BlueMax

Actually I'm pretty much in the same situation right now

Well, if everybody waits for the price to drop or for cheaper versions later on on sale... well the irony is, if nobody buys the 1st one, Yamato wont make the next one.

Thanks Shawn, Hopefully the main page will get more traffic now!

Hi, Skyfirewho, welcome to the The world of Macross collecting (your wife/ GF and wallet are going to hate you for it) Main gripes against Bandai is the perception that they are not as committed to the Macross franchise even though they have the technical ability to make really nice products. This was especially so before maybe before or around the start of 2011. Since then they have given us pretty nice stuff. However, Yamato has been committed to the Macross franchise since like more than 12 years ago and they have given fans the most complete and aesthetically pleasing collection of 1/60 valkyries and mecha across the various Macross series/ OVAs, sans Macross Frontier, which is of course the domain of Bandai. Also one very big gripe against Bandai is the fact that they like to have "exclusives", as compared to Yamato stuff which are generally released for retail, with a few exceptions. This means, for collectors outside of Japan, paying much higher prices than the original listed prices, which are by no means cheap in the 1st place, and an extra layer of difficulty in gettinmg these exclusive products, in say getting a third party to buy it in japan and paying the 3rd party fees on top of whatever costs. Latest case in point: VF-25 (F and S) Super packs and Armor packs. All of which are exclusives, compared to Yamato's Super Packs and GBP-1 armors, all of which have been mass released or at least easily available. Also, we have an insider to Yamato in the form of Graham (As in "Shawn and Graham's Macross World"), who gives regular feedback and suggestions to Yamato. So these are partly the reasons why people are probably more partial to Yamato compared to Bandai. However, of course consumer loyalty is fleeting and we will support whoever listens to fans and comes up with outstanding products at affordable prices.

Congratulations on your purchase.

Always loved the enigma scheme. If only Yamato would release one based on it

Nice!

If you are a completist, then you don't have too much of a choice. There is only 1 release of the VT-1, so it is this or nothing. Possibility of a reissue? Maybe, but it's quite a gamble. If you are more of a display person rather than play type, then it's even clearer: just get it.

I'll say take both if you can, but since you have to pick one.... I'll say the VF-17. Design wise, it is probably one of the most non traditional valks we have seen, especially when you take into account the "attack" gerwalk mode. Also, it is the more expensive of the 2, so picking this one up, you won't feel so bad about picking the VF-19S up in future. In toy form, the 19 already has 2 iterations in the form of Fire valk and YF-19, so its not that dissimilar in terms of silhouette. The 17 is a totally unique one. Plus its probably among the most imposing of the 1/60 valks in battroid mode Pilots wise.... I would choose Gamlin/ Kinryu anytime over that prick Docker.

The Sith Lord has spoken! Now... the questions: will whatever planned for release....: 1. Are they toys? 2. Are they something most Macross fans would be excited about?

Darn... with all these releases.... and almost twice or more the cost of the Yamato VF-1.... its gonna get REALLY expensive.....

I'm a sucker for fighter mode, so the absolute most of the VFs have not even been transformed once. Only one of my VF-1Js have been transformed... and less than 10 times since it was purchased.

I agree with this observation. Also, we have to take into account that people of his time were very prejudiced and and very imbalanced worldviews. I think he pretty much had a world view well ahead of his time, evident in his later works. Anyway, back to this film. The reviews are mostly polarized, according to the professional reviews i have seen so far. Those reviews either gushing over it, or were saying that Jackson et al, raped their childhood. Oh well, no matter. Will be watching it anyway. I suspect I should be enjoying it very much, if most of the reviews compare the action favorably to the earlier Indiana Jones films

As above. It is almost impossible to get the the latest discussions for some of the very long threads with a number of pages. While we are at it, at least for me, the inability to directly jump from 1 forum to the other using the drop down menu, because it is now non-existant, at the end of the page, makes it more troublesome when i want to say, go directly from "Toys" to the "Anime" section. Just some feedback of things that used to work, but now couldn't. Thanks again for the hard work Shawn.

Either way, release dates are always in the later part of the announced month. Too bad... gonna be in HK for the weekend...no-VF-19S for me in HK.

Generally IIRC, for those release with no specific release date, it means the very last day of the month. Only those with specific release dates, which are very few, gets a release specifically on the release date. Just curious. How early do the HK retailers get it from the official release?

Watched a chinese sub yesterday night, and while I liked it, i must say that the concert scenes weren't integrated as well as the TV series. In fact the concerts seemed too.... extravagant. While the songs are nice (though lacking the wow factor from the series's songs), I thought more effort could have been spent on choreographing the fight scenes instead of creating elaborate scenes.... but thats just me.

Ouch... the 25 renewal seems to suffer from a very bad case of osteoporosis! Wonder how easy it is to get hip replacement surgery...

That is what I have been doing actually so far.... but it has reached the point where the "is it worth this kind of money" question bugs me to no end.

I would really love to pre-order it, but with this price and how strong the Yen is.... the VF-17, together with the Blazer VF-19 Valkyrie, and possibly any further releases of new Macross Valkyries by Yamato, is really priced beyond what i can afford nowadays.... and I had been looking forward to these guys. ...

Fantastic! Very nice indeed! Congratulations!

Loved the comics.... would be watching this no matter what

Some items like the GBP standalone armor have already been yanked from the sales slightly after they got to "back-order" status. Once you see "low stock", you gotta act fast

I can attest to the "more susceptible to yellowing" part. I have tried this process on my old 1/60 VF-1A V.1. Worked beautifully, but after 1 month, it went back to being yellow... and more yellow at that! needs some sort of sealer (clear acrylic spray) to seal it in. Clear acrylic spray might work as a prevention too... though not too sure abt that.

Now til Sep 7 http://www.hlj.com/scripts/hljlist?SaleGroup=SALEMACROSS&header=macsal0811