Graham

Capatain Blue has an American accent, Capatain Scarlet definitely does not. Graham

Still waiting to hear why HLJ charged for the arms. From what I'm understand they weren't supposed to, well maybe just a small handling charge, certainly not 1,500 per arm! Did anybody here order arms though another online Japan based retailer, besides HLJ? If so, did they charge? Graham

Nope, the 'F' doesn't stand for 'First'. Graham

Interchangeable pegging..........LOL! I was just reading a Savage Love column about pegging. Whatever turns you on I guess. Graham

The leg FAST packs could really do with 2 magnets each IMO. Graham

For those asking if the replacement arms have the harder ABS plus SBS parts, my only answer is: RMFP carefully! For those asking about the Shin arms, stay tuned for further information. Graham

VF-0 REPLACEMENT ARMS ANNOUNCEMENT Regarding the VF-0A and VF-0S replacement arms which Yamato has recently made available as spare parts, it seems there has been some misunderstanding and miscommunication between Yamato and myself regarding the exact nature of the improvement to the arms. Based on earlier discussions with Yamato, I was under the impression that the shoulder and elbow parts (the grey ABS plastic parts that have been widely reported on Macrossworld as getting stress marks and/or cracking), would be changed from ABS plastic to POM plastic. However, it turns out that this is not the case and any such statements to the effect are my mistake. Yamato spent a long while studying this phenomonen and determined that the stress marks and cracking of the ABS shoulder and elbow parts was caused by the ABS plastic having an adverse chemical reaction with the PVC parts located inside the arm (this is actually what they suspected from the beginning). Apparently, it is a well known phenomenon that PVC can react negatively with and weaken ABS. What Yamato have done on the replacement arms is two improvements, as follows: - 1) They have removed the PVC cup and O-ring from inside the arm and replaced them with SBS Rubber parts, so there will be no chemical weakening of the ABS. 2) Secondly, the ABS parts marked with a red & green circle in the attached picture were previously just regular ABS. After Yamato found the problem, they had the factory increase the hardness of the ABS material. Whether, these two changes will be enough, only time will tell. Personally, I would have liked them to increase the thickness of the oplastic as well, but that is not possible without complete retooling of the affected parts. Graham

The 1/60 is a thing of great beauty. Hopefully, Yamato can hit a home run and release it without any flaws. Graham

Sorry, got tied up at work. I promise I'll write the whole story tomorrow. Graham

End of August is correct at the moment. Yamato is being extra careful to work out all the bugs, hence the delay. So no, the toys have not shipped yet. Graham

Standy by, stand by. Graham

I've been pushing Yamato for ages to make a white YF-19, preferably one of the Super Nova color schemes, either the white with blue trim or white with orange trim. Graham

Never did receive my replacement parts . I've heard Garner has gone. Graham

Still, it's great that Experten are doing all three anime versions of the VF-22S. Graham

No it should not. Having seen the Experten close up, I can say it's not that impressive compared with the Yamato. Graham

Yes, the YF-21 can fit the 2 x gunpods to the belly plates without the FAST pack. It is shown flying with them and shooting them simulaneously with the lasers in fighter mode in episode # 2 of the OVA. Graham

With those lips, I'm sure she does......................and probably quite well. Graham

Still waiting for permission to post what I wrote........sorry Graham

I agree that Gerwalk mode should have chest locking. The lack of it in Battroid mode doesn't bother me at all though. Graham

If it wasn't for the increadibly ugly head sculpt, I'd pick up one of the Hikaru VF-1S Strike Valks, but that head is a real deal breaker. Graham

Bah, listen to the Marillion song 'Grendel'. Graham

"Discontinued" is perhaps the wrong word to use and somewhat misleading. All it means is that HLJ has sold out of their stock and need to order more from Yamato. Of course it could also mean that the toy has sold really well and Yamato has already sold the entire production run and has no more stock in inventory. In which case if there is enough demand Yamato may commission the factory to do a second production run. Graham

Moving this Trannie crap out of the Macross toy forum. Graham

Hear hear! Graham

100% conjuncture on my part, but I'm guessing the VF-1 Battroid kits did not sell as well as they hoped, certainly not as well as the VF-1 fighter kits. Perhaps the Macross Plus YF-19 and YF-21 fighter mode kits did also not sell as well as they expected, despite being fantastic kits (although a bit too skinny from the side) IMO. I think that it all comes down to cold hard profit. Hasegawa probably doesn't think there would be a good enough return on the expenses needed to make Macross Plus Battroids. Same applies to Gerwalks from any series. Graham