Hurin

Damn that pic makes me wish I hadn't been a... well kid and destroyed my  matchbox.  Where's Yamato with theirs (or Bandai with at least a re-issue??)?

Yamato had said that they're gonna do a DYRL version of the Macross, but it's on the backburner due to other projects. <_<

Rumor-patrol:

Check out this post from Graham:

A Yamato SDF-1 Macross is not confirmed.

Best Regards,

H

One side of mine is really rigid. Just wiggle and pull. . . but be as gentle as possible and look out for stress marks on the plastic. It'll go eventually unless a prior owner super-glued it!

Yep, pretty clear now that it was a flipped cel.

Yeah, I gotta say. . . too much reading into things here.

He was never a main character. He might be a favorite. . . but he's hardly a main character (same goes for Max people. Sorry, but it's true). There are entire episodes where he doesn't even appear (or has only one or two speaking lines). I can see how someone just reading the books might get confused about this, but while watching SDF Macross, it would be pretty hard to be confused over who was the main hero of the story.

Roy's death was a standard part of the war story formula. And, I think the combat that led to his death was so non-climactic because they just wanted to convey the sense that his "number was up."

Just my opinion,

Like most others, I went with the Takatoys stickers, excellent quality. They look good even with my crappy cutting job.

Find a copy of the Hasagawa sticker placement sheet when going for the FAST packs stickers, though. Takatoy's stickers seem to be the Hasagawa decals in sticker form, and Yamato's stickers do not match up at all for the armour.

I used the Yamato stickers and the difference is appalling, but now that I have the sticker placement for the Hasagawa decals, I plan to scrawp off the Yamato stickers and apply the Takatoys stickers. It's just too bad that the Takatoys skull emblems are too small to fit where they should.

Those armor stickers on the original 1/48 sheet were his best guesses and were designed prior to the release of the FAST Packs themselves.

There is now a seperate sheet of FAST Pack armor listed on the Takatoys website. It promises a perfect fit for the skull symbols as well as stickers for the missiles.

Every one of the Takatoys stickers much be cut off the sheet. However, if you just scissors, cutting a circle is easy. Cut out the sticker but leave plenty of border. Then, cut the circle out. . . but turning the paper, not the scissors.

Finally, they are not so thin that they tear easily. So don't worry. . . you don't need to be that careful while applying.

H

I suppose it's possible that my review of the the Takatoys stickers prompted this request for pictures of Yamato and Takatoys stickers side-by-side. But just in case, here are pictures of the Takatoys stickers applied.

Sorry that I can't provide any direct comparisons to the Yamato stickers. I don't wanna ruin my pristine sheets. And, I'm not sure the difference will be readily apparent via digital pictures.

My advice. . . buy one sheet and just give 'em a try. just replace a couple stickers with the Takatoys version. And, of course, let us know how you feel!

H

I put a Takatoys kite sticker over the gap for my VF-1S Roy. Even after repeatedly deploying the gear, the sticker seems to have suffered no ill-effects. So, My advice would be to try it without cutting it. . . and then if the cut becomes necessary, go for it. And there are some extra kites provided in the bonus area of the Takatoys sheet. So, if the sticker needs replacing, you can do that too.

H

HAM SANDWICH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Uh, I think we covered all that. . . extensively. . .

This is one of those threads that you come back to later and wonder just why the hell you spent so much time with it. . .

Yikes. I musta been bored. . .

H

They are not water-based. They are cut (with a sharp hobby/xacto knife or scissors in the case of larger ones) and stick.

They are not die-cut. You have to cut them from the sheet.

UPDATE ON FAST PACK STICKERS

I attempted to apply the FAST Pack stickers that are included on the TakaToys 1/48 sticker sheet as a sort of "bonus."

These FAST Pack stickers were designed, however, before the FAST Pack themselves were released, and it does indeed look like TakaToys got the dimensions of the stickers (understandably) wrong. The skull emblems do not fit on the boosters. Obviously, TakaToys is aware of this. . . thus he is offering a new seperate sticker sheet for the FAST Packs.

Here is what my Valk looks like with the FAST Packs mounted and the "old" FAST Pack stickers used. Obviously, I'll be ordering TakaToy's new FAST Pack stickers. These just don't fit right. Plus, the new sheet has the emblems for the missiles included!

This one is just for fun cuz I think it looks so cool. . .

These stickers are also available at:

The Valkyrie Exchange

Twin Moons Anime

I hereby resurrect this thread in order to direct your attention to a review I did of the TakaToys stickers. Enjoy!

Howdy,

WHY BUY AFTER-MARKET STICKERS?

I picked up a bunch of TakaToys 1/48 sticker sheets. I did this for two reasons:

1. The stickers Yamato supplies with their valks are of poor quality. They are way too thick (you see the edges on any lettering, etc.). . . and I've been told they peel too much.

2. It's nice to be able to apply better stickers than those supplied with the valk. . . while keeping the original stickers mint in the box.

GENERAL IMPRESSIONS

These stickers are amazing. They really did exceed my expectations and my valk looks much better than it would have with the Yamato-supplied stickers (judging by how crappy my 1/60 looks with the Yamato stickers applied).

TOOLS NEEDED

You will need a sharp/new hobby knife, a set of sharp scissors, some toothpicks, and a lot of patience to apply the stickers. It took me an entire afternoon to apply the stickers to my satisfaction. But, I'm a bit of a perfectionist. I should also point out that I used two sheets to apply these stickers. I recommend buying 2-3 sheets for each valk you will be "sticker-ing" if you are a perfectionist. It's only $10 for each set, and it's nice to have piece of mind. . . knowing that if you mangle a sticker, you've got some backups.

Actually, there are quite a few duplicates on the sheet, thoughtfully provided by TakaToys. If you screw one up, you can usually find a duplicate in the bottom "bonus" section. But, I screwed up enough (or was perfectionist enough) to burn through the bonus ones and work my way into a second sheet of these stickers.

You will also want to have your valk manual, and the original Yamato sticker sheet handy. Sometimes, you'll need to look up the number of the decal in the manual, eyeball the decal on the original Yamato sheet, and then find the equivalent decal on the Takatoys sheet.

STICKER ACCURACY/CLARITY

The stickers are, in almost every respect, as good or better than those supplied by Yamato. The only area where Yamato surpasses the after-market stickers is in the clarity of very small lettering. But, the difference in quality here is negligable. In both you can still make out the words: "No Step". . . which is probably the smallest lettering that remains legible on either sheet. After that, smaller lettering is just "hinted" at by both Yamato and these TakaToys aftermarket stickers. The tiny lettering is slightly more crisp on the original sheet. But, I can't see anyone even noticing. I didn't notice as I applied them, and only did so just now when I started writing this paragraph and went back to check! In my opinion, the superior quality of the transparent material more than makes up for this negligable decrease in clarity. Who is going to look that closely and be that judgemental of the clarity of "No Step?"

Every sticker supplied on the original sheet is supplied on the TakaToys sheet. . . and then some. I applied every sticker that is listed in the manual and I wasn't left wanting for any stickers. TakaToys' sheet covers them all.

There are also (apparently) all the stickers you will need for the FAST Packs recently released by Yamato as well. Looking at the TakaToys website, however, it looks like he now offers some additional FAST Pack stickers that boast an "Exact fit of skull symbols." I don't know what this will mean for my FAST Packs when I try to apply the stickers I already have. . . but I'll give it a try soon and let you all know. . .

APPLIED APPEARANCE

The pictures below speak for themselves. I was especially impressed with how these stickers are so thin that you can use a toothpick or your fingernail to gently press these stickers into panel lines so that they follow the contours of the valk.

I also loved how the small lettering stickers melted into the valk (especially the white lettering (SDF-1, 011) on the black of the tail fins) It looks incredible until you get very close and start looking for the sticker edges. . . or the light hits them from a very unfortunate angle and causes the sticker to shine.

I was even impressed with how that most-problematic area of a valk looked with these stickers: The large "U.N. SPACY" on the legs. Once you really press the sticker down, the U.N. SPACY looks almost painted on from nearly all angles. Yes, if you get really close and focus on the panel lines, you'll notice the "sticker-iness" of it, but I think it's about as good as you can get for a sticker.

Unfortunately, when the light hits the U.N. SPACY sticker(s) just right, it will have a sheen at certain angles. However, I don't think the stickers themselves can be faulted for this. This is just the nature of using anything but paint to put the "U.N. SPACY" lettering on the toy. Perhaps someone skilled in model-building techniques could apply a gloss clear-coat, apply the sticker or a water-slide decal, and then put a flat clear-coat over the stickers to eliminate shine. But, for we non-model-building guys who just want to apply some stickers without all that hub-bub, this is the best (IMHO) you are going to get.

The U.N. SPACY on the gunpod is the same story by the way. It generally looks great. Not perfect from every angle, but about as good as you could ask for from a sticker.

The rest of the stickers look amazing from nearly every angle. I suggest starting with the U.N. SPACY kite symbol on the nose. When you first apply the kite, you immediately get a sense of how great these stickers can look.

Anyways, enough of my rambling. . . on with the pictures! Please excuse the fact that I had to use a flash. The lightning in my home is very "warm" and everything would have looked dingy without it. I could have waited for daylight, but I wanted to attach my newly aquired FAST Packs tonight and wanted to get these pictures taken before I mounted them.

We start out on top and in front (not very good images) and then make our way around the valk. . .

FINAL REVIEW

I don't think any Yamato valk is complete without some TakaToys stickers. I realize I may be gushing a bit and it may sound like I've got a stake in TakaToy's success. But really, I just think these stickers are extremely well-done and that we're all very lucky that they are availble. . . lest we have to use the Yamato stickers-o-crappiness.

Sorry man. . . it just wasn't clear if you were the guy reading it, or you were just told what it said by somebody. . . or something.

If you're super-well-known as a stand-up guy who reads flawless Japanese, please forgive my ignorance. I didn't know.

But, of course, all it would have taken was a quick post saying, "I read fluent Japanese and this is indeed what it says."

H

I ordered a BD-6 I believe. But even I'm unsure of what that entails. So, I'll let you know when I receive them.

H

Shipping in battroid mode!?! My experience is that fighter mode has always been the most compact. Especially if fold up the backpack and sweept the wings together.

I think they could shrink the box on the 1/48 a bit. But, they'd have to display the valk in a less appealing manner. . . and remember, the idea of the box is to get people at Toys R' Us and other stores to buy it. . . they aren't thinking about us importers.

Lets try to look at it from Yamato's point of view. Do they want us to be happy? Or, do they want the kids and collectors in Japan to look at the box in the store and say: "Holy crap that looks incredible! I gotta have that!"

H

Uh-oh. I think I may be a target of ridicule here pretty soon.

Yeah, I'm not sure exactly what everyone is getting so excited about either.

If you want the FPs, buy them. If you don't, don't buy them.

The MW motto: When in doubt. . . whine.

H

I like the idea of all the 1/48s having similar looking boxes. . . for display purposes. Plus, I think the boxes are very classy.

Just do what I did, sell all your other stuff to make room for your new Macross collection.

I just sold off my entire vintage Star Wars collection that I had since I was a kid. Four 36x36 boxes really makes for more room when you ship them off!

Best Regards,

H

Kevin,

So, have you heard official word from Yamato that the Hikaru 1A will also be re-released? If so, I guess that would be a second independent source and we can call the 1A Hikaru re-release confirmed.

However, I'd like to hear some confirmation that these will use the newer parts so that they will be equal in quality to the Max and Low-Vis. I find it hard to believe they wouldn't be. . . but it would be nice to have full confirmation.

Kevin? Graham? I know you're under no obligation. . . but if you have heard about either, please let us know because it really does influence our buying decisions. I'll hold off on my 2nd "mint/boxed" Hikaru 1A if an improved version is on the way.

Thanks!

H

Bought it, but didn't even remove it from the bag before my girlfriend arrived at the door.

Boo!

H

Yeah, have to agree that going by what Robotech: Battlecry says is a bad, bad, idea.

According to the Robotech RPG, there was no difference other than the head lasers, and I'd trust that over a bunch of programmers who just want to figure out a way to make reaching the various VF-1 variants actually mean something to their game.

That being said, I don't trust Robotech either.

H

I think they should have one with SDFM hands and FPs and the other with DYRL hands and GBP suit. Or include both hands with both releases, but still give the option of buying it with either FP's or GBP.

And a magical bicycle!