kamadoma

Those scans make it look better than the initial colored pictures that we got. I seem not to notice the thinner legs now and fighter mode looks more awesome that ever. I think all it needs now is the UN Spacy logo on the fuselage and some panel lines for the intakes.

Is the yellowing really that widespread after a few years (let's say less than 5 or 6 years) with Yamato Valks? Has anyone had a v.2 VF-1 yellow whether it's a DYRL or TV type?

^ yes, the ankles will be improved, same goes for the Gerwalk joint being reinforced.

Folded canopy? You mean those "ridges" along the canopy? It might be easy to paint any scratching if it's black.

Yamato 1/60 Fire Valkyrie with Sound Boosters.

I don't seem to be bothered now about the legs going upwards on Fighter mode. It doesn't seem to be that obvious and the whole toy looks amazing.

I find it good-looking, though I do have to admit that I might have to get used to some parts like the thin legs and Fighter mode's side view. I will probably have to wait for reviews to pop up first before going for the buy.

The Kai and Blazers were actually okay for me except the landing gear and gun mounting part. I think the bad move that Bandai made aside from those two was opting for the VF-1 which Yamato had been making beauties of since the 1/48 days. Furthermore, Bandai thought they could make more money by making lots of web exclusives for the Skull team. Special box thingy for purchasing Kakizaki? Yeah, right. This, combined with the fact that exclusives will make you spend more due to your item going through the profiteering secondary market, jacked the price up so much that you would rather just wait to earn another 40 bucks or so and turn your supposed Hi-Metal purchase in a better, bigger Yamato 1/60 one. Buying the Kai with all of its exclusive accessories would still be around half the price of a Yamato Kai and Sound Boosters, so I still find that a good deal. But an exclusive Skull Team with three exclusive Fast Packs? I think I would rather take a peek on HLJ's clearance sale for Max's and Kakizaki's and wait for Yamato to reissue 1A Hikaru and 1S Roy.

It's too bad that Bandai has been silent about Hi-Metal. That line was really favorable to most mecha collectors who doesn't want to spend big bucks on Yamato stuff. Hi-Metal would have been my choice if I had been a big fan of other mecha franchises and collecting other mecha toys. Good thing I'm just into Macross and Evangelion for my most fave mecha franchises so I can just focus on buying Yamato Valks. Bandai really aimed high with their VF100's (at the box of VF100's, they even hinted of making all kinds of Valks through all the different shows ), it failed, now they got the chance to redeem their name in Valkyrie toy making with Hi-Metal and they should do so.

This line is actually pretty impressive. I wish they would undergo some sort of redesign at least for the landing gears and gun attachment for flight display and release the 19F, P, and YF-19.

^ agree with the landing gear. The front one on my Blazer was already broken. I wanted to transform it back to Fighter mode and when I came to get the landing gears from the plastic tray, it was already broken. It could have been broken when I closed the clamshell trays before I stored it. I had it fixed with glue, but still it's such a lame idea to have the landing gears depend on a whole base just to stand. They could have at least thought of having a connection port when they designed this for the first time. Anyway, I'm still happy to keep my Hi-Metal ones since I can fiddle them more while my Yamato 1/60 can just sit in the cab and look awesome.

Bandai could do with lesser diecast especially if it would improve the toy. I don't care if they call them Chogokins and they have lesser metal than before. Heck, they even made Hi-Metal that had so few metal content and nobody complained that much.

Sorry to hear, uh, read that. It's somewhat confusing me as to why this still goes for a big price when the quality of the joints are that lousy.

We can probably expect preorders by next month. Same goes for the colored model.

I checked out episode 44 and Docker called them Voldick and Matthews after they got shot down like cannon fodders. Emerald Force was supposed to replace Diamond Force, but Miria wanted to keep Diamond Force for protecting the city. I guess I can't help it. I might get this one if my funding reaches that amount by Christmas time. As much as I want to prioritize the 17, this one just really caught me upon seeing the colored product. Oh, well, I guess I can grab this one since I might take up to Feb or March waiting for the 17 and watching reviews for any issues. At least this one should be better than the Kai and the durability issues have been addressed.

So is anyone annoyed that the hand panels are the same?

Glorious. And to think I was about to pass on this because I'm more excited for the 17.

In the end, everyone can only hope that the paint adhesion isn't that lame. Not to give a panic button, but their Robot Damashii line has suffered very ghastly paint blotches. Let's all hope they don't do the same thing with these items that are more expensive.

The Blazer and its accessories alone won't let you mount the gun in Fighter. Buying the Fire Valk parts? I'm not sure since the gun molds are different and I still don't know how the adapter actually works or even looks.

I just tried and I was actually able to pull off that aggressive pose. I think mine was only a pull of two clicks since I barely saw the metal shaft. Despite the very loose ankles, it still held on well once the foot movement were obstructed by the ankle bands. Though I never bothered taking pics since I just wanted to try it out. I actually didn't know you could pull as many as five clicks, thanks.

I think the paint peeling is obvious. Even Yamato released the 19 Kai's photos with paint chips on it. (The ones with blue background).

^ I'm pretty sure Kawamori also designed the MP Starscream. I agree that the Blazer is much more suited for combat, but I do prefer the usual longer YF-19 wings since they folded much more sleeker in Battroid as opposed to the Blazer's. Just my personal preference though. Though the show didn't seem to emphasize the Blazer being a replacement for the Nightmare since two F-type Blazers were easily shot down in Operation Stargazer.

I'm pretty sure I'll get all three kinds too, though I'll go for the P first since it's a hero mech. I had to take priorities well since I don't easily earn 200-300 bucks for these. Heck, I even had to sell one of my toylines to get the Kai. I do love the 19S and F, but they don't appeal to me that much since I already have the Kai and I want to try out the 17 first.

Is that pose achievable without pulling the whole feet shaft down, or will the angled feet be obstructed by the yellow ankle bands? If it's really required to pull the feet down, then that's probably why I couldn't give mine a good Gerwalk. I easily get turned off seeing those metal shafts down so I try to do Gerwalk poses without pulling them down. Back on topic, seeing that Yamato has been doing pretty well on their releases lately, I hope they do good on the 17 so I can get it early on even without waiting for a sale. I usually buy my VFs after seeing tons of reviews and during a sale, but I do love Macross 7 units and I don't mind getting them on full SRP, as long as they don't suddenly dismember themselves on their own.

My guess is that there might be a bigger chance that they won't do a bundled release IF the initial release gets good reception. I think they re-released the v.1 with the armor parts way back since the initial release had received many complaints like the crooked head guns and short neck. And considering Bandai's usual behavior with add-on parts/accessories/weapons, they will have the super and armor parts as web exclusives. I do really think the 25S looks really awesome with armor parts, though I think it just looks as nice if it's a regular fighter mode in stall pose where you can see the skull symbol.