MacrossJunkie

Wow, your stickers look either chewed on or mangled somehow You might want to grab a xacto knife or small utility knife and trim off the excess clear areas. Not only will it allow the stickers to fit better on curved surfaces, it will make it look better without the unsightly clear bits. You might also want to try cleaning off the surface of the toy first to remove any oils and such that were on the toy when it was packed in. That will allow your stickers to stay on much better without the edges lifting off the surface.

Argh, evil temptors! I want to finally pick up a CF VF-1A but with all the presents to buy and the Quarter coming this month, I know I shouldn't. Visiting this site is a bad idea in December...

I don't, but it's in the magazine section under model graphix for May 2003. The person that made it most likely took inspiration from the FB-22 concept which takes an F-22 raptor and basically elongates it, removes the stabilizers on the tail, and gives it delta wings.

I wish I knew how you could try to get a different IP address for that. I've never used a mobile broadband connection to connect to the internet. However, since you're using citibank, try generating a virtual account number and adding that account number to your paypal account as a different credit card. If it really has anything to do with a limit to how much money you can send with that card, then this should fix it. I do that all the time when using paypal now since I don't trust giving paypal my actual credit card number. I just delete an old credit card and then add in the new virtual account number. If that fails, perhaps you could contact amiami, explain your situation and see if you can work out another acceptable method of payment. At the very least, if you explain to them, then hopefully they won't blacklist you.

I once had a similar sounding problem buying a game through Impulse using their own payment handler instead of paypal. I had all the info correct and there was nothing wrong with my card, but for some reason it wouldn't take it. I contacted them and they told me that their strict security checks see if the location of the IP address you're ordering from match the area that your credit card's billing address shows. I was confused since I was ordering from the same house that was listed in the billing address and I wasn't going through any proxy services. That is a really dumb security check because that would mean you wouldn't be able to order from anywhere else except in your own home and hope that the IP address matches the area. I tried some other things and then gave up and used paypal to buy the game as I didn't want to wait overnight for the external IP lease to expire to try to get a different IP address. You might have a similar issue. Maybe paypal has since instituted similar checks. Since the only payment method available to you is paypal and can't use something else, you could try releasing your router's (assuming you're using one for internet access) external IP and renewing it and seeing if you get a different IP address and then trying paypal again.

The first one did, yes. Though it wasn't the 4 viewport style canopy of the 22. Prototype 1 had a more traditional canopy like the VF-1 or VF-11's. The prototype 3 featured in model graphix isn't canon I think. I don't think there's any official mention of there being another prototype after the one Guld piloted, but if there was another, it would be reasonable to assume that it would have the same controls and canopy as the production VF-22. That bomber version looks kinda dumb, btw.

That's actually good news for me also for the same reasons as stated by the people above. Between Bandai with their Frontier stuff and Yamato with everything else, it's been tough to keep up.

I don't think it's possible for them to make the front landing gear any longer without re-designing the fuselage as there's no room to make it any longer the way it is now. Maybe if they took out the waist articulation, they would have a little more room, but not much or else the doors would get in the way of the transformation for battroid mode. They could make the rear ones a tad longer, but it would be ultimately pointless if the front gear is so short.

As far as the 22 canopy used for the YF-21, it kind of makes sense. You could rationalize it like this. When General Galaxy was pushing for the 21 to be a special ops replacement for the 17 after the 19 was chosen to be the main fighter, they had removed the BDS/BDI system and put in a more conventional cockpit and canopy (that would go on to be used in the production VF-22) when they produced this 3rd prototype. It doesn't look like they put in the integrated gunpod covers yet for the one shown in the scan so perhaps there could be room for a 4th prototype or they just added that after the 21 was approved for production as the VF-22. As for the 22A using a 21 style covered canopy style, your guess is as good as mine. Perhaps the modeler didn't have any extra VF-22 models and just decided to use a YF-21 to customize instead

Actually, I thought there was. There were pics of a model Quarter that wasn't the DX.

They decided it looked too good so they messed with the colors to make it look sillier so people would have something to complain about and give Bandai the opportunity to release a darker repaint later so that people would have to buy it again to get the better looking one ... obviously

Oh, I see. Thanks. I thought they found some clever way to handle it, but guess not. Well, that feeling of finally being impressed by Bandai sure faded really quick.

That tornado pack VF-25F doesn't seem to have the bluish tint that the movie super pack does despite the fact that both are from the movie. What's up with that? (the question could be interpreted as either why didn't they add a blue tint to the tornado pack version or why did they add the blue tint to the super pack version)

I wish there were more pics of that VF-19 in fighter mode. I'm curious how the profile looks compared to Yamato's 1/60. Also interesting is that they were able to make it PT while not having the back of the thigh area skinny and hollowed out like the 1/60. I'd like to see how they did that. That VF-1 doesn't look too bad either. Looks like they borrowed Yamato's T-bar idea for the legs instead of sticking to their traditional swing bar.

Which they really should have thought to add given how easily both the arms and legs droop in that mode.

Hmmm, I'm disappointed that carrier mode is really floppy and the arms can't keep straight without the use of the stand. As soon as he took away the stand, it just all sagged down. Just looks like a mess. I knew it wouldn't be able to stay up in attacker mode without help, but I figured the carrier would be different. It would be like the wings on a valk constantly sagging down without your hands supporting it to keep it up.

I'm glad to hear they are finally putting some real effort into making these things right. I'm excited about this upcoming release of the 27. I wonder if it will have an insert like the model has to go in between the two halves of the gun to simulate an energy charge. It's oid that this time, the model looks somewhat bad and the toy looks much better. The model's main problem is that they made the nose cone too long for no good reason which also causes the battroid to have an strange looking extended torso. I hope they will keep up this level of effort for the VF-171 (and EX version).

I doubt it. Take a look at these pics for comparison: resin prototype: final(?) product: Both pics are brightly lit. Also take a look at the front of the legs. The resin prototype is baby blue on the legs, but a dark gray on the final. Lighting can't account for that. I think they found the mix of colors they wanted. More color than the original protoype, but not so bright and pastel as the second one.

Personally, I think the price is still a bit much at a 50% markup over the non-weathered versions. Particularly since they won't look right if you try to put stickers on them with the stickers looking all bright and squeaky clean. Maybe if they had the that stuff already printed on and then had the weathering applied over it. I preferred to get the regular versions and then do the weathering myself to get the whole thing to look right and pay less for it as well. I do understand that people don't have the time or would not want to expend the effort to do it themselves, I just think the huge markups for the exclusives are just robbery.

Yeah, I just used the Hasegawa decal guides for the VF-22S though it was for M&M's 22s. Almost all of the markings between the YF-21 and the VF-22S are the same, so I figured there shouldn't be much difference with Gamlin's either. I used the printed manual that came with the model, but MW has some scanned in the model section as well that you could use. And here's the YF-21's just for comparison.

Am I missing something? The latest pics don't look like the white and baby blue that the pics from a few pages ago had. It looks more like a middle ground between the original prototype and the baby blue one where the blue is more of a darker blue with some tinge of gray mixed in and overall looks darker colored but not quite as dark as the original proto.

Well, to be fair, it's not possible to do the intake cheating that the 25 does even if they wanted to because the intakes are not connected to the legs

Yeah, they're still a bit high, but at least it's not as bad as the 25 was in that regard since the intakes are not built into the hips. With that in mind, the leg movement seems like it should be better than the 25 as well since you don't have the intakes butting up against the LERX or risking scratching off paint. I'm also glad they actually include some removable covers for the intakes. I think the DX actually looks better than the model version for once, at least for battroid mode. The model's battroid looks really off, particularly the really elongated torso. Looking at the cockpit of the multi-colored prototypes of the 27, it's kind of blurry, but it kind of looks like they bothered to make it a 2 seater. If they did, I wonder if they would include an optional Ranka to put in the back.

Dang, Yamato is such a tease. They make a big deal out of the Macross, tease us with pics of it and lead us to believe it was going to be a toy (other than the fan racer, they don't really make models do they?), and then much later on do they actually reveal that it is just a model and is going to cost over 2 grand. Why do they put so much effort into making this and then make it so that the smallest number of people possible will be able to actually purchase it due to very small number to be produced and high asking price? Will they even come close to making back what it cost them to sculpt and produce it with such a limited release and high price?

Do they only ask for payment info when it's ready to ship? I tried placing an order with them but didn't get any request for payment info unlike HLJ which asks you for payment info at the time of the order, even though they don't charge until they are about to ship.