Graham

Here's a question I've always been curious about. Can the 20mm Phalanx guns track and fire at slow moving surface craft, or are the purely anti-missile? Graham

Hong Kong's Hasegawa agent is useless when it comes to Macross. It took two months after the release of the SV-51 for any kits to make it to HK. Graham

While Yamato is a hit and miss company, their recent track record has been pretty good IMO. On the hit side, the 1/48 VF-1 toys and FAST packs were amazing. I also love the Q-Rau, I think it's a beautiful sculpt. The VB-6 looks amazing so far. The display stands get a passing grade from me as well, even though you can't place an FP eqiuipped 1/48 upside down on the stand As for misses, well, the GPB armor, turned out disappointing, despite being made of sturdy plastic and the upcoming 1/100 VF-0S just looks plain wrong. IMO a lot of the problem is not so much with the factories Yamato uses or the QC (or lack of it), but rather with the choice of sculptor. Chose a good sculptor, like Nishikawa-san for the 1/48 or the unknown ex-bandai MG scuptor who did the 1/48 FPs or even the IHP guy who is doing the VB-6 and you get a good product. On the other hand, chose a crap sculptor and/or a sculptor who is not a Macross fan....cough, cough Billy Wong and you get less than satisfactory toys. Obviously, the sculptors at ateliar sai are third rate at best! Graham

The whole scene is bit of a mess. It would have been literally impossible for the YF-21 to fire that gunpod at the YF-19 as the scene was presented anyway. Yes, that scene is a little hokey, however it is probably technically feasible. We don't really know enough about the design of the YF-19's gunpod or it's feed mechanism, but it is possible that the gunpod has a selectible feed mechanism and that it's magazine is designed to hold more than one type of ammo at once, which would be selectable at the flick of a switch to enable the pilot to chose the most appropriate ammo (e.g, Armor Piercing Incendiary, High Explosive etc), against the type of threat he is facing. The YF-19's gunpod magazine appears to be quite large and seems to consist of the entire lower part of the shoulder stock (reference the scene when Isamu changes magazines), so it is conceivably big enough to allow 2 or 3 different internal ammo storage/feed paths within the magazine. In theory, given lax enough security, Guld could have loaded a quantity of live ammo into one of the magazines 2 or 3 internal feed paths and hacked into the gunpods computer, inserting a command to switch to live ammo when he sent the appropriate signal. Just my theory. Graham

The opening fight scene in episode # 1 of the OVA, with the VF-11B team/squadron against the Zentradi powered armor is one of my all time favorite fight scenes and the main reason why I prefer the OVA to the movie. Graham

IIRC, in episode # 3 of Macross Dynamite 7, Lisa folds in a captured VF-17D in battroid mode. Graham

Please don't insult the lovely VF-17 by comparing it to that Galaxy Defender! Graham

These are probably the Macross Toybooks, that were announced on the Macross Compendium updates of 2004 March 2 - 2004 May 26. The Compendium has the following information: - Macross Toybook* *Tentative title マクロス　トイブック（仮） Booklet with pre-painted vinyl figure Toybook Collection Series Volume Character 1 Lynn Minmay 2 Mylene Jenius Seika 2004 August (planned) Y1200 each (tax included) These books are to be published by Seika, who interestingly are the same company that made the Macross pencil sharperners a while ago. Note, that each of the two books is supposed to come with a pre-painted figure of Minmay and Mylene. Graham

The pic that Keith posted is from Character Model magazine. It is a VF-0 variation that will not appear in the anime. Graham

I think the majority of Macrossworld forum members would disagree with you there. Graham Really... My Father is 70 and he collects Macross toys. He is a mechanical engineer so he loves the VF-1. Is he a child? Tell your father he is a really cool guy. I hope I'm stil collecting Macross toys at 70! Graham

Here's some line-art of the upcoming Hasegawa VF-0A as shown in the new September 2004 issue of Dengeki Hobby magazine. Looks like they have gone with a low-vis grey scheme. Graham

And here's a bigger version of the same picture. Graham

Here's the cover art for episode # 5 from the new September 2004 issue of Dengeki Hobby magazine. Looks like the VF-0 has the Ghost drone as seen in episode # 2 attached to the top. Graham

Here's the page from the new September 2004 issue of Dengeki Hobby. Graham

Latest pic from the new September 2004 issue of engeki Hobby magazine. Graham

Nope, that's not a resin test shot. I've got that magazine as well as the new September Hobby Japan which has even more pics and it's the production model. Definitely Titan colors first. Anyway, it makes sense for Bandai to release the least popular color first, thus forcing the more impatient fans to buy it first rather than waiting for tthe inevitable green version which I'm sure will be released later Bandai's marketing department is very clever when it comes to taking money from Gundam fan's wallets. Luckily I'm no longer a Gundam fan Graham

Yep, I agree. Ya know once, heck even twice I can accept, but when the same thing happens in so many Gundam animes, it just stretches creadibilty to breaking point and causes me to lose all interest in Gundam. Somebody needs to hit Tomino on the head with a big hammer and tell him to have an original idea more than once a decade. Let's see how many Gundam animes have there been where a young untrained kid bumps into the Gundam and becomes the pilot: MSG, Z, ZZ, F91, V & SEED. 6 series!!! Ok, F91 was a movie not a series (although a series was planned), but they same damn thing still happens. Graham

The VF-0 swing bars as shown in episode # 1 of the anime would be too thin for a toy and would have to be made thicker. Also, I think the legs are still supposed to connect to the noescone somehow in battroid mode. Hopefully, somebody will publish a Macross Zero artbook after episode # 5 comes out on 22nd October. Perhaps a 'This Is Animation Special' book? Graham

Somebody must be buying the SEED models and toys, as Bandai sure is pumping them out like crazy with no end in sight. But I can say for sure that it's not me that's buying them The SEED anime, mecha, characters, models and toys do nothing for me. Although like many people here, I do like the Astray design, although only the bare-bones plain Astray appeals to me, not all these wacky variations that have been appearing recently. I don't plan to buy any products from SEED or SEED Destiny. The last Bandai product I bought was the Z-Plus GFF. The next may be the GFF F90, I haven't decided yet, depends what accessories it comes with. Bandai would get much more of my money if they made some Macross Zero toys or Macross MG or PG models Graham

highly recommend you watch episode # 3 of Macross Zero, it has probably the best action scenes of the entire series so far. Graham

I think the majority of Macrossworld forum members would disagree with you there. Graham

1. Scans when I get home tonight, or maybe tomorrow depending on how much free time the baby gives me I'm still at work now. 2. The 1/100 VF-0S is not in the magazine, otherwise I would have mentioned it!!!!!!! Graham

Transformer fans will like the new September 2004 isssue of Dengeki Hobby magazine (Japan ver.) just released today as it comes with a boxed set of two mini transforming Transformer toys. One is a little Optimus Prime, who stands about 5.5cm tall in robot mode, the other is the bad guy who changes into a Walther P38 pistol, sorry I've no idea what his name is. As I don't like Transformers, the two toys are going to become targets for the office airsoft gun....Mwhahahahah Graham

The new September 2004 issue of Hobby Japan magazine just released today, shows that the F90II will come with the 'L' type long gun. No mention of what weapons sets (if any) will come with the F90 though. Graham

The new (September 2004) issues of both Hobby Japan magazine and Dengeki Hobby magazine have just hit the stores today in Hong Kong. Unfortunately, from a Macross fans perspective both issues are very disappointing Hobby Japan Sept 04 issue No Macross article this month. At least a third of the magazine is full of Guncrap, sorry Gundam stuff as usual, the same seemingly endless, near identical mobile suit models and toy designs, which blur together in a seething mass of repetativeness......yawn! The only thing Macross related is a quarter page color lineart pic of the upcoming Hasegawa VF-0A model on page 232. Interestingly, the pic is colored a low-vis grey rather than the tan used in the anime. Dengeki Hobby Sept 04 issue Dengeki can usually be relied upon to give us a 2-4 page Macross artical every month. Frequently we're even treated to even longer Macross articles. This month though, we get a meagre one page of Macross! Featured this month are some pics of the painted Yamato 1/100 scale VB-6 in battroid mode, still no chest gun! The same Hasegawa VF-0A lineart pic is also shown, just a bit larger than in Hobby Japan. Probably the most interesting thing shown is a small color pic of the cover art for the upcoming Macross Zero episode # 5 DVD, which shows Sara at the bottom of the pic with angle wings coming from her back. In the sky above Sara are what I guess is the AFOS/Birdman and in front of it is a VF-0 in fighter mode viewed from the rear, with what looks like one of the Ghost drones from episode # 3 attached to the back of the fighter. Graham