Vifam7

That depends on how some wish to save money. I believe there are some who want standalone VF-11s is because they don't want to pay extra for what they don't want (the fast packs). Or would rather pay for later.

Interestingly Kawamori says he "styled" the Albion rather than "design" it. Presumably I think because the base design is the original White Base from First Gundam.

Did Kawamori design the Daedalus II? If so, it would makes sense since Kawamori was involved in the styling of the Albion in Gundam 0083.

Darn right. God forbid your girlfriend/wife find out you spent $600 on toy and you haven't spent an equivalent amount on her in recent memory... Your adjusted total bill for the SDF-1 might be more than $1200 ($600 for the toy, another $600+ in restitution for your girl)

So I guess fast packs/armor will be sold separately for 2,000yen or more. That'll bring the total cost to over 6,000yen... Yikes. I'd like to get one nonetheless. Maybe it'll go on sale at HLJ...

I still have one 1/48. The first release VF-1A. I don't think there's much value to this toy so no use selling it. Besides, if I ever get into collecting 1/48 scale aircraft models, at least I have one Valk in that scale. ^^

Where did you find this lineart?

Felt exactly the same way about the nose when I got my v2.0 Hikaru 1A. I still like the v1.0 though. The skinny nose and low lying canopy has that "TV anime" look whereas the v2.0 has a refined/balanced look.

for DX Chogokin VF-25 Messiah Valkyrie Ghost and Weapons Set 1. Luca type unmanned Ghost fighter 2. Display stand 3. Fold communications sensor x 2 4. Reaction missiles x 4 5. Missiles (3 types) x 2 * does not include VF-25 Messiah Valkyrie * can be attached on all VF-25 Messiah Valkyries

One thing to note is that Gundam marker (GM02) is lacquer based. Since it's lacquer-based I think it tends to eat more into the plastic. There's another Gundam marker used for panel lining and it has the code GM21. This one is acrylic based with a felt tip point. It comes off much easier than GM02 and is pretty much advertised as a "wipe off" type. I've used it to good effect on a 1/144 gashapon F-15 Eagle. Just a warning on using Gundam marker eraser pen. The thinner inside Gundam marker eraser pen is pretty strong stuff. It could probably easily strip away paint and markings on your Yamato. I would advise not to use it on your Yamato.

I suppose it could be good business sense in the case of the product not selling well. Because if the Dx line failed at least Bandai never promised or raised expectation of the fans of releasing armor packs. Btw, aren't we jumping the gun a bit? I mean, has anyone positively confirmed that the new armor packs will not fit the current DX toy? One shady pic is not something to base all of this I think.

I'll be the heretic here and say I have absolutely no interest in a 1/60 Regult. I'd rather have Yamato concentrate their time and resources on more Valkyries. There is no way I'm paying $100+ and giving up that much shelf space for an ugly enemy mecha. Maybe $25~$30 for a smaller 1/100 scale Regult but only after Bandai or Yamato releases a sizeable number of Valks in that scale.

Hopefully all that happens but personally I think it's hard to happen so long as Big West owns Macross. It's just a lot easier to abuse a property you own than one you gotta pay and get permission for. One of the reasons why Gundam Seed merchandising lasted so long is because Bandai/Sunrise continued to keep the brand alive by making side-stories, sequels, new edits, movies, and whatnot. Harder for Bandai to do that when Big West owns/controls the creative rights.

Good read and a nice amount of pictures. The fighter mode "from the bottom up" pic and "from behind" pic is really nice. Really shows that bird-like form of the VF-25. The coloring makes it look even more like a crane. You seem to have a healthy amount of Valkyrie toys in your room.

Hmm... that kinda doesn't make sense. Wouldn't the F-35 with all of it's stealth characteristics be more complicated and maintenance intensive than the Typhoon? And I can't see how difficult it would be to turn the Typhoon into a bomb truck. Wouldn't it be funny (or sad) if the USAF was forced to buy Typhoons after cancelling the F-22? Chances of that happening is zero to nil but if the F-22 is cancelled and the F-15 Eagle line has closed shop then what?

According to their posters and promotional info, it appears Bandai can use every single Macross property including Macross Plus. Yamato has a license for Macross Plus (and some others) but it appears not to be exclusive.

Considering that this is the very first release of the VF100s line, I'd give it some leniency. As I wrote in my review, I hope to see improvements as the line progresses. While I don't think the VF-25s will improve anytime soon (unless they're already working on a v1.5), perhaps by the time they get to the VF-4, they'd have a better grasp of how to make these toys better. Less parts removal and better locking design is definitely the 2 key areas. With regards to the wing gloves, with my toy the area come together quite nicely. Pushing it from the sides and from the bottom does the job. On the other hand, it's the wings that don't form up smoothly with the glove area. It needs to come down 1mm more but it won't. Of all the parts on the toy, the only parts that fall off easily on mine are the rear landing gears. As for scale size, it really is 1/100 scale. Or really close to it. Measuring roughly from above, the length in fighter mode was approximately 18.5cm. A smidge bit more from below. To me, it wasn't the measurements that mattered. It was whether it "looked" in scale with other 1/100 aircraft. I was happy to see that it looked just fine sitting next to Alter's Yukikaze and my WW2 fighters. This is not the case with Toynami's VF-1s. Btw, I've started work on Bandai's old 1/100 scale Fire Valk kit. I think I'll just slap it together without any paintwork. It'll be interesting to compare this to the upcoming VF100s Fire Valk.

It's hard to measure accurately but my toy in fighter mode is about 18.5cm from tip to tip.

You won't find a scanlation since the the comic books had been readily available for over a decade. Search Ebay. You could probably get all 3 issues for 10 bucks or less. It's worth getting IMHO.

No, it's just a common PVC thing. The gunpod attaches to the belly via a specific attachment device anyways. No reason why it needs to be bent.

Is it me or is your Yamato YF-19 (both the 1/72 and 1/60) suffering from some paint chipping/ruboff?

Here are the photos! 2 views of the toy in fighter mode: Comparison to Toynami 1/100 VF-1 in fighter mode: Next to Doyusha's 1/100 Me109 kit: Nose to nose with 1/100 Yukikaze: Imperial Japanese Navy pilot from Doyusha's 1/100 A6M5 Zero kit Size comparison in battroid mode to ancient 1/100 Heavy Gun kit and MG Zaku 2.0 kit: Size comparison in battroid mode to Toynami 1/100 and 1/200 HCM Pro Gundam MK.II:

There's a HUGE difference between putting together the 1/72 model kit and parts-forming the VF100s toy. The 1/72 kit could take me weeks or even months to complete, whereas I could parts-form the VF100s in about 10 minutes.

Okay, I just finished looking over the toy and parts-forming it from battroid mode to fighter mode. Here are my comments - As I suspected, this toy has all the feel and build quality of HCM Pro Gundams. As seen in prior photos, it comes out of the box in battroid mode. It is indeed very light and frail feeling. Part of the blame for that lays in the design and form of the VF-25. Plus the fact that it's completely made of plastic. While it is frail "feeling", it is actually quite sturdy. Not sturdy enough for a little kid, but certainly sturdy enough for the adult collector. There are also some joint points that are floppy. The crotch-leg connection points and ankle joints being most obvious on mine. This isn't problematic in battroid mode but floppy ankle joint will be problematic in gerwalk mode. For those who like gerwalk mode, I would recommend applying some CA glue to the location. Just make sure not to glue it solid. Another problem I immediately noticed in battroid mode is the inability of the gun-grip hand to solidly hold the gunpod. Bandai should've simply glued the gunpod to the hand since this hand will be pulled off for fighter mode anyways. I did that to mine. Overall the proportions for battroid mode is decent IMHO. The legs certainly could've been attached at a lower crotch point considering that the whole crotch piece gets swapped for transformation anyways. But I'm not too hot over this point since the lineart can be open to interpretation. That's enough for battroid mode. On to the parts-forming to fighter mode. I'm going to skip gerwalk mode because it's a mode I don't really care for. So how bad is the parts-forming? Well, that depends on how you look at it. There is indeed a ton of parts to swap. It's not a stretch to say you have to break it down to a zillion pieces. Then you gotta swap the necessary parts and put it all together into fighter mode. Some of the things you gotta pull apart is absolutely crazy. Once you parts-form it into one mode, you probably won't want to parts-form it into another mode for awhile. That all said, it wasn't that difficult to pull the parts apart and put it together. At first it seems like you'll break something while pulling the pieces apart. But you'll start to figure out that the pieces snap out quite easily if you pull it in a certain direction (usually to the side). The directions on the manual are a bit confusing but most of us will figure it out looking at the pics. I would advise not to loose the manual though. All in all I didn't find it too stressful to parts-form it. Just a bit tedious with all those pieces. So I got it into fighter mode. It looks fantastic. At least to me. Not sure but I don't think those who want the lower legs sitting higher up in fighter mode will be satisfied. If I had to describe it, the rear engine fairings are about the same as that of a F-15 Eagle. I'll post photos later. Also, the lower legs don't lock up to the arms or anything. It does hold straight though. But if you're going to display it in flight, I'd suggest using a flexidisplay or something that keeps the lower legs from sagging down. Oh yeah, the warping on the fighter mode gunpod was ridiculous. Mine had a banana shape! That was quickly and easily fixed by running it under hot water for a few secs, straightening it out, and cooling it to correct form. As for scale size, from what I can tell, it definitely looks to be in correct scale. I'll later post a few pictures of the VF-25 in fighter mode in comparison to other 1/100 scale airplanes. All in all, I'm okay with the toy. I'll continue to support the line. I hope to see few tweaks (such as better locking) to happen in later releases. I do agree that it's overpriced but that seems to be the story with most Macross toys. That's it for now. Photos tomorrow.

Mine is waiting for me at home! I hope to post some thoughts on it later tonight.