Graham

Buying Macross toys in HK is easy, just don't bother with the Department stores, when there are lots of toy/hobby shops that specialise in Japanese toys located in Mong Kok, Causeway Bay and Wanchai districts. Graham

While the game looks great so far, there are a couple of minor thingsI've spotted in the movies that bother me: - 1) Regults flying in the atmosphere. Should not be possible. Space - yes, atmosphere - no. 2) Some of the cut sceen movies show the VF-1 with all 4 wing hardpoints carrying AMM-1 missiles, but the gameplay show a mix of AMM-1 and UMM-7. Graham

GBP-1S full armor or VT-1 Super Ostrich would both be cool in 1/48. A Stampeed would rock, but I can't see it ever happening, unless whichever MW member was making the resin conversion kit finishes it, so I can show a sample to Yamato, hopefully so impressing them that they decide to put it into production Graham

There was already a 4 page thread about this with pictures. Here. If you want to carry on discussing this kit, please post in the linked thread above. Graham

I've overpaid for so many toys it's not even funny. I'm just so impatient and like to buy toys as soon as they are released. I can never wait a few weeks or months for the price to drop. Graham

OMG! Don't let my wife see this. I don't want her trying to remodel my guts Graham

Saw topic title. Must resist replying. NOooooo.............can't stop fingers from typing! OCAA = Obsessive Compulsive Anime Associiation? Just joking. Graham

Luckily none of my 1/48s have a problem with the landing gear collapsing under the weight of the FPs. Anyway, for fighter mode with FPs, I prefer to use one of s i t h l o r d s display stands to have it flying with gear up. Looks way better that way IMO. I agree about the arm FPs not locking in place firmly enough. I wish Yamato had designed this area a little better. When I pick up the toy in fighter mode, I usually just squeeze the legs together slightly, to stop the arms w/FPs drooping. And there is no seperate left and right FP missile pack. This is correct, not Yamato being lazy, as shown on page 40 of the Macross Design Works Book. Regarding the closeness of the double RMS-1 missiles to the rectangular UMM-7 micro-missile pod, when you watch DYRL, you can see that in the space scenes, the VF-1's have their wings full open (or near full open) to gain maximum benefit from the wingtip roll thrusters. Graham

Heh, if Yamato released a pink-with-yellow-polkadots 1/48 VF-1, then us crazy Macross fans would probably still rush to buy it....................in multiples Graham

If somebody could make the words "Macrossworld Superdimensional Shopathon" in the style of the original Macross logo, that would be cool! Graham

Ah, if you are talking about Department Stores and not Supermarkets, which are a completely different kettle of fish, then yes, the Department Stores here in HK (Jusco, Sogo & Mitsokushi) all have fairly large toy sections with lots of Japanese toys and models like Gundam MSiA, GFF & plamodels, the Bandai SOCs as well as the more kiddy stuff which I ignore like the Kamen Rider toys, Transformers, Ultraman, and toys from those Power Ranger type shows. No Macross stuff at all though. The department stores in HK are usually very overpriced. The only department store here which doesn't have a decent toy section is Seiyu. Graham

Great Idea Graham! But it's going to be cold in January...how about a embroidered jacket with Macross logo on the front, and "our" own logo on back?! (are custom embroidery in HK cheap?) But if we really do wear T-shirts, are we going for Iron transfer or silk screen? Hummm, I am not big artist...but I hoping someone from the Macross community could give us a hand? Paulo I have a friend with his own garment factory, so getting either t-shirts or jackets made up should be possible. Although, I'll have to check the price for such a small production run. I was thinking silk screen and/or maybe even a small embroidered logo. iron-on is just so tacky and wears/fades/cracks too easily. Graham

I'm glad this topic has been started as there are a few things I want to discuss about the SV-51's armament. TheMacross Compendium, lists the SV-51 has having "One fixed Gsh-231 12.7 mm mini-gun." There are two things that bother me about this. Firstly, I'm wondering why calibre 12.7mm (.50")? This is such a weird choice of calibre for a combat jet/mecha. No modern jet fighter has used internal .50 calibre guns for years and years as they lack the range, penetration and destructive power of the 20mm, 23mm, 25mm, 27mm & 30mm cannon used by most modern jets. Basically, 12.7mm guns would only really be effective against infantry, or soft skin vehicles, i.e. trucks. I presume the SV-51 was designed to fight against contemporary jets & tanks, other VFs and also possible future alien threats. Against these threats 12.7mm, would be next to useless. Secondly, staying on the subject of the 12.7mm gun, all the line-art and CG art of the SV0-51 clearly shows it to have gun ports in both the left and right wing roots. So why is only one 12.7mm gun listed. Is this perhaps just a typo and the SV-51 should have two internal guns. If not, what is the other wing root port for? targetting equipment? Moving on to the SV-51's gun pod, which the Compendium lists as "One standard Gsh-371 55 mm gun pod with 120 rounds and one standard spare magazine stowed in unit's special aft gun pod rack". I find it strange that the SV-51's gunpod is 55mm, the same as the VF-1's GU-11 gunpod, whereas the VF-0's gunpod is 35mm calibre. So which came first? Did the SV-51 copy the calibre of the VF-1's gunpod, or did the UN Spacy decide to adopt the 55mm round later after seeing it's combat performance. This would then mean that the VF-1 was originally to have a 35mm gunpod. Graham

IIRC, the game is supposed to be based on events in the TV series, but uses mostly DYRL styling. Graham

Guys, I was thinking, if one of the many talented artists here wants to come up with some suitable artwork, I could arrange to get some 'Macrossworld HK Shopathon 2004' T-shirts printed up. What do you think? Maybe we could call it 'Superdimensional Shopathon"! Thoughts? Graham

Um...I think some of you may have a misconception about HK. Even here you cannot buy cool high-end collectible toys like Yamatos in Supermarkets! At best, a few of the biggger supermarkests might stock a few very old 1/144 Gundam kits with really beat up boxes (other shop's deadstock), but that's it. Most Supermarkets here have either no toy section on just a small one, selling really cheap made in China junk, like little plastic fire-engines or buses or crap like that. However, back in 1986, I do remember a few of the Supermarkets here stocking some of the really cheap small scale Macross models. Graham

I think Takatoys will be offering 'UN AIR FORCE' and perhaps also 'UN MARINES' stickers on his upcoming 1/48 Low-Vis sticker sheets. I plan to get some for my Low-Vis toys. Graham

LOL....that's also what I did. Actually, I tortured the fool things first (cut, burned, drilled & shot them), before throwing them in the garbage. Graham

This is not official, not insider information, just my best guess. Anyway, I also think we will see a Kakizaki VF-1A as he got a FAST pack sticker on the FP sticker sheet. Here's what I think we are going to see in 1/48 in order of release: - 1) VF-1S Hikaru. 2) VF-1J Hikaru. 3) VF-1A Kakizaki 4) VF-1J Max & Millia. 5) ??????????? Graham

Heh, the Topic Title & Descripion of this thread " Banpresto Valks Anybody know anything about them?" made me laugh out loud. Asking that sort of question on the MW Toy Forums, which has the most knowledgable group of Macross toy enthusiasts in the world is akin to asking Stephen Hawking what he knows about the universe . Graham

actually 1pm is underestimating it should be 3pm onwards Graham, Nah, 3pm is too late. A lot of the shops like Animate, Kanto, Toymania, Superman are open at 1pm. Graham

I'd like to see a Tomahawk and the new Macross Zero Destroid, but that's about it. The other Destroids have never appealed to me very much. Graham

I for one would not like to see Yamato release a retooled and improved, gimmick laden, perfect transformation 1/60 VF-1. Good grief.....just imagine having to purchase all those VF-1 variants in 1/60 scale yet again! I don't think either my wallet, display cabinet or wife would stand for it. Personally, I'm happy with the 1/48 VF-1. Don't worry, I'm sure Yamato will will incorporate lessons learned and features from the 1/48 line in the upcoming VF-0 line. Graham

Guess, I'm gonna have to start planning where to take you guys. The good news is that most shops are open until 9pm or 10pm at night, 7 days a week. The bad thing is that most of the hobby/toy shops don't open until at least 1pm. Some of the smaller shops only open in the evenings from 6pm onwards. This means that for those of you suffering from jetlag, we won't have to start too early in the morning! We will not be able to visit every major toy and hobby shop in one day. It will take at least two days. Here's what I'm thinking. Day # 1 Kowloon Side 1) Allied Plaza in Prince Edward. Several shops selling Japanese Hobby & game magazines. 2) Animate on Nelson Road in Mong Kok for toys and magazines. 3) Sino Center on Nathan Road in Mong Kok for toys (Animate & Kanto Hobby). Also, many shops selling bootleg anime DVDs. Several shops selling original Jpop CDs. 4) CTMA Center on Sai Yeung Choi St South in Mong Kok for Toys (Superman toys & Ant Shop + several other toy shops). 5) Several misc smaller toy shops scattered around Mong Kok. 6) If any of you are airsoft fans, there is a whole street full of airsoft shops in Mongkok. 7) 111 Richmond Center in Argyle Street Mong Kok. Several toy shops and one hentai manga shop! Perhaps the Ladies Street Market and Temple Street market for bootleg gashapons if anybody is interested and clothes shopping for the wives. Day # 2 HK Island Side 1) Causeway Bay Center on Sugar Strret. One large branch of Animate, plus several other toy and model shops. 2) Japanese Dept. stores Sogo and Mitsokushi. Big manga and magazine section, but the toy and model sections are overpriced. Still, worth a visit. 3) 108 Center in Wanchai, several toy and hobby shops. 4) Other misc toy and model shops in wanchai. Of course, we also have to fit lunch and dinners and pubs in as well. And do you guys want to do any regular tourist type stuff? Lastly, I'll ask, but Yamato's office will probably be off-limits. The general manager would probably never speak to me again if I came a knockin' with a bunch of rabid Macross fans in tow. Anyway, there's not much to see there unless they happen to have some prototypes or tests shots in the office on that day. Graham

As well as the stuffed VF-1S, there was also a stuffed VF-19 Fire Valkyrie. Also extremely rare. I only know one person who has one. Graham