Radd

I agree on the comments about his head. It doesn't look right. More 'late-crappy G1' than 'early-classic G1'. Still, not bad overall. I plan to get one. I'll probably wait for the lower-diecast American releases, though. Diecast isn't that important to me and Macross is still my main spending habit.

Gee, I guess those quarterly reports from Hasbro must all be lies then, since all of them say that Armada is selling better than RiD did. Just because your nephew appreciates quality toys when he sees them doesn't mean every other kid does. And the fact that Armada DOES sell so well means that most kids probably don't. Armada is a big moneymaker for Hasbro, and Energon might be too. Just because you and I think that the designs released for Energon are beyond hideous does not mean that kids automatically will. Your nephew probably won't like it, because you've corrupted him into wanting quality toys. I think what the Captain means is that the kids that are all over Energon and Armada won't be so blind to quality forever. Things like this happen in cycles, and eventually the market will bottom out on Hasbro's crappy designs. The kids that are gushing over them now will eventually want quality. If the toys keep coming at lower and lower quality, they'll start passing them over. They'll see how wretched these newer toys are compared to even the Armada line, and most definitely compared to the RiD Autobot toys. The youngsters below them? They won't even be interested, they'll want the new flavour of the week. There goes the current Transformers market just like it happened with the G1 Transformers. Hasbro made something of a smart move with the Alternators line. The collectors market is much smaller, but infinintly more stable. There will always be a group of people wanting quality toys, and who will pay top dollar if you supply them. Alternators will probably carry Hasbro through the slump they'll most likely face with the demise of the Energon market. (Who knows, actually, the market might not bottom out until next year, perhaps the year after. G1 lasted several years before it died. Even after the toys got really crappy.)

touche. let me rephrase then...redesign their leader into a no-nonsense, ass-kicking, *Leader* who given the opportunity will roll over a Decepticon's head and not give it a second thought. what kid wouldn't want to see that?? Hey, Rodimus Prime actually kicked much arse in the movie, and as I recall he didn't become the 'angsty whiney' leader until late in the tv series just before they brought Optimus Prime back (probably to make him look that much worse and Optimus that much better, it worked).

I'm big on having my Valkyries in scale. The one thing that annoys me most about all the Macross toys out there is the lack of a single scale in which to get everything. Yamato has already decided to drop the 1/60 scale and go 1/72 with the Macross Zero toys, so you could get the Macross Plus and Macross Zero toys in a single scale, but then you have these oversized 1/60 scale VF-1Xs that don't look right next to them. The 1/48 scale is supposedly the Uber Collector's scale, and for those of us that languish over such details, I think they should go for it. Not all at once, of course. I'd be happy if we only saw two 1/48 releases a year, be much easier to budget that way. I also didn't go crazy with the 1/60 scale picking up everything I could get, and now I have a lot of cash handy that I wouldn't mind blowing on the much more impressive (in my not-so-humble opinion, anyways) 1/48th line, including non-VF-1X Valkyries such as the VF-4 and the Macross Plus designs. There is a significant number of Macross fans that feel the same way and would snatch up 1/48th scale Macross Plus toys in a heartbeat. I imagine there would be even more willing to get them once it became common knowledge that these toys would not be so unwieldly and expensive as some people seem to believe. I have to agree with imode There's really something wrong when you sincerely hope Yamato won't make these toys, depriving the rest of us a wonderful thing, simply because you don't think you'd be able to afford it.

Nope. Bad information, the OVA came first. I know hte OVA was released first. What I mean is the movie was the original script from before marketing asked for an OVA. ... Found the source. Over on Macross Compendium, for those that care. http://macross.anime.net/fallacies/index.html I was wondering where you had gotten your information and that was one of my guesses, tht you meant it was originally intended to be a movie. That could very well be correct and I see no reason to argue against the Compendium. Glad things went the way they did, though, as both versions are definitely worth having.

I've actually yet to see any cannon sources confirm that 'DYRL?' was we know it is the movie of the same name that appears in the Macross universe. What I have seen is references to Kawamori quotes in which he stated that our 'DYRL?' and the original series are both legitimate tellings of the original story, but the real story, upon which everything else that follows is based on, is somewhere inbetween. There was a lengthy discussion on that very topic on the old boards. I briefly tried searching for it but came up empty handed. The 'DYRL?' scenes shown in M7 were also under discussion as to whether the Macross Universe got an extended version of the movie, or an alternate version entirely. Of course, those same scenes could just be from the 'inbetween' version of the Macross story us fans have never seen. I think that's the most likely explanation. I see it basically how Kawamori said. For the most part, all the derivatives are based on the SDF Macross story with the 'DYRL?' visuals. I think the 'inbetween' version of Space War I also borrowed bits of story and developement from each of the two respective series. I think if Kawamori went back and did his definative version of Space War I it would involve a lot of the story from both, such as the Protoculture city in the ocean, Max being in charge of Skull Squadron for a time with his own VF-1S, Hikaru taking over when Max dissapeared aboard Millia's ship, etcetera. As the the M7 referred 'DYRL?', I doubt Max and Millia played themselves in the movie. If it didn't come out until 2032 I believe that's also after when the Megaroad dissapeared with Hikaru, Misa, and Minmay.

Why is it that just because people can't afford them, they don't want Yamato to make them? Is it because secretly deep down, no matter how much you say you're not going to buy it, you really would buy the thing if it came out and thus putting you on the dark path to financial ruin? Anyway, it's like the helmet. Yamato's gonna make it, but I'm not gonna buy it. That doesn't make me want them to not make it. Maybe that's just beca use I'm just not interested in it. I've been saying it for ages. Why must people want others to be denied great Macross toys simply because they, themselves don't think they'd be able to afford them? I also still think that people are greatly exaggerating the size and cost these beauties would be, much like people did with the 1/48th VF-1 toys. Now we have people posting threads talking about how dissapointed they were that the 1/48th was only slightly larger than a Bandai 1/55th. Let us have our 1/48ths! I want my 19 and my 11 and my 21, not to mention my VF-4 and my VF-5000!

My most prized possessions right now are my 2 Yamato 1/48ths, Skull Squadron in all their glory! But I do have a Matchbox SDF-1 in sore need of repairs. Right now it's with a friend. He's supposed to mail it to another friend of mine that's good at fixing that sort of thing. Once I get that back it'll probably be my prized possession again until Yamato gives us their own version of the Macross.

I can just imagine him waddling around, "Hey guys! Wait up!" He's like the giant robot version of 'The Fat Kid From Goonies'. Strangely enough, he'd look hilarious next to the old Galvatron toy. Galvatron, the original overweight Transformers leader character.

One gimmick comes to minde. 1/48th scale. Think about it, the destroids (for the most part, Monster excluded) are smaller than the VF-1 Valkyries.

Mostly from Valk-Exchange and HLJ. Both have given me nothing but excellent service.

Do tell. I've heard people claim that the VF-11 toy was 1/60 scale, but I know that's completely and utterly false. Any size comparisons (looking at the numbers showing how long the VF-1 and VF-11 are in fighter mode, line art size charts) seen throw that idea right out the window. So is it like 1/75 scale or something?

I absolutely adore Basara as a character. I was initially suprised that so many people despise him. I think the thing is Basara's view of the world. Basara has huge goals. He wants to personally change the universe. He wants everyone, everywhere to listen to his song! I've found that most people don't have any goals like that. Most people simply have no desire to change the world, to leave their mark, to improve some aspect of humanity or anything like that. That would make Basara very alien and unrelatable to those people. I don't think that's the only reason, other people will have other reasons for disliking him and I don't for one minute believe that everyone who hates Basara has no such goals of their own. I do believe that is one of the most prevelant reasons, though. For example, I know this guy. This guy is pretty much the Basara of classical-style music. He doesn't scream 'Listen to my song!' every time he wants us to listen to a new piece he's written, but otherwise his attitude reminds me a lot of Basara. But he can't stand Basara. Go fig.

Isamu didn't really need to have much in the way of character developement, and it would have served only to make the story more complicated if he changed because while he didn't, our perceptions of him did (or, at least, that seems to be the intention of the show). When we start off, we're given the impression that Isamu is a hot head, reckless, a loose cannon that can't control himself. No restraint. A jackass, basically. This is reinforced by Guld's view of what happened, which we, the viewers, don't have any reason to question at the beginning of the show. Isamu did something that screwed up his friendship with Guld and Myung and left them both mad at him. This is eventually torn down by both Myung's obvious affections towards Isamu, and the very 'scripted' way she tends to blow him off or bad mouth him whenever Guld is around, and by Guld's self control slowly chipping away more and more throughout the OVA. Guld's revelation brings Isamu's predicament into light. He's a very good person who's doing everything he can to help his poor, flawed friend even to the point of denying himself the girl he truly wants. All that must be festering deep inside of him and he vents it by these seemingly reckless outbursts. As for what happened to Isamu after Macross Plus? Him and Myung road off into the sunset for all intents and purposes. Most likely there was a court martial, but Isamu saved the entire world. That has to count for something. He probably got off in the end. On the topic of how far did Guld go? Speculation is all you people will accomplish. The fact is, we don't know. We can infere from what we see on screen and some people will take that further than others. We do know Guld was the one that broke them all apart. Guld was the one who lacked self control. Guld did something bad. How far he took it is not important to the story, so long as the audience gets the idea that he took things too far.

Nope. Bad information, the OVA came first.

Wait, wait, wait. Who are we at war with? The war on terrorism is a war on some vague idea. Not even a specific group of people, just an idea. The U.S. war in Iraq is pretty much over. Sure, there's a police force there, and some guerilla bombers and stuff, but not complete open warfare. There's always tensions in the world. Right now not nearly as much as there has been in many years past. Certainly nothing like the Cold War level tensions of oh so long ago. In the Macross universe, the war was nothing short of a 3rd World War that engulged the entire globe. I don't think, unless something radical comes out of nowhere, that we're anywhere near that sort of war occuring anytime soon. There's always some sort of war going on in the world somewhere. Tensions are always high for some countries. I agree with everyone else, you're reading far to much into nothing at all and drawing unrealistic conclusions.

Well colony fleets aside the ship captain's uniforms have been pretty consitent, white trousers, dark blue overcoat and white cap. Only big thing I've really noticed is the UN emblem in the cap of the later uniforms. Well, the Colony fleets make sense. The military has mode of a 'cruise ship' thing going, to put the civilians more at ease. I imagine that the colony fleet defense forces are even considered a seperate branch of the military than the dedicated military fleets. But the pilot jumpsuits do seem to change with every new Macross game. Not a lot, but ever so slightly. Between M3 and Macross Plus they still have the shoulder pads from 'DYRL?', but once you get to VF-X and VF-X2 the pilot outfits change more radically. I was thinking that the Macross 7 pilot outfits seem more closely related to the Flashback pilot outfit, which makes sense, if the colony fleets have thier own uniforms that are supposed to look more friendly.

I don't think Isamu dying at the end would have added anything else to the story. Guld's death had a purpose, and there was a lot of build up to it. I think his story was a tragedy, he had to die for the story to work out in the end. Him simply realizing he wasn't completely in control just wouldn't be enough. He still wouldn't be completely in control. He still wouldn't be with Myung. He still wouldn't be able to handle that. Isamu and Myung couldn't have quite the happy ending if their tragically flawed friend was still around with his tragic flaw, which was what originally kept them apart for so long to begin with. Guld's death held weight. It made the story. Isamu dying would have been overkill and unecessary. It would have only taken away from the end of the story. It would have been the typical 'what if?' lack of restraint that is typical of fan fiction.

There was apparently a scene in which Max contacts the Macross, or his wedding with Millia is broadcast and the Macross picks it up or something, that was cut from the movie.

The movie edition is wonderful. The story isn't as fleshed out as in the OVA, but it's presented in a much more cinematic and dramatic way. The additional animation is great, and even alone is worth picking this version up for. $30 isn't right, unless you're talking Canadian currency like someone else mentioned. You can often find it for just under $20 USD in most video stores (as well as DVDs of the OVA). I'd reccomend picking it up, even if you have the OVA on DVD. Manga is apparently planning a box set release of both the OVA and the movie edition, but I heard they're planning on an $80+ price, which is completely unjustifiable. Oh, before I forget, I don't think anyone has mentioned this yet but you may be dissapointed with the Movie Edition's video quality. Manga took their VHS master and used that for the DVD. So you get about VHS quality video. They don't plan on fixing this for their Box Set version.

Couple of things. First, yes, there is critisism of the VF-0. Some people just don't like it, but those people are in the minority. Most people on the site love it. Most of the people posting in this thread love it. To address some other issues. People keep saying that the VF-0 was built to use nuclear engines. We do not know this. Nowhere in or out of the OVA is this said. The engineer in the show says that they had to make due with the hyper tuned conventional engines, instead of the nuclear engines, but the way it's said he could easily mean that they had to make due with the VF-0, instead of the VF-1 because the VF-1 engines weren't ready. I sincerely doubt the VF-0 was ever intended to use nuclear engines because of the radical changes required of the frame of the Valkyrie. The VF-0 is larger than a VF-1 specifically to accomodate the conventional engines, and gas tanks are built into the fuselage of the Valkyrie. You could not put these engines onto a VF-1, with all the changes you'd have to make you'd have to build a whole new Valkyrie. That Valkyrie is the VF-0. Now, when people are talking about the VF-1 outperforming the VF-0, they're not talking how it moves in the animation. They're talking about the technical stats found at the Macross Compendium. For those bugged at how well animated the VF-0 is, think of it like this: In SDF Macross, a low budget tv series, sometimes the Valkyries would move really well, and sometimes they'd move really awkwardly due to bad animation, or a near lack of animation (they liked fading between key frames a lot in the original series). In 'DYRL?', a big budget movie, the VF-1 Valkyries move much, much, better than their SDF Macross counterparts. Macross 7,a medium budget tv series, the much more advanced VF-11, VF-17, and VF-19 Valkyries don't move nearly as well as the VF-1 Valks from 'DYRL?'. Dynamite 7, the same Valks and some lesser Valkyries are moving much better. It's all about the budget of the show. If we get a new tv series, regardless of when it takes place the Valkyries won't be as well animated as those in Macross Zero, or any of the other high budget Macross movies or OVAs. As for the picture comparison, you're right about a lot of it. The VF-0 uses a lot of the style found in later Valkyries. The pointed feet, the shape of the nosecone, the shape of the wings, things like that. The shoulders I'd disagree with, the VF-11 shoulders are small and roundish, with a flat panel attached to the front. Take a closer look at the Jamming Bird picture and you'll see what I mean. Also, take a look at the proportions of the craft. This would be better if you had actual line art of all the Valkyries, but taking what we have, look at the chest of the VF-0, notice how it's much heavier, bigger, and bulkier than the VF-1 chestplace? The VF-11 chestplate is almost non-existant, much trimmer and thinner compared to both. Take a look at the legs. The VF-0 legs look much simpler in design than those of the VF-1. Just big engine casings with pointy feet at the end. Lacking even the curves of the VF-1 legs, let alone those of the much later VF-11. The same goes for the forearms. I'll agree that the upper arms are much slimmer and rounded, like later Valkyries. The VF-0 just seems to take a lot of Kawamori's later design styles and ideas and put them into a craft that is supposed to look less advanced and less streamlined than the VF-1.

Oh come on, it's still no comparison to the monstrosity (no pun intended) that is the 1/60 Destroid Monster. That thing's gi-normous! The VF-1X 1/48th goes for $125, I don't see a YF-19 going for more than $200. Probably more like around $175. Less if we see domestically released Macross toys in the next year or two. I for one hope that Yamato does get around to a 1/48th scale M+ and Digital Mission:VF-X line, for those of us that love our Valks super-sized and in scale to each other!

I honestly have no clue where you're getting this. Obviously not from these boards. Take a look around and think again. Now, if you're talking about posts in this thread where people are comparing the VF-1 to the VF-0 and saying that the VF-1 outperforms it, you're grossly misunderstanding what people are saying. This thread was started by someone saying it bothers them that the VF-0 is technologically superior to the VF-1. Others have chimed in to correct him. There's multiple sources that prove that the VF-1 is technologically the superior fighter. Any idea that the VF-0 has better technology is a misconception born from modern animation techniques making the variable fighters of today look better than those animated by Animefriend 20 years ago, and Kawamori's constantly changing design style. I like the VF-0, and many others do too. Take a look in the toy forums sometime, or even just M0 threads in general.

http://bt.base0.net/aia/ Take a gander at the first two episodes and see what you think. I personally like it, but I'm also one of the few that isn't die hard for or against it. It has a lot of stuff that I like, and a lot I could do without. I really like most of the characters, I think the characters are just as solid and memorable as any past Macross characters, and that goes a long way for me. Most people will tell you, and I would agree, that the story doesn't really pick up until about a dozen episodes in.

Now if it turned out that the $1,300+ was for an entire Hikaru flightsuit, that would make a lot more sense. Still out of my price range, though.