Did Yamato Kill Customizing?

[Skull-1]

I wasn't here for long prior to the appearance of Yamato on the scene but.....

Customizers seemed to be a lot more active when Bandai was the only game in town.

Am I wrong?

[Graham]

Yes & no.

There is less actual physical modification of the toys going on now as it's unecessary with Yamato IMO, due to Yamato's more accurate sculpts, greater detail and improved level of articulation.

Most of the old-time customization of the 1/55 was about improving articalation and adding more detail.

However, there is certainly more customized paint schemes coming out for the 1/48 now than there ever was in the heyday of the 1/55.

Graham

[eugimon]

I'm not a customizer, but I think yamato does care about the customizer maket... I'm thinking of the replacement canards for the yf-19 to make painting easier.

[Macross73]

I remember not too long ago when there was talk on the board for

non-painted valks, so customizers could have field day customizing them.

That would have been nice.

[Wicked Ace]

I remember not too long ago when there was talk on the board for

non-painted valks, so customizers could have field day customizing them.

That would have been nice.

The TV Hikaru -1J gets pretty close.

[do not disturb]

I wasn't here for long prior to the appearance of Yamato on the scene but.....

Customizers seemed to be a lot more active when Bandai was the only game in town.

Am I wrong?

pretty much.

the old takatoku/bandai toys left a lot to be desired in the ways of detail and poseability. plenty of things could be done to fresh out a 1/55 where as with the 1/48, there isn't much left to do.

i tried to mod out a 1/48 but most of the things that people suggested with were small/simple mods or mods that required way too much work for what it was.

the only real mod the 1/48 warrants is better hands and angled LG's as seen on the VF-0, but thats not to say you can't tweak out this or that to make it look nicer. i.e. paint, panel lines, water slide decals, metal details/highlights, etc.

i'm sure the 1/55 will make a comeback if/when yamato stops making toys. when theres nothing left to buy people will need something to fill their macross void.

[Fortress_Maximus]

I want the CHUNKIES to return now!

[Skull-1]

I'm with you Maximus. We're doing our best to bring them back.

The gray one I am working on will have just about every mod I have ever done incorporated into the same package. This will be a first for me. Not as good as RoLo, KK, and Fulcy, but better than Jetfire.

LOL

[nightmareB4macross]

YES and NO.

YES, because Yamato is now producing their own variants that people will spend money on only to acquire it. While not spending the time themselves (consumers) to customize and come up with something totally unique.

and

NO. There is still plenty left to do on the VF-1 sculpt by Yamato. While the platform is nice, it still isn't perfect. Also there are no 2-seater. That alone is one hell of a customizing job to accomplish.

On Another Note:

1/55 Is Still the KING!

[Fly4victory]

Is the wink after the two seater for a 1/48 Elint kit in the works?

YES and NO.

YES, because Yamato is now producing their own variants that people will spend money on only to acquire it. While not spending the time themselves (consumers) to customize and come up with something totally unique.

and

NO. There is still plenty left to do on the VF-1 sculpt by Yamato. While the platform is nice, it still isn't perfect. Also there are no 2-seater. That alone is one hell of a customizing job to accomplish.

On Another Note:

1/55 Is Still the KING!

[Dante74]

Is the wink after the two seater for a 1/48 Elint kit in the works?

It can't be, he's still working too hard on the fan racer.

[TheLoneWolf]

Jetfire should thank Yamato for saving him, for a while there I thought every last Jetfire would wind up as custom fodder Seriously though, it's a simple formula really. The 1/55 is a great toy but it still left a lot to be desired. Also, the 1/55 had a pretty simple and sturdy design. Desire to modify a 1/55 + ease of customizing a 1/55 = lots of customized 1/55's.

I have a hunch that Yamato noted what parts of Jetfire people were customizing and incorporated all that into the 1/48. For those who missed the era of 1/55 customs, here's a rundown of some of the customized features we saw with the 1/55:

• an actual cockpit
• pilots for said cockpit
• canopies that can open and close
• longer nosecones
• fists that folded in in fighter mode (as opposed to sliding in)
• articulated hands
• anime accurate feet
• rubber tires
• wing flaps
• airbrakes
• hide or do away with the swingbar in fighter mode
• mountable gunpod in fighter mode
• turbines in fighter mode
• A-stance in gerwalk and battroid modes

Sadly, in order to incorporate some of these mods the 1/55 customizers would have to sacrifice the toy's ability to transform, so it could be a tradeoff depending on what you wanted.

Anyone else notice that the 1/48 has *all* of these features. Coincidence? Since the 1/48 incorporated all of these features (although some weren't perfected, like the articulated hands) and can still transform I can see why the 1/55 customs market has slowed down: there's simply no need for them anymore. As for paint schemes, Yamato has given us plenty to choose from.

Like others have said, there's still room for improvement with the 1/48, but I don't think we'll see to many mods until Yamato has halted production of the 1/48. I don't think many people want to spend hundreds of hours on a mod only to find out that Yamato's going to incorporate it next week.

[nightmareB4macross]

Jetfire should thank Yamato for saving him, for a while there I thought every last Jetfire would wind up as custom fodder Seriously though, it's a simple formula really. The 1/55 is a great toy but it still left a lot to be desired. Also, the 1/55 had a pretty simple and sturdy design. Desire to modify a 1/55 + ease of customizing a 1/55 = lots of customized 1/55's.

I have a hunch that Yamato noted what parts of Jetfire people were customizing and incorporated all that into the 1/48. For those who missed the era of 1/55 customs, here's a rundown of some of the customized features we saw with the 1/55:

• an actual cockpit
• pilots for said cockpit
• canopies that can open and close
• longer nosecones
• fists that folded in in fighter mode (as opposed to sliding in)
• articulated hands
• anime accurate feet
• rubber tires
• wing flaps
• airbrakes
• hide or do away with the swingbar in fighter mode
• mountable gunpod in fighter mode
• turbines in fighter mode
• A-stance in gerwalk and battroid modes

Sadly, in order to incorporate some of these mods the 1/55 customizers would have to sacrifice the toy's ability to transform, so it could be a tradeoff depending on what you wanted.

Anyone else notice that the 1/48 has *all* of these features. Coincidence? Since the 1/48 incorporated all of these features (although some weren't perfected, like the articulated hands) and can still transform I can see why the 1/55 customs market has slowed down: there's simply no need for them anymore. As for paint schemes, Yamato has given us plenty to choose from.

Like others have said, there's still room for improvement with the 1/48, but I don't think we'll see to many mods until Yamato has halted production of the 1/48. I don't think many people want to spend hundreds of hours on a mod only to find out that Yamato's going to incorporate it next week.

Of all the features, I still like the sliding hand feature on the 1/55 better than the 1/48. As far as the 1/55 thanking the 1/48 for anything, not in my book. The 1/48 should be thanking the 1/55 for that it was and wasn't what it is. Without the 1/55 missing so many gimmicks the 1/48 might not have existed without the 1/55 as a customizers forefront.

Also there seemed to be an endless supply of 1/55 to customize. From what I have read Takatoku actually produced about 1.2million Valkyries (unkown is how many were actually 1/55s). Plus there were tons of boots and the re-issues...oh yeah, and that weird Strike Valkyrie named Jetfire.

Mods to the 1/48 have already begun:

- Eternal D's DYRL Hands

- Cap'n America's VF-1D Conversion Kit

- Various other tidbits.

There is still much to be done for our beloved VF-1 not matter what scale or maker is comes from.

[Skull-1]

The question then must be asked...

For example. a Max TV "A" is a highly sought after custom. But with the price of a re-issue Bandai at around fifty bucks, could a customizer even break even selling one on EBAY? Seems to me no, even with all the modifications.

[nightmareB4macross]

The question then must be asked...

For example. a Max TV "A" is a highly sought after custom. But with the price of a re-issue Bandai at around fifty bucks, could a customizer even break even selling one on EBAY? Seems to me no, even with all the modifications.

Are you talking paint job only? If you wanted to sell a repaint, you just might get lucky and break even or get just a little bit more than expected.

A highly modified 1/55 is not for everyone. This type of custom is more a labor of love.

[jenius]

One area I think Yamato kills the custom market is their propensity for repaints. Remember when making a 1A Hayao was a quick and easy custom? After that people decided it was high time to get a CF 1A. Soon enough Yamato released both a 1A CF and Hayao. A fan made a sweet gray LV and Yamato made it a production item. I'm sure several fans made Camo valks and then Yamato made a camo valk. Angelbirds? You know that was someone's super sweet custom and then Yamato released an Angelbirds. The very fact an Angelbirds paint job can exist pretty much means that Yamato is capable of anything. I would also think that the all black super easy custom was something fans liked and Yamato has even done that. Seriously, a TV version Hayao and Max are easy and cool customs but I wouldn't bother making them because it seems like they're both the next most obvious repaints for Yamato to release. Minmei Guard? I wouldn't put it past them. VF-1D? The Cap's conversion kit looks great and Graham seems to be hinting it's not in the foreseeable future but I certainly wouldn't past Yamato to release it at some point. Basically, customizing now has become a matter of impatience (as far as paint jobs go) rather than an exhibition of inspiration.

Customizing chunkies on the other hand, I imagine that's still going strong.

Edited December 20, 2006 by jenius

[Graham]

Customizing chunkies on the other hand, I imagine that's still going strong.

Based on the number of submissions to the MW custom toy gallery, that doesn't seem to be the case. In the last few years 1/48 customs have far exceeded 1/55 customs.

At the moment, there are 6 pages of 1/48 customs vs only 1 page of 1/55 customs.

Graham

[jenius]

Yeah, now that I think about it more, I think chunky modding probably really is dying. Seems like a lot of hard work just to have people still prefer a Yamato to it. Still, we do see plenty of threads on this forum where people are working on them or have obvious "white" valks in the background of their pics waiting for customization.

What people really need to do is focus their attention on the 1/65 VF-17... No sight of a Yamato version on the horizon and the Bandai one is super easy to disassemble and play with. It's still the only custom I've ever done and seriously... how bad arse is this pose???

Here's another... I loved my hack job...

Edited December 20, 2006 by jenius

[Graham]

I agree with you about the Bandai being super easy to disassemble.

That's some great poses. I'll have to get round to doing the knee mod myself someday.

Graham

[glane21]

I think the reason 1/55 customizing was so big in the late 90's was because at the time the only choices were to lay out big big $ for a Takatoku or Bandai original, or score a Jetfire and paint it. Lots more Jetfires in the US than the former.

I don't remember anyone hacking up an original for customs unless it was a serious junker. 99.9% were jetfire or the occasional Joons (although even the Joons were pretty pricey).

[Skull-1]

Are you talking paint job only? If you wanted to sell a repaint, you just might get lucky and break even or get just a little bit more than expected.

Not a repaint really. But one with all the mods that I (or anyone else for that matter) can reasonably incorporate into a 1/55.

- Nose Blisters Lowered

- Swivel Thighs

- Trimmed Swing Bars

- Custom Heads

- Custom Feet

- Custom Decals

- Collapsing Gunpod

- Custom Cockpits

Nothing insane but something pretty any way.

At some point I will run out of room for customs but not a love for them. So to build them and then sell them off to a good home would be worth my time. To build them and have to store them in a closet probably wouldn't.

I have seen some awesome 1/48 customs but I can't imagine those guys could make much for their efforts. I could be wrong...

[tom64ss]

I don't think it killed it, just set the bar a little higher. The 1/55 is a very simple design. Easy to work with, with few moving parts and few stress points to worry about. It also had a lot of room to improve before it looked good enough for more serious Macross fans.

The 1/48 is a much more complex design, with more moving parts and fewer things that still need improvment. So, when someone wants to improve on it, they need the skills to pull it off, like Capt. America's VF-1D conversion kit.