Graham

Okay, so we mostly agree that the revised 1/100 VF-0S sculpt looks better. However, a nice looking sculpt is not the only ingredient that makes a good toy. The real test of whether or not this is going to be a good toy is going to be: - Can it stand and balance easily in Battroid and Gerwalk modes without support? Does it suffer from loose joints & floppy limb syndrome? Can it stay firmly locked together in all 3 modes without parts detaching or falling off by themselves? Is it durable enough that it can be transformed and played with without fear of parts breakage? My understanding (I may be wrong) is that the 1/100 VF-0S is going to be mostly constructed of hard PVC (like the Gundam Fix Figures), with some ABS parts. If this is the case, there may be some issues with joints and locking tabs/holes loosening up after time, but we'll just have to wait and see. Graham

Wow old movie, Hero was released in HK like what about a year ago Not my type of movie, as I hate HK style Kung Fu movies where all Chinese think they can fly and leap tall buildings in a single bound, i.e. Crouching Tiger. Sorry, in all my years studying various martial arts, I've never come across a martial art that teaches flying An interesting phenomenon I've noticed is that while in the West, Crouching Tiger was a big hit, in HK, most people thought it was just barely average. Graham

In case it's not clear what I mean about the narrow section of the wing trailing edge, here's a pic which illustates better my complaint with the original sculpt. Graham

In fighter mode, we can see that Yamato has improved the appearance of the backpack hinge. In the original sculpt it had a rounded shape and seemed to be made of a different material to the rest of the VF, perhaps POM? In the revised sculpt, the backpack hinge is now flat and flush with the back and chestplates. Much better looking IMO. Also, I'm not 100% sure, but it looks like the wings may have been resculpted as well so that the narrow part of the trailing edge, where the wings meet the body has been made a bit longer. One of my biggest complaints about the original sculpt of Yamato's 1/100 VF-0S toy was that the narrow section of the wing trailing edge where it meets the body was just too short, in fact it was hardly visible. Graham

I've been comparing pictures of the earlier sculpt of Yamato's 1/100 VF-0S with these latest photos of the revised sculpt and I'm quite impressed by the changes Yamato have made. Not only have they made those fugly hip joint sockets much smaller, thus moving the hips closer to the nose, but they have also redesigned the leg pivot point located just under the intake, so that is now flush with no ugly gaps. Looks much better now. Compare pics below. Graham

Depending on what episode and which scene you watch of the Macross Zero OVA, the cannon fodder VF-0A is sort of a dirty greyish-brown, or perhaps brownish- grey See: The VF-0A in the gallery section of the Big West official Macross Zero site. And the Hasegawa VF-0A box art. My guess is that the colors of the VF-0 fighter on display is not something that is going into productions, just a color scheme that Yamato is messing around with just to see what it looks like. Or perhaps it's a varient that will appear in epsiode # 5? Perhaps Shin's new fighter? The white scheme with red trim could be a nod to Hikaru's VF-1J from the original TV series. Graham

Updated MPC Alpha Casualty List EXO = Broken hinge on the shoulder missile hatch. Opus = Broken hinge on the sensor pod door. Opus = Thumb fell off the left hand due to stress crack. Opus = Ratchet mechanism broken in left shoulder. Opus = Left hand broke at the pinky edge of the finger joint. dejr8bud = Broken hinge on the sensor pod door. Mechafactory.com = Arm fell off straight out of the box. Sam = Little hinge on bottom of hand that holds fingers to palm broke off. macu5454 = Arm broke off. eugimon = The sensor hatch broke upon first transformation. Graham

I'm guessing not. An older pic of the detachable fighter and battroid nose sections form the July hobby magazines does not show the LERX on the battroid nose. Graham

I would guess not. I think they have probably finished making all the sculpt revisions they are going to make. They can't keep constantly revising the scult, otherwise the toy will never get released. Graham

Here's the LERX on the CG art of the VF-0S. The Yamato toy does not have them in Battroid mode. Graham

LERX=Leading Edge Root Extensions. IIRC also known as LEX = Leading Edge Extensions (see pic below). These should also be partially visable in battroid mode, according to both the lineart and CG art. Graham

Bravo to Yamato for listening to the fans complaints and greatly improving the problem areas of the sculpt. Or perhaps it wasn't the fans complaints they listend to, probably both Kawamori & Big West told them how ugly the original hip joints were and to go and make the improvements. Graham

Wow, the hips look much better. I think they have corrected the wing shape as well. It's great to finally see FAST packs. And FYI, the wing hard points have always been on the wings, even from the very early sculpt, but we still haven't seen missiles. I wouldn't worry about the head too much. I think it's still the same sculpt, just the upward pointing camera angle is making it look different. Still no LERX in battroid mode though I notice they have also changed the backpack hinge, so it looks much better now. And the VF-0 in the anime also has fairly skinny arms, so the toy is pretty accurate in that regard. Definitely buying 3. And I like the color scheme on the fighter pic. Graham

Left or right arm? And where's the exact point of breakage? Details please. Graham

Left or right? And where's the exact point of breakage? Details please. Graham

Updated MPC Alpha Casualty List EXO = Broken hinge on the shoulder missile hatch. Opus = Broken hinge on the sensor pod door. Opus = Thumb fell off the left hand due to stress crack. Opus = Ratchet mechanism broken in left shoulder. Opus = Left hand broke at the pinky edge of the finger joint. dejr8bud = Broken hinge on the sensor pod door. Mechafactory.com = Arm fell off straight out of the box. Sam = Little hinge on bottom of hand that holds fingers to palm broke off. macu5454 = Arm broke off. Graham

Updated MPC Alpha Casualty List EXO = Broken hinge on the shoulder missile hatch. Opus = Broken hinge on the sensor pod door. Opus = Thumb fell off the left hand due to stress crack. Opus = Ratchet mechanism broken in left shoulder. Opus = Left hand broke at the pinky edge of the finger joint. dejr8bud = Broken hinge on the sensor pod door. Mechafactory.com = Arm fell off straight out of the box. Sam = Little hinge on bottom of hand that holds fingers to palm broke off. Graham

Did something actually break, or did the cover just fall off? If it can be reattached, by just slotting it back into place, that doesn't count as a breakage. Graham

Ah, the good old days Graham

Yep, that's what I meant, Master Grade models of mecha from other non-Gundam anime. I'd definitely buy Master Grade Kits of: - Macross VFs & Destroids .....that's a no brainer of course Tactical Armor from Gasaraki. Armor Shrikes from Blue Gender (never gonna happen unfortunately ). The MADOX-01 from Metal Skin panic. The mecha from Dragonar. Graham

Still hoping one day for some Master Grade Gasaraki Tactical Armor kits. Graahm

I wonder if Bandai has completely given up on non-Gundam Master Grades? Graham

Nah, I'm only listing actual broken parts, not floppy limbs, otherwise the list would be a mile long already Graham

I've transformed some of my 1/48s dozens of times, without fear of breakage. I even speed transform them and I'm not really gentle about it either. Graham

The 1/55s are still great toys even now more than 20 years since they were first released. They are very durable and quick to transform. The only down side is that they are not that well articulated, the sculpt is not particularly accurate (especially for the A & J heads and plane nose) and the gunpod doesn't attach in fighter mode. Transforming toy design is always a trade-off. If you want more gimmicks, better articulation and more detail then you have to accept a longer and more complicated transformation sequence and perhaps slightly decreased durability. I think though that with the exception of part # BP8, the 1/48 has proven itself to be much more durable than expected. Of course not as tough as the 1/55, but it's still more a toy than a fragile 'display only' model kit as some people claim. Anyway, I do think that Bandai would have sold many more 1/55 toys if they had made some minor redesigns to update the toy. I'm not talking about turning it into a 1/48 clone, but just doing minor resculpts of certain parts so that the toy would look better, but still transform quickly and keep the legendary 1/55 durability. Here's the bare minimum changes that I would have liked Bandai to have made to the 1/55: - Resculpt the A, J & S heads, especially the A, which is terrible. Slightly resculpt the plane nose, especially the FLIR sensors which are too big and the wrong shape on the original 1/55. Remove that stupid scope from the gunpod and change the gunpod design so that it can attach in fighter mode. The HCM method would be perfect. Add wing hard points and missiles. Add wrist rotation (I don't care about an articulated hand tho). Add a pilot figure, even if it's only from waist or chest up. All the above changes would make the toy look better IMO, but should not negatively affect durability or transformation time. Graham