Lord of Tetris

Thanks for the help, guys. Again, I really hate to sound like a troll, but I've done all of your suggestions, and the problem isn't any better. I've taken pictures this time. I'm aware that there are two hinges on the BP8: one on the backpack itself, one on the back of the plane. From what I can tell, both are fully deployed. This is the result: As this picture shows, I have not moved the piece past the bump that I colored red in my drawings: So, from what I can tell, the two backpack hinges are both fully deployed. Any more movement, and I'm stressing the plastic. There's a 1cm gap between the backpack and the hook: I can get the backpack to sit flush with the back if I simply apply pressure with my hand and put the hook on. But this way seems to bend the plastic, and I don't want to keep doing that. It can't be the way it's supposed to be, right? I've seen tons of pictures where the backpack sits flush against the back all by itself, no need for the hook.

First the good news: I finally got it into Battroid mode. First 1/48 Valkyrie for me, and it is a hell of a lot more confidence-inspiring than my first-run VF-0S. Now the bad news: the backpack is still at a 20-degree angle from the rest of the back. Pressing the "behind the head" piece toward the head didn't seem to do any good. I have copied one of the pictures above and circled the part that most worries me: Am I supposed to push the backpack up until the circled part goes inside the backpack? With the way I'm doing it now, the circled part is staying outside of the backpack assembly. I can sort of intuit that pressing that into place will do the trick locking the backpack parallel against the body, but the moral of this game has seemed to be "do NOT force the backpack." So I've been scared to force that piece to lock in. Although my camera is currently unavailable, I made some quickie MS Paint drawings to show what I'm asking. Here's what I'm doing, with the BP8's little bump in red: My question is, am I supposed to push it so the red piece locks in, like this: PS. Can someone who reads Japanese translate p.13 of the instructions? I'm talking about Step 19, which has a side-bar circling that same piece I circled in red. I want to read the Japanese text, but I don't read Japanese...

Thanks!

I'm so sorry, I honestly don't mean to sound like a troll or ungrateful, but would it be all right if you posted pictures of those 4 steps? I hope I'm not asking too much, but I guess I'm having a hard time picturing what you wrote.

My 1/48 scale VF-1S just arrived in the mail. I've seen pictures of people ripping their Valkyries apart at just about every hinge imaginable, so I'm treating this guy with maximum tenderness. My question is about the backpack hinge. I've seen pictures where the backpack sits flush with the backside of the Valkyrie. I also see that there's a hook that keeps it there. I've seen pictures where the backpack sits flush with the back without the help of this hook. There's a little white plastic piece hooking the backpack to the body. There is a bump on this little plastic piece. For some strange reason, my backpack piece won't go past this bump, and it's always at an angle to the Valkyrie's backside. Is it supposed to be this way? Currently, the backpack is sitting flush against the back solely with the help of that little hook. Without it, it sits about a 20-degree angle against the backside. I know there's a right and wrong way to do it, and the Search function didn't lead to any solid results. I don't mind if this thread is deemed redundant and locked/deleted, but if that happens I'd appreciate a quick re-direct to the correct place.

Mine broke too. TODAY. It was just being held in Prime's hand. I removed it, and the hinge broke.

Not so much of a weird pose, really. Reminds me a lot of Jetstorm's robot mode, from Beast Machines.

Your guess is as good as mine, but I certainly HOPE that the new VF-1S Focker will have all the fixes of the previous versions. I have one pre-ordered. It'll be my first 1/48 Yamato, and I sincerely hope it's better than the 1/60 VF-0S, which has all the structural integrity of a toy made out of eggshells.

Oh, and uh, any chance for 1/48 VF-2S?

Thank you. I guess I should clarify something, too. When I mentioned that Yamato staff actually plays with their PRODUCTION model (I cannot stress this enough...PRODUCTION PRODUCTION PRODUCTION) for a month and fixing up their toys accordingly, I only briefly mentioned that this toy's final job would be to be dropped off a table. American toys must pass something called a "drop test," which is to see if a toy survives being dropped at a height of (I think) 3 or 4 feet. It is the final step a toy company has to take before releasing the toy. The reason is that Yamato should at least be aware of what's most prone to breakage. Do the arms always fall off? Do the fins snap off consistently? While I'm sure none of us enjoys chucking our Valkyries against a wall, let's face it, accidents do happen. I'm not suggesting making the toys out of pure titanium, but if you drop 3 production models off a desk and all 3 have their right arms break off, well, they have a problem. Doing this with prototypes and resin kits just doesn't suffice. I'm sure every prototype and resin kit is made with utmost exacting detail and love. With all due respect, this is NOT the case for their production models, which those of us with faulty products can attest to. Playing with their prototype for a month and saying, "Nothing broke!" is the same as not doing it at all. Ditto with running some kind of computer scan and checking weak points. Yamato's quality control is just **** poor at the moment, and I really think my suggestion would help matters.

^^^Myself, I'm hoping for a Masterpiece Blitzwing. Hopefully self-contained, without the need to remove parts for any mode. Rumors say that the next MP might be Soundwave, or it might be Grimlock.

I have a humble reply. Before any toy goes into production, they should have a few PRODUCTION models, NOT prototypes or resin models, laying around the office. Someone's job should be to play with that thing for no more than 10 minutes per day. Just have them PLAY with it. Maybe people can switch off on this job. After a month, they should see where the stress marks are, where it's broken, etc, and fix it BEFORE the first run. The last duty of this "everyone switches off and plays with it" model is dropping it off a desk at the end of the month IF it survived that month. Not throwing it, but just an accurate simulation of an accidental nosedive from a shelf, due to (say) accidentally bumping into your shelf. I really, really hope you ask this of Yamato. It's not going to cost them much time. Employees can switch off on this so that a different person plays with the model on a different day. Bottom line, it'll just cost them what it takes to make one Valkyrie at the factory. So many QC problems could've been fixed if Yamato just played with their own first-edition products. I know the QC problems won't be obvious on their computers where they design the toys, and I'm sure the resin prototypes and their own molds are flawless, but this clearly doesn't pass on through to production of the product. I'm so sick of first-edition versions having all the structural integrity of an eggshell.

I'm not getting any of them. I know that this movie will be re-released. Even if the plans aren't telegraphed, well, when has such a popular summer movie NOT been re-released? I also know that the different stores have different content on their DVD. That is BS! I don't know what else to call it except a BS marketing ploy to get you to buy more than one copy. And I'll bet a re-released version will probably have an integration of the different stores' exclusives. Also, I refuse to buy a DVD when I know a high-definition release is out there. And I have a PS3. I'm not going to be tricked into buying this movie twice, so I won't buy it at all unless it's either on Blu-Ray or it comes out again when TF2 hits theaters and has a DVD with all the features amalgamated.

I hate to revive a zombie thread...but...does anyone know if this is going to be a re-release of the SAME mold as the original VF-1S, or is it going to have all the tweaks and improvements of the later-generation releases like the Kakizaki? I'm seriously considering buying one of these. It'd be my first 1/48 Valkyrie, but I will NOT get it if it has the same problems of the first-generation Valkyries I've been reading about. As the proud owner of a first-generation VF-0S, I can say with confidence that it would be sturdier and more poseable if made out of real eggshells.

At first, I was so opposed to EJ Su's designs. I was too opposed to change. After reading Infiltration and Escalation, however, I've warmed up to them. They have a great functionality to them, it's fantastic. I mean...he managed to make Runamuck and Runabout look cool! I do wish he managed to give the Seekers "wing kibble" the familiar pointing-up shape, though. I could see it happening if (bear with me here) a hinge tilted the wings up, like MP or Classics Starscream. Then, the flaps can fold down, like MP Starscream. Then, EJ's F-22 model can have the familiar wing-points-up shape. Oh well. Small quibble. I'm reeeeeeeeeally looking forward to Devastation #1.

There IS a die-cast Predaking?????

That was AWESOME!!!!!!! Does anyone know if it was CGI or stop motion? I'd like to think it was stop motion, as it looked like the Perfect Grade model kit...but if that were true...that's one HELL of a lot of frames!

I think it might have been in reference to the VF-0. EG, because both limited edition Valkyries aren't VF-0s, playing with it should be fine. As the owner of a VF-0, I'd have to say that I concur. I think it'll break if I stare at it too hard...

I see a lot of repaint potential in these black-and-gold releases. In a different thread, I put up a Digibash of a Skywarp custom made from the YF-19. It wouldn't even be too difficult. Remove the Tampo, paint the visor red, and cover the gold with purple paint, and you get a pretty awesome Skywarp right there. As is...I'm not a big fan of this repaint. I think the gold is rather garish, and the black looks very monotonous. This is especially prevalent on the face, which is black-on-black. And how many times does it have to advertise that it's the 25th anniversary? I usually love Tampo printing, but those are a bit overkill.

I made a few more changes. Nothing fancy, but I removed the Tampo text. Don't get me wrong, I like Tampo paint applications just as much as the next guy, but the "25th Anniversary" logos were getting a bit excessively showy. I think Skywarp looks better with the logos removed, so here's my revisions on the digibash. I tried putting some Decepticon logos on him (tried the shield and shoulders), but I wasn't happy with how it turned out, so I just left out the logo. I don't plan on doing any more digibashes, so if someone wants to put up some Decepticon logos, by all means, feel free to alter my digibash.

Today's actually the first time I've heard of these repaints. I liked the black, but I didn't like the gold, nor did I like how monotonous the black was. Within 5 seconds, I had an idea for a repaint. It wouldn't even take that much work, really. Take the gold, replace it with purple, color the canopy gold, and you have a pretty nifty Skywarp repaint. I think the black looks less monotonous now, and I just think the Skywarp paint job just looks better. I made a few quick digibashes:

Can I request that someone poses him with the 1/60 VF-0 for size comparison? Thanks.

I saw the first hour. I was committed to finishing it, but as Obi Wan Kenobi would say, "I can't STAND to watch any more!" It was as bad as any Sci Fi Original movie. The only part that amused me is when the bad guy shouted "WHO WANTS TO LIVE FOREVER!" to the good guys while singing it in the tune of the Queen song. From what I saw, Duncan MacLeod is in the same rut as Connor MacLeod was in Highlander Endgame. Except, "depressed Duncan" isn't all that different from "Normal Duncan"; his acting isn't as good as Lambert's, as Adrian's acting has always been rather wooden. In Endgame, it was OK to have "depressed Connor" because the movie already had a backup main character, Duncan. With this movie, Duncan is allegedly the main character, but in the first hour he spoke like 5 lines. And this time, there's no "backup main character" either. So what we're left with is a bunch of nobodies, none of whom have a personality except for the priest with the strange hair. Mind you, this is not saying the priest's acting was good, just that his hair and weird sunglasses made him the most visually interesting character on screen. Just trust me. Watch Highlander 1 again.

When is this reissue coming out? I kind of want one. Roy is my favorite VF-1 design, and I've never had a Yamato VF-1 1/48 toy because I keep hearing that they have quality-control problems, and that the problems get less and less severe with each passing reissue.

Hmm. Regarding the VF-0, I can't really think of any color schemes that anyone else hasn't thought of... But I'd LOVE a Cyclonus repaint of the YF-19.