1/1 LowViz Lurker

Also I don't like the extra weight it brings. I want to be able to pose toys so that when wearing FAST packs or whatever, it doesn't feel like it will fall over backwards or make the hips go floppy. Make it feel "solid" to the touch with nice strong plastic, just not heavy. Back heavy mecha like the Qrau for example already have problems just due to the design of them.

Blame graham for calling them all dicks. That's what sparked the anger. I bet yamato spies and bandai spies are secretly fighting each other in stealth over that comment. Like the two groups in "Big Trouble in Little China" and we are all caught in the middle of the war wondering WTH is going on. Well not really but that's what I am reminded of since I watch too many john carpenter movies..

My first thoughts were that shouldn't professionals dress neatly to impress the client? I would have equally thought it strange if they wore star wars storm trooper outfits or macross space suits. I didn't really care at first until it was pointed out that they were gundam uniforms. So maybe they've decided: "we'll plug our other products while we have the chance." I think they should get a cute girl into the photos dressed as minmay (DYRL shower scene costume?) kissing kawamori's feet to make up for this. This has made me sooooo angry.... not. Life's too short to worry about such small stuff.

I like the monster's face the best. It's like the frown on all the g1 transformers.

But that's all fine and dandy for them, but as a fan, wouldn't you rather have the vf-22 now regardless of whether there is a big show on or whether there are mainstream/casual buyers interested in it? That's where the smaller company can get its respect by catering to those who (long after the show is dead) will pay good money to get a detailed PT toy of the thing. Why can't bandai have just made a 1/60 VF-17S toy or something in I dunno, 2001 or something? Why not a VF-22? VF-11? Something during the times when the show is long over with like they do with gundam? Because big companies would rather go for the big $, which is why certain brands companies (let's um Electronic Arts or something to use a videogame example) can get a license for a movie or something and still not do as good a job as a previous smaller company that had put all its heart and soul into their games for that license. (take all the james bond first person shooters they made that weren't as good as the ones made by Rare when GoldenEye first person shooter came out) Now just because someone has more money to throw around doesn't necessarily mean they will always put as much effort or necessarily do as good a job as the offerring by previous license holders. It just means that there is greater potential for a better thing, but (if the company is jaded and unenthusiastic about it rather than being passionate and focused) a good chance that the potential is never used. (example are the half-assed attempts by hollywood to make sequels to movies that don't really need a sequel to, and which often turn out worse than the originals, just so they can cash in on the name of the first movie or the market that they've identified now exists after looking at sales from people who bought the dvd or saw the first movie - it's commercialism) Now I'm not saying that's what's going to happen with Mac F, (they only put the minimum amount of effort required) but that IF they take a half-assed approach again (no new macross 7 toys for ages for instance) the diehard macross fans (not casual ones or little kids) will suffer due to that "we don't care about the small fanbase for a mecha from an old show" attitude that a bigger company will have; where they might reason that the same effort put into an old show could be better utilised on making toys for mecha from a newer show to bring in the $ quickly, since it's exposed and easier to sell to more people. Businesses want to make money, but fans understandably don't like the long-ass waits. Bandai may go down the path of macross 7 (release something but never revisit it, only re-release older toys) or they could do what yamato has done and keep improving and making better toys of the same thing. (which we've seen happen with 1/72 -> 1/60 toys for macross plus. 1/60 vf-1 -> 1/48 -> 1/60 again for SDF:M) Why didn't bandai do this with macross 7 by remaking a better VF-17? Releasing a VF-22? In the same way Yamato went back to the VF-1 and kept improving it, or releasing better macross plus toys to outdo the old ones they already did? Because it goes back to my belief that when a big company doesn't see a huge market, they'll say: "screw those fans, not worth my time" since there are other shows they can make more money off of, whereas a smaller company might put that much more heart into the toy and focus harder despite being limited compared to the bigger company. A bigger company might get complacent and only put a fraction of its ability into something by only making it good enough for the casual fan/kid. And please don't use examples of robot toys from other shows, we are talking about macross specifically: no one is doubting the skills/quality they can put into the toys from all those other shows, just that we worry about the possibility that they'll take the half-assed attitude in the long term towards the show compared to yamato. "But but but but, what about the toys from the 80s?? What about aqaurion??" Nope, lets limit the examples to macross since lack of new stuff is the reason we had the whole "drought of toys" problem in the first place (due to it being hard to find good toys as companies ignore it) which made us go and buy the yamatos to begin with. (lack of choice) But to me: Re-releasing old toys to please the casuals < newer versions of the toy which gradually improve on older ones to please the hardcore, and that's one thing I see happening if the big guy sits on something for ages without doing anything new, which then hurts the diehard fan who wishes to see mecha toys from the show but won't ever due to big companies focusing on 50 different other things from other shows to care about that one particular mecha from macross which hasn't been updated in ages. (because it's not a high priority to please a small niche market.) Yes it's great news now that things are changing and they've seen the $ to be made, but long term you know that if they spread their attention too thinly it can mean less regular updates and improvements and longer waits for the fan. (who would rather a slightly-flawed toy of a mecha like the vf-17 from yamato over no new toy at all from bandai or just a re-release of an old toy they already had)

Destroids finally get some love.

Yep even the diehard yamato fans had to concede there was no excuse for that. This is like the Yamato equivalent to microsoft's red ring of death on their xbox360. Very frustrating. But remember that even for its time the chunky 1/65 were lazy lazy lazy designs. Massive chunk of the thigh missing on the back of the leg for the vf-19. Crap landing gear for the vf-17. No release of the VF-11. Crap proportion in plane modes to make battroid look better. With yamato they are releasing all the stuff based on the diehard fan demand during a time when there is a drought and going back to older release (like 1/72 mac plus, and 1/60 sdfM) toys and improving and remaking them to be better. (in the form of 1/60 mac+ valks, newer 1/60 vf-1 for example) So although the first releases have had problems, people were still happy that something is at least being done during those years when they can't find anything new. Now why didn't during all that time, bandai not want to make us a new vf-17 1/60 from then till now? (instead of re-releasing the existing stuff?) Because gundam is their main cash cow and they could make more from that robot show is my guess. And now that mac F is coming it's another opportunity (new show, so not as much risk to start making toys now) to appeal to the mainstream. After that they might neglect to make anything new from the show. (just like with macross 7 in how we never saw a vf-22, never saw a vf-11c, never saw a redone vf-17 with more realistic proportions. No excuses!) Generally fans feel the neglect but don't doubt the quality they are capable of, which is why they are angry. Such a waste of a license if it doesn't get used, you know what we are saying? I guess what all this whining and complaining achieves is that it lets them know that we have been dying for something more and hopefully this translates into more of their attention on macross beyond the mainstream lines during a safe time when the show is being first shown on tv and gets exposure. I am quite happy with them being able to make the vf-25, but not going to make excuses for them for not releasing new toys in the past. But I am also just as disappointed with the yamato mistakes as the rest of you. It's not helped by the fact that HG/toynami issues make it hard for the first release buyer to not be able to get replacements. It's possible to hate both companies for different reasons. (ie one will sit on a license for ages, the other rushes the toys and makes the first release buyers have to worry about QC or design problems which shouldn't be there after all the experience they should have gained by learning from mistakes made in the past and avoiding them in future toys)

Yeah I'm not that big a fan of metal either. That's one of the reasons I don't own any transformer binaltechs. Transforming toys are better off being plastic if you intend to handle them a lot. If they can kill two birds with 1 stone making it plastic like the yamato 1/60 (save money plus make the toy more handle-friendly) then that'd be good. I can't tell the difference when looking at an alternator and binaltech in side by side pics. MY 1/72 yf-21 has lots of paint flaking off the thighs. Good thing the upcoming 1/60 is replacing it and I won't have to worry about stuff like that anymore..

It does seem kinda odd that's all. (in a geeky sense)

After seeing pics of the wheels being the same size on the MH it really shows how the bike mode suffers to make the armor mode look better. If they are going to make it a swapping parts toy, just include two sets of wheels I say. CMs need to release a bigger toy at the same price. I want PT but with detail like the MH. I don't like the giraffe neck of the MH figures. That stands out a lot but I do admire the faces. And about the legioss.....are there any other companies willing to take on CMs besides toynami out there?? hello?? *SMASHES ON WOOD*

Yeah thanks for that. The old one looks too shiny and I consider the newer one to be more like what the movie one would be if it were 'real' while the first one is an anime colored edition. (where blacks, dark blues and whites are more common than greys so it stands out and is more eye catching)

Haha I love checking this thread for bandai vs yamato argumets. The show hasn't even started and people are scared the toys are going to suck. About bandai/gundam jackets: it's like "HARHAR we ownzjoo!1" I didn't think about that until you brought it up. I do think it was kind of strange to see them wearing that. But then I'm now thinking: "Gee that seems a little over the top. But wait....are they trying to gloat at the fact that yamato is completely cut off from making anything from the show until bandai has milked this cash cow's teats until there is nothing left?" Yeah although it's not obvious I am now seeing it. They might be using the photo to remind us all that if you want toys from this show you have to buy exlcusively bandai products. "Yamato you can just GTFO of our turf!" But this doesn't necessarily mean they will not put 100% Just that without a competing company they have less incentive to try to capture the $ from the fan as there is no danger that some of those $ won't be lost to a rival making the same thing, so long as they have the exclusive rights. All we can do is hope they take this seriously and make an awesome toy.

Going to wait for some reviews before purchase. So much stuff is coming out at the same time.

I will end up getting at least one of each: 1 regult with no launcher 1 with smaller launchers 1 with large launchers 1 regult scout 1 glaug (where is it? are they worried the extra limbs will cost them extra money? I would love to see the glaug booster for this but it's not a big deal for me if it doesn't get it) You'll need money for at least 5 chicken leg mechas.

I agree with this. Hopefully they look at what yamato has done and try to one-up or at least match them. Yamato has been there for the fans during the "drought of toys" but with the new show coming up, there is going to be a larger demand for toy from casual macross fans and not just the diehard collectors with loadsa money to buy multiple large scale toys. IF bandai can show us something at least as good as what yamato can do, I don't see how this is a bad thing. But I do see bandai as a giant fighting a little guy and who in the past didn't see massive profit in macross so they decided to not care as much as the little guy who wants to please the diehard fans by listening to them. The giant can make money on other things, and casually sit on the license for years with nothing except re-releases of old toys which might turn off the fan who wanted something better than that. Whereas with the little guy: the newer stuff can get better and more detailed and give you an incentive to buy the new toys. (because they've been updated, improved, are more accurate, and more feature packed.) After all the hype around macross F is over bandai will just go back to their gundam series, and the smaller company will be there for the fans during the drought period. (unless they make more than one season of macross and try to extend it?) Personally I think it is nice that yamato is doing the non macross f stuff because they can then focus all their effort on these other valks. I'm looking forward to the macross plus and zero releases from them just as much as the bandai toy. Prices I bet will probably be better for the bandai stuff, but you can't complain that there are no more toys from the 20 year old robot series anymore. I was happy when the overpriced Qrau came out, so for me just having the competition is taken as a good thing because it means more chance that mecha not made by one company is done by the other which means more choices for you as a fan. (eg revoltech macross figures: finally a super posable qrau may be possible which is what I've always wanted to display. Because of poor sales of the bigger qrau you know they won't bother with the green one, so given that there is other companys making toys you now have the chance to get a team of green revys, purple grunts from DYRL, along with both red and blue aces versions, something you wouldn't do at larger scale. Hopefully everyone buys the enemy mecha so that they continue to make more)

The 1/48s will go down in market value imo when 1/60 comes out. Mainly I think because they look to have comparable amount of detail, twoseater are coming for 1/60, and 1/60 is going to be the main scale from now on. 1/48 might be for the diehard collector who wants everything. But those who can't forgive the hanging arms in fighter mode, have no space, and prefer the smaller size (because it means you can afford to get them all) I think will be glad there is a smaller cheaper and more complete alternative to buy. I like to think of the 1/48 as more a masterpiece line that you weren't really meant to 'collect', ie you were just supposed to get the one you wanted the most and then that was it. (so the size issue wasn't a problem if you were a poor guy ) But the 1/60 is more the average guy's price/scale/line where it may be posible to try to get valks that you probably wouldn't want to own as a masterpiece. (for example stuff like the cannon fodder which would probably get ignored by people who are not fans of the scheme or who only collect the flashy ace pilots from the anime. The CF always get ignored.)

I had this same problem with chun li in street fighter 3: third strike. I wonder if capcom will ever go back to 2d sprites ever again or is it going to be like the use of CG in anime and they'll never do it because it would cost more?

These look like fun to play with for those too lazy to transform their valks. The rare mecha appearing in this line is what makes it interesting to me. I was a big fan of those "micromachines" toys because of the ease with which you could display these in some kind of base or building set. (you know how as little kids you would take styrofoam boxes and pretend these were buildings or bases for the tiny toys?) I can see these as being like that. It would have been cool if there were a real macross "micromachines" without the need to have to buy multiples boxes just to get the one you wanted. I can see many people frustrated trying to get the three modes they want for the one machine and not caring much about the other mecha which they've already got toys for. And of course all those people who have multiples of the same thing. Doesn't look that bad to me. Seems like they were going for the lineart version of each mode. (the battroid pose is just like the lineart pose of the vf-1 in battroid mode)

That kinda annoys me that there may be some yamato employees spying on us or silencing people. Eventually the news is going to come out, and the vast majority of us are not going to be able to buy the various hobby magazines that the information appears in (it's all in japanese) so I don't see how it can harm them to release it the info when those same mags don't even appear in shops outside japan anyway right? I just think it's kind of pointless to silence you know what I mean? What difference would 1-2 days or even an hour getting the news earlier make? Come on yamato enough games. It's a VF-4 isn't it? Isn't it?

I think that was the reason they sent Dyson to test pilot the plane in the first place because no one else would accept him. He is sort of like Martin Riggs in Lethal Weapon movies - kinda immature, only good at one thing, a bit crazy, but his skills are needed to (like accepting a dangerous suicidal mission) push the limit of the plane or else nothing will get done. It takes balls to test the plane which makes them the 'pioneers' able to explore new areas, (ie see the episode where Dyson and Myung are talking about wandering off by himself to discover something new and guld tagging along) exploit the limits of the tech (yang hacking into the defenses to give dyson a chance to land on earth without dying) and innovate (Guld's mind-machine interface which is a first that allows an average pilot to stand a chance to beat a more skilled one). All these brave risks (whether it be business risks, risks to find new treasures in a dangerous place in the forest, beating the security through finding exploits in a program to manipulate it, breaking a world record etc) are all things that nobody would officially condone (due to 'danger' like the old man who wanted to use ghosts to replace human pilots) but are required in the real world and are useful to people and society in general. If you don't take risks, you deserve none of the treasure at the end of the journey/adventure and deserve to stay in your current state never achieving anything in your life and copying everything else others do and being a nobody rather than a person of notable status that is remembered for his actions. Myung I think is meant to be the way she is to show us why sitting around and not making your dream come true despite some failures (but still continuing to pursue your dreams/career like a soldier getting up to fight a losing battle as his 'duty') is the wrong path if you are the type to really want to realise dreams. Yeah people die when you take a risk, but the rewards from taking those risks might be worth it if the people truly loved what they did and wouldn't have had it any way else. People will call you "stupid", an "ass", "cocky and arrogant", but that is to make them feel better about themselves and is an ego thing rather than because those people think it's wrong to at TRY something new and exciting and experience it first hand. (ie when myung talks about the fruit being horrible to taste without first testing it herself) The mind control of the AI telling you "you are useless, you are a failure, you are helpless and can't do anything right" symbolises all those people with negative attitudes who are just too cowardly to "take the dare" and it's this mantra of "not taking risks, be sensible, follow the system" of the machine that really only works on the weak-minded who don't want to think for themselves. But the stubborn and determined CAN break the system, bend the rules, make the impossible possible, if they keep trying. (very similar thing to basara in macross 7) It's a state of mind. Myung didn't have to accept the system telling her she is helpless and her life was over. But of course her sensible logical half wants to keep her safe from harm so she feels comfort in telling others to not do dangerous or risky things without realising that under certain circumstances the risk may be worth taking if the reward for success saves a life, breaks a record, makes you happy. (something a logical robot wouldn't understand) I see Dyson as like Basara but instead of trying to stubbornly sing songs, he wants to be able to pull off the dangerous stunt. He chooses the other path, the dangerous path no normal pilot will take in order to show he can be in control of the uncontrollable plane, be "one with the machine", and outdo the competition. Without that passion his life is meaningless. Take it away and what's the point of living if you can't have fun? Similarly I see that same trait in Hikaru and how his dad died in the circus, and although it wasn't in a war that same logic applies: people won't remember you for doing safe stunts, they won't remember you for copying what the other guy did, they won't benefit if you quit after failure. Nope they'll remember you for stubbornly keep trying and trying and like the pioneers who were told it was stupid to try to do it (and who managed to prove others wrong and became notable for it) the cocky and determined people who do the crazy experimental things will also be remembered because of what they achieved that others would purposely NOT do due to worries about their own safety. The test planes would not have gotten as far as they did without the pilots being determined to one-up each other so badly. I think it was this depression of Myungs that made the Sharon apple AI go rogue because she showed the machine that she had not spirit left to keep continuing to fight! Her spirit was absorbed by the AI and she was a souless shell. Yeah so although the characters are not profesional, they are perfectly suited to take a challenge, dare each other to do more dangerous things, and push the limits of the system to get results, which is what makes them similar to Hikaru or Roy who were both always rivals to each other and fearing that they will be one-upped. In the case of hikaru it was more the fear of losing minmay's attention to Roy than for not being as good as Roy in combat. But guys you have to admit this idea in SDF:M of competing for the girl's attention by showing off, is a VERY SIMILAR THEME seen in macross plus and valid justification for why you could say that Macross Plus is not very different to SDF in terms of the characters. You are just attacking it because of nostalgia. There were MANY instances where Hikaru talked back to Misa in DYRL and SDF:Macross just as rudely as Dyson would choose to not follow orders in Plus, so please stop saying they are different. Dyson, (reckless pilot) Hikaru(talks back to Misa who is in charge), Basara (fruitcake who nobody understands) are all similar in their stubborness to go against the grain. But without the balls to take the needless risk (skills used to go down the stupid path - ie singing a song to make enemies stop fighting, inventing a new brainwave interface, arguing with the person in charge about which is the most *sensible thing to do) they wouldn't be as interesting to watch. *I'm referring to how countless times Hikaru would put his own life in danger to rescue minmay or misa even though it was dangerous and go against orders handed down. (a reckless stunt can get you killed and seen, but other times that same reckless stunt might enable you to dodge a swarm of micromissiles and survive an extreme situation. (ie dyson dodging all the fire from the SDF-1 at the end of plus, or guld purposely crashing into the ghost to kill it which sounds crazy to sensible people worried about expesive technology being broken or getting fired to at least TRY)

I don't get why people say they are unlikable though? One is a guy who keeps getting into trouble on purpose so he doesn't get promoted which allows him to keep flying (his main passion) and because he know it would be boring doing anything else. The other is an alien who designs a transforming qrau who beats up the reckless pilot because he thinks his girl is in danger. They may not be all that interesting people, but unlikable? I didn't find hikaru, misa, and minmay any more or less interesting than Guld, Myung and Dyson to be honest. Now Shin in mac 0 I can understand. He's a great pilot stuck to old ways of thinking and doesn't do anything in the story. (I guess he is the opposite of Roy who could be mistaken for the leading man in the show) And I get the sense he is only that way just to introduce us to the valkyrie and the idea of transformation so the love with the island woman is just thrown in at the last minute. (the ova seems aimed at robot-fans more than fans of the love triangle romance. In fact I think without Roy some people might not have even had incentive to watch it)

I love the megahouse details. If only CMs made larger ones which didn't fall apart or have pop-off problems and fixed the cheap look of them. Redo the line, add more heads, make it cheaper. And fix the stick gun so that you can mount it on the bike and not have a hand stuck to it. CMs might have just rushed it and had intended something better. Any chance CMs will make releases with plastic for the windshield that doesn't cause it to crack? Even though it's easily fixed, it can be a bad first impression to those hearing about it and might deter them from going with that one. I hope that what happens is these easily-breaking windshield editions get sold off cheaper than any future fixed ones. Then people can get a bargain on older releases.

Yeah that's great news, but we also want a toy. And here is what I think happened in mac +. Guld had no intention of raping myung in front of dyson, it was more like his zentradi anger made him want to grab her and beat da ho for cheating on him (perhaps she really loved dyson but didn't tell guld because he knew it would hurt his feelings?) but it just so happened that her shirt was ripped off revealing myung boobs which gave him a mini culture shock so he didn't get to go through with it. kinda funny when you think about it. sight of Tits = culture shock zentradi beating up a woman = DYRL male fighting the females as equal soldiers (not even a primary school knowledge of birds and bees) which is part of the mind prgramming working. Loss of fighting will due to shock = same thing as when scene of kissing makes them go scared Guld was just going to bitch slap his ho, but I don't think he wanted to rape. Just that is what it looked like due to the accidental ripping off of the shirt. So what is left in your mind is an image of chic with her shirt ripped off and you think it's an attempt to rape. But I think that was accidental. Kinda like homer simpson grabbing the lollie off the girl's butt in one episode of the simpsons to "eat sweet candy" and the community thought he was going after the girls and not the lollie stuck to her butt so it's hard to imagine them believing his side of the story.

So any hints on what it is? VF-11 1/60 cad drawing? YF-19 in super nova paintscheme? 1/60 two seaters? Detaching limbs on yf-21?

heh Sci-fi nerds have been fantasizing about women robots for ages! It's just that japan is the land of robot shows so it would seem natural for an industry of sex bots to start there I think. I'd be surprised if they didn't try to make some kind of blade runner style replicant designed to cook and clean and be a pleasure bot. But first they need to make them smart enough to do the lawnmowing and be cheap for the average joe before something like that is common. Only the rich people are going to be using it. Just be careful the doll doesn't kill you in your sleep because it gets jealous that you have human friends and it isn't happy about being exploited. Although I'd like to see it used as a body guard too kinda like the boomers in bubble gum crisis. Forget guard dogs when you have a female terminator which can offer 24/7 protection from robbers.