Jadis

Ah ok I guess I missed that. The backpack does not fold flat on the undercarriage of the jet mode either like in the line art. I did also just notice that in jet mode you can pull back the two "pods" that hold the tail fins rearwards with a little more force and they will click/lock into place giving a slightly more secure hold.

I don't see where in the line art it shows that the wings tilt up in gerwalk mode (or any mode)? They just swivel/rotate on the X-axis of the body.

Thanks. Somebody already did take a ton of pictures of all the modes etc. Here is the link from a few pages back in this thread: http://blog.livedoor.jp/hacchaka/archives/52016411.html

I got mine delivered yesterday. It is overall an amazingly beautiful figure. The right size, not too big or small (I felt the HMR VF1's were a tad too small). As a VF-2SS fan from 1992 it is great to finally, after 25 years, have a fully transforming, high quality figure of this. Yes the Macross 2 anime story sucked but the Valkyrie design is my favorite by far. A few criticisms: Some pieces fall off way too easy. For me these have been: One of the small white triangular plastic covers on the side of the legs wouldn't stay in. I discovered if swapped with the one on the other leg they could both stay snug. The white right shoulder piece keeps falling apart completely if I so much as wiggle the figure. The left shoulder is fine though. I think I will need to use some plastic cement. Thankfully I'm an experienced plastic scale modeler and this will be a simple fix. There is a white "neck cover" behind the back of the head. It also falls off sometimes during transformation or manipulation. It is not a necessary part at all in my opinion - it's not visible from any angle 99% of the time The SAP covers on the forearms don't stay pegged on very tight - they sometimes pop off during manipulation the small hands that are on the figure by default come off very easily during even light manipulation. The larger hands in the box don't have this problem. The SAP backpack with the canon does not easily snap on completely. It's always a struggle to have both sides "clip in" - at least one side keeps wanting to "clip out" unless I fiddle a lot to get it just right I believe the neck (grey piece) on mine was assembled incorrectly. The head/chin would end up protruding very far ahead of the chest. I had turn the grey neck piece 180 degrees and it seems right now In jet fighter mode - which is still overall excellent - it is not quite as "tight" as the HMR VF-1 series. The VF-1's in fighter mode would peg in very tight and solid. You could probably toss them around on a couch and everything would still be in place (except for the wings). If you did that with the VF-2SS the legs, arms, and "fins" would not still be in place. Pros: The inner frame and joints are all tight and lots of high quality metal and well designed. This includes the arms, shoulders, elbows, knees and feet. Joints are not floppy at all anywhere, tight and poseable. The one exception to this is the hip joints, they are a little floppy - not like the shoulders and elbows which stay EXACTLY in whatever pose you put them in and won't budge In robot mode, even with the SAP pack on, it stands and balances well without issue. I remember the old Bandai plastic model would easily topple over because it was back heavy. Not so with this HMR. I was amazed to discover that the SAP armor for the forearms and legs each have built-in missile covers that open and hinge! That seems an amazing feat at this scale and is far more a joy to play with than say, the armored VF-1's which are nightmare of spare parts and fiddling to open up missile hatches. The gun can peg into the bottom of the jet mode (the handle pegs into a hole in the backpack which is flipped down). It's slightly off center though - but close enough. This can't be done with the SAP armor on because in that mode the backpack needs to be flipped up. I really hope they make a Nexx version with the extra gun that mounts into the leg for storage - that was such a cool feature of the Bandai plastic model kit

I just got my hi metal R vf-1s Roy version in the mail. I have have the original VF-1s Hi Metal release for some years now already. I wouldn't say the new version is necessarily all better: the new Roy model is a little too dark gray in color. I prefer the whiter original version, the new one has several missing red painted details, the swiveling head laser pivots are looser which makes turning them easier and less prone to breaking but they also have a tendency to just fall out, near the top part of the shoulders there are sprue marks where there are absolutely none with the old one, I also find that the chest piece (the one with true yellow and black stripes) pops off easily during transformation whereas this was never a problem with the old version. The pros with the new one are that the elbows are stiffer, the shoulders slightly stiffer and easier to pose but not drastically so. The legs have "UN SPACY" on them, it comes with more extra head guns (although the guns are far longer than on the original), more extra hands in different positions , and an extra fused wing piece for Battroid mode, and the feet are stiff and not floppy at all which was the worst thing about the original. The eye of the new one is much brighter than the old one too. The box and packaging of the original version completely blows away the new one's. The glossy thick cardboard with the flip top display lid and copious English details and history written on it really added to the overall package.