Radd

$200 is about what you'd need for a 1/48 with FAST packs plus shipping. If you were lucky enough to live someplace that has them locally, you'd probably have change left over, unless they were overcharging. Valkyrie-Exchange has the 1/48th 1Js for about $180 a pop, that's a Valkyrie and FAST packs right there. (Only Super, though, no Strike cannon.) Of course, that's before shipping. I'd probably nab a Hikaru 1J with armour.

doesn't matter, both use the same files for encoding / decoding, as both are just front-ends to the file decode process. Actually, I've noticed a lot of difference between different players. DIVX files play best in DIVX Player, I play most everything else in ZoomPlayer, though there's still a couple files I can only get to play in BS Player, all no matter what amount of fiddling I do with FFDShow. Zoomplayer does seem to be the overall best player for everything outside of DIVX, though. No. No, no, no! Nemo often does more damage than it helps. It is a haphazard patchwork of codecs, and it installs ALL of them onto your system. What's more is that it is unauthorized and unsupported by any of the individual groups that created the codecs to begin with.

They both seem like schmucks. The company for trying to bully others around with groundless threats that they could in no way back up, and the guy running the roleplay group for letting them. He says the war isn't over, but he gave them everything they wanted and now he's waving around a petition that's about as meaningless as the company's groundless posturing.

I do understand the difference of Anima Spiritia and conventional spiritia. I already proven it with the different types of spiritia that the vampires harvest. Basara IS god-like. They portrayed him as such in M7 since he was the bane of all the protodeviln and he was the only one who could stand up to them. So he sorta fills in the "prophecy" (not really prophecy, but history) of the Anima Spiritia's role in the temple ruins. I highly doubt that. Jamming birds being able to be trained to become as good as Mylene , Veffidas and Ray is very possible, yes. But they can't be trained into Basara. Like you said. He is an abnormaly. He is Anima Spiritia. Does this mean that you think that the Protoculture created humans as Anima Spiritia to counter the protodeviln uprising? Remember that the Anima Spiritia were created to fight the protodeviln. If timeline serves correct, the protodeviln wars happened long before humans were discovered and then their evolution accelerated by the Protoculture. This proves humans were not the special race, Anima Spiritia that the protoculture created. Yes, sure. ANY other group of special people (and an individual), who had Anima Spiritia can take them on if Basara had chosen not to sing. But you see, the problem here is ONLY BASARA has Anima Spiritia.....at least known to have Anima Spiritia. So as far as we are concerned, only HE can fight the protodeviln. Remember when Basara went off on his own because he didn't know what he was singing for? Mylene, Ray and Veffidas can hardly hold off on their own against the protodeviln. They had strong spiritia....but that alone can't defeat them.....until Basara comes in to save the day. Basara is not Godlike, I don't even feel they prortray him as such in the series. He's simply determined. It's not that he holds some mystical force that only the prophesized can have, he simply believes in his ideals. He has coniction, determination, and faith. Anyone else in the Macross universe could attain his musical skill, that's not what the Protedvlin feared, it was why he sung. That's the only thing special about him. Anyone sharing those ideals with his conviction could do what he did. People like that exist.

But don't we see "Spiritia" measured, quantified, transferred, and stored in the series itself? Those episodes do portray Spiritia as a sort of energy that does have quantity, whether it be mystical, life force, or what not. There's quite a lot to explain away or ignore within M7 to hold the stance that Spiritia *isn't* a quantifiable energy, especially when many segments in M7 go out of their way to portray it as just that. I'm kind of wondering if I've been watching the wrong episodes, or just not getting it... since the concept of Spiritia as quantifiable energy seems to be made pretty prominant and pretty clear. If Spiritia really isn't what the goodly chunks of the series portray it as-- quantifiable energy-- and it's not supposed to be considered such, even though it's shown time and time again as just that... then again, that points to possible Bad Storytelling. Or me being a clueless nit. Hrm, Keith seems to explain that the Sound Boosters amplify and channel Spiritia Energy, and that's exactly what the series itself says about them. Given Keith's dedication to, knowledge of, and passion for M7, I think I'm inclined to agree with him... which of course turns Spiritia into energy that is amplifiable, channelable, and quantifiable. Exactly as the series portrays... as opposed to some nebulous life-happy-energy-Force that's ever only felt, with no pseudo-scientific and measurable root cause. -Al I stand partially corrected, I poorly worded my post and for that I apologize. What I mean is, we never see Spiritua completely defined, certainly not as some mystical power. However, I can see where people get this impression, because everything about the Protoculture is given a somewhat mystical tilt to the way it's presented, wich is different from how they're portrayed in SDF and DYRL?. About the Soundboosters, I still stand by my view of them. They pretty clearly show this in the series, whenever they employ the 'Sound'boosters, they don't use speakerpods. The transmissions have to get to the target somehow, and Gavil is constantly employing different forms of counter-electronic warfare.

A lot of these pictures seem to have more of an Original Trilogy feel to them, I'm really digging that. We'll see how the actual movie is. I can't wait!

Actually, the Zentradi are, for the most part, supposed to be significantly shorter than a Valkyrie, while Battlepods are supposed to be a good bit larger. Chalk up any visuals to the contrary in the show to 'animation errors'.

Gigil ignored the song of Basara probably because the human body he was using was acting as a filter for the anima spiritia. Zentradi suffered of culture shock in the serie and adapted themselve to human culture in the movie they were also suffering of culture shock but in the last battle Minmay's song "activited" the culture that was still coded in their genes... Kind of the first time I arrive to Texas and went into a Walmart... Gigil? Yeah, I considered that too. It's a probability. Still, being able to ignore the feelings a person's body has when enjoying a song they like made him able to stick around Basara long enough for it to work on another, more concious, level more quickly than any of the other Protodevlin. The Zentradi? Ask yourself, what is culture shock? What turned the Zentradi into gibbering fools around Minmay? A big part of that was emotions that were alien to them due to their environment. The same goes for the Protodevlin. Don't tell me there was no culture shock there. We see a lot of the same reactions, for very similar reasons. In the movie? It could be interpreted that way, but that's just another way of saying culture shock, but trying to sound scientific while you do it.

Not quite.....sound energy IS spiritia. The sound boosters are not amplifying sounds like a speaker....but amplifying Basara/Mylene's sound energy and directing them to a target(s). I believe you don't have to technically SING to power up the Spiritia, (as everybody has spiritia, just not as powerful as others). Its just that for Basara, the action of singing powers his will (hence spiritia). For Gamlin, its fighting to protect others. My take on it is that 'spiritua' is a word for the energy you feel when doing something you are particularly passionate about. It's not some quantifiable form of energy, nor some mystical power. As for how powerful someone's "spiritua" is, it really depends on the individual. How strong an individual's passion and willpower is. As for the flashing lights of "spiritua" we see in the series: It's my belief that the boosters aren't amplifying that power, they really are just electronic warfare equipment, but they get Soundforce's songs to the target, and in doing so it's just a matter of whether or not the target is moved by Basara's, Mylene's whoever's songs, and how they react. Even in the series, not all the characters react in the same way. Gigil pretty much ignores it for a good part of the series, Gavil isn't able to handle the feelings the he gets from listening, it's completely alien to him, so he thrashes about and runs away. Sivil isn't able to handle them for the same reasons, but she's very curious so she keeps coming back, we see similar reactions to Earth culture by the Zentradi in SDF and DYRL?, except the Protodevlin are energy beings that feed off this energy, and over the course of the series discover that people can regenerate this energy, and further into the story that they themselves can create it on their own instead of sapping it from others.

I think the majority of the 'We Did This Last Week' crowd aren't upset that someone new to the forums is asking or complaining about M7, they're upset that the same people, people who have been on these boards for ages, as making the same arguments back and forth. As for firing speaker pods at people instead of transmitting? I sincerely believe they were doing both, as the bridge of the Battle 7 was getting audio and video, and they never show Basara scratching Max's paint job. However, how can you transmit to people that aren't recieving? The enemy could be running silent for all you know. Or using line of sight laser communication or something. Hance, the speaker pods, to make sure the message gets across.

I still can't tell if this is a new event, or if someone just heard about the C&D letters from a year ago and brought it up like new news.

I would say that most really new newbies might not know what the Compendium is, but I think instead I'll save anyone the ridicule they'd recieve by posting just that and point out that there's a link to it in the very first post of this thread, stating that most of the answers are there.

I think there's a difference between intentional, in that the creators didn't care to spend the time and effort in the battle scenes, because the focus was clearly elsewhere... And intentional, as if lousy battle scenes would somehow *contribute* to the plot and focus, for fear that adequately done action sequences would somehow distract from the peace-y themes. Let's not confuse the two, now. Lackluster and subpar work rarely adds much of anything to a series, and poorly done segments, especially when the audience expects better (for whatever reason), often call attention to themselves, distracting in their own right. -Al You misunderstand, I apologize for that. I'm not trying to excuse the horrible battle animations, what I mean is that since the emphasis was not on the battles, the animation budget was more evenly distributed from the show. As I pointed out with Evangelion, there's some really beautiful action sequences, then the rest of the show is really pretty still frames. In Macross 7, the animation is much more consistant. The art is never really terrible, though never really great either. The animation is never really amazing, never really awful, just middle of the road. Actually, I'd say the character scenes were often better animation, but not to the extreme of Eva. Another comparison would be SDF Macross, where you have some truly wonderful episodes where the animation is just gorgeous, then you have the AnimeFiend episodes where the animation is just crap. In fact, though you cropped that part out of my post, I clearly state that this is not something to excuse the crappy battle animations, and that M7 is not the place to go if you are looking for well done battle scenes. So yeah, I mean that it was intentional that they did not put much effort into the battle sequences as their focus was elsewhere, and they seemed to prefere to keep a consistent level of animation rather than some well done fight scenes with much worse character animation inbetween. Sure it doesn't add to the theme or the plot to gimp the battle sequences, but it does allow them to put more effort into the rest of the animation.

My point on the character development (how'd I get stuck in such a boring point?) is that most of the character development in M7 seems on the order of filler. The conflicts are lackluster as well as a lot of the personalities. As far as battles go, I never made the argument that the battles in M7 should be "epic." My point is that they border on total absurdity. Now, I hestitate to use the word "realistic" when in comes to animated battles, however there just isn't a real feel to the fights (mainly because the "show's main focus isn't fighting"). If you're going to have a fight scene, put some thought into it, or don't bother when you're being held to a standard - that's all. Let see, I know the difference between a VF-11 and a VF-19. Pinpoint barrier or no, Basara does jack squat while the precision "spiritia" beam-operating Varuta pilots can't seem to hit the side of a barn in the same sequences. And, having the VF-11 break apart in just the right manner for the Varuta pilots to zap the VF-11 pilot's energy is a little to convenient (especially when the same footage is constantly reused). On the whole, M7 just fails to live up to the original SDF Macross series, no matter how you cut it. This being said, you can leave this statement at that if you don't want to continue a discussion with me; I mean, I know you and Agent ONE have some real bickering to do! Ok, while I will mercilessly mock those that continue to try and force their completely subjective opinions everyone else, insisting that those who disagree are wrong, I still manage to feel compelled to address those arguments with subjects that could possibly be addressed in an objective manner. Personally, I would tend to agree with those that feel the battles in Macross 7 were often more cartoonish, repetative, and generally lackluster than those found in any other Macross series, OVA, or movie. I think anyone else would be hard pressed to disagree. There's far more recycled footage, and what footage there is is not as well animated as even many of the battles in SDF Macross. However, I also believe this to be intentional. As the action is not only not a big part of the story for much of the series, it is downplayed considerably in face of the pacifist theme that dominates the story. Still, it is a valid complaint for anyone coming in looking for the fast paced, well thought out mecha action that every other Macross show has been known for. On the up side, the animation remained more consistent, often much better than the majority of SDF Macross and many other shows. Heck, the animation was often better than Evangelion, where the entire budget went to some short, though very well done, action sequences, while the majority of the show was made up of well drawn still frames. Still, you want action the likes of wich you found in SDF, DYRL?, and Plus? Well, don't look here. I like M7, but I won't deny this. As for character development? That's a bit more complex, and it's harder to draw the lines between fact and opinion, subjective and objective. To me it seems that there's far more actual developement of the characters in Macross 7 than there was in Plus. Plus had it's share of developement, and it was pretty good for a short OVA (excellent, I'd say), but I just feel that the characters just grew and changed more in 7, and in a more realistic fashion. Yes, yes. Giggle all you like when I apply the word 'realism' to M7, but as far as the characters themselves, their developement given the world they're in, I think it's pretty fitting. Every argument I see from those that love the show and those that despise it equally confirm this belief of mine, because you see the exact same situations from the characters in the show. You see, and this is my viewpoint so I won't try to pursuade you further if you disagree so long as you don't try and show me how "wrong" I am, in Macross Plus we only see a small amount of the characters in very specific circumstances. They (mainly Myung and Guld) have set demons. We see them address these conflicts and resolve them, all with a little help from other characters who we see a lot less developement out of. Isamu's developement is minimal, but well done. He doesn't really change at all, but our opinion of him changes as we see his situation more clearly at the end of the show. The developement in 7 appears (to me, at least) to be much more extreme, Gamlin being my favourite character and example. He doesn't just face some buried demon of his past, but his entire personality and world outlook is altered by the situations he experiences and the people he meets. As with many of the characters, his change is very slow, gradual, but definitely there. Paced in a rather realistic fashion. People don't often change overnight, it takes time. Gamlin's change (as well as Gavil's, and many other of the show's Basara nay-sayers) accurately reflects many a person who first looked at M7 and dismissed that fruit in the brightly colours valkyrie and his silly ideals, then slowly, very slowly, grew to understand his ideals. While others in the show never really come to terms with his ideals. Reminds me a lot of this forum. There is filler, sure, I don't think the majority of it is filler, though. I really think the show would be even less believable, and lose credibility with those that do currently like it if people just suddenly threw themselves at Basara to begin with. Some people simply do not agree with the ideals he represents, and who am I to say they should? As for stating that M7 fails to live up to SDF? Well, that's your opinion. You're welcome to it. I have mixed feelings. I think it definitely does not live up to the action presented in SDF, and it's hit and miss on the presentation between the two of them. I rather prefere the presenation of DYRL?, but I feel the overall character development shown in M7 has the SDF version of the Hikaru/Minmay/Misa love triangle beat. In the end, while I would like to say that I prefere SDF, I still find myself watching and enjoying M7 even more. There's parts I love about it, there's parts I really hate about it. I'd like to see it get the DYRL? treatment, but I'm content with Dynamite 7.

What Sunstreaker? I know people (myself included) think this was originally meant to be Sunstreaker (because of the molded autobot symbol on the chest of the prototype). But instead, details were changed and it was announced as the first Binaltech decepticon "Dead End" instead. So it really isn't a repaint as it is the first Binaltech/Alternator TF based off the Viper Competition Coupe mold. Although I hope they *do* repaint it and give us a yellow Sunstreaker eventually. Melissa Takara and Hasbro love their repaints, so chances of seeing a Sunstreaker are good. I certainly hope so, the fact that they're taunting us with an excellent new Sunstreaker mold, but then releasing it in different colours and calling it a Decepticon is just torture. Argh.

This amuses me because all we have to do is change a couple words and...

I, on the other hand, am more intelligent than the next person, and I demand that you all realize that my opinions are superior, and that any dissenting opinions shall not be tolerated. The evil educators would have you believe differently, they defy nature's provem 4 corner time cube!

I dunno, get rid of the 'Goth Poetry Corner with Anakin Vader' segments and Episode II was good old Star Wars flash and action.

No matter how large an organization, it is still limited by the resources available. The factory satellite is a production facility, not a magic cornucopia of unending resources. The factory satellite is useless if there's no resources to turn into finished products. It is also limited by what it's facilities are set up to build. Remember the Spacey must also compensate designers, engineers, and people actually involved in production. At the same time they have to keep the ever expanding population (due in part to a massive cloning project to spread mankind across the galaxy) living comfortably and churn out many other ships, uniforms, weapons, etcetera. Sure, they colonize new planets, get resources there. Not every planet they find habitable for human life will also be full of valuable resources, and some of the planets they find that are will be inhospitable, it will cost them in their efforts to get to those resources. At the same time, they are spreading thinner and thinner across the galaxy.

Oh, and also, if Deadend is any indication, the Decepticon Alternators will be much more than repaints. Deadend has a lot of new sculpting done as well. I expect the rest of the Decepticons will be similar. I'm just hoping that when Alternators are done (including the release of Sunstreaker) that Takara goes on to another collectors line, such as, oh, some jets maybe?

I don't think that will happen. I expect all of the Alternators/Binaltech Decepticons to be based (at least in name) after Decepticon ground vehicles, like the Stunticons and such. I do hope Takara/Hasbro extends the Alternators line past what they're planning. I'd love a repaint of Deadend with an Autobot symbol on his chest, there is no doubt in my mind that he was originally sculpted to be Sunstreaker, my first and (due mainly to nostalgia, sure) favourite Transformer of all time. I will never forgive them if they deny me an Alternators Sunstreaker, when it would be such a simple thing for them to provide.

My opinion is vastly superior to your own, therefore I am correct and you are not. Your opinion is wrong. I mean, how could it be right when you are so obviously inferior to me and my opinions? BEHOLD! My opinions drive the very life cycle of the universe, without my opinions you would all simply cease to be. That is all the proof I require to show that my opinions are the only correct opinions. Statistically, your opinions are aimed at the 12 year old japanese schoolgirl audience, while my opinions are loftier and more substancial than that. You should take this as fact, because I used the word 'statistically', wich means it is founded in fact, much like all of my opinions. LOOKITTHEMONKEY!!!11111eleven I am right, you are wrong. My opinions prove it, and you are educated stupid.

Based on what I've seen in the Compendium, in the shows, and in the real life project that the Macross Plus 'Project Supernova' was based off of, the 21/22 has always been more advanced than the 19. It is not clearly stated why the 19 won the bid, but there is a part of the 22's description in the compendium that leads one to believe it was due to the Brainwave Control System in the 21, which was removed for the production model 22 (not to mention how unstable the BCS is shown to be). Still, project Supernova was to determine the next main variable fighter, the mass produced standard fighter of the U.N. Spacey. The 19 was chosen, while the 22 was later adopted as a special forces fighter, replacing the VF-17. So, the VF-19 replaces the VF-11, while the VF-22 replaces the VF-17. One can also assume that the more advanced 21 was also more expensive than the 19, and that the Spacey was willing to have a pricier fighter for more demanding missions.

The manga is definitely even more messed up than the anime. You can find it translated online, I forget where I found it, though...