Chronocidal

I wasn't under the impression that the engines were ever meant to look different, and it was just animation inconsistency. But I havent read the Master File's take on it either.

Well, at least now we know why we haven't heard anything more about Yamato's VF-19P.

I just about died laughing watching the first clip where they tried to use the robot's attack... I'm finding this now. It's just epic funny in a can.

Here's hoping the mailman surprises me today, and doesn't pull the "I'm gonna just leave the slip and let him come get it himself" junk.

Well, the current hiatus is mostly due to them waiting for the inevitable bluray of Macross 7. They could sell a few now, or release the rest of the M7 valks simultaneously and reap a massive wave of nostalgia. I don't blame them for waiting, but sadly, it puts off any more releases. Given how little there is to change for the VF-19F, I'm pretty sure it's just been sitting ready for release for months now. We likely won't see any potential customs until the main canon schemes are out.

Actually, I think the canopy is the most realistic looking part of that last pic. It's the rest of the valk that's not shiny enough to match it. The trick is, real aircraft, when they're fresh from the factory, truly are as dull as a fresh Yamato.. but they don't stay that way. Wear and tear on the planes, and touch-ups in the paint over time actually turn the dull paint shiny, and you get uneven levels of gloss all over the aircraft. Normally, weathering techniques are used to add dirt and stuff, but rarely do I see people weather models purely in the specular range, which is where a lot of it happens. If I learned one thing from my time making mods for games, it's that there are multiple levels to what makes an aircraft model look real. Game models today use multiple texture maps to make things more and more realistic. You've got your base texture level, which is your traditional styled "picture of what the plane looks like." Then, you add your bump or normal maps for details that are too impractical to build into the model. On top of those, you've got your specular and reflectivity maps. Reflectivity is just how much of a reflection you can see, usually just a grayscale image that indicates levels between completely dull and a mirror finish. Specularity is basically your map of "What does the light reflecting off this surface look like." You know how some metals will look one color, but when the light hits them at a certain angle, they show up a different color? That's what causes this. I think games mostly only support grayscale specular maps, but high quality rendering software will let you have objects reflect colors that are very different than what they normally apear. Best example I know of is to go take a look at any ship in Star Trek past TOS. It's what made the Enterprise refit in TMP so impressive in that long cinematic intro. The individual panels are really not very different in color at all. But view them in different angles of light, and the panels jump out at you. If you really want to try something fun, try painting an aircraft in a standard dullcoat, and then add your usual light weathering to it. Then, to seal it, apply varying levels of gloss clearcoat to the plane. Start with flat, then start mixing some gloss in for the parts you want to look worn. Make the leading edges, access points, etc, shinier than the rest of the plane. Places where friction in flight would wear the paint shiny. Even completely dull aircraft very rarely have a dull nosecone, because it's constantly being polished by contact with the air. I haven't tried that myself yet, but I really want to someday, because I think it would look amazing.

Coming May of 2020: EXPENDABLES 3: BINGO NIGHT! I would still watch it, and it would still be awesome. And full contact bingo would become a new national sport. I actually didn't see the first one of these, but I might have to watch them both. This sounds like just too much crazy awesome in one sitting to pass up.

Honestly.. I was extremely disappointed with both of those schemes. I think they were a cheap, fast, and easy attempt to try and sell more off that mold, instead of actually designing a real custom scheme. All they did was swap colors in the paint machines, and the resulting mashup of randomly colored panels didn't make any sense, and just didn't look good at all in my opinion. They were probably attempting a quick and dirty approximation of the colors seen on those Supernova schemes that everyone loves, since the colors they used were similar, but randomly substituting bright orange for black in the painting process was just flat out stupid to do. A bunch of things that should have stayed black got painted bright orange. I know people do love them, and they don't necessarily look bad, but I think the best thing to do with those two is just strip them down and use them for customs (such as the actual Supernova schemes) since they're pretty close to white. After the new VF-19 though, I refuse to spend any more money on that YF-19 mold. It's so far behind even the other Mac+ valks, it looks really sad by comparison.

Shipping payment is on it's way. I do wish I lived in an area I could just walk into stores and buy stuff like this though.

Don't think those are new, I know I've seen them before here. Plus if you look at the full entry, he's got a second picture with the fully painted missiles, so I don't think it's going to be an issue.

THIS. I WILL BUY FOUR. DO IT YAMATO. Please?

Gah.. every time someone brings up this topic, I keep hoping for some news about the F and P versions. Seriously.. I don't know how many of these I can actually afford, but how many I want? If I had my way, I'd have a complete Emerald Squadron. I'll probably be settling for one each of the canon schemes though. If I have the spare cash, and they're on sale, I might get a second Emerald VF-19F though. The blue and white is just so pretty. In fact, I'll be very tempted to use the stickers from one of the F models to cover the yellow stripes of my S and make them white. As for customs though.. All I want is either a pure white or low vis (similar to the VF-0A) VF-19F/S. Preferably a kit version, but I just want some in those colors like nothing else. If either of those comes out, I will probably find a way to buy at least four of them. I dunno if I'd customize them much though. Given how tight the tolerances on the VF-19 are, I doubt it'd be too happy to be painted. If a kit version ever happens, I'm making it solid white with some kind of stripes probably. Just very simple, and not likely to get scratched.

Well people do seem to worry about the crotches of everything a lot. I'm not too concerned honestly, I'll just paint the gray in myself, or maybe leave the piece off altogether. Given how the VF-25 transforms, I can't believe they thought putting extra armor there would work well anyway.

Not quite plain, the border is a darker shade. It looks like a shadow in that shot, but the entire outside edge of the panel should be darker like in this one:

Still haven't watched any of SDFM in english (unless seeing the first episode of robotech one time counts), but someone did poke the issue of HIkaru's voice for a fairly awesome gag in an abridged series (of Evangelion!). Something about a guy with an identity crisis working for NERV.. couldn't decide if he was American, Japanese, some alchemist guy, or running some kind of hosting club at a prep school. Kept complaining he used to be a pilot himself, and wondered why he was stuck with a desk job.

Yep, zip code has been sent, many thanks are due. I can't wait!

All quips about the particular choice of parts color and such aside, I'm just really thrilled to see that they're still willing to address the fans' desire for unpainted kit versions. Now, I just really, really, REALLY hope this trend will continue into the VF-19 line, because I want a custom VF-19F like nothing else. I do really wonder about the colors though. I mean, good luck painting over that orange. On the other hand, I might actually get one of these to make into an old fashioned test aircraft, all orange and white. The only parts of this that shouldn't be swappable with the regular VF-1A/J/S kits are the nose section, chest plate, and part of the backplate, all of which should be easy to paint white, since they're not anything that gets a lot of wear and tear during transformation. On the other other hand.. we could all be worried about nothing, and the kit will be all molded in white anyway. They could have just slapped together the pieces for a stock TV VF-1D for the promo pic. However it is, I might grab a couple of these if they show up on HLJ. Seems this one might be a more limited release, but wasn't the original kit version supposed to be "limited" as well? And they keep making new versions of those, it seems. I would love a spare 1D head though.. I'm getting ideas for a custom combat capability upgrade for the VT-1.

His DYRL 1A was re-released pretty recently with boxed-in strike packs, along with Kakizaki's. These were right after the change over to the non-coated canopies. But I don't think is 1S or TV 1J have ever had a re-release. Maybe the M&M valks just don't have as big a fan following in Japan? I actually was going to pass on Max and Kaki's DYRL valks entirely until the strike bundles were put on sale at HLJ. I might get his 1S someday if it's re-released, but I've already got 17 of the things now, and that 18th spot is reserved for a VE-1, and then I'd need one more for an even 20.

Why do I picture that scene in from the flubber movie where the big glob hit the floor, and all the little bits split off, and ran around going "WHEEEE!!"? Musical number optional, but it should include Yakety Sax.

Wait.. so... are you saying you want a Mirror Universe version of Macross? Actually, that might be an awesome idea. I can see it now.. the human race has nearly destroyed the earth with pollution and stupidity, so the Zentraedi are dispatched by the Protoculture to put an end to it and restore Earth to what it used to be, so they can try again with another race. But when they get here, they are turned back by the absolutely horrible death metal music being broadcast over the entire planet, in what can only be a horribly demented religious ritual of destruction. That could be funny. So, it'd be Giant Space Hippies trying to restore a planet that has been overrun by a destructive little race of tiny beings intent on destroying everything! Anywho, yes. New YF-19, HASHIIN! I've already begun chopping up my old one in an attempt to modify it, and I refuse to buy a new one except for potential spare parts, so let's get on with it! My current one just looks so sad next to my Fire Valk.

Any VF-1 for 5000 yen sounds very nice actually (especially the VT-1 since it includes the booster packs), that's about what the discounted HLJ VF-1s are at, roughly half of retail price. Only issue to be aware of is that at least some of the VT-1 releases used the bad shoulder joint design from the first run, and might need to be replaced at some point. But really, if you're living in Japan, that shouldn't be any issue at all, since you can order replacements directly.

Ok, honestly. You'd think they'd be able to figure this one out by their THIRD try at making the intake armor. The updated armor that came with the blue Alto wasn't that bad, I thought it actually stayed on decently compared with the first version. I guess the question is, is this better or worse than the fixes they applied to the later v.1 super pack hip armor? Also, I'm curious, does the hip armor snap on over the intake covers, or do you need to remove those to attach the armor? That might be part of why they fall off easily, because while my Alto's covers stay in well, Ozma's fall out if you look at them sideways.

So, here's a funny thought. I'm betting that they wouldn't fit due to the changes in the fuselage shape, but has anyone tried mounting these parts on a VT-1/VE-1? I know these features were more of a TV series thing anyway, but I wonder if they'll ever release any DYRL VF-1s with these parts. I'm kind of half hoping* for re-release of the VE-1, and it would be interesting if they made a modified set of seats to plug into the DYRL two-seaters. *-I'm only "half" hoping for one because I really don't need any more VF-1s, but if it gets a re-release, the OCD completionist in me won't be able to resist.

Yep, same, the sale finally convinced me to get one. If you're just interested in the option parts, I'd get the updated kit version, since it's on sale as well, for not much more than any of the sale VF-1s. Now that I think of it, I wish I'd gotten a 1J kit version instead of another 1S, but oh well. My valks are so rarely in anything other than fighter mode, I figured a single set of the parts will do fine, and I didn't feel like rebuying any of the other VF-1s I already have. Now, if the updated VF-1D goes on sale later, I may cave to get the two seater parts, but that'll be a while, and I'd probably get a VE-1 first, if it ever gets another release.

There is a shot of the YF-19's engine starting in Mac+, and one showing the VF-0's engine in Zero, but yeah, you rarely see anything inside the intakes, which is how things should be. As for turbines though.. those are the exhausts. The word you're looking for is compressor. Having the compressors visible right in the front of the intakes does bug me some, but then it gets me thinking. Given the level of technology present in the Macross universe, it would not surprise me at all if they developed first stage compressor designs that would negate the need for longer inlets, and variable intakes. I mean, we're already talking about nuclear turbines that actually don't need intakes at all to function.