Graham

Even though of course the lion's share of sales are to the Japanese market, Macrossworld members around the world (not just the US), still manage to rack up a significant amount of purchases. A while back (maybe on the old forums, I forget), we had a long-running thread where people listed their total number of Yamato Valks and it came to quite an large number. One member even compiled the data onto an Excel spreadsheet, which I forwarded to Yamato and they were quite impressed by the sales. Back when I was still close to Yamato, I got see see information on the production run sizes and IIRC, the purchases by Macrossworld members was roughly something like between 2% to 5% of the total production, which is nothing to sneeze at. It may even have been a bit higher, but I honestly can't remember without finding and reviewing the figures. Graham

I completely agree with you. If Yamato (or another company) were to bring out a new larger scale YF-19 toy with the same fantastic accuracy, detail, poseability and quality as the 1/48 VF-1, then I'd bet my left testicle that it would sell extremely well. While the original 1/72 YF-19 toy was a good first effort for a company which had never before manufactured a toy, let alone a complex transforming toy, it is by today's standard sub-par. I still love it, but I can't help but cringe now at how ugly the nose/cockpit/front landing gear section is. Still it did sell extremely well in it's day and even today usually commands very high prices in online auctions, which is a good indictaion of it's popularity. It's a sad fact that Macross is not as popular as Gundam and every Macross toy or model released is not automatically guarunteed good sales, unlike most Gundam toys or models. Still, I think that besides the classic VF-1, the YF-19 is the only other VF with enough popularity to be a surefire hit. Graham

Still waiting to see pics of a greenie with stickers applied. Graham

The fans (ok me) demand pics ! Graham

And we have a winner Graham

Heh, yeah it's probably true that if you stuck a 'V' antenna on every Macross Variable Fighter, painted them red, white and blue and called them 'Gundam' they would sell much better as toys or models. Sorry for the extemely crude photochop job, but here's my rendition of the only way Bandai would probably consider releasing a YF-19 toy or model. Gentleman, may I present to you............ the RX-19 Gundam . Graham

The VF-19Kai/F/S/P does not even feature those pipes on the underside of the chest. They are specific to the YF-19/VF-19A. Graham

Sounds reasonable. OK, so far we have three possibilities for those chest-mounted thingies on the YF-19: - 1) Chest gatling guns for use in Battroid mode. 2) Locking bars for Fighter mode to withstand high-G maneuvers. 3) Verniers for use in Battroid mode. Egan and Nanashi (if you are both lurking), feel free to jump in at any time with comments or suggestions. Graham

First time I've seen the GU-11 55mm gunpod called a 'Photon Missile Launcher' Graham

I think the SHE VF-11 has a horrible nose. Worse shaped nose of all the VF-11 models/toys IMO. Graham

And a larger scan of the Tenjin box art. Beautiful pic as always. Graham

Here's the short article from the new April 2005 issue of Dengeki Hobby magazine on the Hasegawa VF-1A/J/S Fighter mode kit to be released in March. Graham

OK, here's the color 1/48 GBP CAD pics. Graham

Looking good. Interested to see how it turns out. Graham

I just picked up the new April 2005 issues of both Hobby Japan & Dengeki Hobby magazine, just out in Hong Kong today. Unfortunately, there is no news of any new Hasegawa Macross model kits, except for pics of the box art of the upcoming VF-1A/J/S fighter mode kit, which we already know about, that is due for release in March for a price of 2,100yen. Hopefully the news that Valk009 (Andy) mentioned will be in next month's magazines. Oh well, one more month to wait! Graham

The April 2005 issues of both Hobby Japan and Dengeki Hobby magazine arrived in Hong Kong today. I just picked them up a few minutes ago. Here's a quick run down of the contents that will be of interest to Macross fans: - Hobby Japan Unfortunately, very little Macross related. On page 244, there is a very small pic of the box art by Tenjin for the upcoming Hasegawa VF-1A/J/S fighter mode kit and that's it as far as Macross goes. Dengeki Hobby Dengeki Hobby magazine has one whole page devoted to Macross this month (page 141). The top half of the page shows color CAD pictures of the upcoming Yamato 1/48 scale GBP armor. The last time we saw some uncolored lineart CAD pics of the 1/48 GBP was 3 months ago, back in the January hobby mags. While it's nice that we are seeing new pictures, it's a little depressing that in 3 months the only progress seems to be that the CAD pictures are now in color ! IMO, it seems doubtful that Yamato even have an actual physical prototype yet, also taking into account that none was displayed at last weekends Winter Wonder Fest . No price is given yet for the 1/48 GBP in the Dengeki article and the release date is still sometime in 2005. The bottom half of the Dengeki Hobby page features photos of Hasegawa VF-1A/J/S fighter models and a small pic of Tenjin's box art for the upcoming Hasegawa VF-1A/J/S Fighter mode kit release coming in March at a price of 2,100yen. I'll try to get the Yamato 1/48 GBP pics scanned and posted when I get home tonight. Graham

Them be child bearing hips! Graham

As much as I'd love a VF-17 from Hasegawa and would buy multiples, I probably don't see it happening. I think that they will stick wih the more popular VFs like the VF-11, VF-19Kai and perhaps VF-4. Graham

Ya know, I hope somebody at Yamato is paying attention to this thread and these auctions. If even a 1/100 scale YF-19 garage kit where the gunpod cannot attach in fighter mode and the hands have to be removed can till sell for nearly US$1,000, I think that's a pretty good indication that the market is ripe for a nicely sculpted YF-19 toy. Graham

Heh, wondering if I should sell off some Low Vis or something, so I can raise more money for the auction . At 30,000yen, I could still justify playing with and transforming the LS YF-19. If I end up paying 100,000yen, I think I'd be too scared to do any more than just display it for fear of breaking something so expensive. Graham

I'd say those were the US toys by Joyride Studios, not the Japanese ones. Joyride's set of three is teh colonial viper, cylon raider, and cylon centurion. The ships are about the size of a star wars action fleet. The Konami Japanese BSG toys are not due for release until March. Graham

Oh well, I lost the auction for the Liquid Stone YF-19, which ended last night at US$940!!!!!!! Slightly more than I was willing to pay, even if this is my new Holy Grail. Actually, let me modify my statement, it's slight more than I can afford to pay. I'd certainly be willing to pay that much if I could afford to . However, all is not lost as a second Liquid Stone YF-19 has turned up on Yahoo Japan Auctions, so I am bidding on this one now. While I'm glad another one is up for auction as it gives me a second chance to acquire it, it sort of pisses me of that not all the people at Wonder Fest who enterered the lottery to buy the Liquid Stone YF-19 were buying it because they are Macross fans, but rather just so they can sell it online to make a tidy profit from fans who are desperate to own one. Oh well, that's life I guess. Graham

Didn't Ralph Bakshi's animated Lord Of The Rings also use Rotoscoping? Must be more than 20 years since I watched it, so my memory is a little hazy. Graham

An overseas model commission could also be risky as well, as due to the fragile nature of models, even a well packed kit may not survive transit without some damage. Graham

Two ways. 1) When you post, you can attach 1 picture per post directly from your hard drive. When you are replying, just scroll down below the box where you type your reply and you will see something called 'File Attachments', which allows you to browse your hard drive and select a pic for attaching. 2) If you already have an imagine online, you can post it by clicking on the IMG button (located above the box where you type your reply) and pasting in the URL. Graham