MacrossJunkie

It would have helped if they actually made the pilots 1/60 scale in size. The DX pilots are the same size and proportions as the 1/72 scale Isamu that comes with the 1/72 VF-11B + FP.

Wow, that is really lazy of them. It better be because their designers are too hard at work to take time away from the VF-171 or VF-27 to make a decent neck design for the 25S. How does the 1/72 VF-25S model handle the whole head/neck thing? It doesn't seem to suffer from the same problem as the DX version.

The midnight blue in the battroid mode pic looks pretty good actually. I wonder if it's that color or more like the color in the pics for the other modes.

First batch had it too.

I couldn't agree more. I prefer matte or semi-gloss over plastic gloss. Plastic gloss just looks toyish and cheap to me, especially glossy white plastic. That looks the worst. Gloss paint however doesn't look bad. Another added benefit of the semi-gloss texture the Yamatos have is that fingerprints are practically non-existent. Whereas you can easily see finger prints and other smudges on the old M+ 1/72 toys and the Bandai DXs (the new VF-25s and the old M7 toys).

The only lock I can think of that the SV-51 really needs is a wing lock so the wings don't lose their horizontal position if you turn it upside down. The YF-19 could use a lock for the battroid and GERWALK modes too as it relies entirely on gravity, not even any friction, and an upright position to hold it together which I think is really lame.

The LERX does get in the way of the intake/hip part of the leg. You have to kind of maneuver the hip either in front of it or behind it. It's a minor annoyance. Overall, it has pretty good articulation aside from the often mentioned lack of a double jointed elbow for more-than-90-degree bends. The forearm does have a slight ability to tilt about 20 or so degrees left or right, which is the first time I've seen that in a valk toy. It seems to help the shield face forward more since it's attached to the underside of the arm. Leg articulation is about the same as the VF-1 at around the same points. You can pull the legs a bit further out, similar to the 19, to get a wider range of movement, but it's not as limited as the 19's to begin with. Not sure what you mean by the groin joint collapsing back in like the 19. What part of the 19 collapses back in for you? As far as the 11 goes, the plate that covers the "face" in fighter mode folds down and locks in behind a tab at the point where cockpit folds away from the neck in battroid. This prevents any accidental folding or swiveling of any sort. I'm not sure if that answers your question. The 11 has the overall tightest joints of any Yamato toy I've had so far and even better than my VF-25G which has some issues with the legs sometimes not being able to hold a pose when off the ground or be able to keep its arms up in certain positions.

That thing looks pretty good. I don't normally collect figures, but I'm tempted to make an exception. Only if it is in the $60-80 price range though. You could always print out a shrunk down image of the poster on a color printer and then fold it up into a mini paper airplane yourself At least, that's what I would do.

Yes, but it's only 3/4 the size of what the toy's is. That extra bit makes a huge difference when it comes to the slope of the neck. Look at the other line art angles as well as the ones for the VF-11B and you'll see it should be similar.

And an exclusive web exclusive for the super packs for Alto's 171 EX custom.

Heh, the 1S head looks like someone dropped an anvil on it. It's so squat and wide. Edit: Actually, maybe not. it's the head lasers being so freaking thick and huge that makes the head look that way.

The blue one doesn't look too bad I suppose. A VF-X Ravens scheme would be nice still. I agree with LSB that the VF-19A didn't sell well because the toy was ugly and not very good to begin with. Despite getting multiples of the other 1/72 M+ valks, I never got the YF-19 or VF-19 because they were so hideous and full of gaps that barely looked like the valkyrie it was supposed to represent. It's one of the few valk toys I couldn't convince myself to get just for the sake of having for completion or what not. That said, it would be nice if Yamato tweaked the fighter a bit so the profile would look better. I know I keep ragging on the 19 for that gullet, but I recall the reason it was that thick was to accomodate the landing gear. However, the release of the VF-11B shows that Yamato can have landing gear and still have a slim profile. Both planes have the front landing gear in pretty much the same location so I don't see why they couldn't improve the 19. The way it is right now, the fighter's profile kind of makes it look like it is slightly pointing up due to the way it slopes and looks more like a wedge to me. Other than that, the current 19 looks pretty good from front and dorsal angles.

I really do hope they put out the VF-27 and VF-171. If they come out with the VF-171, I 'd love for them to go with the EX variants first. I like the paint scheme and the added weapons on those more. I also hope they do a better job on them sculpt wise than the 25s.

It doesn't seem to have any GU-xx designation. I thought I saw somewhere, but I'm likely misremembering. Even the compendium just calls it a 30mm 6-barrel gunpod.

It's an iridescent coating they've been putting on the canopies since the v2 1/60 VF-1.

I think he's talking about how the legs are spaced further apart than they should be due to the extra long connectors at the hip joints. From M3:

I just noticed something that could be corrected whenever you get back. In your pic named "Yamato 160 VF-11B 13.jpg" The top middle pic you have labeled as 1/72 Isamu in VF-11B is actually still the 1/60 VF-11B Isamu.

Based on the large pics, those are the original YF-19 Isamu figures. The helmet for the VF-11 Isamu is flattened more, the top of the helmet is bluish instead of black, the paint applications on the shoulders are cleaner and the detail is more distinct, and they didn't bother painting the chest with any of the black markings that the 19 version has.

I think this armored VF-25S may be my last DX of the 25s. I was planning on getting an Alto custom if they ever made a bunch of improvements to the sculpt, but with the 1/48 VF-25F model coming, if that thing is perfect transformation, then I'm going to go for that instead. I'd still spring for a DX VF-27 though. A bunch of my issues with the DX VF-25 may be non-existent on the VF-27 due to the differences in how it transforms.

I haven't had any trouble with EMS so far. I live in Pennsylvania and regardless of whether I order from Overdrive or HLJ, if I have it shipped via EMS, I normally get the item 3 days from the ship date.

If it helps any, I found the best way for me to get the rear wheels out unaided is for me to pull off the tires first and then pick at the wheel itself to lift it out. I had the same observation about the tampo printing. At the very least, they could have put the full tampo print for the "Danger Ejection Seat" triangle below the canopy instead of just a blank orange triangle. I used the majority of the stickers on the sheet, but left out the stuff like tampo printed items and the engine decals as it didn't seem like something like that would be on a production fighter. What I wish they did with the heatshield was make the plastic itself molded in orange. With the difficulty of trying to get a grip on the lower half and the relative force needed to get it to lock in place, the paint on the bump at the top of it is coming off.

The YF-21 box was around the same size as the 1/48 boxes. Given that the VF-22 is not coming with the extra layers of packaging for the FAST packs and stand, I figured the box would not be as thick as the YF-21's.

That's actually a relief for me. My wallet could use a breather after the VF-22S. I hope they have been taking this time to do additional improvements to the VF-25 mold besides the the neck and head lasers (like getting the legs higher up in fighter mode and making sure the locking mechanisms work better).

Don't forget the different leg bay door with the internalized gunpod compartment too! j/k But seriously, isn't that the case with nearly every macross toy release? VF-1 - different heads + various paint schemes, D and other 2 seaters with different cockpit as well. VF-0 - different heads and paint schemes SV-51 - different paint schemes YF-19 with anniversary edition and other various repaints coming. VF-25 - many variants with different heads and paint schemes and so on...

>.< Not long after my last post, I found out that Overdrive will have pre-orders up.