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I just left the legs off all together. I still hate the big black blob where the legs would attach too though.

Yep, that fighter mode picture is key!!!

Isn't this true of most of the occupations out there? When was the last time you were at a gas station and the attendant was truely interested in gasoline? Its mostly about the paycheque. Very few lucky people are actually doing what they have a passion for in the world.

Well, its bad design of the artwork for the Yamato stuff (not the tampo process) and as far as Bandai goes, they just don't care about Macross as much as Gundam Because once you see the Bandai Gundam Fix Figuration stuff, you'd be amazed at what can be achieved with mechanical printing especially onto tiny irregularly curved surfaces - its just simply amazing. It's just too bad we don't get that kind of quality printing with our toys.

Tampo printing does not need to be oversized, in fact its amazing how small they can get - just look at the Gundam Fix Figuration toys, they are absolutely microscopic. The NO STEP are large because they actually are large in the artwork/CG textures - its not the fault of the tampo process (maybe the colour is a bit off, but that's chosen), its the fault of the designers of the mech.

...and Arcadia doesn't even do that bare minimum! YES! So mad that the intake markings aren't even there on a $400 toy... QFT! Most likely the CAD monkeys in India/China didn't care or didn't have enough clout to say anything, or maybe didn't understand english - remember these guys that are shopped out to do VFX usually are not aircraft enthusiasts and are cheaply paid labour.

I've got a SketchUp surface model of a VF-25 that someone found for me to play around with. Its a surface model so its got to be made watertight and translated into a STL file but it seems pretty detailed. I couldn't attach it to this message (says I'm not permitted to upload this type). Its only 6.5mb

Very nice! I have that kit too... but when I got my 1/3000 Yamato, I quickly lost interest in it. Can't wait to see you paint that baby up.

Oh wow, it doesn't push up any further? Is it that little tab inside the nose that pushes up the black canopy portion bit back up? How prevalent was this problem? Mine doesn't have it.

I'm curious too, what is the nose problem?

Ooooh, NICE!!!

I second the Tamiya masking tape!

I thought only the super/armored parts did - all my other CF-171 or other renewals never got a brown shipping carton before.

Yeah, but I stayed up all night and still never got my own pre-order for Ozma's VF-25S...

Simply jaw droppingly amazing yet again MJ!!! I never knew I wanted a YF-29 Ozma... damn you!!! My daughter won't have boots this winter and I'll tell her its because of you

Let's just hope we can all get one (for those of us that want it) and not have to stay up throughout the night to endure their "pre-order madness"

Well, the Arcadia version isn't that great in aircraft mode either, what kills it for me is the lower intake area, that huge step down at the top intake lip, the huge ass wing root hinge with the large space in the lower gap and the extended black knee joint. Plus in plan view from the top, the rear legs just looks too far apart. Overall the forward nose slopes too far downward looking like its drooping - it just lacks grace in the aircraft mode - its too obviously meant for squat chunky battroid mode.

Yep, I completely agree with David. That's exactly how I feel, I've transformed my Bandais whenever I feel like it (no loose joints yet) but I leave my Yamacadias in aircraft mode only. In fact most of mine (other than the VF-1s which is nice and simple) haven't been in any other mode - every time I try (especially with the VF-4G) I think I'm going to break/snap something plastic, That stupid orange heatshield on the VF-11, that stupid rudder fold on the YF-19 (really?! it serves no purpose other than to infuriate me!) Plus they look so bare with just the minimum of markings that they look way more "toyish" than the Bandais until I have to scrounge to dress them up with water slide decals. On top of all that, I usually pay twice as much for a Yamacadia than a Bandai! I'm really hoping for a beautiful fighter mode on this baby to satiate my desire for a decent YF-19. Come on Bandai, a lot is riding on ya for me!

Hey I didn't know the whole toy came in a brown shipping box to protect the actual box - love it! It seems to hold ok without those walker supports - what do you guys think about leaving them off?

Especially how we can avoid the "walkers"

Hey! What are those tiny plane?! What scale? What are they?

Personally I prefer the sleeker more aircraft like forms of Bandai offerings to the chunkier squatter forms of Arcadia (of course it was line-art designed that way). However I find the Bandai's more "playable", they seem more durable due to the die-cast content and more replica like due to the amount of tampo printing. The Arcadias look more like "toys" because they are rather bare in terms of marking and chunky, but the transformation process makes you have to treat them with kid gloves - so they don't play like toys. I feel this is the worst combination, looking like toys, but you have to really be careful with them (maybe its partially because they are so expensive!). But I want my toys to look like replicas that I can actually "play" with.

Personally I prefer the sleeker more aircraft like forms of Bandai offerings to the chunkier squatter forms of Arcadia (of course it was line-art designed that way). However I find the Bandai's more "playable", they seem more durable due to the die-cast content and more replica like due to the amount of tampo printing. The Arcadias look more like "toys" because they are rather bare in terms of marking and chunky, but the transformation process makes you have to treat them with kid gloves - so they don't play like toys. I feel this is the worst combination, looking like toys, but you have to really be careful with them (maybe its partially because they are so expensive!). But I want my toys to look like replicas that I can actually "play" with.

Wow! It looks like they've addressed all my concerns about the Arcadia version, sleeker (less chubby), no intake lip and more tampo. I was never happy with my Arcadia YF-19 - especially considering how much I had to pay for it, but with the pre-order shenanigans I don't know if I can even get a hold of one of these. No matter how much it is, its not going to cost more than Arcadia - and it looks better (win, win!)

Thanks Duymon! Ordered my 3... man, they've jacked up the shipping! They must be in huge boxes...