Graham

Interesting, I think we are going to need a survey to see how many of us have VT-1 with smooth pins and how many have the knurled pins. Graham

Knurled pins on those repackaged VF-1S? Graham

Received a reply from Yamato. According to them, the factory had been instructed to use the smooth (non-knurled shoulder pins), on all VF-1 toys, since I think late-July or early- August 2009. The exception being the VF-1J Hikaru that comes with the GBP Armor, as according to them, it is repackaged old stock and thus has the older style knurled shoulder pins. Yamato were surprised to hear that the VT-1 has the knurled sholder pins, as it should have had the smooth pins. I need a favor from you guys. Those of you with a steady hand and a camera with a good macro function, can you please take a photo of the shoulder hinge on your VT-1, which shows the knurled end of the pin in the hinge. Ideally, I need about 3-4 clear (in focus) photos to send to Yamato. Graham

Just sent a fairly strongly worded follow-up email to Yamato asking why the knurled pins are still being used on some recent releases, yet others have the smooth pins. Honestly, I went though all this with them already months ago in several meetings/calls/emails, even meeting with the factory owner and thought we had got the issue resolved by switching to all smooth pins for all releases. I'm hoping it is the factory's error or negligence (using the wrong pins and not informing Yamato) and not Yamato's error as they should be beyond this sort of frakk up by now. I'm busy enough with my own job without having to put out fires for somebody else's company! Not a happy camper. Not (too) annoyed about my toy breaking, after all I can likely get it fixed or replaced. More annoyed that this problem is still occuring after all the pressure I put on them previously and the supposed solution that was supposed to be implemented across the board. Graham

Haven't seen the Frontier movie yet, but all the CG pics and screen shots in the 3 movie guide books, plus recent hobby magazines show the movie version VF-25F with Tornado Pack as white, not bluish-white. Even Bandai's own 1/250 scale VF-25F Tornado Pack toy has a white Valk. I think the bluish tint on Bandai's 1/60 'so-called' VF-25F Super movie version toy, is just something dreamed up by Bandai execs to milk the molds and sell more toys, not an actual color scheme that appears in the movie. Graham

These are definitely my most played with toys at the moment. I get a few of them out pretty much every night and zoom them around having pretend dogfights while I'm watching TV in the bedroom. Annoys the wife no end. In fact I haven't touched any of my 1/60 Yamato or Bandai toys for ages. When I bought home the 1/60 VF-22S Max last night and took it out of the box, it just seemed too massive. I really hope we get some SV-51 toys in series 4 (if there is a series 4), along with of course VF-17. VF-171 & VF-11. I reckon with all the possible variants, Bandai could easily do 6-7 series and that's not even starting on Battroid or Gerwalk figures! Graham

Picked up the Max VF-22S yesterday and noticed the blue plastic of the back section seems to be a slightly darker shade that the rest of the VF. Anybody else notice this on theirs? Graham

My GBP armor is now happily being worn by my original VF-1J Hikaru, who has also had a head swap, so he now has the head with the grey visor. The newer VF-1J Hikaru with the broken shoulder is now sulking in fighter mode, to hide his injury. Graham

Haven't heard back from Yamato yet. Here's a theory, I thought of a few minutes ago: For every item Yamato has made, they give the factory a set of instructions, or a work guide if you like, which lists what they want made, the number and type of components it consists of, how it should be made, painted, tampoed etc, etc. Although the GBP is a new item, the VF-1J that it comes with is basically a toy from last year, with the exception of a small paint application change (the grey visor). Suppose Yamato just cut and pasted the work guide from last year's Hikaru VF-1J into the guide for the GBP + VF-1J and forgot to change the pin part number. This could explain why recent releases (I hope) use the new non-knurled pins and have had no breakages reported, but the VF-1J+GBP uses the older knurled pins. As I said, just a theory and probably wrong. Can anybody remember if the pins on the original VF-1S Focker an VF-1A Hikaru where knurled on both ends or on one end only? Also, can anybody check some of the recent releases now to see if the pins are completely smooth on both ends, or knurled on one end like in my photo of the VF-1J that comes with the GBP? Anyway, this is the first reported breakage (that I am aware of), in a long while, so the sky is not falling yet! Graham

The knurling is quite visible even on the intact shoulder, so I'm going to carefully check other recent VF-1 releases tonight when I get home to see if I can spot it or not. I'm hoping it's just a case of the factory using the wrong pins by mistake and Yamato not realising. Graham

Picked up the Yamato V2 1/60 VF-1J with GBP yesterday and also the VF-2SS Max at the Ins-Point shopping center in Yau Ma Tei. Now there’s some good news and some bad news. First the good news: The GBP-1S Armour is absolutely beautiful IMO. Yamato have really outdone themselves. Yamato obviously designed the V2 VF-1 from the ground up to be compatible with the GBP Armor. The folding leg fins on the VF-1 really mean for the first time ever that we can have lower leg armor that is in proportion. And talking of proportions, the new V2 GBP has absolutely the best proportions of any GBP toy to date IMO. It’s packed full of detail, lots of nice little touches everywhere and I’m so happy that all the major markings are actually tampo printed on this time. The GBP not only looks good, but it is extremely playable as well, as all the armor pieces stay on very well and nothing falls off. It's a huge improvement on both the original 1/60 GBP and the 1/48 GBP. The side torso covers attach very securely and actually clip into place into the U-shape brackets that hold the hip bar in F/G modes - another nice touch that shows the V2 VF-1 was designed from the beginning with the GBP in mind. The cover behind the neck (another nice touch), also clips into place very securely. Now for the bad news: I took the toy home last night, unpacked it, transformed the included Hikaru VF-1J from fighter to battroid mode, so I could fit the GBP armor and on the first transformation, the shoulder hinge broke, which means the arm now falls off! I was surprised to see that one end of the metal shoulder pin is knurled. I thought the factory had stopped using the knurled pins ages ago. In my opinion, the knurling does put too much pressure on the plastic and makes it very easy for the plastic around the end of the pin to crack. See the attached photos, which show the broken plastic part and also the knurling on one end of the pin. I have many V2 1/60 VF-1 toys and have transformed them dozens of times, but this is my first time that I have personally experienced a cracked shoulder. I'm pissed that this happened, when I thought the problem was fixed. I've written to Yamato and am awaiting their reply. For now, transform the arms with extreme care. Graham

Saw the 3D version yesterday and enjoyed it much more than expected. Yes, the story was extremely simple and predictable, but the CG combined with the 3D really did offer an immersive, believable experience. I'll probably see it once more. Not sure if I'll buy the DVD though, as, I think a lot of what makes the movie special will be lost on a 2D small screen. Graham

Got mine on preorder from Amazon jp. Graham

Wish I had time to head over to Ins Point in Yau Ma Tei after work to see if they have the GBP, but alas, have to head straight home tonight. Graham

Gonna bite the bullet and watch it tomorrow afternoon. Bought my ticket already for the 3D version. This movie is going to have to work awfully hard though to beat District 9 as my personal favorite movie of the year. Graham.

Damn, couldn't find the GBP in Wanchai today, nor the VF-22S Max. Graham

Could do what? I haven't tried it yet, but am curious. Graham

I love Max's VF-22S. It's one of my all time favorite schemes and one of the Valks I've most wanted as a toy, since first watching Macross 7, 14 years ago. Can't wait to get it and the VF-11C when it comes out. Graham

I just paid regular retail price. I don't get any special deals on Bandai stuff. Wish I did. Graham

Wondering where the Q-Rare and Konig Monster are supposed to launch from, cus' if the mini-figures are in scale with the Quarter, there's no way the could fit into the carrier section or even on the carrier launch elevators. Heck, if the Quarter's carrier arm sculpt is correct and in scale to the mini-figs, it's not like it could even hold a great many VF-25 inside, give how shallow it is. Can any body remember if the anime showed where the Konig Monster and Q-Rare launched from? Graham

It's annoying to me, that the hobby mag scan shows the Tornado pack ofn the new bluish-white VF-25F (which I dislike). I hope the production toy comes with a standard white VF-25F. And yes, I have that magazine and it's definitely shown with the bluish white VF-25F. Graham

Two pics attached. The white marks on the shin are the partial super glue fingerprints. On the knee cap, just above the gun turret, you can see the extra grey slodge of paint. Graham

Maybe I'm reading your post wrong, but it sounds like you don't like the Quarter design from the anime in the first place. If so, knowing that you don't like the designI think it is "wacky", why did you even buy the toy? Graham

Ditto.

Opened mine yesterday as my Christmas present to myself. Even though I'm more of a VF fan than a capital ship fan, I think it's a really nice toy. Bandai have done a great job. My only minor complaint is that one of the factory workers had left a partial super glue fingerprint on the front left lower leg & there a small spot of grey paint on the left knee cap just above the gun turret, that shouldn't be there! :angry Found transformation to be easy. Even the shoulders, which are tight were not really an issue. Thanks to other people's comments, I'd expected them to be tight, so used the appropriate level of care and gentle steady force. Anyways, attached are a few quick and somewhat blurry pics (still a bit hungover from yesterday, so couldn't hold the camera steady). Merry X'mas to all. Graham