David Hingtgen

There's a surprisingly low correlation between smell and safety. Some of the nastiest glues have no odor at all, yet basically increase your risk of cancer about 1% per minute of exposure... Tenax has no smell, but evaporates so fast and works so well it worries me.

I'm seeing a lot of conflicting info. BestBuy has the "blue lion" set in their circular for coming out on this Tuesday, most places say the 26th. Then it seems in 2007 they're releasing the actual Japanese series subbed. But the description for the blue lion set says both English and Japanese language... Can anybody put all of this straight?

I had no idea it was that HUGE until I saw the VF-0. The text "24 inches" just doesn't make the same impression.

I'm interested, keep talking, just don't get into flaming.

That's what I've been trying to figure out--the nose splits apart right where the hinge for a forward-opening windscreen should be. I tried and couldn't figure out a way for it to work, other than having the hinge itself separate during transformation. Probably something simple yet ingenious.

Episode 1 makes me believe that a VF-0 in Gerwalk can take most anything...

Maybe he could have just went up to it, extended an arm, grabbed on, then the S-3 would let go of it.

Rmajet's good, maybe even better than SS. Jetfire--if you're going to make him an F-14, make him an F-14. Not an F-14 with the nose of a Abrams tank. So close, yet so far. It just looks weird to me---the front half and back half look like two different planes. Kind of like Darkwing/Dreadwind, but not meshing as well.

Ack! I was going to go with TMP. Hmmmn. Guess I'll wait for some of MW's own dealers to start offering pre-orders. Honestly, with Yamato's QC history, you want a dealer you can deal with personally incase there's 2 left hands, or a missing piece, or there's something else wrong. Most of the bigger places that aren't really "up" with Macross aren't as likely to help or part out another one to fix yours.

Latest battroid pics seem to confirm a MG Hase-style torso transformation. Which is more correct than SHE/Yamato style--this moves the cockpit aft in battroid mode. Thought of an easy and obvious solution for how to attach the Fold Booster---new shield. Just have the Fold Booster permanently molded onto a new shield--when you want the Fold Booster on, just swap shields. It seems the "mystery tubes" are interpreted as guns by Yamato--seem to resemble mini-gunpods and have a clear line of fire in fighter mode. ::edit:: Now that attachments are working 100%, here are the BIG pics.

The original thread is archived here: http://www.macrossworld.com/mwf/index.php?showtopic=19382 For those that haven't been to MacrossNexus while the board was down, Graham posted new scans and new official pics, then I snagged the BIG pics from Yamato's own site from their Flash player. Also there was a big discussion about the color of the feet. These pics were found by newbb on MacrossNexus. Big thanks go out to newbb, that was a great find. The "big" pics are delayed, seems to be an attachment size limit issue. Will put them up as soon as the board lets me.

Bump, because this is that cool.

Quick post to all MW members: I'm closing this thread as soon as attachment uploads are working again---this thread is over 50 pages and way out of date now. Please avoid posting for the next few hours until the new one's open. I already have lots of new pics to start the new thread with. And *I* will start the new thread. (Mod-power abuse)

Absolutely. TIE Fighter is the best PC game ever IMHO.

KISS Rodimus is the GT, like Mirage.

VF-14 in M7+? Will have to check sometime, I don't remember that all all. (The only M7+ ep I really remember is the "Gamlin's training" one, as it had Milia's VF-11) Checked the VF-11 tonight against my books: VF-11B and C themselves are physically identical. Only differences are the FAST pack booster nozzles, number of forward missile launchers on boosters, and gunpod. The housing for the booster nozzles themselves are the same--square and round nozzles fit in the same basic booster design. Still don't know what the "thing" stuck between the nozzles on the B-version is. Thought it was a stabilizer fin, but rear-view drawings show it to be rather thick. A C's gunpod looks a lot like a B's with all the extra "stuff" stripped off it. It's quite possible there's really only one type of gunpod, and the VF-11B's we saw in M+ simply had extra attachments (like a bayonet) added on to theirs for that particular mission, as they knew they'd be hunting down rogue Zentradi armor suits. Anyone have the M+ TIAS? Does it show the VF-11B's gunpod in detail? The Design Works book doesn't have the B's gunpod at all, and the C's is only in the M7 TIAS book (which I have). VF-11D: Asides from the obivous two-seat cockpit (which is like the VF-0D in that it is extended *both* front and aft compared to the single-seater---the pilot sits further forward in the two seater than he does in the single-seater), it has larger canards (easy to change, even the original toy had them pop right off if you wanted), and a set of vernier thrusters right behind the cockpit, much like a VF-19F/S. Also, due to the cockpit/vernier, the VF-11D has a sort of "collar" around the front of the neck due to the slightly longer forward fuselage by the hinge. Again, all this could still fit a "generic" VF-11B/C body, as the entire front end of the VF-11 simply pivots down 180 degrees on a simple hinge to transform. They could just make a new "front end" to get a D. It'd be more involved than just a new head-sculpt, but it'd be equally "not affecting the transformation or fit of other parts". Also the D's head is different--has a visor instead of an "eye" among other things (I like the D's much more than the B/C). The Jamming Birds' VF-11D's have new boosters and leg armor, but I'll assume that's just them, not standard VF-11D's. The boosters are clearly the "sound" boosters, and appear to be the same as used on the VF-22S as such. The new leg armor--no idea why it's there, other "sound" armor packs don't have leg armor at all--Basara and Mylene never did, and it doesn't open up with speakers or anything--really have no idea why the Jamming Birds would have new leg armor, but they do. Heat shield---well, it'd be really hard to do the SHE version and have any nose gear at all--even a removable one. The heatshield is basically where the nose gear should be, and makes the entire forward half of the belly a mess of sliding hinges.

Hunh. So, MP-05=Anime Starscream? We can hope/beg/plead.

A quick googling gives a Harley-Davidson Fat Boy for T2.

A point I read on another board was that Thundercats had a pretty large and fleshed out mythology--both their own, and "Third Earth". Plenty of places and legends to explore (or re-explore)--no need to ditch it all and come to Earth. Third Earth was a neat place as cartoon settings go. Especially Mumm-Ra's pyramid. Though the Ro-Bear Berbil jungle village has to go...

Just in case we get some more Thundercats fans here---I found this on the net long ago and kept it--I believe it to be the actual animation model sheet for the Sword of Omens. If not, it's 100x more accurate than it has any right to be:

I think the 11 battroid ends up a bit taller due to transformation. IIRC when I had my VF-11 it was larger than my 1/60, even at 1/64 or 1/68 scale or whatever. I'm going to get out my Macross Designs Works and M7 TIAS books tonight and go over the VF-11B, C, and D inch-by-inch tonight and really check for differences. Though I think the Jamming Birds VF-11D is considered modified kinda like Basara's, and might be more than just a standard D with new FAST packs. (AFAIK no "standard" VF-11D has been seen) Though the D's head sure seems "UN Spacy" and not "custom". As for the VF-14: AFAIK the only version is the M3 one, "retroactively" designed from the FZ-109 in M7. I do like the FZ-109A though, but it uses way more anime magic. The FZ-109F/G is just ugly, and uses more anime magic than the YF-19 and 21 combined. I just played M3 tonight to check some stuff---it's interesting, as they don't "cheat" at all on any of the transformations---though they don't have to worry about hinges nor pixel-thin attachment points, and parts can magically "slide" through each other--they don't allow any shape/size changing---no shortening nosecones or magically rounding-out legs. You get a pretty skinny YF-19 battroid, but you know it WORKS. And the VF-14 stays quite proportionate, which gives me hope for it existing as a toy some day. They transform at warp speed though, the VF-14 and 9 are just insane to watch.

I still say make a VF-22 out of it--then it'd be the one and only (and best) transforming VF-22 out there.

Yes, and several people have come to the conclusion that that is basically "sculptor's personal artistic choice"--there's no reason to do it, every other YF-21 can do a great 3D representation of Kawamori's drawing. Why the D'stance does the head/neck so differently---gotta be how the sculptor wants it, or there's some mechanical/transformational reason we can't figure out that doesn't crop up on other YF-21's. And as always--no need to copy the worst part of the model--just do the arms (and legs!) and we'd have a great YF-21. Gerwalk mode really shows off how well D'stance did the legs.

Oh come on, everyone LOVES attempts to make "American Anime". The major studios are so good at it... "Hope beyond hope" that this doesn't happen.

The D'stance has the arm "fill" the area between the top of the plane and the belly plates. They actually form the sides of the fuselage, rather than being suspended between the upper fuselage and the belly plates. There is 1/20 the gappage that the Yamato has around the arms. And the wingroot is sculpted just so that the shoulder "ball" rotates completely away, actually forming part of the underside of the wing. A little tweaking of the belly plate edges, a little tweaking of the undersides of the wingroots---almost gap-less. I think a key point is that the arms are "fairly constant in diameter and cross-section". Try this one for a shoulder (and arms) pic in fighter mode: http://park1.wakwak.com/~jasshy/CG/21/yf21_fi057.jpg Many more pics of a completed D'stance here: http://park1.wakwak.com/~jasshy/yf21.html Another key thing is the bicep---while every YF-21 has the forearm slide down over the hands to cover them up as well as lengthen the arm for fighter mode, the D'stance also has the same thing happen to the bicep. Frankly, the D'stance blows away any other YF-21 in the "arms in fighter mode" department. The belly plates and arms are just sculpted to fit together so well. It's not perfect, but there's no way it ever could be in real life. Plus a bit different transformation compared to SHE and Yamato---one that follows Kawamori's drawing of the YF-21 transformation closer---check the shoulder drawings. Basically, the Yamato has the arms "hanging around near the belly plates" with huge gaps on all sides, while the D'stance actually has them FORM the sides of the fuselage and sealing off the belly plates, as they should. Again--there's no way to have the arms form perfectly flush fuselage sides like Kawamori draws without serious anime magic, but D'stance came so close most people are very impressed. ::EDIT:: OK, here I've attached the previous pic but I outlined the "shoulder flattened out" in red to show how it fits---a chunk of the wing is actually carved out to make room for it---the "interior" of the shoulder actually makes part of the wing underside in the D'stance. Also, you can see the hollowed-out area in the instructions well--Step 6 (lower left part of the first page of instructions Vinnie posted) right above the "P.CAP" notation. Graham--you've got to admit the D'stance does a far better job at integrating the arms and the belly plates than the SHE or Yamato. And it does it all while still having the legs fit inside that very "skinny" belly bay. The FP Yamato YF-21 had a thinner belly by folding the legs sideways, but the D'stance does that even more so, and eliminates the "open sides" look. And frankly still looks better in every aspect of every mode. (Asides from the head "crown"--but that's easily rectified--just do like the original Yamato did for that) I am more impressed by the D'stance YF-21, than any other "transforming mecha" toy or kit ever. To take Kawamori's "impossible" arms-turn-into-sides-of-the-fuselage transformation and do it that well while retaining a working leg/belly-plate transformation is nothing short of amazing.