Graham

Before you start worrying, hopefully some of the 1/55 experts will, chime in, because reading that old thread from 2005, it seems like some Bandai 1/55 were shipped with non-notched head lasers. Graham

Checked my 1/55 Strike Valk, and it has the notched head lasers, see attached pic. Graham

History of commander "S" types. Graham

Tissues. I never have and never will smoke. Can't stand the smell. Growing up in a house with a chain smoking mum made me anti-smoking for life. Graham

Yes, it comes with the same coloured stand. Graham

A few quick unboxing pics snapped with my phone camera, under indoor night time lighting conditions, so sorry about the picture quality. note the toy comes with two sets of head lasers. These are a gummy (PVC?), but quite straight set on the toy and a spare harder (ABS?) set in the tray. The gunpod is a dark metallic grey. Graham

Just finished a marathon, tiring and sweaty toy hunt, running from shop to shop to beat closing time. No v.2 VF-25S to be found in Wanchai or Causeway Bay In fact sad to say, the long-running Animate branch on Sugar street has closed down Only one v.2 VF-25S to be found in Ins-Point in Yau Ma Tei, but the shop was asking an insane HK$1,800! Finally found a shop with several v.2 VF-25S on the second floor of Richmond Center at 111 Argyle Street, Mong Kok, selling for HK$1,680. As reported earlier, there are loads of v.2 VF-25F remaining in Hong Kong. I saw about a dozen tonight in various shops.Price averaging about HK$1,400. Graham When I get home tonight, will post a couple of quick unboxing pics. Graham

It's probably worth sending a PM to kanata67 as he probably knows the most about 1/55s, although we do have a lot of very knowedgeable people on this board. Graham

Just dug up this old thread from 2005. http://www.macrossworld.com/mwf/index.php?showtopic=16592 I'm wondering if at some stage your VF-1S had it's head replaced? Althought it seems like some of the old 1/55's did have straight (non-notched) head lasers. Graham

And raven029, just for your reference, most of us here don't use the 'Hi Metal' moniker when describing these guys, as it can lead to some confusion with the more modern toy line, as with jenius's post above. Usually, we just refer to it here as '1/55 Strike Valk', then everyone will know what you mean. Or if you want to be more exact 'Bandai 1/55 VF-1S Hikaru Strike Valkyrie' Graham

And at some stage (date TBC), we'll have: VF-17D. VF-17 Super Packs. VF-17S Milia (likely, but not confirmed yet). VF-19F. VF-19P. Graham

Will check my 1/55 Strike Valk when I get home tonight. Graham

I hope this time they remember to mold in the vent detail on the sides of the leg missile launchers, as they completely forgot it on the v.1 armour. Graham

When I get it, I'm gonna have to take a group photo of commander types together (VF-0S, VF-1S, VF-17S, VF-19S, VF-25S). Graham

Not quite sure what notch you mean on the head lasers. Can you post a pic please? Graham

Just checked 188 Center in Wanchai and no sign of it yet. Will check out Animate in Causeway Bay tonight and also do a Mong Kok run if necessary. Graham

That slot is for attaching the Super Packs to the legs in battroid mode. Graham

A new toy and not a reissue, but the new VF-25S renewal version has the 30th Anniversary logo on the box (see the VF-25 toy thread for pics). Graham

Really, we don't want re-releases of the Zero toy. The whole thing could do with a total redesign IMO. Or at least make the whole thing much tighter with stronger shoulder/elbow/knee joints made out of a plastic that is not going to self-destruct! Graham

I still miss the days of painted box art by artists like Yuji Kaida and Yoshiyuki Takani Oh, yeah, I still don't get what exactly people were complaining about regarding the paint scheme of the Ozma VF-25S. can somebody eleborate please? I'm going hunting for it later today, so when/if I get it, I'll post some pics so those people who where worried about the paint scheme can see if the actual production toy is correct or not. Graham

I'd also love a VF-171, VF-171EX and RVF-171, but I just don't feel they are gonna happen. Although Bandai has been making better Macross products recently, they just don't seem to be into the whole 'pleasing fans with every existing model and paint variant' like Yamato does. To be honest, it just boggles my mind that Bandai have not re-released the YF-29 or released paint variations of the YF-29 like Ozma's from the PS3 game, given the popularity of the toy and the fact that the first run sold out so quickly. If not to please fans, but just to amortize the cost of the tooling, which must have been very expensive. Graham

Is it a helmet? I always thought it was the Space Jockey's skull. Graham

What's more intresting is that the second picture shows hard points on the wings and belly of the VF-4 Graham

I also experienced the seat and seat base coming unglued last night, when opening the canopy in fighter mode. This is beacuse the canopy hinge and also the sliding pillar that the canopy is connected to is quite tight, so that when you are trying to open the canopy and pull it up, the canopy support pillar is basically pulling up (exerting force) on the seat base and the small dab of glue used by the factory to hold the seat base in place may in many toys be insufficient to keep the seat base in place. Anyway, if the seat and seat base comes loose, nothing breaks and it's just a simple 1 minute fix of adding more superglue to secure those parts in place. Just make sure you don't get any super glue on the sliding canopy pillar, or you may glue it in place and not be able to open or close the canopy. Graham

Well, I compared my Bandai 1/250 scale Macross Fighter Collection VF-1 and VF-4 the other night and the VF-4 is a bit longer than the VF-1, but it's not a huge plane like the VF-0 or YF-19. I guess in 1/60 scale the VF-4 will end up being a couble of cm longer than the VF-1. Will post a pic later. Graham