Awacs

I understand where you are coming from with this one. Given everything else Toynami has managed to get wrong - and especially on the Alpha's they have got a lot wrong - you would think they would have managed to stick to the "to say a thing is to do the thing" principle. That said - they may not feel that they have broken their word. You could justify it from the point of view of "1)we said we would only make 15,000 Robotech Alpha Fighters of each design. 2)We have done that. 3)Another company is making Mospeada Legioss' from the same molds as we made our Alpha Fighters, these are not Robotech toys and not Alpha Fighters. Therefore we have not broken statement 1)." Personally I view this as a slightly weasley way of looking at it. But that is between Toynami and their conscience in the final analysis. That being said, I don't understand how anyone can describe the Masterpiece Alpha Fighters as being true "limited editions", or as having much collectability. If there are 15,000 of each colour then that seems to me to be fairly abundant. Especially as there are still a number of them at full price in shops in my neck of the woods steadily accumulating a thin film of dust. Mind you - for those folk who did buy into the whole "rarity value" thing that Toynami were trying to convince people of, I can see why this would be annoying. To think, I was thinking of picking up one of these when they were first announced. However, having been dissappointed by the green version I'm a lot less anxious now. Drat. I wanted a red version to supplement my old two-mode version (and the chances of me ever seeing, let alone owning the large Gakken version of Hoquet's Legioss is, in mathematical terms, approaching zero. Ah well, there is always the CMS Corp version to look forward to. Karl (An irony has just struck me - I wonder how many Robotech fans even know about the Aoshima release? A lot of them don't seem to hang out on forums like this, and as discussion of them would be banned on Robotech.com...... An odd irony that might work in Toynami's favour in PR.)

It may be my memory failing me - but is that an old picture that they are using for the preorder? I only ask because I'm sure I remember BBTS using that picture when I bought a second-hand Max-1J at the beginning of last year. I'm sure I remember going "hmmm. Fuel tanks on the wrong way round" whilst I was pouring over the pictures trying to decide whether to get the Max or the Millia they had in at the time. Karl

Like most character designers I like some of Mikimoto's work, and dislike some of it. I can't think of a single character designer, or designer of any kind, where I like everything that they have done. I like a lot of his designs certainly - Misa, Roy Fokker, and Sylvie Gina spring to mind. But on the other hand I'm not particularly fond of some of his other designs - Ishtar, Mylene Jenius (I like the character, just not the character design) just to pick some off the top of my head. In technical terms he is extremely talented at what he does and I'd have to say that he is one of the top tier in terms of character design. Even the stuff he does that isn't to my taste I can see the technical competence in. Karl

And to think I had given up hope of getting a 1/48th Millia to go with my Max. (Can't have Max on his own - poor chap gets understandably morose when Milia isn't around). This is good news for my collection - very bad news for my wallet mind you. Don't think I will be able to resist picking up the Milia - it is my favourite TV Valk colour scheme after all. Karl

Dark blue undersurfaces, tail fin section and outer half of the wing upper surfaces. White everywhere else with a thin red stripe seperating the two colours. Basically the Empire Test Pilots School colour scheme. (I was working on a custom 1/55th that was meant to be in this scheme, but it really didn't work out) Custom tail art of a cartoon tiger attempting to hide a flaming sword behind his back. Karl

Hmmm. Very odd looking schemes. I suspect they probably are customs of some sort - but that is purely a hunch. I think I may be in a minority of one but I actually don't mind those colours on the YF-19's Battroid mode. I actually prefer them to the idea of the alternate Project Supernova schemes, (Of course as I am somewhat colourblind I may not be the best judge of these things), do think that the scheme doesn't work on the VF-1 at all. Karl

I have to say I'm not sure I will be picking these up. Although I'm not as disappointed as some with Toynami's original VF-1's (got the two I have for a reasonably cheap price) I was very disappointed with the only Legios I've bought from them so far, the number of design flaws that it has makes me doubt their ability to pull off something more complicated and delicate in the shape of the Mospeadas. It is rather a shame, because there is one way they could have actually dragged my Paper Pounds kicking and screaming from my wallet - and that's if they had done a Hoquet type in the first wave. Ah well. Perhaps it is in the better interests of my wallet that they did not. Karl

As far as I can recall it was called the Gallant in Mospeada as well. I'm fairly sure we see it stenciled above the hand-grip of Ray's in a couple of close-up shots of him holding the weapon. (But I could be wrong - I'm relying on what I use for a memory here...) Karl

Rampantly speculate surely, isn't that we do best? But seriously, it's nice to see a new Macross project getting off the ground. After M0 not being as well received as it might have been I was beginning to wonder if the Macross brand was a little bit stalled. It does sound like their putting a bit of oomph behind getting it airborne again. I'm kind of hoping we see something fresh and new, taking the basic elements of Macross - transforming aircraft, a love triangle, a singing idol and the like - but going off in a bit of a new direction so as not to get bogged down in existing Macross continuity. I'm not worried if they don't on the Protoculture or any of the back history, but equally I don't mind if they do. All I'm hoping for is good animation, good design work, a good solid story and a good voice cast. If they can deliver on those then we should be in for a pleasant ride. Karl

I believe the quote is actually an ABBA quote (unless memories of long car journey's to the accompaniement of my mother and sisters choice of musics is deceiving me). But, back to the Legioss and Tread. I have to say that this is pretty much the best mecha related surprise a company could spring on me this year. Speaking as a big fan of "Mospeada" the opportunity to get my hands on a Legioss/Tread combination is almost too good to be true. I'd agree that they have taken a certain number of liberties with it - the nose section looks like it is quite skinny for one - I still think it is going to look rather nice. It will go nicely alongside my small gaggle of Legioss. Hopefully they will do it in the "Eta" scheme with matching Tread, but if they wanted to do colour variants I'd very happily pick up one in Hoquet-esque red trim..... Karl

Judging by the liner notes on the ADV boxed set it does seem it was the production company that pushed the idea of a transformable fighter - with the mechanical designers feeling somewhat less keen on the idea. They don't come out and directly say "We were told to do it because Macross had been a succes" but I do get a sense of a certain amount of that being in the air. (Although someone far more knowledgeable than me about GCM will no doubt be able to shed more light on the subject) Karl

I'm in a quandry now. I'd quite like a VF-19 - it is one of my favourite variable fighters and I quite fancy a fold-booster to go with it. (If nothing else I can rack the fold booster on the shelf between a -19 and my Bandai VF-17. What I can't decide is whether to take the plunge and buy a -19 now, and then pick up the fold-booster set later in the year. Or hold off and get the bundled version later on. On the plus side with waiting, it means only one order and only one trip to the Parcelforce depot to pony up the customs charge. On the downside it means waiting several more months before I get a -19. Decisions, decisions. (I'm not particularly worried by the issues that people have been reporting. Mostly because the last Yamato product I had problems with was my 1/60th VF-1S, and since then every Yamato Valkyrie I have bought has been absolutely fine as far as I can tell. For me their record is as close to 100% as I've experienced.) Karl

Ah. Looks like I've been misusing terminology for a while then. I had thought that the term was "hyper-" rather than "super-" critical. Ta for the clarification. (That's one of the things I like about Macrossworld. I learn useful real-world stuff here as well as stuff about mecha). Karl

Nah, after all Sharon can sing. Can't see the Haydonites managing that. As far as I'm aware there is no UK licensee for "Shadow Chronicles". There were rumours a few weeks ago of something in the works that they hoped to announce "very soon" but nothing seems to have come of that. However, I know that Funimation (the US distributor) has recently signed a distribution deal with a company over here in general terms. So it may be that "Shadow Chronicles" will emerge from that in the future. In the mean time your best bet would be to get it online. dvdboxoffice.com have it for about fourteen pounds which will likely be around what it'd cost on release over here anyway. Karl

I actually use the blue stuff (can't get any other colours here as far as I know). It isn't a perfect match but it works quite well on my dark blue -1S bootleg and my VF-11. That would make for an interesting picture. The kind one would want to caption "Danger, do not attempt during atmospheric flight". Karl

Hmmm. Picking just one favourite variable fighter is difficult. I'd love to say the YF-19, that hypercritical wing and it's whole "leaned forward" look in fighter mode is nice. I'm quite fond of the VF-9 as well (c'mon Yamato, where is my 1/60th -9 then?) for similar reasons. However, if I had to pick I would say the VF-1J. The original airframe that inspired the rest, with the best battroid head of the lot. Mind you, the VF-11 Thunderbolt is a close runner up. It isn't glamourous or cutting edge, but it is a solid workhorse and I find that kind of endearing. Karl

I must admit I think that the Lightning had a certain charm to it. But then, I am rather partial to many of the aircraft that were used by the RAF in the late seventies and early eighties. I think it may be something to do with growing up next to a major RAF maintenance base - we had pretty much everything in the inventory going in and out of the place, and after a while it seems to get into your blood. Whilst I would agree that things like the Lightning are not conventionally "pretty" aircraft there was something about their no-nonsense utilitarianism that I rather like. But then, one of my favourite aircraft is the Jaguar - which looks a bit like it was made out of boxes and then had the nose-end sharpened in a pencil sharpener so I may not be the best judge of aircraft attractiveness. Karl

I like Jetfire's fighter mode - from the cockpit aft. The nose on the fighter mode has to be one of the ugliest things I have ever seen - it's like an unholy hyrid of a Phantom and a Super Sabre, without the charm of either. I'm quite fond of his humanoid mode, with the wings folded down Valk-stylee rather than the recommended wings-up which I think looks ungainly. The secondary head under the main head is quite good as well - a nice homage to the comic Jetfire head design. Not so keen on the primary head because of the long "axles" the head lasers are mounted on. It's a bit of a mixed bag really. More good than bad though, and for a £20 toy it's fairly decent. Much more value for the money than the £20 classics Prime. But other folks mileage may vary. Karl

Now that is a heavily armed -19. Some very nice pictures there. Nicely done. "Funtack" eh? I suspect that is the stuff we know over here as Blu-tack - my primary method of creating hardpoints for things that don't have them - my VF-11 uses it to attach underwing ordnance and I've used the same trick on a Jetfire, a -1S and a 1/55th Hikaru. What's the point of having all those spare missiles lying around if they don't get used for anything right? Karl

I've got one of those, it became fodder for my first rattlecan repaint. As bootlegs go it isn;t too bad. It doesn't feel quite as sturdy as the Bandai but not so much so that it is going to disintergrate in your hands. The only real problem I have with mine is that the spring-loaded landing gear is very temperamental. Sometimes it will deploy all by itself, without human intervention, and sometimes it will stick in the up position and need some wheedling out. However, that could just be mine. Like I say, not bad quality for a bootleg. Karl

I wouldn't say Macross Zero had crappy CGI robots. I'd say it had pretty competently done CGI robots. It may that you don't happen to like CG animation. That is a valid stand point. However, to suggest that all CG animation is equal strikes me as a bit of an inaccurate generalisation. After all, I don't like opera, but I wouldn't for a moment suggest that there was no distinction between different opera singers or producers and that all their work was equally bad. Karl

But surely that is the Max Jenius effect? Never had a f(l)ight he hasn't walked away from.... :-) Karl

My 1/48th's are always out of the box, seeing as I throw the box away once I get them home from the ParcelForce depot. They live on display on my living rooms shelves. As to how often do they get transformed, that is a matter of whim really. Usually once a month or so when I decide to rotate the display a bit. I've only once had a Yamato Macross product break on me - that was one of the locks for the securing the leg of my 1/60th -1S. Just went without warning when it was in Gerwalk mode - leg fell off and the -1S skidded slightly across the box-sill on the window before coming to a stop. Never had anything break on any of my other Yamato Valks at all. My 1/60th GBP's "Pelvis" section is a bit loose but not "broken" as such - it's just an annoyance and easily and almost invisibly fixed with a bit of sticky tape. Karl

Good to here that they will be doing an SV-51. I think I shall have to start saving up now for it however. Good news on the colour schemes as well - I had this horrible thought that they would only do the Nora scheme for some reason. As I much prefer the Ivanov version I am quite happy to know that won't be the case. I'd wager they won't be putting the boosters in with the initial release - especially given that they will already be including this special "battroid stand" which is going to push the price point up anyway. If they do include the boosters then be prepared for a real wallet breaking price point. I will probably get myself an SV-51 but doubt I'll be able to afford more than one - especially as I still need to get myself a -19, and there is a threat of two colour schemes to choose from there, and either a GBP or a set of FASTpacks for my second 1/48th -1S. Karl

Yeah, I did. I guess after a full day at work my mind is not as conscious as it thinks it is. :-) Karl