mechaninac

For a perfect transformation 1/60 VF-2SS including detachable SAP, squires/bits, and a stand I'd gladly fork over up to $300.00. Even though a Valkyrie II toy would pretty much fulfill my "Holy Grail" wishes, $400 would be a NO and $500 would be a HELL NO. Compared to the VF-2, or the VF-4 for that matter, the VF-17 just doesn't rank as high in my desirability scale and so I don't feel it's worth the asking price of admission, specially when you take into account that Bandai's renewal VF-25 MSRPs for little more than half the price of Yamato's latest offerings. It's a shame since I would truly like to have at least one example of it, but Yamato's high price point coupled with the atrocious Dollar-Yen exchange rate have priced me completely out of the game.

No sir, surfing pocket battle carrier just does not work for me... it just pushes my that's-is-going-way-too-far button. It does not invalidate all the other cool stuff strewn throughout the movie, but it does diminish its overall tone in my eyes.

Not a surprise given the E7-Kawamori connection, but that does not make it any less of a ridiculous concept and execution. It's one thing to have a small Mech surf the air and another thing entirely to have a giant transforming battle carrier do it (granted it was “falling with style”, not flying); in E7 that concept was built into that universe's “physics” and an integral part of what made that show unique... it was never a part of Macross, in any incarnation, that I can recall. The thing is that I thought the beginning of that sequence was brilliant: the Quarter using that big piece of orbital debris to use as a reentry shield equals awesome and makes sense, but then turning the remaining chunk into a surf board equals slapstick inanity. Overall, I'd say that both movies were decent in their own right (1st better than 2nd for me), with many cool visuals, battle sequences and musical choreography, but I thought the series was much better.

The one thing I found eye rollingly tacky in Sayonara No Tsubasa was the Macross Quarter channeling the Nirvash in Gallia 4's atmosphere... totally silly!

I think the shoulders are a bit too wide and the arms slightly too thick; otherwise, it looks pretty good and does a decent job of capturing the likeness of the character... it's not Figma, Figuarts or even Revoltech standard but i'm sure it won't be anywhere near the rarified price ranges of those lines either.

http://www.animesenshi.com/mobile-suit-gundam-unicorn-episode-4/

What kind of additive prototyping process are you employing, SLA, SLS, ABS extrusion, other?

Or it could be done with dry transfers which would look far better than stickers. The only down side is that decals, dry transfers, or stickers all depend on user application and none of them look quite as good as factory applied silk screening or tampo printing.

What, do you think you're a Jedi or something? Besides, mind tricks don't work on me, only money...

IMO, Basara is not so much a character as he is a plot device. So yeah, Gamlin is the show's hero. As for question as to why pre-orders aren't as brisk for the VF-17, I guess it's a price point thing... I like the VF-17's design a lot (D more than "mongo forehead" S), but not enough to drop that much moola on one single item.

Web exclusives; that's a shame, but oh so typical. I'd be very interested in a group buy for the VF-25S but wonder if I should wait for the Armored version instead. One thing is for certain: secondary market prices for these are going to be insane. Edit: Graham beat me to it... yeah, I think I'd be more interested in the Armored Ozma, and since I don't buy multiples of the same character's unit, and I already have a VF-25F, I don't really care for Alto's Super Pack equiped version.

After a couple of days to play around and admire the renewal VF-25F, I must say it's one hell of a piece, and the gloss finish bothers me a lot less than I expected... it's glossy but not automotive gloss, so it's less blatant than I anticipated -- I would still have preferred a matte finish, but whatever; this thing is absolutely stunning. My copy is tight all over with just a slightly less stiff right shoulder, but still more than adequate; the paint and tampo prints are perfectly indexed with no smudging or over/under applications, and no glue finger prints or other unsightliness in evidence, with one exception: I did get the same chewed up edged on the right LERX/swing bar that has been reported by some other members... it's not that noticeable unless you're looking directly at it up close, but it is a flaw in an otherwise perfect representation of the FV-25F; I may be able to "fix" it so that it will be mostly invisible, but still a bummer. One thing is for sure, given its price point and included extras, on the bang_for_the_buck-o-meter Bandai's 1/60 renewal VF-25 trounces Yamato's recent 1/60 offerings. IMO, their relative complexities, engineering and QC are comparable so, advantage -- V2 VF-25s. Of course, things could change if these things do not stand up well over time.

Personally I'd like it if it were closer to Ivanov's SV-51 in color, only darker still -- near black even, with a slight blue/purple hue added into the overall tone. Regardless, I may have to skip/postpone purchasing this bird since I find $300.00 plus to be too exorbitant a price for a plastic toy... so many other things where that wad of cash would be better spent.

To be fair, the overall "positive" reaction to Yamato's VF-1 v1 was largely due to the fact that at the time of its introduction it was the best rendition of the Valkyrie to date, and there were no other Macross mecha of comparable authenticity out there: the 1/55 from Bandai were good for their day but looked like bricks in comparison to the 1/60s, Toynami's MPC was just plain garbage, HCMs were smaller and looked like nothing more than moderate improvements on the 1/55s, and outside those and Yamato's own 1/72 and Bandai's 1/65 M7 VFs there wasn't much else to compare and contrast. Today, we've been spoiled with superior engineering and detail that aproach model kit standards in aesthetics... over a decade of steady upsmanship on Yamato's part, so when Bandai released their v1 VF-25s, which would have been lauded 10 years ago, they just did not live up to the modern standards expected by most collectors. Shame on Bandai for misreading their customers' expectations... and why I passed on the v1s. Bravo to them for coming around and giving the fans of the Vf-25s the toy(s) they should have produced from the very beginning... my copy is in transit from AmiAmi right now and I can't wait to get by grubby paws on it to judge for myself if all the praise and complaints are warranted.

Ah! My eyes, they burn! Damn you Actar!

I think they could sell separate, individualized, packs if they wanted to and still make money at it. There are a few color coded parts that could belong to one family mold while all the other grey pieces would be shot on another line, or the unit specific parts could be painted (hate this option as its so extremely hard to match paint pigment to plastic color formulation... it always looks off no matter how close, and it's prone to scratching and rub off). However, I fear that fast packs and tornado packs would end up as web exclusives or released only to select retailers, online or otherwise, because they'd likely need to be produced in shorter runs than the 25s themselves (maybe 1/3 to 1/2 the nunbers as not everyone who purchases the VF will buy the add-ons), which would make them rather expensive for what you're actually getting... economics of scale and all that.

I too would rather wait for a possible/probable bundle when it comes to the VF-25S; that, and since I have the VF-25F on pre-order, I would rather test drive that one first to see if the design, engineering, execution, materials, quality, and durability warrant continuing to collect the line. With today's economy and outrageous exchange rate I have to be a lot more discriminating about what I choose to spend what little disposable income I have on toys and hobbies.

Any episode without Jar Jar hijinks or Padme's incessant bloviating is at least somewhat enjoyable.

That line art is also very battroid centric; carry those proportions over to fighter mode and you'd get a very goofy looking plane. Personally I'm totally satisfied with the proportional compromises Yamato achieved with their V2 VF-1s, specially since they revised some of the design to address the real issues with the first few releases.

I seriously doubt any US toy company would treat any Macross item with the same effort, creativity in design/engineering/execution, attention to detail and authenticity, and "quality" as either Bandai or Yamato lavish on their respective licenses. Not that they couldn't do it, but more that they wouldn't bother to do it... think Matchbox VF-1 et al. However, the opportunity for licensing the products from Bandai or Yamato in the US would open up all sorts of possibilities for acquiring coveted items at more reasonable price points. Ultimately, other than Toynami, it'll never happen so long a HG is a going concern.

Yes, the increasing incidence of design and execution faults with the DX YF-29, and considering the DX VF-25 V2 shares it's engineering lineage, does make me reconsider the wisdom of keeping my pre-order; however, I'm going to stay the course and hope that the 25 will incorporate some design fixes based on what has been learned from the 29... not expecting much but hoping that, like Yamato, Bandai may take the experience garnered from the 29's production, and consumer feedback, and improve subsequent releases (I consider the 25 V2 somewhat of a follow up to the 29, so to speak). Besides, since I never purchased any of the V1s and would like to have at least one 1/60 version, I'll give this a chance to impress me or dissuade me from acquiring any of the other variants when released.

Now THAT was made of pure awesome... totally Bad A$$!

Well, all round primary hulls are frisbee shaped, from the original Connie to the Ambassador class, so that is hardly a demerit to the Excelsior. I always looked at the secondary hull more as a truncated boat's hull bottom attached to a surf board top myself, but a pelican's torso works too... and frisbees and pelicans are at least related to flight; a spoon, not so much. As for the nacelles, they're not bread sticks, they're French baguettes! I think the refit Enterprise and her contemporaries were the best looking starships... they just had a certain presence derived from their neo-Art Deco designs that the rest of ships from all other series and movies failed to reproduce... the Enterprise E tried to achieve that magic and they got really close, but not quite. And I don't find the Intrepid class ugly; it's got its merits. I like how compact it is (about the overall size of the refit E but with much greater internal volume), and the tilting pylons are an interesting design motif existing only, I believe, on that class of ship; but there is no denying that it is not the prettiest bird in the flock. For really ugly examples just look at the Nova, Steamrunner, and the Norway classes.

The Intrepid Class is not ugly per se, but it does look like an inverted teaspoon with chicken wings attached. To me, the least appealing Federation Starship design from the original canon, other than some of the hideous kit-bashed abominations that were used as background filler, is the Galaxy class; it was the only one that took a very long time to grow on me... it just looks "wrong": ungainly, bloated, mis-proportioned. And of course, the JJ-verse Enterprise was just atrocious! Actually, to my eyes, all the Starship designs in that movie were complete poo. To me, the best looking Feddie ships are the Refit Enterprise, Excelsior, Reliant, Thunderchild (Akira Class), and to a lesser extent the Sovereign Class. I would hope that a new series would take place in a Starship designed, inside and out, to be a real military/exploration vessel instead of a luxury liner -- no space stations please -- and move the story of the franchise forward into the future... no more prequels and/or reboots; although, I would not be totally against delving into TMP era.

I keep trying to walk away from buying any more of these things and Max Factory just keeps sucking me back in! When will it end?... hopefuly not any time soon...