Chronocidal

Absolutely YES, for the same reasons you listed Graham. I guess features I'd like would depend on the scale... What size will they be? If I could get something to display around 6-8 in in length, it'd be great. Clean lines would be a must (ie, I want a YF-19 that looks like the sunset shot ), but as long as the fighters are sleek, I would do without a lot of features just to get a simple solid plane to zoom about my desk. FPs would be nice, but not if they complicate things, or reduce the sturdyness of the fighter. Heck, if the planes looked nice enough, I personally wouldn't care if they even had clear cockpits.. a solid painted canopy would be fine by me, but if they can get a good looking cockpit in that scale, I'd say go for it. Swing wings are great, but only really a must for a few Valks. The moving feet would be a nice touch too, but I don't think they'd be necessary. High speed mode for the YF-21 would be very nice if they can do it without leaving the wings flappy. If retractable gear would be possible, it'd be nice, but removable is fine.. maybe they could do what Fine Molds did for their X-Wing kits.. they made the entire gear-wells removable, and included closed and open versions so you could swap between the two, and you'd still get a fully detailed well with open doors when the gear were down. Plain stick landing gear would work too.. I'll probably just leave them on the stands anyway.

I don't think that would help... I think they both have far too much estrogen to ever produce anything that looks boyish. Well... unless nature pulls a fast one and they have a girl who looks like Duke Nukem.

*wipes soda from monitor* Thank you, I don't think I'll sleep for a week now. then again.... *loads as avatar* Maybe now I'll stop confusing wolfx's posts with my own

I think that's the best explanation yet for Alto's scream at the end. I didn't get to watch the sub till today, but that makes perfect sense. He's basically promised different people different things (Sheryl to stay with her till the end, Luca to bring back Ranka before Nanase wakes up, and to top it all, he promised Ozma he'd watch over Ranka a while back as well), and now he's having to break his word because of his choice. He's decided to stick with Sheryl, which may or may not wind up being a dead end death spiral into pain. In the process, he also broke his promise to Luca, let Ranka run off with the guy he hates in order to befriend the bugs that killed Michel, was abandoned by his comrades in arms to go rogue, and signed on with a hitler wannabe.... yeah, I'd scream too. It looks like he's basically realized there can be no happy ending the way things are at the moment.

I don't know if that would work, since I think the shield is hollow underneath for ammo storage. I've always wondered if the tops of the shoulders (those small vents) might flip up similar to the VF-11, but mostly I figure it just uses it's control surfaces to slow down like the Super Hornet does (rudders turn outward, flaps open wide, small panels open, etc.) I do think it's interesting how much variation you can get in the YF-19, especially in terms of shape/size. The aircraft appears similar to both the Hasegawa and Yamato versions at different points in the anime. For instance the sunset shot: This is about as slim and detailed as you ever see the plane, and while the shape is a little different, it looks a lot like the Hasegawa in terms of how thin the plane is. On the other hand, the lineart is closer to the Yamato. To be honest, I've never liked the new 1/60 Yamato sculpt very much. I know they had to make room for the internals, but that gullet just bothers me. I may eventually get one anyway, but I hope to someday make my own version in CG that'll give a better fighter mode. What I am liking in recent times is the move to CG in Zero and Frontier. It doesn't have some of the old school charm of pure animation, but it generally gets rid of the anime magic that tends to make designs like the YF-19 so hard to duplicate in real life. Consequently, the VF-0 and (and hopefully the VF-25) toys are pretty much identical to the anime in all modes. In my case though.. using the Hasegawa drawings was decided by one main fact: I think they're computer generated from the model molds. Same as with those two computer renders of the Yamato, the Hasegawa drawings line up perfectly with each other in all views. In contrast, try making a model that matches the lineart top and side views, and you'll give yourself a headache. The sizes of various parts don't quite match up in the various schematics, and you wind up fudging a lot of bits to get a working model. Now, on the other end of the detail spectrum though... in the anime, it doesn't make sense to pack in a ton of detail, because you just have to keep drawing it over and over, and it doesn't stay consistent. But when you really want details, it's easy to go a bit crazy. My flight sim models tend to go more toward that ideal, but trying to transform them would be hopeless.

I've actually got several sets of blueprints myself, I'll see how many I can find on my backup drive. Ok.. here comes a whole mess of pictures for comparison. K, first, a few side views: Yamato 1/60 (I think) Hasegawa 1/72 kit instructions Old lineart pic I got somewhere Top Views: Yamato 1/60 Hasegawa Lineart

Or maybe hmmm.... as much as I'd like to hear Sheryl's version of that, just to throw everyone off, I wouldn't put it past Kawamori to have However, if that happens, I'll eat my computer.

You got a real beauty there, especially for only having 4000 polygons I've made a few YF-19 models before, but since they've all been for flight sims, I've never tried rigging them up for transforming, and they've all been based on the Hasegawa fighter kit, so they'd look positively hideous as a battroid. I really know what you mean with regards to having control over the polygons though.. I'm a bit obsessive over which way triangles face in my models, and I used to build things one polygon at a time with Rhinoceros 3D (I'd actually build a curve framework, then fill in the polygons). I've since moved on to 3D Studio Max (the plugins used to export Microsoft Flight Sim aircraft models are all for 3DSMax or Gmax) and I fell in love with making complex surfaces with spline cages. But I still pick over the meshes polygon by polygon to make them look right. One thing that occurs to me though, do you have any plans for this model? The reason I ask is that while you say you weren't being stingy with polygons, this still is a low polygon count compared to many of the models used in games today (my flight sim models usually range in the 20k-50k polygon range for comparison ). In fact, a model of this detail level would be perfect for use in action games, since developers like to keep polycounts low to allow lots of objects on screen and keep framerates high.

Thanks for those pics, I never knew that kit existed I guess my main thought about it though... even if PT is possible, the plane isn't The way the legs work leaves almost no room in that thing for engines at all. The VF-4 is kind of unique in that way.. since most Valks have the hip/leg/foot assembly formed from the full intake/engine/nozzle parts, it's not so hard to imagine the engine being located mainly in the lower leg section. Since the intake is actually at the knee joint on the VF-4, it makes things a whole lot more complicated in terms of internal components. There's obviously no room for an engine in that kit, and I wonder if it'd even be possible to fit one in there with the way that mechanism works. On another note, just curious... are there any other Valks where the cockpit remains facing forward like the VF-4?

*splurts drink all over monitor* 1970's US NAVY camo VF-1J FTW!! Note, it's not actually a Black Aces scheme, despite the SVF-41 squadron designation. It's actually more a cross between old fashioned VF-84 Jolly Rogers, and VF-142 Ghostriders. VF-142 F-14 VF-84 F-14 Actually now that I look at it, it might be a mix of all 3, including Black Aces.. looks like there's a red spade eyepatch on one eye of the skull. Btw, is that new YF-19 demonstrator scheme supposed to be the first YF-19 prototype? It looks similar to the blue/white scheme I've seen done somewhere before, just as speculation as to what it may have looked like.

Hmm... I can't wait to see how the VF-4 would work.. I have a hard time believing that thing's transformation is even possible, let alone PT. That leg mechanism looks like detachable legs would almost be a must before it would work. That's not to say I'm not gonna snatch up each and every one of these though. Depending on how they work, I may just display them all in fighter mode anyway.

Once I get settled into my new place/job, I may have to pull out my tablet and chip in a bit.. or maybe adapt a few of these to 3D. I've been wanting to get back into drawing by hand more, this would be a great start I think. Just sooo many projects I keep coming up with for myself.

Actually, I kinda had that thought myself. The guy in the picture looks like he could possibly be Ozma's brother. Although, that would probably lead him to having Ranka call him uncle, instead of brother... *shrugs*

I've been waiting till I'm employed to give in to my valk addiction. So far, only have a solitary 1/48 Super Hikaru -1J. Soon as I start getting paid, I hope to find at least a 1/48 Roy and strike pack, and maybe a 1/48 M&M set if I'm lucky. After that, going 1/60th and getting the Mac+ set. I can hear my wallet whimpering aready...

Don't forget, Ai-kun is actually the illegitimate child of Gubaba and Gamlin.

Speaking of sweeping things under the rug... do we know if Gallia IV was some sort of a Vajra homeworld, or just a large nesting of them? One of the critters we saw walking around looked a bit like the thing in the tank in the internet photo if remember right. Given that's where the Global was, is it possible that the 117th discovered the Vajra on that planet to begin with? Hmm.. so if Sheryl is 17-18 in 2059, she may have been as old as 12 when Grace found her in 2053, which is still 5 years after the 117th went poof. Seems to me like there's plenty of time there for her to have been an orphaned survivor who fell in with folks from Galaxy, and was later put in an orphanage. Being un-implanted could have been a turn off to possible adoptive parents on Galaxy.

Hrmmm.. *gears grinding in brain* Based on the article Klan and Michael found, we do have a set date for when Sheryl was picked up by Grace, right? I'm not sure what that date is, but there's plenty unknown about after the 117th's disappearance that she may yet be connected somehow, besides just through Grace. Ok, so the flashback Sheryl has shows her standing around with a teddy, in a decent looking dress, while people walk by. This doesn't have to disagree with her street urchin days. We know she has the V-Type virus from somewhere, probably Grace. But lets say she's had it since her very early childhood, and she was in an orphanage. That type of fact would make it very hard for her to be adopted, probably leading to her running away at some point, where she ends up in the slums. Actually the virus isn't a requirement for this, she may have just been an extremely stubborn little girl, and no one wanted her, so she winds up on her own. Her resentment toward Galaxy may be that she was born and raised naturally, but that made her an unwanted child (think GATTACA). The big question is how she became an orphan in the first place. I'm not ready to buy into the whole idea that she's related to Ranshe.. they look alike in the artwork, but things don't add up at all.. First off, if Ranshe is Sheryl's mother, what's the connection with Ranka? They all but confirmed Ranka's relationship to her in the "Mother's Lullabye" episode. Granted, they didn't specify whose mother she was, but given that Ranka and Brera both know the song, Ozma keeps having flashbacks of Brera as a kid, and the Vajra queen showed Ranka an image of Ranshe singing Aimo too, I think that's a bit obvious. So lets just assume for a moment that it's a given that Ranshe is Ranka and Brera's mother, as well as Sheryl too (Sheryl/Brera= twins? ). But Sheryl isn't in any of the flashbacks to the 117th, wasn't in the picture Alto saw on the WTF-1, and you'd think with her love of singing she'd know Aimo too. Ok, so Ranshe's a scientist with two kids with her at her job with the research fleet. Yet Sheryl was left on Galaxy? I don't buy it. There'd be no reason for Sheryl to not be with them if they were actually related. Now, this doesn't rule out some connection to the 117th entirely.. Sheryl may very well be the child of parents who were killed there. She may even have been another survivor, and not having an Ozma of her own to take her in, she wound up on Galaxy instead of Frontier, as someone who really didn't fit in. Actually, all of the "Fairies" may have been survivors of the 117th. I wouldn't put it past Grace to have kept tabs on all the survivors for possible exploitation. Since Sheryl was an orphan, she was probably the easiest one to manipulate. Who knows.. Ranka and Sheryl may have been childhood friends. I doubt that though, since they would probably remember each other (I know it's a long time, but I do know that I remember quite a few of my friends from age 5-6). Either they never met on the 117th, or Sheryl was never there at all. As fun as all these theories are, it's still very likely that Sheryl was just an orphan on Galaxy that Grace picked up and infected herself.

Hmm.. actually, even if Alto is Mao's daughter, I don't see it being an issue with Sheryl, since Sheryl most likely isn't related to Mao at all. Hmm.. so, if Mao disappeared 11 years ago, alto would've been 6-7 years old, young enough for those flashbacks easily. Only problem is that I don't see Mao being even near Frontier around that time. Also, I watched the flashback in Ep11 again, and his mom really doesn't look like it could be Mao. The hairstyle is wrong, based on the computer photo, and she's wearing fancier clothing, more like Alto and his father. Edit: Omg.. I love freudian typos. Yeah, Alto would have to be Mao's son, not her daughter.

Hmm.. the whole "gems make a brain link" idea sounds pretty on the spot actually.. it would explain a lot, especially the concert scene. I had thought that was just for dramatic purposes, but now that I think of it, it reached Alto too. He didn't get a whole floaty space-type vision, but he was much further away. Actually.. wow, yeah, that fits in other ways too, and if it weren't for the Vajra singing to Ranka at that one point, I'd say it throws into question whether the song is significant at all. What better way to screw up communications than to flood the bandwidth with a stronger signal? Assuming the crystals really do transmit singing/emotions, or possibly tactical information to the vajra, Ranka's song was basically flooding their comm channels. ECM- emotional counter measures. If Sheryl managed to transmit her disease to both Alto and then to Ranka though... I dunno what they'll do. I still think it's far too early in the series for them not to find a cure for her. We already have people doing covert research into her situation, and they have the resources at hand (not to mention plenty of episodes) to pull a last minute save.

Thanks for that, clears up a lot. Hmm.. so the 117th. What occurs to me is that there's much more to that incident than we know about yet. I wouldn't put it past Grace to sabotage the whole thing, but I don't know why she would. Her reasons for anything she has done are still pretty vague. Consider this though.. the vajra used Ranka's mother's image to communicate with her, which means the vajra and her mother were probably on good terms in one way or another. Could there have been a falling out among the research team? Dunno how Mao may have been involved, but I get the feeling Ranka's mother and Grace didn't see eye-to-eye. I'm starting to think the Vajra may have been a genetic engineering project via virus (trying to mimic the PC) and that the virus itself is a human creation. Could be that the vajra were discovered as small relatively safe creatures (the one in the tank looks like the queen, but on a much smaller scale), and when it was found out that they produced those crystals, the 117th tried to forcefully evolve them into something like livestock to harvest crystals from, or possibly intelligent creatures that they could control. Obviously the "control" part failed, but I wonder if the infection evolved them into their current state. What I'm thinking is this... Grace may have betrayed the team, and run off with incomplete research on a way to control the monsters they created, while Mao and Ranka's mother may have found the answer after she left, and implanted it into Ranka before Grace's machinations caused the vajra to attack the station. The virus may actually be something that allows the vajra to communicate with humans on a telepathic level. What's funny to me is that the vajra recognize Aimo at all.. think about why they would have even heard it to begin with. Either the vajra in the tank was alive, and heard Ranka's mother singing it (not too likely I think, since you probably wouldn't associate yourself with a captor that way, or have any fond memories of music you heard), or the vajra were Ranshe's pets. She may have actually sung to them at one point or another, while caring for them.. would explain why the queen communicated with Ranka with her image. Btw, that site with the pics from the intro also spawned this awesome bit of ASCII.

Actually, that whole bit was meant to be about Grace, I may have forgotten to make a good transition there.

Grrr... need... subs... Btw.. loved the commercials in the horrible raw (I want that VF-1J foldout XD)... but "La Bamba" sounds incredibly strange in Japanese.

Actually I tried watching that sub too, and while yes, Veoh is low quality, this sub was literally unwatchable. I'm not going to post the link, but I'll quote: "Macross Frontier 17 Sub @ZomgAnime.com Uploaded again and again with super sized subs for awesome" Um, no. Trust me, not awesome. What they failed to realize is that those subs are so huge they cover most of the picture. Pair that with the fact that they use identical font color and size for song lyrics (both the original and translated versions mind you), and it's a disaster. There's so much text that they can't fit entire sentences on the screen, so by the time you figure out what line is actually the dialogue, it's gone. Someone on there complained that they had to pause the video every time new subs came up so they had time to read them. I gave up after 5 minutes of trying to figure out what Ozma says in the first 30 sec of the episode. Edit: Actually, I take that back.. I had to go back and be sure I wasn't just being picky, and I ran across this gem of a freeze-frame. Someone help me here, I can't tell...which is he calling tasty, his heart or his guitar?

MS definitely doesn't put any claim on models put in Flight Sim, there are many large businesses out there that make a living just by making and selling high end add-on packages for MS Flight Sim, including aircraft, scenery, sound effects, etc. It's a very diverse business, and I've gotten a bit of the action myself through the F-14 package I helped build a couple years ago. I do remember playing Freelancer a LOT though, especially a large Star Wars conversion called Freeworlds. The one thing they never bothered to make available though was a method to make new hitboxes, meaning any new ship had to use the collision boxes from existing Freelancer ships. It was a disaster for a multiplayer SW mod, since nothing in that game even nearly resembles a tie fighter, and it made the game stats nearly impossible to balance.

I think part of the reason they contracted out was because they've never done a military model before. And frankly, considering the work that went into that cockpit, I'm glad they did. The exterior needs a good amount of work still, but the interior is a beauty. Strange that the textures won't show up though.. usually direct FS2004 aircraft will work normally in FSX, but Acceleration has caused a lot of problems with old textures... something to do with reflection settings. I'll have to experiment when I get back to my apartment, which should be tomorrow afternoon.