Graham

Hmm...I forget the exact price of the helmet, but I think it was something like ¥158,000. Graham

I won't be writing any Banpresto reviews. I only bought 2pcs of the first wave and ended up destroying the fool things in disgust and throwing them out. Needless to say I didn't buy any more and have no interest/intention of ever buying any more. So, if anybody wants to write any Banpresto reviews please submit them to Shawn. The last review I wrote was for the Yamato VF-11B FAST pack, which is still on file somewhere waiting to be uploaded to the site. I will eventually get round to doing the backlog of reviews that need doing, which includes the 1/60 VE-1, VT-1 and 1/48 FP & VF-1S Hikaru as well as the Bandai 1/55 reissues. Although my interest in Macross is just as strong as ever, work and personal commitments leave me with little free time at the moment for writing reviews. Graham

I've watched both Evangelion and RahXephon and out of the two I infinitely prefered RahXephon. Eva was great at the start, but for me at least just got plain annoying and incomprehensible towards the end. Graham

I wonder if the Yamato vending machine actually chases you around like the Petite Cola machines in Macross? Now that would be cool Graham

Yep, IMO Hikaru VF-1S is a great toy. I now have 3 Highly recommended. Graham

It's coming, but the YF-19 is one of the most difficult VFs to design a really good, accurate toy of. Those of you who have really thought about this and studied the issue will know what I mean. The groin/front landing gear area and back of the legs/shoulder areas are real challenges. Pictures will be released as soon as Yamato is happy with the design. I trust you all want a good toy, so just be patient. Give them time to get it right rather than rush the design. Of course something like the Q-Rau which does not transform and is a much simpler design will be finished quicker. Graham

Definitely DYRL style. No need to remove your hands from the controls at all, plus the more efficient wide angle holographic HUD displayed on the canopy. With TV controls, not only do you have the throttle and transformation levers seperate from the main joiystick, but also when transforming to battroid or Gerwalk, you have to let go of the central fighter mode joystick and grab the seperate left and right arm controls. Graham

Saw Revolutions on Friday and came away feeling quite disappointed. Sure it had some nice set piece action scenes, such as the defensive battle at Zion's dock, but overall, the film felt very rushed. One of my biggest complaints is that there seemed to be a lot of things refered to in the movie that had no connection to the first movie or Reloaded. I don't remember specifics, but I remember thinking this several times during Revolutions. Based on some comments I've read I gather that Revolutions refers to events in the Matrix console game! If this is true, that is very bad as I guess probably less than 1% of people watching the movie have played the game. Also, what happened to all of Zion's ships? In Reloaded, a lot of emphasis was placed on how critical they were to Zion's defence. Yet. in Revolutions no mention is made of them at all! I don't know how many ships there were supposed to be, but I guess between 30 to 100. Were all the ships disabled by the EMP blast set off by Bain/Smith which is breifly mentioned in Reloaded? if yes, keeping all the ships grouped together so that one EMP blast would disable them or so they could be wiped out by one mass attack seems very bad tactics. If the ships were wiped out due to Bain/Smith, then this scene should have been shown in more detail. From watching Reloaded, I got the impression that perhaps only 3-4 ships had been destroyed. And why the heck didn't the Zion Military seed all the approach routes to Zion with hundreds EMPs so that any Sentinal attack could have been stopped before it got close to Zion. OK, this may not have worked as the Sentinals were drilling newe tunnels, but couldn't Zion have found a way to insert an EMP into the tunnels being drilled by the Sentinels. What do the initials APU stand for? Glad Trinity died. I cheered in the cinema. Perhaps now Neo if he lives can actually find a girl that doesn't look like a bloke Probably Reloaded & Revolutions will seem better if watched straight through in one sitting. Graham

Heh, got both of my VF-1S Hikaru set up with Strike packs and most beautiful they loook too. However, too lazy to take any photos this weekend Graham

It really depends on the mission. If it's a space based or atmospheric flying mission, I'll use fighter mode about 70% of the time and Gerwalk 30%. If it's a ground based mission or one based inside a spaceship, then I'll use Battroid about 70% of the time and Gerwalk 30%. Graham

Well, I originally told myself that I wasn't going to buy these K&M figures, but after seeing them on display at a branch of Animate today, I broke down and bought a set. Actually, I really just wanted the Regult only, but they weren't selling individual figures so I had to buy the whole set of 5, for which I paid HK$188 (about US$24.10). Anyway, with the exception of the Regult, I have to say that I'm actually pretty disappointed with these figures. Both the Regult and the non-transforming Hikaru VF-1J are constructed of hard PVC and come fully painted over their entire surface. The paint job is very good especially on the Regult, which comes covered with those weird squiggly Zentradi markings. While the paint job on the non-transforming Hikaru VF-1J is well applied, the choice of colors is odd as it's mostly different shades of grey rather than white. Only the head, shoulders, back and part of the upper leg (below the thigh) are white, pretty much the rest of the figure is grey, some of it quite dark grey! Both the Regult and the non transforming Hikaru are well articulated. I count 18 points of articulation on the VF-1J and and 13 on the Regult. One area where the Regult disappoints is that the main thrusters on the sides of the pod do not rotate, unlike on the fairly recent Bandai HG Mission # 2 Regult figure. Some of the joints on the non-transforming VF-1J where very tight and after only about 5 minutes of possing the figure I accidently snapped the right elbow joint (a peg in hole type affair) Sizewise, the Regult is about 11cm tall (measured to the tips of the main guns). The non-transforming Hikaru VF-1J stands 7cm tall. Moving onto to the three transforming valks, which are the VF-1A Cannon Fodder (Brownie), VF-1J Max and VF-1J Hikaru. These figures do not have perfect transformation, instead relying on the parts swapping method to get the job done. Basically to change from battroid to fighter mode, the feet, head, gunpod, backpack, nose/cockpit section and arms all need to be removed and swapped for different fighter mode parts. The transforming figures are pretty small. In fighter mode they are about 7.5cm long. In battroid mode just under 7cm tall. They seem to be made mostly of ABS plastic rather than PVC, so no gashapon disease There are no metal parts or screws at all. The figures are not fully painted over their entire surface unlike the non-transforming VF-1J, but they do come molded in the correct color plastic, i.e. blue for Max, white for Hikaru etc. The various colored stripes, canopy and a few other small details are painted on. The transforming figures do however have a few Tampo printed markings such as the kite emblem and 'UN Spacy'. IMO of the three modes, the Gerwalk mode looks the best, the fighter mode is not too bad either although the chest and backplates don't stay together too well sometimes creating a noticable gap. The battroid mode is just terrible. It is just so out of proportion it's not funny. So far nothing has broken on the transforming figures, but they look very fragile. Overall not recommended. If you have a chance to buy just the Regult figure, I'd say go for it, but the other figures are a big waste of money IMO. Graham

That will really suck if the extra mecha are only available as downloads, as for those of us outside of Japan, it will probably be really difficult (or impossible?) to download I would much prefer a second PS2 Macross game with the Mac Plus & Mac Zero Mecha. Hopefully, next time Sega-AM2 will add a 2 player vs. mode and also a speed gauge. Graham

Ah yes, I remember that now. Graham

Ooh! Valk porn! Full frontal nudity no less Shield your eyes kiddies. Graham

You have to exit the ship before it blows up, i.e. before the time limit runs out. Not sure what the story behind this is supposed to be. Graham

No, that line should just die out. Bad luck comes with that name. While I agree that the original macross Digital Mission VFX was a steaming pile of dog poo, the sequel 'VF-X2', was pretty good IMO. It had a great story and pretty good gameplay. It's definitely in my top 5 favorite Playstation games along with Armored Core, Bushido Blade, Ace Combat 2 & Macross Plus Game Edition. Graham

Yup I agree the colors are different. They don't even call it red on the color selection screen, it's 'ochre' IIRC. And of course you don't get the Skull sign on the FAST packs either. I usually choose grey, definitely looks cooler IMO than the defult purple scheme. Graham

Bought tickets to see it on Friday Nov 7th at 7.30pm together with my wife. Graham

Here's my current list of top 5 VFs. This list changes fairly frequently 1st place goes to the VF-17D/S Nightmare Stealth Valkyrie, especially when fitted with FAST packs. 2nd place= Hikaru's VF-1S Strike Valk. 3rd Place = VF-5000B Star Mirage. 4th place = VA-3M Invader. 5th Place = VF-3000 Crusader. I'm really getting into the Macross Zero VF-0A/D/S and SV-51, but I need to see them in action some more before I consider moving them into my top 5. Although I love Macross Plus and the YF-19, YF-21 and VF-11 used to be on my top five, I've sort of got a bit tired of them recently. Graham

I love the 1/48 Hikaru VF-1S, but that's hardly suprising as it's always been my 'holy grail' of VF-1 toys. The Yamato VF-1S Hikaru comes with all the expected improvements, plus one new one: - Brand new improved pilot sculpt made of the same rubber type material as the Low Vis pilot. Improved nosecone and flaps, first introduced on the Max VF-1A. Improved 'easier opening' front landing gear doors, first introduced on the Low Vis. I'm happy to report that on the two I bought there are no major QC problems. The Skulls on the tails are straight. The head seam is glued better that the older VF-1S Focker and the canopies stay up without problem, although one other MWer who already bought the VF-1S Hikaru reported a loose canopy....luck of the draw I guess. The only minor problem I have encountered on one of my VF-1S Hikaru's is that the air brake is very loose and cannot stay up by itself very well. Definitely my favorite 1/48, closely followed by the Low Vis. Anyway, I'll try to get some photos taken during the weekend. Graham

Actually, Max refers to them as FAST packs in the TV series. You can hear him say it in English the first time they are shown in the hanger when Max walks past them. I forget which episode. Graham

That's gotta be it I reckon! Rob's evil alter ego Graham

Duh.........every red blooded male knows that you are not supposed to stand these figures, you are only supposed to look up their skirts at their underwear Whoops........did I actually type that Graham

However, page # 42 of the Macross Design Works book does have lineart for the battroid mode of the VT-1. Graham

Hey Rob, I liked your Monkey suit avatar much more than the present one. BTW, you're not the same Rob as on robpongi.com are you? Graham