jenius

The ankles are really stiff but do offer a large range of motion. It's definitely tricky to get him to balance just right but the feet are more forgiving then you'd expect... but they still end up too small and really require you to get your poses just right.

Lemme see: 1) VF-1S 2) VF-1J Hik 3) VF-1D 4) SuperOstrich 5) Elintseeker Now I can't put 5 though because chances are we will see limited editions, some of which I might think are awesome paint schemes. So.... 6) Minmay Guard 1 7) Minmay Guard 2 LowVis 1 9) LowVis 2 10) Weathering Edition TV VF-1S etc. etc. In the end, I can't commit to a number.

We know the Alpha wasn't done with CAD because of its obvious similarities to a product that existed before CAD (at least, before CAD was used to make toys or models). The design of the Alpha is taken from the design of a very old model. We know it wasn't manufactured via CAM because of the sloppy tolerances.

High strength steel? This must be a misnomer if it's sheering in an unhandled plastic toy.

I don't think it'd be wise to attach the sleeves on the arm to the chest armor, I think that'd create a lot of potential for tearing the fabric. I would rather they use a tighter and more rubbery fabric so it wouldn't move around as much. The targeting scope is definitely loose and could be much better. There were several poses I got the armor in that would have really been impaired if the hip covers attached in front like they do in the back.

Vermillion - Got mine from Overdrive. I think I paid $40 for shipping... somewhere in that ballpark. Maybe $45? Yeah, that sure doesn't help the ol' bottom line on these things. Overdrive packages things in ways where I know I'll get the toy just like it came out of the case so I don't mind if it's a bit pricey... and of course it's lightning EMS quick shipped the day it came out. Too bad Monday was a USPS day off.

My review is up! Check it out

Sounds like exactly the same problem the other guy had.

Zip over to Robotech.com (I know, you're cringing) because I believe they give the full dimensions in their little sales pitch... if not for the red one then try the blue one. All toys get a 35... I don't know what you're talking about. Okay, seriously, I'm pretty sure the 1/60 VF-1 2.0 is the league leader with about a 45 (can't remember for sure). If it's at 45 I should shave half a point off for durability since more shoulders broke from the first edition then I expected. Then again, the shoulders largely seem to be fixed so maybe I should leave it alone. There have been a lot of toys breaking 40 lately, Yamato's destroids and Toynami's Beta... it'll be tough to figure out exactly where this Beagle lands.

I just finished the first version of the write-up now. Will fiddle with the toy later tonight, finalize the write-up, and post before hitting the sack. Nothing to report yet since I still have another hour of fiddling to go through. Obviously it's a nice toy.

All FIVE or bust!!!!

Yeah, Kakizaki will be just like Max... but I suspect we're going to see a flood of Max VF-1A TVs on eBay and so the Kakizaki will go for much less of a premium. That's just my guess but we'll see. So far, every Weathering Edition has been a Yamato site exclusive with a limited ordering window or something even more difficult (like the 200 piece raffle). I'm guessing getting the 1J will be anything but easy/cheap.

"Along with the 1/48 scale weathered edition of Hikaru's VF-1J" Seems there's two gems in that blurb simultaneously.

Working hard on my Beagle review. Looks like I'm going to have to do something a bit lame though due to time constraints before my weekend getaway. I think tomorrow night I'll be putting up an initial post but it will only have a few pics. Then on Monday I'll update that post with a lot more pics.

To be fair, I think we've proven that Bandai's pics involved a mistransformed VF-25. This isn't at all uncommon (sadly) in the toy industry. I didn't mean for it to sound like I'm bashing people who just naturally prefer a longer necked valk either but it seems like people are getting caught up in a few bad pics and are convincing themselves things are much worse than they are (as if there is no functional neck there). I think you've hit the nail on the head for the most part, I really think the complaint about the neck should be aimed up a little higher... it's the squat head that's the bigger problem. Had the head been a bit different (longer, more anime accurate) the neck wouldn't look as short (and if the ball wasn't in-set so far the neck would functionally be larger). Of course it all does come down to a simple matter of Bandai making the Ozma head fit in the same area that Alto's head could fit (almost certianly for budgetary reasons).

You didn't use two sided tape did you? Just a piece of clear Scotch tape applied to the bottom of the ball. I had to use it on mine too

All the pics in my review are of an unmodified Ozma. The neck is a bit on the small side in comparison to Alto (because of how it attaches) but hardly something that screams out "ZOMG this toy sucks without a neck extension." I think a lot of people are thinking they need to mod the necks of their toys instead of fiddling with the piece that the neck attaches to to elevate that properly.

I can confirm that there is no news about a Mega House Houquet/Fuke version. The next two Mega House releases will be men. There are toy events coming up in Japan though so I wouldn't be surprised if we hear more news soon..

Just an FYI, the Weathering Defender was linked to a page or two back, it's also on Yamato's site.

If I remember correctly, the Koenig wasn't supposed to be the launch of a new scale, it was just the logical size to make a toy from an existing resin kit. The vf-0 was being made at 1/100 just to keep it the same size (not scale) as the existing VF-1 1/60 series. This was probably the snapping point where Yamato turned the corner and realized they should make a true 1/60 Macrossiverse.

You guys are too tough on the stock Ozma neck... I found it entirely sufficient. The only other toys I own that have as obvious a neck as some of you guys are putting on your Ozma toys are my Ride Armors... and those need big necks to get the head above the armor.

You must have the best living situation ever to endure that.

I'm quite afraid at this point I won't be able to get my review up before I go to Orange County this weekend. I've spent an hour and a half taking photos of the toy and haven't even tried transforming it yet. For any of you who have floppy neck syndrome, the best fix I've found for any ball joint that gets floppy is to just cut a tiny piece of clear tape and apply it to the bottom of the ball before putting it in the socket, this generally provides the extra necessary resistance without any threat of damaging anything. I wonder if vendors will now send all their Maia stock back to Toynami rather than marking it down. I was waiting for these to get to the $49.99 price before I bought one but now I'm afraid that won't happen now. They'll stay at $79.99 and then 50 days from now all the vendors will just ship the leftover stock to Toynami.

It's the MAIA paint scheme that is being recalled, not the normal shadow fighter. I don't really know that the normal one was considered much better than any of the others either but this recall sounds promising.

The $50 price difference is most likely a simple result of supply and demand, I wouldn't freak out too much over it. Beagle is probably just making much fewer products comparatively for their home market than they are making for Toynami or some other derivation where the pricing works. Cost per unit of the box and the cost of shipping hundreds of pieces from China to Japan vs. China to USA probably are not more than a couple bucks. We'll all know for sure soon enough.