Brand-X

Well, the problem is that the upper arm has about 8 different joints, (none of which are ratcheted and some sharing the same pin or set on parallel pins with the same axis of rotation) so it takes some form of divine intervention or fluke celestial convergence for them all to be in the exact position they need to be in for this thing to fit together properly.

EDIT: Correction, it's only 7, I just counted.

Yeah, all right. I give up.

**** this toy.

My first impressions? It looks incredible, I love the amount of tampo it has, and there's some really cool gimmicks in transformation. On the other hand, a very minor flaw first, but there's a bit of overspray on the black strip running down one of the shoulders on mine, but I'm sure I can fix that up easily enough. Additionally, while I really enjoyed the transformation to Battroid mode, I've spent the last half hour trying to get it back into fighter mode with the FAST packs on, and I hate it. Absolute, seething hatred. The arms and shoulders are frustrating as hell to get back in place properly, and every single attempt has resulted in the little grey armour pieces on the back of the legs to pop off, no matter how I try.

I think I need to take a break from this thing and come back to it later, I'm almost at the point where I want to hurl this thing across the room, take a hammer to it, then douse it in gasoline and set it on fire.

Yeah, I feel like every time I talk to someone about Clash they've all seen a different version from someone else. Part of it is probably just hazy memory, but I'm pretty sure there's at least 3 or 4 versions of it out there.

Maybe it's the lighting in my apartment, but I don't see the pink tint at all myself.

Ah yeah, I forgot about that, I remember thinking as a kid why everyone thinks she's such a great singer when she only sings like one line of her first song, and then just hums in the last song except for the one line.

I just really hope this is either mis-transformed or an early sample, it looks very gappy in fighter mode. I'm still getting one, because I'm a completist and I love Isamu, but so far I'm still loving my Arcadia YF-19 a lot more. I just wish Arcadia could put that much tampo on their releases... Wish there was a best of both worlds company, the design of Arcadia, the tampo of Bandai.

Does anyone know the size of this thing by the way? I know it's supposed to be in scale with the rest of Bandai's valks, but is it as big as the Arcadia 19?

I wish they'd re-release the 1/24 Ingrams. While I'd certainly be sad at how much I had to spend to get my first one, it just doesn't look complete without Ohta's right beside it.

There's a number of different versions of it as far as I'm aware. I know I've seen at least two, maybe three, can't quite remember all of the details

Destroids. The world needs more toy Destroids. Oh, and 1/24 AV-98 Ingram reissues. Or how about a matching Griffon Labor, throw me a bone here Arcadia.

Oh man, the money I paid for a 1/24 Ingram 1... I don't regret it in the slightest, but... wow. It's the most expensive piece in my collection, at current market value, and I have pieces like Ozma's armoured pack, Yamato VE-1, and the 3rd party transformer Quakewave. It needs a partner though. Ingram 2 would be just incredible to add to my collection...

I'd rate both equal, but each are so different in their styles that I think a 1 on 1 fight would depend entirely on circumstances. It wouldn't be luck that would win either the day, it would be very tiny circumstances that ensured each one their victory in very specific circumstances I think. It's pure piloting skill and technicality versus recklessness and innate talent. I couldn't pick a winner, the two are at the very height of the Macross universe's pilots, and we'll never see them fight each other to prove who's best.

The version of Clash of the Bionoids that I had also deleted some of the violent scenes, like Milia stomping on that Zentradi's head and Bodolza's face melting, but left in the Zentradi's head exploding when Max blew open his helmet. It also cut out the shower scene and accompanying montage, the opening conversation in Zentradi, and Hikaru responding to Misa after the explosion that whipes out the Zentradi mothership. In fact, in the version I saw, it seemed implied that Hikaru had died, as the last we see of him is him is a shot of his eye as he's about to shoot Bodolza, which then cuts to the ship exploding, followed by the bridge crew relaxing, Britai and Exodol saying that other fleets are out there, then Minmay singing and credits.

It wasn't until I saw DYRL uncut years later that I discovered Hikaru had survived. Somehow it was a bit of a letdown, as I always felt it was a little more epic in my childhood mind that he was the last pilot left, the Macross was pretty much done for and drifting, and he chose to sacrifice himself to save everyone else. It seemed to fit with the music and the overall theme of DYRL being a slightly darker take on Macross compared to the TV show.

Pics are looking awesome. Poor Isamu though. All these years and he's still hasn't been promoted to a 2(3) and 4(5) head laser unit.

Well those things are mostly useful when you're being chased. Isamu's so good, he's never found the need for them, because there's never anyone on his tail for very long

Also the DYRL version had yellow missiles. I'm getting this, but gonna try and customize it into a DYRL version, as I don't really collect TV valks personally.

I'm still holding on for dear life that they do a V2 YF-21 to compliment their new (V3? V4?) YF-19. It's got repaint potential, it's a hero valk (sort of...) and the original has some issues that definitely need to be looked at.

Nothing from AmiAmi on my end either yet.

On the topic of goggles, I thought that it's been said it was a white visor right from the beginning? Why are people suddenly asking if it's grey?

Pm'd

I had the same thing happen to one of my 171s, although it was my fault for using too much force. Anyway, I dremeled out the area where the rotation joint had been, and J-B Welded a piece of ink pen reservoir tube to serve as a new rotation point. I'm going to use a piece of styrene with a hole drilled to allow for a small nail to pass through and hopefully make it more solid. I let the Weld cure overnight, and it holds the tube, but didn't chemically bond with it. For the next part, attaching the styrene and nail, I'm curious if any of the modelers out there know what will adhere to the reservoir tube? PM me if you have any questions/solutions. Thanks.

Totally off topic, but is that Quakewave in the background? Got a spare? Willing to sell? Got a friend with one who has a drug problem?

damn it just as i am getting close getting it right in building my own vf-2ss they make one too >_<.

oh well i know what i am getting for my birthday

and i am gong to copy and customize it to heaven or hell.

Haha I was in the same boat myself. Posted a thread up in the fan works section to track my progress, but that's on hold now haha.

Haha well with the announcement of the new VF-2SS coming out I'm gonna go ahead and put this project on hold.

Wow, what a sale! Unfortunately the only thing I don't have in my collection is the SDF-1, and that's a little rich for my blood!

Good luck with the sale!

Yeah definitely keep a close eye on Mandarake, I try to check it once every couple of days as they always have new stock coming in constantly, and I've never been disappointed in the service. I'd say about half of my collection came from them actually!

I've also had much better luck with rare items on Jungle than I have anywhere else. Yeah it may be a little pricier, but when your choice is Jungle or a seller on ebay trying to get 5-10 times MSRP for an item, it's a no brainer.

That last image, is that just to tease us David? Or are you actually selling any of those haha

thanks for liking these photos. its a pity that i can only post on my blog in chinese because of my poor english.

but finally i joined the macrossworld forum,id like to send more here in future.

I wouldn't worry too much about your english, you could always try posting in english and ask people for feedback and corrections on any grammar or poor word choices, might be a good way to learn to improve actually