Radd

Anything is possible. Though, I suspect it's more likely that the VB-6 was not a big seller for Yamato to begin with, and they don't expect it's appearance in Frontier would change that for a re-release. They never did any repaints, either, back at the height of the toy's popularity. I am looking forward to hearing what's up with Yamato and the M7 license. From one of Graham's comments (unless I'm misremembering) it sounded as if Bandai had let the M7 license lapse but was keeping pressure on Big West not to let anyone else have it. They may simply be happier to let Big West license M7 to another company while Bandai milks Frontier.

I haven't had any issues with either the feet or the heat shield. I've been playing with my VF-11 nearly constantly since I got it, too. This thing is great, one of the best toys Yamato has put out. My only complaints would be the landing gear, which are really short, and the cockpit never quite feels secure. Still, I can hold the 11 upside-down in fighter mode and it will stay put, it just feels loose, yanno? Other than that, everything seems to hold well in place, battroid looks amazing, fighter looks great, it's just an all around solid toy.

I should also note that I don't consider Yamato's toys to be as fragile as a lot of other people seem to believe. I've two (a 1/48 and my 1/60 YF-22) which have taken a nose dive off a shelf and come out without a scratch. It's just that the DX seems that much sturdier. I wouldn't have that moment of panic if a DX fell off a shelf. I could toss my DX across the room onto my bed and I'm certain it would be fine. I'm reasonably certain of the same with most of my Yamato toys, but I'd be much less inclined to actually try it. I'd rather not hand one of my Yamato's to a friend who doesn't collect them themselves and let them transform it. I'd hand them a DX. I'm sure it would come out fine no matter the manhandling. Yanno?

Check out Bandai's DX 1/60 Valkyries in person if at all possible. My own opinion is somewhere inbetween the extremes other people have posted. I own four, but I absolutely love the VF-25 design. I canceled my pre-order for Alto's FAST packs after receiving Luca and Michael's. The armour doesn't look any worse than the Valkyries themselves, but it falls off so easily, and is generally a pain to play with. I consider Luca and Michael's valkyries to be display pieces. Meanwhile, without the armour the toy is very easy to play with without worry. There's really no concern of anything breaking even if you're not exactly gentle with the toy. I don't hate the DX, but I much prefere my Yamato toys and would love to eventually see them produce a VF-25. Of course, I've never experienced one of Yamato's QC issues. I own nearly twenty, and they're all fine. The DX toys feel more sturdy, I'd be less concerned if they fell off a shelf as compared to a Yamato toy. I think it's worth owning at least one, especially if you're a big fan of the VF-25 design. I'm probably done with the line, though. Given the issues with the Super armour, I'll probably pass on Ozma's full armour. I'd like to get the extra parts pack for Luca's Valkyrie, but it's not a big priority in my toy budget. Like I said, if you can check one out in person, at a store or anime convention or whatever, do that before buying one. You may decide you love it, you may decide you hate it. There's certainly plenty here who seem to fall to either extreme.

Only have Focker's VF-1S so far. I intend to nab the Elintseeker and Super Ostrich. Can't think of anything else I've really gotta have right now. Might pick up a VF-1J with GBP armour when they get around to that. A VEFR-1 might be neat, too.

I can't help but think that I'd love an RVF-25 in grey Elintseeker colours. I didn't particularly dislike Luca as a character, just not a fan of brightly coloured Valkyries, but the writers did miss pretty much every opportunity had with him. He was in a pretty good position to be a great character in the later part of the series.

Bit of a reminder, from what we've seen of Yamato and Bandai the license for a particular series in all likelihood only applies to Valkyries which originated within that particular series/game. The Koenig Monster first appeared in VF-X2, so Yamato can make that and Bandai, unless a deal is worked out, cannot make one even though they have the Frontier license. By that same token, the VF-17 appears in VF-X and VF-X2, to which Yamato owns the license. However, it originated in Macross 7, so Yamato has been unable to make a toy of it. Now, the VF-22 first appeared in Macross 7 proper, not Dynamite, so in all likelihood the appearance of the VF-22 by Yamato, in Gamlin's colours no less, means that either Yamato made a deal for the VF-22 specifically, or that Yamato has both the M7 amd Dynamite licenses now. Just to curb speculation that the VF-22 is being made due to the VF-X license. Yamato had attempted to include a VF-22 canopy with their Fast Pack edition of the YF-21, which has the same colours as the VF-X VF-22, but that plan was dropped because it came to light that the VF-X license did not cover the VF-22. Of course, all of this is only speculation on my part (except the part about Yamato's 1/72 VF-22 canopy, I'm pretty certain the reason for that was confirmed, but correct me if I'm wrong on that), but it fits the actions we've seen on both the part of Bandai and Yamato. Graham can maybe confirm or correct some of this?

After a day or two with my VF-11 and I am in LOVE! This thing is fantastic. Easy to transform, looks wonderful in all modes, sooooooo much nicer than the 1/72 version. Not a lot of detail, but the Macross Plus colour scheme is kinda plain. I really hope they do repaint variants. The Ravens scheme is at the top of my list. I'd probably keep that one in fighter mode. If they put out a third varient I like I'll get that too and have all three displayed, one for each mode. Always been a fan of the VF-11.

Is there also a trick to getting the cockpit secure? I can get it to stay in place, even upside down, but I'm not satisfied with how it sits. It looks a little off, and the slightest touch can knock it out of place again. I'd really rather it was a solid piece of the fighter than removeable. Unless, of course, there is a way to lock it in place nicely and I've simply overlooked it.

Er...I've no idea if Takara owns Tatsunoko, but if they did that would not mean they'd have production rights to make a new Maacross. Tatsunoko has never had those rights. Big West owns the rights to make new Macross series.

The problem isn't that they killed Spawn, it's that McFarlane didn't follow through with his original idea, that Spawn would be a finite story, and that the character only had a limited amount of time before he was dead. And when he died, it would be over. Spawn got sucked into the "it's making money, milk it forever!" problem. I hate most comics because of that. Sure, comics like X-Men, Superman, Batman, and the ilk can produce a good yarn now and then, but the characters remain fairly 2-dimensional, never aging, never moving on. As such, they're fodder for a forgettable but fun comic now and then, but the characters themselves don't really carry any weight as characters. Even death is often a temporary device used to bump sales, with big return expected to bump sales again later on. Spawn was originally pitched as being different from all that. I was really disappointed when that was tossed out the window.

I disagree, the fact that many, or even most, Macross fans on this board can't stand the show would indicate that the opposite is true. I introduced a coworked of mine who had never seen any Macross, as recently as two weeks ago, and they particularly liked 7. Really, the only things I don't like are the cartoonish "sound beams" (the very same concept would be much more convincing without the visual aid), the designs of all the protodevlin (Gigil and Gepelnitch's human looks excluded), and to a much lesser extent Fire Bomber's "glam rock" outfits and Valkyries (Dynamite's character designs are much better, and it's much cooler seeing how Basara pilots Valks with an acoustic guitar in his lap rather than a silly guitar shaped flight stick). I think what puts off most Macross fans, (in addition all that) is simply that the show places much more emphasis on characters and character development, and much less emphasis on the mecha action than any other Macross before or since. This is particularly notable in that character animation gets much better treatment than the action scenes, which have some painfully bad recycled animation. Even the original series, as poorly animated as it was at times, had some absolutely classic action sequences. I've always thought M7 would benefit more from a "DYRL treatment" than any other Macross series.

I'd say just watch Macross 7 first. It's really not as bad as some people let on. A bit repetitive in the first 12 episodes or so, then it gets a lot better until partway through the "Planet Lux" arch, and then it gets really good again before the arch ends. The recycled animation tends to be pretty bad, but the non-recycled animation, especially the character animation, is actually pretty good.

I believe he meant if local shops could sell domestically released versions, rather than higher priced import versions. Something HG has prevented.

The had laser thing I'd chalk up to compromises made for a transformable fighter. Possibly Kawamori figured it made the head less visible in fighter mode, or there was simply no way to stow the head underneath the fighter in a useable turret position for the transformation to work. As for the feet, I wouldn't call them "talon like", if anything I'd say that they're simply more "foot like" than the VF-1 era battroids and their blocky stub feet. Again, this is just aesthetic design evolution. As for the angular/blockiness, I'd say that is limited to the point of making the fighters look "stealthy". Overall, I'd have to disagree with the comment, though. Some of the later designs look very angular (VF-19, VF-25) while others look more rounded and organic (VF-5000, VF-22) but with some "stealthy" looking aspects (the gunpod, and cut of the wings/fins on the VF-22 for instance).

I'm not entirely certain what you're getting at, but I can say that it would be incredibly infeasible to "refit" one of those smaller ships to make it the same as the larger one. I mean, Macross stretches suspension of disbelief in a number of ways, but that would be a whole other league.

I can't see anything behind Brera, that large pole like thing filling up the foreground in front of Brera is in the way. Correction, they don't need speech to communicate with other Vajra who are a part of their network. They use Aimo to communicate with other Vajra networks. The impression I got was that they had no direct mental link with other Vajra groups. We don't know that Grace had to, just that she did. Also, we don't know that Grace lost her control after the head was severed. She was blown up immediately after that. Even if she did, it's not a huge stretch to suggest she needed a direct physical connection for her control to take hold.

I really wish I had mine. I'm a bit concerned, Overdrive hasn't even shipped it yet. The heat shield thing is worrisome, but doesn't sound like the usual Yamato flaw. It's too obvious. The usual Yamato problems are parts breaking over time, this is just...well, stupid if it really is due to a flaw. I wish mine would get here so I could see first hand.

I suspect most people either don't notice the details, or chalk the differences up to the style of the animators or something. But, ja, while the basic shape and transformation are the same, the individual pieces are shaped differently. The production version VF-19's are heavier looking. Bulkier. Plus the different wings for the Blazer Valkyrie. Still, I'd love a VF-19P. Definitely my favourite variation of the 19 design. Unfortunately, it's possibly the least likely design for Yamato to produce. Seems to be the case for all my favourites.

More consistent would be nice. Still, don't take the scale shown in these shots too literally. The cockpit of that lifter is like two stories tall in that ground shot.

Right. As I said, they are able to do this because comic books are considered merchandise. New animation would be considered a derivative. HG does have merchandising rights to SDFM, so they can use those designs in comics. They can use those designs in videogames. This, of course, flies in the face of reason, but that's the way it works.

Do any Macross designs at all appear in Shadow Chronicles? I don't think they can even use the VF-X-4. They own distribution rights to the animation, they do not own the line art or rights to use the designs in their own new works. They can, however, use the line art for merchandising distribution. This all, of course, being what was stated in the Tokyo Circuit Court rulings from way back when. It's possible, as some have argued, that this does not apply somehow, but I've not seen anything to support that idea. Because a great many people are functional morons, things like comic books and videogames, which are in reality derivatives, are labled as "merchandise" in the eyes of the law. So, HG can use the VF-X-4 in comics, but not in animation. Aren't IP laws great?

I agree. It's really the recycled battle footage that stands out as terrible. It was very often worse than any given episode's non-recycled battle footage. Also the VF-11 launch sequence animation. Battle 7's transformation sequence is really good. I agree. Rewatching M7, especially Dynamite where they drop Fire Bomber's glam rock outfits, also made me a bit sad that Mikimoto didn't get to do the character designs for Frontier.

She loved it. Once we wrapped up Dynamite she was sad that was the end for those characters. Interesting comment, "The animation was fantastic!" I have to say I agree. The character animation in Macross 7 is highly underrated. The battle animation is poor, even the recycled footage which is extremely odd, but the characters are often incredibly well animated. Facial expressions especially stand out. It's kind of the opposite of Frontier in that way, I suppose.

Unfortunately, that does not matter. The VF-17 was also in VFX, doesn't mean that Yamato can make it. Same with the VF-22. Why? Because those first appeared, and are therefore under, the Macross 7 license. At least, that is my understanding of how the license works. On the other hand, Yamato is releasing the VF-22, which first appeared in Macross 7, not Dynamite. This lends credit to the idea that Yamato has the full Macross 7 license, including Dynamite. Otherwise, some special arrangements must have been made between Bandai, BW, and Yamato, or these toy licenses are far more complicated than any of us imagined. One thing is clear, though. Just because a Valkyrie appears in something a company has the license to, does not necessarily mean that Valk is included in the license. There's certainly more to it than that. Otherwise Yamato's VFX license would have covered pretty much all the Valkyries we've been clamouring for.