1/1 LowViz Lurker

They need to make a Macross MMO flight sim.

English subs. Dub not necessary lol I like the music in mac II. Plus I like the naked girl. Awesome costume. Leaves nothing to the imagination. Macross II imo also has one of the best intros of all the tv shows: focus on action and super poses making the VF look like a super hero from an action movie rather than an ordinary robot. Looks like a revoltech.

Some people like specs/stats sheet and use that as the guide while others use lineart as the guide to whether something is the right size. There are scenes for instance in macross plus where the yf-19 gunpod looks small. But I prefer a larger one. It's like the debate over whether its better to accept "man hands" on old yamato toys vs skinny hands. They are both valid because of anime magic in the show. Using nanotechnology the planes can probably stretch or contract the airframes like human skin: perhaps in the macross universe this can explain why in robot mode the Valk can have a chunky look to it because the shapeshifting materials of the aliens is really advanced in the future? Those bulky manhands in the tv series go into clown mode whenever it needs to crush a giant's skull and then go into skinny mode when it needs to fit inside the forearm of the robot in plane mode?

The toy looks good but I'll get one after reviews of it are done. Hint: do VF2ss next. And then do a mospeada legious at 1/48. (watch out for harmony gold though.) Maybe if this stuff takes off a tv series is done about it? Astro Plan. (chinese robotech/macross frontier lol) Much like what happened with the transformers? (americans created a story based on the toys, the comics were made based on the tv series, now we have michael bay live action movies that never resembles the toons or the old toys lol. The recent prequel transformers video games are pretty good though...)

Another thing this reminds me of is the beta fighter from mospeada. It also had a big thing hanging over its head. The 80s blocky robot style must be making a comeback.

One thing I remember Graham saying ages ago is that it's not going to be done because it would piss off Kawamori so they would never upset him by making toys of mecha in macross that were not accepted as canon in the macross universe. This was back when it was called yamato. Now that bandai is doing frontier toys I wonder if they ever would do this? If not, yes I would buy a unlicensed toy if it were good. Perhaps do a "chunky monkey" style toy first (go for durability over all other things) then over time they go for something with more realistic proportions and focus on getting it as good as the anime in posability and look. There is plenty of money to go around since macross fanbase is growing. It's all about greed imo. You just got to time the release of your toy at the proper time. eg don't do himetals of mechas that are already getting 1/60 releases. Do some other mecha instead. Himetal line died because of yamato making the same thing at bigger size which would be on everyone's to-buy list. Of course at the time nobody had a desire for it. (expensive compared to a 1/60 vf-1) But it gained interest over time after the line is cancelled and now we are not getting the yf-21 and yf-19 hiMetal. crap timing! Same thing with the Beagle Ride Armor: it failed because everyone had spent thier money on the megahouse and cms ride armor which were no where near as good as the Beagle. But when the beagle came out people had nothing left in thier wallet. People had the money but it came out at bad time. Now we are not going to get other characters.

1/100 Glaug with Glaug Booster. We have the Himetal at 1/100 so I would like to see enemy mecha for it to fight just like the 1/100 konig monster. hikaru's rival was the pilot of the Glaug. Shame they neglect enemy rival characters. Max got his rival Milia through a 1/60 Qrau, but Hikaru didn't get 1/60 Glaug. I think 1/100 is great for zentradi powered armor. (especially if they are made super posable) I decided to vote in this poll and chose the option where it should be ok for mecha that is not already being done by the licensed companies. The way I see things is businesses are hamstrung by needing to make big profits and this prevents us seeing the less popular things from the series since it is way too risky so that is a barrier to having them realised. But if after seeing unlicensed toys sell well, these big companies want to profit then they are going to ACTUALLY HAVE TO MAKE SOMETHING and get off their fat ass for me to care about them. You don't go into business without absorbing risk. I'm sorry but they don't deserve sympathy if they won't at least try to sell stuff that isn't already easy to sell. You can't just sit on a property and not use it. Nothing will ever get done if there is no competing side to cater to the fans who express the interest in those risky items that is unlikely to see the light of day thanks to the reality of big business needing to make easy money in a low risk way for them to ever give a crap about such a tiny-but-devoted audience. Whatever money they potentially "lost" is outweighed by the neglect of the IP through lack of progress. You wouldn't have nice things if someone did not absorb the risk. Big guys don't want risk.

Look at it from a realistic perspective: If yamato were a knock off company (I'm not saying they are) and Bandai were the official license holder. If yamato was willing to take a risk on stuff like making a Konig Monster, would Bandai have ever considered doing their version of it? I don't think so. The guys who make toys that are not popular are great tests to see what people want and this can benefit the companies who have licenses since they can copy the design of those toys rake in profit from fans who liked the toy from the company that took the initial risk, and improve on the design. (which is pretty much what bandai did with the Monster. lol) Half the work is done! They can look at sales of the 3pp guy's stuff, make a enhanced version of it and make money selling this to the same people who bought the 3pp one. You got to look at this realistically. You would never have stuff like the VF-4 if it was not for risk. Risk that companies like Yamato took for the fans. Now the same logic can apply to the 3pp. You may never see the vf-9 or the variable glaug unless someone else absorbs the risk first and acts as a way to test desire for that mecha. If these companies don't like risk due to being too conservative and safe, there is high possibility you will never see them realised at all. It's just like the pioneers in Macross Plus: they take risks to do the experiments and then you see benefits later when the mass production crap is made after the dangerous testing is over. The character myung is urging the two test pilots to please be careful and stop doing dangerous and reckless stunts, but the test pilot is saying "how do you know its dangerous until you try it? You might discover something that nobody tried before and then realise dreams by going after the unknown and solving mystery". The myung character is defeatists and wants to do safe things but progress is determined by the guy that "reckless" and tries the unsafe stuff. Inventors would never get anywhere just copying what already exists would they? Look at this from a realistic perspective please. It happens in the software industry: some dude comes up with a cool game. You see millions of clones of it to capitlise on the idea. And the clones rake in money from the guy who made the original version of it and took the risk of developing something that might not have sold. But businesses gain from the idea. I dont see any reason to think that a third party unlicensed product can be bad since the guys making it can only produce so much at any given time right? (they are too small whereas the toy giants are big) Bandai has lots of profits from gundam and macross. Arcadia get there money charging premium prices. Meanwhile, why not give the new guys a chance to do stuff that isn't even attempted yet by any toy company? Maybe it does well enough to PROVE to the suiits who make all the decisions that there is interest in unpopular mechas so that they can finally decide to make the toys for the fans after seeing the money fans are pouring into these third party toys? The reason they don't do the unpopular stuff is they are like Myung and scared to get hurt. But how do they know they will get hurt unless they try it? They won't try it, so there is very little reason to fear them losing money. The solution is let the third party be the test pilot and test if these things can even sell. Then after they show that there is interest, the big boys can come in with their official stuff which has superior quality and durability and design etc and everyone can win.

It can be confusing if everyone has different meanings to the terms. I have always thought that -first party means they own the property right. -second party means they have rights given to them automatically because they are owned by the company who has the right (for example what if bandai bought and owned arcadia or yamato or just had majority share so Yamato/arcadia could use gundam property and make toys? Think of Sony and how they used the spiderman movie font for the playstation 3 logo as an example) -third party is the company that is not owned by the first and has to pay the fee for the right to use the property which are sold by the first. These guys can just make merch from many different properties after they get rights to them. (bandai does stuff from macross and other properties they don't own/create/whatever) argh whatever.

They really need to reboot robotech with the designs from these 3pp hehe. HG can add these variants of the clone from macross to its stories and do comics and stuff about it. Isn't there a voltron vs robotech crossover going on right now? Those cat robots that shatter into glass from robotech sentinels kinda remind me of the lions in voltron.

The CMs lacked details and looked too skinny compared to the toyami masterpiece.

But what if the third party stuff was way better than the first party stuff? I'd definitely buy the third party stuff over the first party as a kind of punishment for putting no effort into the product. I see the competition as the reason we have such nice things. (puts fear into the "lazy rival", eg bandai not caring about macross fans for ages until yamato had the market all to itself, causing them to raise thier standards) We as fans of the art shouldn't involve ourself too much in the commercial side of things. If what creators worry about is how much $ they potentially lost vs making people happy and being rewarded with money after that fact of giving us what we want, then they kinda don't matter in the grand scheme of things for being dicks. I'm being tough on the "biz" but it's because I am a fan that i say this, not because I have a vested interest in wanting some corporation to suceed. That is what this site should be, not a big ugly text-based ad for bandai arcadia so they can become rich and powerful at the expense of not caring about quality or giving the fans nice things worth the money they pay. lol Sometimes the question needs to be asked: "Is this good for macross in general?" needs to be asked. If companies can profit from nonsense (lousy products that let us down) and third party can give you better things, maybe in the big picture that is indirectly reminding companies that they can 'do more' to earn respect from comunity when they "lose money" by having the third party around to compete. Business doesn't make stuff in the best interest of customers. They do it for profit. But a fan might do something out of passion which could give better results than the official version of a product. You see this in the software modding community all the time. An example is in the number of mods available for pc games like Elder Scrolls. (popular rpg with great editors included) Good example of how fans can fix flaws in official products for free just for being passionate fans of the material.

I still don't get why arcadia don't do it. I love the beagle ride armor. Would love more ride armors and to see a legious and tread from these guys. This is not macross related topic but I think a lot of macross fans would buy it. It almost looks like what a transforming destroid would be if something like that existed in macross universe. (ie chunky 80s robot mode compared to the slim valks we see in macross without thier armor pack on)

I don't have a strong opinion either way. A guy who wants something but can't buy it because it isn't going to be made is going to get what he wants eventually. I'd buy third party stuff if first party is not going to provide it. What we think as a community of fans shouldn't matter because it's not in our best interest to defend or attack these companies. We are just fans. Why should you care? They don't care about you, they just want money and if you can pay they get rewarded for providing it. If no one provides they shouldn't get anything from you. It really is as simple as that. You can't steal if there was nothing to steal.

They are always bright by default but the paint fades when needed using holographic technology like when the idols change their costumes on stage in all the macross shows using image manipulation tech. There that solves the paintscheme debate. lol Imagine all the money these toy companies can make now doing repaints of every valk from the animes if they just say valks have holographic projected skin to change thier colors like a chamelion or turn invisible like the alien in "Predator"? Low-vis and hi-vis VF of every valk in the macross shows can be done now to shut the fans up lol

They never listen to us. But yeah give us some macross 2 love. And do variable glaug. It's not like there is anything else left to do apart from revisiting vf-1 again. Bandai has all the new shows covered.

*bump* I just added jenius' and VF5SS's vids of the bandai chogokin yf-30 being transformed. Good work making those vids guys. Getting to see it touched is a whole different thing than a static pic. hehe Hopefully bandai milk that mold so I can buy recolored ones. Wonder if the other weapon it is rumoured to be able to attach to the back gets announced? Would love a special release with all options in one package.

Yes I hope this doesn't flop around or break. Quality is important factor in whether I get it. I don't see how they can stuff this up. The VF-0 is just a big vf-1 without as boxy of a frame. I do think they should do the armor. Since like the VF-0D it was missed last time. Unlike the newer valks the transformation is simple. Since these were not mas produced robots they can't do too many repaints though so I expect they will keep price as high as they can get away with. (similar to the yf-19)

They should include a floating rock with the toy to hold it up without a stand. Any word on how these ankles are going to be? Are they going to be balljoints? Cockpit: does it open up so the pilot can get out from the chest like in the show? I got to re-watch this show again because I forget what the valks were like. I don't remember ever seeing the character try to exit from the top of the chest like the VF-1.

VF0D is actually my fave of the bunch. Yes Roy as a character is the bad ass (surprised ivanov with his missile spam inside a small room) . But the D stands out the most for the different wings. It's like Dirge Ramjet and Thrust from transformers. g1 but without the conehead.

This is why they should do official transformation vids for every toy before release. They WANT us to wreck our toys so we buy 3 of them after we accidenally break them apart when we forget the exact steps to take to put it into different modes. There are some lazy guys o this board that buy 1 toy for each mode because they can't be bothered transforming them lol Maybe by making it so complex to figure out instead of simpler they have figured out how to double and triple sales. lol

Next time if they do a re-release with redesigned FP, we need to scream "magnets please!!!!" I love the magnets on vf-11 FP.

I'm thinking this is going to be expensive like YF-19? Seeing as how it isn't as complex a fighter as the new designs maybe they can shave off a bit on the price for us? I'm pretty sure after this we will all have to sell a few kidneys to get the whole Mac Zero family of VF-0. They ARE planning Reactive armor and Roy's VF-0 right? He is a main character who teaches peple how to fight properly), and the ghost booster was done last time but not the armor. Going by the "let's do stuff we didn't visit yet last time, first this time" formula, I would say this is in the works already right? After this is all done: 1/60 mac zero destroids and SV-51 v2. (let me know when to sell my old one ok?)

Yes put it on a rotating base so we get to look at it from all angles. I'm going to get one eventually but I would love to see more vids of it.

Thin usually means weaker since enemies also see improvements in materials and other stuff when they steal their rival's ideas and copy them. (happens in all the gundam shows) It's the reason for the pin point barrier on the fist of the robots. When you punch an armored mech the delicate joints go under lot of stress. What makes valkyries special is the speed at which they can reach a target and then get out of the way. You see cannon fodder get blown up so they are not super robots like what the gundam is in the gundam universes with armor that can't be penetrated by bullets (only beam weapon). When the SDF-1 punches a hole in the skin of the ships it isn't strong enough to not take damage of its own doing this. It must add that barrier to its body to allow it not to get wrecked. A skinny mech made of good materials is still less than a heavy mech made of the same good materials. A zentradi power armor with claws punching someone in the face and blowing it up from inside with the wrist cannon didn't need a pin point barrier. Because of the overall bulk of the armor and the way the thing is designed: (no delicate joints and skinny finger) What delicate joints gives is better accuracy when using object so that you have more dexterity when attacking them. You can pick up things and press buttons. If you want to stab a guy with a knife and only going for his throat you will be better able to guide the weapon on that small part of his body thanks to having fingers. Whereas doing that with claws on a power armor is more like trying to hold something with boxing gloves. So I still hold to the idea that bigger and thicker means more robust. Punching a guy in the face with boxing glove protects your own hand so it's great "armor"/protection, but is it good for holding a baseball bat and swinging that bat around to hit accurately without those fingers free and exposed to manipulate it? Boxing glove might be great for punching a guy in the face, but the accuracy you get from having no gloves/armor on your hands when you hold a weapon means you can hold objects and use them better with your fingers giving full free motion. You trade being allowed to do more damage with a hand carried weapon that requires fingers to guide the weapon, for less protection of delicate joints. I guess that is what I am talking about with the strength of valkyires being in their speed and accuracy and not in endurance and resistance to damage. They are lighter overall since they are air vehicles. If they are fast that is how they make up for being weak: by avoiding the damage using the speed they can move about at, not taking damage and succeeding in not breaking apart from stress which is what a heavy robot needs as its defense. (GBP armor is probably a half assed solution to that problem but then you won't be able to dodge roll or do any fancy stuff like you see hikaru doing) If a destroid was the herioc mecha in the show they wouldn't die as easily as cannon fodder. Since SKawamori is a aircraft nut we will probably never see a cool destroid fight scene where it actually kicks butt. Unless it's one he designed himself hehe Most of the battles in the shows are air battles. What if you had no space to fly around? No space to dodge? You might have a mission where you go inside a complex where you have only so much space and have to fight at close range all the time so you would want better armor/stronger body more than light body with good speed since there is little space to avoid things in that kind of environment and having excessive speed gives little advantage because your homing weapons keep hitting walls not the targets. . When I refer to strength I am not referring to it's ability to lift things but the overall ability to not break apart under pressure. Zentradi mechas have bulky forearms and their weapons are integrated into the frame which offers protection since it is behind the armor, not sticking out exposed to fire or explosives as much. Stuff like that is what I am talking about. Valkyries are ARTIFICIALLY strengthened in bot mode however that is why hikaru didn't die in the episode of SDFM when he crashes the vf-1 into buildings without exploding. But that is enhancements gained from its power source not the design of the robot itself. If a destroid had that too, and if zentradi mecha had it, you would have the same thing. Contrast this to gundam where the V series of prototype robot is strong only because of materials alone which is why beam weapons are seen as the NEW main weapon for piercing the armor and not use of giant bullets. Normal bullets were the standard weapon for big robots before the first gundam was invented.(ie this robot had those special materials in the armor granting it protection against standard bullet weapons) In macross they just give the bullets the ability to penetrate the armor but the main highlight of valkyries is speed to chase down targets and avoid being shot and getting to the area in time, not in resistance to damage. (giants can still wreck them at close range with their genetically modified bodies. The armor of a zentradi mecha doesn't appear to be any better or worse than human made stuff due to materials like in gundam, but it just looks more bulky and suited for up close combat) Sorry to go off topic but yeah fat robots rule. Skinny robots are weak.