Alex

Soooooo.......the red 'stuff" that the space whale covers Basara's valk in is not blood. It's POLLEN?! Which means that Basara gave the Space-Whale the same space orgasms that he gave every other alien entity in the show. Kind of explains Basara's little chuckle shortly afterwards. it's actually the sound of his mind snapping. Dare I say it......."COME ON PEEEEEOPLE!!!!!"

Well, last week I found a copy of 'Future Blues" for 105en, severely annoying someone I know who had spent around 4000en for it a few years previously. Actually, did recently find a Japanese Fort Max for 15,000en.

Huh. Didn't know that you sold them to MW'ers. Were they really only 59p?!!? Damn, Wish i'd been into Macross back then. Army buildinnnnnnggggg! Or not. Ironically, I think it's a "Destroyed" shop now. Can't remember seeing it when I went back around in 2004.

OK, let me preface by saying that, even though I live in Japan, this is pretty random. I was visiting a friend of mine who works for a travel agents. I decided to wait on the stair-well above her office (the second floor is not occupied by any business). Sitting there, I notice out of the corner of my eye a stack of maybe 7 or 8 magazines. Now, finding abandoned manga over here is very common. Toilets, trains etc. However, I noticed something familiar about the spines. To my surprise, there are 8 issues of ANIMAGE (an anime devoted magazine that started in the 70's) just sitting there. But the weirdest thing was that they were MINT. Smooth spines, totally virginal. Never seen issues this old in this good a condition. EVER. Looks like stock that had been in a warehouse for several decades. Fearing some Anime fan targeted sting-operation, I made a quick evaluation of the situation.......and then stuffed each glorious copy into my briefcase. I still fear the knock on my door. So, anyone else ever found random Anime finds in your respective home-towns? (like the Robotech destroids Renato and I randomly found in a corner shop in Scotland.

Yep. No problems. Graham just needed a little more time to figure it out and my first one was a lemon. But seems to have been the only one reported. So relieved that my second one has no problems. 11 looks to be an all-over winner.

Exchanged my 11 for a new one today. No problems what-so-ever on the new one. Heatshield locks and the escape pod is niiiice and tight. Yar!

Double nuts? is this Yamato being ironic? I mean, this colour scheme really IS just balls. I apologise for the crass nature of my last comment. I usually am such an erudite fellow. But, COME ON.......!

I think that the fuselage is just a little too loose on either side so there's little friction for the escape pod and the heat-shield. I've pulled it to full extension and it still does not lock. It really doesn't matter though.

Had the 11 since the release date now and the honeymoon is still going strong. I'm still having problems locking my heatshield but then again the escape pod is also way too loose. Falls out when I turn it upside down now. Meh. Not really an issue. Someone had to get a dud. Looks like this could be as solid and break-free as the 21.

I'd quite like a Ghost/Sharon Apple set. You could have a light-up base that stands either a clear plastic "human" Sharon or the Hal-9000 box with red light-piping. And I actually quite like some preresentation of Isamu on his bike. Flyer and futuristic motor-bike.

Hear Hear...........my song. This would be at the top of my list too. The back-pack would be more than big enough to house an mp3 player. I could see a market for this also if you included a head-phone jack. I see those stereo buddies (robotic dogs/penguins/cats/plants) everytime i go to the department stores. They seem to be a big seller over here. A Fire Valk version would probably sell very well.

Well, it took a lot of fiddling but I finally got my heat-shield to lock WITHOUT the foam. I think the problem was that I was too afraid to pull the heat-shield into it's full extended position as mine was actually a little too tight. Didn't realise that it could extend more than it was. Guess my last few yamato purchases have made me a little nervous about pushing things too far.

Still loose if turned upside down but the nose of the pod does not slip down now. And Graham, slipped my mind but did you notice if they included one of those photo-copied ammendments to the instructions concerning the heat-shield? Can't check mine right now.

It's a different kind of foam. It's the very spongy type that does not disintegrate into little snowballs.

Graham, is there a way to transform it without removing the FPs. Trying to fiiddle around to see if I could but was unsuccessful.

Sorry. There's just the two pieces. The one in the nose-cone (the smaller one) should be left in there.

So far. I transformed it with the shields closed and they didn't once slip out of place.

Maybe they should advertise it as an DIS-integrated heat-shield?

OK. There is a trick to getting the lower heat-shield to lock......and it's REALLY.....STUPID. First I wanted to see if the lower heat shield would lock without the escape-pod in there. Yes, there is a little groove that it follows and locks into but there is not enough room for it to do so with the escape pod in there. And it won't stay unless it has some pressure from behind. NOW...... When you first take the escape pod out you will see two pieces of springy foam packed in the back, behind the pod and one smaller piece in the nose-cone. DO NOT remove the smaller piece. The smaller piece left in there gives a nice amount of pressure that gently pushes the pod against the heat-shield. Slightly sliding the little switch underneath the fusealge that lowers and raises the pod will help lock it in. I woke up the i morning and the lower half was still in place. However.....I really do not want to pay 17,000 for a Trans-foamer.

I really can't see how you could do that as the blu-tac would gunk uo the inside.

In all fairness, in that pic the lower half of the heat-shield is totally fallen down.

The top half of the heat shield does not even like to stay in place and pops outwards, so there's even less for the bottom section to clip under. One thing though, Graham, I think you mentioned the hands on yours do not grip the gun-pod very well? Mine are solid. If anything, they make it a little hard to get the gun-pod out. That's how firm the grip on mine is. Kind wish that this bird had the same double-jointed elbows featured on the V.2 VF1.

Looks like it should lock in underneath. Mine does not even come close. It also looks like they intend the pressure of the canopy underneath to hold them in place. I'm concerned that the constant pressure will lead to cracks in the canopy. I was able to get the canopy to stay in Battroid mode but it eventually slipped back after half an hour standing on my shelf. Seems Graham got the better one as the escape pod on mine is pretty darn loose. Holding it upside down, the escape pod stays in but swings half-way out. it also constantly slips out of place in fighter mode so when displaying it I have to make sure that the front end does not dip. really frustrating. maybe it's just mine. I have to balance some of this negative observation with the fact that all-in-all, this is a great toy. it's solid, looks awesome. I love all the little hidden switches that open up the panels. The hidden panels that fill up the gaps in Gerwalk were a nice touch. Edit Almost forgot, Graham, do the feet on yours have any problems? The front foot has a hinge in the middle but mine is super springy which makes standing a little tricky. haven't opened it up yet to see if I can improve things.

I've been trying to understand it. The lower heat-shield slips down a lot in battroid mode.

Ok. So the lower portion of the heat-shield.....It did NOT lock, and slid back down to it's fighter-mode position when transforming it. Very annoyed by the floppyness of the pver all escape-pod fit/heatshield locking. Watch out for the shoulder panels that sit infront of the vents either side of the head. These are not on pins. They may pop off when you transform it and they are small so losing them is a possibility. Other than that, articulation is great, pulling off more than the VF1 since the wings are set further back giving the 11 more crouching options. Dissappointed to see that the elbow articualtion only grants a 90 degree bend at the elbow. And I don't like the return to the chicken hands. And NO fixed pose optional ones. Bleh. transformation is suuuuuuuuuper smooth and intuitive. I got it back between modes in under a minute. It is probvably the most solid of the Yammies next to the V.2 VF1. All this and the ability to shrug its shoulders. Nice.