jenius

I would... except I'm not much of an artist and I'm afraid the doodles that make perfect sense to me would likely just confuse anyone else. One day when work isn't so insane I'll try to make the ideas presentable.

Finally done updating my Hi Metal post:

I was tinkering around with designing a larger scale VF-1 toy (just for kicks) and I think there are a ton of things that can be done at 1/48 that would make the V2 look like a stepping stone (although I was imagining 1/32 so who knows how feasible some design elements would be).

I disagree, not with your observations about current toys but rather the conclusion. Just because no one has found a way to nail it PERFECT doesn't mean it can't be done... it just means it's going to take some inventive engineering. Things can be made to collapse, swap location, etc. in manners that haven't been attempted yet. A larger scale (like a 1/48 V2) makes engineering such things a lot easier to accomplish. To that end, why I said it wasn't really a fair comparison with the Hi-Metal toy is because it doesn't have an integrated heat shield (primarily). That heatshield would require a place to be stored (not very large) and a mechanism for sliding forward. Obviously that adds to the complexity while taking up space in clearly tight confines. It's funny how quick most people are to say a toy isn't perfect but people don't like saying a toy has flaws. We don't need to use the same level of diplomacy we use when discussing a friend's girlfriend as we do when talking about a toy from a cartoon that was popular 25+ years ago. I'm not saying the V2 isn't sweet, but her eyes are a little close together and all the women in her family packed on 50lbs after they hit 30... wait, what the crap was I talking about again?

but that wasn't my assertion at all. My assertion is that the V2 has its head in the wrong spot and it's a flaw. Evidence that it's not an overcome-able flaw is a toy that's about half the size that handles the head position better. In 1/48 scale I'd have to imagine some company could get the best of both worlds. PS - check minus for cutting off a quote at the "but..." up above.

The Hi Metal does one or two things right in the palm of your hand... it's tiny. Despite being so tiny it manages to sink the head in lower in fighter mode AND battroid mode and it's handles the backpack better (especially in fighter mode). Again, not a fair comparison since it doesn't have to stow a heat shield or landing gears but pretty impressive just the same. Sure, it has lots of other flaws, and even it doesn't nail the head position perfect (it cheats it up a bit but no where near as bad as the V2). Is the head in the right spot? No. It's a flaw. If it makes you feel better we can call it a "flawed design choice"

Just 'cause you don't mind a glaring flaw doesn't make it a good thing. It's a flaw, and a compromise, and that's all there really is to it. If Yamato didn't do that we'd probably complain about the low hanging nose cone. Chances are someone will take another stab at the VF-1 and improve upon it. I'd say the Hi Metal already does but I shouldn't lump in here because of the tiny scale and the lack of integrated landing gear and heat shield.

To be fair, he has a 1/72 Tread in his pic, he just doesn't have a boxed version of it but I think when you own a toy that rare tracking down the box isn't a huge priority.

Sorry, the sentence may have been a bit confusing, I was referring to how the 1/60 V2 has the head in the wrong spot. The original 1/48 has it in the right spot.

A little update, I do seem to be having an AMD related issue now. Recently when I've started my computer I get the following error: ATI Error: Couldn't load HydraDMH.dll Doesn't seem to cause any problems though oddly enough after I hit okay. I'm running my 6950 unlocked as follows: GPU Clock: 900MHZ Memory Clock: 1400MHZ Power Setting: 20%

I'd buy one... hope they'd put the head in the right spot this time (that's right folks, I refuse to let it go).

You can attach the Ghost to the original VF-0A toy or any other VF-0 1/60 Yamato. I don't know of anyone selling replacement parts and I don't think Yamato is currently manufacturing them so you're probably out of luck at the moment.

Tell Yamato to sponsor a Macross the First anime... then sell us the toys

yes

Hey guys, things aren't looking so hot for my attending or having a room to use. My company is looking at a debt offering and spinning an IPO for a brand new entity at the same time working through our annual audit. This makes for lots of long nights and weekends worked for me (I'm at the office now about to hit my 70th hour worked this week with no end in sight). EDIT - if anyone is going to the SF Chronicle wine tasting at Fort Mason in mid-February I will be there.

That is a borderline NSFW link.

I really love the Hi-Metal toys. I wish Bandai had looked at the Toynami model and came up with a hybrid way of selling them. They could charge 5500Y per individual hero mech OR you could buy that same hero mech with 2 lesser valks for like 11000. So, for example, you could buy Hikaru's VF-1J for 5500 or you could get Hikaru 1J, Max TV 1A, and Hayao TV 1A for 11000. The three packs should have been all included in one box so retailers wouldn't get stuck with a bunch of Hayaos they couldn't sell (OR you could make the three packs Tamashii exclusives). The next toy could have been Hikaru's VF-1S or a three pack with Hik's 1S, Max's 1A, and Hayao's 1A. Then you do Roy's 1S with Hikaru's 1A and Max's 1S. To round it all out you have Max's 1J or Max's 1J with Miria's 1J and a cannon fodder 1A. Any left over valks like the Angelbird you can make into event exclusives. Booyiggity. That would have been a more affordable and fun line I would have collected more of.

I am in the middle of a very high stress environment right now and I sneak onto MW for quick breaks and I gotta say... that was hilarious. I don't know if we want to delve any further into this.

Ha, seriously, if anybody wants to start giving me free stuff I'll accept it! Honestly though, I think that might be part of why my SDf-1 review wasn't quite as "OMG I'm touching an SDF-1 toy!" as other peoples... 'cause I also had the burn on my credit card to weigh it against. it might be tricky to keep that same outlook if I wasn't spending my scratch on these toys... it's a challenge I would love to have to take on

If you buy any recent releases you should be fine. They're very rugged toys provided you don't get an earlier version with shoulder problems. I think I originally scored the V2 like a 9 on durability before we realized the breaks waiting to happen. Now that those breaks are allegedly fixed I'd give the V2 a very high score again.

As always I'm late to the party with my review... but you should go scope it out just the same: I have a 1900x1200 monitor now so the pics in this review and future reviews are going to be a bit larger. - EDIT - leave me some comments on anymoon.com if you feel I botched up the review, missed something, or am otherwise very right or wrong. The more opinions on the post the better as they only make the site more helpful.

Yes, but will it be straight? Also, it will be roughly $150 more expensive (guessing) than the Bandai so that might be something to consider.

Hey guys, someone PM'ed a while back about the Zentraedi uniform. I have some work I need to complete this week and then I'll try to work out a sell with that person. If that falls through it will be listed in a sale thread. Thanks -

I'm thinking SDF-1 this week then I'm not sure which post for next week... updated Hi-Metal review to include Roy's may be probable as it'd be an easier post and I'm working on a few harder ones right now that may take more than a week to put together.

It's being discussed as a visitor message board in the 1/60 VF-19K thread... just random suggestions by vistors, not planned items or anything that fun.