MacrossJunkie

So you didn't try sanding the ball joint? I'm surprised the bottom half of the ball is merely plastic rather than the whole ball being die cast. I have my doubts based on personal experience about the use of future for this purpose as it might just end up detaching from the surface of the ball and make a surface with less friction for the ball to roll around in. Definitely interested to know if it does succeed for you or not. Good luck!

That's good to know about the dual specs. Did they mention what sort of timeline that feature would be coming? The instanced game world was essentially what the first Guild Wars game was and why I don't really consider it an MMO. It doesn't need to be instanced though to address my criticisms of the majority of current gen of MMO's, SWTOR included. Rift handles the static world part to a degree with the way it handles some dynamic event system with the rifts, and adds a unique and flexible way to spec characters (though still falling into tank/dps/healer roles) GW2, from what I've been following closely, seems to address the majority of my criticisms that I would be able to call it a next gen mmo. That said, I'm really looking forward to SWTOR, based on the beta playtesting I did. The trooper class especially struck a chord with me. It's been a while since I've really gotten into an MMO since WoW so I think the break has rejuvenated my interest in that style of gameplay if nothing else than in a sort of nostalgic way. I just couldn't get back into WoW after I quit because I would feel like I would need to play catch up after so long. But getting back with some of my old friends/guildmates from WoW and starting with a game where everyone is starting from scratch again is nice. I don't have the time these days to get as serious into it as I did in WoW, but it seems like the game should allow for me to play it more casually which is great for me.

It's because people who haven't seen Macross 7 go to Macross Mecha Manual and look up the VF-17D there. They see the first entry which shows the white stripe, black head version rather than the sub-entry for the diamond force version.

Eugimon has some good points, but I probably wouldn't call it a WoW clone so much as it just has the same decades old basic gameplay concepts since Everquest, but with more streamlining. I wouldn't even really consider Guild Wars 1 an MMO as the only time you see people outside of your group is in the towns and cities. The rest of the game, the second you step out, is basically like a single player game with co-op for up to 7 other people (in most cases) or just play by yourself by filling the party with henchmen or heroes. So the towns basically act like game lobbies to find other players with buying and selling functionality. Some things that I've found that didn't change from WoW and predecessors are: Good: 1) Definitely a nod to WoW is the daily quests you get from the terminals that tells you do things such as go complete such and such flashpoint (instance/dungeon). I can live with it. If you're going to redo an instance, why not get a bonus out of it? 2) The combat resource system is similar, but I see no reason to change that. Pretty much every RPG, mmo or not, has a way to limit what players can use and how often. WoW uses mana/rage/energy/focus. The SWTOR equivalent being force points/focus/ammo respectively (with some differences like force points being more like mana for sages while more like rogue style energy for shadows due to differences in the way they regen). This is one thing I really don't have any issues with as it's a simple concept that gets the job done and hasn't really been an annoyance. Bad: 1) The game doesn't break from requiring the Tank/DPS/healer trinity, but at least a greater percentage of classes can fill multiple roles. Where they should copy WoW if they are going to go with the holy trinity trope is that they should allow for dual specs instead of having to pay to respec every time like players in WoW used to have to do. So it's like a step forward and a step back. 2) The non-instanced game world is still pretty static like WoW and predecessors. What players do don't really have any sort of lasting effect on the world other than depopulating the number of enemies in a public area for a few minutes or making a quest thingie uninteractable to other players and forcing them to wait around until it resets. Though I haven't played it, Rift has some semblence of a dynamic event system based on what co-workers have told me of the game. GW2 will be even much more so with whole areas of a world changing based on actions and inactions of players. 3) The way standard quests and rewards are handled are not much different except that in SWTOR you get some bonus objectives and you get dialogue scenes for most quests at the point you pick up or turn them in, with the exception of ones you pick up at terminals or turn in at dropboxes. Most of the quests so far in the early game at least up to the 20's has been pretty standard. Like Go to X and kill Y number of things. Or go to these points and interact with the object you find there. It can get a little tiresome, especially when there are a lot of people around... which leads to... 4) Players will still be competing with each other to finish quests and getting resource nodes and such. The more people there are in an area, the less fun it will be for you. Because you will be waiting even longer for respawns of enemies, quest specific nodes, resource nodes, etc... 5) Another thing that isn't any different from WoW and others is that movement and reaction doesn't matter so much. Once something is fired at you, you can hide behind a wall or other obstacle and you will see the shot curve through the air and go through walls and hit you still because the hit is already determined at the time the action was performed and what follows afterwards is merely a formality. Eugimon has listed more examples like the on world travel systems, stats via items and such which I find are valid comparisons as well. In the end, I do feel that the core gameplay plays a lot like WoW and many MMOs that came before and after it, but it has added many fresh additions to the game which especially help it feel like a RPG such as the personal story lines, the conversational style of the quests and flashpoints, the companion system, and the crafting system which lets you level your crafting without actually having to sit there in some room for a day clicking on creating components then creating the item ad nauseum. My main fear is that once the novelty wears off, will I get bored much sooner because the core game is still so similar to WoW? I guess only time will tell. Since quitting WoW a couple years back, I've tried Conan, Aion, and playtested FFXIV. Conan was horrid and dull with awkward combat. FFXIV took many many many steps back in gameplay in every direction from even Everquest and was the worst game I ever had the displeasure of trying. Aion was pretty much WoW with angels and about 400x more grind. One thing is for sure. This will be the last old school styled MMO that I will play and enjoy before moving on to a next gen game like GW2. P.S. Commandos rock!

That is correct. and thanks

That's what I did with mine. I painted over the sides so the white wouldn't be showing. It really helps the overall look of the toy. However, the paint application job they did with mine was pretty atrocious. It's like it was bring your kids to work day at the factory and they gave some grade schoolers brushes and let them have at it. The shoulder areas were pretty sloppy and not even smooth. The paint is actually a little lumpy in some parts. At least yours looks nice and straight even though they went over the lines. I forgot to fix it before I sprayed on the clear coating though so I just left it as is.

I don't know if it's a good idea or not, but maybe you could also score up the surface of the ball joint with something like a pair of pliers to make it rougher and allow for better adhesion?

Got it. I thought it was a direct link to a pic rather than a slide show. NoScript was blocking flickr.

Hmmm, looks like a black square to me >.>

LOL Let the YF-29 super pack henceforth be known as the Mullet Pack!

I tried GERWALK mode for the first time. I now know what the fuss is about GERWALK mode for this thing. You can angle the legs so far forward, but the feet can't angle back enough to compensate. Had to bring the legs back a notch, but it just makes it look so front heavy. It's not too bad I guess since it still manages to stand up at least. The other modes are still more fun though.

Mine are the same way. The ankles are loose when bent forward but get tighter when angling them back. You're a brave person to attempt taking that thing apart if you think there's a 90% chance of breaking it

Nice, that heat shield cover doesn't look half bad on the 22. I hadn't seen the completed one until now.

Or so right, depending on your point of view

I think he meant in fighter mode, the profile is thinner than that of the VF-25, which is true. Battroid wise, it looks chunkier because the legs are still too high up and doesn't have enough clearance, especially when the crotch piece is angled outwards. It makes the hips seem even closer to the chest. The shoulders could use the renewal style joints as well.

I think it would have looked a lot better without those extra stabilizers or whatever you call them sticking out of the pods at the end of the wings and without the large shield attachment..

Design-wise, fighter and GERWALK mode are fine. They just need to modify battroid with the renewal 25's crotch locking mechanism along with the lock on the outward slant. Maybe also the hands where a larger ball joint is in the hands, instead of the little ball on a peg coming from the wrist, which would allow for holding the large beam gunpod with one hand without going limp wristed.

I think the renewal VF-25's ankles are well designed as well. It seems to have a wide range of motion and is pretty stiff as well which isn't the case with the VF-19's.

After getting the VF-19, I think they ought to eventually redo the YF-19 as well. The YF-19 just seems so off in comparison. One of the things that bothered me about it from the start as far as the battroid mode is concerned is that the profile of the battroid seemed like it was leaning forward in a neutral stance and the knees seemed bent backwards. I won't even get started on the fighter mode from anything other than top angle viewing.

Nope, those numbers are the ones for Docker's VF-19S. if you take a close look at the stickers of the VF-19 on the sticker sheet, you can see the "101" on them. the master file just shows extra markings like the "01" on the other side of the shoulders and other markings. Background was just cleaned up of stray dust, but not photoshopped in. Just used a black backdrop. The clear stand would have made it hard to photoshop in a background.

Thanks guys. I used the VF-19 master file book as my guide for the sticker placement.

I hope Yamato's D variant head doesn't look anything like that Experten model's a few pages back. That one looks kinda derpy. Hope some pics start showing soon.

Such a nice color. Wasn't a big fan of the design in the animation, but the toy actually makes it look great. The battroid mode has become one of my favorites with the proportions and awesome head sculpt. It's too bad the transformation locking on the nosecone in conjunction with the glossiness makes putting a clear coat and weathering on the toy unfeasible or impractical.

Mine has the trailing edge dipping below the tail fins about 1mm where it ought to be level with the horizontal part of the tail piece.

Got mine yesterday and got to mess around with it today. This actually feels like one of the easiest to transform toys next to the 1/48 VF-1. I have already transformed it back and forth several times and have been impressed with how well the pieces all fit together and how I don't need to struggle to get certain pieces in place in exactly the right way like I would have to with the VF-22/YF-21 or even the VF-11. I was going to put a flat coat on mine, but after seeing how this transforms, I decided it would be an ill-advised and futile effort. The way the nose cone locks in battroid mode would mean scraping the clear coat off every time I try to transform it. Oh well, not a big deal, but I just don't like how the glossy surface easily shows the out-of-the-factory scratches and is a finger print magnet. Another minor gripe that probably only I care about is that the panel lines are too shallow. So shallow that even paint mixed with thinner is useless. I had to use *gag* gundam markers for the job Strangely, they didn't include any sticker placement guide, but that was no big deal. It looks like they took the markings right out of the master file book. Even the side, top and bottom view of the fighter on the sticker sheet was copied directly from it. So I just used the marking diagrams on pages 90 and 91 from the VF-19 Master File book as my guide. Again, only relevant to the 5 or 6 people in the world that bother to put the stickers on Overall, I was surprised just how well this thing was engineered, especially compared to the YF-19. The gaps are minimal and the tolerances seem pretty tight. I love that it uses a lot of die cast in it. Bandai needs to take some lessons from Yamato regarding color matching. The die cast spine area seems to have the blue paint matched nearly perfectly to the blue plastic. The battroid mode seems to be very poseable as well. Not having the Kai already, I was pleasantly surprised to see the range of movement available in the legs which the YF-19 was utter fail at without looking awkward. I'm looking forward to the VF-17 even more if this is the level of design I can expect.