Graham

OK, just picked up the January 2006 issues of Hobby Japan and Dengeki Hobby magazines, which are just out on the 23rd of this month. Unfortunately, there are no new pics of the Yamato 1/60 VF-0S. But to be honest, I was sort of expecting that, as we had a two month wait last time between the fighter mode and battroid mode pics. If they follow the same pattern, I expect that we will see some Gerwalk pics in next months magazines. Basically, the new Hobby Japan had no new Macross pictures or information at all . The new Dengeki Hobby has some pics of the Yamato 1/48 GBP armor as well as the upcoming Hasegawa Battroid mode display stand. I'll post these pics in the correct threads. Graham

Just wondering if anybody besides me has seen the new CGI Captain Scarlet TV series that's been airing in UK? If yes, what do you think of it? I just picked up the DVD box set of the first 13 episodes from amazon.co.uk and I'm absolutely in love with it. I was always a fan of the original show, but find this new version far superior. It's been getting glowing reviews (see the amazon link above). IMO the CG is far superior to other CG shows like the Roughnecks Starship Troopers show for example. It maintains the dark tone of the original show and for what is basically a show aimed at children has a surprizing amount of death and violence, just like the original show. The new vehicle designs are great as well IMO, especially the Rhino (an updated SPV) and the Angel Falcon Interceptors. There are some fantastic flying scenes as well, especially during the airshow in the episode 'Circles of Doom'. Apparently it cost one million pounds per episode to produce and it shows. Graham

If Harry Potter encourages more kids (or even adults) to read, then I'm all for the books. Kids these days need to read more rather than be glued to console/computer games or the TV all the time. What I can't grasp is why when the books are so obviously written for the teen and pre-teen age group, are they so popular with adults? My parents always encouraged me to read and from the age of about 9 I got seriously into books and grew up with authors like Heinlein, Harry Harrison, Tolkien, Moorcock, Frank Herbert, James Herbert, Damon Knight, Stephen Donaldson, Ray Bradbury, Philip K Dick, Stephen King and many others. To this day I still go through about a book a week and it's rare that you will catch me without a paperback book stuck in the back pocket of my jeans. Now, I've tried to read the first Harry Potter book and got about 50 pages into it, but just could not force myself to continue. Sorry, I just found it too juvenile. I've also rented the first two movies to watch with my wife and found them to be nothing really special. Maybe Potter is something you have got to be really into, but I just don't see the attraction myself. Even thinking back to those long ago days of my teen or pre-teen years, I can't see myself as liking the Potter books. In those angsty years, I would much rather have stuck with Moorcocks' Eternal Champion books, especially the Elric series or the Thomas Covenant books. It just seems to me that people around the world need to remember that there are thousands of other authors besides JK Rowling and millions of other books to read. If the popular press were to be believed Rowling's books are the only books in existence. At least that's what it seems like to me. But like I said at the start of my post, if the books get more people reading who would not otherwise, then more power to them. Hopeully, their new found enjoyment of reading will lead them onto other better (IMO) books. Graham

I'll be picking up the January 2006 issues of Hobby Japan & Dengeki Hobby magazines either today or tomorrow and will post any pics as soon as I get them. So keep your eyes peeled! Graham

Not just best scifi movie, but best movie of the year IMO. Graham

FYI, I have already scanned the December issues of Hobby Japan and Dengeki Hobby magazines and posted the pics on page 20 of this thread. Graham

I love the Landram I can't beleive there is no Viper MK II listed. I mean come on Hasbro, it's only the main bloody fighter in the show!!!!!! The MK VII hardly gets any screen time compared to the MK II. Graham

OK, just searched various sites for info on the Hasbro BSG toys and the line-up seems to include: - 3Inch 1978 Cylon Raider vehicle 3Inch 2004 Scout ship vehicle 3Inch 1978 Viper vehicle 3Inch BG 04 Colonial 1 3Inch BG 04 Raptor 3Inch BG 04 Viper MK VII I'm a little disappointed that no Viper MKII from BG 04 is included and neither is the new or old Galactica And what the heck is the "3Inch 2004 Scout ship vehicle"? It's not the Raptor as that is already listed. Graham

Eeeeee (screams like a Japanese schoolgirl)! When? How much? Photos? Need more info ASAP. Graham

I used to save and flat back all my Yamato boxes, but in the end I just thought "what for"? and threw them all out recently. Graham

I have vague memories of reading and liking the books as a child, about 25 years ago, but don't really remember them that well. I may give this a try if the reviews are positive. Graham

Haven't been watching much new anime recently. I enjoyed GITS SAC & GITS SAC 2nd Gig (but they are hardly new now)and I liked what I've seen of Eureka 7, but that's it. I've been building up my DVD collection of favorite horror, action and sci fi movies instead of watching anime recently. Graham

For the umpteenth time, where's the Viper MKII, MKVII and new Cylon Raider toys already? Graham

You do realise that the 1/60 VF-0S is actually larger than a 1/48 don't you? 1/48 VF-1 = 30cm in fighter mode 1/60 VF-0 = 32cm in fighter mode The VF-0 is a big bird, far larger than the VF-1. Graham

I hope it's not just an origin story. Enough with origin stories already Hollywood. I think pretty much everybody in the world knows the origin of Superman, so why not move on and do something more interesting. Graham

The new hobby mags should be out by the end of this week (Thursday 24th or Friday 25th) so hopefully there will be some new pics..........maybe Gerwalk mode if we are lucky. I'll scan and post any pics as soon as I get the magazines. Graham

The only parts that should need removing for transformation will be the intake covers and perhaps the pitot tube, although we are not sure about that yet. Graham

What you are seeing in those magazine scans is actually two seperate prototypes, one in fighter mode and one in battroid mode. The fighter mode one is all stickered up, whereas the battroid one has no stickers. Anoher way to tell is that if you look closely you can see the battroid is missing it's wing lights, where as the fighter mode has the wing lights. Graham

Finally got to see Serenity a couple of weeks ago while on holiday in UK. Great movie. Definitely my favorite movie of this year and for me beat out the other movies I wanted to watch this year, included Land of the Dead (my 2nd fav his year), SW Ep III (mediocre CGI snoozefest), Batman Begins (huge plot holes) and the hugely disappointing Devils Rejects. Already preordered the Serenity DVD and can't wait to watch it again and again and again. Definitely hope we get a sequel movie or 3. My only minor complaint is that Serenity tied up far too many of the threads from the TV series. I would of liked a bit more stuff left open ended. Graham

Just to clarify, it is the Starship troopers movie that used dropships, not the original RAH novel, where the M.I. in their powered armor were droped in individual capsules. Graham

In one of the hobby mags several months ago, it was announced that the pilot's seat would rotate in the cockpit, just like in the anime, so that the pilot would be sitting in the correct position in Battroid mode. IIRC, I think Renato translated the article. It's probably mentioned in this thread somewhere if you want to read back through all 20+ pages. Graham

Yes, but it's a custom sticker, not the standard Yamato one. Graham

The two things I'm most curious about now are: - 1) Is the pitot tube on the underside of the nose removable or does it somehow retract into the nose cone. If so, how does it retract? 2) How does the rotating seat mechanism work, as there doesn't seem to be that much free space in the cockpit? Graham

It was already announced months ago that the leg FAST packs will attach by magnets. I don't think the lower legs will be die-cast. From my previous contact with Yamato, I know that since making the 1/48, they dislike using die-cast in transforming toys. I suspect that the lower legs will be ABS plastic and will have a small magnet glued inside. Graham

Oh, I wouldn't be so sure. They never bother doing Tampo printing on these hand painted prototypes shown in the magazines. They will sometimes just use decals for these, usually taken from model kits where the size is compatible. Once the tooling is done, and the test shots start getting made, then I bet we'll start seeing some pics that show tampo printed heatshields. Graham