Fortress_Maximus

The series is definitely developing into something better than I anticipated. Oh and yes, lets try to add **SPOILER** warnings as much as possible. I for one have not watched all the episodes yet and I am sure others are in the same situation. Thanks!

please share pics of your finds. Thanks!

I'd ask for screenshots even IF it was real, just to see the quality and to determine how much deterioration has occurred. IMO you should not buy it unless it is extremely reasonably priced, VHS quality is not the best and then you have to worry about mold and it getting erased. If the quality is good, perhaps someone here can convert it into a dvd copy to preserve its contents. Ask around and good luck.

All I know is thank gawd for the original Japanese dialogue/tracks! I rarely listen/watch any foreign films that a butchered with the English redubs. I will commend however Billy Crudup as Ashitaka and Billy Bob Thorton as Jigo in Mononoke Hime. Both did an excellent job with the voice acting and it matched the original efforts IMO. Sadly the rest were meh. Well at least PR is finally coming out! Now if they'd just release on dvd Whisper of the Heart and Umi ga Kikoeru aka I Can Hear the Sea.

IMO there are plenty of pros and cons for collecting both Macross toys and the BT TFs. I like both and I get what I can afford and what I really like. I never want to be a completist, so if I don't buy a entire line and all the different versions, no loss for me. Collect what you really like and can afford and don't worry about focusing on just one series or type. All that matters is you enjoy it, you aren't collecting for anyone else.

if you price it right, they will come Ain't that the truth!

While all this is true, amazingly the #3 MPC Skull Leader valks proved to be the best investment vehicle of all the modern valkyrie releases according to ebay. They sell for more than a 1/48 Yamato Low Viz or Yamato YF-19 1st issue and cost less than either at retail. Go figure. in which case if you got 1/48 LVs, pm I will take them off of your hands.

Actually it is true, the plastics will give off fumes but hardly enough to hurt you. Funny suggestion though. As for preservation and how to reduce damage, definitely AVOID UV light, it will royally mess up any collectibles you have. Also it might be best for you to store stuff away from the windows, heaters, and the anything that promotes moisture. Oh and try to keep them away from the kitchen e.g. the oils and likewise away in a room that is not directly connected to steam, e.g. from the bathroom. A cool, dry, smoke free room that you can adjust the climate for is best. For some of your older carded figs, you might want to get those clear display cases if you don't want to sell them. You know like the SW reissues you see. Those are not foolproof by any means, but they will reduce initial damage. And since it is printed, there will be acids that seep out over long periods of time. This is why with comics another printed material, you need to change the acid free boards every now and then. Even with the slabbed comics that Wizard sells, those too much be changed after I believe five years, due to acids and the fumes trapped within the protective plastic shell. There is no such thing as a foolproof, just got to protect it once process/thing. Hope that helps and welcome aboard MW!

Doesn't look that bad.

Thanks Graham for the update. Sadly however, I do agree w/Godzilla about the CAD observation. Without confirmation this doesn't mean much. I am hopefully though, perhaps they will surprise us if not, we'll see what happens in the future.

... wait a sec... Funnay indeed!

Use to go regularly but then the dealers didn't have anything good, especially cels and Yamato stuff, so screw it! Now with so many anime fans young and old, I hate the damn crowds... long waiting. Ugh.

hey hey now... don't be so hard on yourself man! Stuff like this happens to the best of us. Perhaps someone will trade with you? Or worse, if you really are willing to do this and I know how difficult it is for seller dealing with deadbeats (so bear with me), do not pay. Explain to the seller as best you can your honest mistake and perhaps they will be willing to give you a neutral instead of a negative and you of course give them a positive rating. It happens, I should know it happened to me once. In the end, even if they won't agree, you get a negative, no biggie. One isn't going to kill your ratings on evilbay. Just my two cents.

This might help: http://www.macrossworld.com/macross/toys/_toys_yamato.htm http://www.angelfire.com/ny5/reminator2/HT...tech/vf1s48.htm http://www.menet.umn.edu/~ngo/frame.html Also as I recall there was information in the NEWBIE section as well: How can you tell a reissue from a first run 1/48 hikaru and roy? Velcro on box missing?(not sure about this) and more importantly headrest within the canopy is changed. There is no 2nd edition sticker. Other comments from many wise people over at AP: you cant tell from the box the 2nd and 3rd reissues are the same the 1st is a lil dif, you can tell by looking at the seat The first edition of the Roy 1S and the Hikaru 1A seem to suffer from pretty stiff joints IMO. Need greasin up. Elbows do not bend 90 degrees for long, and the nosecose is easy to knock off. Also the Skull insignia on the rear left tailfin is crooked. This was fixed in the second edition Roy, but is seen again on the 3rd reissue. This time though, it is not as bad and is hard to notice until you actually sit there and compare two valks alonside each other. Now, the ones that you don't want to get unless really desperate are the 1st production run of the VF-1A Hikaru and VF-1S Focker. They have the black boxes with the velcro on the two bottom corners. Concerning the VFs themselves, they have wing flap and nosecone problems, Fockers usually have a fuselage gap problem, but not on many. Joints are also stiff too. The nosecone also tends to fall off easily and the elbows do not stay stable when flexAd to a 90 degree angle. I think that's it. Oh yeah, and the Skull is crooked on one of the VF-1Ss tailfins. The VF-1S canopy also has problems staying upright. The headrest is straight. Let's call the VF-1A Hikaru and VF-1S Focker 1st production run the 1st generation of 1/48 VF-1s. Now with the second production run of the VF-1S Focker and Hikaru VF-1A they have the improvements. These came out after the VF-1A Max and LV, so let's talk about them first. These are what I like to call the second generation of 1/48s. VF-1A max and LV have several structural improvements over the 1st generation. They came out at about the same time, so even though they have a difference, I would like to keep them together. The VF-1A Max was the first to come out after the VF-1S Roy Focker. It has the hard plastic pilot only with blue accents instead of red or yellow. But the most important things are that there is no gap in the fuselage, stable 90 degree elbow flexion, redesigned nosecone (addition of two horizontal tabs to the radar and corresponding grooves in a revised internal nosecone redesign), improved wingflaps that only go in one direction and don't pop loose do easily. The canopy problem that was prevalent on the VF-1S Focker is fixed from here onwards. I would like to classify new valk variants from now on as the 3rd generation of 1/48s. This includes the VF-1S Hikaru and the VF-1Js. The VF-1S Hikaru was released after the Max and LV. Featured all the improvements of the 1/48s so far but is the First valk to incorporate three things: the first canon rubber pilot, curved headrest in cockpit and loose airbrake. Next up came the reissues of the VF-1S Focker and the VF-1A Hikaru. Features all the improvements of the second generation of the 1/48s but now have no velcro on the boxes (actually, there have been a few reports of velcro on these reissues, Yamato probably just used up leftovers) and now feature a curved headrest like the VF-1S Hikaru. The thing is, that Yamato kept the original hard plastic pilots. But, all the other things were fixed, such as the crooked skull on the VF-1S. Continuing on the third generation of 1/48s was the VF-1Js of Hikaru, Max and Millia in that order. Hikaru was the only one to have an option of VF-1J only or a coupled FAST Pack with his valk, Max and Millia you have no choice with. Feature all the improvements of 1/48 seen so far. There are only a few structural differences and features of these 1/48s compared to the DYRL ones. The "elbows" of the forearms are "U-shaped" instead of flat like the DYRL? valks. Nice touch I reckon. Also, they feature the rubber TV pilots and rubbers fixed pose hands. There is a slight colour change between Hikaru and the lovebirds, a slightly lighter shade(?) of white. FAST Packs that come with the VF-1Js are coloured differently from the rest. Hikaru has a slight grey-green shade all round on has FAST Packs. Max and Millia ahve the same, but the NP-FB-01 Backpack Booster Unit on Max and Millia are painted with their respective colours. The NP-AR-01 Arm Units are also redesigned for the TV valks. There is no option of a ROX-2A Strike Beam Cannon for the TV valks although you can slap one on from a DYRL? FAST Pack issues ifyou have any to spare. (Interesting to note that even though there is a general consensus that boxes should not have velcro by now, there were still a few people that had them even on their Millia's, which was the latest of the VF-1Js). And of course, recently we have the 2nd reissue or 3rd production run of the VF-1S Focker due to high demand. Pretty much the same as the 2nd production run or the 1st reissue, but the dreaded crooked skull was back again, although this time you have to sit and look hard to see that it is crooked. Again, there are a few exceptions. Whew, that should cover it. Thanks to SR, kensei, & Godzilla for the AP info.

Well personally w/o inspecting the LS version I couldn't say that is superior to the 1/72 versions. But 150 seems high to me, based on my own research on evilbay... ask EXO or Godzilla. IMO Graham would know better, assuming he wins he'll have both to share pics and reviews on. Good luck bidding Graham!

Indeed they are!

That's a great CG model.

Can you share the sites your going through? Good question, I would like to know as well. SooOOoo... whos gonna bid on this YF-19? Carl? You there? I'm bidding on it. Hope all you guys will be good enough not to bid against me.....please (get's down on knees and begs). Graham Graham, don't worry I won't, it is already $300 US and this is preshipping too. I'd be worried about snipers in JP instead. Just my two cents and good luck!

Well that stinks!

Good to know, how does the YF-IIB FP compare to the YF-19(all of the versions)? I like the scuplts for both, but I don't feel the YF-19s are as study (gaps) as the YF-IIB FP. Thoughts?

Anyone else prefer the YF-IIB FP more than the regular version?

Like the fighter mode for years but held off b/c of the concerns. Will this or the YF-19 or YF-21, EVER get done as a 1/48? I know silly question, but what are your thoughts? I'd buy them if they were created as well as the 1/48s.

It certainly looks nice and Graham wow, how much time did you spend researching all that info? Thanks!

There are some here: http://www.tmpanime.com/product_info.php?c...products_id=647

I also would add: Romance: Ah! My Goddess OVAs Kimagure Orange Road movies 1 & 2 Mecha: Gundam Z & ZZ, Gundam 3 movies, Gundam 0080 OVAs Gundam 0083 OVAs Gundam Char's Counterattack movie Full Metal Panic Sci-Fi/Comedy: Dirty Pair OVAs & movies, Dirty Pair Flash OVAs, Tenchi Muyo OVAs Action/Edgy: Kite Vampire Hunter D original movie Vampire Hunter D Bloodlust movie Perfect Blue movie (thriller) Spriggen movie High School Adventure: Whisper of the Heart movie Graduation OVA End of Summer OVA (hentai) ZeGuy OVA Open the Door movie Rayearth (shojo) X 1999 (shojo)