drifand

Ah! But you've got to actually LIKE the designs first!

While the idea for the series is cool, but I think launching it with WZC and Tallgeese at the tail end of Wing's popularity was a mistake. Here in Singapore, there're PILES of both toys for sale at the TRUs. Even at marked down prices, they're just not moving. Sadly, this style of toy would have been great for G-Gundam's main robots, which only got a minor update from their chunky 90's versions and were packed in cheapo boxes.

Your best bet is eBay, I guess... Toynami is supposed to reissue the 4 Robotech Destroids in slightly updated paint schemes. The original issues aren't worth much more than $12~$20, IMO. For vintage Destroids, you could try Robozone.com, although their prices aren't exactly the lowest. A friend once paid US$40 for one of those 1/144 Takatoku destroids. The 1/100 Conversion Kit can easily fetch US$150++ for a set in really good condition. The box IS really beautiful though

This isn't Gundam, you know? You want pathos? Try Zeta... damn sad.

Just a quick update: Thanks to a tip from Toonz, I finally found a local hardware store that sells FUTURE Floor Finish by Johnson & Son. The only "problem" I had was that it was sold in an industrial quantity tub - nearly 2 liters worth! Basically, FUTURE is an acrylic based floor sealant. You slop it on a cleaned floor and it gives a protective coat and long lasting shine. Folks seriously into scale modelling have long been using it as a "clear coat" over their painted kits for a beautiful finish. Apparently, it works real good on the 1/60 Valk's dull canopies too. I cleaned the canopies of grease and dirt, and dipped them into a bowl of FUTURE solution. It helps if you wait a while for the liquid to settle so that there aren't any tiny bubbles to spoil the coat on the canopies. Toonz recommends using a tweezer to fish them out, but I just used my fingers and left them on a piece of paper to dry. According to the container, it takes about 20-30 minutes for it to dry. Modellers usually leave it alone for a few hours for best effect. The results are pretty amazing! The dull canopies are now almost crystal clear! You can actually see the pilot figure clearly now... Very cool!

Very cool! Here's another thought inspired by the diorama parts: A DELUXE display setpiece for the bow doors of the Daedalus!!! How cool (and crazy) would that be? How big would it be in 1/60? Too big?

For the Q-Rau and similar sized Zentradi gear, $100+ may indeed be the case. But for the smaller Destroids, I'm hoping they come closer to or below the 1/60 Valk's MSRP. It'll be pretty wierd to have them cost more than the VF-1!

I thought this will definitely come along? Did I miss something? MW member Inwards made a good post on the old boards - If you want to make a toy at 1/100 scale, the prototype sculpt has to be larger than 1/100 in order to make the molds. The one Yamato has shown is at 1/60 scale. To make the toy at 1/60 scale, the proto needs to be even larger. Thus... no actual announcements about the Monster's production. Just keep your fingers crossed!

We know Yamato is planning to release the Destroids probably sometime in 2004. So far the only decent toys of the Destroids we have been able to get are probably one of the 3: - 1/144 Mecha Collection Series by Takatoku Toys - no gimmicks at all - 1/100 Conversion Kit by Takatoku Toys - nifty endoskeleton, but the armor has no gimmicks - 1/72-ish Robotech figures - Hampered in articulation but has some decent gimmicks I'm hoping that Yamato can produce nicely articulated Destroids with a decent amount of gimmicks. Just some ideas floating in my head: Destroid Tomahawk Of the 4 smaller Destroids, this may be the only one that can feature a opening cockpit hatch... - Slide forward cockpit hatch with pilot figure - Opening chest missile pods (RT toy has this gimmick) - Clear parts for the visor and "TV" scope - Optional "opened" hatches for the 6-missile launcher Destroid Defender Since the cockpit hatch is quite small, I doubt making it openable is a good idea. The only obvious gimmicks are rotatable radar and opening ammo hatches. Perhaps this is a real opportunity for light-up search lights in the chest? Destroid Phalanx - Tilting and rotating "head" with clear parts for the search lights - Opening missile hatches of course - Removeable missiles to display "partially fired" scenario - Um.. removable main radar hatch? (not likely, I guess) Destroid Spartan - Opening chest hatch for internal cannon - Opening missile pod hatches (they are missile pods, right?) - Rotatable sensor/scope - Rotatable head lasers - Proper articulation for the arms (the RT version is quite limited) - Hands that can hold an included GU-11 gunpod (may require optional hands) Destroid Monster No one's sure if it will ever be produced... but what the heck - Opening cockpit to reveal 3 crew members (as seen in the show) - Individually poseable main cannons (like a battleship's main guns) - Detented joints for the arms and hips for solid posing - Removeable ammo compartment (with more detail than the little TT version) It would be really cool if the legs feature realistically detailed mechanisms, like how the 1/48 FPs can be stripped open, but this is probably too much of a luxury. I think most of these are quite reasonable in terms of achievability... Anyone else has more ideas to share?

That was a 1/60 VF-1S...

Think of it as the Boba Fett equivalent of the Macross universe. Looks cool, appears for a short while, can (possibly) kick major butt, ... but got taken out. AND IS STILL COOL!!! In our collective minds, if "I" was driving that baby, no Zentradi would ever get a scratch on me. Hikaru was... shall we say, "distracted"?

A really nice 1/60 '19 and '21 would go down reeaaalll well with a 1/60 Monster, don't you think? I too skipped on the 1/72 FPs. Somehow, I still think a 1/48 version is not impossible - Bandai has managed to design, produce and market some pretty big kits and toys over the last 2 years: 4-feet tall Zaku, anyone? (It sells!), 1/144 Dendrobium? 1/400 White Base? So Yamato can conceiveably go the same route. The only question is price... If a 1/48 VF-11B can promise better tailfins and fit/finish - I'm sold twice over because I'd get a really improved 1/60 too.

Thank you all for your measured and calm replies. I've said my piece on this thread - there's no need to say any more or argue endlessly. Graham made some good points and conceded one. I have to agree Yamato is making progress both QC AND design-wise. As long as Yamato devotes some effort to effecting real improvements instead of bug-fixes (i.e. to correct a mistake), they'll win over more fans instead of antagonising nitpickers, like me. That means consistently making good decisions on materials and design... even as they maximise their profits and bottom line.

About $30? Seriously, the most obvious difference is in the arm attachments. The TV-style ones would have a single-slope front end (like the Bandai's), whereas the DYRL version has a 3-sided tip. And from Graham's words, it sounds like there's still a chance for plain vanilla!

Well, Alien3 is banned from my personal vid list, but I'll drop in the ol' resurrection DVD to try and see what you mean about the costumes. With every film, it becomes harder and harder to scare the audience... but I did enjoy the way the 3 captive aliens "conferred" with each other before sacrificing one to make the break out.

... in which case the current FP VF-11B and YF-21 are kinda redundant. I wonder if the jump from 1/72 to 1/60 would be a hot enough proposition to get everyone to buy them again?

But with the number of Xenomorphs required in a AvP confrontation, it would seem a majority would be CGI renderings. Better not be another 100-Agent-Smiths...

Bummer, man. I thought Graham had said that Yamato was only showing off the 1J proto with FPs but that they haven't decided to include them? Looks like we're gonna have to take the choice we didn't want to take afterall... in November. Funny thing is, I wouldn't feel so bad if the FPs came with Hikaru's TV 1S - that woulda been sweet.

Looking at the numbers, the Defender and Phalanx aren't doing too well. Although I like their designs, I always felt they were too specialized in their roles and thus... vulnerable. I mean, what does a Phalanx do when a Glaug comes up to point blank range? Shoot a missile? Whoops, they're all GONE after the first barrage The Defender is slightly better off I guess, but I can't forget the Daedalus-Attack-That-Failed

Well, what DO you have to do to be qualified as sick in your book? He's harmless, right? Who did he kill doing those paintings?

Just sound out what you hope will be released at the end of the year... For me, if I can't have the GBP with it, I'll want it plain vanilla

Yeah, I wouldn't call Giger "sick" but he's definitely fascinated by sex and death (both at the same time). I recall checking out his art volumes while still a design student and was impressed by his daring depiction of controversial images. But nowadays... he hasn't done anything really new.

But there's "only" 2 kinds of '19s - the ol' YF and the blue VF-19A. That means... tada! Extra big ticket item! Be prepared to fork it over folks If they follow the style of manufacturing as per the 1/48s, there won't be much diecast in it, so I don't think we'll really need 2 pairs of hands to transform it. Hopefully, they'll have a real spring-loaded "tab-b" at the dorsal spine. I 'm quite sure they won't have ugly exposed pivot screws at the wing roots either (not on top, anyway!) The 19 is so gangly looking in battroid mode, I doubt that optimizing the fighter mode would result in a battroid that's any worse off than what we already have in the 1/72. Our best gauge would be the release of the resculpted 19... probably due in 2004.

Don't you know that Yamato actually hires special in-house psychologists for the sole purpose of analysing the posts of certain Macrossworld members just so they can formulate a marketing strategey designed specifically to piss off said members. It's all part of the Global conspiricy and Yamato is actually in legue with Bill Gates and the Devil. Graham Look, let's keep the snide remarks out of this and cut the peer pressure attack. And to those who harp the line "don't like it don't buy it" - you're assuming this is just something akin to buying socks. I'm coming frrom a dissenting point of view, but that's still a dissenting Macross fan's POV. I care about Macross and the products made for it, otherwise I wouldn't give a rat's a*s about the problems and other issues. I don't succumb to peer pressure about how great Yamato is because I'm a paying customer who's opinion is based directly on what I have bought and experienced for myself. It's not a big surprise that some people would have a very different take on their products especially if you became a fan during the Valkyrie Wilderness years - you're right to be grateful to have any Macross goods at all, but again, that doesn't mean my views , though different, are invalid. Despite the unhappiness in my posts, they're made with the optimistic hope that drawing attention to correctible problems would avoid a repeat of the QC fiascos that plagued the 1/60 line. Look at how long Yamato took to realise it wasn't OK to have a gunpod hit the floor in fighter mode. Hey, it's a great idea! But get it right or don't bother. And they didn't fix the shoulders either despite a claim that they would look into it. For want of a better 15 cent polycap, the 1/60 VF-1 can't make full use of it's articulation in the shoulders. It's these things that make me wonder if Yamato really cares. To get back on track, I totally realise that Yamato is in it for the money (and the long haul). Nevertheless, my comments about the predictability of their marketing approach aren't too far off the mark. They already set the trend thru the 1/60 line. It doesn't hurt to be less obvious how they're pushing the fan's collective buttons. Go ahead and take our money, there's just no need to be crass about it.

The irritatingly suave French buddy just wouldn't DIE. He'd pop up just when Yu needs a hand even though he's left for dead in an earlier battle. MacDougal the terror kid escaped from the set of AKIRA, apparently. The moment it was revealed, everyone KNEW the ship/mountain would go kablooey in the end. Right? And of course Yu and French buddy would somehow make it out alive. The unabashed fist pumping by the surviving troopers (Yeah! They made it! They made it!!) is so mawkishly feel-good I left the theatre in disgust. I'd put on par with Mission to Mars as a really big waste of time.