SpaceCowboy

#704 sums up my thoughts perfectly! I enjoy collecting, but with all the bitching about the v1 VF-25, you would have thought it was a piece of crap. I'm looking forward to the VF-25 v2, but I just never got the hate for Bandai, because the VF-25 wasn't "line accurate" like the yamatos are praised for. It was also quite a bit cheaper than most yamato releases and felt a lot sturdier (haven't kept up with this, mine seemed really stable).

Please - if that were the case, let's talk about why macross fans are so picky on the VF-1, which is a much closer comparison as the "most recognizable" for the macross series as Optimus is for Transformers. How many VF-1s have been released in the last 10 years? Yet each is criticized in excrutiating detail for deviating even the slightest from line art. Macross-fans are a new breed of OCD. Just give me a toy that doesn't require a second mortgage, and won't break when its quantum state is revealed, and looks mostly like what we see on TV. Don't get me wrong, I love Macross. I don't understand why if a toy deviates the slightest from line art it must therefore be crap. Price - not an issue. Quality - not an issue. Line art above all else. It's a bit insane, if you ask me.

It all depends on the contract they worked out. They could have just signed a really good deal to have exclusive rights to it for a really long time, with options to renew or rights of first refusal. It really just depends on how good the negotiators were on each side of the fence really.

Let's not put "the west" in the same bucket as an underfunded studio mismanaged by the same studio that has screwed up the Macross license everywhere but Japan for the last 20 some odd years.

Any place to preorder the v2 VF-25S or the VF-17 Nightmare yet?

Agreed - as it stands now Hasbro would not make the toys. But you hit the nail on the head - they would want tie-ins to tv-shows, movies etc. Where to get that - oh, I know, how about the last 30 years of various forms of Macross that have been produced, and bringing them over to the states! Or better yet, license a completely new Macross for western audiences. Hasbro makes other forms of entertainment to sell their toys. The entire Transformers series, all the animated series, all the movies, were made as a giant multi-decade commercial to sell the toys. If Hasbro got the Macross license, I think you would see something similar happen with it, at least once, to see what the waters were like. Then, if Macross was shown not to have widespread appeal, yeah, they'd probably mothball it.

The Yamato love here is way over-rated. Sure their toys look beautiful, until you touch them, then they fall apart. For >$200 a pop. I'm literally afraid of touching my Yamato's because of my history with them. Recently, I opened up a 1/24 Patlabor I got cheap from HLJ. I tried to turn the head - oops! that stupid piston in the neck has it's swivel joint break. Great. It's not like I'm manhandling these things either. Come on - legs fall off, shoulders need to be replaced, arms break off...Meanwhile, I don't believe I've _ever_ broken a Transformer, from 1984 to today. Yeah yeah, I understand economies of scale and all, but some of the Leader class transformers were amazing works of engineering. No, you wouldn't get line art accuracy where you could put a VF-1 drawing over a photo of your vehicle and everything would match up perfectly. Instead you would get a toy that wouldn't break if you looked at it at 25% of the cost. Yeah, I'll sacrifice a bit of detail for that. The only reason I put up with Yamato is because these are such limited run toys. I agree that if HG disappeared, nothing much would matter. But I also think that if HG hadn't been in the way the last 20-30 years, Macross could be as big in the US as Transformers are now. Of course the difference between the two IPs is that the Transformers animated show was an after thought to the toys, whereas the toys were an after thought to the Macross series.

No it wouldn't. 6600...now that is a price I could get behind!

Spray painted with Design Master Flat White. Then all other colors were Testors paints.

Interesting - yeah, I don't believe I washed it, but thought the lack of priming is what did it. Is water enough, or should I use hand detergent? I've washed models before, but only by running water over them, and always wondered how much it mattered.

Oh well - I actually have put this model together before. It was the Olson special (blue/yellow) that one I did prime and I even sanded down the seams so you couldn't tell where two pieces joined. It actually looks nice. But - since it is a transformable model, the paint screwed with the rotation of the joints in some areas, so it is pretty much locked in robot mode. This one I was trying to avoid that by keeping joint areas free of paint (and freely rotating), but screwed up and just applied a white spray paint instead of a white primer. Like I said, no biggie, now that I got my 1/40 Orgoid toy.

I have a sealer, so maybe that will be enough. Here he is, before the tolls of flaking are taken upon him. I'm happy with him, but I don't consider myself a very good painter either. I did this without buying any paints...just used what i had on hand. I could have gotten better results if I had actually taken the time on it - but I just got a couple of the toys, so that got my Orguss fix in - this is more for work desk display. And here is to show how Orguss is still on topic in a Macross forum. http://www.xs4all.nl/~ptn/new.images/Veritech/FOAorguss.jpg

So, I've always known that you need to prime models to prevent them from flaking, but I've never had first hand experience with it (since I generally prime). Well, you know how they say experience is the best teacher?...yeah... So I have this Orguss Orgoid I've painted. I spray painted it with a white paint (not primer), and now the brown parts are flaking off with too much contact. I don't suppose there is any way to seal this after the fact? I think I'm pretty much screwed, but thought I'd ask.

So there are a few items in there that I would be interested in if they were reduced in price even more...what are the chances that they have another sale reducing prices again? Hmm...

So how does it work with HLJ? I ordered a VF-0A when it said "low stock" on Sunday and now they are on backorder. Is their system not automated so that they know how many they have in stock? Do I have to worry I won't get my VF-0A? I'm actually okay either way as it is a cool looking valk, but I could also afford to save $100 or so... Also, I couldn't resist picking up the 1/24 US Patlabor at that price. Thanks for calling that one out. I wonder how much of HLJs sales come from this forum...

Is that the 1/24 scale?

Anybody give me an estimate of how much 3 valks will cost in shipping to the states? Individually, they cost $100 total for shipping - but the HLJ FAQ said that it would be 20%-40% cheaper together, (so $60-$80). Any ideas on which side that is going to fall on?

Ugh - just when I resisted the other sale, this one starts! Okay, so I'm eyeing the 1/60 versions of the VF-0A, VT-1 (Super Ostrich), and VF-1S (Roy TV version). After looking through the "What's wrong with my Yamato..." thread, it looks like the VF-0 line has problems in loose shoulders and cracking plastic. I assume that is still the case with this one? Are there any problems that I should be aware of on the other two - I know the 1/60 VF-1 had some problems with the shoulder joint as well (I have a VF-1A), but has that been fixed in this version? Also, reading through that thread - it sure would be nice if there was a thread like the "Macross Toy Release" pinned thread that just had a list of valks and possible issues/fixes. I tried doing searches on VF-0A and the search told me it couldn't find any results. Please someone convince me to buy or not buy this!

Sometimes I feel like Yamato is slow boiling its fans. We started at $100 toys. Then came $150 and $200. We were all shocked, and dismayed by the price, but we grew to accept it. Now we see these "toys" pushing close to $400, and I have to wonder if this will be some sort of new normalization price point. With some of the previous toys, I could rationalize the cost away as extremely complicated transformations that took a long time to develop, were expensive to put together, and had limited runs (geared to this small niche fanbase). With the SDF-1 - the detailing is awesome, but the transformation basically consists of standing it up (I exaggerate, but compare this to the YF-21 or SV-51, and the difference in complexity is an order of magnitude). I think I'll stick with my 1/3000 Takatoku. I'm more into the TV version and I might be swayed to get a movie version for $200, but double that is too much.

Man, those are some good prices! Makes me sad that I have pretty much what I want, and paid a lot more for them all.

That's a good point! I hadn't thought of that. Was more thinking keeping the joints nice and stiff. Of course this just reinforces my previous statements about Yamato fragility.

I think I've learned the wrong lessons from Yamato - their crap is so fragile that I end up buying two - one to display/break (as they seem to) - and another as "backup" for the years to come. There is something comforting in knowing that whatever happens, I have a perfect version in the closet. Then of secondary concern is whether it appreciates or anything, but that is of far lower consequence to me than just having a backup. I know...OCD... umm...the black one?

So, I'm one of those collectors that likes to get "one in the box + one to open". I don't care if they are the "exact same", just the same basic mold and transformation. I tend to open the worse of the two between the two models I got. So I was planning on opening my YF-21 that was in its box when I got the VF-22S seeing as there should be minor improvements (are there?). Unfortunately, the VF-22S I got from Hong Kong was shipped in no external packing box, just the Toy box wrapped in bubble wrap. The box got banged up pretty good in it's trip to the states. So now, which do I open, a pristine 1/60 YF-21 with complete box intact? Or the newer, possibly better tooled, 1/60 VF-22S with it's box all smashed up (from the looks of it the actual toy looks like it has suffered no damage). I know I'm over thinking this and it likely doesn't matter either way, but wanted to see what others thought.

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