Mommar

I guess we all have our strange path here. I remember I first saw Robotech on American Television in '84/'85. I was a year away from starting Kindergarten and my brother was in first grade. My Dad was really excited/interested in seeing the show so my Mom and I would rush down to the school to pick up my brother and race home so we could watch/record the show for my Dad while he was coming home from work. I didn't have a clue what was going on other then giant transforming Robot/Jets were awesome and that Ben died and it made me sad. LOL I was a big fan of all of the designs and badly wanted a VF-1 toy but we could never find one. I had a few various transforming Alphas... but those aren't Macross. We have to get some shots before starting school so a few months before I started (in '86) my Mom bribed me into getting my shots by promising to give me a present if I cooperated. I wound up with a non-transforming Diecast SDF-1 which still sits on my self today. The 80's and half of the 90's passed by, I was friends with a guy who had just moved in Albuquerque who liked Anime too and we would watch lots of different stuff. We were pretty secluded in New Mexico and didn't know about the other Macross productions for some time. At one point we ran across a copy of Macross plus for rent at a video store and my older brother pointed out there was a divergent story in Japan because the US shows had to be adapted with other shows to fit an American format so the Japanese stories weren't tied to the two other series like in the US. We watched Mac Plus... to be honest I hated it. My buddy and I had watched so much Anime that involved rogue AI's, menaces without bodies, etc... that I was tired of the concept by the time I saw Mac Plus. We had internet by the mid 90's and would do occasional searches for Robotech jpgs (downloading pictures was all the rage for a time when AOL and those other providers sprang up.) We would get occasional pics of Yf-19's/11's mixed in with our searches but curiously I never saw anything Mac 7 related at all. I didn't know it existed until I found this place in 2008. My buddy bought a dubbed copy of DYRL and I didn't like it. The animation was way better but I didn't like how compressed the story felt. I also did not like the redone SDF-1. I was a huge fan of the TV series version and to this day believe it's superior (get on that TV series version so i can buy one Yamato... and no filthy DYRL hybrids!) Anyway, I got to college in '99 and by that time I was sick of Anime, never wanted to see it again. I still don't really. I became tired of the same stories, styles, tropes and really haven't gone back. This isn't a knock on anybody who likes it, you can make the same argument over American/Western stories and I couldn't argue with you. It just isn't my taste anymore. The same buddy I used to watch Anime with sent me a link to Robotech.com, I joined but didn't bother with anything except parsing what toys were being released. I was waiting for a transformable VF-1. Luckily (so I thought) Toynami was making them but being a poor college student I couldn't afford a ridiculous $80 dollar toy (the other weekend I just got a $300 19S... LOL.) So I skipped it, and waited and waited. Finally in 2006 I was graduated from college, had a job, had money and though why not go back and buy that VF-1 I wanted? I tracked down a lightly used Toynami VF-1J Max (because he was always my favorite) and bought it on ebay. I opened it and did not like Fighter mode. Transformed it to Gerwalk and... it was okay, if bulky. Did not like Battroid at all. Put it back in Gerwalk because that was always my favorite mode and was semi-okay with it being very tank-ish looking. I was still itching for a new toy but had trouble finding info on things that weren't model kits. Several years passed and I heard someone mention a 1/48 Yamato being superior to all other Macross toys. I went searching around, found out there was a 1/60 version and found one for sale at hlj. A VF-1A Hikaru with the Fast Packs, version 2. It wasn't a Max like I'd hoped but I was okay with "Rickaru." I bought it. Battroid annoyed the hell out of me. The bar that fits into the crotch was so loose. The Fast Packs weighed the back down so much that Battroid always had a permanent slouch and it was difficult to pose. I vowed to never buy one of these again (I own twelve V2's now.) I kept looking for more toys and ran across this website, I saw a lot of the customized 1/48's. I also saw there was news of more 1/60 releases coming. I was hesitant to buy ay more after the 1A didn't quite hold up but there it was, three different versions of Max's Valks were coming out, VF-1A and S DYRL and VF-1A SDFM. I ordered the 1S and 1A SDFM. Luckily the crotch/bar in the 1S Max held much better (though it is more loose now) even though it was the old crotch system so I took the Hikaru Packs and stuck them on the 1S where they remain to this day. Anyway, it's not a story about the toys (sort of), after finding out about these other shows I checked out Flashback, Mac 7, and Mac F. I'm still not interested in Anime so the shows don't hold too much appeal for me still. I'm just a big fan of Kawamori's design aesthetic and keep collecting the toys. One could argue i never really made it to Macross and just stopped at the Valks.

There were rumblings that they are considering doing that. If the 17's sell well it's possible they'll make a Soundforce version. I think in one of the pics there was mention of a possible Max-L as well.

You know, pretty much everything about the Kai bugs the hell out of me. The speaker pod gun, the look, etc... but the idea of a giant sub in the chest of a Valk is pretty cool. I guess I'm a hypocrite.

I tried doing some various leg-splaying just like in those pictures with my 19S the very first night I opened the package... no way in hell. It can't do it. Total nose-plant.

Considering the 19S/F area already being advertised as Emerald Force and Gamlin was the lead of Diamond Force I guarantee those stripes will be Blue so people can complete Gamlin's entire squadron.

Just so you know, I have two loose ankles on my 19S. So, no, it's not totally fixed. But according to most everyone here I'm blowing it out of proportion.

I agree. If the ankles can easily be broken/damaged because you push them backwards there's a problem with engineering. I didn't man-handle the thing at all. I didn't even want to push the ankle back very far knowing that was an issue but it didn't matter, they would barely hold from the get-go.

That does not correct the problem.

The problem is there's multiple people with different opinions. I, myself LOVE Gerwalk modes to death. I want as much dynamic posing as possible. Of the three pics Chronoicidal posted my 19 can only kinda sorta hold the first pose if somebody doesn't sneeze or open a door and change the pressure in the house. Otherwise it crashes. The other two pics it will not hold at all. The poses you've made are right out. So I'd take ratcheted ankles because, as it stands, my Gerwalk doesn't work AT ALL. I get more dynamic range from the old ratcheted ones then I do from these. There are those of you who's ankles work perfect. Then, I suspect we have two other camps. One who's ankles probably work fine or maybe kinda work but they don't care about Gerwalk so they make their one bland pose to prove it's fine and that's it. Then there's the camp who don't like Gerwalk and couldn't give a rats ass if it works or not so it could be perfect otherwise they say "my ankles are loose, I don't care." As it stands, my Gerwalk barely works. As i said before for $300 I'm voicing my dissatisfaction. Other's said their Kai's would stop holding in Battroid after a time. Now there's a few of us with loose ankles out of the box. So there's room for improvement. If we mention it here, maybe word will get back to Yamato and something can be done. However, so far we've been met with "have you transformed it correct, "mine works, what's your problem", "quit your whining" or some flavor of us versus Yamato. I want mine to work, it doesn't. You will keep hearing about it from me.

Variety.

Considering I spent $300 on a toy that can't hold that pose I don't find this very funny.

That's pretty confusing because it's supposed to be chunky in Battroid mode and as others have stated it's the miracle Yamato managed to pull off with such a sleek fighter mode as well. As it is if you compare the toy to the lineart it's still pretty skinny compared to the lineart.

In what mode are you complaining it's chunky?

Blue or white, doesn't matter. I think both of those colors look good on the 17.

Didn't you say the tension is actually due to the plastic on the bottom half of the ball? Didn't you also say it was just barely glued on yours? Maybe if the plastic ball is separating on some of the ankles they're losing tension?

Was there actually a pic with fast packs? I must have missed that.

Well, they never said, "Hey, we're making Fast Packs." But while highlighting some of the gimmicks they specifically showed the two pieces on the top of the 17 where fast packs would attach as if to say "look at these slots where fast packs could be attached." So, I think technically they're going to do it.

The 17 was designed to accommodate fast pack attachments.

I'm curious to hear what you do and how it works out for you. Would love to be able to fix my issue... though dismantling the thing already sounds scary.

After handling the VF19S and looking at my old YF-19 Double Nuts I'd love a V.3... well provided I don't get fraked ankles on it like my 19S. The YF-19 is SOOOOO bad looking by comparison now. Although, I've never been a fan of the color scheme from Mac+ either so unless they had some variants (like the Double Nuts) it still might be a tough sell for me.

Isn't the super pack a Tamashii Web exclusive though? Or does Anime-export cover those too?

Does that mean there's a chance if i tighten the screws on my ankles it may hold better in Gerwalk? I don't want to overtighten/stress something or wind up making it worse in some other area.

Your pics are amazing Swoosh... but no Gerwalk?

I agree. If i can doctor mine so it can hold better I'll do it. I'm tempted to try out some nail polish or something just to see but I'm not really the type to dismantle/tinker with this kind of stuff. Until this point I've been lucky (except for the super loose ankles on my Hi-metal VF-1) and haven't had to worry.

Alright, you were just the last in a long line who said that same thing and it seemed to be justification. Maybe the issue is limited to me and it isn't as bad as it could be... but at $300 I get to shout very loud when this thing doesn't pose how I like it to. Battroid is rather solid/awesome. I won't deny that. It's what I've left the thing in because I can't pose it in Gerwalk. To be honest the V2 25 is ball jointed plus it has ratchets and it works beautifully. Why can't the 19 have something similar?