Radd

Top heavy? Sure. So top heavy "it'll fall over if you so much as look at it the wrong way"? Much less so than a SAP-loaded VF-2SS.

As Phyrox said, gaudy means a tastelessly showy, overdone sort of ugly. Think ricer cars, or even some of the worse car, truck, or SUV designs to appear on the road lately (the H2 and H3 are prime examples, in my opinion). I'd place the MII Valkyries under this category, the Sound Force mecha under this category, most Gundams, the Aquarion mecha, etcetera. Utilitarian ugly is a "get the job done" sort of ugly. The Millenium Falcon, the Humvee and other real world military equipment, the VA-3, etcetera. Er, I think you're confusing the Lightning III with somthing else. In fighter mode, the VF-4 Lightning III is possibly the sleekest Valkyrie ever designed. And yet real world aircraft remain Kawamori's top influence in Valkyrie design.

There are different kinds of ugly. There's utilitarian ugly, like the original Hummer, and then there's gaudy, like the H2 and the H3.

Unification wars, check out EpI of M0 to see some of it. 378892[/snapback] That was after the Macross crashed on Earth, when the major governments of the world tried to form a unified Earth government under the United Nations specifically to unify the world against possible alien invasion.

Oh man, I am right there with you. The Schneegans isn't too shabby either. I suppose it's too much to wish for Yamato to release an Advance Valkyrie line or something like that, hmm? Ah well... Heh. I'd actually thought of this way back when I first noticed the thread, but I was hoping someone else would do the work to find the page scans. Glad I wound up doing it afterall, I forgot how much I love these designs. Phalanx, you're persistant, stubborn, and determined. These aren't neccessarily bad traits, however I doubt you'll change any minds here, and if my hunch is correct you may very well understand why in a few years. In the meantime, I'd suggest channeling your desire to see a VF-1 redesign of your liking into a more productive course. Why not try designing mecha yourself? Keep drawing Valkyries and other mecha until you get what's in your head down on paper? Seems to me that would be more fun than butting heads with everyone here, and if you kept at it long enough, you're bound to get good at it.

Oh, you mean what console has reached the claims of its makers? I'd say the GameCube did. Nintendo made very modest claims as to the Gamecube's abilities. Before it launched, pretty much everyone was convinced that it would be the least visually impressive console of the generation. Of course, if you ask many of these same people today, their hindsight is 20/20 and of course they always knew the Cube would have better graphics than the PS2. Then again, some of them insist the Cube still has the worst graphics.

Actually, aside from the VF-0, Kawamori also did another redesign. A few of them, in fact. Anyone else remember the VF-EX Variable Fighter Experimental Program? A series of Valkyrie designs based on the idea of updating the VF-1's basic design to post Mac+/Mac7 technology? http://www.macrossworld.com/macross/magazines/cm-page-14.jpg http://www.macrossworld.com/macross/magazines/cm-page-13.jpg http://www.macrossworld.com/macross/magazi...2002_page-1.jpg http://www.macrossworld.com/macross/magazi...2002_page-2.jpg http://www.macrossworld.com/macross/magazi...2002_page-3.jpg http://www.macrossworld.com/macross/magazi...2002_page-4.jpg http://www.macrossworld.com/macross/magazi...2002_page-5.jpg http://www.macrossworld.com/macross/magazi...2002_page-6.jpg http://www.macrossworld.com/macross/magazi...tumn02page1.jpg http://www.macrossworld.com/macross/magazi...er-page-1&2.jpg http://www.macrossworld.com/macross/magazi...nter-page-2.jpg http://www.macrossworld.com/macross/magazi...nter-page-1.jpg http://www.macrossworld.com/macross/magazi...aii-fighter.jpg http://www.macrossworld.com/macross/magazi...ii-battroid.jpg http://www.macrossworld.com/macross/magazi...ng-cm-page2.jpg http://www.macrossworld.com/macross/magazi...ng-cm-page1.jpg http://www.macrossworld.com/macross/magazi...ng-cm-page4.jpg http://www.macrossworld.com/macross/magazi...ng-cm-page3.jpg http://www.macrossworld.com/macross/magazi...ng-cm-page5.jpg http://www.macrossworld.com/macross/magazi...ng-cm-page6.jpg http://www.macrossworld.com/macross/magazi...ng-cm-page7.jpg http://www.macrossworld.com/macross/magazi...ng-cm-page8.jpg

Nothing really has, not some of the more outlandish claims. Remember when Sony was comparing the PS2's emotion engine to the SGI machines that were producing Spirits Within? They even included SW test shots in their PS2 promo video.

Strangely, I've only ever heard people who've seen the tv series first say that they feel the movie is full of holes that would leave a new fan clueless. I know a few people who's first introduction to Macross was 'DYRL?', and they didn't experience any of the confusion a lot of people seem to expect they would.

Sort of on-topic, but does anyone know of any websites that have translations of the content from the first Kawamori Design Works, and/or the Miyatake Design Works?

I've just always felt that the Valkyries in Macross II looked like knockoff designs of the VF-1. For the most part, they are a VF-1 with sleeker, more ergonomic lines. Like someone at Big West said, "Hey, let's redesign the VF-1 to make it look for sci-fi-ish." They have none of the real-world inspiration of the original, or the future VFs from the rest of Macross. Additionally. they aren't even as imaginative as later Kawamori VFs (or earlier Kawamori VFs for that matter, the VF-4 came out before these designs, and is a much more radical departure). Everything about Macross II reminds me of how the Gundam franchise has been handled. Similar designs, made more and more garish, with more and bigger guns on them. That said, I can see why Big West would go that route. It works for Gundam. Heck, there was a point in time when I thought the VF-2SS was splendid, and the Metal Siren was a high point in Valkyrie design, never to be topped. I would fill reams of paper with my own futuristic Valkyrie designs, based on the same ideas. Sleeker, more guns, more thrusters. Missles spewing out of the pinky fingers and cod pieces of these invincible, transforming death machines. I've always disliked the SAP packages though, and would draw FAST packs similar to those from the original tv series on mine, but as with the Valkyries, they'd be bigger, with more missles and engines.

I must admit, when I think of Macross BGM, I'm far more likely to think of the timeless 'DYRL?' background pieces, than the tv series music. Still, there are a good number of tracks from SDF Macross that I love to this day, Dog Fighter springing to mind instantly. Comparing the soundtrack to that of Robotech's, well it seems to me that it would be like comparing a great home cooked meal, to some quick and easy take-out.

I try to do both whenever possible, but as Radd said, Tag & Bink are Kevin's characters. I love working with him, when you read a script written by Kevin Rubio, the images just begin to pop up in your brain The image is the 4th page of the first issue. What happens is that Kevin decided on re-write an old T&B short story he did for the late SW Tales magazine, a story Kevin wasn't quite satisfied with. Hence the "Special Edition" tag on issue 1 I don't remember who was the artist back then, but I had to draw the same scene and maybe that's the reason why Radd thought it was from an older comic. I tried not to look at the original art when I was doing my version but they turned out very similar (great minds think alike ) Anyway, I owe you a teaser, so here's another page from the same book. Enjoy. 376188[/snapback] Oh, wow, huh. I'm going to need to dig that issue out and compare side by side. I didn't realize this was a redrawn version. Your work? Very tight. I'll definitely be picking up a copy. I love the body language on Fett. Just looks so quirky on such a broody character.

That page is from one of the older Tag&Bink comics, dunno if you can really call it a 'teaser'. So, like, is this book just going to be a collection of the old comics, or will it include some new stuff as well? I love Kevin Rubio's writing, absolutely hilarious.

I absolutely love these designs, but then again I'm a big fan of steampunk. Hopefully the story is interesting and lives up to the promise of the designs.

I recall reading an interview with Koji Igarashi, the creator of Castlevania. He stated he'd love to do SotN for the PSP, but does not believe Sony will let him.

VgCats fan? I'm not so sure I dig the new coloring. I rather liked the old black inks. 374974[/snapback] Actually the quote was from Penny-Arcade, but I do read both. I'm with you on the colouring for VG Cats, though. I was never a fan of coloured linework.

I thought Noir was terrible. Mind you, the action was excellenty done. However, I just could not get past the weak premise, and the virtually non-existant story or character developement. If you're the sort who can forgive weak storytelling for beautifully crafted and stylistic action, Noir is really worth checking out. In that regard it was fantastic. Unfortunately, that's all it had going for it and that's not enough for me. I saw a bit of Gantz a long time ago, before it was licensed. Absolutely terrible from what little I can recall. Unfortunately, it's been so long I can't really back that opinion up. I do recall the main character gained super strength while wearing a ridiculous suit, but only if he was thinking dirty thoughts or something like that. I forget whether or not I've already mentioned Bleach in this particular thread, but it deserves another mention, if only because it failed so miserably to live up to the potential of the first 15 episodes or so. For a while, I really loved the show. It skirted the edge of being a stereotypical fight of the week anime, but managed to keep itself above that with some interesting characters and fun humour. However, it manages to drop all that before too long and become yet another DBZ-clone. By the time the main Ichigo and company head to Soul Society, most of the best characters become terribly contrived, or left out of the picture almost entirely. From then on, it's multiple episode fight scenes, and a whole lot of filler. When that arc ends, it becomes painfully apparent that they're just trying to keep the show going, despite having run out of manga source material to work with. Somewhat off topic, but still related, a extra special F***-YOU to Sony, for only releasing the heavily edited, americanized version of the recent Tetsuwan Atom/Astro Boy series to DVD. I hope you die in the second disc. ... In a fire.

Actually, they don't own the rights to use Macross designs in ANY derivative works whatsoever. They can't them in new live-action OR animated productions. Hence why all the characters in The Sentinels were redesigned. 374430[/snapback] However, they HAVE used Macross designs in derivative works, repeatedly. Comics and videogames.

Propoganda to what end?

Yeah, they are pretty terrible, Eriku. The sad part is, these are pretty much sculptures. There's no reason for how terrible they look. There are no concessions to be made for the transformation to work, few joints to work with, and yet the molds are terrible. Aren't these supposed to be display pieces?

Most anime does suck, at least in my opinion. However, tastes vary by the individual, which is why it helps to state why you like, or dislike a particular piece when dealing with threads such as this one. As we see from the Grave of the Fireflies discussion, how we interpret a story, and what baggage we, the audience, bring to it can have a heavy influence on what we take away from it as well, through no fault or merit of the show itself.

Not really interested in Titanium. Has anyone else pointed out Starscream's upside down wings?

I think 'dream toy' and one thought springs instantly to mind. VF-4 Lightning III New Valkyrie, in 1/48th scale. As far as toylines go, I'd simply like to see Yamato continue the 1/48th Valkyrie line beyond the VF-1 series.

Whoah right there, buddy. Let the blame fall where it's deserved. Mamaru Oshii is responsible for the two Ghost in the Shell movies, not Masamune Shirow.