Graham

My son love the Clone Wars cartoon and thinks the Clone Troopers are much, much cooler than Jedi (as do I). And Black Valkyrie, your sig is back to front. Don't ya' know it should read "A Gundam is no match for a VF". Graham

Reviewing some of the older photos and I find it encouraging that in some of them the Ozma VF-25S does appear to have the head extended. Graham

Still wondering if it will get a theatrical release or will go straight to DVD? Guess we can only wait to find out. I can't believe that with the popularity of the show and the success of the CDs, DVDs/BluRay Disks, moodel kits etc that a second series is not in the works. Graham

Probably gonna pick up a Republic Gunship and a buncha Clone troopers for my 4 1/2 year old for Christmas, as he is really into Clone Troopers at the moment. Graham

I’m curious as to what is Bandai’s intended demographic for the 1/60 DX? You would think that with a ¥12,000 retail price point (on the medium-end for collectables), it’s not pre-teen kids and probably not high school kids either. Also, with Frontier airing late at night, it’s never likely that kids were the intended market anyway. So, IMO it’s likely that either adult Macross/Macross Frontier fans with disposable income, or adult mecha toy collectors who like the VF-25 and have disposable income are Bandai’s target. I’m really curious to know what Macross fans and toy collectors are saying on Japanese boards and whether their comments mirror ours? Or is their opinion of the DX overwhelmingly positive Graham

Bandai are offering the 1/60 DX VF-25F and VF-25S for 12,000 Yen, which is 4,800 Yen cheaper than the similar size Yamato VF-0 and 6,800 Yen cheaper than the similar size Yamato 1/60 YF-19. This is great for consumers in these troubled economic times. I remember many people rejoiced when the cost of the VF-25 was announced. However, obviously, the cheaper price means some corners have been cut and we are not getting quite the same level of features, accuracy and gimmicks as we have been used to from Yamato. I think many of us need to move on and learn to accept this. I guess at the lower price point, it's unreasonable to expect as many feature and gimmicks compared with the Yamato offerings. This cheaper price point is obviously why we are not getting things such as translucent nose sensors or nose verniors made of separate pieces of plastic, which are par for the course for Yamato. Instead on the Bandai they are just engraved on. The cheaper price is probably also the reason for things like the cheap looking landing gear and the incorrect 'one-type-fits all' chest plates, instead on the individually sculpted chest plates. On the plus side, according to the Japanese press, we will be getting a higher level of durability. And from the pics so far, it does seem like Bandai have included all the panel lines from the line art, which is a good thing. I do still hold though that the designers could easily have made a more anime accurate looking toy, without increasing cost and probably without sacrificing durability. It does seem that the chunkiness and downward droopiness of the nose was a deliberate design choice, rather than a necessity. Anyway, while I'll probably never love the toy, I am trying had to learn to at least like it based on the latest GA Graphics photos. Not a hater, was just expecting better from Bandai. Graham

Actually both my Garland's metal swing bars broke on the first transformation. Real poor casting on the zinc. Didn't mention them, as I assumed this thread was about Macross toys only. Graham

Another difference is that Ozma's chest plate also has two small blisters on the top rear edge that line up with corresponding blisters on the top of the head. Again, the model kit got this right, the toy does not. Graham

Happy with my 2000 that I bought when Macross Ace Frontier came out. No plans to upgrade to a 3000. Bought 4 games so far: Macross Ace Frontier, Killzone, Ace Combat and Star Wars Battlefront II. Only played the Macross game so far and really enjoying it. It will probably be a long, long time before I even try out the other games. Graham

The head on Alto's VF-25F seems to be fine and actually has a neck, it's just Ozma's VF-25S that has no neck and seems to be doing a turtle impression in every photo. I guess I can live with it, as Ozma's VF-25S is desintined to live in fighter mode most of the time, to display his wickedly cool emblem. Graham

IMO, the DX title from Bandai is just a meaningless marketing ploy and doesn't really denote 'deluxe'. Bandai slaps the DX title on loads of stuff, even including the kiddy Super Sentai robots toys. As I've mentioned before, the 1/65 VF-17 & VF-19 toys had the 'DX' title and they were far, far from what I would consider a deluxe toy. Graham

Not sure exactly how many Yamato toys I currently have, probably around 50 to 60, but I've owned and sold many more than that over the last 9 years. I've had relatively few problems with mine: - 1 x tab B break on a ver.1 1/72 scale YF-19. 2 x hips break on ver.1 1/72 scale VF-11B. 1 x BP8 hinge break on a 1/48 scale VF-1A Hikaru (this was completely my fault). Cracks found on the shoulders of 2 x 1/60 scale VF-0S and 2 x 1/60 scale VF-0A toys (luckily, easily fixed with epoxy). Graham

Yay, finally got an 'S' last night on the M7 box mission. Gerwalk definitely made it easier. Graham

Eww..........sounds disturbing! Graham

Heh, first time I read that I read it as: - "Nah, it's supposedly because you can keep it in the panty longer than non-canned bread". Graham

Early days yet, but if the 1/100 version has good enough articulation and locks together well, I will also probably pass on the non-transforming Robot Spirit version. Graham

I can't paint for toffee, yet I think I made the model look pretty good even with my extremely limited skills. All I did was the panel lining and then use a gundam marker to paint some of the small recessed areas, the canopy frame, visor, head lasers and a few other small parts and IMO the kit looks great. I used the stickers, not the water slide decals, as I think the stickers will hold up much better in the long run. The stickers on this kit are very high quality. Graham

No news yet. Bandai seem to be focusing initially on the Gundam 00 mecha in the Robot Spirit line. Anyway, AFAIK, the Robot Spirit VF-25 is going to be non-transforming Battroid mode only. Graham

Your sentence above got me thinking. I think it’s true that if Yamato had put out something that looks like this, the outcry on Macrossworld would be far worse and we would have far more members stating they would not buy it. Is this a case of members giving Bandai more slack? Graham

Can't remember the thrust to weight ratio figures off the top of my head, but IIC, the VF-17 had a superior thrust to weight ratio than the Fz-109 and definitely appeared to be more manuevrable in M7 (not surprising with the 30+ verniers). The way I look at is that the Fz-109 was superior to the VF-11C, but the VF-17 had a slight edge over the Fz-109. Graham

Got my Frontier Memories book a few days ago also. Disappointing if you are a Frontier mecha fan. As has been mentioned, the bulk of the book is just an episode guide, with lots of stills from each episode. Ther are a few nice painted pics which I think Kresphy has already scanned and posted. The mecha section is only a few pages long, and contains only CG pics no line art. The majority of the CG pics have also been produced larger and clearer in the recent hobby mags and in the Frontier DVD booklets. In fact some of the mecha pics in Frontier Memories, such as the pics of the Battle Frontier and Battle Galaxy are so small and dark as to be nearly worthless. The pics of the VF-25 with Armour and Super packs are tiny as well. Really, if you want larger clearer pics of the CG mecha, I’d recommend tracking down the last few issues of Hobby Japan and Great Mechanics DX as the image quality and size is far superior. As previously mentioned, no mecha stats. The only thing I found interesting in this book was the lineart of some of the Island 1 locations and the map showing wear they are located. Even this line art is printed too small. I really hope we get a decent book focusing on the mecha of Frontier. With stats and lineart. I miss TIAS books. Graham

Thanks for all the tips on the box missions guys. On the M7 box mission, I can now get all three boxes to the green area, kill between 20-30+ Fz-109A and Gigle, but I’m still only getting an A rank. Haven’t tried moving the boxes in Gerwalk yet though. Will try hat tonight. Graham

Still wondering if the shield will have to be removed and re-attached during transformation like on the model kit. Graham

I'd kill for a complete BGM collection. Although I love both the BGM and songs of Frontier, I actually prefer the BGM. Graham

I doubt I'll be that fanatical. So far I'm still on the M7 missions with about 14 hours spent on the game. I'll probably start on the M+ missions in the next day or so. I'm saving the Frontier missions until last. At the moment, I'm just tuning up only the mecha I like to the max. If you have to get an 'S' rank on every mission in every era to unlock the tuning limiter, it's going to take me a long time (if ever) before I unlock it. (does that include Ex missions?). Graham