edwin3060

Well I hope Bandai might do it-- they are releasing a 1/72 Varja afterall, so they might go on to release it in 1/60, and continue releasing some Zentraedi soldiers that were seen in Eps 13-14? Heh. its a low probability but one can dream.

What about if, in buying the toys, we can't afford food? I know I know I'm joking... heh.

Eugimon: Dude.. nice way to reveal your age! SchizophrenicMC: +1.. although to me, anything made in the Western world is expensive, not just Japan. Sketchley: Just wiki-ed the Big Mac index, and from my brief scan of it, and from this extract: " The Big Mac PPP exchange rate between two countries is obtained by dividing the price of a Big Mac in one country (in its currency) by the price of a Big Mac in another country (in its currency). This value is then compared with the actual exchange rate; if it is lower, then the first currency is under-valued (according to PPP theory) compared with the second, and conversely, if it is higher, then the first currency is over-valued. For example, using figures in July 2008:[4] * the price of a Big Mac was $3.57 in the United States * the price of a Big Mac was £2.29 in the United Kingdom (Britain) * the implied purchasing power parity was $1.56 to £1, that is $3.57/£2.29 = 1.56 * this compares with an actual exchange rate of $2.00 to £1 at the time * the pound was thus overvalued against the dollar by 28% o ie the actual exchange rate divided by implied purchasing parity → 2 divided by 1.56 = 1.28" I don't think it works very well-- maybe it works well in the Western Hemisphere, but MacDonalds actually prices its meals based on local conditions as well. For example, a Big Mac meal costs about 5-6 British pounds in the UK, and costs 5-6 Singapore dollars as well. Similarly, a Snickers bar that costs about 1 pound here costs 1 dollar in Singapore. But I digress.

Overdrive is excellent--- they charge in USD even though they are based in Japan, and their prices (at least for their pre-orders) don't change even as the currency fluctuates.

What would be the advantages of a wiki format? I'm just curious as to why people would raise such a suggestion. As it is, I think your website has an excellent, well organised layout. In fact, the only suggestions I could make would be the addition of a search engine (for people new to the franchise who might not know which VF belongs to which series), and maybe hotlinks between related variable fighters (for example the YF-19, VF-19A, VF-19F/S which are all related but appear in different anime/games).

Hobbes, Anime52k8: I understand where you are coming from-- but the case that we have with the SV-51 launching is not the same as an animation error. All we have now are two different theories of how SV-51s launch from the submarines, and we have evidence that they launch with engines running regardless of whether the sub is submerged or not. We also have no evidence for the alternate theory of compressed gas launches. Until you can come up with a valid reason why that is not possible within the limits of the anime, or until we have additional evidence from MacChronicle or otherwise, what is seen in All that VF is what is. There is no contradiction that would imply an animation error, or compel us to ignore the launch in All that VF. About the loadouts of the SV-51-- like Anime52k8 said, clearly they can launch with a full loadout. They might not need to collapse the wings all the way for a sub launch, for example, as long as the launch ports are of sufficient diameter. I would not want to be the mechanic who loads the aircraft though-- clearly they must have some form of movable crane in order to lift and attach the weapons-- yet there doesn't seem to be sufficient space for such a crane from the top-- perhaps it comes from the bottom?

Yep thats probably what I'll do as well... anyway, you can pre-order the Super Packs for Alto from various sources--if money is no object. I pre-ordered one set Just couldn't resist. Alternatively, just get Luca or Michael.

You can't just discount animation that doesn't fit your theory-- All that VF is basically Shoji Kawamori indulging his own (and our) fighter otaku-ness. I don't see why it should count for any less than what is seen in Mac0. After all, he approved the underwater launch sequence in All that VF 0, so barring a 180 degree reversal by him, the underwater launch sequence should be taken as it is. Also, I don't see why you point out the challenges with maintaining watertightness, since the VF-0 can clearly do it, and it would be pretty silly for the SV-51, which is noted to be more combat optimised than the VF-0, and designed to launch from submarines to boot, to not be watertight. Other than that, good description of how the engine works as a liquid fueled rocket! (Which is what it would be if my theory about a onboard liquid oxidant storage is correct, the alternative being highly compressed oxygen) For the VF-0, I would say that the main engines were probably off (or idle) up until the part where shin had grabed the birdman's head, and was heading for the surface-- at that point you can see that there are some lines drawn from the engine exhausts and the engines were probably producing thrust then-- and the engines were certainly running at the point where he breached the surface. Again, the main engines would be running off whatever oxidant the VF-0 carried for space use, since the design of impellers for underwater propulsion is vastly different from the design of a jet engine.

Kitbash? Why kitbash when you have the 1/72 model kit?

It's the lousy US dollar thats doing it-- esp after the Detroit bailout was rejected. Any idea if HLJ has a christmas or new year discount thingy?

O_O nice collection of flight helmets! Now all you need is a JHMCS! jjk...

Well, there's the VF-171 Super pack to consider so thats at least 2 releases. Plus custom alto colours, thats 3.

Yea I know the issues with Liquid oxygen... maybe they use highly compressed oxygen bottles? Overtechnology could allow for pressure increases, but I'm not sure to what extent. Alternatively, they could use a different kind of oxidiser for their fuel, one that is in liquid form. I.e. the jet fuel can combust with both air or the alternative oxidiser, and the availability of oxidiser is what limits space (or underwater) operations. P.S. This is kinda turning into the Mecha technology thread!

I wish they had cannon fodder colours that more closely matched real-life aircraft-- like gray or something. Thats what I like about the VF-0 (QC issues notwithstanding). I mean, light brown or khaki is really more a mud-pounder colour than a air/space fighter colour!

I think you are vastly discounting the cost of assembly, especially for valkyries which are so intricate-- for plastic kits, everything from production to packaging can be automated, you practically just need to feed in plastic and cardboard at one end and the boxed kit pops out at the other end! (Hyperbole, I know, but still.) For assembled kits, after all the injection mould etc, you have the additional step of painting, tampo printing, and you need to employ one factory of people to assemble all the toys! How would you like to build the same VF-1 shoulder day after day? You have to figure some of these factory workers would want to spice things up a little by inserting the shoulder joint hinge pins upside now . Add in the QC process to correct the wrongly inserted shoulder pins, and now your cost of production is many times higher than a plastic model kit. Bandai almost certainly has a higher profit margin on its VF-25 1/72 kits than Yamato has on their 1/60 Valkyries. On the part about minors-- I empathize, having recently been done with that phase of my life. I understand your pain! But look at it this way-- once you are earning enough money to buy your own valks, the satisfaction will be that much greater, and you already know which ones are good and which ones are terrible, so you can make better use of your money, instead of having to play the random numbers game! But until then, work hard and aim to get a well paying job that can feed your Macross addiction! (Cliched but true.)

I'm interested! Also, that jailbait nose art decal is available as part of the special edition VF-25F that was released some time back-- might be kind of hard trying to get one though.

Good point about electrolysis-- depending on the sortie rate, they probably would have to hold about 2 launches worth of oxygen at a minimum. I think from the 2 launches we have seen animated (M0 Ep5 and All tt VF Zero) they don't even do compressed gas launches-- the engines are lit once they leave the submarine, and probably even before that (since they are in a/b the moment you see them leave the submarine) which makes my underwater recovery all the more plausible. SchizophrenicMC: Why is it physically impossible to do so? Liquid oxygen storage may solve some of the volumetric issues I guess-- more likely, the fighters themselves are able to function without external oxygen for limited periods of time just like the VF-0, given that the fighters engines are still lit when they are in the water.

Oh well my fingers are crossed then. Maybe I should have gone for the YF-21 then-- although the VF-0S does seem to be significantly in higher demand, going for up to 500 dollars (!) on ebay for the combo pack.

Depending on how thick the shoulder hinge is, the magnet might not be enough-- the hinge may just be too thin to be significantly affected by the magnet. Also, metal may have significant wear issues when rubbing against plastic. Finally, machining a shoulder hinge, as compared to diecasting, is significantly more expensive, and may not be worth it IMO. I've not yet seen a toy that used machined rather than diecast parts.

I actually think it might, since the 1/100s is targetted at a larger audience, which will be more affected by the economic slowdown, as compared to the market for the 1/60s, where the demand (I think) is more inelastic relative to the 1/100s. Of course, I could be completely wrong and the economic slowdown (together with the greater potential number of different VFs) may drive many of the 1/60 collectors to the 1/100 line--- but going by how the pre-orders for the 1/100 VF-25 don't seem to be filling up (granted not many stores have the pre-orders up, I'm just going by HWJ and Overdrive) this might not be very likely.

Good point about the swing bar eugimon, especially since the VF-0 is supposed to have the thin pieces like thinner versions of the VF-25 LERXes for the transformation-- the Toynami 1/100 VF-1, for all it's faults, actually has some form of this which I think is interesting. Yes I know it's just speculation, but thats what this thread is about, IMO-- 10% pictures of the actual product and 90% speculation-- the speculation is what maintains interest in the toys and keeps the thread going until the toy actually comes out and everybody can see how silly their speculations were, or how right they are, so let's not discount the speculations. Now for more speculation-- based on the pictures of the DX VF-25G and RVF-25 w/ Super packs, I put forward that the legs not sitting flush is due to the need to accomodate the engine mounted Super packs, which extend to the back of the legs and increase the thickness there somewhat, leaving some spaces and gaps when the Super packs are not equipped. You will notice that both the model kit, and the 1/100, which have no mounting points/holes for the super packs, have legs that are correctly positioned with no gaps. So, in this case it has nothing to do with durability, playability or aesthetics, but the Super packs. Golden arms: I think the lack of a neck was attributed to a mistransformation, either early in this thread, or in the version 1 of this thread.

Yamato doesn't even have a main customer base in the US! (Although members of this forum may beg to disagree ) Besides, do you really want to pay twice to three times as much to get items made in the US? Nationalism aside, of course. Digression: From where I come from, Japanese cars are seen as the mass market, European cars are seen as the premium, and US cars are the weirdo gas guzzlers, not fitting into any category but most people just don't want to get them. Chinese cars are the cheapos of course. US made cars don't really have a very good reputation in my country.

No, my point is that the feet are in contact with the ground at all times, providing a solid foundation for the rest of the transformation to occur, so Battroid to GERWALK and back on the ground is nothing much. Otoh, transforming from GERWALK or Battroid to fighter would require the points of contact to the ground to change from the feet to the landing gear, and it would be cool if someone could figure out if such a transformation on the ground is possible without too much fuss, because there might be maintenance advantages to such transformations. Ok enough of this! This is supposedly a lighthearted thread... I guess I did kill it... To redeem myself... MELONS! Big Juicy Watermelons! Yum Yum

Erm... and all the animation as well (at least the first story arc). I think some of the antipathy stems from how Harmony Gold acted and is acting in addition to any perceived weaknesses in the storyline.

Well, it soft launching just a postulation for reduced signature, we cannot definitively rule it in or out. Good point about M0 Remko! From that, and the way they launched in All that VF Zero, I guess that they are trained to do engine running launches-- I just rewatched the scene in Macross Zero and it looked like they took off with afterburners. From the All that VF-Zero video, the way they launch looks exactly the same as the Macross Zero scene. From that we can establish that the sub does carry enough oxygen stores for launching the SV-51s, regardless of whether the sub is submerged or not. This also answers the question of whether the SV-51s engine can function underwater. This does away with all the complicated gas launching mechanisms then-- the space below the launch deck could just be baffles to slow down the exhaust from the VF engines.