Graham

Eh, I thought the existence of the VF-25A was well established already? I have that issue at home, but no working scanner at the moment. Graham

Lots of potential still to go. Here's the ones I would really like to see: Macross 7 VF-17S VF-17D VF-17S Milia VF-17S w/FAST Packs VF-17D w/Radome VF-17D w/Fold Booster VF-17T Kai VF-22S Max VF-22S Max w/Fold Booster VF-22S Milia VF-19S w/FAST Packs VF-19F w/FAST Packs VF-11C VF-11C w/Space FAST Packs VF-11C w/Atmospheric FAST Packs VF-11C w/ Space FAST Packs & Radome. VF-11D VF-11D w/FAST Packs VF-11B VF-11B w/Atmospheric Boosters VF-11B w/FAST Packs VF-11MAXL Kai Fz-109A Fz-109F AZ-130A FBz-99G Macross Frontier VF-171 RVF-171 RVF-171 w/twin Fold Boosters VF-171EX VF-171EX Alto RVF-171EX Macross Plus YF-19 w/FAST Packs YF-19 w/FAST Packs & Fold Booster YF-21 w/FAST Packs YF-21 w/FAST Packs & Fold Booster Ghost X9 Macross Zero SV-51 Nora SV-51 Cannon Fodder SV-51 Ivanov SV-51 Nora w/Boosters SV-51 Ivanov w/Boosters VF-0A w/Ghost Booster VF-0S w/Ghost Booster Macross II VF-2SS w/SAP VF-2JA Other VF-5000B VF-3000 VF-9 Graham

Just got notice from Amazon Japan that mine has shipped by FedEx. Can't wait. Graham

Like Renato, I also love being able to walk past my bookshelf full of Macross books, or stare at my display cabinet full of Macross toys, even if I don't play with them much these days. However, with the flood of Macross products released over the past decade, things have reached saturation point and I'm now forced to pick and choose what to display and what to store as there is now too much stuff to display it all at once. Unlike are US members and again similar to Renato, I'm also used to being able to travel a short distance to visit dozens of hobby shops, so this online web exclusive thing is a bit of a shock to me and takes some getting used to. Graham

I second HMV Japan and have also used them many times. You can select English to navigate their site. Amazon Japan is also another good choice as well. Again, you can select English to navigate their site. Graham

While proably not hurting the Japanese market in any way, I wonder how much this trend of online exclusives is going reduce spending by MW members living outside of Japan on Macross goods? I know it is definitely going to mean I will be buying less. A lot of my purchases are impulse buys. before the product is released, I always tell myself I'm not going to buy it, but more often than not when I walk past a toy or hobby store and see the shiny new VF sitting on the shelf, I'll cave in and buy. With webshop exclusives being that much harder to get and more expensive to buy, they are that much easier to resist. Case in point, the Hi-Metal Sound Booster Pack for the VF-19Kai. I neither need it or want it, but if it was a general retail release, I'd no doubt end up buying it. As a web exclusive, I'll pass. Graham

At 40, I'm probably a few years old than many on this forum. I've never warmed to the idea of downloads, prefering instead to go out and buy something physical that I can hold with my hands, be it a book, toy, DVD, music CD, game disk etc. Heck, I'm not even really keen on online shopping, instead prefering to travel to a bricks and mortar store to buy a book, toy, DVD etc. The only time I shop online is when it's something I can't easily or cheaply buy here in HK (usually English language books). The main reason, I'm starting to warm up to "only digital", is I guess mostly due to lack of space in my 'shoe box' size Hong Kong apartment. Heck, if I lived in a typical American sized house (which is a mansion compared to most HK residences, I'd probably never stop toy collecting (finances allowing of course). Graham

Also, are there any figures on the total number of 19s produced? Had mine on orde from Amazon for 6 months, so hope it will arrive soon. Graham

Hoping for drawings showing the layout of the various options for the leg missile bays. Graham

You guys do know that the figure fits inside the pod right?

I really hope this has a significant amount of VF-19F/S love. I may be in the minority, but I thing the VF-19F/S looks so much nicer than the YF-19/VF-19A.

Yes, but it is a Japanese comic, so Roy is probably spot on. Graham

Hi Sketchley, Just wondering, do you have plans to continue with your translation of TiAS M+? I would love to know what the book says about the VF-17. Graham

Looks absolutely beautiful. I love the color scheme. Definitely will make a fantastic display piece. Congrats to Yamato on making this. Graham

I've got both the MAF and MUF guidebooks. There is no lineart of mecha or characters at all. There are only small CG pics of the mecha and thumbnail CG pics of the characters heads (same as in the game). Most of the book is just mission guides. As a non-Japanese reader, the only thing I found remotely useful is that the book tells you how many points you need to get too obtain 'S' or 'SS' grade. Of course at 229 hours into the game, I'm a long, long way from needing that info anymore. Don't waste money buying the book, unless you are an absolute completist. Graham

High end toys/models are defintely the province of specialty hobby shops here in Hong Kong. Thankfully there are still quite a few of these in areas like Wanchai, Mong Kok and Causeway Bay. Although, as ff95gj mentioned, most shops only hold limited stock due to their small physical size. So products do tend to sell out pretty quickly and it's often a case of 'if you snooze, you lose'. Graham

I still get enjoyment from looking at my toys as well as occasionally handling them, but more and more I'm wondering does that really justify the high price tag of these things, especially when there are so many other demands on my hard-earned money these days, such as the mortage, my kid's school fees, the next family holiday, house renovation etc, etc. Graham

While this game looks gorgeous, it will be the first A.C.E. game that I won't be buying. In the 6 years since my son was born, I've barely touched my PS2. I think I've played on it a grand total of 3 times in 6 years!. There's no way I could justify the purchase of a PS3 to myself or my wife. I'm just glad for MAF/MUF (and the hopeful sequel) on the PSP, as gaming while commuting to and from work is the only time I get to play video games these days. Graham

Getting back to the topic of web-exclusives, I think this is an inevitable evil that we are going to have to learn to live with and which will become even more common in the near future. As our already niche hobby becomes even more niche (niche-er?), due to the shrinking fan base and other reasons Renato stated in his original post, I think web-exclusives are going to be the only way that small-to-medium size toy manufacturers such as Yamato and even giants like Bandai can justify releasing anything other than the main hero mecha for a franchise such as Macross. It’s all well and good a toy company wanting to producing a 1/60 toy of ‘Enemy X’ and an accessory set of ‘Weapons Pack Z’, but if the wholesalers, distributors, and retail stores don’t want to carry them, or don’t want to carry enough, then what’s the toy company supposed to do sit on the stock? Dump it at a loss? As much as we may hate them, web-exclusives do allow a toy manufacturer to manufacturer smaller production runs of niche products. As stated by others, the greater mark-up made by cutting out the middle-man allows the company to cover the greater costs of the smaller production run and by taking orders in advance, the toy companies know exactly how many to make, without the risk of ending up with dead stock. Graham

Usually, I'm the same with games - complete and then never touch again, but I've found myself going back to MUF again and again, when I feel the need to fly or fight in a Valk. Definitely a game with hidden depths. Also, now I'm in my early 40s', I'm starting to question my need for toys, especially the larger high-end ones. I've got so many of the things, that my house is overflowing with them and even my private storage is nearly full. And for what? Each one I buy, I transform for a few times, then it goes onto a shelf on in a display cabinet to gather dust and maybe be touched once in a blue moon, to be zoomed around for a few minutes before being but back on display, or worse being packed away in storage. Perhaps just a year or so ago, such thoughts would have been blasphemy to me, but as much as I still love Macross, I'm starting to think why have I spent all this money on things that while nice to look at, hardly get touched/used? Mid-life crisis? Not saying I'm giving up on toys completely, but may stick to smaller/cheaper veriosn from now on, such as selected 1/100 Hi-Metal and the 1/250 scale Macross Fighter Collection. Graham

I'll buy whichever version has the shark's mouth tampo printed on, as I really like the shark mouth. For me no tampo printed shark mouth = no buy. I don't care about having Ranka or Sheryl markings. Graham

I've got the Robot Tamashii Arbalest, both versions of the M9 and also a tan Savage and they are great figures. CAD scuplted, ABS plastic and very poseable. Far superior to Revoltechs IMO. But then, I'm a known Revoltech hater. Graham

While it's difficult to tell for sure given the small size of the picture, the graphics certainly look to be PSP quality and not that of a next-gen console. Graham

That's an extremely interesting observation. I've had a similar thought regarding mecha games and their relationship to mecha toys while playing MAF/MUF. It struck me one day while playing MUF, that games like MAF/MUF are not just mecha games, but in effect give us virtual toys of our favorite mecha, but at a far lower cost in terms of both money and storage space. In MUF for example, we can have nearly every single VF from every Macross anime, that we can fly, fight with, view from different angles, customize the color schemes etc., in a far more realistic manner than simply holding the physical toy in our hand and zooming it around. At 196 hours on MAF and currently 224 hours on MUF, I'm spending far more time with these virtual Valks than I have been with my physical toys and I have noticed my desire to buy new toys does seem to be reduced, (although to be fair there may be other contributing factors to this as well). Something to think about though. Graham

It is supposed to be 1/60 scale. Graham