imode

I'd like to see that, maybe poke around the Macross's origin a little, but still keeping it a mystery like the Millenium Falcon's origins. Maybe also show the beings Zentraedi like Millia, Britai, Kamujin, etc. were cloned from. But it wouldn't have variable mechs.... so it wouldn't be as fun. You took the words right out of my mouth.

If you look at the second page, you can definitely make out the words Focker, Nora and Armored Valkyrie.

Not surprising. Beneath the sword play and giant mecha lies a bishounen anime just waiting to swallow you up. Thank goodness Alan and Van were heterosexual.

I liked Escaflowne...

‚pF1/48Š®‘S•ÏŒ`”ÅVF-1S‚âVF-1A‚Í‚à‚¤Žè‚É“ü‚ç‚È‚¢‚Ì‚Å‚·‚©HĔ̗̂\’è‚Í‚ @@‚è‚Ü‚¹‚ñ‚©H ‚`F‚¨–â‚¢‡‚킹‚ ‚肪‚Æ‚¤‚²‚´‚¢‚Ü‚·B10ŒŽ ‚ÉĔ̗̂\’肪‚²‚´‚¢‚Ü‚·B @@¡‚µ‚΂炭‚¨‘Ò‚¿‚­‚¾‚³‚¢B Q: Is it not possible to obtain the 1/48 VF-1S and 1A anymore? (No mention of type, but 1S and 1A. Safe to assume 1A Hikaru, and 1S Roy) Are there any plans to sell them again? A: Thank you for your inquiries. There are plans to rerelease them around October. Please wait just a little longer. --- And there you have it. -imo

I couldn't agree more. Investing your money in toys in the 21st century is very unwise, especially with the 1/48's. I've seen lots of Hikaru VF-1A's going for $100 or less, with few to none selling even at the MSRP. I don't see these reissues as Yamato's answer to a large demand; simple economics dictates that large demand + limited availability = increased value. Since the 1/48's have not increased in value (and the Hikaru quickly depreciating), this is merely Yamato's way of maximizing revenue by "milking the cow" even more. They're a shrewd company indeed. B) Personally, I'm loving it. In a 2-3 years, I'll be able to buy a fleet of 1/48's at a fraction of the current cost!! Well, I'm hoping the decision to release more 1/48's shows that Yamato has ditched the "Collector's Edition" mentality and gone with just making a mass produced, yet higher quality toy line.

Uh. . . bad news for the collectors? These have been out for only a year or two. The price increase has been negligable so far. If you're buying these for their investment value, I suggest you go to the stock market. Bad news for the 1J because it will be delayed? Why? It is entirely possible that Yamato is capable of putting out both at the same time. The reissues are already designed, sculpted, etc. All they needed to do was paint them. Who knows, maybe they have a new production line. Sorry if I sound bitter. I just hate unqualified assertions of fact when there is really nothing certain known. Either way, I think this re-release (if it pans out) bodes well for Yamato and the 1/48 line. Obviously, there is a large demand for them! Hmmmm, wasn't someone on the old boards saying that the 1/48s would bankrupt Yamato? H I for one wouldn't mind a delay in the 1J. I love the 1/48, but one a month of nothing but different colors of VF-1's gets to be a strain on the bank. Don't worry Yamato, you'll get my money in the end... just please don't take it so fast!

The only reason Millia lost to Max was because she was too distracted by his.... nosecone...

Whoo could you elaborated the upgrade between the two since I don't have the Low Vis yet? Other than the slightly crook of the skull and the nonstand still canopy opening, I don't see any problem with 1/48 Roy. There's the extra grooves in the nose cone making it less prone to falling off. There's the added space in the arm hollow to facilitate 90 degree elbow bends and added room to open that little arm hatch thing. And lastly (unless I'm forgetting something...) the flaps don't fall off so often. Truthfully, I don't know what Yamato has in store regarding fixing these issues in the re-releases. If it's not mentioned in the newsletter, then I don't know. Asking Graham to elaborate would be the wiser choice.

Yeah! Positive thinking! The VF-1S will have all the improvements like in the nose cone and the flaps. Plus, the 90 degree elbow bends and the no-tab ni the nose gear doors (not sure if this is an improvement). But this will give us something to think about... Read on: When Yamato released the VF-1D for the 1/60 line-up which has the "L-shaped grove/trench" for its gundpod. In other words, it has primitive arms even if yamato ALREADY MADE the collapsible 1/60 gunpod. We hope that Yamato will not release the VF-1S Hikaru with "primitive flaps" and "primitive nose cones". I'm keeping my cool here but we all know it's the same company....................... Or maybe I just being paranoid. OK. I'll just spell it out to be clear: PLEASE YAMATO! Please release the VF-1S Hikaru with the flaps and nose cone IMPROVEMENTS!! Urr... I think Graham already mentioned that they didn't make the L shaped arm groves. The grooves are the little-square ones that are now standard. That is... unless you got screwed.

Nope. Their newsletter is as vague as ever. My advice though, would be to start saving now... especially for the Monster.

I actually like the way the hands come out. It's a lot easier to take them out and put them back in, rather than try to pose the fingers in such a way so that I can jam it into the arm hollow. The antenna is no different than any of the previous 1A's. When you put the head through the back hatch, it's good to leave the antenna stick up straight into the air instead of leaving it folded down. If you want leave it folded down, rotate the head 45 degrees to the right or left so that you have a little bit more clearance when shoving it through the hatch. And like graham said, the movable second fin is to allow the backpack to lie flatter. If you glue it in place, you can forget about adding fastpacks to your valk, as the weight of the rear boosters will pull the hatch backwards. If you don't plan to get fastpacks, then feel free to glue it in place. The existing joint of the backpack without the swing-latch should be strong enough to hold a non-fastpack equipped backpack in place. So to each his own...

Old news.... 1/60 Q-Rau and Monster for 2004. One interesting thing however, reissues of previous 1/48's are being released starting october. So if you missed out on the 1/48 Hikaru and you're dying to get it in the 1A version (don't look at me...), here's your chance.

That's would make a beautiful toy, but as much as I'd really like one, it'd be silly to have a F-14 having its prices artificially raised because of import costs and a silly UN symbol sticker blocking it from international distribution.

Yes. I think it's just for detail in fighter mode, and perhaps in gerwalk. Only when youre in battroid do you have to push it down. Otherwise, the backpack won't lie flat to the back and you won't be able to latch the backpack with that hook on the hatch.

Okay, so it's too messy to quote, so I won't bother. I'm not singling you out either. Your post existed therefore I just felt compelled to respond with counter-reasoning. I'm not saying anyone accused me of having any problems. I suppose I should have made my actual point clearer. You say at the end that if Yamato sells out on something, then they should make more. Makes perfect sense to me. Fine business sense. If there is demand, make more supply. However, as we see with the original Hikaru 1/48 1A, Yamato has a fixed construction amount, and even though their warehouses are empty and most stores are empty now too, they have not made any more Hikaru 1A's. Also you mentioned that you wanted to wait for a 2nd and 3rd version so that Yamato fleshes out any QC issues they may have. While this is perfectly understandable, especially due to the Macross Plus fiasco, I am going to be highly skeptical of Yamato making reissues... at least not for some time to come. The main problem with the Macross Plus valkyries was that they were designed poorly from the get-go. Thus we saw reissues of the YF-19, and technically "enhanced, updated" reissues of the YF-21 and YF-11. However, there are no real design issues with the 1/48 like the ones that plagued Yamato's macross plus lines. Things could be better here and there, but not to the point that the 1/48's are falling apart (in the wrong ways) on people after one transformation. The QC issues that really plague the 1/48 are to check whether or not you're missing this piece, or whether or not this section was painted, etc. Unfortunately, no matter how many revisions something may go through, those types of issues will always be a problem because they're all human, and nobody is perfect. If it's a design issue that you're worried about then there's probably not too much to worry about. The biggest issue is the stress of the rear boosters on the backpack, which I agree, is a valid point. As for my quote about the 1/60's... Don't be like some other people here (I won't say names) who like to talk about how crappy or how good something is without even owning one to start. Okay, so you caught me making assumptions on the quality of the fast packs when I admittedly own none. I'm basing them on my previous experiences with the 1/48 line, as I have had nothing but quality so far. What are you basing your assumptions that they're going to be crap on? Not trying to be an a$$hole. It's just genuine concern over the fact that people go flapping their gums about things they don't even have any experience in. And no, I don't work for Yamato, and no I don't wear coke bottle glasses. I just haven't been jilted by them yet, and hope to blissfully remain that way. -imo Yamato fan-boy

Considering upgrading my order with Kevin to five

Oh hey, the UN Spacy is printed on the leg armor! Nice!

Uh.....yeah. Seriously haterist, it's their money to spend on what they want. If you know Yamato, so do the rest of the guys here. Let them have their fun. Anywhoo, from the pic below, what's that white piece for? The one next to the forearm attachments? It's a piece for the backpack. You can see it in the scan from that one mag with the Elint Ostrich and Fastpacks. It's the one on the bottom right, circled in red. Graham said that Yamato claims it will help strength the backpack... I'm not even sure how it fits...

Are you kidding or what? <_< If you plan on waiting for a 2nd or 3rd release, get ready for a long wait... I've never had a single problem with any of my Valks. Aren't you the one who recently only bought a few 1/60's? I prefer to buy something and see for myself rather than let myself be swayed by other's opinions. I have five 1/48's that are flawless. I have no reason to believe the fastpacks will be any different.

Ouch. that's a nasty price...

Don't you find it kinda strange though, when all your toys are in differing scales?

It's one thing to not buy... It's a whole another thing to hope they don't make it at all. And I'm not sure why everything thinks that a 1/48 would be so unwieldly. It's not like the thing is made out of cast-iron and takes two people just to pick it up. In reality a 1/48 19 wouldn't weigh too much more than a VF-1. People hear that it's X meters longer than a VF-1 and go, "woo, too big!", when in actuality it only translates into a longer fuselage. And while we don't know if it will be as detailed as a VF-1, there's no real reason why it wouldn't be. And I'm pretty sure you have no real proof that one wouldn't be either. Also, I don't see how people can justify buying nearly 20 1/60's and then call the 1/48 expensive... (not directed towards you Aegis )

Am I the only one who wants Ishtar?

Law of diminishing returns. Even with a fancy new paint job no one can really deny that it's just another VF-1A, and the market is already flooded with them. In some cases it would actually be cheaper to the consumer to buy existing 1A's and customize it themselves. I'm sure that Yamato's making less and less profit on the 1/60's now, especially with the introduction of the 1/48 line. The original TRU limited was the novelty. They had success by adding the 1J and 1S super and strike. If they start making naked 1A's again they'll see their profits take nose dives.