Graham

Kawamori and Big West are well aware of the popularity of Macross outside of Japan. However, Big West have always seemed to me to be rather apathetic about the market outside of Japan. I know Yamato would love to be able to sell their Macross toys internationally, but they don't want the cost/hassle from the ensuing legal battle. Big West could probably afford the cost, as apparently they are quite wealthy, but they just don't seem to care that much, at least that's the impression I get. Perhaps with Frontier, things will change, especially if Bandai gets behind the push to market Frontier overseas. Graham

Although the Mecha are the most important part of Macross for me, the music has always been a close second. I love pretty much all the music from Macross and have nearly every CD released, with the exception of some of the drama CDs. I would say the music of M7, Plus and DYRL are my favorites (in that order), with the music for Zero being my least favorite. IMO, Macross and sequels are one of those rare anime franchises, where all the parts (mecha, charas, story & music) just gel together perfectly. Graham

Who's to say the shoulders are not speakers? If the VF-19Kai can have speakers in it's shoulders, why not the VF-25 as well. Bomba! Graham

Hah, just how refined do you want it to be? The animation quality in the preview clips looked pretty damn good to me so far! Graham

As only a limited number of Megaroads were produced, before switching to the New Macross Class ships, I doubt the Megaroad shown in the clip will be part of the Frontier fleet. As others have suggested, we probably just see it referred to in flashback. Graham

Artculation-wise, I'd say these should be more like HCM-Pro than Revoltech, which means pretty good articualtion, but you might not be able to do the patented Revoltech funky breakdancing poses. However, on the upside the new Yamato toys won't have huge exposed ugly ball joints everwhere like the Revoltechs. Also, the Yamato figures, will be made mostly of ABS, not rubber dog poo (sorry, PVC), like the Revoltechs and MSiA. The Yamatos are also going to be as accurate as possible to the lineart, given the necessary compromises necessary for the size and articulation, which means pretty damn accurate. Basically, these are designed as fun toys, which won't break the bank if you want to purchase multiples. Graham

The sizes I quoted were just going from memory and approximations only. Graham

Yep, that's exactly the experience I have with my Nora as well. Graham

SCOOP Time to set the record straight. There has been a lot of rumour, speculation and ill-informed guesswork flying around in the last few days regarding the so- called 1/60 scale Yamato VF-11B. I now have permission to set the record straight. Firstly the picture from the January issue of Dengeki Hobby magazine (attached below) is not of a Yamato 1/60 scale VF-11B toy. Nor is it a transformable toy. I have permission to tell you that Yamato will be releasing a new line of highly articulated, non-transforming action figures in early 2008. This line will feature Macross mecha, as well as mecha from other series, such as various super robots. The big news, is that the first wave to be released in Q1 2008, will feature not only the VF-11B battroid, but also the YF-19 and YF-21 battroids (all non-FAST Pack). The toys should be somewhere between 13cm to 16cm tall IIRC and will retail for a fairly low proice point, about 1,500 yen IIRC. The line should be called "G-Nu Dou" I think. Given the success in recent years of lower budget toy lines such as Revoltech, HCM-Pro and MSiA, I think it was only inevitable, that Yamato would also jump on the bandwagon. While I haven't seen the actual products yet, I've seen the CAD designs for all thee Macross Plus mecha and they look pretty impressive. The release of this toy line will in no way impact Yamato's larger 1/60 scale transforming toys, which Yamato remains firmly comitted to. Graham

SCOOP Time to set the record straight. There has been a lot of rumour, speculation and ill-informed guesswork flying around in the last few days regarding the so- called 1/60 scale Yamato VF-11B. I now have permission to set the record straight. Firstly the picture from the January issue of Dengeki Hobby magazine (attached below) is not of a Yamato 1/60 scale VF-11B toy. Nor is it a transformable toy. I have permission to tell you that Yamato will be releasing a new line of highly articulated, non-transforming action figures in early 2008. This line will feature Macross mecha, as well as mecha from other series, such as various super robots. The big news, is that the first wave to be released in Q1 2008, will feature not only the VF-11B battroid, but also the YF-19 and YF-21 battroids (all non-FAST Pack). The toys should be somewhere between 13cm to 16cm IIRC and will retail for a fairly low proice point, about 1,500 yen IIRC. The line should be called "G-Nu Dou" I think. Given the success in recent years of lower budget toy lines such as Revoltech, HCM-Pro and MSiA, I think it was only inevitable, that Yamato would also jump on the bandwagon. While I haven't seen the actual products yet, I've seen the CAD designs for all thee Macross Plus mecha and they look pretty impressive. The release of this toy line will in no way impact Yamato's larger 1/60 scale transforming toys, which Yamato remains firmly comitted to. I'm closing this thread as the title is deceptive and will be starting a new thread. Graham

1/60, I think not. Trust me on this. Graham

Beep! Too slow!!! This news was posted several pages ago already. Graham

As promised here's some higher resolution scans (500dpi) of the VF-25 from the new January issues of Hobby Japan and Dengeki Hobby magazines. Graham

Super Macross Smash! Graham

On the wing of the Hikaru DYRL colored VF-25, it looks like 'SMS-007'. And on the wing of the grey VF-25, it looks like 'SMS-001'. Graham

But on the leg and wing it looks like SMS 001. Leg pic attached. Graham

Wasn't the problem with KISS DUM that the original director or creator, who had all the story in his head quit after only a couple of episodes had been made and the rest of the production staff and replacement director had to basically make up the rest of the series as they went along, as they had no idea what was supposed to happen? I doubt we will see that problem with Frontier. Graham

What date in the Chronology is this anomally you guys are talking about? Somehow, I missed ever hearing about this before. Graham

Yes, the Kites will be Tampo printed on the production toy. The intake covers are removable pieces. Graham

Ah, but is it "SWS" or "SMS"? Graham

As I've stated previously, I think the logo change may be deliberate, so that it is easier for Big West or Bandai to release the TV series internationally. I'm guessing that perhaps they may rebrand the show for the international market and not use the name 'Macross'. Or maybe I'm reading too much into it and after 60+ years, the UN Spacy just decided it was time for a change of logo. Or maybe it is a parallel universe story (but I doubt it somehow). OK, I'll go and put on my tin foil hat now and sit in the corner and stop thinking so much. Graham

Yes, of course they can. Whoever posed it for the magazine photo shoot didn't fold them out all the way. Graham

Note, I just merged the two YF-21 threads, as it was silly having multiple threads on the same toy. Please confine discusion of the VF-25 to the correct thread. Graham

I just picked up the new January 2008 issues of Dengeki Hobby and Hobby Japan magazines during my lunch break. Here are the scans of the YF-21 pics done on my crappy office scanner. At the weekend I'll do some better scans on my home scanner. The Macross F pics have been cut from my scans and placed in the Macross Frontier thread. Note the ample ground clearance in the side view fighter mode shot. And yes, I can confirm that even with FPs and gunpods attached you still have clearance. Graham

OK, I just picked up the new January 2008 issues of Dengeki Hobby and Hobby Japan magazines and scanned them on my office scanner. Here are the scans of the Macross F articles. Unfortunately, my office scanner only scans at 300dpi. When i get home, I'll remove the two pages from the magazines , so I can scan them completely flat withot the curve for the spine and scan them at a higher resolution. Graham