rtype

To start with, let me say that anyone who posts a brag like "look at the ridiculous number of the same toy I just bought" deserves his criticism as much as he deserves his praise. And yeah, personally, I think it's idiotic to buy seven of the same toy just to collect. Then again, they may go up in value and he may end up selling them for profit to the same people in this thread who criticized him for buying. But I hate it when people do that. The toy companies, realtors and distributors take enough money from fans without speculators artificially controlling supply by cramming a bunch of the same toy in his closet to wait for just the right moment to get some desperate geek to pay even more than retail for them. But I can't say I side with his criticizers either. I guess bragging begets bragging but you people who get more than $10k a year in bonuses need to realize that you're not in the majority and I'd venture to say that most people in this forum do not get bonuses that good every year. And you know what, some of us manage to buy the occasional thing just for fun anyway.

This is the only way it ever is. It's basically original toy cost +/- supply/demand impact. We can question whether or not the manufacturer *intended* to shortsupply the demand in order to create a chase variant or not, but regardless of the manufacturer's intent, the value of a collectible is always porportional to how difficult it is to get and how many people want it. My suspicion is that the "low viz" was not shortsupplied intentionally but rather that Yamato underestimated its desirability because it had no way to guage the custom mod market (ie, people buying them to paint). Ironically, this will in the long run have the effect of making the "low viz" even more valuable because it is more likely than any other valk to not be found in original condition.

Um, I thought they had different heads? (Different number of antennae?)

[since a mod locked the thread in the main forum, this is being reposted here.] Where can I find a good mech guide that would (for example) show a picture of the mech, tell which series or episode it was in, give historical information, tell me what weapons or abilities it has, state anything else significant, etc?

I didn't mean to throw around the word "perfect" so loosely, but I'd seen the term "perfect transformation" (probably on product packaging) before. I guess the advantage of Transformers is that the toys were invented in advance of the TV show, so it was up to the TV show to achieve accuracy in the way they worked. Since Macross has always been anime first, maybe expecting toys to mimic them so closely is expecting too much. Still, I don't personally feel that it's acceptable to have to take the mech apart in order to transform it and it sounds like you'd have to for many of the other lines including the Yamato 1/60. I'm not really looking for any specific mechs--Fokker's VF-1S was always my favorite so getting that i nthe Yamato 1/48 should satisfy that, but I would be way interested if there were other mechs that were high quality and could be transformed without being taken apart.

At least now we know why some of them are rare.

It sounds like if you wanted other mechs (other than the VF-1*), then the best route is the old 1/55 Bandais then?

Why do you think I have 32 of them? They ARE THAT GOOD! 32?? I didn't think they made 32 different ones? So you have repeats? Tell me you're doing customs.

Where can I find a good mech guide that would (for example) show a picture of the mech, tell which series or episode it was in, give historical information, tell me what weapons or abilities it has, state anything else significant, etc?

I don't like the idea of having to take a mech apart to transform it from one mode to another. Which toy lines have perfect transformation?

If anyone is willing, I'd like more info. on the differences between the Macross Plus OVAs and the Macross Plus movie. I read the section of the FAQ, but it's a bit confusing. Would you guys say that both are equally worth seeing? How much footage is in the OVAs that isn't in the movie? How much in the movie that isn't in the OVAs?

Can someone straighten me out on chronology? Is it basically: Do You Remember Love: fictional to the Macross canon Macross II: parallel universe/not part of Macross canon Then it's: Macross Zero -> Macross -> Macross 7 -> Macross Plus ?