jenius

LOL, so true.

Hey thanks a ton, glad you appreciate them. It's definitely a labor love! I take about 40 pics of every toy, some day I'll have a photo archive linked to my website so people who access the review can check out the 40 reference pics also (most of those are just static pics for comparisons... I usually only take 3 or 4 pics of the toys actually in action poses). In the meantime I'll keep posting some gems over here for a much wider audience

More pics from my reviews at www.anymoon.com (shameless promotion, I know, but I like my pics!). I added all the Mac+ toys: (yes, I know the VF-11Bs should have their orange heatshields... I just never removed them from the plastic... check it out though, I did get the YF-21FP back into the proper fighter mode without a gap behind the cockpit)

I swear, I will have an exhaustive review and many others will too. First I need mine to get here, I'm sure other would-be reviewers are in the same boat.

Here's the ultimate solution: 1) Toynami ditches 1/55 scale... it works in the Macross universe well but does not work for Robotech where all the mechs outside of the Macross Saga were much smaller. 2) Toynami redesigns the VF-1 in 1/35 scale. That's right, 1 friggin' 35 scale. I've even fabbed up a design that's better than the Yammy 1/48 (IMHO of course) for full transformation and non-removal of parts (although the intake covers are tricky). 3) Release 1/35 scale figures to go along with the new 1/35 scale VF-1s. Yeah, they'd be small but you could make them decent representations and somewhat poseable (Hip, shoulder, elbow, knee, neck). 4) Release 1/35 scale Alpha with all the lessons learned from the first attempt including foresight of a massive 1/35 Beta to be released later. 5) Make some $$ in the meantime by selling little toys for the 1/35 figures like hovercycles, cyclones(non transformable... or break-apart transformation if they're really brave), Jim/Lunk's jeep . Another thought would to be make the main characters only available if you laid out the $$ for their respective mechs. 6) Release a 1/35 scale Beta. 7) Release a 1/35 scale Hovertank (any smaller and it'd be too small anyway. Here's the kicker, sell everything in boxes that are just functional but focus on making the products inside superior. Exo, in regard to Toynami's construction techniques, glue is cheaper and allows for sloppier tolerances than screws. In the Alpha's case it seems that the screws would have been too hard to conceal in several instances also. The Yamato 1/60s have lots and lots of screw covers on them but they flake off really easily and look funky. Toynami probably figured it was better just to go the glue route and hope nobody ever wanted to take the toy apart... not realizing how easily broken this thing was going to be.

You know, my parents were great to me as far as Transformers go and I don't collect them now. I'm sure they would have hooked me up with Robotech toys too (I'm American and at that age Robotech was all I knew about) if I ever knew to ask for Robotech toys. Problem was, I didn't get huge into Robotech until like 1990 and by that time you couldn't find merchandise for it anywhere. I wanted RT merchandise so bad I would have dreams about it. I spent my days reading those RT novels and drawing the vehicles from every saga (even Southern Cross!). I watched the shows over and over again in their FHE version. I used to scour the Longs Drugs models section hoping to find an old RT model that somehow managed to stay on the shelves. So, it's no wonder that when I got out of college and started making decent enough money and discovered a whole new world of toys that I actually began making my old dreams reality.... little did I know how costly it would become. Still, I'm grateful to Yamato and every other company making the toys I once dreamed about, the more the merrier. I've actually been pretty surprised by just how high quality all of the new Macross (and Robotech if you believe what they tell you) toys have been. We got the really crappy Banprestos and then everything else was meant to be collectors dealies. That's part of the reason I'm happy to see Toynami producing what looks to be decent equivalents of your standard GI Joe toy... something you can play with, beat to death, then replace (the 1/100s that is).

Sorry folks, don't let me derail anything or lead us down some sort of Toynami vs. Yamato thing 'cause that's the last thing I'd ever want... I just was drawing some comparisons. Believe me, I'm as bummed as anyone that more isn't being done with the GCM license. As for the whole blocking of cool Macross products, I thought that Bandai is as much the problem as HG is and I'm not even about to make heads or tails out of that situation. Basically, if a Beta gets built I'll buy it and I'll let you guys know all about it... then you can decide if you want to buy one or not

I voted that I liked it in all forms but with the understanding we're only discussing the VF-1. The VF-19 has a horrid GERWALK (IMHO) as does the VF-17 when it does that stubby guns and legs down thing. The VF-22 has a strange GERWALK I don't quite understand. So basically, for any of those other valks I mentioned they'd get "any mode but GERWALK" and the VF-1 gets "any mode, plain and simple."

It's true, I definitely threw out some huge "what-ifs" and I don't mean to make it sound like I have huge expectations or that you should. I just think everyone who is feeling burned by Toynami is misplacing a bit of their anger. Toy companies do their best and try to be profitable doing it. If their product ends up sucking but we buy a ton of it then we get angry at them instead of ourselves... and that doesn't quite make sense. So, I certainly think everyone can safely say we don't buy into the Toynami hype machine anymore... and everybody's heart is in the right place when they say "no more from that company ever again" but the statement should really just be modified to "from now on I will exercise much better judgment where that company's products are concerned." Yes, I am biased toward GCM mechs and so I do hold a higher level of optimism in regards to Toynami then most... since at this point it seems I have to.

Amen Exo though, what were you doing buying all the Alphas upon seeing the Beta?? Why not just buy Scott's since that's likely the only Alpha that would ever sell out? That way there you could handle it and determine if you wanted to buy more at some later point? Can I play devil's advocate here? Did you purchase the Mac+ toys from Yamato? Did you snap both your VF-11Bs legs off? Did you watch your YF-19 crumble in your hands? Did you enjoy opening your VF-19A to find the paint had already worn off the leg fins in transit? Did you give Yamato a second chance? Did you buy the 1/60 VF-1s? Did you marvel as the screw-covers popped off during the first transformation only to never be seen again? Did you lose one of the stupid arm guards after putting the gun in for fighter mode? Did you ever put it in GERWALK mode with super armor and laugh at the fact you could no longer twist the legs? Did you give Yamato a third chance? Did you get a Yamato 1/48? Is it not worth all the craptastic efforts that came before it? Aren't you thrilled you didn't swear Yamato off for those issues you saw in their earlier products? Yamato has grown leaps and bounds much quicker than Toynami has/will but I still think it's silly to swear off a company based on their first two "quality" products. What if the Beta comes out some day and it's Toynami's equivalent of the 1/48 VF-1? What if it doesn't come out but Toynami picks up some other license and does something stellar? Being skeptical is one thing, being rash is another. Besides, we're all familiar with prototypes not making it to production. We're all frustrated and we've become impatient... but I think we should just all turn our eyes to the great Yamato products coming out and hope some day we'll be pleasantly surprised to see the MPC Beta resurface... as something transformable that actually attaches to Alpha.

Sure, once I get it I'll see what other toys it has some similarities to and get all the pics together I can. I might just load up the server with a temporary review with a ton of pics and then go back a month later and slim it down big time.

There are ways (I would think) Toynami could probably get this thing to hitch together in a somewhat decent manner... problem is that "somewhat decent" just isn't going to fly with the negative feedback they've gotten on everything else. Everyone will immediately hit forums and say "Ugh, this thing BARELY connects, it can't even do two barrel rolls before the alpha falls off!" Ya get what I mean? The better it connects the more people will want it to live up to a toy's standards of being able to connect like Legos so the level at which people will be truly happy is a mighty high standard.

I'll be doing a full review and then a comparison to the Banprestos on my site. Bobe says he's shipping mine Thursday(ish) so I should get my review up sometime next week.

Hey Bobepat, did you ask about them releasing the 1/100s with the super armor as a separate box set like my theory for how other people will be able to get the Hikaru VF-1S?

Wow, Starscream looks fantastic in fighter mode... and god-awful fugly in robot mode. Yikes! I won't be getting that although I wouldn't be surprised if someone gives it to me as a present since everyone thinks I collect Transformers and has no idea what Macross or Robotech is... I'll have family members get me the Toynami 1/100 series since they can be had at a really reasonable price and seem like a great gift. I'll be getting myself the Angelbirds VF-1A and the YF-19 if it's out by then. I'm going to be passing on the reissue of the 1/48 Max and the new Hayao as well as the VF-0A.

An answer about the connecting to the MPC, the MPC Beta attached to the currently avaialble MPC Alpha (supposedly) via a removeable piece. There was an arm that could be attached to the Beta by some means that then followed along the belly of the Alpha and attached near the chest. It's been a while since I saw the pics and I've always questioned how stable it would be... I wouldn't be surprised if this was a big part of the hangup on the Beta's final design... it seems impossible they'd be able to get a firm attachment. The arm jets also attach to the Beta's chest but how solid could that be???

Praise the lord I don't collect DYRL paint schemes. It has saved me the cost of 4 1/48s now (Max, Hik, Hik S, and Hayao) but lemme tell you, I do feel a ping of jealousy when you all get yours . I must remain strong... MUST remain strong.

I have some serious doubts as to how well this thing will sell. It's an off-color production of a toy that was already doomed to have a small fanbase... I wish it luck.

I do agree that the MPC is an improvement over the Imai kit. Do you think the slight changes made though would make a Tread meant to match up with the model not be able to match up with an MPC? I should think if it could fit one it'd fit the other. All we have is speculation based on some hearsay... you don't need to panic... YET.

Ugly but intricate, I'll buy one for the novelty and hope that making paint jobs like this mean we'll see more neat paint jobs in the future.

The CG is old news (from Yamato's standpoint), Graham's been mentioning how he has seen the prototype for a while now by saying "it looks much better in person" and it's supposed to be out in a few months.

No, seriously, are you going to tell me that Yamato did a better job with the 1/60 head on their 1S? The Toynami 1S head was the best out there... until Yamato's 1/48. The MPC essentially is the IMAI kit. They are the same size and dimensions and Toynami actually purchased the molds to the IMAI kit and used them to design their MPC molds. I wouldn't worry about the difference between 1/55 and 1/48 scale with the Legioss in MPC or IMAI kit discussions either seeing as the scale is neither 1/55 nor 1/48 but somewhere in between for battloid mode (and simply unapplicable to fighter mode). If you made Beta/Tread to attach to the IMAI kit it would almost certainly attach to the MPC as well. 1/48 scale for a Beta would make it approximately as tall as the MPC VF-1 and something like 4" deep in battloid mode... I don't think you'd really need to get a larger scale than that. It's my understanding that Toynami is just kind of shrugging off the Beta and questions related to it at the moment while they determine its fate internally. If I'm not mistaken, the $250 price point originally was said in the context of a guesstimate at what a TRANSFORMABLE Beta MPC would cost and based on that Toynami had begun considering making a non-transformable Beta for significantly less. My take on this, with Shadow Chronicles finally having a deal penned Toynami might just shelve the Beta entirely and wait and see if demand for RT products doesn't pick up. They're probably also planning a line of Shadow Chronicle toys (cheaper, mass-production stuff) that they will be releasing in the meantime and that might even include smaller plastic alpha/betas... only time will tell.

A theatrical release first eh? Well, being in San Francisco maybe that will be one of the six cities this thing would probably show in Very interesting, I will continue to approach RT:SC with one eyebrow raised.

I disagree, I think it shows these molds are now profitable enough where they could pretty much spit out whatever they want since costs have been recouped. Extra profits now can be funneled toward new molds like the 1/60 0s, 19s... and who knows what else.

Col Small Johnson??? Where was that from???