emerson

I remember the times in the early 80's when my father would come back from business trips to Tokyo...he'd open up his suitcase and reveal these sick, giant robot toys in boxes with crazy writing on them. My little bro got a 1/55 Takatoku VF-1J Hikaru. I got a Strike! Can't tell you how envious my buddies from school were. Being stupid kids, however, we beat the crap out of our toys. At one point, we even cut up the boxes and made them into posters haha. Anyway, in my book, no amount of CAD engineering and tampo printing (seen by the eyes of a 30-something year old man) can replace the excitement of a 7-year old boy zooming around with a chunky monkey, with the cold diecast legs and clickety joints and deadly landing gear. Not that I don't have every 1/48 and 1/60 ever made haha. But just saying, we should stop comparing apples to oranges.

Is that a canon color scheme? Looks not-that-great.

Hey, EXO. The M&M pair have the generation 2 fulcy hips. The other dudes have standard issue.

I WISH I had the skills to do this customization work. The customs above are all done by Jung Chao (Jung on these forums, though he rarely posts here anymore.) The VF-1S trio were some of his earlier works, and featured just a few of the technical innovations that he began to incorporate with the help of custom-engineered parts from Fulcy, et al. The trio was originally commissioned by old-timer Jerry Tsai (VF-1X), but I purchased them from him several years ago. The VF-1D is a later custom that I purchased from Jung directly, via eBay. During this "period" of his work, he had begun heavy detailing work in the cockpits, including handpainting all the panels, and including pilots...in this case Hikaru with Minmay. The Super M&M pair I commissioned directly, and they represent Jung's 1/55 custom in its highest form. In addition to his own customizations (weathered paint, Sazabi hands, pilots and cockpits, gunstrap and gunpod, etc., etc.,) it features all the available "after-market" innovations available: Fulcy's A-stance (e.g. "spreadable") hips and feet, Rob's head, Erich's nosecone, Chris' heatshield, etc. I had to source 2 separate Jetfires from eBay...ratty, yellow Jetfires, but complete with armor. I then purchased the VF-1J heads, heatshields, Fulcy hips/feet, etc....then sent all the parts to Jung for his magic. Et Voila! That's what you see in the stead of said ratty Jetfires. These customs were all made before or during the first years of the V1 1/60 from Yamato. Once the feature-laden 1/48's started coming out in 2002, these became the preferred base for the customizers out there. Anyway, all but the VF-1S trio have moved onto other homes now. Hope they're all doing well out there!

Hehe, thanks for the shout out! Only the VF-1S trio is left. Now that I see these pics again, I feel a bit of an ache haha. Jung and all the studs who contributed to these customs really did an amazing job transforming old Jetfires into these pieces. Just wanted to add that the hands on the Max and Millia are cast from an MG Sazabi kit.

Hey Penguin, are the new AVS-98 figures comparable in quality to the AV-0's? I bought the Brockens, and they pissed me off so much, I cancelled my AVS-98's, but your post allays some of my concerns. What do you think of them?

Wow, Tack. You've got a great eye for composition! Welcome to the forums.

Wow, those Ghosts look great! How many did Luca have accompanying him?

Did the Aoshima Legioss correct the main issues of theToynami Alpha? Namely the upward arching of the fighter mode?

Cool, the VF-1A CF is a TV-type.

Looks like it's already out in HK: http://cgi.ebay.com/YAMATO-1-24-PATLABOR-I...%3A1%7C294%3A50

Sorry for the aside, but I've got a CM's OVA Brocken for sale if anyone's interested! Opened, but 100% unused and complete. $60. http://www.macrossworld.com/mwf/index.php?...=28309&st=0

Actually, the Aoshima "versions" above look exactly the same as the ones they produced for Toynami. Even the color. Don't forget that the Toynami/Aoshima relationship for the Tread is exactly opposite from their relationship for the Legioss. With the Legioss, Toynami engineered and manufactured the toy, and Aoshima attempted to modify/improve on their design. With the Tread, the toy has been an Aoshima toy from the beginning...Toynami merely packaged, marketed and distributed.

My birthday!

Aha! Thanks.

Hey Drifand, what are you using to display those Doyushas in flight?

Lost and Found Toys has the license for these, and sells them directly from their website. I believe HLJ and BBTS offers them as well, since Lost and Found sells these to them wholesale. 6" is a little long by itself, but you can mix and match with 4" prongs. 2" is a little short by itself, but again you can match with 4" prongs. But if you're only buying one size, 4" is probably most versatile.

Just wanted to make note that the Version 2 FlexiDisplay stands are even better than the originals. The black rubber tips are now clear rubber tips. The metal bases at the, um, base of each prong are now gone...providing for a seamless, clear acrylic prong with no sacrifice in stability. The useless metal washers are now gone, reducing the visual profile of the stand even more. The thing is pretty invisible now haha. Also, addressing one of the strucutural flaws of the original, the screws screw into a metal housing now, so there's much less risk of screwing in too tight and stripping the threads. In terms of packaging, instead of coming in a box, all the parts are flat-packed on a blister card now. Provides for easier storage, but personally I like the boxes...

Wow, that just looks like a TV SDF-1 hybridized with a DYRL SDF-1.

Wow the Yammies are soooooo small! At one point I was thinking about selling off my Atelier Sai's for these...so glad I didn't. Apart from being much larger, the sculpt on these older figures is also much more curvy and feminine.

I have a nerdly spreadsheet that inventories my toy collection. Regarding Macross toys (no books, posters, cels, etc.): Total toys: 122 Bandai: 27 Doyusha: 7 Kaiyodo: 2 Matchbox: 1 Takatoku: 23 Toynami: 3 Yamato: 59 Vintage: 32 Modern: 90

Well, there's some rationalization going on that since this is a transforming Gundam, the matte white paint might easily rub and discolor. That was a common complaint on the RX-78-2, which didn't even transform. I can personally vouch for this....when I first placed the gun in the right hand, the gun rubbed the white forearm and left a noticeable smudge. Of course, that begs the question of why Bandai's such a fan of shiny plastic? I much prefer the matte plastic that Yamato uses in its products.

Been seeing a lot of bitching about the two new Metal Composite Zeta Plus figures...apparently all the white portions are bare, shiny plastic, making these high-end pieces look decidedly cheap. Anyone hear can confirm or deny?

Agreed. But I think if the connection WERE improved, CM's would be plastering the web with detailed photos. The connection was the biggest let-down, and pretty loudly vilified.

Obviously.