jenius

I just had my DX out again last night \to compare to the 1/100... I think there's a good bunch of crazy in this thread. That toy is fun, I have no paint chipping, it transforms easily, it poses well, and I have absolutely ZERO fear when I handle it. Sure, I'm probably pretty lucky so far on the paint chipping front but I think this toy is EXACTLY what Bandai intended it to be and I think the strong sells just prove that they knew what they were doing even if it irked some of the true line-art diehards that Yamato usually satisfies (ignoring the incorrect head placement on the new 1/60 that irks me to no end). The 1/100 on the other hand... well I guess that's for another thread. Anyway, I wouldn't be surprised if the original DX releases were planned from the get-go to match with future accessories but then Bandai did a little play testing and realized that stuff popped off a little too easily. Some companies might have just released the accessory sets any way only to release a version 2 later after a string of complaints, maybe Bandai is just heading those complaints off. The intention isn't to screw early adopters, it's to NOT screw late adopters. Besides, we still don't know enough to even know what we're complaining about just yet.

I don't care to participate in the MacZero debate but I do remember someone pointing out that the artifact actually causes something within the ships themselves to start operating and then the ships float (it's a one second cut scene). That "something" that starts operating looks similar to the anti grav system from the original Macross. So, while I personally would prefer it that the AFOS somehow lifted everything out of the water there's some visual evidence that maybe those ships were already capable of lifting themselves out of water. As to the hangars of the Daedalus and Prometheus, again, I'd have to point to the cartoon. I'm pretty sure we don't see anyone wearing space suits in the hangars. I have a poll running now to see what my next post should be, you should vote

While it's always hard to tell where everyone is I'm pretty sure we see lots of scenes of mechanics inside work areas without any sort space garb. I always got the impression that you had to assume the Daedalus and Prometheus got the full retrofit as otherwise we'd see a lot more scens with guys in helmets. Also, and I'm not making this up, there's been debates on here as to whether or not the Prometheus and Daedalus may have been space worthy from the very beginning (I believe there's an animation error that shows a Prometheus floating in space or something). The scene in Macross Zero where the naval ships float also have some convinced that those naval ships were equipped with anti gravity engines. For my part, I just think it makes sense the Daedalus and Prometheus at some point were made space-worthy and that we see scenes within them with people outside of space suits chatting it up. PS - I just got my Weathering Edition Defender

The answer to that one is really quite obvious... Macross Frontier just had a good TV run and has a movie coming out and it stars the VF-25. Not everyone likes models and the DX might be too large or expensive for many people. So, the advertising engine is in place and it has a niche.

Historically "perfect transformation" has nothing to do with accessories like guns. Many toys feature guns that are positioned in one mode, removed, and then put in a hand after transformation ignoring the magic of how the gun would have gotten into the hand. Since the gun is never integral to the transformation itself it's okay to exclude it from the perfect transformation analysis. Similar are items like the intake covers on a Yamato. You don't HAVE to remove them and add them back so the fact they can be removed doesn't affect the perfect transformation element. Historically the hands have also been ignored as many old toys had hands that were simply little squares representing fists. In the case of the Bandai DX, there are other hands that can be made to work with the transformation but the assumption is you're probably going to be swapping hands around anyway. I think everyone prefers Bandai's solution to doing something wonky like having drastically under scaled articulated hands. In the end, the only item I can think of that might not be perfect on the DX is the shield... does it have to be removed during transformation?

LOL, you're doing your joints wrong!

What do I have in 1/48 scale still: GBP x 3 (1 of each) Super/Strike x 1 Super/Strike Stealth 1J Super Hikaru 1J Roy 1S Max TV 1A Low Vis 1A Low Vis 2 1A That's down from essentially every 1/48 except the DYRL specific releases (Kaki, Max, Hik 1A/1S) I still like the 1/48s a lot but prefer the 1/60's size. I REALLY wish the new 1/60 hadn't screwed up the head position so bad. People bash Bandai's DX VF-25 but I think the wrong head placement Yamato did is more distracting. That said, it's more distracting because it's the ONE big flaw of the toy... like a super hot chick with a scary mole... sooner or later you're going to just stare at the mole. My plan for now is to keep all these 1/48s because I'll either need them to compare to new releases or I don't think they'll be done in the 1/60 scale.

There are two things I think that can be changed and retain the chunky vibe: 1) Swivels at the knees 2) Ball joint shoulders Of course, if you put swivels at the knees you should also make the feet more articulated so it quickly becomes a slippery slope. The ability to pull the hips out away from the swing bars and then give them a chance at holding an A-stance would have been nice also.

While the SDF-1 was indeed in space, the people who worked on the Destroids and VF-1 were always within the safety of the SDF-1. Sure, there would have been a need for spacesuits occasionally but I still think the ground crew makes more sense.

I second the chunky vibe on the DX... mighta had something to do with the styrofoam but then, one blast through transformation without a second of fear and I definitely had the vibe going even stronger.

The 1/100 is a great idea, and I initially was pretty pleased, but the more I handle them the more their cheapness shows. All the little joints cracking is pretty sad and the way the super parts attach is just plain dumb. I'm hoping when I get this I'll notice some small improvements... but it's not an actual expectation.

The SUPER Packs almost certainly fit the V1 DXs just fine. It's the GRENADE pack which doesn't look like it's being sold separately (yet) which looks to require additional connecting holes.

I don't want space suit guys, I want to complete a ground crew.

What do you mean by covering the headlights. I don't really follow what that is or how to do it (short of, ya know, grabbing a cloth or something and putting it over the front end of my toys).

All Beagles with the Beagle head (that I know of) have a problem with floppiness. This was addressed a while back by advising the use of a piece of Scotch tape on the bottom of the head ball. The Toynami versions don't seem to suffer from this problem.

If they did make an Animaniacs film she could play hot nurse!

I don't think the shoulder position or the arms has anything to do with the sliding mechanism, that's just sculpt stuff and other design elements and I like what Yamato did there. I'd much rather have a bit of a crotch (like all VF-1 toys have) then have the head in the wrong place

The whole sliding nosecone thing was a terrible idea... it makes transformation more complex and puts the toy's head in the wrong place with the only benefit being less of a crotch. The head also looks like it sits a little too far back in battroid also. Great toys, no doubt, but the more I handle them the more I wish Yamato had just made smaller 1/48s without wingflaps, removeable nosecones, and air brakes (but keep the bigger hands!).

Having the legs extended isn't all that bad, it keeps the toys from looking to squat. Roger pretty much confirmed that Toynami has excess capacity left on all of their MPC Alphas but that they also have no intention (at the moment) of using that extra capacity.

If you keep the arms of the flexi display toward the center and your screws tightened I'm sure you could get it to work. Carl, my bad, I was reading too quickly. Something different with the head of a potential sixth volume of the MPC Beta... guess i'll wait and see. As to getting a truly GOOD MPC Alpha... I took the approach of just buying lots of them, transforming them all once, returning the ones I didn't like, then handling the ones I kept very gingerly. I know that's nobody's preferred method.

The only Alpha that's hard to get is the blue one. You can still get the green through black variants for $60ish. I imagine that if Toynami is going to release a plastic giftset that won't be until long after all these MPCs are on the market so they don't hurt their own sales... that's a long wait. If I had to guess as to what Roger's hinting at it'd be the Synchro Cannon variant prototype the HG staff showed (somebody referenced a picture earlier in this thread). I'm guessing that'd be sold as a Marcus/Maia Shadow Chronicles volume.

Votoms.. no bikes but it seriously is great.

It's a fair criticism that the Aoshima isn't MUCH of a design overhaul, but certain parts were over-hauled and when you handle them you get even more of the "Damn it, why couldn't this toy be built better!" feeling than you do from the Toynami. So, beyond that, we're basically discussing semantics. The Aoshima improvements were great ideas and if these toys do make it into a full plastic rendition I hope they keep those improvements (although, from what I have seen with the Maia MPC, I have no real expectation of that). No problem on the Imen review, it's been one I've been wanting to get up for a long time... and it's probably not the last time you'll see those little figs.

You got it all wrong. "Thanks for your cancellations guys, this will convince Bandai that their future 1/100s will have to be of a greater quality if they really want them to sell!" If I see lots of preorders and then lots of cancellations I see lots of demand be turned away by my crap product... but at least I see the demand was there.

That is a commonly held, but not entirely true sentiment. HG would love to import a lot of toys and collect a licensing fee, it's a no brainer situation for them. However, their bone-headed moves in years past to try to lay claim to everything related to Macross (they claimed to have all rights to the show and its derivatives) have made it so BW will never allow another company to do business with HG again. If companies can't do business with HG then HG can't make licensing fees (BW is happy) and you get no toys unless you import it from someone who is paying BW licensing fees (BW is happy again).