1/1 LowViz Lurker

Here are the main ones so far in summary: -bigger gunpod -bigger fins, canard, wings -longer calves/shins with stubbier hips (so the intakes look a little bit 'wider'?) but which are also skinnier than the calves/shins -shoulders that can be angled upwards for robot mode -shoulders that reach as high as the cockpit canopy in fighter mode -more curved neck/belly -double jointed knees and elbows (gerwalk mode has to rock) -curved edges like the lineart rather than sharp ones From the impression I get it looks meaty side on, but in robot mode looks skinny from the front. (which I don't mind much as I've mentioned before that is how I envision valks because of thier fighter mode) I just hope that, if they do make the bottom part of the legs stubby in a change, (to be more like the lineart) that there is enough room for beefy enough arms. I wasn't really a fan of the 1/72 vf11 for example because of that. (the arms get skinnier and skinnier with each release vf1 to vf0. And then people wonder why you can't have beefy hands to fit inside the sleeve and support the chunky gundpod with weak wrists... )

Agree here. Maybe it is a battroid mode thing where smaller = less poking out from the legs? Yeah that is the first thing I noticed when I first saw it even without comparing lineart. I would love to see it go up and down then in a straight line. I'm actually happy about top view. From the side I think the fighter overall looks chunky compared to model though. I think overall the toy will make stuff chunky at the side view (due to landing gear?) while looking in proportion from the top view. (apart from the cockpit area which will have detail inside like the vf1/0 so it needs the space?) So maybe the intake then gets a little deformed (less wide - done deliberately?) for toy form as the compromise. Then they can get away with short wings, and small fins etc, so that in robot mode there is less stuff sticking out behind the legs. (better poses and stuff. The 1/72 have a mess at the back of the calves where stuff "hangs out" too much, so maybe this time they want a cleaner robot? The vf1 doesn't have that prob of course because the v tail is tucked away nicely in the backpack) On 1/72, when the fins are transformed to bend inwards in gerwalk, they are long enough that they actually rub together when the legs are straight. Maybe one advantage of shortening these, (and have a wider body with skinny, more poseable legs) means they don't do this as much? But in lineart the fins end up looking a little "shrunken" in other modes. (like the nosecone did in lineart for the vf-1 in robot mode.) As I'm a fan of the banpresto vf1, I can live with skinny chicken legs.

But if yamato was going to do it anyway (assuming that they were still going to go ahead with different valks) would you want the upgrade? I think SDF macross and DYRL are the cash cows because of all the different variants. Maybe the poorer non-collector (like a kid who just wants a small scale toy) will buy them up (and try to get everything) because of the cheaper price point? (now that the old ones get harder to find? the "think of the children" argument) Yeah that's true. I guess it's the idea that the toy itself doesn't need to detatch limbs that "PT" toy people find appealing. Technically 1/60 are closer to PT, ...but.... technically at no point in the show do they "float" in mid air without being attached to something, they stay attached to something on the fighter at each point before releasing them to the hip too. So yes they do detach but not from the body of the whole thing. It must be one of the most dangerous things you can imagine.

Is the gunpod actually to scale? I think they should experiment with different sizes.

I think those liner notes are included with some dvd boxset in a little booklet though. The one I have is region 4 so it might vary? Very handy to have. Mainly because it means the valk or qrau can get to a spot quickly shoot and be done with it. Not that "we no longer need destroids at all." (as in replace them, after all a VB6 is a destroid right?) But more like: "if you had to choose the apropriate mecha and had limited funding and space and time what would you choose to survive?" (and I chose valks since in the series they look very effective against all kinds of mecha, not just against aircraft and spacecraft) Without the ability to fly around the destroid has got to walk around objects on the surface and take the long route. This wouldn't apply to a variable destroid. So that's why I mentioned the valk being useful due to having multiple abilities while still not intending to replace the other machines' jobs. (you can still have destroids but the current ones seem limited) True about the advantages of destroid vs GBP valk, and I agree here. But as I've said, a valk is still able to fly in an atmosphere, fly in space, run around on the ground to fight on the ground, hover in gerwalk instead of running, and maybe even carry different weapons instead of being forced to use the weapons that are built inside the machine. More flexible imo. Accuracy is reduced if you try to shoot while running so it wouldn't be done, while shooting while hovering (not as bumpy) could be done in gerwalk. Even if it lessens accuracy it is still useful for up close given how fast the gunpod fires. Think of a desert planet with massive sand dunes. Hovering is going to save you so much time. Movement much easier. No threat of being bogged down or going over hilly or uneven surfaces. By having those options available, the same machine can do multiple things. Granted it won't be the best at each one, and it won't replace the role of the destroids, but the destroids could have thier equivalant of variable mode that the dedicated fighter has with the variable fighter. They have a variable hover tank in Super dimensional Cavalry Southern Cross for example. The variable monster would be like that, where the gerwalk mode might be able to increase the range or view of the field, or cover greater distance in shorter time. (and no, it wouldn't "go on its own" it would have the escorts and stuff too) I agree, however there are some vehicles that I think could "survive" (that is if things get too hairy, like in a situation where the power of the enemies' weapon outclasses the power of your armor, and having the armor made little difference if it was there or not - for example look at the sheer size of the Qrau, its got giant lasers) thier speed allows them an advantage. It just might be a case in macross where armor wasn't suited against the enemy weapons, because as we were up against aliens, we didn't know what to expect (no special anti-beam armor) so we are still learning from each battle how effective or how necessary having the armor there is or not, (or its type - remember that destroid are used in human vs human war) based on things like how heavy it is, or how powerful the machines are to be able to carry the armor and still move at decent enough speed. You can have super duper tough armor and slow destroid, medium armor and medium speed destroid, or a lighter one. So the VB 6 would be the heavy one, but it might be lousy against mecha that are faster than it that were specifically designed to kill the monster equiped with some anti-armor weapon. And the other destroids (the lighter ones) have to use thier speed to stop these smaller ones and be used to escort the bigger and slower guy. I'm not disagreeing with "the role of the destroid being useful", just that a fighter can move quicker while destroids take time to get there to defend, so destroid can be improved like how fighters improved. In robot mode you still get armor, just not as thick. I think Britai could beat the valk up more because he was extremely tough and had superior fighting ability to hikaru rather than valks being really, really weak. (15 year old kid vs a fully grown man FFS) If you had armor that was thick and weighty, you might want to consider "what if?" I lightened the load just a little and see if it makes a big difference to what I can do. Maybe the better destroid pilot wants a lighter vehicle (because they never put themselves in a situation where they can be hit) so he customs the machine to his way of fighting? Possibly preffering a quicker turning destroid so he can take on more targets at once vs a machine which has stronger defense but costs you in reaction time? This is my reasoning for why I think an giant alien might like "thier mecha" more than "human" ones. Powered suit giving extremely strong melee, (punching a hole in the hull of a ship? Yes please! A giant Qrau to fit an ape commander would do wonders) while having good weapons like micromissiles, and... not moving slow. (no chunky feet with massive footprint to weigh you down, ability to move quick thanks to the booster etc) With regard to expansions: for the price you pay, they may be worth it and save a life. It's like with people who buy expansion cards for the pc based on what they WANT rather than wasting money on stuff they don't want. (ie this mean you won't be stuck with a crap videocard forever and have to buy a new pc just to do graphic intensive work, just upgrade the card and keep the existing thing which works fine) .....but I don't think of the GBP as an expansion at all. In the sense of: "the existing thing sucked and was flawed from the start". More like an "optional extra" that you only use for special missions that require it. When you don't require it (say you have used up all the missiles and need to fly) you eject it, and continue fighting without it. If the GBP was an expansion you would see all valks using it as standard like the FAST Pack in space as opposed to only used for special missions. But the penalty you pay for not being able to transform.....(and being too specialised) limits how you can fight, where you can get to in time, and what types of things you can kill. (destroid need to be transported since they can't fly) Armor costs mobility. So I think the FAST Pack (more than the GBP) is more the right balance of speed and power (my analogy of animals in nature that are both fast + strong) that is needed if we are talking about space. Being able to turn quick, having more power as reprsented in the speed as opposed to armor, may be more useful. (sportscar vs a truck - both powerful machines but the power is represented in different things) I'm not disagreeing with that. Just saying that a destroid has limits to what it can do that imo would need to be addressed in the context of a ship floating around in space with aliens that have faster machines dedicated to fighting in that environment in space where 3d movement is important. Tanks can't fly so thier limit is only targets that are viewable to them from where they are standing. So a tank shouldn't try to even shoot at stuff floating in the water beyond its range. But if it could, wouldn't that make it "more useful"? The variable monster wouldn't have that limit because it can actually float around and stuff meaning it can be useful for situations like that where you want to be able to get at things that you normally couldn't if you had to walk. But the destroids are more there by accident imo. Like they were never designed to actually fight in space from the beginning and were just used in place of gun turrets. If you knock a destroid off the SDF1 the poor pilot is going to float away and this could be dangerous if he gets lost in space while the sdf1 is moving away at high speed. This wouldn't apply to the vb 6 though. If it were up to me I would save space and replace some of the destroids with space fighters like what you see in the ARMD carriers because they can fly at least. The army can have the destroid while the space forces have the valks or dedicated space fighters. I mean, you barely ever see destroids in macross 7. They seem to get on fine. Meanwhile advances in destroid design can give us more useful destroid that can transform and fly if they get knocked off the sdf1 or need to get into better position to fire thier guns. (not chained down with claws like the early monster in mac zero) It doesn't mean we don't need destroids, but I still rank valk "higher" for its abilities to do other stuff while not sucking at its main role. And having the bonus of being able to use modes to its advantage by bringing new fighting techniques due to that flexibility. (being more robust in robot mode, while fast and agile in fighter) A destroid that could fight on land, fly over the sea, space, underwater etc has got to count for something. (even if it is not the best in each mode, so long as it doesn't suck in its primary role and we don't see any performance drop in the primary role, it shouldn't be a problem) The saved space you get from variable machines might mean you could fit more stuff too. (no need to reserve a seperate space for dedicated fighters and seperate space for humanoid anti-giant robots, when you just have space for valks or variable destroids. That saving of space means you could fit more of your destroids and bring the army along with you for when you need some grunt mecha. (for times when valks are too light) As result you are now more deadly for having covered more bases than if you only had a dedicated robot and a seperate dedicated fighter vs just variable fighters etc.

Yeah I didn't really end up experimenting much so maybe that had something to do with it. Twas a long time ago so memory is a little hazy. (1997 ffs) But I also had this other game called "carnage heart" that I did tinker alot with though. (you actually had to program the behaviour of the mech which was pretty cool.) So you don't think mechassault on DS will be any good? I've never played the other games in the series before. I think I'll reserve judgement about it until the thing is finished. I think what the DS desperately needs is some form of online mech game using the touch screen. (whether it ends up as a sim or just mindless action with arcadey controls I don't mind.)

^ They could probably make those things hip lasers like the yf19, sort of like how hot rod in the movie had that buzzsaw in his arm.. While the extra forearm plating = armband shield against a melee attack. TF fans will just have to eventually get used to this starscream being the official one. Note how his wings look like they've been angled upward like set of demon wings? Looks much better after closer inspection. -forearm shield -can run without tripping over -has four lasers to shoot at you simultaneously -less blocky ^ too many good things to turn back now.. May as well put a UN SPACY symbol on him and be done with it.. Then bring on the Masterpiece G1 jetfire.

but at least he has nothing obstructing the back of his legs like this: the second proto with "girl legs" looks cleaner as a toy in some ways. People who drew him in the cartoon had the advantage that: as little kids, we didn't care about stuff like that so we never scrutinised it. The statue gives him super deformed Megaman-style legs and hands which in a way make him seem more expressive and cartoony. Here are some comic book star screams with missing detail: So all the comic books and cartoons have that advantage of just having stuff shrink into nothingness. Unlike with optimus and soundwave who don't have bits "hanging out", (just boxes) the SS toy has to deviate a little to make it look clean like the comic where you don't see the pokey bits.

Very handy. Looks like the toy is meatier but otherwise good enough for me. I think having an opening landing gear is important now that it became standard with vf1 and vf0.

I just put my vote in for all of them, so yamato makes them all.

Why can't the collectors buy these too? That way they can increase the total number of valks they own. (selling off the ones they can't keep to collectors who can) Maybe even release Ltd ed. low vis in 1/60? And for those who lost thier valk collection in a fire or some other reason (sold thier collection because they had to move or pay for some bill) they now can look forward to improved 1/60 right? (personally if yamato were to announce a new version of the Qrau with more detail, I wouldn't be pissed, but happy) 5 years has passed so I think it is a fair time to see what they can do. But I can totally understand people who are sick of the vf1. I think it has been milked to death. Yamato should focus first on at least trying 1 twoseater valk (if possible) for us 1/48 people who miss out on stuff like the vf1d.

I managed to complete the original ps1 game ages ago. It was a good game idea but the graphics were average. The best thing to do is get a bipedal mecha with a decent turning rate and a gun that has a fast rate of fire with powerful damage per shot. At one of the last missions, the thing that allowed me to win was getting the last ace stuck in a corridor and mashing the fire button to wear the other guy down quicker than he could wear my mech down. (you end up having to take damage to do damage) The only problem with the original is because the game is more sim than action, it didn't feel like there was as much skill in what you do and it is more a case of common sense. (controls are sluggish to give it that robot feel rather than being intense and responsive like Virtua On which is more close to my style) But there was a lot of variety in it and the customisation is fun. I would love if from software could make a DS game like this. But use the bottom screen to put all the stats and indicators and have the top half for viewing. But instead of digital control pad for turning around, they use a system similar to what metroid prime hunters uses. (you have a virtual "mouse/look" mode to change direction and target) there are some images of mechassault DS on ign here: http://media.ds.ign.com/media/811/811691/imgs_1.html something like that would be good as a spin off from the main series(include an online mode and stuff)

It kinda looks a bit like the sdf1 there with the sun shining off it. All you need now is a little city built up around it in worship of the king monster.

I had some on my 1/72 peel off eventually. So annoying, isn't it?

One thing to consider though is that valks have high heels while the destroids have flat feet. So they might look taller but I think they would eventually be about the same height? (with destroid making up for any differences in thier chunky body.) I think standing a 1/48 destroid next to a GBP equipped 1/48 would be cool. 1/48 must get lonely. Maybe by upscaling the little details look more realistic? (the 1/100 monster for example had the little chest cannons taken out, maybe out of fear they would snap off?) If they made it at 1/60 first that would be good. Then dip thier toes into making 1/48 (individual missiles that you can take out and put in like the 1/48 fast packs) but with exchangeable legs. Just buy the legs like you would GBP armor or fast packs for those on a budget. (with people who have money to burn just buying the destroid fully, like how they did the Super packs for vf1 1/48?) What do you think of that?

The bandai has a pretty "sharp" nose in fighter. But when I look back at it in robot mode: The boob makes it look different to how it is drawn in the lineart when in robot mode. Lineart can sometimes deform stuff. If looking at the robot mode from the top it would look different to the lineart I bet. I think if bandai had just took the risk and done a PG line of macross they might get the right balance between toy and model. All those fine details would be there, and things like hands might start to feature individual fingers that you can open up and stuff. Because it is all in pieces it would be easy to pack in box.

Maybe what they could do is have the nose section removable (and replaceable?)like for the vf1 nose cone for gbp or something to that effect? This way robot mode people get thier stubby boob, and the fighter mode people get thier sharp nose? It's sort of like the crotch problem with vf1 in robot mode wearing the gbp. How did hikaru hide the nose cone when he went out in the fat suit? And how did the tv hands fit into the sleeve? We see roy actually remove the nose of the vf1 entirely in sdf:macross, (equiping it to the forearm of the vf1s), so maybe they could do something like that? edit: Here's the cad drawing for vf0s: when you look back, note how fat it looks from the side? And it turned out ok. Shouldn't be too much of a problem imo.. the canopy created the optical illusion that the nose was short:

I know. But if they were to even remake G1 cartoon (they did it with the ninja turtles) I would prefer him to look like the second proto. Notice how he doesn't have anything messy on his legs in this statue? The cartoon can cheat, but toys have to keep those bits hanging off thier body. My solution to SK: make pieces detachable so they can be like the cartoon. Where bits just disapear. This way if you revert back to the first proto, I can at least remove the bits hanging off his leg to make it more like the statue displayed above. Cartoons = allowed to have anime magic. (growing, shrinking and disapearing pieces) Toys need to do stuff to those pieces. And I like (from the POV of just liking the toy) the second version because it makes him look more intimidating. (sort of like how some comic artists draw characters differently to the toon, by making them look chunky or giving them massive fists and stuff) Unlike the statue or action figure shown above: ...the toy has to have those bits on his leg be somewhere. It just looks cooler and has more attitude to have a clean smooth humanoid shape in robot mode. (and get away from that ugly 80s brick shape that all toys had back then, with bits and pieces hanging off thier body instead of tucking them away and stuff.) Skinny legs makes the upper body seem wider. Sort of like how the GBP armor made the 1/48 yamato vf1 more intimidating than his old animated form by having the huge chest and shoulder armor. (looks less sunken in) Notice too how in the statue (top of my post) they made his hands and feet more expressive by increasing the size? This is to give him a more manly appearance. So the same is being done here. Increase his forearms a little and give him a stronger upper body. It's more expressive in humanoid form that way imo. When I think about it, personally I think the fans are just making a big deal out of nothing.

Totally agree here. The 1/48 is the best valk on the market. With regards to the backpack, its just that when you first get one, you really got to pay attention to that part even if you locked it into place correctly. Because when you do push it all the way in so it sink down to the notch, you can see the bottom part sorta "bend upwards" just a little as if the plastic is being stretched a bit. It's hard to explain. But this piece isn't brittle or anything, just that the weight of the fast packs puts a bit of stress on this so you don't want to reckless. But definately don't expect the toy to fall apart right out of the box. It's very well made except for those few nitpicks. (which are still worth mentioning even if we are all happy with the toy overall.) I was just saying that he should start with the best and work his way down. (giving time for all those early probs to be ironed out on new releases) So he would have benefitted more if he decidd to stick with getting a 1/48 vf1 first, saving up, then get the garland later. But yeah, it's not about the vf1. It's about companies helping the customer when it is of no fault of thier own. I hate it for example when I get defective electronic goods because I figure the more expensive something is, the more grief for the buyer. I have very little tolerance for that. for eg, I ended up returning a nintendo ds because it had a stuck pixel - even though it is a small problem that doesn't affect me in the grand scheme of things, I expect a fully working thing and by returning it, it is like me saying: "I do give a poo about quality of stuff I buy" so in the long run it doesn't have to happen to another person and they don't have to settle for it. Even if it is no one's fault, the company should eat the costs if they care for thier customers and want to maintain a good relationship in the long term as you will reap the benefits later. I mean if you give them the benefit of the doubt the customer will feel like they are being cared for and develop trust.

The valk is a bit taller. There is a tiny pic of this in the hidetaka design works. (they show them all standing together in a group shot) Some of the newer valks like the vf19 and the vf0 must be pretty tall standing next to the destroid.

I voted 1/48. But I'd still end up buying a 1/60 though. They don't transform, they have a chunky frame, and a smaller scale means you can display them with more stuff together to make a good group shot.

I saved that pic to my HD. Looks really good. They should apply stickers to it to make it look even better.

I would buy it because I bought a Qrau and need a good guy to fight against it for display purposes. See by the time I got into yammy valks, the 1/48s were already out and the PT was what drew me to them. There is a certain charm about the old 1/60 though. Like the robot mode and big hands and stuff. Now if you look at the 1/60, although it is a big toy, it doesn't quite have the details (the missiles for example) that a similar sized one does in 1/48. I hope that although they do lessen the detail they see how much they can cram into the little guy as possible without being too easy to break or anything. Diecast? Only if it needs it. Small boxes too, please! I think while the 1/48 was the collector's choice, maybe by making a cheaper smaller scale, it might attract the mass consumer familiar with the series, and then anything made from this means we get to see more in the line. Profit made from valks might be able to be redirected to say a 1/60 glaug (give us the same attention the scopedog was given) or 1/60 tv Qrau (with grunt pilot) or something. Doesn't always have to be vf1.

I remember there was also a black one that gamlin flew. Maybe if they can't get macross 7 license they could just repaint it as stealth yf21. hehe LE Stealth YF21. (new pilot, panel lining, low vis stickers and everything) Here my thing: I would buy the fast packs as seperate if the pricing was in line with the quality of the packs and how big/how small they eventually are. For example the VF11 has big and chunky ones so I think it wouldn't be too bad if these were seperate, but for the yf19 I think it would be better if they just chucked them into the original relase and boosted the price if they had to, and just ignore a non-fp release. I love the vf1 fast pack details. It's just that the FP for the 19 are more like covers and extra little bits and pieces.

That would be good if they did. Bandai did it with the reissued chunky munky macross 7 stuff.