Graham's Review of Yamato 1/60 Scale YF-19

[Graham]

Thanks Graham for the great review!

However, I have a question. When you said the knee caps dont swivel down, does that mean the lower half of the legs cannot rotate?

from looking at your pictures, it seems like the lower part of the legs can rotate, but wont the knee caps be in the way during the rotation?

The lower legs can rotate about the swivel joint as shown in the pics.

No, the knee armor does not hinge down like on the 1/60 VF-0 and 1/48 VF-1, but the design of the 1/60 YF-19 leg is such that it does not get in the way.

Graham

[Scream Man]

thanks for the reply Graham

[Chaos]

I think it's great, even considering Isamu's lack of feet. When he's in the cockpit, there's no way you could see his feet anyhow, and considering the pose he's locked in, he has no business being outside of that seat. The gap on the backpack seems to be a time delay problem. Just give it a squeeze every now and again, and it's okay. The gunpod being crooked gives me a considerable amount of annoyance, but I imagine the removal of one of those pins, (probably either) would solve that problem. If this is the extent of the first run problems, then I have no reservations about my forthcoming purchase.

The only thing that has me kinda concerned is the offset that the shoulders seem to have while in fighter mode. This may be because it was not pressed together firmly enough in that mode, or it may be a flaw. The pictures from Moeyo.com show a slight offset, though not as big as Graham's.

[Golden Arms]

Anyone's HLJ order ship yet?

I haven't gotten notification yet.

I ordered back when they were listed as shipping in November. Didn't order in time for the Early Bird Special, but I ordered before they listed as shipping in December.

-Ed

I preordered with HLJ when they 1st announced the YF-19 and my order is listed as dec restock as well.

[Fly4victory]

Pre-ordered from HLJ in August and I am stuck in restock also.

Wonder who was lucky enough to get the first run and what HLJ uses as the priority????

I preordered with HLJ when they 1st announced the YF-19 and my order is listed as dec restock as well.

[Gatillero PR]

At least you got a restock for December... look how long I have to wait for mine from Twin Moons

Twin Moons

[areaseven]

Is it me, or does the YF-19 look like an EVA on this pic?

[eugimon]

At least you got a restock for December... look how long I have to wait for mine from Twin Moons

Twin Moons

what the??? that can't be right... emailing tam now...

[myk]

Well there are other vendors available. Try BBTS, for example...

[Scream Man]

u will pay through the nose at bbts, especially internationally

[Dangard Ace]

I preordered with HLJ when they 1st announced the YF-19 and my order is listed as dec restock as well.

So did I. Pretty damn sure(75%) I ordered it the day the preorder went up, definitely within the first business week. (complete speculation here) I think HLJ didn't get any stock for the YF-19 yet(distributor problem or something) but since they know we know it was supposed to be out on the 7th they slapped on the re-stock december notice on their website....or they got so little stock that after the employees got their cut there wasn't any left.

[tokyoeroking]

I'll try and get a transformation video done at the weekend.

I don't have a toy infront of me right now, but basically: -

With the cannards, you might find one or both of them a bit tight at first (I did). You need to pulll them out away from the body and then rotate them down. As they may be tight at first a bit of wiggling may be needed initially.

To break the fighter neck, pull forward infront of the parting line while simultaneously pulling rearward tothe rear of the parting line and then break the neck forward. IT'll be easier to show on video.

Graham

Thanks Graham for the reply. I will try it this night and if there is still no success I will just wait for your transformation video. Up to now the biggest demerit of this toy is the manual.

[Graham]

OK, I'm planning to make the transformation video guide this coming weekend, but I'm wondering whether to upload it to the MW server or put it on YouTube?

I haven't really done any reasearch into YouTube. Can those in the know advise if there are file size limits, any costs involved, difficulties with uploading etc?

Recommendations & suggestions please.

Graham

[jenius]

Put it on Youtube... you never know, people might learn about MW through Youtube if you do that. I know nothing about Youtube but it seems everyone is doing it and I've seen some big clips so I can't imagine it's too much of a hassle. I was thinking about putting the old Gakken Mospeada commercials up there myself... if they're not already there.

[myk]

u will pay through the nose at bbts, especially internationally

I thought he was in the U.S. Besides, isn't Twin Moons in the U.S. also?

[Vegas]

youtube is free. but there's a 100MB limit

OK, I'm planning to make the transformation video guide this coming weekend, but I'm wondering whether to upload it to the MW server or put it on YouTube?

I haven't really done any reasearch into YouTube. Can those in the know advise if there are file size limits, any costs involved, difficulties with uploading etc?

Recommendations & suggestions please.

Graham

[Graham]

OK, just signed up with YouTube. Yeah, I just saw there is a 100MB and 10 minute limit per video. No problem, if the video is too long, I'll just split it in two.

Gotta make 3 videos anyway I think: -

1) Fighter to Battroid.

2) Fighter to GERWALK.

3) Battroid to Fighter.

Graham

[falcon14141]

So did I. Pretty damn sure(75%) I ordered it the day the preorder went up, definitely within the first business week. (complete speculation here) I think HLJ didn't get any stock for the YF-19 yet(distributor problem or something) but since they know we know it was supposed to be out on the 7th they slapped on the re-stock december notice on their website....or they got so little stock that after the employees got their cut there wasn't any left.

From my understanding and HLJ experience, this is quite normal.

I think they got the stock already, and are processing the early birds and preorder YF-19 for shipping. But as it is Weekend, no updates on their web site. The YF-19 as a Dec. restock should be for new buyers, since all of their stock is already "reserved" for us , and hence will soon be gone.

I already noticed this odd behavior with HLJ on a lot of eary birds I bought.... just was annouced for a later restock (one time it was of several months), and 2 days later, received a shipping notice.

All we have to do is keeping patience (harder done than said)

[Vic Mancini]

The wings pivot joints (where the wings pivot in the wing gloves) are stiff enough that the wings do not freely pivot. Not sure where you got that idea. They are certainly not floppy.

Graham

I guess because I've never owned a Yamato before, so I don't know how stiff/loose certain joints and pivots are. My last "Macross" toy was a Jetfire Transformer and that was probably 20 years ago.

Glad to know the wings/gloves are stiff.

Thanks for the reply, Graham.

[ruskiiVFaussie]

Nope, the wings can't be put in the high-speed swept back position.

Graham

Thanks Graham! but... Damn!

[David Hingtgen]

I'd much rather see it here at MW than Youtube. The conversion to Flash always seems to lower the quality IMHO. Plus it's easier to actually DOWNLOAD as opposed to stream, or convert and save...

[ruskiiVFaussie]

I am really sweating on this gunpod fix. It's driving me nuts!

Who's the ace that's gonna attempt it, when does this ace get his hands on the 19?

[Dobber]

what the??? that can't be right... emailing tam now...

I'm hoping that just means his Restock of the 19. I too preordered with Tam for the first batch.

eugimon, let me kno what Tam says.

This is my only gripe with Twin Moons. I really like Tam, he has good prices and the best customer service, thats why I give him my business. But, Twin Moons does seem to be the last to get stuff. I really hope it won't take THAT long though!!!

Chris

[kensei]

I'd much rather see it here at MW than Youtube. The conversion to Flash always seems to lower the quality IMHO. Plus it's easier to actually DOWNLOAD as opposed to stream, or convert and save...

Actually, you can download the VideoGrabber extension if you have mozilla firefox to save it after. I mean, you have to wait the same time for it to save anyway. Quality isn't terribly bad, but yeah it could be better.

[Mechamaniac]

OK, I'm planning to make the transformation video guide this coming weekend, but I'm wondering whether to upload it to the MW server or put it on YouTube?

I haven't really done any reasearch into YouTube. Can those in the know advise if there are file size limits, any costs involved, difficulties with uploading etc?

Recommendations & suggestions please.

Graham

Put the vid on MW AND YouTube. YouTube is good, but their vid quality can suck ass.

[BlueMax]

Thanks Graham for the review! man.... its really been a while once the last big review.... lemme see.... since the release of the 1/48 VF-1?

[Fly4victory]

That is why I jumped ship and ordered the 19 from HLJ since the Camo GBP was so slow.

HLJ is also in restock status.

Was there such a run on this or is there a distributor problem?

Still got stuck waiting...... should have supported Tam.

I'm hoping that just means his Restock of the 19. I too preordered with Tam for the first batch.

eugimon, let me kno what Tam says.

This is my only gripe with Twin Moons. I really like Tam, he has good prices and the best customer service, thats why I give him my business. But, Twin Moons does seem to be the last to get stuff. I really hope it won't take THAT long though!!!

Chris

[Aegis!]

Nope, the wings can't be put in the high-speed swept back position.

Graham

Graham, How far can they they go back ?

I think I can live with the crooked gunpod and some of the gaps, but not being able to move the wings into different positions is really a major disappointment

[Mechwolf]

HLJ does this sometimes with items that are released on Fridays. I am almost certain that everyone who has the YF-19 preordered with them has this message on their account. Basically, it means "We have the items in stock, but it is Friday so we can not start the shipping process until Monday." They probably do this to keep people from click on the "ship all items in stock & wait for the rest button" over the weekend. How many impatient people do you think would click that option on Saturday if they saw it listed as instock, but NOT in order processing? I'm willing bet a lot of people would.

Edited December 8, 2006 by Mechwolf

[Vic Mancini]

Graham, How far can they they go back ?

I think I can live with the crooked gunpod and some of the gaps, but not being able to move the wings into different positions is really a major disappointment

Unfortunately, I think the answer is none.

The backs of the wings clearly butt up against the sides of the legs in Fighter mode making any kind of backward swing impossible.

It would've been neat if there was a way to pull the legs down into Gerwalk mode, swing the wings back, and then put the legs back up leaving the Fighter in a permanent/locked high speed mode, but it doesn't look like that's going to be possible, either. Anime magic, my friend.

I'm not disappointed about a lack of wing mobility since I never expected it in the first place and also since it's hardly ever featured in Mac +.

I did however expect a straight gun pod, so that still disappoints me a lot.

[Valkyrie addict]

errr...i've never seen the 19 swept its wing backwards for high speed, when was this featured in the macross series???

is the crooked gunpod a problem in the pod itself that's twisted or is the handle that isn't locked stra9ight to the pod?

[emajnthis]

errr...i've never seen the 19 swept its wing backwards for high speed, when was this featured in the macross series???

is the crooked gunpod a problem in the pod itself that's twisted or is the handle that isn't locked stra9ight to the pod?

I don't remember ever seeing it in the OVA's or movie but it was definitely a gimmick in the Macross Plus Video Game when using afterburners.

[Fly4victory]

The wings swept back for storage. The blue 19 is shown unfolding the wings while on the launch arm at the beginning of a video game.

That is the only place that I have seen the wings folded.

Was there a scene in M+ I missed?

errr...i've never seen the 19 swept its wing backwards for high speed, when was this featured in the macross series???

is the crooked gunpod a problem in the pod itself that's twisted or is the handle that isn't locked stra9ight to the pod?

[Vic Mancini]

errr...i've never seen the 19 swept its wing backwards for high speed, when was this featured in the macross series???

The fourth episode in the scene where Isamu chases Guld past the city buildings and the glass explodes all around them. If you play it in slow motion you can see the YF 19's wings are swept back. Guld is also in his high speed mode, I think.

Then in the next scene where it's more of a side view, Isamu sweeps them back into the forward/standard position.

It happens really fast.

I never even noticed it the first few times I watched Mac +.

Edited December 8, 2006 by Vic Mancini

[LocoMacross]

I just went to my favorite anime store and I will pick up mine next week