Graham

Heh, I was wondering when we would see the first custom 1/48 GBP. I will add this to the MW Custom Toy Gallery on Monday. Awesome work as usual Kurt. Graham

Reaching a lot IMO. Still not seeing it at all, not even a little. I've always found Gundam styling, whether it's Mobile Suit designs by Okawara, Katoki, Izabuchi or any other MS designer to be completely different from any Macross Variable Fighter. Even the variable Mobile Suits like Zeta, Wing, Savior don't share any common design cues with Valks IMO. There's always been some hand-to-hand fighting in Macross, even in the original SDF-Macross TV series. However, there is comparatively little compared to Gundam, where most fights end up at close range. In Macross, most kills are still with gunpod or missile. Yes, M+, M7 & M0 all have some hand-to-hand, but it's not much really. I'd hardly say it's fair to say that the later model valks have developed a love for hand to hand fighting. As for disproportionately large guns, the only one I can think of off the top of my head is the XS-06 carried by the Full Armored VF-11. Thats only one mecha out of all of kawamori's Valk designs. Every other Variable Fighter carries a normal size gunpod. Same with head fins. One does not make a trend. The VF-19K Fire Valk has a head fin, but what other VFs do? You have to take it in the context of the Macross universe. Max, who was in overall command of the Macross 7 fleet (and a Space War 1 veteran) had realised that they may come a time when the military forces of the fleet may encounter an enemy they could not defeat with conventional weaponary and so put together a plan so that the fleet would have a cultur war defence in the form of Basara and the VF-19. Graham

Wow, never seen that before and I thought I knew all the M7 merchandise. Need more info! Graham

The cutaway image from the DYRL Gold Book poster shows how each arm FAST pack holds 3 micro-missiles. Graham

This is not the reply I originally planned to type in response to A1's comments, but I'm trying my best to stay calm and mellow. I'd just like to point out that since February 1 2006 when I started updating the site again, I have done site updates on 31 days throughout the months of February and March (check the updates section). That is no small amount of work and a significant use of my time, which I could have used for doing other more enjoyable things. If somebody wants to pay me equal or more than my present salary, then I'll quit my day job and make Macrossworld my career and work on the site from 9-5 Mon-Fri. Otherwise, I'm doing the best I can with my limited time, resources and skills to get the site updated step by step. If Shawn were to assign more admins to update the site, it would certainly help, but he hasn't and I don't want to go over his head and give other people access to the server without his permission. I've done what I can to let Shawn know that we need more admins and there are people willing to take the post. As to why he hasn't contacted them yet, I don't know. Graham

I've also seen no indication that Kawamori is trying to make his VF designs resemble Gundams. They day that happens, is they day I quit Macross for good (not a Gundam fan). As for the Sound Force Valks, what a lot of people forget is that they are not military Valks, they are custom civilian valks belonging to a pop/rock band and designed to look visually different and be instantly recogniseable in their function to boost the morale of the civilaian population of City 7 in times of war. In this regard, the faces and breasts do a good job of making the Valks stand out more. Graham

Actually, that's the most common beef that the people who come to my site to bash Macross II voice. Like I mentioned (and apologized for) earlier, the line I'm used to hearing is "ZOMG! Kawamori didn't do it so it SUXX0R!" 385526[/snapback] I think you'll find most members on this site love the Macross II mecha designs, although many people do have issues with the story and animation quality of parts of Macross II. Personally, I love it. Graham

I don't see any similarities at all between the Strike Gundam and the YF-19, beyond the fact that they both have two arms, two legs and a head and are both robots And the YF-19's cockpit is not in the nose cone or "Super Boob" on the chest as you call it. In battroid mode, the cockpit moves to a position inside of the backpack section. Graham

Just watched the Mari Interview. Man she is still cute for her age. And that top she is wearing, man oh man, it showed her breasts real nicely and gave me lots of impure thoughts Graham

At a rough count, going from memory: - 1/48 VF-1 = 20pcs. 1/60 Q-Rau = 3pcs. 1/100 VB-6 = 2pcs. 1/60 VF-1 = 14pcs. 1/72 YF-19 = 4pcs. 1/72 VF-19A = 3pcs. 1/72 YF-21 = 4pcs. 1/72 VF-11 = 7pcs. Mystery Item = 1pcs. TOTAL = 58pcs. Graham

I cheered when Prime and the other Trannies died. Mwahahahaha! Graham

My ADV disk 1 with outer box & disk 2 just arrived in the post a few minutes ago from Amazon. Gotta say I'm very impressed with the box art. I just wish the AnimEigo set had such nice art. That was one of my main gripes with the AnimEigo set. Garoquel(sp), the guy that did the art on the AnimEigo sets is a talented artist and capable of much better, but he came up with such bland boring designs. Graham

IMO, it's rather silly trying to trace a constant design aesthetic to every canon Macross Valkyrie. they are not supposed to all look the same or have the same visual design cues. Although all the canon valks were designed by one person, i.e. Kawamori-san, they are designed and built in the Macross universe by different companies and IMO tracing design aesthetic by manufacturer is perhaps a more realistic and sensible approach. Valks By Manufacturer Northrop Grumman/Stonewell/Shinsei: VF-0 Sukhoi/Israel Aircraft Industries/Dornier: SV-51 Stonewell Bellcom: VF-1, VF-4 Stonewell Bellcom/Shinnakasu: VF-3000. Shinnakasu/Northrom Grumman VB-6 König Monster. Northrom Grumman: VA-3. Northrom & Grumman/Mikoyan: VAB-2. Shinsei Industries: VF-5000, VF-11, YF-19, VF-19. General Galaxy/Messer: VF-14. General Galaxy/Mikoyan: VA-14. General Galaxy: VF-9, VF-17, YF-21, VF-22. We can see for example that for Shinsei industries there are obvious shared design aesthetics between the VF-5000, VF-11 and YF/VF-19, such as use of an arm shield (11 & 19), similar canopy and nose shapes etc. For General Galaxy even though the the VF-17 and YF-21/VF-22 look wildly different, they do share many of the same design features, such as forearm mounted beam weapons, stealth, internal micro-misile carriage. Even the Stonewell Bellcom VF-1 and VF-4 share a very similar nose and cockpit section, although everything behind the cockpit represents a step in a different direction. If I want an anime, where all the mecha rarely change and have the same basic designs from series to series, with only minimal cosmetic changes (yawn), then I'd watch Gundam. Graham

G.I. Joe AKA the animated Village People. Graham

Haven't seen the box, but I'm not anticipating any surprises. Graham

Pretty much all my consoles were bought just because a Macross game was released for them (although of course I do play other games). So unless a really sh*t hot new Macross game is released for the next gen consoles I won't be buying them. Heck, I've still got a ton of games to finish on the PS2. Still playing though RE4 and haven't even started on Ace Combat 5 yet, despite buying it when it was first released. Graham

In fighter mode the 1/60 VF-0S is slightly larger than the 1/48 VF-1. For those who still can't wrap the brains around this, it is simply beacuse the VF-0 is a big plane, where as the VF-1 is a much smaller plane. Also, the 1/60 VF-0S is more complex than the either the 1/60 or 1/48 VF-1, having more parts, more features and better articulation, thus tooling and development costs were much higher. Don't worry, you guys won't be disappointed with the VF-0S Graham

There's a French movie called 'Sky Fighters' opening at the cinemas here in Hong Kong this Thursday. Looks like it's got Mirages in it and some dogfighting. Anybody seen it already? Is it worth seeing? Thinking of perhaps catching it. Graham

Well, when you create your post, there is a button for adding attachments, which let's you upload photos directly from your hard drive, but only up to 1.95mb IIRC. Alternitively, you can use a free image hosting service, such as picsplace to save you photos and then post the clickable thumbnails in your topic. Graham

Japanese shy!? Not, the ones I know, well no more so than people of any other race. Graham

I've always loved the box art on the original Bandai 1/55 DYRL VF-1A. Graham

Comparing models to toys is really comparing apples to oranges. Toys and models are not in competition with each other. They are designed to appeal to completely different fanbases. Although, it could be said that Bandai's Gundam plastic models with their snap-fit construction, pre-coloured plastic parts, multiple points of articulation and toy-like level of detail have blured the line somewhat between toys and model kits. However, despite being slightly more sturdy that traditional plastic model kits by manufacturers such as Hasegawa, Bandai's kits are still relatively fragile and cannot match toys for sturdiness. Neither do they match the level of detail of traditional model kits, making them neither fish nor fowl. But anyway, I digress................... nightmreB4macross, you seem to be missing the point that models are not relly meant to be played with, especially traditional style plastic model kits. If you want something sturdy to play with, buy a toy. If you want a fine looking display piece that will give you joy and satisfaction in the process of building, then buy and build a model kit, it's as simple as that. Toys and model kits both have their place and both serve their respective purpose very well. It's not a case of one being better than the other. Both have different purposes and both can exist alongside the other. There's room in this world for both toys and models. Although I'm a dyed-in-the-wool toy guy, I'll admit that the even most state of the art toys, such as the 1/48 VF-1 or 1/60 VF-0 cannot come close to a well built model kit for detail or realism. While custom toys such as the many wonderful custom 1/48s on this site look absolutely fantastic, they still will never look as good as a carefully built model kit that a skilled model builder has taken time to fit, sand, putty and paint well. Graham

You are all going to be very happy with this toy. It's loaded with improvements over the 1/48. Unfortunately, I'm not allowed to go into details yet. Graham

Anasazi37, Kurt or Jung would be the best members to ask about customising the Yamato 1/48. Graham

No, you still have to use your finger (or other appendage ) to rotate the seat, it's not automatic. Graham