Aegis!

Well , it seems this is the right time to spend some pounds on SOC toys , I reccon this will be the last time we´ll see a SOC toy made from a Kawamori design ( admit it , Bandai just hates macross ).

I think I´ll buy all 3 just for the sake of combining them but AFAIG the Aquarion Mars is just fugly, the other too are fine , actually the Mars is the only one wich features too many colours ( the others are just Red/Green).

What really get´s me though is the fact that Kawamori himself , on a number of interviews has critisized the industry for letting stereotyped animes get through to production , he has even said that only series with a big name get to be aired but why doesn´t he use his big name to produce an innnovative series ?

It´s seems strange he would personally decide to do a combining mecha series. He is well respected in Japan , enough so ( IMO ) to demmand the producers and companies behind to do a series as he wants to and not as they ¨asume¨ the public wants it to be; especially when his is the director.

Quite like some of the character designs and as the music is by Yoko (Macross Plus) kanno, it's bound to be good.

I'm really not liking the mecha designs at all though. But that's just me. I've always preferred more realistic looking military style mecha like in Macross, Armored Core, Blue Gender, Gasaraki etc rather than the more unreallistic and sillier looking (IMO) Super robots like the Evas, Getter, Giant Robo etc. And as I mentioned in another thread, the Samurai style helmets on a couple of the Aqarion mecha reallly bug me.

And isn't it about time to give a rest to that 40 year old cliche that super mecha can only be piloted by young kids. And of course you just know the kids are going to be full of angst!

Honestly speaking if I have to watch one more anime where the only person who can save the world is an angst ridden young teenager, that has issues with his parents, and who unwittingly becomes a pilot of a super robot, I'm going to scream.

I'll give this series a chance when it comes out, but I'm not too hopeful.

Graham

hahahahaha , I´ve gotta agree totally with you there.

I´m getting sick and tired of watching the same old ¨young geezer with angst attitude gets the cool mecha¨stereotype. Really , it´s not enough we have to deal with the same Gundam designs year after year after year ( you get the idea ) , but we also have to deal with Shinji´s bastard clones ?

Anyway , I´m really exited about this series ,for starters it´s got Kawamori and Yoko Kanno working on it so it has some degree of potential. It´s has that epic-storytelling feel to it so it really gets my attention , I´m just waiting to see what the story will present.

As for the mechas , well , it´s Armored Cored-ish so it´s fine with me. They´re original by any means but at least they´re pleasing to the eye.

Referring to the title of this thread, do you guys realize how insanely huge a 1/48 VF-0 would be! This has been mentioned numerous times in the past, but the VF-0 simpy dwarfs the VF-1. Those of you who have both the Hasegawa VF-1 & VF-0 kits will know what I mean.

1/48 woud be just too big IMO. Basically, a 1/60 VF-0 would already be about the same size as a 1/48 VF-1.

Personally, I'd be more than happy with a 1/72 or 1/60 scale version, just not the craptastic 1/100.

Graham

I agree with you Graham.

For more info on scales and VF-0 toy measures just look at my sign.

Just imagine a valk bigger than the Koenig , IMO that WAY too much. Remember that the bigger it gets the more parts = more potential QC problems , also it´ll weight more which means more shipping costs.

I think the bigger concern then size (and size does matter wink.gif ) is profitability. Right now...if Mac0 didn't do well and Macross in general isn't selling well then a 1/48 VF-0 or any other new sculpt is probably looked at as a risky investment...if in the future that popularity grows...well...who knows.

If profitability is such a big concern to Yamato why venture with lesser-know-mecha like the scopedog and the Garland / BGC Motoslave ? specially when they don´t have a fully stablished fanbase (Yamato-wise).

Is it just me or does Japanese companies like to ignore they consumers all too often ?

( me thinks of Sony, Bandai, etc..).

sorry, my bad... I guess I just looked at the title of this thread:

Macross Zero: does it lead to expect a second series ?

and just assumed that the part where you said, "does it lead to..." implied plot... I can't fathom how I could have ever of thought that this thread could have anything possible to do with the ending or overall plot as obviously that would have nothing to do with setting up a sequel or second series.

again, my bad.

welcome to a hijacked thread. it happens here and in life. oh well.

HEY CONGRATULATIONS!!!

You´re the 100.000.000.000.000.000.000.000.000th person to discover the marvels of sarcastic speech Here have a happy meal with a face as a gift.

Next time take the time to read other people´s post before talking sh¨t.

Here , let me make it easy for you so you don´t have to search 3 pages back.

Here´s my original post regarding this thread topic:

Anyway , a follow up doesn´t necesarilly mean a direct sequel ( SDF Macross) it can be anything , I´m not gonna especulate about what kind of sequel it should be cause there´s been TONS of threads about it.

I repeat , this ain´t a thread for posting your ideas on a new series , is just for the sake of sharing our thoughts on the matter of Macross Zero production process and resulting outcome.

We know for a fact Bandai gave the production tea a load of money for this OVA series, they got Adobe newest software for the CG work and all that , but why did they give macross such a high budget without expecting something complete , like a whole line projects ( like macross Plus , OVA+ Movie ).

If they only wanted to make an isolated OVA series they could´ve made a plain and simple OVA series with the same old elements without including the Protoculture or the Unification and Anti-UN war in it.

BTW , i´ve been here since 2001 , believe me when I say I don´t give a F^*K about some old geeza hijacking a thread, I´ve a fair share of experience there. It ain´t my problem if people waste their life with OT posts ; it´s bad already we waste so much time debating things on topic.

uhm.. so it has been established that the direct sequel for Macross Zero is in fact... SDF Macross... since that pretty much kills any topic for discussion, why is it so badd/off topic to discuss ideas for other sequels?

And, no where did anyone state that the SA is responsible for alter the human genome... don't see where you got that.

Mate , is it so damn difficult to understand this topic has NOTHING to do with Zero´s ending or overall plot ? we´re trying to talk about Macross Zero production values and the companies effort behind it.

Sorry about the SA part tough.

I doubt that we will ever see a direct continuation of the Macross Zero storyline from Kawamori with the same characters, as he seems to have a thing for having his characters disappear, never to be seen again.

Graham , sorry if I wasn´t clear with my question , but I never say if we could expect for a DIRECT sequel , just a new series , could be before or after Zero.

I too think it´s pretty impossible to expect a direct sequel , mainly cause that would be SDF macross , but even a side story is possible.

I still think it is a foolish idea. The "chapter" Kawamori is living in is not finished. First of all, you don't have identified what is fascinating Kawamori: Hindu culture.

Look at this Gabil. It began with Hindu-inspired designs. There was one of them in Escaflowne too (the Chafaris), even if that may have been a chance. Arjuna was a step further in implementing even Hindu philosophy. The name Arjuna itself was derived from a Hindu myth.

Macross Zero involved some themes already presented in Arjuna (one of them many skip is how words are not the thing they mean), but it was not Hindu. It was reminiscent of Polynesian culture (although the Rapa Nui's birdman is totally different from Macross Zero's birdman). Aquarion is Hindu and many else, but there isn't yet a Hindu Macross.

FV

hahaha , wasn´t it obvious Kawamori is interested in eastern mythology ( Hindu , polynesian , etc...) ? seriously , we´ve known that for some time now.

My point is, now that Aquarion seems to gather all this themes it is more probable that he´ll either expand more afterwards OR move onto something else in his next projects ( Macross included)

Which one is the Chafaris?

And general OT question: Is Arjuna good?

Dude , please , don´t hijack the thread.

I've always thought that BW waited far too long to release a proper sequel to Macross. I mean from DYRL in 1984 to Macross II in 1992, that's 8 years of no Macross!

OK, there was also Flash Back 2012 released in 1987, but that doesn't really count as it's basically just 30 minute of recycled song footage from the TV series and DYRL with a couple of minutes of new scenes added.

BW really needed to strike while Macross was still fresh in everybody's minds and still popular. A sequel TV series say in 1985 or 1986, followed up by a new series or OVA every couple of years (just like Bandai/Sunrise does with Gundam) would possibly have led to Macross being as popular as Gundam is today, assuming proper marketing and support from major toy and model manufacturers.

Macross certainly has the better looking mecha and better music for the most part than Gundam, so as long as the original creative team were retained I don't think it's unreasonable that Macross could have become the Gundam of today. It was certainly popular enough in 1982. In the end though, it was just too little, too late from BW and Macross was never again able to catch up to the Gundam giant.

Graham

I totally agreee with you Graham , I always wonder what the heck does BW do everyday ,seriously , do they expect their series to be know solely by accidentally being rented at japanese stores ? that´s lame.

It´s like they´ve never come across the word ¨marketing¨ in the dictionary.

I think the main responsible for Macross´s chronical failure to be noticed and, ironically , its success is no one else than Kawamori himself.

How is this ? well , his negligence and negation to do another Macross series after DYRL is the cause Macross didn´t catch up with series like Gundam wich released series after series based on the same amount of success as macross had in its time , plus the fact that BW attempt to do their own Macross without him was not accepted by all fans ( if any) all summed to today´s condition.

This is an example:

Gundam fanboy : Dude , another Gundam series , where will the colonies drop now ?

Macross fanboy : DUDE !!! a new series ! GOSH THANK YOU FOR HEARING MY PRAYERS.

isn´t it sad ?

Maybe it will finally lead to a new series finally leading up to the truth about what happened to the Supervision Army. Kawamori never got around to that after SDF Macross ended. But I have a little theory that the Supervision Army had sent the Macross (ASS-1) to Earth to distract the MAin  Bodolza fleet from them and their true objective whatever it may be.

As we all now know they were in earth sector for some time and knew about Earth's culture, as I remember Britai saying in the First episode, Booby Trap that they were pulling out of that system ten terms ago. Meaning that they had planned a way to get the Zentrieadi off their backs by way of a little culture shock by sending one of their ships the ASS-1 to Earth knowing they would chase after it and encountering earth's culture for the first time.

What do you think of my theory?

sounds good... I always thought that a macross sequel would revolve around this aspect of the universe... which I find much more interesting than this magic/song energy thing that they've been exploring.

The idea in DYRL I find much more enjoyable and touching.. that something as simple as a love song could awaken dormant memories and feelings bringing about change and a desire for peace... not this craptastic song as weapon nonesense that macross 7 left us with.

Everything sounds fine with that theory EXCEPT for the fact that it WASN´T the Supervision Army who came to earth and altered human´s evolutionary process , it was the PROTOCULTURE.

Maybe the SA recovered ( somehow ) the protoculture records about earth and saw it as a last chance to eliminate the Zentradi threat.

Anyway , this is totally Off topic.

We´re talking about Big West, Bandai , Macross and the possible intent to hint a future series within the production effort behind M0 ( not within Zero´s plot)

The publisher's website is now showing a release date of April instead of March.

発行 2005年4月発売予定

ISBN 4-89601-629-7

税込価格 3150円

通販価格 3550円（送料・通販手数料込）

日本のSF、アニメに多大な貢献と影響を与え続ける宮武一貴のデザインワークを本人完全監修の元で制作した資料集。代表作「マクロス」「オーガス」の極秘資料をテキストに、デザインワークを解明する。メカデザインの枠にとどまらず、作品世界をヴィジュアルとして構築する巨人の歴史書でもある。

Graham

Nice cover , I hope we get a load of lineart and color pages , I actually hope forsome nice illustrations.

Is this thing going to include some Macross Zero desings or not ? at least the Cheyenne and OCTOS Destroids ?

As I said , we´re closer to the 25th anniversary so Kawamori might be waiting for that. Also but not less important is the fact of the huge growth of anime licenses in the US , nowadays it´s normal for a recently released show ( in Japan) to be inmediatelly licensed by someone in the US , this is a sign that anime IS a profitable market , I hope Bandai and BW notice this and talk to Kawamori for another development.

Profitable indeed, but not in the case of Macross thanks to the license problems. I mean, would I ever see an R1 release of Macross Zero?

And I do believe we'll get new Macross for the 25th anniversary.

BW should feel under pressure to MAKE macross a profitable series , it´s just a case of negligence from their part no to promote and sell Macross as a great saga as it is.

You see Gundam and even newer series being promoted everywhere , Gundam ain´t popular because of its story or contents , it´s because Bandai knew marketing was THE major factor for it to sell. Gundam is a product of Bandai´s great marketing tactics not the other way around.

What has BW done to sell macross in the past years ? the 20th anniversary DVD was IMO the only effort they did excluding Yamato´s toys.

I was just wondering: Why doesn't somebody just clone all the ideas off macross and make thier own spinoff series with transforming mechs and space wars and singing idols?

Call it the attack of the birdmechs. They managed to pull it off with macross II and even though it's a fake universe that never existed people were at least interested enough in the mech designs. Just don't call it macross, don't steal the designs, and make up your own story and world. It's not like anyone here liked the direction macross 7 and macross zero were going towards anyway so I say get some other people to make a series similar to macross but with likable characters.

If they can make a tv series better than Mac 7 in designs and battles but with less sci-fantasy themes than zero, it would fill up a gap and be a way to appeal to those who have abandoned macross altogether. It wouldn't necessarily have to be planes but mechs that are designed to fight in ground wars (like the transformable destroids similar ot the Konig monster? Or the octos?) and be a good way to cash in on the forsaken macross fans waiting around for the next series. (if there ever is one)

I kind of feel as if the need to tell more of the macross world is now unecessary:

-the zentradi are now no longer giants, taking away the need for giant robots. Why not just have them battle in dedicated fighters? with dedicated transforming ground vehicles doing the stuff the battroids use to do? The zentradi had thier glaug, regults and Qrau etc, but they also had those fighter pods and had they known they were up against tiny people they could have easily fought on foot without mechs if they wanted to. (thier giant bodies are strong enough to even fight hand to hand against an unarmed vf1)

-singing idols are getting repetitive. (nobody liked basara and even if they did, if a new character like him appears I don't think I would like it that much)

-UN spacy have no equal in power that threatens thier super power. At least Mac II took the next logical step: brain controlled (maybe even drugged?) slaves taking control of the culture shock tactics and creating thier own. (this isn't too far from sharon apple's mind control and the hypnotic spell she had over the people)

-It's going to get to a point in the timeline where it will be too far into the future that there will have to be big changes and leaps in technology with further expansion of the world. Maybe by that time UN spacy has achieved universal peace (they already beat the Protodevlin the dealiest foes in the universe) and there is nothing left to tell. Without an enemy to fight, you can't justifiy the need to keep building military weapons when people have learned to live harmoniously. (unless there is another major 50/50 split in forces and beliefs like the Protoculture had or the UNG comes under the control of an evil force similar to the fall of the old republic in starwars )

-the use of spiritua weapons has almost made conventional (read "cool") weapons obsolete. By the end of macross 7 the main characters had replaced thier weapons with sound energy ones. I'm not so sure this idea is as cool or as appealing to many sci-fi fans as say, the use of force powers in starwars. If something isn't cool to people with a good explanation about how something works, people won't be as interested in following the series anymore imo.

If macross dies out and we don't see a new series for 10 years, would it hurt to see a clone of the ideas from macross into a new unrelated series? Is there ever going to be an "end" to the existing world that will close off the whole franchise forever? (similar to how there won't be anything after ep6 of starwars)

Mate , calm down , are you on something or what ? that´s way to much reading

Just if you didn´t notice but....this thread ain´t for speculation nor a freaking M7 thread either

Go to my first post and read it please , cheers.

back to topic.

As I said , we´re closer to the 25th anniversary so Kawamori might be waiting for that. Also but not less important is the fact of the huge growth of anime licenses in the US , nowadays it´s normal for a recently released show ( in Japan) to be inmediatelly licensed by someone in the US , this is a sign that anime IS a profitable market , I hope Bandai and BW notice this and talk to Kawamori for another development.

heh...too bad bandai won't release any macross toys...maybe when the 25th (or even 30th) anniversary comes around they'll make something new...we all know bandai has the engineering skills to at least make a 1/72 variable model...i just wish we weren't so picky about our toys...for some reason i feel like yamato is still looking at these boards....i mean, why else would they make a VB-6? we had the recast going on for months and months before yamato even announced it....has anyone thought that maybe the VB-6 was yamato's test shot for VFX (just like the first M+ valks)? seriously though, if the fans bought up all the konig monsters then maybe we'd see the VF-4 or the VF-5000 being made...sure, they might be as small as 1/100 scale but it'd still be worth it no? i honestly don't have the room nor the desire to have anything as big as a VF-1 1/48....just about any valk in 1/100 or 1/72 scale would be fine with me...just wish they'd release something different dammit...even get TOMY to do macross variable models...

That´s esxactly my take on this.

We buy some , they make some. It´s as simple as that.

Unfortunatelly it seems it wasn´t enough to buy ALL 1/60 and 1/48 releases , it didn´t make a complete impression on Yamato that we´re happy to buy everything from them.

Now Macross , for some extrange reason is no longer profitable , even though the 1/60 were enoguh to trigger the production of the 1/48 which also sold like hell

threads like this only depress me

I ain´t criticizing anyone mind you , is just that whenever I read another one of this threads it reminds me how fool a company can be and how miserable its fans become because of that

It took me a while to realise this but Yamato REALLY and I mean REEEAAALLY Does not give a f*ck about their consumers , japanese or otherwise, period.

They´ve grown BIG now , ya know. They`re just too important now to care if they put a good product in the market , or if they actually put anything out in the market for that matter.

They no longer need the consumer to sustain themselves , they do not need to fill the consumer needs to make a living and make a good image of themselves like the old days when they were a small company trying too stablish themselves.

wonderful were the days when I felt Yamato was the best toy manufacturer for taking macross as their flagship product , making me feel like I could dream of every single valkyrie having a toy made in its image.

...he would have done everything he has ever wanted in his series from Escaflowne to Arjuna to Macross Zero , so he´ll have no excuses to do another series in this theme...

Honestly, we don't know that. He may have other ideas that he didn't want to pitch to execs at the time. You can't say that once he's done with a series, that he'll go back to Macross. He may have other ideas that he wants to do that don't fit in Macross.

Of course I don´t know that , that´s only what I hope for.

In any case , from what I´ve seen , Aquarion seems to convey his usual/favourite themes and thus is possible that it´ll be his most complete work to date , meaning he´ll have the chance to include all his ideas from earlier works ( spiritual energy , mechas , fantasy , ancient mythology, ecology ) in a more complete and thorough manner.

To this date Kawamori has only gotten the chance to do that only partially and selectively in his works ( escaflowne , Zero , Arjuna , Plus ).

Seeing that , it is more probable now than ever that he´ll be satisfied enough with his work to properly dedicate his time to macross.

Who knows , it all depends on BW and Bandai really , if they talk to kawamori like they did back with Macross Plus we might be able to see a new series in the upcoming years.

I wasn´t exactly espeaking about Plus´s story or anything just the fact that , at time , Kawamori had absolutelly no plans of doing Plus or any Macross series for that matter but the production companies came to him asking for one , hence we have Plus ( and 7 too ).

What I was saying in my last post was that given the contents and overall project characteristics of Zero ( huge budget from Bandai and BW , Adobe´s support , etc..) it wouldn´t be strange if BW or Bandai came to Kawamori asking for a new series , just like what happened with Macross Plus.

It would be stupid to put such effort on an OVA series without something to follow it , why would such big companies give Kawamori the support he needed to do a series as he wanted ( Zero is clearly Kawamori´s personal take on macross ) if they didn´t expect something in return ( i.e. like Macross Plus and 7).

Think about it.

What else is Kawamori going to do after covering his favourintes themes in Aquarion and the Bones production ? he would have done everything he has ever wanted in his series from Escaflowne to Arjuna to Macross Zero , so he´ll have no excuses to do another series in this theme , what is he left with ? MACROSS , a faithful Macross series.

I´m hoping he´ll come back to macross once again , at least he doesn´t hate it as he did back then after DYRL when he promised no to do macross again.

Having read this, I now have no idea what we're supposed to be talking about.

Just elaborate on the idea of whether Macross Zero´s finale was intentionally made to give a hint for a future series or not.

Kawamori has enough work to deal with right now. Plus he probably has other projects he wants to work on. I don't expect a follow-up until he had a chance to finish his current projects. And since his current work has yet to pop up...he'll get to Macross when he gets to it.

I was thinking about this while making this thread and I think I agree with that , Kawamori is totally busy with his Aquarion series and the other BONES production but looking at the contents and characteristics of those series I think it´s pretty safe to bet that Kawamori is closer to completing his life-long dream anime series ( mecha/fantasy/ecology themed series). This might be good news cause after those series Kawamori will be left free for making a faithful macross series.

Considering Kawamori seems to have little trouble doing new shows, I doubt Big West would turn him down if he wanted to do another Macross sequel. While popularity isn't at a high right now, Macross has never really slouched in sales. Besides, BW promised us that "MACROSS WILL CONTINUE IN THE FUTURE!"

The question is whether Kawamori wants to make a new series ; at this moment I think he doesn´t , but as said earlier it´s possible he´ll give macross another chance after his new series , I just hope we see something like Macross Plus happen again when the producers came to Kawamori for a new series and not the other way around.

OK , maybe this shouldn´t be here as an isolated thread but posting it elsewhere would be a waste.

Anyway , is it just me or does Macross Zero lead to believe there´ll be some kind of follow up ?

Yes, its called 'Super Dimension Fortress Macross". Perhaps you've seen it.

Mate that´s gotta be the funniest joke on the board for the last year , congrats

Anyway , a follow up doesn´t necesarilly mean a direct sequel ( SDF Macross) it can be anything , I´m not gonna especulate about what kind of sequel it should be cause there´s been TONS of threads about it.

I repeat , this ain´t a thread for posting your ideas on a new series , is just for the sake of sharing our thoughts on the matter of Macross Zero production process and resulting outcome.

We know for a fact Bandai gave the production tea a load of money for this OVA series, they got Adobe newest software for the CG work and all that , but why did they give macross such a high budget without expecting something complete , like a whole line projects ( like macross Plus , OVA+ Movie ).

If they only wanted to make an isolated OVA series they could´ve made a plain and simple OVA series with the same old elements without including the Protoculture or the Unification and Anti-UN war in it.

OK , maybe this shouldn´t be here as an isolated thread but posting it elsewhere would be a waste.

Anyway , is it just me or does Macross Zero lead to believe there´ll be some kind of follow up ?

There are just too many things that insinuate some kind of future development , it´s not a simply case of things being left half-done but actually a trully tactable feeling of something that´ll be developed further along the time.

I don´t know , Zero has certainly been THE only series in macross that´s has left me with this feelings even after months of watching the whole series.

I just wanted to know if anyone felt the same way and if somebody wants to elaborate on this

Speaking as a non-expert in copyright law, I would guess not. Mainly because HG apparently took pains in the Sentinels not to use the line art from Macross. So the modified battlepods were probably at least a reasonably-good-faith effort to avoid creating something that could be legally considered a copy or derivative of the Regult line art.

My guess is that "reminiscent" isn't enough to qualify as a copyright violation, though exactly what does qualify is probably a very complex issue.

Edit: on second thought (and after some searching), it appears that the criterion is "substantial similarity" combined with intent (i.e., some proof that the accused had seen the alleged "original" and intended to base his work on it). If that's correct, then the modified battlepods probably would be seen as a derivative. But the case wouldn't be clearcut for a variety of reasons, which would open the way to a legal war of attrition and a settlement, as with Superman vs. Captain Marvel.

meh..the bastards...we´ll never get anything out of them , as usual.

Vince Grant is Claudia Grant's younger brother. In the original storyline he was a Destroid commander.

Ah, you mean Edgar La Salle?

Did he at least die in that POS of a movie or whatever it is ? if Edgar died then that would be only good thing HG came to produce.

OH WAIT IT AIN¨T EDGAR !!! , Silly me , it´s just a ripped off copy like everything else from HG

Gosh , isn´t this thread closed yet ?

I would imagine this thing would´ve turned into a flame war after just 2 pages

It´s a shame I´ll never get a VF-5000 toy nor a VF-19S from Yamato.

Well at least I can get a Koenig , who could´ve imagined it a year ago.

Yamato....Hello! When you have people willing to spend over US$1,000 on a nicely sculpted transforming YF-19, I think that says something about the market.

Graham

Double edge sword there Graham

the Liquid Stone is 10 in the world,

if it was 10, 000 pcs in the world,

it definitely cannot fetch US$1000.

and it is only a few handful of people who are willing to break the bank for it.

not the masses still.

I defintely know where you are getting at, but the saga of the Liquid Stone really does not give a realistic and accurate reflection of the market , my friend

Noel

Worse yet.

Imagine Grahams words came true and Yamato DID a YF-19FP , but now they wouldn´t just price it normallly as they would but now since they´ve seen people are stupid enough to pay $1000 for a 90g piece of plastic ( ok its a yf-19 and transforms but C´mon!) they would prob. price it higher than a 1/48

I agree with you on the Monster.

But also the reason why the VF-1 has been selling so well is because Yamato has made a true masterpiece of a VF-1 toy. The YF-19 and 21 and even the VF-11 not so.

Bring out a fantastic toy of any of these and Yamato will get a good and instant response. But, remember, I said fantastic, not sub par. That was what the 1/72's were.

I´ve gotta agree with you 100% here.

The sales are totally proportonial to the quality they put on the toy , we´ve witnessed price itself isn´t such a big factor to macross consumers nowadays.

The first M+ toys probably sold like there was no tomorrow mainly because there was no other alternatives or contemporary references to other M+ toys so people bought them blindfolded , this was not the case with the re-releases for 2 major reasons :

1.- they were the same toys as they made years back

2.- we had the 1/48 toys as reference to what they could really make.

It would be naive for them to expect good sales , but they did and hence the low sales probably were to big of a problem for Yamato to risk in releasing another failure into the market.

The 1/60 Monster was a sign of the distorted reality we lived in during the golden age of the 1/48 when we spent 24hrs asking for marvels to be produced but realistically speaking it was a ridiculous proposal in terms of cost vs sales.

All this takes us to our current state of uncertainty, with all this into account Yamato sees Macross more like a hit and miss franchise than a cashcow like it did in the beginning.

If we look really carefully Yamato has not produced a solid, constant and succesful line of toys since the 1/48 or 1/60 ( which for all intents is purely VF-1s , nothing new ), they´ve tried ( miserably I might add , save for the Koenig) to start new small and scattered toy lines here and there and that´s where their failure to get goods sales resides.

look at the Q-rau , there´re no other are no other toys of its kind to back it up ; The Koenig ; the VF-0 project itself seemed to be a stand alone project , the unfinnished M+ line, the DYRL Helmet , etc...All of them seem like stranded projects with no further thinking into them.

Well , for once I´m happy sony is finally getting the message from consumers. although OT , this is why they get for being so full of themselves.

Sony is like a person suffering from bi-polar disorder , it´s like it has two personalities , its ¨dark and oppresive Music label¨-personality , and its ¨creative and innovative computer entertainment company¨-personality.

Sony Music is the bitch that ruins all of Sony CE´s innovative products ( Hi-MD , Flash Players , PSX , PSP , etc...) by limiting their potencial features. If this kind of thing happened back when the Walkman was first released I´m sure as hell it wouldn´t have been as successful.

What I mean by this is that the PSX was probably halted not only because of low sales but because its features weren´t as great as it could´ve been and in the end it wasn´t cost effective for the consumer.

Well , at least they´re sending material to the magazines which means they still intend to produce at least this one product ( or at least it seems that way).

I have to agree with twich in that the least they can do to demonstrate to us the fans and consumers that they´re a serious company is to for gods sakes finish the job for once in their life time , meaning they should :

1.- finnish the Macross Plus line they´ve promised.

2.- continue the Vf-X2 line that they started

3.- Do justice to the Macross Zero license BW has granted them and take THE ONE CHANCE IN A POSSIBLE 5 YEARS PERIOD that they have to produce toys for a new series. Seriously when do they think they´ll be able to make toys for a newly released Macross series ?

All of their current plans to slow down on Macross seem extraordinarily stupid , considering the recent release of the unexpected Koenig. It´s such a contradiction that I can´t make sense of it all.

Damn it , this really stinks.

It sounds like BW and Yamato are giving up on Macross. I don´t wanna be paranoid but if BW wasn´t willing to give licenses to anyone then what do they plan to do to sell macross products ? this is ridiculous , and Yamato looks ever more interested in other more ¨successful¨ series than macross ( their primary ticket to stardom IMO).

I was expecting an enourmous lack of products on display but this is SAD ,I mean, delays are nowadays the ruling fashion for Yamato but a late ´05 release for the 1/48 GBP and an October ( read : Dicember) release for the unwanted 1/100 VF-0, are they just dumb or what ? what kind of signal do they read from boards and mails telling them not to go 1/100 ? why do they not only delay it´s release but insist on this scale ? it´s beyond me really.