Yamato SDF-1 Macross in 1/3000

I admit I've been pretty lazy with the blog lately choosing instead to post comments on new stuff to forums or an odd pic on Facebook. But since Macross is a series near and dear to my heart, I felt I may as well do a repost of some comments and photos I made over on Robot Japan.

Almost a year ago Yamato teased everyone with an oversized 2 foot long SDF-1 prototype model. For those unaware, toy-designers often build prototypes larger than the final product in order to work out the fine details before scaling it down for production. Well, after the news broke, and people showed enough interest, Yamato actually made a limited run of the master mold in its original 1/2000 scale glory. For your thousands of dollars, you didn't even get a complete toy - you got the parts of the prototype to build your own 2-foot-long model.

I'm not that crazy, so I waited on a pre-order to get the final production version. It's slightly smaller in 1/3000 scale and still doesn't come fully assembled.

That's right, it is remarkably accurate in scale next to the Macross Quarter by Bandai (that one was advertized to be 1/750 scale, which, when the math is done, makes perfect sense).

To give a sense of size (not scale) here are some pics I posted on Robot Japan.
First is the "Storm Attacker" Mode next to a bunch of other Macross figures.

From left to right: 1/60 Destroid, 1/750 Macross Quarter, 1/3000 SDF1, 1/48 Valkyrie, 1/100 Battle-pod.

Not to scale: a Revoltech Giant Robo, a Soul of Chogokin EVA-01, a Brave Gokin Alphonse, Takara's Masterpiece Optimus Prime, and a Max Gokin Godannar.

A few comments: despite being well packed in a classic styrofoam tray, SDF-1 will never be mint in box again once taken out. There are simply too many parts that need to be assembled with glue or else they will pop off. What parts? Well screw covers for one thing. That's right, this is Yamato's final say on the classic anime icon and they did it right. It's so small-scale yet they thought of including a bunch of bits and pieces to hide even the screws!

It's mostly plastic but it's just right. No overly heavy limbs or accessories. Sadly during the photography session, the transformation of the Quarter resulted in the loss the main-gun (i.e. it disconnected itself and fell to the floor, causing a bent tip).
SDF1 will not have this problem. It's delicate where it needs to be (the bridge module up top), but also heavy where it should be (in the torso and legs). It's not as beefy as Optimus Prime despite being larger overall, but that hardly matters. The same design made of metal would have been dangerously unwieldy.

Overall, I'm really happy this finally came out the way it did. For a detailed look at this thing, check out Graham's insane coverage at Macrossworld!

Macross Messenger Bag

This is a story of serendipity, coincidence, and a touch of irony.

I just spent 3 days in Toronto to attend Anime North 2010. It's biggest anime convention in Canada. I've sort of outgrown being an anime otaku (I have my favourite titles and have very little room for new ones). As for the merchandise, I try my best to support the local shop (which manages to sell at every convention I've been to in the last few years from Toronto to Montreal), but I also get the latest unlicensed stuff over the Internet too.

And this the story of one such bit of merchandise... I present the Macross-themed messenger bag pre-ordered months ago. if you don't reserve, then the international retailer won't be able to keep such intended-for-Japan product in stock for long.

Unfortunately, I didn't have this to show off at the convention in time, but...

Here's what was in my communal super-box when I got home today:I haven't had much luck with SAL from Japan but thankfully, this shipment contained crushable good: a soft messenger-bag won't suffer much. And of course, when I opened it...
It's kind of small, but there's no hard rule on what size a messenger bag should be, I guess. It is however, coincidentally also the first time I've owned a messenger bag that is actually functional as a bike-messenger bag (it has the shorter under-arm strap to keep the bag against one's back). Unfortunately, I'm still not sure how useful that will be since the main compartment doesn't zip up, so smaller items may still slip out when it's worn across my back.

VF-19 Hi-Metal Series

Bandai's Hi-Metal Fire Valkyrie an attempt to break into the Macross figure franchise beyond the “Frontier” series Bandai has been stuck with while Yamato continues to hog the majority of Macross licenses. To differentiate themselves, they've gone with some perculiar build choices.
Firstly the scale is 1/100 making the VF-19 Kai Excalibur model only about 8 inches long (and similarly tall in battloid mode). Compared to Yamato's near universal 1/60 scale, this is almost puny. The size also presents an inherent problem: the need to compromise on what can been implemented for transformation and what's “faked.” So the set comes with a variety of “part-swapping solutions.”

The second design choice is the use of die-cast metal only where it counts. There is a main torso skeleton and ankles. Other than some screws, the rest is plastic. The red plastic is a nice deep metallic, however, so while it the main fuselage is not painted in pearl clear-coat, it's a nice cheap facsimilie.
Transformation isn't much different from the Yamato interpretation. However, it does improve a few things such as tabs in the right places while removing a few in others. The fighter mode snaps snuggly and by virtue of the plastic composition, it's not floppy or top-heavy. This is important because the VF-19 is has a very delicate GERWALK mode compared to the classic VF-1 design with its arms over the wings.Transformation to GERWALK is the first time parts need to come off. The head's main fin is an extra bit that needs to sanp on, but first, the panel that hides the neck joint needs to be temporarily removed to get at it. The hands are also plugged into the wrists which are hidden in fighter mode by pop-off panels.
Next, the metal endoskeleton in the torso goes into action by elevating the fuselage and then wrapping over the nose-cone. Beware the arms during ths transformation. Thankfully the arms are plastic on ball-joints so they are forgiving. They pop back on if they do accidentally fall off. And finally the pair of antennae are plugged into the head.
In battloid mode, Bandai also supplies a couple of extra bits to fill out the proportions in the thighs. As seen in the photo, they're a little skinny (but this is only visible from certain angles, of course). I actually don't like the bits much as they some don't plug in snugly enough.
I have mixed feelings about this rendition of the Fire Valkyrie. I'm so happy to finally have a transforming toy of the VF-19 Kai Excalibur (my first was a plamo kit from the 90s that didn't transform but was actually 2-models-in-1-box). On the other hand I'm torn over the mish-mash of plastic parts-swapping (which, in my opinion, is a cheap alternative to proper transforming-toy-design.

Reaction: Macross Quarter by Bandai Chogokin DX

While I haven't paid much attention to their “DX Chogokin” line (back in the early days of the gokin-renaissance, Bandai reserved this label for reissues of classic molds and kept the new designs under the “Soul of Cogokin” label). Now they've seemingly given the DX line an anachronistic slant by slapping it all over their newest models as well.

The Macross Quarter is the “mini” super-dimensional fortress that appears in the Macross Frontier series. Quarter is, like most other known Macross ships, a transformable cruiser that assumes a humanoid shape when it enters close-combat. According to the established mythology Macross Quarter is one of the smaller ships in the Frontier fleet and serves as a fleet escort and as the carrier for the local private military contractor, SMS.

My initial reaction to openning the packaging was a mixture of awe and disappointment. The contents are housed in a combination of stacked styrofoam for the main die-cast body and everything else in a series of plastic trays. It's amazing just how much stuff there is at first glance. My second reaction was “wow, my first reaction was a bit pre-mature.”

The fact is, after leafing through the manual, the toy is actually rather simple. There are only a few additional parts to snap on to the ball-joints (thankfully Bandai harnessed their experience as master kit-designers and gave us easily swappable parts as necessary): the head, the classic “Macross booms,” a comm antennae, and a couple of hands. The other bits are the “battleships” docked onto Macross Quarter like on the classic SDF-1.

In fact, the overall design of Macross Quarter is so simple it made me post on Robot Japan the following comment:

I never noticed while watching the show how amazingly gobot-like this Macross was. [It] is pretty much a humanoid in a "Superman-pose." Given it's design, no wonder it's floppy - there's not actually anything for the arms to "lock" into.

The toy is everything I expected: the cruiser mode is simply so long that it's unrelistic to expect to hold its shape under any sort of gravity. It's existence as a ship floating in space is the only way this thing could support itself. I guess that's why Bandai saw fit to supply an immense number of optional parts for building a display stand.

Since there are abundant photo-reviews of Macross Quarter already online, I will take a moment to point out some observations of my own.

Firstly, the whole gravity issue is address by the extra stand bits included. It can be set to a variety of heights depending on the configuration (yes, it can be positioned in the traditional Macross “GERWALK” mode).Bandai uses a neat trick to open and close the bow ports. These ports lift open by pushing back that little module at the front. It take a good hard push the first time but no worries, the thing comes off and pops back on easily and the lever itself is pretty tough and will stand up to the movement.The figure originally comes packed in a “shrunken” position. Here's a look at the aft sections. Those "knees" are double-jointed and while both are bent, the one bend more should be the lower one closer to engine.The shoulders ironically do hold the “battleships” up when the shoulders are not positioned properly. The shoulder joint does indeed rotate so there is a minimum range of motion for the upper arms while turned up. Doesn't quite look right, but it does keep the arms horizontal. The easiest way to turn these insanely tight joints is to bring the shoulders back down the U-joint and turn from there (while still in cruiser-mode).
Lastly, the show cheats the toy designers a bit by using a bit of “anime magic.” This annoys me because it's no secret a lot of mecha designs are done with selling toys in mind, so why is it from time to time an “impossible” design choice is thrown in? In the show, the Macross Quarter appears to stow the port-side carrier on its back to free its left hand to brace the main cannon. The problem is that there is nowhere for this carrier to attach on the back of the Macross Quarter. Bandai works around this by including this attachment. It's functional, but generously ugly when set up.

Unboxing: Yamato life-sized replica VF-1 helmet

Months ago, the opportunity to order one came up and believe me, it made me delay a few other things. This was effectively made-to-order since I don't blame any retailer for not wanting to stock this insanely expensive (but so freaking exclusive) item without a pre-order. In fact, it was so hard to come by, I wasn't even sure my order would ever arrive and if I would end up with just a refund 6 months later.There it was... Apparently nothing ships from Toy-Wave.com without some. Even if that's the original shipping box from their own distributors. Next I looked at was the declarations documentation. Frequently these make the difference between practically "free" and the likes of my Macross-themed jacket where I paid over a hundred bucks in duty and taxes. In this case, written all over the box was a declared value of $3000HKD (that's about $425CAD)... and for some mysterious reason, Customs didn't charge me a single penny for duty except for about $20 for federal sales tax and a handling fee. I've given up on figuring out the CBSA.Openning the shipping box reveals that it literally is the shipping box and nothing else. It's fit exactly to the retail packaging with no room to spare.Interestingly enough, the retail packaging is nothing more than a plastic wrap and a cardboard slip around a huge styrofoam affair.What's a nice touch of class is a pair of white cotton gloves so I can pretend this is a ridiculously expensive collector's item up for auction. No wait, only the auction part is pretend, the rest is real. ^_^;;;And there it is in all it's glory. This this thing is simply huge. The replica is made to imitate the line-art proportions from the Macross animation work. The visor is supposed to house the eye-tracking targetting systms but of course, this replica is made of solid fibre-glass resin... so while my head fits in it, but it's so front-heavy that it won't sit properly without tilting forward. What the photos don't really convey is how beautiful it is in person. It's painted to a pearlescent finish and there's not a hint of over-spray anywhere. It will definitely get a spot of honour above my display.

Wearing a Valkyrie

I couldn't help myself... It's a little tacky but it's rare and limited outside of Japan. And on top of which, I'm a long time Macross/Robotech fan. This Valkyrie-themed jacket caught my attention right away. It was just a matter of finding a means to acquire an item intended only for the Japanese market exclusively (because well, I'm pretty certain Harmony Gold would have something to say about their international rights for the Robotech brand).And I couldn't help wearing it. I had to at least once. During the course of the day I gradually discovered the little features all over the jacket.The most distinguishing feature is the VF-1 regalia. Everyone keeps calling it a "flight jacket" but it isn't a cosplay piece (everyone knows the pilot's uniform on Macross was a plain white and red jumpsuit). From the shoulders down the sleeves, the jacket resembles the paint scheme on Hikaur Ichijio's Valkyrie fighter. Details include embroidered UN-Spacy logos, appropriate craft numbers, and of course carrier name. A real embroided name patch for Skull-leader with Ichijio's name is on the chest. For that authentic military touch, the patch is held by velcro.

The groovy feature is the music-player storage system. The forearms have zippered compartments for a portable device. The left sleeve has a velcro shaft to hold down an ear-phone wire. The velcro clasps continue right up to the colar. I'm sure Minmay would have approved.And it has the requisite "Engrish" not to be missed!

There are a some compartments of questionable practicality. The side pockets are button-closed (the left pocket has the official-licensed product seal inside of it). There is a pocket just inside the left breast. Lastly there's also a large compartment inside the back. For the life of me, I can't figure out what that's for. It seems to follow the entire length and I can't imagine the jacket being particularly comfortable if I were to put something in there. However, there is yet another little hole behind that pocket coming out to one of the velcro clasps on the back. I have no clue what this is for either.My jacket is sized "Large." The lengths fit me perfect (I rarely find anything where the sleeves actually stop of my wrists). But I don't know if I have a bulky frame or what, but it's very close-fitting. Am I disappointed? Not really, I plan to treat this as a collector's item more than an actual jacket. And in that respect, how far does it reach up the geek-o-meter? Very high.

MGA ...Battlecry revisited

So I'm playing Metal Gear Ac!d last night and I had a severe flashback to my troubles with Robotech Battlecry. Does anybody remember that time I recounted my story about how I got stuck on a fairly routine level because the "puzzle" was so inoccuous that I didn't think to interact with the game a certain way?

Flashback:
I'm told that I must "rescue the stranded pilots" but that first I must "put out the fires." Well I flew around the field in "Guardian" mode (or GERWALK for the Macross purists) knowing that in previous missions, the game allows me to pick up things with the "arms" in this mode... But how to "put out the fires?" I dropped the game after a couple of hours randomly zooming around and shooting up the place. It was months later when on a lark, I showed my brother the game and he accidentally shoots out a sewer pipe I had previously dismissed as background artwork. This in turn gave me a flashback...

Flashback of a Flashback:
I had practically abandonned Final Fantasy 7 for one thing (which further reminds me, I never did finish that game). This was back when beautifully pre-rendered backdrops housed characters who were 3D-rendered interactive objects. But by the very nature of the pre-rendered precluded interactivity... save for pre-determined paths where your character would walk - paths that were supposed to match up with the artwork in the backgrounds (representing bridges or roads). There was one scene in a junkyard and I spent HOURS trying to get from one end to the next. By chance my keystrokes were not registering at the particular moment my character was lined up with a "plank" drawn into the background - thus not allowing him to walk "onto" the plank.

Flash Forward... Snake is told "there's a hidden sewer you must find at the north west end of the compound." I'm rather proud of my performance, actually. I was spotted only once and I managed to eliminate enemy troops all before an alarm was sounded. But I spent so much time wander around the north end and by sheer bad luck, Snake's character never happened to stop moving on the exact "tile" required to trigger the game event that would end the mission. I walked around it, over it, even stopped on "tiles" right next to it at one point. ARGH!

Thankfully, in the Internet age, I have access to freebies like Game FAQs fellow players have published on-line otherwise I would've been stuck there for who knows how many months wandering around that compound.

And ultimately, doesn't this sort of game design just ruin a playing experience?

GBP1S and a tatoo-removed

Firstly, I almost had a freakin' heart attack today when I thought my funky case I love so much started to smell lemony... the LEDs on the front panel didn't light up when I turned it on tonight. (A reboot later solved the problem although I'm not sure if the fact that I connected the panel's lead into another power supply cable had anything to do with that).

So anyway, here's my fancy new accessory set that goes on a 1/48 scaled VF-1 Valkyrie...
Before (in it's "Super" getup):
And After (had to remove the rifle because as it turns out, the marketting materials used a bit of trick photography never revealing the fact that although he can hold it, it's actually all crooked when he does): Anywho, I've decided to put up with the nakedness. That being I haven't applied any decals... I'm holding out for a set of amateur fan-produced ones because quite frankly, the ones supplied stock ...well... they suck.

A couple more pics with the missile-hatches opened up:

Well onto topic2 for this post. I'm happy to report that I've managed to rid myself of that "anti-piracy" tatoo taking up all of 1/4 of an inch on my screen real-estate. No, I won't tell you how I did it. Look it up yourself. Besides, there's no room for laziness in the warez game.

Macross shelf: rearranged

If flower arrangement is supposed to be an art... why can't I be blogging around rearranging my shelves? Ended up with:



It's my 3 big-ass Valkyrie fighters (one of them in its robot mode). I also switched around one of the add-on kits... and finally applied some of the decals (designating the fully-loaded yellow-trimmed one as "Skull-One" just like in the Macross movie).

If you look down in the lower left corner though you'll see:



And here is where I convince myself that because I can't seem to find Guitar Hero anywhere in town, I now have budget to finally upgrade my camera. mommybabou has expressed a willingness to help me shop for one (she being a trained photographer and all that).
Anyway, I finally completed my Kaiyodo Series 2 Macross gashapon set today. And the best was, as they say, saved for last. The blue guy in near the back (and no, you can't tell from the photo) is the most detailed of them all. For a little PVC plastic guy only 2 and half inches in height, he's got just about as much articulation as a typical action figure you'd find in a toy store. Nearly all his missle hatches open on hinges (the only one that doesn't is his chest - and it comes with an optional piece to display doors-open or doors-closed). Quite an impressive sculpt.

Reaction: Macross ...in English!!

Many moons ago I stumbled on a craptastic VHS tape at a local shop entitled "Macross: Clash of the Bionoids." To this day I'm not too sure what a "bionoid" is supposed to be, but I did discover that this was indeed arguably, the worst English-dubbed anime in the history of... well, dubbed anime. But this blog entry is not about that shameful edition of the Macross movie.

I'm going to talk a bit about the new English Macross DVD that's due out tomorrow. By way of a little inventory error at my local comicbook shop, I managed to snag a copy yesterday afternoon....

As you may have heard, Harmony Gold has spent years in legal battles protecting their alleged ownership of the Macross brand because of its inclusion in the 80's cult classic Robotech. For years they've tried to keep the original uneditted Macross locked away (and in its native Japan). So it came as a surprise that over 20 years down the line, HG would suddenly turn around and release, not only Macross uncut, but with remastered video and sound and in English to boot.... for the first time reverting our whiny brat "Rick Hunter" back to the original heroic "Ichijio Hikaru."

What amazed me, despite having followed the industry gossip for months, was to finally be able to hear the words from her own mouth: how a young Mari Ijima found herself a cult icon when she first recorded the role of the maiden "Lynn Minmay" for Macross... and then finding herself in a recording studio to do the English version of the same character 2 decades later.

The Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack was great - the dubbing... well, pretty good, poetic license aside (ADV-Films saw fit to include an interview with the translator so that he could defend certain choices he had to make; an altogether rare instance in the business). One complaint: seems that ADV didn't have all the original masters... one of the bonus features was the original 1984 dub of episode 1 (before the idea of chopping it up into Robotech was conceived) and that version has a piece of ambiance music during Minmay's first appearance at the air-show which was in the original Japanese track... however it is conspicuously absent in the new 5.1 rerecording. Speaking of which, I was also somewhat miffed that the Japanese track is actually a 2-channel stereo track and not a full 5.1 remix (I could've sworn the packaging said otherwise). Still lots of fun all around.

A minor side note - I went through some of the preview trailers on the disc and stumbled on the clip for Godannar. The clip is a hilarious summary of the first DVD release including an out-of-breath announcer trying to describe everything that's happened so far. Check out the site if you've got time. It looks like fun - lots of old-school giant robot action, cute anime girls (with suitably insane amounts of fan-service), stereotypical macho heroes trapped in goofy relationships... New school meets old school, if you ask me.

One last Valkyrie

What can I say, it's the holiday season... that and Toy-Wave was having a sale! ^_^;

But anyway, this arrived in the mail today!



That's a hundred bucks well-spent. ^o^;;;
No seriously, this is the last 1/48 scale Valkyrie I plan on buying. My plan is to transplant the Strike Armour (currently worn by the limited edition Low-Visibility plane) over to this one to give it the appearance it had during the movie. And the "TV" armour set from my VF-1J will go over to the Low-Viz. When the GPB-1 armour set comes out in Janurary, I'll put that on the VF-1J to give it the appearance from the "Miss Macross" episode in the original series...

*sigh*... see I wasn't kidding - I really did intend for this to be the last one.@_@

I guessed right: new goodie at home

This is the new "Launch Arm" display-stand I found in my super's office today.
The plane is an older die-cast piece my aunt sent me 4 years or so ago. I'm deciding where to put this. As you can tell from previous posts, my display cabinet is getting fairly crowded...
Secondly, although the VF-19A (a fictional transforming jet, if you haven't figured that out yet) looks best as a jet (this toy rendition looks ass as a robot), I'm not too big on the way it appears on the launch arm. This one is in 1/72 scale and actually looks a little ridiculous.

The launch arm is inspired by a key scene at the beginning of Macross "Love; Do you Remember?" - a squadron of fighters are seen taking off from the carrier. But since this is sci-fi, they don't launch from a runway, but are released into space by way of a giant mechinal arm.

A few more pics below of me trying out a different scale fighter... This one's a classic VF-1 in Low-Visibility colours (it's actually a limited edition also sent to me by my aunt). It carries set of additional armaments I added on later.

Above: I'm not too thrilled with the way it looks in its intermediate hover mode... kinda looks like it's being caught by its crotch (ouch!). Below: much better. Those holding clamps look somewhat convincing (in truth, there's actually toy-magic going on; the very same "crotch" adapter is being used to hold it up).

Quealuun-Rau and Miria by Yamato

Sharing more of my hobby stuff... this package arrived today all the way from Hong Kong. (Try to ignore that ridiculously huge Power Rangers vintage toy behind her)... it's the villainous "Quealuun-Rau" ace pilot, Miria from the classic Macross (or Robotech to the rest of the world)...

While the red monster 'bot came with a tiny pilot figure, I went ahead and ordered the option set... came with three "bodies" and two "heads." The bodies were "sitting in cockpit" position, a standing pose in her sexy pilot's uniform, and her "wedding dress" when she married our hero, Max. The two heads are with a helmet and the other with her hair down. The option kit features a way nicer sculpt on the faces and stuff... Too bad my camera sucks so badly that I can't share that part of it.

The only thing that could really ruin my week at this point is if that traffic ticket I thought I had coming actually arrives. ^o^