1/1 LowViz Lurker

It really depends on the game though. Most mindless shooting games put you into a linear path set by the designer of the levels of those games so that they can keep the game pace flowing quickly and so people don't complain that they got lost. (this happens sometimes in game where the environments look the same everywhere you go, like say inside a dungeon where the tiles are identical etc people of today have less free time? Or maybe not as patient? In the old days of the PC "dungeon crawl" people had to map the area in their brain or on paper to know what they didn't do or where they didn't go, but today people have the map and most gamers don't have the patience to explore or plan how they will explore something) But there are games that do work a kid;s brain (see some of the nintendo ds titles like scribblenauts, animal crossing, brain training) and some games have level construction kits in them (I think since halo 3 they started to add a level building tool) so if they wanted to design something they could. I would say the most social games are the massively multiplayer online role playing game (MMORPG for short), because it requires good planning to achieve things but these have destructive effects too because you get addicted to being in the game and forget the outside world around you. The more brainy games seem to be featured on pc (possibly because parents are going to see the connection of "computer with education" and "programs with educational tool" more than on the videogame console where it is "pure entertainment" like watching a movie or tv show. Videogame Console = dedicated for games. Personal Computers = tool that can be used for doing work or other things. Like hobbies where you can create things. (we are living in the "digital age" now where photos, movies music is easily editable because the information is bits and bytes ones and zeroes which is the language our machines speak in. What you couldn't do in the past you can do today just using the right computer program) It's not fair to generalise but lets just say that if you play too many games that are mindless (Call of Duty for instance - one of the most "scripted" first person shooting games out there) you are not working your mind nearly as much as say a tactical war game (ghost recon on the 3ds or Advance Wars) where there are many choices you can make and the outcome will hinge on being the better long term planner and thinker. Lets just say it differs from game to game and as a parent you should educate yourself on which of the games are the "mindless entertainment" (gears of war where you are stuck on linear path according to the story) and which games have some social aspect to them where you can design and be creative inside them. (sony's "mod nation racers" or "little big planet" for example) Some might be a combination of BOTH. (for example Bangai-O Spirits on the nintendo DS has a really cool level editor that allows you to use all the in-game objects featured in the game and create your own levels and share these levels with others online - sadly I don't see many people using it and many sites with custom made levels anywhere I just wish more console games did this but it's obvious the game companies make money on providing extra content - AKA "DLC" for the xbox live crowd - so it might actually get in the way of them making profit.) If you want your kids to be imaginative buy them a pc, and get them programs that can teach them management stuff (sim city) or at least allow them to make modifications to existing games and share these with others online (known as MODs - these are plug-ins to enhance existing games on the market to tailor the game to your own preferred experience - people who are good mod makers can become game designers and might even get work in the game industry if the skill they demonstrate is good enough). Kids can still learn some of the skills they get from doing activities at school through videogemas. One exmaple I can think of is in the Role Playing Game genre. In RPG you must read a lot of text (at least in the games where there are no voice acting) and just like with comic books, this can encourage them to develop reading and comprehension skills. One thing I've noticed is that when you watch a youtube video which is just text, it forces your brain to pay attention to the words and their meanings of those words, vs a youtube video where the guy speaks to you with only his voice and you only hear him say stuff. The latter style of video doesn't grab your attention as much since you are just hearing sound and you tend not to pay as much attention to what he is saying vs those videos where they just have text descriptions. In RPGs kids who have trouble reading can get better if they play the game a lot and always have to read what the NPC (non-playable characters) are saying to them in order to progress. Since they are having fun playing the game, and constantly reading, they are killing two birds with one stone and you can't say the game is mindless or doesn't help them. With toys the kids might not care about playing with other kids just like with computer games where there is only a single player mode for it. But look at a lot of games today where there is a co-op multiplayer mode in them (most nintendo games these days encourage this - one of the recent mario games allows you to play the game with another person together in co-op so you can teach your less-skilled buddy what to do) and how most consoles these days have online modes. So it's not ALL bad and antisocial. Don't believe the media hype. They need to sell stories and scare parents in order to get your attention. They are in it to profit and sell papers too. So just keep this in mind. Yes it is true the most mindless stuff (call of duty, gears of war, halo, most fast-paced action games with repetitive choice in actions) is in the top ten in sales, and people recommend playing them because they are fun. But those other games (working your mind, or forcing you to use your imagination) are there if you look for them. Most of the kids of today just choose what's popular though. And parents of those kids are just happy that they can keep them busy so they don't have to watch over them. It's sad, but it's true when they say the videogame console is the new babysitting machine.

That's good to hear. I want the heavy material but only in the places where it needs it. I don't care about weight for the sake of weight, I just care about the overall durability of the toy. (stuff like the gunpod strap breaking on my 1/48s is one example. I never use it now because I know I'll tear them accidentally eventually) 1/48 had some pretty heavy fast packs. And I would always get paranoid that if I ever wobbled it, the whole thing is going to fall down. That's why I asked the question. Certain things like massive gunpods that are really long, I think they need a counterweight towards the stock of the gunpod to keep the robot hand from drooping downwards due to the pressure on the wrist when posing for instance.

So is the heaviness of the toy a good thing to you or a bad thing? Some people think heavy = good. eg They eat nuts and need something to crack the nutshells open with. Others say weight adds stress so it = bad for them. ("the limbs are too droopy thanks to all this weight. I'm buying transforming revoltech versions only from now on..") Ok better example might be bintech transformers vs alternators transformers. The cheaper feeling lightweight toy = "more fun" to some people because they never worry about floppy limbs or paint scraping off. While the BT guys used to argue that holding a heavy toy feels like you get your money's worth through the better materials. "Adults only look at poo, it's not a child's toy dude, it's a collectors grade statue with moving parts, so stop acting like I should have fun playing with it."

Good reviews. So out of ten what would you give it? Assuming there are no quality control problem that are found out a few months from now, that is. It is good to hear this thing has stuff locking together nicely. Now robot mode fans have nothing to complain about anymore.

Yeah but Milia actually appeared in macross 7 using this mech though didn't she? She's a main character and people will instantly recognise this one. If they want to really make use of the license, now is the time. It will be an impulse purchase for those of us who resist getting fire valk. I've made a choice to buy a hi-vis vf-11 to go with my grey cannon fodder vf-11. The idea is that you can have milia flying along with some noob pilots and teaching them how to fly properly. I'd go for a low visibility if it had some unique markings and stuff.

I think it's because when I finally get a good pose in robot mode I realise that moving the joints around all the time will eventually loosen everything. I don't buy them as toys to play with but more like models for people who want to transform them. Since transformation means having to constantly move stuff around and parts must rub up against each other, I naturally buy the yamatos as big "completed models". In my mind all the chunky munky stuff is the toys, and the banpresto's and hi metals are toys but for yamato I still think of them as "durable completed models that can transform". I've already got a VF-11 gunpod that has cracked on the bottom just because I had the robot hold the gunpod in its hand for so long. This is what I mean man. It's too expensive to play with! Yamato should have went the route that bandai and toynami went with (smaller versions of the vf-1 that are PT) if they wanted a cheaper and safer alternative, and not the GNU figures. Say what you will about toynami but the little banpresto sized vf-1 are a great cheap alternative to people on a tight budget. Back when the toynami robotech "vf-1 masterpiece" line had come out people used to compare the 1/48 to those because they are both sort of like "collector pieces" and you were not supposed to man handle them like chunk munky. That perception seems to have changed over time and now they are like mass production items for everyone to buy and not keep "mint in box forever never to be touched". People would actually get angry that yamato would dare do a re-release and upset those who bought early releases hoping the value would go up on ebay so they could sell them later during another "dry season". I'm still treating the yamato toys of today like I treat my 1/48 back when you were really expecting to only buy one of them. (fat chance of that happening with all the stuff coming out today, I can barely keep up with it all)

Sooooo.......any news on whether yamato will do up the milia vf-11?: Make it limited in number like the low visibility 1/48. I'll take this over the booby VF-11 valk anyday.

I like the idea of tiny high quality toys for people without any space or people who want pocket valks. It seems to me that the smaller the size, the more fun in displaying them in a group. Originally I only cared about having something to display next to the konig monster but I like the look of these toys. This is the direction yamato should have gone instead of the GNU super pose stuff. ie "high quality banpresto - banpresto but with durability" There are some people who just can't justify the cost of the larger stuff but would pay a good amount of money for high quality small stuff. Remember when yamato was going to do the vf-0 as a "parts swapping toy" in 1/100 and everyone groaned and said they want the bigger scale? and Then we got the 1/60 vf-0? (about the size of a 1/48 vf-1) I don't see why bandai can't achieve a Perfect transformation vf-0 at 1/100 now that they've done vf-1. -Simpler transformation, -bigger size in general (more detail cna be crammed in?) and -there is still demand for valks that havenn't been done by yamato yet. (vf0d) Enemy mecha at this scale would be cool too.

Youtube vids are extremely helpful for first-time transformations. Like I said in a previous post we need a sticky thread dedicated just to links to all transformation videos to all the yamatos. It's possible to break these things when you forgot a step. When you first buy a expensive toy, your eyes can't see where all the little parts lock together and you have to kinda guess where to push or pull and if it is really stiff, you don't know if you should use more force or if you are doing it wrong. Seeing someone in the video actually transforming it tells you exactly what part locks to what other part so you can see what's going on without having any experience beforehand transforming it. One of the reasons I get scared to transform things the first time (old yamato konig monster for instance) is when you have a toy that has tiny little pegs and if you twist something the wrong way or put too much force behind unlocking something, it will snap off the peg just because you didn't do it the right way. Yes, yes, I know the manual comes with it, but seeing it in real time allows the brain to process it all quickly plus sometimes you feel lazy and don't want to find the manual and dig it out of the box. It's just the yamato toys that make me nervous because they are toys, but feel close to model kit in delicateness sometimes. I can man handle the chunky monkey stuff but I never want to transform my yamato's often. Oh yeah for all those who are defending macross 7, just let me clarify: yeah I do like some of the serious looking mecha in the show along with the rest of you, (VF-17 is an example - the elite pilots get a nice black paintscheme and their robots come with superior firepower to the grunts) just that I think the original YF-19 holds a special place in macross history and seems to have a more "real robot" feel to it compared to the ones in the mac7 tv series. Since macross is a "real robot" show (to me at least) I prefer the serious looking stuff. I was just hoping yamato would make Macross Plus as high priority as the valks from macross 7. Remember how excited people were about yf-19 and how long they waited for the ultimate yf-19? It's starting all over again now that we know yamato can raise the level higher with this fire valk release. I'm not trying to discourage people from loving macross 7 or hating this toy, just encouraging fans of yf-19 to put some pressure on yamato to devote some attention on yf-19 too. I hope sales of this vf-19 go well for them but I also hope they work hard on improving the older yf-19 release since from what I hear all the time on these boards is that the Macross Plus OAV wasn't as popular in japan as macross 7, (Dyson is a redneck and they probably turned off by the arrogant behavior) yet it has a superior-looking design to the valkyries in macross 7 to me. (ok ok it's my opinion, just saying most of us here don't like the idea of controlling a mech with a guitar and couldn't care less about how much money yamato will be profiting from the release of toys in the more-highly-popular series and just want our perfect yf-19 damnit. ) For example I know VF-1 is more popular because it is more recognisable and they can milk the mold but how many here would love to see some valkyries which are not as exposed in shows to the masses like the VF-4 for instance? By no means do I hate the vf-1 or anything like that. Just that I love other designs too and given that the less-popular show might not get as many toys due to perceived lack of interest by the masses who may not instantly recognise it on a shelf, I feel like it's better (for the hardcore enthusiasts) to just have releases being done together. ie give us new version of yf-19 early, don't wait until after all the VF-19 variants are done. By then a new macross show will probably be out and then the shelves will be crowded with even more merchandise and nobody will have any money left lol.

Another thing about 1/60 yf-19: did anyone think the gunpod was too small? I prefer it being a little bit longer. I think yamato need to experiment and make the handles of the gunpods a nice flexible rubbery material. Make it so you can have an option to use a solid handle or flexible one. One thing I just noticed is that the bottom of my VF-11B gunpod handle is cracked but luckily it doesn't effect anything. I had it holding the gunpod for a year and only just noticed it. It's still in one piece. Ahh...can't wait till some news appears and we get a fixed yf-19 heh. I like that one too. But strangely I think the "one eyeball" head of the yf-21 is a touch that makes the uniqueness of the 21 stand out just a little better when standing next to other valks. The visor of the 22S looks "cooler", but the "one eyeball" of the yf21 makes it stand out a little bit more if you know what I mean. They are both great designs though. It's hard to explain but there are two types of ugly: ugly that makes a robot look cool ugly that makes a robot look bad. YF-21 has an ugly head (a ball with sensors) but it makes the robot more mysterious and a bit creepy. (the hood also enhances it) clown face mechs look bad. (I know they are supposed to because the pilot is a rockstar and all that. ...just saying )

Version 2 "Phat robot" 1/60 YF-19 needs to be done in my opinion. I want all the great gimmicks that this has had like the cockpit being openable, chest lock, slim fighter mode etc. Fact is the yf-19 is much cooler in looks than any of the macross 7 variants. I even prefer the head design with only 1 laser. It had much more iconic dogfights too thanks to better animation. YF-19 had -Cooler gunpod, -non-flashy, non-super robot, paintsheme -no face -does not make the shoulders into big ugly triangles that hang off the sides too much (classic anime trope where big hulking robot must take up as much space as possible so that when going through a narrow corridor they get stuck in place) -doesn't look like it is wearing pants (I hate that sleeve on the bottom of the legs. yuck!) Macross 7 = the G Gundam of macross. Boobs and faces on mechs is not cool and "the pants" thing bugs me. Yamato is just cashing on the popularity of mac 7. You know it, I know it, and the sooner graham gets them to start on yf-19 version 2 the better.

I retried my old 3-step tips (getting the heatshield just right without taking out the cockpit) and it worked. Just hold the robot mode upside down and shake it so that the bottom half of the heatshield comes down and then keep pulling it down (takes a bit of practice) until it meets up with the first half of the heat shield (the side closest to the head) so that you can clearly see it extended long enough to be able to join. Then push the slider all the way till you get the click (or you don't get any click but you slid it all the way and the friction of the heat shield rubbing against the windshield keeps it firmly in place). Remember that the upper half of the HS, must come down enough so that when completely shut there is a tiny gap between the top of this and the grey part of the chest. (see pic below) As long as you pull everything all the way (and move the slider as the last step) there shouldn't be any problems.

Here are the two posts I made on the heatshield ages ago when I first got one: http://www.macrossworld.com/mwf/index.php?showtopic=29300&view=findpost&p=824653 http://www.macrossworld.com/mwf/index.php?showtopic=29300&view=findpost&p=825458 I'm one of those people that doesn't transform my valks much. I might try to transform it again just to see if I can memorise what I did to keep the heatshield up in battroid mode.

I love my vf-11b and to the guy who broke the heatshield there is a trick to it. I can't remember because it has been so long, but what I will do is search for my post about it. I had a LOT of trouble the first time I transformed it and couldn't understand what had to be done until I played around. Then when I got it I was very happy. What I think needs to be done is someone on these boards needs to make youtube videos on how to transform the toys without transforming them improperly. Then make it a sticky topic or something. This is useful for those who lost their manuals or who don't like the black and white pics. Having someone talk while doing it in front of the camera is far superior to just look at a black and white image.

I think sping loaded gimmicks could work for vf-1 toys: I want a spring-loaded cockpit for all the pilot to escape when he ejects the seat in battroid mode. (see the episode inSDFM when britai fights hikaru in hand to hand fight - hikaru tries to eject but britai pwns him by catching him before he can leave heh ) Yamato can probably do that for version 3 vf-1. Lol Maybe that's why we are getting the britai doll?

It stands out well amongst a group of VF-11 in robot mode. It's got a huge gunpod. But a VF-11 wearing its armor beefs it up a bit more. I probably won't get the red milia version of this. I much prefer the darker scheme. One thing I like about the vf17 is how much more practical the chest looks. It just seems to look like it offers more protection than vf-1 and vf-11 but without the ugly uniboob effect you get from the vf-19. I am not a fan of the boob sticking outwards too much. And the shoulders are not huge rectangles hanging off the sides of a skinny robot like the vf-19 valks. The robot itself is big so its shoulder don't look over-sized. (just goes back to the squarish vf-1 style of shoulder)

I'll buy one if they can make the credit card valk (1/48) that I couldn't buy. Remember in SDFM when people swore they saw a black valkyrie in a hangar and they called it a stealth valk? (then people said it was just a valkyrie in shadow? Well I want that valk to be official valk in the canon of the story. Some guy actually used a black valkyrie and he was a spec ops battroid that would be called in ahead of the others to find enemy weak spots and he would have had to receive special training to go in quiet. (some distraction was needed to hide him similar to the battlepod attack on the sdf-1 on earth. It's has to be a vf-1j because I think that the face and visor look like a ninja wearing a night vision goggle of some sort. Kinda like the guy on the poster for alien vs ninja but with goggles. It doesn't work as well with 1A.

Yamato: ok my advice is to make a non-canon Black Stealth release which has a faceplate permanently stuck on the helmet forever to make it look like a ninja. Black VF-19 Valkrie were support for Basara whenever he needed bodyguards to push Meltran giant aliens back during concerts. Some of them would faint and the danger was that they would accidentally kill the idols as they fell on the stage. Call it Basara Guard. Let it be the new "Credit Card Valk" that nobody ever got but mass produce it. This is for all those who don't like the blazer's "short wings" and want a fire valk in a different and less flashy scheme. lol Chuck in a yf-19 gunpod (will these fit in vf-19 hands?) instead of the speaker pod. The generic pilot would be a basara look-a-like but with a helmet on. If the fans ever got too crazy and followed in female qrau mecha these guys would have to follow him to ensure he can exit quickly.

I like the idea of a cult trying to make usage of evil music to summon demons to bring wars. I know this idea might seem a bit crazy but you know those giant things in macross 7 (protodevlin) that basara sang to? I would like to see some research team get attacked by something similar to the protodevlin due to some cult that awakens these creatures from their sleep and this begins an entire war between the cult members who want to use them as weapons and the good guys who are trying to prevent them from taking over the minds of other people. To defeat an evil spirit they try to trap it using the song energy thing but the pilot is physically attacked by mind controlled humans who are slaves to the spirits due to programming by the cult. (imagine minmay or basara if they had actually died! no easy solution anymore) This is like the characters in the john carpenter movie "the thing" being controlled by the alien and everyone doesn't know who to trust anymore. The cult rises to power, people like their music, and then over time they join the cult and become a zombie like state. The humans are confused, the zentradi break free of human control after realising they are getting mind programmed, and an anti-religious group rises to power in opposition to the cult to become the new UN after peace between all the races breaks down. The whole thing ends in a big war between these two groups 1. Anti-ancient-Religion group and 2. "Protodevlin worshippers" (similar to the global wars before the ASS-1 crashed to earth in SDF-M) and then another group comes out of underground who have researched the protodevlin over a long time to free the mind programmed members of cults. (we'll call these guys "deprogrammers") They have the solution which ends the mind control and saps the power away from the protodevlin through music that puts them back to a sleep state where they dream and wake up in the world they came from. (the material world is their nightmare and we are their source of food to keep them alive as they need energy to keep living inside it or they get returned to their home dimension) When the cult members imagined a world of destruction their own will created those beings when they dreamt for a solution to their problems. They forgot what they were like before they all became bitter and fed off each other;s hatred for life. So they wanted to find out about these protodevlin in the hopes of fixing everything ("kill off all the 'bad guys' using demons to help guide us") which only made it worse when they became enslaved by the spirits which fed off humans to sustain them. They became zombies and lost their souls. Since that time, the two main powers are the antireligion guys, (these are like rogue zentradi in terms of wanting to fight all the time, and are right wing in their beliefs, very materialistic and seek more power through control of technology; some of them are like the mad scientist in macross plus who want all humans to trust in machines more than themselves) and the underground rock group who fought off the protodevlin and are closer to being leftwing and want to protect the environment and space whales so that people don't need to compete with each for resources and start wars. (they see the events in macross 7 and basara's defeat of the PD as their solution to everything but are too idealistic for most people to take seriously) They both fight like "dwarves vs elves", or "cowboys vs indians" over what is the best future and the people in the middle of it are stuck between the two sides. Since you can't defend a rock star unless that rock star is also a good pilot, the antireligion guys argue that they are necessary to defeating evil in the galaxy, while the other side believes you can't use weapons since it hurts the victims of the mind control. (Basara is their messiah) This story is like the choice between a minmay girlfriend or a misa hayes girlfriend because one is involved in defending lives and the other is about rescuing victims. I mean they both have their place but there is no perfect solution. Much more realistic than macross 7 since in 7 basara could do anything he wanted and was never wrong in any situation throughout all 52 episodes of the story. Even when "basara dies" it's just a trick to make us think he can die. This way basara-type character can be labelled as terrorists who are just religious fundamentalists, and the technology and science guys (always looking to perfect things with machines) as polluters of planets and exploiters of the poor who join the military and die for nothing. The two sides try to control the other and this way you got lots of stealing of military secrets between the two. Anyway that would be my macross 7 sequel. Make the protodevil closer to actual demonic spirits or something. Like actually scary beings that can appear good if they wish. (ie star wars "sith lord" type deception) But don't make it so they are just misunderstood. Have it so they are scared to die if they don't eat or feed off others and then the music reminds them of who they are, and then when they 'rest' they go back to the real world where they belonged all this time. (we don't befriend them, they just wake up from the material world and go back to their own world where other spirits are and they don't cause us to suffer by haunting ships and abandoned ruins) I think one of the themes of all the stories is the "memories" and "dreams" people have and in the sequel instead of having the dream come true it would be closer to coming back to reality. Why did the humans survive SW I? Was it because of technology? Or was it because they were lucky that the aliens were scared? What if hikaru never became a pilot and had never rescued minmay from the zentradi regult that almost stepped on her? Is it really just basara's music alone that can singlehandedly rescues people? What if he got shot or died? At some point you got to see the truth which is really somewhere between the two sides. The money basara doesn't make singing music is money needed to keep his valkyrie quick enough to dodge the alien fire. He is still using military tech to save his own butt from being hurt while he is singing because he wouldn't have enough money to buy this stuff himself. He can benefit from the technology and the humans can benefit from his creativity and music and at the end of the day not all zentradi became convinced through minmay's singing in SW 1. One of the things I liked about macross II was how the characters were a lot more cynical and the minmay defense was not a perfect thing. They questioned whether the military should just get lazy and rely on that one little trick to save their butts all the time and in a sense it tried to bring macross back down to being a real robot show and not just about singing = automatic win.

They look good but don't play with them like a toy and you should be fine. I have the green lucifer kit and I don't plan on transforming it much. Knowing that it is transformable boosts the appeal of it though. Transforming a painted toy or kit usually has the stress of knowing that if parts rub together you might chip the paint (ie transformers binaltech, the old 1/72 macross plus yf-21 by yamato, any custom painted yamato etc) whereas kits molded in plastic without being painted mean you can rest easy. So maybe in a strange way it all balances out. I want to buy a good vf-25 toy but I am hoping they combine the good things about chunky munkey toys (sturdy and long lasting - 1/65 bandai chunky monkey vf-17 for instance) and good things about kits (better sculpt and more close to the cg anime) so I can have the best of both worlds. (this is the reason I like the yamato stuff since I never try to manhandle anything so I don't mind it being a bit delicate, but at the same time I'm too lazy to build stuff so I want a completed model with good enough looks to not look too much like a toy) The CM Legios is an example of being too toylike and lacking detail but it's sturdy. I want something that doesn't look too toylike like that, but isn't something you are scared to transform either.

I agree with this. I want to get version 2 vf-0. Also release a box set of upgrade parts which includes Reactive armor and the ghost booster similar to how they did fold booster and fast packs for the macross plus valks. If they want to do this VF-1j just sell us a head and people can swap a normal head for that one. lol

Lego need to make a cartoon first. Then kids will see the transforming robots, and want to buy them. The chinese have astro plan so they can say they copied astro plan and not macross. lol.

I remember seeing that a while ago. Pretty cool. Kawamori should post the instructions for the fans. Or the people who steal home video sex tapes from celebrities should break into his home and find the plans and post them to the internet I reckon. lol I think I remember there was also non-transforming lego mechas that were released with hikaru-looking pilots done too. Would be cool if lego could get macross license or something like that and make lego valkyries. Lego should try to clone macross valks if they can't get the license. They could easily have destroids that are similar to the destroid in macross and not get into too much trouble. Anyone seen that chinese clone of macross? Something like that would be good for lego. Start out with clones of the things from movies ( or the ?)and then work there way to more-complex transforming stuff. (do a bandai and copy yamato toys using them as the base). lol

On the whole "valk being girl robots" debate it's possible for a woman to wear armor and observers not know what sex the warrior is until after they take off the helmets you know. eg: Samus from the metroid games. The blonde biker girl from mospeada for example. Just because the armor is bulky doesn't mean the pilot or the person wearing an armored suit (and mechs are a kind of giant version of a powered suit) must be a male heh. The robot mode of a valkyrie could just be thought of as a female knight who just look male because she is hidden under male-looking armor. In macross I just think of the robot mode as a generic knight in shining armor who jumps into danger to rescue the princess and fly away to safety and the aliens as monsters. But that the pilot must have some connection to female side of himself and understand the machine he controls which protects him like a mother. (cockpit is its womb) Sort of like the machine is the horse and the rider must connect himself to the robot in some sick way in order to understand its feelings - that kinda thing. This is something very common in these mech shows which feature an emo kid character who is weak in real life but can survive because he knows the secret to controlling the horse. This appeals to the tech obsessed nerds who want to be super heroes but must rely on giant machines to realise their fantasy of flying and having super strength thanks to advances in aliens wars. Macross is probably heading in this direction by the looks of things. (alto being non-macho, the alien floating rocks thing we saw in macross zero, basara tapping into his anima feelings using music instead of killing etc etc ie the sensitive new age guy wins by having intuition of some sort that gives him the edge in a battle) I agree that the robots whether skinny or fat are more androgynous. (ie no sex) It's just that for me a fighter plane is like a bird which are supposed to be light and agile, and a ground machine is a hulking brute weighed down with heavy weapons and I like things that way. The more hulking armor a robot has on its body the harder for it to do cool things like dodge fire or dive to cover like the vf-1 does in the SDF:M intro. Having quicker reflexes and not being where the opponent thinks you will be in order to defeat them is what I like about the valkyrie because it can do complex moves. In the same way a high performance sportcar's power is not in the strength of the body, the valks appeal is not in the amount of bullets it can take before blowing up. If it was bulky it would suggest to me that the valkyrie must be slow like a truck with crap acceleration, not fast and light like a F1 race car. The best way to sum it up is this: being skinny and hard to hit is what makes those acrobatic stunts that hikaru does in the end of DYRL the key to avoiding danger. If he had a bulky robot that flies slow but takes a lot of damage it just wouldn't be as fun to watch and the character wouldn't need skill. Since the robot takes all the credit for having great armor. Hikaru and Luke Skywalker save the day only thanks to lots of money funding the resaerch into better technology not because they have "the force" or the female intuition thing that lets them sense danger and avoid it by reacting early to make them hard to predict. If you've only got a tiny amount of space to move around but still have a lot of bullets to dodge, being fast and accurate and delicate/sensitive/careful is important. Not just having good shooting ability. You can't fly as well with heavy armor and moves are not as fine and accurate with poorer handling, so it actually works for macross that the robots look a bit anorexic. Getting to a location on time and then getting out quickly before the place explodes is just as important as being able to crash without wrecking the robot.

heh I was only joking around. I was thinking of getting one. But I'm hoping one day yamato does a v2 1/60 yf-19 with all the good things this is said to have. (locking chest for instance?) 1/60 VF-11 and SV-51 were my fave yamato valks. YF-19 was meh. I want to buy this fire valk more out of curiosity than for macross 7 love. I keep thinking why yamato don't give the fans the armor for the vf-11c yet? And armor for the vf-0? People complain they can't touch the Mac F valks but there is lots of things they can do while bandai milks that show. Forget stuff like the GNU line and instead focus on the things like a redone qrau with better joints and articulation that can also be fitted to a stand. (I'm surprised there isn't a revoltech figure of this mech yet)