Chronocidal

Ok, have to say... that has to be a new record for shipping.. I got my VF-25 60 hours or so after the shipment was initialized. Whee! And it's awesome. Really ticked to hear about their freaking webshop addiction though. I can't believe they'd do that, after how stupidly popular the first run was despite its flaws. Meh. Maybe there will be a chance for a group buy somewhere along the way, but I may hold out for an armored Ozma bundle anyway. Selling it alone doesn't mean it won't be bundled later. They're probably trying to cash in on the people who can't wait for a standalone Ozma, but don't want to piss them off by releasing a bundle later and making them rebuy the VF-25. Hopefully patience will be rewarded. I almost wouldn't regret buying a second Ozma later though, this thing is a quantum leap above the old VF-25.

That's what I would bet as well. On the models, there was a separate piece you had to swap in on the crotch to make the Super/Armored versions. The Version 1 VF-25 used a clip on piece of crotch armor, and I remember some folks saying they had trouble transforming to fighter without removing it, because it kept the legs from attaching correctly. I'll have to wait til I see it, but every sign is pointing to the idea that they planned out the super/armor parts for this version from the start, so this is probably something we'll see the genius of later on. One thing I'm anxious to see is how the shoulder launchers attach this time. While I do see the holes to attach the various armor pieces on the backplate, I don't see any spots to plug the launchers into like last time. I'll be very happy if they did away with those tiny ball joints from V.1 though, those things were just too easy to break unless you were incredibly careful. Anyone see any hint of clips or joints to hold the launchers on? For something like those, I actually wouldn't mind if we just had to swap out the shoulder plates like they did with the hip panels, since it would make a much stronger joint.

Holy crap... Do want. Even being a flywheel blaster. Though I've never cared much for the whole "always on" functionality of flywheels. I saw someone make a mod to activate it with trigger pull, but it takes a couple seconds to bring the wheels up to speed.

Wohoo, just got my shipping notice from HLJ. Should be getting mine sometime in the latter half of this week.

If any of my co-workers had never heard a full-on "SQUEEEEEEEEE!!!" before.. well, now they have. Also, I also feel no guilt over quoting that image. It deserves being posted more than once. Now to wait and see how long HLJ takes to get my preorder on its way. I missed the AmiAmi preorder, but I much prefer getting stuff by FedEx anyway, since the post office here tends to be a bit screwy with deliveries. Edit: The pics appeared mid post. Holy crap, yep, I'm probably going to buy the full line of these. That is just beautiful. I can't wait for the super and armor packs. Speaking of the super packs, and Graham's ideas for making a universal set though.. I just realized how the hip and booster armors could work with spare plastic parts, and no duplication of any bigger parts at all. You just need double layered plugs so you can get a colored stripe covered in a white cap. All the parts with no color coordination would just need stickers to customize the numbers. Chest panel: Two plugs for the colored panels in all 4 colors Shoulder launchers: replaceable doors in all 4 colors Hip armor: a dual layered plug for each, to get the colored stripe Boosters: another dual layered plug that gives you the stripe with a white cap The big problem with this method though... Michael's valk screws it all up. His color scheme is the reverse of the others, with white pinstripes, and blue panels. His launcher doors are even unique, with a white pinstripe around the edge of the blue doors, and his chest armor has a blue panel in the center and solid white side panels, instead of a white center panel, and white pinstriped colored side panels. So, while Alto, Ozma, and Luca all would share most of the pieces that aren't their particular color... Michael would need a custom set of replacement plugs that swap white for blue, and a special chest plate that included a blue center panel. Not that I still wouldn't love to see this done.. Michael's scheme just throws a giant wrench in the works. On the other hand, if they actually did include multi-layered plugs for all of them, you could have some fun with the various colors mixing and matching.

Just be warned, if you ever plan to move into fancy texturing/animation, things might get interesting. You can convert them to polygons, but the conversion from industrial CAD software to something like 3DS Max, Maya, etc. can be a tough one, and might require you to rebuild some or all of the model, especially if you plan on texturing and animating things. It might not be so bad for you, but I can say that you'll probably have an easier time going from CAD to polygons than the other way around. I had to convert an aircraft model from polygons to CAD format once, and the only way to get the model in there was to import each individual polygon as a separate surface object, assign it a thickness, and then eventually re-weld the pieces together. It was ugly.

For all the times Legos have popped up here, I'm surprised there isn't a sticky thread for it yet. In the meantime, wheee!

I still don't see why they couldn't do what they did for the kits, and just release a set of super packs with a massive set of stickers to make them match whatever VF-25 you want. Could even include directions for paint colors if you'd rather do that. Even swappable multi-colored parts wouldn't be too difficult. Considering that the guy in charge of the new toys came over from the model division, I hope he brings that bit of wisdom with him.

I've heard people saying that the old sticks aren't supported actually, but I haven't seen anything official. My guess is that it'll support the more recent Saitek stick made for the PS3 and 360, but I have serious doubts about anything like the old hotas sets. All in all... If I ever do decide to get this, I'm waiting till this hits $20 or so. It's probably worth it to have another aircraft based game, but if the review comments I've read are anything to go on, this just really is not an Ace Combat game, despite the title. I just have no interest in most of the advertised features of this game, and the thought having to pay extra for aircraft that used to be unlockables pisses me off to no end. Plus, I'm sick of people completely ignoring the thought of split screen play.. if they expect me to buy a second console just so I can play the game with my brother, they're freaking nuts. Selling Idolmaster schemes with screwy stats is one thing, but limiting the aircraft you can fly by how much you pay is just unforgivable in a game that caters specifically to aircraft fanatics. Their fanbase is small enough already, and actions like that are only going to make it smaller.

Ok, I might have to get this one too. That blue is awesome. Makes the yellow actually look good. Might have to put in a preorder today. Looking at the sticker sheet though, I'm having a thought. They didn't include the zig-zaggy leg markings it looks like, but they added stickers for the wing/fuselage stripes... if they include white ones of those stickers on the F, I might be tempted to try kitbashing a red/white VF-19 out of a second Fire Valk, and make myself M&M VF-19s.

Ok, wow, that last pic is beautiful. Is it a darker shade of blue, or is that just me? I may have to get the whole group now Also here's hoping for the rest of sound force.

I did buy two of the v.1s, and I dunno if I really would say I regret doing it, but they've been relegated to the "save for my kids to play with someday" pile. If they follow the same packaging lineup, I'll likely get one of each of them this time around. I'm getting the plain Alto to start, but I want an armored Ozma, and super Michael. Luca I'm undecided on really, but it will depend on how much of the stuff they make exclusive, because I want his packs and the ghosts if possible. I'm also hoping they include the reaction missiles with the armor this time. The extra clip on missiles really didn't look good at all, and on top of that, they were only used on the VF-171 as I recall, so I don't even know why they thought releasing them as a separate exclusive was a good idea. Adding just the reaction missiles to the armor packed VF-25 seems like an absolute no-brainer. What I do wish they would do for the super packs though is just make a universal set with stickers (or even multiple colors of snap-on plastic parts) to customize them for the different schemes. They did it for the models that way, and the colored content for each set isn't too great that it would be impractical I think. The only downside would be that they'd need to include more stickers for the markings, instead of tampo printing everything. On the other hand.. considering how much of those markings seem to just flake off, I'd probably be willing to pay a little extra for a full sheet of stickers.

I'm guessing this is one of those pre-painted kits? I picked up Anakin's ship and the ARC-170, and they aren't terrible (very good representations of the ships really), but Star Wars kits have always been notorious for bad/inaccurate/nonexistant scaling. I think part of the problem is that most stuff in the SW universe is just really small by real aircraft standards, similar in size to WWII aircraft (or in the A-wing's case, homebuilts ). In order to get a decent sized model in a common scale, it generally turns out to be either really small, or really big. Best example of this is the Episode I Ertl kits.. the N-1 is a tiny ship, and droid fighters are even smaller.. but by insisting they be made in 1/48, they doomed themselves to produce ships with absolutely no presence on a shelf. The Fine Molds X-Wing is a beautiful thing, but even 1/48 is a bit small for it. I'd really love to get a full line of ships in 1/32, but they'd probably be horribly expensive. The Ertl special edition X-Wing kit was close to that scale, but it needs half the parts thrown out for being absolute trash. I'm hoping to rebuild the one I got someday, but it might be easier to make one from scratch than fix what's wrong with that kit. Given how flat most of the X-Wing's fuselage is, it really wouldn't be that bad to make out of sheet styrene, then the rest of the pieces are all tubes and wings.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't all the Emerald and Diamond Force pilots all wear the same style flightsuit anyway? Easy enough to just pretend it's Gamlin, or Kinryu. Or, you know.. I'll probably get both the S and the F eventually, but I might repaint the S head with white stripes, and just stick the VF-22 Max figure in there. The yellow isn't all that bad, but I just like the white much better. Heck, I wonder how hard it would be to paint over tampo printing, even. Though, now that I think of it, I wonder what other colors might look good. Blue with black stripes might go well with the darker details on the VF-19S. Dangit Yamato, I want a paint-free gull-gray plastic version to put in VF-84 markings.

Correct VF-25S backplate/head joint? Check! Definitely will get one of these eventually, because I never got the v.1, but I'm waiting for the armor. It looks beautiful so far though, and I can't wait to see how they implement the armor this time around.

Good blue shade, check! Also, thrilled to see they added the correct secondary intakes on the LEX, Bandai forgot those on the hi-metal. Blue is also much better. Though, I might pass and wait for the F.. the yellow just looks too gaudy. It may be accurate, but I wish they'd gone with a more gold-ish color like the Blue Angels use. Or.. I could just paint over it..

I'm betting on them figuring out the way to make the back piece different this time. Remember, there's a separation joint in the back plate that shows where a separate piece goes to fit behind the head. I think the reason the gun slots are extra long is because they're not part of the piece that gets swapped out to fit the different heads. Also, ditto on waiting for the armor. Alto will likely be an exclusive again, but there's no way they'd make Ozma's armor a webshop only release.

Well, good idea for us, yes, but in general, not really. The level of complexity in the VF-19 would make it a nightmare to assemble, even more so to write assembly instructions for. Plus, with the tolerances so tight, I don't think there's really room for paint on one. If we do get a white-ish P though, I might do a bit of valk-bashing and make an F-model with black stripes out of it. Not going to cut anything up, just swap some parts around.. but I might need to scratchbuild a pair of the stubby wings so I don't have to paint over dark blue, and risk scratching the paint off. At least the wings are a fairly simple shape to make, but shaping them by hand could be... interesting.

I want a no paint kit version, and I can be happy, because I can buy twice as many if I put them together myself.

I want to say no, but I haven't tested that myself. The toe and heel have two stable positions that they click into, but I don't think the hinges have any sort of tension to them that would support the weight of any poses that use intermediate positions.

I'll repost this here for an illustration. I was really careful not to spread the ankle joint when I did this, and this is about as far as the ankle will go. I moved the ankle only to the point where it looked like the ankle shaft was starting to press on the rim of the ball joint, and this is how far it moved. Compared with every other ankle Yamato has made, it has almost no range of motion at all. I'm hoping they can improve this somewhat on the VF-19, but I don't have my hopes up. And I really hope they don't make this same mistake on the VF-17. Good thing I like fighter mode more anyway.

It's not like there isn't a precedent set for this.. I don't remember Hikaru ever getting an instruction manual. As far as the VF-17T is concerned, the changes would be a little more drastic than the VF-19s. Unless they somehow can elongate the cockpit backwards (which I don't think is accurate, because I remember the nose being longer), the entire chest area will need to be reworked to cover the bigger canopy. The nose length itself

I'd rather the developers quit trying to figure out every single way they can to squeeze more money out of the people buying the games. Remember when games came complete when you bought them? The hilarious thing was when hawx tried to do DLC.. and then made a PC release. Modders figured out how to unlock the extra content within a few days, and the developers quickly banned anyone who mentioned this from the developer forums on Ubisoft's website. Officially, the PC version never even got the extra content released. Once the mod was spread, they gave up. Yeahh... that dev team had some serious issues with understanding the differences between consoles and PCs. It's why I generally prefer PC games.. the fans will ALWAYS find ways to improve on what the developers have done. Even hawx got a lot better after the players got past all the WTF from when they tried to play it. I just want DLC to freaking die already. Expansions, I can understand. Charging me $5 just so I can fly a plane that's been in all the previous games? Not a chance in hell.

Here's an idea. Let's redub the entire movie so the only thing anyone ever says is, "NOOOOOOOOO!" It'll be a hit!

Glad I actually got a preorder in.. but I have to point out one thing about those pictures... Is Bandai just completely inept at making plastic FLAT? Why the hell are the wings curled up AGAIN????? They're not as bad as the first run obviously, but it's very clear those wings are anything but level. Someone at Bandai needs to be slapped upside the head with a book on how plastic behaves when it cools, because it seems like they don't have a clue.