Shin Densetsu Kai 7.0

True, its sad to say too, considering that Silverbolt is one of the best figures in the line.

Yes I have to see the pics again, but I would wait a bit for the upcoming battle pack set of the Millenium Falcon crew. It has some of the ANH characters who were on the ship, and accessories, like the oxygen masks they used in ESB, the blast helmet for Luke when he is practicing use of the light saber, et al. I think its actually all of the figures they showed on the Millenium Falcon box. *edit* actually, I just saw the scans you uploaded. Leia, ANH Luke, Han, threepio and R2 are all the VOTC(Vintage Original Trilogy Collection) figures from 2004. The ESB Luke is a saga Luke from 2003. There is a VOTC ESB Luke with much better articulation, not sure if the arm recovery unit can be placed on his right hand though. Also, he looks sleepy. All of the accessories shown might come with the upcoming MF battle pack, for $19.99

Hey man, have the suppliers said anything about the Strike being released?

I was the one who said that they were as big as the Macross Plus valks, but what I meant was that they are just as big, in the same scale. For example if you placed a 1/100 YF-21 or YF-19 next to a 1/100 VF-25, the 25 would be close in size.

It will most likely be swappable. Its more than that, vifam7 confirmed it when he translated one of the articles(I'm sure you translated this one man). It was the head, shoulder parts, and I think the groin area.

Thats what I'm wondering, whether its that or not supporting the shoulder hinges when moving the arms. Its a pain in the ass to have to support those damn things each time when you move the arms, just to prevent breakages. Sure someone can say I don't have to, but I am not taking a chance on an expensive toy like this. Everything else is solid for the most part on this toy, except for the hinges. By far very durable, except for that. He did mention the hinge being pressed against the thigh though, and in gerwalk mode, as wolfx pointed out, the hinge doesn't have much else to go, as the wing is pressed against the shoulder, and the shoulder hinge is pressed against the leg.

I think they mean those hinges and more, necessary for transformation, it might just not be the hinges, it might be the mechanisms overall at that scale. If parts swapping keeps the toy extremely solid and durable, then I guess its for the best at that scale. I still prefer PT though.

They already did do it with the original prototype, but they said that the hinges were too fragile.

Yes but the VF-25 is around the same size as the Macross Zero and Plus valks, which are significantly larger than the VF-1.

So far the only breakages have been on the Focker version with tight shoulders. The VF-1A Hikaru has looser shoulders but so far no reported breakages whatsoever, and you know how it is folks, if there was a breakage, the pics would have been on the net immediately. I think the hinge is breaking due to tension from the tight shoulders on the 1S.

David would PWN that guy in identifying aircraft. David can identify block numbers of an aircraft from 90 yards away. The best Hasslehoff could come up with is Knight Rider.

As the early Garlands have shown us though, even their diecast parts can break. What worries me is that the hinge may already be made out of POM, which is one of the most durable plastics out there, yet is breaking.

Its the same way David suggested swiveling the hinge out. I have been doing that, and supporting the shoulder hinge everytime I move it. No breakage for me so far either. According to Swoosh, the shoulders are not as tight, they feel just right. The design is similar, but the hinge itself can move sideways(in and out) on the new 1/60, on the 1/48, its secured in one place and cannot move sideways in battroid mode.

Holy shi! that is one awesome photo highlight! Now, there won't be any question to which part broke.

Have you tried either moving the arms without supporting the hinge, or swiveling them out from fighter to gerwalk mode, without pulling the hinge up and over the stopper? If you try moving the arms by themselves, without supporting the hinge, you can definitely feel where the tension is coming from, and how it bears down on the hinge.

I got my Blitzwing, no problem with the backpack tabs so far, I intentionally broke some tabs elsewhere for something I was planning since I read the first review, and I like the figure a lot, it might be my favorite voyager. However of all the animated jets so far, this one definitely has the worst jet mode. I am a sucker for all things F-14 derived, and while I have seen worse, but still like the jet mode, I can't help but be dissapointed. It is definitely a chunky Tomcat with huge tank treads. Lugnut has the best jet mode so far, Starscream is alright except for the exposed sides. Blitzwing's jet mode is a blatant giveaway that he transforms into a tank. Some disguise. Movie Starscream has been dethroned, Blitzwing has the worst undercarriage/underside of all recent jet Transformers. Articulation is excellent, as well as sculpt in robot mode. Tank mode is excellent too, it doesn't even seem compromised like the jet mode. The absolute worst thing is that one of the metal pins for the wrist joint was freaking missing! Luckily with some quick on the spot thinking, I took one of the several twisty ties from the package, cut a tiny piece, and shoved it into the pinhole. Voila! problem solved! Nonetheless that still shouldn't have happened.

The solution may have already been implemented on the VF-1A Hikaru, the shoulders are said to be looser, and feel just right.

Thank you! I hope Yamato gives more suggestions on how to avoid breaking the hinge.

No, just read the threads that describe how to avoid it and be careful with it.

wolfx mentioned a while back that in gerwalk mode, the shoulder hinge is under pressure from the thigh piece and wings. What I think happened, is that the hinge broke under the strain/pressure from those 2 parts as you snapped the leg bar into place.

So can you tell us what specifically happened to cause the breakage? Where you just posing the shoulder or were you transforming it?

Damn man, sorry to hear, I'd be enraged with an incredible fury if that happened to me! See folks, this is why people like me question how such parts are overlooked. How did yours break?

It is the hinge that connects to the body(the one that swivels sideways from between the legs, to outside the legs when going to gerwalk mode. It is flimsy, I understand there is supposed to be clearance room for it to move, but there have already been breakages on the outer edges. When this happens, the entire hinge/arm will fall off. It is the piece that can move sideways in battroid mode. The tension of the shoulder joint definitely adds strain to that hinge, as you can feel it when you move the shoulders. That is the same reason why I asked if anyone figured out a way to remove the shoulder armor. I wanted to ease tension on the shoulder ball joint by loosening the screws, but those screws are blocked by the shoulder armor. The shoulders are very tight, which normally, is excellent for us, however the hinge that they are attached to is weak. This is the very same reason David suggested lifting the hinge above the securing ridge/bump on the underside of the back near the shoulder assembly, when going to battroid/gerwalk mode(basically the piece that keeps that hinge in place). It seems that Yamato has rectified this with the DYRL Hikaru, Swoosh says the shouders on his feel just right(not as tight as Focker's). Also, as I said in another thread, even if you were sent a replacement part, none of us have figured out how to install it. The shoulders on mine have loosened a bit over time due to handling, and there is less strain on the hinge when I pose the shoulders. I support the shoulder hinge each time I move the shoulders though. Maybe the samples you handled did not have the weak hinges, or tight shoulders. Tight parts are awesome, unless they have a hand in breaking the toy.

Yes and yes

Got Silverbolt recently, and man this guy looks way worse online than in person. I was sold on the jet mode to begin with(my complaints for its underside still stand though), and for an updated modernized alt mode in the same vein as the other classics, Silverbolt excels. The pics online make his limbs look all skinny. The underside from the side can pass as reminiscent of the XB-70 Valkyrie(which the alt mode is definitely influenced by, that and the SR-71), but from the bottom, man the torso is so obvious! Nonetheless, from the side it can at least pass off better than movie Starscream. Size of the fighter is almost as big as the 1/55 VF-1 toys. It holds together much better in alt mode than Powerglide. Its transformation is far simpler than Powerglide's, and far less involved, but as a toy it is far superior. Powerglide seems like a toy that has an ambitious design and transformation that falls short of being executed properly(cockpit hanging off back in robot mode, lack of stability in fighter mode, short nose gear, et al). Silverbolt is a toy that is straight to the point, albeit disappointing only because it's transformation is not as involved. Robot mode is far better in person, looks more balanced as opposed to skinny with wings hanging off of the back. Ratchets all over the place, which makes me happy. I wish the neon orange/red parts were actually crimson red. I like the light grey molded plastic on this rather than the all white henkei version. He is back heavy but not terribly so. Fighter mode has great details molded all over the top surface. Its a solid piece, much more solid, and cleaner(less gaps), I should say, compared to movie Starscream and Powerglide. This is a very durable Transformer toy. Possibly the most durable of all the Classics/Universe toys released so far, even the '06 versions. It's figthter mode quite possibly has the least visible cues that give away the fact it transforms, of all Classic Transformers jets released so far. Overall I am very impressed, and glad I picked him up. Definitely a must buy in the line, and all of you should choose it over Powerglide. Silverbolt's parts stay together better than Onslaught's too. Now I also picked up Animated Swoop, a design I've looked forward to for a long time as well(pterodactyls rule, my fav dinosaurs, and swoop was always one of my fav dinobots in g1, and I like the Animated versions). Well... Its alright. I wish the legs could somehow be compressed in a smaller size in alt mode, so they would look shorter in that mode, Articulation is decent, but I'm not impressed with it as much as some fans are. This doesn't blow me away like Animated Jazz did, Animated Jazz has awesome articulation. I feel like the backpack tabs will break eventually in robot mode, as they are under a lot of stress and mine had stress marks there out of box. Maybe this design will grow on me but for now, I surprisingly like Snarl better. Transformation wise, Swoop is more involved but stability wise, he isn't. Now both have flaws, Swoop has the ones mentioned above, and Snarl's waist section does not secure together well.