Graham

Actually, the more I compare my completed Hasagawa kit to Kawamori's 3/4 view lineart, the more the kit looks completely wrong to me. The forward fuselage (plane's neck), intake section and lower legs are all far too skinny and lacking in curves compared to Kawamori's 3/4 view lineart. Plus the Hasegawa has almost no belly curve. It should have some. Also, based on the position of the gunpod in Kawamori's art, the Hasegawa gunpod also extends too far forward. It should only come as far as the angled line on the mid-thigh, whereas Hasagawa have it coming to the thick black vertical line at the top of the thigh. Not knocking the Hasegawa kit. It's still a great kit, but it's not the be all and end all as far as accuracy is concerned. The main problem is that even from Kawamori, there are so many differently drawn versions of the YF-19 and so much anime magic involved, that it's impossible to make a definitive perfect version in one mode, let alone a perfect variable toy or model in all three modes. Graham

Yamato is all about perfect transformation these days. Removal of major parts died with the 1/60 VF-1 line. While removal of small optional parts such as intake covers and pitot tubes is acceptable, they won't go back to large removeable parts. Graham

IMO, the Yamato top view fighter mode CAD lineart is 98% spot on. The, Yamato side view fighter mode lineart is perhaps 70% when compared against the Hasagawa, TIAS etc side view lineart. However, when compared against Kawamori's 3/4 view lineart, the Yamato is much closer, perhaps 90%, as a lot of Kawamori's fighter mode lineart has a short nose, bigger curved belly, thicker forward fuselage and thicker lower legs and intakes. Anyway, the YF-19 probably uses the most anime-magic in it's transformation of any of Kawamori's designs. One of the prime areas being the intakes, which are a completely different shape in battroid and fighter modes. Graham

Just to lay all rumors to rest, I don't have a prototype. Wish I did, but I don't. Graham

I'd only buy this if you could play Planet Dance and Seventh Moon. Graham

Wasn't Toynami supposed to be making a PVC SDF-1, to be sold in parts together with the VF-1 Superposeables? I thought I remember reading about that once. Graham

Just a correction, this is not a Toynami figure. It's made by Popbox, using a Toynami 12" body. Graham

Damn, the Hong Kong release has been rescheduled to 13 July. Saw the CNN news story this morning, about how the phrase "Truth, Justice & the American way" is not used in the movie, instead, it's been changed to "Truth, Justice......and all that stuff". LOL! Graham

Just fixed the poll and also added 'None' and 'Other' options. Graham

Heh, but whether a flight suit version comes, may depend on how well the blue uniform version sells first. If people don't buy it cus they are waiting for the flight suit version, then it may end up not getting made. Graham

The Bandai 1/65 scale VF-19Kai & VF-19S toys have terrible proportions in both fighter and battroid modes. In fighter mode, the LERX extend all the way to the hybrid sensors, which is completely wrong. Graham

Guys, I've just thrown together a lineart comparison. Enjoy. Graham

As I've said before, while others cried watching their favorite transformers die in the movie, I cheered! Evil Graham

As I've said a few times already, trust me when I say it looks even better than the CAD lineart. Graham

Does it matter what weapons they use? I mean if the movie follows the TV series, they'll never hit anything anyway. Graham

Sorry, but there's just something about that Starscream toy pic which looks so gay. Graham

I take it you are referring to the custom one-off Hasegawa conversion that appeared in the July 2002 issue of Hobby Japan magazine? (For those of you who don't know, the scans are in the MW magazine section). While that custom has a sleek fighter mode, which seems to be extremely accurate to the lineart, it gets that by sacrificing battroid mode proportions and having a lanky looking battroid. The battroids torso especially is too long. Not too impressed with the face sculpt either, but that's nit-picking. It's a nice kit though, especially as it's the only up to now that has a groin piece that actually folds the correct way in fighter mode. While Yamato traditionally emphasise fighter mode the most, they can't over-emphasis it to the extent that the battroid mode suffers too much, which is why certain compromises have to be made to get the toy looking good in all three modes. Graham

You are joking right? The forward sections are totaly different. 1/72 canopy shape is completely the wrong. 1/72 landing gear wheels are half exposed even when closed. 1/72 has two ugly bumps on the underside of the nose, where the front landing gear attaches. 1/72 hybrid sensors are wrong shape. Front landing gear is too sort and mounted in the wrong location. The new 1/60 has corrected all the above problems with the old 1/72's forward section, as well as the many, many issues with the rear section. For sleekness, the new 1/60 YF-19 has every other production transforming YF-19 toy or model beat IMO. Graham

Heh, just for laughs anybody want to post a comparison pic of the 1/60 VF-1 pilot next to the 1/60 VF-0S pilot. Graham

From what I understand, these aren't technically reissues, just the second part of the first production run, so still expect loose knees and elbows. A proper improved second run with tighter joints should be out later sometime this year I think. And of course the upcoming VF-0A should have all the improvements Graham

No, there was never a second run of the 1/48 Max 1A. I believe the first run sold worse than anticipated and some stock did get stored in a warehouse for a while. AFAIK, I think it's all gone now finally. Graham

Updated the Macrossworld Low Vis GBP page in the toy section with the new pics. Graham

OK guys, the review is now up. Graham

If Yamato did make a PV version at that scale durable enough, I'd go for it, but would not be interested in buying the full line due to VF-1 burn-out syndrome. Variants I'd buy would be:- Hikaru's DYRL VF-1S Strike Valkyrie. VT-1 VE-1 Max's DYRL VF-1A. As you can see, I'm more of a DYRL fan than a TV series fan. But rather than more VF-1 toys, I'd prefer to see Yamato tackle design not done before like the VF-4, VF-5000, VF-17, VF-22 etc. Graham

I've never tried taking the fuel blisters off mine. Will try when I have time. If Yamato do release a version of the VF-0A/S with Ghost Booster, they will need to redesign the fuel blisters, as in the OVA, the blisters have pylons fitted, holding micro-missile pods. Graham