Radd

Well...you see...have you ever stood a couple feet behind a jet engine that was on at full blast? Have you ever talked to anyone after they did? No, no you didn't. There's a very good reason for this. Savvy?

I stand by the fact that not a single human was left on the planet at the end of Final Fantasy VII. The Life Stream saved everyone from Holy and Meteor, then whisked every human off to the Promised Land. THAT was the whole freakin' point. Saying "they died" is simplifying things too much, I'll admit that, but most people don't understand the concept of trancendance.

Hold on just a minute, just so nobody get's confused, the Best Star Wars games are still the X-Wing and TIE Fighter series. That's not to say Rogue Squadron isn't cool and all, but not as much substance as everyone's favourite Star Wars flight sim. Hope Rogue Squadron III isn't delayed too long, but I doubt it's at all related to the price drop. In fact, the price drop helps game developers immensly. A cheap console is one more reason for people to play their game. More than likely it has to do with some sort of production delay.

I imagine it's either just a random person, or perhaps an employee of either Artland, Studio Nue, or Tatsunoko. As for it being "Hikaru's notorious first kill", well, simply the fact that some poor slob get's blasted by Hikaru's thrusters as the VF-1D crashes into the studio, and the fact that it's only onscreen for a split second, easy to miss, make it an easter egg of sorts.

About Final Fantasy VII part 2, well, here's a little spoiler from the end of Final Fantasy VII: EVERYONE FREAKIN' DIED! THEY'RE NOT COMING BACK! THEY WERE ABSORBED INTO THE FREAKING LIFE STREAM! GONE! TRANSCENDED, IF YOU WILL! NO LONGER WALKING THE FACE OF THE PLANET! THIS WAS EXPLAINED FULLY IN THE DIALOGUE THROUGHOUT THE GAME! WHY DOES NO ONE REALIZE THIS!? THAT WACKY FLOATING GUY EXPLAINS EXACTLY WHAT HOYL WILL DO, THAT BEING THE ELIMINATION OF ALL HUMAN LIFE, WHICH IS WHY IT SPED UP METEOR INSTEAD OF DEFLECTING IT! AERITH WISHED FOR A HAPPY ENDING, SO EVERYONE WAS TAKEN TO THE PROMISED LAND BY THE LIFE STREAM INSTEAD, EXCEPT FOR ANYONE WHO DOESN'T GET IT YET THE PROMISED LAND IS NOT A PHYSICAL PLACE! IT WAS A HAPPY WAY OF SAYING THEY GOT INTO HEAVEN AND WHERE ALL HAPPY, BUT STILL FREAKIN' GONE! THERE WERE NO HUMANS LEFT ON THE PLANET AFTERWARDS! EVERYTHING WAS GIVEN UP TO NATURE! ANYTHING SQUARE RELEASES TO CHANGE THAT IS A RETCON TO CASH IN ON THE FACT THAT ALMOST NO ON SEEMS TO UNDERSTAND THE ENDING, AND SAKAGUCHI IS RETIRED SO THEY CAN DO WHATEVER THEY WANT WITH HIS STORIES. Got it?

Mea Culpa! Double post!

Damn! I couldn't wait so I stickered mine all up, and now it turns out Takatoys is coming out with Stickers made specifically for the FAST packs! Anyone got any good ideas for easily removing the already applied stickers? My girlfriend even noted the difference in quality between the Takatoys stickers I put on my Valkyries, and the stock stickers I had to use for the FAST packs. I'm also tempted to just Super Glue the micro missles into place, though I might give some other options a try. Alternately, I might super glue in all of the double missle parts and keep the forward two loose. The only reason I can think of to keep the missles loose is so when showing the toys off to a friend you can say, "Yeah, know what else? All of these little guys are REMOVABLE!" All in all, these FAST packs make an already incredible toy even more incredible. I've had no troubles keeping them together in fighter mode, and aside from having a bad day with my VF-1S (that has not repeated itself since and was most likely my own fault), I've had no troubles in battroid mode.

Wow! These decals seem to be to Takatoy's stickers, what Takatoy's stickers are to the stock Yamato stickers! If waterslide decals didn't drive me insane even more than stickers I probably would have gone with these. Hmm, I wonder if the Takatoys stickers will hold up to being cut along the panel lines as well as these decals? So afraid to try! But so much detail could be added!

Episode II was all about the Clone Troopers and the further rise of the Empire. I mean, watching Jimmy Smitts clench his fists while watching Palpatine's Clone Troopers were boarding those Star Destroyer shaped landing ships, with the Imperial March playing in the background no less... BUT DAMN... you can say whatever you want about the prequels, but both of them have had excellent ending sequences.

Well, if you want lots of variety in mech action in the console arena, then a PS2 is your best bet. I have to warn you, though, variety does not mean quality, and games based on movie/tv show/anime licenses tend to suck the big one. PS2 does have Armoured Core, which is a good mech game. On the other hand, XBox has Mech Assault, for which I've heard lots of praise. No mech related games come to mind when thinking of the Cube, so that might be a big knock against it for what you're looking for. However, when it comes to good games, it is my personal opinion that the Cube has both the XBox and the PS2 beat. PS2, while having the largest library of games, seems to have the smallest quantity of actual good titles. XBox would probably edge the PS2 out in number of 'worth having' titles. The Cube on the other hand excels at quality. So, for someone that wants lots of good games, top notch quality in both graphics and gameplay, I'd reccomend the Cube. For you, though, you want anime related mech games. In your case, I'd suggest a PS2 but with a heavy dose of 'Buyer Beware'.

Indeed it would, indeed it would. Of course, my first choice would be a VF-4 Lightning III if we weren't just talking about VF-1X 1/48ths. The VF-4 has been my favourite Valkyrie ever since seeing screen caps of Flashback 2012, and even moreso when it's oh-so-awesome battloid mode was introduced in Digital Mission VF-X. Aside from the VF-4, though, this Thunder Hummer's model would make the basis for an excellent 1/48th limited edition.

And so the Long Night of the Playstation continues... Popularity is enough to carry a system. These days, no one in their right mind would compare the Genesis to the SNES. The SNES had better games, better graphics, a better controller, yet back in the day people would swear up and down that the Genesis had better graphics, and that the SNES controller had too many buttons. This same mob mentality is probably what carries the PS2 today. It's the "cool" system. All your friends have one, so you should get one too. Micro$oft is evil and the Cube is for Kids. Oh, Nintendo is the first of the big three to announce their new system, which is apparently scheduled to be out way ahead of the competition. This might be partially responsible for the price drop, but I think it's still too early for that. Nintendo's new system probably won't be out until 2005.

I like the cannon fodder colours. The thing I don't like is that the Longhorns squadron looks like a cheap bootleg of Skull squadron, just using the colour purple. They might as well let you play as the real deal. If they wanted to add another squadron so you could rise up the ranks or whatever, they could have given you an entirely original paint scheme, even basing it off another real Air Force or Navy squadron. It's a relatively minor complaint, though. I'm still looking forward to this game.

Thumder Hummer with GBP!

Old news, and those AnimeSkyscraper encodes are straight rips of Hong Kong bootlegs. No fansubbing was involved. If you want good subs keep an eye on the Anime in Action releases.

Well, I have all of the Bandai reissues, including the two Macross 7 reissues. Does that count? Unless the little gashpon figures are worth it, I really don't plan to build any armies. As far as the 1/48th line goes, I'll be happy with having my own little Skull Squadron as far as the VF-1 goes. All they need to do is release a DYRL? Kakizaki 1A, and the TV Hikaru 1J and I'm done. After that I might get a couple VF-4 Lightning IIIs, if Yamato makes them, and then one of each kind of Valk after that. I don't need multiple 19s or 11s, just one of each for variety. As long as Yamato releases them far enough apart for me to afford them.

If you're talking about the character designs, well, the DYRL? designs have become the official designs. Also, Kawamori has stated that both the tv series and DYRL? are acceptable tellings of Space War I, leading most to believe that if the original series was remade, it would use the designs from the movie and it would probably use a lot of story elements from both. There's also been some debate was to whether the DYRL? that exists within the Macross universe is actually the DYRL? that we all know and love.

Apologies if I was unclear. Yes, I mean Region 2, non-bootleg, domestic Japanese. Fully aware that there will be no subtitles. I'm looking for video/audio quality, and extra features.

Actually they did. Roy states in episode 2 or 3 that they knew about the giants, just not that they would look like humans (which leads to the belief that there were no bodies on boards). That's about the most I can offer as a suggestion. It would have been cheaper to make straight Destroid type infantry mecha and pure space fighters that didn't transform. Of course, with the way the engines could be swung around, and how the entire flight profile of the craft could be changed in an instant, Valkyries are incredibly maneuverable. The UNS probably didn't want to take any chances with the threat of an advanced alien force hanging over their heads. "Better safe than sorry, let's put everything we've got into this project!" In actuality, Kawamori and crew probably just thought transforming jet/robots would be a cool idea. In reality why bother making a humanoid robot at all? A tank made using the level of technological advancement it would take to make a giant, humanoid robot, would be a lot more deadly. Smaller, lower to the ground, packing just as much if not more firepower and armour, less vulnerable to joints and thinner limbes being shot off or damaged. A lot more maneuverable to boot. The same could be said for a pure jet/space fighter. It probably wouldn't look much like a modern jet fighter, though. Probably a cockpit hanging in a frame that can alter direction at a moment's notice, giving the maneuaverability that the Valkyries have and then some. I suppose my argument boils down to the fact that the most realistic approach isn't always the coolest, and transforming jet fighters are friggin' cool! Honestly, is there a more truthful answer?

Quick question, of all the versions of DYRL? currently available on DVD in Japan, what is the best version? Wasn't there a version released last year with all sorts of extras and whatnot? I tried peeking through the Videos section of the website, but it looks like it hasn't been updated since before the AnimEigo tv series set was released, and only has the Manga release of the Macross Plus OVA. Thanks in advance!

Well, Galvatron has always been the Tubby Lumpkins of the Transformers world. Also, Galvatron was in G1. Megatron was brought back for G2, as a tank. Yes, even the post-movie Transformers were a part of G1. That includes the Headmasters and Powermasters. Personally, the only G1 Transformers I really liked where the first run or two,, the Diaclone and Microman toys. The RiD Autobots weren't topo bad. The Trains, the Car Brothers, and Fire Convoy. Really looking forward to the Alternators and the 20th Anniversary Prime, though.

I dunno. The armour is much more ergonomic than either the original GBP armour, or the Full Armour VF-11, but at the same time it's obvious that there's less to it. Not nearly as much armour, not nearly as many missles, the added engines aren't nearly enough to add as much compensation as the original GBP armour's boosters. It probably can't fly in the atmosphere, I imagine the original GBP can at least "hop" with those huge back boosters. The "skirt" is the only thing that says "Gundam" to me. Honestly, the first thing I thought when that picture popped up on my screen was, "Da~ayum! Seems all that time designing Armoured Core mecha payed off." I don't really see the Patlabor connection here. Nothing in those pictures looked like cloth to me, it looks entirely metal. It's also shaped nothing like the Patlabor armour, so I just don't see it. I like it, but like many others I have a hard time seeing Focker using GBP armour, especially in an atmosphere. We'll see.

Every shot of Max and Hikaru's VF-1S Valkyries in Macross 7 shows them with blue and red heat shields, respectively. I personally like that better than making them black. Black just never looked right on those colour schemes. Truth be told, I like the idea of Focker's 1S with a yellow heat shield better than the official black one.

Hold the phones, people. It has not at all be clearly explained anywhere in this thread to exactly what extent this Eva "rip-off" appears in this coming comic, and in the Marvel universe in general. If this is supposed to be a design for an older Sentinel that we'll most likely never see again, and only see for a few panels in this particular issue, then there's nothing wrong with it at all. It's a nod, a hat's-off, a homage. That's it. Now if, and only if, this design is to be used extensively in the Marvel universe can anyone cry foul. That's what "fair use" laws are for. You people are sitting here talking about how Americans are quick to drop all creativity and rip other people off, well I'd like to point out that Americans are also quick to cry lawsuit and sick their lawyers on people, or suggest that others should do so. From what I gather in this thread, a lot of people don't like this, whether it's a spoof or not, just because it's Marvel. I'm sorry, but that's not really a rational reason, and certainly not grounds for legal action. Again, unless Marvel uses this above and beyond what "fair use" laws allow, there's nothing to get upset over. Not from the companies involved, much less the armchair lawyers and Japacentrics among the public at large.

Addition to my previous; 1/48th FAST packs = 3