Chronocidal

I wonder if the gunpod is supposed to be further forward though. While the grip collapses to avoid the bulge of the die-cast back-plate underneath, the front edge of the gun bumps up against the crotch plate, and seems to still be angled pretty far down. I kinda don't care though, it's so pretty when it's clean. Random discovery of the day: If the S-model head looks too busy for you, there's absolutely nothing holding those extra lasers on except friction. I went to adjust them, and realized they can just pull right out, resulting in a single laser VF-19.

Woohoo, just picked mine up, it arrived at the Fedex depot early this morning. Looking beautiful, and the blue is absolutely gorgeous. Haven't transformed it yet, but I might not bother, I just love the fighter on this mold so much. One thing though.. I'm not sure if this is a problem or not, but.. Ok here's the thing. Graham, you might want to bring this up to Yamato before any more VF-19's come out. I personally think that these wings are too thin. As in, the molds are so tight, there's almost not enough room for the plastic to flow in and actually fill out the wing. We're talking the wing almost looks like an incomplete shape (the back edges of mine are scalloped around the control surface engravings, it's definitely not a straight edge), it flexes extremely easily, and I can see light through the edges. I definitely appreciate the precision of the mold, but I'm worried the back edge of the wing is just going to snap off because of how little plastic is there. Edit: Oh, also, the small amount of plastic does seem to have let the wings warp a bit. They don't meet up with the tails nearly as well as the Fire Valk's wings did. They're not flapping, or drooping, but they seem to have gained a bit of extra camber. I may eventually go ahead and cut myself some wings from scratch plastic, just so they're sturdier. I want to anyway for the P, so maybe I'll just get a jump on the release and see how tricky it is to make spare wings. Aside from that though, it looks pretty much perfect. Did have some mold release on it, but I'm wiping it off as I swoosh it around my office.

Darnit, why did the package get so delayed? If it's like my Alto, it might get here tomorrow.. but they're saying not til monday It's in Oakland as of 9 pm tonight, but unless they go overnight like they did the last box I got from HLJ, it won't get anywhere near my town by tomorrow. Hrm.

Well, it's only a real problem when it keeps tampos from sticking, which is why it was such an issue from the v.1 VF-25. Fortunately, the VF-19 doesn't really have any markings that are in risky areas as far as I remember. Possibly the nose markings, but the rest are fairly in the clear during transformation.

That's kinda crazy, but awesome if they pull it off. Which shipping method did you use? Best I've seen was my v.2 Alto, took about 60 hours total to get to the Fedex place here. I've been using Fedex for a while since they stay open longer, and I can get my packages after work.

Whee, got my shipping notice this afternoon. Saying it will be here on the 5th, but if it's anything like last time, I might have it by friday.

Oh I didn't really mean abs test shots specifically, I just meant that up to now, we've had next to no pictures of this thing at all. I believe this is the first time any of us have really seen the back side of it, let alone any of the details involved in the transformation.

Why didn't they show this earlier? I'm in for two, a Millia and Gamlin D.

Definitely in for an armor buy, and hooray for reaction missiles.

I still have absolutely no idea why Bandai thought clip on weapons were a good idea to begin with. Yes, they simplify things.. as in, they take less thought. But I would have assumed they learned something from the first time. I mean.. how long has Yamato used actual hardpoints now? That being said.. the VF-25 never mounted wing missiles as far as I can remember, since they always carried packs. All those weapons they released came from the VF-171s (which funnily enough were actually re-using missiles from the VF-0 ). Only thing I actually remember them ever mounting were the speakers on Michael's. I do hope they have the decency to include the reaction missiles with the armor packs this time, though I'm not counting on it. It's like they only thought of them after the armor packs were done, and added all the extra missiles so it wasn't so silly buying a pack of four missiles on a web exclusive.

I noticed this about the Fire Valk too, the molding on the wings is very precise. I love toys with lots of sharp points.

I believe that has to do with the rumors about the VSTOL version being possibly cancelled in favor of the navy version (the Royal Navy I think recently decided to go for the navalized version instead, meaning they'll have to adapt catapult carriers instead of ski-jumps). The US was going to end it's Harrier development programs, and just move on, but it looks like they've pushed back the retirement to give them more time to find a proper replacement aircraft. Not that the F-35B won't ever fill the role, I just don't think it'll be ready by when they hoped, and they'll need those parts to keep the aging Harrier fleet running.

Also, if you account for the preorder bonuses from ordering the plain valks, you might come out about even. Granted, they'd probably give preorder bonuses for the bundles too, but if the yen goes up, it might negate any real difference. I'm pretty sure there will never be an Ozma super bundle though, so if you ever want that one, you'll have to get the webshop version.

Well scratch my thoughts about them being able to re-use bits of the old super parts.. I guess those wing boosters and the back panels might be the same base mold, but looks like they completely redesigned the leg packs. I can't wait to get those packs, or see what they do with the armor this time.

Actually it was. Though, I couldn't stop laughing at how the guys with cameras rushed her as soon as she came out from behind the podium with the full costume. I have to admit this, I have a certain admiration for people who can actually do that sort of thing for a crowd. Makes me want to pick up my old instruments and go try to play on a streetcorner to see if I actually have the guts to do it.

If the preorder has a discount included, I wouldn't call it pointless by any stretch of the word. Ok, the deal with the v.1 packs on the v.2 valk... it's mostly possible, but not without some decent modifications. I'd think anyone seriously into customizing would be able to pull it off decently. The boosters fit essentially as-is, but are not secure. They will stay on if you don't bump them, but the tabs that they lock on with are slightly different. You'll need to enlarge several of the attachment pegs on the other pieces so they stay in, since the holes are bigger, even though they line up. The packs on the legs will need a significant amount of work. The outer packs will basically attach with the legs dropped correctly, but they're loose at best. The packs on the backs of the calves won't fit unless you trim off the front tabs, because those will not latch into the smaller holes below the knee. The chest piece might fit with some tweaking. It doesn't interfere with anything, it just doesn't snap on well. Same with the intake armor, which will sort of settle into a place where it stays, but won't securely attach. The shoulder rocket packs have no place to go, so you'd have to drill holes through the shoulder plates to attach them. All in all, I'd say it's possible, though it'll take work. The real trick though is that I think they specifically manufactured the new VF-25 to make use of the old super packs as much as possible. The new packs should be almost identical to the old ones, with the changes mainly made to the tabs to attach them. I do hope they add more tabs to the legs to hold them in place though.. even if it does fit, that vertical tab on the wings is really not a very sturdy way to hold the legs up.

While I wasn't necessarily planning on this version, I'm definitely in for a red S and a D... but this doesn't bode very well. I'd rather get Millia's than this one, but I wonder if they've just priced themselves out of the market at this point? I'd be interested to see how well the VF-19S is selling as well, just due to the high price and the competition from the VF-25. I think it looks beautiful, but I do think they need to show more (and better) pictures of it before they get anywhere near the interest they want. It's already overshadowed by the VF-25S, because there are pictures for it all over the web. I might have to put up a preorder soon, just to make sure I get one before the price jumps into 1990's Takatoku levels.

I really hope they do it to milk the mold more, but given how expensive this one is getting, I wonder if it will sell well enough to justify some non-canon ones. They never did that with the YF-21/VF-22, and I think the only reason we got custom YF-19's was to balance out the fact that there was nothing else they can really make with that mold. I still wish they could've just done the Supernova schemes, but I bet copyrights got in the way.

Heh.. wonder what my old Crusader shuttle would go for actually.. but nah. I need to restore that sucker. I want more pics to drool over though.

Nice to see the series picking up again, there really hasn't been anything new since FSX: Acceleration came out. I hope they've developed the system mechanics further though... see, the one thing MSFS has always lacked is any sense of contact between solid objects. When you go and define an aircraft, you have to define "contact points" which are the major points where the plane might come into contact with anything (wingtips, nose, ventral fins, tails, landing gear, etc). These points are stationary, which really fails miserably for any aircraft with a major moving part (such as a swing wing). With FSX, they started to seem to be allowing you to attach effects and certain contact points to aircraft from within the model itself, allowing you to make them move... if they continue with this, there'll be nothing stopping me from making a full fledged 3-mode Valk . Walking might not be likely.. but I can at least build a gerwalk mode, since I spent a long time working with VSTOL systems for the sims. They basically use a sim bypass, and allow you to manually insert your own flight model. It's how a good number of VSTOL aircraft have been built in the past. Programming those is a pain though, since it's a crazy mish-mash of XML coding embedded in the aircraft visual model, and patched into the language written into the various cockpit instruments.

Ah, gotcha. Yeah, that just looks like someone either nicked the red, or maybe got careless with the silver when adding details. I've heard that the red is pretty much standard bandai red paint though, so it might not be hard to touch up.

You know, I think that might be on purpose. Mine has a similar marking, but I think mine looks more like metallic red paint. It could be transparent red over silver. I do remember the model kit having a diamond shaped marking there, and I think it was a light or sensor window of some sort. I'll have to dig for a picture from the anime to confirm it. I don't recall the actual color, but it might have been red. Edit: Yep, it's there, and it's supposed to be a red sensor window or something.

I don't think they ever designed a separate VF-25A actually. Since we never saw any of the base model in action though, it made sense to use Michael's as a base for a recolor, since it's the only one with a single head laser. All the other VF-25s had heads with more lasers. Is there an overall breakdown of what the different VF-25 models are though? I'd think the master file would have something about that, but I've always wondered what the significance of the F model would be. It's akin to the VF-1J I'd assume, but since it seems like all the VF-25 variants can mount a variety of mission packs anyway, so why specialize?

I'm eagerly waiting Michael's valk, his is definitely my favorite scheme. Though, I honestly wouldn't mind if Bandai changes his paint scheme again like they did with the v.1. I much prefer the way they painted it (solid blue/white/black paint, and the entire underside of the nose white) to being accurate to the show (blue/white/dark purpleish blue colors, and just the landing gear doors white? I never understood why they did that with the nose.. ) As far as Klan goes though.. anyone else remember the red VF-25S kit that someone customized for her? I'd gladly shell out for one of those if they made them, even if it was a web exclusive.