jenius

Um, are you still putting any sort of faith into toynami release dates? Are you new to the hobby? i mean, I hope you've at least gotten refunds on your Shadow Beta and Marcus Shadow Fighter by now. I guess that's a very snarky way of saying "No" but the good news is that Toynami will be at the toy fare in NY this weekend so you'll probably get news then.

mmm... crystal eye salsa

Yep, the Hi-Metal VF-19Kai is as much parts-forming as I think should ever be included in a toy at this scale.

Just collapsed my various MPC and Aoshima reviews into one Mega Review over at Anymoon.com.

Awwww no, don't let this become another Yamato vs. Bandai thread!

Assuming the Hi-Metal VF-25 is on the same level of quality with minimal partsformation like the VF-1 and VF-19 toys I would definitely jump aboard. The VF100s were pretty bad, hopefully Bandai would have learned a lot from that effort.

Yes, it seems there are two types of optional here. You could say all the parts on the Hi-Metal Bandai are optional also if you don't mind the Battroid looking like it just got done a long battle with cancer. So there's the "optional but you're going to want to use it" like the Hi-Metal head parts and the neck cover on the Yamato and then there's the "you will probably leave those in the box" like the various leg pieces on both toys. I am still really looking forward to this toy. I'd love to have it in hand now to get an appreciation for why it needs the extra parts with how well engineered everything else likely is.

I'm about as likely to have the Hi-Metal displayed in Battroid without the parts of its head attached as I am to have the Yamato displayed in fighter mode without the neck covered... but I'm pretty easy-going on my definition of "perfect transformation" so it's hardly the end of the world for me.

Isn't there a big hole if it's not there where you'd see the back end of the neck?

Isn't the neck cover a parts-formation piece that is necessary?

I'm a bit confused by all the new pics and stuff. Does the Yamato have pretty similar parts-formation to the Bandai Hi-Metal (with exception to the head)? I guess the only one part that would bother me is the one in front of the head in fighter mode... all the optional leg parts and arm shield swap out are optional so no biggy.

I like darker colors too but considering all the stuff that's 'not cool' in Macross7 I think it'd be silly to make the toy darker because that looks cooler. This thing has lips for christ's sake. I say it's time to man up and embrace this in all it's MacDowell's goofy glory. Make it bright red, make it bright yellow, and let it be here and .....

So, in this bizarre what if world, are Valkyries all just Jetfires without pilots? I imagine the answer is that there'd be a whole lot less death, no destruction of Earth, a lot less singing, no romance, and a lot of Starscream whining.

Yamatoed!

Bandai made the toy, BW approved it, just copy the color from Bandai. Seems an easy problem to solve. I don't think BW can really cry foul over using the color they've already approved.

They're on the bottom shelf.

Ah, I thought there were some odd Lansay giftsets you might be missing but knowing you're not going after any of that Lansay stuff that now makes sense. I've got a whole bunch of New Gen/Mospeada toys out at my photobooth right now. I have a lot of fun with my New Gen/Mospeada toys, even the vintage ones.

Hmm... I think as close a line as you're going to be able to conclusively draw is that they're both Bandai products (of which Tamashii is a division of).

I'm at work so I can't reference anymoon.com but I have a pic of the fighter profiles in my Hi-Metal review. Both the Yamato and Hi-Metal do great jobs emulating the line art. The Yamato looks crisper overall with its very tight tolerances but the Hi-Metal does a better job getting what becomes the backpack in the right place. I love the comparison pic, you can see lots of little things each toy does right and wrong. The Hi Metal does the backpack better in battroid because it doesn't chip the paint off the tail fins! I agree that a scaled up 1/60V2 to be a 1/48V2 would be a terrible decision that wouldn't sell well at all. If Yamato were to do a 1/48V2 it better bring a whole lot of new tricks to the table that the increased scale allow (like integrated intake covers, even greater articulation, better detail, etc.).

I would... except I'm not much of an artist and I'm afraid the doodles that make perfect sense to me would likely just confuse anyone else. One day when work isn't so insane I'll try to make the ideas presentable.

Finally done updating my Hi Metal post:

I was tinkering around with designing a larger scale VF-1 toy (just for kicks) and I think there are a ton of things that can be done at 1/48 that would make the V2 look like a stepping stone (although I was imagining 1/32 so who knows how feasible some design elements would be).

I disagree, not with your observations about current toys but rather the conclusion. Just because no one has found a way to nail it PERFECT doesn't mean it can't be done... it just means it's going to take some inventive engineering. Things can be made to collapse, swap location, etc. in manners that haven't been attempted yet. A larger scale (like a 1/48 V2) makes engineering such things a lot easier to accomplish. To that end, why I said it wasn't really a fair comparison with the Hi-Metal toy is because it doesn't have an integrated heat shield (primarily). That heatshield would require a place to be stored (not very large) and a mechanism for sliding forward. Obviously that adds to the complexity while taking up space in clearly tight confines. It's funny how quick most people are to say a toy isn't perfect but people don't like saying a toy has flaws. We don't need to use the same level of diplomacy we use when discussing a friend's girlfriend as we do when talking about a toy from a cartoon that was popular 25+ years ago. I'm not saying the V2 isn't sweet, but her eyes are a little close together and all the women in her family packed on 50lbs after they hit 30... wait, what the crap was I talking about again?

but that wasn't my assertion at all. My assertion is that the V2 has its head in the wrong spot and it's a flaw. Evidence that it's not an overcome-able flaw is a toy that's about half the size that handles the head position better. In 1/48 scale I'd have to imagine some company could get the best of both worlds. PS - check minus for cutting off a quote at the "but..." up above.

The Hi Metal does one or two things right in the palm of your hand... it's tiny. Despite being so tiny it manages to sink the head in lower in fighter mode AND battroid mode and it's handles the backpack better (especially in fighter mode). Again, not a fair comparison since it doesn't have to stow a heat shield or landing gears but pretty impressive just the same. Sure, it has lots of other flaws, and even it doesn't nail the head position perfect (it cheats it up a bit but no where near as bad as the V2). Is the head in the right spot? No. It's a flaw. If it makes you feel better we can call it a "flawed design choice"