David Hingtgen

Asking if XS is any good, is like asking if Star Wars is good. Each one varies quite a bit. I think XS1 was the best (story-wise, play-wise it was average), followed by XS3 (best play, second for story). XS2 was a waste---the entire game was spent on exploring a minor side-story of secondary characters and the battle system was torture.

Didn't Nora stand to deliver a kick when Shin borrowed the crashed VF-0 in ep 1? It was one of the few non-CG animations of the Sv-51. Heh heh---this is one of the few times where I can easily pass on the first release, and wait for the improved second one! I want a magenta Sv-51, not black. Though the price probably will be insane. Bigger than a YF-19, more complex transformation (or at least, more and smaller parts), and includes a new display stand. What is up with Yamato and display stands? Am I the only one who doesn't use any? First it seems the YF-19's gunpod problem is due to Yamato wanting it to be attached while the stand is affixed, and now we have to buy a stand along with the -51? It seems we're getting both design problems and now even higher costs, for stuff I really don't want anyways. Where's my stand-less discount Sv-51? Maybe they'll offer that for Nora's version. Hmmn. Wonder how they'll do the boosters/missiles---like they did for the VF-0? But there's no "independent drone" mode for the Sv-51 boosters, they are purely boosters. PS---where's my VF-0D? I'll need it to fight (and lose to) Nora.

Sorta OT, but not deserving of its own thread, posted here because many will see it: 1:1 masking! F-16 Thunderbirds: http://www.jetphotos.net/viewphoto.php?id=5898152

If a newer, quieter 360 does come out, I'm selling my current one and buying it. Though there'd better be a way to transfer files.

$90 Bumblebee rumor/info: http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/showthread.php?t=119987 Comments? IMHO, it's a waste. If there's a $90 toy, it should be Prime or SS. While SS's robot mode may suck, a huge, MP-like transforming F-22 alone would rock---it could have like NO kibble if they did it right with that much size and price-point to work with.

Pirahna skull? That would be the newest line of Bionicles---they're like underwater ones now.

And they look like valks. Macross/Robotech fans who have never seen Plus, will recognize them as valks. I have showed pics of Megs to everybody I know that knows TF's but not enough to have seen the new designs--and NONE suspect that is Megs, much less that he's a TF. They simply see "a robot". if that.

And if you want the illustrated version of that tip from Yamato: http://www.yamato-toys.com/dev/cont_002/index.html It's the second one, just click through the 7 pics. Basically, close the canopy, then raise the nose, then raise the glareshield. That exact order is important. PS--BBTS sent me an email that my YF-19 order is processing.

You're either typing very poorly, or are confusing things. VF-1S Blazer? YF-22 Sturmvogel from Yamato? None of that exists, nor are even the right numbers/terms.

What we need to do, is advertise it for like a month to all the main mecha/toy boards, so everyone knows about it long in advance, and are just waiting to click in their answers when it actually opens. THEN open it up and let everyone (who already knew about it) come in and fill it out. And frankly we need more participation. It seems that even people who post here pretty often didn't participate, much less the lurkers. 100 people? We have 100 people participate on individual threads. C'mon people, you don't have to sign your name and it takes all of 30 secs. You come here, read, lurk, and find out how to fix your -19's gunpod, but can't answer a poll that (in the future) could lead directly to Yamato reissuing certain valks or something?

Graham needs a bit more time, he probably also had a few lessons from his Sith master as well. "How to hint without giving anything away" "Teasing for fun" "Samples and prototypes III"

360 games look better than Xbox games, period. It's only that the amount of improvement depends on the TV you have. Get the 360 now, get a new TV later when they're cheaper. TV prices constantly drop like a stone. 360---it MAY be 50-100 bucks cheaper in the next 18-24 months. But any new TV will be a lot cheaper in 6-12 months. Any game with hard to read text on a normal TV is just poorly designed IMHO. There's NES games where it's hard to read the text. Font is as important as size. And if it's hard to read on a normal TV, an HDTV will still be "readable, but small". If a game comes out that basically requires HD to be able to read it, it means the devlopers only ever played it on the highest-end TV money can buy, and they thought it was ok. Even a "lesser" HDTV could easily have issues with the most notorious of small-font games.

If we had at most 102 respondents, and around 1000 valks, that means those who responded have around 10 valks each! If all of MW is like that...

Big difference between *allowing* a twist to be made when on the stand, and *forcing* it whenever it's in fighter mode. I don't think anyone's reporting it behaving as it was designed, if that's what it was meant to do. It's not "normally straight but can be angled for the display stand", rather it's "always off-center and cannot be straightened". They really screwed up or have their priorities backwards if they wanted it to be *able* to be angled. I think the number of people who want the gunpod to be straight far outnumber the people who want it on a display stand in fighter mode with gunpod attached.

I would ask Anasazi--he most likely has some decal artwork files that can be scaled as needed. Probably used Hasegawa as references. Also---another thing to be aware of is how thick the outer border is--some have it as thin as the kite's edges, others have it very thick.

Well I always thought the shoulder armor fit the area between the shoulders and legs just perfectly in fighter mode, never thought there'd be another part in there for no apparent reason.

Valks (all of them) are unbelievably light, we usually just write it off as using OT and that hypercarbon is far lighter than any alloy or composite.

Never saw it either. The blue parts must be completely underneath/inside the shoulder FAST armor in fighter mode, as you can clearly see the shoulder armor is all that's visible. Though that means---how the heck does it fit in fighter mode? That area of the YF-19 is already the most space-compromised of all, and requires massive anime magic---the new Yamato has the legs too tall and too low in fighter mode, just to make it half-way decent in battroid. SHE was better, but even it I don't think could accomodate this. And now there's supposed to be room for another layer of parts, between the shoulders and legs in fighter mode with FAST packs?

...and probably has samples of them on his shelf.

I vote for vectoring in battroid and GERWALK mode, as the nozzles are spread open then and unable to vector (or at least, not as well) as in fighter mode. Thus, the slots are "supplemental" vectoring vanes.

Going along with the gunpod and gear issues: MAKE FUTURE FIXES AVAILABLE TO PEOPLE WHO BOUGHT EARLIER VERSIONS. Nobody is going to buy a whole second YF-19 when the fixed version comes out, just to get a straight gunpod. Whatever part they change---have them sell it separately! And yeesh, they could gouge the heck out of us, and we'd still pay. One little piece on the forearm to fix the gunpod? $20. Far more than it's worth, but we'll pay because it's a lot cheaper than a whole new YF-19.

A Gundam marker is 99% identical to a Sakura Micron-Pigment pen, and AFAIK most people in the US actually use those instead of actual Gundam markers/pens since they're much easier and cheaper to find. But Gundam markers/pens come in a much better selection of colors---browns, greys, etc. I only have one "true" Gundam pen, a medium-light grey. For brown and black I use the Micron-Pigment.

There's always real F-14 Wolfpack decals. Though there are none in 1/60 scale as that is not a modeling scale. Currently, the only easily-acquired ones are CAM's: http://www.brookhursthobbies.com/camdecals...amaction=decals Though I think Yamato's stickers are a bit closer to 80's than 70's markings. Only source I can think of for 80's Wolfpack decals at the moment is Hasegawa's recent 1/72 kit. Far fewer good pics of 80's Wolfpack planes, despite being longer-lived and more recent, but here's a decent one: This is a mid/late-80's CAG plane. The regular squadron planes lack the nose markings. Early 80's had red ventral fins, and markings on both sides of the tailfins.

Lots of things you could do for Wolfpack markings, depending on if you want 70's, 80's, or VF-0 style camoflage. (the toy's stickers seem to be a 70's/80's hybrid) Things to consider: Black glareshield ahead of canopy. Tan radome tip. White rudders. Red ventral fins (with white trim striping) Red fin tips BTW---The Wolfpack's callsign was "Wichita". Go here and scroll to the bottom for many pics of an excellent model: http://maxi.gotadsl.co.uk/models/Hasegawa_F14A_011.htm

Easy solution: same plane wore multiple schemes. Very few planes remain with the same squadron for their entire existence. The famous Heater-Ferris splinter camo F-14? That was actually the original Wolfpack CAG plane. It went straight from high-vis red to splinter greys. And if you accept the Hasegawa decals as canon, then a Sundowners CAG plane, which was also the Black Knight's 50th Anniversary plane, later became Shin's F-14! And heck, it went from an F-14A to an F-14A+ Kai (which is no different than the many real F-14A's converted to F-14D's) So, the 2 "remaining" VF-0S's could have worn several more schemes each, until scrapped or sent to museums. Though being such rare planes, with the VF-0 being replaced by the VF-1 before it even really went into service, probably means they were all scrapped at a young age. And if we assume F-14-style conversions, it's possible some VF-0A's were converted to VF-0S's as replacements for the ones Roy destroyed.