Vic Mancini

I second that. Also because the mid-wing hinge folds down while the hinge connecting the wing to the body folds up. I don't know what everyone is talking about in regards to the "broken back" thing. That's just how the SV-51 looks. ...Or at least Hasegawa's interpretation of it.

It would be killer to see a Max Jenius VS Q-Rau battle in this scale environment. Does anyone make a 1/48 Q-rau? Someone lend their's to Erik Lindgren if they have one.

Very impressive, I must say. Fighter looks a bit wonky in the intake area, but it looks really good in Battroid and Gerwalk. Overall, very good work. The SV-51 grows on me more and more every time I look at it. Unfortunately, it looks like it could turn out to be a floppy mess, though.

I couldn't agree with this more. ...Not to mention novels, comics, video games, TV shows, etc. 9 times out of 10 the film version is a massive artistic failure and nothing but a cheap cash grab. Hollywood could never create a live action version of Macross that would live up to Plus and Zero.

These pictures are amazing! Keep them coming! I agree with Eugimon. Bring on GERWALK. PS/edit: I especially love the worms eye view shots! They really compliment the illusion of scale and make those battroids feel like giant robots towering over the town. It must be difficult to get the camera that low without crushing some delicate building or detail, but I'd love to see more worms eye view perspectives.

It's kind of purple, I guess. I'd say 85% grey, 15% purple.

Gamlin's grey hair and receding hair line indicated to me that he may be older than 18 or 19. But I also thought Gapelnitch was a female until the last few episodes so what do I know?

Wow, I love the grey camo.

I've never understood why Zero gets so criticized around here. I loved it...battle scenes, art/animation, and story. I definitely recommend it to any SDF: Macross fan with an open mind. But then again, I also loved Mac +, and that seems to get criticized a lot too, so what do I know?

Are Gundam markers really that easy to use? What makes them different from any other kind of artistic felt pen? I've tried to panel line models in the past with oil washes, india ink washes, pens, mechanical pencils, etc, and I've never had good results. Maybe I'm just inept. Whatever the case, I just don't like this whole, "Yamato will probably make them too thick," argument. That's a pessimistic assumption, IMO. They could turn out great. I wouldn't mind paying a bit extra if they looked good, and I'd rather have panel lines than no panel lines on my valk. They instantly enhance the look of any model/toy if they're done even half decently, and I'm not sure I have the confidence to panel line a $200 item by myself.

I vote yes. If you trust Yamato to paint your valk, why not trust them to panel line it? You could say, "they might screw it up," about any aspect of the construction process. That doesn't seem like a good reason to vote no if you think defined panel lines generally look good...[which I do.] Yamato should just build plain plastic coloured unfinished valks for all the customizers who have the experience, desire, and equipment, to detail/paint their own valks.

Did we? I've never seen Mac 7, so I wouldn't know. Good theories, although you'd think that if that were the case it would've been explained in the anime. The fact that the fold booster is external just seems so arbitrary to me. There's no need to make it external in a story telling sense. If the writers wanted to create some situation where the 19 or 21 gets stranded somewhere then that would be a good reason to explain that the fold system wasn't ready and an external/detachable unit would be 'imagined' to make the situation plausible. But nothing in Mac + ever happens to necessitate an external/detachable fold booster. They just as easily could've imagined a smaller and internal fold system.

I'm with you completely. I've never liked the fast packs for either of the M+ YFs. They are barely noticable and if anything detract from the designs. I wouldn't buy the FP set even if it was only $5. Let's not even talk about how silly looking the fold booster is. Something in M+ that I never understood... [forgive me if this is off topic] In the first briefing when Isamu gets to Eden and they're going over the specs for the 19 and 21, it's revealed that the YFs will have the ability to fold on their own. "In order to solve coloniel planet disputes and in case of an emergency due to an alien attack, this new transforming fighter will make it possible to perform the hyperspace fold on its own." - Millard But then in ep 4 they don't really fold on their own so much as with the help of a giant piece of equipment strapped to their back. Call me crazy, but I don't really see any reason why the fold booster couldn't be attached to a VF-11 also. It doesn't seem like the 19 and 21 were designed with any sort of unique fold ability at all. What's up with that?

Yep, it's huge. It's listed on the compendium as being over 4 meters longer than the YF 19. And we all saw how huge the 19 was in Graham's video transformation guide.

The reason why I don't like Nora's scheme is because the sillouhette of the SV-51 is so strong on its own. Look how great it looks with no colour: It's a busy sillouhette with all the jagged protrusions, but that's what makes it so bold and distinctive. Nora's scheme is also jagged and busy which is why it doesn't work as well as Ivanov's flat black. In the case of the 51, the busy scheme on the busy sillouhette actually detracts from the form of the profile. That's why Ivanov's scheme is so perfect for the SV-51. His simple, almost fully black scheme, actually emphasizes the sillouhette by not detracting from it's distinctive shape with busy-on-busy detailing. IMO the Nora scheme would be more succussful on a Valk with a more simple and smooth sillouhette so that the scheme would contrast and compliment the profile instead of battling with it for supremacy. Nora's scheme might actually look better on something like a VF-1.

Well, it depends on how serious the compromise is, but overall I disagree. For me, the number one priority for a toy is transformation, accuracy is number two. If someone wants perfect accuracy and something that they want to "display" then I say get a model. IMO, a toy is not meant to be a perfectly accurate representation, it's meant to be an interpretation of how the line art/design might actually appear if it existed in real life. Accuracy is a bonus and if it can be achieved, then great, but if the sacrifice is working landing gear I'd prefer to see a clever compromise in the design, instead.

You could say that about a lot of things, though. If you make removable gear, why not make removable legs? Removable arms? Removable intakes? Removable everything? Hell, why not make three versions of each toy, one for each mode, each one 100% line art accurate and non transformable? IMO, the beauty of Yamato's designs is that nothing needs to be removed. They walk the line between a practical functioning model and impractical line art, and make the necessary compromises to achieve the best balance. Take the YF 19, for example. Personally, I'd rather have the over sized gullet than a front landing gear that needs to be removed. That was a difficult design problem which Yamato solved beautifully. I hated the big gullet at first, but that was a good compromise, and in the end I'm glad they made it. If I'm Yamato, I say screw the line art nazis, and make the best possible functioning representation of the mech. Make the compromises necessary to make it happen without having to replace/remove parts. It may be more difficult that way, but I think the end result is worth it. That's my humble opinion. Signed, The Perfect Transformation Nazi.

I like the SV 51 a lot. The Fighter mode is absolutely bad ass. It's like the evil bastard son of an F-18 super hornet and an SU-35. I love the fuselage, and the cockpit/canopy, and I love the jagged wing design and all the protruding fins, canards, wing tips, thrust vector paddles etc. It has a great profile in F mode. So menacing. The only thing that I don't love about it is whatever is mounted on the furthest ends of the wings. What are those? Fuel tanks? Rocket pods? I don't like how the heaviest armaments are mounted on the hard points furthest from the plane's center of gravity. Seems like it would slow down it's roll rate, but what do I know? I love the Gerwalk mode too. The Battroid mode?...Yeah, I'm still on the fence about it. It looks very gargoyle influenced. I get what they were trying to do with the design, I'm just not sure how successful B mode specifically was. For a while I considered it the ugliest Battroid mode of any macross design ever, but I admit it is growing on me. In the end I like the SV 51 a lot more than most of the Mac 7 mecha. The VF 17, VF 19, and all the Varauta mechs look like kid's toy space ships, or Go Bots, or something. PS. I agree with most of you, Nora's scheme is hideous. Ivanov's is perfect.

The fourth episode in the scene where Isamu chases Guld past the city buildings and the glass explodes all around them. If you play it in slow motion you can see the YF 19's wings are swept back. Guld is also in his high speed mode, I think. Then in the next scene where it's more of a side view, Isamu sweeps them back into the forward/standard position. It happens really fast. I never even noticed it the first few times I watched Mac +.

Unfortunately, I think the answer is none. The backs of the wings clearly butt up against the sides of the legs in Fighter mode making any kind of backward swing impossible. It would've been neat if there was a way to pull the legs down into Gerwalk mode, swing the wings back, and then put the legs back up leaving the Fighter in a permanent/locked high speed mode, but it doesn't look like that's going to be possible, either. Anime magic, my friend. I'm not disappointed about a lack of wing mobility since I never expected it in the first place and also since it's hardly ever featured in Mac +. I did however expect a straight gun pod, so that still disappoints me a lot.

I guess because I've never owned a Yamato before, so I don't know how stiff/loose certain joints and pivots are. My last "Macross" toy was a Jetfire Transformer and that was probably 20 years ago. Glad to know the wings/gloves are stiff. Thanks for the reply, Graham.

Hey everyone, LONG time lurker, first time poster. First, I just want to say thanks to Graham for the in-depth review. I've been a Macross fan since I was a kid, and Mac + is my favorite series. I've been waiting on an improved YF-19 design for years, and it's finally here. Yamato's design is fantastic and blows everything I've seen out of the water including those custom variable Hasegawas. Excellent job Yamato. The Gerwalk mode came out especially fantastic. ...Best mode of the three. Now for some cons: #1 - That crooked gun pod is definitely an issue for me. I actually cancelled my HLJ preorder over it. [i hope I don't regret that decision.] But I promise that I will be the first one back on the bandwagon for the second run when the gun pod issue is solved. #2 - My biggest YF-19 concern is in regards to the wings in Gerwalk mode. I've read through Graham's review and this seems to be one of the few things he doesn't address. Is there anything to prevent the wings from freely pivoting about in the wing roots? Floppy wings would be undesirable. See attached pic: #3 - I'm a tad disappointed that there is no lock/snap/latch for the torso in Battroid. I can live without one, but it would be nice to be able to hold the Battroid upside down to adjust the feet, or whatever, without the torso flopping off. #4 - And finally, out of all the gaps, these ones bug me the most: I can live with them, but I have to admit, they are unsightly flaws in an otherwise flawless Fighter mode. I can understand why gaps exist in other areas, like the hips for example, but these seem like they could've been solved so easily. It's as if Yamato simply made the shoulder connecters too small. Oh well, I'm just nitpicking at this point because this baby is so close to being 100% perfect in every way. The only thing that truly bothers me is the crooked gun pod. Thanks for reading, and if anyone with a YF19 in their hands could give me some feedback on my Gerwalk floppy wings query, I'd much appreciate it.