Graham

I'd buy two, but I'd rather they made a VT-1 instead. Graham

Oh dear.........that UCP pistol is chambered for H&K's pipsqueak 4.6x30mm round, i.e the same round used in their MP7 PDW. 4.6mm = 0.18" = Micro caliber mouse bullets . Actually, mice would probably laugh at it. While it may do reasonably well at punching through soft body armor, it isn't going to have much in the way of stopping power, unless you get a central nevous system hit. It's a good thing it comes with a 20 round mag, as you'll probably need the whole mag to put a determined opponent down. Seems very few military or law enforcement special units are adopting this round or FN's similar 5.7mm round. Gimme a quality pistol chambered for .45ACP or full power 10mm anyday of the week. Graham

Regarding the Original Trilogy DVD set, I guess we should all be grateful that GL didn't decide to remove James Earl Jones's Voice for Darth Vader and replace it with Hayden Christianson's voice Graham

We've had what is it, a nice 5 year run with lots of new Macross toys from Yamato, Bandai, Banpresto, CM's & K&M, but I have a feeling that we are in for a long dry spell for at least the next several years (or possibly longer). I think basically that the Macross bubble has burst and with Macross Zero drawing to a close this month and no new Macross anime or new Macross console game on the horizon, the toys are going to dry up soon. From all I've observed and from conversations with various people in and out of Japan it seems like Macross is basically dead or dying in Japan. While there is of course a significant fanbase outside of Japan, that really does not concern the Japanese manufacturers like Yamato while they are unable to officially market their products outside of Japan. It's obvious that Yamato's Macross product line is shrinking as they diversify into other anime properties. Most of the upcoming Macross products have been in development for 1-2 years already. I hope I'm wrong, but I've got a feeling that after the toys that have already been announced have been released, then that's it no more Macross toys. So basically, what have we got to look forward to: - 1/60 Max Q-Rau (a recolor of an existing product). 1/100 VB-6 (Yay, an all new toy!). 1/100 VF-0S (in development for nearly 2 years!). 1/100 VF-0A (a head swap and recolor). 1/48 GBP (as told by Yamato to Noel). 1/60 Monster (as told by Yamato to Noel - And in development for 2 years). Personally, I think that after 2 years in development and going nowhere the YF-19FP resculpt is as dead as a the proverbial Dodo and I'm betting that Yamato won't even attempt a design as difficult as the SV-51 toy. heck, I'm even begining to think that we wont see a 1/100 VF-0D and as for larger perfect versions of the Macross Zero toys forget it. Hopefully Kawamori and Big West will release a new Macross anime for the 25th aniversery in 2007 so we might see some new toys then, but that's still a few years away Graham

Damn, just received the following email from HLJ: - "Thank you for your order for a following item. Item: Mediax Macross Zero Mission Memories (MDX13584) Unfortunately, this particular product turned out to be a phantom. By that we mean that the manufacture announced it, but ended up never actually releasing it. As such, we wanted to let you know that we were dropping it from your outstanding orders with us. I'm sorry for the disappointing news". WTF!?????? Graham

I for one wont be buying this. I'm an old fart with no interest in handheld systems. When travelling on the bus or train I'd much rather immerse myself in a good book. Graham

Finally got round to watching ANH & ESB over the weekend. It was great to see them again. The problems with the music or lack of it during the Death Star battle in ANH didn't bother me too much as I had to have the volume turned way down anyway, so as not to wake the baby The whole Greedo shoots at the same time thing was pitiful. What was GL thinking? What is so wrong with having Han shoot first, it's totally in line with his character as a rogue and smuggler. The blue door on the escape pod also bugged me. What was the reason for this? Hated that they changed Boba Fetts voice. His origianal voice was far more menacing. I can't stand his new Kiwi accent (no offences to Kiwi's). Graham

Ooh....that is beautiful Tenjin box art (as usual) on the Ivanov SV-51 box. Graham

I can stand the wings, its not a Yamato fault, there is a lot of anime magic involved in the VF-0 wings, they are really short in Battroid mode., i think they just used the first CG model of the Vf-0S for sculpt the wings as they are shorter that the actual wings in the oav. I think you misunderstand. I'm not complaining about the overall length of the wings. Actually, I'm OK with the overall length of the wings. What I don't like is that the narrow section of the wing trailing edge that I've labeled section 'C' on the pic below is far too short compared to the CG images and line-art. This narrow section could be made longer by making sections 'A' & 'B' on pic below slightly shorter, without changing the overall wing length. Yamato only need to make sections 'A' & 'B' maybe 2-3mm shorter each, which would in turn allow them to make section 'C' longer by 4-6mm. that way the wing trailing edge would look much closer to how it does in the anime. Perhaps somebody with more free time on their hands than me can play around with Photoshop to change the wing proportions in the toy photo to how I describe it, so we can see how it would look? Graham

You mean you are planning to miss all the time? Sorry, couldn't resist. Graham

Even despite the Lego like design of this toy, I'll still be happy as long as they change just two things: - 1) Resculpt the wing trailing edge. 2) Change the head lasers so they are not angled out so much. I can live with all the other inaccuracies Graham

Part 10 and 11 number 12 is too big for an hand Whoops, I meant parts # 10 and 11 Graham

If you don't know where to put your joystick by now, then there's no hope for you . Graham

IIRC, the Banprestos Valks were perfect transformation. The Yamato VF-0S is about as far from perfect transformation as you can get. Graham

After close study of the actual pic in the magazine, as it's a bit clearer than the scan I did, I think you are correct that # 11 & 12 are hands. Graham

Eh, just checked the Mediax site for any updates and the Macross Zero book seems to have been removed from the listings . Could this mean a delay? Graham

How quickly they forget. See this thread. The R2 DVD set is still available on CD Japan. Perhaps a bootleg HK DVD set with English subs will be released eventually. Graham

The lineart is from the Spring 2004 and Summer 2004 issues of Character Model Magazine. Graham

Err.....what's a Secret Santa? It's not a tradition I've heard of before. Graham

I'm still trying to figure out what all the parts displayed in the latest Dengeki Hobby pic of the 1/100 VF-0S are (see the unmodified pic on page 14 of this thread). Most of the parts are pretty obvious, but there are two parts that I can't quite figure out what they are. 1. FAST Packs. 2. Gunpod. 3. Battroid mode neck piece. 4. Battroid left and right mode shoulder joint sockets. 5. Battroid mode 'collar bone' piece (fits between chest and back plates). 6. Battroid mode nose/hip joint piece w/heatshield. 7. Hands. 8. Front landing gear door for gear-up mode. 9. Rear landing gear doors for gear-up mode. 10. Front landing gear? 11. ???????? 12. ???????? Any suggestions regarding numbers 11 and 12? I'm thinking that number 12 might be a connector for use with the Yamato display arm, but I'm not sure. Graham

Heh, I'm sure this is old news to some of you SW fans, but I just read the 8 page online Greedo Shoots First comic. Quite relavent to this thread. Great stuff and really made me laugh, especially the Emperor's line on page # 7, regarding Greedo's marksmanship. Classic stuff. Graham

It's interesting that the publishers Mediax, list a price of ¥2,200, whereas both HLJ and Mangaoh show ¥1,143. Wonder who is correct? If it is ¥2,200, then it could be a decent size artbook. Graham

And now for Hikaru himself.................. Graham

Sticking to the subject of Macross cosplay, here's some Hong Kong cosplay from a comic convention earlier this year. First up, a Hikaru type VF-1J battroid. This cosplayer obviously used the first issue Yamato 1/60 VF-1J Hikaru toy as a reference, as just like the toy he incorrectly has a DYRL pilot in the cockpit Actually, seeing this I don't know whether to laugh or cry Graham

Damn, my next question was gonna be: "Can the Gaincorp F/A-22 be displayed gear up"? I guess the answer is no then. Gaincorp should take a leaf out of Corgi's book as all their Aviation Archive planes can be displayed either gear up or down. Oh well, that's the deal breaker for me then. No gear up on the F/A-22, then Gaincorp ain't getting my money. Now if Gaincorp made a Eurofigter Typhoon or YF-23 that might be another story, even if they were only gear down. And damn it, as I've mentioned before. I still want Dragon to team up with Hasegawa to release diecast, prepainted 1/72 VF-0 and SV-51 fighters! Graham