jenius

The Russians of old would call them Capitalist pigs. I don't get the anamosity... they made money, good for them. They're still making money... good for them. They're proud of what they've done... good for them. Do they deserve a Sci Fi award I've never heard of for it? Not more than the creators of the original series but heck, good for them. I hope the original series have already gotten plenty of accolades.

Wow.... $375.99... that's just crazy talk. That's $125 more than I spent on my Low Vis and that's after the LV craze really started heating up. I'm glad I only collect 1/48 in TV color schemes... this woulda made me insane.

Now for a review: Shadow Fighter #1 (serial number mid 3000): Not bad first impressions. Nothing obviously broken, landing gears all popped out nicely and appeared straight. One tail fin doesn't lean outward as nicely as the other. Cockpit opens easily and closes tightly. Gun's a bit of a PITA to get to stick in the desired spot and clearly would kill the pilot if fired. Checked the joints and usual trouble spots, all seems well so I didn't even transform it, just displayed in fighter. Sadly, the front landing gear doesn't quite sit down and no amount of massaging corrects this. It's just barely off the ground though so I'm not fretting. Shadow Fighter #2 (serial number low 4000): This is one of "those" shadow fighters. Vents are smudged but it looks like a little eraser attention should correct that. IT HAS A FRIGGIN GREEN HINGE BEHIND THE COCKPIT. That's right, someone put Lancer's hinge on a Shadow Fighter at the factory. Wonderful! Turn it upside down and one of the screw covers is missing... seen ths before on Yammies so I'm not too surprised. The right arm is a little loose at the elbow hinge but nothing too substantial. Forearm isn't as tight as it should be so it wants to pop off the shoulder joint in fighter mode. Front landing gear needs so much love if it was a clitoris there'd be guaranteed orgasm by the time you can get this thing out. Rear left landing gear takes an insane amount of effort to get to the position it should "pop" into... no pop. Speaking of insane effort, getting the cockpit open nearly required the jaws of life. Transformation is sweet, all other joints are tight, acheives Armo-Diver without any worries and holds a pose. Shadow Fighter #3 (serial number mid 4000): NICE! This is one of those ones everyone hopes to get. Arms are locked pretty tight together in fighter mode (very minimal forearm gap) and paint has no visible flaws. Landing gears appear to work fine and cockpit pops right open. Transformation is actually HARD because the joints are all so tight (with exception to the hips... they could be a bit tighter). I had to yank so hard on the legs I was frightened. Shoulders, forearms, and chest all rotate and extend snugly. Battloid looks nice... the head is perfectly straight! First time I have ever seen an MPC with a perfectly straight head.

Okay so now i reveal why i wasn't shopping around. Last month I came across someone selling Volume 4 Shadow Fighters for $55 shipped.... so I bought three of them. They came in today. Here's a pic -

True dat, the "hero ship" phenomenon is seen in how all the main characters have valks that stand out from cannon fodder. The more it stands out from the flat brown the more heroic it is (blue, red, Jolly Roger). I think we're kinda stretching it an itty bit by incorporating what color the heat shield is also. Definitely an interesting thought though. Ya know, maybe the paint on the heatshield burned or wore off fairly often and it was just painted whatever color was more readily available. Ya figure a few good transformations and an intense battle left it lookin' pretty banged up so the guys sprayed on a new coat real quick. "Hey, gimme some blue paint" "Sorry, only got black handy." "Well, gimme some black paint." See, everybody's right

Hey, are they supposed to be filming DYRL in the scenes where they're making a movie in Mac7? If so then wouldn't that mean the Mac7 heatshield shown for both characters (red and blue respectively) is what's actually supposed to be in DYRL? Arguments over animation quality aside shouldn't we go with whatever was done more recently as the crew has had time to look back and think about these things (although this is admittedly a teeny detail)? I dunno, definitely doesn't seem like anything worth getting heated over... it looks like this is one of those "everybody is right" situations. PS - Focker woulda looked horrible with a yellow heat shield.

Sorry, don't know the name of anybody off the top of my head but it shouldn't be hard to snag 'em off Evilbay for around there. I'm currently not allowing myself to shop around Well then, by all means, where can I get one for $65? That's exactly the price range I was hoping for. 322195[/snapback]

You should be able to find them for $65 pretty easy. They won't be reissued. I don't know if all 15K have been shipped yet but they were all built at about the same time and all have the same build quality. I own three of them and my only really buggy one is the lowest serial number (has the different color front vents). The other two I have are in the 5000 range and they are both pretty sweet. Just treat it like a highly detailed model and not a toy and you should be alright.

Sorry, is that a serious question or am I just gullible? The band is.... The Misfits. I saw a kid with that skull on his T-shirt. What group uses that skull igsignia? 321616[/snapback]

Most the arguments I've seen in regards to Mac7 being bad have nothing to do with how it was received in Japan. I think the more common myth is the one that since it was well received in Japan it must be somewhat good... Not trying to bash... but I think that one definitely works both ways.

You might have to stop at one if they don't reissue more of them! Prices are nuts-o. I'm spending good money on catching up. Just need the Max and Milia then I'm done. Somebody help me!

LOL, at least it'll be better than the people who spent $300 on a toynami MPC VF-1S. Now you can get 'em for $55 (for the time being at least). At least the Yammie is a really good toy.

Okay, so I checked out the link to this site's toy section and I guess each vending machine came with a random set of three larger toys. Sadly I don't have a Glaug or Regult in mine Mine came with a VF-1J and two destroids (I'm not a destroid fan so I don't know their names).

Well... I've already posted my VF-1S pic before but it seems appropriate here (it's small). Also, I'll add a pic of my Taka SDF-1s and Matchbox SDF-1s (they are "old school" although they aren't chunkies).

Sweetnessss... I was hoping it was an old Taka item. Thanks Totoro, you definitely know your Macross (amongst other shows) merchandise!

Actually, I looked, it's not candy, it vends out little Destroids in a bubble container. So don't worry, you don't have to worry about me trying to eat them! The destroids look pretty crammed in those tiny bubbles though so I'm guessing they'd be pretty distorted if you pulled them out now. Is this an early 80s item?

So a while back (I'm sure some of you remember the auction), I won this vending machine thing with a Takatoku VF-1J and mini SDF-1. It's neat looking, the box is banged up, but the item inside has never been used. I was really bidding on the other two items though and am not sure what to do with this. Is it rare? Is it worth holding on to? I certainly don't think it's been re-issued... Edit, more pics

I might be over-stating Hikkie, maybe only $140... that's also the going price for the Hikkie 1J coincidentally

1A Hikkie is probably at about $150 now. Here's price estimates on the 1As in the current market: LowVis - $300 Max - $185 Hikkie - $150 CF - $130 My guess would be that the CF will eventually be worth more than Hikkie and possibly more than Max. For now though, this is how it's shaking down out there. Obviously this is a very imperfect science so take those price estimates with a grain of salt.

Funny, mine are pretty sweet. I never spent MSRP on them though... most I ever spent was $60. The old models are hard to build in a manner that looks nice... very difficult indeed. Seriously, stand your MPC next to an old Gakken... it should put the Gakken to shame... then again, they apparently do have a lot of quality control issues so maybe you just got a bad one.

Actually the Max 1A is getting pretty pricey... the Hikkie 1A is the cheapest 1/48 you can buy.

What was the first greatest film of all time? You've probably said it elsewhere... but it's probably before my time.

seriously... very carefully. Bend the card enough not to crease it as to expose one edge of the plastic. Once the edge of the plastic is above the cardboard get a fingernail or something else underneath it and ply gently. There's gonna be tearing, there has to be, but do it super slow and you'll keep it to a minimum. That works for Toynami poseables at least.... not that i"m worried about them becoming collectable but i like to have a place to store toys.

There have been complaints about the Roys having crooked jolly rogers on the fins and the first issues of all the 1/48s had nosecones and wing flap problems with falling off. Beyond that it's all just preference and I wouldn't worry about the next reissue having flaws... they darn well better have it right by now.

Milia can still be found for a reasonable price. It's a super Valk and the going price for those was always a bit steep (but worth it). I think I'm just going to bite the bullet on the Max pretty soon here... I'm buying display cases and I hate leaving gaps where toys should be just because I'm looking for the perfect deal...