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【Finally, a VF-1 That Moves Like It Should】 Most transformable VF models aim for tight fighter-mode silhouettes. Perfect panel lines. Zero gaps. But the tradeoff? You can barely move the damn thing in Battroid mode. This new manufacturer flipped the script. I remember seeing the prototype two years ago at a local convention — people were… lukewarm. But now? The real thing hits different. ✅ Transformation is solid ✅ Battroid mode is actually poseable ✅ Feels like a machine, not a fragile shelf queen You’re not just transforming it. You’re playing it. Finally — a VF-1 that's not just for photos. It stands. It poses. It fights. And you don’t have to worry about breaking it every time you twist a joint.

【Finally, a VF-1 That Moves Like It Should】 Most transformable VF models aim for tight fighter-mode silhouettes. Perfect panel lines. Zero gaps. But the tradeoff? You can barely move the damn thing in Battroid mode. This new manufacturer flipped the script. I remember seeing the prototype two years ago at a local convention — people were… lukewarm. But now? The real thing hits different. ✅ Transformation is solid ✅ Battroid mode is actually poseable ✅ Feels like a machine, not a fragile shelf queen You’re not just transforming it. You’re playing it. Finally — a VF-1 that's not just for photos. It stands. It poses. It fights. And you don’t have to worry about breaking it every time you twist a joint.

Damn.

Picked up a Takatoku catalog (the standard one from 1983) recently and was looking at the items inside-saw the VF-1A and took a closer look, and it's definitely a pre-production item (left from catalog, right is the takatoku prod version) Neat! At the bottom of the cover page they mention some of the items in the catalog are made of wood, and may not reflect the actual production items.

If they ever get to an official HoS Shockwave, I'd be all over that.

It really is. It's even harder to believe Strange New Worlds is literally a spinoff of Discovery. If Starfleet Academy follows on from Discovery's tone and themes, it'll be nigh unwatchable. If it takes after Strange New Worlds it might actually be worth giving a look. The "good vibes" and optimistic outlook are essential for it to feel like Star Trek.

Seems I hit the nail on the head. If you like what Takara's dishing out and subpar aircraft alt modes don't bother you, you win. Takara, and Hasbro by extension, are there for you. FWIW, I own my share of Transformers with egregious jet modes as well; however, I'm neither shy nor apologetic about calling out their fallacies. Moreover, I make no assertions as to what constitutes a "good Transformers toy", as, like beauty, it's in the eye of the beholder. My complaint is nearly always with aircraft or spacecraft alt modes, the inaccuracies thereof and my wish that Takara would exercise greater discipline in capturing said alt modes more faithfully. I like aircraft, I spent a career working on and around them, my standards and expectations are high accordingly, and I would like to see them executed with greater fidelity so as to make one of my favorite hobbies more enjoyable for me and other aircraft fans. Thank goodness for Macross. Touch Toys is doing amazing work, too. All things being equal, my bias isn't just aircraft related; I also enjoy construction vehicles and one of my greatest peeves with most TFs toys with said alts is that the alt modes in question do not enjoy the full functionality of their RW inspirations. Nonfunctional treads, while a bit of a bummer, is an acceptable concession. However, with new Constructicons on the forefront, the limitations of their vehicle modes is a little disheartening: Long Haul's dumper bed can't dump without taking his back wheels for the ride; while Scrapper's shovel has articulation at the base, the actual bucket is molded in place and cannot rotate; Mixmaster's drum can't rotate (part of Devastator's transformation); While Bonecrusher's shovel technically can tip up, it doesn't articulate realistically, but it's better than nothing; Scavenger's cab/boom section doesn't appear to be able to rotate, a capability the G1 toy has; Hook's boom section cannot rotate, a capability his G1 toy has. I think there's a dimension of playability lost when Transformers, or any transforming toy with a utilitarian alt mode, doesn't enjoy the functionality whereof, treads notwithstanding, although functional treads is the rare treat that completes those toys. I bought the Toyworld Constructicons specifically b/c their Bonecrusher and Scavenger had rolling treads when no other option did. Sadly, their Long Haul disappointed by connecting the back wheels to the dumper. Can't win 'em all. Shrug.

To SNW's credit: they portray a much more optimistic and brighter universe; hard to believe SNW and DISC inhabited the same continuity. O.o

Yes!!! So happy it arrived yesterday.

ding

@nightmareB4macross so cool. Oh and that little trainer bot thing. Love it!

I don’t believe we have. Good catch.

There was definitely a push to impose new controls on the New UN Forces to ensure that its power couldn't be wielded so freely or unrestrainedly as it had been before. One of them being a new regulatory body to police the VF-X special forces, which had been used by Latence's supporters to crush dissent. Money's money, yeah... though there are some passing mentions to the fact that Xaos Valkyrie Works did economize where they could. The Macross Delta TV series suggests the VF-31 Siegfried's customizations were rather haphazard, and pushed the airframe to or past its design limit making it somewhat fragile and increasing its maintenance requirements. Master File, in its turn, suggests that the Siegfried's fold wave system was a heavily economized model that sacrificed output and the ability to self-start (requiring an external source of fold waves) to achieve a cost reduction sufficient to allow Xaos to manufacture multiple units. Yeah, at the very least I can reuse the most expensive part of the PC... that bloody RTX 4080.

FYI Fixed a bunch of missing pics on the bottom of page 2 and 3 by grabbing them from the wayback machine (the comparison pics)

It probably could have been reworked as a good and hopeful story about the triumph of reason over fear, but only in a very different sort of Star Trek series. One of the (main) reasons it fell so flat with audiences was that the bleak and miserable 32nd century future after the Burn really wasn't all that different from the bleak and miserable 23rd century future Discovery had already spent two seasons showing us. The year on the calendar changed significantly, but little else did. Discovery's crew were miserable bastards who hated themselves and each other, the galaxy was still damned and doomed at the hands of alien warlords from TOS-era species, and the whole thing was one massive idiot plot (The Burn) built on a string of plot holes and continuity errors and orbited by a string of smaller idiot plots. It could have worked if it'd been done with a crew that had... y'know... actually believed in and embodied the Federation's ideals. Discovery's crew seemed to be no more than dimly aware that the Federation even had ideals, and certainly couldn't name them if you asked.

Yes. It's an Earth bender this time

Did we do landing gear release tab color differences yet? We probably did, sure we did.

Going to try and work on the Battroid controls, egress access panel/display for seat, and canopy hinges with frame. and more.

I am also in the dark as far as the lore goes besides any translation I have read on the sides of the kit box(es). I am curious to find out more.

After the second unification war, I wondered if it was a larger motivator than I had first thought. Right; my take was that they were kind of lagging behind ones like SMS. Guess money's money. That's a royal pain and a half; I know eventually I'll have to upgrade my PC, but with this kind of issue, I'm very reticent.

Might want to be careful not to get them in trouble by repeating too much of what they say, but at least these have been rumored from other sources as well. I do hope Scorpion ends up cool. One of my favorite spidey enemies of all time. Hope he doesn’t let me down.

There's also this one that I've been on the hunt for.

I saw it as the Federation going through a Dark Age. A thousand years is a long time for anything to stay stable, much less in existence. If they had done it right, it could have been a very good and hopeful story of the 'light of reason' brushing aside the dark and the beginning of a new Age. Instead, we just got some pretty crappy stories.

That may have been part of it, though I'm sure the primary reason was to give the individual member governments full control over their local defense forces. Even if the Xaos PMC division is a small-time operator as a PMC, it's still a division of a much larger conglomerate mega-corporation with vast resources at their disposal. It probably helped that Xaos didn't have to pay for the aircraft themselves. Yep. I had a fairly high-end rig and unfortuantely the time it takes to RMA those defective chips is so tediously long that it's arguably faster to buy a whole new PC at this point.

Certainly not an impossibility, but this is Star Trek we are talking about, it is all about positive portrayal and message. The whole decaying organisation or failed state type of story telling is another one of those that floated around for years with Star Trek. I was never fond of this idea being explored, But it's one thing creating this depressing backdrop, it's another when you on top take the whole point of Star Trek – namely us humans – and portray them as crappy entitled beings with stupid infighting in their solar system that they are completely incapable of resolving themselves (what happened to 900 years of Federation experience?) all because it's not "easy riding" any longer. That might be a reflection of our current human society, but I want to see a reflection of how we can be much better. It would have been way more interesting to see humans still embracing the Federation, still being the explorers wanting to understand the universe and still being there to help others as much as they can. Exploring the human condition (what makes these 32nd century humans go on?) despite the current hardships and adversities of the Burn would have made for excellent stories. Instead we got very lazy and thoughtless writing, all for the sensationalism of making everything even more depressing and dark.