Graham

Canned bread????????? Graham

Agreed, designing the 1/100 to have durable, accurate looking, folding landing gear while keeping the price at the rumored 5,000 may have been difficult. However there is no excuse on the 1/60. At that scale it is certainly possible. Graham

Has anybody actually managed to move all three boxes to the green zone in the M7 box mission? If yes how? I don't think it's possible. It's now one of only two M7 mission that I don't have an 'S' rank on yet. Graham

Fz-109F rocks. Got a huge thrill from wasting Max & Milia in their VF-22s. Graham

Hey David, Do you want to start a side business, painting Altos? I'd pay to have my Alto painted, as there's no way I'm going to attempt it myself. My skill level with paints is far too low. Graham

That's not Armoured Alto, that's Alto with Super packs, which was shown at a recent hobby show along with the RVF-25 & VF-25G. Photos from the show shoud just be 1-2 pages back in this thread. Graham

Here's the other 2 pages from the article on the modified VF-25S. The battroid mode doesn't seem to have been adversely affected by the modifications. Graham

There are pics of Battroid mode. I'll scan and post them tomorrow. Graham

I know we are not their intended market, and that Chrismas traditions are perhaps not widely followed in Japan, but I really hate it when the Japanese release toys on Christmas day. Just a week or two before would be enough that we could actually have them under our trees on Christmas day. Despite being disappointed with the toy so far, it would still be cool to have it to open on Christmas day. Graham

It's just something that locks the ankle in place in battroid mode to prevent it from retracting back into the leg. Probably not even necessary as the kit is lightweight and doubtful it's heavy enough to make the ankle collapse under the weight of the kit. Graham

I think it's fair to say that since they first started designing variable Macross toys back in 1999, Yamato have improved leaps and bounds in terms of the appearance, features and overall designs of their high-end collectors pieces. However, I think most of us also acknowledge that Yamato still have some way to go in terms of durability. Specifically the durability, design, long-term tightness and material strength of the joints on their toys. That's not to say that all joints on all Yamato toys are bad. On the contrary most joints on the majority of the toys are fine. However, there are still enough documented cases of joints either breaking or just plain disintegrating that improvement from Yamato is still needed. But this thread is not about Yamato, it is about Bandai, or more specifically Bandai’s upcoming 1/60 scale DX VF-25 toys. Now, I for one am glad these Bandai DX toys will be sturdy, that’s one less thing to worry about. However, I am still disappointed with the overall appearance of these toys. The major points that bug me are: The drooping nose in fighter mode, the overly short, lacking in detail, shopping trolley landing gear, the too long 'Michael Jackson ankles' (I have no idea who or what an 'Urkle' is, so I'm calling them Michael Jackson ankles instead), the hips sitting too high in battroid mode, the engine nacelles sitting too low in battroid mode, the lack of a neck on Ozma, the gap between the head and backplate in Altos fighter mode. Minor things that annoy me are: The black dots on the shoulders are too small. The biceps look too chunky and there seems to be no molded on detail on the inside of the backplate, unlike the model kit, which is full of detail. Bandai does have the skill and experience to make these toys look much better, while still keeping the durability. I've sat in on enough design and production meetings with Yamato over the last 9 years to know what is and is not technically possible. Bandai really could have made these look nicer. It really would not be that difficult and durability would not have to be sacrificed. I'm not talking about making them 100% anime accurate, but definitely they could look far better than they look now. But that is not the route that Bandai chose. They seem to think that the Japanese consumer wants a more chunky looking toy with durability being the main criteria and appearance being less important. Graham

I'm still hoping that Ozma's VF-25 does indeed have a neck and it's just been mistransformed in every pic shown so far. Am I being too optimistic! Graham

Scan from the new December 2008 issue of Dengeki Hobby magazine, showing some of the CAD art from the upcoming RVF-25 and VF-25G at the bottom of the page. Graham

OK, here's scans of 2 pages of the article, which shows the custom mods. Graham

Private Army and Lion still my favorite BGM and song respectively. Graham

This is a Frontier News thread. That is nothing to do with Frontier. Also, very old news. See the GN-U thread in the toy section. Graham

Urghhhh!.....shudders. No, thanks. They would look hideous IMO, with those big ugly RevoltingTM ball joints and cheap rubbery PVC construction. Now a WAVE WHAM or Yamato GN-U Frontier and Galaxy I could seriously go for. Graham (Certified Revoltech hater)

In case this hasn't been mentioned yet. In the new December 2008 issue of Dengeki Hobby magazine, there is a photo article on a Bandai VF-25S that has been customised as follows: - 1) Full size, working, folding landing gear added (looks really nice). 2) Multiple small pegs added to help lock the fighter mode together better. 3) Gunpod and forearms modified so that the gunpod can attach directly to the arms in fighter mode, without having to use the attachment piece. Graham

It is possible. The DX team are just lazy. In the new December 08 issue of Dengeki Hobby magazine, there is an article on a Bandai 1/72 scale VF-25S kit that has been customised so that it does have full size, working folding landing gear. It's also been customised so that it has several small pegs to hold it together better in fighter mode and a gunpod that can attach to the fighter without the use of the connecting piece. This shows it is possible to have a VF-25 with full size, nice looking landing gear. Graham

Landing gear on these looks nice. Graham

I don't think they re-did the head. I think the top front of the head actually hingges down slightly for fighter mode and in that older battroid mode pic, it was incorrectly hinged down. Graham

Just played the M7 Ex-mission where you play Mylene flying the red VF-1J. Man, after getting used to the souped up VF-17 and VF-22, the VF-1 really seems slow and weak. Sort of makes me not looking forward to playing the SDF missions now. Anybody know how you unlock Max's blue VF-22? Graham

Landing gear on the 1/100 looks much, much better than on the 1/60, even if it is removeable. Graham

Amazon JP, Amazon UK and Amazon US don't usually ship toys or games to overseas addresses. Not sure why, but all are the same. Graham

Heh, you guys & I'm still on the M7 missions. Actually on the enemy missions and getting creamed by Basara and Mylene, oh the shame. LOL! REally enjoying this game and M7 era. Graham