Graham

You don't have the HK Zero # 4 DVD yet Keith? It's been out weeks already! Anyway, the subtitles are crap, it's far better to download the fansub instead and of course buy the R2 original from Japan to support Big West I heard about this raid on the news, but I wouldn't sweat it too much. The HK Customs and Police do these raids all the time, but the pirates are always up and running again within a week or two. Graham

I've always found it best in life to keep an open mind and form your own opinions on something by actually experiencing it first hand. It's never a good idea to rely too much on or let yourself be influenced too much by other peoples views. Everyone is different and has their own likes and dislikes Mind you, I've never been one to mindlessly like something just because the Sheeple (AKA the herd) think it's trendy, in, hip (or whatever the current buzz word is). Graham

Heh, I keep promising Guppy to scan him the VF-11 color squadron pics from TIAS Mac PLus, but I never seem to have the time these days Graham

We can but hope I'd also love a VF-5000B and an SW-XA1, VF-3000, VF-22S Max & Milia, VF-17 with FPs, the list goes on and on Graham

eh? do you have a picture of these graham? See the August 1995 issue of B-Club magazine: - Page 1 & Page 2. Graham

I'm still hoping that one day we will see a resculpted, more accurate looking YF-19 from Yamato, hopefully in a larger scale (at least 1/60). I suspect the problems and thus the long delays are caused by two areas of the 19s design which have always been troublesome, namely the shoulder/ lower-leg interface in fighter mode and the front landing gear/folding groin section. In fighter mode, the original Yamato YF-19 had shoulders that sat far too high, giving the fighter a too bulky look, whereas in fact the shoulders should sit very low (actually down into the back of the lower leg) to give the 19 it's sleek streamlined anime look. If we look at other transforming YF/VF-19 toys and models, we see that getting the shoulders to sit down low in the back of the lower leg can be accomplished in the following ways: - 1) Have most of the rear of the lower-leg cut-away ala Bandai's 1/65 scale VF-19 toys. This is the most simple approach but means the battroid's lower leg looks ugly when viewed from the rear as most of it is missing. 2) Have an intricate 'origami style' folding rear lower leg section ala Studio Half Eye's YF-19 garage kit. The may be too delicate and complex for a mass production toy and it also makes it difficult to incorporate a rear landing gear as the inside of the lower leg will be partially taken up by the folding leg panels. 3) The third option, would be to have the back of the battroid's lower leg as a removeable piece which is taken off when the toy is transformed into fighter mode. This would be far the simplest option and would allow the shoulders to sit low enough in fighter mode. Personally, I could accept this, but such an approach may not satisfy the 'perfect transformation' or nothing crowd. The other troublesome area with the YF-19 as mentioned above, is the folding groin section and the front landing gear. These two parts are so close together, that it is extemely difficult to get them accurate to the lineart within the limited space of a toy without the parts interfering with each other, this gets even more complicated when you add battroid hip joints into the mix. No mass production toy or model has gotten the folding groin section correct as per how it is shown folding in the lineart, not Yamato, certainly not Bandai (who didn't even try) and not even SHE. In fact only one custom transformable model kit from one of the hobby magazines ever got it correct. Basically the dilema is that if you make the groin piece correct, then you don't have space to put the front landing gear in the correct position or make it look correct. The SHE kit didn't have any landing gear and remember Yamato's awful partially expossed front landing gear on their YF-19! Even the beautiful custom IHP transforming YF-19 featured in Model Graphix magazine has removeable front landing gear. So, again, it looks like the only way around this problem is to have the front landing gear removeable, which will probably piss people off. However, please consider that the problem is not so much with Yamato, but rather caused by Kawamori, as the YF-19 employs more 'anime-magic' than other Valks in regarding to changing proportions during transformation and this really makes it tough to make an accurate, perfect transformation toy without parts removal. Anyway moving on, I'd also like to see Yamato attempt a complete resculpt of the YF-21 and VF-11, as the present toys are inaccurate in a number of areas. I hope Yamato would consider using a better sculptor than Billy Wong who did the original toys, perhaps either Nishikawa-san who did the 1/48 or IHP's Sakuragawa-san. And I would really like Yamato to try to get their hands on a toy license for Macross 7 & Dynamite 7, as I would really love to see a VF-11C in Macross 7 colors, not to mention a Max and Milia VF-22S as well as a Gamlin VF-22S. Graham

The Bandai 1/65 scale VF-19Kai & VF-19S are very sturdy toys, but are extremely badly proportioned in all 3 modes, lack any hip articulation and have poorly designed, terrible looking landing gear. Also, the VF-19S comes with an incorrect gunpod. Some metal is featured on the joints and hinges, but mostly the toy is plastic. The Bandai 1/65 Scale VF-17D/S Stealth Valkyrie toys are actually among my favorite Valk toys. Although they have zero metal content, they are increadibly sturdy toys. Bandai's sculptors also did an excellent job with the panel lines giving the toy a high level of detail. Actually these toys have more panel lines than the more expensive Wave and Yellow Submarine VF-17 garage kits. On the downside, the toys feature limited knee articulation and look overly chunky in fighter mode when viewed from the side (although they look great viewed from the top IMO). The Bandai VF-17D/S also suffer from poorly designed ugly landing gear. Despite the negatives, I love my VF-17 toys so much I now have 10 of them I've never forgiven Bandai for not releasing the VF-17S Milia and VF-19F toys that were displayed in prototype form at a Japanese toy show back in 1995 Graham

Yamato have stopped talking to me for a few months already. They just do not reply to my emails anymore, no explanation or anything and the phone calls have stopped as well Not sure why this has happened. Well, actually I have a few theories, but I'm not going to air dirty laundry in public. Graham

I'll have to admit that I even prefer Macross 7 to original SDF TV. Ya see although I got into original Macross through the model kits way back 1982 or 83, I didn't actually see any original Macross TV series until about 1986 or 87. And then I was sorta watching it in fits and starts whenever I was able to track down any episodes on rental LD. However, with Macross 7, I got to watch it continuously as it was airing on TV back in 1994 on VHS tapes I was sent from Japan. So I sorta feel a deeper connection with 7 than SDF-TV cus I was watching it almost as it was airing with only a short delay. I gotta disagree that the first 12 episodes are boring. Personally, I think that episode # 1 'Speaker Pod' is a very strong introductory episode. Episode # 7 'Summer Accident' is one of my all time favorite episodes. I mean not only do we get to see Mylene in a bikini, but Gamlin kicks some serious Varauta ass in a VF-11C, proving that it's the man not the machine that matters. Episode # 6 'First Contact' is another of my favorites with Gamlin and Basara's defence of the escape pods being a very moving scene. Episode # 11 'Minmay Video' is also a fun episode. I love the characters in Macross 7, especially Gamlin, Mylene, Max & Milia. Personally I thought it was great that the creators were brave enough to tackle the subject of seperation with Max & Milia and this really added a more serious element to the series. The Valks with human faces, piloted by musicians controlled by over-size joysticks shaped like guitars never bothered me much. I mean they are civilian valks that are supposed to look different to military valks and be easily recognizable 'morale boosters' for the civilian populace. I think most of the mecha designs in Macross 7 are great, especially the VF-17D/S, VF-22S, VF-11C, VF-11C Full Armored, VF-19F/S & Fz-109. I also love Fire Bomber's music, which helps and I have all the CDs. Graham

Damn, I've got one of those myself, so I should have remembered about that. Don't you just hate it when you've got so much Macross stuff that you can't remember half of what you have? Graham

I'm really liking the more drab, darker blue they're using rather than the brighter blue shown on the recent photos on RT.com. makes the Legioss look more military. And from the Armo-Soldier mode pic it looks like they have indluded the detail of the triple barrels on the gunpod muzzle. I'm definitely picking up at least 2 of these and damn the cost. Although I won't know for sure until I've actually handled one, it looks like Toynami have made good this time. Graham

No. Graham

Actually, it's incorrect to say that there have been no Victory toys since the MSiP line. Last year (2003) Banpresto released a very well designed, high quality, ABS and die-cast metal, perfect transformation Victory Gundam and Victory Hexa Gundam toy. Graham

Gotta agree, he doesn't really look much like Spock at all. Graham

The Japanese R2 sets are nice, I have them as well. Also, although there are no English subs, the English dub is included IIRC. Graham

You don't need any special compensator to shoot Glocks underwater. What you DO need is the P/N 3073 'Spring Cups, Amphibious'. Graham, (Glock Armorer since 1996).

Get rid of that Taurus and get yourself a Glock, SIG or H&K. When I used to work at a gun shop back in the mid 90s, I'd keep my mags loaded to full capacity (17rd for my G17 and 13rds for my G21) for several months at a time and go right and and shot them in competition without problems . Graham

Can't remember where the quote is from, maybe a movie, maybe an old Texas Ranger, but IIRC it goes something like this - When asked why he carried a .45 for defence, he replied......"Cus they don't make a .50 yet" Graham

Why would you get a broken wrist? At only 700fps - 900fps with 240gr - 300gr bullets, the 50GI should be real pussycat, as it's a fairly tame low pressure round. And if much harder kicking cartridges like the .454Casul, .50AE etc don't produce a broken wrist, then I doubt the relatively wimpy .50GI will. If you want to talk hard kicking, try full power .44 magnum loads through the 26 ounce S&W 329PD Scandium Frame, Stainless Steel Barrel, Titanium Cylinder revolver Graham

Eek...........I just wet myself after seeing this: - .50GI Cartridge. & Model 1 .50GI Pistol. I'm not normally a 1911 fan, but this is enough to make me change my mind. Finally, a practical .50 pistol round. Graham

I'm thinking that Sega/AM-2 will release a Macross Zero and/or Macross Plus game as the VF-0S, SV-51, YF-19 & YF-21 were shown in an early promo movie for the PS2 game, but were later pulled from the the final game for reasons which were never made public. I gotta say I completely disagree with the statement made earlier in this thread that all Macross games are garbage. Personally, I loved VF-X2, I thought it had great gameplay and a interesting story that expands our knowledge of the Macross universe. I also loved Macross Plus Game Edition and the DYRL side-scroller. I admit that the first VF-X game was crap with terrible contol issues. Also, although Macross M3 for the Dreamcast was let down by weak gameplay, it did have a kick-ass opening movie, let you fly a whole bunch of cool Valks and explained what Max & Milia had been doing after Space War One. I'd also love to see a continuation of the VF-X series on the Ps2 set in the 2050s. Graham

It comes with the new style collapsible grip gunpod and small arm cut-outs with no covers, as first seen on the VF-1S Strike IIRC. And while this is generally a good thing, it does unfortunately mean that if you want to put on the arm FAST packs from the older VF-1J super onto the newer VF-1J, you won't be able to fit either the old or new gunpod in fighter mode due to the difference in shape of the arm cut-outs. However, there should be no problem with fitting the arm FAST packs from the VF-1S Strike onto the new VF-1J and using them with the collapsible stock gunpod. Graham

Wow, what I find. I wanna minty Orguss. Graham

IIRC in the TV series, hull breaches on Zentradi ships are quickly sealed by armor plates which automatically slide into position when a breach is detected. I think the same is true of the SDF-1 as well. I've always imagined Zentradi ships to have an inner and outer hull, a bit like modern submarines, with a number of emergency hull breach cover plates located between the two hulls. Obviously there must be a finite number of breach plates available and it may take a few seconds or minutes for the nearest plate to travel to the location of the breach, which could explain why sometimes a breach is sealed almost at once, but other times it takes longer. Graham

Can anybody say Stand up to her like a man, or do what I do and lie about the price...."yes dear, this 1/48 only cost $20, honest"! Graham