Chronocidal

crud... well, there's one more X-wing I'll have to buy I wish they'd quit the kiddie-proofing and put back the original nose cone though... the Red-Leader/Dagobah one looks like it ran into a wall.

*drools* Yep, definitely know what at least 2 of them are. Can't wait

Good point actually, I guess paintings are a bad example. Art can be interpretive that way, and the commercial market has its own ways. What I mean is that leaving flaws in that, even if the overall result is good, has a way of tainting the whole thing. If this were a mainstream aircraft replica, something like an F-14 or F-18, people would just show their opinion with where they took their money, since there are multiple manufacturers of stuff like that. Unfortunately, Bandai is the only option for getting a VF-25 of any kind, so they really aren't losing any business to anyone else by not fixing the problems.

To be fair, it is their first high quality Valk designed in-house. There are going to be bugs to work through. Unfortunately, I think we've become spoiled by Yamato really. Think about it.. when Yamato first began making Valks, we grabbed them up like crazy, since nothing else that good had ever been available. Yes, the Mac+ stuff had problems, and the 1/60 V1 VF-1 wasn't PT. The real boom didn't start until the 1/48 came out (and there was much rejoicing). Now, it's several years later, and Yamato has had tons of practice at this. Despite the QC issues on some, they've consistently been producing beautiful planes, and being as faithful to the fans as possible. Bandai is completely new to this. Let's face it, we're addicts who keep needing more and more detail/accuracy to get a Valk-based high. If Yamato had never started making Valks, and Bandai was unleashing this on a fresh market, we'd probably be much more accepting. That being said though.. there are problems with this plane that go beyond accuracy. And the main problems are things that I seriously doubt have anything to do with the translation between CG and real manufacturing. I could almost understand the legs, but the misshapen nose and fugly gear just kill it. It makes it look like they don't care. Like imagine if DaVinci had painted the Mona Lisa with her eyes crossed, and six fingers on each hand, and refused to fix it? It's a great work of art.. but the stupid flaws left unchanged would kill an otherwise beautiful painting.

Personally, I've grown to care less whether the ship has sounds/lights.. I have two FX X-wings (well.. one and a half, I bought a spare fuselage off ebay for the good nosecone to stick on one of my Red Leader versions ) That A-wing just looks too cool, and electronics might just mess it up. I never cared for all the gimmicks the FXwing had, especially the flight handle. I'd really like to get a B-Wing, but the Y-wing has never impressed me much... it's just too much like a joke machine, since they stubbyfied it. The B-wing looks better somehow, and the A-wing and FXwings look nearly perfectly scaled, but the Y-wing got the (very) short end of the stick. Now that new pilot pack is awesome... I considered getting it just to have a Wes Janson figure, so I can use him to torment my Wedge figure.

oooooh.... *drools* I might have to get one of these. grr.. first the X-30, then the F-22, now this. Only thing that saddens me is how many F-14s and F-16s had to die to produce all these.

Hmm... sad, now that I have an actual job, I dunno if I want to buy the thing. I'll give them this, it looks like a VF-25. Unfortunately, it also looks like a flawed bootleg of what Bandai could actually put out. Even if the thing is utterly sturdy, and very detailed overall, it doesn't look like it for several reasons: 1- the legs don't fit right, making it look like the leg joints are floppy/drooping. Even if they're sturdy that way, it just looks wrong. 2- the nose is angled down too much, and doesn't match the original profile well, again, making it look like joints in the nose are just droopy and misaligned. 3- the landing gear are an utter and complete joke. Seriously, I think this is the worst part. There is no excuse for something that stupid looking when the rest of the plane is so detailed. The landing gear on a $6 toy I bought at Disneyland are 10x better than that, and they don't even roll. The least they could have done was put the tire on one side of the strut, rather than in the middle. I can understand the diecast, and a little proportionality difference overall.. but when they managed to make a model that keeps the shape of the plane so much better, it becomes obvious that they know it could be better, and just aren't changing it. I'm not even talking about how it moves or transforms.. the shape is just different. In the day of hand drawn animation I can understand that easily, but they've been working from computer drawings from the start. Shape should NOT be an issue, period. That said... I may still get one eventually. I'll probably get a bunch of models too, but it'd be nice to have one sturdy one I don't have to worry about breaking. If it didn't cost so much, I'd customize the heck out of it in a heartbeat to fix the problems though. Edit: You know, comparing that recent lineart for Luca's version with the line drawings in the 1/72 kit instructions... I seriously wonder if they just somehow managed to mount the nosecone upside down.

this what you were thinking? Btw, I just noticed this... you can actually see the edge of the saucer in the viewscreen. I wonder if they're going to ditch the whole "eye of god" viewscreens they seemed to have in later trek shows, and go with something a bit more realistic?

roflcopter Need translation.. i love the windows blowing out, it somehow fits so perfectly. Btw, that made me wonder how hard it would be to make Guitar Hero/Rock Band versions of MacF music...

To be honest, I wouldn't mind hearing english versions, provided they were done with the same level of quality. Fire Bomber American was... strange. The voices just didn't have the same feeling at all. If you could get people with similar voices to duplicate the emotions that May'n and Megumi put into their versions, I'd be all for it. Translation often seems to be an issue with those unfortunately. That recent english fan version of the DYRL theme was pretty well thought out, but then you also have things like the english version of Voices...

Gah...soo hard to choose one. I agree the medley is good for a taste of everything, but it really depends on what type of mood I'm in. I love Infinity, Lion, Yousei, and Northern Cross as stand alone, or in the medley. But I think Diamond Crevasse really is my overall favorite (I would've liked more of it in the medley really). It fit so perfectly in the concert/farewell sequence of.. I think episode 7. I dunno if any other song in the whole series topped that sequence for me. The pairing of Infinity with the Macross Quarter attacking in the next ep comes close though.

Hmmm.. I just unearthed my old shuttle from storage, and found out the plastic has yellowed something fierce (probably from heat, it's been boxed up for years in a garage). Anyone have any recommendations on how to restore it? I've considered giving the whole surface of the body a light sanding to see if it whitens, and even considered stripping it down and painting it, but I'd rather modify it as little as possible (I already went to town on the cockpit instruments with paint markers years ago).

Well, I finally got myself an X-30 (after.. oh, about 18 years since I first saw it). Lucked out, and the target I walked into yesterday had a full stack of them. Went back later, and they added a Rattler, but figured one toy I don't have room for is enough for now (still organizing my new place, and need to find room for my old Crusader Shuttle and Hurricane before I buy any more ). I think I'm going to grab at least one of those Raptors though... that is a thing of beauty, especially for $25.

Ok, I have to ask.. does that thing have metal axles/gears in the hips? I've been trying for several years to find a way to support the hips in my 1/18 VF-1, and still keep it transformable... forget perfect transformation, I'd just love the hips to hold the thing up, even if I have to use a 1/60 V1 type of hip joint connection. I guess the problem is that no matter how I look at it, with the pieces I have, the joint has to be supported by a single axle. Are there stronger joints available, that would still allow some posability and strength in a VF-1-type hip joint?

Heh.. 1/60 nothing, I want one in 1/48 to go next to my other aircraft models.

ROFL at the Ranka fan section in the back.

Wow... I hadn't seen the gear yet, and I thought you all were kidding. Seriously, over the summer I saw a $6 toy from Disneyland that had better landing gear than that. I'm guessing that Bandai has it's collective head so far up a Gundam's cockpit, they haven't actually seen a real aircraft before. Btw, takeoff/landing angles usually aren't quite that high... I think the F-18 generally lands with about 15 degrees angle of attack, and while I'm not sure about any military regulations, civilian FAA regulations require about a 15 degree rotation clearance to certify an aircraft to fly.

Good grief people, this isn't worth that much of a debate.. Considering the salute was straight toward the camera, you might as well say he was saluting the fans.

Well, just a thought.. they did say the Vajra were from another galaxy originally. What actually called them to ours? Or, are there swarms throughout multiple galaxies, and this group just happened to migrate to ours? I guess the problem is cause and effect related... Aimo is a Vajra mating song, so when they heard it, they came. But here's the catch.. where did humans get it from, if not from contact with the Vajra? Do we know for certain the Vajra and Protoculture aren't related? I guess it can be assumed, since if the PC knew about fold quartz to begin with, the whole story would've been a whole lot different. But.. I guess my thought is, what if the PC themselves were not restrained to this galaxy? Or, could they have come into contact with the Vajra in the past, and recorded Aimo somewhere that Mao discovered while looking for Sara and Shin?

Yub Yub, Commander. *ROFL* Sorry couldn't resist. btw, major props to anyone who gets that reference. Forget the ginormous shoulder pads, I wanna know how many times they had to wash and dry that uniform before it fit her. And don't give me the eva plug suit excuse.

O... M.... G. *falls over* I don't think I've ever seen so many bricks of pure awesome being shat in such a short period of time. I seriously had to rewind and rewatch bits of it multiple times to catch what was going on, and check myself to be sure I was actually seeing what I thought I was seeing. where to begin... (watches it again while typing to try to remember it all.. the Veoh raw is not bad, but I can't wait for a high quality one) K, first off, that was the most awesome medley of Macross music I've ever heard. And I completely missed it at first lol.. I got through about 3 songs before it registered that the music had changed Now what I want is a complete version of Diamond Crevasse done at that tempo though.. heck, I want an extended edition. The ghost fighters.. even without dialogue, it looked like Luca had programmed in his own AI system for the drones (System: Judah his screen said), probably to outwit the others. The Macross 11 fleet didn't look quite like Frontier, it was the type that had buildings poking through the dome, plus I recognized a few Mac7 looking ships around it (was it the Einstein that was tetrahedron shaped?). The Islands did look more like Frontier's, but the ships didn't look as big. OMG, Ranka fold-slaps Sheryl! K, looking at the attack on Galaxy.. wow. Quarter used the ENTIRE CARRIER AS A PPB KNIFE. Looks like they used it to slash at the cannon arm of Battle Galaxy a bit, then they moved in close, and used the gun arm for a surgical strike to rip open the main hull. I cracked up as Alto pulled Ranka out.. right at that moment, they threw in Sheryl singing a couple lines from "My Boyfriend is a Pilot" Also the salute Alto threw the two as he headed off was pure DYRL. And I just realized.. the little gold streak spreading the idea for the vajra to disobey Grace was Ai-kun. He flashed by so fast, I had to freeze frame it to see what it was. First time I just thought it was a ship. Looks like after the Quarter Daedalus attack (WIN!) the Galaxy's gun went all splodey, and Battle Frontier pulled a PPB punch on the torso. When Alto and Brera came up on Grace, there were bunches of cruisers there btw..… I only caught two clearly, but there was a lot of cover fire coming from them. Interesting music tidbit for those inclined: the chords of the DYRL theme and Lion are the same, at least for the ending bits of DYRL, and the chorus of Lion. Sheryl and Ranka were overlapping the two during the entire run toward Grace. Ok, I'm probably not the only one, but the instant Klan handed Alto Michel's rifle, I started laughing, thinking, "no…... LOL ... you can't be serious..…" But they were. And all through my head, I couldn't stop the echoes, of "BOOOM!! HEADSHOT!!" Interesting how they took out the head, and separated it.. probably not Bird-human related on purpose, but it made me think a sec. As far as who was singing Aimo... I do think it was supposed to be the Vajra themselves, but it was sung the same as when Ranka saw the vision of her mother (same styling, notes slurred in the same places where Ranka pronounces them more clearly). How this'll ever be explained, I'll wait for eagerly. It may have been a memory of Ranshe herself singing it. I'm positive the locket picture was of Minmay, and in her DYRL costume. Makes me think of two possibilities.. One, Bilrer may have actually been at the battle when she sang.. Or two (and this one will break my brain if it's true) Ranshe is his and Minmay's daughter. The bloodlines work, Ranka's 1/4 Zentraedi. How it could ever happen, I don't know, but there's nothing to disprove it that I know of, and it would explain his attachment to her. The SDF-2 may have been lost after their encounter, or Bilrer may be a survivor of whatever happened. Phew. Just wow. Personally, I'm not too worried about the triangle. To be honest, I don't think it could've been resolved well without one of them sacrificing themselves to save the other, which wouldn't have worked as well as this did. Now, the big question that remains… How did anyone ever actually learn Aimo?? The idea that it was a mating song between vajra swarms makes perfect sense for their reactions to Ranka.. but it still doesn't explain how it was discovered, unless they recorded it from vajra fold communications when they discovered them, and Ranka's singing it brought tons of them. Still lots of open ends.. lets hope the movie brings some more answers. But no doubt about it.. this episode was pure unadulterated Macross fanservice, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

*has crazy dreams of seeing these kits stocked next to all the bitty gundam kits in the local walmart* Given that I don't see myself buying the bigger 1/60 for a while, I'm probably going to try and gather quite a collection of these. The only thing I worry about (besides the landing gear, but I'd rather display it flying anyway) is that I have yet to see anyone get the wings to be level. I know it's part of the transformation, but the fact that even those incredibly detailed builds couldn't get the wings level in fighter mode has me a bit worried. I'll probably build it out of the box first, but I worry that I'll screw something up by hacking away at the wing joint to get them to lay flat.

QFT. Seriously people.. yeah.. we need a catapult to launch the planes... in space. The YF-19 I understood, it was for atmospheric service. Now, granted, the VF-25 looks like it could fly in atmosphere too, so I guess that's the justification (even though we haven't seen a sea-based carrier since SDFM). Space is much simpler.. sheesh, turn off the gravity, and you can launch them with a slingshot.

Or would that be Macross F: Death and More Death?

I keep seeing oodles of vehicles at my local wal-mart.. VF-19s, V-wings, anakin's modded blue/white striped jedi fighter, and one or two AT-TEs. None of the epIII style jedi fighters though. Been tempted to get one of each type, but I don't have the room nor spare cash right now.