Graham

Hah, am I clairvoyant or what?! Matt Damon to be cast as young Kirk? Sorry, but after Team America, I just can't take Matt Damon seriously at all. Graham

With the typical long lead-times in magazine publishing, the color schemes shown in the magazine scans are probably not the final versions and the pics posted online recently are likely to be more up-to-date. Graham

Back onto the subject at hand, I would expect to see photos of the VF-0A in next months hobby mags, or perhaps even fairly soonish on Yamato's website. Graham

Also AFAIK, the licensee (Yamato) has to get approval from the licensor (BW), on a case-by-case basis, before they can release photos or pics. A lot of the time, it's not so much Yamato being secretive, but rather that BW hasn't given approval for specific photos or information to be released yet. Also, market strategies, factory production scheduling and a host of other reasons mean that sometimes a product may get seriously delayed even if in theory it is ready or nearly ready to go into production, so sometimes, it's just not a good idea to announce a product too early and keep fans waiting too long. Graham

Can you take and post a photo please? I want to send Yamato photos of the parts that are breaking. I'm not 100% clear which bit you mean. Graham

Looks like the Minmay & Hikaru photo frame figure is actually is a 3D bust of the characters, with a removable frame in front. See this pic. Graham

Guys, I've just posted larger 1,600 pixel wide scans of the Yamato 1/60 scale YF-19 CAD lineart from the August Hobby magazines, in the Macrossworld magazine section. Check them out: - August Dengeki Hobby (scroll down to bottom of page). and August Hobby Japan (scroll down to bottom of page). Graham

0A first, 19 later. Graham

Great work as usual Jung. I'll get this added to the MW custom toy gallery today, but only 18 of the pics. Adding all 31 pics is too much. Graham

It's coming along nicely. Graham

Ha, Ha, yes too good to be true. Graham

Sorry, I don't know the price, but if I had to guess, I would say it will probably be similar to the VF-0S. As for the planned release date, I'll see if I can get permission to say. Although release dates frequently change, so even if I told you a date now, it most probably would not be accurate. Graham

Oh, you guys are so March 2006.. I'm starting to think there's nothing that we haven't discussed at least once already. Graham

Moved, as it is not a Macross game. Graham

The YF-19 Battroid lineart which some of you have been posting (copied below) is AFAIK not by Kawamori and therefore not 100% official. It's also very obvious that the picture is optimised towards battroid mode. For those that don't know, the origins of that picture are that it was printed on the inside of the bottom tray of the Bandai 1/100 VF-19S plastic model kit box. As to why a VF-19S model box featured detailed battroid and fighter mode lineart of the almost completely different YF-19, nobody has been able to comfim to this day. However, speculation is that it may have been lineart for a Bandai YF-19 model, which never made it in to production. While it's a nice drawing, it's obvious that a battroid model or toy which had the same proportions as the drawing would have major prolems if it were to transform. The battroid drawing has gigantic lower legs and a big head, which would cause all sorts of havoc with fighter mode. Graham

Don't judge the looks of the new 19 just on those CAD drawings. She's a much prettier girl in the fleash, as it were. Graham

Guys, can we please have no more talk of any old 19FP prototypes and no pics of supposed prototypes, even if they just are photoshopped versions of the old IHP resin kit photos. That is a still a sore subject and a certain company still gets very steamed about seeing photos with their name on and 'Copyright, even if they are not actually their real photos. Any such posts will get deleated as soon as I see them and persistant offenders will get a a good ass whooping. Let sleeping dogs lie please. One day, if I can get permission I would like to post the true story of the YF-19 resculpt development, which is a long and interesting tale, but until then, it must not be mentioned. Graham

The CAD lineart is in the new issues of Dengeki Hobby & Hobby Japan, that were just released a couple of days ago. I'll have larger scans up in the MW magazine section on Monday. Graham

Review is well on the way to being completed, hopefully by Monday morning. Sorry, got snowed down with work and family stuff the last few days. Graham

Yes, the VF-2JA was shown in episode # 2 at the culture park. Nex is piloting one and grab's Feff's Gigamesh from behind and promptly get's the arm of the VF-2JA cut off by the Gigamesh's extending scythe-type wing IIRC. Graham

The thing is, I don't think it's a matter of force being the reason for breakage of the diecast peg at the end of the swing bar. That area doesn't need force to transform at all. I certainly didn't use force on mine. In fact I was very careful. I still suspect that it's just some toys that have flaws in the casting, resulting in soft as butter, break-prone pegs, while the majority will hopefully be correctly cast and fine (touch wood). I guess only time will tell, as the toy is still rather new and not that many people outside of Japan and HK have them yet. Graham

Guys, if you have a broken Garland, can you please PM me with a description of the broken part and a photo if possible. No promises, but I might be able to get some replacement parts. Graham

I can honestly confirm with whole-hearted sincerity that I have absolutely no idea whether Yamato has a D-Stance YF-21 or not. Graham

Westworld, Death Race 2000, Rollerball (the original), Planet of the Apes (the original), Beneath The Planet Of The Apes, Logan's Run, Soylent Green (although the Harry Harrison book it's based on 'Make Room, Make Room' is better). THX 1138, Dark Star (gotta love talking bombs), Mad Max and a few others that slip my mind. Graham

A Yamato 1/60 variable VF-17 would be great, but unfortunately, I don't ever see it happening Graham