Mommar

It affects pose-ability and fun. Nobody complaining about the ankles used the term "aggressive" as far as I'm aware. It was the people saying the ankles were fine that kept repeating that term.

IMO the Quarter looks stupid all around. I'm not a big fan of the Guantanamo but I'd take a few Northamptons. Honestly it would be nice any they made any of the other caps though.

I'd take a Battle 7 as well but considering they won't even make an SDFM version of the SDF-1 and how many shelf warmer Quarters there were I don't think capital ships sell at all. I even want cap ships that don't transform, like an Uraga or something.

So that means a lot of us are going to have to get good at customization. That's too bad, it was nice having the options. That doesn't bode well for reissues at all.

I'd take a VF-3000. Other than a new mold (and including whatever new/fixed gimmicks they might want as a holdover from the VF-1's) they already know how to make the transformation work.

You guys do realize that his parents have content blockers on his web browser and you're directing him to a video that contains pretty graphic violence and some nudity right? Besides, DYRL does a HORRIBLE job explaining anything.

I would buy the hell out of both of those if they were made.

For reference, the original show is about Humans coming together to fight an alien threat. The Human military goes by U.N. Spacy (which is sort for United Nations Space Navy... I believe.) The main capitol ship is a "Macross" Class Carrier called the SDF-1. The Fighters it launches are referred to as Valkyries (the various VF-1, 17, 22 etc... we have been referencing are all Valkyries.). In terms of toys there's only ever been two capitol ships that have been made in recent times. The Movie edition (from Do You Remember Love) SDF-1 and the Frontier from Macross Frontier (which is also a "Macross" Class Carrier.) Both of these capitol ships do transform from a Cruiser to "Attacker" mode which is humanoid in shape. The SDF-1 will be out of your price range. I think it's still possible to buy a Frontier but it will consume most of your birthday money. The Frontier has more bang for you buck in terms of poseability and fun, but neither give much bang for your buck.

While the show is fantastical it tends to deal in relative realism. It doesn't go for the Super Robot style where robots come out of robots and that combine together to become other, more giant robots. These are military vehicles. An F-22 Raptor isn't going to join together with an F-1 Abraham and become some other giant vehicle. Nothing like that happens in Macross. At best there are specific pieces of extra armor that can be applied to the VF-1 and VF-25 that make them look bigger and more mean but that's it.

Frontier could mean nothing more than NUNS stickers or possibly special Fast Packs like in the second film.

Man, it looks damn good. The integrated neck cover is a cool addition. I like that it has either a single or two seater config... but those fuggin' ankles look like the crap ball joints again. I could be wrong. Hopefully they're more like the VF-4 ankles. Thanks for the rotation Omega!

In terms of enemy mecha, they've never sold well for Macross so you really don't see much of them. For the most part everything Macross is in 1/60 scale. You'll run across some older stuff in 1/55 or 1/65 scale but they're not modern toys. The Bandai hi-Metal 1/100's are relatively modern but are now defunct. Generally there's two (kind of three, more on that in a minute) companies putting out modern 1/60 scale Macross Items. Bandai deals almost exclusively in Macross Frontier. Yamato (now defunct) has put out Macross 0, SDFM, DYRL, Plus, and 7 stuff. Yamato doesn't exist anymore although their products (like the link to the VF-17) are still around and a new company called Arcadia has taken up the reins, it's almost all of Yamato's old employees anyway and they're continuing/updating lines started by Yamato. If it's confusing, no worries. So the fighter types in Macross change per show. The "central" unit in SDFM is the VF-1S Roy type (four head lasers, Gold Stripe) or possibly the VF-1J (Hikaru version). Macross Plus... people choose their favorite. There were only ever really three planes and two of them were pitted against each other. Some love the YF-19 some love the YF-21. Macross 7, the central fighter is the VF-19 Kai ( I personally hate it and don't own one.) Macross Frontier, the central fighter is the VF-25F. Good luck finding one of those. Bandai's production runs have been extremely difficult to manage. If anything, overall the most definitive of all the Valkyries is the VF-1. I would be surprised if you could find any of these toys for cheaper on ebay. Right now, also at HKCollectables, they have the VF-17 Super Parts available for $55.39... factor in shipping on both of the items however. There have been two VF-17 releases so far, the VF-17S with the Gold Stripe and the big head with the four head lasers (Command model) like the toy at the HKCollectables link. The second is a VF-17D that has a white/blue-ish stripe and a different shaped head with two lasers. It's newer, more rare and a lot more expensive. That $80 Super Pack ($55 at HKC) you found on ebay will fit on both the VF-17S and VF-17D variations but it won't fit on any of the other Macross 7 (or any other Macross release) at all. There's a review by one of our members for the Super packs which also includes both the VF-17S and VF-17D wearing them plus a video of how they work and how to attach them. I disagree with his assessment of their value, I think they look exceedingly cool on my VF-17D, but that's for you to judge for yourself. http://anymoon.com/blog/?p=6784 FYI, Macross toys are a lot more expensive then you would be used to with Transformers. The group of collectors is smaller and the toys are more rare so that pushes the cost per item up. FYI, number 2. This ebay listing here is likely one of the more popular Valks you would find from the original series. Roy's VF-1S. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Yamato-Macross-160-VF1S-Roy-Focker-w-30th-Option-Parts-Movie-Version-/290939821931

Make a MAXL and the two seater 17. Hell, make a non-super robot CF version of the MAXL as well. I'll buy all of those.

1/3000 scale SDFM version of SDF-1... my SDF-1 was never made.

Tricky question. I'm the odd duck who has knowledge of Macross from way back in the 80's from Robotech but who also doesn't like or watch Anime, past or present (including Macross) anymore. I also don't give a lick about needing a character to like in order to appreciate a design of a toy (though Maximilian Jenius was my favorite when I was a kid... I like the color Blue really.) So in my opinion you don't need to watch a single episode of any of the shows to like something but that seems completely counter to the way you do things. One thing I would recommend is looking at a lot of the galleries of the toys themselves. Speaking of shedding blood, yes the VF-17 has such pointy bits it's possible to cut yourself (also, it's probably the closest to a Stealth Bomber you'll find in Macross that's been made into a toy.) K-pop is Korean Pop, Scyla mention J-Pop which is Japanese Pop. A big part of Macross is music and it meaning something and having power over, well, everything. There's typically an epic war story, a love triangle and music. Super Dimension Fortress Macross (SDFM, the original show) has the most epic of the stories because the existence of the human race is on the line. I feel like it's the best in scope. SDFM feels laughably old between the animation and early 80's production on EVERYTHING. Other members of this forum would recommend Macross: Do You Remember Love as it's a shorter, better animated retelling of the TV series but I have no nostalgia for it, it really does a terrible job retelling the events of SDFM unless you've already seen SDFM. In terms of most impressive animation Frontier is your best bet. Frontier also apes a lot of SDFM so there's a bit of a connection there too, the stakes aren't nearly as high or interesting from my perspective. Plus is good, but if you're looking for epic storylines you won't find anything there. It's like they took EVERYTHING about SDFM and condensed it down to a personal story about three people really. Pretty distilled, but not what I would recommend for a person just getting into it, especially for a self-appointed lover of epic story lines. I'm in it for the fighter/mech designs so my scope is very limited. I've never watched more than three episodes of Macross 7 and I own almost all of the Fighters from that line (in several cases completely unnecessary multiples.) Macross 7 has the most diversity in the look and number of the fighters, it's also the hardest series to watch IMO. For the most part they stay "real world" in terms of equipment so you're not going to find twenty unique transforming toys per series. The look for most of them will be determined by various weapon loud outs, super packs, armor packs, radomes, etc... and accompanying head variants based on the ranks of the characters piloting the craft. The approach to appreciation is a little different with Macross sometimes, the creator has a HUGE knowledge of aeronautical engineering so even his outlandish designs tend to incorporate real world concepts and ideas which a lot of us can appreciate. There are other toys, dolls, etc... for the various characters but I honestly know very little about that stuff.

From my experience the VF-19 isn't nearly as good as the VF-1 was.

Well, I went for it at NY anyway.

That's pretty crazy, and definitely a sign to not do business with them IMO.

I didn't order. I waited later in the day.

I might've just screwed myself out of it though.

The boat is still there, access has increased in price however. It's hard to tell if these things will be available now or not though.

I just woke up. I noticed people were saying NY wasn't much more expensive than Amiami. That doesn't appear to be the case anymore. Amiami's sold out price comes to about $113 before shipping. NY is selling for $161. I wanted at least two, but for that price... I don't feel like paying $300+ right now. I hope this goes the way of the 171/RVF-25. I tend not to rely on luck.

I wonder if it will be like the 17 or if they will cut production numbers or something. I don't know if I want to scrounge for pre-orders or see if I can get a few cheaper after release like the price slashed 171s.

Man, that scheme looks so much more cool than the other Skull Squad colors. I just might spoil myself with two or three of these.

That's the one, I haven't seen it before.