Graham

Please do not insult Armored Core like that. Graham

PANIC NOW! A friend pointed me to this link which has a short review (no spoilers) of the movie. And a long review (with spoilers). It doesn't just sound bad, it sounds absolutely terrible. To quote the reviewers concluding paragraph: - "Hitchhiker's is not so bad that it's good. It's just miserably, depressingly bad. It misses the point by a light year. Is it a good movie? No. Is it a good version of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy? Definitely not. It is ill-conceived, badly written, poorly directed and worst of all staggeringly unfunny. It is a travesty of a film. I mourn for it, I really do". Poor Douglas Adams must be spinning in his grave like a rotisserie chicken. Graham

Although it is not variable, there is also the Gokigen Seimetsu VF-22 Battroid mode conversion kit for use with Hasegawa's VF-22 model. You can see photos of it in Noel's Winter Wonder Fest 2005 report. I think ChristopherB has 2 of these conversion kits (lucky devil). Graham

OK, locking this thread as we already have a main Yukikaze thread. Graham

Last rumour I heard was that the delay with episode 5 was due to Lt. Rei Fukai & Major James Bukhar finally declaring their love for each other and had decided to stop fighting the JAM and move to San Francisco to get married. Presently Gonzo/Bandai are frantically looking for 2 replacement characters to star in the final episode. Graham

Yeah, I agree. Stuff that already exists in 1/48 should be removed from the poll. Graham

I'm surprised the VF-4 is getting so much love. While I know it's a fan favorite, I thought it would get beaten out by the YF-19 (as usually happens). But then again there is already a 1/48 resin kit of the Fighter mode YF-19 from Club-M, which has been recast several times. Graham

Fantastic work. Looking forward to seeing it in battroid mode. Very interested to see the D-type heatshield. Maybe this will be the proverbial boot up the ass that Yamato needs in order to get working on some 2-seater 1/48 versions of their own. Graham

You can order it from either Hobby Link Japan or amazon.co.jp. Note, you have to sign up to use amazon.co.jp, you cannot use your regular amazon.com account. However, they have an page in English for signing up, so it's not difficult. I've ordered many times from them and they ship far quicker than HLJ. Graham

Actually, I've always thought that Macross drew at least some of it's inspiration from the Battle of Britain, in that you have a handful of fighters defending against overwhelming odds. Graham

Give it time, I'm sure they'll come. I'd really love a Viper MK II & MK VII toy, as I'm in love with the new series. Graham

Give it time, I'm sure they'll come. I'd really love a Viper MK II & MK VII toy, as I'm in love with the new series. Graham

Congratulations to Egan for 10 years of the Macross Compendium. The Compendium has really been (and still is) an invaluable resource for us Macross fans. Graham

I just noticed that Tenjin has an English translation of the page on his site about his upcoming Valkyries book due for release this Thursday (April 14). Tenjin must obviously be aware that there is a significant English speaking fan base for his work and Macross. Graham

Nobody's mentioned Dr. Evil from the Austin Powers movies. Graham

Not even with the free advertising they get from MacrossWorld's main page! Ha, ya hear that Yamato, 'FREE ADVERTISING'....Ha Graham

I actually hate eggs. Have done since I was a kid. I never eat them, can't stand the taste. Graham

They look great. I'll get them added to the MW custom toy gallery soon. Graham

Not even with the free advertising they get from MacrossWorld's main page! It's nice to know that at least one person still visits the main page Graham

Saw the thread title and thought it was going to be about Dragon-Models action figures, model kits and die-cast jets, in which case I would have said go to any branch of UML as they are Dragon's retail arm in Hong Kong . I see you are asking about a completely different thing. I'm not really into antiques (unless you include Takatoku toys ), so it's not an area I know much about. I'd tell your workmate to visit Hollywood Road in the Central district of HK Island as there are several antique stores there. She could also try Stanley Market on the south side of HK island as there are lots of Dragon trinkets on sale there, but probably no real antiques. Graham

I think it took about 2 weeks to get mine, but I don't remember exactly as my year was the first year to get called up, so it's almost a year and a half ago that I got mine. Anyway, check out the HK Immigration Department Smart ID website, I'm sure they have the info there. Graham

I'll get this added to the custom toy gallery pronto. Graham

Don't you think you better give it back to him then? Graham

Pretty much every modern day jet fighter has a HUD to display aiming data and other vital information such as airspeed, altitude etc. I can't think of a modern fighter that doesn't have a HUD these days. In a combat situation a pilot does not want to have to keep constantly looking down at cockpit instruments and thus loose situational awareness. Some of the newer HUDs like on the F22 and Eurofighter are quite wide angle and large. Scroll down this page. Looks like the F22 and Eurofighter actually use the same HUD. That I did not know. Even in WWII most fighters had gunsights mounted in the pilots line of sight. Having to look downwards at a monitor like in original BSG and SW to see your aiming cross hair is pretty silly and impractical. You can see that if the Vipers in BSG had a HUD like the Eurofighter HUD (pic below), it would not really block the actors face much. A developing real world trend seems to be to have helmet-mounted sights, with aiming info and other data displayed on a monacle or the visor. Perhaps the pilot helmets in the new BSG have this feature. Possibly the aiming recticle is even beamed directly onto the pilots retina? Graham

Hmm....definitely no HUD then. So I guess that either there is no aiming recticle or it appears on that screen below the front canopy glass, which is not good as it forces the pilot to look down and take their eyes off the target. The X-Wing (in fact I think all SW figters) also suffer from lack of HUDs). Graham