Nani?!

couldn't have said it better~

I think that's the best and simplest way to put it. Graham correct in saying they're a bit exaggerated but that's how he drew the battroid versions of the yf-19 and 21. If these are going to transform, I want them to look like how kawamori drew them as B-mode.

!! nice... simplest of answers shut me up... it'd be sad indeed...

Right, Gundam has been Bandai's schtick for all eternity... but there are other properties that bandai had a hand in that other companies have shared and continued to share.... One biggie being the Evangelion franchise. And it's not up to bandai nor yamato to drive this franchise into the mainstream... that's only accomplished by the japanese and hopefully in the future the international people's tastes and choices in anime. As much as bandai wouldn't care to use it's muscle to push macross into the forefront, neither does yamato even possess the muscle to do so as well. It's likely that 95%+ of the whole MW community here got into macross because of macross, not because of yamato. About competition... yea.... I hear ya. There is a chance (ever so slight) that bandai can push yamato out of macross entirely... Mind you... I said yamato will face good competition from Bandai~ I did not say that this competition will continue on for an indefinite amount of time... But for how ever long that time will be... we'll be seeing some awesome shiet come out of both. And who ever is left king of macross toys in the end... no matter what bandai's monetary advantage, they wont do it making sh*t toys... They'll have to earn it... and to that, you have to make stuff that knocks yamato's stuff out of the water... Anyway, we're really getting ahead of ourselves if we think yamato is going to crash and burn out of macross because of bandai. Yamato has good relations with Kawamori and I'm sure they will always have a major share in Macross products. Heck, its even likely that the people at bandai will get frustrated that macross toys actually require perfect transformation, and in turn scare them off after their stint with MF... Who knows?

I don't disagree at all... Bandai can very much blow this and I'm sure it's almost 99.9% likely that yamato's products will have superior features... but... it's not a stretch at all to say that it can actually prove to be beneficial for us fans to have bandai and yamato look over each other's shoulders... It's easy to take sides with whom people view the underdog, but regardless of the sides, I think their (bandai) entrance into the fray will do for macross toys what rivalries did for baseball...

Shin, Thank you for the detailed explanations. I understand and am aware of what you said. I followed them ever since they entered the market with the 1/72 mac plus line... That includes the time when they had licensing issues with them to..... when they thought that ignoring MW and Graham was a great idea, to now... pretty much their Renaissance. The details of their marketing strategy, the spotted history with MW and it's members, are all clear... BUT.... (there's always a BUT ) The future trend is internet viral marketing. Maintaining internet community relations. You can argue all you want about what releasing premature info can do to a product from the backlash of fan criticism but on the other end, when done right..... there's NOTHING MORE cost effective and faster. It's a beast to tame for sure... but if yamato really wants us by the balls.... they should look into learning how to tame it the right way.

Damn the more I look at these... the more I want to start a macross revoltech collection... I have the evas and they're awesome.... grrrrr.... more.... money.... to... spend.... gaaaaaahhh!

Bandai has sole rights to the frontier line... Correct, it's not direct competition.... But they're in yamato territory for sure by stepping into macross. That's competition enough to basically have enough points of comparison for yamato to step up in potentially several, and in the least, a couple of areas. - If they stack up a good array of accessories for the same price for example, it will in turn put pressure on yamato to reciprocate. - If they make the same quality valk for 5%, 10%, 20%, of however less, that will again pressure yamato... - If they include "No duh, why didn't yamato think of that?" features to it, it will in turn give yamato a shot to improve and generate more ideas... - If they package the bloody thing better, again a dial up in pressure for yamato to do the same. - Etc Etc. All they have to do is not make the valk suck like toynami has... they just have to make it comparable.... If they're really smart, they'll even make it in the yamato style but minus the QC issues... I take it that bandai CAN be that smart... and in the end... it'll in turn only make yamato better... I understand people's sentiment about the David & Goliath situation here, but in macross territory, Yamato is Goliath. In the end if Bandai does a good job... we're the one's who benefit.

Allegiance to a single company or a single anime is childish. We talk with our money... If bandai f's it up and thousands of macross fans talk with their money they'll probably never touch the property for another 20 years. Question: When did yamato ever release three different sizes and types of the same thing simultaneously? We had to wait a millennia till they decided on bringing the vf-0 into 1/60 instead of 1/100... Bandai has the resources to release options... and in turn it'll only make Yamato amp up it's efforts with the competition. It's a win, win for fans in the end. I have a lot of bandai's stuff... I dont think it's any stretch of the imagination to say they got the skills to make it just as well as yamato's recent efforts.

Wow! Thumbs up!

I didn't say they didn't care about us. I was basically saying "you know we're here and we're many, acknowledge and assuage our thirst with but a droplet of water!" I said their policy of "no exclusive info & pics, or even tidbits until we release it to a japanese mag" gives the impression (phrase I used is "they act as if") that they only cater to their japanese base. Graham's inside info is meaningless if he's not allowed to share it with anyone until the the inside info is "outside info." It's the reason why people here say "stop teasing us!"... and it's not like the "quick movie trailer-esque" teasing either with little snippets of info that we can savor over... it's simply Graham saying "I saw it and it's doooopppe!" Which, if you plug in the droplet of water analogy I stated above, is like Graham appearing atop a cliff, raising his hand high with an ice cold bottle of water, gulp it down and announce, "Wow, THAT my thirsty friends, was awesome!"

Yup! I dont mind the spying and peeking into the forums... because it's not really... they have every right to come in here and see what fans are talking about front and center. They also have the right to withhold information until they deem appropriate to release but it's the overly paranoid dealing with it's international fans that bug me. I guess it's a japanese thing??... really dont know for the life of me... A tiny supplementary news and info or different angled picture just to give that extra bit of incentive to make fansites feel a skoshi bit exclusive... I can't believe they dont see the potential for further hype and fervor it can generate. Not to mention all the uber-cool fan relations props they'd get from us. Obviously they think the stuff they give out now is perfectly adequate... and despite knowing that the international market is a big one for them, they act as if the japanese fanbase is the only one they have to cater to. hahahaha I remember actually clenching my fist and saying "damn you Graham, damnnnn yoooooooouuuuu!" but come to think of it... if I were in his shoes.... shiet..... pfff~~~ poke poke poke poke poke poke .......pause for evil laughter..... poke jab poke poke jab poke~~~

Totally~ If you're patient enough and have a knack for timing, ebay can be the most inexpensive (& decent) source. Ebay has been very good to me so far. * * * Knock on wood~

$#q#d^fugw$@^*tdgwg%wxrw!!!! You're kidding right?? I've championed and respected every opinion in the name of free speech and debate but I fear you've set a boundary I cannot cross~ Sincerely.... good luck rallying support.

I like the sculpts of the GNU, no doubt, but the articulation seems to be sub par compared to the revoltechs. With these smaller non transforming figures, I think the look and variety of the poses is a priority higher than the accuracy of the sculpt.

Looks like the articulation will be kick ass too. must buy for me

stickers??? Stickers are so yesterday~~ After the beauty such as the SV-51? Why are they even still around? Why wont they just establish a standard of tampoing all the important stuff on there? including kites and skulls and numbers, the whole schabang. With bandai in the macross mix now, I think it's an excellent time to do so.

I know they're prototypes but I think their potential is vastly overshadowed by the revoltech stuff.

Loving that glossy finish on the yf-21. It'd be cool if they do a yf-19 in that finish with a whiter tone.

wow that tomahawk looks fawkin awesome. and I never thought I'd buy another 1/48 vf-1, but that weathered fokker is MINE.

Dayam, the vf-11b seems to be packing the beefiest weaponry~ I've worked with a rapid prototyping machine back in college and these looked like they were made from it right off the bat. If these look as passable as they are from the proto machine, they'll look great as final products. I like their proportions., their look in general all seem awesome. It's not too exaggerated. But... it also seems like the joints don't nearly have the articulation revoltech offers... If they cannot be posed in a wiiiide variety of super dynamic poses then I reckon they'd be pretty much useless for whatever cheap amount of money they cost. Why the hell would anyone want the redundancy of smaller non-transforming versions of valks that can only pose just a little bit better than the much bigger tranforming versions? Variety of dramatic poses are critical. I'll wait and see how these babies can pose before I buy them.

Nice observation. But this line will be basically pointless if it weren't perfect transformation. I doubt the head is even an issue. again, probably because it's a prototype.

I'm definitely in the "buy-the-2nd-release" bandwagon now. Even with the new releases people praise about, the sv-51 still came with wrong hinges (the nora is technically a second release). But yea, all yamato prototypes have gaps and it's too soon to determine the fit and finish of it. If anything, yamato had many attempts with the vf-1 design and I'm sure they got the hang of it by now.

Great looking stuff yet again. Didn't lose your touch at all. I love the amount of detail you put. Not too over the top, not too much or too little... just..... right.

dayam, thanks graham! looks sexy as hell.