Radd

Man, I was looking at photos of the 1/48 weathered VF-1S and was thinking, if they did the new 1/60 line weathered, that would sweeten the deal enough to guarantee me wanting to nab every single one they release. Granted, of course, I didn't get too heavily into the old 1/60 VF-1 line, basically just an Elint and a Super-O.

But what if it's Richard Simmons?

I really have to wonder just how solid this trademark issue is. I mean, could any company go out of their way to trademark the name of a popular foreign show, from a country we have international copyright and such agreements with, simply because they got distribution rights to some small part of that show? That's essentially what the trademark mess boils down to. It sounds really absurd.

I don't think they just haphazardly fold all over the place. I imagine when the colony fleets leave their planet of origin, they fold towards a system selected via planetside observation and/or the explorations of other fleets. The colony fleet defolds in the system and then begins a lot of close-up studies on the system. If there is a suitable planet for colonization, they settle down, if not they move on to the next system on their route. All the while mapping out yet more systems for future fleets, and recon fleets, to take a look at. It seems some colony fleets also have other assigned tasks. The Macross 7 fleet, for example, was setting up the infrastructure for a galactic communication system.

So, this show takes place in what? The 2050s? Humanity was decimated in 2010, so it's been 40 years. Not only has humanity been rebuilding and repopulating through cloning, but also spreading far across the galaxy in fleets made up of millions of people each. It's really not a stretch to think that people need to grow up fast in an era such as this. Also, Alto is 17 according to the Compendium. Considering that in the current day and age you can join the military, or be drafted, at 18, comments on the characters being too young seem kinda ridiculous. That's not to say I don't entirely disagree with the basic sentiment.

I was kinda hoping Alto would begin with the NUNS, and eventually move to SMS. It would really allow for a first hand look at exactly why the NUNS is in the state it's in. And give some kind of build up to Alto finally graduating to the VF-25. Anticipation, after all, is everything.

Man, some people truly are idealists. However, never forget that there are men in business suits who constantly look for ways to increase profits by cutting corners. Just because it would be so much easier to render the same shots does not mean it will happen all the time, and no more recycled footage. Render time = money. Sure, less so much than animating new footage from scratch, but there's a bottom line to consider, people! Newer, faster, easier ways to do things simply means more corners to cut.

Neither does putting a pink face on Classics Mirage. Geez. Still, I didn't get a good look at this Arcee toy. Since it's Alternators, I would have figured they'd at least change the head mold. Of course, now that I've gotten a better look, this doesn't appear to be the case. Man, they do stuff like that, and then get surprised when no one buys it. Then they blame it on people just not being interested in the line. Kinda makes you want to strangle 'em.

I tried to find the thread, however...I don't know that it exists anymore. In the current HG/BW Legal thread there's a link to the previous thread which from what I saw would have contained the court ruling info, but the link is broken.

A pretty fantastic toy, and despite being a car he still looked like Grimlock. Not to say an MP Grimlock won't be great, too.

I never saw Masterpiece Starscream. Between two regular WalMarts, and a super WalMart, never saw a single damned one. They wouldn't let you order one through the website, either. Did the Japanese version with the cartoon colours ever come out yet? I may have to track down one of those. Might be my only chance at an MP Starscream. Ah, nevermind. Got to thinking about it, so checked the usual suspects and ordered one from BBTS. Still wish they'd released a fixed version of the original Takara colour scheme. Still, happy to hear I might be able to round out my seekers in the future. Also looks like a couple repainted Alternators are on the way. An Arcee, at least.

I recall back when translations of the Tokyo Circuit Court rulings were big news that a lot of light was shed on Kawamori's role in the production of SDF:M. It was certainly a lot more than just "mecha designer", though if I recall a lot of what he did was credited under a different name.

Yes and no. SDF:M had seriously inconsistent animation. Battle animations were usually well done, whereas in M7 the battle animation was seriously lacking. Recycled animation was usually well done, whereas recycled animation in M7, aside from Battle 7's transformation which is great, was pretty poor. For the rest, well, while SDF:M had it's high points (Misa exiting the shuttle when she went to Earth to speak to the higher-ups), and it's lows ( knife fight! ), M7 remains pretty consistent for the most part. Characters were usually decently animated and expressive, though backgrounds were often plain, to downright lacking. It's really kind of a trade off, but I wouldn't say M7 had indisputably worse animation. On the other hand, when I think of "Macross animation", I tend to think of incredible dogfights and missiles everywhere, something distinctly lacking in M7.

The thing with rotoscoping, and motion capture too, actually, is that it takes a lot of effort to make it look "right". One thing about animation, at least stylized animation such as anime, or Pixar movies (as opposed to using CG to try and create a realistic effect) is that the animation will not look correct unless it is equally stylized, somewhat exaggerated. So when you simply trace over real life, or use a computer to capture it, there is a significant amount of tweaking one needs to do. Say, what particular scene are we talking about here, anyways? I've only watched the episode once so far, and I've been in a medication/sleep-deprivation induced zombie-like state all day.

And suddenly I have TMBG's "She's Actual Size" stuck in my head.

Beware the elevator.

I really don't know that I could pin down a favourite quite yet. I enjoy all the characters, so far. I am looking forward to seeing more of the supporting cast, and seeing just what the Vajra are. The show seems so one-sided so far, without any villain characters.

I don't even mean a full series, just mentioning it, or showing a glimpse of a mining facility over some gas giant, or in an asteroid belt, as a scene in Frontier or some other future Macross story. Though, actually, I was thinking, Dynamite showed that there are criminal elements with their own ships and whatnot, a Macross series featuring space pirates could be greate. Of course, I might just be thinking that because I started watching the original Captain Herlock series again.

Oh, I certainly wasn't arguing that they couldn't find the resources, even in the Sol System alone. I am more curious about the specifics. I think it would be neat if they revealed a bit of that.

Brilliant 4th episode. I noticed people seem to be complaining about something, but I've been sickly lately, and I'm awake at all the wrong hours, so I don't really feel like reading back through it. I haven't been following the manga, so this is the first time I've actually seen this Klan Klein character. A bit of goofy comic-relief is nothing new to Macross, it certainly didn't bother me. I loved what they did with the Miss Macross contest, Alto's final test (though I wish they'd done a better job conveying that time has passed), and Alto's use of his surroundings when dealing with the unexpected. Still, I can't help but feel Alto is a bit too good of a pilot. Storytelling-wise, I think it works better when the ace is a secondary character, and the main character is somewhat less perfect, but makes up for it in other ways. Still, Alto's hot-headedness shows through, and that might be a good point to get him in to trouble over, in the not too distant future. I'm still digging all the characters, and I'm happy there's a bit more variety in mecha with the introduction of a Q-Rau squadron. I still hope we see more VFs. Maybe even the variable Glaug. Touching on how they failed to really convey much, or any, time passing over Alto's training, I do think the pacing seems a bit rushed. I'd like it to slow down a bit. You can still keep the pace of individual episodes fast and interesting, without making the whole story end up feeling like it took place over the course of a week. Just a thought for now, it hasn't really become such a problem as to hamper my enjoyment of the show. But I suspect it could if things continue like that. On the other hand, how they handled the Miss Macross contest was a sign that this won't be the case, and I really appreciated that.

There is certainly that, too! I'd actually be incredibly surprised if the factory satellite didn't have the facilities to break stuff like that down.

I don't know that Frontier seems rushed. Sure, there are some complaints about the animation, but compared to most any other tv series production it holds up quite well. Design-wise, while I enjoy Mikimoto's works, I also enjoy seeing other character designers showing me new and interesting things as well. Looking at the static shots of the characters in Frontier, I feel they look somewhat plain and uninteresting, so I can certainly understand the complaints there. That's not a sign of a rushed production, though. I also understand the comments about the VF-25. It's a very polished design, but it doesn't really bring anything new to the table. On the other hand, I'm enjoying the FAST packs more and more. I've always felt let down on post DYRL FAST packs, but I'm digging these (though the full armour on Ozma's 25 looks more than a bit much in fighter mode). I do hope we see a variety of Valk types in this series, beyond the 25 and 117. I'd love to see some 11s, 5000s, and hey we already know there's a VB-6.

What I always wondered is where did they get the resources to build all this? I imagine there's a lot of heavy duty mining in the solar system to get all the materials necessary for the factory to spit out fleet after fleet. Of course, there is nothing stating that every fleet is made up of entirely brand new ships. I imagine once a colony ship settles down on a planet, much, if not all, of the accompanying escort fleet returns to Eden, Earth, or wherever they're needed for the next colony mission. I wouldn't be surprised to hear that some of the City ships wind up going on multiple colony fleets, once some sort of housing and infrastructure is set up on a planet.

That's what I was trying to remember, what made me think maybe the Mayans spoke french. Remember, kids, France was once a colonial power. There are a lot of places in the world where french is spoken.

Also, ja, a lot of comics make the 90's Robotech comics look good in comparison. American comics have been in a pretty sad state for almost as long as I can remember. I mean, Rob Liefeld is a big name in comics. What does that tell you?