Graham

What the heck are you using to open the landing gear on your Yamatos, a screwdriver, with an extremely sharp head and then just stabbing it while blindfolded into the landing gear well multiple times? If I can't get a landing gear open with just my fingers, I'll use either a wood toothpick or the plastic shirt clip from a cheap ballpen that has a removeable cap. I've opened landing gear on my Yamatos many times and never had paint chipping like that on any of them. Graham

Yamato are aiming for the end of the year for the 19Kai, so it will probably be a while before we see and prototype pics or CAD lineart. Graham

Sounds like, Alex has infected Renato with whatever strange Valk killer disease he has. Seems like it's highly contagious. Maybe I should cancel my trip to Japan in April. Don't want to get infected with the dreaded Valk Killer disease. Graham

Depends, do you want me to get working on getting the replacement shoulder hinges packed up and sent out, or would you rather I do a review of the VF-27. Priorities, priorities, priorities! Graham

I don't know why so many complaints about the poseability (or lack thereof) of the VF-27's hips. I find the articulation and poseability to be very good. Graham

Just to say both my VF-11C are perfect. I'll likely be picking up a third one next week. Fantastic toy. Graham

What happened to Renato? My slow-ass antique computer is having trouble with the download. Graham

Heh, my view is a bit different, well more like 180 degrees from yours. I'm like "the Bandai VF-27 DX is overall a great toy and is close to approaching Yamato levels of awesomeness, but Bandai still need to take a few more lessons from Yamato before they get there".........LOL! Graham

What happened to Renato? Can't be bothered to load the movie on my slow-ass antique computer. Graham

Where are you getting the 8 barrel info from? Always thought it was 7 barrel. Graham

I may be wrong, but my understanding is that with present day technolgy, solid state lasers are still only in the kilowatt range, where as chemical lasers are in the megawatt range. Graham

Hoping that the 3rd game in the series will be announced soon. I wonder what the title wil be this time. 'Macross Extreme Frontier' perhaps? Graham

Friend sent me this link with these cool Boneyard pics. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8530165.stm I'd love to visit there. Graham

I really wish Bandai would do some different Valks from Yamato, like the VF-2SS w/SAP, VF-2JA, VF-17D/S, VF-171, VF-4. Graham

Hopefully it will have the T-50 Pak Fa! Have to go back and retry Ace Combat X, I gave up on it after getting stuck on a mission. Graham

There are no dysfunctional crotches (so far) on the VF-27. Croth lock is nice and tight. Much tighter than even the tightest VF-25 croth lock. And although I haven't compared sizes, the VF-27's crotch lock does seem a bit bigger (I may be wrong though). Anyway, it's a great toy, far more enjoyable than the V-25 series. Just take care of the paint on the nose when transforming.....LOL! Graham

Watch out for the little hinged canards when transforming. One popped off the day before yesterday during transformation and I didn't even noticed for a whole day. Luckily it hadn't been swept up when the floor was being cleaned and I was still able to find it. My heart stopped a beat when I first realized it was missing though. Graham

Sloppy paintjob aside, it is a very nice toy. A quantum leap from the VF-25 DX. So as I've got 2, does that mean I have sloppy seconds? Graham

I already bought a scond one last Friday at the CWB Animate. Haven't unboxed it yet though. Luckily my friend who is a fairly skilled model builder has agreeed to touch up the nose of my damaged VF-27 for me. Graham

YF-21 is nice and all, but I was hoping for a VF-171 or VF-17. Bandai really hates me. Graham

White is apparently 'anime accurate' for the shoulder area you mention. Glad it doesn't have the "cool rainbow colory effect" on the canopy, as occasionally it has been shown to crack and peel off. As I mentioned in another post, Yamato have decided to stop using it for that very reason on all new VFs. The lower heatshiled should loock in place, you just need to pull it up until it clicks in place. Graham

Still stock of the VF-27 Brera in Animate here as of today. Graham

Given that the green type is referred to as 'Normal Type' (model kit) and 'Mass Product' type (1/250 Macross Fighter Collection toy), I think it's safe to assume that there are more than 2 of them. Certainly in some of the PSP Frontier MUF missions, there are many green VF-25s. Graham

Agreed, the sculpt, engineering, gimmicks, articulation on this toy are all really great. I just wish Bandai would use a matte plastic like Yamato so the paint would adhere better. Graham

Maybe I'm describing the colors incorrectly, plus the flash from the camera makes them look brighter than they are. Using the color chart here (http://www.visibone.com/colorlab/) I guess the color of the paint that's scrapped off the nose cone would be FFCCFF Pale Weak Magenta (that's the closest match I can see), whereas the base plastic underneath would be I guess 660033 Obscure Dull Pink. I think everybody knows what I am talking about from the picture, even if I did use the wrong choice of colors to describe it. Graham