Graham

Not necessarily true. Graham

Here’s my mini-review, based on my somewhat limited time spent with the toy so far – 1 hour and 1 transformation. My opinions/impressions may change later. OK, so I finally received my 1/100 VF-25F from HLJ yesterday, but had to wait until after my son went to bed at 9pm, before I could open it up. My initial impressions from the packing are that Bandai loves sticky tape. I think they must have used a whole role of the stuff, not only on sealing the box, but also on taping the many clear plastic inner trays together! So after cutting my way through all the tape, I start separating the inner trays. Boy, are there a lot of them. Just when you think you have got to the last inner tray, you find there are still more, each with tons of tiny little parts. Which brings me neatly onto the subject of parts. Now we have all seen the hobby magazine photos and known for months that this thing is going to have lots of small parts, but the sheer number doesn’t really hit you until you have them spread out before you. Lots and lots of small fiddly, tiny, little parts. So I take the battroid out of the box. Not too bad, feels a bit flimsy and fragile, but that is to be expected given the size. It probably isn’t fragile in reality, but time will tell I guess. The back plate hinge seems quite loose and keeps wanting to flip up when I’m handling it, no big deal, means I just need to hold the toy a different way. The joints in battroid mode seem reasonably tight, but as these are ABS ball in ABS socket type affairs, I’m sure they may loosen up after a while. As I mentioned in an earlier post today, the appearance of the 1/100 VF-25 appears almost identical to a scaled-down DX, right down to the cut-out on the underside of the nose and the incorrect hip positioning (both unnecessarily copied from the DX). Next I take a look at the black and white photo instruction sheet, which overall is pretty clear and easy to follow, except for the part about removing the battroid mode crotch piece, which isn’t very clear at all. I was a bit nervous during my first transformation from battroid to fighter, as the instructions didn’t show (and I wasn’t sure), which way I should pull the crotch piece to remove it. Anyway, besides that, the rest of the instructions where pretty clear and simple to follow and transformation was fairly straightforward, if somewhat time consuming (took about 20 minutes) and fiddly, due to the small size of many of the parts. During transformation from battroid to fighter mode, I bent the tips of one of the fingers of the Karate-chop hands while trying to get it into the shield. That is a very fiddly part of the transformation. Luckily I was able to get the finger tip straightened again. Some members have posted that fighter mode locks together well, while others have posted it doesn’t. My experience is that the chest, nose/cockpit, hips and upper legs, arms and shield all lock together solidly. Hip guns sit in place nicely, although they are not locked. However, the wing gloves and lower legs do not lock at all. When you pick up the toys, the lower legs want to droop down slightly and the wing gloves want to hinge up at the slightest touch. This is the most disappointing aspect of fighter mode IMO, that there are no locking pegs for the wing gloves. Fighter mode sculpt is improved over the DX in the following areas: - 1) The ventral lower leg fins are now angled out correctly, unlike the DX, where they are hang straight down. 2) The wings now sit parallel to the ground when viewed from the front or back, unlike the DX, where the wings are angled up. 3) Landing gear is longer and more detailed than the DX, but also far more fragile. My other major concern is the worry of some of the small parts such as ventral leg fins, tail fins, rear landing gear doors, even rear landing gear falling off and getting lost during play. Some of these parts are only held in place by friction fit and not too tightly at that. Some parts like the rear landing gear, I was scared to push them in too tightly for worry about snapping pegs on removal. As with other members who have posted reviews, my PVC fighter mode (closed) gunpod was as bent as a banana, but a short dip in hot water, followed by a bit of bending to reshape it quickly took care of that And before somebody asks, there is no sticker sheet and all the markings are printed on. My conclusion so far is that this is a fairly nice looking toy, although to be honest not much different in proportions from the DX. However, it is quite fiddly to transform and there are a heck of a lot of parts to keep track of. Also, there is the nagging worrying that parts are going to fall off during play and I won’t notice and will lose them. This is not the toy to take outside to play on the grass. One of the things I love about the DX is that is easy to transform, fairly rugged and given that it is (near) perfect transformation, there are minimal parts to worry about (hands and gunpod clip basically). I can transform and play with the DX without worry. The 1/100 on the other hand, doesn’t give me that carefree feeling of enjoyment. Instead, I constantly find myself checking the damn thing to see if anything has snapped or fallen off. The jury is still out on whether I will buy any more of these. If Bandai releases 1/100 VFs that are not available in other toy lines, such as a VF-171 or VF-2SS, I will likely buy them. For VFs that are already available as other better toys, I will probably pass on the 1/100. For the VF-25, I think I will stick with the DX. Graham

My 1/100 VF-25F arrived from HLJ yesterday. I’ll post more comments in a separate post, but for now, I want to discuss a revelation I had about the toy. OK, perhaps theory is a better word than revelation. Anyway, after studying the toy, I’m convinced the designers based the overall look of the 1/100 on the 1/60 DX sculpt, rather than the line art or CG art. Previously some members have commented that the 1/100 resembled the 1/60, but I didn’t really see it myself until actually holding the toy in my hands. After holding the toy in my hands. It’s obvious to me that the battroid mode is a near exact copy looks-wise of the 1/60. From the misplaced hip joints, down to the chunky legs. Even in fighter mode, especially from the side, the same thick legs and slightly down-turned nose are evident. There are two main points that make me think the 1/100 is based visually on the 1/60: - 1) On the 1/60 DX, the battroid mode waist joint leaves an unsightly cut-out in the underside of the fighter mode nose, that spoils the clean lines of the fighter. The 1/100 features exactly the same cut-out, which is completely unnecessary on the 1/100 as there is no waist joint. 2) The second piece of damning evidence is of course incorrectly positioned hip joints. As the 1/100 uses a completely separate crotch piece for battroid mode, there is no excuse for having the legs in the wrong place. Graham

As I've been saying unconfirmed rumor goes that, Bandai outsourced the design duties for both the DX and 1/100 to a tier 3, possibly non-Japanese, less experienced design team. I still like the DX though, warts and all. Graham

Feb 09 reissues!!!!!! February has come and gone already! Hmm, now I'm confused, I was under the impression that the VF-25F reissue wasn't until March or April and the VF-25S reissue not until April or May (I forget the exact month and can't be bothered to search), but I'm damn sure it wasn't as soon as February. Heh, anyway, poor Mr. VF-25 DX reissue has so many holes, he's starting to look like swiss cheese. Graham

Although be aware, with frequent handling the paint does rub off this toy quite easily, possibly due to the paint not adhering too well to the gloss plastic used, as several of us have found already. My advice, don't be afraid to handle and transform the DX, but try to avoid touching the black/red (VF-25F) and black/yellow (VF-25S) trim areas unnecessarily, to avoid the paint rubbing off premeturely. Graham

New thread as the old one has been retired to the hall of Super Threads. Still waiting for my VF-25F to arrive from HLJ. Managing to resist the temptation to walk a couple of hundred meters up the street and pick one up. Graham

Shouldn't that be 'CIWS' (Close In Weapons Systems). Graham

Will pass. Mecha with car bodies wearing oversize sneakers do absolutely nothing for me. As others have said, let's hope Kawamori gets this silliness out of his system before working on the next new Macross project. Graham

Hoping the line survives long enough that we at least get a VF-171.

Hopefully, we'll get a new head sculpt and a redesigned neck that can extend more. The present neck isn't too bad, if you know the correct transformation method (which some people still don't), but of course with the armor fitted a longer neck will look much better. Graham

Can't wait for this. It's my number one 'must have' purchase for 2009. I love the look of the VF-25S with Armored pack. I hope the Bandai sculpt does the design justice. Graham

Wasn't 'Bateman' the name of the main character in the novel/movie American Psycho? Graham

I'd love to see a reissue of the 1/55 VT-1 and VE-1 bt I think it was pretty obvious since last year that it just wasn't going to happen. I'm guessing sales must have been pretty poor on the Japanese side. While Bandai has the Macross Frontier market cornered, I think the majority of consumers have chosen to stick with Yamato 1/48 or 1/60 for their VF-1 fix. I guess the sales figures to the die-hard Chunky fans is not enough to keep the 1/55 alive. Bandai have tested the waters twice for the 1/55 in recent times. Unfortunately, I doubt they will try a third time. Looks like the poor Chunky just doesn't sell well enough anymore. Graham

Checked prices in a couple of shops here today, both were selling for HK$350, which is about US$46. Graham

Hopefully mine will be arriving today or tomorrow from HLJ. Seriously, I shouldn't have ordered from HLJ. I was scared of a repeat of the model kit situation of them not being available for ages, of of the DX situation with them selling at really high price, but it turns out that quite a few shops here have them and not too crazy price either. When I saw it in the shop yesterday, it did look really tiny. Even though I haven't handled it yet, I also don't know why they designed it that you need to swap out so many parts. Really, it is totally feasible to design it with less parts swapping. Again my guess is a tier 3 design team. Graham

For those that have it, do they come with a display stand?

I wonder if there is also an airframe time restriction for lower Gs? Or perhaps the airframe can pull say 26Gs indefinitely without overstressing.

Saw it in one shop in Wanchai district so far. No price displayed (I hate it when shops do that), so I didn't ask. Graham

Too cool! Graham

Just received the shipping notice email from HLj.

Regardless of whether you plan to watch the movie, read the book......now!

Good point. If it's not time limited, the effectiveness of the VF-25 is even better. Also, to add Gubbaba's translation from the Macross Chronicles VF-25S page into the discussion: - Graham

Start one then, or better yet start a technology thread for each series. Graham

Been wondering about the reset time (if there is one), for the ICS pilot G-protection maximimm of 120 seconds at 27.5G time limit. Let's say the pilot does fly for 120 seconds at max G, I'd really love to know how long before the pilot can utilise the ICS again? Perhaps it's also a 120 seconds reset time or maybe longer. Or maybe the G force is converted into energy stored in capacitors, which has to be used (for things such as pin point barrier, transformation etc.), before the ICS kicks in again? Also, if pulling lower Gs, say 15G for example I guess the ICS may provide longer protection. Graham