jenius

It's true, the 11B is just as tall as the 21 in the previous GNU toys, no reason to believe the VF-1 would be smaller. Revoltechs aren't to scale either though.

While it may not be something you would prefer, to say it makes no sense is just ignorant. Think of someone who has enough money to buy ONE toy and he likes the Cannon Fodder (in this case). By including two heads he can swap up the toy wherever it is occasionally to freshen it up and get some more enjoyment out of it. It also adds flexibility if you are someone who plans on buying lots of them. You might have a display where a bunch of 1As are flying with a hero valk as squad leader. Later you might decide it'd be cool if there were two squadrons of 1As and a Vermillion squad instead. You would want two 1Js to head the sqads of 1As you already have. If the 1J heads came with the 1As it'd be a simple matter of a parts swap.

Fun fact: The instructions say: "Take care with the paint" or something to that affect. I'd say paint that chips easily, while a pain because it needs to be considered while posing, is hardly an issue of a broken toy. Well, unless it was like the Yammy 1/72 series where the paint would come rubbed off in the box! Same thing with bent rubber. Rubber bends, bend it back. The shoulders fall off because of a broken screw? That crap is broken. Eriku, seeing what became of your poll, I'd say that perhaps I was wrong to suggest more options... you guys were right, it's a just for fun thing anyway.

GNu is getting a big thumbs down for me. Yamato's re-release of the Mac+ with super parts OR you can spend $20 to upgrade your existing $30 just seems silly to me. They were over-priced to begin with, they're not becoming better buys by becoming more expensive and including a couple extra pieces of plastic. Not crappy toys by any means, they're decent, but they're too expensive and not very exciting.

Nah, I think in the cartoon the way the legs attach and how that area is colored/treated is the stuff of anime only territory. In fighter mode I'm sure you'll see the nose is all white.

I always thought shiny plastic was a good thing. The chunky has shiny plastic and it's strong stuff. Most the stuff toys are made of are painted shiny in real life or even look shiny in the cartoons. Didn't the VF-25 always have shiny effects in the cartoon?

The thing that sucks is we can't ever get an accurate count. I own multiples but can only vote once.

Hi mountain, I'm a molehill

That's a lotta launch arms!

I thought Graham mentioned that the VF-4 was on his list of suggestions for what Yamato should do. Maybe I misread it. Still, I'm pretty sure they've got rights to it.

Alaska Base greeny next? It's the plane poor Kakizake should have had. I'm glad I gave up a long time ago on collecting any VF-1 other than heroes, 2 seaters, or non-canon.

No way dude, that's them farming for talent to make Shadow Chronicles II

In a few years I'll have a wife and kids and my toys will be in a storage bin safe from tiny wandering hands. I need these things NOW!!! GIVE ME THE GOOSE THAT LAYS GOLDEN EGGS!!!

Curse you HG for exercising the rights you paid for!

I can't remember the ending but I remember reading that he doesn't die. He gives up on life and then a ship defolds and rescues him. To affirm this line of thought the makers of the Invid Invasion game included the graffiti "Jack Archer Lives" somewhere. EDIT - A quick thought on the MPC. It should be 1/72 scale, not 1/55, I think they developed lots of problems when they upped the scale (from 1/65 to 1/55 IIRC). At 1/72 it wouldn't be nearly the let down it is at the larger scale. Also, at 1/72 the heft of the legs might have been easier to overcome with stiffer joints so the thing might have actually had a chance of staying together on its own.

Either you have never handled a 1/72 Yamato, don't remember at all what it was like, or are using more than a bit of hyperbole. While the DX is far from perfect, it's 100x more playable than the Yamato 1/72s were and much better looking while being more complicated.

I prefer handling my DX over any transforming Yamato I have ever handled. Sure, I prefer the looks of many of my Yamato toys.

The price was listed on the first ad Roger linked to... It looked to be similar to the Dark Legioss.

I'm hoping the battroid would look better with some good posing... the fighter mode is letting me down more. I think it looks like Yamato elevated the cockpit position so it looks kind of like a bird more than a fighter. I also think the canopy area is a bit to bubbly and could be more sleek... still hoping that I'll be more impressed by it in person.

Just an FYI, I heard from a friend in Japan that Yamato did, in fact, make a change to the shoulders. I guess the initial reaction was to build the shoulder more carefully but then, before the second run of the VF-1S Focker (no idea when that was), there was a slight change to make the plastic stronger. He says it can't be ascertained visually though and it amounts to a microscopic additional amount of plastic. I'm pretty sure this word was passed along to him by someone at Yamato and I'm afraid the only way to really verify it would be to buy an upcoming VF-1 toy and put the shoulder area on a scale and compare it to the weight of one of the original VF-1S Focker hinges.

Yeah, I'm going to update my Fuke review at some point with pics from Shinobu, I've been working on it lately. Shinobu seemed a bit better to me than Fuke but still a long way from great. In the meantime, I just put up a post on Maia's Shadow Chronicle's Alpha, here's a sample pic:

Didn't we see pictures of the Japanese design team working with Kawamori in various published mags?

Bandai doesn't make anything from stores marking up their toys beyond MSRP. Another thing to consider, the Chunky Monkey was an expensive toy when it was released also and it also wasn't the most true to the line art toy while simultaneously being a huge hit. People like having fun with their toys, there's a lot to say for that.

From what I've seen elsewhere (and to a smaller extent here), the Bandai VF-25 is being lauded as a fun and playable toy. I don't think you can simply pin its success on a lack of competition (although it obviously helps a ton to be the only show in town).

A heatshield has to cost like 2 cents to make, they should just give all the VF-1S toys two heatshields and let their owners decide.