SuperSenpai

I have one, bought new, and I thought it was definitely not as tight as the 1/60 v2. The missiles are prone to fall off, the arms don't stay locked into place in fighter mode, the hip/intake pieces tend to become unseated when moving the legs forward from fighter to gerwalk mode, the gun doesn't stay locked into place in fighter mode, and super parts tend to fall off. It definitely has size going for it, and compared to what came before I can see how at the time it was released it was the greatest thing since sliced bread. But after having handled a 1/60 v2, the 1/48 does feel floppier in comparison.

Kicker, it's a bit frightening to think that you collect things *besides* Macross!

Quite a few actually, but then my definition of "old lady" is probably rather liberal.

Yes, but outside of toy collecting, most people use curios for things like vases, china, pottery, porcelain knick-knacks -- basically stuff I associate with old ladies. I've only ever seen Detolfs used to display toy collections.

Ditto on this. I have a set of these I bought to display my Bandai 1/100 hi-metals with. The are nowhere near sturdy enough for 1/60th scale toys. Think 6"-ish action figure type of toys.

I've always been curious as to whether anyone actually uses Detolfs for anything *other* than displaying action figures, toys, collectibles, and related merchandise. To see what I mean, just google "detolf" and select image search!

Oh one more thing I just thought of -- Have the arms open up to reveal the little robotic arms that Roy used to make repairs on Hikaru's 1D!

For me, since my "frivolous" spending is spread across several areas besides Macross, (movies, books, sports equipment, comic books and related merchandise), and because I have no desire to accumulate vast quantities of stuff, I try to keep my collecting focused. I try to follow the following guidelines: 1) Get it as cheaply as possible. I'm fine with buying secondhand items without original boxes, for example, so long as it's in good condition. I also use credit card points as much as possible, or sell off other stuff. I try to live with the mentality that if it were to all go up in smoke tomorrow, I'd be OK with it and not feel like I sank so much cash into it that I'd lose my mind. I find that forcing myself to bargain hunt makes me slow down and restrain myself from going overboard. 2) Realistic, detailed, and/or anime-accurate sculpts (exceptions made for vintage toys). I'm not a fan of super-deformed or exaggerated features like the Revoltech figures. For those of you into Mospeada, this is what made me pass on the CMs Legioss. This is something I also go by when I purchase superhero action figures or statues -- if you're familiar with Kotobukiya, I love their statues. 3) Perfect transformation only. No super-poseables or Yamato 1/60 v1. 4) I only buy one color scheme of a particular mold/model. I wouldn't buy both a TV Max and Kakizaki,or both Max and Milia 1J, or Roy and Hikaru DYRL VF-1S, since the only thing that differs is the color. 5) Related to 4, I try to diversify as much as possible. With my VF-1s, I have 1/100, 1/60, 1/55, and 1/48 scales, TV super and DYRL strike Valkyries. At some point I'd like to add a VF-1A and a 1D, since those are the only sculpts I'm missing from SDFM/DYRL. I also try to buy what I consider to be the best example in that scale. I didn't bother with the Toynami 1/100 VFs when the Bandai Hi-Metals are far superior. And although the original Takatoku 1/55s have vintage appeal, I prefer the reissues because they have better painted details while retaining everything that made the original a classic. 6) So far I've focused only on SDFM/DYRL, since I have a lot of nostalgia for the first generation of Macross. I enjoyed Macross Plus, but didn't find the mecha designs to be as appealing to warrant adding to my collection. Ditto for Macross Zero and Macross 7. Aside from the classics, I'm a big fan of the VF-25S and the VF-4 designs and hope to add them to my collection some day. Sadly, with the prices those are going for these days, it conflicts somewhat with rule #1.

Ok, so I realize that for quite a few of you, the answer to this is "everything". But for the rest of us who collect on a more limited scale, how do you decide what pieces to add to your collection? Or to put it another way, does your collecting have a particular focus or theme? Only Yamato VFs? Only vintage toys? Only vehicles for certain characters? Do you try to get a representative piece in each scale? Do you only collect particular paint schemes?

Some of these are bit out there, but here's my list: I don't know if I'd consider it an improvement per se, but I think an interesting engineering challenge would be to figure out transformation to mimic the original line art designs and animation. Basically, it would amount to figuring out a way to get the legs to swing out and attach to the nosecone that doesn't require the current metal swing bar, or the old Takatoku-style mechanism, and still allows for free, ball-jointed movement of the hips. This would more closely mimic the anime design, where there were pistons that pushed the legs out from the body to attach to the nosecone. This would also enable you to transform from fighter directly to battroid without having to pass through gerwalk mode. I think that Bandai's shoulder transformation mechanism for the Hi-Metal series is superior to Yamato's design, as it places less stress on the plastic parts, and would love to see something similar incorporated into a future design. Even with Yamato's newer, improved shoulders, I'm always a little scared of applying too much pressure to the plastic when rotating the shoulders over that little bump. Another one in the area of engineering challenge: figure out a way to integrate all the option parts, including getting the pilot seat to elevate out of the battroid's neck. That would probably require an increase in scale. A minor cosmetic improvement would be to cover up the screw holes, though I'm not sure how you would do that without creating a bunch of little pieces that might fall out. One thing that I liked from the old Takatokus was how the wings would click slightly when they were adjusted. I'd like to see this return in the modern designs.

I'm sure there was a good reason for doing that -- probably budget and time constraints. I'm just saying it would have been nice to have the entire series be animated in the same high quality as the episodes I mentioned, and it's not like it was impossible. I'm probably in the minority on this, as I know a lot of people tend to be purists about these kind of things, but I would totally be on board with them doing a "masterpiece" version of Macross -- basically, keep the original series story, audio and dialogue tracks, and re-animate the visual portion to be of a consistent, high quality. Picture it -- the original series re-animated with DYRL-level visuals. I'd definitely go for that.

Seriously? Almost $10,000 for an original Beagle Rey type ride armor??? http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B001U3Y2M8/ref=sr_1_12_olp?ie=UTF8&qid=1363403954&sr=8-12&keywords=robotech+cyclone&condition=new

I gave SDFM an A rather than an A+ because the story had just the right combination of soap opera, action, drama, comedy, sci-fi elements, etc. BUT I knew that they could have done the animation better, even by standards of that time. A good portion of the episodes look like they had been done by another studio that did not put nearly the same care and attention to detail to the art. Just look at an episode like "Virgin Road" compared to an episode like "Burst Point" or "Love Drifts Away". If the entire series had been animated to be of the same visual quality as "Burst Point" or "Love Drifts Away", SDFM would have been an A+ in my book.

For me, Mac Plus was an acquired taste. I enjoyed it more on subsequent viewings. And for what it's worth, since my original post in this thread I have since finished about half of Macross Frontier. So far I'd give it an A. The animation quality is on par with Macross Zero. The VF-25 is in my top three Valkyries (VF-1 and VF-4 being the others). And the story and characters are great. I love the little nods to previous entries in the series. It has serious moments, but it's not nearly so dour as Mac Plus. The soap opera-ish, love triangle elements are there, along with plenty of space dogfighting, and there's some mystery regarding the Vajra, Sheryl, and Ranka. The music's pretty catchy too. And so far they don't overdo the mystical or music-can-save-us themes that bothered me in Mac Zero and Mac 7. The only reason why I wouldn't give it an A+ is that it feels a bit funny to grade it higher the than SDFM. Also, at times it's almost a bit *too* light and cutesy. A lot of this has to do with Ranka.

The Hikaru DYRL VF-1S? The red/black painted one?

That didn't last long. The two sellers listing it for $99 and $100 have marked it up to $120 and $150.

Does anyone know if the Takatoku 1/55s ever had missile attachments for the wings? I can't seem to find any info on them. I remember having a conversation with someone a long time ago and he said that they had plastic pieces to clip missiles onto the wings paper-clip style (since the wings didn't have hard points on them), but other than this brief conversation I don't have any evidence of their existence.

The Kakizaki VF-1 is more understandable because of the character (goofball/comic relief, gets killed off quickly) and color schemes. I always felt like he got the worst paint schemes in both TV and DYRL versions. But the Rand MP Cyclone is almost exactly the same as the Scott model. I think the only difference is the head sculpt, fabric color, and forearm pieces. And his character is far more crucial the the storyline of Mospeada than Kakizaki is to Macross.

Dissassembling a Detolf would definitely be easier to transport. But as someone who has owned a ton of Ikea furniture over the years, I generally follow the rule of thumb that Ikea furniture is only good for about 3-4 dissassembly/reassemblies before it gets wobbly and starts falling apart. Oh, and the glass used in the Detolf is tempered safety glass. It can break, but it's much more resistant to breakage than a standard sheet of glass.

Are we talking about Jetfire, the toy, or *Skyfire*, the equivalent character from the cartoon? There are no inherent design (i.e., structural, mechanical) differences between Jetfire and the Takatoku/Bandai Valkyries. Any differences between the Takatoku design and Jetfire are merely cosmetic (i.e. paint and stickers). As far as I'm concerned, the Yamato toys are masterpiece versions of that particular design. A MP Transformer version would be redundant. I don't think such a thing could even happen anyway, given all the legal issues surrounding Macross to begin with. If you're talking about a MP Transformer *Skyfire* -- I think the closest they have are these toys (which ironically are named Jetfire even though their design is based off of Skyfire): http://www.amazon.com/Hasbro-81299-Jetfire-Transformers-Voyager/dp/B000IJPJJU/ref=pd_sim_sbs_t_1 http://www.amazon.com/Classics-Skyfire-Jetfire-Takara-Transformers/dp/B0017IDGQY/ref=sr_1_9?s=toys-and-games&ie=UTF8&qid=1363039229&sr=1-9&keywords=skyfire

I think the Jetfire scheme is a common mod for Valkyries, and better (i.e., more faithful to the original design) have been done. This one was posted on MW a while back: http://www.macrossworld.com/mwf/index.php?showtopic=21930&p=567100

Agreed. Those were great toys. In fact, while my Yamato 1/60 v2 is definitely tops, I think I may prefer my Bandai 1/100 to my Yamato 1/48. Sure, it's a much smaller scale, but I'm constantly amazed at how much they were able to cram into such a small size. I think it holds together better than the 1/48, and it's a lot cheaper too (or at least it was).

You know, this thread got me thinking -- they really need to put out a proper sequel to SDF Macross. And by "proper", I mean a sequel that follows up on the characters and events from the original TV series. I'd love to see a new series that chronicles the journey of Hikaru, Misa, Minmay et al. after they left the Earth on the colony ships. It would also be awesome to see the VF-4 in combat action. That way maybe they might decide to do a regular release of the VF-4 that's a little less expensive.

My experiences were similar to yours -- Robotech was my gateway as a kid, and I never watched the original Macross or any of the related productions until later in life. I've since watched SDF Macross, DYRL, Macross 2, Zero, Plus, and seen a few episodes of 7. My thoughts on each of these: SDF Macross: After hearing for years how HG had done a hatchet job on the original series, and how the original Japenese version was so much better, I finally got a chance to watch a dubbed version. And honestly, I was surprised at how similar Robotech's version was to the original Japanese. The obvious differences -- things like the nature of Protoculture -- I considered to be background material that were not that necessary to understand and enjoy the main story. I thought the main plot points, characters, and relationships were pretty much the same. The only major difference I noted was Minmay/Minmei's relationship with Kaifun/Kyle. Grade: A (more consistent animation quality would have given it an A+) DYRL: I loved this movie. Plot-wise, I thought the TV series did a better job telling the story and selling the characters, and I thought DYRL got a little hokey towards the end. But that aside, this is one beautifully drawn movie. One thing that frustrated me about the TV series was how the art quality was so inconsistent from episode-to-episode -- I heard that Studio Nue subcontracted some of the animation work to another studio, and the differences are obvious. Well, imagine if the studio that did all the "good" episodes of Macross upped their game even more and made a feature-length film, and you've got a good idea of how the movie looks. Grade: A (I thought the TV show told the story better, otherwise it would have gotten an A+) Macross 2: Didn't particularly care for it. Didn't recognize any of the characters, thought the action and mecha designs were so-so, and the story seems to not relate to any of the rest of the franchise. Grade: C Macross Plus: I was lukewarm towards this one at first, but I appreciate it more after watching it a couple of times. The mecha designs are decent, and the action scenes and overall animation quality are well done. The main problem I had when I originally watched it was that it didn't seem like a sequel to the original TV series or DYRL, but a tangential story with unrelated characters that happened to be set in the Macross universe. But it eventually grew on me. So long as you set aside any notion of connecting with the rest of the Macross franchise, I think this is an enjoyable movie/OVA series. Grade: B+ Macross Zero: Really enjoyed the animation on this one, but the whole island/birdman/Protoculture storyline didn't do a thing for me. The mystical elements of the storyline seemed really out of place, IMO. But it was great seeing Focker in action again. Grade: B- I've only seen a few episodes of Macross 7, and to be frank, the whole Basara guitar-playing Vaklyrie thing is just plain weird to me. The earlier Macross productions had the theme of the power of music to defeat the enemy, and it was hokey then too, but it was more forgiveable because they didn't overdo it. It seems like for Macross 7, they really took that idea and ran with it to its most extreme conclusion. Hence you have a rock star who pilots a Valkyrie with guitar controls and plays his music to defeat the enemy.

By the way, this poll seems incomplete --- where's Guardian mode?