Graham

Yeah, the head lasers are pretty loose. Not 'fall off by themself' lose, but ceratinly 'fall off at a slight touch' loose. Graham

There's a nice close up of the pilots, but yeah basically, nothing really new is shown. Graham

Despite the various inaccuracies, I find myself looking forward more and more to the release of these toys. Graham

Finished my VF-25S Ozma at the weekend. I didn't bother with panel lining this time, just did a quick build and stickered it up. Where as the Alto VF-25F definitely needs panel lining to look good, IMO the grey plastic of the VF-25S actually looks fine without any panel lining. Bandai have obviously made some improvements to the tooling as the wing-roop/hip guns fit much better on this kit. Unfortunately, while building it, I broke the hook connector on the neck bar that connects to the collar. I couldn't fix it again. Beacuse of this I decided after completing the kit to glue it permanently into fighter mode. Luckily I found the peices that my wife had lost, so I can now build my second kit, which I will leave transformable (assuming I don't break anything). As others have already mentioned, the tips of the horns on the big skull sticker, actually sit on top of the wing hinges, which is likely going to damage the sticker during transformation. Graham

I have an unused water slide decal sheet for both VF-25F and VF-25S. Graham

Sigh......VF-1. Aghhhhhhh! Graham

Again..........why? The original was perfect, i'll stick with that thank you very much. No live action pretenders for me. Graham

Many years ago, I saw a Bandai 1/55 VT-1 out of the box in a shop in HK. The owner had it displayed on a shelf quite near to some florescent lights. All the white parts had turned brown! Actually, I've had bad luck with Bandai white plastics. I had three of the perfect transformation V Gundam toys that were released a few years ago, mint in unopened boxes. I stored them under my bed away from any UV light, but when I checked them earlier this year, the white plastic parts had seriously discolored. Graham

The ver.1 1/60 VF-1 do seem quite prone to yellowing. None of my 1/48 including first issue VF-1A Hikaru have started to yellow. Graham

If it's Mikimoto Minmay porn, I'm in. Graham

I would think that Plus/7 era G-Suits are likely somewhat superior in performance to modern day G-suits, especially, the YF-21/VF-22 G-suit, which seems specific to the YF-21/VF-22. However, it's extremely doubtful IMO that they come close to the performance of Ex-Gear combined with ICS. Just my two cents. Graham

Agreed, the VF-25 may not be superior in every aspect to the VF-19 or VF-22, but it is likely superior in enough areas to make it overall a better VF than the older mecha. Graham

Heh, I was orginally going to mention the F-35 Joint Strife Fighter as one of the possible exceptions to the rule that newer is not always better, but decided against it. But, as David has opened that can of worms. Heh, I'll take a Typhoon/Raphael or Gripen against your F-35 in A2A anyday, or an A-10 for the CAS role rather than the F-35. Graham

With fighter jets it's usually the case that newer does in fact mean better, especially when there is a significant time gap between the new and the old. In the case of the YF-19 and YF-21, development began in 2034 and the first test flight for both took place in 2039. The VF-25 had it's first test flight in 2057, 18 years after the first flight of the YF-19 & YF-21. It's unlikely IMO that that a VF with the advantage of 18 years improvements in technology would actually be worse than the older VFs. Graham

Why even bother with developing new systems such as Ex-Gear and ISC if G-suits already exist that can handle extremely high G limits such as +60/-45 of the VF-22. It just doesn't make sense to me and as others have said doesn't seem consistant with in-universe technological development. I'm wondering if the stated maximam G limits are in fact more to do with the max speed at which a VF can safely transform without ripping itself apart? Graham

Heh, yeah, I still haven't completed the Ex mission of 'After, in the dark'. I'll try it with the YF-21 using PPB. Graham

No, no & NO! Graham

The price they listed of US$72 was not including shipping to me. So price would be US$72 + whatever the shipping is. I guess they don't know the weight yet, so don't want to quote for shipping yet. Graham

For monthly mags, I'm just sticking with Dengeki Hobby and Hobby Japan. Other mags I only buy if I hear they have a Macross article I'm interested in. I never keep my mags more than a month. I remove the Macross pages and store them all in a seperate ring file. Saves on storage space that way. I'm up to about 4 big ring binders full of Macross artices now. For specific Macross goods, I'm sticking with Chonicles for the meantime, although to be honest it hasn't been as good as I was expected, so I may or may not carry on to the end (still undecided). Frontier CDs and DVDs I have been and will continue to buy, same with Frontier books. For toys, I'm starting to cut back due to space and money restrictions. I may not get the Yamato 1/60 VF-1J, but will probably buy at least 1 of the upcoming 1/60 Frontier toys. Graham

FYI, here's what OverDrive quoted me for the Alto DX Super Parts set. Graham

Oh and I ordered two VF-25S kits and lucky I did, as my wife in a fit of tidying managed to lose half of the unfinished groin piece.......Grrrrrrr! Not sure whose to blame more, me for leaving the kit on the table, thinking it would be safe, or my wife for tidying where she's not supposed to. Anyway, I had to dip into my second kit to replace the lost parts. Not a happy camper. Graham

Just doing a quick build on the VF-25S. Not bothering to do much panel lining this time, just assemblely and sticker. Got the torso, nose and head done, just need to do the limbs and gun. With the release of the toys imminent, this will probably be the last of the model kits I buy. As I mentioned previously, the models were just a toy substitute for me until the toys are released. I have to say I have been extremely impressed with the kits though. Graham

Hopefully the VF-171, VF-171EX, VF-25S w/Armored Pack or VF-2SS w/SAP. Graham

Macross has already got to the stage where it's getting too expensive to keep on purchasing all the merchandise released. Having to start being selective now. Graham

Finally saw the movie on DVD with my son over the weekend. We both enjoyed it. Not too keen on the stylized chracter designs, but overall I thought it captured the spirit and feel of Star Wars far more than the 3 prequel movies. Looking forward to seeing the TV series when and if it's shown here in HK (if not, I'll just buy the DVD set when released). Hope for lots of episodes just featuring Clone Troopers. Graham