drifand

Unfortunately, it's not well done at all, IMO. ALL those bullet hits and nothing got thru the UNARMORED bits? LOL! I always thought the Jin-roh anime was stretching it quite thin already (as much as I like the quality of work)... although the squad exercise made clear that for the Protect Gear to be effective, the squaddies had to cover each other correctly. All those 'invincible' encounters in the latter part of the film were more due to the nervousness of the enemy, and just plain LUCK. This bit of overdone customising simply points out all the 'holes' in the mystique of the armor.

The only other company I know from personal experience that commands such equal amounts of love and hate is... APPLE. The whole 'David vs Goliath' mentality translates especially well (only Yamato makes Macross stuff for the rest of us!); as does the premium pricing for materials that don't always make the grade (PPC chips are FASTER than Intels, REALLY! Right.) Heck, when I first got into Macs because of my design studies, I felt the first flush of heady excitement too... that this company (Apple) 'understood' what I needed to feed my passion. That was pretty much how I felt about the early M+ releases too... 'At last!' etc. And no matter how expensive it may seem at the time, it felt justifiable. I know I paid a small fortune for my first PowerMac running a bare 80MHz and loved it too. But everything goes in cycles. Apple lost a lot of love in the mid 90s because they produced turds and still priced them like Belgian chocolates. My feelings then when I saw PCs speeding away at GHz levels while Macs ate dust is just like how I feel about Yamato's recent output: sad, hurt, outraged and yet... hopeful. It took near financial disaster for Apple to wake up and take notice of what really mattered to their loyal customers. But they did and now are thriving once more... not just on past glories but on their own merits. Is Yamato on a similar track? Who knows how long we're willing to take the collective whipping in the wallets? Lord knows, the sheer APPEAL of Mac OS kept users faithful to Apple for the longest, most illogical time. The magical lure of Macross may yet surpass a mere computer operating system.

What, we're complaining already? At least wait for the user reports! P.S. word filters are too cute...

Does anyone think the retracted head is not sitting flush in that pic with the booster attached to fighter mode?

Actually SOCs were aimed at the adult collector market (in Japan) from the very start. It's just that the first couple of waves of releases focused almost entirely on designs from the old school Super Robots genre... rocket fists and improved heroic proportions were the all-important selling points. As the market cycles, the next generation of collectors is on the up and up: ie those who grew up with the Super Real Robots like Dougram, Xabungle etc. So now we're getting SOC toys that have to impress with their 'realism' and attention to details. That their are still sturdy and well-made is a real bonus, although the addition of tiny precision parts won't make them child-safe.

Looks like Bandai's taking a page out of Yamato's ops book: [attachmentid=40282] This pic of the Soul of SPEC EVA was just posted over at TBDX, origins unknown. Looks like I'll be sticking with the SOC EVAs... or at least wait for the eventual anime color editions. So what does Soul of SPEC mean??? Some Plastics Eventually Crack?

A reissue is never in doubt - it's whether anything's been FIXED. And if so, you can almost bet it'll come out on a minor repaint first to scoop up some dollars. Then followed by a proper reissue. See how Yamato's going about the break-worthy Garland: 1. Troubled first release; 2. Fixed 'brownie' which few actually want; 3. Fixed ultra expensive metallic red DVD edition; 4. ???? 5. PROFIT!

Nah, the broken backpack on my bro's 0S has crossed the pain threshold for me. I'm skipping out on all current releases until I hear things have really improved. More for everyone to 'enjoy'!

The local pre-order for the standalone Ghost, and the Shin+Ghost just started... 250 SGD!!! for the Shin!!! I checked out the pix on Yamato and I still think the aerodynamics are @#$ked up: [attachmentid=40271] Ghost details: http://www.yamato-toys.com/items/detail.php?gid=1011 Shin details: http://www.yamato-toys.com/items/detail.php?gid=1010

Yes, it's much beefier in the torso and legs. Taller by nearly a whole head.

Haha! Always thought the best part of the job for Gorem's backrider was that he could 'keep warm' in the freeing cold because of the engine block sticking in his face. :-P

Mostly agree... except that AFAIK, the Jaguar XK for Ravage is the first version of a car that came out FIRST for a decepticon instead of being a 'repaint'. As my bro's prized TF shelf runs outta space, I've had to nudge him along with the inevitable decision to keep some of the repaints... esp. once MP-5 Megs gets here! Candidates for retirement include the craptastic Lambor, Laker-in-disguise Swindler and possibly Streak, UM. I think the earlier publicity photos sucked - either the shooter had no love for the subject, OR, his assistant had to deal with incomplete instructions! The trick with Ravage is the whole 'curvature' of the spine... you really need to get the middle pivot point down as low as you can get to the gray 'skeleton'. Otherwise it ends up looking shapeless or just plain boxy instead of sexy like a big cat should. When I shot Ravage, I kept trying to position the legs such that I could attain an aggressive, stalking pose. It's no fun leaving him straight up on fours like a dinner table! :-)

OK, here's Gorem VS Scopedog deathmatch! Two titans from TOMY and TAKARA have entered the battlefield... The Scopedog has speed and agility while Gorem holds steady with its mighty limbs! Scopedog fires off a massive Arm Punch that throws off Gorem's backrider, BUT the attack is partially countered by Gorem's Power Hand. Uh oh! Looks like Chirico's 'dog may be thrown off balance... Even the strongest armor is no match in the face of Gorem's onslaught. Chirico makes his escape and lives to warn his TAKARA mates of the advance of the TOMY giant... But is it already TOO LATE?

I pre-ordered a set of Ravage + Rumble back in Nov 2006. Price was 90 SGD from 'Falcon's Hangar' here in Singapore. Ravage arrived unannounced and they were just as surprised that it was actually released. Anyway, the cat is fun! Very nice change from the usual BT/Alt robots. The metallic black plastic is not bad but it does pick up minor scratches easily. The leg joints are mostly uni-directional, except for the fore-legs on ball-joints. Neck is 2-piece ball-jointed but you can't turn the head sideways unless you rotate the first block 'wrongly' by 90 degrees. I like it.

Hope this is on topic; just a couple of shots of my new Alt Ravage alongside BT Dead End... Nice Kitty!

It's only so minor that some fans won't buy a first release from Yamato anymore, Graham. A person can also die from a million tiny ant bites.

Will Yamato consider a 'Quality Assured' sticker on the box? It should MEAN that the product underwent proper user testing for such issues as too-low tolerances for designed parts and materials, plus factory measures to ensure maunfacturing processes are up to par (read: over tightened screws, glue spillage, misaligned printing, missing/wrong parts etc). The sticker should mean a no-questions asked return policy for the customer as well as the resellers. Otherwise, confidence in the brand (and all first-releases) will surely deteriorate (further).

Thanks guys! If we go by the new 1/20 scale, then the 1/18 DMZ's are a pretty good match, especially in details. Hmm... TOMY versus TAKARA?! I'll see what I can come up with. :-)

Very nice work with the angles! And the funny thing is: I keep thinking 'Matt Damon' from some of those shots! I think it's got to do with the 19's prominent 'jawline'

You are questioning an artical of faith, my child! Kidding :-) I think the 1/48's sculpt was so optimised for fighter mode that the battroid proportions sufferred (terribly). Thus you can't get accurate scale measurements across all three modes against the 'official specs'.

Nepotism in hard rock. Who whudda thought?

Well, to cut a long story short: I SCREWED UP BIG TIME!!! I messed up my customizing work on the Gorem - my putty work was a mess and I ruined not just the smoke dischargers, but also the cockpit's interior walls. :-( But that's all in the past now. Late in 2006, I found another Gorem kit for sale, but this time at a hefty mark-up. I didn't hesitate though and bought my Second Chance. This time I just wanted to play it safe and paint it up as close to the standards of a Dual Model Zwei Scopedog, ie. a very nicely detailed toy. Strange how fate works: during storage, somehow I lost the parts for the BFG. So instead I had to scavange gun parts from elsewhere. - New twin cannon from Command Wolf + radar dish, custom mount with swivel joint. - Filled out cannon hollows with artcard, Tamiya rods and foam rubber sheets. - Extra armor for the forearms as well as the sides of the new cannon. - Scratch built 2 new sets of smoke dischargers from Tamiya cylinder rods because I didn't want to deal with the hollows again. - Scratch built internal chest cannon detail. - Added a neon orange cutout behind the face grill for static display purposes. - Covered cockpit walls with foam rubber for detailing and to block stray lights. - Used aluminum tape for the front hydraulic pistons instead of paint. - Covered rear feet hollows, added foam rubber pads for all feet. - Applied minimum decals. - Added weathering with Gundam Markers. - Sealed it all in with a Gunze MR SUPER CLEAR (Flat). All done! :-) Hey buddy, heard you got the ol' Gorilla fixed up. Show me what's new? Sure thing! First up is the extra reactive armor for the upperarms. Too many units have been targeted at this weak point for too long! And as you can see here... that 'chest cannon' isn't just a prop anymore! We actually got the armorers to refit a large caliber MG right into the chest. For your station, you now have a rapidfire twin 80mm laser cannon with synthetic aperture radar guidance. On the move, the radar will synchronize with your helmet's built-in display for easier fire-control. And for the drivers, we now have additional blast protection padding installed! OK, systems checked! Let's rumble! Power Arm Attack! I'm tracking two enemy Zoids in flight... Double Kong Attack!! Through the white frontiers, Gorem leads the way!

GA, That's the CLOVER 'DX Henkei Gattai Irongear' - mostly plastic except for a diecast connector bar for the bridge/torso transformation. It's pretty realistically detailed for a CLOVER toy, especially with the gun turrets that can turn and elevate. There was also a smaller diecast version that could transform into a non-canon 'tank'. Matt Alt has a great write up of both over at TBDX: http://www.toyboxdx.com/rumble_plus/032602-IG.html Funny thing is, I always thought the toy's legs couldn't move because CLOVER couldn't be bothered to engineer such complicated joints at the hips. But a friend who saw the anime told me that Iron Gear really doesn't have legs that can 'walk'. The mecha is exactly like the toy: It basically spends its time moving about as a 'land ship', only 'flipping up' into robot mode for battles. And when in robot mode, it travels by porpoising up and down as its 'legs' split apart and come back together over and over again! Kinda took away some of my childhood awe

Looks like I'll just have to make do with my shiny 15th Anniversery Special Coating SDF-1... $100+ for the privilege of having ARMD carriers is too rich for me. And no matter what others think about the old DX 1/3000 toy, it's got SIZE.

General speculation for SOC watchers is that GX-37 would be Daidenjin, the next Super Sentai robot in line after the premiere of Battle Fever Robo. Not very exciting... but the original Daidenjin was the first transforming Super Sentai robot. I hoping that Iron Gear (make it a big one!) will turn up towards the end of the year. Meanwhile there's the Soul of SPEC line-up that's starting out with EVA and Layzner... causing some confusion as some online sellers simply call it Chogokin.