Graham

I'm going to buy 7 sets of FAST pack. Based on my conversations with Yamato yesterday, although they are trying their best to meet the end of August release for the FAST Pack, there is a possibility that it may slip to first week of September. Graham

OK, I'm back. Went out for an Indian meal last night with two of the guys from Yamato. Lots of beer was drunk and a good time was had by all. Unfortunately, although I got a fair amount of new info on what's planned, there is very little that I'm publically allowed to reveal. Last time I went for one of these dinners earlier this year I released far too much info on MW and got in big trouble. Anyway, I saw the finished VE-1 and VT-1 last night and very pretty they look. However, the boxes are huge, nearly rivalling the 1/48 boxes in size. I think Yamato must have 'Big Box Syndrome' or something Anyway, the VT-1 and VE-1 are currently on route to Japan from the factory so should have no problem meeting the scheduled August 31st release date. Didn't get to see any samples of the 1/48 FAST packs which bummed me out. I gather the FAST packs are currently in the middle of production and should be shipping to Japan soon, so hopefully they will reach Japan in time for the planned August 31 release date, although there is a possibility that we may end up with a first week of September release. The 1/48 VF-1S Hikaru is defintely scheduled for an October release. I can confirm that the heatshield will be red, not black. The official explanation is that when you see it as black in the anime, it is just because of shadow. No additional interchangeable hands are planned at this time for the VF-1S Hikaru which is disappointing. Basically, there wouldn't be time to get them sculpted, approved and into production by October. The posibility does exist that additional non-articulated DYRL hands may be offered at a later date as an upgrade kit though, so keep your fingers crossed. Lastly, I did suggest that we would like to see light grey painted panel lines on the VF-1S Hikaru, ala the 1/48 Low Vis, but the guy in charge of Macross product development didn't seem too keen on the idea. You guys are going to hate me, but I just plain forgot to ask about the 1/60 upgrade parts Other topics such as Macross Zero & Macross Plus toys, other future Macross toys and HG/BW legal issues were discussed in depth, unfortunately, I'm not allowed to talk about any of that. Sorry for the sparsity of new information, but my hands really are tied. The last thing I will say is expect to see some of the new really exciting Macross items starting sometime in Spring next year. Graham

CD Japan still doesn't list episode # 3 for pre-order yet. Anybody know of any other sites that have it listed already? Graham

I'm still sulking about losing the old post counts, although I understand the reason for it. But I was getting close to 3,000 posts damn it! Graham

Any requests for Yamato? I'm going to ask them to add grey panel lines (like on the 1/48 Low Vis) to the 1/48 Hikaru VF-1S. I'm also going to ask them to sculpt non-articulated DYRL hands for the VF-1S Hikaru, like they are doing for the VF-1J. Any others? And of course, I will keep on pushing for the things I really want like a VF-2SS with SAP and a VF-17D/S with FAST Packs. A VF-5000B would be nice as well. Of course all should be in 1/48 scale ha ha ha! Graham

2 hours 15 minutes and counting until the dinner. I'll ask those questions and more, but please be aware guys that Yamato may not actually allow me to reveal much which can be a real bummer at times. Graham