TheLoneWolf

Absolutely stunning work!

14 hours ago, protostar8 said:

So any word on Macross Plus getting some Hi-Metal love?  I can't believe they haven't made a YF-19 or YF-21 yet???

I think that Bandai setup the HMR line as a testbed of sorts for neglected Macross toys. Notwithstanding the VF-1 (which was grandfathered in from the old HM line), that would explain why we've never seen blue-chip Macross toys in the HMR, such the VF-25's, VF-31's, and YF/VF-19's. For example, if a HMR toy sells exceptionally well, then that would put it on the short list for the DX treatment (eg: the DX 1/48 VF-1). And if a line consistently underperforms (eg: the Destroids), then Bandai would know not to throw more good money after the bad. Going back to your question, Bandai already knows that the YF/VF-19's sell well, so they're not a priority for the HMR. As for the YF-21, Bandai couldn't release that without committing itself to the YF-19.

I realize that's an unusual business model, but it's the only one that I can think of that would explain why Bandai has released certain mecha in the HMR and not others.

Favorites

1) Bandai DX VF-19 Advance

2) Bandai DX VF-31's

3) Takatoku/Bandai 1/55 VF-1's

Worst

1) Bandai DX VF-171 CF

2) Toynami 1/100 VF-1's

3) Takatoku Henkei VF-1's

Just to clarify, I mainly judged the "worsts" by what I paid for them and what I actually got.

3 hours ago, Xigfrid said:

The whole pilot mess seems to come from a wrong seating position, the seat is too much forward and the pilot is cramped in a very small space compared to what we are used to. 

 

The lineart also shows that the pilot's seat should be further back. The trend of pushing the seat further to the front began with Yamato's v2, ostensibly to save money instead of designing a completely separate cockpit for the two-seater VF's. I can understand making that compromise in budget to mid-range toys, but not in premium toys.

1 hour ago, Sanity is Optional said:

Might be that Bandai just fulfilled some orders with a delay due to production issues, including NYs.

If I had to bet money on a theory, this one would be it. Whenever there's a mystery that's lacking in reliable evidence, I tend to find that simplest explanation is the best one.

On 1/16/2019 at 1:23 AM, jenius said:

Well all we have our shots in the dark here. My theory goes like this:
1) Factory receives order to make, let's say 1000 VF-31A Kairos toys. They make 4 batches of 250.
2) Bandai employee inspects 5 toys from each 250 allotment (they would use statistics and a confidence interval to determine their sample size, I'm not going to do the real math).. If all pass, then Bandai takes the shipment. If one fails, Bandai rejects the shipment.
3) In this case, Bandai rejected one of the shipments and issued a notice to those ordering multiples they would only receive one. At this point NY has customer cash but has not actually paid anything.
4) Factory sells QC reject to some other organization for some small amount so they don't take a complete bath on that rejected order. They specify not to flood the market with the toys since they're supposed to get destroyed and also what the QC reject was so this anonymous party can review them.
5) The 750 toys that passed are shipped via boat to Japan where they get thrown in a Tamashii brown box and shipped to customers.
6) Somehow NY gets in touch with this group that purchased the reject batch and arranges to buy the remaining 250 that pass an inspection for whatever Bandai originally was going to pay.
7) Third party group sends Bandai a few a week or maybe a monthly boat shipment that NY just takes its time doling out. Alternatively, NY bought the whole lot, has them already in a warehouse, and is just slowly doling them out because they don't want to tip off the factory...

Hold on, my tin foil hat keeps falling off...

Your theory sounds pretty plausible to me. A good way to test it out would be see if anyone received a VF-31A Kairos without a Big West sticker. From my understanding, Big West is serious with the amount of stickers that they give out to their licensees. Going with your imaginary numbers, I doubt Big West would've let Bandai's factory hang on to 250 unused Big West stickers unless they had a damn good reason.

12 hours ago, Old_Nash said:

Kyle Ryse in the Robotech!
In he "camp" of Lazlo

So... It's too late to cancel this thing????

Just when the art becomes decent, Furman snatches defeat from the jaws of victory by writing crap that's worse than a fan fiction. Is Karl Riber going to be the "Agent Smith" to Rick Hunter's "Neo?"

1

On 1/14/2019 at 2:52 PM, Shizuka the Cat said:

https://www.bigbadtoystore.com/Product/VariationDetails/86203

Is there even a market for SD Valkyries?  I just don't get it...

For these particular Morphers, no. When they first came out they hit the bargain bins pretty fast. I'm surprised that Toynami's going to roll the dice on these guys again, especially when the old Fast Pack equipped Morphers are selling for around the same price on eBay.

Wow, except for the VF-1 (how ironic), the mechanical artwork actually looks pretty good. And the character artwork is passable, which is a huge improvement over the past issues.

I'm curious to see if Furman's going to resize the Invid mecha, because current figures make them comically small when compared to the VF-1. If he's going to throw them in the Macross Saga, he might as well.

8 hours ago, no3Ljm said:

He was thinking skiers bending the knees? So it's not the birds, right? 

 

Actually, it's both . Shameless plug: Kawamori discussed the origins of the gerwalk mode at a panel in Otakon 2018, which can be found below.

http://www.macrossworld.com/shoji-kawamoris-panel-at-otakon-2018-part-1/

4 hours ago, Tochiro said:

Some points of clarification may be in order here. 

-The interview was properly applied for and approved in advance. The “guerilla” aspect is somewhat of an inside joke since, due to a con scheduling mishap, there was nowhere to actually conduct the interview, despite it being approved. Hence it was done on-the-go.

Thanks for the clarification! I'm glad to hear that that group went through the proper channels to obtain their interview and I sincerely apologize to you and to them for insinuating otherwise.

4 hours ago, Tochiro said:

-The interview was not conducted in an elevator. None of the audio file I was given to transcribe was recorded anywhere other than in the hallway. Were there some setup questions asked elsewhere? Obviously, not being there, I can’t say. But nothing was recorded for the interview in an elevator. 

-Nothing in the audio file suggests that he felt in anyway uncomfortable. In fact, I was actually surprised at how relaxed and forthcoming his answers were. He certainly sounded quite happy imo. And there’s no awkward body language reflected in the multitude of photographs he took with the interviewers, most of which did not end up being included in the article.

-I can’t speak to the actions of any photographers, since I didn’t have anyone approach me and ask to cover the panels, however I am aware photographs were explicitly allowed in one panel and not the other. I’ve received photographs from the panel in which they were permitted, from several people at the time, in fact, however none of them were of the slides.

The elevator portion did occur because I can remember questions being asked that don't appear in your post, such as whether Kawamori would be interested in coming to Awesome Con. It probably wasn't recorded.

4 hours ago, Tochiro said:

-I can’t speak to the actions of any photographers, since I didn’t have anyone approach me and ask to cover the panels, however I am aware photographs were explicitly allowed in one panel and not the other. I’ve received photographs from the panel in which they were permitted, from several people at the time, in fact, however none of them were of the slides. 

The first panel only permitted photography of Kawamori and the stage, not his slides. The second panel had a blanket ban on all photography. The group's photographer took pictures of all of Kawamori's slides, which seems pretty inexcusable to me.

On 12/28/2018 at 7:48 AM, Tochiro said:

A short interview with Shoji Kawamori. 

http://www.decultureshock.com/shoji-kawamori-interview-otakon-2018/

I generally try to avoid pontificating, but I think there's a valuable lesson to be learned here. I happened to witness this "guerilla interview" at Otakon and hopefully other peope in the future can avoid doing this type of thing.

I was waiting to catch an elevator when I saw this group follow Kawamori as he left his panel. When Kawamori got in the elevator with me, the group followed him in, effectively trapping him inside while peppering him with questions. Judging by Kawamori's body language, this was making him very uncomfortable, but the group either didn't notice or didn't care. After Kawamori got off on his floor, the group followed him out, still asking him with questions. While it's possible that Kawamori may have agreed to do an improptu interview, it was probably made out of politeness, not because he wanted one. Otakon had a page where people could sign up to schedule an interview with Kawamori; this was avoidable and in bad taste. When Kawamori walked inside that small elevator, that should've been their cue to end the interview.

On top of this, during Kawamori's second panel presentation, he specifically asked the audience not to take any pictures of him nor the slides that he was showing. But the guy in the right hand side of that group photo (wearing the black shirt with the poster tube sling over his shoulder), proceeded to take pictures of every single slide that Kawamori showed. There was even a large sign on Kawamori's table that told the audience not to take any pictures. While some of the pictures that Kawamori showed were common pictures that can be found in any artbook, some of them were private pictures on him on vacation and his hometown. I think it's safe to say that Kawamori didn't want his personal photos being permanently stored on a stranger's hard drive. Since this person was sitting near the front, Kawamori's personal interpreter noticed him taking photos on multiple occassions, but probably wanted to avoid a scene by alerting the Otakon staff. In any case, she probably told Kawamori what happened afterwards.

This is important because it's difficult for East Coast conventions to convince Japanese artists to make the long trip from Japan to the East Coast. While Washington, DC and New York are tourist sites, they just can't compete with the appeal of Los Angeles and Hollywood. When Japanese guests agree to make the 12+ hour trip from Japan to the East Coast, they usually arrive the day before the con (due to their busy schedule back home), which doesn't leave them with any time to recover from the jetlag. When they get to the convention, their days are packed with panel presentations, autograph sessions, and giving media interviews. When you combine that with their jetlag, they're left weary and understandably stressed. When Kawamori left his panel (which lasted longer than expected), he was on his way to do a 90 minute autograph session. That short amount of time between events was supposed to be his time to catch his breath. It's no secret that Japanese artists share their experiences at American conventions with their colleagues, and incidents like these may deter Kawamori and others from Otakon. If that happens, then it's the fans who lose out.

As some of you may have heard, Shoji Kawamori appeared at Otakon earlier this year. He gave two panel presentations: one on designs and original concepts and another one on the history of Macross. A transcription of his first panel has been posted on MW's mainpage and the second one will be published at a later date. Enjoy!

http://www.macrossworld.com/shoji-kawamoris-panel-at-otakon-2018-part-1

Considering that the excellent HMR Monster can still be found at a discounted price 2 years after its release, KC would have to be stupid to try their hand at one.

I don't think the unfortunate residents of Hell will have to worry about finding a new home just yet, considering there's a long list of unreleased Robotech toys.

But in all seriousness, I hope this line does hit retail. It's hard to find a more passionate fanbase than Southern Cross fans.

On 12/15/2018 at 3:11 PM, SuperDimensionalDave said:

I’m assuming licensing being an issue that KC can only make Robuttech toys and would hence be limited to characters from that hodgepodge series but if there’s a way they can dip into Macross kosher I neeeeed them to make a DYRL Millia in her Q Rau pilot suit. My 1/60 Q-Rau needs to finally have a real pilot figure and not the figure shaped plug it comes with. Nor the non poseable CMS with disintegrating hair. Let’s see some Mospeada civilian outfitted figures also to go with our Sentinel Riobots. Meow. 

Most likely. While Harmony Gold does hold the license for DYRL toys in USA, third party companies probably have to pay a separate licensing fee for that, since DYRL isn't part of Robotech.

That being said, I'm tempted to pick up some of these action figures after hearing the positive reviews and that they scale well with Sentinel's Ride Armors.

I'm in shock. All of Daredevil's seasons had excellent reviews and I refuse to believe that it fell victim to a lack of viewership. Maybe Disney's exponentially increased show's licensing fees just to bring the show back under their roof.  

On 11/28/2018 at 5:52 PM, Seto Kaiba said:

Do you mean Voldemort's motivations in the books or the movies?  I ask because I felt a lot of his Freudian excuse fell victim to the inevitable perils of story compression for the silver screen.  They got the ball rolling on Grindelwald's motivations a lot earlier on, so he has three more movies to really get into why he's a total bastard (and the books never did get into why he's a muggle-hater beyond "he's Wizard Hitler, go with it".)

I'm referring to the movies. I saw most of them before I started reading the books and thought that Voldemort's backstory and motivations were pretty flimsy in them. Obviously the movies could only cover so much material, but I think they missed a golden opportunity to give him more substance. As the primary villain of multiple movies, it's a shame he didn't get more.

I saw The Crimes of Grindelwald and was underwhelmed. It's not a bad movie, but it's certainly not as good as Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. When it ended, I was thinking "Was that it?!"; it just felt incomplete. A lot of writers struggle with stepping-stone movies, but I was surprised that J.K. Rowling struggled with it this time, especially when all the Harry Potter books/movies could individually stand on their own feet.

One of my biggest concerns going into the movie was seeing Johnny Depp as Gellert Grindelwald. Eddie Redmayne's portrayal of Newt Scamander is a perfect example of an actor owning a role that was given to him. But Depp's performance, while acceptable, isn't a memorable one.

I really liked how the movie gave Grindelwald a compelling motivation behind his actions and why he's able to accumulate so many loyal followers. I found it much more plausible than Voldemort's shallow motivations.

2 hours ago, RavenHawk said:

For a book set in the Robotech universe (take that for what you will), the original Invid War (and spin-off one-shot Firewalkers) was a solid read.

Here's another vote for Robotech: Firewalkers. While 95% of Robotech comic books are rubbish, this is one of the few good ones. It told a short, solid story accompanied by good artwork for its time. Unlike most other Robotech comic books, that shamelessly (and poorly) ripped off the Japanese line art, the mecha illustrations here are both good and original.

3 hours ago, Stampeed Valkyrie said:

So any chance we will get the VF-2JA?

 

If Bandai wants to make up for leaving out Nexx, they could always release a VF-2JA and include Nexx, since he also piloted that VF. I know, wishful thinking.

Or, if Bandai wants to save some tooling costs, they could release the VF-XS Super Valkyrie II and include Nexx, since it has no designated pilot.

I know, that's really wishful thinking.

2 hours ago, 505thAirborne said:

Nope, only his SNN Valk and hitched a ride with Silvie in Ep. 4 Marduk Disorder. 

To make things even more embarrassing for Bandai, Hibiki's flightsuit is specifically designed for civilians. It's possible that Hibiki wouldn't be able to properly pilot a VF-2SS in his civilian flightsuit, as the cockpit's chair is designed to mount onto the shoulderpads of military flightsuits.

3 hours ago, Slave IV said:

Last post just to respond...they are illegal in that these are products meant for the Japanese market only and part of that is because of IP laws that are being broken every time we purchase them. It seems minor enough to slip by but still a technicality that luckily most of us and the people involved with getting them to us don't seem to care about.

It's understandable that you feel like importing Macross toys is illegal, especially after seeing all the legal actions taken by Harmony Gold against retailers like BigBadToyStore. But as a private citizen who's importing these products for personal use, not business use, you're not doing anything illegal.

Jurisdiction

Since you're buying these toys from Japanese retailers located in Japan, the sale is considered as taking place on Japanese soil, therefore none of Harmony Gold's rights are infringed. Even though the Internet has no actual "soil," the retailers are still registered in Japan and don't actively market (ie: junk mailings, paid advertisements, etc.) their Macross products in the US, so Japan is still considered as having jurisidiction. Simply having a website in English isn't enough to give the US and Harmony Gold jurisdiction, the Japanese retailer would still have to actively market their Macross products in the US.

Importing the Toys into the US

After you've purchased your Macross toy from a Japanese retailer, importing your toy into the US is still legal if it's for your personal use. However, if you purchased dozens of toys with the intent to resell them in the US, then you would be running afoul of US trademark laws, as Harmony Gold has registered the name "MACROSS" as a trademark and claimed the UN Spacy kite symbol as another one of their trademarks.

Even users such as sh9000, who these toys by the dozen, are safe because we can clearly see from his posts that he buys them primarily for customization and army building, not for business resale.

With that said, I'm pumped for the Hikaru VF-4! I hope there'll be a few available at release as I wasn't able to get a preorder.

15 hours ago, Darkspire17 said:

yeah, then its def a bootleg, but atleast its an interesting piece, an english dub, produced for american television, yet the case is entirly in japanese, i wonder where it was sold

It was most likely sold at conventions and through fansub catalogs in the 1980's and early 90's. Even though it's a bootleg, it's undoubtedly a piece of Macross fan history. It harkens back to a time before ebay and torrents, where finding authentic Macross videos was rare and expensive for American fans. Whoever initially bought that VHS tape probably felt like they won the lottery back then.

Since there's no manufacturer or licensor information, it's safe to assume that it's a fan copy (ie: bootleg). Before officially licensed anime was the norm, these were pretty common and sold fairly well. Here's an example of some more.

https://img00.deviantart.net/7b6c/i/2011/192/9/d/vkll_fansub_vhs_by_mewmew34-d3n2804.jpg