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When I put in the correct address, I keep ending up on Wikipedia for some reason? Lets try this: Stormtrooper Jumbo Vostok 7

The Aoshima's can dock with the MPC Betas, but the color will not match at all. Also, as Exo said, the Aoshima's certainly did not improve the quality or design of the MPCs, they're virtually the same thing with just a different paint job and a couple more features. http://anymoon.com/blog/2008/02/08/aoshima...oy-148-legioss/ Vostok 7

It sure would be nice for SOMEONE to release a VF-11 with proper tailfins for once! BTW, nice color scheme. Vostok 7

Those pictures are great Vostok 7

I like the Motoslave, it's just soooooo fiddly to get it posed nicely in Slave mode. Now that the ultimate transforming motorcycle has finally been done justice, my Garland and Motoslave just aren't as interesting anymore I think the Motoslave would have been much better if it was significantly larger. Vostok 7

I would send the normal info address an email to tell them you haven't heard back about your request. So far for me they've been super good about replying to emails (I got an email back in about 15 minutes, and it wasn't just a stock answer either!). Vostok 7

I forgot, it is Roger, the King of Circular Logic. And I thought I did a pretty good job of not directly attacking Toynami in my answer. Vostok 7

I might have to get this Kakizaki and the DYRL Max -1A. Those two were always my favorite color schemes and valks of the "heros". Vostok 7

CAD-designed transforming toys tend to have tighter gaps, symmetrical design and better proportions than hand-sculpted models. They tend to just look better and work better. The best way to see the difference is to look at, well, the difference between the Toynami Alpha's and the Toynami Beta. Or, another example is the original 1/72 Yamato Macross + valks versus the newer 1/60s, or the original 1/60 VF-1s vs. the 1/48s and 1/60 V2s. And given MH and CM's terrible ride armors versus the Beagle design, it wouldn't surprise me if the MH and CM's ride armors are hand sculpted vs. Beagle's for sure was CAD designed. Vostok 7

Yep, just saw the Kakizaki TV. The other one posted was a special mail order 1/48, but it was just announced that there would be a 1/60 one too. And I was only listing the V2s, the VF-11B is definitely on the way soon, and of course the Destroids: Standard Tomahawk Standard Weathered Tomahawk OD Green Tomahawk OD Green Weathered Tomahawk Standard Defender Standard Weathered Defender OD Green Defender OD Green Weathered Defender (not officially announced yet but undoubtedly on the way) And then we start the Phalanx Yamato's really cranking them out!! Also, I've only listed what's been officially announced, you know there's several more that have to be coming soon that haven't been announced yet (such as Max TV -1J, Millia TV -1J, CF TV -1A, CF DYRL -1A with Super packs?, Virgin Road -1D?, VT-1?, VE-1?) Vostok 7

Off the top of my head here's what I know about: VF-1S Roy VF-1S Roy (w/Super/Strike) VF-1J Hikaru (w/Super) VF-1A Hikaru (DYRL) VF-1A Hikaru (DYRL) (w/Super/Strike) VF-1S Hikaru (DYRL) (w/Super/Strike) TV Color Super Pack ^ released so far according to HLJ VF-1D VF-1A Max (TV) VF-1S Max (DYRL) VF-1A Max (DYRL) VF-1A Kakizaki (DYRL) VF-1A Kakizaki (TV) (just announced) Vostok 7

A couple questions: 1) Awhile ago there were pictures of a ride-armor toy with saddle bags, it looked like a Blowsperior/Blow Superior/Yellow's ride IIRC, and it sorta looked like a MH version, but the saddle bags attached to a cool frame thing that went over the rear cowl area. It was really neat looking, and I thought for sure I saw the picture on Jenius' site, but I can't find it now. Does this strike anyone as something they've seen? N/M I found it, it's the Megahouse VR-052's. 2) Does anyone know if saddle bags and other accessories will be released for the Beagle/Toynami ride armors? I saw it mentioned somewhere that there are what appear to be attachment points for saddle bags on the toy, but of course none are included. Perhaps Toynami will be doing an "appendix"? Vostok 7

The only ones I'm planning to buy at the moment: Any two seater (VF-1D, VT-1, VE-1, VFER-1?, VF-1D repaints) VF-1A CF VF-1A Low Viz I (if they make it) VF-1A Low Viz II (if they make it) Super/strike parts GBP-1 set (at least one) And that's about it. Unless they make some non-canon scheme that's so insanely awesome I can't resist. Optional are: VF-1A DYRL Max VF-1A DYRL Kakizaki Vostok 7

Well, it sure would be nice if they decided to put the dedication they showed on the Ride Armors to use on a Leigoss and Tread combo, considering the current offers are a case of better of two evils. Or, and I'm dreaming here, some 1/10 Inbit for the ride armors to fight would be a nice touch But we'll see. They obviously have done a good job with the Ride Armor for their first time out, and if they put as much dedication and time into anything else from Mospeada or other transforming cycles (a 1/10 Motoslave would be nice, if they could get it as accurate as they did with the Ride Armor!), anything else they touch could pretty much be pure gold. And extremely expensive. But when you look at it, Beagle's Ride Armor is almost like if Yamato had gone straight to making the 1/48 VF-1s with nothing in between. Jenius mentions that Yamato educated Beagle on the box, but it would NOT surprise me at all if Yamato gave some tips and tricks to Beagle, because in a lot of ways the whole thing looks and feels very Yamato-ish in a way. Augh! I wish Overdrive would get mine shipped! Danged OD Tomahawk, keeping me from MOSPEADA bliss... Vostok 7

Considering Overdrive is selling them shipped for what their suggested retail is, their price is a steal. HLJ wants $250+ for them! Vostok 7

Whoa, you just got served by the G-MAN! Vostok 7

I wouldn't say it's limited to Macross. The sad fact is, gone are the days of mostly die-cast and ABS Japanese Robots that could fall off a two story building and still look minty fresh (except for all the paint chipping off the die-cast ). But of course, we remember those toys fondly but forget they were horribly inaccurate monstrosities that were built like tanks. Now-a-days, those kids are grown up and when they want a "toy" they want it to be much more accurate than those original toys were. This means a change in philosophy on design and materials usage. Look at Yamato's evolution in their Macross line and you will see what I mean. But I think one of the biggest reasons is the move of manufacturing to China. Now, I should preface this by saying I am not one of those mooks who thinks that we shouldn't buy anything from China. But the fact is, comparing a "Made in Japan" toy to a "Made in China" one, you will see big differences in quality. The best way to see this is to compare old original Bandai and Takatoku Chunky Monkeys (which were made in Japan) to the more modern reissues by Bandai (which are made in China) and you will see what I mean. VASTLY different levels of quality, and we're talking about the exact same designs and nearly the exact same material usages! The biggest reason for this is the Japanese tend to have pride in workmanship, because of their culture. So you see this expressed in products made in Japan. (not that cheap crappy products aren't made in Japan just the same as China, but the tendency is for Japanese products to be of better quality) You can see this illustrated well in the quality of Japanese cars when they were made exclusively in Japan versus when they began building building them in America and other countries as well as Japan. That's not to say that Chinese manufacturers can't do a good job, it's just that compared to a Japanese manufacturer for the same product, the Chinese workers have to be watched over like a hawk by a supervisor that actually gives a darn. In the case of Japanese products, that usually means sending over a few Japanese supervisors to crack the whip a little bit. And it's not just the toy industry. I work in an industry that deals closely with the Chinese in what has now become one of their biggest markets (electronics). The industry I'm in is somewhat of a niche industry in electronics, but my company has the distinction of being one of the companies that sells TO China (mostly because they haven't figured out how to copy what we do... Yet. And they have tried!). As good as they are at whipping out electronic products like you wouldn't believe, when it comes to the processes that my company deals with, the Chinese manufacturers were in essentially the stone age less than 10 years ago. They were using processes that at that time was over twenty years old! And the craziest thing about it, they were happy trucking along with the huge losses they were getting from using inferior equipment in those processes, because they just didn't care. And partially, because they didn't know better. So no, I don't think Macross is cursed. I think the whole toy industry is cursed. In some ways, it's very much a parallel to the automotive industry in a lot of ways when you think about it. And like the automobile industry, there's no way to fix it. (Well, at least the Automotive industry could abolish unions and that'd be a big step forward but it still wouldn't change one major deciding factor: Worker motivation) And thus ends my Pete-channeling diatribe. I'll go back to one to two line posts now Vostok 7

Indeed, Yamato has, admittedly, a whole first run of V2 1/60s that suffer from cracked shoulders... That are easily fixed with a dab of super glue. But there is rending of garments, and people begin making claims that they will "never buy a V2 1/60 (or a Yamato product) ever again!". (Let's not forget that "putting a dab of superglue on a crack" is considered an extremely high level of "do-it-yourself" modding/repairing in this case) Yet, the Bandai suffers from an issue that's an actual problem (breaking screws) and yet, it's not the garment-rending issue it would be with a Yamato, it's as simple as "Oh yeah, just pull the stub of a screw out, get a new one from the hardware store and you're good as new." Which, if anyone is taking notes, IS a high level of do-it-yourself repairing. I guess it just goes to show, you just can't win for trying I'm always surprised Yamato has stuck it out this long. Must be the Japanese fans (the only ones they really HAVE to care about) are much kinder and realize the service they are doing for them Vostok 7

The pictures were great! Good score too. The suspension indeed works?? I thought it did, based on the little spring, but I thought they might have just put it there for flavor instead of making it functional. Functional suspension drives this thing up a few notches in my opinion!! Vostok 7

I do, a little! It's been awhile though. Vostok 7

I made like WAY too many of those back in the day (6 of them, to be exact ) Vostok 7

@ the 35. You do give a lot of "average" results, but I find your reviews to be pretty fair, that's why I'm looking forward to your Beagle review. Also, I think the individual category results speak more to the actual outcome of the review than the end score. I particularly like the comparison reviews, where you put the different toys together so we can actually see the differences between brands ourselves! Vostok 7

My work here is done! *fades out like the quantum leap guy* Vostok 7

Except several other Russian manufacturers use a mix of odd and even (though tend to prefer odd), for instance Sukhoi. Vostok 7

When she as little as I was mentioning in my post she couldn't quite get stuff together or apart quite right, but now she can. She loves the little LEGO men the most The biggest thing was she was always good about not putting the parts in her mouth! Vostok 7