jeniusornome

@apptt4 agreed on that. For something that sold for 2500 yen and was never reissued, you think they’d have done it by now. I wouldn’t mind a half dozen or so of those myself. I like the yeti stands but have a few figs where I’d like to keep all the parts readily available in a simpler, less ornate stand than the launch arm (which I do really like, but it’s very distracting).
 

amusingly I’ve seen listing for the Valkyrie factory “launch farm” stand KO and they’re priced higher than the official releases that are still available. 
 

@jenius was thinking the same thing. I don’t like buying KOs so if Arcadia is in fact doing an Angel Bird or Mass Prod 1A I’d rather buy those... though I don’t know what prices might be like. I’d assume similar price point to their initial two VF-1S releases that didn’t have parts -$160ish. The Valkyrie factory ones go for $100-$125 which isn’t a big enough drop in price for a KO, IMO.

of course, Arcadia has also shown/teased Nora’s SV-51 and the VT-1, so unless they pull a Yamato on us, additional VF-1 releases could be a ways off.

I’d at least feel better about taking apart a KO to practice painting and customization than I would an official release. Been thinking about picking up their 1S just for that reason, but again with the pricing. 
 

KO companies seem to have raised prices since they got wise to how much money collectors are willing to spend. But if it’s the choice between a KO and paying double or triple on the secondary market...

Not surprising, but I haven't had it happen to me yet. Did have a c-clamp on one of my renewal 25's guns break similarly - wasn't applying much force at all, just moved it and the piece snapped.

I know there's a lot of fine detail in these modern DX figures but one thing I miss from the 1/65 chunky DX M7 figures... they were solid at least.

Another shout out to @Bolt for an amazing condition YF-25 at a great price. TYVM!

There's so many possible DYRL skull squadron combinations!

Roy 1S, Hikaru + Max + Hayao 1As

Max 1S, Hikaru + Hayao 1As

Hikaru 1S, Max in a blue Queadluun-rau and a plate of steak with an asparagus stripe!

And you need a different 1S for all of them!

Personally I'm hoping for a TWE exclusive DYRL Kakizaki 1S, just to mess with everyone.

Man I forgot all about Megazone 23 and the Robotech movie thing they did. That was a mess.

@Saburo I really like the profile of the VF-25 and that black and white photo is fantastic!

Is there a list somewhere of all the VF "cameos" at New Edwards in Macross Plus?

I watched the movie the other night and noticed several fighters in the background in some scenes (VF-17s with trainer colors, I think VF-14s in one scene and maybe a VF-5000?) and was wondering if we knew what they were.

I did see the 17D in trainer colors on the mecha manual page but no mention of the others.

I'm on the fence about this 1A. I have a TV Max and kind of want a TV Kakizaki to go with it, but then I'd find myself trying to track down a Hikaru 1J and a Roy 1S (whenever they do one) which would be... probably expensive/painful.

OTOH, if I get this one, I'll probably want, at least, a DYRL Hikaru 1A and a Max 1S (for Skull Squadron as it existed during the fight over Altira). And then inevitably a Max 1A and a Roy 1S too.

I don't see cheap way out of this short of not buying anything, but I would like at least one other DX VF-1. I just know buying one would lead to at least two more. This hobby is just so expensive.

That looks a lot like the one I was thinking about. Probably the same, and if it was related to palladium and a kickstarter I probably just assumed it was “official” or something. Thanks!

Didn't I see something a long ways back where Tommy Yune or someone at HG designed an original transformation/design of the VF-4?

Can't find anything on it now aside from really obvious fanart, but I could swear there was an "official" design shown at some point and then never used. As I recall it was much more derivative of the VF-1 than the substantial change the Macross VF-4 was.

Weird. I just checked my DX VF-1A TV Max and it seems fine...

@Seto Kaiba I didn’t know about the manga. When I watched through Delta I kept wondering when they were going to actually explain the conflict and even when they did it didn’t quite all make sense to me. It still doesn’t after a second watch through.

But I just assumed that what they really wanted was to push Walküre above all other aspects of the show and everything else was given just a very shallow treatment at best. 
 

I thought it amusing that the dimensional bomb in Delta was an Orguss reference (I assume it was), and Delta was full of other odd references (like Macross II stuff). It was fun to watch but it didn’t really work for me.

That said, if we never find out where they were going with the dimensionally lost Dana, maybe Jeanne Francaix can make a cameo somewhere in the next Delta movie and then we’ll all know it was Kei’s fault anyhow. 

Admittedly, the dimensional bomb and reality merging from the beginning of Orguss can pretty easily be used as an explanation for just about anything, even the various inconsistencies that come up in different Macross shows whenever someone tries to figure out what's "canon".

I don't know if it fractured reality quite enough to turn the "first spacefaring civilization" protoculture into a "fuel source derived from a magical flower" protoculture, but...

1 hour ago, Seto Kaiba said:

Play Macross 30: Voices Across the Galaxy and behold the splendor that is PLAID VFs!

(That is not a joke, BTW... it's an actual option for several VFs including the YF-29.)

Well, that’s going on my list right now.

Maybe there's a reality out there somewhere where Robotech IS as popular as die-hard fans in this reality want to believe it is. Paramount has made half a dozen Robotech movies, there's a dozen or so cartoons including some mid 90s early CG ones, and Transformers is just a footnote of 80s nostalgia with a few die-hards who like to troll Diaclone forums.

But even there I bet they still haven't found a way to fit Orguss into it.

hmm. I guess I see what you're saying, though I don't see anything in there that specifically calls that scene. The technical part reads more like both a general explanation of the three modes (for someone new) and a detailed description of transformation design (for srs fans). Sort of an odd split there.

Interesting to see how the colors for Delta Squad's jets were listed. In show and in toy/model format the colors are a printer cartridge (CMYK). I had just assumed they were trying to come up with a color scheme when someone in the office said they ran out of toner...

Anyways, thanks for the translations! Interesting read. I've got a lot to look through now.

Next show, let's see some orange, purple and green VFs!

Re: specifically that scene in ep.1 of Delta... idunno, if a guy piloting a plane that turns into a robot so he could use sweet dance moves to trip up a space giant piloting an egg with arms and legs needs to be justified, I think that's thinking too hard about it.

We are talking about a sci-fi anime series with space giants, galactic whales, universal bunnies, interdimensional bugs and singing sci-fi magical girls. "Because of course the plane transforms. Why wouldn't it?"

Unrelated/related: I had hoped that scene would be a preview of "ridiculous dancing mecha action" all through the series, but I feel like the first few episodes set up a show that played out significantly different from how I'd expected.

Is the VF-31D a thing, or did Aoshima just make it up for their VFG line?

related, how many uses of the orange and tan trainer color scheme have their been in the media? I can think of just three from the shows- VF-1D, VT-1 and the very brief appearance of a couple of VF-17Ts parked at New Edwards in a scene setting shot in Macross Plus.

other 2-seaters we’ve seen haven’t had this color scheme (or even been intended as trainers in the first place) although the orange YF-25 001 comes close. 

I seem to recall reading somewhere that was one of the design principles for the vf-4 - space superiority, far better than a vf-1 with packs, even if it meant atmospheric performance was sacrificed. 

There's also a sealed one up on jungle for 38k:

https://jungle-scs.co.jp/sale_en/products/detail/380919

Neat!

@Sanity is Optional there are places that still have retail stock of sdf-1 and the vf-0s?

Protodeviln? No, It was old man protoculture all along! Why’d you do it old man?

because you kids won’t turn your damn music down! Enough of the planet dance already!

Not sure where you’re seeing the official Bandai one for those prices - most shops have it second hand over srp but closer to 25k yen (around $250) than $350 and up. The 31C and 31S are certainly getting closer to $400 though.  

show z store is the only shop I can think of with Valkyrie factory listings and they have it listed at $140. I don’t think that includes shipping and there’s still no rea release date. A few eBay sellers have them between $160 and $180. As I recall srp on the genuine ones was 18k yen?

The 31J amuses me because it appears they’re trying to sell it for roughly the same SRP as the legitimate one.

i did see the price drop on a few of those recently. I’m surprised Valkyrie Factory didn’t decide to just pump out a ton of them to capitalize on the lack of readily available paint schemes. CF 1As, 1D, etc, etc.