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On 1/5/2023 at 1:34 PM, sh9000 said:

ECMS Express.  The most recent book I ordered from Amazon JP was shipped with that service and it didn't take long for it to arrive.

How long isn't long?  This is going on a week now and it doesn't appear to have left Japan.

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3 hours ago, Mommar said:

How long isn't long?  This is going on a week now and it doesn't appear to have left Japan.

There were some minor delays in delivery of the books to the sellers, and a fair number of buyers I've spoken to have reported the same experience I'm having with shipment issues in the leg of transit between the seller and the airport.  My copies show as hung up on a shipment exception in Sennan-shi, for instance.

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I have to admit, Variable Fighter Master File: VF-31AX Kairos Plus came as a pleasant surprise.

It's not just far and away the best publication to come out for Absolute Live!!!!!!, it's a strong contender for the best/highest quality Macross Delta publication overall.  The book for the regular VF-31 was pretty uninspired stuff, but the VF-31AX book has some seriously interesting material in it.  Not the best Master File book ever, but it is a surprisingly strong entry in the series esp. considering how weak the Absolute Live!!!!!! movie was.  Not only does it have proper specs for the VF-31AX and Sv-303, it's got an actually-sane explanation for where those upgrades came from, why they were introduced when they were, a look at the roadblocks in 6th Generation VF development, some very interesting diagrams (including a great diagram showing how the arms are stored in Fighter mode.  They even manage to justify the existence of some of the goofy Master File-original variants from the previous book while they're at it.  Looking forward to the weekend when I can dive into it in more depth. 🙂 

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I just got this book tonight, right before I had to go to work, so I was unable to do more than look at the cover.  I am looking forward to all the tidbits of knowledge that can be gleaned from this book from those who are able to read/translate the Japanese text.  I am particularly interested in what specs they give for the SV-303 and to learn more about this attempt at the 6th gen VF, the VF-31X that Seto hinted at a few days ago!

Twich

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14 hours ago, seti88 said:

lets just call it a fools hope in the meantime.. 😅

It's a sucker bet they're going to do a DX of the Vivasvat.  

Whether the official spec will resemble the ones in the Master File is another matter... but there is 100% no way they're not going to do a toy and probably a kit or two of it after they let Bandai have so much say in the design of the VFs for the movie.

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As far as the contents of the Master File book go... this volume is the gift that unexpectedly keeps on giving in the weirdest places.

Specs for the Kairos Plus and Vivasvat, explanations of their development, an actual explanation of 6th Generation VFs and why they aren't being mass produced... 

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Is that the thing pictured here?
https://page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/c1078540340

When I looked at this picture I had no frame of reference for what I was supposed to be looking at...then my brain resolved some legs and a torso  and a head at top.
I know nothing about Delta, but that is a LOT of missiles and some really big boosters, and some rail gun things?
Is this the ultimate-ultimate armament valk? Like it is King of the Hill type thing like the Strike VF-1 used to be?

image.png.ca822924767776d3888bdffdab1f546a.png

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34 minutes ago, Shawn said:

Is that the thing pictured here?
https://page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/c1078540340

When I looked at this picture I had no frame of reference for what I was supposed to be looking at...then my brain resolved some legs and a torso  and a head at top.
I know nothing about Delta, but that is a LOT of missiles and some really big boosters, and some rail gun things?
Is this the ultimate-ultimate armament valk? Like it is King of the Hill type thing like the Strike VF-1 used to be?

image.png.ca822924767776d3888bdffdab1f546a.png

Yes...it's true...all of it...This is not your father's Macross.....move along old man.....:p

Edited by jvmacross
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1 hour ago, Shawn said:

Yup.

 

1 hour ago, Shawn said:

When I looked at this picture I had no frame of reference for what I was supposed to be looking at...then my brain resolved some legs and a torso  and a head at top.
I know nothing about Delta, but that is a LOT of missiles and some really big boosters, and some rail gun things?
Is this the ultimate-ultimate armament valk? Like it is King of the Hill type thing like the Strike VF-1 used to be?

It's an Armored Pack... maximum overkill has been the rule for those since at least Macross 7.  The VF-31's has more of an emphasis on guns than previous models, with the pair of 30mm rotary cannons and a beam gun turret similar to the YF-29's.

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large.20230112_175213.jpg.fae8b2ef807776

 

Google Translate:

Sv-303 Vivasvat


The Sv-303 Vivasvat used in Heimdall's operation to suppress Windermere is based on the Sv-300, which was originally developed by Sv Works as the SV-262. Unlike the Sv-262, the Sv-300 adopted the VF-24 Evolution as its basic design, but since SV Works was originally an organization separated from the General Galaxy Design Room, it was actually used as a direct airframe prototype. The reference was VF-27 Lucifer.

 

Google Translate keeps getting better all the time...:good:

 

 

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2 hours ago, Shawn said:

They would somehow come up with a 6th variant that was harder to find than the others

Itasha versions with the members of Walkure and/or Yami-q-Ray, naturally.

(After all, they DID do that one with Macross Delta's TV series Valks.)

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1 hour ago, jvmacross said:

"Itasha" has been around in Macross from the beginning....the subject matter and imagery was just way cooler...lol

I know, I have a couple copies of the Macross Model Hobby Handbook kicking around... though that's not technically itasha, that's nose art or tail art.  Adjacent, but not quite the same thing.

I'm talking about models where the whole damn plane is covered in character decals... like the Bandai Macross Frontier "Marking Version" kits for the VF-25F and VF-25G that had huge Sheryl, Ranka, and Klan decals, or the "Deculture Version" kits for the VF-31 Siegfrieds and Sv-262Hs Draken III that had massive idol decals splashed across the entire airframe.

https://www.hlj.com/1-72-scale-vf-25f-messiah-valkyrie-alto-custom-ranka-deculture-decal-ver-ban960420

https://www.hlj.com/1-72-scale-sv-262-hs-draken-iii-roid-brehm-custom-deculture-ver-bann19757

https://www.hlj.com/1-72-scale-vf-25g-messiah-valkyrie-michael-custom-klan-deculture-decal-ver-ban960419

https://www.hlj.com/1-72-scale-vf-31j-c-siegfried-hayate-immelman-deculture-ver-bann12960

 

If you take Master File at face value, they even exist in-setting... like the one in the VF-25 Master File commemorating Ranka's visit to planet Sagares that's liberally covered in carrots and pictures of Ranka in a Superman pose.

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44 minutes ago, Seto Kaiba said:

I know, I have a couple copies of the Macross Model Hobby Handbook kicking around... though that's not technically itasha, that's nose art or tail art.  Adjacent, but not quite the same thing.

LOL...semantics....in terms of in-universe, both are non-standard markings that are placed onto a mecha or VF to "personalize" it...so technically same thing as nose art or tail art used in the Macross universe and in real-world settings

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Just 4.5 weeks for the Macross Box Art release book...found this, which is awesome...they are going to try to stay full page on the art instead of shrinking it to fit the vertical pages...yay!
They are actually apologizing for needing to turn the book sideways which is insane to me...you are buying the book to SEE the details...TURN the book!
Lets hope others follow this lead

(and that Milia Gerwalk is the one Takani art piece I actually have! :) )

 

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Some more info on the book...can't wait!
https://www.shogakukan.co.jp/books/77803879
超時空要塞マクロスパッケージアート集
List price 5500 yen (tax included)
release date 2023.02.20
format/page A4 / 176 pages
ISBNs 9784778038793

More than 100 package illustrations are posted!
The SF anime monument "Super Dimension Fortress Macross" celebrated its 40th anniversary since its broadcast in 1982.
Its popularity began with the development of a wide variety of plastic models that reproduce a group of unique mechanics!

The plastic model package art that grabbed the hearts of boys at the time was by Yoshiyuki Takanagi and Artmic. The illustration still attracts many fans.
The package art illustrations are fully reproduced with high-definition printing technology! Valkyrie, Destroid, Regard's shadows, and the expression of dirt, the painter's brushstrokes are now vividly revived. Box images of plastic models are included as much as possible. Valkyrie, Destroid, Zentraedi army mecha, etc. Also introduces setting images that became materials for box art. Mr. Kazuki Miyatake who designed "SDF-1 Macross", Mr. Masaharu Kawamori who designed "VF-1 Valkyrie", an interview article, and Mr. Yoshiyuki Takani, a box art artist representing Japan, and Mr. Kazuki Miyatake Also includes a dialogue.
The listener is Mr. Hidetaka Tenjin!
<Recommended information from the editor>
Includes more than 100 original drawings in good condition, as well as valuable manuscripts as materials. Even the missing manuscripts that were not actually used in the box art. The definitive edition of the "Super Dimension Fortress Macross" package art collection.

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