Graham

I'm trying very hard to forget it. Graham

Yes, the FAST packs are the same for battroid and fighter mode. The reasons they may look different are as follows: - 1) In battroid mode, the beam cannons extend out from the back-mounted nacelles and angle forward over the shoulders. In fighter mode, the beam cannons retract back fully into the nacelles. 2) The leg mounted FAST packs are on a hinge mount on the lower legs and swing out to attach to the underside of the wings in fighter mode. Graham

Based on the reviews so far, I will pass on the CM's. Graham

Bandai also made a 1/65 VF-17D toy. No FAST packs were ever made for the toys though. Wave made a 1/100 scale VF-17D/S battroid mode resin garage kit with FAST packs. Yellow Submarine made a 1/144 scale resin VF-17D/S fighter mode garage kit with FAST packs. I have both the above mentioned garage kits. Here's the thread with pics of them. Graham

The same colors as the trim on their individual X-Gears, which I commented on back when the episode aired in December. Graham

We've discussed that purple Valk a few times already over the past month, but my present thinking is that it is something that will appear later on in Macross Frontier. I agree that the differences with the VF-25 Super are too great. Graham

Damn, no mecha pics in the March Newtype. Graham

Kresphy, do you know if there are only 2 pages on Macross Frontier in the March Newtype, or are there more pages? Graham

Yeah, Frex is one of the design companies that Yamato uses for CAD design work. No secret there, it's well known. Graham

Should be once a week. Graham

Nope, never done that way. It's done either: 1) Larger initial sculpt -> smaller final product. or 2) Same size initial sculpt -> same size final product. Never done smaller inital sculpt -> larger final product. Honestly we have no idea what these things being shown are yet. They maybe toys or models kit. They may be transforming or non-transforming. Heck, they may even be large inital sculpts for what are going to be scaled down to gashapon figures in final production. Without having a translation of what is being said in the TV program, it's useless to speculate too much at this point. Graham

No one has posted yet, so nobody may have noticed, but I picked up the second ep of the Frontier manga today and posted scans of a couple of pages in the manga thread. Graham

I think it's possible we might end up seeing the VF-22 in some form and possbibly even a cameo apperance from the V-19, but I doubt we'll see the VF-11 or the V-4 as some have said they'd like to see, as they are just to old by 2059. Graham

Too be honest, those early prototype pics, look fairly ok, considering they are unpainted in the rough rapid prototype samples. Graham

Yes, I'm sure. Graham

Yeah, I love the look on Kawamori's face in that last photo. It's like he's thinking; "What they f#ck is this crap?" "Where's my Yamato, dude?" Kawamori and Yamato actually work quite closely together on the 1/60 toy line. Graham

From what I understand, Bandai is the main sponsor of the show and as such gets the exclusive toy and model rights for at least a couple of years. Basically, these means that Yamato and Hasegawa are locked out, unless they negotiate a sub-licence directly with Bandai, which I can't see happening. Graham

Not to be the bearer of bad news, but often early porototypes are a larger scale than the finished product. What we actually get, me be significantly smaller than what is shown in those pics. Graham

Heh, weird, I don't remember seeing these in the 25th anniversery special. I'm guessing these are transforming toys in 1/100 scale, probably with a HCM-Pro level of quality and articulation. I doubt we will see larger deluxe versions from Bandai. Bear in mind that what you are seeing is obviously very early stage samples made on a rapid prototype machine, so the finished versions will probably look far better. Hopefully these will be shown in a more finished form at Wonder Fest on Feb 24. Looks like we will have to wait several years for larger detailed versions from Yamato and Hasegawa. Oh and Bandai better bloody well do the VF-171! Graham

People are willing to spend money on Yamato toys, beacuse they know that Yamato is going to be as accurate and faithful to the lineart as possible. Graham

That's what I remember as well. Will try to get a screen shot from tht ep today. Graham

I forget which episode number it is, but it's the one where one of the protodeviln is creating all those little pink beasties inside city 7. You see the VF-17s in Gerwalk using the elbow lasers. I agree we never see the wrist lasers in use in battroid mode. We do get to see the VF-17's chest guns firing lots of times in battroid and fighter mode throughout the series, although it's usually so fast, you only catch it playing in slo-mo, or if you are specifically looking for it. Graham

That footage was already shown several weeks ago on the ep# 2 preview. Graham

Nothing new there that hasn't already been shown before. Graham

My theory about the reduced number of micro-missile launchers on the VF-171's shoulder is that the rate of fire per launcher may have been improved, so it is now more practical given the limited space in the shoulders, to just have a single launcher per shoulder with a slightly high ammo capacity and equivalent rate of fire as the older twin launchers on the VF-17, rather than have twin launchers, which would take up slightly more internal space and reduce the missile capacity. I never figured the VF-17 was able to store a large number of missiles per shoulder launcher, probably no more than 2-4 maximum per launcher. Don't forget, it also looks like the VF-171 may also have twin internal micro missile launchers on the lower legs (ventral surface of the fighter). No sure what you mean about the forward articulating knee. The VF-171 certainly does appear to have a forward articulating knee (as does every VF) for GERWALK mode use. The Macross Frontier manga, does show the VF-171s with extended elbow cannons in GERWALK mode. Of course, we are not sure how faithful the manga is to the anime yet. IIRC, the VF-17s in Macross 7 only used their elbow cannons in one episode. Graham