Robotech/Macross game at Cyphan Convention

[Malebolgia]

Downloaded everything from Macross (that's a lot of GB!) and watched the first episode. Okay, a bit old and dated but I enjoyed it. Brins back (good) memories.

[Elbows]

Shame this came up now, since, as mentioned, Netflix had Robotech on there for a bit.  I have an old set of the dvds (5-8 years old).  It's only $40 or so for the whole collection, though I've never taken too well to the Masters/New Generation (though some of the animation is much much better).

[Malebolgia]

Is that the 100gb torrent?

Started with that one, but stepped down to the 50GB torrent. The 100GB had too much 'junk' in it, like tons of audio stuff I didn't care for.

[Malebolgia]

Hey, and don't forget that nude model you mentioned earlier!

[Malebolgia]

Personally I really dont mid if the entire thing turns into a complete disaster because while taking time out from the floppy arm conundrum I went through my phone book and found a buch of old numbers and scored a date with a chick who I have not seen in years who used to do nude modeling for next weekend. Never would of happened if I was not making mechs and chicks beat toys every time. 

[Jaeger]

So I just spent an entire day on youtube rekindling my love for Robotech. Thanks. 

What rulesystem did you use for the game?

/Jaeger

[mpennock]

What rulesystem did you use for the game?

I was running it at a science fiction convention, so I set it up as a participation style game, where attendees wouldn't have to commit more than fifteen minutes to half an hour to play the game. I wrote up a single page ruleset based upon Force on Force, and it did play very quickly - you could clear the enemy off the board in less than half an hour, then reset and have it ready to play again.

[Elbows]

So, for the US guys here, are there any decently priced/available Macross series here in the US?  I've seen Macross Plus and Macross II...both quite horrible.  I can't really figure out if Macross Frontier is available here or not. 

[kalamadea]

Macross Frontier is at times amazing and at times abysmal, but worth watching (it's FAR better than Macross 7 and Macross Zero). It's not available in the US, but I got a DVD of it off ebay a few years back that just had all the fansubbed episodes that people were torrenting. Because they are fansubs they are FAR superior to any of the hong kong bootlegs that are quite common (the macross 7 subtitles are barely readable). It's set aboard one of the other colony fleets a few years after Macross 7 happens-in-story, and is a loose retelling of the original series in much the same way Gundam SEED retold the original gundam series. Similar characters, similar overal plot arcs, and it hits many of the same beats, but different enough that it's not actually retelling or rebooting it. It also plays off of your expectation at times, some characters seem to be about to meet similar fates at times and then it winds up the writers were just messing with you, while others change very drastically from the original. It's pretty good overall, but it suffers not just from the same love-triangle and teen angst that the original did but from a few horrible tropes that I really hate in modern anime: all the pilot main characters are also still in high school and deal with high school drama (ugh) and the whole "military is bad, so we are in a different not-military that is totally not bad and fighting for peace" trope that was thought provoking and interesting the first time you saw it in anime, not so much a decade later. Definitely worth watching.

Honestly I'm a big fan of Plus, even with the silly hypnotizing hologram singer, it had some of the absolute best action of any of the series with really cool, well animated mecha and a much more interesting love triangle than most of the others had. It felt a little more grown up, a little more serious than the other series. I also like Macross II for what it was, but it had a LOT of potential that it wasted. It captured my imagination more than any other macross series, in no small part because I played a lot of the palladium RPG for it back in the '90s. It works very very well if you watch it right after watching Macross: Do You Remember Love. It was not a sequel to the Macross series, it was a sequel to that specific movie, both in themes and in design styles. And the Marduk were very intereting aliens, kind of what I envision the Robotech Masters should have been. If only it had just ignored that godawful reporter and centered on the pilots and been more than 6 episodes long. It also has my personal favorite mecha designs of all time. The VF-2ss is hands-down the best looking valkyrie, indeed the best looking mecha, of any series ever created and I wish there were more models of it. It's got all the lines of styling of the VF-1 but sleeker and sexier.

@Mpennock- Those are awesome Cyclones! Unfortunately while I can paint very well I can't sculpt or I'd copy those for myself. Those matchbox and toynami toys are awesome. Invid are a little big, Alphas a little small, but close enough that it looks amazing, with the gang members and terrain it really looks like a scenario straight from the show.

[Elbows]

Got some fantastic new Gashapon for UN spacy stuff, will post pics shortly.  Finally a few good guys so I can start play-testing!

[Elbows]

Received the first of three sets of the Kaiyodo Gashapon figures (Super Dimension Fortress).  They are simply fantastic.  It's a shame only set 2 is readily available (and expensive!).

The first set would be nice...but not $100+ nice.

The figures are harder plastic, and beautifully painted, nicely articulated, and have opening missile pods etc.  The scale is pretty large, matching the other Gashapon figures, so there will be some scale discrepancies, but the beautiful Tomahawk and Armored Veritech are worth it!

[Michka]

Those are pretty! Nicely mounted on bases too. Great find.

[Elbows]

I'm a bit torn...but I think I'll cope with the scale issues.  The Spartan destroids I have in plastic are perhaps 70% of the size of the Tomahawks...so when placed next to each other they look a little odd.  BUT, in the pursuit of decent miniatures, I suppose beggars cannot, in act, be choosers.

The Gashapon are being built first because they're quick, easy, and give me models to play-test with.  I have a 3' stack of plastic Nichimo kits about to be built to flush out both sides. 

[Michka]

When it comes to scale issues for a limited interest subject or a pet project I always go with what's available right now. If more compatible scale models become available down the line I can upgrade. That way you can play the game right away, and still have something to look forward to when new stuff comes out.

[mpennock]

They look good, and as Michka said, it gives you something to put on the table. You can worry about getting the scale closer when you actually find an alternative model. Until I decided to model the Queadluuns in 3D I was going to use the 1/144 scale kits alongside the 1/200 Regult  and Glaug battle pods.