knoted

Ehm... question.... Has any of you ever tried to remove the head of a VF-1J hi metal ?

I was wondering if I would be able to easily swap the head for a custom made Transformers headsculpt,

to make him look like TF cartoon Sky Fire.

I know the head is connected to a swivel... but the head itself rotates on, I guess a balljoint...

can anyone confirm whether it would be easy to just pop off the head without damage risk ?

VF-1J Hikaru

Yep, still love it :

Imo, the main advantage of the Hi Metal VF1 is the superior hip articulation ; the ball joints are in these sliding capsule joints, which make it possible to get a true wide A stance and it permits some additional swivel wiggle for the thighs on the Y-axis as well. The wing assembly is also a little further to the rear which permits the Hi Metal to rotate the thigh leg up a bit more, without having to use the gerwalk joint.

In comparison, I feel the Yamato 1/60 VF1's feel like geriatrics when it comes to the leg articulation. The only way to get a half decent pose is to use the gerwalk joint ; which - imo - is like breaking a thigh bone in 2. Using the swivel at the knee to get the feet apart more, is also a pseudo kind of wide A stance.

I also agree with the anymoon review on the topic of the 1/60 head placement ; too high up. The Hi Metal does this a little bit better too.

The line was a bit overpriced, but the Hi Metal do indeed pose really nicely in scale to deluxe Transformers.

Damn, that VF17D looks twice as cool as the S, imo.... perhaps enough motivation to cough up the price....

VF1 FTW.

I've always disliked the VF0 ; legs too long, upper arms to skimpy, air intakes look to stumpy in jetmode etc etc.

Hello Knoted, I suppose it would be a deal breaker "if" this turns out to be a modified item by the seller as in changing parts.

Yeah, I understand your pov. I got my hi metal from an ebay seller as well. Was sold as brand new MISB.

Upon receiving the package, I noticed the tape had been loose at some point. I guess the plastic bubble tray had been taken out once to take the ebay pics. Other than that, the toy seemed untouched though.

Is it really a dealbreaker ? I mean, the Hi-Metal's shoulder pads are quite different in proportion ; which results in quite a different silhouette..

But...I bought my Hi-Metal VF-1J for its superior articulation, while retaining a near perfect transformation.

Especially the slide-out mechanism on the hip ball joints is genius stuff ; gives it a bigger range of motion than any other VF1.

To be honest I think that's a bad design.

If it provides the thighlegs a bit more lateral movement/rotation, it might be a plus actually.

...considering the hip rotations of the 1/60 VF1 are too limited, imo.

I also wish there would have been a way to slide the back pack closer to the back

Well, the way it is now, it's got enough clearance for the hips to rotate around freely, without jamming into the wings like the VF1 does.

Thanks for the videoreview. How's the lateral hip rotation ? Can it rotate outwards 30 degrees or more ?

Comparison pics with the old Bandai 1/65 scale VF-17S attached.

Thanks for the pics !

Wow, what a difference. Especially the colour desaturation of the Yamato is absolute WIN. No more tacky teal blue tint.

Spoke with Yamato today. The reason the VF-17S does not have tampo printed markings on the chest is not a cost-cutting measure. It's simply because the guy in charge of design, does not like the markings on the VF-17S's chest and thinks it loks beter without markings.............LOL!

I agree with him. Having it optional instead of tampo printed, would also be my preference on the VF17D....if there's going to be a D at all.

The VF17 looks awesome. I think I could tolerate the blocky S head too, although I would leave out many of the coloured stickers, to retain a more 'realistic' style.

So, that only leaves the price as an obstacle and the possibility of a VF17-D release.

A bit difficult to see from that lowres scan, but maybe that's still the (resin) prototype, since the ( knee ) joints don't seem to be the metal ones.

+1 for the Sparta Hovertank. More angular designs. ( even though, the open cockpit design in hovertank mode, is pretty dumb. )

( this custom looks pretty cool, if that would be any indication : http://www.geocities...a/spaltus02.jpg )

Btw... did the show EVER give info what might be in that big forehead ? Extra ammo for the additional 2 guns or ...?

^ Funny hipmod on the Bandai ; it makes the actual hipjoints really high, kind of skewing 'normal' torso to leg proportions ratio.

Pics with slightly different angles ( which make it look better than previous pics, imo ) :

I never trust animation (especially older) when it comes to black or darker colors. Too often they used blues to substitute for it so the viewer could still make out definition.

True, purple is often "cartoon-black" as well. In some cases the colour of the plastic might seem different under different lighting conditions.

Personally, I usually prefer realism or at least a ' realistic style', over cartoon accuracy.

I don't know why people don't like the S type head. It's the SDF-1 bridge...

The S head reminds me of :

^ Dark matte colourscheme makes for subtle details. The yellow bands are already quite questionable on a stealth fighter.

They're too big for me, but I think the 1/48's are superior when it comes to proportions of the bigger chest & lower headplacement.

Thanks Graham ! Fighter mode looks extremely sharp.

Battroid mode : thigh legs seem a little bit measly for the humongous lower legs.

Considering the limited amount of proper pics to compare these two....I might actually prefer the Experten's battroid mode proportions, but the Yamato does the fighter mode better. But yeah, no final conclusions until we see the final Yamato VF17.

^ Thanks for the pics.

Here another VF17D photoshop edit : http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/cc167/knotje/TF_reviews/VF17D.jpg