Nani?!

On the contrary, I think they'll actually come really close to their projection. Yamato only shows off what they're near or already completed with, and given we've already received painted pictures of it, I think july is pretty safe to bet on. Despite the possibility of change in the sculpt, I don't think it will change much or at all, for that matter. It's projects that they keep mum about that are questionable. *cough*YF-19FP*cough*. I'm telling ya.... I think my conspiracy theory with that valk is somewhat possible. Maybe we'll see a 1/60 Macross plus line soon in the horizon.

Agreed. I think most people express their negative opinions outward while really liking the new OAV's (or many aspects of it) at the same time inside. There always be those fans who think the original is the greatest and nothing will ever come close. I guess we just have to accept it. Macross plus was my favorite series of all macross (even over my childhood experience with SDF), but I think macross Zero is really showin me something. It might be just the fact that I had low expectations for it before I watched it but nevertheless, it's definitely holding up on it's own. The story reminds me of evangelion is some strange way, but I guess that's a good thing. My only hope is that it doesn't get too mystical or trippy like NGE in the end. I can't wait for the final two episodes. It really bites that we have to wait so long for them to come out. but I guess it's worth it.

Raised in New York. Livin now in Chicago,IL. Hmm... havent seen anyone from those two cities yet. AND GAD DAMN! Look at all those fellow North Americans! HA! We're all people screwed by good ol' Harmony Gold!

Man, all these cool techniques and craftmanship.... truly you are the master WM Cheng. Look forward to the finished peice~!

Does anyone know how to play VF X2 on the PC with ePSXe? I just downloaded the emulator but I dunno if the game CD will work in my CD-rom. (since the game is an import and all) is there anything I have to do to play it? any good information will be appreciated. I want to hear anybody who already has played it this way before I actually buy the game. thanks in advance.

big valks are cool... but in all likely scenarios, I don't think yamato will ever make a 1/48 VF-0~ Zero is only an OAV... and as you can see with some of the comments people make here, they hate the VF-0 design. Given the fact that I love the newer valkyrie designs, I hope the macross plus and zero valks atleast get up to 1/60~ I think it'd also be interesting if we saw Macross 7 stuff from yamato... I guess we'll see...

I love fighter jets. I love japanese mecha. Two of my favorite things in the world. Combine them and what do you get? MACROSS! It's crazy how much detail they put into designing these things. They make something relatively impractical in the real world almost into something we can imagine being totally possible. That's the beauty of it I think... Gundams are ok too, but some of them look fruity.

Thanks!

Appreciate the cheer up. but faith on Ebay? I dunno... I actually follow every low vis auction that goes on ebay and I've yet to see any sold below $250. crummy really... I didn't collect 1/48's because of their price when the low vis came out and was selling for $120... now that I bought my first 1/48, (vf 1s) I keep hitting myself whenever I go to ebay and HOPE I can get one for $180ish shipped.... (which is impossible.) I have more faith that yamato might, in the slightest electron sized chance, re-release it. (HA!)

Thanks for the heads up Graham, Does anyone know how long the OVA will go? 4 episodes like macross plus? or more? Apologize in advance if this has already been asked..

Grrrrrr... sorry... I get all envious when I hear people have multiple low vizs when I got none... it's my fault.... but the fact saddens me... OFF TOPIC! MY BAD!

Because the 1/60 nose isn't as long. We're not going to get 100% accuracy as far as the GBP goes... even if it's on the 1/48. I'm sure yamato will figure it out... that's what they get paid for... and oh, almost forgot... IT's NOT even announced or planned yet! we're getting ahead of ourselves here...

go to Twin moons they have a page dedicated to applying water slide decals. material you need basically are: -xacto knife w/ extra set of blades (just in case) -qtips -Micro Sol setting solution. A MUST!!! Some people suggest Micro Set, but I tried both and I prefer the strength of Micro sol, It really makes the decal look almost like paint. -small flat up to an 1" deep tray for room temp water. -a thin tip brush (I used a good quality water color brush) -tweezers -patience and extra care Application directions should be on Twin moons site...

yeah I agree, I don't think it's a prominent feature in valks as much as it is on a gundam. I don't recall a specific moment where eyes lit up in Macross (maybe reflecting light but not being a source of). And even in gundam toy line 99.99% (maybe even 100%) of them don't have light up eyes. As for the nose cone... I dont think it was made for a probable GBP addon to fit better... It's clearly to add more detail (even though it looks pretty cheesy)... It's possible yamato could use that feature for the benefit of the GBP but I dont think it was included there because of it.

IMHO, it makes a world of difference. I bought Anasazi's waterslide stickers and a bottle of Micro sol setting solution with my first 1/48. It takes a while to cut them out and apply them at the right places, but once you got them all on, it's becomes a work of art. It took me 3 days to decal up my 1/48 and it's fastpacks and panel line them. But it's worth the effort and extra 20 or so bucks. Go for it man... Anasazi's decals are sold in Twin moons, and you can find a bottle of micro sol in any hobby site or store.

It's a good looking rendition of the q rau. Just an unposable one. not to be redundant, but no matter how much I like the Qrau and wanted one as a toy for all these years, it still stings when I think about how little you get for the money here. Really negligent those folks at yamato were with the Rau.... and in a way.... must I say,... Cheap. I don't really have anything critical to say to what is present, it's just the lack of what is present that makes it just a bit less than special.

The real world problem with forward swept wings is that it hinders high speed maneuvers. The resistance it has against the wind is too much for the wings... They make a jet highly manueverable but hinders how fast the speed at which those manuevers can be made in. (this is what I read) Given this, I suppose the 19 is made of stronger materials than what is currently being used on jets. Apart from the scene in the Plus series where the 19 folds in space (where there is no wind resistance), I would think the 19's wings fold back when it flys top speed in the earth's or eden's atmosphere.

some thoughts and replies I have to what's been posted: 1) Panel lines aren't hard for a toy manufcturer to do... nor is it very expensive. Yamato did i before with the 1/72's and I think it's more than safe to say they'll do the same for the Vf-0's. I really think this is a good step forward. For the amount of profit one of these make for Yamato, more detail is definitely warranted. 2) I think it's almost certain a bigger version will be made so all the people who can't get over the small size should not worry too much. 3) upon my years of buying japanese products I think despite their kick ass quality, they (the japanese) seem to forget (better word, neglect) smaller but nevertheless important aspects of the product that really hinders it from being perfect. The errors almost seem totally "DUH!", and hard to overlook but they do so over and over again. Yamato's are plagued by these and a lot of their electronic products (ie. Gameboy advance first version, Playstation 2 lack of four controller ports, etc. etc.) I guess it can seem like a generalization but because their products kick ass, you kinda wonder about these obvious gaping flaws. 4) I don't think perfect transformation was bypassed here because of "accuracy" issues as yamato claims. Though, again I must say I'm not worried by it, it could have been done if they wanted to. I think it's quite clear they went the easier path because the engineering of the transformation is probably what costs the most in production. The VF-0 is far from the most complicating transformation. It obvious they wanted to maximize profits. 5) I like the VF-0 design. I liked it even more when I saw it in the Macross 0 series. Why do some of you hate it so much? Just a question. I really want to know what reasons. 6) Lastly, I wonder how yamato will treat the other valks of the series. For the SV-51 and even the 0D, I think yamato should get on the bandwagon of better detail in the paintjobs. I dont think they can simply rely on colored plastic as much as they did in the past. I hope their growth really allows them to add more detail and bang for the dollar (or yen). Overall, they're getting a bit better (given what I see now) with the VF 0S.

yes, because it's a 1/100. It'll NEVER come close to a 1/48 but I think it's up there with the 1/60's... It seems to sport a better paint job. hopefully it'll look even better at hand. Graham, any tidbit of info on the YF 19 FP? Like if it's still in plan?, if it's anywhere near completion? what quarter of 2004 (or even what YEAR perhaps? ) Even your speculation would be nice. yes, no? (if no, oh well, worth a try~ ) thanks in advance Edit - typo

Congrats vibayo. like everyone said, it wont be your last.... I started with the original 1/72 mac + line and I've bought everything but the 1/48's since(I only have one 1/48). Great price I must say. and to Fort max: Though I saw the original macross series back in the 80's I never really became a fan till macross plus came along. So yeah, I understand your point about perferring the newer valks over the old. However I must say, once you buy one of the older ones (especially one of the 1/48's) you'll REALLY appreciate them a lot more. I really recommend getting a VF-1 1/48. It's really worth buying one (even though it costs more than a playstation 2). welcome to macross fandom!

oh, I totally agree shin. Yamato is a business corp, not a buddy family toy maker. And the criticism some people gave were constructive and insightful. The complaints I'm talking about are those who foolishly try to compare this with the 1/48 line and forget the fact that this is a different price point toy. That alone should explain the reason for smaller scale, less accuracy, etc. it's all relative. But people still try to undermine the product itself by comparing it to a toy more than 3-4 times it's price. That's just being unfair. I personally had lower expectations of this latest endeavor by yamato. It's going to stand smaller than the 1/60's and going to feature swapable parts and yet when seeing it's progress, I'm really liking what they've (yamato) done. Despite it's flaws and when not compared to the colossus of the 1/48's detail and size, it's a great toy. That's all...

oh, swapping parts aint that bad... it's a display piece. it's not like you'll dramatically reinact the tranformation every time you do so. or do you?

Right on APU, Before I say anything else, Graham, Kick ass man. Thanks for the pics and the updates. - Some of the complaining you people do really makes me understand Yamato's decision to remain hush about their up and coming toys. Get in your mind that this isn't a huge, $180 1/48 scale toy. It's yamato's attempt to offer something at the lower end of the price spectrum. A decent, no, a GOOD one at that. Some of you are complainin' about the VF-0 design itself! Good gosh. Really folks, lets stick with constructive critique rather than whines and groans. Some of you guys really seem to beg yamato to be secretive with their work. I commend those who stuck with constructive criticism. And pleeaassse... quit kidding yourself. If you're a fan of Macross 0 You know you're going to eat it up anyway. As far as my two cents about the sculpt, It looks great. I'm really amazed how far along yamato came in just a couple of years. For a 1/100, I'm really impressed with the amount of detail they were able to put in. I'm sure they sculpted this with CAD no? really nice. Paint job is tight for a yamato. I hope the actual distributed product has an equally great paint job. Panel lines and all. Speaking of panel lines, given that they actually took the effort for them, I wonder why they left out the skull? No matter, it's nothing Takatoy's or devin's decals can't fix. The only thing I think takes away from the overall quality of the toy is the leg pegs... generally, the hip area as everyone is pointing out to. If yamato has any intention on making last minute changes as Graham said they probably would, I think it can be over looked. I'm psyched. I'm sold. 2 for me! Thanks for the pics Graham! EDIT - emphasized text

Yeah, looks as though the box was terribly mishandled.... As for your question about twin moons, I must concur that his packaging is comparable, if not better than big bad toy store. I purchased my valks from both, and Twin moons is cheaper (most of the times) and extra careful with packaging. That dude even signs personal thank you notes in his packages. your toys are in good hands natgun, Tam's the man.

GBP for 1/48 is not confirmed... and that's basically it... I think we're bound to see it someday. Afterall it's just a separate armor accessory kit like the fast packs... the engineering for it wouldn't be too difficult for yamato. you know what I wan't that's more doubtful of happening? Reissue the LOW VIS!!!!