brouken

Thanks for the review VF5SS! It's a bummer that the old Yamato Ghost Boosters don't fit onto the V.2's. I know a lot of MWers actually went out of their way to buy the old Ghosts for this purpose. I know that Kawamori-San even actually tweeted that they would be compatible. So aside from paying for an almost USD300 Valk, we now have to fork out more dollars for BOTH the V.2. Ghost Booster and the Armor Pack. Yup. Not winning many fans at all Arcadia.

Are these indicative of the final production version? I noticed that the UN Spacy shields, and the Jolly-Rogers are already on the plane, as well as other detail markings. Are these going to be tampoed out of the box? Or did the guy in the blog just applied the decals? In Fighter mode, the Valk looks just like the V.1 version. I'm hard pressed to see any difference apart from lighter shade of Off-white plastic they used for the body, the missing red stripes on the head monitor beam cannons, and that tab slot for the fast packs. Even the out-of-the-box load-out is the same. Eriku's impressions about the tight tolerances are very heartening though, and I guess this is where the V.2 will stand out. I don't own the 0D so I have no idea of how tight the tolerances are for these V.2 Zeroes. I guess anything is better than the floppy mess that is the V.1. That price though....almost USD 300 without the Armor pack. If it weren't for the fact that the VF-0S is my second favorite Valkyrie design, I would have easily passed on this one, considering I already have the V.1 (floppiness and all) dressed all pretty with the Ghost Pack. If this is the direction Arcadia is going with their pricing, they're not going to win a lot of fans any time soon. BTW, any news on when the Armor parts will be released? That's an immaculate shot Saburo!

Great shots Saburo! Especially this one! Very sharp details on Gojira's head! :-)

Good call on the VF-25S Kyp! At least you missed out on the pre-order madness in getting it. To think that it was selling for up to USD500 before! If its staying in fighter mode, then the 25S will be a beautiful piece with its large Skull Leader insignia and color scheme. The Armor and Super parts will only cover these up, so don't be in a hurry to get them, especially in the prices they're selling for now. You can always wait for a kind-hearted MWer to sell their extra ones for a more reasonable price later on.

How about some more capital ship love? A Battle 7 and Battle Galaxy would be nice. Also, like what was mentioned in other threads, I would like to see a Bandai SDF-1.

Thanks Saburo! Don't you have any Alternity figures in your Transformers collection?

Thanks for the info Noel! So I take it that these are made to order like the previous Arcadia releases? As for your question on the Ghost pack, both Roy and Shin used this configuration only in the fifth and final episode of the Zero OVA. If I remember the timeline correctly, Shin's 0A got shot down first (head blown off), while Roy gets to keep his 0S until the end, albeit heavily damaged, as he holds a dying Aries in his arms. :-) Although Shin still flies his 0A against the awakened AFOS, Ghost pack and all, in the final battle.

Just to add to the MP-10 re-issue madness : I ordered the Red Alternity Prime/Convoy from Mandarake a while back, but had waited for the release of the MP-10 re-issue to open it so that I could put them side by side. It's no Knight Rider scene, but man, I've always wanted to have a trailer truck with a car inside! Now I have transforming ones too! Woot! The Alternity Prime/Convoy is scaled perfectly with the MP-10. Once I get over my laziness, I'll transform the Alternity Prime/Convoy to have it man the combat deck on the MP-10's trailer. Even the Spike Witwicky figure of the MP-10 fits snugly into the cockpit of the Alternity Prime/Convoy! Which is why I bought it in favor over the Masterpiece Sideswipe, which I understand, cannot accommodate a figure inside. These Prime/Convoy figures are just BOSS.

Only the 0S used the Reactive Armor in the OVA, Spanner. :-)

Hey guys! Been awhile since I posted. News of the release of the Reactive Armor for the VF-0 valks sure got my attention today! Thank you Mr. K and Arcadia for FINALLY deciding to release this! Now to find a way to get over the pre-order madness...

Building on Graham's comments above, I too love the design and engineering of the VF-19 valkyrie series from Yamato. And although it's not my top pick (design wise, its a tie between the VF-25S and the VF-0S. Engineering wise, I like the simplicity of the VF-1), I'm looking forward to how Bandai's VF-19A will improve on what is already a commendable effort by Yamato. I agree that the ubiquitousness of small fiddly parts in the VF-19A's transformation is a cause for concern (higher probability of parts failure). I am also concerned about the type of materials they will be using for the more crucial parts of the valk (none of that black plastic from the VF-171 cannon fodder please!). Considering also that this is a first edition release, that makes me REALLY concerned about the long term integrity of this toy, even though Bandai already brought their "A" game into their 1/60 Macross toys since the YF-29. Otherwise, the VF-19A is a mighty fine looking bird. Its an iconic valk to be sure, and to have a "modernized one" with Frontier-era super packs is just icing on the cake. I just hope HLJ won't not screw me over my VF-19A pre-order, like what they did with my pre-order for a VF-25S re-issue during the pre-order madness last year.

Wow, congrats on the Pixie Squadron Lolicon! Been looking around for the gray Nene and Lalamia versions. May I ask where you got them from?

Yeah! Saburo in the house!

Thanks Saburo and Matic. I thought as much with regards to the weight of the package. The reviews say that the copious amounts of diecast used make this toy quite heavy. Oh well. It seems that Canaria will get her delayed grand entrance after all.

Funny how a lot of us seem to have encountered some kind of delay in the delivery of this toy. Mine's essentially in Customs limbo for now. For those who got theirs, is this thing unusually heavy? I.e. heavier than the other toys you got delivered? I noticed that our local customs officials tend to take particular interest in the heavier packages that I get (and tax them higher too).

So the VF-0S is due for release when again? I'm skipping the 0A in favor of Skull Leader!

Aaaand Customs wants me to send them a copy of my invoice. I have insctructed Nippon-yasan to declare the full value of the items I order from them from now on. :-(

Thanks Abaddon. I just hope that they don't break anything in the package. The Koenig is the only thing missing from my SMS team. As always, Canaria sure knows how to make a delayed grand entrance.

Well, mine hasn't been released by Customs yet. It's a bit unusual for them to hold a package for this long (it arrived since Thursday last week.). I'm trying my best not to think of greedy custom officials trying to compute the maximum tax to charge me of off my purchase.

Hehe, your comment shows our age gap McFly! DoTA wasn't the first game to use that announcer voice. That honor goes to the original Unreal Tournament which I played in the early nineties. Every other series of UT has that as the default announcer voice. Pretty iconic now is it? Thanks for the heads up Yeti! I had been reading about those tabs and the tight head shroud from the reviews of the earlier releases. I will definitely take care transforming my Monster when I get it.

Thanks for the pics Yeti! Do you have any of the earlier releases? Have you found any other differences/improvements over those in the latest release? My Monster just got stalled due to the Labor Day holidays. I probably won't see mine until next week.

Anybody got theirs yet? Mine just got to customs.........................................here we go.

Three!? That's MO-MO-MO-MONSTER (OVER)KILL!

Cool! Would be cool if they went the extra step and made a combiner out of the Dinobots. :-) Always hated that they get their ass kicked by the constructicons' Devastator.

Great pics Saburo! Are they coming up with Grimlock and Snarl as well?