Tochiro

Dont have the issue on me right now. It was from 1999-2000 and had a Cowboy Bebop cover. Hope this helps.

Theres a display of some of Tenjin's works over at Shinjuku Marui 1 for anyone in the Tokyo area. The display will run until March 15. Here are some photos that Tenjin posted on Facebook:

Mobile phone camera is your friend ;-) And what is common place to us is probably less so to a lot of other Macross fans.

A colleague of mine just happened to be in Shanghai and sent me the following pics. Looks like Fukuyama was rockin' out as usual but the question must be raised....OMG WHAT THE HELL HAS MAY'N DONE TO HER HAIR?!?!?!?! Will have to see her new do for myself at her next gig at the Budokan on the 6th ;-)

Ok guys, time to start getting pumped! Less than a week to go before the movie comes out so I'm throwing a challenge out there to all MW regulars in Japan, Tokyo or elsewhere - since advertising is starting to ramp up, if you see anything Macross related please take pics and post them here! I want to create a sense of currentness for those on the boards who aren't in Japan. This isnt some strange foreign movie that is thousands of miles away, this is MACROSS, this is BIG and this is happening NOW! I'll start off with some randomness from the last week: This is the most recent pic - snapped in Akiba - the trailer was playing on the HUGE tv at the AX building as I was on my way to meet Save for a few brews. The 3rd movie poster snapped at the AoU (Arcade) show last Friday: They also had posters and samples of the new SQ figures from Banpresto: Of course, the local game shop has been using the recently released PSP game as a tie-in to keep the Macross hype train steaming full speed ahead: I give my official stamp of approval to this window display! Demo Kiosk at Akiba: Picked up an old issue of Newtype for 100yen at Bookoff - and stumbled across THIS. Talk about a badly controlled blast from the past, lol: Well, lets get this ball rollin'! Japan MW readers, get snapping!

my apologies guys, I dun done screwed up. The signing in Akiba is in fact NEXT weekend (27) not today. Unfortunately when I rang Yodobashi Camera last Thursday, they said it was today. Am NOT impressed with their staff at the moment. A big sorry to Vanpang who was hoping to go today.

Well I have a ticket - whether or not I can use it to get in on the first day - thats the challenge! Have also applied for a tic for the talkshow on the 26th - waiting for results. I DID manage to get into the fanclub only thing in March though.

Breaking news! The new Macross Frontier movie has just been completed (literally minutes ago), according to Tenjin's Twitter feed. The 26th cant come fast enough!

Movie merchandise revealed. Nothing Im really after except maybe the 3D version of the Ranka poster: http://www.macrossf-movie-shop.com/

Some disappointing news straight from Chie this morning (via twitter) - while the concert was recorded (they decided to Ustream it at the last moment) there are no plans to release a DVD at this time. To be honest Im not surprised, given how tiny the venue was. Still, I'd say its a fair bet that someone out there recoded the livestream so maybe it will pop up someday...

If you are a huge May'n fan then Id say its worth it - even without the 3D effect the movie would be fine. Unfortunately we didnt get a live performance of Phonic Nation. I think it was reserved just for the first of the 'premieres' at Ikebukuro. Ikebukuro is where the premiere most theatrical anime, etc, and as such its really difficult to get into. Even the Kawasaki one required a draw - I was lucky enough to have my name pulled out fortunately.

You know you’ve been geeking out a little too hard when a seemingly random Japanese guy approaches you in the local convenience store in Kawasaki and asks if you were at the Yoko Kanno concert in Kobe. For those not in the know, Kawasaki is a looooong way from Kobe! Then again, maybe I shouldnt have been too surprised. After all, Kawasaki Cinecitta was right next door to the convenience store in question - and in 20 minutes time it would be showing the premiere screening of ‘May’n the Movie: Phonic Nation in 3D.’ Maybe ‘Premiere’ is a bit of a misnomer - there were 3 ‘Premieres’ staggered throughout the day, with the first being in Ikebukuro in the morning, followed by Saitama at midday, before Kawasaki in the mid-afternoon. The reason for the staggered schedule was to allow both the director and the leading lady herself to hold a small talk after each screening. When I arrived at the cinema there was a long queue of fans lined up to purchase the official movie booklet at the cinema merchandise shop. Fortunately, the staff were savvy enough to have a small counter setup inside the ticket gates dedicated to selling only the May’n booklet, so I picked one up literally 3 steps before entering the cinema and taking my seat. I had no idea what to expect going in. All I knew was that the movie was supposedly a mix of documentary and concert footage from May’ns 2010 Phonic Nation Tour (split into Side A and Side B). Oh and it was going to be in...THREEEEEEEEEEDEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!! And to be honest, that’s pretty much exactly what I got. (See what she’s doing in the poster? OMG she’s actually coming out of the screen!!!!) The movie jumped back and forth between 3 key events - Side A of the tour, May’ns 2nd trip to Singapore, and Side B of the tour. There were also segments from her trip to Malaysia and a bit of her Anime Expo performance. Structurally, the center of the whole thing was a song that May’n was writing called (surprise, surprise!) ‘Phonic Nation.’ The idea had come to her while the last few performances of Side A were wrapping up and she was about to leave for Singapore. She had first been to Singapore exactly 1 year ago (for AFAX) and was surprised by how the fans all sang along with her even though they obviously didn’t speak Japanese. This lead to her wanting to write a song that expressed the fact that all fans of music live under the same sky, regardless of geography - a country of music, or Phonic Nation, as it were. The movie followed her progress writing the song and showed her meeting friends and traveling around Singapore, Malaysia and a bit of the US.There was a scene of her singing from her hotel balcony that was particularly good - although some late shots of her scribbling lyrics in a seemingly empty airport terminal made me wonder whether or not they emptied out an entire transit lounge just to take some footage. These scenes were intercut with songs from her final Side B tour gig at Zepp Tokyo. She did 2 shows at Zepp Tokyo - Sept. 20 and 21 - and the gig on Sept. 21st was the one time she performed Phonic Nation (I went to the previous night’s gig so I missed it, d’oh!). It was these scenes that were done in 3D - there were probably 8 songs or so at least, the majority of them being from Macross Frontier. The 3D effect worked well - adding depth to the stage May’n was on, etc - and few post-prod. 3D sfx were also added, such as 3D stars in the background, etc. Any scenes that werent shot at Zepp Tokyo were in regular old 2D, so I took the 3D glasses off in between songs. Ultimately, I’d say that 30 minutes of the 90 minute movie were in 3D, tops. The movie ended with May’ns performance of Phonic Nation. After the credits rolled, security and camera spotters took up positions around the cinema. I’ve been to my fair share of anime related events and this was by far the most spotters I’d ever seen. There was absolutely no way anyone could get a camera out without being jumped on. They all had black suits and earpieces too. Very...Matrix-ish. Finally, May’n came out, followed by the Director, Hideaki Sunaka. Both took their places in front of the movie screen along with an MC to do a short talk session. Yes, that’s right, May’n DID actually come out of the screen, so to speak! If she did this after every screening, I suppose it would make the whole 3D thing rather meaningless, in a way. It turns out that May’n The Movie wasn’t the first time that Sunaka had worked with May’n. In fact, he had directed her first ever music video back when she was 15! (which would make it THIS ) When asked what his impression of her was now, having filmed May’n The Movie, he replied ‘she has become much more of a woman now.’ ...yes, I thought it was a little creepy too, but it sounds worse in hindsight than it did on the day. As far as regrets go, both Sunaka and May’n agreed that unfortunately they hadn’t shot any scenes of her eating Taiyaki! At one point in Malaysia May’n had run off and found a local Taiyaki stall but unfortunately the cameraman had failed to keep up with her. May’n had learnt one important lesson though - no matter where in the world you may be, Taiyaki....tastes like Taiyaki. May’n also pointed out that what the audience saw in the movie was pretty much her being herself - there were shots where she didn’t have (much) makeup on. There was even a shot of her wearing huge bottle bottom reading glasses while chewing a pencil and thinking of lyrics. All in all, while a fun, somewhat unique experience, it’s difficult to recommend ‘May’n The Movie: Phonic Nation in 3D to anyone but hardcore May’n fans. As a documentary its cute, yet limited, as a concert recording its gorgeous but incomplete, as a 3D movie its 60% in 2D. I’ll give it this much though. It’s definitely 100% May’n. (Click on TRAILER and see MOVIE 1 for the trailer http://www.mayn-movie.com/ )

I do indeed. Will put them up this weekend.

Pia Memorial Card Service has released some photo cards of Megumi Nakajima. These are available in a couple of different sizes and can be found here: http://memoca.pia.co.jp/memoca/servlet/web.NATR_REQF_00?pkey=1081 Damn, these remind me of the Shizuka Kudo and Noriko Sakai telephone cards I used to carry around in my wallet back in high school - only bigger!

Sigh - the poster-ticket sets from the Banpresto booth are already hitting 4000-5000yen on auction. Quite a return on a 1300yen purchase Damnit I detest scalpers.

To give you an idea of how rare the new poster currently is - well, this is the current asking price on auction: http://page4.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/d113847880 For only 20,000yen you can buy it NOW! ;-)

To clear things up a bit, approx 20%-30% of the extras on the extras UMD are from the original bluray release of the movie. The rest are original, with new gag animation, CG opening, talk segments by Megumi and Aya, etc. The version of the movie is, as far as I can tell, identical to the DVD/bluray version, but with the extras stripped out. The game is on one UMD, the movie on a 2nd, and the extras on a 3rd - 3 UMDs total.

I saw it in the lobby at a cinema on Saturday, but it hasnt been used on any flyers or items that the public can get their hands on yet as far as I know. Once the movie has finished screening Im going to make it a priority to hunt down a full sized poster though :-) Well, you've missed Wonderfest unfortunately, although theres a Tenjin autograph session on the 20th (see Valkyries Second Sortie thread). I've only scanned the event info, but it looks like you have to call the Yodobashi in Akiba to reserve a copy of their book, which they give you along with an autograph session ticket on the day. Apart from that, theres a talkshow on the 26th and the Appreciation Festival on March 19 for Fanclub members. These are all the promotional events that I know of at the moment. There is also some sort of promotional thing thats ongoing over at Sunshine 60 in Ikebukuro. It runs thru to April so you might want to look into it. Hope this helps.

Theres a Tenjin autograph session happening on the 20th at Yodobashi Camera Akihabara if anyone is interested: http://www.yurindo.co.jp/storeguide/?preview_flag=0&flag_no=160&post_id=307#%2160

You even need to ask? ;-) W Mylene Night - Concert Report February 2nd is a very special day that a lot of people tend to forget. It’s the birthday of Mylene Jenius, 7th daughter of the most awesome couple ever to pilot a pair of Valkries, Maximilian Jenius and Milia Fallyna Jenius. She is possibly also the first character in a Macross series to make fans of the original feel guilty and somewhat ashamed of themselves when they realised that they were watching jailbait. And what the hell is it with Mikimoto putting the letter L in so many characters names? Sigh. Well, fortunately, someone out there didn’t forget Mylene’s birthday this year, and that someone would be Chie Kajiura. With her kids now old enough to give her a bit more time, Chie has noticeably become more and more active in her music over the past 2 years. Back in early 2010, she decided she wanted to do something special for Mylene’s birthday the following year. After getting all the necessary approvals from Big West, as well as getting not only Tomo Sakurai, but also Haruhiko Mikimoto and Hidetaka Tenjin involved, she started the 6-month process of planning and practicing for what was to be a 2-event tribute to all things Mylene, spanning both Tokyo and Osaka - W Mylene Night. For those not up to speed with their Japanese, ‘W’ is pronounced ‘daburu’ and is often used as a substitute for the word ‘double.’ A double cheeseburger at McDonalds, for example, is often written as ‘W cheeseburger.’ So the pun behind the name ‘W Mylene Night’ was that we were going to get double Mylenes in that both Chie and Tomo would be performing. Now, I’d seen Chie on stage before, but had never seen Tomo do so (the only time I’d even seen her was as she disappeared up a flight of steps at a Chie gig last year - with MacrossWorld regular Gubaba close on her heels!) and didn’t want to miss the chance to see the two of them onstage together. Ok, I take that back - Tomo HAD appeared at the Macross Crossover Live along with Nobutoshi Canna to sing Light the Light, but that was only one song, and she was only one of four people singing at the time. This was potentially the Mylene version of the Fukujin Tengoku concert (Yoshiki Fukuyama and Nubutoshu Fukuyama) back in late 2008 (the double DVD is well worth picking up) so I intended to do my best to go. The Tokyo performance was to be held at Morph Tokyo, and would be a regular concert, while the Osaka one would be a dinner show with themed Macross food. Having just recently travelled to Kyoto for the Macross Frontier Christmas concert, I decided to focus on getting into the Tokyo one, despite the Osaka one having food decorated with GUBABA. Actually, I was in Australia for work when I read about W Mylene Night on Chie’s blog in October. When tics went on sale in November I was in the US on yet another trip, so I was forced to fall back to my last possible resort. This was an emergency. I called Save. And begged. Fortunately, his Ticket-Fu seemed to be on par with my own (quite a formidable feat!) and so when February rolled around we found ourselves (along with a friend from Australia whom I’d kept in the dark about the whole thing until an hour or so beforehand) lined up around the side of Morph Tokyo. The place was tiny. My ticket was number 122 which even at smaller concerts is usually a fairly decent spot, but Morph was so tiny that this put me pretty much in the middle. The venues website lists their full standing capacity as being 250 people, although I’d say we exceeded this since every square inch of the place was packed. I pity anyone who felt the call of nature during the concert because they weren’t going anywhere. On the good side, no matter where you were the stage was ridiculously close. As usual, I tried to get a few shots inside to get a sense of scale and atmosphere. The rest of the pics accompanying this report however are from Chie’s blog. A large, drop-down screen the size of a wall covered the stage while the artists were getting ready. Once the lights dimmed, Dakedo Baby and My Friends were played on screen with their accompanying animation from Macross 7. Then, a pink Valkyrie drawn just for the event by Tenjin scrolled down the screen. Chie’s name was written on one wing, Tomo’s on the other. It was very...pink. The screen then retracted to reveal Chie, Tomo, a drummer, guitarist and bass guitarist. The first set consisted of just two songs - both done as duets: (1) Do You Remember Love? (duet) (2) Fall (duet) Tomo was definitely the scene stealer - she was in full idol mode and was obviously intending to enjoy every last moment of it. Twirling around in a mini skirt and big white boots, she was in stark contrast to Chie who was dressed, as is her habit, entirely in black (it sort of reminded me of the contrast between the two Nana’s in Nana - another anime with great music). These two songs were followed by some chit-chat. Despite rehearsing for 6 months, it appeared as though neither Chie nor Tomo had decided what they were going to talk about and the conversation meandered all over the place, albeit in a fun way. Tomo’s cheeriness worked well with Chie’s more somber tone. It had been a long time since I’d seen a real seiyuu idol do their thing on stage (and when I say ‘real’ I mean of the 1980’s-1910’s vintage). I’d forgotten how infectious such genkiness could be. They discussed their last three ‘dates’ - times they had gotten together to hang out before the concert. Chie, of course, had forgotten about most of them - like myself, remembering dates isnt her strong point and Tomo had a lot of fun playing with that fact, much to everyone’s amusement. Tomo’s solo set followed. I must admit, before the concert it was her solo stuff that I was most concerned about. Sure, she could sing, but not with the same power or intensity as Chie. And what songs would she sing? Would we miss out on Chie versions of some Mylene songs? My concerns were addressed in a way I hadn’t (but in hindsight, probably should’ve) expected - Tomo focused on covers of Minmay songs: (3) My Boyfriend’s a Pilot (私の彼はパイロット) (4) Sunset Beach (5) Love Drifts Away (愛は流れる) (6) My Beautiful Place (7) Anata e no Love Song (あなたへのLOVE SONG) ( Angel Paints (天使の絵の具) Another thing I had apparently forgotten was just how damn well Tomo could pull off a Minmay cover. While it pains me to admit it, she can actually do a lot of these songs better than Mari Iijima can these days (‘better’ in this case meaning closer to the original versions). ‘My Boyfriend’s a Pilot’ was a particular standout. Poppy and fast, Tomo totally made the song her own. And the crowd was totally into it. Another chat followed - Tomo only this time. Surprisingly, it seems as though she is quite the technophobe - she started using the internet just to prepare for the concert (looking up which songs were popular among the fans, etc). She also stumbled across a fan list of her top three performances - and was delighted to see Mylene ranked at number 1. She had also practiced by singing whenever she could, sometimes at home but more often (since houses in Japan are small and insulation tends to be thin) in the car. One day she was singing while waiting for the lights to change at an intersection when she noticed the driver of the car next to her was looking over at her. Freaking out a bit, she turned around and pretended to talk to the passengers in the back of the car - except that there wasn’t actually anyone else in the car with her ^^; Tomo then called Chie back onto the stage for another duet: (9)０－Ｇ LOVE This was another great take on an old classic - while Tomo sang the lions share of the verses, Chie sang a little too, as well as doing the chorus. More talking followed, with Chie taking requests from the crowd for Mylene lines that they wanted to hear Tomo recite (BASARA!!!! was the fan favourite). Chie then started her solo set: (10) Ready GO. (11) PLASTICS (12) Kimi ni todoke (君に届け→) (13) PILLOW DREAM (14) LOVE IT (15) REMEMBER 16 (16) GO (自由な唄) Chie was in fine form as always, although she missed a line once or twice (at least she didn’t flub the same song THREE times in a row like Fukuyama did at JAM Project Symphony later that week). The surprise song of the set was, far and away, Remember 16, since it was an acoustic version. Yes, that’s right - an acoustic Mylene version. And it worked perfectly. I asked Chie afterwards (via Twitter) whether she might consider doing a full acoustic covers album. She replied, non-committedly, that she enjoyed doing acoustic songs. On a side note, while there were only 3 or 4 of us there this time, the venue was so small that she was still able to pick the (now infamous?) Gaijin Butai (Foreigner Brigade) in the crowd. Tomo then came back on stage for a final duet that got the whole room jumping.... (17) Dakedo baby! (だけど ベイビー!) After this everyone left the stage for 5 mins while allowing the crowd to start up their chant for the obligatory encore. And while short, it was an interesting one. Mainly because Chie and Tomo pulled out the one song I never thought I’d ever get to hear performed live: (18) Friends～jikuu wo koete (時空を越えて)～ This Macross 15th Anniversary song was originally a Tomo Sakurai-Mari Iijima duet and, much like the recent 25th Anniversary single (Iki wo shiteiru, kanjiteriu) was performed once at 15th Anniversary event and hadn’t really surfaced since. Of course, I would have liked to hear Mari do the song again, but having Chie and Tomo do it was the next best thing. The crowd seemed just as surprised as I was when the first few notes of the song began. A final talk followed, with Chie commenting that, with all the love the crowd had expressed for Mylene, she wouldn’t be surprised if she was actually born in real life once 2031 rolled around. Tomo was less than enthused by this idea because if the real Mylene was born, then she and Chie wouldnt be needed anymore! Chie calmed her down by reminding her that this wouldn’t be a problem - since they would both probably be dead anyway. Ah yes - you can always trust Chie to dampen the mood, hehehe. Besides which, looking at the average Japanese life span, I would actually expect both women to be alive and kickin’ in 2031. Can you imagine what a rockin’ grandma Chie would make with that hair?!? She also apologised for holding the concert in the middle of the week, but noted that Feb, 2 would fall on a Friday night in 2012 and a Saturday night in 2013 - so we could be in for a few more Mylene tributes in the years to come :-) Judging by the songs that preceded it, the final song of W Mylene Night was pretty much a given: (19) MY FRIENDS Tomo was still jumping around the way she had been when the concert started two and a half hours earlier and between them, the ‘W’ Mylenes finished the gig in style - as they left the stage the retractable screen lowered, and displayed a new Mikimoto illustration of Mylene in knee-high brown boots, a school sweater and glasses. A meet and greet was held afterwards for anyone who purchased a concert hoodie. These came in black and pink and, unfortunately, by the time I got to the merchandise table after the concert, the black ones were long gone. Sorry Chie - I love you, but I’m not going to wear pink for you. That’s just going too far! Overall the concert was fun, although it was nowhere near the event that the Fukuyama/Canna concert had been. For starters, the venue was ridiculously small and tickets had sold out months in advance. There was no room for multiple cameras, although a single camera did live-stream the whole show (although this was only announced the day beforehand so I was unaware until afterwards) - still, a DVD release is probably looking pretty unlikely at this point. Musically, the Minmay covers were an unexpected surprise (in a good way) and the acoustic rendition of ‘Remember 16’ and duet of ‘Friends’ were worth the price of admission alone for any Macross fan. Personally I felt that splitting Chie and Tomo into separate sets for most of the night was a missed opportunity - I was hoping for more of a mash-up of the two - and the band, while capable, was insufficient. Drums, guitar and bass were not enough to cover many of the songs so recordings were often mixed in with them. Tomo was pretty much doing karaoke for one or two of her Minmay covers. Still, the chance to see both performers on the same stage was one I wouldn’t have missed for anything (even if it DID mean waking Save up in the middle of the night) and the positives of the concert far outweighed the negatives. (On a side note, Chie has already announced her next concert in May, and fanclub members who won tickets were able to pick them up on the night - she even autographed them personally in advance.)

Wonderfest Winter 2011 was held today over at Makuharo Messe (better known as the site of the Tokyo Game Show). While I don't always attend this event, I made the effort to head over because I had a friend visiting who was interested, and more importantly, there was going to be a Macross F talk show. Oh, and of course I knew that MacWorld regular Save would be there as always - in the heart of the insanity that is 40,000 plus hardcore Japanese otaku in one place. The Macross talkshow was to be held twice - at 1pm and again at 3pm. Upon arriving just before midday I did a quick circuit of the 2nd hall before making a beeline for the Banpresto booth. A quick chat with the staff confirmed that this was indeed where the talkshow would be held - which was just as well, since the staff over at the Wonderfest 'information' counter had no idea that the talkshow was even going to be held. A little over an hour before the talkshow was due to start there were already a good 50 people waiting in front of Banpresto's tint event stage. The guys at the very front were immediately recogniseable - oldskool Macross fans whom I ran into at pretty much every Macross event. They had been camping their spot since 10am. By 12:40, the crowd had increased to the point that I could no longer get out even if I had wanted to. What had previously seemed like a mediocre position in relation to the stage had suddenly become a pretty darn good one. The screen at the booth looped commercials for Banpresto's new 'Ichiban Kuji' figures, as well their deluxe prize 'SQ' range of UFO catcher figures, with the odd trailer for The Wings of Goodbye thrown into the mix as well. A little after 1pm, a female MC announced the guests as they came onto stage - Aya Endo, Megumi Nakajima and Hidetaka Tenjin. Of course, all photography was prohibited and spotters flanked the stage for the duration of the 50min talkshow. However I did squeeze this one off just as the event was wrapping up (I think Tenjin saw me ^^; ) The MC ran through the expected questions with Aya and Megumi - looking back at Macross F, what did they think now that it was over? Did they have any regrets? etc. She then asked Tenjin how work was going on the new movie since it was due to start its cinema run soon. Tenjin replied that Kawamori hadnt made it to Wonderfest for a reason - it's not that he didn't come, but rather he couldn't. The final edits to the movie were still being made. But he could say this much - that the quality of the movie would surely exceed everyones expectations once they saw it and that it had plenty of elements to appeal to fans of the original series as well as newer Frontier fans. He also discussed how it felt, as someone who started off as a fan himself, to be involved in Frontier and see Macross evolve in real time as it were. Megumi noted that there were a LOT of new songs in the new movie - probably more than the audience is expecting. Aya talked about how she had been driven in her performance by Sheryls strong personality and characterization. The head of figure development for Banpresto R&D then came on stage dressed as Bobby and talked about the new SQ range of UFO catcher figures. The first one (Sheryl) came out in January, with three others (one Ranka and 2 other Sheryl's) due out over the next few months. He went into a lot of detail regarding Sheryl's hair and how the design of the first figure had been rejected and redesigned SIX times. Not just by the manufacturing plant either, but by Kawamori himself - he apparently signs off on all character toys and merchandise personally. Tenjin joked that this could be Kawamori's secret hobby - female figures. Just at that moment, a video message from Kawamori came up on screen, showing Kawamori sitting at his desk....full of DOZENS of Sheryl and Ranka figures and with Sheryl and Ranka towels draped over the office chairs. Yes, he had a big grin on his face too - the whole gag had been a setup. He apologized for not being able to make it to Wonderfest; that he was in final crunch time for the new movie, and hoped that everyone would look forward to seeing it soon. Other highlights included Tenjin introducing his new collected art book 'Valkyries: Second Sortie.' A hi-def version of the trailer from his website was played. Interestingly, he did the narration for the trailer himself (well, he is technically a voice actor as well, after all!). Megumi said she really wanted a copy so he said he would give her one as a present. Tenjin you ladykiller! :-) Apart from the talkshow, Banpresto was selling tickets for the upcoming movie - including free poster featuring the Sheryl-with-flag artwork! Unfortunately they sold out by the time the talkshow ended, sigh. New to Wonderfest this year was a HUGE cosplay area - and Macross Frontier was well represented! Some of the highlights follow ;-) The Sheryl in this pic burnt the holes in her pants and top with a regular lighter - and apparently had a lot of fun doing so! ^^; Scary doll-face Sheryl! Actually I came across this costume in Kobe over Christmas - but thats an event report that is still in the works ;-) On the merchandise side of things - well there were some things I could get pics of, some I couldn't, and some I took anyway and got in trouble for ^^; The following were on display by a company that adds metallic effects and custom paint touch ups to existing figures: A Macross Frontier themed UFO catcher: THIS is the one thing I actually bought - it was unpainted, but the display model looked a little something like this (now why havent they made a Gubaba one?) Yamato had some good stuff on display, although a lot was stuff I'd previously seen at their open showroom back in January: And finally - some stuff from the recent Macross The Ride. The third one is particularly interesting (although I got told off for taking a picture of it). And...thats about all I have to report. A friend with a better camera is due to send me the pics he took over the next week or so. Also, Banpresto had a lot of smaller figures, towels and assorted small merchandise on display but had a no-photographs rule and very tight security, sorry!

Am REALLY digging the extras disc. Theres 5 damn pages listed just for the menu! My strip was Sheryl :-)

3rd "key visual" for the new movie released. I bet we will see this on a lot of posters over the next few weeks. Oops - just realised someone beat me to this on the dedicated Movie 2 thread. ^^;

Nerd rage? No, I think I explained my issues with your original post pretty adequately. If you meant to say what you just said in your last post - which was written a lot more reasonably - then maybe you shouldve written it that way in the first place? The page linked to already said that there would be older stuff spruced up. But more than that - the fact that the guy is just so prolific these days, I dont see how anyone could jump to the conclusion that they would reprint stuff. Seriously I have about 2 Tenjin moments (as I call them) a week now. Which is when Im looking at some random magazine or model and I think 'damn thats some good art...ah Tenjin again.' For anyone interested in mecha at all, he is definately THE go-to guy these days (even doing artwork for the next Chie Kajiura concert for crying out loud). Anyways long and short of it - the original posts translation may have been misleading, but your response came across just as much so.

Well, the vibe was probably better captured in the official PV ;-)