jenius

Yamato made the Konig as part of their deal with the VF-X video game license, it was before Macross Frontier. It's possible that the reason the DX Konig is not a 1/100 scale Hi-Metal toy is because of the fact there was an existing and fairly recent Yamato 1/100 Konig. It's not about me vs. you. It's about you against nearly everyone else. The praise for the VF-27 stretches wide and far. It's almost as if you choose not to like it because it proves you wrong. You're still free to not like it and voice that opinion but it puts your whole argument in an awkward light as you are clearly in the minority and your argument is predicated on the majority opinion being wrong. Not at all. The Yamato v2 is 1/60 scale and features all the accessories people would demand from a 1/60 scale toy. The Bandai toy is a 1/100 scale VF-1. Is there a 1/100 Yamato VF-1 toy that you prefer to the Hi-Metal? Also, there's room for exceptions in to the rule in my argument. There can certainly be budgetary considerations. A new Yamato toy aimed at $50 price point would likely be much worse than a $150 version of the toy just as the V2 MSRPs for much more than the Hi-Metal. I would say it's GENERALLY true that future generations of toys made from the same foundation are going to be better but there's obviously lots of variables. For sure... there definitely were some sales on post Ozma/Alto VF-25 toys. The point remains that the initial releases sold like gangbusters. It's been a long time since I saw Yamato move any product that fast but you're right, Yamato sells products for very old shows and Bandai was selling one for a hot new property. I just think there's also something to be said for Bandai's price point and design choices (some of which did prove to be rather unsatisfactory for adult collectors) that contributed to the brisk sales. It's not that you sound like a Yamato freak. I think we agree that Yamato would have made a toy more for adult collectors... which is a great strategy for toys of old shows that haven't been on the air for years. The toy would have looked sexier, been truer to the line art, maybe had more gimmicks, probably had a few more stress marks and cracks after minor handling, and would have cost 50%-75% more than the Bandai. That toy would have sold fairly well by Yamato standards and, with some time, Yamato might have been able to give us a similar VF-27 that again, MW would have raved about (and it would have sold even less than Yamato's VF-27). The point is, while that may be a better outcome for MW it's hardly true of what was better for the world. Bandai's toy was a huge success which is a good thing for Macross. Yamato is running out of resources quick, they would have never been able to keep up with releasing waves of Yamato toys. I still haven't been able to think of a recent non-repaint Yamato offering... just a couple ludicrously expensive models because Yamato can't afford the risk of making those beasts into toys.

What was Yamato's last non-repaint release? I'm drawing a blank. I want to say the VF-11B but that's probably wrong. This is an honest question, not me being snippy. Yes, I could look this up but it's probably not what I should be doing right now When was the last time you saw a Yamato item selling at a modest mark-up online a week or two after release because they were already selling out everywhere? We can definitely get more crazy hypothetical but it loses relevance the more extreme we get. Yamato could never afford to fund an anime but if we wanted to assume that they could afford to do so and thus could have rights locked up early in development and could release a toy at the same time (heck, maybe even earlier) than Bandai did would it have been a better toy? As Vifam pointed out, we're now squarely in a world where Yamato isn't Yamato any more and may be capable of a great many things. For my part, I'm sure they would have released a much more expensive, much less durable toy that would have received much more praise on MW because it likely would have been much more attractive and much more detailed... but given the economic reality of the time I think it would have sold much poorer than the DX toys did (and I suspect the shoulders would have broken off all the Alto releases).

I wasn't implying you have no right to complain about the VF-27. I was just saying that it automatically makes your argument weak when you say, "Bandai needs a pre-existing Yamato toy to make a good toy." then someone says "The VF-27 is a great toy." and you say "Well I don't count that one." It's totally your right to not think highly of it but I'm sure you could see where the argument already seems a little silly. The whole argument in of itself is silly though... obviously any toy in its third, fourth, or even fifth rendition is going to be better than previous versions. Just like Yamato's YF-19 was a big improvement over Bandai's 1/65 VF-19 and Yamato's next VF-19 will almost certainly be better than their previous YF-19 toys. Obviously things will improve as different companies try different things... it's not really about being lazy or cheap it's about having more data to pull from. What I would think the original question is "Would Yamato's first effort at a VF-25 toy, had Bandai never made a VF-25 toy, be better than what Bandai's effort ultimately was?" I have my doubts. As much as MW seems luke warm to cold on the DX 25 it was actually a rousing success for Bandai. It sold really well and even sold at mark-ups which isn't something I've seen from Yamato in a long time. You can probably credit this to Bandai being able to get the word out better than Yamato and having a name that carries a bit more weight. Bandai's success with the VF-25 is probably what allowed the various lines to exist and more DX toys to be made. Had Yamato originally had the license we probably would have had to wait longer for a VF-25 toy that may very well have been more model-like and thus more praised here on MW but it may have only sold at a fraction of the DX and may have been the only Frontier toy we got (with possibly hints that a VF-27 might come out some day). It may also have cost $200 instead of the $110 the DX 25 went for. Remember, Yamato seems to be really hurting without trying to get new licenses so after purchasing rights to MF and developing the VF-25 they'd have to sit back and recoup some cash before their next project whereas Bandai has been able to keep slinging.

I kinda figured that's where you were going but wanted to make sure I understood by rephrasing. Your argument is very convenient because you also dismiss the VF-27, a toy nearly universally said to have been done right, as not seeming done right to you. This argument quickly gets silly from there as all these toys are based on the same designs sometimes with input from the mechanical designer himself. If you don't see enough variety in Bandai's 1/100 scale VF-1 toy which is substantially different from Yamato's V2 toy it's probably because you associate Bandai with the chunky monkey and are thus not giving them the credit they deserve. Either way, Bandai's Quarter, VF-27, Konig, Hi-Metal VF-19s, and Hi-Metal VF-1 toys are all really solid efforts. The VF-25 was not so hot but c'mon, who's going to argue that Yamato hasn't put out a few stinkers (V1 VF-1, VF-0 with detachable arms, V2 VF-1 with detachable arms, Garland with detachable arms, Konig, etc.). If Yamato gets the license 5 years from now I would expect they would improve upon all of Bandai's releases... just as I would expect Bandai would improve on all of Yamato's toys if they got the license 5 years from now. Sadly, I don't see either of those things happening.

We're in a thread discussing a series of valks that only Bandai can make... how is it you haven't seen any of these valks yet?

Sweet... a whole generation coming up of kids with no imagination of their own

Sounds like a few others have heard similar things to what I've heard. These rumors mostly come from the fact that Bandai has made some appearances at toy shows and the like and have stopped showing off the future of the Hi-Metal line. In the beginning they were hot to trot to show the potential of the line and roll out a bunch of products but now they seem apprehensive and the only new thing we're seeing is a repaint.

I hear Japan's toy industry SUCKS right now. I'm starting to doubt we'll see much mold milking unless the DYRL valks do really well (this was also why Max's 1J was just an exclusive instead of a regular release). If we do see more mold-milking I wouldn't be shocked if all are exclusives. If you were hoping on really obscure Hi-Metal releases you can probably bury those dreams... people have already begun doubting the Hi-Metal series will survive into the Mac+ era (which was its next intended franchise).

Wow, great work.

The box is tiny... I thought it was going to be the box for my VF-19K Hi-Metal stand.

No problem. I'm setting up my photo booth again for another round of shots and I'll bust some of the old toys out for a group shot or two before I put the Konig away. While I'm at it I'm also going to try to find a way to set up my video camera so the lighting doesn't completely screw up the white balance... I guess that's what I get for using such a cheapy video camera though. Anyway, I can imagine a shot that might work for everyone so I'll try to make that happen... may take a few days before I get it online though.

I think that could be easily arranged but what mode do you want to see it in next to these other toys?

Review is up! It's pretty rough so let me know if you see some errors.

I was given a Cayenne as a courtesy car while mine was in the shop and I didn't find it overly spectacular. I did some hill driving and I felt the automatic transmission was in a state of constant shifting. It had a bit of pep to it (obviously I wasn't in one of the baller versions) and an excellent turning radius but overall it didn't strike me as amazingly better than some of the other SUVs I've been in. Then again, my opinion is probably pretty tainted by my general dislike of SUVs.

I did do a review of the VF-25 Tornado release on anymoon.com but it's lumped into my VF-25 mega review. I also have the extra parts but I haven't taken them out of the box to start reviewing them yet. I have so many new toys I need to get through right now and work is very busy. I should have my Konig DX/Robot Spirits review up tonight and then hopefully I can take some more toys out of there boxes and start working on some more reviews.

What is the point of destroid/battroid mode of any vehicle? It probably boils down to the extra dexterity of the hands for close quarters operations... like lifting heavy items or throwing a punch/pushing something.

What's a minimac?

The destroid mode can be posed walking... it's just not perfect. You can bring one knee forward a notch(kind of like GERWALK) and bring the other knee back and it looks like it's walking. No, it's no where near what you can do with a VF-1 toy but you can make it look like there's some action going on.

Nah, I can deal with some fantastical elements but they had crap like people escaping on flying rocks and sometimes SILLY concepts wedged in. Luke used the force to lift an X-wing out of the swamp and it was seemingly magical but not silly. The flying rocks seemed silly to me. I'm not saying flying rocks have no place in the Macross universe I'm just saying the writing was poor.

From a real top view, Macross 7 is the most direct sequel to SDF:M and is a running leap away from a serious story to a much more fantastic Macross universe. MacZero is actually a lot easier to stomach if you can get all the way through Mac7 (no small feat... it's got a completely different tone from SDF:M) but there's no arguing that MacZero had a lot of people scratching their heads. From a universe perspective, everything makes sense but at times you'll definitely feel like different shows were meant to appeal to different audiences (as one would hopefully expect considering the time lag between them). MacZero also suffers from some really odd story-telling... it kind of feels like an episode got lost in there toward the end.

Ever heard of Mosler Auto? When I was into Corvettes I used to dream of this thing (or something like it):

The Bandai DX Konig Monster is NOT 1/100 scale... it's a non-scale toy which is why it's badged as also being part of the Robot Spirits line and why it's NOT billed as part of the Hi-Metal line. I did the math and if the Konig is supposed to be 41meters tall (I don't know if that's correct) then the DX is 1/117. In shuttle mode the toy is about 1/107.

Okay, I've taken the pictures of my DX Monster and filmed a video review but I still have a lot of work left. In the meantime I've updated my Yamato Monster review on anymoon.com to get the ball rolling... if you haven't seen it before, go check it out. If you have seen it before, I completely reworked the pictures so they're now big enough where you can actually see the toy.

I heard from a friend in Japan that there was still some interest in making Mospeada models... I thought he was just talking garage kits so this is really good to see.

You're not differing so much as amending. Differing would be insisting that all Hikarus with GBPs were safe and you're simply adding that there is a second run that is safe... sadly I don't believe you can tell if it's a first or second edition by the packaging.