Matt Random

Leader class versions of Prime, Megatron and Brawl have been shown so far. There is an unconfirmed rumor of a Starscream as well.

I was originally planning to pick up the Shin combo but opted for this instead since I don't have room for another zero and dropping $50 is a lot better than dropping $200. I like it although it is a bit pricey for what you get, but this is Yamato after all so that is par for the course. There are a lot of display options for this item. I was thinking about having it suspended above my VF-0S and VF-0A, but now that I've played with it I really like it attached to the 0A in fighter and battloid modes. Looks like I'll be changing the display around a lot. The ghost is a decent stand alone craft. Nice and sleek. The rear landing gears are really hard to deploy. In fact, I haven't succeeded yet. The panel that must be removed to place the droid brain on the ghost is REALLY tight. I had to use a tool to pry it off. The fit of the droid brain panel is much better. The droid brain doesn't look bulky and out of place like I thought it would. The booster mode setup has some problems. The only attachment point is two little tabs that go under the replacement tank pieces. The rear struts just sit on the zero. The original tank pieces on the zero are a real bugger to get off and the replacement pieces are really loose. All the included replacement tanks are white plastic. The gray set is painted. The gerwalk looks great but it worries me since the bulk of the weight of the ghost is sitting on the tail/backpack just past the hinge. I'm afraid that this may warp the joint over time. The battloid mode is a little better. The entire weight of the ghost is supported by the two tabs that slide under the tanks. This is a bit of a problem since, as I said above, the tanks don't attach very tightly. The rear struts don't even touch the zero since the tailfins/backpack doesn't lie flat thanks to the tailfin hook. The fighter mode is great for display but you won't be doing any barrel rolls since the ghost just kind of sits there as opposed to being securely attached, All the modes look nice with the ghost attached. This attachment of the ghost just doesn't seem as well thought out as the VF-1 fast pack attachment. Maybe the production of the ghost was an afterthought. The colors are quite nice. The ghost colors blend well with the 0A and are just different enough so that both aircraft appear to be distinct entities. I like this since I always got the idea that the ghost was strapped onto the Zeros as a spur of the moment solution to the problem of getting somewhere fast. The missile pods and fuel tanks look nice. The tanks are painted and the pods are molded in color.

That would be really nice. The Alternators where great figures for the price, especially considering the licensing cost. Realistic vehicle mode w/ complete interior, clear windows, rubber tires, working doors, complex transformation and good articulation all for $20.

I got the Voyager Ironhide through TRU.com along with the Real Gear camera and phone. The RG stuff seems to be a bit bigger than the past basics or maybe it is just the big card. The phone is the same size as flip phones from a couple of years ago and bigger than the tiny slivers that pass for phones today. The camera is a bit smaller than my Canon SD500. The vehicle mode is rather bland since it is almost entirely black. Even the tiny-tiny exhausts are black. Rubber tires would help a lot since solid hunks of black plastic don't make very good looking wheels. The finish isn't consistent since some parts are bare glossy black plastic and other parts are translucent plastic painted matte black. The transformation is quite complex. Almost as complex as some Alternators. The automorph on this figure is in the lower legs. Fold the feet plates down and the rest of the leg transforms. Kind of neat. I don't think I figured out exactly where everything goes. The robot mode is what attracted me to this toy and it does look nice. However, it is a bit of a kibbly mess. The split & angled hood is both neat and a nuisance since it tends to get in the way. The angle is maintained with springs. I guess this is supposed to be automorph but it ends up getting in the way since it makes it impossible to adjust the angle. The head is nice and big so it doesn't get lost between the shoulders but it is so overly detailed that it ends up looking like a jumbled mess. Kind of like how many of the Beast War heads were. The joints are a mix of really tight and really loose. The thigh cut joint is so loose that the legs tend to buckle. I need to work some nail polish into there. I don't see any ball joints. I don't mind since the joint types used here look better on a sturdy bot. The only weapons are the arm canons. These look really nice. The missile firing mechanism is of the friction-push type. There is a separate trigger for each missile. The mechanism only works when both pieces are combined to form the long canon. My overall impression is a bit mixed right now. I don't like it as much as I'd hoped but I certainly don't regret spending the money. I think that I will like it more as I discover the little tweaks to the transformation. I'll probably pass on some of the line that I've been on the fence about such as Jazz and Barricade. I like the look of the Voyager Prime, however. it would be too small to go with Ironhide. The 2008 deluxe Bumblebee looks really nice.

I've never liked the mass shifting. A gun or a walkman that becomes the same size robot as a semi truck is silly to me. A micro cassette that becomes a human sized robot is also silly. I don't mind the way that the movie is handling it. The amount of 'stuff' in each form is unchanged, however the distribution is changed. I find it much more realistic. I do like beefier robots with more recognizable vehicle parts on the robot modes but this is a re-imagining of the franchise so I'm willing to give it a chance. I was willing to give the SW prequels a chance and that didn't turn out so well so who knows how I'll feel in a couple of months. The Frenzy robot mode does certainly look silly but I do like that it sort of looks like it is made from the plastic and thin sheet metal that make up a boom box. It needs to have some circuit board elements mixed into the design.

He's a boom box that turns into a 4' tall robot. That means he has to be a really thin robot since there is thankfully no mass shifting in the movie. I'm wondering if he'll be the comic relief character in the movie. Various spoiler things I've heard about him sound like it.

New pictures (new to me at least) of Arcee, jet drone and 08 Bumblee have been posted. There are also some picture of some others. The drone looks to be transformed more correctly but is still ugly. The Bumblebee looks much better than the older model and has clear windows this time. Tformers Album

That is the ugliest Transformer that I've ever seen. Even worse than the M1 minis. At least it is anatomically correct.

I don't mind if the colorscheme for MP Skywarp doesn't match the animation or G1. I want to the jet to be all black with silver or gunmetal engine exhausts. The purple leading edge on the Classics v-stabs is fine. No purple nosecone please. I've always hated the different nosecone color on Seekers. I'd like to see a silver chest (like the classics version) on the robot. The feet can be silver or purple. The forearms and calf detail should be purple. Guns should be black with purple details.

Is anyone who is using a studio setup also using a flash? I'd like to get a little more subtle fill light into my setup and to soften any shadows a bit. I'm thinking of using a Lumiquest 80/20 setup (product page). The 80% that is dedicated to ceiling/wall bounce should help to soften shadows and the 20% that is used as fill light should be subtle. Any thoughts on this?

1/48 pros for me... - Bigger, better positioned head (not so buried in the shoulders) - Sleeker battroid - Sleeker jet - Nicer cockpit detail - Cockpit can be displayed open - Better pilot figure - Missiles don't fall off when I look at them - Battroid holds together better (no shoulder popping) - Finish is consistent since there is no mix of metal and plastic - Don't have to go looking for parts when I want to transform it - Gun pod is meatier - Beautiful fast packs - Fast pack thrusters don't set too high in jet mode 1/48 cons... - Price - Takes more space to display - Weighs less than I'd prefer - Weak wrists

Even though I know I'll never have all three of the original Seekers, I couldn't resist picking up the Skywarp 2-pack for $5 today. Skywarp has always been my favorite Decipticon and this is the best version of him to date. Ultra Magnus is nice too although I have to admit I'm getting fed up with the whole paint Prime white and call him UM. The original UM, the one that defined the character, was never a white Prime. He was a unique looking character whose vehicle mode happened to have a component that looked like Prime.

The real start for me was Jetfire although at the time I didn't know anything about Macross or Robotech. The green Joon's VF-1J started my Macross collection even though the color wasn't true to the series.

That is what I've been doing. I sold off most of my 1/60s to get the 1/48s. I sold my 1/72 19s & 21s to get the 1/60 YF-19. Now I plan to sell off a couple of 1/48s to get the DD SV-51. One SV-51 is enough for me. I was planning to get the Shin 0A but I've decided that one VF-0S and VF-0A are enough. This stuff is getting too expensive to get too many.

Does anyone know what marking will come preprinted on the Shin 0A? I'm looking forward to the SV-51. It is great that it is coming with all the add-ons from the beginning. I really wish the YF-19 would have come with the fast packs and booster from the get-go.

I'm really losing interest in Yamato. I was a good customer and picked up the first release of the YF-19 for around $200. Now if I want the fast packs I have to pay $60. If I would have waited I could have saved $30 by getting the $230 bundle. I guess in this case Yamato is going to lost out on $30 since I am not going to purchase the fast pack set. I really like the Macross designs and the various bits that get added onto the valks as the different shows progress but I'm questioning whether I should support a company with continually shoddy QC, ever increasing prices and increasingly devious marketing.

I saw quite a few before Christmas. I haven't seen any this year but I'm sure that'll change once inventory season is over. Fry's may have it.

I totally agree. Was he ever shown as a pistol in the cartoon?

The compression of the BBTS pictures looks way too high. I think they are really worried about disk space or something. None of the MP Megs picts are over 35K.

I like the solo Prime. Nice proportions and a neat weapon. Although it looks like a big part of the truck may be hanging on his back. I don't like the Prime or Megatron in the couples picture at all. Prime is way too bulky and awkward looking. Megatron is a pile of kibble in both modes. The jet thingy has a folded robot half hanging off each wing and the robot mode has a folded jet thingy on his back.

I got my 19 from Amenbo today. EMS only took a week and that includes all the recent holidays and a second delivery attempt. I gave up on HLJ since SAL takes two months on average (to CA Bay Area) and EMS takes three weeks. I think the problem with HLJ is that they are just really slow to ship stuff. Why do all the Yamato valks since the 1/48s seem so light? Am I just used to the diecast of the 1/72 and 1/60 stuff? Yamato stuff even seems light compared to Transformers. I feel that the 19 is a little light on the gimmicks for the price. Just some removable head covering and the removable stock. I guess there are some other gimmicks included such as the removable seat, stand adapters and extra wee-wings but I'm not considering all of this since I'll never use it. I'm a bit tired of Yamato catering to the customizers. I don't want to pay for extra parts and I want most of the major marking tampoed on. The Shin 0A had better have as many markings as the 0S since it is a character specific aircraft. My 19 doesn't have any QC issues that I've noticed. I haven't checked the alignment of the gunpod yet. I cracked one of the rear landing gear blocks but that was my fault.

I've maintained a budget since '02 so I know for sure that I've spent $2075 in the past four years. Tack on another $450 for any 1/60 and 1/72 stuff that came out before '02 and I have a grand total of $2525. I've sold quite a bit of stuff over the years which brings my grand total down to $1010.

Found this... The TV series The Man from U.N.C.L.E. featured a Walther P38 modified with a stock, suppressor, and scope. This was released as a toy, and the design formed the basis of the popular Transformers character Megatron (see below). A latera, silver Microman toy edition was branded the MC-13 U.N.C.L.E., likely a reference to the show. Here... http://www.answers.com/topic/walther-p-38

Yesh, the Amenbo shipping quote for the ghost with the VF-0 is 7300 to 9300 yen for anything other than surface. The total ends up being comparable to the BBTS price. I wonder what HLJ is going to charge for the shipping?

The BBTS price seems a bit high. Tack $30 for shipping onto the HLJ price and it is still $30 cheaper than the BBTS price without shipping. I hate waiting for HLJ shipping but I think I can stomach it to save $30+.