Chronocidal

Not really.. generally speaking the only place you ever see a used cf is in the middle of a debris field, in pieces.

Had to happen sometime, and I am glad I saved them all before they went poof, but I'm also glad they're finally getting an official release that I can read in my favorite reading nook, rather than on a screen. On the plus side though, the delay in publishing might lead to them actually having time to finish Vol. 9... Either the online translation is incomplete, or the author pulled a move out of Monty Python, and died in the middle of the chase scene. There was just no freaking ending. The book just stopped. We get a glimpse of what's happening, but the story isn't far enough along for a cliffhanger yet, because we don't have a clue what the events even mean.

Maybe they took the Columbus route?

Wow.. I wasn't actually planning on getting this at all, but it looks to have completely blown the VF-25 out of the water... And... intake covers ftw (even more so if they're actually integrated, but I'll take what I can get. )

Ok, I have pretty much no anime figures, and I'm not really of the figure collecting type... but if I ever did get one, that Miku Hatsune remix would be it. That thing just screams at me to buy it. It's just something about that face.. it's kind of haunting.

What's great about these kits is that they're finally in the same scale as a Yamato, so they can finally share parts. Basically, Hasegawa is giving us all those spare TV heads that people wanted for making Max 1A custom jobs. The head swap operation on a 1/48 couldn't be too difficult. Honestly, it looks like Hasegawa is doing one of two things though... either they're superdetailing the head just for the folks they know will make custom variable conversions.. or they're going to share parts with an already planned battroid kit. Seriously, the head is so hidden in fighter, I don't see any other reason to detail it so much. Sheesh, it even looks like the heads have working neck joints!

Ok, I honestly have a hard time believing that. They gave you the entire stand, except the part that lets you actually stand it up?? That's ridiculous.

From the pics I've seen, it looks like it uses almost the exact same transformation as the 1/60 YF-19, except maybe without the sliding back joint. The nose still has the same type of mechanism to make it shorter. I'm not so disappointed to hear about the amount of metal as I am that Bandai used the name as an excuse to gouge the fans. I can't see any reason this should cost so much. Is the Macross license that expensive? It's in the same size range as a mid-sized transformer figure (about 7 inches long in fighter), yet it costs around 7x as much. And it doesn't even launch any missiles! I dunno. I guess you could apply this reasoning to all the Yamato valks as well with regards to pricing. I just hope Bandai gets it together before the VF-1. If they charge this type of price for a 5 inch valk... oy.

The one thing that worries me most about this one is the nose tab, the one that snaps to the plate on the back in battroid. If that tab ever gives way, the nose won't hold up.

Jokes indeed. Best part about this one? It was the gundam from Sweden.

It does look very good. If they make a YF-19, I might have to get one, but I still don't like this pricepoint for something this small. The thing that's frustrating to me personally though.. Yamato needs to take note. THIS is how you make the gullet look decent: DROP THE NOSE. The nose on the Yamato is just too thick (at the front near the cockpit, I'm not even talking about the front gear area), and the tip aims so high it ruins the overall curvature of the plane. It's simple: drop the nose tip till it's level with the centerline of the engines. It does wonders for the design. I pretty much prefer the proportions on this to the 1/60 YF-19 in almost every way, honestly. Bigger wings, wider wing roots, and a nose that looks directed into the airstream. The gullet's still there, but with the nose lowered so much, it doesn't stick out. I just wish it was bigger.

You know, I might have been interested in this (and might still try it if I can peel myself away from the games I already play), but I think the mechanics used for the game really spoiled something that could've been very interesting.. It's an MMO. You have tons of players. And yet, every single person gets to captain their own ship? Maybe I'm too interested in some semblance of accuracy to how combat would actually work on ships or the ground, but I would've loved to see some sort of character class system here, and I don't mean races of aliens. I mean the classic divisions of command, communications, tactical, medical, science.. you get the idea. Sure, you could still use AI characters... they make great red shirts. MMOs in general are a mixing of character classes, and it takes the skills of all types working together to do well. As it is, this just sounds like a more multiplayer-ized version of Bridge Commander crossed with a third person shooter. Granted, having a player designated just for command could lead to problems, but I'm pretty sure you could figure out something, even if it's just steering the ship while other people get to do targeting and damage control. It would probably wind up making the game very lackluster in terms of single player content... but if you want to play solo, why are you playing an MMO? To me, it's the same thing that killed off Galaxies: everyone wanted to be a jedi. Here, everyone gets to be captain. Personally, I'd much rather have dedicated human players that I could trust to do their jobs, instead of having my AI doctor get stuck behind a rock while my science officer tries to scan my rapidly dying body for signs of life. Maybe the fanbase for something so complex would be small-ish, but I know it exists. I mean, look what Team Fortress 2 did (and did well): you have a range of classes available, all with specific jobs and limitations, and it takes teamwork to do well. I just wish they would have tried that here.

I think I've seen that battle before. Mr. Rogers won.

I have noticed that one of mine on my YF-21 tends to pop off on it's own, so that is possible.

NO! They can take our plots.. Imitate our planes... but they can never take.. OUR VALK-GIRLS!! Also, LOL:

oh lol.. ok, glad I stopped before making the engines 36 sided Actually, on second thought, maybe the world needs a good high detail Gnerl model. ^^

What's your definition of medium poly? I haven't done any new models for a while, and this might be something fast I can churn out to satisfy the itch.

My last three orders from HLJ all took a day or less in customs (one was in and out in 3 hours, according to the tracking info). All three went through San Francisco. That time of month again (payday lol), and I splurged a bit on two separate orders: #1: 1/72 White Glint with overed booster (ebay store in Colorado, should be here fast and cheap ) #2: 1/48 YF-19 kit, TV Max VF-1A, and a second strike pack from HLJ I was planning on a TV CF-1A, but the sale died on that one, and I don't need anymore 1Js, so the Max 1A was next in line. Second strike is mostly for my Roy (couldn't justify getting the new one, even if it did mean fixed shoulders), but also for a dual strike Max 1J. I just hope HLJ doesn't screw me over and ship all those items at different times. Course, the restocking might delay the payment a bit, so that's not a bad thing.

pfft, if I can get them for $10 I might be inclined to put some of my spare yammie stickers on them, and do a double rip-off. Blasphemy, I know, but ever since Yamato increased their tampoed markings, I've had nothing to use all those spare kites on. Heck, I might even paint these up in prototype markings, and turn em into designs that lost out against other actual Valks. I mean, they already look like rejected VF-25 variants.

Seriously, they've already got one leg up on Bandai (or two).. this thing already has the thigh swivel. What'd be kinda hilarious actually.. if those planes get the Jetfire treatment, and when Hasbro has to cut down on production costs, they import these planes as new versions of Starscream et al. Honestly, I dunno what to think here.. yes, it's an utterly blatant rip-off, but I gotta say this.. China has the blatant rip-off down to an art form. If this ever gets over here, I wouldn't mind watching it actually. I'm sure it'd be hilarious, and probably excellent fodder for an MST3K treatment using Macross dialogue. All it's missing is combining mecha, and this would be the most epic rip-off of all time. The best analogy I can come up with... it's like a giant horrific wreck of a bullet train full of Hollywood celebrities that collided with a bus full of costumed transvestites on their way to an "I Love Lucy" convention.. you don't want to stare... but holy crap, stuff this stupid actually does happen in real life!

Looks good yes (mostly), but not at this size and price. I do hope they make more, but I hope bandai can finally figure out the fact that valks are AIRCRAFT, and the little details matter. They need those little things like wheels, and such. Plus those shoulders look hideous in fighter mode. I know they're huge (and rightly so), but as long as they're going for the bulky super robot look, could they at least try and streamline the forward shoulder pivot? Those pivots look like they're half the size they should be for those shoulders. As it is, the whole front of the shoulder looks like some spare intake. Meh, don't mind me, I'm uber picky about YF/VF-19 shapes. I still want to see a side profile too.

Wow. That shot of it in someone's hand really puts things in perspective... Yeah... not happening. Maybe if it hits $50, but that thing is just far too tiny for me.

I actually have to agree for the most part, it doesn't really work at all, and was pretty pointless to do, since setting that up was actually more work than a full transformation would've been. But I did find it amusing.

That is much better with the leg fins. Good thing the ones on the kit are a bit oversized, they look perfectly to scale here. Now, figure out a way to recast those godawful warped wings. Of all the problems I have with the DX, that one is by far the worst. At least you can hide the landing gear, but those wings are an utter eyesore to me.

Quick note, I can confirm that that extra "click" you hear when you pull the tails out farther is them jumping outside their normal track. If you pull out the feet, and look at the rear of the tail, you can see there's a tab on the bottom edge of the tail, and a wedge of plastic it bumps up against on the outer leg panel. Pulling on the tail enough will let that tab jump over the angled plastic track piece, and wedge the tail tightly between the two sides of it's track. Now, this doesn't look like it's stressing the tail once it slips past, but I don't know what kind of stress this puts on that tab, or the internal structure of the leg. Once the tab is past the stop the tail seems to be kept from rotating out any more, but I don't want to take the leg apart to look at why this happens. Really, the leg internals look like they might be built to do this on purpose.. from the rear, you can see there is a small gap that looks like it will let the upper portion of the tail mount flex, and allow the tail to squeeze between the tracks. This might be a question for Yamato actually. One of my tails does this fairly easily, and it makes the tail stay put nicely, but the other is tighter, and I'm afraid what might happen if these tabs get broken off. Their only purpose seems to be to keep the tails from rotating out further, but I'd like to be sure before I start leaving the tails in this position for extended periods. Actually, the biggest evidence I see against this being the intended tail position... when you do it, the paint line at the tip of the tail isn't level anymore. It's tilted up, as if the back of the tails is too high. All the line art I remember seeing has this line drawn parallel to the aircraft's flight path.