GU-11

The VF-1D is on "yellow" backordered status at HLJ.

Strangely, I find Rammstein's "Isch Will" and "Sonne" fit quite well with the MacPlus VF's. Of course, Yoko Kanno's Information High, E-Saien, and that song with the French lyrics (Idol Talk?) are perfect. For Gamlin's VF-22S, Godsmack's ironically titled, "I Stand Alone." In a way he does stand alone, since I don't plan on buying the M&M VF-22S's, or the VF-11C. For VF-0's, Ghost in the Shell: S.A.C.'s soundtrack make an unlikely accompaniment, especially Origa's "Rise". For VF-1's in general, anything by Minmei (Mari Iijima) just oozes nostalgia. For all VF's in general, MF's Lion, Triangle, and Don't be Late work well. Pity Yamato still won't be able to make some VF-25's for some time. And just for the heck of it, I reckon Rolling Stones' "Paint it Black" would be perfect for the Destroid Defender and Tomahawk I plan to finally buy this year end--great Vietnam War vibe.

Ouch! That's the problem with first releases; whenever a company pushes for a fixed release date, glitches and half-assed QC is bound to happen. If and when Yamato gets the license to manufacture some MF VF-25/27 Messiahs, I'll have to wait until the first reviews come out before even considering an investment on one of those. As for the fliptop boxes, what you said makes sense. All in all, I'm glad I ended up with the best of both worlds (fliptop box and a fixed V.2 VF-0S), although the initial panic made my heart skip a couple of beats.

Now that you mentioned it, it does seem strange that the -0S retained its V.1 box while the -0A got a new solid box. All this while I thought the idea of solid boxes were part of Yamato's cost-cutting measures, as seen in even relatively new releases like the VF-22S Sturmvogell II's.

Good point. It's definitely comforting to be able to differentiate between old stock and new releases from the box alone. When I got my VF-0S, I was kind of concerned that Yamato might have re-released old stock, since the box was identical to the V.1 release. It was only after I checked the feet and discovered that they could lock that I could breathe a sigh of relief (the V.1 toys had feet that didn't lock into place when extended).

My wallet screams too, but it's inevitably drowned out by the hypnotizing visions of a fully detailed SDF-1 sitting on my bookshelf.... Besides, the price should be significantly marked down from the web exclusive, being smaller in size and all. Shouldn't be much more than the cost of a 1/60 scale YF-19.

A beautiful thing like that just brings tears to my eye.... A work of art, this. After seeing this, I can't wait for Yamato's mass-production SDF-1!

So the reissued VF-0S's box still has a fliptop? Man, that scared the hell out of me. I thought I just bought an old V.1 VF-0S. I wonder what's up with the VF-0A? Why the generic box instead of the fliptop? IMO, a generic box just takes the class out of an expensive collectible. Did not appreciate the delay either, since I was planning to get the -0A first before buying the -0S.

So the VF-0S is really off white? Phew! I was actually worried that the one I got was starting to yellow. I never owned or saw a -0S in person before, and actually thought it was supposed to be glaringly white like in the promo pics. I guess that confirms this to be new stock. That's a major relief. Thanks for the info. Thanks for the info, man. Good to know that even the earlier reissues had fixed shoulders. Mine didn't have bubble wrap around the tail, but the tailfins were wrapped in the usual protective "sticky plastic". Also the foot thruster "covers" weren't as tight as they could be, and the rear right thruster wasn't glued on--a drop of cyanoacrylate fixed it up, but still...I guess that's Yamato QC for you. Thankfully, the rest of the fig was in perfect condition like yours; tight joints and all.

What?! I just got my -0S from the hobby store, and it came in a fliptop box! It can't be old stock, since the old MacZero Valks sold out ages ago in that shop. What in the name Shoji frickin' Kawamori is going on here? :huh:

I just got my VF-0S from the hobby store today, and a few things about it had me wondering if it's just old stock that Yamato simply recycled, fixing the shoulders before selling them. First off, the toy itself is slightly off-white/grayish instead of bright white like in the promo pics, although it could be the fluorescent lights I use at home. Secondly, the metal rod on the gunpod is either black or rusted, instead of chromed. Also, there are no pegs on the hands for the gunpod. On the other hand, there's no soap bubble/anti-glare effect on the canopy, which suggests that this might be new, although I'm not sure if the VF-0S was released before Yamato started implementing anti-glare on its VF's canopies. The original VF-0's have been long since sold out at my local hobby shop, so they can't be selling me old stock even if they wanted to. Can anyone verify if this is normal for a VF-0S fig, or is this old stock re-released by Yamato?

I'm not sure how true this is, but according to the shop owner of my local hobby shop, Yamato's been "restocking" on VF-1J Hikaru with Super Pack sets to distributors at a discounted price. I'm still not sure about what he meant by "restocking", but my guess is that Yamato might have been getting its factories replace all the old VF-1J Super Pack stock with smooth pins, since it has to do it for the Armored GBP sets and standalones, anyways. While there's still every possibility that Yamato's selling old Super Pack sets with knurled pins at a discounted price, the store owner at my store has been known to cancel preorders if he hears any news of a defect about a product he's bringing in, which was the case of the GBP set I preordered from him. With that in mind, I think the SP sets on sale at the shop might be from a later batch with fixed shoulders. Then again, I wonder why HLJ isn't bringing in any of these "restocked" SP sets? DISCLAIMER: this is just something I heard from the store owner of my local shop, so I can't guarantee that any of this info is true.

Many thanks for the info, guys. I guess try asking the store owner if it's old stock. I hope he'll be honest with me. Anyways, I'll probably buy it since I can always get a replacement if I find the shoulders broken, or if it's a knurled version but still intact, I can sand off the knurls myself.

AFAIK, the "arrows" painted on the TV version's head are black instead of yellow, and of course, the Roy pilot is colored and sculpted in TV style. I recall reading somewhere about the numbers one the nosecone being different, too.

Heheh, it's open for pre-order again; my fingers worked faster than my brain, clicking on the "preorder this" button before my mind could even register the thought. It was partially my fault for delaying the preorder, hoping for a future clearance sale. The "preorder stopped" status was a major wake-up call that there's little chance this baby's ever going to last long enough for a sale to happen.

Heheh, it's open for pre-order again, and

My local hobby shop is having a sale, and there's a Yamato - 1/60 Scale Macross - VF-1J Hikaru Ichijyo with Super Parts with a 20% discount. The thing is, I can't recall if this one is the "fixed" version. AFAIK, the new fixed versions are the re-released Armored Parts set and the standalone. Is the Super Strike Parts set also among the fixed releases? Sorry if this has been discussed before. I tried searching for the older posts but the search engine yielded nothing when I typed "VF-1J".

I recently preordered Roy's TV -1S from HLJ, and am planning to get the VF-0A since it arrived earlier. Thing is, I want to them to ship the -0A first without waiting for the -1S to be shipped together. Can HLJ arrange for a separate shipment?

I own both Max and Milia's -1J's too, and I can't find any inherent flaws in them either. Just have to be careful around the shoulder searchlights(?) during transformation. In fact, there's an illustrated note included in the box that tells you to be careful--apparently, the VF-1D Virgin Road also has the same "fragile searchlight paintjob" thing as well.

Heheh, trying to rationalize the irrational is part of human nature; that's how religions are born. I rationalize; therefore I am. Either way, if there's any chance that the Regult and/or Zentraedi uniform might be marketed outside of Japan, it's definitely a sure-buy for me.

Just a theory, but since Zentraedi are capable of micronization, it's quite possible that they have a separate "scale size" for different situations--one scale size for piloting mecha (the pilots for the Q-Rau's, Glaugs and Regults look to be about the same size), and a larger scale for melee combat (infantry, etc.). Then again, this is probably just rationalization for discrepancies in the original anime.

I could only dream of a low-vis VF-22S....

Yeah, the dark gray/cyan color scheme really does justice to the VF-22S. My favorite part of the craft is the "frame-style" canopy, which reminds me of a Soviet era Mil Mi-24, another of my favorite aircraft.

Not so much remorse as an unintended buy. I used to shop for Macross figs at my local brick and mortar hobby shop, and being a latecomer to Macross collecting, Yamato's 1/60 YF-21 was long since sold out by the time I decided to buy one. I settled for the Gamlin VF-22S Sturmvogel II, instead. A few months pass, and I saw the -21 on clearance sale at HLJ. Took my first leap into the digital age and bought it online. Ironically, I've grown to like my Gamlin VF-22S even more than the -21.

Personally, I'm pretty much a stickler for movie accuracy, so I don't plan on putting Super Packs on those Valks that don't use them in the anime. Still, at that low price, I'd have bought at least one more just to mount on my VF-1D VR!