Graham

IIRC, Gamlin is in the series right from episode 1. While it's true he get's Milia's VF-1J trashed, he certainly kicks serious ass in his VF-17D/S and VF-11C. Graham

Note, those grey pods are not fuel tanks. They are HAIM-95A medium-range maneuverability missile launcher pods. Graham

Perhaps the new series is set in the future, i.e. post 2050AD and the new fighter is a natural evolution of the VF-19 and VF-22 taking the best from both designs. It would be interesting to spectulate on what improvements future VFs may have. In fact I think we once had such a thread, but I'm too lazy to search for it. The most useful improvement I can think of would be minaturized, internal multi-use fold boosters. Graham

Here's the scan of the double page spread on the new TV series from the July 2007 issue of New Type Magazine. Medium size scan. 3000x2121 pixels. 2.27MB. Large size scan. 4960x3507 pixels. 5.66MB. Graham

Just got the magazine and I'm scanning it now. The VF pics are really just very rough design scribbles. Graham

I'll try and piock up the copy of New Type in a few hours and get it scanned. Graham

From what I understand, it's the whole arm assembly. Graham

Wheels being too big is better than hands being too small. Graham

The 1/60 Ghost is way out of scale with the 1/48 VF-1. Graham

Not trying to bash this too much based on the limited amount of information available so far. But looking at this pic from MAHQ of the Gundam Excrecia, it definitely looks like it's gonna be another style over substance show aimed at a younger audience. Graham

Actually, the Ghost is dark grey, darker than the early promo pics. It looks great IMO. Graham

Hmm.....what's with the name 'Macross 25', thought it was going to be called Macross Flyer? Graham

Old news. MegaHouse's unfortunately named 'Palm Action' series haven't been getting great reviews so far. Graham

I'll have to try the 1/60 YF-19 with a VF-0 gunpod to see how it looks. Graham

No you can't order from Yamato directly, as they cannot sell Macross items to customers outside of Japan. However, HLJ is not the only authorized distributor. As I understand it, any toy store which is physically based in Japan can request the replacement parts from Yamato. Graham

I'll have some firm news by tomorrow hopefully as the customer service rep at Yamato is off sick today. My main contact seemed quite shocked to hear that HLJ was charging for these. It's probably just a misunderstaning between the two companies. Graham

Great toy so far. Transformed between all three modes last night. No problems yet. Graham

I'll ask Yamato about this, as it doesn't sound right. It may take a while for an answer as communication is sporadic at the moment. Graham

Just got one today, but won't have a chance to open it until tonight. I've been told that the arm parts that were cracking on the original VF-0S/A have been changed to POM plastic on the Shin type VF-0A, which is supposed to be stronger than ABS. Graham

The chara designs remind me of the Getter Robo OVA, especially the guy with the scarf. Not liking the mecha, but then again I like very few Gundam designs anyway. I have to say the Unicorn mecha are far better looking than the 00 mecha IMO. I'd actually consider buying Unicorn toys based on the designs shown so far, but I wouldn't touch these 00 mecha with a 10 foot pole. Graham

Beautiful. Graham

In theory yes, although I haven't handled one yet to verify. Graham

Parts will be available and not just through HLJ. Any Japanese toy store can contact Yamato and request parts. So if any Japan based MWers are friendly with any Japanese toy stores, ask them to contact Yamato and if you want to help out, set up a bulk buy and help with distributing the parts to MWers. Don't worry about HLJ's reply. These parts are fresh from the factory and it takes time to get the information passed from Yamato to HLJ. I've known some companies it takes them a year just to issue a part number for a new item, so things seem to be moving ahead on track. Less panicking please. Graham

I also gotta say that the 3D CG character designs look terrible. I would have preferred a more photo-real style, like the Final Fantasy CG movie. I'm guessing Lucas stuck with Clone Wars era as most SW fanboys just wanna see Jedi and lightsaber action and if you go with original trilogy time-line you are limited in that respect. Still, as bad as it looks, we are probably all going to end up watching it anyway. Graham

My personal taste: - Watchable: CCA, 0080, 0083, CCA, F91, 08MST & V Unwatchable: 0079 (TV & 3 movies), Z, ZZ, Wing, X, G, Turn A, Savior, Seed & Destiny Graham.