GutsAndCasca

This actually happened for a year in college. Two otakus and two jock-kus stuck into the same dorm by random draw. The jock-kus got hooked into Marvel vs Capcom 2 and Star Craft after getting whupped, and the otakus were dragged along for daily exercise after the jock-kus started getting good at MvC2 and SC. Tempers flared and soothed, bonds were formed, and two people found lov... wait, wrong program, lol.

Seriously though, it was sorta satisfying seeing jock-kus being lectured on the finer points of Hajime no Ippo or Slam Dunk.

I really really wish I could have witnessed that.

You are WRONG haterist! Wrong, wrong, wrong! (jk) Yeah, as far as I can tell they 1/48's are all the same shade.

Well. I just want to know if the hardware in the PS3 is fundamentally superior. We really won't know what either system is capable of until probably four years from now. I know that Metal Gear Solid 3 is relatively recent, and I just played it for the first time like a month or two ago, and WOW. Talk about impressive - I had no idea the PS2 could do such things. I can't imagine what the PS3 titles will be like in a few years. The system launch, as usual, will have games that are cool now, but will seem pretty awful eventually. Anyway, I'm rambling. So will blu-ray discs hold more information than a 360' disc?

Okay for anybody who might know... is the PS3 in the long run going to be a more powerful system than the xbox 360?

Also, how great are the graphics going to be on the PS3? I see those pictures but I'm not that impressed. My computer has a Radeon 9800 Pro card, 1 gig of ram, 3.12 ghz. Can the PS3 beat this? I don't think I'll be able to buy a better computer than mine for 600 bucks, and I KNOW for a fact in the future the pS3 will have games that I want so bad I could cry. It's a toughie wether or not I'll buy one at launch... but I SHALL own one eventually.

Edit/add: So far, the Xbox 360 isn't "wow"ing me. How come every game coming out for the 360 is also coming out on Ps2 AND Xbox? If the 360's so great... then uhm, why do they have the exact same games on inferior systems?

the non-pt of the yammie 1/60 vf-1 has to do with a lot of factors. first and foremost, this was yammies first attempt at an orignal design. the 1/72 M+ valks were more or less studio halfeye's models in toy format. the vf-1 was designed from the ground up. it lacks the sophistication found in each suceeding generation of toys. secondly was the fan fetish with diecast. the 1/60 literally can be used as a dart to kill someone. its got the highest diecast content of any vf-1 toy out there which shows in its heft for its size. the die cast content posed a problem in terms of balace and transformation. yammie decided in favor of more diecast than trying to get pt, imo. note how newer valkyries no longer feature diecast except in mission critcal areas for reinforcement. this made balance and pt a lot easier. quite frankly i thought the die cast fetish was silly. colors never match and paint always scraped. thirdly, fans were anti swingbars. it ruins the sleek jet aesthetics of the vf-1. toynami was severely critcized for their use of the swingbar. while yammie innovated, toynami merely copied existing designs (mostly from the HCM). yammies vf-1 was way more aggressive and sleek looking than the toynami, due to better sculpt and no swing bars. imagine a big honkin' swing bar on the 1/60 and imagine how it would ruin the aesthetics.

vinnie

I agree swing bars always look like crap. (Except the new 1/100's manage to pull it off really well) The detachable legs without a doubt help to make the valks look great in fighter and battroid modes. Just like I said before - I don't think it was Yamato's intention from the beginning to make a perfect transformation 1/60. They probably figured detachable legs were the way to go in terms of looks, and they were correct on that. The result is a beautiful looking valk. (minus the VF1S head from the photos I've seen - and gerwalk mode) There's just some issues with the toy here and there that I can't help but wonder "what the heck were they thinking?"

Note: I still really like these things. I shall not change my opinion. As soon as I possibly can I plan on buyin' a bunch of these guys from you, Vinnie!

Mine, the one I just posted pics of is a floppy retarded mess. It looks great but it is horrible on literally every joint. I pretty much have to leave it in fighter mode (which I like the best anyways). I got it on the first preorder.

It seems I have a literal twin in terms of VF0 circumstances.

Imagine living in a state where the one and only conversation guys have in their spare time deals with somehow knowing exhorbitant amounts of information about a plethora of other men. In my little world, I'd call that being queer. For jock-kus, knowing every name of every player on every team for every sport in every circuit and everything about the lives of all of them makes you cool somehow. (?)

Now I will admit that it would be strange for a person to know everything about every anime ever made blah blah blah, but at least anime is diverse, intellectual, imaginative, and creative. I'd like to see a reality TV show in which they stick otakus and jock-kus together in the same house for a while.

Those are true words of wisdom. I can hardly imagine a world with a toy company able to compete with Yamato. And yes, even though I've grown somewhat numb (developed a low tolerance) for Yamato's prices, I still try to avoid thinking about the issue because I believe they're practically extorting $$$ from the fans.

I'd buy it if given the extra cash! I'm a sucker for anything macross.

I'm a lil' late to this thread, but FYI, I already have my yf19 bought and paid for. I'm just waiting for the stork to arrive at my door.

I think you're just being ridiculous about the ridiculousness and stuff of the VF-1 1/60.

fwiw, you could've saved yourself the money and whining by just reading the 1/60 pictures-reviews that were written back when the 1/60s were first coming out at both here at MW and at MacrossNexus.

Oh, yeah. Yammie did found a way to transform their valks without having to take off the legs. It's called the Yamato 1/48 Valkyries.

Someone could have written down that all the 1/60's smell like poop and explode on contact with air and I'd still have bought one because like I said in my original post - I want VF1's to display next to the 1/60 VF0's, the YF19, whatever comes next, etc. I also didn't deny that despite the imperfections, I really do like these things a lot, sorta' like how my wife thinks about yours truly. Seriously, you can't go on other people's opinions. Not me anyway; if I want to buy something I'll do it, in spite of bad reviews. I've played many-a-video-game that other people hated and I ended up loving. Heck, when I bought my 1st Xbox years ago the salesman told me to avoid Halo like the plague because he thought it sucked.

Macross toys that are almost as old as I am had designers who figured out how to transform them without removing the legs. My insinuation was that any toy made after the year 2000 (and this is giving a lot of elbow room time-wise, I should have said 1990) should be perfect transformation. Seeing as how the designers at Yamato are obviously very good at what they do, I don't think they were shooting to make anything perfect trans' - and this makes the toy suck in ways that it didn't need to.

I'm not sure if I come across as incompetent and/or woefully stupid, but yes, I was aware that the 1/48's legs don't need to detach for purposes of transformation.

EdIT: I definitely will be spraying down my Hikaru with a clear coat! Ghost - are those brands you mentioned available at say, home depot?

To be perfectly honest, the biggest nerds I've ever known in my life were "sports-otakus." Since I moved to Utah two years ago, I have come to realize that nearly every single member of the male species in this state is a "jock-ku." I won't get into all the ways that they annoy the piss out of me, but I think it's strange how being jock-ku in the USA (especially UT) is not only accepted but frankly glorified. To me, nothing is more drab and boring than someone who has absolutely nothing else to do in their free time except watch team sports on cable and read sports illustrated. I'd rather smear peanut butter on my eyes and let live gerbils gnaw their way deep into my skull than be a team-sports obsessor.

Edit: Sometimes, I wish I'd been born in Thailand where at least me and the jock-kus would have something to talk about. Thailand's national sport is actually something to be proud of.

I honestly hope they crank out a whole ton of 1/100 crap. And I hope that in the process they become more focused on all things pertaining to QC. Perhaps if they were a bigger toy company they'd have better quality toys? Maybe their factory sucks?

I got a Hikaru 1A in the mail today, and you're not gonna' believe this.. the paint doesn't match Max. Max is sort greyish (like the 1/48's) and Hikaru is bleach-white. What the heck happened here??? As for toys released in 2000 and up, I'm puzzled as to why Yamato didn't find a way to make the valks transformable without having to take off the legs. Oh, I tried gerwalk mode and it looks ridiculous no matter how you work it.

Thanks Junkie! I shot him an email and I'm awaiting a reply. Hopefully it'll be something positive.

*slowly climbs back into chair after recovering from seizure*

*laughing once again* Oh man! I have GOTTA' visit Japan one day, if just to get a look at these guys. Do you think it's really anime that makes people into these crazy dorks? I wonder if maybe Japan just doesn't have enough diversity of hobbies to disperse the nerds enough, so they end up in anime-concentrations.

I have a hard time feeling sorry for them. They were penny wise and pound foolish with the stands; you'd think they would have designed the stands to be able to take the minor amount of stress an attached Valkyrie, their Valkyrie, would put on the stand's socket. After test shots were made, the parts should have been put through a life test regimen to identify possible design/engineering/manufacturing/material flaws, and any problems addressed before release as to avoid having to go through what they are facing now. The fact that so many people have complained about sockets splitting within hours of having the figures mounted for display tells me that they never even tried them out; or if they did, they didn't care (this is euphemistically called a post purchase complaint in the industry. As long as marketing makes its numbers, everything else is background noise)... I'm sure this little fiasco has reduced their profit margin by a good 10%, but they have no one to blame but themselves.

I do have to give them props for their costumer relations, and willingness to address complaints and requests for replacements promptly... at least one part of the company knows how to do business.

I bit harsh? Maybe, but that's the way I feel.

Not harsh at all. I completely agree with you, down to the letter.

EDIT: Also, I gotta' add, I personally like these 1/100's better than the Yamato 1/60's. They're a lot easier to transform and pose. I think they look cool as hell too --- way better than banprestos, chunky monkeys, and probably every other macross toy ever pumped out aside from Yamatos. They are overpriced, yes. But so is everything else in this world.

I like listening to the dub because I don't have to read the subtitles. I can only handle a certain amount of subtitle-anime-viewing before I really get sick of it. Sometimes, it's nice to just sit back and enjoy anime in your own language, without having to focus 100% of your concentration on the screen at all times. As long as the voice actors aren't in monotone or otherwise blatantly inept, then I'm content.

I actually already read almost all of them. I see you have the same complaints as I have. Just exactly when WERE these things released brand-new?

EdiT: I just realized after reading your review that I will probably never find a strike roy.

Does anybody have pilots for these valks that they'd sell? Does anyone know where to get recast ones? Heck, I'll paint them myself if I have to. Thanks everybody!

---Bri

I shall be checking this out, thanks Jenius. And yeah Kensei, I guess you're right... although I will still be dropping at least several hundred dollars on these things.

EDIT: I hear ya' Cube! This thing's already growing on me and I've only had it for less than a day!

Just be careful, or you may some day find yourself borrowing my chin-tissue.

Sumdumgai --- I laughed so hard when you described the fat smelly otakus! The one who squealed like a pig?? *ahahahah!* Thanks for making my evening. I guess I can't be an otaku for the same reasons as you, although I don't look like a serial killer I don't think, as long as I keep the blood washed off me. Plus I only really buy Macross stuff, and the occasional berserk item. Is there a name for someone like me in Japan? BerMacTu?

Okay yes, I got a reply from Toynami! I get replacement sockets! Man, I have to feel for their company, it has to be a bit pricey to be sending out so many replacements. I gotta' respect'em for shipping the new stand pieces though - good policy, and makes me a definite future customer.

As for fighter mode looking ugly... I disagree, I think they look way-cool. Can't complain!