Graham

Well, Winter Wonder Fest is this weekend (Feb 19) and I'm pretty sure Yamato will have a booth there. Noel is not attending this time. However, MW member 'Bariaburu Faita' is going and has promised to take pictures and to try to talk to the Yamato people, if they are willing to talk. Hopefully, he can get some confimation on the status of the 3 vaporware projects (1/100 VF-0S, 1/60 Monster & YF-19FP) and also some news of any other upcoming projects. However, don't expect too much as the new Yamato is very tight-lipped and does not seem at all friendly towards Macrossworld. I'm at least hoping that they will have the 1/48 GBP armor on show. Graham

Bingo, you spotted it. Give the man a round of applause . I had it custom made here in Hong Kong about 8 or 9 years ago, specifically to use with the Bandai 1/65 scale VF-19S toy, as Bandai sell the toy with the wrong weapon (a Speaker Pod Launcher, instead of the correct GU-15 gunpod) . It cost me quite a bit to have sculpted, but unfortunately, they messed up the size, made it a little too big and also put the grip slightly too far back as well. I had 20 made, but sold most of them years ago. Graham

Group shot. I actually have a few more of each toy, but they are mostly in boxes. Graham

Bomba! Graham

Now for Diamond Force! Graham

First up, Emerald Force. No prizes if you can spot the non-standard item . Graham

Well, US can sometimes be much cheaper. Just tried searching ebay, but only found one auction for an HCM VF-1A, no VF-1S. It's selling for a very cheap price, but does not seem to have a box. See: ebay VF-1A HCM Graham

I find it interesting that most MWers (myself included) applied the white eye stickers, whereas in the VF-X2 game, the VB-6 has the orange color eye markings IIRC. Graham

While I can't comment on prices in Japan or the US, here in Hong Kong, it would probably sell for about HK$3,500 (US$450) in the condition you describe. Graham

As we have quite a few MWers who are parents of young kids (myself included), I thought I'd pose this question which has been on my mind for a while now. Now I'm guessing that most of you like me, would love it if our kids inherited our love of Macross. However how do you plan to let you kids first watch Macross? What I'm getting at is, if the kid is too young, he may not be interested or will be unable to read subtiltes, but for most Macross anime, like the original SDF TV series, Macross 7 & Macross Zero, there is no dubbed version available, thanks to HG's meddling. While there is always Robotech as a last resort, I'd personally, prefer not to subject my kid to that. However, if it comes down to my kid only wanting to watch dubbed anime, I might have to reconsider. What would you all do? But thinking back to my own childhood, I remember being perfectly happy watching Japanese anime without any English subs and dubbed into Cantonese (which I do not understand) at the age of 6 years old (back in 1976). So hopefully, if my kid is the same as me, he will not mind watching SDF TV in original Japanese as Daddy can always explain the story and dialog to him . On a related note, What do you think is better for a first exposure to Macross, the toys or the anime? Graham

I'm sure it actually costs far less than that to make. Graham

Yep, have stickers applied, but as my first issue Mac 7 toys are all 10 years old now, some of the stickers are peeling quite badly (Hmm.....should talk to Takatoys about replacements). Also, some of the yellow stickers on the Blazer and the VF-17S have also changed color in places, actually have developed blue spots! Not sure why, maybe because of the humidity here in HK. Anybody else have this problem? Graham

I completely agree that the studios need to start making better films. I used to go to the cinema about twice a month, but I haven't been for 8 months now and have no intention of seeing a movie at the theatre until SW ep III comes out. I've just seen too much crap at the cinema to have much interest in wasting money there. These days any movie that looks remotely interesting, I'll wait and rent it and if I really like it, I'll buy the DVD. I've never downloaded a movie or TV series or music. I know how, but don't mind paying for the DVDs/CDs. The only things I have ever downloaded are the M0 fansubs purely because they had better translations than the HK boots, but even then I still bought the original Japanese R2 DVDs. Graham

Armored Troopers from VOTOMS. Tactical Armor from Gasaraki. Labors from Patlabor. Powered Suits from Starship Troopers OVA. MADOX-01 from Metal Skin Panic. Graham

Heh, first time I saw the pic of the uncolored version, I thought it was a resin kit, not a CG image. Graham

I'm not impressed by the G36 rifle I've handled. While reliability may be better than M16 type rifles in adverse conditions, the G36 has a horrible, horrible trigger IMO. Assault rifle manufacturers should all take a lesson from SIG, as the SIG-550 series of rifles have the sweetest non-custom trigger I have ever felt on a military rifle. The G36 I tried also had that horrible dual sight system (red dot sight ontop of a low magnification optical sight). the red dot sight was far too small and you had to break your cheek weld to sight through it, which I did not like. The version with the single optical sight seems better, but I haven't shot it, only handled it at SHOT show. I'm lucky enough in my previous job to have a chance to shoot most of the common 5.56mm and 7.62mm rifles and given my preference, I'll take a SIG-550 in 5.56mm any day of the week and an FN-FAL or HK G3 in 7.62mm over a G36. Graham

I can confirm that the 7.5 inch Launcher Strike toy has no weathering, is made of ABS and is held together with screws. It does not have removeable armor over an internal skeleton, so is not based on the MMM Strike sculpt. The GQ Impulse is about 18cm tall and yes they are awesome toys. I'm very happy with both my GQ Force & Sword Impulse toys. Highly recommended. Graham

Lots of unsold 7.5 inch plastic Launcher Strikes sitting on the toy shelves here in HK. Seems like they are not too popular here. Perhaps because they are the only figure in the line. From what I've seen, they seem like a decent toy, but I'm quite happy with my MMM Strike, so no plans to get the 7.5 inch version. The AE Strike has not been released here in HK. Graham

Just curious do the AE Strike and the 7.5 inch plastic Launcher Strike share the same basic figure or are they completely different sculpts? Graham

I've been planning to take a pic of my 1/65 Mac 7 toys since this thread started, but just haven't found the time. Gotta round up all my Mac 7 toys as some are at home, some at work, one is presently being customed (VF-17S Milia custom). Last time I counted, I think I had the following quantity: - VF-17D = 4 VF-17S = 4 VF-19S = 4 VF-19kai = 3 VF-17S reissue = 3 VF-19Kai reissue = 1 Graham

Looks like a disco ball between the grey robot and the red robot (sorry, never can remember their names). Yay, disco dancing Transformers. get down and boogey! Graham

Answer a) Beacuse otherwise he'd be naked. Answer b) Cus he feels cold? Graham

It's about time we got a decent X-Wing game for the PS2. Graham

Personally, I prefer deluxe over value versions as far as Variable Fighters go. I want my VFs to be detailed, look good, i.e. as accurate to the lineart as possible, have some gimmicks, be durable (most important), feature perfect (or near perfect) transformation and be made of good quality materials, i.e no gashapon-disease-prone PVC thank you very much! Only good quality ABS and some die-cast metal where necessary for strength. For non-transforming Destroids or non-transforming enemy mecha, lower price value versions are fine as long as they are durable, look decent and feature a reasonable level of articulation. I'd be quite happy with a line of 1/144 scale or 1/100 scale GFF style Destroids and enemy mecha in the ¥5,000 price range, rather than Yamato's over-priced (IMO) 1/60 Q-Rau and 1/60 Vaporware Monster. Size or scale is not that important to me these days. As long as the toy meets the criteria listed above, I'll happily accept it in whatever scale. I'm not hung up on having all my Macross mecha in the same scale anymore. Graham

I'm not a huge fan of Destroids. I think the only ones I really would like to buy are the Tomahawk and Cheyenne. Having seen and handled the prototype 1/60 Monster sculpt a couple of years ago (gosh has it been that long), I can confirm the thing is pretty damn huge. Got some sweet photos of it with a 1/60 Hikaru VF-1A Battroid standing with it as well. Hmm.....would Yamato go apeshit if I posted them? Anyway, if I had to chose between 1/60 or 1/48 scale for Destroids, I think I'd opt for 1/60 scale purely for reasons of space saving. Given free choice though, I'd probaby prefer 1/100 scale. They would still be a decent size and detailed enough. And being non-transformable would be durable enough at that size. Graham