from herself comes crashing down at the end of these books, then the end is likely pretty near. I can't see the story going on much longer without that as the motivating factor. I just can't see it working if she learns how to use her own power at will, because the series dynamic would be ruined. Gah, so much speculation. I wish they'd finish those translations already, it's been a month since the books came out. Edit: Random stupid crazy crossover aneurism moment. I keep finding more things like this. The dub voice for Emiri Kimidori? Hynden Walch, who also does the voice for Starfire, was in the movie Groundhog Day.

Ok, so I read book 9 and a translated portion of 10 last night. Hoo boy. Seems like books 9, 10, and 11 can be treated as one continuous story. Once the alpha/beta numbering in book 9 starts, it continues in sequence in book 10. Book 9 leaves off at a-6/b-6, and 10 starts with a-7/b-7. Not sure if it's entirely consistent, but it looks like each labeled section is about a single day (though the length of the sections vary based on what occurs.. one alpha section is about a paragraph long, and just tells about how Kyon wasted his sunday doing nothing in particular). Now the fun stuff. Anyway.. so yeah. My brain hurts, and I can't wait to read more of this one.

Well, the setup I keep expecting has a lot to do with the 9th novel. Anywho, I'll re-read book 9 tonight, and then go hunting for bits of 10 and 11 to see what happens.

Heheh. I bet half the wishes on that website tree are for her to get better. The site I saw didn't read anything like a rumor; apparently she announced she has a tumor on her pituitary gland, and won't be taking any more voice roles, and is halting her singing career. Now, whether "any more voice roles" means "no more than I already have" or "no more voice work at all" is up for grabs. It could potentially be rumor, but it seems rather specific. Anyway, I guess I should rephrase what I mean.. If the announcement is that the series will be ending, I hope they use Disappearance as the last hurrah, just because of what the plot does after that point. To continue for some amount of time, then just have the series die off mid-plot would be sad. On the other hand, why would they ask for fans to submit wishes just to announce the ending? Considering Disappearance ends on a sort of causality-induced cliffhanger, they can't very well leave it unresolved. The problem is, bringing about the final conclusion for Disappearance involves a story that is arguably a bigger mess than Disappearance, and introduces the overarching plot for the entire rest of the novels. Once they open the can of worms that is the it's going to be a long and crazy ride.

This gave me such a huge grin when I read it. Honestly, this finally says to me that they know exactly what they're doing this time around. The fact that the legs are in that position normally on this one says two things to me. First, they've already planned ahead for the VF-25 so it will be able to properly mount leg packs. Second, if this thing can already mount that huge gunpod while on the ground (with extra arm armor even), there should be plenty of room for even Michael's sniper pod on the new one, even with super packs mounted. I almost wouldn't be surprised if they even manage to pull it off with the armor pack.

Interesting news. I'm not sure what to think, but something is going on again. Another website has appeared, saying there will be an announcement on July 7th this year regarding the series. Rumors Abound for Haruhi Season 3 Sad news about Aya Hirano's statement about her health, I have my doubts a good replacement could be found for a third season. I kind of hope they decide to go out on a high note, and call Disappearance the end of the animated material, but I'll also be sad to never see the rest of the books animated. Either way, the books have been announced to be continuing, so the story isn't over yet. I've been rewatching the series from the start with a friend recently, and went to check out the progress on the novels. Apparently, novel #10 is in the process of translation by fans, and can be found in chapter sized snippets around the internet, though not necessarily all of the chapters are complete. From what I have read... yes, there is a good reason #10 is called "The Astonishment of Haruhi Suzumiya." I'm trying not to spoil myself until I can read a complete version, so I'm going to re-read all the fan translations of the later novels to lead into it. Really glad I saved those somewhere before they were taken down. Speaking of the novels though, Amazon has books 1-5 available in hardcover for about $10 each, so I'm going to be making an order shortly. By the way.. Just a random thought I had looking at this topic.. how come it didn't get called "The Thread of Haruhi Suzumiya" to start with? Should we change it? Edit: Just noticed the link there, taking you to a site for posting tweet-wishes on a virtual bamboo tree. New Haruhi Website

Makes me wonder if Gilliam's VF-25 was an entirely different model, rigged for different animation types. Technically they're the same plane, but Gilliam's never had to go into battroid mode at all, so it could have been a dedicated model to use in gerwalk mode scenes, and possibly rigged to break up / smoke / burn. Now I'm tempted to go look and see if the head was unpainted any time Alto went into gerwalk. It probably is a goof, but not painting the head stripes does remove one rather difficult step from the process of painting the kit.

Oh, sure, it's all fun and games until someone's soul gets sucked into one of the symbiotic mechs.

Better than mine, I'm pretty sure Michael's gunpod was so heavy it made my hips collapse. (ok, not really... I never put it in battroid to begin with. ) But yeah, ball jointed hands.. not so great, especially when you have to be able to remove them. It's basically building a point of failure into your design.

Oh, as far as shared parts go.. I can easily see them reusing a good portion of the lower leg for the v.2 VF-25. I think the feet are identical, and the inner, upper, and lower portions of the lower leg look just about the same. Since those missile pods on the legs move, they could probably just replace those with a VF-25 accurate panel, and call it a VF-25 leg. Now, whether the leg would transform at the correct angles and attach high enough in fighter mode to look right on a VF-25 is another story.

If they pull this off well, I might very well buy them all this time. I bought the movie release Alto because it was so cheap, and a Michael because his colors are just awesome, but all the web exclusive crap just turned me off to most of the others. Honestly? The movie Alto and Michael are the only two valks I saw as coming with a reasonably complete set of accessories. Armor packs deserve the reaction missiles, and Luca is weak without his ghosts. I don't count the speaker set as necessary, because I have a personal vendetta against clip on weapons (after so many Yamato valks came with actual hardpoints, I wanted to slap Bandai for thinking over-wing clips were a viable option). Luca I may not bother with, but I want a good looking Armored Ozma at the very least, and probably a new Super Alto and Super Michael. Plus, I wish Bandai would figure out how popular custom schemes can be, and make a few this time... though... unless they get past their obsession with pasting idiotic stickers of characters on aircraft, forget it. I wish they could understand that Macross has a decently large portion of the fanbase who are only really interested in the aircraft, and give them some realistic military styled schemes instead of these stupid character art billboard ones. Given they've got a VF-25 Master File coming out, I hope they have the sense to collaborate with the publishers and come up with some decent custom schemes like they did in the VF-19 book.

Think the insides of the intake are yellow too, so if you feel like painting more, have at it. I think it looks good that way, but I always leave the intake covers on anyway. Looks less goofy than compressor blades that close to the front.

I don't see them reusing ANY of the armor or super parts.. or, at least I really hope they don't, because the designs for those were bad to begin with. If they took the time to look over the models, and see all the things that could be improved, they'll know they have to start from the ground up. I really do want to see a redone armor pack, one that fits properly, and doesn't put stress on the entire backplate just by attaching it. That's what's kept me from buying one all along. The lack of engineering thought Bandai showed in how they implemented the super and armor packs to begin with is one of the primary things I want to see fixed.

Wow, ok, color me very impressed with the changes they made. The new arms can actually raise at the shoulders! I'm also loving the way the leg mechanism looks like it works, using the actual hip bar to hook into the waist and hold the crotch parts together. I'll have to order one of these soon.

Sweeet, my day has just been made. Assuming they can manufacture some decent super and armor packs, and the quality starts staying on the non-facepalm side of the scale, I WILL be collecting these. I've been aching for an armored Ozma a long time, but could never stand paying for something with that many inherent structural problems. I'll probably still get a YF-29 too eventually, once I get back to my own apartment and have room for it, and hopefully once it goes on sale. As much as I wish they'd just made the VF-25s well from the start, I don't feel too bad about getting two of the originals. Having those will mean that somewhere down the road, when my kids see all the cool toys I have, I'll have a pair I don't feel bad letting them play with. Hopefully they take a hint from Yamato this time around though, and milk those molds for all they're worth (without making every freaking bonus feature web a exclusive). I want to see some of the tribute schemes people have come up with, especially that Klan VF-25S.

No, no, wait.. The dialogue screens will be written by randomly selecting a tweet from the audience! Every time a scene plays it will ask for suggestions to be tweeted to a specific number, and (not so) randomly pick one to display. At the end of the movie, everyone will get to vote on their favorite lines, and the most popular tweeter gets to direct the film for next week.

I do remember many discussions of the decals for the 1/72 kits having problems, either by way of not being the right shape, or just refusing to conform to the surfaces of the model. Some types of decal setting solutions also refused to work at all, while others had better success. Searching through the old 1/72 kit topics should bring up those discussions, and help you know what works ahead of time. As for the printing quality.. I'd put the decals on the lower end of Bandai's ability really. Granted, I haven't built a lot of other Bandai kits, but I've never seen decals printed that way in any model I have ever bought. I think I remember people with experience in building Gundam kits chiming in that the printing for decals in those kits was much better, without any of that speckled look.

Indeed, good to hear. While the missile bays would have been fancy, I can't see them doing justice to them without taking away from the other things the leg has to do, so I'm glad they're focusing on landing gear instead. Looks like I'll have to save up extra this year around Christmas time.