Brand

Yet another split vote here. SDFM TV is the definitive story, of course, with plenty of time to develop the characters and plot to the proper magnificent depth, but I have a soft spot for DYRL not only because of how much better it is in technical issues such as animation and the like, but because it was my first exposure to the true Macross after having watched Robotech as a kid. I was lucky/agreeably destined enough to have found a copy of the international English-language release, featuring a different voice acting cast, a generally faithful translation, even the Japanese character names and each and every one of Minmay's songs left gloriously intact. I'd imagine it makes "Clash of the Bionoids" cry itself to sleep every night by comparison. Needless to say, having gone from a childhood of Robotech to discovering DYRL in high school was like seeing the universe in a whole new way, and I've never looked back.

I collected Legend of the Galactic Heroes and Turn A Gundam a while back, been watching them as I get the chance. LoGH is definitely dominating my attention away from Turn A, but from the few eps of Turn A I've watched so far it's still really good, just not as pure space-opera fantastic as LoGH.

After I finish those I'll be moving on to Macross 7, finally. xD

Difficult to get or not, the fact that Yamato is willing to do something like this for the fans -- even just in Japan -- is a welcome surprise. Sure it fits their love of milking a mold but, show of hands here folks (and be honest now ), how many of us actually believed Yamato would bother with a 'blank' proper 1/60 Valk expressly aimed at customizers? I'll note my hand is down, this is a real unexpected delight for me, but I'll freely admit to not having been in the market for Yamato products very long at all, so my understanding of their practices is necessarily limited.

Meanwhile, if OD or anyone else in the community can get a hold of some of these things for distribution to we poor collectors outside of Japan, mark-up or no, I'll be tossing them money with the rest of you. Even unpainted the blank Valk looks pretty badass, so I won't feel like a complete idiot for buying one and being too afraid to take paint to it myself.

As always, I just love how completely unconcerned Max is that Millia just hucked their infant daughter across the room for poor freaked-out Misa to catch. If anything, do I detect a hint of smile on his face there? "Whoop! First-time mommy's tossing the kid around again! Ha ha ha! Isn't she wacky?"

The 10-year-anniversary topic about this very set in the MBS section of the board reminded me that I'm in the market for one. While I do have a collection of the original Macross series, I'll just say it's not of Animeigo or ADV's quality and we'll leave it at that, hm? Lesson learned, I regret having gone that direction and I'm trying to find an affordable set of the full Animeigo release now. I'll consider an ADV set instead since it's newer and thus perhaps more readily available, but because their dub makes my ears bleed, it's my second choice since I'll never be watching the dub version and hate to have a language track going to waste. xD

I'm not foolish enough to think anyone would part with one of these for original MSRP, but anyone selling them on Amazon or other similar venues is nuts, so I'm putting forth my plea to my fellow Macross fans here in hopes that someone's got an extra or something that they're willing to pass on to a loving home, for a mutually satisfying price. If anyone out there's selling, let me know what you're asking. Again, not expecting too low a price here, just trying to avoid something exorbitant!

Happy birthday, Minmay!

I'm just waiting for someone in Hollywood with balls enough to try remaking Gone with the Wind or Casablanca just to see how loud the outcry to have him blacklisted is. If they're going to keep digging up good-to-begin-with movies/TV series (or worse yet, pieces of crap) to butcher (or somehow make even worse), let's see them step up and remake something people keep referring to as "the best movie of all time". I mean if they can turn The Wizard of Oz into The Wiz, or reduce The Day the Earth Stood Still to a green flick starring Keanu freaking Reeves -- who will never be Spike Spiegel if there is a just and loving deity anywhere in Creation -- I want to see what they can get away with doing to so-called classics of cinema.

Oy. I'm glad I haven't been able to pick up the -11B yet, this one's a beauty! The white looks phenomenal, makes the grey scheme of the -B look really drab by comparison to me. Definitely looking forward to this, and thank you Yamato!

The VF-2SS demonstration team that flies at the moon festival all had bold colour schemes, with the body brightly painted and a simple white stripe. One or two of those would look quite stunning, next to the standard model, so I'd be open to those "canon" variants myself. IIRC, they were also SAP-less.

Good point! A full-body paint job would certainly offer a more enticing alternative to milk the mold with than just changing two stripes several times. And there's certainly precedent from Yamato for branching out in the barely-seen-demonstration-team direction, i.e. the 1/48 Angel Birds VF-1.

Even if they don't have the license, I don't think that there'll much of a resistance for them to get it. The thing thats kinda puzzling is that how would Yamato milk any of these valks? I'm wondering how much a comletely armored VF-2SS would cost. I want one but if the price is too high, it's going to be easy for me to pass it up.

I know the feeling of worrying about the price of the "Super" VF-2SS. The SAP's considerably larger than the standard FAST packs, so I'd imagine it'd be liable to cost at least in the neighborhood of the 1/60 YF-21, maybe more if Yamato's feeling stingy. I'm not after as many of the other released Valks as a lot of people here so it won't hurt me so much to save up for a VF-2SS, but it's still got the capacity to make my wallet weep and gods forbid any of you hardcore collectors have to make any painful choices!

It's possible to milk the -2SS a bit, presuming Sylvie and Nexx at least had different colors; if the other members of Sylvie's squad (Faerie Squadron? Been a while since I watched MII, I know it's something flittery like that) had a different color from hers, or any other colors were shown on screen at any point, Yamato could have a few stand-alone Valks and release an SAP set separately, and still pick out one specifically to offer as the Valk/SAP set.

Granted, the color scheme on the VF-2SS is two measly lines on the dorsal fuselage/Battroid's chest, so they may not be inclined to put that much effort into it, but if they get creative and dip into non-canon colorations, who knows. Wendy Rider Guard anyone? xD

I think for me it would depend on a combination of durability and price point. I love the Yamato Valks I've been able to collect so far, but I'm afraid to transform them too often for fear of floppy joint syndrome or (much less of a worry, I'm careful and none of them are v1's) accidental breakage. I'd love to find a cheaper, good-looking alternative to actually toy around with at will without worry of ruining an expensive collection-worthy item, without being partsforming-heavy or a total piece of crap. I haven't had any exposure to Revos yet but they seem to have a pretty good reputation; if the PT version here is sturdy, properly transforming and even generally close to the lineart for a decent price, I for one may be interested.

If this poll is redone I strongly suggest that a picture of each valk is included in the first post. It would seem there is some confusion concerning the vf-22S and the vf-2SS. The current results of this poll makes no sense at all.

Considering the flood of pictures of VF-2SS custom models a few pages back (and the occasional straggler since then), I'd say most people are pretty well aware of which one is up for the vote. And of course the option in the poll itself makes mention of Macross II, and I'd like to think everyone's reading the options before actually voting!

Macross II itself has plenty of detractors and, indeed, a fair share to complain about, but there's a lot of love out there for the VF-2SS despite the rest of the show's flaws. Okay, there's a lot of hate too, but everyone's tastes are their own.

I have to wonder if the shoulder portion of the engine nacelles are meant to rotate in order to give the VF-4 fully articulated shoulders. The game models usually just kept them fixed in place.

I think it's safe to presume that's how they're intended then. It doesn't look like they'd be articulated that way to begin with in the lineart above, and with licensed, fully animated evidence to correlate, it's a logical conclusion that the upper nacelles are affixed to the fuselage in a permanent position and the shoulder joints are either housed within or just below.

"Koi no Banana Moon" is one of my favorite songs from any Macross title, from most anime titles in general, in fact. That's the song used in the Minmay Defense, for reference; I don't care if it was overridden by the Emulators, it's a great tune!

An ugly design is an ugly design is an ugly design.

So again, with such a hideous Battroid and questionable transformation, why should the VF-4 get any consideration either?

New write-in candidate*: VF-5000G Star Mirage! Better looking in Battroid than the Lightning III, still sexy in any mode, and with more screen time too!

*Not actually a write-in candidate, don't second the vote! xD

Thanks for the quick reply and the link. I totally don't remember that valk from macross 2. I may have to watch it again to try and spot it.

It's only got a couple of brief appearances, both while Ishtar is on Earth the first time with Hibiki and the Mardook are searching for her; two of them are chasing a Mardook battle pod and shoot it down over the ocean, and two more arrive when Feff and a random Zentradi underling are smashing up the culture park. Episode 2, I'd guess; it's been a long time since I watched MII but that's the most likely point.

Anyone have a pic of the VF-2J Icarus? A google search has proved fruitless. I have only a vague recollection of it in the Macross II ova since all the mecha action flashed by too quickly like the majority of all the other early 90s ovas.

http://www.mahq.net/mecha/macross/macross2/vf-2ja.htm Pics of the Icarus in all three modes, with and without FAST packs though I don't believe it ever appeared with them on in the anime anywhere, so I'm not sure how canon the packs are. It's a different model than the VF-2SS in many ways, so it's not exactly like Yamato could milk the mold with it, but if they make one they may be open to the other, who knows. I'd have used the M3 for reference but there's no entry for the Icarus in it, sadly.

You guys do realize the VF-2SS is pretty much a solid no, right? Right now its more like a 50/50 VF-17, VF-19 with a slight chance of VF-4.

Considering the VF-4 had all of, what, maybe ten seconds of screen time in a glorified music video that I'd wager plenty of Macross fans haven't seen yet, and has a bitch of a transformation (just look at the colored transformation diagram in the M3, particularly the ridiculous way the legs collapse between Battroid and Fighter modes), I'd say it's a pretty solid "no" too on matters of design basis and, let's face it, obscurity (yes, I said it and you know it's true!) as well as no canon variants to milk the mold with. All we ever saw was Hikaru's.

At least the VF-2SS was prominently featured in a multi-episode OVA series, even if it's been retconned out of the main continuity, and could conceivably be customized for the numerous pilots shown to be flying them. And there's also the VF-2J Icarus, an offshoot though admittedly quite different in appearance and transformation, so not at all the same mold but still an attractive relation to the -2SS.

I think most of us know it's a longshot trying to get either the VF-2SS or the VF-4 into production. Of course the -0D, and -17 and -19 variants are much, much more likely to see production. This isn't a "what's most likely" poll, it's a "what we want to see" poll, and I want to see the VF-2SS get some 1/60 love! I'd even like to see them try a the VF-4, despite how annoyed I may seem by it right now. It would show that Yamato's willing to think outside the same three or four repainted boxes, and that's always a good thing!

Agent, where did you find this QUOTE?

I can't find these comment in this thread...?!

That was mine. ^^; I started typing it before all the pics of the VF-4 started being posted, and by the time I'd posted it, someone else had already brought up how odd the Lightning III's Battroid is several posts before mine. I edited out my post to prevent rehashing the same thing, I thought I'd managed to get it before it could be quoted but evidently I was wrong. xD Agent-GHQ's apparently very quick with that Reply button.

EDIT: Nevermind, it was covered between my starting my reply and actually posting it. xD

I had to go with the VF-2SS. It was a very close call over the VF-4, really just a preference on my part; blame it on the odd design of the Lightning III's Battroid mode (and thankfully I seem not to be the only one to feel that way!). I wouldn't mind seeing the VF-17 get a better treatment than Bandai's 1/65 version seems to have given it, either.

It did. In the last couple of episodes of Frontier.

True, and I'd never take anything away from Sheryl and "Ranka"'s song-battle of wills! But I meant more as a central concern throughout a series, as opposed to coming into play at the climax.

[...] The turn about of an enemy using song in battle as well, truly excited me. It tossed out the question of "What if your enemy used the same tricks you used, what would you do then?"

I totally agree with this point. It's one of the elements of Macross II that I for one deserve to be explored in the Macross universe proper, particularly if incorporated into an explanation of what happened to Megaroad-01. (My personal opinion there; I know plenty of people don't want further exporation of the Megaroad's fate, including Kawamori-sensei himself. I'm just expressing a thought. Don't flame me! xD) Like many others I also loved the VF-2 Valkyries, and while the updated Destroid designs didn't impress me as a whole it was good to see them get as much of an upgrade as the Valkyries themselves; by Macross Frontier I do believe only the Tomahawk line has seen any improvement in the form of the Cheyenne. And come on; the six-rail-cannon-sporting Monster looked like pure destruction on legs for the second or so of screen time it had. Much more impressive than the VB-6 Koenig.

I also have to give credit for having a main protagonist from outside the military/paramilitary industry as well, even if Hibiki could be a douche sometimes. (And I've only ever seen the old English dub, so I'm sure I'm running on a flawed perception of him.) I did like the alternative view of the war from a journalist's perspective and his struggle to disclose events as they truly were rather than through the military-controlled spin of the media at large.

And anyone who doesn't like Ishtar needs electroshock therapy until they're cured of that particular insanity.

Unfortunately it did have plenty of drawbacks. As people have said already, the time constraints of the OVA format hurt the development of story and characters alike. If it had been given even a thirteen-episode proper series run, and admittedly more attention paid to keeping a fresh approach to things, MII could have been a really worthwhile sequel as opposed to needing to be shunted aside as an alternate universe story. I'm extremely interested to find out what happened in the novel-based continuation of the story, so I'll be waiting on Gubaba's translation efforts no matter how long it may be in coming.

Now that's the type of weapon the Armored Valkyrie should be packing, is that from a Gundam kit looks familiar.

Looks like it might be one of the dual buster rifles from the Wing Zero Custom, though I've only seen those in MSIA action figure scale, so I could be wrong. xD

@MaveRick: Seriously, that is a badass look for the Stealth VF-1J. I'd been wondering how the Urban Camo GBP would look on that particular Valk, thanks for such a perfect demonstration of it!

I have a couple of models ready for paint:

Is the island South Ataria Island or Macross Island?

I hava a blimp model kit I was going to use and have it say:

Macross Island Hit Radio

or

South Ataria Island Hit Radio

The original name from Macross was South Ataria Island; Robotech changed it to Macross Island for, well, whatever reason the rewriters may have had. South Ataria is the way to go if you're looking for proper authenticity.