Graham Posted March 23, 2004 Posted March 23, 2004 Guys, straight from the just released May 2004 issue of Hobby Japan Magazine, here's pictures of the painted Yamato 1/100 scale VF-0S toy. A few comments about the toy shown in these photos: - The hip joints still look fugly and too big. About a month ago, Yamato told me that the hip joints would be made smaller, so there are two possibilities here. 1, this is a painted earlier sculpt, pre-modifcation. Or 2, Yamato are not going to change the hip joints. Guess we just have to wait and see! I note that the tail fins and heatshield do not feature Skulls. I had previously advised Yamato to Tampo print the Skulls on, but I guess they decided not to (perhaps to save money?). This means we are probably going to get the typical crappy Yamato stickers. Oh well, maybe Takatoys can make up some of his superior quality stickers, or Devin can make his excellent decals. Maybe it's just the photos, or maybe the toy wasn't transformed correctly, but the tail fins look too vertical in fighter mode. They should be canted (angled) more outwards. Also, the tail fins look a little small IMO. The release date is shown as April. Maybe this is a mistake as previously the release date has been shown as May. It's unlike Yamato to release anything early. Where the wings connect to the backplate, they are supposed to narrow down (front to back distance). Compared with the Hasegawa model kit, the narrow area looks too short. Not sure which is correct. Anyway, here's the photos. Graham Quote
Limbo Posted March 23, 2004 Posted March 23, 2004 (edited) The legs look a little skinny, aren't they? I don't know... It looks like they're rushing the toy to milk with the series as soon as they can... I would rather wait some extra months and have a really top quality toy. Oh well... It may be an old prototype. I guess we'll have to wait and see... Edited March 23, 2004 by Limbo Quote
Graham Posted March 23, 2004 Author Posted March 23, 2004 BTW, a slightly bigger version of this pic will be going up in the magazine section in a few minutes. Graham Quote
Fort Max Posted March 23, 2004 Posted March 23, 2004 Thanks for that Graham It looks nice but I'm not keen on transformations that require parts swaps. If it's cheap enough and lets face it it will be quite cheap to ship regardless of it's cost then I guess I'll snap it up but the smart move would be to save soem much needed cash and wait for the inevitable move to a larger scale. Fort Max Quote
Graham Posted March 23, 2004 Author Posted March 23, 2004 Larger version of the pic now up in the MW magazine section here. Graham Quote
GRAND CANNON Posted March 23, 2004 Posted March 23, 2004 (edited) Hopefully this IS just a painted first sculpt and the revisions noted above are made.........dare I say "hopefully" . I'm also curious about a few of other small items in the pic: -- Those articulation points mid-thigh (just under the intakes). Why? They do not look like they have much, if any, room to even move! EDIT: Just noticed they adjust into Gerwalk mode. DOH! But there still appears to be a lot of friction that will take place to move them, unless they pull away (extend) prior to swinging. -- Stand included? -- Whose feet are at the top right........? Edited March 23, 2004 by GRAND CANNON Quote
Beware of Blast Posted March 23, 2004 Posted March 23, 2004 WTF?! No Tampo printing?! What frigging day and age is it now that Yamato STILL CHOOSES NOT TO, when almost every frigging plastics goods manufacturers out there have moved forward, and are using them for printing markings on their products!!! Graham buddy, ya gotta spare sometime to tie and bitch-spank that Yamato CEO for this fandom man. I'll personally fly down to HK to help you. Let me know. Quote
bandit29 Posted March 23, 2004 Posted March 23, 2004 That might be the ugliest canon VF ever created. Quote
the white drew carey Posted March 23, 2004 Posted March 23, 2004 Those knobs where the hips attach to the nose are just waaaay too big. Also, there seems to be a lot of unusual gapping in the seams, especially on the upper legs. I do hope this is an earlier painted prototype, because as a production toy, this doesn't look too good. Quote
Graham Posted March 23, 2004 Author Posted March 23, 2004 Here's a picture to illustrate what I mean about the wings. On the Hasegawa model kit, the narrow portion of the wing trailing edge, where it meets the fuselage is quite long. On the Yamato toy, the same area appears very short. Graham Quote
Anubis Posted March 23, 2004 Posted March 23, 2004 (edited) The detail is quite impressive for the scale used, though the lack of Tampo printing is disappointing. The hips are also way too big, but I guess it's a matter of durability vs. proper hip size. Hopefully there will be a few tweaks to the sculpt, but for now I say not bad. Not uber-sweet, but not bad. I would still like to see the actual attachment method for the intakes, how secure it is in gerwalk and fighter. If the price point is right (sub 40 bucks, maybe, maybe 45 if it is impeccable, then Yamato may have a winner. I hope the panel lines will be as nice on the final. Though if they can do that, there's no excuse not to Tampo print a couple of skulls on. If it comes with a little stand like on the Gerwalk that would be pretty sweet. Whose feet are those on top? Edited March 23, 2004 by Anubis Quote
Hoptimus Posted March 23, 2004 Posted March 23, 2004 So what is the final MSRP of this thing gonna be? Quote
fifbeat Posted March 23, 2004 Posted March 23, 2004 Does anyone know how much this will be going for? I imagine about $60-$70 (ie 1/60)... Quote
Graham Posted March 23, 2004 Author Posted March 23, 2004 Price is supposed to be somewhere between ¥4000 to ¥4400 (to be confirmed). The toy is also supposed to come with the wing missiles and the leg FAST packs as well, although these have not been shown yet. Graham Quote
bandit29 Posted March 23, 2004 Posted March 23, 2004 (edited) Does anyone know how much this will be going for? I imagine about $60-$70 (ie 1/60)... IIRC there was magazine scan with an early prototype that said 4000 yen approx. Current exchange rate as of today. 4,000.00 JPY Japan Yen = 37.4356 USD United States Dollars Ah Graham beat me to it lol if its 4400 yen 4,400.00 JPY Japan Yen = 41.1807 USD United States Dollars http://www.xe.com/ucc/convert.cgi Edited March 23, 2004 by dejr8bud Quote
Mule Posted March 23, 2004 Posted March 23, 2004 Considering the small scale of this toy, I'd say they did a pretty good job. I think the scale may be to blame for the big hips though. They need enough plastic there to avoid hip problems like the original VF-11B. I'm still hoping for a 1/72 or 1/60. For those that think this toy is ugly, think of 2 things: 1) it is an ugly plane to begin with 2) it beats the Hell out of the original YF-19 and YF-21 toys. Pretty amazing since this toy is probably smaller than those two were. If you think you can do better, please do so. We'd love to see it. Quote
Vermillion One Posted March 23, 2004 Posted March 23, 2004 I hope that the sculpt gets revised, as of right now, fighter is the only decent looking mode. But then again, it is nice to see that M0 is going to get some attention, so its difficult to complain. Hopefully it won't be $75 in some huge box that costs 20 to ship overseas. Quote
Ghadrack Posted March 23, 2004 Posted March 23, 2004 (edited) Well, I think it still looks pretty sharp, It could definitely be better, but I am still clinging to the hope that this os going to be the low-Rent version and we are going to see a 1/60ish (or bigger) version available for collectors in the not too distant future. I have my fingers crossed for a big beauty for display and will pick up one of these to play with ~edit~ I have to say, I don't much like the look of those flimsy shoulder joints though, if they are not on metal pins, (I think they said this was a Zero Metal toy) then that looks like a stress point that may not hold up to casual transformations/use. Ick Edited March 23, 2004 by Ghadrack Quote
Mechamaniac Posted March 23, 2004 Posted March 23, 2004 Those hip pegs are freaking hideous. That GERWALK pic is also disappointing. Either they just threw the thing together, and snapped a pic, or you can't get a good A Stance GERWALK pose. It looks like the legs only come down arrow straight. It better not be more than about 25 bucks, but this is Yamato after all... Quote
GRAND CANNON Posted March 23, 2004 Posted March 23, 2004 Whose feet are those on top? -- Whose feet are at the top right........? Anyone?..................Bueller? Do the feet belong to something that was cropped out of the pic, Graham? C'Mon, you know how it is...........WE CAN'T GET ENOUGH!!!! You go ahead and post an update on something that hasn't been released, and we're already concerned with what's next!!! Quote
Jawjaw Posted March 23, 2004 Posted March 23, 2004 Does anyone know how much this will be going for? I imagine about $60-$70 (ie 1/60)... No, much cheaper - like $30-40. It's still going to be expensive for what you get but the cost will be lower than previous Yamato's. Shipping and the yen will still be expensive but that's not Yamato's fault. I'm still not excited about this toy at all. While the VF-0 is not my favorite design, I am still disappointed. Everything just seems average or sub-par. I understand what Yamato is trying to do but I got used to expecting more from them. If the SV-51 gets the same treatment, I am going to be very sad. Quote
Anubis Posted March 23, 2004 Posted March 23, 2004 (edited) For 4400 yen, this is much more of a sure thing then. I was afraid the price was gonig to creep up higher. But 4400 range puts it in the low $40 range. About the right price this time. Almost forgot about the leg fast packs and missles. You can see the missle points on the wings. My only big sculpt quibble is the hips. But like I said above it's a trade off between having the big hips or having the hips break. I still plan on puting my M0 mecha in Gerwalk. How far can the legs bend forward? Is what's shown it in that dept? The VF-0S is actually lower in my desired list than the 0D. That I will be excited for really. I will still buy the 0S though as well most likely. Edited March 23, 2004 by Anubis Quote
Black Valkyrie Posted March 23, 2004 Posted March 23, 2004 May be Yamato Should consider putting swing bars like in the OVA Quote
bandit29 Posted March 23, 2004 Posted March 23, 2004 (edited) May be Yamato Should consider putting swing bars like in the OVAÂ I think they would be too fragile on this size of the VF-0. A bigger scale VF-0 would be a different story. Edited March 23, 2004 by dejr8bud Quote
Clarkent Posted March 23, 2004 Posted March 23, 2004 (edited) From the picture, it seems that the nose-cone on the fighter is sharper. I m not sure if this has been said before, but does the transformation require the replacement of the nose-cone? Similar to the bandai 1/72 transformable valkyrie model kits? Overall I must say it looks real sleek. Edited March 23, 2004 by Clarkent Quote
Anubis Posted March 23, 2004 Posted March 23, 2004 From the picture, it seems that the nose-cone on the fighter is sharper. I m not sure if this has been said before, but does the transformation require the replacement of the nose-cone? Similar to the bandai 1/72 transformable valkyrie model kits? Overall I must say it looks real sleek. Swapping the nosecone is part of the transformation. Quote
Black Valkyrie Posted March 23, 2004 Posted March 23, 2004 Want a prefect VF-0 transformation ? Then get a Bandai 1/55 chunkymonkey plus it even has chogokin parts Quote
ZorClone Posted March 23, 2004 Posted March 23, 2004 it's hard to look at this thing as a valk.. looks too much like a Labor in battroid mode. I dunno, I'm just not impressed with this VF design. It has no realistic continuity to the VF-1, of which it's supposed to be a precursor. It's too skinny in too many areas, and doesn't look at all like a tough mecha in any mode. and WHAT THE CRAP 1/100 SCALE?! !#$%*& Quote
VF-1Guy Posted March 23, 2004 Posted March 23, 2004 It doesn't look too bad for what it is. The price isn't too bad either compared to some other items in the line (especially if the missiles and leg FAST packs remain a part of the package). I'll definately pick one up to tide me over until a larger perfect transformation version comes along (keeping my fingers crossed). Quote
jwinges Posted March 23, 2004 Posted March 23, 2004 I like it but the gerwalk just looks fugly to me. As far as the big hips go...I can handle that if it prevents the floppy hip syndrome that the 1/60's had. Fighter looks good. Better question is how many varients of this will there be or do we have to buy multiples and customize to get the low viz or D versions. Quote
Shin Densetsu Kai 7.0 Posted March 23, 2004 Posted March 23, 2004 if the legs pins have interlocking mechanisms to prevent floppy hoe hip 1/60 syndrome then kick ass. I think we really need to see te VF-0 with ALL accessories attached(weaponry) IN comparison with a similar sized yamato macross toy to see if its big enough to cost 40$. No magazine has shown a side bvy side comparison pic yet. Quote
APU Posted March 23, 2004 Posted March 23, 2004 The complaining around here can be sickning. You do all this complaining and you know you will all buy it Quote
Shin Densetsu Kai 7.0 Posted March 23, 2004 Posted March 23, 2004 nope we all dont ride yamato and buy everything they buy. This toy to many seems a step below what yamato usuall pulls off. WHen peolpe head parts swapping they thought 1/60. But when they found out something lke this came out the compaining began. There is NOTHING wrong with criticising the toy. It has its weak points. if the complaining is sickening get used to it. This is macrossworld not ban you when complaining robotech cronie site. and judging from the reception this toy got... no unlike what you said not ALL of us will be getting this toy. I wish it was cheaper ya know? I mean its abs and plastic after all. And it will be smaller than what we are USED to. We are not used to this kind of macross toy from yhamato hence our complaints. Quote
bsu legato Posted March 23, 2004 Posted March 23, 2004 That GERWALK pic is also disappointing. Either they just threw the thing together, and snapped a pic, or you can't get a good A Stance GERWALK pose. It looks like the legs only come down arrow straight. I think you're right. I don't see any joint for calf/knee rotation. Otherwise, I think it looks ok so far. I'm going to wait for the first reviews before I decide to order one. Graham, is there any chance you'll get to inspect a prototype? That said, I'm not too optimistic about how Yamato will handle the much more complex SV-51 in this scale. Maybe I should just stick to Hasegawa. Quote
bandit29 Posted March 23, 2004 Posted March 23, 2004 The complaining around here can be sickning. You do all this complaining and you know you will all buy it Ya it can but what can ya do. Most likely I'm not buying it. We'll see... I'm not huge fan of the VF-0(I like the fighter mode but the other two modes are just god awful)and Macross Zero. Quote
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