Nani?!

I've been away for a while and WOW...

They actually did the GBP justice with this....

Awesome.

Too bad I'm saving up for my AR-15.

why is all defence of yamato a strike at bandai?

bandai are greedy too, no doubt.

but how bout we argue for yamato with stuff about yamato.

For anyone who thinks they ARE greedy;

Just go and start your own high-end toy company.

After decades of blood, sweat and tears, and a few 100 thousand dollars (if not millions) of investment, you you absolutely ask the top price people are willing to pay.

THEN - if someone suggested you were being too greedy for doing so, you would simply say don't buy my toys then!

---- I wonder if the toy companies have threads talking about the crazy fans that wish they would make less on their hard work simply because they 'should', 'because its selfish and greedy to charge the most they can' ----

"blood, sweat and tears?"

Almost sounds as if yamato hand carved each valk out with their own bare hands.

Anyway, look... the question wasn't whether if yamato has the right to ask top dollar for their creations... which certainly they do and they have.

The question is that is it greedy practice to gauge top dollar from your "crazy" fans in a niche market, with virtually no competition?

The simple answer to that is.... YES, it is.

But then again, what company isn't greedy? ~shrugs~

GREAT NEWS. Nice.

Thanks Graham. Just ordered mine.

interesting~

I'm definitely hoping it just takes a little bit of playing around with.

If Graham can confirm it staying up, this baby's mine next paycheck.

Thanks for the video Graham!

The toy looks absolutely awesome. Yamato really is getting the art of making valks down to a T.

It's too bad that they dont spend enough time on QC.

It's kinda mind numbing when you think about the things they do slip on.

After touting the ingenious way they got the heatshield to work on close ups and stuff,

you'd think and expect that they'd make sure it was free of issues.

I tip my hat off to the folks willing to plop down $200 bucks knowing you'll get

vf-11b "cyclops edition". I want mine with both lids closed.

"Panic"

Why is it panicking when each person who considers a floppy eyelid-like heat shield a deal breaker, states that it is?

$200 for a bloody toy in the middle of a recession is a big damn deal... I want one without the cyclops syndrome, please.

Hopefully, maybe it's just that Graham and Alex need a little more time to pay around with it...

EDIT: that pic up there is effin awesome... if the heatsheild turns out okay, I'm on it.

I really wanted to get this on the first run but a heat shield that cant stay shut pretty much making battroid retarded looking is a big issue in my book.

I'm sure graham played around with it to keep it up and for him to resort to addressing it with yamato isn't giving me any confidence either.

I'll take a v2.1

interesting... but meh~

Every new pic of it makes it even more enticing. Awesome.

Is there still a chance this thing might ship with a stand? The price doesn't make sense if they dont.

It's also not like the stand will cost them much either... the mold is already there.

*if this changed in the last month I've been away, sorry*

I'm loving the vf-11b.

Small feet, small hands, small rear fins yea...

but I love it!

Totally agree.

People complaining about the trailing edges of the wings in B-mode not being perfectly parallel is a bit ridiculous IMO. And the length of the torso/cockpit/fuselage looks like a great compromise to me. You can't have a short torso and a sleek fuselage at the same time.

But the feet are killing me. What is Yamato thinking with that toe articulation? It looks totally wrong.

yup~

The feet kinda looks like the vf-27's or the sv-51's only without the third toe.

I would have even been okay with the size if they scrapped the toe articulation and put less of an extreme arch on bottom of the front half of the foot.

Not a deal killer.... but definitely a bummer that simple stuff like failing to improve on the tail fin size, making the feet look awkward, and the why they decided to revert back to the chicken hands mar what IMO, could have been the most ALL AROUND anime accurate valk of the new 1/60 Mac plus line.

If it's already in the colored prototype stage like this, I'm afraid the only changes possible at this point is color... which... is pretty spot on.

I think my biggest issue is the feet and and tailfins. I accept the concession on the nose, but the back end of the fighter just looks too puny, and the battroid looks like its feet were bound in childhood.

I also wonder about the shield. You can't really tell in the photos, but it looks like it mates with the fuselage more like the shield of the VF-25. I don't see that it pinches in at the top of shield, like the lineart or the GNU.

Overall, it still looks pretty good, though. All the Mac Plus valks seem to suffer from major anime magic on the legs, so the toys look like gymnasts. Think of how bad the Fire Valkyrie would look!

I agree.

I don't have much of a problem with the front of the fighter. I actually think it'll look fine when we have it in our hands and view it from all angles. It's the feet and tail fins that makes this less than ideal for me... especially because anime magic really isn't a hindrance in getting those areas right.

Can we stop ranting and bitching about.... "ranting and bitching"??

I mean c'mon... We know. We know.

"Ranting and bitching" is the thread that ties MW together~

We waste a good 25% percent of each thread to people saying "MW is such a bitchfest forum"...

bitching about bitching is bitching folks... Stop.

As for the 1/60 yf-11b. hmmm, I~~~~

like it. Ditto on the puny P.O.S. vertical rear fins that actually look as tiny as the CAD drawing had me fear and the slightly small head and feet that remind me of whore-shoes, but overall..... I like it. It's mine.

And Graham... errr..... pardon me but...

I'm sure this looked ten times better when you had it in your hands to flip around and view from all angles...

but c'mon now~~ the pics are not distorted & squished.

ooooo~ I like it a lot.

Kawamori has been making valks more and more plausible/possible in the 3D world lately, this started with Zero. He now starts with LEGO, he no longer uses retractable hands, etc. All seem to be "concessions" to being able to actually make them in 3D, as opposed to the YF-19 and YF-21, which simply cannot maintain proportions across modes in real life. The fact that the MOST PLAUSIBLE/REALISTIC one ever translated so poorly into actual 3D, says a lot about what Bandai's doing.

I just saw this post.

This pretty much sums up it perfectly in regards to toys of modern valks. They dont have the excuse of anime magic anymore.

The vf-0 (crappy shoulder and all) is still one of my favorites because it was such a great translation of what we see on screen.

The Sv-51 is, as complex and difficult to reproduce as a toy for any valk with as much screen-time and yamato got it right.

The vf-25 should have been easier especially with so much material available for reference.

The whole "it's balanced" argument isn't really applicable to the vf-25 because there's no anime magic or distorted proportions to balance. That argument was valid up to the Macross plus series... and yes... if you think bandai's representation of the vf-25 is gorgeous, good... but it's still a subjective opinion.

I have less slack on Bandai.... Disappointed really. A company with as much resources and a track record like it should have done better with a CG valk being the subject. None of the compromises seen seem DIRECTLY linked with strength issues and such. Just lazy referencing.

That being said. I think overall though... Bandai's foray back into macross territory was a good thing. A lot of people here who get the vf-25 will definitely voice their opinions regarding things that bandai inevitably did better (I know there is still room for this thing to 100% suck even in build quality). Yamato's products will only get better for it... and we benefit in the long run.

Hmmm... anyone notice this?

Looks like a tab to hold the legs in place, doesn't it?

It seems really retarded that no one transformed it right for photos yet... I hope that that is the case.

Yeah the Urkle ankles and the shortened neck of Ozma's vf-25 looks off...

but the biggest deal breaker for me is that the legs in fighter mode doesn't lock in flush or in the least we've yet to see a pic with the legs up and completely flush with the rest of the body in Fighter mode.

By looking at the GA graphics pics, it's clear that this thing has a lot going for it. Build quality really oozes through and it's one of the areas where I hoped Bandai would pull through in. It's really sad that a couple of easy accuracy issues mar the opportunity bandai had to make something truly special.

I will consider getting this IF and ONLY IF someone or bandai themselves show that the legs fit into the body flush.

When I see pictures of this thing, I'm deeply saddened...

It's got some good aspects to it, aspects that I hope will be picked up by yamato's future releases but ultimately... it's a pass for me.

hah, and yet I'm the biggest hater on this board for the yamato konig and I've been one of the most vocal criticizers of the vf-0 arm fiasco (I even had my vf-0s' shattered shoulder as my avatar) and I have yet to join the "the 1/60 ver 2 vf-1 is the greatest thing ever" club and I've been pretty vocal about it's design compromises and I've been vocal about yamato still not fixing the shoulder gap on the 1/60 yf-19 in fighter mode. So, it's nice that you can pick and choose what you want to call me, like Kawamori, you must like retcons

hehe

The konig doesn't count. It's unanimously & unequivocally considered a poor QCed POS. Anything coming from yamato at that era was, to be frank...

My point is less about you loving or having wet dreams with yamato products than it is in regards to your vocal disdain for people who have expressed, like you have in this thread, dissatisfaction regarding a particular area of a toy that isn't, according to their vision, faithful to the anime.

We all have that right... as do you have the right to disagree when someone exercises that right... just sans the sometimes sarcastic, oft demeaning, frequently stupifying verbal smack downs you unleash in the even that that occurs.

And for the record, there's a HUGE difference between going on about an imaginary angling of the wings and not putting the freaking hip joint in the right place. Oh, and while it wasn't you, also a difference between comparing the toy to actual animation samples and comparing it endlessly to a doctored example of "line art".

True... but that's how much some people LOVE the yf-19... I still cant get over the fact that the fast packs can only attach with the legs angled down and the crooked mounted gunpod.

Anyway, back on topic.

Wow, These destroid are really lookin nice.

bloody hell... I got so much to buy... and the friggin economy is predicted to hit the fan here in the US...

Woe is me....

Nothing craptastic gets a pass in my book.

Nothing from Bandai or Yamato.

There are many of us here who actually looked forward to what Bandai could (as we see with the model vf-25) can bring to the table for the fans... it's unfortunate that their DX team sucked @SS... Money that would have gone to this crap is now being reverted to the 1/60 vf-1 line I always wanted...

It's unfortunate... but it still doesnt take away from the fact that had the right people worked on it from Bandai, it'd be a different story.

I dont know why comments like "if yamato made it...", "yamato strives for perfection" or "bandai cares to give us options" are being made though.....

Yamato only recently reached their A game with valkyries.... It almost took a good decade for them to perfect the craft... Do I think that yamato, with the level they are at now, can do a better job than bandai did with the DX, NO DOUBT... but it took them a while to get to this level.

This is also bandai's first attempt at Macross in a while. It's not fair to say they are purposely making crappy inaccurate valks because they can give a rats ass... How is this a valid argument? and How will you prove this? because they made their living off a gundam for a while?

Yamato strives for perfection, I agree... Every serious company does... but they've also time and time again made the same dumb mistakes repeatedly and as a result deservedly so.... they've gotten chewed for it. Bandai, I guarantee, will see a greater wrath of fans if they neglect to address the problems they made with this DX release with future releases... if there are any future releases....

And Shin... Bandai simply has the resources and the divisions to make three different lines. It has nothing to do with giving us options with a heart. All the options really served is to show that side by side, even their own product (the model) proved that their DX team underperformed.

Eugimon... If anyone else gave just half the amount of criticism you gave the DX to a yamato product, you would have called them a whiney, nit-picking, dead horse beater... Many here, including myself, agree with you, the DX sucks... but you're making it grossly apparent that you're just as biased as all the " yamato-haters" were... If I can only pull up and repost the crap you gave Dave and myself for complaining about the yf-19... hehehehe~

Good thing, I'm lazy....

hmmm~~~

After seeing the final pics, I agree....

This is crap.

Too many compromises made for each mode.

Ozama's battroid pic (with the ankle joints fully extended) reminds me of Urkel.

Nice~!

I gotta update my sig!

Yes, the tail fins look a bit small as did the yf-19's...

but I dont think it'll look bad...

I wonder how the heat shield will be implemented...

Macrossworld? Lenient?

Well i never compared bandai to yamato but the DX was pretty bad. And i don't think i was ever lenient with yamato. If something looks wrong I'd mention it immediately. Remember when ppl kept whinging on the YF-19's gullet?

I'm losing faith here. The prototypes have no improvements on each incarnation and the release date is nearing, i don't see them changing the sculpt any more.

no, I didnt mean the whole entire MW community was lenient. I was talking about the people who in this debate between Bandai and Yamato, lean on the Yamato side.

There are some here who have their legs on both parties, (with yamato's upgraded most recent efforts, myself now included) but some obviously are more lenient to yamato's "oops' & liberties taken that deviate from the original design"....

Many here are saying "I wonder when yamato will get a shot at it..." or "I'm not buying these EVER" soley going off of prototypes.... Some of these people as I clearly recall (but wont name) have damned to hell anyone questioning these same questions back when some of yamato's efforts weren't accurate... That's what I'm "pffff"-ing right now... And those I'm pfff-ing by the way, I'm totally cool with.... but regardless...

I like this debate actually... THIS is what it should be...debate the accuracy and opine on whether you think this toy is looking nice or ass crack nasty as it's going.....

BUT.....

IMO and frankly I think it's only fair to.... do it across the board....

I mean c'mon.... it's only been with what? only the past couple of releases that yamato have done a relatively headache free job...

This is bandai's first foray into the current generation of macross toys.... and they made the F'ed up decision to go with what they feel is what nostalgic fans want...

As far as I can tell (since I abhor the vf-25 design in the first place anyway), it looks ugly... even if it looked like it accurately.... it looks ugly to me. Reminds me of them flying creatures that attacked anakin and padme in that droid plant in Episode 2.