Graham

Wow, I can't beleive I missed this before. I love the VF-22 with the Eagle painted on it. And the low-vis YF-19 on the 2002 page is another of my favs. Graham

LOL.......I'm begining to find out what you mean! Graham

That's some good questions. I tend to disagree with you that in the movie nothing was known about the Zentradi. I think that in both the DYRL movie and the SDF Macross TV series, there was a certain amount of knowledge to be gleaned from the wreakage of the SDF-1 prior to the Zentradi attacking Earth. At very least, it was already known that the aliens were giant humanoids. While this may not have been general public knowledge, it was certainly known by the Valkyrie and Destroid design teams, hence the reason for putting hands (for punching and grappling) on the mecha. One presumes that the Valk and Destroid pilots were also briefed to some extent on the possible threat they could one day have to face. In the TV series, Focker certainly seems to have been already aware about the potential alien threat. As for the reason for having a head, it is cetainly a convienient and practical location for a sensor cluster (TV, IR, Thermal, Radar(?) Cyclops(?)) to be used in battroid mode. In a fighting machine, you usually want your sensors high up to let you peek over walls, buildings trees etc, without exposing the rest of your fighting machine. A good real world example is the mast-mounted radar on the Longbow Apache. Given that the VF head is capable of quite a wide range of movemen (it rotates side to side and up and down), the head is a convenient location for the anti-missile lasers in battroid mode. Also, in fighter mode the heads are mostly recessed into the plane (much more than on the toys), so wont create much drag. Graham

Yes, M3 is cannon. the events in M3 are included in the official chronolgy on the Macross Compendium. The events in M3 take place between 2014 to 2030. Moaramia is an adopted dauighter of Max and Milia. The Compendium has the following to say about her: - "Zentradi girl with short purple hair Moaramia was trained almost from birth to pilot the Variable Glaug and to devote her entire life to combat. In fact, she called herself the "Zentradi Fighting Star." Maximilian and Milia Jenius encounter this girl when she attacks their Dancing Skull special forces team at the New Nile weaponry base. Max and Milia later adopt her as a (Micloned) daughter into her teenager years. She enlists with the Dancing Skull under her new radio callsign "Purple Skull." Graham

The Macross Compendium lists the prototype production of the 1/100 VF-0S toy as being done by Atelier-Sai, so now we know who to blame. Perhaps we should send them lots of nasty email Graham

To be fair to Yamato, there has been no line-art published publically yet of the VF-0's transformation sequence, which may be one reason why they went the parts swapping route rather than perfect transformation. Although if Kawamori has drawn the line-art, then Yamato certainly should have access to it through Big West. Also, the VF-0 is such a close cousin of the VF-1, with such a similar transformation sequence that figuring out how it transforms hardly takes a genius! Anyway, I guess I can live with the parts swapping on the 1/100 VF-0S toy, but what I find really inexcusable is the poor sculpt, which is completely inaccurate in many areas, as has been discussed many times in this forum in the past. Graham

Here's the VT-1 on the stand. Note the 4 grapple arms are really just for show, they don't do much. The Valks actually attach to the vertical bar. The clips plug into the top of the bar. Sorry for the blurry photos, the pics were taken in a hurry. Graham

And here's the clip for a 1/48 on a VF-1S Focker, it attaches just behind the head. and snaps over the hip axels. Graham

Here's the clip for a YF-21 attached. Graham

Here's what the attachment clips look like. Note, the picture doesn't show all the clips as I have 3 on toys already. Graham

oooooh, I love the over-sized pretty boxes! Actually, I think Yamato has been getting much better with their box sizes recently. While it's true that the 1/60 VT-1 & VE-1 boxes were ridiculously oversized, the Q-rau box was not too big given the size of the toy IMO. I also think that the 1/48 VF-1J Super Hikaru/Max/Milia boxes were quite reasonable given the number of bits packed inside. The 1/60 GBP and GBP w/VF-J were not too big either. And the new display stand box is very compact. Graham

I agree with that. My thinking is that Shuttle mode is basically used only to get the VB-6 to and from the battlefield quickly where it then transforms and fights mainly in Gerwalk mode in an artillery/support role or occasionally in battroid mode in emergencies if the enemy gets into close combat range/hand to hand range. The big disadvantage of the original Destroids was that they lacked strategic mobility and were thus mostly limited to point/local defence roles or required a seperate carrier spaceship to transport them to the battlefield if they were used in the assault role, unlike VFs, with their high Mach speed and almost unlimited range in an atmosphere which can quickly move from location to location. Basically, the transfoming ability of the VB-6, combines the high firepower of the Destroids, with the enhanced tactical and strategic mobility of a VF. I would imagine that the VB-6 would be great in a planetary assault role. Graham

I think it's a cost issue and talking of economies of scale, remember Yamato will sell far few toys than say Hasbro/Takara or Bandai. Graham

I'd recommend the separate FAST pack set for the simple reason that it also comes with the Strike cannon, so you can set up the packs in either Super or Strike configuration. Plus and this is quite importnat IMO, the DYRL style arm FAST packs hold the gunpod far more securely than the shorter TV style arm FAST packs that come with the 1/48 VF-1J Super Hikaru, Max and Milia Valks. Graham

I think that sales of the 1/60 VF-1A cannon fodder were not too good, which may be why Yamato is reluctant to release a 1/48 version. Plus the market is still quite saturated with 1/48 VF-1 toys (and VF-1 toys in general), with many fans sick of the VF-1, so it's probably good marketing sense for Yamato to wait at least 6 months to a year before releasing any more 1/48 toys, to give demand a chance to build again. Just my 2 cents. Graham

I also love the SV-51, but it's probably not the easiest mecha to make into a transforming toy. I also think there is a lot of anime magic that goes on during the transformation, that along with the skinny limbs and wing folding may all add up to a toy that is very difficult to design with perfect transformation, while remaining durable and reasonably proportionally accurate in all three modes. Plus I bet figuring out how to do Nora's paint scheme on a mass-production toy is giving Yamato a real headache. All those yellow markings would look awful as Yamato quality stickers. I honestly can't see the factory in China doing a good job painting them on. Frankly, the only way to go for the markings on Nora's SV-51 is Tampo printing, but Yamato have historically only been willing to use the absolute minimum Tampo printed markings, compared to say Bandai's GFF Gundam line which are absolutely saturated with Tampo printed markings. Graham

I also have a feeling that Yamato will really mess up an SV-51, if they even bother to make one. Graham

Gotta agree with the majority, that new Jedi star fighter looks terrible. Graham

That issue (July) is not the latest issue of Dengeki Hobby. August is the latest issue, well at least until the September issue is published in Japan this weekend I have the July issue and will eventually get it added to the MW magazine section. However, the new baby is leaving me with no free time to do stuff for MW at the moment though And no, those VF-0S Battroid and SV-51 Battroid conversions featured in that issue are not transformable. Here a topic I started in the MW Model Forum on May 23rd about the July issue of Dengeki Hobby. Some pictures of the battroid conversions and the custom VF-0 Reactive Armor are included. Somebody else also started another topic on the same thing about a month later.....slackers Oh and yes technically, there should be no problem for a competant toy maker to design a perfect variable VF-0 toy. Graham

The new September issues of Hobby Japan magazine and Dengeki Hobby magazine come out this weekend, so hopefully, there will be some updated photos of the Yamato 1/100 VF-0S showing major sculpt revisions, wing missiles and leg FAST packs. Hey, I can be optimistic can't I? Graham

Damn, that store has some great prices, I was gonna order some more Valks, but then I discovered that the rat-finks wont ship internationally....... grrrrrrrrrr Two of my pet hates in life are stores with great prices that wont ship overseas and ebay sellers who have exactly what I want but wont ship internationally....bastiches!!! Graham

My condolences. Try to be strong for your daughter. Graham

I actually, quite like F91. I remember going to see it at the cinema in Hong Kong with a friend when it came out in 1991. I thought the colony invasion scene was very atmospheric. I remember it was a really late show, like midnight or something and it was showing as a double bill with a 'Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water' movie playing first. I remember nearly the whole audience was heckling the Nadia movie as everybody was just there to see the highly anticipated new Gundam movie Graham

Have you ever seen transformers the movie? That didnt have any giggle factor and was more "realistic" than minmay's singing stunts.... Err....read the last paragraph of my post which you are quoting, it answers your question Graham

Interesting pic. That VF-17S definitely has modified knees, as the knees on the stock toy can't bend backwars. Also, it looks like some of the panel lines have been paitnted, or that mey just be light reflection. Graham