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It's definitely not the same, but my thought is mostly on the side of how much return they can expect to see on their investment. Without going too deep into details I don't know a ton of, I've always been under the assumption that Yamato's success with the VF-1 funded all of their more expensive ventures (VF-19s, VF-17s, and VF-4), but there wasn't enough demand to keep up with the higher production costs, and the VF-1 market got entirely saturated, so they couldn't use it as a reliable funding pool. In terms of Macross7, I think the only Yamato release to get multiple production runs was the Fire Valk (not counting bundle re-releases for the VF-17 packs). It's also the only one Arcadia reissued, and it made sense for the Japanese market, because yeah, it's iconic for that series. In Bandai's case though, making another Fire Valk at this point feels like a bad one to start off with, especially if they're interested in actually selling to international markets. There are just so many factors working against it: - Both Yamato and Arcadia have sold multiple runs of that specific valk in that same scale, so the market is fairly well saturated in both regions - There is so little difference between the two different products that probably only hard-core collectors are going to think "I need both" - Macross7 and Basara in particular are.. I'll just call them "acquired tastes" Throw in the tariff situation, and you're going to lose even more customers, because at least some existing fans who would otherwise happily gobble up duplicates are probably going to just convince themselves their old Yamato/Arcadia is good enough. Like, I get it, the Fire Valk is the icon of the show, so not making it first would feel dumb too. But trying to sell it again feels like a bad bet to make. I would love Bandai to start offering up more polls to see what people want, but I also don't think they have the mentality to make those polls effective on the international market. If I'm remembering correctly, we did have a poll long ago to help decide what the first international releases should be, but I think all it really covered was which series people wanted products from, not anything as specific as characters or paint schemes. I think that was one of the factors that led to the weaponless YF-19 re-release. (I also think this was before the licensing fiasco was "settled," so a lot of people blew their feedback comments on wishes for SDFM/DYRL products that we still can't get.) I will say though.. the Kairos getting a reissue is a wild card, and I'm really surprised they would even consider it. I don't want to get my hopes up, but I would love someone at Bandai to make the mental bridge between cool transforming aircraft and military aircraft collectors. People gobbled up the Kairos, and the prices stayed sky high from the get-go. I would love them to experiment that way with the VF-19, or pretty much any other Macross product they can sell here.

More of a Rock /Metal guy personally. Gotta have some rough music to keep me going on the rough roads or dealing with the chaos of the highway once I get down the mountain. Also gets the adrenaline going to keep me awake for the drive home. And takes me to another world while clipping out parts and sanding nubs. some cool mods here, love seeing these built up. Looks like a lot of work, but it seems to really be paying off

Okie-dokie, copied this over from the Macross Delta novelization topic so I can answer it without derailing that other topic too badly. So... yeah, as noted over there it's a bit odd that Mirage would use such a specific term as "optical weapons" to refer to her Valkyrie's energy weapons. What's weirder and more out of place is the implication that beam guns have finite ammunition. Most energy weapons - lasers, particle beams, plasma guns, impact cannons - are built into the mecha and are able to draw power from the mecha's internal power distribution system. It's all buffered output. The various power generation systems tied to the reactor (the thermoelectric converters and MHD generators) supply power to a network of energy capacitors that then distribute power locally to various systems. Laser weapons like the "head lasers" of Battroids are powered by an energy capacitor in the Battroid's head that is replenished by the energy from the generators in the engines. Particle beam guns are said to get their charged particles from the reactor itself and the energy for their operation comes from the capacitors. Plasma guns are implied to be in the same boat. Because of this setup, a beam weapon of any stripe ought to have essentially infinite ammunition as long as the mecha's reactor or reactors continue to replenish its energy capacitors and provide charged particles or plasma for relevant applications. Mirage and Hayate's VF-31 Siegfrieds only have two types of energy weaponry equipped: the ROV-127E laser cannons on the monitor turret and the LU-18A charged particle beam gunpod. So apparently Mirage is implying that the LU-18A has a finite internal ammo source. Kodachi must be referencing Master File for that one. The VF-31 Master File's explanation of the LU-18A describes it as getting the necessary electric power for its operation from the Valkyrie but having an internal magazine of "beam cartridges" that are vaporized and ionized to produce the charged particles the weapon fires. (This is a bit odd, in that it seems to go against what previous titles suggested about beam gunpod operation, with the YF-27-5 drawing what it needed for its beam gunpod to run from a third reactor mounted on the wing, suggesting it COULD get its charged particles from the mecha.)

I definitely agree, just hoping the shipping cost isn’t affected by the size

You'd think they'd just say "beam" since Macross Chronicle uses that as the umbrella term for pretty much all non-dimensional energy weapons. "Optical weapon", at least as it is presently defined, only extends to lasers... though it would be on brand for Mirage to be pompously using a technical term for no real reason. Not really? I'll explain this over on the Mecha thread so I don't derail the thread.

Bandai also produces larger runs of their toys. Yamato probably made 1000 toys, Bandai probably makes 5000. I wouldn't worry too much going about the dropping prices.

Tales of Wedding Rings Season 2 finally something happened. Way to go Satou Haruto.

I don't think it is the same situation though. Yamato could only sell to the domestic market so of course they went for the most popular Valk. Bandai is no longer operating under that restriction. Bandai could actually ask their international customers what they want now. As a matter of fact there's already evidence they don't know their markets, the sales of the Figuarts MvC Cyclops conpletely blindsided them. The results of the poll in October due to those sales were so different they pushed up production of that line from one figure in 26 to at least four now and they rearranged the planned releases. They need a poll for Macross items for the world wide market. There's a high liklihood we would be getting very different schemes. I imagine some video game schemes instead.

Very excited for this!!! Keep the updates flowing.

No regrets here. Bring om that big ol box. It’s hilarious how big it is but it’s what’s inside that counts. That’s what my mama told me.

Just looking at all that photoetch raises my blood pressure @derex3592. Superb job! Figure I'd post up what I just started working on today. My next build will be converting the old Arii 1:48 Bronco II Gerwalk kit (from Super Dimension Century Orguss), so that it can switch between fighter and Gerwalk modes: I'd been searching for a kit of this for years (wanted to get the convertible version, but if you know anything about these kits they are very hard to come by and very expensive when found), so when I saw this one for a good price a number of years ago I jumped at it, and asked one of our members in Japan to help me secure it. He very graciously agreed and here we are. Anway, first order of business was opening up the top of the thighs, where they connect to fuselage. Right is before left is after. Doing this allows the legs to sit horizontal in fighter mode. Again right is before left is after. Gerwalk: Fighter: Some nice engineering built in to the design allowing for a pretty wide range of sideways swing in Gerwalk: That's all for now. More to come

😍

The Monster is justified given it's basically two full kits in one. This... I'll just say I dodged a bullet when I decided not to get one (or, god forbid, more).

Lol yeah. My distaste for the Basara outweighs how well made it is. The Excalibur on the other hand…

Thanks guys! I kept going for 5 hours straight this morning and progress was definitely made today!

It looks like the box they use for the 1/48 Super VF-1s. Not sure why it needs to be bigger than movie version of the Q-Rau.

Hahahaha. Great video grab.

A LOT of nice PE work!

Wow! That looks amazing. Thanks for sharing. 👍 I am also on a classical music kick these days. Mostly when in the car. Helps me tolerate all the crazy driving out there. Lol

I tried my best to make it out, but that Hatanaka Yuichi (the Big West representative in the apron) WOULD NOT SHUT UP. He's so incredibly insincere, so exaggerated in his reactions to what everyone else says that he drowns them out with his fake enthusiasm. That patronizing jackass makes videos like this unwatchable.

WOW. It feels like I'm still dreaming! I started this thread almost 15 years ago after meeting Haruhiko Mikimoto, and I have finally managed to meet the man, the myth, the legend... Shoji Kawamori himself! Not only do I finally have my DYRL book signed by the two Macross greats, but I also managed to get my Yamato YF-21 signed as well! Kawamori was here promoting his new Labyrinth movie, and he was kind enough to sign my Macross merch! Had a phenomenal time talking to him, though it seemed to go by in a flash with how starstruck I was. Here's hoping my next post won't take another 15 years!

I reckon it's time for aa USS Texas update..... Did some more very fine PE work this morning. Eveything you see that's brass or white (primered white brass) is PE. I can only do PE early in the morning especially on Sunday mornings, classical music playing... It helps... LOL. So far, so good, the result will (hopefully) be worth all the time and effort.

22k-yen available at several manda-branches as of this posting: As @PointBlankSniper already mentioned, it's prolly even priced 20k-yen or lower domestically. As such, not sure what shipping-methods/fees and how much T-Virus fees you're gonna get hit with when importing to the US, but do let us know here if some of you decided to import from any of the Manda-shops offering it at 22k-yen or less. Bandai really screwed up with the extremely high msrp and the fan demand of this particularly bare/naked DX... add/edit: Nagoya-branch seemed to have actually sold one earlier at 19k-yen (possibly just domestically):

That would be interesting to see. I'll have to keep a look out for any pics where modelers have made that swap.