Radd

Don't take it that way, I was just being silly, and have been watching far too much Invader Zim lately. Seriously, though, it doesn't stand out to me as anything more than a stylistic choice by the character designer. I wouldn't read too deeply into it.

To be fair, the complaints aren't exactly unwarranted. Yes, the show remains gorgeous compared to a lot out there, but that's not to say the 2D animation hasn't been a little spotty in places. The directing, incredibly detailed backgrounds, and excellent (for a tv series) CG tend to pick up the slack of the lacking 2D work. Also, fans tend to complain the loudest because they care the most. I doubt anyone complaining about the 2D animation in episode 6 is thinking, "Gee, if this animation doesn't pick up soon I'm going to stop watching!" They'd simply like the 2D to look a bit nicer. As much as I agree that people should enjoy something as great as Frontier, there's also merit in pointing out that it's really not perfect, and could be better. I realize a show needs to budget, but you can only let one aspect suffer so much before it's detrimental to the show as a whole, even if everything else looks spectacular. It's all about balance. I still suspect, though, that this episode was done on the cheap to put more of the budget towards what is looking to be an action packed upside next week, or maybe even several action packed episodes. If that's the case, I can certainly live with that.

Considering that the two areas require different sets of highly specialized skills, I'd say yes. Not all 2D animators are CG animators, and visa-versa. Also, it takes much more time to do decent CG than many seem to suspect, and combining 2D and 3D CGI together is a large task, requiring yet another skillset in itself. It would be highly unlikely that they would be attempting both aspects of production with the same people working both jobs.

I noticed it. Why? Because the character designer designed the character that way. If you want a better explanation than that well...uh....oookay.... Her eyes are like that due to a special technology discovered in...er...1842....by demons....used by crack law enforcement agencies to...er...I don't know....fight aliens?

Nein. Also, go back through this page and the page before and you'll be filled in on the details.

You learn something new every day. Still, my point stands. Seems the second part of my statement, the conjecture that it wasn't the 25 but gets the name Quarter as a play on words/numbers, is even more on the money than I expected. So the ship is a quarter the size of the New Macross Class ships? Neat, explains the proportions on the bridge and the VFs sitting on the flight deck. I do hope we also get to see the Macross 25, even moreso now. Would love to see the size differences illustrated in a dramatic fleet battle sequence.

You're kidding, right? Seriously, what gives with all the comments on the Quarter? It's the New Macross 25 and they nicknamed it the Quarter. Does it really need to be spelled out any more than that? Or, alternatively, maybe it's not the NM 25, but SMS considers it the fleet's main battleship so they call it the Quarter to thumb their nose at the NUNS fleet? Either way, makes perfect sense to me. Considering the drop in animation quality for this episode, I'd say it's safe to assume any discrepancies such as this can be taken with a grain of salt. Now, as for my thoughts on the episode, I'd have to say that despite the flawed animation this is my favourite episode so far. I was expecting them to rush into battle, but they really took their time, a whole episode, to build up to the battle. This episode is going to be a big part of what makes the next episode feel so epic. After all, all action with no buildup is hollow and forgettable. Of course, it would have helped if the animation was better. I think both camps are right, at times it was the motion that was questionable, and at other times it was the drawing that was lacking. Plenty of examples of both in the episode, and you can see some of the latter in the a couple of the posted screen shots. On the other hand, this episode's animation didn't really detract enough to ruin the build up for me, in large part thanks to some excellent directing. The whole prep and liftoff sequence for the Quarter, interwoven with the concert, was great. If they clean up the animation for the DVD/BluRay release, should be fantastic. Of course, the thing you have to remember is that next episode looks to be action packed. If the animation in this episode was lacking in order for the animators to concentrate on making next episode absolutely amazing, I think I'll be able to find it in my heart to forgive them. If not, I think that will compound the disappointment and make most people worry for future episodes. In any case, I'm utterly stoked for the next episode. I also feel as though this episode really plowed the show away from homages to the past, and felt very much like it's own thing. Next week can't come soon enough.

Huh. Depending on how the colours look I might nab the medic version. Beyond that, it's really too bad the first Binaltech release in so long is a really lazy repaint, without even a new head. It's too bad, I still think if they did new Binaltech releases at a slow pace, and put some decent work into them, the line could continue as a very nice compliment to the Masterpiece toys. Heck, I'd even go for a lazy repaint of Skids as Ironhide.

Are we talking scale or size? When I think of Transformers being "in scale" I kinda go by the vehicle modes, and expect the robot modes to be all different sizes, but still the same scale. Since a semi truck is certainly going to turn into something larger than what a sports car would.

I have to admit, I've never read a single issue of Iron Man. I don't know anything about him aside from what others have told me, and bits and pieces I've picked up from a couple stray issues of Civil War co-workers brought in for people to read on breaks. So long as it's good, I certainly won't mind if they take a few liberties like that to make it work with the Marvel-Movie world they've been making.

Ja, they seem to be going with a more subdued world here. Relatively more realistic than the comics themselves. Like how they made the Juggernaut a mutant, rather than a guy with a magical gem. I wouldn't be surprised if the movie Mandarin is nothing at all like the comics version. The 10 rings might not be so literal. If they are, then they might be more earthly technology.

Oh so unfortunately named. Still, there's plenty that's fun, it's just that it's kinda like surfing the net with a really bad search engine, so the good stuff is unnecessarily difficult to find. If you're good with textures, it should be really easy to make a great looking Klan Klan avatar. I don't recall anything about any of her outfits that looked particularly difficult to remake in 3D. You'll want these templates, though. The av mesh is a pain to texture, things just will not line up properly. These are a lot more accurate than the official templates, though, so that will help. Just remember to shrink your textures down to about 512x512 before uploading. If you need help learning to manipulate prims, do an in-world search for "Ivory Tower".

Wow. Of course, looking at Marvel's comic-to-movie track record, there's a pretty even amount of hits and misses. Of course, when they hit, it tends to be spectacular. Hopefully few, if any, of these movies will get the second hand treatment, but I can't help but feel that some of them will, simply because they're making so many in such a short period of time. There's a Wolverine movie, and a Magneto movie coming eventually too, isn't there?

Do we know for fact whether or not there is a significant size difference between Frontier and City 7? If they are the same size, then City 7 is a much more urban environment, as it has that huge city rising up towards the ceiling of the dome. Galaxy might be more like that, maybe?

Nah, not nearly enough metal to do the pummeling. However, he's certainly a lot more durable than G1 Prime, can't deny that. I recall G1 Prime having hips about as fragile as the infamous first release 1/72 VF-11 from Yamato. My G1 Mirage snapped in half fairly easily too. But, ja, post movie the toys were a lot more durable. Never got into Beast Wars, or any other line too heavily until Alternators. Though I did have a bunch of RiD toys, and until Armada I always picked up at least a couple from each line. Passed on Cybertron and whatever the one after that was. I've got a few Classics and two movie toys, I've not noticed them to be unusually fragile.

I think the durability of Transformers toys have gone up and down over the course of the years. Those really old G1 Transformers were really not the most durable fellows, 1/55 Macross toys excluded. I'd stack my collection of Alternators and MP toys against them any day. It seems to me that most of the mainline TFs are even more durable (aside from possible MP Prime, who I'm pretty certain you could use to bludgeon someone to death, clean it off, and place it back on your display shelf).

Anima spiritua isn't some mystical Jedi power, anyone can "be" "anima spiritua" All of the magic like stuff in Macross Zero seemed to be due to a ton of Protoculture technology in the area ( in the under water sequence, the "terrain" bears a striking resemblance to the skyline of the protoculture city from DYRL) reacting to descendants of the protoculture's experimentation with earth life. I doubt Basara is related to any Mayans. I wouldn't rule out the possibility entirely, in fact I'd say the chances are not bad that a large portion of the human race is currently descended from Mayans, if any Mayans were amongst those on the Macross when most of humanity was wiped out. However, from a story telling perspective, it would just be contrived, and it also hurts the Macross theme of the indomitable human spirit if you chalk up human victories to a few magical musical Jedi people.

I didn't really get the impression that Stane's suit was really all that more advanced. Just bigger. If anything, it seemed really crude in comparison. The thing was, Stark was using his first attempt Arc Reactor Mini, so he couldn't really go all out against a suit that was much bigger and loaded out with more weapons. I got a very strong impression that if Stark didn't have that significant handicap, the odds would have been tilted overwhelmingly in his favour.

Loved it. Absolutely loved it. To be honest, the story was paper thin, but it was fun, and nothing really stood out to make me go, "Hey, wait..." And the movie was certainly fun from beginning to end. Downey Jr. as Stark made this film as great as it is. Perfect casting. All around great cast, but Robert Downey Jr.'s Stark was just brilliant. There really wasn't that much "action" for a super hero comic, but it certainly didn't hurt the film at all because he just kept being so damned entertaining. I loved how there were all sorts of little homages, allusions, and foreshadowing for future sequels, too. Add to that, the action scenes were really well done.Unlike previous Marvel movies like Spider-Man, I never found myself sitting there, giggling over the CG. Sure, the CG sequences were more or less obvious, but they didn't really slap you in the face with a 10-foot high LOOK AT OUR CG sign. In addition to better effects and rendering, I suspect tighter animation helped that out, too. So far this year's "summer blockbuster" season is starting off on the right foot.

Having had a chance to play around with him for a day, I think owning the cartoon colour version of Starscream has only reinforced my desire for TakaraTomy to release a version with the Skywarp/Cartoon Starscream fixes to the toy, but in the first release colours and details. Especially when Cartoon SS is placed next to Skywarp. With his little "No Step" details and the much more subtle old USAF version of the Decepticon logo he looks a lot less...well, cartoony. Plus the first release colours were just more interesting. Like, this wasn't G1 Starscream as he appeared in the show, but a new and improved Starscream. Rebuilt and upgraded for the Alternators era. Of course, I realize that I'm in the minority and that it's unlikely to ever happen. I might nab a first release SS and just rarely transform him, if I can ever find one for a reasonable price. The weathering isn't bad on mine. I got a Japanese import version of the US colours, since they were the same price. The weathering isn't nearly as severe and horrible looking as on the product photos seen for the US release. The paint apps seem noticeably messier than Skywarp's, making Skywarp look like a collector's toy, while SS was made for...well...Walmart. Though, his wing flaps and the fuselage pieces on either side of his intakes seem to come off far too easily, a problem I never had with Skywarp. Other than that, I am glad that I finally have a Masterpiece Starscream. This version, other than the flaps, is pretty much what I expected. He's still, by far, the best SS toy I've ever had, and he certainly compares more than favourably to standard line Transformers. I'm looking forward to more MP releases, Soundwave is high on my wishlist, along with other non-car Transformers. They're really an ideal compliment to the Alternators line, negating both of my dissapointments with that line, the lack of alt-mod variety, and the lack of Decepticons.

Er...what makes you think that's not Max piloting?

Ja, that's precisely what I was thinking. It makes sense, in both the SW1 and post-SW1 contexts.

Well, got my Masterpiece Starscream. Bring on Masterpiece Thundercracker! Hell, I'm up for Thrust, Ramjet, and Dirge while they're at it.

I was wondering why I had this odd sense of deja-vu.

I really don't understand what's so "anime magic" about the language, for reasons people have already stated. As for "deculture". it was covered in a thread not long ago, but it started as a Zentradi expletive, but has pretty much lost its original meaning. It seems to have taken a more positive context. Now, it is only recently that I've heard the Compendium take on the word as an expletive, I've always thought it meant something like "the culture", especially since, well, the Protoculture has the word right in the name. Is it possible that that is exactly what it means, but for the warrior Zentradi without any culture other than war, it took on meaning as an expletive, especially when dealing with races that did have culture? The Zentradi certainly seemed to regard human culture as terrifying, and at times stupid. I suppose that's something only Egan Loo could fill us in on?