Graham

Liquid Stone just updated their site, with some new pics of the 1/100 scale pre-built YF-19 resin kit, including pics of the decal sheet. Thanks to Bariaburu Faita for news of the update. Now if only Yamato would buy the rights from Liquid Stone and release this as an ABS toy.......sigh. Gotta love this pic of the three modes. Graham

Heh....guess you are on your own Howard. I know Monkey-N and Blackaces are not going. I think Renato mentioned he won't be either. I wonder if Seichi is going? Hmm......so who else do we have in Japan at the moment? Graham

The lesson, which I keep getting hit over the head with repeatedly (but never seem to learn ) is never order anything from HLJ if you want it in a hurry. Even if the item is listed as 'in-stock' and even if you chose expedited shipping, i.e. EMS, HLJ still take forever and a day to get your order sent out. Graham

All 1/48s except the first couple have the improved nosecone and flaps, so they are all good toys. Your decision should really be based on personal preferance. Which head design do you like, VF-1A, VF-1J or VF-1S? Which character do you like, Hikaru, Roy, Max or Milia? Decide based on that. The toys are pretty much identical anyway apart from the head and coloration. Graham

One thing I've never liked about the SRW games is that they add their own non-anime mecha, which I dislike. I wish they would just stick to anime only mecha. Given the popularity of anime outside of Japan, you would think they would release an English language version of these games. Still I guess licensing could be problematic. Graham

Nice looking kids. Barney is banned in my house, as is Teletubbies My boy quite likes watching Sesame street though. Graham

There's also the side view pic from my review. Graham

Of course, posting that a MW member is going to visit their booth might not be such a good idea Ah, but of course don't forget to wear a cunning disguise, so Yamato won't recognize you as a Macrossworld member . Graham

Of course, posting that a MW member is going to visit their booth might not be such a good idea Nah, I doubt anybody there reads MW forums anymore. They seem to have crawled so far up their own a-holes, that they can't see daylight any more Who me......bitter?....Nah! Graham

We did actually have 1 or 2 threads previously about what is the best Valk toy for toddlers and young kids and also how to child-proof the toys, so small kids don't injure themself playing with them. Obviously, if your toddler is still at the stage wher he puts everything in his mouth, then no Valk toy is suitable, with the possible exception of the 1/65 Stealth Valks, which have no small removeable parts which could be a choking hazard. Obviously, the Yamato 1/48 & 1/60 or Banprestos are not really suitable as they have too many small parts and they are too complex or fragile. A 1/55 is a good first toy, as long as the spring-loaded landing gear is disabled, as those pop open landing gear can easily hurt small fingers. Also, if the 1/55 is a reisue, the canopy should be glued in place, so that it cannot be removed and swallowed. Also, as mentioned above, I personally think a 1/65 VF-17S/D is a great toy for a first valk as it is light weight and durable, so wont hurt too much if your kid accidently hits themself on the head with it. It has no removeable parts or small parts that could come off for the kid to choke on. Transformation is simple. The toy doesn really feature any sharp edges. Graham

Yeah, Bariaburu Faita, tell em you're from Row-Boat-Tech.com Or even better, tell them your an employee of HG and see if you make it out of there alive Graham

I've actually been thinking of doing some retro reviews of the Mac 7 toys and also the 1/55 reissues as well. I can't promise when they will be ready, but I will get round to it........eventually . Graham

Thanks for all the feedback fellas. It's been very interesting and helpful reading all your opinions. I think I'm going to stick with subtitled Macross for my son. I was perfectly happy watching anime I couldn't understand as a kid, so hopefully my son will accept it also. I'd really prefer to avoid showing him RT. Actually, I don't even own any RT DVDs or VHS and I'm not really keen on buying it. Plus isn't forcing your child to listen to Reba West considered a form of child abuse? The Studio Ghibli movies sounds like a good introduction to anime, I think I'll probably try that. Anyway, my little guy is only 8 months old, so I still have a ways to go yet before he'll be interested in watching any anime. It's so sad to hear that so many kids and adults are not into reading. Books have been a huge part of my life since I was a kid and I still go through 1 or 2 novels a week. If I had to choose between books or video games, books would win hands down. I'm going to do everything in my power to encourage my kid to read. 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