Batou

I found it HERE. It's under the MOVIE section....get it while the Torrent speeds are decent. Thanks! I'm pulling it down now. I didn't even think to look there for it - I should have known (heck - they've got everything else, right?). BTW, I think you introduced me to that site, too, a while back. I've visited a lot of torrent sites before, but I've gotten the most use of it than all the rest combined.

My ears are tingling ... Anyone have a link to that new trailer? Those screengrabs look fantastic.

I'm starting to like BoBe-Patt's avatar ... Nice poll. I laughed myself silly when I read the second post Monty - great stuff. I guess I come here for the toy news, and for validation: It's comforting to know I'm not the only 30 year old out there still obsessed with a 20 year old animated television series.

Worth every penny and more. The art from the earlier books (1 and 2) don't quite hold up to this current stuff, but 3 and especially 4 are breathtaking. The plot can be a little hard to follow at times (it is Shirow, after all), but the execution and action are second to none. I just love the apocalyptic cityscapes he painstakingly drew by hand way before he got into using computers. The landmates and other technical designs in Appleseed was his best work ever, IMHO. If you like mecha, this is the manga for you. Amen. <_<

Very nice - I hadn't seen that yet. The animation and character designs (esp Deunan) look VERY much improved compared to what was shown on those preview dvds they packaged with those action figures. I was a little worried after seeing those as everything looked a little stiff and too CG - it reminded me more of Reboot than anime. That trailer would seem to me to show that this project is back on track and looking good. This was always my favorite Shirow manga, and I'm really holding out hope that this is finally done justice (sorry - the old OVA was crap). Anyone come across a downloadable version of this trailer?

If it's your first one, and you don't want to lay down the cash for a 1/48 with the FAST pack attachments, then by all means get the 1/60. Tehy're still VERY cool by every metric you want to judge them by, and you won't be disapointed. However, if you're set on getting one and only one, I say shell out the cash for the 1/48. As great as the 1/60s are, the 1/48 is just an entirely different beast altogether. While it's a little pricey, nothing else compares IMHO. You'll get over the sticker shock when you pull it out of the box and get it into your hands. Trust me.

Where in Texas? I'm in Austin, and I've been getting my stuff within a week from when I get a shipping notice - sometimes 10 days or so. I always hear people moan about SAL, but I've had nothing but good luck with it consistently for the last 5-6 orders.

Ha! I only scored a 25.83826% and I was sure I'd rate completely off the chart and mop the floor with the lot of you! My self esteem just got a huge boost - there are actually bigger nerds than me around here. Woot! I actually answered them all truthfully, and I'm still a "Total Geek". (Maybe I shouldn't be too proud of myself just yet ...) Edit in: How about this one: I'd say that's worth at least another 5% for most of us.

Great looking custom, Mike. Very very impressive. I absolutely love that color scheme. I have a Hasegawa strike valk and the option stickers set aside to do that one one of these days ...

Development time from a qualified sculptor costs a lot of money. Molds cost a HELL of a lot of money. Getting this monster from a sketch to manufacturing to retail and all the related costs involved therein cost a LOT of money. While I agree the price seems a little high, you have to remember: This isn't a gundam. Quality of this caliber costs money, especially for what are essentially very limited runs and as was already pointed out, the Yen/Dollar rate sucks for us right now. Regardless of what us slobbering fools at MW seem to think, neither this q-rau nor any of the Macross toys are going to sell in the kinds of numbers that would allow them to sell this toy at a $60-$80 price mark. Macross is a niche market, and just like college textbooks cost a buttload more money to purchase because of the economies of scale, Macross toys cost more becuase they simply have to sell them for more to recoup their expenses. Or at least Macross toys of Yamato's quality do. I for one am stoked about this one if only for the fact it isn't another VF-1. I'd love it to be cheaper just like everyone else, but at the same time, I don't think that the Yamato executives are laughing on their way to the bank with sacks of money.

Damn you Yamato! The greedy bastards won't be satisfied until they can just directly garnish my paycheck. You might as well sign me up for the purple one now, too. Edit in: BTW, isn't this the first pic we've seen of the pilot?

i'm out of the loop on macross toys. are their pics of the q-rau anywhere? Link. Enjoy.

That's sacrilege Jessie! I want my Max VF-1S inbetween those 2 Q Raus. I'm gonna have to get rid of my TV just to display those 3 together. A little Meltrandi sandwich with Max in the middle? Some guys have all the luck, I guess. Great looking Q-Rau there. I guess this means the Millia version is coming out first. I was thinking about holding out for the purple one, but my oh my does that look great. Besides - I'd buy just about anything at this point to encourage something other than a VF-1 from Yamato, anyway.

Happy holidays to all. Here's hoping that all of my fellow MW regulars (and irregulars) get what you want most this year. A special thank you for Shawn and Graham and all the mods for making MW such a great haven for those of us who have yet to stop playing with their toys ...

Do you mean this? Link. I think that's supposed to be the stand-alone GBP armor set, as opposed to the GBP set that comes with a Hikaru 1J included. Edit in: Hmmm.... didn't notice that "Feb Release" thingie there before. I wonder how acurate that is?

As a matter of fact, I turn 30 on thursday. (Holy crap is that depressing - I might need copious amounts of alcohol and some strippers to get through this one ... )

Mine says the exact same thing. I'm pretty sure they're all like that. Besides, if they were going to do make it a limited release, they'd A.) Use stickers or something else to indicate the number within the edition (it would cost a fortune to have to mold or somehow shape a new number into the plastic packaging all of them come in). and B.) Announce up front it was a limited release, to make sure they sell through their entire stock. (milkin' them teats, as it were )

There were some toys released (I think Toycom picked them up in the States) not that long ago (Bri, and Deunan in both the Gasium and Orc armor) that featured a dvd with a few minutes each of this as a teaser, but nothing much has been heard since. I've been waiting for news on this one myself for quite a while, and it's been depressingly slow in coming. On a side note, while the movie's a great start, I'd really rather Shirow finally started working on Appleseed Book 5. I've been waiting for that one for what? 12 years now? (sigh). I just hope I don't need bifocals to read it by the time he gets around to it.

That CF looks amazing, Jung. Lookin' good too, there, Rabidweasel. You guys are a lot braver than I am with these things. I'll pen in the panel lines and toss on some stickers, but that's as far as I'll go. There's nothing I love better than custom schemes like the ones you see in Model Grahpix and Hobby Japan, but I think I'll save my admittedly amateurish efforts for the Hasegawas (much cheaper and easily replaced). Keep 'em coming, guys.

Yeah, but you very rarely ever saw much in the way of markings in the original animation. I'm sure that was just to save on animation costs and time. I opened up my copy of Macross: Perfect Memory, and in one of the original Kawamori sketches of the Hikaru 1J, you can clearly see the UN SPACY markings on the legs. I don't have a scanner handy, or I'd upload a pic. Someone else who has this book help me out here - it's the pic of the 1J in the spread-leg stance reaching towards the viewer on the upper-left of p 154, and again in the middle on P 159. I seem to remember hearing something about those markings on VF-1s weren't really considered canon until Bandai (or maybe it was IMAI?) started releasing model kits based on the series. I could be way off base, though.

One of us ... One of us ... Yep. It's a disease. Not a particularly harmful one (except to your wallet, maybe). It starts out with a Yammie here ... then another ... then just one more ... then you get the Max .... well, cripes! you can't get the Max without a Millia ... and you might as well get that Elint if you already got the Ostrich ... Welcome to your future, my friend. I hope your significant other is understanding.

It was on the Hasegawa and on the1/60, so it's on the 1/48. I happen to like it better with it, but that's me. BTW, that picture doesn't show ANY of the markings (where's the '101' or the air intake warnings?), so maybe it isn't the best example?

Come on now and let's be fair - they made too many of them, and found themselves sitting on extra inventory they had to move that they couldn't clear through at the then asking price. This is a 2 year old product - if it costs them money to sit on them, then they have to get rid of them somehow, and this is better than dumping them in a landfill. This happens with any kind of consumer good out there, and shouldn't be shocking or surprising to anyone - it costs money to sit on excess inventory, and it becomes a question of selling them (maybe at a loss) just to eliminate the added expense. Think "Toynami MPC". Early adopters/buyers always pay more. You make your choice whether you want to get it when it comes out and be sure to get them before they run out, or you take your chances that it will go on sale eventually. I paid full price for mine, and I have no regrets.

Yippeee!!!! Me too! I just heard a little "ding dong" my door and guess who it is? The mailman with a box in his hands labeled "Valkyrie Exchange". My eyes grew as wide as a kid on X-mas morning. Ho-boy! This thing is absolutely beautful. This and the Roy were the 1/48's I've wanted the most all along, and I can hardly believe the wait is finally over. Nary a QC issue to be found (I haven't had a single defect so far and this is my 17th Yamato - maybe I'm just lucky?) Love the big hands, and the new pilot - just fantastic. I went without the FP's in this release, as much as I wanted some TV-style fast packs. I'm hoping to outfit this big guy in a GBP suit if they ever release one for him, and I'm guessing a M&M set is in the near future anyway, so I'll get my TV-FP fix then. Maybe - we'll see. Anyway, if you're reading - Thanks, Kevin. Outstanding job as usual getting these out so fast. I just saw my shipping notice yesterday, and wasn't expecting it quite to quickly.

I absolutely do not get this "never open it leave it in the box" mentality some folks seem to have when it comes to these things. Regardless of what the low viz is going for on ebay today, it's never going to someday pay your kid's college tuition. Something tells me that if Yamato sees this as a potential way to sell more, they'll either reissue or redo it (think 1/60 TRU CF). Go ahead and open the thing already and sticker it to your hearts content. If it weren't already done, I'd say pen in the panel lines too. You'll be much happier you did than you would be staring at a lifeless toy in a box. Set it free!