jenius

So... after having a functioning stereo for a moment, then having it all die again, the car was stripped and reconfigured (at no cost to me). The Infinity Kappa Five stayed (with new fuses). Turned out they installed the BA 65 & 60s at no extra charge which is cool, the G2 sub was replaced by a JL audio 12" (again, no extra charge). Audi now officially booms but I'm not out of the woods yet... this morning when I started the car I got some bad alternator music coming from the speakers for the first minutes the car was on... it vanished after I'd driven for about 3 minutes but I can just imagine this problem getting worse. I heard that the 2011 Audi A4 is all new. Anyone familiar with the previous version got any feedback on the newest incarnation? Now that I've done all this stereo work I'm hoping my current car sticks around for a few years but I'm trying to keep tabs on the BMW/MB/AUDI entry-levels (or near entry level since there are now 1 series, A3s, and such).

But THAT LV Focker scheme? Not-so-much. A 1S version of the original LV? Sure.

I'm likin' the idea of having my Regult posed with the new Hi-Metal VF-1. The regult may not be a blast to pose or anything but it looks good enough.

Agreed, I found it to be superior to Yamato's 1/60 YF-19 in a couple ways. Perfect? Not by a long shot. Good? yes.

I think it's kind of silly that people here are saying "there's not enough demand for it." It would cost Yamato less than $1 per unit to make these changes and they are CONSTANTLY re-releasing the Roy VF-1S DYRL version. If there's so little difference in cost to produce a slightly different version of the toy and there's ANY possibility of it selling more than yet another DYRL reissue then it DOES seem kinda silly that Yamato wouldn't just go ahead and do it. The only logical conclusion is that Yamato just doesn't think anyone cares about the tiny differences so they don't bother so it's a good thing when people who do want to see it voice their opinion. Heck, we got a "Low Vis Focker VF-1S" and I don't remember a single person clamoring for that release before Yamato showed it's prototype. So, if you want one, I say clamor away... it really seems like Yamato needs a cheap money-maker right now anyway.

Um... Asians are still making Robotech... let's not racialize this too much. Robotech doesn't have a huge and rabid fan base... and there aren't many people in Japan who give a crap about what happened to Macross outside of Japan. I'm sure there are some business men who lament the haphazard contracts that were written but I don't think there's some brewing national sentiment of "They took our JOBS!" going on.

Update: Currently having the following installed: Infinity Kappa Five channel amp Boston Accoustics SC55 & SC50 speakers (components front, two ways back doors) Boston Accoustics G12 sub. If this doesn't fix my audio problem I'm going to burn the car. Of course, my real hope is that not only does it fix the problem but vastly improves the audio. Car is in the shop now (did the head unit install... was willing to pay someone after that pain) so I'm hoping for the best tomorrow.

I think what I'm going to do is merge all my 1/100 VF-1 reviews into one post and update the content (with some updated comparisons and larger pics). I haven't decided if this updated post will include series 4... I wasn't too impressed with the selection.

I think most people would love Bandai and Toynami to work out a distribution deal but Bandai's Macross license from Big West forbids distribution outside of Japan... those waters were tested before when Bandai tried to release the chunkies through Toynami.

Better late than never... full review up on anymoon.com

We're also going to have the DX Monster coming out later this year. I vote for split threads.

That is actually asking quite a bit danth unless you want the gun to look pretty wonky. You're essentially saying you want the 1/60 V2 style gun (it appeared on later versions of the V1 also) which would be pretty tricky to make durable in this tiny scale. The other option is a gun with a fixed handle like Takatoku and Banpresto did... but then you're stuck with huge impressions in the arms for fighter mode and the gun still won't sit as tight.

I remember I once put a comment in one of these HG threads saying that HG had a reputation for killing Robotech related websites and fan projects from before my time (last few years) but I couldn't really remember what projects were killed. I'm glad to know that HG is busy providing me with fresh examples.

So it's displaying the armored Ozma in fighter mode that's causing the breaks? Interesting... Eugimon, are you saying the joints on your toy just became loose on their own while sitting on display? Is it stuff that could be fixed with a turn of a screw or two?

I'm not a big fan of this design in general, the concept is a bit silly but they did a good job with it in Frontier. Anyway, I'm surprised by the negative comments. The comparison of the line art to the shuttle shows a lot of promise. The line art is angled slightly more but otherwise the proportions are really close. If the final toy snaps together tightly and eliminates all those seams and performs well as a toy then I'd say the very slight liberties were all easily forgiveable. Anyone looking for this thing to have a fun or sexy battroid mode are in for a major let-down... I refuse to believe that's possible from any manufacturer... I blame Shoji.

Here's how I would presume the whole BW suing Tatsunoko thing happened: 1) Yamato licenses the rights to make some Macross toy. License allows sublicensing without restrictions. 2) Yamato and Toycom start fabbing up toys with plans to release under Toycom banner pretty much everywhere 3) HG presents C&D to Toycom 4) Toycom goest to Yamato and says WTF? 5) Yamato goes to BW and says WTF? 6) BW goes to Tats and says WTF? 7) Tats says, "Yeah, we own the merchandising rights for Macross and gave them to HG, we get a cut of all Macross products domestically and HG gets a cut internationally." BW says "I sue youzz!" 9) Court says "Sorry BW, Tats does own merchandising rights and rights to the original animation for the original Macross series." 10) Tats says "HAHAHA, We own Macross!!!" 11) BW says "I sue youzz!!!" 12) Court says "BW gets IP rights since they designed the series before Tats involvement, Tats gets merchandising and film rights." 13) Tats says "That's cool." 14) BW says "Die in a plane crash." Then sets about writing every Macross license so that toy distribution to the states is never allowed.

Cheesiest moment of the entire last episode, Richard, Hurley, and Isabella share their moment, then the camera pans away and Locke looks sinisterly at the camera.... WTF was that? I actually LOLed after what had been a pretty touching moment.

Okay, so the boat Richard was on was lifted into the air, smashed a statue, and ended up in pretty decent shape in the middle of a jungle? That doesn't sound right. A wood boat flying out of the water and hitting a statue sounds like it should have been splintered into oblivion.

They've shown interior cockpit detail with a little Hikaru pilot at the helm... it seems very unlikely they'll put a fogged canopy on the toy after going through that trouble.

Yes, I'm curious if the alternate timeline just somehow funnels everyone back onto the island anyway or if it goes the other route and shows you that they all just lived normal lives... taking their knocks at times and having good moments at others. Of course the "gateway between hell and the rest of the world" explanation leaves plenty of holes... but now we have something.

I think I see a hole in the forearm, and it looks like the slots on the backpack and legs that hold fighter mode tightly together could also double for super parts attachments. Swappable parts looks extremely similar to the Toynami toy.

It will tower over the Robot Spirits VF-25 toys... there's a picture there that shows them together. It looks like it will be approximately the same size as a VF-25 toy otherwise... although I'd bet the cannons will make it taller in battroid.

I think the main point that the toy doesn't really work in cruiser mode is a totally valid and fair criticism. It's true, you do have to leave it on the cradle from the stand to really get anything out of that mode which is lame. If I bought the thing thinking I could woosh it around in cruiser mode I'd have been super sad (and it sounds like that's what the reviewer did). Perhaps I was a bit easier on the toy because I blamed some of that weakness on Kawamori's design of cruiser mode which has the vehicle splayed totally out... it seems Bandai would have had to (and perhaps should have) included some joint supports that wouldn't have been anime accurate to help that mode out. I'm happy to see someone out there putting up a review that is disimilar to mine so people can see two sides to the coin. I still love my DX Quarter, the finish on mine is great, I think I spent like $175... and I've never even come close to hurting myself on it.

If the crotch on a DX toy is loose that can be fixed with a piece of paper or any one of a number of simple household remedies. All you need to do is stiffen up a connection. If the shoulder explodes on Your Yammie you're stuck with an armless battroid.

Bandai should just make that thing out of Vinyl!