VFTF1

Well - the problem with putting stuff in Menasor's trailer would be that it would make the trailer non-operational, and I'm guessing fans would rather put some Stunticon cars in his trailer Eventually, at some point, I am sure that Takara will produce a Masterpiece Gestalt; and I guess it would have to be Devastator; since he's just so obviously iconic as the first Gestalt TF... Maybe in ten years, they'll have the tech Maybe...maybe they're working on him ...now.... Pete

Yeah, like ff95qi said - that is the stand included by Yamato with all their SV-51s The Yamato YF-21 1/60 also has the same stand, although it is clear and not black. Pete

Well - this is the key question. I mean - to create a Masterpiece Devastator... you would need ENORMOUS engineering skills. Putting aside the tremendous difficulties of getting the vehicle to transform in such a way as to make it look like the cartoon robot, now imagine that you ALSO have to get the vehicle to transform in such a way that it looks like the cartoon gestalt component That would be mind bogglingly hard to do. Particularly with Devastator... where are his upper legs going to come from? I can imagine that Mixmaster would have the upper leg for Devastator in hsi "back" - just flip open the "cement mixer" and flip out the leg. But what abour Scrapper? Where would his leg extension go? The only place it could go would be somewhere out of Longhaul...? Same problem for the lower arms, not to mention the head - where would all this stuff fit? Because I'm presuming that if it's Masterpiece, then it can't be "gestalt parts as add ons." Just to think about it boggles the mind. If they do it, I would put down 1000 USD for it. no questions asked. IF they manage to do it Pete

This is precisely what I have done. It is a very very wise decision IMO. And, just for the people who happen to love retail Hasbro TFs, the decision can be generalized: Stop buying things you "kinda like" and stop "buying because it says 'Transformers' and start to discriminate in your buying habits - look at the range of stuff offered and prioritize; think about whether you'll be happy with your purchase a month, or even a year later. So yeah -good thinking D Unit. This is one possibility; but there is another flip side - namely, retailers, even if they do move their stock via massive discounting, will then NOT place large orders with wholesalers for stuff that they can barely shift even with massive discounts and sales. This in turn will ultimately mean that the signal will come back to manufacturers: hey - don't make so much of this stuff. This might be a problem, since part of what makes mass-production desirable and profitable is that you HAVE TO make (and sell)- well - MASS amounts in order to get your money back, and have a chance at making a profit. So cutting down production amounts will ultimately lead to someone saying "Maybe instead of making these high scale high end Valkyrie, we should be making diapers and toilet cleaner?" But this is a dark scenario. I highly doubt this will come about. I'm an optimist - I think the economy will rebound after a bit of a prolonged and painful correction. Heck - I'll even venture a bold guess: this time next year, we'll all be spending like there's no tomorrow on Macross and other stuff hope those aren't famous last words... Pete

Really?? How is it possible that the MG Zero is better? I mean, yeah, my MG Zero is great and all - but BETTER than the PG? I've been sitting around for a year regreting that I don't have the PG Tell me please, why you are not satisfied with your PG? Pete

Well - yeah. Obviously Masterpiece Devastator would be the greatest thing on Earth. But how on earth would they package something like that? Each Constructicon would have to be huge. You just can't have, say - Longhaul, in truck mode, looking small and dinky next to the Peterbilt Optimus Prime cab.... A Masterpiece Gestalt would rock; but I just can't fathom how they'd pull it off. Then again, I told myself the same thing about Grimlock too... Pete

Looking at those pictures, I finally realized what all the fuss was about. Something like that absolutely did not happen on my 1S.... However - it is definitely wierd... how could that piece have broken off? Pete

The VFOS by Yamato has a transformation scheme that is not anime-accurate Hate to break it to ya, but if you take a look at the first transformation of the VFOS in Zero, it clearly shows the legs coming down on big, ugly Bandai chunky monkey swing bars Yamato's VFOS doesn't have swing bars! It's too beautiful to win Pete

Well, technically, if they are going to keep doing "icons" of the Transformers, then they've still got to do Soundwave and his cassettes. Granted, I just want Encore cassettes - like they had minibots, but they could do a set of six cassettes - Ratbat, Rumble, Frenzy, and those two dinosaurs... I dunno. It's hard to fathom where MP will go next. I'm curious whether they will venture into the realm of the "cars" - Ironhide, Sideswipe, Jazz ... In the beginning, people said "no - because there is Binaltech" - but Binaltech has a) died, b) didn't actually turn out that great except for a couple of moulds; and in general ultimately was NOT G1, but only G1 inspired... so MP COULD give us perfect G1 Autobot cars... Personally, if I had a choice, I would want a Masterpiece Ratchet. Ratceht was always my favorite of the season 1 Autobots, particularly for his portrayal in the first 8 issues of the Marvel comics. Pete Pete

So nice to see all this 1/60 v.2 goodness in full gear! I shall soon join your ranks! My VF-1A Hikaru with SS parts will likely be with me in a week or so - just as soon as customs gets done raping me Then...then...I too shall post many photos and thump my chest with pride Gotta say also - that when looking at the photo galleries of the old 1/60 Version 1s - which back in the day were "wwwoooowww" - these are just so much MORE wow! - and it's not just because of perfect transformation! They truly are amazing works! Can't wait for Max and Milia in DYRL/late TV colors. Have been looking forward to owning that pair for a long, long time now Pete

Speaking of nightmares, I remember when I got my VF-11B from BBTS, the legs fell off even before I had taken the figure completely out of the tray. I wrote to BBTS thinking "man - they are NOT going to believe me" - I was like "please believe me - they just...came off...I didn't break anything..." And BBTS were like "oh, yeah, that's happened to every single VF-11B that we've sold" and offered me store credit It was a shocking eye opener - I'm surprised Yamato had the gutts to keep churning out products after what must have surely been the massive farse of the VF-11B... And yet - here we are today with a great GREAT range of stuff from Yamato awaiting more... I just wonder - given how Yamato works - what life will be like in say...2018? Can you guys imagine, ten years from now, anticipating the 1/48 VF-11B version 3.0 ? See - no need for nightmares. Dream...dream...dream... Row row row your valk gently down the stream...life is but a dream EDIT: Ah crud Just noticed this ISN'T the VF-11B thread. My bad. On subject: Um....hips...err...I like the hips on the VF-25 - they are mega hot. Just wait till we get a chance to put THOSE into Disco Saturday Night Fever or YMCA poses, as some have done with their VF1s Pete

As long as Frauelein continues, I'll be happy - although lots of the other figures were really top notch achievements as well. Pete

This idea of Hotrod would be...interesting... although they could go "all out" and give us a Rodimus trailer for him... Initially, I was skeptical that they would ever move away from "real" alternate modes; but then agan, look at all the other high end SOC/Macross stuff out there that has little to do with "real" alternate modes, and I guess they figured "what the hey" I would love to have Springer - he is one of my all time favorites and very neglected. But I would also love it if they went a bit crazy and did something exotic - but I guess once you've covered the bases - everything is exotic...Grimlock certainly is.. Pete

As far as poseability goes - I don't have many Gundams, but so far here's how they stand up durability wise: MG Wing Zero: AMAZING! This guy is like a toy figure. You can pose him at will. He'll do it all for you. Joints are tight. Only little problem is getting him to hold his double-barrel blaster in both hands - however, it IS possible...just can't allow even a small gust of wind to hit him when he does it MG Unicorn: Best thing to do is disassemble him, pose each body part seperately, and then put him back together. Due to the transformation that has to take place into Psycho mode, they were compelled to make the body parts easy to remove, but this also means that you should try to pose him without first taking his body apart, because the parts will just fall off if you do. MG Crossbone: Ace! No problems MG Turn-A: This is kind of tough. The legs to get a bit wobbly, and sometimes you have to be careful with him. His legs don't rest flat on the ground no matter what you do and his shoulders are annoying, but overall ok. The HGs I have are all super poseable. But yeah, in general, Gundam models are delicate and, like Macross, you shouldn't expect to be flailing these about without doing damage to them. Pete

Nice Turn-A, F-ZeroOne! Turn-A is my favorite Gundam design. I built my own, but he is not panel lined... and the cow is not painted Anyways - I have no painting skills; and I'm afraid to panel line...and don't have the markers anyways... just happy to be able to build 'em I would eagerly recommend that you try building yours. No glue or cement or anything of the sort necessary - it's like advanced legos and lots of fun Still - nice to get a shiny well done piece from someone else too Turn-A turn, Turn-A turn, TURN-A! Pete

That ghost vision Black Serena looks interesting But in general, I am hoping to get myself Dymos next year Pete

I gotta admit - they have MP Grimlock dont solid - he is soooo cartoony I think this is the first time in history that something so utterly cartoonish has been replicated with such fine detail I mean - all I can think of is those statements by Michael Bay and other TF LA movie people who kept saying "can you imagine the cartoon Transformers from the 80s actually walking around? People would not be scared, they would laugh, it would be silly. We have to make them look more [robotic/alien/scary/modern] etc etc" Now I look at that Grimlock and think to myself - heh - imagine if people indeed saw THAT walking around... Well - I wonder who will be the NEXT MP? I doubt they'll give us all of the Dinobots; cool as that would be... My guess is we're up for another Autobot though; but then again, mould wise we're two for two now... hmm... wonder who...wonder who... Clearly, with this MP, Takara is showing us that possibilities are limitless. They are not sticking to "real life representation" like guns, trucks and planes. Silly monsters are ok too.... Pete

Well - I honestly can't vote for any of the choices. Reason is simple: all of them are great - and of course I'm assuming the 19 and 21 are 1/60... I would be really hard pressed to sellect "the best" here. It's not like we're being asked to choose the best Megatron design - G1/ARmada/BW/ etc etc etc. Yamato's philosophy is to design the most accurate figures possible given the anime and line art. They have done so with all of the above and I can't bring myself to vote one above the other. Pete

Here you go folks: Compare all you want: Note: I did misalighn the hip machine gun on the left hip - so sue me As for everything else - two things become aparent as I was trying to match the figure up to the anime: 1) The Wing silli...silly...err...oh - the shape of the wings in Battroid mode is different 2) My Nora has a very tight right wing hinge which limits its' posseability whereas the left wing hinge is fine an allows me to make the wing more "vast" thanks to it. I've just now - doing these poses - noticed that the wing hinge on the right wing is so utterly tight that it refuses to bend - and I'm going to have to wonder about how to address this. Might check Ivanov to see how he shapes up. Pete

Actually, HLJ usually uses "Backordered" for stuff like that. From my experience, "discontinued" means "discontinued" pending the production of more waves; which might never happen. The vast majority of items which are "discontinued" over there are in fact - well - discontinued. Of course, it's possible to suddenly move from discontinued to in stock - it's happened before with other items; even items that were "discontinued" for some time... But, I guess I'm just enjoying the chance to speculate Pete

ff95gj - you have just inspired me. I am going to go pose my Nora like in that anime screen grab and see how it compares! Be right back!... Pete

We'll see. I am basing the statement off of HLJ's website. In my mind, there are three possible explanations: a) Sales are way down. Recession/global crisis has caused HLJ to lower their orders from their own suppliers. Therefore, they sold out all of their Thundercrackers immediately, and it automatically went to "discontinued" but within a week, as more supplies become available, it will go back to in stock or something. b) Sales are way down. Recession/global crisis has caused retailers to order less from suppliers/manufacturers. Takara-Tomy has decided to cut down on the quantity of high-end stuff that they produce; hence new Masterpiece releases will not be out there in the same quantity as before c) I'm talking out of my butt; there was a minor error and it's fixed now but here I am still wondering about it... I duno. Skywarp is in stock. Thundercracker is gone. Could be that everyone had already bought Skywarp a year ago; so less Skywarps are selling on pre-order, whereas everybody and their grandmother wanted Thundercracker. Dunno. We'll see Pete

So... am I the only one to notice that MP Thundercracker is discontinued on the exact same day that he came out? Glad I got mine preordered! Pete

Cool Can anyone pretty please put up the pictures? As to the fast pack - what I'm most excited about is how it folds up into "satelite mode" or whatever the official designation is I'd like to see how that works as well Man - I can't wait for these things to come out! Pete

Minmey singing the chorus from DYRL Pete