Graham

Can confirm the Tornado VF-25F is bright white, with thankfully no blue tint.

Bah! Not everything! It doesn't mention if it's available here in Hong Kong and if it is, what it's called. Anybody know? Graham

Tornado DX is out in Hong Kong. I broke down and picked up one yesterday in the Sino Center branch of Animate for HK$1,380. More expensive than I expected to be honest. I imagine other shops will have it cheaper. It was an impulse buy and I couldn't be bothered to shop around. Haven't had time to take it out of the box yet and won't have time until Sunday Talking of the box, it's exactly the same hight and width as the VF-27 box, but about 2 or 2 1/2 times deeper due to the Tornado packs. Anyway, it looks cool. Lots of printed markings. Graham

Still on the fence about getting the DX VF-25F with Tornado Pack. The appearance of the Tornado Pack has reallly grown on me and I'm liking the look of it more and more, especially as it looks like it features lots more tampo printed markings compared to the relatively spartan Armored Pack. However, 3 things are puttng me off a purchase: - 1) In fighter mode, it is going to be an absolute shelf-hog. I was comparing the size of the 1/250 VF-25F, VF-25F Super, VF-25F Armored & VF-25F Tornado and the Tornado has by far the biggest wing span of the three. I mean it's huge. 2) Worried about whether it will be able to stand by itself in battroid mode with the Tornado Pack fitted. My Armored DX's can no longer stand unaided without a prop holding them up at the back and even the Supers are having trouble, what with the crotch lock loseness. Possibly the Tornado's tail stinger can extend far enough to make a make-shift support in battroid mode? 3) Also some concern about whether the Tornado pack will attach securely. The Supers and Armored can be extremely frustrating with parts popping off. It's gotten to the stage, where I only now actually 'play' with bare VF-25 toys, due to frustration with the packs. Bandai could learn a thing or two from Yamato about pack attachment (OK, not counting the 1/60 YF-19's dodgy leg packs). Glad to see in the new hobby mags that Bandai will be doing the space attachments for the DX Tornado Packs. Just hope they are not webshop exclusives. Graham

A little late and apologies if this has been posted before. I found this very interesting and it means that the real world is getting a little closer to the Macross universe, with multi-purpose missiles that can strike air or ground targets. Graham

I did get some photos of it. Will post at the weekend. Graham

Just picked up all 21pcs of set #3 including the VF-4 for HK$1,180 (approx US$152), from a shop on the 2/F of 188 center in Wanchai. I also picked up a spare VF-4 for HK$40 (approx US$5) Graham

Although I haven't seen the movie yet, I have all the movie guide books (3 or 4 of them) and none of the screen shots in the books show the VF-25 with a blue tint. I strongly suspect that the whole blue tint thing was Bandai's idea, nothing to do with the movie and they just slapped the movie label on it to try and get it to sell. Why on earth they thought people would actually like the blue tint is beyond me. Graham

Just back from my UK business trip. Time to catch up on the PMs and threads, as I haven't been online much in the past 10 days. Some good news. While I was away, another batch of the off-white hinges for the DYRL VF-1A/S were delivered to my office. Not a huge amount, but enough to cover all those who are still waiting, as well as hopefully the recent enquiries I see in my inbox. Please note that even with this new batch, the quantity is still limited and there is not enough to supply "just-in-case" preemptive hinges for toys that are still fine. This means, I will only supply hinges to members whos toys are actually broken or showing serious stress marks. If I get requests for a large number of hinges, I may ask to see photographic proof that you actually have that many broken toys. Anyway, give me a few days to clear through my backlog at work and I will start answering the PMs and getting the next batch ready for shipment. Graham

Nice! Graham

Oh, nice. Can't wait for this one. I've been wanting a nice Blazer toy since 1995. The Bandai will be a nice tide-me-over, until the inevtitable Yamato version arrives. And yes, I'm sure the final production version will have the missing stripes and UNS kite that are missing on these prototype pics. Bandai better not make the VF-19F a webshop excluive! Graham

Visited the RAF Museum at Cosford yesterday. It was amazing the see the TSR-2 up close, not to mention the 3 V-bombers. Will post pics later when I'm back home. Graham

Fiinally got a reply back from OverDrive, they said they would email me later today with the pricing information for the VF-27b greenie DX. Once I get the information, I'll post it here. Graham

I suggest starting a dedicated 'Bandai Köenig Monster' thread, as nobody seems quite sure yet if it is in the Robot Spirits line or the DX line. Graham

Sorry, no more off-white hinges. They all went very quickly. I'm trying to get more. Will let you know later if I can. Graham

I think for all intents and purposes, the VF100 line is dead and we really should start either a dedicated thread for the Hi-Metal line as a whole, or individual threads for each Hi-Metal release.

That stand is an easy pass. Anyway, something about it reminds me of the Space Jockey's chair from Alien.

I was told they all have the smooth pins and looking at them, they appear to be smooth. However, I did not actually extract any of the pins to check them. Graham

For those in HK, Animate is taking preorders for the green VF-27 DX toy. However, the price is HK$1,800 and you have to pay a minimum of HK$1,000 deposit in advance. As much as I want it, I decided to pass. Graham

As promised, the following members hinges were just posted: - 3rd batch - sent 8th March 2010. mattomaton, Blaster, fenrir72, southpaw, Vi-RS, brenttoyou, Danguard Ace, DatterBoy, Cyclone Trooper, ff95gj, anotheran, m0n5t3r (packed in ff95gj's envelope), Vegas, bryanlky, Valk-1S, Shin Densetsu Kai 7.0, Sturmvogel, CF18, Jasonc. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The only people who's hinges have not gone out yet, are those who have not yet given me their addresses. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Note, I will be travelling overseas on a business trip from 14th March to 23rd March. It is doubtful I will have time to get any more hinges sent out before my return, as I have a lot of other stuff to do this week. Graham

Due to the extremely limited number of hinges available, my policy is only to supply hinges to people who actually have broken toys, not for "just in case" preventive maintenance for toys that are still fine. Sorry, I would need 10 times the amount of hinges that I got if I were to supply "just in case" hinges to everybody. I may possibly be able to obtain more hinges later on, but that is not certain. If and when I can, I will post either in this thread or in an update to my signature. At the moment, there is still a small quantity of the bright white hinges and also the cream hinges remaining. Graham

IMPORTANT UPDATE - READ CAREFULLY Just finished packing the following 18 members hinges and will post them out on Monday: - 3rd batch - to be posted March 8th 2010 mattomaton, Blaster, fenrir72, southpaw, Vi-RS, brenttoyou, Danguard Ace, DatterBoy, Cyclone Trooper, ff95gj, anotheran, m0n5t3r (packed in ff95gj's envelope as requested), Vegas, bryanlky, Valk-1S, Shin Densetsu Kai 7.0, Sturmvogel, CF18. You guys have all the hinges you requested. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The following members have still not sent me their address: - Sandman, Roy Focker, Loop, Omegablue, Nanoplasm, ps99042, D' only, Blargg. Unfortunately, for the members who have not yet sent their addresses, I've just discovered a problem. I though I'd been given 200pcs of the off-white (lightish grey) hinges for the DYRL VF-1S/A Valks, but it seems that the quantity I was given is smaller than that (short by 12pcs). Basically, I've only got 8 of the off-white hinges remaining, but you guys have requested 20pcs in total between you. These will now be assigned to whoever PM's me their address first. I've even given up the 2 off-white hinges that I'd allocated to myself so you guys can have them. I'm trying to obtain more, but that is not certain. Anybody who unfortunately misses out, is welcome to bright white hinges instead. Graham

Ah, I clicked on the second link which is US$63.99, which is why I commented it was expensive. Graham

You have to angle the pegs to get them into the holes, don't try to push them straight in. But yes, it can be frustrating. When I recently transformed from battroid to fighter after not touching it for months, I got so frustrated with bits popping off, that I nearly threw the damn thing against the wall. Graham

Replacement hinges for the following 32 members have been posted out by airmail today: - 2nd batch - sent 5th March 2010 BlueMax, Dancougar, rsvictor1976, annubis20, DyNo, jenius, max928, Jepoyako, UN Spacy, johnwayne, optimuspint, Regult, takatoys, charger 69, MACROSSF, nightmareB4macross, bigkid24, BoBe-Patt, diablo, Razerwire, Chronocidal, meh_cd, len_d69, mickyg, VF-19, Ignacio Ocamica, jodokast, Atheonyih, fifbeat, hirohawa, crasis, sreyes. Another batch of hinges for those remaining members that I've got addresses for will be sent out next week. After that there will be a delay before any more hinges go out, as I will be overseas on a business trip from 14th to 23rd March. There are many members who have still not sent me their full name and shipping address. I do not have time to chase you up by PM. The members I still need address for are: Sandman, Roy Focker, Loop, Vegas, Omegablue, Nanoplasm, ps99042, D'only, Blargg, Valk-1S, Shin Densetsu Kai 7.0, Sturmvogel, bryanlky (need full name). Graham