David Hingtgen

EXO--those figures are awesome. It says a lot that everybody can tell who they are, based on unpainted unfinished sculpts an inch tall!

Me. Not a ton, got out of it for a while, but bought GilDragon when it came out.

I'm currently voting that the VF-0A isn't out yet. HLJ etc still list it for pre-order, none for auction in Japan, no pics at any of the Asian toy sites.

PS--I still think there's a good chance that's still a prototype. We've seen far less "green" ones that had a cleaner look, closer to a final version. My hope is still that Hasbro somehow got the original version (technically the resin prototype) and decided to produce their own mold off that, and will make an Alternator version. Just get rid of all the gimmicks like the opening nosecone and airbrake, and you could reduce the cost a lot. And the transformation's a lot simpler. G1 colors, reduced price=lots of sales. Still, MP Prime didn't do that well here AFAIK. But combined with the movie and a presumably lower price, an Alt SS could do a lot better.

Those of us in land-locked states had few opportunities to see Navy planes... F-14 never did many airshows (1/4 that of the F-18 it seemed).

Found it: http://www.hlj.com/product/FUJ35003 Hmmmn.

Any PG hands that'll fit? I was going to try putting my PG Wing Zero's hands on, but they are far too "integrated" with the wrist/forearm to be able to swap. Are all PG's like that, or do any have a "simple" connection to the wrist? Because PG hands are perfect. (I really hate "combined" fingers, they never work--not on a valk, not on a MG---having independent thumbs and a finger or two is completely counteracted by having 2 or 3 others linked together IMHO---fixed ones work better). Either have no articulation, or 100%---anything inbetween is an inferior compromise. Now I have to go hunt down my MG Zeta and see how its hands work. I might have actually gotten rid of it...

EXO--the drawing from behind, helmet in hand?

Or real-world colors. "Green grey" is neither G1 toy nor G1 cartoon nor current-gen real world. Anyone else think the wing stripes are messed up? They don't follow the leading edge--they're off by like 5 degrees--they're too far forward as they reach the tip. Looks stupid/careless IMHO. "No step" way too prominent IMHO. They're quite subtle in real life. But even most model kits have them way over done, so I wouldn't expect a toy to do better. And I still think the big-ass gaps between the engine nozzles and the shrouds looks godawful. Surely there's a way to get rid of that gap while allowing articulation. It'd also prevent that "hanging at odd angles" look every pic of the nozzles have. And the color's off, too. Nozzles usually match the shrouds decently, shouldn't be too obvious of a color change. As opposed to silver shrouds and dark bronze nozzles.

This is the biggest one I know of for the purple one, I really don't have anything for the red/white.

Look at the nose. Anyways, I think the story goes: It was originally based off the F-111, but by the time he got done with the overall design it looked more like an F-14, so he incorporated all the little F-14 details, like the beavertail and glove strakes. Anyways---while I don't have any pics of it flying (I was taping it) here is one of my own pics of the only F-14 I got to see fly (drove 6 hours across 2 states, and got there while it was starting its engines!) F-14D, VF-101 AD167, Bu No. 163417, back-up demo plane for the Grim Reapers. Converted from NF-14D, VX-23 SD231, did a lot of weapons testing for the Bombcat program in the 90's. After I saw it they transferred it from demo duty to front-line, and served with VF-31 in Afghanistan as AJ112. If you want a really cool pic not taken by me of it flying: http://www.airliners.net/open.file/0347196/L

Move the shoulder buttons (more on the rear than top) and the DS would be my fave of the more recent controllers. Original Saturn is still #1. I hate the GC for playing any "Non-3D exploration" game. It's perfect for Zelda and Metroid, but will wholeheartedly agree with it sucking for fighters. 360's would be nice if the D-pad wasn't the worst in 10 years, response-wise. (And still not all that fond of the shoulder button placement--actually liked the original XB pad's shoulder and black/white location best, it's only real flaw was hugeness). I still have to perform the 360 D-pad fix, may do it this week. As soon as I buy the driver bit to open the thing up...

I guess we can't convince you to sculpt one from scratch? Maybe Ryuji...

I'd buy a Cy-Girl style Milia, or the parts needed to convert an existing one. I know there's at least a few Cy-Girl heads with green(ish) hair. But it's got to be SDF style purple. PS--I really don't care about scale, I just want a Milia figure. 1/48, 1/55, whatever, so long as it's around a foot tall.

I know, but it'd LOOK COOL. Yeesh---the 1/48 toy isn't even 100% consistent anyways--part DYRL part TV. So I want my Macro-style Milia in Micro-size. PS---that was fast! And good job. Though I would like even smaller hands---that is frankly a big male vs female difference, and usually exaggerated in anime. (Anime girls have TINY hands)

As opposed to Toynami making *Macross* transforming VF-1's? Not to mention the age-old Toycom/Yamato issue.

'twas my point. Regardless of anime magic etc, there's just no way for an extra half-a-gunpod to be stored on the 1/60 shield. Officially it is supposed to carry spare magazines. Good luck finding space for 2... As for shield/fold booster: We get a pretty good idea of where it connects from the anime. The "4 corners" of the shield is about it. The rear connection points could be by the legs, but the front ones are certainly near the head/shield intersection, outboard near the shoulders.

I'm totally serious. EXO--I want both the all-purple and red/white versions.

I'd buy a more "accurate" 1/48 Milia pilot in a second if someone made one. I sure as heck can't sculpt. A zillion 1/48 plastic model jets out there, and not a one has a female pilot to even use as a starting point. Of course, even if there were they'd be in a bulky G-suit, etc, not much help for a skin-tight one like Milia has.

I freeze-framed M+ recently, and it's one heck of a magazine. More like half the entire gunpod. I'd be surprised if there's a spare.

I'm very curious/interested. The Toynami just didn't LOOK that neat to me to justify the cost. If Yamato could do a better sculpt I'd be very interested. Though not $365 interested. And I've bought from NCS for like a decade. Still, NCS's stock number is "TMY-VLTN"---Toynami Voltron? Maybe it's Yamato importing the Toynami one, and NCS is re-importing them back!

Maybe you missed it, maybe it was in MN. But anyways, my idea for Fold Booster attachment: The Fold Booster comes permanently attached to a different shield. To attach the fold booster, you simply remove the YF-19's normal shield, and attach the shield that has the Fold Booster molded on. Simple, easy, and leaves no holes in the YF-19 when it's not attached.

Exactly. 1. Nobody impulse buys things as expensive as a valk. Yes, you can impluse buy a $15 model jet or Gundam because it looks cool in the packaging, but not something that costs 10 times that. "On the shelf" appearance isn't very important to Yamato's sales. Especially since half of them get imported by people who'll never see them in a store to start with. 2. Battroid mode would allow VERY compact packaging---I've noticed that over the years, more and more of the larger Transformers come in robot mode, probably for that reason. Note that Yamato's first valks came in battroid mode, and had WAY smaller boxes. Just compare the VF-11 and YF-21, with and without FP's. 3. You don't have to go to the extreme I listed--simply sweeping the wings back alone would save a few inches, and folding down the tailfins is pretty minor, appearance-wise.

Going a little OT but: Yamato seems to have no concept of "folding/disassembling" things in the box. They want it to be 100% "opened and exposed". What, does anybody actualy go into a shop, open the flap, look inside, and impulse buy a $150 valk they didn't know existed until it was on the shelf? They could have them in sealed plain brown boxes and it wouldn't affect sales. Especially anyone who imports--we all buy them sight unseen anyways. Go look at how Hasbro sells Transformer jets. You fold the tailfins down, sweep the wings back, THEN put in in the box. And you can use a LOT smaller box. If the original seekers came with their tailfins installed, they'd need a box twice as big. But by making the purchasers spend a good 3 or 4 seconds installing them, they save a lot on box space and shipping charges. And the accessories aren't nicely arranged all around--they're in the corner. Imagine how small a box you could put a 1/48 Strike VF-1 in if you simply: 1. Fold the tailfins down. 2. Sweep the wings back. 3. Take the nosecone off. 4. Package the FP's and missiles all UNDERNEATH the valk like the instructions and micro missiles and stickers are. Just have a few clearly visible from above to show that they're there. Like a single booster and a RMS-1. Because that's how Hasbro would package it...

Not AFAIK. Maybe it switched, but I sure don't know which was first. PS--going by that googled definition, US destroyers are the exact opposite. It says "fast, but long-endurance". Well, the Burke class is quite slow with a very short range--but it's our main destroyer! Now, Spruance class fit the bill, but a lot of them are gone now, and going, with more and more Burkes coming. "Destroyer" REALLY doesn't have a good definition, much less one that is consistent.