Graham

I would not treat a model kit as cannon though, especially one which is a fan made scratch build or conversion. Graham

I'd like to be able to read what it says in the second photo, under "History of Art". Looks like the front landing gear is not attached, which makes me think it's a fan custom. IIRC, the front & rear landing gear was glued in on the YF-19. Graham

That's interesting. I've also never heard of or seen that before. I'm wondering if it is legit or a fan custom? It's never appeared in any of the hobby mags AFAIK. Graham

Another potential problem is that the clip for the VF-11B attaches very firmly to the hip pegs and requires a bit of force and twisting to remove. While this is not a problem on the steel reinforced hip joints of the FP version, I'm worried it could cause breakage on the original 'weak hip' version when removing the clip. Graham

Downside is that the stand comes with 8 different attachment clips to fit the various Yamato Valks, however, the clips are not marked to show which is which and although they are all slightly different, the photos in the instruction manual are not very clear. Still, it's not exactly rocket science to figure out which is which Also, you need to use the clips to make sure the Valk is firmly attached, which is another reason why you can't do an upside down 1/48 Valk w/FPs. Unfortunately, neither the 1/72 YF-19 or 1/48 VF-1 can fit their gunpod on the stand in fighter mode. Graham

Very sturdy and stable and quite heavy as well. I don't think it's gonna work with an upside down 1/48 w/FPs tho, well, at least I'm not risking my BP8 to try! Graham

And with a 1/48 VF-1S Super Focker. Graham

Here's the stand with the VF-11B FP. Graham

Here's a pic of the stand with the 1/60 VT-1 and Zentradi baby in the background. Graham

Sorry the pic is not very clear, I had to scan it from the Macross Plus Game Edition game book. Unfortunately the DVD player on my stupid Hong Kong coumpter won't play region 1 or 2 DVDs, only region 3, so I can't grab the pic from either my US or Japanese Macross Plus DVDs Perhaps somebody else can get a better version of that image. Graham

To prove once and for all that the weapons pack is not part of the arm, I give you this picture. Graham

I don't think it was a dramatization. I'll have to watch that episode again, but I thought it was just Akiko having a flashback to that incident as she explained what happened in the past with Stephen & Ray. Graham

The article does mention that 'Land' will be a post-apocalyptic type movie, with survivors living in walled cities, so I'd expect a significant Zombie threat. On the other hand, I remember reading an interview with Romero several years ago where IIRC, he said that in the 4th movie, which would be set 1 or 2 decades after Day of the Dead many of the Zombies would have decayed away, so the Zombie threat would be reduced. Guess we'll just have to wait and see. Anyway, Romero is the man, so I'm sure he won't disappoint. Graham

If the auction is just using stock pictures from Yamato's website, rather than a pic of the actual product in it's original packing, then it's a safe bet that they don't actually have the item on hand yet. Anyway, it should be out sometime later today in Hong Kong. Graham

Well, the Cinescape article mentions a budget of 20 million, so it aint gonna be that big Anybody know what the budget for the Dawn remake was? Graham

I'm just hoping that when Universal release Miami Vice season 1 later this year or next year(?), that they have managed to secure all the song rights and keep all the original songs, instead of replacing them with some generic crap. I know problems with music licensing is what has kept the show from being released on DVD before now. I'd gladly pay extra for Mimi Vice DVDs, to have all the original tracks in place. Graham

Gotta admit, I'm not really a fan of the recent Dawn remake. The sprinting Zombies did nothing for me. Saw it once and had no desire to see it again and I won't be buying the DVD either. Unlike the original Dawn, where I've watched it countless times. And yes, Savini better be involved with Land of the Dead. Actually, I thought Savini's cameo in the Dawn remake was the best part of the entire movie. Graham

Makes sense to keep some Stormtroopers. I mean the Ewoks have gotta have someone to kick around right, otherwise they might eat your cat or something. Graham

Yay, Cinescape has news that director George Romero is finally going ahead with his fourth Zombie movie to be titled 'Land of The Dead'. I'm a huge fan of Romero's Zombie movies (Night of the Living Dead 1968, Dawn of the Dead 1978 & Day of the Dead 1985). In fact Dawn of the Dead (the original not the remake) is in my list of all time top 5 favorite movies. Can't wait to see Land of the Dead. Graham

Actually its a vernier cluster. Check the animation. The Macross Compendium has the following to say about the YF-19's shoulder FAST Packs: - two FAST Pack conformal propellant tanks mounted above dorsal nacelles in Fighter mode or to the sides of shoulders in GERWALK and Battroid modes. Graham

Which would be a lot easier without a certain other company whose initials are the same as Horrid Garbage......sigh Graham

I also don't get fan fiction, but then again I don't get cosplay either, although I don't mind looking at pics of cute female Asian cosplayers Graham

Back in what was it 2002, when we first heard about Macross Zero, I pleaded with Yamato to suggest exactly this to Big West, but obviously nothing came of it. The Japanese are often so short-sighted (or just don't care) when it comes to the international market......sigh Graham

For non-Macross toys, I usually only buy 1, unless it's something that I really like and then I'll buy 2. However, these days I very rarely buy anything non-Macross related anyway. An exception this year will be the MPC Alpha. For Macross toys, especially the Yamato transforming Valks, I used to have the collector sickness, which meant I had to buy at least 5 of every Valk. Ya know how it goes, 1 to display in Gerwalk mode, 1 to display in Fighter mode, 1 to display in Battroid mode, 1 for general playing with and transforming and 1 to keep mint-in-box. For a while with the Yamato 1/72 Macross Plus and 1/60 VF-1 line I got really crazy and the most of one type I ever bought was 11 pieces for the VF-11B! Obviously, this sort of habit got expensive real quick. And of course there was no way my finances or storage space could keep up once the 1/48 line arrived These days I'm much better at controlling my spending and usually only buy 1 or 2 pieces of each new Yamato product as I realized it's pretty pointless having so many multiples of the same toy. I've also sold off a lot of my collection on ebay to make room for the baby. Graham

I'll have to rewatch Macross II, as it's at least a couple of years since the last time I saw it. IIRC, it looked like the Metal Siren (ugliest valk ever IMO) used some sort of expanding spherical engergy discharge (which may or may not have originated from the arm-mounted blade weapon) to destroy the Marduk ship. As for the Palladium Macross II RPG, that thing is a joke IMO. The author(s) got so much wrong about the mecha that I'm wondering did they even watch the anime. Graham