Graham

Yep, those are the Chaos, Abyss and Gaia MSiAs. Nah on the merging. I think it's better to keep the 3 separate main Gundam threads we have now (models / GFF / SEED Destiny). Graham

Um......a spider with a fridge on it's back? Just kidding guys Graham

Yes, the Chaos MSiA can transform, but it's impossile to get it to stand up in Mobile Armor (Gerwalk) mode as it's just too top heavy. At least I have yet to find a way to get it to balance by itself without resorting to using some sort of stand. Graham

Funny, funny song and oh so true (unfortunately). Unfortunately I think we are going to be in for a long dry spell as far as new Macross products are concerned. All signs seem to indicate that Yamato is going to drop Macross after the release of the VB-6 and 1/48 GBP. Both those projects have been in development more than a year, but AFAIK, nothing else new is in the pipeline. Of course my info is very dated, so I could be wrong. I'm getting more and more sure that the YF-19FP is as dead as the Dodo. After Kawamori got all anal and rejected the first prototype, it seems like Yamato don't want the expenses of starting all over again with another sculptor. Heck, I'm even getting a feeling that the 1/100 VF-0S is going to be quietly dropped due to the overwhemingly negative response it has received both here and in Japan. The 1/60 Destroid Monster is probably another dead project. As for Hasegawa, who knows? Some more battroids would be nice, but I'm wondering did the VF-1 battroid kits sell well enough for them to risk making other battroid kits? And a VF-11 and VF-17 fighter would be nice as well, but how well would they sell outside of a small group of hardcore fans? Graham

YF-19 is a big plane. 1/100 scale is not that small. Graham

Picked up a second Chaos MSiA last night as I found one selling for just HK$69 (USD8.80). This is cheaper than the HK$99 (US$12.70) I paid for my first one. Happy to report that my first one was a dud and the second one is much better than the first. The joints are much tighter and the arms, head cowling and beam saber hilts all stay attached much more firmly. however, the toy still cannot balance in MA mode though . Graham

I'm incredibly hyped about this and will be looking to get at least two or perhaps more depending on the price. By hook or by crook they will be mine! As I mentioned in the other thread, it looks like the gunpod may not attach in fighter mode. Heck as I grew up with 1/55s with no fighter-mode gunpod attachment I can live with that . Another thing to consider, is that if this is resin, it may be quite fragile and may not lock together very well. It may also suffer from floppy joint syndrome and require constant tightening of joints with a screwdriver, just like the old SHE kits. But heck, I don't care.....It's a variable YF-19 that actually looks pretty good in fighter mode, so I can forgive it . Graham

Gotta say I'm really hyped about the 1/100 YF-19 esecially as it's not a Yamato product . I haven't been this excited about a Macross toy or model for a very long time. Graham

I actually prefer last years 1/60 HG Strike kit or the 1/100 MG Strike over the new 1/60 PG version. While the PG may be more articulated, it's too fussy in my opinion. Bandai added too much detail that is not on the lineart and changed some parts so they are not accurate to the lineart. A prime example of this is the PG's front skirt armor, which looks nothing like it should. Personally, I think the 1/60 HG Strike set that comes with the Aile, Launcher and Sword packs can't be beat for value. It looks great assembled and here in HK sells for a third of the price of the PG kit. Graham

Actually, the 1/60 Force Impulse kit is quite a bit better than the 1/100 version. Off the top of my head, improvements I can think of are:- The 1/60 Core Splendor cockpit opens and includes a pilot figure. More inner mechanical detail under the removeable armor pieces on the 1/60. The 1/60 Force pack's wings are molded in two colors red and black. On the 1/100, they are only black plastic (w/probably a red sticker...yuck). On the 1/60 the 'V' on the chest is actually a separate peice of yellow plastic. On the 1/100 it's just molded detail on the blue plastic part. Basically, the 1/60 has a bit more detail than the 1/100 and will look more accurate without painting than the 1/100. Graham

Wadda ya mean coming out next month ? The 1/60 Force Impulse is already out in Hong Kong since at least Monday December 20th. Cheapest I've seen it is HKD278 (US$35.65). Looks like a nice kit, but I'm waiting for the MMM GQ toy instead. Graham

Ah, I see. Yes it is quite nice. Wonder if we'll see an MSiA of it. I'm sure we'll at least get a 1/144 HG model. Graham

Hmm interesting! Shin's mid-season replacement after Impules inevitably gets destroyed perhaps? Graham

Lastly, one of Chaos's Mobile Weapon Pods with weapons open. Graham

Now Chaos in MS mode. Sorry, no MA mode as it's just too much of a pain to set up. Even setting up this photo for MS mode was difficult, as the arms, beam saber hilts and head cowling kept falling off if I breathed the wrong way . Graham

Gaia in MS mode, I couldn't be bothered to change hands for this photo so it could hold the beam rifle and shield. Just trust me it does come with extra hands and can hold them, just I'm a lazy git. Too tired actually. Graham

Now Gaia in MD (Mobile-Doggy) mode. Graham

Here's some very quick pics. Only a few though as it's late at night and I'm knackered. First Abyss in MS mode. Graham

Heh, if good Jedi are not allowed to have girlfriends, marry or even have sex, becoming a dark Jedi would sort of be a no-brainer (for me anyway ). Heh, I can think of an awful lot of uses for the old Jedi mind trick. No more "not tonight dear I've got a headache" Graham

Can somebody please confirm/deny/clarify these points for me please: - 1) Jedi are not supposed to fall in love, have girlfriends/boyfriends, get married...correct? 2) Are Jedi supposed to remain celebate? 3) If a person is strong in the Force, i.e. has a high midi-whatchmacallit count, then their offspring will also be stong in the Force? 4) If point 3 is correct, then wouldn't it make sense for Jedi to get married (especially to other Jedi) and have kids, thus creating more Jedi? Seems that by not allowing mariage, the Jedi are shrinking their numbers. Several years ago (before the prequel trilogy I guess), I seem to recall reading an SW comic about Jedi that featured a married Jedi couple. Wouldn't this completely fly against what is now accepted Jedi lore? Graham

That's something I have thought about, espcially as I did sign a non-disclosure agreement regarding the Macross products. Most of the toy info I have is so out of date now though that it probably doesn't matter or is already public knowledge anyway. I still have lots of juicy behind the scenes stories though as well as some very intersting prototype pics. I probably shouldn't spill the beans though as I'm usually not one to burn bridges if at all possible . Graham

Actually, lots of people on the HK side were fired around the time the Milia Q-Rau was released. I'm pretty sure that it had nothing (or little) to do with leaks to Macrossworld though . It gets pretty complicated but to the best of my understanding revolves around a shift in the balance of power in the the Japan HQ, a clash of personalites between Japan and HK offices, what I perceive as descrimination on the Japan side to a powerful (now ex) female manager on the HK side (whom I was closely associated with) and allegations of backdoor trading and certain people outstepping their mandate (unfounded IMO). It all got pretty nasty for a while, but I'm not going to go into specifics now. Anyway, pretty much all the Macross toy information given out by me on MW was officially sanctioned by Yamato. There were actually very few leaks. AFAIK, there were only two times we were really hurt by leaks, once after a dinner with the CEO when I released a long newsletter without pre-approval. This was 100% my fault, but I swear to this day that I asked and received verbal approval to release the info. The other time was when a MW member unknowingly made a lucky guess about a top secret prototype sculpt and released photos of a near-identical garage kit that the sculpt was based on and photo-shopped the photos with the words 'copyright Yamato' and claimed that this was the mystery sculpt. This particular incident really got Yamato steamed and I had them shouting down the phone at me for leaking photos they had given to me in confidence. As for a certain ex-MW member who claimed to be female and half Japanese and have contact with Yamato Japan, I tend to discount claims that she was a major source of trouble for Macrossworld with Yamato. My former sources had never heard of her. She may have gotten some minor info from Yamato's old Japanese BBS and perhaps made some lucky guesses. I was off the boards when these 'so-called leaks' happened, so I'm not sure what she said as it was all deleted by the time I came online. What bothers me the most is the way Yamato broke off contact without any notice, especially as I like to think there were some genuine friendships with several people there (quite a few wild nights as well ). If they want to break off contact with me and MW, fine I can accept that, but at very least have the balls to send an email (if not a phone call) informing me of the fact. I've heard from a few people that this lack of contact from somebody I considered a friend, might be a Japanese face-saving cultural thing. Sorry, I don't buy that, my main contact was well-travelled, spoke great English, was quite Westernized and should bloody well know better . Graham

I've heard that this YF-19 will be sold as a "completed resin model". I assume this means it will be finished like the kits SHE currently sells. Even better for those artistically challenged. Carl I was wondering about that as the name seemed to imply it would be sold as a completed item. Gonna have to try to score two I think. Let's hope the producion run is a decent size and the cost is not too high. Graham

Hopefully Y*mato have decided to skip that fugly parts-swapping monstrosity altogether and go straight to a larger scale perfect variable version with a more accurate and better looking sculpt. Whatever, it's a pretty poor showing on Y*matos part that 2 years since the release of Macross Zero and they still don't have a single M0 product on the shelves yet. Graham

I'll see if I can snap and upload a few quick pics when I get home after baby goes to bed. No promises though. Graham