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

LOL.........if only you knew how many years the new YF-19 has been in development! 'Fast' is not the word I would use to describe it And the VF-0A only involves a new head and color change, so of course it is quick. Graham

While the Garland does appear to have numerous weak points, statistically speaking, the number of reported breakages is so far very low. Still sucks for those of us with broken Garlands tho! At least replacement parts should not be hard to obtain for it as there are no licencing issues like there are with Macross toys. I think generally Yamato's products are pretty durable, given the inherent strength limitations of complex transfoming plastic toys. I'm certainly not planning to stop buying from them because of one broken toy. I've had close to twenty 1/48 and only broke one BP-8 hinge through my own fault. No other parts broken, despite some falls and rough handling. I'm satisfied it's a tough toy. I've owned over a dozen YF-19 and VF-19A and only broke 1 x Tab B on the first release. The ver.2 YF-19 and VF-19A are very durable toys, especially the VF-19A with solid knees, which is a brick. Owned maybe 20 x 1/60 VF-1 and never had a breakage. Owned several original YF-21, with no breakage. Did break the crappy detachable landing gear on the YF-21FP, but the FP version is crap anyway. Have some stress marks on my VB-6, but no breaks. Q-Raus are all fine. My 4 x VF-11B-FP are all fine, no problems at all. Of course had a couple of hip breakages on the dozen or so original VF-11B that have passed through my hands My 3 x VF-0S are all fine, except for one bent tail spike, that was easily fixed. Graham

Rear visibilty on that thing looks non-existant. Graham

Review is written should be up tomorrow. Graham

I'd have to say not really. The use of CAD/CAM means we now get toys which are superior to the old hand-crafted designs, that fit together better, have less gaps or asymmetrical parts and look more accurate to the anime. However, I don't think it greatly improves the cost of product development and manufature that much. Yamato is still a relitively small company and they can really only afford to concentrate on VFs they think will sell well, i.e. the main VFs in a series. Saying that however, they have thrown us the occasional surprise before like the VB-6, so who knows! Although, thinking about it, I think the VB-6 lost money as it usually needs more than a single production run to break even, let alone make a profit. Graham

Saw the pics a few days ago. Thought you guys would be happy with the change of color. Graham

One thing to consider, which I believe somebody else already mentioned, is that the production toy may end up different to the CAD lineart. The same thing happened with the 1//60 VF-0S CAD lineart, which showed incorrect head lasers, with the laser being in the center of the ear disc instead of on the edge and also the gaps beow the knees, which on the CAD lineart were 'U' shape, but on the production toy were the correct 'V' shape. Graham

Is Lord Kungfu XStoys is disguise? Graham

Hurin, they are not prototype images. They are photos of the old 1/72. Graham

Hah, am I clairvoyant or what?! Matt Damon to be cast as young Kirk? Sorry, but after Team America, I just can't take Matt Damon seriously at all. Graham

With the typical long lead-times in magazine publishing, the color schemes shown in the magazine scans are probably not the final versions and the pics posted online recently are likely to be more up-to-date. Graham

Back onto the subject at hand, I would expect to see photos of the VF-0A in next months hobby mags, or perhaps even fairly soonish on Yamato's website. Graham

Also AFAIK, the licensee (Yamato) has to get approval from the licensor (BW), on a case-by-case basis, before they can release photos or pics. A lot of the time, it's not so much Yamato being secretive, but rather that BW hasn't given approval for specific photos or information to be released yet. Also, market strategies, factory production scheduling and a host of other reasons mean that sometimes a product may get seriously delayed even if in theory it is ready or nearly ready to go into production, so sometimes, it's just not a good idea to announce a product too early and keep fans waiting too long. Graham

Can you take and post a photo please? I want to send Yamato photos of the parts that are breaking. I'm not 100% clear which bit you mean. Graham

Looks like the Minmay & Hikaru photo frame figure is actually is a 3D bust of the characters, with a removable frame in front. See this pic. Graham

Guys, I've just posted larger 1,600 pixel wide scans of the Yamato 1/60 scale YF-19 CAD lineart from the August Hobby magazines, in the Macrossworld magazine section. Check them out: - August Dengeki Hobby (scroll down to bottom of page). and August Hobby Japan (scroll down to bottom of page). Graham

0A first, 19 later. Graham

Great work as usual Jung. I'll get this added to the MW custom toy gallery today, but only 18 of the pics. Adding all 31 pics is too much. Graham