QuinJester

It's doing the Yamaguchi-style "crotch thrust out, shoulder back, chest up, face looking down" pose. If you follow the links people have posted you can see plenty of photos that show what the actual toy looks and doesn't look like.

I would say they're both quite accurate statements

Looks like one of the first blog reviews is up: http://d.hatena.ne.jp/UNOYO/20100120/p1#seemore

Original criticism do not steal!

Joking and mockery aside, I still want at least one of these toys so I can have something deliciously bad and swooshable without worrying about breaking something expensive. Wonder how long it'll take for these to reach ebay.

This is not the greatest show in the world, no... this is a tribute. Couldn't remember the greatest show in the world, no, no! This is a tribute! This is a tribute, you gotta believe. Oh I wish you were there. It's just a matter of opinion. Aw yeah. AHEM. Anyway, supporting evil empires or not, I think I might have to get at least one of these little guys as a curiosity; perhaps a purple one. Because if you're going to get something gaudy and atrocious looking, you may as well go all-out, right?

DEFINITELY wasting no time... although it's a pity they didn't take longer because the toys are pretty rough around the edges. Still, it'd be neat to get one of the bigger ones as a curiosity. EDIT: Especially since, if I'm not wrong, at 65 yuan that makes the larger toys ... right around $10.

NO THEY TOTLLY DO ALRIGHT?!

Preordered, going to pick up no questions asked. I'm entranced with the recent SD figures coming out (SDX, ES gokins, etc...) so this is a total no brainer

Of course they do.

Nah, there's a clear seam down the center of the fin visible in the fighter photo, and hinges at the base, too. For some reason in the notwalk mode they just folded the fin to one side instead of splitting it. The toy looks pretty big, actually. I'm curious to see it in nottroid mode. There's a different deco version in the background of the fighter pic, too, with yellow striping.

As a side note: hooray for original bootleg toys! As a disappointed note: We finally get a delta-winged "valkyrie" and ... it's this? Come on, Yamato. Pick up the slack, here. I can't wait for a 0D forever.

Intent is 9/10ths of the law. Since you were intending to transform it wrong, it pre-emptively broke itself to save time.

Wow. I'm flabbergasted. For one thing, Yamato must have been really sitting on a mountain of unsold VF-1J inventory to pull a stunt like that. For another, to just pop a bunch of old, known problematic merchandise into a new set... just ... flabbergasted, really.

It's only about 6 pages, and while the drawings are kind of neat it's nothing groundbreaking or critical, I don't think. After glancing through mine I put it back in its little plastic wrapper and popped it in the Quarter box.

Unless they did an overrun of like 5-10k VF-1J's on their initial production there's no way these are back stock valks. The added costs of pulling figures out of existing packaging, repainting, and repackaging them would make that kind of practice anathema. No, it's more likely a case (same with the old crotch lock) that the physical assembly design specs for the J were never updated for this new production, so they went right back to building it the way they were originally told when it was first made. They got new painting data, but for the rest were probably told "it's the same as before".

I'm being helpful! No painted canopy: http://www.1999.co.jp/itbig10/10102594a6.jpg

GRABOIDS!

The clear answer is that you should build a Fast-packed Getter-O-Raiser.

Not poseable, no, and not really a figure either since it's a fixed pose resin kit that needs ludicrous amounts of paint and assembly. I don't have that exact one (I have the V3 with the bow, still waiting for me to put the damn thing together), but it's fairly tall... about 10" if my memory serves.

Completely unrelated to any of the discussions currently going on: the SOC Spec Dragonar and Falguen are beyond excellent. I would rate them among my top 10 toys of all time. Nice diecast inner frames, excellent fit and finish, immaculate paint detailing, and just the right amount of accessories and poseability to make them near-ideal toys for both the display case and the desk as handling-fodder.

Japan is 81. You would need to dial 011 + 81 + 054-208-7520

Part 3 - Final pics Likewise, the rear treads mean the Gou-Rai can pose in backwards angled poses, even supporting the Frame Architect while doing so. And .. uh... what is this, I don't even ... so, yeah. Pretty neat. The added weight of the armor DOES make the joints move a lot looser, which is a bit of a concern considering that I know painting will add a lot of extra ballast and I can forsee it getting loose pretty easily. Overall though, the Gou-Rai armor manages to be a very cool model with a neat design, a lot of mobility (even if it's compromising 50% of the base Architect's movement, it's got a vast pool of motion still to draw from), and a lot of character despite its rather "generic" design. If this were a metal frame like the SOC Spec Dragonar, this would honestly be one of my favorite toys ever. As it is, it's still a really cool model and I look forward to decorating it.

Pics: continued (and part 2 - Gou-Rai armor) Limber up... Sitting crosslegged. Easy as pie. Part 2 - Introducing Armor The overall flexibility is impacted pretty severely by the armor (surprise surprise), mostly in the upper body and waist, but it still manages to remain an overall dynamic range that's very, very good. Size up! The new feet give the Gou-Rai armor a bit of a "leg up" on the base Frame Architect. Note: He stands really stably normally on a hard surface, but not so much on my drop cloth, which is why I've got him with his treads down. Normally he wouldn't need them. Comparing elbow articulation: Not a huge difference, but it's there. The wrists also lose most of their lateral movement, dropping from 180 degrees to about 10. Shoulders - up and out: Obviously the presence of shoulder pauldrons cuts down on the massive range of movement on the Frame Architect unit. Shoulders - front to back: Likewise, the chest and back armor cuts the phenomenal Frame Architect shoulder mobility down to a shadow of what it once was. It's still good for being expressive, but Gou-Rai wont be doing calisthenics any time soon. Waist movement: Gou-Rai can lean back a bit, but not nearly as much as the base frame. He can't really bend forward at all, due to the chest and waist armor. Kneeling: While the Gou-Rai armor can still pull a convincing kneel, it doesn't have the same gymnast-flexibility as the Frame Architect does. Still, not at all shabby. In fact, the legs really still have a fantastic range of flexibility. I love the way his shinguards move to both allow a large amount of forward foot movement as well as support him in very deep squatting poses. You would be very hard pressed to find an armored figure that can crouch like this guy can. ... in fact, thanks to the design of the armor with its front and rear supports on the legs, he can hold more dynamic leg poses than the Frame Architect can without support. The Frame Architect is supporting himself on the Gou-Rai armor; without support he'd be falling over in that matching pose.

BAM The good: It's a phenomenally poseable frame. The shoulders are fantastic with the way they're jointed, able to flex and shrug and move essentially like a humans would. The waist is jointed in a manner that the figure can lean forward and backward quite a long way, although (as near as I can tell) there's no side to side bend. Obviously it can twist, though. The figure has adjustable hip height so you can make it taller or shorter, and while outward hip movement is limited very slighly (no side-to-side splits/van damme poses, unfortunately), the overall leg movement is great; kneeling or even sitting in sieza is no problem for the frame. The not-so-good: There's that "model kit" heritage rearing its ABS and polyvinyl head. It's by no stretch of the imagination an "action figure", despite coming in a window box all assembled. It's a snap-fit model kit that has had 95% of its parts put together already, make no mistake. Pieces will come apart while you're trying to move limbs, the elbow and knee joint pegs come out of their sockets VERY easily, and it uses polycaps for its various joints so it's bound to wear down and get floppy with time. You WILL need to sit down with a tube of glue with this, pre-built or not. In particular the upper bicep and the thighs are in desparate need of being permanently affixed, and the hands (which you put together yourself) have some fitment issues and will need to be glued as well to save headaches. The rundown: It's a very cool frame and I'm excited to get my Gourai so I can see how it works with the armor, but make no mistake about it, these are model kits through and through, despite having the pre-built frame. I see the Frame Architect as being a great commodity for customizers, though, and I do hope Kotobukiya keeps adding to this line because I can see a lot of potential here. Pics: This is it! Fighting poses are a breeze! The body is amazingly dynamic Bird run! (Or perhaps figure skating) - The lightweight body coupled with the fairly robust joint system means if you can balance it, it can do it. This may change once outer armor comes into question, of course. Iron man pose? No problem. The extremely flexible waist really helps convey realistic poses. -cue adaggio for strings-