Graham

Just wondering if anybody bothers using the Pin Point Barriers on the YF-21/VF-22? They seem utterly useless, at least in untuned form, as the duration is so short. I haven’t bothered to tune them up, as I haven’t unlocked the tuning limiter yet and would rather use my tune points to boost missiles, guns and the VF stats instead. Graham

Yay, finally got SS on the ‘After, In The Dark, Torch Song’ stage. I tried David’s suggestion of using melee attacks first, but it didn’t work, still only got a B rank. I wiped out all the cannon fodder VF-11B and VF-1A using melee attacks, but couldn’t get close enough to Isamu & Guld to kill them with melee. Next I tried a modified version of Savvi’s advice. I quickly wiped out all the cannon fodder VF-11B and VF-1A with gunpod and missile fire from my YF-21. Then when Guld and Isamu appear, I boosted towards them and as they clash together, I did the YF-21’s special attack and wiped them both out at once as they were so close together. Graham

Please keep discussions of the licencing issue in the appropriate thread please. Graham

Thought this was going to be about Spiral Zone. Graham

Well, I sent off an email to Rainbow Ten asking if they would be able to get the DX Alto Super parts. They replied they would not. Graham

Mine is the eyecatch theme from Macross Frontier. Graham

Release dates of Dec 25 and Dec 31 have bee posted. Not sure which of these (if any) is official or confirmed. Graham

Oh great masters of MAF, I need your advice once again. I've got S or SS in every Mac Plus regular stage now except the one called 'After Dark, Torch Song' (Oor something like that). It's the two-part stage where you start in space, kill lots of VF-1A and some VF-11 and then the second part has you fighting Guld and Isamu in the clouds. I can take out all the cannon fodder in the first part really easily and quickly and then also take out both Isamu in his YF-19 and Guld in his YF-21 quickly, especially if I'm using the special attack of the YF-21, but I still can't get higher than B. Is there some special trick or condition of this stage? Am I supposed to be keeping one of them alive or something instead of killing them............confused? Graham

Followed your advice and kept the big ships alive as long as possible and got an SS ranking first time. Thanks. Graham

Cool, I didn't notice it mentioned that in issue 1. Graham

I also suspect the Toynami deal to resell the Bandai 1/55 in the US is as dead as the proverbial Dodo. Anyway, getting back on topic, with the weapons sets and the Super Parts for Alto & Ozma being online exclusives, getting doubles as I originally planned is starting to look pretty costly. May have to stick with singles. Graham

Just received a payment request from Rainbow Ten for the VF-25S kit. Graham

One thing I'm curious about is whether the Chronicles will cover the events and mecha of VF-X, VF-X2 and M3 as all three games are/were previously considered canon. It would be sad and mean the Chonicles is far from complete if these events and mecha were omitted. I for one really want them to include mecha pages on the Crusader, Cutlass, Vampire & Variable Glaug. Graham

Can't wait for the VF-25S issue. Hope we get some previously unpublished line art and full tech specs. I'm hoping for at least 6 issues devoted to all the various VF-25 variants. The lack of decent mecha pics and info in the 3 official Frontier books published so far is extremely disappointing. Graham

Ah, OK thanks. So I guess having no partner may be better for this stage. Graham

I know Neova and XStoys have it. Graham

Just wondering how the speakers and missiles will attach to the wings of the DX toy, as AFAIK it does not have any hardpoints. I guess Bandai may possibly retool the wings to add hard points ala Yamato. Or perhaps the accessories attach via an overwing clip like the missiles that came with the old 1/55 VF-1S Strike Valkyrie (I sure hope not). Anyway, exclusives suck. Graham

Guys, I'm stuck on the Mac Plus stage called 'Before the Snow' (or something like that) and could do with some advice. It's the stage set in a snowy landscape, where you have to shoot lots or Regults, Glaugs, Q-Raus and about 4 big Zentran ships. I've got S or SS on nearly all the other Mac Plus stages, but no matter how quickly I kill everything, I can't get higher than an A and sometimes still get Bs or Cs. Is there a special order that you have to kill things, or some other trick? The other Mac Plus stage that is still givin me problems, is the second from last normal stage IIRC. It's the one where you have to kill olots of VF-1A in space. You then go down to the city and fight both Guld and Isamu. I can take them both out quite quickly, without taking damage, but still can't get an S. Just wondering is there some special condition you have to fulfill? Graham

Not entirely true, there are also subtle differences to the chestplate (slight reshaping and a couple of small blisters added). David also thinks there is a difference with the backplate as well, in that it has different shaped slots for the head lasers to rest in fighter mode. Graham

I actually quite like those design pics. Graham

No, not really. Graham

Received the Macross Ace Frontier guidbook today. No lineart at all. Graham

Received the MAF guidebook from Amazon jp today. No lineart at all. Graham

I stopped buying the monthly issues, but did get the collected vol.2, which goes up to chapter 8 IIRC. Been very busy and home scanner has gone T.U. Graham

Prices are pretty good IMO, considering you get Super Packs and a display stand. Still cheaper than Yamato's bare YF-19, which doesn't include a stand or FAST packs. Graham