RTShark

Hi all. I own a 1/60 Focker Skull One that did not come with FAST packs. A friend of mine wants to buy the 1/60 Hikaru style 1J that comes with FAST packs, but doesn't want the FAST packs. I do know that Yamato didn't design all of the 1/60s to mount the FAST packs so I'm asking here: Would I be able to mount these FAST packs onto my Skull-One? If yes, great. If not, can I do so with some modifications? If so, how extensive would these mods be? Thanks!

To elaborate compare and contrast with the 1/55 Takatoku/Bandai... Nose looks about right in Battroid but is way too short in Fighter or Gerwalk... There's no one perfect length for a transforming fig. Personally I (and many others) think that the 1/48 is the best representation so far.

Well, it's easy. I really don't go overboard on what I buy. Here's my take on it: I'm not wealthy or rich by any means. But I make enough money to pay all of my bills, and maintain a decent home for my fiance and her son. I also am saving money towards the future by contributing to a 401k account. So bearing all that in mind, I tend to have a little extra here and there to spend on non-essential things. I buy some toys... mostly lower cost things. I absolutely love the Marvel Mini-Mates figures for instance. Some more expensive... My 148 VF-1J for instance. There are also other things that aren't essential that I spend money on: books, CDs, DVDs, I have two guitars, music lessons so that I can play the guitars , I drop about $150-200 every 3 or 4 months for a collectible card game called Legend of the Five Rings that I play when a new set comes out. How do I justify all this? Well, read the first line. I've got the essentials covered. I don't go over the top on other things, but I do enjoy them. Now... If I weren't playing the L5R card game.... I could afford to buy a new 1/48 or something comparable every couple months. If I weren't taking music lessons, I could afford to buy a new 1/48 every month. For people that don't diversify themselves the way I'm doing, it could be very easy to buy lots of these things.

AFAIK they are releasing the armor in two formats. One version by itself, the other packed with a Hikaru style 1J.

Um.... Just relax, OK? I don't think anybody coming up with these names is doing so out of any desire to belittle anything, or to be negative it's all in fun and as such, really needn't be taken this seriously. These are just toys after all, if someone calling a toy you like a bad name gets to you, I think maybe gaining a bit of perspective on things is in order. Heck, I own one of each (mostly... I sold my MPC last weekend... but I did have an MPC, as well as an old Bandai Skull-One, a 1/60 Skull-One and a 1/48 Hikaru 1J) and I've somehow managed to avoid being offended by this.

Unfortunately for anyone who has to have an Alpha, the Toynami one is the only option short of hunting for the old ones... For myself, I may get one, but if I do, I'll wait until it hits the aftermarket for less than retail. If it doesn't do that, then I won't buy one. Toynami fooled me once with the MPC they won't get me again so easily.

Well, Edgar mentioned in Episode 3 that the VF-0 can in fact work in space, that's why the intake shutters were closed and they went diving. Well I didn't see the third episode until just last night and so couldn't take that into account. I'd say, even if the VF-0 *could* fly in space, it probably wouldn't be very good at it, certainly much more limited than the VF-1, and probably incapable of getting orbital under it's own power (could the VF-1 get orbital on it's own? I'm not sure)...

Well, I wasn't quite that bad. I had a balance on one up to about $1,000 and then had some issues with money caused by other problems in my life... Balance got up to about $2400 while I was behind... I finally started catching myself up about a year or so ago and have been whittling away at it, it's down to about $1300 now. A year to get it back to just over where it was when I started. Anyone starting to see the problem? Anyway... CCs are fine if you respect them. The simple rule of thumb is not to use them to spend money you don't have, or not to put more on them than you can pay back within a reasonable amount of time. If you can do that, you're fine. If you can't do that, you're probably better off just doing without. Anyway... apologies for being off topic somewhat, but I felt that was an important thing to get out considering some of the other advice we saw given...

Coming into this thread late so apologies for responding to such an early post in the topic... Anyway... Correct me if I'm wrong, but from what I've picked up in Macross Zero is that the fighters are all using conventional jet engines, i.e., they need atmosphere to work. Unlike the reaction drive engines that the VF-1 uses... Besides which... space battles are cool and all, but I'm liking the in atmosphere stuff in M0 just fine.

I agree here. You should NEVER put more on a Credit Card than you can pay back within a reasonable amount of time, unless it's an absolute emergency. They'll kill you with finance charges and if you pay back just the minimum every month you'll have spent two or three times what you needed to. I've learned this lesson the hard way, and I didn't get into it nearly as badly as some people did. DON"T go that route unless you have no other choice.

Well... I won't tell you whether to sell it or keep it. You really need to decide that for yourself. It all depends. How badly do you need the money? Is it "skip meals for a month" broke or "a week behind on your bills" broke. I've been in both places, and if you're just a little behind and can make do with less for a few weeks or a month to catch up then that's all well and good. If you're in the mode of skipping meals or missing rent (or a house payment if you've got a mortgage) or if you've come across a large bill for some reason that'll make it hard to make do for a while (medical bills, auto repair) then I'd say sell the damn thing. As neat as it is, it's only a toy. Like I said, it all depends on exactly how dire your situation is.

Great looking custom awesome work... Bit of advice on the listing. Make it absolutely explicit that only the custom is for sale and that the original red one in the pic is only there for comparison. Probably won't matter, but it doesn't hurt to cover yourself.

I think seeing a 1/60 would be very reasonable and much more likely than seeing a 1/48. I might even buy a 1/60 VF-0 if it were to come out. I wouldn't touch a 1/48... I love my 1/48 VF-1, but that's about the most I can justify spending on something like that. No, it's not a direct comparison, but it is pretty close. For instance (from the Macross Compendium): VF-1 length in fighter: 14.23 m, height in battroid: 12.68 m. That's 1.5 meters difference (about 5 feet for my fellow Americans). In 1/48 scale that difference comes out to about 1.25 inches. Anyway, that's why I used the words "estimate" and "guess", because I wasn't providing hard and fast numbers but estimates and guesses.

That was my thought... Plus, before people get all excited about my numbers, specifically the 18 inch height, remember they are just *guesses*. Educated guesses yes, but guesses nonetheless (could anyone confirm the actual sizes for the VF-0? My estimates were based on it being comparable in size to the F-14, which I have heard but cannot confirm)... While I agree that such a thing would be cool, I'd have my doubts about it being made. A 1/60 would be nice, however, and would actually be much more plausible, IMO.

Well it would definitely be very large. I've heard that the VF-0 is approximately the size of an F-14 which means it's about 60 feet long, which means it's about half again as large as a VF-1. 1/48 scale VF-1... About 12" long in fighter and about 12" tall in Battloid... 1/48 scale VF-0 if the size quotes I heard about it were correct: approx. 18" long in fighter and 18" tall in battloid. That's a big toy. Yamato can sell a $130 VF-1, arguably one of the most recognizable Mecha anywhere... Can they sell a $170-190 VF-0 in large enough numbers to justify it's creation at that size? I don't know for sure, but I'd have my doubts. Those numbers are just guesses, but reasonable based on the knowledge we have for sure.

I'm just glad I had read the forums here and at Twin Moons before I got my 1/48 or I might have assumed the backpack hinge worked just like the one on my 1/60 where you are supposed to force it up until it clicks. As it is I knew the backpack hinge was a possible trouble spot and I've been real careful with mine in that area.

I think you can say that for pretty much all of their products... I guess maybe their Super deformed stuff might be all right, I haven't seen any close up.

I'd guess that the 1/100 VF-0 would be slightly shorter than the 1/60 VF-1. I'd heard that the VF-0 is comparable in size to an F-14, which means approximately 60 feet long. In 1/100 scale this comes out to approximately 7.25 inches. This is assuming that the size data I'd heard on the VF-0 is correct.

Well... I just got my first 1/48 and bought a set of Takatoys stickers to go with it. I've been applying those instead of the originals that came with it. Advantages are they're better than the originals and this lets me keep the originals on the sheet. Disadvantages, you have to cut them out yourself... Both Valkyrie Exchange (www.valkyrie-exchange.com) and Twin Moons (www.tmpanime.com) sell them... I'd recommend them.

The only reason I bought the Toynami Fast Pack was basically as a favor to the guy who owns my local comic shop (he'd special ordered it for someone who then backed out)... In return I got a slight discount on it. Figured it might make my MPC look a little better. The Toynami FPs actually are better than I'd expected based on the quality of my MPC, though they still have issues. One of the leg armors on mine refused to stay on no matter what. Even sitting perfectly still on the shelf in Gerwalk (the only mode where the MPC looks even halfway decent, IMO) the leg piece just absolutely refused to stay on. Of course, now that I have my 1/48, MPC and Fast Pack are back in their boxes in the back room. My 1/48 and 80s Bandai now share the shelf space that used to hold my MPC and 1/60 Yamato, and my 1/60 has come to my office to help keep my desk at work safe from invading aliens. For the record, I would take ANY Yamato or Bandai over the MPC. And I own at least one example of each except for the Bandai HCM...

This I could believe, but just barely. I can make out more detail in the *pictures* of the 1/48 FPs (I don't have a set of FPs for my 1/48 Valkyrie yet) than I can in the *actual* MPC FP set that I own and have seen in person and close up.

That is the problem, you dont have it... Dont put ideas into peoples mind based on "general opinion". Let him decide on non bias reviews from collectors (not Yamato purest) who collects a variety of Macross/Robotech toys. OK, well I do have it (it being Volume 4 MPC, the Max 1J) and it *sucks*. Supposedly a lot of the QC issues were worked out by Volume 4 and I gotta say that if I got one of the good ones I feel really bad for anybody who got one of the bad ones. I'm kind of a Yamato Purist, but only because Toynami made me into one. I gave them more than a fair shot by buying their product and ended up being very disapointed in it. I still like my old Bandai Valk from the 80s and have a soft spot for it, but I don't see buying any of the reissues.

Plus factor in the shipping costs: $30 added to the original $130 is $160, which isn't a bad deal by any means, but much closer to being comparable with the going rates...

I gotta agree here. I actually don't think the design looks bad at all, though it's not my favorite VF... I haven't even actually seen any Macross Zero yet, but this VF looks like something that would be designed from a much more modern perspective when it should look like it was designed from a 70s/80s perspective like the VF-1 was. It looks like a modern replacement for the VF-1, not a precursor, as you said. Having said that, I don't think the toy looks half bad as a rendition of the VF-0, especially factoring in the small scale.

Well, my thoughts on the MPC are unbiased and fair. They are negative, yes, but unbiased does not mean neutral. I gave the thing a fair shake, I bought it and didn't form any opinions on it until I saw it. No more can be asked than that. I dislike it on it's own merits (or lack thereof) and not because it's sold in a box marked "Robotech."