Graham

Partial review is now up HERE. Lot's more photos and text to come soon. Graham

I think the Hikaru and Roy VF-1S Strike will use the same sculpt, just painted different colors, that's all, i.e. red stripe and yellow stripe. Graham

Full YF-21 Review is now up. The only thing missing is the box photos and toy weight and height. Also added Swoosh's pics to the review and used one of his pics on the main page. Graham

Would appreciate it if somebody could list out the ratchet joints on the toy. Don't have mine with me now. Graham

Can somebody please let me know the weight of the box with the toy inside and also the height of the battroid mode. Not at home know. Graham

Added scans of the instruction manual and sticker sheet to MY YF-21 REVIEW. Writing the text now. Graham

OK, my partial review is up. See YAMATO 1/60 YF-21 REVIEW. The photos are done, but I'm still writing the text. As usual, Swoosh's photos are much better than mine (gotta ask him how he does his lighting). Enjoy. Next up, Yamato GN-U Macross Plus toys review. Graham

I can hold my toy in battroid mode in hoizontal 'superman' typ flying position, shake it up and down and the nose stays locked in place. Will try to show video on the review. Graham

Transformed to battroid mode, just now. took betwween 5-7 minutes. A few small things changed since I last transformed the preproduction sample. Joints nice and tight, stands well by itself, hands hold the gunpods really well. For those that are saying the torso doesn't lock together, you may not be transforming it right. First, so I'm understod, let's define by what I mean by the torso. The torso in battroid mode consists of four main assemblies, these are:- 1) The back pack and wing assembly. 2) The middle torso assembly, to which the intakes are connected by metal swing bars Also contains the hip bars. 3) The nose/cockpit assemby. 4) The intake assembly. The backpack assembly (1) locks onto the middle assembly (2), by the two tabs on the folding plastic arm that folds down from the middle torso and locks into the inside of the backpack assembly (point 10 on the Gerwalk to Battroid Instructions). There should be an audible click when this locks into place and it is quite a solid lock. Also, point 11 on the Gerwalk to Battroid instructions show the 2 screws on the inside of the back pack slotting into the corresponding holes in the horizontal diecast grey painted back bar locaked at the rear of the intake assembly (4). This helps keep the back pack in place. The nose/cockpit section is held in place quite securely in battroid mode, by the two metal bars on the inner side of the intakes (point 19 on the instructions). These bars lock into the horizontal split (gap) below the cockpit that you get in battroid mode. With the nose locked in place correctly, it does not flop around at all when you pick the toy up at any angle. Definitely zero sag on my wings. Had it in fighter mode on the stand for 24 hours and the wings did not droop at all, not even a fraction of a millimeter. Graham

Agree that Klan's last shoulder beam cannon shot hit the asteroid, but before that it does look to me like she got a few hits in with her arm guns, which just appear to spark off the VF-27's armor. Graham

I'm pretty certain that Klan actually gets several hits on the VF-27 during their dogfight. Will watch again and try to get screen shots. Graham

OK, I wanna discuss what we know (or think we know) about the VF-27's capabilities and features:- Call sign "Purple 1". NUNS & Galaxy markings shown on the craft in eps 7 & 9. Seems not to have conventional canopy. Instead, pilot seems to be in some sort of virtual cockpit. Possibly controlled by some sort of brain control (advanced version of YF-21's system?). At least as fast and manauverable as a VF-25, probably more so. Seems to be a single seat craft. Has 4 engines, 1 in each leg and 1 in each mid-wing nacelle (clearly shown in ep 9). Possibly has internal fold booster. VF-27 shown in fold space without a fold booster at the end of ep 7. Armed with some type of missiles (looks to be micro-missile), uses them to destroy a yellow Vajra in ep 9. Likely carried internally. Seems to be armed with some type of fast firing cannon or beam weapon located in the front of each mid-wing nacelle. Uses them to destroy multilpe yellow Vajra in ep 9. Main gunpod seems to be some sort of variable power energy weapon. Seems to be able to fire fully automatic at a lower power level, or barrel splits open to fire a single high-powered blast of energy capable of destroying a Guantanamo class carrier with a single shot. Recharge time (if any) unknown after firing high power shot. Also unknown if firing a high power shot drains all the energy. Looks to have wing-root/hip mounted guns of some sort like the VF-25 & SV-51, but these have not been shown firing yet. Some type of blade in the shield (shown in ep 9). I suspect, that rather than a removable knife or sword, this actually extends and retracts from the shield. I suspect some sort of advanced armour or barrier system. Perhaps a brain controlled pin point barrier system. In ep 9, the VF-27 is shown taking hit's from the shoulder cannon and arm guns of Klan's Q-Rea without apparent damage, but it's lower leg is blown off by hits from Alto's gunpod. I suspect a thought controlled system, as Brera was surprised by Alto and so perhaps wasn't able to get the PPB in place to protect the knee in time. Transformation system for arms legs and noes, possibly similar to VF-25. Wing/back unit is obviously different. . Anything I've missed? Other theories welcome. Graham

It's blurred out, but also shows what looks like Mikhail's VF-25G as well. Love the splittting gunpod. Graham

Wing sagging is not an issue, unless you consider at most a hairline gap a problem. This IMO is usually caused the user accidently touching the wing and moving it slightly downwards and not sagging due to gravity. In fighter mode, the soles of the feet are only visible directly from the rear or slightly visble from the underside view. To be honest, when looking at the plane from the back, it just looks like mechanical detail to me. It certainly doesn't scream 'FEET" and is not distracting in any way. The toy is really a marvel of design and engineering. It locks together so well in fighter mode. Will try battroid mode later tonight. Off to watch Frontier # 9 again. Graham

Not sure when they are out, but I've be given the green light to post me review on June 3rd. Now, I just gotta write the damn thing......LOL. Will take photos and start on the test tomorrow. Graham

Fantastic episode. Great action. I think it was the usual animation studio (Nara?) on character art duties. The character art look fine to me. Perhaps a little rushed in a couple of scenes, but they definitely captured the established look of the chracters. Can't wait for the fansub. Graham

Keyhole TV is great. Had it installed and watching ep 9 within 2 minutes. Only caught the last 10 mins though Graham

Crossing fingers for some VF-171 battroid love in this episode. Graham

Yay, from that image it looks like as we suspected the regular animation studio is back handling character animation duties for this episode. Graham

No, the seat does not oorotate in the cockpit. The only Yamato toys with rotating seats are the VF-0 series and the new YF-21. Graham

I'm a little leery about committing to a 1 year subscription, when we don't know how many issues there will be yet in total. It may only turn out to be 10 issues for example. If it's less than 24 issues, then does Overdrive refund the balance? Graham

Actually, I find the 11 very poseable. Yes, the Gunpod and hands are out of scale, but poseability of the arms and legs is great. Knees and elbows go over 90 degrees, probably around 110 - 120 degrees. I've got my 11 in some really cool poses.

If transformed and positioned correctly, the feet won't hang out the back like that. And yes, that piece is the stand adaptor. Of course, they are still visible when viewed diorectly from the rear of the plane. Graham

The new Shonen Ace containing episode 6 came out a few days ago, but I've been stuck manning a booth at an exhibition for the last three days, so haven't been able to look for it until today. The one shop I had time to check at lunch today was already sold out. Graham

Heck, let's just rename it "The Green Squirrel Show" and make it about the slapstick adventures of everybody's favourite panty loving green alien squirrel. To hell, with mecha, action, the Vajra, story etc.....who needs em'. Each episode can be about how our hero the squirrel has to collect a pair of panties from a different female character each week, "Gotta collect em' all". I bet ratings would soar. Graham