mechaninac

Re: Batteries not included. Should Yamato have included the batteries with their FB/FP and FB/FP/YF-19 sets? Given the asking price for these pieces... yes, they should have. Does is really matter? No, they are just batteries that can be cheaply purchased anywhere. Is the b!tch!ng about this oversight justified? Not unless you're on the prowl to find things to complain about.

The only VF-0 I'd be interested in at this point would be a D model. I adamantly refuse to buy the same thing twice just because it now has fixes that should not have been needed in the first place (and some of those fixes/upgrades are still debatable). The only thing that could possibly entice me to even consider another VF-0S would be a reactive armor bundle, but I'd still probably opt for an armor set only.

Spatial temporal disturbance reminds me of Space/Time Oscillation Bomb That little blurb/clarification does seem to point to an AU story for Macross, but it could just as easily be a way of referencing the defold of the ASS-1 (though the date does not jive). It's far too little information on which to make any coherent speculation.

Yay! They're out, fugly box and all. But what I really want to know is if the issues with the stand alone YF-19 have been addressed/corrected on the combo pack, or if, like the VF-0A Shin, it's still the same "defective" product. If the reviews are positive, I may get this.

Yes, Tampo printing of all emblems and numbers should be done, and would be awesome. Another thing I'd like them to do is mold the canopy in transparent golden orange plastic to mimic what we see in the animation... or include the "tinted" canopy to allow the buyer to choose which to use, like they did with the extra canards on the YF-19.

That's an easy fix, if you have the patience. I had the same problem with the right wrist on my VF-0S, and here is what I did to it: 1. Get a hold of a needle pin from a business shirt. 2. Get a drill bit of a diameter smaller than the pin. You'll also need a pin vise to hold the drill bit. 3. Drill the peg right down the center until the drill almost breaks through the other side (1/32" to 1/16" short is ideal). 4. Cut the point off the needle pin so there is no chance of it breaking through the plastic. 5. Insert the pin into the drilled hole as far as it will go. 6. Cut the pin flush to the surface of the peg. 7. Push the wrist/hand assembly back into the forearm. Done This fix does two things; it reinforces the plastic with metal, and it makes the peg a bit fatter which will eliminate its tendency to come off the slot when you deploy the hand. It goes without saying that you should not ever have to do this if the manufacturer does their homework before releasing the product to market.

Damn, now I have to take the shoulders on my Shin 0A apart in order to reinforce the insides with epoxy or super glue to prevent Yamatitis (def: the tendency of critical parts breaking under stress that should have been considered during the development process) from compromising the upper arms. This is very disappointing on such a expensive and beautiful toy, and specially considering that POM parts exist for replacements that should cost the consumer nothing other than a small processing fee and shipping. Canceling my VS-51 preorder is getting more and more tempting. And why the whole arm assembly for replacements? Why not just the upper arm/shoulder parts? Who needs extra forearms and hands anyway?

There is no visible way to tell them apart. POM is a more lubricious plastic than ABS, but that's very hard to tell since I'm sure both versions popped out of the same tool. One way to tell them apart would be to burn them and smell for a difference in odor (different plastics have distinctive odors when burned), but that is a destructive test I'm sure you'd not like to employ . Lastly, since POM is a bit denser than ABS, and since both versions occupy the same volume, the heavier of the two would be POM, but you'd need a very precise scale to detect the difference. In other words, you have to take Yamato's word for it...

I tend to agree that Mylene is the protagonist in M7. Basara is more akin to the White Whale in Moby Dick... a force of nature; you can try to fight it, you can roll with it, or try to get out of it's way, but you can't ignore it. I'm just hoping that the new series will further the Human Zentradi integration, expand on the PC and SA background, maybe tie in a bit with M0 in order to shed some light to the events shown in that OVA, and most important, remain true to the slightly more "mature" narrative of SDFM, M+, and M0 (keep the over the top, goofball stuff in M7 only).

If they offered a reactive armor bundle I'd probably go for the VF-0S re-issue. As it is, I too will stick with my 1st edition one... these toys are way too expensive for me to buy multiples just because the latest version has corrected mistakes that shouldn't have been present in the original in the first place.

HLJ's charging for the parts as well as shipping does strike me as profiteering (they have every right to do it, but it still stinks) if they are not, themselves, being charged by the manufacturer for these replacements. A nominal processing fee on top of the S&H charges would be entirely expected, but what I've been reading comes across as squeezing substantial bucks off non-stock courtesy items that cost them nothing... not the best way to engender customer loyalty.

Yep. I blame MacrossWorld too. Finding this site made me aware of this small new company that was going to be producing 1/72 M-Plus collector's toys... you may have heard of them, but the name escapes me . Anyhoo, after getting the YF-21 and VF-11B it's been down hill ever since, slipping and sliding into financial ruin .

Well, in WWII, some bomber flight crews took their mascots (cats, dogs, pigs, lion cubs,etc.) on missions over enemy territory with them, and I'm pretty sure a few fighter pilots did also; so that, in itself, does not cause me any concern. However, I do agree that the prevalent anime treatment of such pet inclusions is highly suspect.

Got mine a few days ago. And straight out of the box I noticed a few QC problems with my 0A; none of them insurmountable but all of them annoying. I can't vouch for any materials improvements or problems... I didn't notice any stress marks or hairline fractures or anything of the sort; the problems with mine are entirely assembly line related (not mistransformed... misassembled). One minor problem was insufficient use of cement to attach the control pannel to the pivoting seat. The darned thing just came undone upon the merest touch. This was easily corrected with some super glue once I had the entire fuselage dismantled. Another minor problem was not enough cement used to assemble the left leg foot thruster heel part to the thruster block. When I splayed the foot open the part came off in my hand and I noticed that a very small amount of solvent/glue had been used. This "deffect" was also corrected without fuss with some plastic weld. Yet another glitch, one I haven't corrected since it is not that severe, is the left hip ball joint being looser than the right... it can hold a pose fine but I would've preffered a bit more friction -- how do you take the air intake block appart? I removed all the screws but the assembly where the ball-n-socket are located would not separate... is this glued? If so, I think I'll just leave it as is or just feed some white glue in there to stiffen it up. Lastly and of most visual impact, and possibly the biggest detractor from my enjoyment of this piece, was the missaligned cockpit fuselage. The way the toy came out of the box the nose of the plane just drooped and did not lock with the heat shield. I had to take the whole thing appart in order the reassble it so that the LERX would align with the fuselage tracks. It also appeared to me that the sliding track part of this metal piece was a bit warped or bent so that the whole assembly was thrown out of wack. After reassebly everything lines up correctly and the toy looks and works great. Like I said, none of these issues were impossible to correct, but I should not have had to. After all, this is a $200 collector's piece and I should think Yamato would show a bit more pride in their products and use more stringent QC to prevent similar occurences from souring prospective buyers of their products. As for the Ghost... completely trouble free and a beautiful hunk of plastic parts. And to my surprise it looks considerably darker in person than I was led to believe from the posted images or even the box pictures. So, am I happy with my purchase? Now that I've fixed what Yamato neglected, I am. But I'm growing more leery with my SV-51 preorder.

As nice as these look, at app. 90 mm (3.5") in height they are ridiculously expensive; and with the less-than-encouraging reviews these are not worth getting IMO.

Totally agree. While the movie wasn't bad per se, it felt "flat". It had none of the freshness and imagination of the first, and very little of the sharp humor and social satire of the second. Shrek the Third just felt like one long cliché ridden attempt to profit from the popularity of the franchise. It's definitely a 2.5 star flick.

My total came to 23510 Yen, which came to $198.30 with the exchange rate at the time of payment. EMS shipping alone was a full 4700 Yen ($39.64)... talk about expensive. However, the way I look at it, if I were to buy a stand alone VF-0A + a separate Ghost I would end up shelling out another $15-$30 (or more) after shipping, even from a US retailer. Plus, having purchased from HLJ gives me the opportunity to procure a set of POM upper arms to put on my VF-0S. All in all, I'm cool with the final cost (I have to keep telling myself that to reduce the sting ).

Ditto. And at 95 mm (3.74") for the Motoko figure, that's close enough to 1/18 scale as to make any discrepancy moot, despite Good Smile's claim of the Tachi being non-scale. This is definitely the one to get.

The change from clear to tinted canopy would only be a material's spec change; no retooling required. As such, they could decide to go with a golden canopy as late as a few days (it all depends on how fast their plastic supplier can deliver) before start of production. The only reason to go with clear over tinted is cost savings since they already spec the clear for all other VF canopies.

And the Abyss is staring back...

Some people sound far too jaded. However, in the words of Gene Simmons (paraphrased): "Marriage is an institution, and you have to be committed to it... if that does not sound like a nut house, I don't know what does."

Exactly my point. The Toynami design is beautiful, but everything else is passable at best; whereas, if nothing changes between now and release date, CMs' Legioss may turn out to be a much better toy from a playability standpoint -- arguably the most important factor where these types of collector's toys are concerned, if you tend to play with them, but it looks like a$$. Non-prototype pictures will tell the tale once those are available.

I'm going to withhold final judgment until I see pictures, from multiple angles, of the final product, or at least the off-tool version. Going by the posted prototype pictures CMs' Legioss looks pretty bad and mostly out of proportion. I must say that the one thing Toynami did right is to create a very good rendition for their Alpha (maybe a bit too wide, with Sasquatch feet, and a too upturned nose -- the hog back effect is engineering related IMO, but overall dead on "accurate"); if only the execution had been commensurate with the sculpt (crappy plastic, lousy joints, imbecilic use of die cast, bad paint applications, crumbly hands, bad engineering and QC) the Alpha would be almost perfect.

I've got to agree with you there. Eureka 7 is a mediocre show at best. Besides, the casual fan watching on TV, who has not seen the unedited subbed version, would not know the difference anyway. All the belly aching is just from some fans who have way too much invested emotion to understand that the general adult swim viewer simply does not care.

... and that sound you've all just heard was everyone's ballons just being popped. Thanks for the heads up Odyn, I think...