Graham

Yes, the Milia VF-1J has all the improvements. Graham

For Sci Fi TV series, I'd also recommend Firefly. Graham

If you want a nicely sculpted diecast metal YF-21 fighter, order the 1/144 scale Doyusha from HLJ. I'd stay away from the Yamato 1/72 scale YF-21FP. Not only is the purple color horrible IMO (and non anime accuracte), but it does not lock together well in fighter mode (at least the 3 I have tried don't). Also, it does not balance at all well in either Gerwalk or Battoid mode. If you really must have a Yamato YF-21, I'd actually recommend trying to track down a mint non-FP version. Not only is it the correct color, but it can actually balance fairly well in Battroid and Gerwalk mode. I actually really like the original Yamato YF-21, you just need to be careful with the shoulder sliders as they are a bit fragile. Graham

Changed it a few weeks ago. Got bored of the old 'Anti Tranny' title. Graham

OK this thread is getting locked. I don't care who called who a name first, and I'm damned if I'm going to waste valuable minutes of my life reading through all 6 pages of this thread. If any of you have a problem with another member take it to PM. Leave the insults, bad language and personal attacks out of the forums. And please folks just learn to chill. Life is too short to get so worked up over a TV show. Graham

I'd say buy the 1/60 VE-1 & VT-1 while they are still not too difficult or too expensive to find. I'm very happpy with mine and they are my favorite 1/60 Valks. Although I pretty much treat them as display peices and hardly touch them. They sure are pretty to look at though IMO. Graham

A launching arm is fine for space and looks the coolest visually, but a catapault assisted launch would still be prefered even in space as it gives the Valk some free starting velocity and saves valuable reaction mass (fuel), which is limited in space. Remember it's only in an atmosphere that a Valk can extract fuel (hydrogen?) from the air, thus allowing virtually unlimited range. In space the Valk's fuel supply is limited to what it can carry in internal tanks, FAST Packs or drop tanks. Of course Lanch Arms are absolutely no use for atmospheric launches, so overall the catapault is the way to go for both space and atmosphere. Graham

Get back on topic guys, or this thread is on the fast track to locksville. Anyway, I don't know if this has been mentioned already, but 3 million is not exactly a large amount of money in today's world (although I wouldn't sneeze at it). I'm just wondering exactly how many episodes of Enterprise would 3 million buy? Graham

Ohh how much are they going for? My girlfriend is going over to HK soon. Can I find them in the usual Animate/Sino Centre/TRU/Kanto Hobby? The only places I have seen them are Jusco department stores and the 'UML' chain of toy/modelshops. I forget the exact price, but I think it was around HK$85 to HK$95. I haven't seen them at all in Animate, TRU or Kanto Hobby. Actually, I think all the branches of Kanto Hobby may have closed down already. Anyway, they definitely had the Mospeada Superposeables in the Jusco in Tai Po (where I live) and the UML branch in Windsor House in Causeway Bay, but as it was 6 months to a year ago that I noticed them, I'm not sure they will still have stock. There were only a few pieces on the shelves and they didn't seem to be getting much love. Graham

Hummmm well. I can recall how Graham went crazy about the CM's Minmay.... I even remember him fantasizing (and later posting the pictures) about the Underwear Concert she gave to Hickaru... Later our Anti-Tranny G-Man even changed his signature to something like "Minmai's underwear" Wen questioned about his sig, he clearly said he was her panties... So, I guess you are in the wrong site if you think taking a pic of a plastic ass is going too far. Carefull you may end banned I entirely missed this, is there a link to that topic around anywhere? Oh dear, I guess it's a slow day in Macrossworldland if this is the best we can do . Graham

These 'Mospeada' versions have been selling here in Hong Kong for about 6 months to a year already. Graham

on the VF-1 its a tiedown point... so stuff doesn't float away in zero gravity situations... I would assume its the same for cars as well. On the VF-1, it is not just a tie-down point. Underneath the bar is a vernier. Graham

I would think that the small retro-thrusters located on the sides of the intakes would not be powerful enough to stop the VF-1 in a carrier landing in fighter mode. Of course as others have said, why not just land in Gerwalk mode? Graham

OK, just checked the Macross Compendium and yes, having two hooks appears to be canon. The Compendium has the following to say: - LANDING GEAR: Retractable tricycle undercarriage. Two steerable nosewheels retract rearward into nose and twin coupled mainwheels inward into fuselage. Two arresting hooks mounted underfuselage on engine nacelles. Graham

The 1/72 scale Bandai Hi-Complete Model VF-1A/J/S toys from the mid-80s have two tail hooks (one in each rear landing gear well). I'm not sure if this is canon or not though. One of our more knowledgable aviation buff members did point out that having a tail hook on each leg would be an absolute no-go in real life though, as if only one hook snagged the wire when landing and the other hook missed, the Valk would just go spinning off to one side when landing, with probably disasterous results. Graham

It's all Harmony Gold's fault I tell you! I bet the only way they would grant AnimEigo a license, was if AnimEigo agreed to make the discs with a built in self-destruct feature, so that after a couple of years, the discs would start breaking down. I bet the damned Robotech discs don't have this problem. Me, paranoid? Graham

I'll add this to the Custom Toy gallery tonight. I notice that one of the forearms is white and the other brown. Is this a case of one forearm being replaced due to previous battle damage, or just Kurt getting lazy and forgetting to paint it Graham

Aieeeeeee.............it lives! Graham

That's a very nice sculpt on that Lunamaria figure. I haven't been able to find one yet though. They either haven't made it to HK yet, or sold out before I could get one. Graham

Heh, everybody's comments on the Destiny MS sorta remind me how we were all bashing Okawara for the Impulse design the first time we saw it. Now most of us like Impulse. I'm sure Destiny will look better both in the animation and also as a toy/model than it does as static Okawara lineart. Graham

IIRC, the guns in Deep Rising were Calico 9mm SMGs (now long out of production) with extra cosmetic bits stuck on the outside to make them look different. In the movie, I think they said they were Chinese made guns with thousand round magazines.....LOL! In reality, the Calico used either a 50rd or 100rd helical drum magazine. Graham

Sometimes it feels that way, especially recently . Graham

Mine is still fine. I guess that's typical 'hit or miss' MSiA quality for you . Graham

I think Macross itself is not to blame per se with regards to the poor sales of Yamato's recent Macross offerings, but rather it is Yamato's poor business decisions as to which items to produce that have caused the problem. Also it has not helped that recent releases have either been overpriced (Q-Rau), seriously flawed (1/60 GBP), or too obscure (VB-6) to have good sales. Yamato have also hurt themselves by not releasing Macross Zero merchandise in a timely manner, despite having more than 2 years to do so! As much as it saddens my to say this, not all Macross mecha will sell well, even if of superb quality, no matter what we fans say. Enemy mecha, Destoids or obscure Valks will never sell as well as the more well known hero mecha like the VF-1 & YF-19. While a small group of hardcore fans may scream for their favorite Destroid, for example Tomahawk, you just know that it would never sell as well as a nice YF-19. I just think that at this stage with the declining popularity of Macross in Japan, if I was the CEO of a toy company, the only Macross items I would be willing to gamble on making a profit if I manufactured them would be the YF-19, VF-0S/D & perhaps SV-51. Not the VF-1 as the market has been saturated this past several years. I still say good quality, nice looking and well designed versions of these mecha would sell fairly well. Graham

I think one of our members, perhaps Rohby was offering recast fixed-pose hands a while back. Perhaps somebody else remembers better than me and can offer more information. Yes, the fixed pose hands do hold the gun more securely than the standard articulated hands. However, the fixed pose hands are of the TV style and not really accurate for use on the Hikaru VF-1S, which is from the DYRL movie, where the Valks have more mechanical squarish hands. This may not bother you though. Graham