Graham

AFAIK, the helmets are being manufactured in Japan, so quality control concerns should be less of an issue than with the toys, which are made in China. Graham

The YF-21 doesn't even have it's arm lasers at the end as remember it has it's arms and legs blown off by the Ghost X-9. At the final fight, the only weapons the YF-21 has are it's single head laser, plus any micro-missiles still remaining in the 4 dorsal micro-missile launchers. Graham

I was in the Nelson Road branch of Animate yesterday and they had stock of the 1/48 VF-1S Hikaru, 1/48 VF-1J Hikaru, 1/48 VF-1J Super Hikaru and 1/48 FAST pack set. Graham

It's years since I last played Macross Digital Mission VF-X, but IIRC the VF-4 does not use a gunpod in the game. It uses it's built-in forearm guns instead. The gunpod was only shown in that promotional pic for the game shown above in the first post. Graham

I'll try to remember to scan it in the next few days. I can't tonight though, as I'm having dinner with MW members Sebastian & Guppy. Also, I just picked the new Winter 2004 issue of the quarterly Character Model magazine and it mentions a release date of January 20th for the Hasegawa VF-0S. Graham

David, Just curious, any idea how much ammo the 30mm GPU-5 pod holds? Graham

Great custom work, can't wait to see it with FPs. Graham

I also don't understand Yamato's reasoning behind making this helmet either. I mean I'm a big Macross fan (obviously), but even if I was rolling in money (which I'm not at the moment), I'd think twice before buying this. I mean sure it looks nice an all, but even as a display item, it takes up a lot of space and I'm just not geeky (or brave) enough to ever want to wear it outside the privacy of my home. I keep on telling Yamato to make more different VF toys. I mean there are lots of Macross fans who whould love to buy a transforming VF-4, VF-17 or even some of the more obscure VFs like the VF-5000 or even the Varuta variable mecha, but do they listen.........heck do they Well for those of you who are planning on buying the helmet (somebody.......anybody?), I have been told that it is very high quality (whatever that means). Graham

The helmet is not certified for road use. It's a display/cosplay item only. Graham

I know the Genie was anti-aircraft, for taking down formations of Warsaw pact bombers. It just seemed strange to me back in the 1950's, a yield of 1.5kt was considered necessary for the intended purpose, but moving forward half a century then the UN Spacy specifies a yield of only 0.5kt for taking out alien starships or formations of attacking alien mecha (which are probably more difficult to kill than 50s era soviet bombers). Graham

I'm not saying the RMS-1 needs to be super powerful, but it seems rather large for in size considering it only has a 0.5kt yield. Also, a 0.5k yield seems rather low for taking out armored 4km long battleships. I'm just wondering, will the RMS-1 will be more effective in space as there is no atmosphere to slow down the blast wave. Graham

Books, CDs, toys, DVDs, console games, calendars, I pretty much collect all Macross stuff, except for the model kits as I can't paint to save my life. Graham

Heh, you know you have been a Macross fan too long when you look at the first sentence of the poll and automatically read it as "Does or has your Wife Gerwalk/Fighter Battroid/Fighter ever bought toys for you?" But seriously, my wife will buy me a toy for my Birthday or Christmas if I ask her nicely and she knows it's something I really want. However, she's not really willing to spend more than HK$500 (US$64) on a toy as she doesn't think any toy should cost more than that. Graham

The subs on the HK boot are understandable, but you do miss out on understanding a lot of the backstory compared with the near perfect subtitles on the downloadable fansubs. The funniest thing I found on the HK boot, is when DD says in English "Reactive Armor" after shooting Focker and the subs say something like "he's got a new device" or something like that. Graham

0.5kt or even 1.5kt seems a very low explosive yield for the RMS-1, compared with 'real world' nuclear missiles. Consider, the DOUGLAS AIR-2A "Genie" used on the F106 Delta Dart interceptor had a yield of 1.5kt and that nuclear missile was developed way back in 1955 and is much smaller than the RMS-1! See here. The more modern AGM-86A nuclear cruise missile developed in the 1970s is the same length (14ft) as the RMS-1, yet has a much higher explosive yield of 250kt! see here. Graham

I don't think it was on the arm shields, they are not that big that a gunpod would be completely hidden behind them. I'll have to rewatch the scene again, but I also don't believe the gunpod was on the back. Graham

I just noticed something yesterday. When D.D. breaks into the Asuka II, Roy appears in the Armored VF-0S and it is clearly shown up to the point that Roy launches the missiles that the VF-0S is not carrying a gunpod. However, a few seconds later after Roy launches the missiles at D.D. and D.D. evades and leads the missiles back towards Roy, we see Roy using both the VF-0S's head lasers and a gunpod to shoot down the approaching missiles. And then after the VF-0S's Reactive armor gets trashed, we see Roy's naked battroid pick up the gunpod from the floor. So my question is, where did the gunpod come from? Is this just an animation error? Graham

Yup, Yamato does not give head .....sorry, couldn't resist Graham

Favorite dirty sci-fi movie? Err...............'Debby does Deneb V' Graham

Man that would be alot of McDonald's! In the beginning they would use a lot of cows to make those straps. But just think, after the UN Spacy gets hold of resizing chambers from the Zentradi, they could use them to macronize the cows. Heh, 60ft giant cows Graham

The idea to all meet up at the Kowloon Hotel lobby, is because it is; A) A convenient meeting place and close to the MTR. B) It will be easy for us to find each other. C) I would like us all to have a late breakfast/early lunch together so we can sit down, chat a while and get to know each other a bit before we all head out shopping. Tsim Sha Tsui is a good place to eat as there are lots of place to eat. Graham

The new February 2004 issue of Hobby Japan has a small line art pic of all the parts of the VF-0S. Do you model builders call them sprus or runners? Sorry, I'm familiar with the correct model kit terminology Anyway, I've been studying the pic an it looks as if the VF-0S kit does not have a pilot figure. Neither does it come with any wing missiles........boo, hiss! Hopefully this means that Hasegawa will later release a Macross Zero Weapons set similar to what they did for the VF-1. Although I'm not a model builder, because I have no skill at painting. In fact the average 3 year old has more skill than me, I am actually thinking of buying the VF-0S kit and having a local model builder make it for me as I love the VF-0 design and it will be at least 6 months before we see any toys so I need something to tide me over until the toys come out. Graham

LOL.........funniest thing I've read in a while. Used to like Seagal's early films, but gave up on him for good when he started using HK style wire-work in one of his movies. Graham

In the Go Go flashback scene the gross nerd asks her what she thinks of Ferraris, and she says they're Italian trash. Thank you. Graham

Don't ya know, it's to impart more spin to the beam for greater accuracy, increased penetration and whatnot Graham