Graham

Had a chance to examine and transform a VF-11B test shot yesterday Transformation was fairly easy, only one tricky area. The toy looks fantastic and feels pretty solid. Several aspects of the transformation are quite ingenious, especially the heatshield. Light years ahead of the old 1/72 scale version. IMO. Really looking forward to this even more now. Graham

While we all know that these days most Japanese toys are made in China to save costs, the majority are still designed by Japanese design teams. However, a little birdy in the industry told me that not only was the DX VF-25 made in China, but the job of designing the Bandai DX VF-25 was also farmed out to a Chinese design team. While it’s still a decent toy in its own right, this piece of information may explain why in main respects the toy does appear to be about 10 years behind the latest Japanese state of the art in toy design. Graham

Hey, I think this picture I found online is from the live action G.I. Joe movie. Graham

Only Gundam anime I would be interested to watch is Sentinel. Graham

Fighter mode appearance is much improved over the DX IMO. No more down-turned nose. Longer (more anime accurate) nose too. Longer landing gear. Legs appear to sit higher, i.e. less gap between the top rear of the legs and the backplate. No ugly triangular cut out on the underside of the nose either. Graham

I find it funny that both convenience store clerks were able to identify the weapon. Obviously, this points to some correllation between being a Trekkie and working as a convenience store clerk. Graham

IIRC, the YF-19's canards are also POM. Correct that POM can't be painted easily, which was why Yamato included a second pair of ABS canards with the YF-19 in case anybody wanted to do a custom paint scheme. Graham

No movie toys have been announced yet. It's far too early! Heck, it's not even confirmed that there will be any differences between the mecha in the TV series and the mecha in the movie. At this stage, it's just an unconfirmed idea that the creators were thinking of. Graham

Also getting annoyed that all the books are basically the same with just slight variations and focus 95% on the characters and episodes with very few pages devoted to the mecha. If we get one more episode stills guide I'm gonna scream. For mecha fans seems like the best source is actually Hobby Japan magazine has they have had several issues with detailed lineart of various parts of the VF-25 (legs, RVF-25 radome, Super Packs) and also the largest, clearest CG pics of the mecha published so far in any source. Graham

Heh, maybe that will read something like this: "About 50 years ago momma Kawamori and papa Kawamori hugged very tightly and then papa Kawamori inserted his XXXXXX into XXXXXXX and 9 months later little Shoji was born". Graham

As long as they can sing in tune. Graham

I order Macross Chronicles and Macross Frontier books through either Amazon Japan or HMV Japan. Both sites have English pages, so are easy to navigate and use. Shpping fees are a killer though. Graham

Heh Pete, that honestly has to be one of the worst ideas I've ever read. I can think of nothing worse than having to listen to fat, sweaty fanboys sing badly out of tune karaoke renditions of Totsugeki Love Heart. My ears are already bleeding just at the thought. Graham

Got my copy yesterday as well, not bad, but still not much mecha lineart. Still waiting for the definitive Frontier mecha lineart book and complete Frontier BGM collection CD. Graham

I hold my VF-25F DX between the legs in battroid mode. This way you avoid holding the back panel behind the head and rubbing off the red and black markings. Graham

Mine arrived yesterday. Pretty good and as Sketchley said the best of the books so far. Still pretty light on mecha lineart though. Graham

Heh, as usual Bandai is really bad at posing the DX. You'd think they'd be able to pose their own toy better. I note from this pic, there are still no wing hard points, for attachement of the missile and speaker sets. Graham

DX and 1/100. Graham

Wrong thread. This ir the Macross Frontier news thread, not an AC thread.

Not frustrating at all. It's easy. Just follow edwin3060's simple 2 push method & the neck locks into the correct position automatically.

In Hong Kong, between HK$1,000 to HK$1,400 each depending where you shop.

Don't worry too much about the paint rubbing off. Just enjoy the toy. Do what I do, which is when you handle the toy, try to just hold it by the unpainted parts. This is pretty much normal anyway, as must of the areas that you will hold the toy during play or transformation are unpainted anyway. Just be careful with the back of the hips rubbing against the swing-bars in battroid mode. This area of rubbing can be eliminated by opening the joint below the hips by one click. I've transformed both my Alto and Ozma about a dozen times and don't have any paint wear from handling the toy. The only paint wear I have is on the swing bar of the Ozma from the back of the hip rubbing in battroid mode, but I have since learned how to prevent that by careful positioing of the hips. Graham

No review, but I bought one for my 4 1/2 year old son for Christmas and he loves it as he's a big Voltes V fan (he has the complete series VCD set dubbed in English). It's still tight a month later and despite being subject to typical 4 1/2 year old type play, only a couple of very small parts have broken. Surprisingly no paint chipping yet either. Graham

You're serious, !???????? Hope that's not canon. Graham

There's a third one? Didn't even know they'd made a second! Pass, not my thing. Graham