Graham

I had the Blue and Green and Toynami Alpha toys, bought when they were first released. Parts fit was bad, finish could have been better and both ended up braking in various places. I eventually threw both of them away in disgust. Shoddy, shoddy, shoddy. Do not recommend. No experience with a CM's may try to track one down. Graham

Always assumed the Space Jockey was a gunner, sitting at a big cannon. Graham

The joints are nice and tight. Difficult to say if they are tighter than the VF-25F. I'll transform both the 25S and 25F back to battroid mode tonight or tomorrow and compare joints. They are both in fighter mode at the moment. One improvement I did notice, is that the VF-25S's neck base and neck locked into place very securely compared to the 25F. Unlocking the neck again was a bit tricky though. Had to resort to checking the manual to make sure I was doing it right. I also noticed that when trasnforming back to fighter mode, I had to push quite hard to get the nose cone locked in place. Same with closing the canopy, it took quite a bit of force to get it completely locked down. Graham

Nice to see Death Watch again. I especially liked the female Death Watch member. Although I never realised those Jetpacks allowed such fast and long endurance flight though.....hahah! So far season 4 has been so much better than the weak-ass effort that was the bulk of season 3. Graham

All my life, ever since first seeing Alien (in the 80s on UK TV), I've always throught the Space Jockey was skeletal alien remains. It never once occured to me that it was a space suit! Graham

Yay! what a huge improvement! Graham

That's why I said 'modern toys'. The 1/55 while a great toy for it's time, lacked detail, had minimal articulation by today's standards and big chunky joints. So yes, given it's simplicity is definitely more durable compared with most modern toys. The Bandai 1/65 DX VF-17 is another virtually unbreakable toy, but again, lacks articulation & gimmicks and has big chunky joints............notice a pattern here? LIke many things in life it's a trade-off. The consumer driven trend these days is for toys with a zillion points of articulation, gimmicks up the wazzo, 100% line art accurate sculpt and extreme pose-ability. Unfortunately these features more often than not conflict with the requirement for long-term durability. Unfortuantely, there's no way of escaping that the more small parts you have and the more joints you have (especially small joints), the greater the chance that something is going to become loose or break sooner or later (probably sooner). The fact that modern VF toys are now made in a country where the factories have a reputation for less then stellar QC for production and materials doesn't help either (although this is and has been improving in recent years). But lack of durability aside, do we really want to go back to the days of the Chunky Monkey, with inaccurate sculpts, gunpods that can't attach, no pilots, no missiles, the pose-abilty of a brick and a toy which sorta, kinda, maybe resembles the line art in bad light, if you squint and hold it at a certain angle? Like I said, it's a trade off. I think unfortunately, modern transforming VF toys, no matter made by which company should be looked at a lot, but touched infrequently (even then be prepared that your expensive collectors item may crumble and crack even if left untouched on the shelf ) Graham

Yes I'm sure it will, especially if they tampo on the chest markings, like I am pushing them to do. Graham

Extremely impressed by the VF-25S and also of the VF-25F. Both are great toys, look fantastic in a all three modes and are easy to transform. Bandai definitely hit a home run this time. I have a theory that for both Bandai and Yamato, given the increasining complexity/articulation/gimmicks/features/details/accuracy of modern VF toys, it takes both companies at least 2 generations of toys of a particular model to get the bugs worked out......LOL! Graham

Have you played the PSP games, Macross Ace Frontier, Macross Ultimate Frontier and Macross Triangle Frontier? Or the two recent PS3 demo Macross games based on the Macross Frontier movies? You may like them. Graham It's years and years since I last played Macross VO (never bought XP, just the original version). Cool video though. Graham

Wow, that sucks! I would be seriously upset. Hopefully, you can get it replaced and hopefully it's just an isolated incident. As eugimon said, it's probably just a bad cast of that metal part. Graham

Buy whichever design you like the best. If you like the VF-11, buy the VF-11. If you like the VF-1, buy the VF-1. If you are planning a collection of various variable fighters and having them all in the same scale is important, buy the VF-11, as there are many Macross VFs in this scale. If you don't care about scale and just want a large toy, but the VF-1. In the end it's up to you. Both are great toys. Graham

He means the white part of the head lasers on the v.2 Alto VF-25F are starting to turn yellow. A few people have noticed this happening already. Graham

The VF-17 is NOT a 'Stealth Bomber. It's classified as a 'Special Operations Fighter & Heavy Battroid'. While it's true the yellow stripes may degrade visual stealth and make it slightly easier to see with the MK I eyeball at visual ranges, they would not effect radar stealth or IR stealth. Graham

Pre order placed for 1 of each. I wasn't originally gonna order Alto's Armoured pack, but what the heck, I'm a sucker for the Armoured Packs. Graham The colour difference is minor and hardly noticable in person. Graham

As we all know, HLJ is notoriously slow at getting orders processed, packed and sent out, which is why on the rare occasion I need to order anything from Japan, I never use them any more. They are just too frustrating when you want something in a hurry. Graham

Is there supposed to be any detail at the back of the head? Lineart? But really, of all the things to nitpick about! Graham

Balcony, not bathroom. Graham

Close-up of the skull marking attached. Graham

The front is clear, with green at the back. Not 100% sure if the sides are clear plastic over green (I'm 90% sure they are, but it's hard to tell even looking close up). Graham

Close-up pics of the head attached. Graham

More "S" Commmander type photos, this time with the VF-0S added. Graham

Yes Yes, it is very impressive, especially compared with the fugly v.1. Graham

Nah, all my 22S are in fighter mode and I really hate transforming them. Plus with only 1 head laser, it doesn't really fit in. Graham

Damn, forgot to include the VF-0S. Will take a new photo later, out now. Graham