Graham

NOoooooooo!!!!!! Runs screaming and gibbering into the corner. Graham

The unwritten, but generally understood policy of Macrossworld is that pictures posted should be around 640 pixels wide, no wider, otherwise it disrupts the page layout and forces people to have to scroll from side to side to read the whole post. Please resize your pics and make sure any new pics posted are the correct size. Graham

Actually, it's not impossible, just insanely difficult . There is actually another Hasegawa YF-19 perfect-transformation conversion from an old issue of Hobby Japan that does feature correct folding front and rear landing gear and a groin peice that actually folds the correct way (the first ever in a YF/VF-19 toy or model), so there are no removable parts at all, although the rear of the lower legs do an origami type folding just like the SHE kit to accomodate the shoulders/upper arms in fighter mode. It's not by IHP, but I can't remember who the sculptor is. That particular issue of Hobby Japan is not in the MW magazine section, but I have it at home and will get it scanned at the weekend if the baby allows me to But one thing to consider that with the custom conversion model kits, the little custom made hinges and joints are so fragile, that they are not really suitable for a mass production toy. Graham

That conversion was made by IHP and it does feature swappable parts. The landing gear is removable as is the front groin peice. Graham

I still wish Yamato would do more to fix the shape of the wings on the VF-0. You can see from the CG pic of the VF-0A that Ignacio Ocamica posted above how they should look, and the wings on the Yamato are still way off despite the recent resculpt. While the wings on the Hasegawa kit are not perfect either, at least they are a damn sight closer to the anime than Yamato's effort. Graham

I've always wondered if that scene with the VT-1 was an animation error. Or perhaps only the VT-1 & Maybe the VE-1 as they share the same forward fuselage (nose/cockpit section) have those vernier jets below the nose and other VF-1s do not? AFAIK, only the SV-51 has VTOL ability in fighter mode. Graham

And guys, please give me some credit for at least having half a brain. I do know what Ulysses 31, Battle of the Planets/Gatchaman & Thunderbirds are!!!!! I wouldn't ask about something so obvious and well known as those shows. As a Brit I grew up on Thunderbirds which is something of a national insitution in the UK as well as other Gerry Anderson shows like Captain Scarlet, UFO, Joe 90, Stingray, & Space 1999. I may be an old fart (35 next month), but I'm not quite senile yet Graham

I like the beige and tan colors of the anime VF-0A better than grey, but I agree that it would probably be difficult to find the correct color of plastic to look good, unless the toy was fully painted. HLJ has some nice photos of the painted Hasegawa VF-0A. Now that's how I'd like the toy to look. Graham

Disappointed that the VF-0S's head hangs down so low in fighter mode. There is really no excuse for this given that so much parts swapping is involved and the toy comes with a seperate nose/cockpit section for Fighter mode Graham

Noel, A few questions: - Does the Yamato 1/100 VF-0S have a pilot figure in the cockpit? I can't quite make it out from your photos. Any news of the release date of the VF-0S? Did CM's have a booth and were there any Macross series # 3 figures on display, or any news of a series # 3? Did Hasegawa have a booth and was there an Ivanov color (black) SV-51 or a VF-0D on display yet, or any news of them? Any news of any new Hasegawa Battroid or even Gerwalk kits? Graham

I wonder how much sending out all these replacement toys is going to cut into Toynami's profit margin? Will it make them too scared to produce the red, green and dark Alphas? Hopefully, they will greatly improve the QC for any furture varients, as I imagine it would get prohibitivly expensive if they have to send out replacements for each color varient . Graham

'Space Sentinels' That's the one, thanks David. Graham

October 22. Try searching first for such a simple question. Graham

I need help finding information on a Sci-Fi/Superhero cartoon from my childhood. I think it would have aired sometime in the mid to late 1970s. I can't remember very much about it, except that it featured 3 hero characters each with different powers, who may or may not have been named after characters from either Greek or Roman mythology. They also had a cool looking spaceship that was based either inside a volcano or a mountain, or perhaps under a lake. As I said, my memory is sketchy from so long ago. I sorta remember the spaceship as being vaguely flying saucer shaped, with 3 landing struts and lots of kibble on the exterior. Please bear in mind that my memory may be faulty. The only other thing I remember is that the ships computer or perhaps it was a ships robot spoke with quite a sexy female voice. I've tried searching for info on this, but when some or all the details I'm remembering may be incorrect, I haven't found anything so far. Hope somebody can help me as it's bugging he hell out of me. Graham

Looks fantastic. Great job. Always a pleasure looking at photos of a well built Macross model. Graham

Bariaburu Faita, if you are in contact with Atelier Sai, please let him know that a toy of the MADOX-01 powered suit from the 'Metal Skin Panic' anime would be very popular with I suspect a great many MWers Also, please ask him why the heck he canted the VF-0S's headlasers so far outward on the latest sculpt revisions. They were the one thing that was fine about the original sculpt! Graham

From what I understand, Toynami is not a very large company, so I bet they only have 1 or 2 people handling customer service and theose people are probably not full time on customer service, they most likely have other duties to attend to as well. Graham

Oh dear, just as I suspected the revised head laser sculpt on the VF-0S head with those widely canted head lasers looks awful in fighter mode. The lasers are angled too far out the sides. Graham

I hope the fighter pic above is not what Yamato considers to be the correct VF-0A color, as while it looks nice and I wouldn't mine owning it, it is completely wrong as far as the anime goes. The VF-0A in the anime is a sort of light beige color with tan trim. Graham

Quite like the design as is. Although, the ships seem to be covered with awfully large rust(?) patches in the first few pics. Seems like the Captain should be ordering a work detail to get out there and repaint the hull Graham

The Escaflowne's cloak was made of rubber (soft PVC). Unfortunately, it was very heavy and because of the weight has a tendency to pull the arms out of their sockets. Transformation is pretty complex, but not that difficult to master and once you've got the hang of it, it becomes second nature, like most transforming toys really. I actually wrote the English language instructions for Yamato, although I wasn't happy with them as I had to follow Yamatos photos and order of photos, which I didn't agree with. I would have much rather changed the order of the photos and added a few additional steps. Anyway, IMO it's not as bad a toy as many people claim and I think it looks good in both dragon mode and Guymelef mode. It's definitely more of a display peice though as articulation is fairly limited. Gotta say the box design was awful to. yamato's worst looking box ever. Graham

Corrected typo Graham

Nah. toynami is basically doing the same thing for me. Same here... however Toynami has been very rude and not too talkative in their communications with me and I still have no idea when my replacement will come. Heh, I bet they read all your posts in this thread Graham

The official R2 DVD of Macross Zero episode # 5 is now up for preorder at cdjapan. I've just ordered mine. Graham

One minor niggle. The F-90 and F-91 GFF share the same feet, but this is incorrect. The F-90 is supposed to have vernier jets (circle in a square shape) on the front and sides of the foot (the white area of the foot), but the GFF omits these. I'm guessing Bandai just wanted to save a bit of money, so gave the F-90 the F-91's feet, instead of sculpting the correct feet Graham