Shaorin

~ SHAORIN's TWO-BOX THEATER ~

Mammar; - ohgodohgod, just go on ignoring all my silly little toy airplanes honey.

- i won't ask about how much all those shoes must've cost, so feel free to go right on ahead and scratch my back in return, babe.

one good turn deserves another after all...

Mammar's Significant Other; O.K. Dear, what precisely are you trying to hide from me...

Mammar; OH S%$T!!

Shaorin;

Seriously, nerd-linger, you just came up with a way for Arcadia to sell nine of these (including the original scheme) to me.

lucky you that you evidently have $3000.00 squared away to pay for them all...

i mean, for something around that sort of scratch, i could have my own custom 1/1 Mikuru-chan♥ made...

- sure, clothes would be extra, but that's where the thrifts would come in...

- and a mere $20/30 price differential on a full-on 3DS...

LAME, big N, seriously.

i mean, don't you people think you've gotten yourselves in dire enough straits with your own damned Wii-effin'-U?!?

damn, i actually remember when you guys were the cat's ass, or at least something approaching it...

Much cuter than Minmay.

Moe-Moe-Kyuun~

I often do this on my VF-1's, as well. Makes all the difference. Haven't decided yet if it's "right" for a -25.

yeah, it's mighty effective for getting those intakes out of the way of those low-slung nose-fuselage antennae, as well as the folded wings, to a lesser degree.

in any case, it's all key to opening the door to many attractive poses that would be difficult of not impossible, and often much more awkward otherwise...

back to topic, i'm pretty sure, -with the price that this beauty is going to command- that i am quite destined to be living vicariously through you people in 2014. Wahhh...

How to improve a Toynami MPC Veritech in two steps:

1. Sell it

2. Buy a Yamato v.2/Arcadia 1/60 valk.

silly puppy, i've got one of those already, (with future intentions of adding at least one more,1S Focker ARCADIA ed.) and i'm just attempting to clean up

on things i long lusted after, but were generally unavailable to me for various reasons up until just a few years ago.

sorry to butthurt in any way, but the MPC 1J Ichijo/Hunter was, for a very long time, (to me) and has remained, one of those MACROSS/related items

that i just had to add to my collection for, if nothing else, than to thumb my nose at the unfortunate surcumstances

that had kept all this crap beyond my reach for far, fatr longer than i was ever anything at all approaching comfortable with...

To be fair, though, that pic of the Yamato version wasn't posed that well.

This might be a slightly closer comparison, pose-wise:

Sadly, it still doesn't hide the hollowed back of the thighs.

furthermore, few at YAMATO or elsewhere seemed to ever realize that one could achieve a vastly superior neutral stance

via the stupidly simple expedient of canting the intakes forward at the GERWALK joint just a single notch.

it truly allows things to fall right into place nicely for a much more attractive stance, IMHO;

- ALAS, mine is no longer capable of transforming from FIGHTER. R.I.P. you fugly old bird... ((YMMV))

Nice work! Battloid mode definitely looks better now.

It's a good thing you worked on the Rick MPC and not the others, because they've got way more problems thanks to their die-cast metal legs.

so, while the VOL.1 has a solid metal block inside each of the lower legs, which i removed,

all subsequent releases have die-cast inner leg halves ALA the vintage TAKA/BANDAI 1/55's?

I never liked the way the chest and nosecone sculpt looked on the MPC VFs -- a little too broad relative to the rest of the body. However, the hip joint mod seems to help alleviate this by broadening the hips to be more in proportion with chest. Good work.

indeed, i had come up with the idea on the spur of the moment just this morning, in fact,

and i was just delighted beyond words when i saw just how well the mod actually came together, and just how much it drastically improved everything

Of course, this isn't making me rush out to buy an MPC valk anytime soon. I still see these things go on the secondary market for well over $100. I guess some people never got the memo.

yeah, pretty ridiculous what i see these "command" on the BAY, for starters.

i mean, we're talking 1/60v.II prices and up, often as not

anyway, as bad as the nosecone sculpt already is,

can you believe the sculpt was actually shorter/goofier by far before the single revision TOYNAMI made somewhere in dev. stage

to allegedly lengthen it in order to allow better cockpit detail and and opening canopy?!? claims as such right there in the manual,

as well as showing off the godawful initial sculpt in full color photographic glory

anyway, since i'm on a roll here, i need a BANDAI 1/55 reissue 1J Hik, now, as well as possibly a Yammie 1/48

and just maybe a 1/100 HI-METAL as well if i don't have to pay an arm and a leg for one these days.

i think i'll skip the TOYNAMI 1/100, - no retro HCM sentimentality to be had there, just pure distilled inferiority, IMHO -

and i know i'll definitely pass EASILY on the Yammie 1/60v.I,

the single Version one i once owned long ago being more than enough, thankyouverymuch...

yeah, like i mentioned above, small rubber washers, to serve as spacers, and extra-long self-tapping screws to hold it all fast.

it is actually secure as a drum, and yet allows a relatively terrific degree of hip swivel actually quite beneficial to a much better FIGHTER mode fit.

plus, it allows for a broader, better BATTROID stance, YMMV; closer to that of the HCM it is based upon;

- now see, doesn't that look like so totally awesomely awkward-assed

that it like totally blows the Yammie/ARCADIA 1/60v.II out of the complete effin' water?

i've transformed my own primary 19S so many damned times it's scary. the beauty is still tight as a drum, miraculously enough...

Abba Gold...

don't feel too lonely now; i'm myself Ass enough to actually own and actually enjoy that there album.

in fact, stupidly "Weeaboo" as it might come off, a whole lot of ABBA in general tends to strongly come off on me

as the direct source from which so much of the flavor and style of a whole lot of the Moe and Harem related

Anime soundtracks of the late 1990's/mid-2000's or so sprung forth from...

i'd LOVE to see this in DN scheme myself...

GERWALK is now the mode that seems to suffer most, but that's hardly surprising of a pre-1/60v.II VF-1 toy, no?

before i start; yes, i understand and sympathize well with the intense antipathy most of us "Hardcore" Western-based MACROSS fans have for anything

the slightest bit related to that hoary old plagiarist pseudo-property whose brand name starts with an R and ends with an H,

and, further still, the intense animosity towards that particular property's parent firm and their related associates and licensees.

that in mind, i've felt it necessary to acquire a copy of of the infamous, decade old TOYNAMI MPC 1/55 VF-1,

mostly due to it's close similarity with the 1985 vintage BANDAI 1/72 HCM VF-1 series,

which was a dream acquisition well out of my reach for many years, and,

as most any MACROSS fan of more than a decade's standing is well aware of,

the very best variable VF-1 scale replica anyone could hope to aspire to own right on up until the early 2000's,

and, arguably, right up to the very debut of the legendary YAMATO 1/48 Kanzen Henkei.

so, as you may have guessed, obtaining an MPC 1/55 was pretty much a no-brainer for a sentimental old fan such as myself,

right after mostly satisfying myself of the core of what i have desired of the various modern-day cutting-edge YAMATOARCADIA offerings, at least.

as such, just a few days ago, i get my first (and only) MPC 1/55 from a fellow MWer, and immediately see in it

a rather flawed and lazy copycat of the venerable HCM, albeit with some clear potential to actually become a decent homage to the 25 year-old 1/72,

with the touch of work that TOYNAMI should have already had thought out through before proceeding past their DEV stage.

really, just a simple litany of cheap and dirty mods that Really help this toy to shine (in it's own nostalgic sort of way) by leaps and bounds;

- improvements/modifications include; -

* painting, various areas (chest/frontal fuselage intakes, backpack module detail, etc)

* removal of light up visor LED wiring (provides better head movement)

* refit/rebonding various parts (poor factory fit/finish)

* wing glove modding (to allow full open wing spread, impossible as factory stock)

* hip modding (simple really, pair of long, narrow screws, pair of small rubber washers)

- all of these subtle changes, most especially the hip mod, combines to allow for a far superior profile

in all three modes, especially BATTROID, and brings the whole

so much closer to something very much like an honest to goodness improved HCM homage,

and so much less like the cheap and dirty, lazy copy it was originally intended as.

indeed, now the toy feels closer to something BANDAI could have/should have rolled on out

back during 10th and/or 15th anniversary of SDFM,

rather than the tired old lazy plastic model reissues they've always been so fixated on, YMMV...

latest addition is that MPC VF-1J there. it's taken a bit of work to get it to the point where it manages to be halfway respectable

among it's peers there.

for one, there are large metal castings in the lower leg nacelles for no other purpose whatsoever than to add heft.

that surplus weight, coupled with the magnetic locking system for FIGHTER,

meant that FIGHTER was far more floppy and unstable than it had any need at all to be.

therefore, as reassuring as that artificial ballast might be for and old-fashioned metal lover,

those metal castings had to go.

between that, and a an overall refit and joint tightening, the infamous MPC

now actually holds together more like something of a rock

than like the loosey-goosey train-wreck the MPCs have long been infamous for.

it's still a silly looking, half-inspired plagiarism of it's vintage HCM predecessor, and not even quite as good as that low-bar in some ways,

but like the HCM, it somehow just feels right owning one all the same.

by rights, i should next be after the Yammie 1/48 and BANDAI 1/55 reissue of this particular VF-1,

so i can claim ownership of most every meaningful toy iteration ever made in the last 30 years.

the 1/55 reissue i think i can manage down the line a little, the 1/48, however, commands mad money these days,

and probably won't be getting any cheaper any day soon...

hi guys, i'm looking for any complete DVD set, so long as it contains a SUB track, of the late-70's T.V. series;

1. The Jolly Roger of Space
2. A Message From the Unknown
3. A Lady Who Burns Like Paper
4. Under the Flag of Freedom
5. To the Shores of Distant Stars
6. The Phantom Mazone
7. The Pyramid on the Sea Floor
8. The Queen's Space Fleet
9. The Fearsome Plant Lifeform
10. Approaching the Mystery Planet
11. When Lola Shines Golden
12. Mother, Be Eternal
13. Witch Castle in the Sea of Death
14. The Sphinx's Gravestone
15. Unrequited Love! The North Pole Aurora
16. Kei: A Song of Farewell
17. The Skeletal Hero
18. The Evil Shadow Soldiers
19. Queen Lafresia's Trap
20. The Dead Planet Jura
21. Gohrum! The Tragic Soldier
22. Space Graveyard Deathshadow
23. Yattaran: Song of the Model Lover
24. The Shooting Star of Virgin Love
25. Doctor Zero and Mi
26. The Long Journey From Afar
27. The Will of the Arcadia
28. The Ulysses Nebula
29. Life-and-Death Struggle on the Rainbow Planet
30. My Friend, My Youth
31. The Arcadia's Secret History
32. Call of the Star Flute
33. The Lone Man's Charge
34. The Galactic Lullaby
35. The Beautiful Mystery Woman
36. The Eve of the Showdown
37. Tears on a Red Sweater
38. Farewell, Mayu
39. Courage: The Death of the Commander
40. And Then the Angels Sang
41. Duel! The Queen Versus Harlock
42. Farewell, Cosmic Corsair

- looking to trade up to the recent re-release set? dump your old one off on me!!

good business from fellow member "Atharun" fast and courteous service...

also, kudos again for "JVMacross" on 1/55 MPC VF-1J Hunter...

OK, c'mon. Everybody has a guilty pleasure. Something that you enjoy but you know that if others knew about this pleasure you could very easily be mocked...

as i might have mentioned before, i mainly had designs on this as a commemorative tribute

to the 1985 BANDAI HCM, from which this toy so clearly derives from. unfortunately,

i get a clear picture now of what made the MPC line (and TOYNAMI by extension) so infamous

in regards to their QC.

indeed, paint smudges and staining abound on this "limited edition fine collectible" and even a missing wing-runner-light lens!!

to be fair, this thing ain't half bad, after some corrective paint-work/clean-up with rubbing alcohol/joint tightening/wing glove modding/etc. i mean, there is plenty of shiny zinc and all. one fairly serious and fairly necessary mod, however, was to shave the pilot's underside way the hell down

so that he could sit much lower, and far more accurately, in the cockpit. granted, i had to GORILLA GLUE him in there after that,

but since this MPC's cockpit is barely any better than that of the HCM from which it is derived,

and a LONG way off from the perfection that is the ARCADIA 1/60v.II cockpit, i'm really not missing anything at all

by losing the removable pilot feature here;

@Shaorin, nice Eagle. Will it be a USAF, IAF, JDF bird?

Looking forward to seeing her all painted up.

Chris

thinking of a made-up U.N. SPACY scheme i've in mind, actually. apologies to any "Rivet Counters" round here in advance...

those 1/60 VF-0 sculpts sure hold up beautifully despite their age.

sure wish i hadn't have missed out on one of them, back in their day...

assembly nearly finished, tons of painting and clean-up to do...

huh. is that a fact? well, here i was, like 20 years ago or so, totally hangin loose with the girls on a swingin-ass FRIDAY night;