Graham

You tend to notice the exposed screws more in the publicity photos. When you actually have the toy in your hands they are less of an issue. The quality of this bodes well for the Legioss & Tread. Now if only CM's would make a diecast Helldiver. Graham

One theory that I've held for a long time is that by the 2040 to 2045 period (Mac Plus through Mac 7) the performance of VFs (speed, acceleration & manuverability) has improved to the point that missiles are simply just not that effective anymore and more emphasis is placed on gunpods and beam weapons as the primary form of armament. The seeming inaffectiveness of missiles is shown in the animation over and over again. In the opening of Mac Plus we see Isamu in his VF-11B easily dodge and outrun missiles from the Renegade Powered Armor. Also telling is that none of the VF-11B in the opening fight even bother to launch micro-missiles and instead rely on their gunpods. Later on, neither Guld or Isamu manage to score any hits on each other with missiles from their respective YF-21 & YF-19. And of couse there's Guld showing the true ability of the YF-21 by dodging all the high manuever missiles. In Macross 7, we see a very low hit rate from missiles fired by the VF-11Bs and VF-17D/Ss and much more reliance on gunpods and inbuilt beam weapons (VF-17) throughout the entire series. Gamlin does exceptionally well with his gunpod whether flying his VF-17 or a borrowed VF-11C (ep # 7). The design of later VFs seems to support the theory that missiles are becoming less important, with the VF-17, VF-19 & VF-21 all sporting more gunpods (or more spare magazines) & beam weapons than older generation Valks and fewer missiles. Graham

Broke down and picked up one yesteday for HK$658 (US$85). Not all shops in HK are that cheap and I did have to shop around to find such a good deal. Initial thoughts are that the sculpt is great, as is the paint application. Articulation is also fairly good. With all the diecast it's got a nice heft to it, although to be honest I'm not a huge fan of diecast in mecha toys as I always worry about paint chipping and hate it once a diecast toy gets a chip exposing the bare metal (not something you have to worry about with ABS toys). The styrofoam tray, gives the toy a nice old school feel. The shoulder LEDs are very well done and when switched on really look light police light bars. There are a few things I think CM's could have done better though, regarding the gimmicks and features: - 1) The little pop-up lights on the top of the chest don't actually pop up, they are in fact swapable parts for closed lights and open lights. This was a bit disappointing as at the size and price they could have made them folding. 2) Although the pilot seat can be reaised to the up position, it is not easy and required me to use a flat-tip srewdriver to to push the seat up. It would have been better if CM's could have added some sort of lever of switch to raise and lower the [pilot seat. 3) The heads actually include a moveable 'narrow-slit' riot visor, but it seems like you have to actually disassemble the head and remove the standard green visor before you can raise the riot visor. This is a bit of a half-assed design effort, they could have easily designed the head so that the green visor pushes out of the way as the riot visor is raised, without needing to disassemble the whole thing. 4) The shield attaches with two pegs, but they are not really secure enough and the shield does come off quite easily and the heavy weight of the diecast shield doesn't help. I would have preferred an ABS shield with better attachment points. 5) The screw holes should have had covers. 6) The cloth covers on the hip joints come untucked quite easily and CM's actually provide you with a small tool to push them back.....LOL! All in all, it's a nice toy with good QC and IMO certainly the best interpretation of the Ingram in toy form to date, but does have a few design related issues. Graham

That grill doesn't cover the cockpit hatch, which is on the top part of the chest, in front of the neck on the RX-79G. Graham

Definitely, getting 3 of the RX-79G, it looks great. I note there is no beam rifle though. I guess that means they will probably release an Ez-8 with beam rifle. Wonder if we will get the hover APC as well? Graham

Not official. I have several pics of that from WF, which I'll be putting up soon. It's just a Hasegawa 1/72 kit with custom delta wings. The delta wings are from the same company that sell the metal head lasers every year at WF. I forget the name of the company. Graham

Got some nice pics of this from WonderFest, will put them up over the weekend. Graham

Then the host vehicle would be huge and probably expensive. Graham

The VF-0A & Shin VF-0A are essentially Low Vis already. Camo may be a possibility. Graham

Are you planning to sculpt a new head? The 'D' head is different from the 'A' head. Graham

A toy may present problems. While the non transforming host vehicles such as the plane, sub etc would be simple, the transforming cockpit section would be tiny, that is is you assume a host vehicle size of about 12" (30cm) long. Graham

Cheapest I've seen this here in HK has been HK$650 (US$84). Getting very tempted. Graham

At WonderFest the batteries in the Fold Booster were nearly dead, so I didn't bother taking a video. The next day when I went to Yamato's office, I got to see it in all it's glory with fresh batteries, but stupidly didn't think to ask to take a video.....duh! Graham

The stand is propreitary to the SV-51. Regular Yamato Macross stands cannot be used with the SV-51 in Battroid mode, owing to the leg length which is too long for the stand. Graham

Yamato booth page up. Other WF report pages to follow soon. See it here. Graham

Yamato booth page up. Other WF report pages to follow soon. See it here. Graham

Yep, the grip folds for fighter mode. Graham

Bandai doesn't have a booth at WonderFest, neither do Hasegawa Graham

Photos all resized and thumbnails created. Just got to edit them all on to a page and write the text. Will start tonight after my son goes to sleep and the wife has been serviced. Graham

Having watched DYRL before seeing the TV series, I'm far more a fan of Hikaru's VF-1S color scheme than I am of Roys. Graham

f'rs??????? Ah, I get it, f'rs = first releases Graham

Actually, I missed those. I looked all around but didn't see them. Actually, we saw an 1 empty box, but that's all. Graham

There won't be any news so soon, especially as most of the factories in China are still closed for the Chinese New Year Holiday and don't open until the end of this week. Graham

Only in fighter mode this time, sorry. Graham

Yep. Graham