Knightdramon

My 0S with Ghost has the dropy fuselage thing too, but otherwise it's very solid. Rivals my 1/48 Kakizaki, and that's saying a lot.

If it makes you feel better, I've got the same "problem" with my Ivanov ver. Nosecone tends to dislocate from the allocated point quite easily and doesn't really stay in place until I move the entire waist section and clip it there [which isn't very stable in itself]. Was hoping it'd be remedied with Nora, but it doesn't seem so.

From the two, I only have the SV-51. It's one of my favourite figures. Both battroid and fighter modes are excellent (fighter is awesome), never really cared much for gerwalk. It's relatively easy and simple to transform once you figure out the arms\shoulders (instructions don't help on that account). Bought this along with a VF-0S, 0S is back in it's box whilst this one sits proudly on the display table. Plus, it comes with a display stand of it's own. The YF-19 has an awesome battroid, no arguement there. Don't like the other two modes that much. Comes with no display stand (and, depending on whether you want the FP ver. or the regular) has very few accessories. At retail, the SV-51 is slightly more expensive, but you get more bang for your buck.

Well, since I don't work full time [only a couple of days per week] I keep my other expenses to an acceptable minimum, and try to buy Macross [Yamato] figures on sale and bundled to save cash. So far I've 6 items, and half of them were bought on clearance. They also shipped in pairs rather than individually. I also sell my unwanted figures to make space and cash for future expenditures.

Cool enough, but the mould isn't strong enough to justify a third purchase from me. I do like the colours though.

So I plunged in and bought a VF-0S ghost combo as well. Short review following: Whilst this is nowhere near the 1st production VF-OS floppiness, it does have some loose parts. The right leg on mine was loose on the hip joint and had to take it apart and paint the joint and socket to increase friction, and the swivel under the knees on both legs are loose as well. Not floppy, but not tight either. As mentioned by other users, the shoulder armour is a tad loose but can be easily remedied. Moreover, the lack of a proper chest and backpack locking mechanism is annoying at best. However, once one gets over these facts, this toy doesn't fail to deliver. The ghost add-on is fun and makes one hell of an armed mecha. Overall, do get this one if you've been waiting for a QC free VF-0S, but don't expect 1/48 VF-1 quality.

Straying from the alternate colour schemes discussion but still on-topic, finally got my SV-51 Ivanov today. Overall, I dislike the fact that it has almost zero locking mechanism for the entire torso in battroid. I'm not sure if it's just mine, but the nosecone won't sit flush on the underside of the cockpit and relies on friction from the other parts to do so. Articulation isn't bad and the transformation isn't so hard either, but the instruction booklet is almost useless at parts (such as when transforming the shoulders correctly). Mine has the correct wing joints\no QC problems except for really, really loose ball hip joints. I had to take it apart and paint the sockets and the die-cast ball joint to increase friction and now he's rock solid.

Completed a transaction with Deimos. Paid fast and hassle-free.

Some of the shin editions apparently had the same shoulder problem as the earlier VF-0A. As Graham himself said, the VF-0S Ghost combo is the first 0 release with fixes straight from the get-go.

Counting accessories as well 1/48 1x DYRL VF1A Kakizaki 1x DYRL VF1A Max 1x Super\Strike parts set 1x GBP Armour 1/60 1x VF 0S with Ghost booster 1x SV 51 Ivanov -The 1/60 are on their way...

Difficult thing to answer...one of the first things that spring to mind is Kiss Rodimus, but he's so far away from my room I wouldn't be able to save him in an emergency. It's sort of a tie between SOC Spec Eva 01, Leader Class Prime , MP Starscream and 08 Bumblebee. Of course, in an emergency, I could just grab a big box, shove them all in and run.

Might want to try Fantofan.jp Can vouch for the guy, excellent service.

Lots of thanks and gratitude, brother.

Please do so, man. A lot of us with not much disposable income would love to know if we can get the damn toy and not have it break on us. My hat goes off to you, squidd.

So, like, nobody can open theirs at all and just check on the joints and how the thing holds up?

Didn't receive a PM from you either, mate.

Seriously, how many days did they actually work this September? Each week that I logged in to change a few orders they had a different notice about holidays\conventions\the likes.

The only part I wasn't aware of on mine (not clear on the instructions as I skimmed through them) is that the panel that the backpack rests on has to be pushed inside in batroid mode, further down than it was positioned in fighter mode. Unless you do that (it's preceded by a very audible CLICK) the backpack sort of hangs and it's quite risky to install the fastpacks in that state.

Pretty cool mate, reminds me of my first package, only mine was Kakizaki's valk instead of Max's. I've noticed that you must have mistransformed the backpack, the fastpacks on the right side of the plane are angling higher than on the left one. Bring on the battroid mode pics!

Well mate, I think I can offer a bit of help. For pics, you can go to www.dalong.net and check his PG section. I can't really recommend Wing zero, it's way too backheavy and some parts are not that well-thought when it comes to construction. I can wholeheartedly recommend Strike or Strike Rouge. Not hard to build (you just cut the parts and snap them together, no glue or anything), everything is moulded in colour and the only thing I had to do was panel-line the thing. Strike is at 1/60 scale and stands around 30 centimetres tall. It's got lots of articulation points and nifty gimmicks (panels move as you move the leg\arms, exposing pistons and the inner frame). By the way, there's an expansion "Set" for Strike that offers Skygrasper (1/60 plane) along with a winged backpack and a display base. The runners for the expansion set are included by default in the Strike Rouge set.

PM Sent

Congrats for the great price and the great item! Admittedly, out of all the 1/48, I like the TV 1J less than the others, but that's just me. The fast packs will make it insanely cooler, trust me, and the GBP Armour will make you want to get a second 1/48 for display. My first 1/48 was DYRL Kakizaki, very solid and one of my favourite toys, but my 1/48 VF-1A Max is loose in many place and does not feel as sturdy. Go figure...

I can vouch for Toywave. I recently purchased a Yamato 1/48 DYRL Max version and a Armour System for it. Shipping was pretty ok [around 60 USD if I'm not mistaken] and the items arrived within 3 days! Hong Kong-Greece in three days, that's a new world record. Although the items were ok [Max was a bit loose], the shipping box was nearly torn apart and no protective padding was used at all inside the box. Will do business with them again, though. Pretty good service.

First of all, the prices are a bit on the absurd side. 1/48 Valks cost 120 USD from Japan, I doubt that shipping would go over 30-40 USD. That being said, I'll simply agree with everyone here about the 1/48 line. My first one was kakizaki's DYRL valk, which I didn't even like, because it was the cheaper. It's one of my favourite toys at the moment, if not the best. And trust me, every valkyrie is going to look much cooler with the fast pack accessories. My Kakizaki Super valk >>> Max's bare valk. I highly doubt you're going to get only one once you have a taste, unless you receive a super loose\defective sample.

I hope they improve it, I'm considering picking this up if they fix the problems and make sure the shoulders won't deteriorate after half a year. By the way, how easy is pulling the arms out from beneath the jet and to the sides when transforming, compared to an 1/48? Each time I transform mine, I feel as if I'll rip them out.