Alex

It's level. Got the heat-shield to lock btw.

Hm. Can't gwt the lower heat-shield to lock. Keeps falling down.

The escape pod does not fit in there tightly. Shaking it when upside down will make it fall out. No locks or anything. Not even good friction hold. Other wise very solid fighter mode. Awesome connection for the FPs. The gun pod has the extending blade. No extending stock though. Nice finish to the canopy. A much stronger rainbow effect than on the VF1s. Any specific things peope want to know/have me check?

Got my hands on my 11 right now. The nose cone is actually filled with that styrene like packing foam. And it seems to be part of the design!!? Edit. Ok. I get it now. It's just in there to protect the parts. Came out. The sliding heatshield is actually very simple. Love the removeable escape pod. Hmmm. The escape pod/cockpit does not seem to lock in there. Just slides in. Makes the ability to barrel-roll a little uncertain.

Just picked up MY VF-11 too. Was just saying to Renato, this Yammie looks the sexiest in its box. Practically purrs at you when you pick it up. Problem is I won't be able to open it and post my thoughts till tomorrow. Bleh. Must say, i'm liking the almost dreamy-like quality that the box art has on these latest 1/60's.

My God. I waited 3 years for a repaint of the 19 and we're given these. These are some pretty unimaginative repaints. The "Strum and Vocal"...whatever. Not bad. Just..meh.

Well, the official posters said April 21st and I guess they were wrong. The other 1/60's came out today but not the VF-11. The guy at the store said that there might be some delay but didn't seem to know more than that. It doesn't look like it's out this month at least.

The Aoshima Tread is out in July?

Ah, crap. The Tread. Toynami. That WOULD help I suppose.

I don't know if this has been mentioned. It's certainly not evident in the manual or any review pics of the Toynami Tread. When in Battroid mode, the missile banks on top can raise up and lock in position. All you do is pull the missile banks up a bit and they will extand upwards about a half inch. Then they will lock so that you cannot then angle them upwards as you would when transform ing to fighter. Just push them back down and then they will angle upwards. Of course, this feature in no way improves the asthetic of the toy nor increases it's durability since you will never knock those missiles out of place anyway. But thought i'd tell you anyways. Though it does add about a half inch to the height.

Coming back to this thread after being away. Many people argue for Alto influencing events and pushing the plot forward. His presence encourages Ranka etc. Problem is that so much time is spent on him. He steals time from other characters and gives them little time for character develoment. I'd rather have Alto be a little more in the background than he is. Yeah, returning to a more passive figure ala Hikaru is great. But Alto is just not interesting to watch.

That smell is normal though. Most toys I open up have that. I like the smell. Technically constitutes a form of substance abuse though That's the only reason I go into gashapon shops in Akiba......duuuude.

Hm. It's similar to what i'm saying here. I see Alto as a character that was shoe-horned into the story in order to appeal to a certain demographic or for whatever reason. The point in the other thread for example, that Alto's paper plane inspires Ranka to sing. Yeah, so? It would have been much better if that inspiration would have come from say, Ozma. You could easily edit that out nad have Ranka simply summing up the courage by herself, making her a stronger character. Watching some Frontier recently. I think you actually COULD edit Alto out and preserve a strong plot-line.

Rag on Alto? Only if it's soaked in Chloroform. Attack Gamlin? Only coz he's stolen Wolverine's hair-do I actually like Gamlin. Just not so keen on Alto.

I don't know how popular the character is with other people but watching MacF........you really could cut out Alto. He contributes very little to the overall story. It's almost as if Gamlin were the main character of the show. He's reactionary. The most interesting triangle would have been Ranka-Ozma-Brera with the brotherly rivalry between them. In most cases, Alto doesn't actaully affect the story. In both the Hydra attack and rescue from Global for example, it's Brera that does the rescuing. When ranka discovers that Ozma has secretly been working for the SMS, it's Alto that has the confrontation with Ozma. Pretty much because he has nothing else to do but constantly bemoan that he's "different!" Or am I just cuh-ray-zee?

Thanks for explaining for me. Been away from the computer. All in all, i'd reeeally rather have had a ratcheted neck in plaxe of the "shake one's head" gimmick. Can't stand it.

Has the gimmick for raising and lowering the head been mentioned? I noticed that it was missed out in the Reviews by Peaugh and the others i've seen. Pushing down on the legs in Dino-mode raises the head and repeating it lowers the head. And is it just me or are these head gimmicks all really, really, underwhelming.

I don't know if this will work for everyone but I heated the hip armour of my Michel with a hair-dryer and squeezed them together a little. They don't cling like a Ho to a pimp but they hold on much better than before. I can transform it now without them falling off.

I think you're being a little strong there. I wouldn't say they failed on every count. Fighter mode is quite solid. The hip connector aside, battroid is pretty solid too. I personally think it's also quite playable. I'm more annoyed at the asthetics than the build. Swings and roundabouts (kings and down'n'outs).

The Luca is out tomorrow. And you shouldn't have any real worries about the armour. Apart from the hip pieces and the slight wobble on the connection to the wing root, it's a nice bundle.

And it looks like the wing root is on a joint also. Can't see enough detail in the pic, but it looks to be. My excitement for the 19 is slowly increasing.

Ok, I don't want to offend anyone with this. Friend of mine asked me to watch some of the more recent Gundam series. Now, Macross for example has an overall (more or less) connected story line. Gundam on the other hand just seems to be one sci-fi series after another with a Gundam mecha thrown in. You could Slap a Samurai mask on the VF25 and call it a Gundam series.

Just something to watch out for. The tip of the left wing booster on my Michel was missing when I opened it. That's the blue circle on the front tip of the booster. At least i'm not missing a head like I did with the 1/60 Roy. And I don't k now about those hip pieces. I put them on my Alto and had a devil of a time getting them OFF! No idea why it's the reverse with the Max.....I mean Michel.

To be honest though, Grimlock more than any other MP was the least difficult to realise. He's more an update of the G1 toy anyway.

Got my Michel lastnight (i played around with him enough so I think I have the right to call him that rather than Mikhail ) God that hip and crotch armour is frustrating. It never stays on when transforming it between modes. I'm gonna have to get some blu-tak on that area. Other than that, very nice, not as nice as the MP Grim or Toynami Tread, but nice.