Sdtrk: ‘Did you expect the gods to tread lightly when they came among you’ by Caldera lakes

We have a metric ton of news to cover in this month’s instalment. A ton. Ready GO!

You’ve probably seen this already, but Kokoro Co. Ltd.’s winsome Actroid DER2-chan made her media debut recently; she was in an advert for an insect repellent/sunscreen spray for the Japanese manufacturer Kincho.

Titled “The Woman Who Doesn’t Rust,” the 15-second commercial spot shows Actroid outdoors at a campground, where she recommends using Preshower because, as a female, her skin is important. After a few squirts of the spray, she cheerily adds, “Surprisingly, I don’t rust.”
taken from Pink Tentacle

Her voice. It’s so cute.
Today, a 15-second telly advert; tomorrow, a major part in a feature film! Well done, babe!

Speaking of Gynoids, some bloke in Japan is trying his hand at building one himself. His project is called Maidroid, which immediately identifies two target markets he’s aiming for.

She won’t be a very good maid with only one arm

Of course, everything on his site is in Japanese, and I don’t have the kind of patience to Babelfish the entire page, so just do what I do — visit it, scroll towards the bottom, click on some links, stare at the pics, watch the videos, and nod approvingly.

This one submitted by la Gina Banina: the Art of Alex Sandwell Kliszynski. He’s got a theme going, much in the style of Mario A., Juergen Specht, and Low Tek Photography, as you’ll soon note.

Five points of articulation. That’s four more than a McFarlane figure

There’s not a tremendous amount of photos in the gallery, so hopefully Mr Kliszynski has more out there that he’s just not displayed on his site yet…

Speaking of Doll art, you know (sexy) fellow iDollator Stacy Leigh‘s photos of her gorgeous silicone roomies have been shown in another publication, right? This time round, she was interviewed for the July/August issue of Park, a French magazine (scroll to the bottom for the article). They gave her eight pages! Rock on, missy!

Speaking of print magazines, on domestic shores, the August issue of Penthouse features a very even-handed four-page write-up on Real-Dolls (needed another hyphen there), which means you can actually say you’re reading it for the articles… Better hurry up and grab it, cos you know how it is with print — it’s always one month ahead, and since it’s August as we speak, all the August issues out will magickally turn into September issues in a couple of days.

Speaking of August, Phoenix Studios once again meets another deadline! I’ve always loathed August for its excessive heat and humidity; thankfully, Miss August doesn’t reflect those qualities at all. And good on her.

And why would I be attracted to her? She looks
nothing at all like the Missus!

For a couple of seconds, I was kinda confused as to what seasonal event she was supposed to represent, until I twigged it — she’s dressed as a schoolgirl. School (in the States) starts in late August. Ah haaah. Very clever, Phoenix Studios; very clevair.

Speaking of seasons, Boy Toys in and of themselves look fab enough, but Phoenix Studios are pulling another innovation out of their hat(s) with the Boy Toy Seasons line, featuring Summer, Autumn, and Winter, and Spring. These lasses are super-limited edition (only fifty of each will be made), but on top of that, their faces fall in between the stylised qualities of the regular Boy Toy line, and the realistic look of regular RealDolls. Huh!

It’s Summer time (not to be confused
with ‘Hammer time’)

Aaand finally, blindly groping my way through Google, I spotted a website for an indie film entitled ‘Rubberheart‘.

It’s Tuesday and Maggie (Rebecca Hall) is on the prowl at her local hunting ground, the video store. Hapless video nerd Ted (Jake Sandvig) tries, as always, to curry favor with Maggie, but she needs more intrigue. She needs more of a man. Enter Nick (Josh Cooke). Maggie courts Nick while browsing the Tinto Brass collection. They go to Maggie’s to watch Salon Kitty and make love on the couch.

The morning after, Maggie wakes without the usual sense of dread that comes with a hangover and making small talk with a stranger who you’ve had mediocre sex with. They agree to see each other again.

After a few weeks of renting films and watching them at Maggie’s place until carnal pleasure interrupts, Nick invites Maggie to dinner at his house. When Maggie arrives, Nick has something to share…something that takes Maggie completely by surprise.

SPOILERS: He’s got three lovely RealDolls. Well, it’s not much of a spoiler, really; I mean, why else would I be writing about it?
I’ve contacted the director, Brian Crano, in an attempt to procure a copy of the film for review. It’s actually making the film festival rounds — it’s due to be shown at the Canary Wharf Film Festival later this month. Full details are, of course, available on the film’s site, so if you catch it, let me know! Well, let Brian know too, as I’m sure he’d appreciate it.

Whoo! That… was a lot of news in one go. I think I need a Djarum

Technorati tags: Kokoro Co. Ltd., Actroid, Kincho, Maidroid, Android, Gynoid, robots, Alex Sandwell Kliszynski, Stacy Leigh, Park Mag, Penthouse Magazine, Phoenix Studios, Boy Toy, Rubberheart, Brian Crano, RealDolls

I’m confused about who the news belongs to. I always have it in my head that if your name’s in the news, then the news should be paying you. Because it’s your news and they’re taking it and selling it as their product. But then they always say that they’re helping you, and that’s true too, but still, if people didn’t give the news their news, and if everybody kept their news to themselves, the news wouldn’t have any news. So I guess you should pay each other. But I haven’t figured it out fully yet.
– Andy Warhol, ‘The Philosophy of Andy Warhol’, page 78

+ + + + + + + + + + + + +

+ Eves de silicones; programme by Elisabeth Alexandre for France 3 public television. Aired June 2002.

+ ‘Living with Dolls’; segment by Matt Hanson for CHUM television programme SexTV, Canada. Aired October 2003.

+ Still Lovers; photo monograph by Elena Dorfman. Published by Channel Photographics, 2005.

+ Des poupées et des hommes: Enquête sur l’amour artificiel (Dolls and Men: Investigation into Artificial Love); book written by Elisabeth Alexandre. Published by La Musardine, France, 2005.

+ ‘Real Dolls: Love in the Age of Silicone‘; article written by Meghan Laslocky. Originally published as ‘Just Like a Woman’ for Salon.com, October 2005.

+ ‘Vom Suchen und Finden der Liebe (On the Seeking and Finding of Love)’; article written by Annett Heide, Maxi magazine, Germany. Published January 2006.

+ ‘Täydelliset naiset’; article written by Anu Partanen, Image Magazine, Finland. Published March 2006.

+ ‘Love Dolls’; article written by Brittany Douziech, Scene Magazine, California State University Northridge, United states. Published June 2006.

+ Guys and Dolls, aka ‘Love me, Love my Doll’, aka ‘Min konstgjorda flickvän’; television documentary by Nick Holt for Channel Five, England. Aired September 2006.

+ ‘Annorlunda sex – om sexuella böjelser‘; segment by Anna Jillhed for Titan Television programme Outsiders, Sweden. Aired October 2006.

+ ‘In a Barbie world: BBC America reveals strange U.S. culture’; article written by Jennifer Christie Haughton, Daily Trojan, University of Southern California, United states. Published June 2007.

+ ‘Heart to part’; article written by John Wilkens, San Diego Union-Tribune, United states. Published October 2007.

+ ‘The reality is outside the box’; article written by Josephine Tovey, The Sydney Morning Herald, Australia. Published April 2008.

+ ‘Guys and dolls: A revealing look at men’s sex toys’; article written by Tanya Gold, The Independent, England. Published September 2008.

+ ‘Davecat, Doll Husband (Part I / Part II)’; article written by Sabrina Scott, ULTRAKILLBOT, Canada. Published April 2009.

+ ‘Real Dolls and iDollators‘; photo-essay by Anne Vial and Stephan Gladieu, Reportage by Getty Images, United States. Published November 2009.

+ ‘iDollitor: The synthetic companion and her owner‘; article written by Deanna Rilling, Las Vegas Weekly, United states. Published January 2010.

+ ‘Strange Love‘; segment by J.Siberry for National Geographic programme Taboo, United states. Aired February 2010.

+ ‘La ardiente historia de Davecat y su mujer de silicona (The ardent history of Davecat and his silicone wife)’; article written by Felipe Castro, La Nación Domingo, Chile. Published July 2010.

+ ‘Meet the iDollators (Part I / Part II)’; article written by Amisha Surani, Best magazine, England. Published August 2010.

+ ‘Man Has $6,500 Love Doll “Reincarnated”’; article written by Natalie O’Neill, Asylum, United states. Published October 2010.

+ ‘Een Realdoll kan niet vreemdgaan (A Realdoll can’t cheat)’; article written by Rebecca Have, VrouwOnline, The Netherlands. Published November 2010.

+ ‘Davecat: Man Marries Robot’; podcast hosted by Don Recuero and Diana Sparx, Mindcore, United states. Published January 2011.

+ ‘Married To A Doll‘; segment by Adam Pray for The Learning Channel television programme My Strange Addiction, United states. Aired January 2011.

+ ‘Synthetic Family‘; segment by Becky Hoey for The Learning Channel television programme My Strange Addiction: Still Addicted?, United states. Aired June 2011.

+ ‘Synthetik Love: A Modern Love Story‘; documentary by Ashley Miller, United states. Published April 2012.

+ ‘The Mechanical Bride‘; documentary by Allison de Fren, United states. Released April 2012.

+ ‘In Praise of iDollatry: An Interview with Davecat and Sidore’; article written by Dan Oudshoorn, On Journeying with those in Exile, Canada. Published September 2012.

+ ‘Fetish Study: Dolls, Mannequins, and Statues‘; article written by greatapethoughts, Great Ape Thoughts, United states. Published January 2013.

+ ‘Going inside the mind of Davecat, the man in love with his RealDoll ‘; article written by Britta Bowles, Selected writings, United states. Published May 2013.

+ ‘Tea Time with Davecat: Shouting to Hear the Echoes (Part One)‘; article written by Danielle Boachie, Womancipation Proclamation, United states. Published June 2013.

+ ‘Married to a Doll: Why One Man Advocates Synthetic Love‘; article written by Julie Beck, The Atlantic, United states. Published August 2013.

+ ‘Davecat tells how he married a RealDoll named Sidore Kuroneko‘; article written by Rebecca Sullivan, news.com.au, Australia. Published October 2013.

+ ‘Tea Time with Davecat: Shouting to Hear the Echoes (Part Two)‘; article written by Danielle Boachie, Womancipation Proclamation, United states. Published October 2013.

+ ‘Sex-Puppe: Dave braucht keine echten Frauen‘; segment by Hans Huebner for RTL television programme Explosiv, Germany. Aired November 2013.

+ ‘Silicone Love: Davecat’s Life with a Synthetic Wife and Mistress‘; article written by Roc Morin, VICE, United states. Published January 2014.

+ ‘Love Dolls’; article written by Sofija Stefanovic, The Lifted Brow, Australia. Published March 2014.

+ ‘El matrimonio de Davecat y Sidore Kuroneko visto desde los ojos de la muñeca (The marriage of Davecat and Sidore Kuroneko seen through the eyes of the Doll)’; article written by Sam Schneider, ZoomNews, Spain. Published March 2014.

+ The Guide to the Future of Medicine: Technology AND The Human Touch; book written by Bertalan Meskó, MD, PhD. Published by Webicina Kft., Hungary, September 2014.

+ ‘Exclusive Interview With Davecat‘; article written by Miss Metaverse, Futurist Miss Metaverse, United states. Published January 2015.

+ ‘Sex, Love, and Robots‘; article written by Elizabeth Nolan Brown, Reason.com, United states. Published March 2015.

+ ‘Episode 20 – Robots In Our Beds‘; podcast interview by Ben Orlando, History Repeating Itself, United states. Aired April 2015.

+ ‘Episode #2 – Davecat‘; podcast interview by Dr Paul Salvatori and Jordan Randall, The Dark Room, Canada. Aired January 2016.

+ ‘Os presento a mis dos esposas… de plástico (I present my two plastic spouses…)’; article written by Alba Muñoz, Papel, Spain. Published August 2016.

+ ‘A Girl of Ivory‘; podcast interview by Nick van der Kolk, Love + Radio, United states. Aired September 2016.

+ ‘«Меня всегда привлекали искусственные вещи»: Интервью с человеком, женатым на своей секс-кукле (“I was always attracted to artificial things”: Interview with a man married to his sex doll)’; article written by Andrey Pisarev, FURFUR, Russia. Published December 2016.

+ The Age of Perversion: Desire and Technology in Psychoanalysis and Culture; book written by Dr Danielle Knafo and Rocco Lo Bosco. Published by Routledge, United states, 2016.

+ ‘Love Doll Buyer’s Guide: How to Find Your Ideal Synthetic Lover‘; article written by Jenna Owsianik, Future of Sex, United states. Published January 2017.

+ ‘Maschinen-Sex – Von Robo-Ehen und elektrischen Liebhabern‘ (Robot marriages and electric lovers – How will artificial intelligence change our relationships?); podcast interview by Jennifer Rieger, Deutschlandradio Kultur, Germany. Aired April 2017. Transcript in English is here.

+ ‘Rise of the sex robots‘; video segment by Jenny Kleeman and Tom Silverstone, The Guardian, United Kingdom. Published April 2017.

+ ‘Episode 2: Davecat‘; video segment by Julia Gorbach and Carla Tramullas for the interactive online series The Dig, United states. Released May 2017.

+ ‘One Cool Davecat: A Hard Left Turn‘; podcast interview by Dick Wound & minimus maximus, Off the Cuffs, United states. Aired August 2017.

+ ‘My Wife is a Real Doll. Literally!‘; podcast interview by Sunny Megatron & Ken Melvoin-Berg, American Sex, United states. Aired October 2017.

+ ‘Episode 53 – DaveCat‘; podcast interview by BakjiBen & Floss, #ProudToBeKinky Podcast, United states. Aired November 2017.

+ ‘Episode 4 – Relationships‘; segment by Jelle Brandt Corstius for VPRO television programme Robo sapiens, Netherlands. Aired November 2017.

+ ‘Si mi mujer se va, hago mi vida con un robot sexual’ (‘If my wife leaves, I make my life with a sex robot’); article written by Ana María Velásquez Durán, El Tiempo, Colombia. Published December 2017.

+ ‘Silicone Soul‘; documentary by Melody Gilbert, United states. Released January 2018.

+ ‘Silicone Selves: On The Aesthetics of Silicone Women‘; article written by Taylore Scarabelli, Vestoj, United states. Published February 2018.

+ ‘Davecat on ollut seksinuken kanssa 17 vuotta – “Hänessä on kaikki naisen hyvät puolet ilman huonoja”‘ (‘Davecat has been together with a sex doll for 17 years — “She has all the good aspects of a woman without the bad ones”‘); video segment by Jaro Asikainen and Turkka Korkiamäki, Yle, Finland. Published March 2018. YouTube link is here.

+ ‘Vive con su esposa, su novia y una amiga, todas muñecas sexuales’ (‘Life with his wife, his girlfriend and a friend, all sex dolls’); article written by Samuel Losada Iriarte, Infobae, Argentina. Published April 2018.

+ ‘Pensavo fosse un calesse‘ (‘It is love, and not a thing’); article written by Giuseppe Genna, Il Primo Amore, Italy. Published May 2018.

+ ‘デトロイトに住むラブドールのオーナー、その「日本オタク度」がすごかった‘ (‘The owner of Love Doll living in Detroit, his “Japanese otaku degree” was amazing’); article written by Yohtaro Hamada, The Asahi Shimbun Globe+, Japan. Published October 2018.

+ Turned On: Science, Sex and Robots; book written by Dr Kate Devlin. Published by Bloomsbury Sigma, United kingdom, October 2018.

+ ‘Where Do Our Sex Bots Go After We Die?‘; article written by Madison Medeiros, Medium, United states. Published November 2018.

+ ‘Sex Doll Brothels Expand The Market For Synthetic Partners‘; article written by Mark Hay, Forbes, United states. Published November 2018.

+ Humans and Robots: Ethics, Agency, and Anthropomorphism; book written by Sven Nyholm. Published by Rowman & Littlefield, United states, March 2020.

+ Sex Robots & Vegan Meat; book written by Jenny Kleeman. Published by Picador, United kingdom, July 2020.

+ ‘Je suis robosexuel depuis 30 ans‘ (‘I have been a robosexual for 30 years’); article written by Pauline Ferrari, Usbek & Rica, France. Published August 2020.

+ ‘Living With Sex Dolls feat. Davecat (Part 01)‘; podcast interview by Bryony Cole, Future of Sex, United states. Aired November 2020.

+ ‘When Sex Dolls Evolve feat. Davecat, Dr Marianne Brandon, and Dr Julie Carpenter (Part 02)‘; podcast interview by Bryony Cole, Future of Sex, United states. Aired December 2020.

+ ‘It’s not just a sex doll! What it’s like to be in a relationship with a synthetic partner‘; podcast interview by Chion Wolf, Audacious, United states. Aired October 2021.

+ ‘The deeply human love stories of people and their sex dolls‘; article written by Brit Dawson, British GQ, England. Published March 2023.

Sdtrk: ‘We are coming back to dance with you’ by The focus group

Fuck me rigid. I have been asleep for literally twelve hours straight. Why? I’ve got another flu! FUCKING AWESOME.

I swear to christ, I am sick of being sick. As I’ve been lamenting to my friends anyone who will listen, I’ve been ill off and on with supercolds and the occasional flu consistently since late last September. If the climate isn’t bitterly cold, I’m either getting it from friends, or from my godforsaken coworkers. Remember how I mentioned how Tsukihime had it? I managed to either avoid it directly, or it was just building up inside me, as while I was at work last night, I was getting the occasional shiver. When I woke up Friday morning, I felt as if someone had taken me by the shoulders and shaken me for an hour. Needless to say, I called in.
It’s definitely a flu, as I’ve got the symptoms: the slow-motion walk, muscle fatigue, being simultaneously too cold and too hot, dizziness, everything tasting like iron filings. But y’know the thing about this timing that really gets on my wick? A cluster of us Michigan-area iDollators are supposed to have another Congress this week-end! Goddamnit.

If you want me, I’ll be in my coffin. This is ridiculous

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Sdtrk: ‘Sadistic’ by Stereolab

We know a little workplace in the American Southwest, where alert reader Sena toils in the biotech department. She, like many other people, recently viewed ‘Guys and Dolls‘, found it eminently fascinating, and told her coworkers about it. However, instead of the typical torches-and-pitchforks reaction, according to her, Sidore and I are celebrities over there. Don’t believe me? Check out their whiteboards:

That blurry bit in the first pic is the department name, by the way. I particularly like the second pic though, as the artist managed to accurately capture our likenesses to a T. Someone’s done their research!

This post goes out to Sena, Jacob, and the diligent (?) employees at Corporate Workplace That I Obviously Can’t Name, Located in a Rather Large Southwestern State. Stop watching so many videos on das InfoBahn! Go read a book instead!

Sdtrk: ‘Cemetry gates’ by the Smiths

Ha ha! Looks like even Gynoids aren’t exempt from visiting the dentist now! Now they can go through what I recently went through. Sucks to be you, Little Miss Synthetik! Ha!

As long as the nurse doesn’t start asking ‘Is it sssafe?’, then she should be alright

Humanoid robot teaches dentists to feel people’s pain
Yahoo! News | Wed Nov 28, 4:59 AM ET

Japan’s future dentists may soon be able to better appreciate patients’ pain by training on a humanoid robot that can mumble “ouch” when the drill hits a nerve.

The robot, resembling an attractive young woman with long black hair and a pink sweater, also can listen to instructions and react to pain by moving her eyes or hands.

A group of robot and computer makers presented the high-tech dental patient in Tokyo at the 2007 International Robot Exhibition, a four-day technology showcase that opened Wednesday.

The medical simulation robot, named “Simroid,” is designed to be used for clinical training at dental schools, said Tatsuo Matsuzaki, an official at robot maker Kokoro Company Ltd., which developed the body and control system.
the rest of the article is here

For a while, I was wondering what the forward-thinking people at Kokoro Co. Ltd. were up to, as I hadn’t seen nor heard any Actroid news in months. And believe me, I looked. But it’s good to know they’re not resting on their laurels…
Although you can’t exactly tell from the above photo, Simroid-chan’s pretty cute, even when there’s a bunch of people jamming their hands into her mouth. At the very least, you know she takes care of her teeth.

I found a couple of videos of her in action as well, but I’m debating whether to upload them to my YouTube page, or let the Missus put them on her Dailymotion page. Dailymotion has been giving us problems as of late, as most, if not all, of the videos we’ve uploaded have been marked as having inappropriate content. Bloody ridiculous. I’ll figure out something relatively soon

EDIT (2.31 pm): Well, damnit, Pink Tentacle. I’LL GET YOU NEXT TIME *shakes fist*

ta very much to SafeTinspector for the hip tip

Technorati tags: robots, Androids, Gynoids, Kokoro Co. Ltd., Actroid, dentistry

Sdtrk: ‘Across the universe’ by Laibach

At times, I’m glad I’m not rich, as I am a bonafide sucker — perhaps one could even call me a sucka — for obscure and anachronistic technologies. ‘Technological white elephants,’ as Danielle Dax once called them. I used to own one of the infamous Fisher-Price PXL-2000 camcorders back when they debuted in the late Eighties — you know, the ones that record sound and image onto normal audiocassette tape — and since I sold mine, I start each day weeping softly into my pillow, regretting the tragic mistake that I’d made. Especially since working PXL-2000s run about $400 – $500 on eBay these days.
So you can imagine my Glee Meter (and my Esoterica Meter) going well into the red when I saw this online: VinylVideo.

VinylVideo™ is a fake archeology of media.
We designed a device that retrieves videosignals (moving image and sound) stored on a conventional Vinyl (LP) record. The discontinuity in the development of electronic film technology constitutes the historical background for this fictitious video disc technology: Even though television, the electronic transmission of moving images, had been feasible since the late 1920’s, storage of these images became possible only after development of the video recorder in 1958. Recording images for private use did not become available until the mass introduction of the VCR in the early 1980’s (!). Before, the average consumer was confined to use Super-8 film, a technology dating back to 1900, usually without sound. Recording of television was not possible at all.
VinylVideo™ reconstructs a homemovie technology of the late 40’s/early 50’s and thus bridges a gap in the history of consumer technology. The images are stored on a conventional analog record, with a running time of ca. 8 min / side (Singles 4 min / side). These records are played on a standard turntable with an ordinary diamond needle, the signals are then processed by the VinylVideo Home Kit into a videosignal that is displayed on a black and white TV-set.
taken from the presskit

So it’s basically like the bastard child of Edison’s wax cylinders and SelectaVision, RCA’s well-meaning-but-doomed analogue storage format from the Eighties. Huh!

The site is fab, in and of itself; there’s a lengthy infomercial that explains, in a rather tongue-in-cheek fashion, what VinylVideo has over boring conventional television. Essentially, VinylVideo is a medium for video artists to make their art arguably more available to the public — it’s easier and cheaper to purchase a VinylVideo kit than it is to buy a work by Nam June Paik — and its super-lo-fi technology (they call the image’s quality trashpeg, tee hee) makes it easy to use and alter for one’s own purposes, if you’re into the whole deconstructionist thing. Personally, the biggest draw for someone like me is that it’s composed of sexy retro-tech!

You hook up your telly and home hi-fi turntable to this outsized converterboxthing, fiddle with a few knobs to fine-tune the image, and voila! Greyscale visuals flicker across your screen in a ghostly fashion, for as long as the record plays. The images that the conversion present seem like the perfect sort of medium for videos done by the growing crop of ‘eldritchtronica’ artists, such as those found on the Ghost box and Blank workshop labels — even the high-contrast pictures seem washed-out and murky. Lovely stuff…

It’s a shame I’m not rich, as the playback kit alone for VinylVideo goes for the horrifying amount of just over $3,400 USD. Kinda makes the highway robbery that extortionists want for a PXL-2000 seem quite reasonable and pleasant, eh?

Technorati tags: VinylVideo, Ghost box, Blank workshop, SelectaVision, Fisher-Price PXL-2000

Sdtrk: ‘Hide away’ by Midnight movies

It’s hardly a secret that I’m a dyed-in-the-wool Japanophile, but who can blame me? Seriously, what other country would come up with the idea of marketing one of their auto company’s latest vehicles by using a giant robot?

Now THAT’S a sport utility vehicle

Technically, the Nissan Dualis isn’t a robot, but a ‘powered suit’ (think the Garland from Megazone 23, or the Knight Sabers’ Motoslaves from Bubblegum crisis), but then technically, the real Dualis, which is merely another SUV, doesn’t transform. Way to get my hopes up with your false fecking advertising, Nissan. And the videos hosted on YouTube, that feature the Dualis skating around Japan’s busy metropolitan streets, don’t help either. Still, it certainly gives one something to look forward to.

The Dualis powered suit was apparently designed by Shoji Kawamori, the most overworked mecha designer in Japan. Good lord, man, wasn’t working on most of the Macross series / the Armored core series / GUNHED / Escaflowne / Eureka7 / Aquarion / the AIBO ERS-220 enough for you? When was the last time you slept, sometime in the Seventies??