VFTF1

Those look AWESOME. And this just gives me hope that Alto and Ozma will look like that Pete

Wait. The "old" Yamato Valkyries for 36 Euro? Um... that's ...like...for free practically. Why is this a complaint? As to the general question: To compare Yamato to Transformers is just wildly off the mark. Yamato Valkyrie are far far far more expensive to design, far more detailed, far more complex... Compare Yamatos to Masterpiece Transformers at least - then things begin to even out a bit. Generally, I do not agree that Yamatos are horribly over priced. They are basically priced at what a high-end high-detail figure for a niche market from a small company should cost. Pete

Hmm.... I remember how, before I knew any better, I decided on a mixed purchase: Masterpiece VF-1S (toynami), Toynami Alpha, Yamato 1/72 YF-21, VF-11B and the 1/60 (first version) Elintseeker - also by Yamato. The run down went something like this: VF-11B Yamato - legs fell off: well - that majorly sucked. But then again the Toynami Alpha was gangly, brittle and really hard to transform too. The Yamato YF-21 had problems standing up, but was both visually pleasing and durable. The Toynami VF-1S was passable, although the hip bars really annoyed me and it didn't feel very "masterpieceful" in terms of sculpt and detail. The Elint Seeker on the other hand, despite the complex transformation and removable legs, felt like a winner. But it wasn't until I finally got the 1/60 YF-19 from Yamato that I became a believer. In fact, the YF-19 1/60 from Yamato was my first "insanely expensive toy." Up until then, something like Armada Unicron for 50 bucks had been the most I'd ever paid for a single item. But just looking at the YF-19 in final toy form was...an experience. Anyways - after that, I got the VF-1J Stealth and a Super/Strike Parts set to it. (all 1/48) Suffice to say when I took THAT thing out of the box and compared it to Toynami's "masterpiece"....umm... yeah..the Toynamis which were retailing at 79 bucks suddenly seemed way over priced for such low quality, while the Yamatos were just utterly amazing. Since then, I've been getting more and more into Macross, more and more demanding of producers like TakTom/Hasbro), and more and more Yamato valkyrie. Great company. Great stuff. Pete

You know - I think this is because Aimo is in a category all to itself. It's kind of like Voices - it's not a song that you're going to groove to; it's not a "catchy tune" - it's too serious a song. I love Aimo - but it's not the type of song that has a place ina popularity contest. It fit perfectly with the spirit of Birdman/Zero; and it was a lovely, lovely song of course - and it is one of my top choices; but I just can't find myself voting for it as my "favorite song" because it doesn't have that fun spirited vein. It's a serious, somber work. Pete

AAAAHHH!!!!!!!!! I transformed him into Battroid and the legs fell off! Just like that! And then the head exploded!!! And Then the back pack thrusters ignited and it flew itself into a wall and broke into several pieces!! Damn you Yamato!! ;P Pete

QuinJester wrote: With all due respect to people of a different opinion but... I sorta agree with Quin here. However - Ghostkiller has made a good point: he builds model jets that are highly accurate, and so he probably has completely different criteria for judging the fighter mode than someone like me, who doesn't build model airplanes. That said, my gutt feeling is in agreement with Quinn here - Bandai's VF-25 looks good. If Yamato made this - we'd be happy. Sure, we'd be noting that this or that is a bit off or whatever - but generally we'd be pleased. The VF-25F - as far as what my eyes tell me when I watch the Anime - looks pretty much exactly the same as this Bandai toy. It's not chunky, it's not fat, it's not kibble-ish, it isn't off in details, it's not wrong. But then again, I'm a guy who hears "the legs should be flush!" and thinks "Bandai should instal a toilet seat in the cockpit for those emergency poop moments when you just have to go, but are in the middle of a fold, and therefore can do it, press a button, and the toilet is attached to these tubes which go through the legs where waste can be disposed." Pete

Well, I bit the bullet. Gonna get Minmey. Sick and tired of waiting all my life for a nice figure - and the CMS is a nice figure. It's pretty well near perfect. Much better than the crudzola that we got from that other company a while back - I don't know if anybody remembers but there was a whacked Minmey ninio made by somebody else. As for Misa - I want Misa in cute outfits - examples: 1) Misa in cute outfit that she was wearing when Hikaru accidentaly grabbed her butt 2) Misa in cute outfit with Apron when she was doing the dishes and cleaning up 3) Misa in cute outfit when she met Hikaru jogging in Macross city one day Misa has MUCH cuter outfits than Minmey and when she dresses like a woman rather than a soldier, it is blatantly obvious that she is not only better character wise, but also way way hotter So - there really is no point in putting Misa in a flight suite - unless somebody is in to that kind of thing Pete

So -the truth comes out. People who don't like the DX just can't stand the fact that it has a big crotch and even struts it around. Although, in all seriousness - how can a fan of Macross complain about the crotch on the VF-25, given the very prominent placement of the VF-1's nosecone in battroid mode? If the crotch on the VF-25 DIDN'T jut out prominently, then it just wouldn't be Macross, which is defined as hot singing chicks and so big crotches on robots. Duh. Pete

The question about Myung's song reaching Itsamu has always been on my mind. In general, I think it didn't reach Itsamu at all. The song reached SHARON. Sharon lost her power when Myung sang, and this included loosing her power over Itsamu. The reason Sharon lost her power, is because in Myung's song she heard the true pure innocent heart of the spirit of human love - something that she, as an artificial program, could never have. Pete

I think it's the opportunity that Sivil presents: she is incapacitated and somewhat of a "captive audience" for him - if he can awaken her, he would probably pull a Max and go introduce her to the Captain:) Maybe not with the intent of marriage but... On this note - I always found it a bit inauthentic and hypocritical that Max, when Mylene told him what Basara was doing, reacted in typical officer fashion and had the Protodevilin secured rather than saying "gee, I was exactly the same when I was young - I tanlged with your mom in a wooded park and after she tried to kill me, I kissed her and we fell madly in love - This Bassara guy is just like me - wow - he's an ace pilot and he sings love songs to the enemy in the park..." Or...something like that Pete

I guess I'm just said that I can't move her. Static figures never held much attraction for me... But maybe I could build a Minmey shrine or something... it's just she'd be hard to play with what with her not moving at all... Pete

I generally agree with everything Shin Denetsu wrote. But the 1/48 has the following advantages, which arguably were impossible to implement on the 1/60: 1) Antena in Gerwalk mode 2) Holster strap for Gunpod However, the chicken hands on the 1/48 are - in retrospect - a joke; and Yamato have really gone to bat with this 1/60. Also, it's nice to be able to purchase the Valkyrie + Super and Strike parts all together for a relatively affordible price. Also - and this is a big important thing IMO - it's in scale with all the rest. Now only do you get the feel for the VF-1 as the heroic underdog. Put him next to your Quid Rau, next to your SV-51 in battroid mode - staring up at the gargantuan enemy - and it's really moving and cool. All around I say the 1/60 is better than the 1/48 for the above reasons. Pete

Yeah - 50 Bucks was the price of something like Trypticon and Metroplex - which in those days was a HUGE wad of money. As to the gashi gashi - that's interesting and understandable. I also play with all of my toys and models - even my Gundams. However- my gashi gashi now isn't holding them and pretending to do battle, but rather posing them for photography and then making photo-comics. Often times, I build sets outside (winter as well) - however, while I'm not averse to using Transformers in outdoor conditions, I will of course not be taking a Gundam Mastergrade outside; let alone a Yammie - so most of those are photographed in studio conditions and then photoshopped into the comic panel. The point, however, is that this method of gashi gashi is a lot less bashy bashy and therefore doesn't result in the toy being damanged or risking damage - since all I'm doing is posing it carefully and patiently for photography and not having a royal rumble on the carpet Maybe people just need to find such low-risk methods of play? Pete

I completely understand this view in America - because America has beautiful roads that stretch on and on forever, with many lanes and drivers who are, by and large, not crazy. However - Europe is narrow. REALLY narrow. And Poland doesn't even have highways We'll see - in order to get my license, I'd have to pass a test on a stick shift (grumble grumble) so I might jest be forced to fall in love with it despite myself... but... for now it's all conjecture (I think that's a word) - since it'll probably not be till next year - at the age of...uh...30...when I finally MAYBE get my license Pete

Well - since the conversation is going in this direction.... we should blame time and start thinking of amortizing our collections. Look - 30 years ago, most toys were cheap and crappy. Some people got the quaint idea of making toys more and more realistic or, if they were to be fantasy items, then at least putting some thought and imagination into them. Lo we have much better toys - but at higher prices. Now - a comparrison. You can buy an old beat up used car and not care if the paint chips, if you spill pepsi in the back seat etc etc because hey - it's the old used rust bucket that you get around in. Or you can buy a car for a hundred thousand dollars and suddenly care very much what happens to it, who goes into the car, forbid eating in the car,forbid drooling children and dirty clothes and so on and so forth. And guess what? Not matter how careful you are - you are apt to scratch the car and sometimes it will break down, need maintenance or have an accident. Yet people still buy expensive and good looking cars. The same goes for our toys. We demand these high quality beasts and then are upset when it turns out that in real life, these toys ARE NOT INDESTRUCTIBLE or perfect - no matter how beautiful. And then we complain "hey I paid 200 USD for this and it's not certified by God!" Well - 200 USD is not the price of perfection - not even in the toy industry. Nothnig is perfect - and we take a risk and go out on the limb to buy, essentially, these works of art and representations of beautiful stories that, in common culture, have become known as "toys." So while I think it's healthy to complain and grumble about inaccuracies and all - I am far from saying "screw this!" t something I love. Women are expensive as all get out too, after all. Flowers cost a heck of a lot of money - my girlfriend always wants multi-colored roses, expensive dinners, dresses, movies - in fairness, she's generous towards me as well - lots of clothes, some toys, and the occasional chinese dinner ... But the point is - of course we sometimes want everything to be 1) perfect and 2) free. But really - in my view - if you step back for a second - 200 USD for Nora is CHEAP. I mean - it's a miracle that something like that can actually even be produced and assembled and concieved of and made real and for ONLY 200 USD. of course relative to daily life, it's "expensive" - but relative to what it is; technology has come a long way. Theoretically, something like the SV-51 could have been produced ten years ago - but without CADS someone would have had to sculpt for a year painstakingly and on and on - and the cost would have been like a thousand bucks or more retail... now it's 200 USD - affordable; expensive but within range... Anyways - point is - sure - like I've said before - maybe I'm totally blind and maybe I'm just not as demanding or exacting as I should be: but when I look at the VF-25 I see a well executed fighter/gerwalk and battroild with mildly stubby landing gear. Pete

Just let me finish playing with my Voltes V first - I just got him in as well..... But yeah - I definitely want to take some pictures of the EVA - my dream is to pose him in "berzerker canibal" mode all kneeling over and eating that other poor fellow...er...thingy...Angel Pete

I just wish to say - for my first post in this thread: I have never had a car in my life. I don't even have a drivers license I have a bike though - the kind with pedals (not a motorbike). I have driven a car on a few occasions; illegally of course - and in short: I hate stick shift because I don't know how to use it. I love automatic drive because you just put it in drive and go That's nice. Europeans are wierd though, or at least Polish people, because the vast majority of them use stick shift and have three pedals and have to do like sixty things in their car to make it go... and they have this wierd view that automatic drive is "dangerous" My folks just bought a new car that has so impressed me, that I'm considering actually geting my license and maybe getting my own car: they got a Toyota p...something starting with a p - but it's a hybrid. It's awesome. It has cameras in the back so that when you are going in reverse a screen shows you exactly what's behind you and little arrows and red and green lines indicate where to turn and how much space you have before bumping something. Also, it has an electric engine - so if you go up to 50 km/hr, it runs on the electric engine. When you go faster than 50, the fuel engine kicks in and also serves to charge the electric engine. Inside, it looks like some futuristic sci-fi car It's soooo cool that I just might get my license next year and try to find a similarly super cool car - albeit their car is kinda out of my price range I do have lots of toy cars though And my girlfriend has a car But I mainly travel by bike, foot, tram, bus and metro Pete

Just got my SOC SPEC EVA-01 Renewal Version MAAAAAN this thing is AAAwwweessomme Sorry for sounding like such a fanboy - but wow! So many different parts! So many options! It's really beautiful! And the die cast leg armor! Jeez! What a treat! There's just so much to play with here that it's actually NOT FUN - as in - it feels like a chore just to play with my new EVA :) My only "issue" is that just like with the 1/60 VF-1, this thing tends to go overboard with "tight" - getting the naked EVA's shoulders off so as to put the armor shoulder on was a bit of a chore But daaag - in general I'm very pleased. Blows Revoltech out of the water! Mainly because of: 1) The "rib cage" - this is, after all, one of the most awe inspiring elements - aprticularly in that episode where EVA goes berzerk So having it so well represented is just a treat 2) Removable armor - precious! 3) A tube that slides into his back 4) A real umbilical cord! Sooo much goodness Such a lovely peace! Off to open Voltes V next! Yippee!! Pete

Actually, in all honesty - the more I live, the more I understand that women are indeed like valkyries. It is amazing the amount of maintanence that a woman goes through just to remain in operational order - just like a Yamato Valkyrie! Quality control is key! Pete

Looks good to me. The landing gear do indeed look kind of bare and naked - but maybe they will add some mould detail in? The problem is really the color. But if ugly landing gear is the only "problem" with this VF-25 then...SIGN ME UP! Pete (but keep Yamato alive; I love them for giving us: 1/60 VF-1 1/60 SV-51r (BIG ACHIEVEMENT!) 1/60 YF-21 1/60 YF-19 Oh - and PERFECT TRANSFORMATION on VFs - amazing!)

I am happy to report that I voted "Mine is perfect. Thank you Yamato." And when I say "perfect" - I mean WOW! PERFECT! Not only did it not break or crack or anything, but it LOOKS just amazing. In all fairness - it is PATENTLY OBVIOUS that the shoulder can crack because you have a very tight and relatively heavy ball joint on a really really tiny-weeny hinge. The solution? Just hold the square that the ball joint is moulded into when you carefully rotate the shoulder. As for pushing the whole hinge out during transformation - just NUDGE it forward with your thumb. I DID NOT LOOSEN ANY SCREWS and personally recommend NOT TAMPERING. The ball joint will wear over time - it will loosen by itself. For now - just hold the square between two fingers and slowly rotate the arm with the others - simple. Everything is super super super duper tight. So tight in fact that I couldn't get the thrusters to slide out and convert to feet - and had to look in the instructions to make sure that they do indeed slide out. Oh - yeah - by the way - I transformed him into gerwalk without looking into the instructions - just based off of my knowledge of the 1/48. The feet finally slid out under what I personally consider excess force - but hopefully now I won't have to apply that much force to get them moving. Another recomendation: Go buy a lot of Mastergrade Gundams. Handling a Mastergrade Gundam will help people get the feel for what it means to be delicate but firm with a figure. Closing off: I believe that the VF-1S 1:60 is the best VF-1 Valkyrie in human history. The hands are SO BEAUTIFUL (and NO I don't mean the extra hands - I mean the ones that are actually in the fighter and that are part of the transformation process) and the tampoo printing is spot on ACE! This is the Valkyrie of my dreams! If you don't want it to break, just take Roy Fokker's advice: "Be it fighter or virgin, be firm but delicate." You just have to know something about the girl before going at her. THANK YOU YAMATO! BRING ON MORE! Pete

Don't do it. You will totally regret it. Depressions come and go. Generation 1 Optimus Prime doesn't. Keep it. Pete

Very nice - it goes a long way in showing just how complex a transformation these valkyrie have. Albeit, owning the darned things and getting used to them, you suddenly begin to think "ah this is so simple" ... Pete

So..umm....do we know anything about the size of this Minmey figure? I must admit she looks good, but the price is high for a non-poseable fixed frame figure... Pete

Well, the QC guy should transform the valkyrie like 100 times a day and uncover such "design issues." I mean - we're not talking about having the Valkyrie for a year and suddenly having it crack and then saying "aw, but my MP Prime has been around for 4 years and is fine" - we're talking about people transforming it twice and then seeing that it breaks If this is a design flaw - the QC people should have discovered it. Especially given the fact that the 1/48s are indeed - to my mind - perfect. I mean - has anybody ever had any problem with any of those? I really want Yamato to suceed because I think they make great stuff; but it just is painful to constantly see these "it broke" threads even though the overwhelming majority of mine don't break.... but still Pete