Graham

Looks like the VF-171 designation is official, as the HJ article also mentions it, which makes it two magazines that have used it now. Notice how the older figher and gerwalk pics of Aruto's VF-25 did not show the black and red head top colors, instead having the head plain white. It's only in the battroid pic and this new fighter mode pic that the black and red head colors are used. I guess irt was a fairly recent color change decision then. Graham

Yep, double elbow joint. Graham

Here's the latest Macross Frontier articles from the new February 2008 issues of Dengeki Hobby and Hobby Japan magazines. Note the new top view pic of Aruto's white red & black VF-25. Not too sure I like the gap between the legs and the shield though. Graham

BTW, this refers to my "Saturation Penetration" sig of a few months back. Congrats to those who guessed right. Graham

There may still be the occasional reissue, but yes, for all intents and purposes the 1/48 is dead. All hail the 1/60! Graham

Here's the scans from the new February 2008 issues of Dengeki Hobby and Hobby Japan magazines. Graham

Yes it's true. Yes, it's perfect transformation. Yes, it has been engineered from the start to allow for 2 seaters. Yamato want's to have all their perfect transformation toys in 160 scale. Improvements over 1/48 include shorter nose cone in battroid mode (uses VF-0 type transformation), non-splitting foot thrusters and propotionally larger hands than the 1/48. No moving flaps or removeable nose cone, but it does have some other interesting gimmicks. I'll post clearer magazine scans in about an hour. Graham

Sketchley, is that confirmed that General Galaxy is the manufacturer of the VF-25? Where did you read that? Graham

I'm betting that Kawamori did those mecha designs. Looks like his work. Graham

Did they spell 'Excalibur' correctly on the YF-19? Mine are all wrapped up for X'mas, so I can't check. Graham

MW is the only forum I frequently post on, but I lurk on the following: - 2000AD forums HKPro foums 10-8 forums Tactical Forums Smith & Wesson Forums M&P forums Graham

All this talk about SMS being a private defence contractor in the Blackwater mold is pure speculation at the moment. In all likelyhood, they may well turn out to be just a civil defence force. Graham

It's tomorrow. The air time info is in the news section of the MW Frontier page (the link in my sig). Graham

Passive stealth also makes use of RAM (Radar Absorbent Material) in the construction of the aircraft. Graham

Can't see the thumbnail. Just left clicked on it and it opened up under MS Paint. Graham

Anyway, we are starting to stray off topic again. Let's stick to Frontier. Graham

The VF-9 Cutlass has only been shown in action in the M3 Dreamcast game as a player selectable mecha. I can't recall if it is shown at all in the opening movie of the game or not, which IIRC features mostly the VF-5000B, VF-4 & Variable Glaug. Just do a search on YouTube for Macross M3 and I'm sure you can find the movie. IIRC, the Shoji Kawamori Macross Design Works book features lineart of the VF-9's transformation. Graham

Ah, I may have seen the Baltar trial. Gotta go back and rewatch what I have. Graham

Good question. Its been a while since I last saw any. IIRC, I think the last one I saw was where Starbuck vanished into the cloud chasing what may or may not have been a Raider. Sorry, memory is fuzzy. Am I up to speed? Graham

Based on what we've seen so far, I'm feeling confidently optimistic that it is going to be a great series. Graham

Yay! My Razor DVD arrived from Amazon yesterday. No time to watch it until the weekend though. Graham

Not opening them until Christmas day though, so I have something nice to look forward to. Graham

I won't say it will never happen, but the chance of seeing Regults in 1/60 is probably pretty slim. There is probably a greater chance in the Gnu line. Graham

There's been no news, but anything is possible. Perhaps they will do some for the new series, although I suspect that Bandai has the master toy licence for Frontier locked down for a couple of years at lleast. Graham

Just to reconfirm, the YF-21 will come with 2 x gunpods, the display stand and FAST Packs. I'm pretty sure it also comes with the Fold booster attachments, but NOT the actual fold booster. And no I have not lost interest in Macross, just real life (work & family) has been getting in the way too much recently. I do plan to finish the SV-51 review, probably after Christmas. Although I'm at the stage where I can transform the SV-51 quite quickly, I'm not sure my skill level is up to a video yet. Graham