Graham

Speak for yourself. 2 years is hardly 'close', IMO! Heh. OK on the wrong side of 35 then Graham

I first bought the Palladium Robotech RPG back in 1988 or 89. I thought the rules system was ok for running a character based game, but absolutely sucked when it came to simulate Macross style mecha combat. Graham

The kit is increadibly easy to build as it is snap together, although a little glue here and there never hurts. However, it won't look really good unless you paint it IMO. Graham

Back on track guys, too political and this gets locked. Graham

I've also got that el-cheapo YF-23 toy, as well as the YF-22 in the same series. They're actually pretty good for the cost, although I found the landing gear to be a pain to install and very fragile. Snapped mine when putting them together, so I ended up building them without the gear, which looks much better IMO as I hate it when the manufacturers make toy fighters with unrealistic semi-recessed landing gear. Graham

Thanks, looking forward to seeing the pics. Seems like the Joyride Viper is pretty expensive. Most sites I've seen sell it for $24.99, where as the Cylon Raider is 10 bucks cheaper at $14.99. Does the Viper's landing gear fold into the plane or is it removeable? From the pics I've seen it looks like it has to be removed. I'm not a huge fan of the Action Fleet X-Wings, mainly as the bottom engines are shorter that the top engines. Graham

That does it, I'm siding with the Anti-UN forces. Now where's my SV-51? Graham

Heh, like many of us, myself included, Shawn is closer to 40 now than he is to 30. If any kids come waving glow sticks in my face, they get them shoved where the sun don't shine. Grumpy, middle aged and proud of it! Graham

I do think that 1/48 would be a bit too large for an 'ultimate detail' YF-19 toy, where as 1/72 scale is a little too small to get the necessary level of detail. Personally, I think either 1/55 or 1/65 scale would be a good compromise. I'd still definitely be up for a low-cost toy version of the LS YF-19 in 1/100 scale though. Graham

The are the same only in that they are both variable YF-19 garage kits. Actually, if you study them carefully, it's easy to see that there are a huge number of differences between the older IHP kit and the newer LS version. Despite being sculpted by the same person, they are completely different kits. After looking at the photos of both the parts and the completed kits, I seriously doubt that there is a single shared component between them. Graham

¥4000 is the retail price. ¥4200 is including the Japanese sales tax. If you are ordering from overseas this extra ¥200 sales tax should not apply. Graham

I've owned several of these kits over the past 10 years, but don't currently have a completed one on hand, although I still have 3 unbuilt in boxes. It's not a bad kit, but really needs painting to look the best. If you don't paint it and just use the foil stickers, it looks awful IMO. Yes, parts removal is required for transformation. To transform from Battroid mode to Fighter mode, you will need to remove the following peices: - Hands. Groin/lower torso piece. Head. You will then need to add the fighter mode head cover. It's quite a sturdy kit, with the only real fragile areas being the little tabs that are supposed to lock the wings into the legs in Fighter mode. Graham

I've always disagreed with the idea that M7 was aimed at kids. If anything, I think the opposite is true and it was made with a more mature audience in mind. No, I'm not going to write a dozen paragraphs defending this view, it's just my gut feeling. That and the fact that a certain level of maturity is helpful in accepting some of the more outlandish concepts and visual designs in M7. Graham

Here's the link: - http://www.studio-tenjin.com/ Graham

Still wondering if anybody here has the Colonial Viper & Cylon Raider toys from the original series made by Joyride Studios. Thinking of buying them and want to know if they are worth getting? Graham

Got these teeny die-cast suckers for now just because they looked cool: Where are those from? Graham

Hmmm.....I hope it is on the way, but there is always a possibility that they are just pages from the Macross Zero book that was already cancelled. Graham

I cross posted this in the model section as well, as Tenjin is primarily known for his Macross model art. There are some members who mainly post in the model section, so they might have missed the news if it was only posted in one forum. Presumably the book will have all Tenjin's Hasegawa Macross box art pics, his VF-X2 game cover art, his 2000 calendar art, Macross Plus DVD cover art and some of his earlier Macross art from his old Macross website. If you look at this link, which Major Tom provided earlier it shows both the page count and the ISBN number. Graham

If Yamato were to mass-produce an ABS version of the Liquid Stone 1/100 scale YF-19 and release it for a reasonable price, say around ¥5,000 I would be on it in a flash and would buy at least half a dozen. I'd settle for the current design without improvements, but would be happier if they could modify it to allow the gunpod to attach in fighter mode. I seriously doubt it will happen though. I think at this stage that there is more chance of another company picking up the Mac Plus license from BW, rather than Yamato revisiting the Mac Plus toys. Graham

136 pages IIRC. Graham

I agree that is the most likely explanation. Graham

Of course, we don't know that those boobs are real do we. They could be false. Rey could actually be a guy pretending to be a girl pretending to be a guy How's that for a plot twist! Anyway, I don't really care about Rey. Just as long as they don't make Lunamaria a man, then I will really scream. Graham

Nah, that's just a resin sculpt, not an ABS Test Shot, which means that the tooling is not done yet (perhaps not even started). In fact even the resin sculpt is not finished as one of the intake covers is not ready (it's missing from the pic) I'd say based on what I know of Yamato from the past: - 1-2 months to cut the tooling. Another 1-2 months of making test shots and modifying the tooling to get any bugs worked out. 1 month for the production run. A couple of weeks for shipping from China to Japan. We are probably looking at a minimum of 3.5 months up to 6.5 months before the toy is released. Of course we don't know if the sculpt shown in the photo has Kawamori's/BW's final approval yet. If not and some changes are required, that could add another month or two (at least) to the production time . Graham

You do know that question carries an automatic 1 month ban Graham

Chris, Mind if I use that as a new main page pic? Graham