The V

Only watched the anime earlier this year, so I put off buying the related toys. The pricier SoCs are harder to find over here whereas the cheaper ones like Voltes V and Daimos are in nearly every specialty store. Their respective anime being on local TV probably helped, too.

Got a little extra money, bought the Gurren Lagann:

Putting the SoC GunBuster on hold since it turns out Great Toys has one as well, albeit for 15,000 pesos compared to 13,000 at R Toys. Buying an Xbox 360 first.

When is Dave back, do you reckon he's on for another?

Err meant to get the NP thread of course.

He's in Foreign until late next week I think.

that is tereible but it si making me smile

All of Robotech's Marcross Harmony Gold series is now on Netflix streaming, for those of here in the US:

http://www.netflix.com/WiMovie/Robotech/70045624?trkid=809936

I know what my evening just became...

My 16-year-old self, who saved up ridiculous amounts of money made working at fast-food joints in order to pay big bucks for obscure and probably bootlegged copies of "Symphony of Light", really really hates me right now.

<< I know what my evening just became...>>

Realizing you should have left your childhood memories alone because the reality of what the cartoons were is far more disappointing?

 

(My experience last time I re-watched those...)

Robotech's major failing is that it doesn't edit out ALL of the dull soap opera elements that Macross filled episodes with.  Well, it DID eventually, when they made Codename: Robotech :D

Those early episodes are a trial, but I can't help myself whenever I hear the opening strains of the theme.

I've been watching them through streaming, and they're really odd, because they're awful and awesome at the same time. Or at different times, I suppose. From minute to minute. But they're still fascinating.

I did however last only four seconds into the first Minmey song before fast-forwarding.

 

I watched 1-3 last night. It really is painful except for when it, well, Robotechs out. At which point its FUCKING ROBOTECH, and I still want a nice toy VFA-6 Alpha or Cyclone VR-041 on my desk.

Do the novels hold up? I never when I was a kid got past (I think) the first or second Sentinels one. I still have no idea how it all ends.

The novels definitely hold up. Luceno and Daley's End of the Circle ties up everything in a neat little bow with a hilarious final twist. The 1995 novels Luceno wrote to fill in the gaps (and adapt some of the Malibu comics), The Zentraedi Rebellion, The Masters' Gambit, and Before The Invid Storm are worth a read too.

The Shadow Chronicles which I have not seen (yet) apparently uses "Symphony of Light" as the starting point and disregards The Sentinels.

Robotech Macross holds up well if you stop at episode 26 (the original ending, before the studio making Macross was given an additional ten episodes) and move onto the Robotech Masters Saga/Southern Cross (which is highly underrated IMHO). As for New Generation, there are a still a half-dozen episodes of that that I still haven seen (mainly those on the second DVD) that I haven't seen.

Was 26 the Big Badda Boom sequence?

I just looked up how it ends, since I doubt I'm going to go back and reread 18 (!) 300+ page novels. Thats... clever and fitting.

26 was the episode with the "final battle" as the Invading Zentradi and Earth teamed up to fight off a huge ass second Zentradi armada that was going to wipe out Earth and the initial invasion force, on the grounds that they were contaminated by Earth culture. It ends with Rick saving Lisa from the Earth's failed doomsday weapon in dramatic fashion IIRC.

I was going for a confirmation with less spoilers by referring to the "Big badda boom," but thanks, yeah, that one.

21, actually, with the three "in between" ones. But they half-adapt the Eternity Comics.

Bandai drops all pretense and makes a show about making Gundam models and playing the arcade game.

I get just a little bit of nerd rage about them half way reanimating the Zeta Gundam movies and then going all in for something like this.

Test!

Wing Zero, I choose You!

 

I don't know... tell your 16 year-old self that NetFlix pulls stuff from instant view all the time, and that having a hard copy of a virtual service that can evaporate instantly for reasons totally beyond your control, no matter how many months of subscription fees you've paid is never a bad idea.  Even bootlegs.

To be fair, my 16-year-old self has never quite recovered from the mere experience of watching "Symphony of Light" ...