Keiichi

Picked up a Jazz also! Definitely check Target if you're looking for him, as mine was packed with all the Reveal the Shield stuff. My Jazz had a really really nasty sprue mark on the top of his head. I sanded it down then colored in the white plastic with a gundam marker, haha, worked out pretty well.

One other possible reason the nose is not locking in place could be due to one of the screws that holds the cockpit in place. One of the forward screws may have its head sitting out a bit (rather than being flush to the side of the cockpit piece) and this prevents the nose from being pushed down far enough to reach a good locking position. You can safely remove the screw without any loss of functionality and this gives you clearance to push the nose down all the way. Tough to explain, I'll try to take pictures of what I'm talking about sometime as I need to do the same operation for another of my VF-22s. I noticed this problem when my original VF-22S Max could push its nose down further than either my Miria or Gamlin, allowing its nose to lock in place easily and giving the head clearance to turn side to side a bit (couldn't turn the heads at all on the other two). I could feel something clearly blocking Miria/Gamlin's nose from being pushed down as far so I disassembled Miria's nose and found that screw to be the culprit. Gamlin had the same problem and same solution, now my second Max has arrived and I think it also has that problem. I'll take pictures when I get around to taking him apart.

Got in a couple sets of the Tamashii Stage Act 5 stands. Had some fun with 'em "On your six, Major!" "Piece of cake!"

Glad to hear HLJ is helping you out! Has anyone even said that parts swapping is better? I don't think there's any argument over that as the answer is fairly obvious. I got pretty lucky it seems, as both wings are nice and tight on my Roy. I keep him like this on my gaming desk when I've got him in fighter mode and don't feel like popping in the landing gear.

Yeah, I was quite pleased with how solid the backpack is. Sorry to hear about your missing part, did you try contacting the retailer you purchased the valk from for a replacement part? I got all the proper pieces for my valk though there was one problem; the replacement piece to change the right-side booster from Strike Cannon to Missile Pod wouldn't attach. After testing out some theories, I was able to figure out the cause was due to one of the plastic tabs being too long. Couple minutes with a hobby file and Roy was all Super'd out as you can see below. I love the symmetry of the Super parts, but Roy always had Strike parts in DYRL so it somehow feels wrong to equip him with a Super load out, heh. One piece I wish they included would be a saluting hand, I really like when mecha salute . Maybe when/if a VF-1S Hikaru is released they'll include one.

Don't forget they have 50% off FedEx shipping right now too, some serious savings to be had. Didn't want that CLAT Ingram, but for just $100 it's hard to resist, not to mention the deep discounts on the 1/60 VF-1s with Strike parts.

I don't have the VF-1J, but looking at review pictures of it I can see it has all the proper slots for armor attachment.

Haha, I'm really glad you liked them despite their shoddiness! Here is one proxy service advertising them explicitly as Tamashii Web Shop Exclusive (in their current form, at least). At 5775 yen even before service charges, that's more than I paid for Roy's valk with Strike Parts. A general release VF-1A with Strike Parts would be wonderful and I hope Bandai takes you up on your suggestion! I'd really like a VF-1A Hikaru to fly on Roy's wing.

Anyone have some more pictures/impressions of the Heavy Artillery Regult to share? Thinking of adding one to my pile of loot over at BBTS. What sort of articulation (if any) does the missile pod have? Also, has anyone tried using a Tamashii Stage Act 5 display stand to hold up a Regult? Have a couple of those on the way and it'd be fun if they could support the Regult.

Ah hah, thanks for the advice! No viewfinder on the camera unfortunately; had resisted getting a digital camera for the longest time, so when I finally came across a situation where I needed one I just bought the cheapest one I could find . It's a lot of fun having it though, so I can definitely see why people invest in quality setups. You've given me some good ideas on how to improve my shots in the future though (lay the camera flat and then use the timer or something), so thanks again! In regards to the figure discussion; I agree that swapping intakes isn't a big deal at all (especially when you've got Strike parts on, since that probably means you're in space and should have the covers on anyways, hehe). The only part swapping that bugs me is the head lasers (changing straight with splayed) because they're very tight and are uncomfortable to remove, but that's a completely optional swap. I really love all the extra hands, it makes me wish all Yammies came with some as their hands tend to not look so great when they're not cradling a gun. Aesthetically, my main complaints are ones that have already been said: backpack doesn't sit flat enough against the back and the gunpod angles upwards in fighter mode (looks great when the armor is on, though). Price-wise, at full retail they're definitely overpriced, so thank goodness for AmiAmi. With their discount, I feel the VF-1S becomes a fair deal. Pretty annoyed that the rest of Skull Squadron are going to be web exclusive, at least make Hikaru a general release!

Different strokes for different folks! Had more fun playin- er, dynamically repositioning my toys today . All my non-flash pictures kept coming out really blurry, but I think this one came out OK (I blame the overcast skies and my cheapo camera, anything but me!): And then, Revenge of the Regult!

Hmm, what exactly do you mean? The shoulder covers on mine can rotate, but they don't feel loose (ie I can hold the figure upside down, shake it, and the covers won't flop around or anything). They certainly aren't falling off, if that's what you mean by loose.

Yeah, they're a great pair! I really should have taken more shots of them together but I was a bit pressed for time (and I was dumb ).

You've been misinformed , not only does it come with a guide, it's in full color! Transformation is really easy and pretty much everything is ball-jointed, so I imagine if you applied too much force on a joint it'd simply pop out of its socket. My Hi-Metal arrived today and I'm in love! Took some quick shots this afternoon:

mm, I must be shopping at the wrong places as the Hi-Metal was substantially cheaper than any V.2 1/60s I've seen. $55 at AmiAmi for a Hi-Metal VF-1S with Super/Strike parts, compared to the ~$90 asking price I've seen for most 1/60 VF-1s alone. Of course, I can certainly understand skipping the line if you already own a squadron of Yammie 1/60s.

Ah-hah gotcha, never opened the manual, heh. Everyone is in fighter mode at the moment, but next time they're in battroid I'll be extending them legs .

You technically don't have to swap any parts for the transformation, but for a better looking battroid you'd need to swap out the canopy (this is a must ) and the air intakes. The landing gear is not integrated, so while you aren't swapping it with any part you do need to store it when it's not in use. The gunpod also needs a handle attached for the battroid to hold it. collectionDX's video review of the VF-1J that shows the transformation starting at about 3 minutes in.

My one and only Macross cel .

Spent the afternoon playing Dance Central and it was hilarious fun. Couldn't get the image out of my head so I set to doing this once we got home. Also, got the GFFN RGZ-95 ReZEL and it's great! Very solid feeling figure with tight joints. Articulation isn't quite as good as a Super HCM Pro on account of the requirements of the transformation, but still gets the job done.

I've got the Unicorn as well and they do indeed display quite well together, though the Unicorn perhaps has a bit of... crotch armor envy . I really love how the Rezel is marked 'R008', Romeo 8, just like Riddhe's suit in the OVA.

One reason I love AmiAmi is for their great customer service. I had a bit of a problem with the last order I received and they got back to me the same day with a solution. Simply brilliant. In regards to the topic, I've got a VF-1S Strike Hi-Metal on the way from AmiAmi and a Toynami Tactical Battlepod from Amazon. Yes, battles will be fought when they both arrive .

Haha, like charger69 hinted, he's a RGZ-95 ReZEL, most recently appearing in the Gundam Unicorn OAV. He's from the Gundam Fix Figuration Next Gen toy line and has a transformation as well, I like it quite a bit. Do you mean that one of the large panels on the bottom had trouble locking? There's a couple reasons I can think of why that may be. The most likely culprit is that your legs are not laying down perfectly flat. I had a LOT of trouble doing this reliably at first until I discovered all the tiny things that can cause that to happen. First, make sure that the extra gerwalk joint at the knees have been completely retracted. That joint is very tight and can take some force to make sure it is pushed in all the way, I had one occasion where I thought I had retracted it properly but there was actually one more 'click' to go. Also, both shoulder armors on the arms needs to be angled up towards the nose of the plane, if they are angled down towards the engines it will block the legs from laying in their perfect spot as well. Lastly try to check that the fingers of the hands are not blocking the feet from laying down flat as well. They do indeed slide out more, but I read somewhere that they are only supposed to be completely pulled out for gerwalk mode, while for battroid you retract them one click for better stability. This kind of reduces the angle on the ankles and it really does make it easier to balance the battroid when you do this, as the battroid is pretty top heavy but the feet are so tiny.

Max and Miria have arrived to accompany Gamlin! For some reason, I just love the white highlights on M&M, especially that stripe on the tail. Poor Gamlin, however, feels a bit like an odd man out now, going to need to get a YF-21 or something to keep him company. Or perhaps Yamato has a Mylene VF-11MAXL in mind for after the VF-19 Kai? I'm sure Gamlin would prefer that!

Yeah, but from the pictures it looks like it's upside down (or upright depending on how you look at it ) on both sides. No big deal though, I just ordered one anyways. Only VF-1s I own are the 1/48 Low-Vis and an old 1/55, so I figured it's about time to expand on that a bit.

Seems like they got the UN Spacy marking on the gunpod upside down. Still looks great though!