VFTF1

I'm content with the series. The new designs are interesting interpretations; as the new movies might be. But at heart - I always love the first best...er...unless we're talking about Macross... but then see - Macross Frontier isn't a "re-imagining" but a continuation. But I guess NGE doesn't lend itself so well to continuations, since everybody is dead. Practically. Pete

No no - this is fun speculation I still say it rotates; because it just looks impossible to fit the heat shield into the nose and then slide it out in any meaningful way. I mean - in battroid mode, the heatshield is not attached to anything anywhere - except for to the place where the cock pit is supposed to be. This leads me to believe that the cockpit gets pressed down and then rotated around - the little orange is the heatshield on the other side of the cockpit. it's fun to guess how these things transform Pete

Allow me to introduce you to Economics 102: If you "cheapen" the product by not wanting it, you will send the following signal to the market: 1) Low price is more important than high quality and detail 2) Stop spending so much time and effort on making these anime-precise perfect transformation things and give me some Transformers which are imprecise but at least cheap 3) If you insist on making high quality variable Macross fighters, don't expect to make any profit off of it. Another point: IF the price of Macross merchandise is really HIGHER than what it could be, do realize that this means EXCESS PROFITS available in this market. This is turn serves as a signal to other potential producers and firms to ENTER such a lucrative market. In doing so, they increase aggregate supply. This brings prices down. This is already happening. The version 2 1/60 VF-1 is priced lower than the 1/48s and it includes the same tough engineering, and comes with Super and Strike Parts. Also, Bandai put up quite a fight to get the Frontier license. Toynami is putting up a fight state side. If these things were selling for 10 cents a pop because everyone decided that they were not going to by unless the price was way lower - then firms would STOP TRYING TO PRODUCE HIGH QUALITY MACROSS GOODS. In the short run: this means each individual has to decide whether they like the market price or not. This is a valuation that different people will make differently. But to "wish" for things like a lower price is not necessarily in your best interest - especially if it comes at the cost of excess profits which draw more firms into the market and mean more competition, more effort in production technique and engineering and do ultimately translate into more value for the consumer in the form of lower prices and or higher quality. Pete

Well, I'm also happy because the VF-11B is the EASIEST variable fighter - it's transformation is so smooth that all Yamato has to do is make sure the blasted legs don't fall off this time This is gonna be one sweet figure... But...what will they make now? In terms of new valkyrie? They have no choice but to do the Macross 7 valkyrie? Retool the YF19 and so on? I mean - everything else is done and Frontier belongs to Bandai now Pete

You do realize that the legs/hips are made to come off? This is done so that you can spread his legs a bit to give him an anime pose; and in case you spread "too much" - the legs just come off rather than break. Yamato has begun to take a que from companies like Takara on this note - making pieces that come off rather than break off; since it's better if something just comes off and can be replaced back on rather than snaps and is broken. All you have to do is push the hips/legs back into place to make them more sturdy. I've had my YF-19 for 2 years now and it is solid as a rock despite numerous transformations and action poses. Are you opening it correctly? Sliding out before flipping up? Again - mine is just fine - but maybe you can try this: 1) slide out, 2) flip up, 3) slightly slide back in while flipped up - this third step should secure it a bit more I would think? Pete

I refuse to believe that. It has to be perfect transformation. Or at least it has to tuck away somewhere in the fighter mode - under the arm-shield or...hey... I KNOW!!! I'm sure the cockpit ROTATES! It rotates and the clear-see through cockpit goes under and the heatshield orange comes out. It makes perfect sense. ROTATE IT Yamato! Pete

One thing I'm really curious about on the 11B is the heat shield. I LOVE how it's orange - but I HATED the old 1/72 wierd heat shield attachment. I presume this one is perfect transformation - but where are they going to tuck that Heat shield? Where will it emerge from? How will it cover the cock pit? I can't seem to find a credible answer and I am hoping it won't just be an add on part...? Pete

Meh. Universe Cosmos just looks unattractive. Those arms are not funny. I prefer the aesthetic of good olf G1 Cosmos. Universe Hotrod looks terrible. Warpath and Wheelie are ok - but the G1 are better anyways. Overall, Henkei Cyclonus and Hound are the only two - along with ....shocker - Henkei Armada Hotshot - that I am looking forward to. Pete

Well... These are far from being yummy pics. I've mainly been taking yummy pics of my new VF-1S v2 and my relatively new (although I got it what...a month or two ago now?) YF-21 1:60... but I do need to get around to getting my socks done too... This picture is missing my Dancouga; who is off ploting something terrible... and I EVA -01 is hiding behind Uranus tee hee hee... at least I think that's Uranus and not Shin? ... Probably Shin... I need to memorize their names. One thing I will say: I am SOOO LOVING Voltes V. His vehicle modes are just full of chunky fun 70s sci-fi goodness. They are sooo sooooooo fun It's amazing! Soul of Chogokin is the best toy line I have ever had the pleasure of collecting. Seriously. Such variety. So much playability. So much fun. Valkyries are great - but they are sort of monotonous as far as it goes - but Soul of Chogokin - damn: now THIS is a toy line. Seriously. It's got everything I could ever want in a toy line. I need to collect all of these. Pete

Oh my God!!! That thing is just AWEFUL!! I mean - look at it!! That's just such laziness! The aft thruster is vertically perpendicular to the modular landing gyro-structure at the .0046 angle! It's frickin' obvious to anyone who has watched the opening sequence of Macross Plus in VV4 HF micro-resolution quant scale! The line art VISIBLY AND CLEARLY SHOWS THIS!! What kind of morons do they have working on this!? Why didn't Yamato notice MY GENIUS and hire me to do this!? Ahh! The sky is falling! Besides - the color is all wrong! The teal grey lemony blue mixes with a dab of sunflower yellow on the right side of the projector! Now - MOST PEOPLE do indeed think that the color is actually maroon brown there - BUT - if you watch CAREFULLY - you will see that this is the result of the sun SETTING! So of course the coloring on the anime represents and lighter/darker color combination - but it is not the ACTUAL color of the JET!!! Is there no decency anymore! Where is the outrage?!!?!? I want my money back! Pete

Macross Junkie was correct. The piece is reattached. I have now mastered the YF-21 after about two hours of fiddling with it. Just never got around to it before. It's not so bad once you understand where everything goes. Even getting the belly closed in fighter mode is not hard as long as you push the legs up into the..err..chest. A fantastic peace. Pete

I'm looking at the video carefully... a small rectangular blue peace came off of mine... but there is no visible place that it could have come from... hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm..... Must observe carefully. I've been fiddling with it today to learn the transformation - Battroid to fighter- fighter to battroid. This is HARD. I've got the SV-51 down pat. The VF-1 is a cake walk. The YF-19 is also mastered. But this guy is hard... the 1/72 was hard too... Anyways - must find where the little rectangular bit popped out from... although... I wish it were more obvious - because I'm looking for "something missing" but everything is in place... where could the part have originated...hmmm... Pete

Also getting Mikhael and Luca. Those are sweet. No doubt about it. Pete

That's um. Not possible. That would mean we could all...you know...LIVE in it. Pete

That is soooo sweeet I can't wait! When is the going to come out?? It looks like this thing will follow on the footsteps of the VF-1J Hikaru, yes? So Max will be way later? But this is really nice to see. When? Pete

I don't recall anybody on the forum who is loaded with money and picks up tens of these per week. Most people - I think - like me - have been collecting Macross for at least a year or two. In that time frame, it is possible to slowly but surely get everything. So, to be clear - I wasn't suggesting that you go out and just buy all of them in one fell swoop. If you could - that would be sweet: I know I couldn't, and lots of folks couldn't either. But you would do well to set your sights on the horizon and imagine yourself having a sizeable Macross collection because that is really a cool thing to have and look forward to. Patiently, slowly, incrimentaly, it can be done. Pete

Damn. Damn! That Olive Drab Tomahawk is sweet! I resisted the initial one because it just looked drab - but this guy is great. Damn! Damn! But yeah - it costs WAY TOO MUCH for a non-variable mecha! And it's not like the thing is all that poseable anyways. I will pass and get the Bandai models instead I think. Pete

Well, maybe I'm speaking from the point of view of someone who runs a business, so my "radar" works a bit different but: a) 10% of the price going to production costs is a fair guess; although you have to understand that this doesn't mean that the other 90% of the price is arbitrary. Think about the fact that this stuff has to get transported, taxed, has to meet a number of legal standards of safety and what not, and that ultimately the retailer is the one who takes the risk of stocking the thing so that you can THINK about buying it - MAYBE. b) Hasbro/Takara Transformers, as most people know, are cheap to produce, but the biggest cost is engineering them and creating original moulds. Considering the pace with which Yamato is bringing out new moulds and re-engineering existing stuff to make it better (we're now on their 3rd version of a VF1 variable valkyrie), the costs of R&D at Yamato are probably huge. These costs are ON TOP OF that 10% production cost. c) Consider also, that unlike Hasbro/Takara and even Bandai (for most of their products), Yamato is working with a property that, like it or not (I don't like it), has difficulty in terms of its' marketability outside of Japan due to long standing legal problems wrought by Hellish Goons. This severly limits their potential market and therefore they don't have the option of just "dumping" unsold product in some other country in the hopes that it will clear. They have to sell most of their stuff in Japan or bow out. d) If you take a look at other high-end brands like Soul of Chogokin or Masterpiece Transformers, you will notice that the pricing on those is not significantly different from Yamato's valkyrie. Yet Takara-Tomy and Bandai are much bigger companies that can take advantage of the economies of scale and international marketing to an extent that Yamato can't. So - I think the pricing has very little to do with consumers being "stupidly willing" to "pay that much." Or, another way of putting it: people are willing to pay that much because in their gutt they probably understand all of the above, even if they don't like to articulate it. One can hope that technology will progress to the point where such high end stuff will start to be standard and the costs of producing it will fall and fall - sure - and we should realize that this has already happened to some extent. If someone wanted to produce the VF-1 1/60 V.2 10 years ago, I'm sure they COULD HAVE. But how much would it have cost? Given the lack of CADs and other cutting edge technologies, the thing would have to retail for about 2,000 USD I would guess. Just look at Studio Half Eye - it is obvious that high high hiiiigh end stuff is possible - and some people have the money to go for it: but most of us can only afford mass produced products. We should be happy that Yamato has come along and demonstrated that it is possible to mass produce something as well done and beautiful as their product. In short: with all due respect, but I think the subject should read: Thank Goodness Macross Figures Are So Cheap. because they are CHEAP if you factor in all of the above. Pete

Just buy all of them. Get all of the VFOs and all of the VF1s. Go for the 1/60 scale on the VF1s since it's in scale with the zeros and the pluss. Don't dilly dally about which one to get - the VFO or the VF1... just buy them all. If you can't get them all at once, then start with the ones that are more rare and more likely to dissapear sooner. That means start with the Zeros. And pick up a few SV-51s while you're at it. Then get the YF19 and YF21. At the end - get the 1/60 VF1s. And prepare to get the 1/60 VF-25s too. Pete

Well, to be perfectly clear - I am NOT getting rid of my 1/48s. I just like the 1/60 better. The 48s will now go into well deserved storage after serving out their time. I am sure that at some point in the future, I will manage to use them in some fun ways. They are by no means "bad" figures in any sense. Pete

Well I just want to get a head start and say the following: 1) That does not look anything like the line art! 2) That is so chunky! 3) That sucks! Look at the landing gear....or something... No but.. on a serious note: this is good news. Goods news because Frontier needs to have EVERYTHING: The valkyrie, the human characters, and the big ships. It will be really nice to pick this up Pete

Cyclonus and Hound are must haves. Ratchet and Ironhide - meh. I'll pass on both of them. Don't like the truck modes and the kibble on their backs is not flattering. Cheetor is...not going to get better. Pete

That is what happens when you put the 1/48 next to the new 1/60. Allow me to demonstrate another point: see that butt ugly crack line on the nose of the 1/48? It comes from the jet being built of two pieces there. GONE in the 1/60. And to top things off, here's 60 in hix threads man : For me - there are some glaringly evident pluses to the 60 - other than the tampoo printing Pete

I own both and voted for the V.2 1/60. Do you guys notice that the antenna on the 1/60 are made in such a way that while in fighter mode, they are "straight and parrelel" while in battroid mode, as you swing them back, they actually do this wonderfull "out-reach" flush thing? It really improves the battroid's looks! The non-heart attack inducing fast pack attachment is also nice. The hands, the fact that you get the full set with SS parts, one could go on and on... overall, the 1/48 looks really blocky and chunky compared to the 1/60 v.2 And the shorter nose is most definitely visible and more accurate and better: Pete

Then you definitely didn't see any Yamatos In fact, I'm wondering what it is you saw at that price... 1/100 Toynamis maybe? Little Valks the size of a deluxe Transformer? Those are indeed utter tosh. But even the "masterpiece" Toynamis are ALSO utter tosh compared to Yamato But hopefully you will therefore admit that your question is somewhat off base; since the question of "why is this more expensive than a Transformer" answers itself when you actually compare a real Yamato to a Transformer Pete