Shin Densetsu Kai 7.0

Bandai is moving away from that route, they are using PVC less and less.

Exponentially more expensive too. The V-19 Torrent starfighter is only $19.99 in the 3-3/4" line, and $49.99 in the lego line. It's a good bet they will, most likely a TRU exclusive. Same here. At first, I regretted not buying the figures much in the late 90's, but this year, I was glad I didn't. The new ones are awesome, specifically the ones with full articulation. I like the clone scenes in the series, the jedi's have been kiddified to hell in this series. I at least hope Plo Kloon is as bad ass as he looks. The clones also have the best toys in the animated line too, full articulation, and removable gimmick missle launchers. The jedi's have been gimmicked out and lose articulation. Now the vehicles kick ass. I saw the V-19 in person the other day and for a $20 toy, it is HUGE! Now I hope we see new pics of Obi Wans Clone Wars starfighter, the Delta 2 with removable front section.

The target market is probably the adults who want a toy to play with that will not break, for accuracy it is obvious a lot of them are going for the plamo, it's already been said that there are people who want something to play with other than the kit(which is not supposed to be played with). The plamo market is huge in japan, for us outside japan it really isn't for Macross, as most Macross fans on this forum would want a toy rather than a model, so it might boil down to perception, the japanese market willing to get a model if they want accuracy and not minding a toy that can be played with but not completely accurate. Both serve different purposes. Seems like then japanese market is more willing to accept a toy that is not completely accurate, but is durable, because they can get an accurate plamo if they wanted to. It really is no different from what Bandai does with their other franchises. They make accurate plamo, and several toys to be played with. With Macross, this is the first time anyone is really doing this. Hasegawa never made variable versions of their Macross Zero or Plus kits, so the only alternative was a Yamato toy. With Macross F we have two toy lines and a plamo line. You forgot retractable landing gear. The same can be said of every Hasegawa model compared to a Yamato in fighter mode. That's what I think Bandai was aiming for too. A model isn't a toy. Scaling up a plamo and turning it into a toy does not always yield good results. Anyone remember the MPC Legioss? Yes it looks good, but god damn it has terrible quality. Wouldn't surprise me if they were already working on one, waiting to handle the Bandai one, to study it in depth and figure out ways to best it and look more accurate, have the molds tooled up and waiting to finally get the license to produce the 1/60 Macross F toys, and already have tooled up molds for the inevitable 2.0 fixed versions after the first runs have broken arms, LERX's, and just about everything that usually goes wrong(like arm hinges that break even though they added articulation which is then cancelled out because it breaks and you can no longer move the damn thing at all because it is no longer attached!).

Plus interchangeable cannons. Two are spring loaded, two are static, both different gun molds too.

No doubt but it might be doomed to failure. Mattel's direction for it seems to be sabotaging any chance of it succeeding. They will be reintroducing Batman, Superman, and other popular overdone characters in every wave again starting soon. Yes this will make it harder to build your BAF. The best ones to me are HML wave 3 "Kirby" Classic Cap, and the Ultimate WWII Cap in the 2 pack. I just recently bought the Target exclusive Black Spiderman(surprising that this series is a PITA to find considering the amount of b1tching I saw about it on the net when the price was announced). Great figure, best Black costume Spiderman figure, but I hate the redundant points of articulation. For example, It does not need ankle and forearm swivels, it already has ball jointed ankles, and ball jointed wrists. When you have ball wrists and ankles, forearm and ankle swivels do nothing but break the sculpt.

Yes and just how long did they have to work on those? Also, a more appropriate comparison is between Yamato's 1/100 VF-0 compared to it's onscreen counterpart, and Bandai's VF100 VF-25 compare to it's onscreen counterpart. It is also obvious that the animators themselves don't even know where the landing gear are supposed to go as they show up in different locations(nose area) depending on which episodes you watch. Well they need to set that bar higher for quality. They are oft compared as being the David that brought down Goliath(Bandai) with regards to accuracy of Macross toys, yet whenever the durability/sturdiness is brought up, the whole "they are a smaller company" defense is brought up. With the new 1/60 VF-1S they came so f**king close and yes I have even said that they are a smaller company in their defense. Now obviously it costs a lot for them to even make a valkyrie of high accuracy, but why isn't some of that money being spent towards durability or at least competent factory workers who don't make stupid mistakes? This is the case of having one over the other and there is no excuse. Making a toy more durable is a lot easier than making something highly accurate. Does anyone really mean to tell me that the broken VF-0S arms, the BP8, the breaking 1/60 shoulders, and many other various parts over the years were more expensive to prevent than taking the time to make something very accurate to it's onscreen counterpart and perfect variable? I would think Yamato broke more sweat and banks trying to figure out how to make the new 1/60 look more TV accurate and better in all three modes than than coming up with a more durable shoulder hinge. Designing a durable hinge is not as expensive as spending an assload of time and resources on making something accurate and perfect variable. A simple change of materials might even help the 1/60 shoulder hinge, as it would have on the BP8 and others. Hell a simple change of materials IS what made the difference between the TAB B on the 1st 1/72 YF-19, and the 1.5. Some may say that part was overlooked for the sake of concentrating on accuracy. That to me, would be a stupid oversight. The majority of posts in this forum for years have been apologetic excuses for Yamato.

I've got a hairline crack on the left shoulder, thought it was a seam line, then I realized that the other shoulder doesn't have it.... I noticed that I had this hairline all along, so far nothing has happened, but I am still pissed. Also the pins on both shoulders are facing opposite directions. The ragged end is facing up on the left shoulder in battroid mode, while the ragged end is facing down on the right shoulder. If Yamato really is making the VF-1D shoulders out of new material(crosses fingers), then I will just wait to get replacement parts once that comes out. I don't want to take any chances, especially when a member posted a month or so ago about getting a replacement part that broke before he even put it on the toy! WTF?! Yamato should just use the shoulder joint found on the v1 1/60, I have NEVER heard of breakages on that particular part.

I collect some of the Hasbro versions. The quality is much higher, specifically durability, however I hate how articulation was lost. See I never liked how some of the Toybiz ML had an ass ton of articulation that compromised the sculpt, but the articulation Hasbro took away on some figures was too much. I want a balance, like the Silver Surfer from the BAF F4 wave, and the mk 3 Iron Man movie figure. Anything less would dissapoint me, anything more might screw up the sculpt.

Itching to see if everything is painted on and if Ozma's head can be pulled up. I want heavy armor, and mass market super armor parts!

Wedge's version is rumored next. Thanks for the review for the A-wing man, I will buy it eventually! Also, a rebel ground crew battle pack with equipment and some ground cart or something that one of them can drive is coming out. I think it has a boarding ladder!

DX denotes the size of the toy. For example if there is a sentai mecha in a show, the smaller toy of it would not be called DX. The biggest version would be. You know most sentai toys are not elaborately detailed and barely articulated, so DX for Bandai has always denoted a bigger size.

Animated Jetfire/Jetstorm review

Judging from the pics I saw of the Gundam from the new 00 series, the articulation is definitely on par with the 2, seems like it might already be better than the EMSIA line...which had more articulation than GNUdo and Revoltech. Honestly the 1/100 seems geared for high articulation, the resin prototype showed a lot of the joints, it might be articulate enough that I might not want a Revoltech, GNU or Robot Damashii version.

No it is the benefit of the doubt. This is Bandai's first entry to making a new valkyrie toy in 14 years. Graham you were around when Yamato was touting their first 1/72 YF-19, and you KNOW they were given a ton of slack because the designs they were making toys of were damn complicated, and as always said in their defense, they were a new company, a smaller one too. Now years later and after flawed after flawed first runs, qc mishaps more prevalent than Bandai, new toys based on mecha they already did before(1/60 Macross plus valks, 3 variable incarnations of the VF-1) of course everyone expects more from Yamato now. We are used to what Yamato offers, they haven't changed their bad qc habits to the point of eradicating their problems yet. Yes we are aware that accuracy wise, they will do well, but quality wise is suspect. Me, I actually like a lot of Yamato's products, I like the accuracy they choose to pursue, however their pursuit of accuracy and aesthetics is not matched by the quality of their products with regards to durability. Yes these are catered to adults but these are not model kits, expect them to be handled. Yet whenever this is brought up, it is always pointed out that Yamato is a smaller company than Bandai and the others. If you want to decimate the competition you have to best them in each category, simply looking the part is not enough. If that were the case, we all mineswell be kitbashing Hasegawas or building garage kits. One cannot tell me this is impossible, Yamato has grown over the years, I have followed their growth since the first day the YF-19 was announced by Toycom, and with technology advancing rapidly, as well as Yamato's skill level, Yamato has come close to making an all around great product free of qc. Yet what happens? I open the v2 1/60 and learn first hand, that the shoulder issue gets in the way of making it a highly durable toy. Honestly had that issue been rectified, the new 1/60 would have fared far better in my eyes. So in conclusion it's all about what I am used to and what I come to expect. With Yamato I already know what I'm in for. It may look great, but break bad. With bandai their track record for durability is much, much higher, however this is their first foray into making all new valks in years, so I don't know what to expect just yet aside durability. Had they been making all new Macross toys these past few years, then yes I would have something to gage them by, but as of yet, I won't be able to till I handle their 25. Pushed development of accuracy. As far as making durable toys...so damn close on the v2 1/60. So fart1ng close... Not a fair comparison. Those were from the mid 90's. Yamato's Macross Plus toys arrived starting in 2000, and definitely catered to an older audience. Now if the Macross 7 valks were targeted to adults then that would be some sad sh1t but truth is they were catered to kids. Different markets to cater to, different design priorities. Whether those are bad proportions or not are in the eyes of the buyer, me personally, I don't mind the look in battroid mode except for the megacock of doom. Seems like everyone is drooling at the 1/100 and the head on that looks huge to me, even more so than the DX. I wouldn't call it hardcore anti-Yamato sentiments, I for one am not anti-Yamato, I am anti-toys-breaking-that-really-shouldn't. Yamatos would be more enjoyable if they were more durable and I don't know anyone that would disagree with that. Hell if Bandai entering this market, pissing Yamato off by getting the 1/60 Macross F license, and not being able to have the license for years spurs Yamato to improve their durability to the point of matching, if not besting Bandai, how the fu*k is that a bad thing? The more variety, the better. The higher the chances of increased quality by both sides. Maybe even undercutting each other's msrp so that prices end up lower overall. I am all for that.

Again DX is used by Bandai to mean deluxe. Obviously their sentai toys are not primarily geared towards collectors, yet they usually have DX mecha.

Did anyone pick up the Lucky Leku Gunship? I saw the pricetag and my jaw dropped...$49.99? WTF wasn't that thing just $33.99 a few years ago?

Yes but I was referring to how the added articulation aids in making more dynamic poses which lends itself to looking menacing. It just looks deadly, the way I can get the head angled down, looking like it is going to kill something. The 1/48 had a huge chest but those arms are skinny and frail looking, so the look is halfway there, and the rest no. Least to me it is.

That Starscream also has asstastic landing gear and you know what? I still like that toy a great deal. I even like the movie starscream toy a great deal. I do agree with you, the toy can do just fine. We are mainly going off of 1-Bandai's track record of durability which is more hit than miss, unlike Yamato which is miss a bunch of times. 2-The staff at GA graphic already handled the test shots and said it was sturdy and not floppy at all.

It's only more durable in the shoulder area. The 1/60 does not have any BP8 issue, so with regards to durability it may actually even. Both have 1 part that can be destroyed rather easily. With that said, I will say that the BP8 issue can be avoided much easier than the 1/60 shoulders. As for menacing in battroid mode I disagree, the new 1/60 is more poseable and can be put into more dynamic poses. Also the added head articulation is to it's benefit here. As for fighter mode, the only sleekness I see on the 1/48 is the longer nose, the arms going below the legs destroys the sleekness for me. Both of which are not really needed for a guy like me. The gunstrap, lets face it, was a pain in the ass to attach, easy to break, and hell I don't even know where mine is anymore. The antenna was nice but..not necessary to me.

Completely different mecha those 2 are based on. What's wrong with constructive criticism? I like the new 1/60 more than the 1/48, but I don't intend to sell my 1/48. The DX doesn't make the same changes. You don't see notoriously skeletal hands when they aren't supposed to be, or arms hanging down the the underside of the fighter mode below the legs. Not a fair comparison but hey since you threw it out there...Besides the VF-25 is skinny so the arm comparison is out of the window for battroid mode. And that last part isn't?

No the fact that it is ugly to you is.

It's been a while, but I don't think I did either of those two methods. The way I beat Malak as I recall, was to just about everything I could with melee combat and defense(might have used force too), and keep using the energy packets.

Haven't seen those yet either. It is

Armed with 2 gats and a voice box yo!

That's subjective though. Not everyone was pleased at the way the VF-25 design turned out in the anime. I think the DX toy is Bandai's way of addressing that. In this case it isn't completely accurate, but it didn't need to be accurate to look good. Me, I like the balanced approach.