Lolicon

Wow that "Minmay" doesn't look that bad at all. I found that perplexing till I saw that it's not made by Toynami (duh). "Hikaru" doesn't look right to me. He looks too... manly? His arms also look disproportionately small compared to the rest of his body.

Finally opened up the MB Aile Strike Gundam I received a few days back. Although my MB experience isn't as extensive as others here, gotta say this is my new favorite MB Gundam. Love the different contrasting finishes, from the glossy metallic to satin and solid die cast parts on the main mobile suit, to the flat finish on the backpack unit and weapons. It's intricate and detailed without being overly garish like some other mobile suits.

Yes sir! Now that I've decaled one HMR, I would love to go back to revamp all the previous releases so they look better, but getting enough small decals will be the difficult part. Some of the ones I used are too big as is, but they look acceptable. @Saburo Great pics!

Fixed up my Super Ostrich a bit with some leftover materials. "Hey Hayase, we're the only two people left on Earth. Want to start repopulating?"

The muted colors don't bother me as the Defiant's color tones changed quite a lot during the series. That's pretty much how the Defiant is supposed to look. Though they botched up the rear "grill" on the warp nacelles, because Eaglemoss researchers suck and based it off the damaged Defiant model before it went up for auction. (The rear grill broke off the studio model prior to auction, and Eaglemoss apparently used this version for reference.) Should have painted the bronze bars on the front too. Of course the real offender is the Enterprise-A, which I skipped. They completed botched the saucer and bridge dome, even though they got them correct on the smaller version. WTF Eaglemoss?

Welcome back, spanner.

Picked up the XL Defiant (aka Ben Sisko's Muthaf***ing Pimp Hand). My favorite starship after the refit Enterprise.

Grats on the Super O! And I save some boxes and packing mats too, just in case. You know how much they charge you if you try to go buy some boxes and bubble wrap? It's highway robbery!

Welcome to the super flightless bird club! Good to see so many getting theirs. Looking forward to your pics! THe VT-1 is the first HMR VF-1 I like enough to actually go ahead and do some actual detailing on it.

Fixed up my Miria 1J in preparation for the Max release this month. Staring at that red for so long made my eyes feel like

So many Frontier figures in the pipeline and nothing for Delta? Oh my.

I got mine from CD Japan when they opened a second round of preorders. Sure thing, noel. I have a bunch of MBs that I haven't opened, but I'll open the Aile Strike next just for you!

Opened up my Super flightless birds and I can finally say I've picked up an HMR VF-1 that wasn't a disappointment. It's a fantastic rendition of one of my favorite valkyrie designs in a smaller scale. Including four different pilot figures was a good choice by Bandai and prompted me to get two. One for space flight, the other for when they're stranded on charred Earth (spoiler alert for a 34 year old movie, I guess). It's far from perfect, though. The differences in the molded orange and painted orange parts is really noticeable in person; it's not just a camera thing. And the orange that Bandai chose looks really bland and washed out. My pics make it look more orange-y than it actually appears IRL. Although I like the deeper orange used on the Yamato VT-1, neither of them have the orange just right. That honor goes to the Yamato VF-1D. All the usual HMR quality issues are present. Both have some spots of sloppy oversprays and the UN Spacy kite was once again noticeably scratched on one of my copies. I took the "damaged" parts and used them for the copy representing the "stranded on Earth" part of the story. I like it and enjoy having a Super Ostrich that I can whoosh around without worrying I might drop it and damage a really expensive toy. Hmmm suddenly have an urge to go pick up some orange dream bars...

New stuff day!

Open & used VT-1 already sold on Mandarake. Not too bad a price, but has some discoloration on the shoulder. Man that better not be the kind of quality control we're getting on this. https://order.mandarake.co.jp/order/detailPage/item?itemCode=1094598374&ref=list

Why is that? I have yet to be impressed by any HMR VF-1 and was hoping the VT-1 might change that.

A 1/100 scale Saturn would be about 722 miles across. I don't think it will fit in most display cases. Definitely not a Detolf.

I use a pencil.

Neither toy matches that illustration perfectly, but I prefer the rich orange of the Yamato over the washed out Bandai orange.

Got my shipping notice from CDJ too. 2x VT-1 and MB Aile Strike shipping together. The Yamato version is far superior to the HMR version, but good luck finding one for a reasonable price!

I'm not terribly concerned if the box gets a little dinged up, as long as the toy arrives undamaged. What's unacceptable is taking weeks to ship an item out, especially if I paid for for EMS shipping. Putting something in a box and sending it out should not take more time than traveling halfway around the world.

Man I was actually looking forward to the HMR VT-1, as I really love the design. The color difference between the paint and plastic will probably be much less pronounced in person, but we'll see. However, I can tell the difference between the Kakizaki painted legs and molded intakes, but they have the benefit of not being right next to each other, so that example does not inspire confidence. Of more concern to me is the seemingly dull orange Bandai went with compared to the rich orange of the Yamato. Here's hoping it's just a lighting issue and the actual product is deliciously orange.

Sadly, that kind of customer service is par for the course for the majority Japan based shops. Shipping via SAL is crap shoot. Most of the time packages will make it to their destination, but every now and then a package will get lost, and it'll be your package. I use SAL most of the time, but for expensive items I use EMS or some other more reliable shipping. That 6000 yen insurance on SAL doesn't cut it sometimes.

Got around to opening up my 1/1 scale Excalibur. Looks pretty cool and it satisfies any desire I might have had to pick up a lightsaber replica. Now to figure out where to put something of this size...

I fear Bandai will never get around to the white 262.