AlphaOne

Cool thanks Reivaj. How is amiami? Pretty comparable to hlj?

Hi Reivaj, what's your opinion of ishop2go compared to hlj in terms of pricing, shipping, and customer quality satisfaction and do you recommend them? Thanks!

Ahh...thanks for the clarification

Out of curiosity, will this Vf-19 come with a parts swapping face mask or will it be built in? I thought I read somewhere it would be built in?

Hey thanks Reivaj! I was concerned about those two things for a while now. Thanks for clearing it up!

Anybody know if this will have some sort of chest locking mechanism or something? Also, still haven't heard if the hand plates will be changed from being all red to only the "grate" part being red...

Hey Graham, I know I asked this before, but I didn't see an answer for it. If you look on the back of the hands of the yamato vf-19, the hand plate is all red, but on the bandai and cartoon, only the "grill(?)" is colored red. Will it be the same way for the Yamato one?

I just noticed that the hand plate armor on the Yamato is all red but on the bandai and artwork, only a small "grate" on the hand armor is colored red on an otherwise all black hand. Is it possible to correct it, Graham?

Hi Graham, can you confirm if the prototype has some sort of chest lock for gerwalkand battroid mode? Thanks!

Hi Graham, any word on how did the handling of the prototype go? Any updates on this valk?

Thanks Graham!

Anyone have an idea on how long it takes for Yamato to make a production model from the time of their prototype?

Came across these pics and credit goes to http://chibieru.wordpress.com/ DAAAMMMNN...this is sexy.

I hate you

I might be mistaken, but I thought I once read somewhere here that the difference between a YF-19 and a VF-19 is somewhere like 90%. However, I really hope Yamato rethinks the YF-19 too, because there's such a gap in looks and quality between the time of the YF-19 and YF-21/VF-11.

I couldn't agree more with you.

Someone please tell me that Yamato put in a chest locking feature for this valk. Graham? Anyone?

Such a mean thing to do...

Hey cool!

Sure, 1) I first emailed HLJ and described my problem with my YF-19. I provided pictures of the flaws, a copy of my receipt with HLJ, and what solution I was looking for. HLJ acted as the middle-man in order to get the problem solved but I corresponded through email with a gentleman named Oishi-san and then with Mr. Kennard, who provided the following email response: Hi Oishi-san forwarded your email to me - if you don't feel that you can use the parts Yamato has agreed to send, then there are two other options. You can return the 1/60 YF-19 w/F. Booster & Fast Pack to us, and we can send it to Yamato for repairs, or you can return it for a refund, as unfortunately we don't have any more of this item in stock. Please let me know which you would prefer. 2) I paid the initial shipping fee to send the package back to HLJ (approx. $40) but HLJ stated that they would reimburse me (which they did). Their email response and shipping directions is the following: Hi Ken Thanks for writing. To return the item, please ship it in unopened condition back to us here at HobbyLink Japan as follows: *Package the item up very well in a good box, especially if our shipping box was damaged. *Enclose a copy of this correspondence in the package. *Mark this on the outside of the box: "CONTENTS MADE IN JAPAN." *Ship the item back to us via the post office, and send it by REGISTERED SMALL PACKET AIR MAIL. *Send the package to this address: HobbyLink Japan Tatebayashi-shi, Nishitakane-cho 43-6 Gunma 374-0075 JAPAN When your item arrives back here in Japan, we will refund the cost of shipping back to us, and will send the the item to Yamato for repairs. We will also ask them to include a new set of decals. Please accept our apologies for the problem and the inconvenience this has caused you. 3) I shipped the package Registered Small Packet Air Mail and they shipped it back EMS. 4) The entire process took from start to finish a couple weeks. I took some time to ship it out to them but communication with HLJ was topnotch in whatever questions I had regarding the replacement and they were extremely helpful in tracking down the status of when it arrived at Yamato Inc. and when they shipped back to me. I was also provided a new sheet of decals because I placed some stickers on the Yf-19 I returned along with a letter of apology I hope this helped out and if there's anything I can think of, I'll post it for you. All the best in getting your situation corrected and I'm sorry to hear the problems you had

Actually, I live in Illinois, USA

"And instead of taking returns and sending out a new one they expect you to take apart a pretty complex toy and fix it yourself. Never mind if you botch up the job and ruin a 400 dollar toy." If I might be able to provide an example where it conflicts with that statement...and this isn't an attack on the author of the above-mentioned statement. I had purchased a YF-19 w/fast packs when I noticed that it looked like stressed marks occurred (pics provided). I spoke HLJ and they spoke with Yamato about the problem. Yamato replied that I could either have the parts sent to me, or they would send me a new YF-19 back. I chose the latter and within a week, a new YF-19 was shipped to my house. Along with a personal letter of apology (also provided - sorry I had to take a picture, scanner doesn't work) from Yamato that I've kept. That is why I consider Yamato and HLJ to be class acts and why I continue to buy from them. The fact that Yamato was willing to send back a new Yf-19 AND a letter of apology shows that even though there was a flaw initially, they were more than willing to correct the problem. No company ever creates something that is 100% perfect in 100% of its products. Sometimes the customer has to be responsible for taking the initiative.

Personally, I would like to see Yamato make a better, updated version of the 1:60 YF-19 (smaller gullet, locking chest, bigger tailfins, etc)

I'm looking at my YF-19, and because it's tied for my favorite design (along with the VF-1), I'm disappointed that it has a lot of flaws. No locking chest mode (which still escapes me as to why), the gullet (which the VF-11 captured the sleekness perfectly), the crotch piece that seems soo wide, the legs look like the 19 is walking bull-legged, and the floppiness of the parts after transformations. I really hope Yamato redoes this. Do you think it's even possible? Would Yamato do this because I'd love to get a more accurate and more durable version of the YF-19.

I'm a little confused, did Yamato make a v2.0 YF-19 in the 1/60 scale? If so, then I apologize for the mistake.