MacrossJunkie

That's how the VF-27 super parts work I think, but on the renewal VF-25 super parts, the back leg armor plugs right into the back of the leg and side leg armor plugs in separately. The pegs that connect between the two are more for alignment than providing any actual connection between the two parts. Of course, those back leg parts may get in the way of transformation so I don't know how it would actually transform if it does at all with those parts on since the renewals secure the wings into the U shaped hole in the side of the legs or the hole in the side leg covers of the super parts (which there aren't any on the paladin pack).

Well, there are several differences here. DYRL valks were hand drawn and colored and so it is hard to really determine the proper color to use. As for Optimus Prime, he is pretty much using primary colors so getting close to that is easy, not to mention there have been so many variations of him for G1 alone between comics, cartoons, etc. I've seen him drawn all sorts of different ways and that's not even taking colors into account. Key words there is "if it's close." In this case, it's nowhere near close. We don't need exact, but we want close. It would be like saying it's close enough if the red on Optimus Prime was magenta, and the blue was cornflower blue, which is about as far off from what you expect Prime's colors should be as the colors on the VF-0D prototype are from what they ought to be. Coincidentally, even though I picked a random blue from my head, I looked it up to get a better visualization of the color and if they made the VF-0D cornflower blue, I would say it was pretty close. For the VF-0D, it is CG modeled with colors set on the textures. It is pretty much a definitive source that we can base our comparisons on. When there are differences in color in the show, it is because of changes of lighting like dawn vs midday, external sources of light like explosions, etc. But they don't go and change the colors of the textures of valk itself, that is handled and computed when they render the images. So really, there are hard, definitive values they can reference and it is disappointing to some of us that they have thus far been unable to come close.

Maybe, but you would think it would cost more to have a much more saturated color than less. In the end, aren't they still mixing primary colors in order to reach the end result?

Just to give some quantification to this, here are some actual values to make it easier to compare. Here is the color they started with on the original prototype along with the RGB and CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow, black): http://www.color-hex.com/color/004fc5 RGB - 0:79:197 CMYK - 100:60:0:23 Here is the color they ended up with in the recent photo: http://www.color-hex.com/color/1a377d RGB - 22:55:125 CMYK - 79:56:0:51 Here is what they should be going for (using color picker at a point I felt was representative of the color from a screen grab on M0 Ep 2 14:02) http://www.color-hex.com/color/537aa3 RGB - 83:122:163 CMYK - 49:25:0:36 I think the CMYK values are easier to compare since it separates the darkness levels from the colors. Based on that, they actually did seem to get closer, but they are still way off the mark. I don't know why it is so hard for them to identify colors though. Is finding combinations of plastic dyes harder to do than mixing paint? I can pick a color, go to home depot and they have something that can scan the color and find the exact mix of colors needed to match what I'm looking for.

That's a great setup for the photos! Those stands really seem to make posing a lot easier. Roy's 0S seems to have managed to get a tan

Yeah, but it shouldn't be too hard to make a clip on the back of the knee armor to clip onto the knee cap. I'm not clear on how the back of the leg parts attach differently though.

That would be a pretty easy thing for them to do should they choose to. I mean 85% of the paladin pack is just parts from the super and armored packs. They just need to make the lance and a new head unit.

QFT. People have made their opinions known and dragging this out longer in public isn't really going to resolve anything and it will likely devolve into a pissing match if things continue. EvilCat has said he will offer box replacements when he can or offer full refunds. What was done is done and all he can do now is try to rectify the situation to the best of his ability and keep such things in mind for the future. If he didn't know before, I think he knows now that people expect undamaged boxes if not noted otherwise. For those who have yet to get their issues resolved, please use the private messaging system or email (since at this point email contact would already have been established) to attempt to resolve the disputes with each other, civilly if possible. Also, I don't think most of us really need to know the contents of emails sent to each other in private either so please refrain from doing that as it is kind of bad form to do so.

Yep. I think it's pretty clear that the DX line for Macross is geared towards 1/60 scale. There was more variance in the Yamato stuff, but we still consider it to be 1/60 even though some could even be considered 1/55 scale. Both versions of the YF-19 were very oversized. At least Isamu went on an intensive weight loss program going from v1 to v2.

I feel the same way and I also think the market has already been oversaturated with VF-1 products already. I think the only way I would even think about getting another VF-1 if one ever comes out is if it is a leap in improvements and quality in the way that the 1/60 v2 was over the v1. Perhaps I would get some I don't already have, but I likely wouldn't replace the ones I already have in my collection. Here are a couple other non-YF24 based valks just for fun: VF-171EX: 15.65m: 10.44in: 1/59 scale YF-30: 18.84m: 12.5in: 1/59 scale One thing to keep in mind though is that Bandai has had the benefit of working with VF designs that were made with CG models from the get go rather than interpreting hand drawn line art. The MZero designs are also really close probably due to the same reasons.

What is that? Metroplex and mini Ultra Magnus? I hope the SD SDF-1 was a success then and they look to doing more Macross related stuff in the future.

I'm glad they didn't because I don't like how they are almost never straight, but it would have been nice if they included swappable vinyl parts like they did with the vinyl and plastic head lasers.

I think the lesson learned here is that collectors can be fairly anal about what they receive. It's why a lot of other stores sell toys with banged up boxes at a discounted price. They tend to ship out the ones with boxes in good condition (without dings and such) first to the preorders. Then sell the extra stock with good boxes at normal price and offer the dinged up ones at a discount for those who are willing to sacrifice the box condition to get the toy at a lower price. Otherwise it is normally implied that when one orders something, unless specified otherwise, they are getting a toy with the box in pretty much pristine condition. Personally, I don't care about the box condition itself too much as long as it is intact and there is no damage to the product itself and related materials inside. I destroy any resale value on my toys with what I do with them which makes caring about the boxes pointless for me. But there far more people who sell or make trades with stuff in their collections whether it be action figures, dolls, etc and packaging condition can figure into that quite a bit..

If anything, the Yamato/Arcadia stuff tends to be oversized. Here are some actual toy scales I calculated for comparison based on fighter length: Vehicle: In-fiction size : toy size : scale (rounded to nearest 1's place) SV-51: 22.77m: 14.88in: 1/60 scale VF-0: 18.69m: 12.5in: 1/59 scale VF-1: 14m: 9.6in: 1/57 scale VF-11: 15.51m: 11.38in: 1/54 scale YF-19 v1: 18.62m: 13.38in: 1/55 scale YF-19 v2: 18.62m: 13.5in: 1/55 scale YF-21: 19.62m: 13.5in: 1/57 scale VF-25: 18.72m: 12.44in: 1/59 scale (I don't recall if I made that measurement based on the v1 or renewal) VF-27: 18.8m: 12.5in: 1/59 scale VB-6: 29.78m: 10.5in: 1/112 scale

As far as I know, he doesn't call them by name while he's using the 171. I think it's likely they are still Simon, John and Peter and Luca can just transfer the AI's, like how Grace can be transferred to a new body, to other ghost frames which he would have had to do with Peter which was destroyed by a de-folding Vajra ship in Ep 7. Or he just gives the designations to whatever three ghosts he's working with. I suspect the former though since he mentions removing the yoke from the AI and references the Sharon Apple incident at Macross City and some potentially dangerous AI probably wouldn't be installed in common ghost units.

I'm still not convinced. They may not be the same ghosts, but the colors are still the same to me. Here's a comparison:

Sorry man, that sucks. I wonder how something like that even happened. The plastic is somewhat on the softer side though. The left leg on my pseudo VF-1J broke. I put on the alternate bent leg and it was so tight that when I tried to move the leg, it twisted the peg in half... So you guys may want to be careful using the alternate legs. Maybe lubricate the hole first before putting it in. Hmmm... that sounds bad taken in the wrong context...

Actually, that's still a light green on my screen. It's just the lighting makes the green look a lot more faded as the light source is showing and reflecting directly off the surface. Here is the same ghost a second or two before that shot. You can see it's the normal colors of the ghosts Luca uses.

Actually, they are the same color as well and have SMS markings rather than NUNS.

That would be fantastic if they did make a YF-21 or VF-22 using their Macross 30 license. The Yamato ones are kinda showing their age and have some questionable design elements.

Or Bandai could just be a tease, decide to dump the project, toss the prototype in the waste bin and we never hear or see anything of it again

Mine arrived today along with my RVF-171. The Makuros was the first thing I opened between the two Overall, I love it. They did a great job on detailing this thing and the articulation isn't bad at all considering that it's SD and the Macross isn't exactly the most articulated thing to begin with. It's fantastic how much detail they crammed on the head/in the bridge. Transformation wasn't the easiest for me despite it being very simplistic. Some parts were stuck and I was afraid I might break it. Eventually, I got it to budge accompanied by a sigh of relief. Cruiser mode is definitely the weakest of the two modes with a number of inaccuracies unrelated to proportion. Still, the fact that it transforms at all and the cruiser mode is still recognizable is a plus. Paint application seems to be clean and pretty well done with the exception of some spilt paint splotches on the gun on the back of the right leg on mine. It has at least as much tampo printing as Yamato/Arcadia manages It's a little surprising that with the attention to detail they paid to this thing, they got the 01 and 02 on the ARMDs swapped on the wrong sides. Most of the joints are fairly tight on mine which is good. However the starboard main gun is floppy in contrast to the port side gun which clicks as you move it and stays in place nicely. There is no such clicking on the starboard gun. I don't know if anyone else's is like this or not. The little VFs are articulated reasonably well. The legs are attached via ball joints. The shoulders swivel up and down and the arms swivel horizontally. The head is on a ball joint also. I can't tell if the head lasers are articulated or not. They look like they might be, but I can't get mine to budge and I'm afraid I might break it if I try any harder. If I have enough glow in the dark stickers left over, I think I will apply some on this guy. Otherwise, I might look into mixing some of my own glow in the dark paint. I'll give this thing an oil wash to bring out the details also. I'm still deciding if I want to weather it like EXO hinted What do you guys think? Should I?

Got my RVF-171EX today. I meant to take some pics but only got to take some before the battery in my camera died so now I'm recharging it. Overall, it's not as bad as I thought. The green color could use some lightening. You can at least take the ventral antenna fin off. The box pics show the antenna facing one way, but I found if you turn it 180 the other way, it feels like it fits better. Battroid without fin: Profile comparison with and without fin: With CF colored super parts:

To be fair, they were only copying the CG renders which had the same mistakes. I would blame the person/people that made the textures for the CG models and every person after who let that through all the way to production.

Really? I guess I could. I hadn't initially intended to since it's an SD and meant to be cartoony, but it might be kind of funny like telling an anti-joke. I was planning on using some left over glow in the dark stuff from the SDF-1 kit at the very least. I guess I'll add this on my to-do list. Now if only Badger would respond to one of my emails I've sent them about my broken airbrush...