New additions...

I have, for quite some time, coveted Yamato Valkyries from Macross. The only problem would be their price and space in my home. You see, I don't let my geekdom rule me and many visitors to my home would never know that I am a closet otaku/fanboy. As such, the bulk of my collection can be found in my office and library. About a month ago, I finally went out on a limb and picked up a display case for my Macross toys. Since then, I have been filling said case with my new Yammy Valkyries from Macross 7.

First up was the VF-19S

This Valk is probably my favorite toy that I currently own.

The reason for the lofty praise is how solid this toy is. I mean, it has fantastic balance and a fairly good amount of die-cast to keep it solid. This beauty looks good in whatever mode you would want to display it in. My personal favorite is battloid but it looks good in all three modes (battloid, GERWALK and fighter) and has the good balance to pull off all three with no problem.

Next up is my VF-22S Miria's custom valkyrie.

While I'm not much of a fan of Red (blame Coach McCartney) mecha, I really dig this toy. I guess I like it because it IS Miria's mech after all.

Then there is my Max version of the VF-22S. I love this shade of blue. It is one of my favorite colors...then there is the fact that it IS Max's ship.

For the longest time, I did NOT like this mech because it was based on Guild's ship from Macross Plus and I hated his character. A lot. It wasn't until I read somewhere that the YF-21/VF-22 was a cross between the Zentradi Queadluun Rau and the traditional Valkyrie that I began to like this mech.

As this is something of a "catch-up" posting, I will go over my geeky con excursions soon...

I'm addicted to Protoculture....

So, I decided to go down memory lane today and I pulled out my DVD of "Macross: Do You Remember Love?". Man, I forgot how much I absolutely LOVE that movie. It's, easily, one of my favorite anime movies of all time.

I remember when I first "discovered" the movie and how it really grabbed me with the music, designs (both mecha and characters) and the revamped storyline.

I really, really need to get an R2 version of the movie. As it is, I have a VHS copy of it and a really good fansub. Not to mention my..ahem..Hong Kong "imported" DVD.

For people who really know me, I am something of a collector. So, when it comes to my toy collection, I'm seriously thinking about selling anything and everything that isn't Macross/Robotech-related. I mean, really, I can't collect everything anymore and my love for Macross/Robotech is pretty strong.

I really love the Yamato Macross toy line. The picture above is of my beloved VF-11B from Macross Plus.

While I know that there are a lot of issues with this particular toy, I just really love the mecha, itself.

Just recently, I found out on the Macross World forums that Yamato is going to release the VF-11C from Macross 7. What an absolutely beautiful mech this is.My 11B is a 1/72 scale while the 11C is a 1/60 scale. I think that I am going to have to buy two of these.

Of course, there is the YF-19 that I covet as well.

Easily one of the most popular Valks in the Macross Universe. Right up there with the VF-1S (Skull Leader, baby!!!)

I really want one of these...

The above toys are something new from the good folks at Yamato, the GN-U Dou. This line is pretty much Yamato's answer to the Revoltechs. The only thing is that they are a little bit bigger but also a little bit more expensive than the Revoltechs.


When I go to cons, I frequent the dealer's room looking for Macross-related merchandise. So, along with the toys, I also keep an eye out for artbooks as I have a pretty sizable collection. The Macross artbooks that I have picked up over the years happen to be some of the best (and most difficult to find) artbooks that I own.

This artbook showcases the beautiful art from Haruhiko Mikimoto and happens to be one of my favorites.

The artbooks below, I found at Anime Wasabi in 2008. They had an AWESOME dealer's room that year but I was a little disappointed with the con as a whole this year, though. No new artbook purchases for me.

With the popularity of Macross Frontier, all kinds of things have come out in the last year or so that are Macross-y. One of those things is the "Macross Ace" magazine.

This magazine is pretty darn cool as it is brought to us by the good folks at Kadokawa and it specializes in Macross-related manga, light novels, music, games and toys. (Right up my alley!!!) One of the things that I am looking forward to is the "Super Dimension Fortress MACROSS- The First" manga being serialized inside. It is, basically, a retelling of the original Macross story done up with art from the amazing Mikimoto. This cover is of issue 002 which came out in June. The third issue comes out in November.

Gotta start getting this mag!!!

Let's do some cosplayin'

You know I love cosplay, right? What's better than a little Macross-themed cosplay...

FIRE BOMBER!!!

What this world needs more of is....Minmay cosplay....
DECULTURE!!!

Here's to being a poor otaku...

So, I finally took a look at my bank account today to find that I had A LOT less money than I expected to find...le sigh... I guess if I were going to sacrifice a month (by doubling up on bills) towards the end of the year, then October is it. Besides, I need to have moolah for X-Mas gifts and all.

You know, the bad thing about being a poor otaku is seeing all of the STUFF that you want and knowing that you can't afford them right now. An example... I'm on HobbyLink Japan recently and I see the Origin of Valkrie 'gokins.
Yeah..now that's what I'm talkin' about right there. A VF-1J brought to us by the good folks at Bandai is right up my alley. It is a 1/55 scale toy that is probably better (stability-wise) than it's Yamato counterpart.

Now, if you think that is cool...check this one out.
It's the VF-25 Messiah (Ozma variant) that I am straight up lusting after. Both it and the Alto variant are 1/60 scale from Bandai and runs about $120. That 's not bad, really. As something of a novice Valkrie collector (after meeting ZorMaster at NDK, I realize that I'm a novice), I don't have a problem shelling out that much for this incredibly awesome looking toy. I would love to see a Revoltech of this mech.
Speaking of Revoltechs...when i was at NDK, I went kind of nuts over them. I will post some of those pics at a later time. I need to re-take some of them because they didn't come out the way I wanted. Actually, I think that I need another camera, period. Anywho, I picked up a Maizinger, Star Scream, VF-1S and YF-19.
Now, while I really do like Revoltechs for their posability, the problem that I have with them is a very petty one. My problem with the toy is that they aren't to scale with each other. I really noticed it with my VF-1A (that I got from Cyphr for my B-day last year) and my VF-1S. The 1S is puny compared to the 1A and that's just not right. Skull One should NEVER be smaller than the other valkries. In fact, the YF-19 is smaller than the VF-1A as well.
As for other toys that are similar to Revoltechs, what I really am looking for is the GNU-Dou line from Yamato. Basically, it is Yamato's Revoltech as they are very poseable as well but they are a little bit bigger and made from a better type of plastic. Several people from other sites that I frequent are really high on this series so I need to check it out for myself.

Right now, the Krew is in the middle of Gurren Lagann at Anime Forum. Being a fanboy of most things Gainax, I became enamored with this show because of Yoko (see previous post). In time, I became a big fan of Simon the main character. The growth that he shows throughout the series is amazing. In fact, I will go on record as saying that Gurren Lagann is the best series that I have seen in more than 5 years. It's a compelling story with great character growth and a really good ending. (How often can you say that about an anime?) Anywho, we are showing one disc per evening so we will be done in two weeks. Then we will move to Code Geass for our feature anime. From what I have seen, I think that it will be enjoyable. Code Geass is one of those anime that I buy but never actually watch (like Last Exile).

I absolutely LOVE this scene....my friend, Card, hates this song but I love JPOP and this is right up my alley.

DECULTURE!!!