drifand

Emperor Zurg!!! Sorry, couldn't resist! ;P Nice work there

Heh heh... some of those vinyl Valks actually resemble the worst cel renditions in Anime Friend produced TV episodes! How about that for anime-accurate vintage toys?

Wow! SIX Monsters in the bow!! I sure hope the top row have got their quad cannons trained at the right angle. Imagine the disaster if they accidentally shot off the bow door... It also seems the Monsters aren't even using their arm launchers.

There are folks who are dedicated "sofubi" collectors precisely because of the inaccuracies and distortions inherent in these toys. It has a retro kind of funkiness that's charming and disarming at the same time. Check out this thread on ToyboxDX for some really cool photos of soft vinyl robots! You wouldn't believe how some of the incarnations turned out. :-)

It was beautifully boring. A-1 for visuals. F-9 for pacing. Think of it as an art film with some action thrown in.

That's not too bad a fit. Does look a bit like a Vifam (or Neofam) with Sling Pannier attached.

As far as I'm concerned, any fighter painted in a grey "low-vis" scheme is meant for terrestrial air operations. It would be far cooler to see a true custom atmospheric FAST Pack akin to those used on today's F-15E Strike Eagle. Carrying the space-borne FPs on an air-combat jet is just wierd. Maybe a more streamlined gunpod design with a forward shroud exposing only one barrel? What's the point of showing 3 barrels when only one is in use at any one time?

There's an official sole importer of Bandai stuff here in Singapore, and the big shops like Seiyu, Isetan and Takashimaya probably get their supplies from this company. As a result, stuff like the recent Masked Rider Faiz and Machine Robo Rescue toys are waaay overpriced. Even during a major sale with 20% discounts, the prices may not reach the Japanese MSRPs at the big stores. Recently, the 1/48 Max 1A and the 1/60 1D have shown up at the big stores, but also at hefty mark-ups. Real dumb way to do business, because the serious collectors are more likely to be adults and they know where to get better deals from the specialist stores that bring in their goods from parallel importers or direct from HK/China. I really would love to support the big stores but their pricing simply defeats all logic. I got a feeling they don't even know their real competitors are.

Easy! All Yamato has to do is release a "Limited Version" Kakizaki VF-1A... and even the non-fans of this design will have to think twice about passing it up. The Low Vis is still available almost everywhere in Singapore ;-)

Hope this doesn't irk you hard corce fans too much, but I really don't dig the character designs at all. They just look too wispy and frail in general. LOVE the mecha designs on their own, but not when depicted in the manga. The L-Gaim toys are some of my favorites.

The biggest thing Yamato could have done for the 1/60s was to make the hip attachment point with a solid spring-loaded lock... you know, so that when you slide in the two pegs they would actually "click" and "lock in place" for a secure fit. And then a simple button underneath which you can press to release the legs. Relying on pure FRICTION to hold such weighty pieces of diecast together was... the cheapest possible and least imaginative engineering solution one could employ. And it was undoubtably a sign of their capabilities back THEN. The 1/60 Valks are done. There will be no expense spared for any more "improvements", not when they're making money hand over fist from the 1/48's.

All I really know from these pix is that the Katakana says "ARK" - a vintage gokin maker from the 70's. A quick check on ToyboxDX's Datafiles soon revealed that this broken toy was once called Mecha Gomora... The head, torso and feet seem to be a perfect match up. For more info on ARK Diecasts, be sure to read the excellent Datafile by Matt Alt and Robert Duban on TBDX. :-)

Thanks for the kind words, Ben. I've collected just about all the Dorvack toys I really wanted. I also used to own the small set of all 3 vehicles but played them to pieces. I haven't collected any Dorvack other stuff like models or books. When money's tight, you've got to focus on what really counts... and for me, it's gotta be TOYS, not models or books :-) Roger Harkarvy on TBDX used to have his own "Mini Dorvack Page". It had an FAQ and even episode guides for almost the whole series. Unfortunately, it's no longer online... sigh. You could drop by the BBS and holler for him ;-)

Here's a shameless plug for a custom 1/55 Calibur I made some time ago... always did like the non-leader "cannon fodder" types better! Too bad Takatoku never made the rest of them. I'm still thinking of getting a cheap TF Whirl and converting it into a military green version as well. http://www.ToyboxDX.com/rumble_plus/180802...02-calibur.html

It's a matter of fact that Dorvack's mecha designs are mainly by Itabashi Katsuki. Here's a Japanese page listing the staff of Dorvack: http://homepage1.nifty.com/gensou-teien/do...vack-staff.html. You won't find Kawamori's name anywhere on it ;-) If you look carefully at the info, it seems THREE persons worked on the mecha designs. Itabashi is the first on the list, and I believe he did the 3 transforming vehicles. The other 2 guys probably worked on the good guy's NOVE Powered Armor and the alien's suits. Those powered suits are really cool! Check out the full page of toys on TBDX: http://www.toyboxdx.com/data/takatoku2/dorvack.html

Amen on that, Radd. If Yamato wants to make the M0 toys in a different scale that's still OK, just don't change track by making the original Destroids in something other than 1/60. That would totally suck. If they want to keep making oversized toys, that's fine too - but they've got to realise that the primary customer base in Japan doesn't have all that much space at home in the first place. I don't think even Bandai can sell a full range of 1/24 scale HY2M Mobile Suits. Kinda makes me wonder if Yamato is gambling too hard on their 1/12 scale Votoms toys. Marmit's future 1/48 scale series is closer to the mark for covering a wider range of AT designs.

I'm thinking more of how the various shop owners will view this not-so-little ragtag group of obvious foreigners on a shopping spree. Quick! Mark up the prices!! ;-)

There are still places with the 1st 1/48 hikaru 1A around, but that's because they cost at least S$30 to S$50 more than at Rapid Culture and Falcon's Hangar. From what I can see, the stocks of the Low Vis are quickly running out, but the 1/48 Max 1A is still floating around.

Most of the important areas are already covered. How about a minor cosmetic one? I still feel the "collar" swivel piece shouldn't be black. It's too stark and makes the head appear separated from the body. Yamato could try making the part in a mid-gray instead - it's neutral and applicable across the board.

It is kinda sad to see the line stopped. But they could have made the series more appealing by making a nifty stand to show the fighters in flight. I also tried to remove the landing gears on mine but only the Hikki 1A and Roy 1S could manage w/o problems. During a HLJ sale I bought an extra Max and Milia so that I could break off the wheels if I wanted to for futur displlay purposes. I still haven't bought the YF-21... but will probably get it in the end.

I would think the only way 1/48 M&M VF-1Js don't get produced eventually is if the Hikaru 1J absolutely tanks in the market. How likely is that going by the popularity of the cooler varinats so far? Only the Max 1A seems to be languishing slightly. For color variants, perhaps the 1/60 line may be more ideal? Smaller and cheaper = less of a risk.

Uh, hullo? Excuse me? The two of you are certainly having a good time, but could you spare a thought for those who would like to stay on topic in the various threads? There's a whole lifetime to chalk up post counts...

The next time my pals come over to my place they probably bring along their canopies and we'll have a dipping party!

BWAHAHAAH! i'm still there! *insert devil avatar* As for features.... would affordable be considered a gimmick? Sure, they can be affordable - as long as we drop the fusion drives, r/c circuits and Tera Patrick --- People, be REASONABLE!! And it's certainly good to hear that the Monster is on the way... and in 2004. Gotta start saving now!

Ha ha! I'm TOTALLY resisting these two. I fully expect the same shoulder-tab connection problems as the 1D...