1/1 LowViz Lurker

I am going to preorder the super parts today. The drones look cool.

It's not the super parts so much that I care for just that he is the only guy that has pets to follow him haha.

I like the VF-22 as a toy but the design of the SV-51 is more interesting to me.

In fighter mode it looks good with its wing boosters on top. One of the themes of the OVA was how back then they all had these strict fuel limits so they had to fight quickly and couldn't waste too much time just flying in the air for ages. When you first see the scene of the SV-51 transforming into robot mode and attacking Shin from behind and hm getting owned by being hit in the butt, it kinda sets the tone for the rest of macross as this is the first transforming robot you see. (UN had to play catch up to Anti UN)

Macross Zero may have had a lot of strange things like shamans flying on floating rocks but one thing I like about it is that the mecha design in quite cool (especially the destroids, there is one that is a submarine that can go on land in another mode).

You actually see the reasons for why transforming in combat makes valks better than a dedicated fighter which can't transform. Much like the Batman Begins movies try to explain all the reasons for Batman dressing up as a bat and using military weapon tech to make the costume to suit his style of crime fighting. This is obviously a sign of reboot of the franchise being done here with all the updated versions of stuff we see from the old tv show. (for instance seeing Roy use his head laser weapon to shoot down missiles which you never saw from SDFM.)

To me the SV-51 is unique, VF-22 = revisit of an existing thing. (YF-21)

Battroid mode looks really good. Shoulders look a bit over sized though. Don't care for the lack of opening cockpit in battroid mode. That was something we didn't see in the OVA anyway assuming it even had that feature.

Maybe they will make this really expensive on first release (include a stand like sv-51?) but then do a cheaper release with less accessories for the others who are not desperate enough to buy immediately or can't afford everything?

The advantages of making a cheaper release is that it might allow a fan to get 2 (one for fighter mode and another for battroid mode)

For example i think battroid mode guys will never make use of the extra missiles if this is what they primarily display it in. They might just want a basic set with FAST packs because they have the missiles already for thier first purchase which is displayed in fighter mode.

Since the theme of these newer toys seems to be new and improved battroid modes, I think a lot of budget-conscious fans would rather save that money for a stand for cool robot mode poses assuming they can get 2 of them. Would be so easy for them to do another paintscheme given how popular the mech is.

I definitely see the trend forming around guys and gals collecting and branding sci-fi, comic, and fantasy memorabilia. It's been going on for a few years now, and seems to be more the norm everyday. At my previous house, I had a nice display in my office, and people that came in, and didn't know anything about it thought it was great. Some of it, I think is the way it's displayed. They weren't out like a bunch of toys, but thoughtfully arranged in a somewhat artistic manner, that made it look like art in toys, rather than just display cases as a toy box. Maybe it's just me, but I never had to tell anyone it was something else, other than it's my collection of toys (if they even asked). More often, it was comments on how great it looked, the business as usual.

Still the best thing is to leave it in boxes. The trick really is to have one really good toy and have it in plane mode. Nobody will give a crap if it is just a plane. But if they see robot mode and depending on the colouring (the low viz vf-1 looks pretty militaristic but a VF-19 Fire valk?? hmm looks like a kid's transformer with its bright colouring) you might get different reaction.

For me having so many at once being displayed is probably why people are judging the display. The price it must cost to get that many might be the reason. If you just display one really good one and it isn't "toyish looking" those people might not freak out.

I don't have the display space to put them all out at once and just settle on leaving them in boxes. but I know that if I did, I probably wouldn't have them all displayed at once. Not because I care about people's reaction so much, but the idea is that having them all in one big group together takes focus away. An example if you have a Monster by itself it looks cool. The focus is on that one robot. But if you have it surrounded by planes and enemy mechs it loses its impact imo. Your eyes gazes at a mass of colourful objects instead of settling on one thing.

Try this and nobody will give a crap about your hobby. The other point about it being rude to have them lying around: nah I think it is more the total volume of the same things you have at once. If you have a musuem do you just show one type of dinosaur or one type of historical thing or do you vary it up?

If you have a VF-1 does it really matter whether you have a squad being shown together all at once? Having all variations of the one type of thing might mean big thing for a collector, but for a person looking at your display it may look a bit plain and ugly. Having a theme "these are scifi planes" and then only displaying planes is fine but all VF-1 bunched together isn't really necessary but that is just me.

These are things you can do to reduce the negative comments:

-less on display at once

-present them in clean looking case like you would at a jewelry store in good lighting so it looks like it was meant to please the eye

-don't put up paintschemes that are not realistic (mcdonalds valk pretty much IS a transformer - I think masterpiece starscream could get away with less negative comment since he is just a F-15 and is not glossy)

-teach them about the show so they understand why it was popular (it isn't a show necessary aimed at kids but kids like it for the robots) and how it influenced you growing up. Without that knowledge those guys just think you play with toys. In fact you may not like toys in general, but just be a fan of macross and the merchandise reflects that fan love.

-a poster of the show to go along with the toy can help them understand what it is you are showing

Being a fan of something is ok but the age of the person you are displaying to must be considered. The older generation may see science fiction as something you grow out of. (much like skateboarding, videogames, or other things young people do) But really they might be closet nerds too so they judge other nerds harshly to make themself look less nerdy. It's a mind game. heh

Anything not considered constructive or productive in society is considered bad to them. If you do listen to rock music you are already doomed because it was about the 60s when society decided to blame people that were young for the decline in everything that was once good in their eyes. Horror movies, videogames, comics were lumped in with drug abuse, actual violent people commiting murder, and the general lack of morals people have.

These people are not looking at the greater corruption that exists at their age group because of bias. So they tend to stick together and form a team looking at things from a narrow perspective. For instance books have always enjoyed a more adult acceptance to graphic novels. Simply because there is no visual art to describe that character. Reading about some character may seem more "intelligent" or "grown up" as opposed to a comic book with a glossy paper, but a image can give information that words can't capture as well. In the same way as hearing about a person fight something from a description in words is not the same was watching it on screen. They are narrow minded because they think their own generation is superior. lol

One semi related topic is how the videogames industry is going through a problem right now trying to make itself not look like it is "only about shooting people with guns and massacring hundreds of people". The latest craze is to try to give us actual characters that have flaws and putting them in there as people you care about in realistic settings. (The Last of Us is one example - combine "The Road" with Goerge Romero zombie movies and you get this)

This is a big change from the days when it was just kids playing pac man or space invaders for 5 mins ad ther was no mature storyline. So the older generations have an outdated view of things that needs your help to change their perception about the misunderstood hobby. A lot of adult for instance play videogames and we always get pissed whenever the government tries to blanket ban a violent game as if this were only a kids hobby, and treating us like kids when we have kids of our own now. lol

If you are worried about what these older guys think that is fine, but I personally believe INFORMING them is better. The reason they are rude is because they are just repeating traditions their older parents had, and then pass them onto their own kid, but attitudes change over time. What you see as old-fashioned and what your kids will see as old-fashioned are going to be different. There might be a revival of old traditions that your kids think is cool and new to them, but which you see as old to you.

I am a fan of gimmicks like sounds and lights if they don't intrude in any way to the toy.

The leader class brawl toy from the original Bayformers movie is a good example. The buttons to activate the sounds are virtually hidden on the toy. You would not suspect they were even buttons to make a shooting sound.

If they can't do that easily, then it is no big deal to me without it.

the future toys will probably have materials that bend and flex like muscles to capture the original quality of the skin of the yf-21.

That's because of HG. Grrrr

They might be aware of macross plus though since this was the one that got under the HG radar.

And maybe macross II since this was dubbed with english voices.

The only escape from this mess is if they reboot macross as a universe and call it something else overseas so all us fans can finally buy these things locally. Wasn't macross Zero (with its "VF-0 Phoenix") a type of reboot of the VF-1 for a modern audience anyway?

Videogames often get renamed to new things when released locally. Why not Macross? Leave the name the same in japan. But call it different thing here.

Example in japan Megaman games are known as Rockman (rock n roll theme to the games tunes).

At the end of the day we will all know the dual names if we are big enough fans who keep up to date with news. Think of all the anime series that people outside japan have missed out on. Big wasted opportunity.

I have underground network of caves like Batman that I escape into so that I don't have to worry about floating down on a parachute into a dangerous area and be attacked by looters after a zombie apocalypse.

This is where all the gas masks and transforming robots are kept to keep me alive long enough to secretly transport all my hidden valkyries by underground rail network to a new secret base if the first base is ever attacked by raiders.

After a great cataclysm, people will have forgotten all about valkyries and preserving them for humanity thousands of years to come in order to remember them is top priority. If there is an emergency and you eject you are just abandoning your duty to guard valks with your life just to save your own skin. It's selfish.

The valks are worth more than you! How could you abandon them. Would you abandon a little baby in a burning building? These are like little babies crying for you to help them. If only they could speak.

What I would do is to take pictures of all the valuable stuff so if someone does in fact break in despite all the locks and security and guard dogs that the ninja can easily bypass, you have some proof of what it is you owned. Police will be able to get a better description of what to look out for if you just had pics of what the things actually look like.

There is a lot of weird things people collect. Mantiques?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/property/interiorsandshopping/antiques/9831625/Forget-antiques-the-latest-trend-is-mantiques.html

Valks are cheap compared to those other things. (ejector seat for 15 500 pounds?)

I got a friend who is into retro nike shoes. There are many vintage things from the past we can't obtain easily so stockpiling a lot of the old stuff makes logical sense. For me? I have a lot of vintage videogames that people wonder why I never throw away. They say to me "everything is available digitally now" and I respond that it's just not the same as owning the originals and first print. For instance what if the company that released it goes under and the license to re-release something expires??

They don't seem to realise that if a given thing is not popular enough in the place it first appeared in, you may never see it again. Don't get me wrong I like that digital downloads and retro gaming scene is big NOW, but it wasn't when I was into it. So what about those "dry periods" when things just are not around for you to download? Much better to own the actual games themselves and have them physically at your side imo. The younger generation that relies too much on digital copies will eventually get old and understand this later on.

Fans always have to deal with that fear they may never have easy access to something later on. That's all this is. Without Ebay I would not have had access to some of the vintage toys from the 80s. If an old show, game, movie was not well known, you are screwed.

Thankfully there are things that fans have kept alive due to sheer persistence.

Example was the cult classic rpg Earthbound on the old Super Nintendo game system only recently got released in europe on the nintendo Eshop. Why wasn't this on the nintendo Wii Eshop?? I guess that is why people pay such huge price for vintage games.

This is not the kind of thing that happens too often though. When a game isn't well received you are going to have to go through extreme means to obtain the stuff. (ie fan community translations of the titles that never appeared outside the territory it originally appeared in)

I just hope nothing explodes. This thing will cost a lot of money so I expect high quality.

I think much like the Yamato Konig monster the old 19 needed someone to check how good it was as a figure with enough locking mechanism to make it feel like a complete toy as opposed to a thing you leave on a display and never touch.

When they did the vf-19 it was designed around robot mode it seems because everything was all chunky like the lineart of these mechs in robot mode. And it looked posable in pics. That seems to be the new direction of these later valks.

If they do a yf-21 after this, will this mean beefier legs (in accordance with the robot mode lineart) I wonder?

I wish arcadia did some mospeada toys. Wasn't that big a fan of the CMs "slim" Legioss.

I wonder what the chances are that the price drops if the toy sells poorly though?

They start off pricing really high. just to see who the desperate guys are and milk them of money as long as possible, then it gradually goes down in price to rake in more people when they realise that all those who were willing to pay at that price have already got what they want?

Or just release very few and never release it again at all by interpreting the low sale number as "low demand". (then deciding "let's just make macross man dolls" )

Lot of different things we can speculate they'd do. Personally I know I will get at least 1 at a high price. But hope later the price is low enough so that if they do a repaint like a VF-X scheme, I can get another one. But I don't want all the extra accessories for the second one. Because in my mind I think the YF-19 design is supposed to be a stealth mech that sneaks behind enemy lines and does its thing within a strict time limit. Not a main fighter.

That's how it was described in the show at least. Sort of a spec ops valk for things like hostage rescue missions and such. (no nukes/reaction bombs allowed for political reasons)

The only downside is if the toy ends up sucking. It will be a pain in the ass to obtain some compensation if the product is defective.

That's the main risk.

Yes and that doesn't have fast pack or gbp. (although I think the stand is a good addition for those who just got into collecting and missed the golden age and now have to deal with post-yammie-age scalpers) Scary isn't it?

Please arcadia do not include the fold booster and force us to pay for it. I am happy just with arm weapons and missiles.

Why not ask them if they will price match with NY?

Lots of people think this one will be expensive. Like "more than VF-4" expensive which was a small valk.

It's all just speculation because of all the accessories. So what do you think you'd pay for the YF-19 now that it is coming?

The pricing for this will be interesting since they got to keep things cheap enough to remain competitive with bandai, but also profit. (not clear how yamato died. maybe it had nothing to do with macross)

Does anyone care about the price or are you just going to buy one regardless of price out of desperation?

I'm hoping it will be cheap enough that I can at least get 2. 1 from mac+, and another hopefully in another paintscheme.

I think it is great we are getting it, but it is under the arcadia brand now which may mean higher prices for everything.

I could only afford 1 vf-4 when those were released. So I am hoping that there will be a standard "bare bones" release that doesn't include all the fancy missiles that are shown. This way I can get the base valk and FP as my second yf-19 valk.

We know they have the market cornered and they are the only game in town for yf-19, so they will probably price high at first. (no cheaper alternatives like bandai HiMetals to get in their way this time)

The best way to explain it is "these are toys for men". It is no different to explaining that a comic book from the 50s of a popular icon is worth lots due to rarity or how signed copies of an album might fetch high price or rare vintage videogames that are out of print are important to collectors.

They don't have to understand, just realise that in the world of fandom things are valuable to people who think money is not as important as the thing they buy it with. It's not like you have a gambling addiction or doing something illegal.

You are a man child. lol You consider it normal human behaviour. And that it is part of who you are like old guys who collect trains, gun collectors who collect guns, or book worms who have large selection of books that are not easily obtainable anymore.

Punch them in the face if they disagree with you. That will make them understand you are not sick person that needs help. Just in love with the valkyrie toys which you value more than your children, pets, partner and will guard with your very life if they ever try to steal them. They will probably be buried with you in your coffin after your death and if a grave robber decides to take your VF-1 off your hands, a great curse will come upon them and their families that last until the end of days.

Ok that was a bit extreme.

Maybe the curse will be lifted after 10 generations if they only took a banpresto valkyrie. You are a reasonable person.

VF-19? No. Was waiting for either the -19F to get cheap, or a new Isamu. And Isamu's happened first.

Also--I have seen Yamato "regress", making things worse, or "forgetting" things. Just because the VF-19 may have done something right, does not guarantee the new YF-19 will have it too. In fact, some of my (and other people's) biggest complaints about the first 1/60 YF-19 and YF-21, were not present in the old 1/72 versions----Yamato somehow "forgot" some things when making the 1/60 versions that were very much needed/appreciated on the older 1/72 versions.

So I don't blindly trust them/Arcadia's design team to keep every improvement, or to not "screw up what they already fixed".

The old YF-19 was probably the worst of the 3 Macross Plus toys imo. But the VF-19 made up for it. Maybe they put a lot more effort into the VF-19 because macross 7 was a lot more well received in japan than macross plus?

Basara and the clown valk (and variants) is popular so they poured a lot of effort into that. Whatever lessons they learned from that will probably be brought to new edition of macross plus mecha.

1/60 VF-11 despite being the cannon fodder in the show, was my fave toy of the three. Too bad it didn't sell well. I think Arcadia need to make sure they only make limited quantities of less popular mecha from now on if they wish to survive.

If the strangers want to buy them you should sell some and grow the macross fanbase. I remember a lot of discussion in the boards of how macross could die off because it is an old show. You should talk about the series and let them know the history about the show and how as a kid you thought it was the coolest show and that's why you own so many collector's toys.

Then show them a link to macross world and links of where to buy the products.

You are horrible fans. It' your duty to keep macross alive. But you are too scared to tell the world about your valkyrie fetish. Shame on you people. Maybe the reason you wish to hide it from others is actually so you don't have to compete with them to get access to the toys online?

just kidding.

Don't tell them anything about teir value or they will definitely break in.

Just have 1 or 2 on display and keep everything in boxes if they look suspicious. If they really were interested in them though you should tell them how to get one.

I am the kind of person that doesn't care what others think so much. If the only exposure to mecha shows was transformers or robotech I think you should correct them like you do on these boards.

You want Harmony Gold to have monopoly on the minds of the outer circles? No? Well ask them why they are asking and whether they know much about the toys and quiz them on it to see how much knowledge they have and then tell them how you got into the plastic crack addiction.

Maybe you will make new friends. Don't be shy. Maybe they will go out and buy the latest imported macross game and then get hooked and start helping you out to obtain rare stuff from friends they might have that are also into that stuff.

I think if you are paranoid put some hidden cameras in the house when you are not home to help id any thieves that may actually succeed in raiding your house and taking all the stuff.

You can also use it as an opportunity to sell old stuff you might not want anymore by offering to sell it.

Maybe that guy says no but he might tell other guys who are interested in buying old toys about your collection. (no need to put up an ebay ad)

As for those who ask about price:

much of the reason for high prices are scalpers taking advantage of the inability of fans outside of japan to get these toys. They would be a lot cheaper without the whole harmony gold legal mess. (much closer to transformers levels of price)

I think if you own any anime, games or merchandise from sci fi shows, society views you as weird one but the truth is society is f*cked up so it needs a scapegoat and it's always either the videogame players, the comic book readers or the otaku that are the ones to blame for everything according to the media. There is not much you can do about it. Just re-educate them about who owns the media and why you can not trust what you read in papers or on tv all the time. They need to sell you a story so they make stuff up. Get them to think outside the box a little bit. Your tiny actions can greatly affect people's perceptions on certain things so that they are forced to question their beliefs for once in their life, which can only be healthy thing.

But yeah if you want to "remain in the closet" as a macross nerd, just put it all in boxes like me.

Wow, battroid looks stunning and fighter keeps it's sleekness, highly impressed!

High speed mode looks like it simply has a forward sliding mechanism after setting it in position, I just hope if it is that way, it include a way to lock it in position or with time the wing could slide in/out on its own. Looks like gunpod may have a collapsible handle with perhaps a small tab space in the hilt to attach it to the tab on the shield.

I cannot figure out the different color part on the tailfin. I doubt it's magnets, too thin and the point it rests is the corner of the back ankle. CAD looks a lot like a hinge and two panels, could it be moving rudders???

I love they finally did proper skinny Isamu like the anime.

I find funny how the majority is going "this is amazing, take my money Arcadia", when the price is finally released then its "Why so much for mostly a repaint and extra parts".

Opening leg missile panel with missile attached, beautiful!

This isn't a repaint. VF-19 and YF-19 are two completely different birds with a similar looking form, identical transformation, but unique exterior frame which pretty much means it's a new toy. Just as Optimus Prime Masterpiece of today is not the same as the original masterpiece prime.

Yeah I know you are half joking but some people forget the VF-19 and YF-19 are not the same thing.

Starscream, thunder cracker, skywarp = repaints

YF- 19 = whole new toy.

Personally if you could only have one between vf-19 and yf-19 the yf-19 is the winner. The pointy shoulder armor and pants of the macross 7 mechs is a turn off for me. Looks a bit too super robot-ish. But it didn't stop me from buying 2 of them. (that's your punishment bandai for making it so hard to gain access to your mac f toys. heh missed sale for you And it was a mistake not to make himetal yf-19.)

My prediction for the price is probably $350-400 range. Hopefully they work out a system where we can get a discount for ordering this early though. Personally what I would like is they release two versions

1. gift box that includes everything including the arm attachment and stand and missiles

2. no stand, no arm weapon, no extra missiles, but just the base valk with FAST packs.

It might make the toy more affordable for those who have no interest in all the extra missiles and other accessories. Call the gift version the Macross Plus 20th anniversary box or something like that. And the basic one can just be standard edition.

As for the fold booster, I really think that should be seperate item this time. It will only push the cost too high for a lot of us. Perhaps they can just include that one with guld's yf-21 release?

I know I will never display that very often. That would be like getting excited about the big falling rock that guld used to hide himself inside when he chases Isamu to earth. Do you really need that to be included? I think a stand would be much better personally.

Maybe they could make it cheaper if they have a system to preorder? (the discount would be the reward for paying earlier?)

I hope the old fold booster works. There really isn't any reason why they need to actually make an entire new fold booster is there?

And when you mention probable inclusion of stand, I think that would be good. I might actually want to pose it in GERWALK mode "hovering around" for once.

Some important things you forget to mention:

-chest most likely locks into place (a feature not on the old one)

-gunpod looks like it is the right size

-gunpod stores on shield

-probably more posable than the old yf-19 toy in bot mode

-might not actually break on first release (quality control guy that once worked for yamato must now be working for bandai as evidenced by cannon fodder VF-171 chogokin breakages hehe)

I guess the loss of the shoulder angle gimmick is made up for with the missiles in the legs gimmick which wasn't in the last version of YF-19.

Maybe arcadia are planning a v3 10 years from now with everything? Including a light up hand to simulate pin point barrier punch. (the "beamsaber" equivalent for macross) That is one thing bandai hasn't done yet. I think putting little hole in the shield to peg a cluster of translucent green discs would be a nice touch that is new from the last release.

The ultimate toy would be a robot mode that is as cool as a revoltech in posability without destroying the look of the fighter mode.

^This.

Also, reissue ALL previous Valks and accessories, for the VF-0's, the sculpt was fine, just fix the Goddamned flaws in the design itself. Tight fighter mode, non floppy Battroid and Gerwalk, and no more exploding shoulders, kthnx.

For the VF-22's, do away with the delimiter mode that no one ever really used.

While you're reissuing VF-1's, please issue a REAL low vis and Stealth version, with swappable extra 1A and 1J heads. For the model kit versions, please issue them with all grey bodies.

But at any and all costs, TAMPO PRINT EVERY MOTHERFRAKING THING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Shift+1=! If Bandai can do it, we know damned good and well Arcadia can too. In fact, if Moebius can issue pre built and painted Mark II Vipers with every detail printed for only $50 shipped or less, there's absolutely NO EXCUSE for Arcadia not to. PERIOD.

-Kyp

I agree more tampo printing is not going to hurt. I takes a lot of patience to apply all the markings. I would rather pay a bit more to have it all done properly on the toy, not using stickers. They look bad. For any non-canon valk (like a low visibility release) let people decide where to put the markings but for character-specific toys that have already appeared in shows, they need to add all the official ones for us.

I love this. All you hear is "Bandai includes a stand. How come Yamato never includes a stand." For the same price as a Bandai Valk Arcadia is including a stand. Now all we hear is, "why the frakk do we want a stand???"

Totally agree here. I think the inclusion of the stand is a big deal. For collectors who already have dozens upon dozens of valkyries on shelves, it doesn't mean much but let's say you are a noob and this is your very first VF-1 toy. (like when you first bought your vf-1 1/48). The stand can make your display look a lot better. I have the SV-51 stand and like others have mentioned it hold the giant bird up really well. It's one of my fave fighters.

As for the high price of these, I hope this becomes the definitive VF-1 because it has all the little pieces we have always whined about that should have included in the first place but seems to have been missing.

If they re-release hikaru, the GBP and the FP and they make enough money, it will probably convince them to go on and do other variants I think. (I still haven't got a VF-1D! )

What they need to do however is to not overproduce. Because when they do that people know it will go on sale if they just wait wait wait wait and then it ends up hurting the company.

Just make enough to fill demand. But concentrate on high quality. (someone mentioned the ugly box design - if they fix that problem, this can help make the toy look presentable to the quality conscious buyers)

The old yamato of the past that we knew where you would get breakages is unacceptable for a high grade collector's toy. (people may bash bandai but their 1/100 Himetal VF-1 is made of good materials despite its high cost) By the time yf-19 comes out I expect it to be as good as VF-4 and VF-19 and VF-17 which were the later releases.

I think we all got a bit spoilt by the VF-1 prices so now it is hard to accept the higher cost, but in the end if they try to spread releases out further apart, and release the toys slowly, and not overproduce, they won't end up going belly up again. Go for only the popular characters, keep the demand high by not overproducing, and space the releases apart so we can all afford them is the key I think.

There are some people who think the little extras are not worth bothering with: but it impresses a first time buyer of a toy when they see that the makers of the toy thought about everything. If you are on your 40th VF-1 it's not a big deal but let's say this is the introduction to macross toy collecting. The inclusion of these extras gives a good "first impression". Yes WE all know that it's just a yamato relabeled because we are constantly looking for new information about it. But do ordinary people who don't constantly collect it, and who see the new Arcadia label know that? You want them to think these are premium quality products so they can justify paying high price. So yeah presentation I think is the key here. I think having the stand with each release makes a difference. But if you are buying these things in multiples of 3 and have virtually unlimited space, maybe it isn't a big problem for you. But then maybe the whole idea of them being cheap and easy to obtain is not good from a business perspective for an old show.

We know that because some shows are more popular than others it means the less popular ones are less likely to get any love as it is too risky. What if the reason they are upping the price of these is to help fund the cost of doing mecha from shows that are not very popular? Maybe this is what they've decided: "let's just raise the price a bit, aim only at the desperate collector first, rake in profits, then use profit to do some more risky things like destroids and other things which are not going to sell in high number so as to protect against the risk of doing them".

We all know the VF-4 got made but it was risky so we had to pay a high price. But maybe by making the cost of the popular valks higher they can open up more options for things we still haven't seen yet? (macross zero destroids for instance) I would much rather buy a toy which maintains a high resale value (due to quality and the demand staying relatively high over long period of time) than one that dips in price so quickly because they overproduced them and they become shelf warmers because the fanbase isn't huge enough to sustain the company long enough for them to stay afloat. The VF-1 isn't as complex as the other valkyries but it doesn't mean they have to lower the price. By keeping it higher, and concentrating on including extras, not having them break apart like the old releases, and makig the box look more presentable, it boosts its resale value on the second hand market and gives the label a better image overall. IE one that cares about toy's lasting appeal over a long time. In ten years time you can get out the old toy look at it and play around with it and it isn't going to look worn and ready to explode the minute you try to transform it. It actually is robust enough to not self destruct for once. lol If you try to resell it to a collector online it still maintain quite high value even so long after release because the buyer knows the original was done right. There is no small defect here or there to have to worry about like with old yamato toys of the past with exploding arms and other things.

That brings a question. What you rather have? a perfect transformation toy but not 100% anime accurate? or an anime accurate toy with swapable parts?

A YF-21 with swapable accurate legs comes to mind....

Is it possible they could do both?

Swappable wings and PT. Just have the mechanism for the PT version of the wings. Make the mechanism come out with the wing when you want the swapped wing.

For YF-21 I think swappable legs would be cool but it would end up driving up the cost so it depends on price.

The YF-21 1/60 main problem was that when transformed into battroid people thought it didn't resemble the lineart (its skinny legs were the sacrifice to make it look slim in fighter mode which is the mode most people like it for) but today's anime are in 3D cg form now. How much of the hand drawn lineart of these valkyries in robot mode is anime magic? Everyone has their own interpretation about what is the 'real' version.

If they were in CG form like we see with the newer shows there would be less argument about how the toys should look. Personally I just hope they don't make it too easy to break and really make the thing posable and cool to look at in the robot mode too. (not easy if the majority are only going to look at it in the F mode. The v2 vf-1 looks good because it went for the balanced look and made a compromise between all 3 modes to get something everyone can like. No tiny hands in bot mode and not too bad a fighter mode either.)

I have little interest in an Emerald Force -19S. I do not like the yellow striping on the bright blue much. It'd have to be VERY cheap for me to consider it over the F. I also like the F's head better---the S is just "too much" with the 5 lasers. Really, I think the ONLY good-looking 4-laser head is the original VF-1. The VF-25S pulls it off ok, but I generally like 1/2-lasered heads.

The yellow is what Roy Fokker would have liked though. The guy with the bright decoration is usually the bad ass and he earned his stripe by killing so many..

And the blue isn't too bright. Compared to all the other Mac7 it is pretty dark actually.

The YF-19 is the one that is too bright imo. It's got the cannon fodder styled paintscheme but still looks good thanks to not having the illusion that it is wearing "pants" in robot mode. LOL

AS for the head lasers. You must not like the Ingram from Patlabor much then. That has a mess of bit sticking off its head but to me it looks cool. It is like the helmet of knights/soldiers where you may have spike on top. I see the "giant robot" in general as symbolic of a knight out to save the princess but just in "space age" form. Both Gundam and star wars have that theme and I suppose it carries over to other robot mecha stories like macross when Hikaru does a daring rescue of the girl in GERWALK mode with one hand to grab the girl and the other hand to hold the gunpod. In star wars you had Jedi "Knights", and they used swords, and the space "cowboy" Han Solo. For macross you got the older brother who is already a big shot with lots of kills teaching the newbie younger bro, how to use the robot. It's always been that the yellow represents "elite" to me, while the white/silver are the next one down. (like olympic medals? Or the Elite aliens in Halo videogames? ie Gold Elites are the best of the best etc Notice also how these aliens are the 'noble' characters compared to the others) To me the robot is the pilot's uniform and the stripe is the rank. So if you have the gold stripe it means you are better. Maybe it doesn't look so great on planes but I still see macross as a robot show. In mac7 you mostly saw the main character in that mode and not as many dogfights in fighter mode.

But back on topic:

Hopefully Yamato release the VF-X game edition colors. I really like that! Ozuma color scheme looks pretty cool too. Way better than that 30th anniversary VF-1 hehe

I do not have the skill to customize these and prefer just buying them.

Edit: whether it is called yellow or gold doesn't matter to me. The reason people don't like it is because they think it looks bad. But it follows in the tradition that the guy wearing yellow trimming is the elite pilot from the original macross. The cannon fodder guys are usually in a more generic scheme so they don't stick out.

It makes the leader look distinct compared to all the other guys.

I think maybe if they were on a sneaky spec ops mission then perhaps they use a low visible scheme (the VF-17 seems to go with that idea because it is not trying to stand out much) in robot mode but while fighting a mass of enemies on a big battlefield you'd want the higher ranked guy to stand out wouldn't you?