GU-11

Speaking of whom, here's a bit of trivia:

Honestly, I'd be more than willing to buy a TV Q-Rau if Yamato ever makes one. Been waiting to one to go up against my TV Max VF-1A.

Heheh, sounds like they should put those health hazard warnings on the Yamato boxes, just like the cigarette packs!

Good to know. Thanks, man! BTW, you might want to sand off the paint on the sides of the metal "hole" where the leg peg goes in, as Shindensetsu Kai advised. I did just that and the peg comes out just fine.

I own a VF-22S Gamlin and YF-21, and from the looks of it, I think you need to turn the leg leftward 90%, so that the tip of the foot faces inward, and the broad side of the leg lies flat against the "roof" of the fuselage.

Thanks for the info, guys! As long as the Hikaru -1D's hinge pins are safe "enough" so that the hinges won't explode, that's all that matters.

Not to be an alarmist, but isn't the VF-1D rumored to be safe? I rechecked the Scorched Earth site and the list says, "...VF-1D Trainer (V2) – I haven’t heard of a single broken one… rumor is that this release has smaller shoulder pins but I can’t substantiate that." The VF-1D Virgin Road is supposed to be safe, or at least rumored to be. I'm especially curious, since I own both the Hikaru version as well as the VR.

Heheh, as long as she's got a pair of legs instead of a wheel. Amen to that! How about bribing his personal assistant to mix in some super-strong laxatives into his coffee, and keep doing it until the film wraps up?

Ahahahahahahah! That one just made my day!

Heheh, killing off Sam's mom would have been nice. At least Simmons was funny; she was just downright annoying in ROTF, IMO. Still tolerable in TF1, though. BTW, in the DVD commentary, Bay says he was the guy who got flicked by Megs in TF1. Dunno if it's true, but watching the scene with that knowledge does give one a sense of dark satisfaction....

Don't get me wrong. I actually enjoyed the two TF movies (wouldn't have bought the DVD's if I didn't), but not in the same way I would enjoy The Dark Knight or even the first Matrix. Like you, I love the fight scenes, especially that scene where Prime transforms in midair after rolling out of the plane--destined to be my all-time favorite. Cinematically, TF1 and 2 were well presented. But in the case of ROTF, it was resting on a very shaky plot. At least TF1 had a decent plot, but ROTF was all over the place. In other words, I enjoyed TF1 and ROTF for their CG and action, but the dorky jokes and disjointed plot line on the latter just kept distracting me. I know you don't watch a TF movie for its Oscar-winning script and dialogue, but a decent storyline isn't too much to ask for. I dunno, I guess it's good enough for the kids (which admittedly are his target audience), but as a TF fan, I just feel it could have been the perfect TF movies had he made it a tad more serious. Then again, TF IS targeted at kids, so the dorky jokes do make sense for the target audience. Basically, the only problem I have is with ROTF, not TF1. And the only problem I have with Bay as a director is his juvenile sense of humor and lack of plot direction (as far as ROTF is concerned, not TF1). Everything else was just fine. BTW, on second thought, I think "tank" wasn't the best word to use. I was trying to say that TF3 would probably get shredded by critics. Honestly, I'm not asking for some life-changing storyline for TF3, just a storyline that's just good enough that it won't distract me from enjoying the CG and action scenes. Oh yeah, and less humans. Hot chicks are the sole exception....

Heheh, not to be a smart Alec, but "atashi" is used mainly by girls to refer to themselves. I'm not exactly an expert on the Japanese language, but I think watashi, washi, or ore-sama would be more fitting for Megatron.

All I can say about any Bayverse TF movie, is that Micheal Bay is far more responsible for a lot of the problems than the scriptwriters. I say this because in the bonus DVD for ROTF where they discussed the "pre-vis" stage of the filming, much of the film actually made sense. Bay kept arguing with the writers about "pressing the anti kid-fun button", which is Bay-talk for scenes that don't appeal to children (ie., any scene where robots don't fart, drool or hump human legs, or have their "genitals" hanging out). In fact, Prime's death scene was almost omitted because Bay thought it would upset the kids. Also, the concept of The Fallen promising to make Megatron a Prime was also omitted for some reason. The scriptwriters came up with a decent (albeit pedestrian) script, but Bay turned it into a 150 million dollar film documenting the reproductive and digestive systems of alien robots. In the DVD commentaries for TF1, he sounded exceptionally proud of all his "improv" scenes that were never in the script...basically the ones that viewers find the most ridiculous--Bumblebee's peeing scene, the pointless tunnel scene where Bumblebee drives on one side. BTW, Spielberg is also partly to blame for the lack of emphasis on TF's in both movies. In TF1, he told Bay he wanted the movie to center around the concept of a boy and his first car. It could have worked if Bay developed Bumblebee's character enough, but instead he turned him into some Cybertronian Lassie by taking away his voice. Unable to emote on a human level with Sam, Bee is relegated to the role of a sidekick while Sam is given more emphasis than he should. In any case, if I had to choose, I'd say TF1 was the better of the two. At least it had a tangible, though simple, plot. ROTF was just scene after scene of farting, drooling, leg-humping bots, and Sam's mother on a ganja-brownie high. And don't get me started with the bad dialogue that even Hugo Weaving and Peter Cullen couldn't save. "It feels good to grab your flesh." Sounds like Megatron's got a gay crush on Sam. "I'm going to kill you, slowly." With a spoon? Or with bad dialogue? "Give me your face!" WTF? Apparently, Bay blamed the lack of screen time for TF's on Spielberg's budget restriction, and ROTF's bad storyline (was there ever one?) on the writer's strike. Now that TF3 has a huge budget and no strike, I wonder what he'll blame this one on if if tanks?

Wow, pretty good price! Does that include shipping, or do you have to go to the guy's place and pass the figure to him yourself?

Man, all this talk about two-foot tall AT-AT's are making me drool! I found a shop that sells it at 160 USD, but I'm not sure I can spare the cash right now, after having bought the SV-51 Nora (which I have to fix, dammit!), and the TV Kakizaki and YF-19 I plan on buying this year end.

I own a Takara MP Starscream, G1 repaint. He's pretty cool, and aside from the fragile weathering job (actually rubbed off a bit of it from side of his cockpit when my fingers got sweaty ) it's pretty sturdy and feels immensely more durable than any VF I own. Yamato could really learn a thing or two from Takara when it comes to QC for transforming mecha. Then again, it's still a relatively young company with a lot of room to grow. Just hope they don't get complacent and expect us to put up with dodgy QC in the long run. I'm all for replacing the factory gremlins workers with robots, although I'm not sure if Yamato currently has the funds to invest in such technology. Heck, I'm not even sure if the technology exists for robots to make such precision assembly. As for boycotting,...I'll get back to you on that after I buy the TV Kakizaki and original color YF-19.

Heheh, me and my weird sense of humor. I thought of making a pun out of getting burned by a defective figure, but...bleh, stupid joke. Anyways, as long as Yamato's VF designs are the best in the market, they know they can get away with QC issues, if they send us replacement parts for us to fix it ourselves.

Thanks for offering to help, man! I opted for the replacement parts, since they won't pay for shipping, and are probably just going to repair it for me instead of giving me a new one. Might as well save 30 dollars and get it done myself. It'll probably take about a month from now before the replacement parts get from Yamato to HLJ, and from there to arrive at my doorstep via SAL. IIRC, it took around three weeks from the time I got the shipping notice to the time the parts arrived. You'll probably be home long before the parts arrive. Grasshopper looks forward to partaking in your vast ocean of figure repairing wisdom, oh wise master....

Heheh, I wonder if a guy could sue Yamato for causing a heart attack?

Nice. I've always liked gray cammo. How much does this guy charge for custom repaints, anyways?

I totally agree! Alas, at this point in the game, Yamato probably expects us to deal with any QC problems by ourselves. They know they're the best show in town, and we buyers have proven to be all too willing to take the risk of potential QC issues, and fix them with replacement parts they send us (that is, IF you're buying from an established online shop and can get them to ask Yamato for parts). To be fair, though, such delicately designed figs will be more susceptible to QC issues than others. Chalk it up to the low-wage Chinese factory workers they hired. But with greater skill come larger paychecks, and if they manufactured them in Japan, the price of Yamato figs would shoot through the roof.

Heheh, I'm holding you to that, friend!

Yeah, the earlier releases were said to be quite problematic. The latest releases though, while not exactly flawless, have shown substantial improvements in some areas, including the feet which now lock in place, and the "explodium" shoulders are said to be made of stronger plastic this time. The drooping nose issue still persists, but at least in my case, it stays in position in all three modes, except when you disengage the thighs at the intakes during transformation. I'll fix it at some point, but since it doesn't droop in any of the modes, I'll put that in the back-burner for some other time. I've been wondering when Yamato might release these, since they re-issued the VF-0's. Gotta get at least one for my VF-0A. Heheh, knowing is half the battle. At least AE will be mentally prepared if he does get a lemon, although I hope he gets a good one. I remember being damn near shell-shocked when the leg peg on my VF-1D's leg arrived busted, because I've never even heard of such a problem before.

That one gets my vote. Horrible choice of a lead actress, even worse choice of a potential love interest (that CIA guy...gah!), and all-around too melodramatic considering the fact that they're targeting a largely male audience (I think). It's like chick-lit with a cyborg woman in it. The lead looked too tame despite her best efforts, and ended up acting like some whiny brat instead of the headstrong woman she was trying to portray. Nevermind that, the action scenes were lame thanks to the none-too-agile lead. Wire-fu at its worst. IMO, Katee "Starbuck" Sackhoff stole the show, although she hardly had any competition. Little wonder why the show lasted for all of 8 episodes.

Thanks, man. I was like, "You gotta be kidding me! Again?!" Meh, it might be a case of bad feng shui in my display room.... Honestly, I'm surprised I'm still in the mood to joke after getting Yamato'ed for the second time this year. No such luck, Chronocidal. HLJ just replied me. First, they assured me that Yamato is usually pretty good about sending parts that can be easily attached - in other words, they will send not just the joint, but the parts that attach to the joint. Their other option is, as quoted, "...to send it back for repair or replacement. Since another option is available, in this case we cannot pay for the return shipping, but we will send it back once repaired free of charge. Please let me know which option you prefer." You have to wonder why they're so adamant on asking for the busted one back, since there's so little they could recycle once the hinge is damaged. In any case, the replacements they'd have to send me probably amounts to almost a third of the whole fig, anyways. I hope they won't try to skimp on the parts and make me replace the arms, or nosecone, or whatever parts they can remove. I hate the idea of sliding hinge pins in and out, for fear of loosening them. I guess I'd rather spend a few hours tinkering with the thing rather than queuing up at the post office. And I'm DEFINITELY NOT paying any extra shipment for it! Heheh, I hope you and Mickyg don't mind getting pestered for advice by an amateur when I start taking the Nora apart!