Graham

OK, my bad. I forgot about that pic. I just went and had another play with the legs of my VB-6 and yes, the knees can bend back like in the pic. On my VB-6, the knee hinge assembly is quite tight, so yesterday when I tried to bend the knees back I didn't use much force and just assumed that the knees didn't bend back when I tried to move them but got no backwards movement. Today I used a bit more force. Also, the knee assembly is fairly complex, so you've got to know which bit to pivot. Graham Graham

OK, hope this shows what I am talking about. Graham

Yes, it's confirmed that the VB-6 comes with a sticker sheet (didn't read my review did ya? ). The kite symbols are the same size as the 1/48 stickers. The VB-6 comes with 2 sizes of 'U.N SPACY' stickers. One size is the same as the 1/48, the other slightly smaller. For some reason the VB-6 sticker sheet even includes two skull squadron symbols (same size as the 1/48 chest skull). There are a lot of other stickers on the VB-6 sticker sheet that are just copied dierectly from the 1/48. Graham

Just beware than ankle joints on the S & EX-S MG kits. Snapped mine on about the third transformation. After that I decided to stick with the the GFF versions . Graham

After several more transformations last night, I have noticed another potential problem. The missile launching end of the forearms (i.e. the end that doesn't have the hands) has a small hole, into which a peg located behind the head attaches to lock the arms in place in Shuttle (Bomber) mode. However, to get the peg into and out of the hole requires some force and twisting of the forearms. I noticed this morning that the hole in both forearms has already elongated slightly. This would not be such a big problem, except for the fact that part of the hole is very close to the edge of the arm, so has a very thin rim, which I could see breaking after not too many more transformations. It's possible that I might be transforming the toy wrongly and causing the problem, but I don't think so. I'll try to post some pics over the weekend to show you what I mean. Graham

I always thought that Slave 1 was inspired by an Elephants head. Graham

I'm perfectly willing to pay that much to get one, maybe even a bit more, but with only 10 being released the chance of securing one is probably lower than winning the lottery. For a perfect variable limited edition resin kit, that's not really such a high price. Consider that 10 years ago the perfect variable Macross Plus SHE kits were selling for about ¥22,000. This new Liquid Stone version is a big improvement over the SHE kit, as it comes molded in 3 colors, features landing gear and is pre assembled. I consider the price quite reasonable. Graham

that actually toynami you're speaking of. yamato is the "almost perfect" toy maker. they know they can make it better, but they enjoy sticking to us fans way too much. as far as the leg connecting part, i'm really hoping it 2 seperate pieces, that way i can put some goo-gone on it to remove the glue and don't have to chop into a brand new toy. The leg connecting part is 2 seperated pieces, the 'L' shape connector itself and a glued-on rectangular clip over the end that stops you from removing the connector. Last night I tried using some super glue debonder to remove the clip, but it didn't work. Graham.

No, the toy has to lean forward a bit in Battroid mode. Graham

OK, just got my VB-6 at lunch. Big-ass flap top window box measuring 36cm x 37cm x 14.5cm. Box is made of typical flimsy Yamato card stock with damn awful photochop box art, as has been mentioned already. The inner card tray is not plain as some people have said, but is in fact a very pale picture of the sun covered with clouds. Toy comes packed in the box in shuttle mode and is secured to the plastic tray by 3 twist ties. One instruction manual and one sticker sheet are included. There are no other accessories. The main body of the toy is molded in a sort of greenish-brown plastic, with some of the smaller parts such as the hands, rear thrusters, underside of the feet and knee internals being molded in black plastic (actually sort of very dark grey I would say). The only other color plastic used is a sort of pale orange plastic used for part of the shoulders. This toy has very little paint, most of it being molded in the correct color plastic. The only painted parts are the cockpit windows and small retro thrusters on the nose which are painted in silver. The eye piece is painted green. There are some small panels painted black on the legs. The engine intakes on the feet and the front center of the chest block are painted a pale orange. Paint job is generally OK, except on the feet engine intakes, where there are some areas where the paint was applied too thickly. The toy does not have any Tampo printed markings (cheapskates !). All markings, including the UN Spacy Emblems and the Eyes are on the supplied on sticker sheet. Actually, the sticker sheet includes two sets of eyes, one orange and one white. Strangely, the sticker sheet includes 'SDF-1', 'ARMD-1' & 'PROMETHEUS' stickers. This is odd as VF-X2 takes place some 40 years after the events in original Macross . As others have mentioned, the instruction manual does not include any guide showing where to put any of the smaller stickers. However, to be fair to Yamato there is no official information on this from Big West, so it's simply a case of put them wherever you think looks good. The black and white instruction manual is quite confusing. Maybe it would be better if I could read Japanese, but I doubt it. The photos do not do an adequate job of showing what needs to be done IMO and several small but important steps seem to have been skipped. Still, if you have half a brain and some prior experience with transforming toys, you should be able to figure out the transformation. Honestly, when transforming the toy, half the time I found it more helpful to refer to the color photos of the toy in all three modes on the underside of the box flap, rather than puzzling over the crappy instruction manual. Transformation is not terribly difficult once you get the hang of it although it is quite fiddly. This is definitely not a 'transform in 60 seconds' toy, as there are quite a few steps and lots of bits that need twisting, turning, locking together, especially in Battroid mode. However, for myself I found I was able to memorise the transformation sequence to and from each mode after about 3 transformations and no longer need to refer to the instructions. So far the toy seems quite sturdy. The only potential weaknes I've spotted so far are a pair of small cylindrical plastic locking pegs located in the lower middle torso area in Gerwalk mode, which are already showing some stress whitening after only 3 transformations. The toy locks together fairly well in all three modes and stands and balances quite well as long as all the feet and leg parts are correctly positioned. However, it looks like the tabs that secure the Shuttle's wings, may have been assembled backwards as they are shown facing the opposite way in the instruction manual. This does unfortunately mean that the Shuttle's wings (i.e. the Battroid's legs) do not attach that firmly in Shuttle mode. Just remember when transforming to shuttle mode to pull the wings backwards a couple of milimeters so that they lock in place a bit more seurely. There is not a great deal of detail on this toy, but then again Kawamori's line-art doesn't show much detail either. Yamato choose not to go the Hasegawa route and just make up extra panel lines. The toy does have some nice features, such as the black color rifled barrel inserts and the hidden elbow missile launchers though. Dimensions are as follows: - Toy weight = 730 grams. Length in shuttle mode = 31cm. Height in Gerwalk mode = 23cm. Length in Gerwalk mode = 26.5cm. Height in Battroid mode = 44cm. Articulation is nothing to write home about, but I wasn't expecting great articulation form this toy anyway. The arms have pretty decent articulation at the shoulders and elbows. however, the 3-fingered hands have only ony hinge point per finger where they join to the hand. Also, there is no wrist articulation, the hands just being press-fitted onto simple pegs. Leg articulation is pretty poor, but that was obvious from the photos anyway. Although of course the knee can bend forward to go into gerwalk mode via some fairly complicated rearranging of the leg parts, the leg cannot bend backwards like a human leg, so no kneeling poses in battroid mode are possible. Correction, after more experimentation with the complex knee assembly, I can confirm that yes, the knees can bend backwards. Overall a fairly nice toy, but more of a display piece IMO with not a great deal of play value or gimmicks. Graham

Wouldn't call it a mystery peice. Although it's not mentioned in the instruction manual, this missile launcher is shown in the VB-6 line art in one of the VF-X2 game books. The legs still can lock in shuttle mode, you just gotta make sure that when they go on the tab you pull them back about 1-2mm. It's still not a very good lock though and they do fall off the tab quite easily. Yes, it probably would have made more sense and been more secure if the tab was facing backwards. Graham

OK, I've just merged the two Yamato VB-6 Konig Monster threads, as it's pointless having two separate threads on the same subject. Post all comments on the toy in this thread. No starting new Yamato VB-6 threads or they will be locked. Graham

Should be getting mine in about an hour, so will post some comments later today. Graham

On one of the SW documentaries (maybe on the ep 1 DVD), I seem to recall Chiang making a comment that he didn't like the designs of the ships in the original trilogy. If I'm recalling correctly, somebody who doesn't like the classic designs should never have been allowed to work on the prequel trilogy . Graham

Although I've only seen up to ep # 8, so far I'm absolutely loving Destiny, I found SEED to be pretty so-so, but Destiny really hits all the right spots fo me. I'm really enjoying the pacing and they really keep ratcheting up the tension level IMO. Based on what I've seen so far, this is probably going to turn out to be my favorite Gundam TV series, with V-Gundam second. Graham

I used to have this kit as a kid. Very cool. Yes, the UK version had different (and better IMO) bocx art than the US version. No, to the best of my knowledge, the design nevery appeared in anuy of the Gerry Anderson shows and I've seen most of them. Graham

Heh, Chirico still has man boobies .. Graham

I'm so looking forward to seeing this episode. Can't wait to see Sword Impulse take out those ships. Graham

It does look like Katoki's art, but difficult to be sure. Graham

Very nice work and certainly a faster job than Yamato is doing . Maybe you should try making a variable version, even if is not perfect transformation and requires some parts swapping. Probably wouldn't be that hard. Graham

Which Victory Gundam toy? There are several. Graham Any. Something about the Impulse definately screams Victory to me (V1, not V2). I know what you mean. Impulse's shoulders and the mid-line chest part is very Victory-ish IMO. Also of course the seperation into 3 flying units, that can dock mid-flight is similar. Although Okawara didn't bother with being able to combine the core Splendor with just the Chest Flyer or Leg Flyer, unlike how Katoki designed the Victory's Core Fighter to be able to dock with either the Top Fighter or Bottom Fighter. Anyway, I love both the Impulse & Victory Graham

These pics were posted a few months ago . Can't be bothered to dig up the thread though . Quite cool anyway, even though I'm not a fan of Nagano type mecha. Graham

One of the guys I work with saw it over the Christmas holiday. He said it was pretty good, but felt let down by the ending. He said he thought the ending should have had more action. I think I'll wait unitl the DVD release then rent it. The preview I saw showed the fights as being far too over the top with too much CG for my taste. Graham

Yes, the MMM Impulse is not as heavy as the MMM Strike, due to the lower metal content, but it is a much better toy IMO. Far more poseable. I'll weigh them when I get home tonight and post the result later. I love this toy. Definitely buying 2 each of the Sword and Blast Impulse when they come out as well. Graham

Which Victory Gundam toy? There are several. Graham