Hurin

This is starting to remind me of the thread on whether Guld raped Myung. Yet another thread I regretted being a part of once it was over. I think all Uxi is trying to say is the old logical rule: "Lack of evidence is not evidence of lack." And this is just fundamentally true. Meaning: If you walk down the street and see no homeless. . . does that mean your town has a total lack of homeless people? No, it just means you didn't happen to see them. Or, of course, it might be the case that there are no homeless in your town. But your stroll down the street and subjective observations are not effective evidence either way. You could only assert that there are no homeless after doing a thorough search of the town and other types of research. And, even then, you would probably still have your assertion challenged by the "you can't prove a negative" crowd. That being said, my English Professor friend is constantly aggravated by students who assert things without any logical or factual basis. One example: In MacBeth (Shakespeare), one of his students simply asserted that the three witches cast a spell on MacBeth, thus causing him to do the murderous deeds throughout the rest of the play. When asked when this was actually done, the student responded: "It happened off-stage." You can only go so far with that sort of thing. You have to have some indication that your assertion is valid. . . or at least makes sense. Too often, people confuse having evidence with thinking: "Wouldn't it be cool if. . ." I do not intend this post to help either side's argument. I have not seen M7. . . and I haven't watched MII in a long time (though I think I'll fire it up this weekend!). But, if M7 does have scenes on these "recreation ships" where ancient cultural structures are shown, I don't think it's too large a leap to think that there might be cultural parks in M7. But, in the end, trying to find links between Kawamori projects and non-Kawamori projects (that have been thoroughly dis-owned by Kawamori!) strikes me as playing with fire. Best Regards, H

1. Your arms should not be floppy in fighter mode. Be careful that you press the forearms together and that the peg goes into the hole. Then be sure that the arms snap correctly into the holes on the inside of the legs. Everything should fit together nicely. Now, the FAST Packs are another deal. The arms aren't quite as solid when FAST Packs are on. . . because the pegs on the arms go into much larger grooves that aren't holes at all, but just sorta "indentations." 2. The backpack clip. . . you're missing a step. Before you fold up the backpack, you need to press the "hatch" further into the back of the battroid beyond where it is flush with the rest of the back. I am talking about the hatch here and not the backpack itself! Do not force the backpack!. The hatch is supposed to be pushed in further where it will lock underneath two little dimples. . . and it will then securely be able to handle the weight of the backpack without coming out. Look closely at the instructions, it will show what I mean. There was a picture of this on the forums somewhere. If I find it, I'll post it. Edit: This is the thread that shows the pictures. Enjoy! 3. Sorry about the canopy gap. Good Luck! H

What is this? Some "Bandai Prototype" for a CF 1/55?!? Looks more like a custom to me. The description is a bit hard to understand. Looks fishy. But cool as long as you're willing to pay for a custom and not be (possibly) suckered by the claims of being a "prototype". VF-1A 1/55 Bandai "Prototype" It's got a pilot!

I would vote if I could decipher just what the heck I'm voting about. . . H

Chill out guys! The VF-1 line is coming very close to an end. I guess probably 4-5 more to go. A couple of Js and maybe an A. Uh, if there are 4-5 to go, that means we're not even halfway there. LOL. Or barely halfway. But, I'm in no rush. H

In addition to what Azrael said: My understanding is that the sequels (except Macross II) follow up on the TV series. However, the designs of the characters and mecha in DYRL are now considered canon. So. . . the answer is (I believe): Story = SDF Macross (TV) Appareance = DYRL Or, to put it another way, just imagine all the cooler looking mecha, uniforms, and characters from DYRL doing exactly what they did in SDF Macross, and you've got the canon "vision" of the Macross universe. I could be wrong though. H

I've said it too, right alongside you. But that doesn't mean that they aren't still hypothetical.

I'm sorry to say that I'll probably buy the VF-1 variants until they stop making them. Though, actually, I don't even have a Max yet (I think the GF has that in line for XMas though). I'm especially going to get (these are hypothetical): Max 1J Milia 1J Cannon Fodder!!! H

For those of you wondering what the heck a VF-4 is. . . here ya go. From here: and (don't know why they call it "soldier" mode there. But whatever) To my knowledge, the VF-4 only appears in Flashback 2012. Best Regards, H

Uh, yeah, all of us have. All the FAST Packs have the larger oval hole to accept the pegs on the arms. Though, I can't say that my arms flop around as much as some are comlaining about. I'm just careful to have the arms well-stuck together, and to have the legs sturdily and straightly attached to the backplate, and things seem to stay together pretty well. H

I've seen normal. . . I'll pass. Not that I want to be a complete geek. But too much normal is pretty damn annoying. My "normal" friends don't give much thought to anything beyond beer and sex. . . At least I have the occasional thought about how best to panel-line my 1/48 in there somewhere. H

Congrats on creating one of the most complete sets of possible answers I've ever seen on a MW poll. A MW poll without an obvious bias is a very, very rare thing. H

I'm guessing this is what happened (from this thread):

I'd suspect that the removal of the FAST Packs was what did the initial damage, and the transformation was the final straw. Those FAST Packs are mean to mount/remove. Ever since I heard about the backpack joint, I've been very careful with my valks back there. Obviously this doesn't do you any good. . . so all I can offer is my condelensces (sp?) and this advice: If I were you, I'd take a picture of the broken part(s) with a copy of your email/letter in the frame. And send that along. That way, they'll know that you aren't just trying to score some extra parts. It might also reinforce in their minds that their product definitely does have a flaw and that they should help you. Let us all know how it goes and please detail the process! Second option would be to buy another one and then take apart the old one and sell the parts. I don't know how good the market is for Low-vis parts. But a guy made a killing selling the parts to his VF-1S on Ebay ($40-50 just for the head!). Best Regards, H

My heat shield falls off my 1A all the time.

I don't think anyone here was saying that you had transformed it. Rather, we were saying that transforming it once and being careful as you put it back into fighter mode might have "fixed" it. These valks don't appear out of thin air, ya know! They are put together by hand in a factory. It was probably tranformed/assembled into fighter mode somewhat carelessly prior to being put in the box. I doubt what you did was really necessary and believe that you could probably have achieved the same result without grinding down anything. But, I'm not saying anything for sure since I'm not there and you are in a better position to judge. I just know that I have seen the same exact gaps on my 1A Hikaru, and 1S Roys. Each and every time, re-transforming the valk has made them go away. Can anyone with a Hikaru VF-1S (who hasn't already ground them down!) confirm a difference in the size of these "tabs" between valks? Best Regards, H

Everybody relax! I've seen these gaps before on every 1/48 I own (three). They seem to appear without any rhyme or reason and disappear just as mysteriously. Something done not-quite-right during the transforming process causes them to appear. I couldn't quite squeeze/massage them away on my 1A Hikaru despite the parts needing to be squeezed being very apparent. . . so I resigned myself to them. . . but then I tranformed it to battroid and back. . . and they were gone. They do seem to be caused/influenced by the way the hips/intakes are pushed up into the chest plate. My advice would be to (partially) transform the valk a bit and then be careful while pushing the legs/intakes up onto the chest plate. Best Regards, H

Yeah! And while we're at it. . . what is the freakin' deal with that Luke Skywalker guy?!? It's not like he's the main character or anything. . . And what's all this focus on Jesus by everyone who reads the Christian Bible? Give me Saint Mark any day!

So put the FAST Packs form the 1J on your Focker and you'll have a TV (SDF Macross) Skull-1. H

It's hard to see, but man is that huge! Not that I'm complaining. I've never had "box issues" with Yamato. I just keep selling stuff to make room. H

I'm definitely going to do this as soon as I get my Hikaru 1S. I've got an extra Roy around that I can leave in fighter mode or gerwalk. Removing the heat shield is ultra-easy. H

Actually, I think it's more about just allowing the larger helmet-ed TV Hikaru to fit in the cockpit. Without making the canopoy even more enlarged. H

I'd say that this is the most probable explanation. I think you nailed it. According to the picture in this thread, the new TV Hikaru fits against the headrest snugly. I wonder, since it's a new cockpit sculpt, if it is putting less pressure on the landing gear when it is deployed, thus lessening the "nose" gap issue. Anyone with one care to check it out? edit: Nevermind. Looking at the pictures here and at TMP Anime, the gap still looks pretty huge with the gear deployed. H

Homer would be proud!

I think that "scoop" out of the pilot's seat is intended to snuggle the big-ass bulbous helmet. I mean, with how bulbous those helmets are, you'd probably have your chin in your chest the entire time. Of course, Hikaru doesn't appear to be utilizing the extra "helmet room". . . but, that's my theory. H