Graham

It's already more than 10 years since the start of Macross 7, as the first episode aired in October of 1994. Macross 7 may be the exception to the norm. There is speculation that Bandai pretty much permanently has the license for Macross 7 transfoming toys (or has an extremely long-term license), due to their being a major sponsor of Macross 7. This has never been confirmed though. However, the impression that I got from Yamato when they were still talking to me was that the license for Macross 7 transforming mecha toys was still tied up. Although to be honest, I never sensed a great deal of desire on Yamato's part to venture into Macross 7 toys. Graham

I guess with a huge company like Bandai, they could afford to pay extra for the license, just to stop Big West complaining that they did nothing with it. Graham

Just like JsARCLIGHT, I grew up in the 70s, so the 12" figures (known as 'Action Man' in the UK), will always have a soft place in my heart. Never got into the 3 3/4" figures in the 80s. These new toys look awful. I think if I was still a kid I would have enough taste not to want them. And heck, they all look like they should be carrying a skate board or boom box . Graham

Not really a model builder, although I have bought many Macross kits (both plastic & resin) over the years. I used to be into transforming Macross kits, but the aforementioned problems of paint scratching, loosening joints and fragility, combined with the increased availability of Macross toys over the past 5 years, has turned me off transforming model kits. For me these days I like my toys transfoming and my model kits static for display. Graham

IIRC, my Macross Dynamite 7 book does show Gamlin's fighter as being a VF-22C. Have to check again when I get home. Graham

VF-11BFP all they way. I love the pilot sculpt. And of course the metal reinforced hips take away all the worry when playing with or transforming the toy. Graham

Glad you like the 1/65 VF-17 toy, it's one of my favorites as well. Yes, a bandai VF-22 toy would be cool, but don't hold your breath waiting for one . As for me, if Yamato stops making Macross toys, I'll probably just buy more old Macross plastic model kits and resin garage kits and commission sombody to build them for me. Graham

So to get back on topic, in the case of the YF-19 specifically, it maybe that Yamato's license to make Macross Plus transforming toys has already expired and they have chosen not to renew it. Or it could be that Big West was unhappy with Yamato's treatment of the license, i.e. their snails pace at making a YF-19FP and Big West decided not to let Yamato renew the license. A third possiblity, is that upon expiry of the Macross Plus transfoming toy license a third company offered a better price to Big West and bought up the license. This could potentially be good or bad news, as some big companies such as Bandai are rumored to sometimes buy a license and then just sit on it without making anything, just to prevent other companies from getting he license and making money. Graham

Big West (as well as many other master licence holders) does not grant just one all-encompassing master toy license to only one toy company. This is a common misconception that many people seem to have. Toy licenses (especially in Japan) are a complex issue. The master license holder (in this case Big West), will often sell licenses to several different toy companies in order to generate more revenue and also increase the across-the-board exposure for their anime property. Toy licences can also be quite specific, i.e. a toy license may just be granted for a specific scale or a specific type of toy (transforming, non-transforming, SD etc), or even for a toy made of a specific material. This is why there are often multiple toy companies making toys from a single anime at any given time. So for example lets take the VF-1. BW might grant a license to Banpresto for PVC Gashapon Figures, while at the same time giving a licence for 1/60 and 1/48 scale ABS and die-cast transforming toys to Yamato and at the same time sell another license to Bandai for 1/55 scale ABS and diecast transforming Valks. Toy licenses often are granted for a specific duration as well. In the case of BW toy licenses, I think they are for 2 years and then renewable should both parties be willing. Graham

Strange, given that the 1/100 VF-0S should have fewer parts and be slightly more simple than a perfect variable transforming toy, I would have thought that getting it from sculpt to prototype should have presented less problems than normal. Graham

I dunno, probably the only recent Yamato Macross items that haven't really sold well have been the 2 x Q-Raus. I guess the YF-21FP didn't do too good either as it's still pretty easy to find. Most of the 1/48 toys seem to have sold pretty well though (sold out in many cases) and I think sales of the VB-6 have been ok. While Macross Zero may not have been as poplar with fans as Macross Plus, it seems like Yamato are not giving it a chance to see if the toys would be popular and sell well. I still hold that if they release decent VF-0 & SV-51 toys, they will sell well. Of course the one surefire hot seller would be a nicely sculpted YF-19FP, but Yamato seems to have lost sight of this. I completely agree with Howard about the license and approval issue though. When I was still close with Yamato, one of their biggest complaints was that since the 1/48, Kawamori had become much more anal about approving the toy sculpts and often reject the sculpts several times, require time-consuming resculpts before giving final approval. The problem is made worse because Kawamori is an extremely busy guy at it sometimes takes up to 2 months to book a 30 minute appointment with him just to get his comments on the latest sculpt modifications. Graham

Great box mock-up and yes, it does look better than most of Yamato's efforts. Well, as Yamato seems to be moving away from the Macross toy business,and no other company seems interesting in taking over, I guess it is up to us fans to create those items that we want. Graham

Heh, nearly the whole set of SHE Macross kits up on Yahoo Japan Auctions if anybody has ¥400,000 to spare . Graham

Well, as you will have seen from the Wonder Fest thread by now, the news is looking extremely bleak for Macross toys . Graham

Sadly, it looks like Yamato are abandoning Macross, which is a shame, because my opinion is that if the did purchase the rights from Liquid Stone for this 1/100 scale design and tooled up for mass production it could sell in the ¥4000 to ¥5000 range as an ABS toy and would sell like hot cakes IMO. Still what do I know? Graham

Gunpod is different as well between the Fire Valk and VF-19F/S. Also, VF-19F/S have auxiliary air intakes on the LEX, the Fire Valk doesn't. Just my two cents, but I'd be up for a VF-19F/S, but not so interested in a Fire Valk. Graham

Gah, that really sucks big time. I was so hoping to win the LS YF-19. Oh well, I never have good luck with lottereris. Sigh, another dream crushed as it will be impossible to get one of those LS YF-19 now. Graham

Man, that sucks (but was not totally unexpected). It's a real shame that Yamato had nothing Macross on display. I was at least hoping they would have the 1/48 GBP sculpt there. Perhaps it's still in the CAD stage, or they don't feel confident enough in the sculpt at this stage? Rob, if Yamato are willing to talk, can you please ask Howard to ask them the following additional questions: - 1) Is the reason for the delay wth the 1/100 VF-0S due to further resculpting? 2) Will we be seeing VF-0 variants, i.e. VF-0A and most importantly VF-0D? 3) Can they say if there are any plans for an SV-51 toy? Seems weird that BW did not approve the licenses for most of the Macross garage stuff. Are they tightening the approval process? Graham

Old news, we saw that months ago when the Jan 2005 issue first came out. The latest issue of HJ will be the April issue out next week Graham

The VF-22S was the variant used by Max and Milia in Macross 7. The VF-22 (no letter suffix) was featured in the VF-X2 game. The Macross Compendium has the following to say: - VARIANTS: VF-22: Advance production version with no additional series letter designation VF-22S: Production version adopted by United Nations as special operations fighter. First manufactured by Macross 7 fleet factory ship Three Star under experimental license for two fighters. Graham

Sadly, I think you may be right. Let's just hope we are both wrong. Graham

We all go through Macross burnout from time to time. It happens to me usually once every two years or so and last for 1-2 months, but I always bounce back as committed to Macross as ever . Graham

No time, just stuff I picked up from spending a great deal of time with Yamato in the past. Graham

Ouch.....first time I've seen that happen. Were you using a lot of force? GRaham

It's not a Macross coin, it's a Row-Boat-Tech coin. IIRC they came with the Toynami I-Men Figures. Graham