From GregB: 1/200 Scale Regult Tactical Battle Pod Mechas (24 points)

Greg opens his run up the points roster with this pair of Battle Pods from the Macross animated series.

From Greg:

This submission is a pair of Regult Tactical Battle Pods, the main mecha used by the Zentreadi aliens from the anime series Macross (recognized more commonly in North America as "Robotech").  These are 1/200 scale multi-part models sold under the "Nichimo" brand many years ago, now available these days in isolated Ebay lots.  Six or seven years ago, long before any Kickstarter panhandling, I started piling together enough of these kits to play games of Macross with the gaming group here in Winnipeg.  They are not great models - they have to be screwed together (WTF !?!) so you have to fill those holes with putty.  But they look the part!  These models are about 4 inches tall.

I've loved the Macross series - complete with its bonkers notions, whacky plot with rather large holes, and terrible, terrible "pop music" - since I first saw a few scattered episodes as a teenager. Back then "GI Joe" and "Transformers" were popular cartoons, and in those shows nobody ever got hurt.  Along came this show with very cool animation, amazing mecha, and a plot that routinely killed off major characters (and also half the earth's population, ultimately). It was quite a contrast!  While of course the premise of the show was (and still is) preposterous, the themes in it still resonate (and echo into the current time through shows like Battlestar Galactica, which shares many attributes with Macross, although fans of that show will hate reading that).  I will toss a few episodes of the show on when I'm painting from time to time.  And although Macross fans rightfully take many barbs for the awful pop music angle to the show's plotline, I don't take them too seriously.  Especially from people who in turn believe any comic, cartoon or show with a character like "Wolverine" is somehow good for anything.... :)

The alien mecha from Macross are beautiful. With the reverse articulation in the legs, artful curves, the Regult pods fit the bill perfectly for alien bad guy soldier mecha.  They are armed to the teeth, elegant, maneuverable, funny-but-cool-looking, and easily blown away by the dozen by the heroes of the TV series!  In the series, these pods were about 70 or 80 feet tall, piloted by 50-foot-tall expendable soldier-clone Zentreadi soldiers. The aliens would attack with an approach that made the Red Army appear spartan in comparison, and clouds of these pods would lead the assault, getting mowed down by the ace human pilots in their own super-cool variable fighter mecha.

It was a lot of fun to collect these models from Ebay and paint them. I haven't painted one in years, and these two had been sitting forever, primed black. I figured I would clear them off the pending desk (I literally had to dust them off) as a way to recognize the expansion of the Analogue Challenge into the sci-fi realm!

Wonderful work Greg! These things always kinda make me scratch my head... but Greg's a great friend, so I nod and smile indulgently as he enthusiastically describes the impenetrable storylines and various bits of whacky technology laid out in the series. God bless him. ;)

These two Battle Pods will give Greg 24 points. Great to have you on the board, Mr.B. Now you need to get some Victorian stuff in the hopper to face-off against Michael and Phil!