Graham

One of the problems with doing a proper perfect variable VF-0 toy, is that so far there is no official lineart from Kawamori of the complete transformation sequence to use as a reference. In fact so far, there is very little lineart at all. Even Hasegawa have guessed about a lot of the details. Although episode # 1 does show part of the transformation sequence, there is not really enough information there for toy designers to be sure of getting it correct. And realistically, there is no way that the swing bars on a toy would be strong enough if they were as thin as they are shown in the anime. Also, a lot of people here on Macrossworld incorrectly assume that Yamato has access to the 3D computer models to help with designing the toy. To my understanding, they don't. Graham

November 2003 Dengeki Hobby. November 2003 Hobby Japan And of course Nanashi's. And IIRC, the booklet that comes with the original Macross Zero episode # 3, R2 DVD has black and white lineart of the Reactive Armor. Graham

Wow, don't check this thread often, so missed the latest pics until now. Gotta say the Alpha MPC toy looks great. I might have to raid the piggy bank and buy more than the one piece I originally planned. Graham

LOL.....yeah it's true Bandai's design team did an amazing job with getting the Z-Plus GFF to transform with so little parts removal, although transformation is a bit fiddly and the toy is quite fragile IMO. Yeah, at this stage I agree a Bandai 1/55 VF-0S Chunky Monkey with big chrome swing bars does sound strangely appealing I don't think people loosing parts is going to be a real problem with the VF-0S though. I mean how can you loose parts when nobody is going to buy the damn toy in the first place But seriously, I remember way back before the 1/60 VF-1 came out, people were bitching and moaning about how they'd loose the nose plug, spare hands, backpack antenna etc, but in the end it wasn't really a problem. I think most people, myself included will just keep the parts in little plastic bags. Heck my GFFs have so many parts, that I have a whole drawer full of little plastic bags containing nothing but GFF option parts Graham

Agreed, the parts swapping doesn't bother me too much, but it really doesn't have a single mode that it really looks great in Graham

I'm still hoping that the final product will have Tampo printed Skulls on the tails and heatshield and Tampo printed UN Spacy emblems on the wing and nose. The VF-0S toy is gonna suck even more if the markings are supplied as Yamato's typical low-quality, ultra-thick stickers Considering that the 1/100 VF-0S is most often compared to a Gundam Fix Figuration (GFF) figure and the GFFs come absolutely covered with Tampo printed markings, it's not too unreasonable to expect this is it? I mean some GFFs such as the RX-178 Super Gundam, Task Force Alpha Ex-S and the Nu Gundam HWS retail for ¥4,500 which is similar to the expected retail price for the 1/100 VF-0S. Mind you, Bandai probably sells at least a hundred thousand (or more) of each GFF, so they can afford to Tampo print on more markings. As fan response to the 1/100 VF-0S seems very poor both in Japan and overseas, I doubt Yamato are going to sell that many 1/100 VF-0S, unless they pull their thumb out and do a major resculpt pronto. It's gonna flop big time if they try to sell it 'as is'. I've always been very supportive of Yamato and they've done some great toys in the past. IMO, the sculpt of the 1/48 VF-1 and FPs and the 1/60 Q-Rau are nearly flawless, but this 1/100 VF-0S is just unbelievably bad. It's such a pity, as in the last year I've really come to love the VF-0. Graham

The 1/100 VF-0S is not really small. Back in the good old days when Yamato were still willing to share information, they did say that it is nearly the same height as the VF-11B battroid. Graham

That's only fan speculation, we don't know if it's true. Graham

I'm begining to think you are right about this being passed onto a newbie design team with little sculpting experience. While from certain angles the toy looks OK, there are IMO so many areas that are just poorly sculpted and not accurate to what little CG art and lineart has been published so far of the VF-0S. Here's a list of where I think the sculpt is poor: - Inaccurate wing shape. Hip area (intakes) too large. Ugly, too large ball joint sockets on the hips. Inaccurate tail fin shape. Tail fins not canted outwards enough. Innacurate cockpit and nose area sculpt. Poorly sculpted, ugly landing gear. Graham

It looks like the 1/100 VF-0S has mid-calf rotation points just like the 1/60 VF-1, which should allow for a slightly better Gerwalk mode. Graham

At least the wings have attachment points for missiles. But what really worries me is that there dosen't seem to be any attachment points for the leg FAST packs, unless they are going to be held on by magnets Graham

Haven't received my shipping notice from CD Japan yet. I'll post as soon as I do. I think I was probably one of the first people to order it, as I was checking their site several times daily waiting for them to list it Graham

And I'm also getting seriously worried that we haven't seen the leg FAST packs or wing missiles yet. Graham

On the anime VF-0 in fighter mode, the hands do not retract into the forearms like the VF-1, but are instead supposed to slot into the bottom of the backpack (those of you who have the Hasegawa VF-0S will know what I mean). However, looking at these latest pictures of the Yamato 1/100 VF-0S toy, it looks like there is not enough space for the hands in fighter mode, so I'm guessing they have to be removed in fighter mode. Sigh.........yet more parts to remove. Graham

I disagree. It should be easily possible to shorten the hip shafts and have the ball joints located entirely inside the intake area, thus eliminating those ugly external sockets. If you look here at this custom battroid mode conversion of the Hasegawa VF-0S model, you can see what a good job they did on the hip joints. Even with the intakes positioned so close to the nose, the kit can still adopt a spread-legged stance. Graham

Nope, no Macross Zero artbook yet unfortuntely I'm hoping there will be one soon though. Graham

Although the Reactive Armor VF-0S is an awesome scratch build, I noticed that the armors' back thrusters are much smaller than shown on the line art. Graham

Page 3 Reactive Armor. Graham

Page 2 Reactive Armor. Graham

And here's the 1/72 scale scratch built VF-0S with Reactive Armor. Note, this is not the same Battroid as above, you can tell by looking at the backpack, shoulders and nose which are very different. Graham

3rd page SV-51 conversion. Graham

2nd page SV-51 conversion. Graham

Now for the Battroid mode conversion of the Hasegawa SV-51. This is truely some insane modelling skills. Graham

And more pics of the Hasegawa VF-0S Battroid conversion. Graham

Here's the Battroid mode conversion of the Hasegawa VF-0S. I just wished the Yamato 1/100 toy looked as good Graham