Mommar

Hmm, look at the difference in that lineart versus the photos. I wonder if it's just physically impossible to get that chest plate any lower. It sits flush with the shoulders in the line art whereas on those toys it's well above that, which is why the chin is obfuscated.

Nine days in and she's already refusing to keep taking her medication. This is going to go over well.

Bummer, looks like after this and 17 I will have to skip picking up the F variants or any more VF-25's. My Mom just had some major medical problems and she has no insurance so I'm covering all of it. First bill, $6000. That's the toy budget (and Christmas) so far.

Yup, good example drawing Ignacio. The Hi-Metal 19 looks MESSED up in fighter mode because they attempted to change that. The only way I could possibly think to correct that is to make the fuselage area two pieces and have that bump click down a notch (kind of like on the back plate of the VF-1 in Battroid) though that would introduce a whole new look to complain about because then it wouldn't look flush like in the anime. Time to start raging again!

Fastest I've had EMS delivered is three days to Albuquerque, New Mexico

You're right, they definitely do need to show this thing off in various more dynamic poses to give people a better idea how it looks. From the Kai photos we can infer how great the VF-19 is going to look but there's no memory of this 17 to go off of in the same way (which is still a giant marketing error if you ask me.)

it's not guarded as closely as one might think, it's more a matter of timing. There's a lot that can stop a project before it finishes so it's best not to start hyping it too early. Too often words from birds end up being just chirps. Also, I heard a member rubbed a lot of people the wrong way here once by letting yamato news slip so clearly companies would rather have a flashy way of telling you then letting the birds give it away. Magazines probably like breaking the news so maybe toy companies get a kick back.. Who knows... But the good news is that if i'm hearing things we probably all will soon!

It's kind of on and off topic. My thinking is since Yamato reps are teasing with images of breakrooms with the toys kinda laying about it's obvious the things are done... why not take some REAL pictures to hype them up now? It's not like these are tentative plans anymore. Both toys will be released within the next seven weeks. MARKET THEM.

People use it as makeshift tissue all the time. It's not that odd especially in a hastily erected office area in a factory.

You can't see the toy next to the box?

I'm aware of it's presence next to the box... but I still can't REALLY see it.

I'd like to know what this bird was chirping about instead of getting all of our hopes up with various unsubstantiated speculation.

Well, between this and the VF-17 thread it looks like they're already well underway manufacturing both the 17 and 19 with packaging printed and toys being packed. They could give us a Merry Christmas by releasing the 17 a few weeks earlier.

... we can't really see the toy from there though.

There's only a few more weeks until this thing supposedly releases. There's no pics or a video or something leading up to it's release?

I was under the impression they were manufactured in China. Graham could sort that detail out for us likely.

Those appear to be final production copies don't they? They could be finalizing how to put the together or something since there's several parts lists laying around but look at plastic trays it appears they were stored in. You can see the Gun Pod in one of the plastic trays too.

I sure hope that's the final plastic color. It will likely make the Battroid mode very boring looking but that Fighter looks nice in that deep black.

EDIT: I hate to do this, but don't you guys think they look a little....fat sitting there on the table? Maybe its just the angle

I think based on the angle they look perfect in fighter.

Well, they look pretty good in fighter mode laying on a table don't they?

^Where did you find this???

Yeah, that custom scheme is great. Yamato really should have made a release based on it.

I would have bought one if they had a scheme like that available.

^It's collapsible or something.

Was there any confirmation about whether or not the gunpod would store in the leg and how yamato was able to accomplish this?

It stores in the leg. There's a slot in back behind the knee you can open up to put the gun in.

I used to think paying $100 for a toy was certifiably insane...

Then the 1/48 VF-1s came out and I was like, "okay that is awesome, I'll just get one, just this one time."

Then the VF-1S came out and I thought "Gah, the VF-1S is what I really want." and so on.

It's that boiled frog syndrome.

Yeah, that was me too. I worked my way up to paying $200 for the 11C and armored Valk after being freaked out paying $100 to $120 for the regular VF-1's with and without Fast Packs. I just ordered the VF-19S and VF-17S without batting an eye...

I can't wait to see more pictures of this thing.

Although I will admit, I do prefer the longer nose cone version in Frontier.

Other then sharing the same transformation the 17 and 171 are pretty much different machines. I like how blunt and thick the 17 is. It's very contrasting because it's a stealth and you would expect it to be very small and lithe but instead it's an ugly bruiser.

Hey Graham, are you aware of the color choices Yamato are going to make for this thing? I realize it's probably the most accurate to have a dark grey with blue undertones but we've seen three different shades in all of these various prototype pics. One, the same dark grey/blue I mentioned, one that's more of a lighter grey with no blue and the last being a much darker charcoal grey/black (which is my personal favorite of what we've seen.)

Likely the 17 won't sell as well simply because it was never a hero Valk (which still makes no sense to me, if it looks cool buy the damn thing.) However, did the 19S really pre-order that well prior to Yamato finally releasing all of the extra images of it? Maybe pre-orders will increase once there are some final production images coming out like for the 19S. Plenty of people here were sold on the 19S once the trickle of images picked up.