Graham

I don't think anybody is really bashing Hasegawa's Macross kits. We all acknowledge that they are fantastic kits and light years ahead of the old badly proportioned and poorly detailed Arai and Imai Macross kits. Even though I'm primarily a toy guy and couldn't paint a model kit to save my life, I still own several Hasegawa Macross kits that I had built for me and proudly display them together with my Macross toys. They are great eye candy, but as a few of us pointed out, they are not 100% accurate to the line art in a few areas (although a damn sight more accurate than all toys ) and Hasegawa has added additional non-canon details. But in the end who cares as they look great. I think Nanashi's point in mentioning this first of all, was just to make people aware that although they are great kits, they should not be regarded as the 'be all & end all' in accuracy. This is not a critiscm, as afterall they are just the sculptors interpretation of the design, incorporating Hasegawa's desire to give the Valks a more 'real aircraft' feel. Anyway, let's just hope that with the release of all major Macross Zero fighter variants, that Hasegawa has not given up on Macross kits. I know I would be all over a VF-17 and VF-11 kit if they released them. Graham

'Macross Digital Mission VF-X', the first VF-X game released for the Playstation in 1997 did not feature the VB-6. The ship the main character launched from in this game was called "Valhalla III (VCV) Stealth Attack Variable Carrier Vessel" In The 2001 Dreamcast game 'Macross M3', the carrier vessel used by Max & Millia's Dancing Skull squadron was called the "Algenicus Special Forces Cruiser". However, to the best of my knowledge, no name has been given for the carrier vessel used by the VF-X Ravens special forces squadron in the 1999 Playstation game 'Macross VF-X2'. Graham

I've got both of the VF-X2 gamebooks and I have not been able to find the name of the ship written so far. The scan of the ship was taken from one of the books. Graham

And here's the only pic I know of that actually shows the pop-up missile launchers in shuttle mode. Graham

And the transformation..... Graham

And another page........ Graham

As requested, here's some VB-6 lineart. Graham

you mean, you can actually see the missile when it open? or you can see the missile when you hold it open? mine is all glued down in the inside where the hinges are located. The two pods have to be pulled open by hand. Once you pull them open, you can see the missile (the cylinder with the rectangular indentaion on the front). On my VB-6, the pod on the left arm is a bit loose and hangs partially open. Graham

When you open it, the little cylinder you see with the rectangular indentation on the front is the missile. Lots of missiles in Macross have those rectangular indentations on the front. Graham

OK, here's the only lineart pic I have of the ship that the VF-X Ravens are based on in the game. Sorry, I've no idea what the name of this ship is. It may be written in Japanese, perhaps Renato could tell us? Graham

Kawamori showed his Lego SV-51 at a convention back in 2003 or 2004. I forget the name of the convention, but there were pics floating around on Macrossworld previously. I just tried to do a search, but wasn't able to find them. Perhaps somebody else will have better luck. I've definitely also seen a pic of Kawamori with his Lego VF-17. It's in either the VF-X2 gamebooks or perhaps the Mac Plus movie book. Or more likely now I think about it, it may have been shown in the 'Macross's Fastest Liftoff!!' (Macross 7 Preview) TV program. Graham

While you're doing that, do you mind scanning the koenig monster lineart if you have time? I've seen it here before, but nothing comes up when I do a search. A few months ago I had the chance to buy one of the VF-X2 books for next to nothing (Y10, I think!!), and I said "Maybe later". I kick myself everytime I remember that. Ow. Heh, never ever pass up the chance to buy a hard-to-find piece of Macross merchendise when you see it for a cheap price. I've made that mistake many times myself and always regretted it later when I decide to go back and buy it, but find it's already been sold . I'll try to remember to scan the VB-6 lineart pics tonight after baby goes to bed. Graham

Eh? mine are not glued and open quite easily, although they don't open very far. Graham

Actually, when you lift them up, you can see the tip of a missile IIRC. Graham

Will dig out both the VF-X2 game books when I get home tonight to see if the ship's name is mentioned. Graham

Unleaded ? Angst?...........Yeah, I bet that's it! Want to make a ship, Mobile Suit or Mobile Armor that's all powerful, then run it on an Angst™ engine powered fom the main character's angst and it will be unbeatable. Heck, as long as it's not the bloody silly (IMO), all singing, all dancing, do everything Minovsky particles from the UC universe then I'll be happy. Graham

As much as I love a good Zombie movie, one thing that's always annoyed me is that none of the characters ever seem to wear any protective clothing/padding/armor etc to prevent themselves from getting bitten. OK, this is unerstandable in movies where Zombies first start rising, as often it's not initially understood that being bitten will turn you into a Zombie. However, later on when his fact is known, you would think that the characters would take some measure to protect themselves, instead they often seem to run around in the skimpiest, least protective clothing possible. A case in point is the the Dawn of the Dead movies (both original and remake). Now, I love the original, but in these movies, the main characters are trapped in a shopping mall. In a shopping mall, presumably there is a sporting goods stall, where there would be access to all sorts of protective grear like knee and elbow pads, shin guards (also good for foream protection) etc. Heck even a good thick leather jacket will offer some protection from bites. Ever tried to bite through a thick leather flight jacket. I just did as an experiment and could even make an impression on it. And in Land of The Dead, the few screen shots that we have seen so far have shown the characters without much in the way of protection . If I was part of a team that had to go against Zombies, I know for sure I would deck myself out in a full set of modern riot armor, which offers pretty much full body, limb and head protection, but is still fairly light and doesn't hinder mobility two much. Of course, the assault rifle, two Glocks, several knives and approximately 1,000 rds of ammo I'd be carrying would slow me down a bit tho Graham

The Impulse's color changing is not magical. It's actually listed in the specs as having 'Variable Phase Shift' (VPS) armor. However, it's not known at this time if the 'Variable'' just refers to the color changing ability, or whether it actually offers improved protection over regular Phase Shift armor. Anyway, the Impulse's color changing is certainly a stroke of genius on the part of Bandai's marketing department. Having a different color scheme for the Impulse for each different weapon load, is a great way to force fans to buy multiple recolors of the same figure . Graham

But it looks like the head of the Astromech droid would get in the way of the wing folding inward though. Graham

Nope, not toys I think. I'm pretty sure that that those are concept test designs Kawamori made himself using LEGO (or some other similar building block system). Kawamori is quite famous for doing this when he designs a transforming mecha, just to see if his transformation concept actually works in a 3D medium. He even occasionally brings these LEGO mecha to show to fans at conventions. I've seen pics of the LEGO SV-51 and VF-17 that he made. I'm pretty sure there are others as well. Graham

And I'm holding my 7 month old while typing this . Graham

I forget if the name of the ship that the VF-X Ravens special forces squadron uses was ever mentioned in the game or not. However, I don't think it would really be accurate to use stickers for the SDF-1, Prometheus, ARMD-1, or Daedalus on the VB-6, as those are all old Space War-1 era ships and the VB-6 Konig Monster makes it's first appearance (that we know of) in 2050. So it's extremely doubtful that a newer mecha like the VB-6 would ever have been stationed on those old ships. Graham

According to the Compendium, they are auxillary missile launchers, that allow the missiles stored in the arm to be launched when in Shuttle mode. Graham

Aieeeeee........made up gaming stats . definitely, not the Compendium and certainly not official . Graham

And MS mode. Graham