VFTF1

I agree with Dobber that the movie line should get the MP treatment. All of Hasbro's movie toys have - for lack of a better word- sucked! I mean - seriously - all of them just suck compared to what we see on screen. Sure, some suck more than others (I would be looking at you, Starscream, if I hadn't sold your crappy butt about 4 minutes after taking you out of the box). The Movie line - toy wise - is a disgrace. Transformers finally makes it big on the big screen and more effort is franky put into spin off lines like Classics/Henkei/Universe than the Movie itself... not that I think it's bad Henkei is so good - but really - they could have done a more decent job with the movie toys. Pete

That's a MAJOR assumption. first, retailers very often let things go for a loss because they prefer to have cash flow. Secondly, with the change in the value of the Yen to the Dollar, I am not surprised at the sale on Macross items - they had become "prohibitively expensive" in USD. Saying that the mark up is 100% just because you see a blow out sale is what's pathetic. The whole point of having retailers is that retailers are the ones who take the final risk that the product won't sell for whatever reason and are the first to get hit with the loss. (wholesalers/producers only get hit later when the retailer stops taking their orders). Finally - there could be a third reason: It is very possible that the WHOLESALER is the one having a blow out sale and you only THINK that HLJ has marked down their goods, when in fact it is Yamato who have marked them down because of declining sales and too much stock cluttering their shelf space. So it's not always as simple as it seems. Pete

Boy is there ever! Robotech is the super awesome series of novels written by Jack McKinny and later animated and made into a super swell cartoon by Harmony Gold. It has been monsterously successful, and will soon have its' own oscar winning movie with Leo DiCaprio as Rick Hunter and Pamela Anderson as Lisa Hayes (Britney Spears will play Lyn Minmay). Macross on the other hand is the evil bastard spawned when a Japanese criminal named Shoji Kawamori stole Robotech and brought it to Japan wheret he populace ignorantly thought it was his and gobbled it up - even though Kawamori changed the original Robotech in many ways. Then, in an even more insidious twist, a bootlegging company called Yam's Toe started producing bootleg robotech toys which has caused the death and deformation of millions of children while lining the pockets of the oppressor company. Macross Wodl exists to reveal this truth to the people of Japan and make them realize what a gem Robotech is. Welcome - I hope you join us in spreading the truth! Pete

So it does. Thank you Sketchy for seting me straight on that. I was under the impression that Japan also has VAT, but apparently it does not. So I guess that knocks down the possibility of VAT having anything to do with the price of Yammies. That's not the way it works here in Poland. Here, VAT is levied at every step as I describe it. I had simply assumed VAT works the same in all of the EU. Perhaps it doesn't. In any case, if VAT is only levied when the product is sold to the final consumer, then it is not really a VAT tax, but simply a sales tax/consumption tax. The whole idea of VAT is that it is levied throughout the chain and that the consumer foots the final bill while companies pay only the difference (aka a company would pay to the government [VAT collected minus VAT paid] - and if the difference were negative, then the government owes them). Pete

Sorry for the double post, but I just got it out of the box and transformed it and... $$(@($(@@(#$(!!! YAMATO!! BRKEN SHOULDRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!! FIGHDFGHDFHGI234UI345$#$$ HINGE!! GAAAAAHHH! GREEDY BASTARDS! I'M GNNNAA BRRRNNN YER STUFF AND ONLY BUY TOYNAMI NOW!!! --- No actually - I'm just kidding. Yamato: Thank you for producing the best VF-1 in human history with not ONE QC flaw and with 110% durability (I attached the missiles while holding the wing in one hand and the fighter upside down - hanging on its' wing - this thing is DURABLE!) It transforms smoothly; none of the parts are too tight or too loose - everything is just right. You have achieved perfection. I didn't dress him up in his super or strike parts. This is, by the way, my first Hikaru 1A (only have the Woodland color 1/48 1A up to now): Thank you Yamato! Pete

I've got my VF-1A 1/60 v.2 with Super and Strike parts sitting here waiting for me to open her and tell you whether they are. Which I will in a moment... Pete

Yeah - that's the movie. Although; I didn't find that it defies logic, if you accept that love and friendship are what make human life worth living. There came a point where he just became distraught with himself - that everyone he loved kept dying and he would live with basically nothing and no one...technically, he could have found new love, but I can imagine that the pain of a life where you know that what you're sharing with someone isn't the end all and be all....then you kind of get sad ... Pete

I've only built about 7 Gundam models (4 MG and 3 HG) - so I'm nowhere near as experienced as the people posting on this thread, but I'll give you my opinion anyways: 1) Don't sell your stuff off to buy other stuff. This devalues all of your items I think and help de-motivate you, because you don't have the feeling that you're making some thing that will last but rather something that you will sell 2) Once you stop selling some stuff to buy other stuff, you'll realize your budget is much smaller and hopefully think triple hard whether you really want to buy this model or that model and will you really want to finish it- and you will only get ones that you are motivated to do 3) Buy a new model set only once you've finished building your old ones. Try not to buy a ton of them at once because then it does end up feeling like a ton of work. If you just get one and focus on it before moving on, it will motivate you I think At least this is what works for me thus far. Pete

Actually, there was an old Greek play about how all the women in the city decided to stop giving their men sex as a way to blackmail the guys from going off to war. The ladies closed themselves off in a tower and refused their hormon-raging husbands the goods. The play is funny, but in reality the soldiers would just have probably gone off to rape some villagers or something... I have I even mentioned Skynet in the post you quoted I just don't know how likely a scenario that is - and yeah - I love Terminator - but mainly because it's such a moving love story Well that's what makes the story of Aiko so interesting - because the guy admits that fiction (Macross etc) inspired him - which is just too cool At least for robots. His treatment of humans was very dry but yeah - there's also a movie with...ohh...what's his name?...that funny actor...the old funny actor....umm...ooooooo...aaaaaaaaaaaaa.....mmmmm..........jeezz...I forgot his name - he played Captain Hook...Benny ....Denny...Joe...I honestly can't remember his...ah! William...Roger...Robin! Robin Williams There The movie is Twentieth Century Man - I think that's the title - about a robot who becomes a human over the course of his two hundred years of life Good flick. the anti-Termintor And also a love story Pete

If there are people in China who want your product, are willing to pay for it, and are getting less of it for a higher price than they other wise would have paid because of the Import taxes China imposes - then China is hurting its' own people just as much and even more so than your company. That was my only point - that such barriers hurt the country putting them up more than anyone else. Your entire paragraph is evidence of this: Clearly people in China would prefer to buy your product than whatever equivalent is offered domestically. And this is really no big surprise - even a country as vast as China lives under the laws of gravity and economics. This means that in spite of the notion that "everything can be made in China for cheap" - then a) it can't and b) even if it could, it is not always in the interest of Chinese people to do this. We could all close ourselves off from one another and grow our own food, build our own toys, perform our own operas and never trade with anybody - but that would mean we'd have no liesure and die at the age of 15 from over-working, or - more likely - that we would simply be less productive under such autarcic conditions and the economic state of society would regress into the stone age. By slapping 100% import taxes on importers - China is hurting itself. It is forcing its' own people to waste their time and money making something that someone else (in this case your company) can make cheaper and provide at a more advantageous price. Sure - it's hurting your sales- no doubt. But "don't worry" - it's hurting them more. (not that this is a good thing) Pete

Actually Squidd - you also reminded me of something that we're forgetting to factor into the prices - namely VAT. Japan has a VAT tax - I think it's 17% or whatever. This not only means that the retailer's price is 17% higher, but also that the net price to which the retailer adds VAT itself contains factors of 17% stretching back from the producer. Americans don't have a VAT tax, but the 17% is charged at every step of the cycle - the producer sells to the wholesaler and adds 17%, then the wholesaler adds their mark up + 17% and finally the retailer does the same. For the majority of products, unless you compare their prices to identical goods in countries with no VAT tax, this tax actually is pretty "invisible" - or at the very least its' most visible part is when you ask the retailer for a bill where the Net and Gross price will be posted, and you see just how much that 17% is. But in reality, the ratio is much higher and the consumer ends up footing the entire bill, since companys get refunds and only pay the difference in VAT. It's basically the government using companies as tax collectors rather than have something like the IRS do it (although, of course, most countries have those too). In any event - my point here is that assuming that Yamato's initial production costs are very high and that the initial price of the product out of the factory is very high, then when you factor in the VAT taxes that are being paid along the way until it reaches the consumer - then it's no wonder it costs as much as it does. And the same can actually be said for Bandai's soul of Chogokin line - which, by the by, I also love and don't see people complaining about pricing on that? And yet - you could say "what?! This simplistic thing costs so much" etc etc etc etc.... and I think you'd find that it costs so much for pretty much the same reason as the Yammies cost what they do. Pete Financial Expert Extraordinaire Ltd Dishing Out Unwanted Free Advise Since 05-12-2006

They're already up in the last two threads Check out the Hal of Fame or whatever it's called - they' be there Pete

A very good Post Grace David. You are totally right that a Triplechanger MP would be great. Springer is a great character - but I thin he would be too "easy" to do -the transformation is not that complex, and the futuristic/non realistic modes would be easy to accomidate - sort of like Grimlock - so for the same reason you note that Grimlock is "pointless" I think Springer would be too. That leaves the others - who all have realistic alt modes. You forgot about Sandstorm: a helicopter and a dune buggy - while totally out of scale - would be totally possible along the lines of the original. And Sandstorm would be a pretty decent character to do as well. Next in line, Octane - who along with Sandstorm were pretty buddy-buddy in "Ghost in the Machine" and had some great adventures together. Again, the plane would be completely out of scale with the truck - but doable. In any event - Triplechangers would definitely be an AWESOME Masterpiece addition and a logical direction for an engineering heavy line that is into "hard tasks." You Tripticon idea would also rock - however - there is one problem: namely the issue of interactivity. He would have to be to scale to SOMETHING - just to make it fun - you know - so we could have cars driving around in him. Technically, you could make him to scale with Minicons or Minibots or Micromasters. Failing that - a perhaps better idea would be to INCLUDE with Masterpiece Trypticon a plethora of regular city vehicles. After all - having a City as your disguise is kind of pointless if you're abandoned - so I could see Trypticon having a plethora of cars, truck, airplanes - all helping add to the illusion that he's a "real" city (think Springfield from the GI Joe comics). This would certainly be very cool. As I've mentioned before - I don't want the G1 Cars - unless they do a REALLY impressive job of it - but now that we've gotten Grimlock, I wouldn't be surprised if suddenly we get Masterpiece Prowl, Jazz or Ironhide next... In any event - this line could well go on forever. Pete Answer re:

I want the Pink Pecker Squadron made if only... Pete

Ah the beauty of Macross world... Go to sleep with there being barely one page in the (3rd) thread on the DX, wake up to find four pages. Four pages because... Someone finally got their's? Bandai issued final product pictures? Yamato has mind boggingly suddenly also aquired the license and we have prototype pics of their version? Someone saw the DX as "in stock" somewhere? No... But seriously - I'm not complaining I think that's what makes this place so much fun. And now, since everyone is repeating everything, I'll repeat myself - just in case someone didn't get it that last 1500 odd posts: I like both Yamato and Bandai products. I like Bandai's DX. I'm sure Yamato's would maybe have been a bit more streamlined - but then again, we haven't seen the final Bandai version, and I am hoping it will be very durable compared to lots of the earlier pre-VF-1 v.2 or YF-21 Yamatos. I think both companies are great and am happy Macross has such wonderful anime and products. I love pink bunnies and pick flowers in my spare time too. Pete

It's not - it's probably the exact same piece as what Nugundam II was talking about at the beginning of the thread. Happened to me too. I think it is a big plus that Yamato has gone the Hasbro/Takara route where "some pieces are designed to come off and be re-attached" - much better than having things break. Anyways - this happened to me too. No biggie once you realize the the piece is from the underarm/tail fin and just pop it back in. Enjoy your lovely bird Pete

Yes, but Takara's doesn't have such a nice a$$ :) (ok - I'm reaching here ) Pete

That was my inference as well - but since I got the Mustard at Wendys thing wrong, then I've decided not to jump the gun and wait it out; see what other people think as well Pete

Come on Macross World! Let's show 'em we can make a third 40 page thread before the product actually comes out! Now - repeat after me for forty pages: "I hate those hips" "The crotch is all wrong" "He looks chunky" "What's wrong with chunky?" "I like it" "Hey looks like it's fixed! Check out these pictures!" "That's the 1/72 model dude" "Hey it's a partsformer! WTF Bandai!?" "That's the 1/100 dude." "Hi guys -I'm new to Robotech and was wondering if Rick Hunter is still alive?" "Wrong forum bro!" "So back to the DX - where's the neck on ozma?!" "Why is there that gap where the head folds into the fighter mode?" "The legs aren't flush! I want Yamato to make this!" "So it can break right out of the box?" "Pee on you!" "Pee on you back!" "Now now, let's be civil." "Sivil is hot" "Too bad Bassara's gay." "Get back on topic or the thread closes." "Ok - so where's the neck on Ozma?" Pete

Because 28,000 JPY is now 300 USD rather than 200 USD ever since the exchange rate became extremely volatile due to the financial crisis. Pete

Salamander: So I can't talk about Europe but you can mention a French Company? This must be along the same mystical lines of reasoning as the Mustard analogy Pete

Maybe HG is well convinced that the Robotech movie will become a reality and they figure they better "clean up" the market now so that they can capitalize on the movie later? (or at least that's the plan) ? As for who am I to tell people what to do: There is a difference between telling people what they "should" do or "ought" to do and telling them what they "must" do. By simply my saying "you guys should x,y and z" that doesn't mean I'm telling anybody to do anything - it's just a suggestion, like "hey you should really get this toy because it's so cool." By contrast, it is toynami/HG telling American consumers "you MUST get our stuff or not be interested in Macross" Finally: a) even if some of the designs in DYRL are derivative of designs in SDFM TV, they are not perfectly the same - unless the designs were stipulated and attached to the licensing agreement, and again - derivatives do not fall within the rights of HG. I could see them only trying to block the import of TV accurate Strike/Super parts - but blocking VF-1s from DYRL - which are the majority of Yamato products - falls outside of their rights if we define them as being limited to merely SDFM TV. b) if it's such a frivolous matter - then why won't HG/Toynami just treat it as such at let people who like Yamato valkyrie buy them and sell them? And I still don't understand the mustard thing - I thought I understood - but I still don't. Please explain. Pete

5 points: 1) I agree with Radd - none of us have all the facts; we're just being armchair lawyers - but that's kind of the point of the thread. 2) I just don't understand why one American sitting in another country encouraging Americans back home to try to do something to resolve a situation is bad? 3) I am not encouraging people to sue HG. I am encouraging them to write their congressmen, start petition drives and try to organize as fans and look into the issue of copyright law and whether it is doing the job that it should. This whole mess is clearly a result of poor copyright laws and misunderstanding - the laws need to be clearer. 4) Yamato's Macross Valkyrie are all based off of DYRL. Therefore, even if HG has the rights to SDFM TV series - DYRL is a derivative - and HG doesn't have rights to derivatives, therefore they have no right to block the import of Macross goods from Japan 5) This is also an important issue for retailers. Retailers should be free to determine what they are going to sell in accordance with consumer demand - not in accordance with the arm twisting of one company via another. -Pete, Epically Failing since 3rd grade

Well, since it is stipulated that this is a "murder victim" - then manslaughter wouldn't apply either But this thread is definitely veering off into seemingly off topic territory - although the topic lends itself to the question of "what is it to be too greedy?" - and that opens a pandora's box of possibilities... I did however find your charge of telling people to go to work and tell their bosses that they're being too greedy and to please lower their (the worker's) wages to be very amusing and insightful Pete

I think I understand the Mustard analogy: You're saying that since Wendy's owns the premises of their restaurants, then they can have a policy whereby I must buy their mustard or get out. Agreed. But, as I already noted: a) Wendy's would probably let me use my own mustard if I asked nicely and explained that I do it for healthy or other reasons b) Harmony Gold does not own the world and they can't force everyone on earth to buy Robotech instead of Yamato Macross products because they think that they own the copyright to something they didn't create and which has been developed and expanded upon by the Japanese over the past 2 decades As for the frivolous part: Again - I agree that compared to more important things, this is very frivolous - but this entire forum and this particular subject is dedicated to this very "frivolous" subject - so to say that being passionate about it is frivolous is...itself frivolous Pete