jenius

I'm a business man and success in my world is determined by profit. It's pretty easy to see that there isn't much profit being made off Robotech and there hasn't been for a while. It also seems highly unlikely that The Shadow Chronicles was nearly as profitable as Macross Frontier. Chances are selling the movie rights to WB wasn't very profitable either unless a movie actually gets made, at which point HG might stand to make some money. I think a comparison of Yamato vs. Toynami kinda says it all. Yamato makes Macross products that have done so well the company has made products we never dreamed would see the light of day. Toynami has done so poorly with the Robotech franchise that they've shuttered the name and the only line still seeing releases goes by the Macross name.

The groupings seem a bit awkward. I love the 2 seater wave but the grouping of two non-canon schemes with a VF-1S Max? Peculiar. The LowVis 1A and the Comic-Con scheme 1J seem like perfect fodder for event exclusives. It seems like the VF-1S Max would go better with a 1A Hayao DYRL and a 1A Max TV or something.

Ha, I'm currently working on a complete overhaul of my review of this very same toy. Beat me to the punch!

but a 1/100 toy would not be in scale with Bandai's Konig. The Konig is in scale with the Robot Spirits toys which is like 1/115 scale or something odd. -

Um, are you still putting any sort of faith into toynami release dates? Are you new to the hobby? i mean, I hope you've at least gotten refunds on your Shadow Beta and Marcus Shadow Fighter by now. I guess that's a very snarky way of saying "No" but the good news is that Toynami will be at the toy fare in NY this weekend so you'll probably get news then.

mmm... crystal eye salsa

Yep, the Hi-Metal VF-19Kai is as much parts-forming as I think should ever be included in a toy at this scale.

Just collapsed my various MPC and Aoshima reviews into one Mega Review over at Anymoon.com.

Awwww no, don't let this become another Yamato vs. Bandai thread!

Assuming the Hi-Metal VF-25 is on the same level of quality with minimal partsformation like the VF-1 and VF-19 toys I would definitely jump aboard. The VF100s were pretty bad, hopefully Bandai would have learned a lot from that effort.

Yes, it seems there are two types of optional here. You could say all the parts on the Hi-Metal Bandai are optional also if you don't mind the Battroid looking like it just got done a long battle with cancer. So there's the "optional but you're going to want to use it" like the Hi-Metal head parts and the neck cover on the Yamato and then there's the "you will probably leave those in the box" like the various leg pieces on both toys. I am still really looking forward to this toy. I'd love to have it in hand now to get an appreciation for why it needs the extra parts with how well engineered everything else likely is.

I'm about as likely to have the Hi-Metal displayed in Battroid without the parts of its head attached as I am to have the Yamato displayed in fighter mode without the neck covered... but I'm pretty easy-going on my definition of "perfect transformation" so it's hardly the end of the world for me.

Isn't there a big hole if it's not there where you'd see the back end of the neck?

Isn't the neck cover a parts-formation piece that is necessary?

I'm a bit confused by all the new pics and stuff. Does the Yamato have pretty similar parts-formation to the Bandai Hi-Metal (with exception to the head)? I guess the only one part that would bother me is the one in front of the head in fighter mode... all the optional leg parts and arm shield swap out are optional so no biggy.

I like darker colors too but considering all the stuff that's 'not cool' in Macross7 I think it'd be silly to make the toy darker because that looks cooler. This thing has lips for christ's sake. I say it's time to man up and embrace this in all it's MacDowell's goofy glory. Make it bright red, make it bright yellow, and let it be here and .....

So, in this bizarre what if world, are Valkyries all just Jetfires without pilots? I imagine the answer is that there'd be a whole lot less death, no destruction of Earth, a lot less singing, no romance, and a lot of Starscream whining.

Yamatoed!

Bandai made the toy, BW approved it, just copy the color from Bandai. Seems an easy problem to solve. I don't think BW can really cry foul over using the color they've already approved.

They're on the bottom shelf.

Ah, I thought there were some odd Lansay giftsets you might be missing but knowing you're not going after any of that Lansay stuff that now makes sense. I've got a whole bunch of New Gen/Mospeada toys out at my photobooth right now. I have a lot of fun with my New Gen/Mospeada toys, even the vintage ones.

Hmm... I think as close a line as you're going to be able to conclusively draw is that they're both Bandai products (of which Tamashii is a division of).

I'm at work so I can't reference anymoon.com but I have a pic of the fighter profiles in my Hi-Metal review. Both the Yamato and Hi-Metal do great jobs emulating the line art. The Yamato looks crisper overall with its very tight tolerances but the Hi-Metal does a better job getting what becomes the backpack in the right place. I love the comparison pic, you can see lots of little things each toy does right and wrong. The Hi Metal does the backpack better in battroid because it doesn't chip the paint off the tail fins! I agree that a scaled up 1/60V2 to be a 1/48V2 would be a terrible decision that wouldn't sell well at all. If Yamato were to do a 1/48V2 it better bring a whole lot of new tricks to the table that the increased scale allow (like integrated intake covers, even greater articulation, better detail, etc.).

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: