Cyclone Trooper

I will however say that if there is anyone who owns a Q-Rau and doesn't particular like it, particularly the blue Max version, and would be willing to part with it, PM me!

I have all kinds of original Mikimoto lineart of her in my DYRL Gold Book, but unfortunately I don't have a scanner. Someone else with a good scanner may be kind enough to indulge you, though...

...and a kickin' sound system to blare the opening theme as the SDF-1 slowly lumbers out of the shadows!

As I stated before, Yamato's penchant for after-market add-ons is what would potentially sour me on getting a 1/60 Glaug or Regult. It would be done exactly like the current Valkyries. First, you'd get the basic battlepods for $90 to $100. 3 to 6 months later, we'd get the $80 "Regult Armament Pack" that would allow you to make the various other versions of the Regult. This pack would include the two different missile launcher systems with removable missiles or opening armor panels.; and possibly a snap-on front faceplate and ELINT gear to make the Scout pod. This would then tempt many collectors to quadruple their Regult collections so they could have one of each version. That would then be followed by a $120 "Glaug Booster Sled Pack" that turns the Glaug into a space fighter.

Now, while Yamato is marketing these add-on packs, it will simultaneous release a "Kamjin Perfect Memory Glaug" that comes with the aforementioned booster sled, special paint scheme, and a non-articulated Kamjin figure...for $200. The Regult would also get the "deluxe" treatment by being sold with all of the Armament Pack accessories as well...just like how the VF-1J comes with Fast Packs. And boom...suddenly Yamato has saturated the market with TECHNICALLY 4 different versions of only two Zentran mecha practically overnight. That's understandable. Its maximizing the potential of a single mold. Hell, look at the rainbow of repaints of the Jedi Starfighter from Ep. III that Hasbro has cranked out over the last 3 years. Its the same concept. A year later, both of these mecha will then be given the "weathered special" paint scheme and have a $500 price tag slapped on them.

...and half of us here on MW will be posting "JUST PREORDERED TWO OF EACH!" lol

At least this is the formula Yamato's been using for releasing various incarnations of the Valkyries over the years...

I do remember reading someplace (maybe the Gold Book?) that the Protoculture not only had the Factory Satellites, but also had entire Manufacturing Planets that built the larger aspects of any given Zentraedi/Meltrandi fleet (like the Boldolzur and Lap Lamiz mega-ships and Vhrlitwai Adoclass Command Ships). Apparently these planet-sized manufacturing facilities are also responsible for cranking out the satellite factories too. If that be the case, it's not out of the realm of believability that a factory satellite could be roughly as large as our moon. As far as I know, no one's ever said if these are Earth-sized manufacturing planets.

As far as resources go, since Kawamori went the route of using DYRL designs with TV storyline in Macross F, I've always wondered about Zentran/Meltran technology. By all appearances, the Zentraedi and Meltrandi use a heavy amount of what looks like a fusion of biotechnology and cybernetics. DYRL/Macross F-era Zentran ships look like organic sea creatures with internal structures resembling muscle tissue. Bodolzure himself was little more than a head in a jar with dozens of cybernetic links hooked to him. His "arms" were massive versions of the same tentacle-like arms that Exedole has, and even featured "hands" that, again, resemble slabs of exposed muscle. Britai (and all other clones like him) all have the cybernetic eyepiece and weird bio-wiring at the rear base of the neck. The Meltrandi ships all look like they're roughly chisled out of stone instead of forged metal and Lap Lamiz is little more than a head atop a membrane filled with some sort of foggy gas. The resources used then seem to be "grown" instead of mined from a planet's crust like we would normally do in building starships. But no matter how much we debate things like this, we'll probably never get straight answers...just like what happened to Megaroad-01...because it seems as time goes on (and new series are added to the mix), definitive information is becoming more and more fluid instead of a fixed set of numbers.

OR...

It COULD be a simple case of a second, completely new bridge tower was placed atop the ship...based on schematics culled from the destroyer's computer systems. It resembles the original in overall shape, but just rescaled slightly smaller for human (miclone) use. I just find it strange that this ship was nearly as big as a Megaroad Class before it was rebuilt. Of course, the reality of the whole argument could be that the Gold Book simply has a misprint...lol

I was going to point out something earlier that 505th's scan clearly shows...

Originally, the ASS-1 Meltran Destroyer measured 1500 meters in length. After being rebuilt and rechristened SDF-1, it measured 1200 meters. Somewhere along the way, 300m either got sheered off in the crash or was refitted into a smaller ship. Go figure...

ooh...love that meltran ASS (pardon the pun).

did anyone make that into a toy or model? where can i find more images of it?

IIRC, none of the DYRL Meltran ships were ever made into models, toys, or anything else. According to the Gold Book, the ASS-1 was never animated, but was included as a reference to what it originally looked like prior to being rebuilt. Now MY question is...if this is a class of Meltran ship, where are others like it? Modern Meltran ships are covered quite in depth, but its suggested that the Meltran Destroyer might be an older model of ship class...and subsequently is not included in the ships of the line that appear in DYRL. Considering that Zentran/Meltran ships are in service for literally hundreds of thousands of years (Bodolzer states that he, as a ship, has been in service for over 150,000 cycles), new ship classes obviously aren't introduced at any kind of rapid pace by the satellite factories or factory planets. This may suggest that the SDF-1 is rebuilt from a ship that was in service back when the Protoculture were at the height of their galactic empire.

The only resource I know of that actually shows the ASS-1 is what is now called the "Gold Book." This is a hardcover Perfect Memory book that was released back in the summer of 1984 when DYRL was released in theaters. It's been out of print for about 20 years and those that you can find on eBay will run you anywhere from $200 to $500, depending on what condition its in. I got mine from a comic shop back in the late 80s for $100, and have kept it in relatively good condition since then. The pic of the ASS-1 I used here on the forums is courtesy of the Macross Mecha Manual fansite.

Yah.....the Wave isn't a grab/transform toy. They actually give you a little tool that you have to use to transform the arms.

LOL...I meant relatively speaking when compared to a 2-foot-long version which will probably have many more minute moving parts to it in spite of the SDF-1's straightforward transformation sequence. I wasn't trying to make it sound like the WAVE is akin to a Transformer with Level 1 difficulty.

Those were just VF-11D's with specialized sound boosters and two seater cockpits with a special heat shield cover to protect the singers.

Correct. They were basically Elintseeker VF-11Ds that were retrofitted for KISS...

I've started looking at the WAVE SDF-1 as the DYRL version of the old die-cast non-transformable Takatoku/Matchbox SDF-1 and the Yamato version as the new answer to the Takatoku 1/3000 version. So that said, I actually like having a smaller "desktop" version that I can just grab and transform anytime I like. The Yamato SDF-1 will be used for more of a "centerpiece" of a lot of collections where it will most likely be displayed in one mode or the other...only to be transformed maybe once or twice a year otherwise...

Soo, anyone willing to part with their Wave SDF-1 for cheap then?

*sound of crickets chirping*

Copy Pasta

...3012 meters tall (Macross Cannon Attacker mode)

That's still nearly 3 times larger than even the Megaroad Class! Granted, we're talking about an alternate universe here, but still!

Going back to the Macross Cannon...

The information I have on these ships is that they're only 488 meters in length, making them not much bigger than the Macross Quarter. It seems a tad off that these ships would dwarf even the Vrhitwai Command ships by 2000m...

Man! It's only been a month since the announcement and we're already bashing the hell out of it for being the DYRL version. I dunno if some of us are doing this as a possible justification for not purchasing such an exhorbitantly priced item or if its just a general hatred of the more military look. Personally, compared to the DYRL version, the TV SDF-1 has a definite late 70s Voltron or Gundam White Base vibe to it: plain and blocky with super-smooth hull and eye-catching blue and white paint job with bright primary yellow pinstriping.

Maybe its because I'm one of the few holdouts who never bought into the "DYRL is a movie-within-a-series" explanation that Big West pulled out of its butt during Macross 7, that I don't have a problem seeing the two SDFs as being nothing but alternate versions of the same ship that exist outside of one another. People who absolutely HAD to have All-Things-Macross fit into some sort of cohesive (if you want to call it that) form demanded Kawamori and Co. to explain away the inconsistencies between the TV series and movie...and having those inconsistencies show up in later series, etc., are the ones who seem the have the most problem with the DYRL organic design. The way I have always seen it, DYRL did the same thing that any other sci-fi series being made into a big-budget feature film has done. Many elements were simply redesigned to have a much bigger "bad-ass" quality to them as well as being given a slightly more realistic look...plain and simple. A good example is how the original USS Enterprise from the 60s was redesigned into the 1701-A model for the Star Trek movies. For all intents and purposes, it was instantly recognizable onscreen, yet had a completely different updated look from the original. The same thing was done with the SDF-1 for DYRL. According to the Gold Book, the DYRL SDF-1 is actually a crashed Meltrandi destroyer...not the Supervision Army gunboat from the series. So that explains the distinct "chisled out of rock" organic look as opposed to the smooth metallic look of the TV version. It also makes it slightly more believable from the standpoint of the SDF-1 being a rebuilt ALIEN craft by retaining a look similar to its original Meltran configuration. In contrast, the TV SDF-1 looks like a 100% Earth design with its gleaming hull, defined 90-degree angles and bright colors.

Original Meltran Destroyer aka: Alien Spaceship-1 (service date: unknown, though sometime prior to 1999)

Super Dimensional Fortress-1 Macross (service date: 2/7/2009)

Why Kawamori and Co. decided to start mixing design elements from both the movie and TV series is the stuff of epic speculative discussions...but at the end of the day, the most common answer will probably be "it just looks cooler than the old TV version of insert ship or mecha name here. In this respect, its a lot like George Lucas changing things in the original Star Wars trilogy to accomodate the prequels...for no other reason except that he can. Many old-timers on here would prefer the throw-back "vintage" SDF-1 for nostalgic reasons, I get that (to quote our President). But for whatever reason, DYRL seems to be the prevalent version of Macross that Yamato likes to launch any new Macross toy line with...and touching on the TV versions at a later time. Will we see a 1/2000 TV SDF-1 at some point? If the Valkyrie line is any indicator, the answer is "absolutely," but I have a feeling that it will also depend largely on how well the DYRL version sells.

Just to clarify a few things concerning Macross City inside the two SDFs...

All the line art and diagrams I have of the TV SDF-1 suggests that Macross City is literally in the "belly of the beast." The entire city is inside the main body...while most of main engineering is stuffed into each leg. At least according to Entertainment Bible 27, that is. However, DYRL and the DYRL Gold Book clearly shows "Downtown" Macross City to be inside each leg, with a huge "driveplate" engine block at the rear/foot. But some of the material suggests that Macross City is split up into 3 sections in the DYRL SDF-1. Shopping centers, red light district (Motel Persian Love), restaurants, manufacturing centers, observation windows, etc. are in the legs, while residential areas and open-air parks are located in the main body. Can anyone else confirm or deny this particular layout?

While this may sound like it belongs in the TV/Movies forum, I'm asking because I'm wondering if Yamato will be faithfully recreating the city inside the ship, since the massive viewports on the legs have been molded as hollow cutouts. This suggests that there may be SOMETHING viewable inside the SDF-1's legs...unless the idea gets scrapped sometime between now and 2010. If the entire city ends up being faithfully represented, then I'm wondering if the parks, foot bridges and residential blocks will also be thrown in with a flip-up panel on the main body, sort of like the panel on the 1/3000 SDF-1. At the very least, a micro-diorama of the concert stadium should be made since it was in the establishing shot of Macross City as seen through the viewport windows.

No idea where you'd find one in any kind of half-decent condition in this day and age. However, now that Yamato has announced that it will be releasing the 1/2000 DYRL SDF-1 next spring, you'll probably find the WAVE version (original and movie paint schemes) going down in price somewhat. We Macross fans are notorious for dumping a current favorite for "the next big thing," causing prices to tank a bit on the older or "inferior" stuff. Incidentally, this version of the SDF-1 featured a darker paint scheme that looked better than the nearly primary blue that the 1/3000 Takatoku/Matchbox version had. The first release version of the WAVE SDF-1 has a similar paint scheme as this old toy (bluish arms and main cannon booms), so I sometimes wonder if this was one of the inspirations for that odd choice of colors.

I had one of these as a kid too. I got this at a flea market back in '85 when Robotech had just started its initial TV run (yes, I got hooked on Macross from that bastardization). It was around this same time that I realized that my "Jetfire" from Transformers was just a repainted VF-1S...and the rest was history. This knock-off SDF-1 was pretty straightforward in its transformation...even it if wasn't completely anime-accurate. The proportions are a little off, but strangely gives it a nice "beefy" look in Storm Attacker mode. Hell, I wish that the $150 WAVE SDF-1 had the same completely transformable arms that this $5.00 knock off has! The only real glaring transformation "defect" was where the main cannon booms are concerned. The front tips of each boom was just molded plastic, so you couldn't rotate them...and the back of each boom was hollow, so if you looked at the SDF-1 from the back, the main cannons looked kind of cheap. In SA mode, each boom attached to a peg on each side of the bridge via a small hole. The plastic itself, if memory serves, was very sturdy and the main body actually pulled out to elongate the overall height of the SDF-1 in SA mode...just like the larger Takatoku/Matchbox version could.

I received my first non-Toynami VFs last week; the 1S, 1J and 1D v.2s from Overdrive.

SOOOO - variable toys CAN be made well and not flimsy and rickety!

Yamato - can you please make the Legioss in 1/55th now?

Unfortunately, Yamato will probably never get the license to Genesis Climber MOSPEADA (I'm assuming you're thinking in "Robotech" terms, where Macross, Southern Cross and MOSPEADA are all part of the same "universe"...which they aren't), so no Legioss nor Tread will be made...however, there ARE companies like CM and Beagle who do make really nice (read: insanely expensive) MOSPEADA mecha and ride armor.

That settles it! I'm not going to be satisfied until Yamato makes a 1/1 scale SDF-1...where all members of MW get to live on board for free, DAMMIT! And I don't care if the price for it would pay off the US national deficit three times over!

But then we'd all fight over who gets to be Captain based on how many posts we each have or something...

It's too small.

Too...small?!

Not big enough unless it requires 4 people with good upper-body strength and a small crane to transform it, eh? lol See Yamato? You should have just gone ahead and made this thing in 1/60 scale like all the Valkyries!

Are these all Bandai-made toys or finished model kits or what?

Er...nevermind, CF18 answered my question before I could post it. lol

...5 million dolars for this piece of crap!? No thanks! I'd rather buy a Gundam!

Pete

DAMN! And I was bitching about the $500+ price of the SDF-1! Yamato IS too rich for my blood!

For that price, it better transform on its own, as in with full robotic autonomy...and a cup holder!

i don't care what the thing does(outside of an actual fold manuver) its not worth $500 in my eyes. tooling, molds, R&D, all the BS involved with getting it made, should not equal a car payment for a frickin mercedes benz!

toy prices have been getting out of hand for a while now and i'm over it.

i really don't understand how some of you guys are still on it?

i love macross as much as the next guy and it holds a special place in my heart but is this stuff really worth it?

not to get all hippy on you guys but you could feed a kenyan family of 5 for a year for $500, instead some of us choose to own a toy. it just seems ridiculous.

sorry for the rant.

Well said, my friend...well said.

We all have to keep in mind that this is also just their prototype. This thing could turn into vaporware just like the 1/60 Monster if the economy doesn't reflect a good time to dump something this big/expensive onto the open market. Making it some sort of exclusive/limited item would further jack the price up, so again, that'd be a case of Yamato shooting itself in the foot.

Or...

As a prototype, this may NOT be the final size/scale and Yamato may very well rescale it accordingly. This used to be a common practice with American toy companies, at any rate...at least before everything started being roto-cast or done in CAD. If this thing isn't even scheduled to hit the streets until this time NEXT YEAR, then that tells me that Yamato hasn't even begun to tool up to start any kind of mass-production of this beast. Even the box its supposed to come in is nothing more than a mockup at this point. But until we get more info or confirmation from someone at Yamato, everything and anything we discuss about the SDF-1 is going to be pure speculation.

As for the projected MSRP of 50,000 yen, that was started based on a comment that was made by a Yamato rep during the unveiling of the SDF-1---saying that they'd like to keep it in the "neighborhood of" 50k yen. Whether this is going to be the final price, we have no idea at this early stage, and neither does Yamato...yet. Hell, it could be cheaper or more expensive, depending on all the extras and gimmicks Yamato decided to cram into it. And we MWers probably won't help that situation much either: if it doesn't come with everything including light-up Main Cannon Effect, a soundchip able to play the entire 6-and-a-half-minute DYRL? song DYRL to TV color-change paint job and built-in cupholder, we'll gripe about it not having enough gimmicky stuff to warrant the price; or it'll be loaded with so many gimmicks that most of us will consider them outright cheesy...and therefore will pass on it for that reason alone. lol I'm just going to sit back and ride the wave (no pun intended) of speculation until we get some concrete info.