TheLoneWolf

Myspace really is taking over the Internet. Now I need to take an emo pic of myself

Jetfire should thank Yamato for saving him, for a while there I thought every last Jetfire would wind up as custom fodder Seriously though, it's a simple formula really. The 1/55 is a great toy but it still left a lot to be desired. Also, the 1/55 had a pretty simple and sturdy design. Desire to modify a 1/55 + ease of customizing a 1/55 = lots of customized 1/55's. I have a hunch that Yamato noted what parts of Jetfire people were customizing and incorporated all that into the 1/48. For those who missed the era of 1/55 customs, here's a rundown of some of the customized features we saw with the 1/55: an actual cockpit pilots for said cockpit canopies that can open and close longer nosecones fists that folded in in fighter mode (as opposed to sliding in) articulated hands anime accurate feet rubber tires wing flaps airbrakes hide or do away with the swingbar in fighter mode mountable gunpod in fighter mode turbines in fighter mode A-stance in gerwalk and battroid modes Sadly, in order to incorporate some of these mods the 1/55 customizers would have to sacrifice the toy's ability to transform, so it could be a tradeoff depending on what you wanted. Anyone else notice that the 1/48 has *all* of these features. Coincidence? Since the 1/48 incorporated all of these features (although some weren't perfected, like the articulated hands) and can still transform I can see why the 1/55 customs market has slowed down: there's simply no need for them anymore. As for paint schemes, Yamato has given us plenty to choose from. Like others have said, there's still room for improvement with the 1/48, but I don't think we'll see to many mods until Yamato has halted production of the 1/48. I don't think many people want to spend hundreds of hours on a mod only to find out that Yamato's going to incorporate it next week.

Didn't someone say that Bandai let their Macross (or was it Macross 7) toy license expire?

Whoah, Netscape Navigator!

Holy crap, that toy is huge!! At first I thought it was going to be as small as a JM, but now it look as big, if not bigger, than a 1/48. Do you think you can take some comparison shots? Great work KK, good to see you're still into Macross...and uhh Jetfire

Lance, Valk, you guys rock!

IIRC, Yamato had a different CEO back when the 1/60 VF-1D was made, apparently he wanted to release anything and everything Macross. Hence, the 1/60 VF-1D, 1/60 Elintseeker, 1/60 Super Ostrich, the 1/60 Q-Raus, and the 1/100 Koenig Monster. From what I can gather, Yamato's current CEO is still very much interested in Macross but appears to be taking a more financially conservative approach by sticking with repaints and iconic mecha (YF-19). On a somewhat related note, I remember some people here had problems with their 1/60 VF-1D. Apparently the chestplate had problems sliding down unless the landing gear was sticking out. I'm not sure if this was a QC problem or a design flaw.

Bad news, that mecha's name isn't in the booklet It only appears once in the game (twice if you play it on hard) and all it does it fly around and attack you with discs that circle around the mecha. It does take a lot of hits to destroy and will fly away if it isn't destroyed within a certain amount of time. I've included two screenshots showing the discs being deployed and them circling around it. Macross_0040.bmp Macross_0041.bmp

It could be my CD/DVD burner, but I haven't had good luck copying/burning PS1 games with CloneCD either. In the fact, the PS1 games I burned with CloneCD had the same problems you described (and I made sure to set the CloneCD settings specifically to PS1). So I just went back to CDRwin, it's an oldie but its burns play perfectly on my pc and ps2. If your VFX2 iso came with a .cue file, you should be able to burn it with CDRwin. And the PS3 will play PS3 games from any region, but it still contains the region lock-out for PS1 and PS2 games.

The Zentraedi mecha in the first pic is from Macross 2036. It could also be in ELS, but I haven't gotten far enough in the game to say so definitively. The second mecha is from Macross: Scrambled Valkyrie. It's just a generic enemy, but I believe it's name is listed by it's sprite (I doubt lineart exists) in the Scrambled Valkyrie booklet. If sketchley is willing to translate, I'd be more than glad to scan and post it.

I could be wrong, but I remember reading somewhere that during the production of Macross VFX Kawamori and UNiT disagreed over the battroid design of the VF-4. Maybe Kawamori made some compromises to the battroid mode for the sake of the game, a decision that he now regrets? I think it's safe to say that the VF-4 was always intended to be a variable fighter, hence the "VF" prefix.

VICIOUS!! As usual, excellent work John!

Exactly, I didn't use the term "knock-off" seriously, just facetiously. Man, you guys need to lighten up!

I agree that the toys are cheap knockoffs of the Banprestos, but I think that Toynami will release the entire lineup (except the SuperO and Elint). My reasoning is that it costs Toynami next to nothing to produce these paltry toys, so even if they don't sell very well, Toynami will still make a profit. Perfect example: the Super Posables. These were equally craptastic, but Toynami managed to release almost every variant possible. Though you probably won't see a 1/100 Elintseeker or Super Ostrich, most likely due to the fact that Toynami can't sell palette swaps of these two and overall laziness. Cheap toys + nice promotional shots + moderate prices = $$$ I think Toynami does get it

Woohoo, let's hear it for POM!

Don't feel guilty about leaving the image up, it's so rare that it deserves to be on the Internet somewhere

Nice scans! You're right, in fighter mode it looks like a VF-0D.

No. No import games will play on a US PS2. However, there are modchips and fliptop lids that you can install in your US PS2 that will allow it to play imports and backups. I agree with myk when it comes to all the VF-X games, they're all garbage. UNiT programmed some of the worst flight physics I've seen. In VF-X you can crash your VF at 200mph directly into the ground and watch it bounce back in the complete opposite direction taking only minimal damage. In VF-X2, the complete opposite happens, you can no longer touch the ground nor really climb into the sky. Your VF is basically encompassed within a sphere, and when you turn, the level moves around the sphere. It's hard to describe, but the gist is that it's very unrealisitc. UNiT labeled it as an "arcade shooter" when it really was just shoddy programming. Everything else in VF-X2 was great (music, story, and graphics), but it's too bad the most important element in the game was lacking: gameplay. edit: Just like to note that I only made it up to stage 3 as VF-X2 was so bad. While unlikely, it's possible that the later levels did something different with the flight physics.

The only other place it could be (if it exists) is in the Macross Plus: Game Edition guidebook or Kawamori Design Works vol.2.

Hehe, so you figured it out on your own Yup, that's the image I was talking about. Though, I think Nanashi would have a cow that his logo was removed. Credit where credit is due, the original image was small and purple & white, Nanashi did scan it at a higher res and recolor it in the traditional b&w color scheme. Aside from that lineart, the flyer is nothing to write home about. I'll post it here and at the MacrossNexus along with the Scrambled Valkyrie story once it's done being translated.

YGPM

I'm one of those guys who's apathetic towards Wave's Macross. First off, it looks like a hybrid model/toy which makes me question it's durability. Second, there are a lot of visible joints and gaps in both modes. It's safe to say that Wave did this to enhance it's posability, but the Macross was never supposed to be that flexible. Third, the pricetag doesn't justify the product. For a product that isn't very accurate to the lineart and features a relatively simple transformation, $130 is $70 too much for me. Props to Wave for releasing the Macross, I hope it does good business for them, but I'm going to have to pass. edit: I also prefer TV mecha over the DYRL stuff

There are only few more images that I didn't scan, like Kamjin and a Zentraedi mecha or two. Someone here (I think yellowlightman) scanned in the entire booklet about a year ago and posted it here. The Search feature is your friend! Just an FYI, the images I scanned of Komilia and Lott are actually taken from an obsure Japanese PC Engine magazine. The reason I chose to scan those images in, rather than the ones found in the games booklet, is that the PC Engine magazine contained a few extra angle shots over the booklet. I know know, minutia.

The lineart of the VF-1-SOL is not in the Scrambled Valkyrie booklet. AFAIK, the only lineart shown was on a Japanese flyer for the game. I have a picture of the flyer somewhere around here, but it's resolution isn't good enough to make out fine details. Nanashi actually has the original flyer, scanned it in, cleaned it up in PS and posted it here. It was a fine piece of work, but went down with his site. Hopefully someone here saved it to their hard drive.

Of course! You can't expect Harmony Gold to come up with something original, right?