mr.chogokin

Hm, it seems inevitable that every Yammie will break sooner or later. I wonder if we can insure them or something... it sucks that they will break but at least we get some money back. Mr Chogokin imagines himself making a police report everytime a Yammie breakage happens. Gah!

Excuse me, what's with the tone in your reply? Fyi I sanded mine after reading your review.

After you sanded the nubs down, or before?

I'm curious. Is it harmful for companies like HLJ to declare a lower amount for the goods (and the shipping if possible) when they ship them via ems overseas? I'm not very sure how it works but I think they should do that for combined shipments especially because nothing sets off the customs alarm more than an invoice with high figures... High enough that they think they should tax you for the shipping fees + the goods. I pay taxes for everything from income to retail... but there are times when I think I deserve a little reprieve and genuinely think certain taxation (especially coming from the customs) are uncalled for.

As nice as the new version 2 1/60 VF1s are, I still prefer the 1/48 VF1s. The hollow and spacious sides of the Battroid mode on the V.2 1/60 just kills it for me; no where in the official linearts tell me that the VF1s come with such thick depth predesigned. The 1/48s' sides are hollow but less spacious and the old VF1s has the best side profile of all albeit lacking in perfect transformation. So the 1/48s is the most accurate to me despite other misgivings like the scrawny hands.

What did you think I was talking about?

Today, my ems parcel from HLJ arrived at the airport. Got a call from a kindly lady from post office telling me that it is also detained by customs on pending tax collection. So boys and girls, combined shipping may not be a good thing everytime, get the nice people at HLJ to ship your stuff separately because although I have receive big boxes shipment without being taxed many times before, the honest hardworking peeps at HLJ often confuse their customers to be same honest, law abiding citizens like them; so they attached their honest invoice outside of your parcel in plain sight of everyone... and so this time some customs officer who must be pushing for a year-end bonus, decide to look at mine. FML.

Here's a little info in hopes to boost the equity of Mac 2 valks, for those who don't know... The VF2SS is designed by Koichi Ohata, the same guy who gave us the iconic, not to mention impossibly powerful Gunbuster. He may not have designed the Mac 2 valks as mechanically realistic as how Kawamori did, but upon seeing the K-San's Messiah and Lucifer mechs in Macross Frontier, I feel Ohata's designs were probably too ahead of its time for most to appreciate.

Looks like he's having the same problem separating its neck from the fuselage.

I got my shipping confirmation yesterday, but I'm not able to track my ems stuff. In the email, they noted, "Please allow up to 72 hours for your order to appear on the tracking site." WTH? I didn't pay for ems to wait up to another 72hrs, Grr!

blacklotus, here are two reliable sites that I frequent with the 25th Anni YF-19 reviews. http://anymoon.com/blog/2009/02/23/yamato-...rsary-specials/ http://www.collectiondx.com/review/robot_t...5th_anniversary

I don't blame you. It's not like these reissues were announced with fanfare or something.

CHOU GINGGA GURREN LAGANN! Hah, such a name should only be mentioned with mandatory shouts.

I did mention that I'll call it the YF19 before the Bird of Prey (YF19BBOP) from the start. I also referred to it as "the latest reissue of YF-19". I don't understand how it can be misunderstood. Right, attached here is just a simple comparison photo of the differences so you'll know what to expect in the YF19 before the Bird of Prey (YF19BBOP). Edited to correct a typo in picture!

Monster, by static, you mean absolutely ZERO articulation?? I so want that King Kittan bad to pose next to my revoltechs.

EDIT BY GRAHAM - NOTE FOR THOSE WHO DON'T READ CAREFULLY - DESPITE THE SOMEWHAT CONFUSING (IMO) & REPEATED USE OF THE "BBOP" ACRONYM IN THE REVIEW BELOW, THIS IS NOT A BIRD OF PREY (BOP) REVIEW! IT IS A REVIEW OF THE STANDALONE REISSUE MACROSS PLUS COLOR YF-19 Okay a week has come and gone, I have finally received and handled the latest reissue of the 1/60 YF19, personally I'm not sure how many times have the YF19 been reissued, but I'm aware there has been like a couple of times since the first time the standalone 1/60 YF19 came out, and then the (2nd issue) YF19 bundled with the foldboosters and fastpacks that came after... I'll call this one, the YF19 before the Bird of Prey (YF19BBOP). In this mini review, I will be comparing with the YF19BBOP with the one that came bundled with the foldboosters and fastpacks. There will be no pictures here unfortunately. Good Parts Fighter mode - General comparisons visually, they both look the same as far as the molded colors are concerned. On the fighter mode, the YF19BBOP is the same as the 2nd issue YF19 with straight gunpod mounting and the landing gears can deploy and cant properly, it also has minor gaps at the intakes to the main body, and has floppy right cannard like the 2nd version. Not much difference on the fighter mode. Gerwalk - Upon transformation, you can immediately notice that most of the locks and joints are tighter on the YF19BBOP. Usually we get complaints on how floppy it becomes during transformation, but on the YF19BBOP, things are more bearable this time because I feel they have tightened the ball joints at the hips. But that is all I can find on the gerwalk mode as everything else on the YF19BBOP are the same with the 2nd issue YF19. There are no lockages of the upper body to the nose in the gerwalk mode, everything still relies on gravity to be held in place. Battroid - Transforming to Battroid mode the YF19BBOP feels the most satisfying because most of the joints here are pleasantly tight, especially on the arms and the hip joints. In other words they don't flop around as soon as you pick him up anymore. The grey plastics on the arms feels as though they are made of a different plastic. The texture is quite different when compared with the 2nd issue YF19. I hope the arms will be sturdy this time. The arms joint articulations that rotate from fighter mode to lock in Battriod are also nicely tightened and lock snugly. The YF19BBOP battroid can hold his gunpod out without dropping the pose the second you let go. The shoulder articulation is the same, but because the nubs at the bottom are more protruded, the shoulders can deploy and lock into place without falling back down at the slightest nudge. Bad Parts The packaging at a glance is the same as the first issue box, but upon opening the flap, you notice that the vertical stabilizers are wrapped with a layer of clear plastic laminate to prevent scratches to the paint. So there is no way to tell the differences until you get one. The separation of the nose from the body is still difficult to do. The two grey plastic tabs still arrive with stressmarks on them. The most difficult thing during transformation is the part where I'm suppose to snap the nose from the neck of the body before separating them. As gentle as I am with it, the nose still snaps loudly; which I hate, and the following motion will make me torc the grey plastic tabs too much. So in the end I sand the offending nubs down on the YF19BBOP, just like I did for the 2nd YF19. They now "click!" like flicking open a Zippo cover instead of that trademark Yamato's loud snapping unlockage of parts. No locking chest on Battroid. Although I swear they did make the whole chest housing clamp down a bit harder on the nose this time, the result is at best inconsistent. I have tried to pick the battroid YF19BBOP up at the chest at several occasions, the chest still comes off most of the time. So I don't consider that any improvements has been made in this department. The left wing with swivel (not the wing root at the intake) which is loose on my 2nd YF19, is even more looser on the YF19BBOP, although this bothers me the least, I'd still like everything on the YF19BBOP to be a good fix or improvement more than a status quo or worsening of the original condition. Over-glueing and the glueing shut of parts still persist in the YF19BBOP, the first YF19BBOP I got came with his right shoulder glued down and was impossible deploy properly in Battroid mode. I returned it to get a new one. Some one in Yamato has to read this and get their people to stop with the glueing, because it's annoying for not being able to fix stuff that they didn't assemble properly. So there you go. My take on the YF19BBOP versus the 2nd issue YF19. This YF19BBOP is what I got and used in this review after I took the first YF19BBOP that I brought back to the shop because his right shoulder is over glued and got stuck during transformation..., although this is in no way a good representation of the YF19BBOP's quality as Yamato intended, the undesirable luck of the draw that is synonymous with Yamato products is still there. But if you are buying the Bird of Prey and the Double Nuts, you should expect the same thing if not better. Good luck!

I worry for my 1D's shoulders.

I will wait.

I certainly will. Hadn't planned on getting another, but I want to weather my current YF19... like real bad... but not gonna start till I get a spare. Getting itchy fingers everytime I look at it.

Well, I just bit the bullet and ordered a "reissue" 1/60 YF19. The one that is suppose to come out right before the Bird of Prey color version. It's landing next week... So, I guess I'll know soon enough.

The old Yamato's Macross box arts are nothing much to write home about, but I find them acceptable. If you compare the old Yamato Macross box arts to other Yamato's non-Macross box arts like the Beagle's Mospeada or the GN-U Gou Braiger J9, you know they can do better if they want to. And the quality of their artwork for the Macross boxes took a nosedive in the recent VF1D and the VF11B offering. There is a general lack of art direction, plenty of bad typography, bad photography that is made worse by the worst photoshop skills I have ever seen. Since they have gotten the license to make these toys, they would also be allowed to use Big Wests' official Macross artworks to make box arts similar to the old Takatoku packagings but they didn't. Speaking of the old Takatoku Macross boxes, what I see is the smart use of official Macross artworks, good design of layout, color and type, and the whole box is just nice to look at. Till today when I pick one up, I would spend minutes and minutes just by looking at it. I don't waste that kind of time looking at any Yamato box art.

That's not too bad... I saw the 1J Hikaru version going for $265 in Ebay!

How muchy???

I don't have a problem with how the 1/60 yf 19 looks. So if Yamato really addresses the problems that has been mentioned repeatedly, they have one more customer.

I'd wear it and no one would be wiser. Nice stuff you made!