Neova

Hello,

I have a work colleague who is going on vacation with his family and has a 3 day stop over in Japan. He has seen the Macross stuff on my desk and has offered to pick me up... well whatever I can give him clear directions too. He will have a Rail pass but as he is travelling with his Family I don't want to send him on a wild goose chase. He does not speak the language either. I am planning on giving him pics of 3 different DX yamato valks to show to shop owners. Ideally a Toy R Us, as it is universally recognized, would be the easiest but he says he is willing to do a surgical strike to any shop nearby if I can get him directions.

I plead with the good folks of MW for assistance, I will never get to go myself so this is a huge opportunity for me. It's not just about free shipping, he will take pics of the whole shop too

Thanks in advance

IC

A bunch of the HK MW members just had this discussion not too long ago since 2 of them went to Japan for various reasons and hitup a bunch of stores.

Your number 1 place should be Akihabara or Akiba. Basically a town of electronics gadgets and stuff (computer, music, tv, etc...) but tons of toy, model, garage kit shops and more ... such as cosplay...

2) Nakano station Mandarake - basically get off at Nakano station and head towards the long connected mall. There are two parts: first part is on the ground floor only with food, clothing and nessesity shops -- keep going pass this...

Once you pass that, you will arrive a connected mall (literally) that is ~ 5 stories. Goto the top floor, circle the floor. Once you did one 360, go down 1 floor, circle that floor, rinse, repeat and cycle all the way down to the first floor. There is an under ground floor but is mainly food, clothing and housewares.

Tons of toy shops here!!! I wish I'm there now just thinking about it.

3) Shibuya Mandake - great underground store full of toys, old comics, models, magazines and etc... you just gotta dig for the good stuff if its there.

4) Shinjuku - Various toy stores all over the place if you do google search for it.

3 days is not enough to hit all those places so depending on where your friend will be, try to at least hit 1 and 2. You can literally spend a whole day at each of those places looking at all the toys!

Good luck.

Awesome work! Great custom! We need a little out of the box thinking to keep Macross fresh. Look at all those crazy Gundam designs out there.

Going to be in Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong in the next few days and staying in each for about a week. Is the HK list up to date?

HK list is fairly updated but note the inside of the large building/malls are constantly changing so there will be new shops and some olds shops may be gone.

If you're looking for anything specific such as models, resin kits or hard to find items, best to ask first so the locals can help recommend places to go.

I am trying to get the stealth that with the super and strike parts. Not just the stand along stealth. I have sent an email to them to see if they have or ever will have it in stock.

I have the 1/48 clear covers, Hikaru Super 1J and Fast Packscase fresh if you want it. Also have no box but 100% new and unused woodland GPB-1s set - tossed the boxes to make room. PM for details and advise where you're located so I can advise shipping costs.

Anybody have side by side comparisons of the Aoshima / Imai 1/48 model kits built next to the Toynami and CM offerings? Just wondering how the proportions looks in all three modes.

Might be better to get the Betas and model kits for the Alphas instead.

Wrote and released Guyver Out of Control review today on the website. Trying to go back to the old format of making reviews comprehensive.

Anything Guyver related I coulds have missed? I have not read the manga or watched all of the TV series yet.

I know this isn't as obscure as some of the other stuff on the site but it's too good to miss out. I might do a few more lost VHS releases.

Direct Link - Click Here

Nice review but d/l link doesn't work in HK! How about a mirror like mediafire?

I voted for all of it. Yes, multiples of each color to display in all 3 modes! Do it Yamato so I can direct deposit my salary to you!!! .....

speakers: no

ghost: no pink, that is called a fold booster, and the answer is still no

ghosts: yes X3, included in the Luca bundle

superpacks (not "fastpacks"): yes, standalone for all 4 customs, plus Alto and Ozma bundles (w/red and yellow colores parts instead of white as in standalone superpacks)

armorpacks: yes, Alto and Ozma bundles, no standalone so far.

other stuff to take into account:

Ozma armor pack bundle does not have sniper rifle as in Alto superpack bundle.

Michel comes with sniper rifle only, no standard gundpod for the VF-25G as in the DX

Luca comes with all 3 ghosts out of the box

SMS Action Base (Bandai Gunpla stand w/SMS themed base) is included in the armored bundles, and can also be purchased separately, comes with simple stickers

Thanks for the kit summary! So I need to double up on some kits to fully outfit all basic guys.

Using a super sharp and new razor blade, slice the finish you want off the extra sprues into a thin layer, cut to shape and fit n glue into the "sprue sore spots".

It is hard to do but if you can pull it off, looks good enough to fool most people, especially with a clear coat.

Always cut and PUSH AWAY from your body, and do not PULL the blade TOWARDS you. Good luck.

Got the Garfish - smaller than I hoped. Had to have it though.

I'm years from building it probably . . .

PLEASE post pictures of it with say a 1/72 Valkyrie Fighter for size comparison!

Awesome and welcome back Agent One!

Pics of the transparent VF-25 Alto version. Looks nice, but not my cup of tea

http://www.toysdaily.com/discuz/thread-108277-1-1.html

WOW! I was thinking about skipping it but after seeing those pictures might have to reconsider the model kit at least...

The YF-19 Double Nuts in the same thread makes it a MUST BUY! Looks great in blue and white. Sorry OT!

Sorry to bump an old thread but does the Michael kit include the speakers? I saw the DX toy had the optional speaker parts and pink ghost?

... if I ever get around to the 1/32 Legioss ...

"Dear Lord,

Now I lay me down to sleep,

I pray the Lord John's soul to keep.

See him safely through the night,

And wake me with 1/32 Legioss light.

Amen"

Can I get an Amen my brothers?

Personally, I doubt we will see a completely redesigned DX VF-25.

I did the HK Toy run with a fellow MW yesterday and we saw the DX Armored Ozma and Model kits. Pickedup the model kit for him but now I'm on the fence on this. Price difference was that not far apart here ~ 50 USD difference but the high intakes up on the crotch and flaking paint complaints are putting me off the DX line but I love the BIG valks.

So my question is: Has Bandai EVER re-vised the DX line at all for any of their toys? EG A version 2 of something with major engineering improvements, moreso than the little and appreciated improvements from the Armored Ozma.

If they have never gone beyond the little improvements, then I'll see if I can scrounge the funds for both model and DX.

Are you going to modify the groin and leg placements? I think that is one of the biggest glaring examples that needs fixing. I don't know how it will affect transformation if you did that but you can compare the model kit to see what to do.

If you hate the look of the CMS, love the look of the Toynami/Aoshima, but really want something you can transform and play with, you're kinda screwed. Well, half-screwed since the Toynami/Aoshima Beta is a solid toy.

Thanks for the summary guys! Looks like I'm screwed or will be confined to a display only piece for now.

BTW: Yamato hasn't been around for 20 years right? Maybe 10 at most.

I wish the holy grail 1/35 Legioss (and TREAD) combo would come to be realized one day ... and not soon enough...

So does anyone have the Aoshima version of the Tread (Beta Toynami) yet? If so is it just as good in the quality dept, just diff colors?

I want to know this too and after reading through Jenius' site, I'm still a bit confused. So let me summarize if this is correct:

Toynami Legioss and Tread

+ Near line art scale and chunkyness

+ Legioss and Tread mates perfectly

+ details (panel lines etc...)

+ military colors

+ best packaging out of the 3

- quality sucks or are the "newer shipments improved?"

- floppy and saggy in many places of the legioss in fighter mold

Aoshima

+ same as above

+ better quality?

- brighter "anime" colors

- quality only a tad better than above?

- packaging is not as good

CMS

+ best quality out of the 3

+ best fit and finish

- crap connector between legioss and tread

- even brighter anime colors

- skinny legioss deviates from lineart

- crap looking landing gears

- crap packaging but close to Aoshima

I've been holding off so long and am looking to either build up my 1/48 model kits or pickup a set of the above. So which should I splurge on or do I wait for that 1/35 holy grail version to come out?

Get the one that is either limited or has more content first. Regardless of the license, the bulk of the costs is in development and production (materials).

Or if both items are mass production and not limited, wait it out. Eventually gets cheaper, and use the money to buy up the cheaper ones first.

Can someone just summerize all the differences between CMs, Toynami, Aoshima and Beagle (scale, quality, differences - eg headsculpts?) I've been out of it for nearly a year and am slowly getting back into things.

A tag for mainly best sculpts and quality would be easiest I guess.

Yes, I'm back.... again!

If you like Sci Fi comedy, actually, comedy in a Sci Fi setting, pickup Robert Asprin's "The Motley Phule" and the rest of the Phule's series.

If you like that kind of humor and want fantasy, pickup his Myth Series.

Cracks me up and great re-reads on business trips!

I don't use codec packs as I like to tweak my system and keep it very light:

Media Player Classic + MPC Cinema Edition (for movies to prevent tearing under Vista/DX10)

Xvid 1.2 - plays Divx, Xvid and MP4

CoreAVC - AVC, x264

CoreAAC

CoreFLAC - lossless CD audio!

CoreVorbis

AC3 Filter - for DTS/AC3 decoding via software

Quicktime Lite

Realmedia Lite

Everything works unless there is an old oddball animation with outdated codec.

Needs a fast cpu for this setup though. 1.8 GHZ C2D or 3GHZ + P4 to run at 1080p YUYV or maybe 24bit output. Don't even try 32bit video output unless the processor is faster or if you have a HW based VC1/AVC/x264 decoder.

I get all my codecs from www.free-codecs.com

Thanks Valk009! I'm on it!

Back from my exhibition. Guessing 10 bux USD to ship it by air with tracking number. Just pm me.

Out of all of the 1/48 VF-1s released, the Angel Bird is probably the "whitest".

It looks milky white, almost a little translucent, like a bottle of Elmer's Glue but dry, instead of wet.

The 2nd whitest one that I have is Max's VF-1A. I think its the blue stripes that makes it appear so much whiter.

Next is Hikaru's VF-1S, followed by Hikaru and Kakizaki's VF-1A.

Roy's VF-1S is a little off white.

Hikaru's VF-1J is a slight creme white.

I just pulled all of these out of boxes, kepted in the dark about 2 weeks ago so could tell.

did yamato officially said that? cuz save ask them before that there wouldnt be a re-release but i would like to have another one

You're talking about Yamato Japan, who has said nothing about a re-release IN Japan.

I'm talking about guessing local dealers here have posted pinups and preorders for it [ inserts ] HOPING [ / inserts ] someone will release the non-sold leftovers sitting at the factory at a later date.

I did not remember seeing the words "limited edition" printed on the sleeve either but someone please correct me if wrong.

FACT: Most toys, and stuff in general, are produced with a minimum production run of each part to amortize cost.

I can tell you most Chinese printers print ~ 2500-3000 pieces of boxes, manuals, cardboards, etc... at minimum per order regardless of how many toys you make. You can store the boxes, scrap it or add it back to the cost to make up for it.

You can put two and two together.

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That still looks great for the level of custom work.