jenius

That's just a lighting effect. Here are some pics I took for my reviews on anymoon.com, DYRL parts on the left in the first couple) Here are the TV fast packs in brighter light, not green, just a lighter shade of that off-blue used for the DYRL parts. The TV Fastpacks are just a slightly lighter shade of the same. It's my understanding that there are many types of Enigma schemes or "engima-like" schemes. I think Yamato would have a ton of wiggle-room. As to the paint issue, the Angelbirds definitely did chip on mine as well . Still, Yamato has improved their painting ability by no small margin and maybe they're learning which areas to leave as molded plastic and which areas have far less risk of paint chipping (ie. don't paint the friggin hips!).

Okay, I'm no model guy so don't shank me or anything, but when you can get the MPC for the same price, and it's sturdier, diecast, and in some ways nicer than the model, why buy the model? Why not buy the completed MPC and do some airbrush work to weather it. Heck, being a modeler you could probably make some really cool tweaks to it. See, I think that answers my question though, building the model is half the fun and you'd get none of that with the MPC. Quick Edit - I did own these models at one point so I have examined them up close. I asked a pro to help build them for me and he told me they required lots of filling and extra effort so he wanted a nice amount of $$. I sold my models shortly thereafter.

There's a learning curve with these toys. First few times takes a lot of patience and you'll learn tricks to help you out along the way. By the 5th time you'll have it down to a point where you never have to stop and be frustrated. Then, after a million or so transformations, it'll be a piece of cake!

While you're right about how little of the valk you actually see, I think having a light gray valk within the armor would benefit the overall presentation (head, hands, arms would all match the GBP). How lame would it be to just clamor for a light gray valk though? Instead we clamor for a valk that is also cool on its own. Maybe Yamato makes an Enigma and people buy 2, one for the matching GBP and one to stand on its own (which I think had to be thought with the GBPII). Any rehash Yamato does is just making money for them at this point to put toward other releases. I don't think we'd be getting another repainted VF-1 INSTEAD of some other cool toy, I think we'd be getting another VF-1 to FACILITATE another cool toy. So, if I have to buy a super cool Enigma Valk to help me get a super cool 1/60 VF-11B then darn it, I'm happy to help!

I'm with Hat...erm Do Not Disturb. There's going to be a big price decrease (not as severe as the 1/60 VF-1 though which dropped below MPC pricing for a while). The 1/72 benefits from a couple things. 1) The toys are very hard to keep in pristine shape so excellent samples will demand a premium. 2) They've been out for a while now giving them a nostalgia factor. The 1/60 VF-1 was still being released when the 1/48 began production so there were tons of 1/60 still in circulation when the 1/48 showed up. This isn't the case with the 1/72 which has been out of production and already became scarce. The other thing to consider is the 1/60 YF-19 will have a huge price and the decrease in value for the 1/72 may actually make them a more viable option for people who just wan ANY Yf-19 toy. Then, 5 years from now, the 1/72 will be the diecast collectors item while the 1/60 YF-19 will be in it's 5th reissue.

Theyre also the kit that Toynami used to design the MPC. From what I understand, they're extremely frail, difficult to build, and once you have them painted they should never be transformed.

Good point but the Simpsons, while a cash cow now, never seemed dependent upon toy sales. I don't know who was the original financier of the Simpsons but I highly doubt it was a company like Bandai. Maybe I have the wrong impression though. It seems to me like American shows are purely made with the hope of drawing as many viewers as possible and selling commericals whereas it always seems to me that anime franchises are directly related to toy manufacturers. Admittedly, I could be completely wrong and the only reason it seems that way is because I like anime toys. My reason for stating the question was not to imply that the writing of shows had any consideration for foreign audiences. The reason I asked was more to determine if the Macross franchise is suffering production-wise from HG's refusing to allow it to permeate to the US. Is there a Japanese business man somewhere crunching the numbers and concluding that Macross isn't as viable a franchise as some other franchises because they'll never see extra cash on the back end from US distribution?

Eh, I didn't think that preview was all that bad... but maybe that's because I've had the benefit of reading all the comments here and expecting the worst. I felt the line used to show off Chase was pretty funny but ya gotta remember she's voicing an android. It'd be like trying to find a really cool line spoken by Data in a Star Trek episode. Otherwise the animation definitely wasn't good but the 2D stuff was plenty passible and the characters looked attractive enough. Some of the 3D didn't seem all that bad but man, the parts of CG that are bad are always so jarring. I could offer lots of theories on why this doesn't look more spectacular but there's no point. It's all going to boil down to the story. Being a little too familiar with the RT universe I'm probably going to fall for all the fanboy service (obscure references) and like this more than most MWers.

I was told by an angry otaku once that anime's creation never considered the bankability to outside countries (this otaku may have also been a bit of a nationalist). He told me that the projects were specifically created to make money in Japan and anything made in the foreign markets subsequently was just icing on the cake. I found this hard to believe but not being in the anime business I just shrugged it off. Would you say this person was definitely wrong?

Fire Valkyrie Check that link out, it has pictures of the boxes and a brief write-up on ways of telling the original from a knock-off. There might be more encompassing info elsewhere but that should help you out in a pinch.

It was bankable enough for Robotech to even exist though and Robotech nearly spawned a sequel if it weren't for the collapse of the Yen (or was it the dollar?). The fact is that HG was out to squash Macross in English and they are at this very moment bringing over the original in dub fashion. I'm not really sure what your point is but the Macross name has a very dirty English past mired in many difficulties. It would absolutely not be fair to say that Macross isn't bankable to English-speakers based on that troubled past.

By "like" I do not mean I want to be their friend, by "like" I mean I want to know more about them and how they became who they are and what will become of them. I didn't care about Basara so I didn't care about his singing at a mountain and what gave him his passion... he didn't involve me into the story. I like the Scarface character because he does draw you in. He's an ass but he makes you want to know what's going to happen next. Writing is a complex art and everyone has different tastes to cater to. The characters themselves are also products of their environments and this too can have a deep impression on whether or not you "like" them. So, in the case of the M+ characters there might not even be one tangible thing you can point to as a reason you're put off by them, it could simply be because of the way they interact with larger universe as a whole. Anyway you put it, I did not find any of the three or their interactions with each other to be a reason to come back to the show, it's the mech porn that draws you in. So, again, I still very much like the series but I found the characters to be pretty sophomoric from a writing standpoint but when a series is only so long some times you have to settle for sophomoric.

Nah, all the DYRL Strike parts are definitely blue, they never made them in a greenish hue. I might be mistaken but there were more difference beside the color (like the arrows on the head I believe were painted differently). I think the idea is also that in DYRL the VF-1S is a very bright white where in the TV show it appears to be an off-white (a hint of gray). I don't believe there's ever a straight GRAY VF-1S though. Then again, it might just be because I'm not watching the remastered version... yet

Let me preface by saying, nobody really knows what Yamato might do in the coming years. As it is, 1/60 was just too small a scale to do a good VF-1. That said, 1/60 is an excellent scale to do MANY other Macross mechs (like we've seen with the Zero and the upcoming 19). Yamato will probably still make some smaller items in 1/48 scale (like new VF-1s and VF-1 accessories... and who knows what else) but the 1/60 seems like the scale for pretty much everything not VF-1.

The Yamato may be a fat duck but the SHE is scrawny goose. I don't think the Yamato is perfect, I think it could stand to be a little less chubby, but I love my toys in all modes (I've always disliked the 19's Gerwalk though) and so if it has to look a *little* chubby in fighter to pull off decent other modes than I'm all over that.

Meh, I just didn't really like Isamu, Guld, or the girl. Maybe if the show was longer they could have developed the stories a bit better. It's the problem I've been having with Macross since the original. I didn't like Isamu, I liked Basara less, and I didn't care about Shin either. I do think had Shin or Isamu been given the amount of on-screen time that Basara had either of them might have been able to become likeable through a lot of development but in the short stints on-screen that just never happened. As it is, the lofty themes just fail to really develop and it comes off as a bunch of show-off apefaces who don't get along getting in fight and then hugging and making up. Even their raid on Earth just comes off as another vainglorious stunt. I like the show, a lot, but the character angle just doesn't grab me. Like I said, they may have been victim's to the show's exceedingly short length though. You know, with Maverick we at least got a scene (Goose's death) that made him into a sympathetic character.

It's new, when people say "the 1/60s" they're usually refering to the VF-1 1/60 which sucks, not the 1/60 VF-0 or YF-19 which rock.

It definitely won't be affordable. Yamato will make 1000 less than people are demanding thus allowing middle men to bump the prices way up. A year later Yamato will release 500 less than people are demanding and prices will still be astronomical. The good news is the 1/72 series might start getting pretty cheap in the secondary market now.

I don't think the Ghost goes with battloid does it? I think it needs to be jettisoned before the VF-0 can transform... I'm definitely no authority though.

Repiv, is that a "mint" color or more of a teal?

Robotech.com is now offering their MPCs (Ben, Miriya, Lancer, Rook, Sue) for $39.99. At that price, I think it's worth over-looking the MPC Alpha's flaws. Heck, at that price you may be able to resell the MPCs on eBay and make a profit!

Kicker, I wouldn't exactly call that "small." You could buy a car with the scrath represented there! Speaking of buying cars.... Where do you put them??? I have 8 or 9 1/48s, no duplicates, and half of them are sitting in my closet and it pisses me off every day. Do you have a huge display?

If I'm not mistaken, Enigma is sort of a generic "low vis camo" term. Kurt has a beautiful one in this thread: Kurt paints pretty things here. Edit - you have to scroll down to the bottom of the page to see it.... it's purdy.

Typically, this is when I'd smote you for blasphemy and send you to the place where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth, but it sounds like you may have begun to see the light.

I don't know about a prime time cartoon that's not a sitcom in the US doing well but Cartoon Network's adult swim certainly did well with some anime. I would agree that you'll never see anime in our primetime slots on the big channels but there's a billion cable channels, anime can still do well here. US definitely does have some different tastes from other countries though.