Graham

I showed the pics of Dobber's Russian style SV-51 to Yamato and they love it, so there is a possibilty we might see a repaint toy in the future. Also, I just asked for an update on the release date of Ivanov and apparently the shipping containers are already on the way by sea from China to Japan and have either just landed or will be landing any day now in Japan. Graham

I just spoke with Yamato and while my contact didn't know off hand, he is going to check for me whether the 25th aniversery markings are tampo printed or stickers. As soon as I get a reply I'lll let you know. It's interesting that according to Yamato nearly everybody who saw the toys at the concert preferred the YF-19 to the VF-1. Graham

I'm the opposite. I want the 25th anniversery markings to be tampo printed on, not tacky stickers. Graham

Personally, I'd love to see more of the giant bugs from the opening movie of M3. Graham

I said the release date is 20th, but it's probably delayed until the end of the month now. Graham

No 1/48 scale Super Ostrich, Elint Seeker or VF-1D from Yamato, not ever. RBTL Graham

No box pic in that auction. No pic of the actual toy, just a scan of the promotional flyer. I seriously doubt that he has it in yet. Never trust auctions that don't have pics of the actual item on sale. Graham

Thanks for clarifying the gold decal issue David. Graham

One problem with viewing the anime is that the colrs change often depoending on the lighting of the scene. Yeah, I would like confirmation on whether gold is difficult to use in decals? Graham

I stand corrected, but I still call them trams! Calling them cable cars must be an American thing, as I've never heard of them being called cable cars before. Everybody I know calls them trams. Anyway, let's get back to discussing the new show, new mecha and new characters, not fecking cable cars/streetcars/trams etc. Graham

But he's got a tiny little COCKpit! Graham

See my post on page 12. I posted some theories about the new VF, but yeah then people started talking about Trams AKA streetcars.....yawn (sorry guys, cable cars are something else entirely). See pic below for what a cable car is. Graham

I think because many people, myself included, are not too keen on non-transforming toys of transforming mecha, no matter how nicely articulated or how cheap they might be. Plus, I have no interested in putting my Valks into funky break-dancing poses. Many of us are also burnt out on VF-1 toys, due to the market being flooded by many different versions from Yamato, Bandai, Banpresto, Toynami and others over the past few years. Despite all the above sentiments, I'd probably pick up a Revoltech YF-19 or YF-21 if they were not too overly stylised. Graham

NORA SV-51 COLOR NEWS I spoke with Yamato on Saturday regarding the Nora SV-51 and they advised me that the gold markings are here to stay . Actually, not sure if they are exactly gold, copper or bronze, just that they are metallic. I’m waiting for Yamato to send me some good quality studio pics of Nora’s SV-51 as the Wonder Fest pics have very dodgy lighting. What I found out that I didn’t know before, was that when Macross Zero was in preproduction, Tenjin actually worked very closely with Kawamori on the Macross Zero designs and that Tenjin was actually the one that did the color schemes for all the mecha. Kawamori did the black and white lineart designs and then passed them onto Tenjin and told him to convert them into CG and come up with the color schemes. According to both Kawamori and Tenjin, gold is actually the correct color for Nora’s SV-51 markings, not yellow. Regarding Hasegawa’s SV-51 Nora model kit, I was told was that the reason that the Hasegawa kit came with yellow decals for the markings is that there is some problem with producing good quality gold decals (perhaps David or other model kit gurus can confirm this)? Which is why Hasegawa went with Yellow. It’s been a few months since I last watched Macross Zero, so I’m going to have to pop it into the DVD player and pay special attention to Nora’s SV-51, to see if the markings indeed look more gold or yellow. In a way, it’s good that Yamato works closely with Kawamori (and now Tenjin), as it means we get more accurately designed toys. However, on the downside it does mean that the aforementioned gentlemen, sometimes get to mess around with the color schemes as they have final approval, not Yamato. Regarding the base color of the Nora toy, there is still some wiggle-room for correction, so if any MWers want to post suggestions or color swatches for what you think the correct shade of magenta/purple/pink the toy should be, please do so ASAP. Graham

Spoke with Yamato on Saturday morning and they confirmed that the Ivanov SV-51 is still on schedule for release at the end of August. With transforming toys as complex as this, there are always many small design, QA/QC and assembly related issues that need to be addressed prior to the final release. Sometimes resolving these takes longer than expected, hence the delay in release. Yamato are trying very hard to ensure this product is a perfect as humanly possible for the first release. Graham

Although it's difficult to tell anything conclusive from the one picture, I'm betting those new 'Frontier Class' colony ships are huge, probably dwarfing City 7. It wouldn't surprise me if they are close in size UC era Gundam colonies, well lengthwise anyway, if not diameter. I guess as they only have one landmass, they would be like UC colonies cut in half lengthwise. Graham

From the pic of the new VF previously posted, my comments are as follows: - It has an angled chestplate in Battroid mode ala VF-5000 and VF-17. The rear half of the gunpod visible in the pic, looks fairly traditional, i.e like a GU-11. The right hand could possible be a tri-claw, rather than a normal hand (the pic is not really clear enough to tell). The shoulder mechanism looks like it could have a similar transformation to the shoulders on the VF-11. Some type of blade or fin (possibly folded tail fin?) is visible on the right forearm. Or perhaps it is the wing assembly connected to the back and is actually behind the forearm. Possibly an officer or aces model. A head laser or antenna is shown on the right side of the head, It is likely that there is one on the left side as well. Transformation looks fairly standard, possibly a combination of VF-1, VF-5000 and VF-11? Cockpit and nose probably folds under the chest in Battroi mode, rather than having the nose cone between the Battroids legs ala VF-1, VF-0, VF-11 etc. Not keen on the color scheme, although with the lighting in the pic it is difficult to tell. Graham

Tentacle fan service perhaps? Macross meets Legend of the Overfiend? Graham

Hopefully the wave SDF-1 repaint will be more matte. I personally find the original version too glossy. Graham

When I received my 4 sets of VF-0S and 4 sets VF-0A of replacement arms, they came complete with the shoulder ball joint and the hinged piece that screws onto the backplate, so no need to pop the new arms onto the old ball joint. It sounds like from your post that your replacements didn't come with the shoulder ball joint and hinged piece? Graham

Tenjin is actually responsible for these 25th anniversery colour schemes on the Yamato VF-1 and YF-19. The YF-19 looks absolutely gorgeous IMO. Graham

Can we add that to the MW custom toy gallery? Graham

Why are they making this? Graham

Captain Scarlet is voiced by Wayne Forester, a versatile British voice actor who has provided voices for many UK children's TV programs. Graham

From what I've been told, all the major markings will be Tampo printed on the Ivanov SV-51. All the publicity pics are preproduction versions with either no Tampo Printing or only partial Tampo printing. Although this bird is expensive, you are getting quite a lot for you money as it comes with the new style display stand, overwing boosters and full set of missiles and micro-missile pods so you can display it as either # ep 1-4 standard version of ep # 5 boosters + extra weapons version. Graham