Hiriyu

I really dig that rear 3/4 pic of the gerwalk Cowie. Will take your suggestion on the weighting of the legs, as soon as I can get around to a build-up....

If helicopters are allowed, you can't forget the Transformer "Whirl", which was actually a recolor of the Takatoku Ovelon Gazzete from Dorvack. http://1500bc.com/pretf/dorvack.html

Nice, Cowie! I have a 1/100 Max Variable that I've been thinking about doing something with, and you've given me some inspiration. Thanks for posting up the build process

Where did you place your preorder? I need to do that myself.

It sounds as if you speak from experience, JBZERO Dunno, from the pic it does look as if it is in fact the Toynami Voltron... Any Voltron experts here?

No Kidding! SOC is a must buy... Just keeps looking better and better.

I think that the VF-X-4 was the one using reconstituted VF-1 parts, the Lightning III is a substantially different bird. I don't think we'll be getting a VF-4, for the same reasons mister_e states above

I'm sure that some here have already seen it, but found this while browsing Youtube. Very cool short interview video with Noriko Hidaka and Rei Sakuma, with some footage of them doing actual voice over work. Check it out!

Agreed. I will likely not go to see this movie, as I do not wish to allow the studios which mine this cultural Sub-Strate to Sub-Sist upon my earnings.

Mr. March, it sounds as if you Sub-scribe to the theory that Hollywood is attempting Sub-limation of our childhood comic book heroes.

Nice work as always, chrono BTW, I'm the one that tagged you over at the Infinity forum yesterday... Hello again.

JBWeld is just a metallized two-part epoxy. It sets in about 45 minutes, and cures in 24 hours. I would think that a non-metallized epoxy would probably be better for plastic repair.

I'm certain that you're right, NMB4M, but I'm cheap, and these are cheap toys after all If the tape trick doesn't work, I'd probably just display them on their feet, or landing gear, as appropriate... Though maybe, I can use some polycaps from some old ARII kits instead...

Yeah, I have the 1J s preordered too. I am hoping the fastpack sets land in the $10.00 or less region, but I won't hold my breath. They sure did look cool in the pics though. I don't know of any prophylactic fix for the ballcup on the stand... although some reinforced tape, cut to a thin strip and wrapped around the cup may do the trick... I'll have to try that one out.

Small update for me, I went ahead and mounted the 1S on its stand . The ballcup DID crack overnight (surprise, surprise), but it did not drop the fighter. I had it balanced pretty well on the stand, kind of in anticipation of the event after reading all the gripes here. No big deal though, I just put some white glue in the socket, popped the ball in, wiped off the excess and let it dry. Still holds just fine. I went ahead and opened up my Max and Hikaru 1As and put them on the stands too, but neither one of those has cracked yet. I still think that these are neat toys for what amounts to Banpresto money.

I just got the first set, but have only opened the Roy 1S thus far. My initial impressions? I think that it's a neat little toy. Fun to screw around with, and very posable... much more so than any Yamato I own (numbering 25 or so at last count). The sculpt is not that bad though - sure, the proportions are bit weird in a couple of places, but nothing that is a real deal breaker for me. Comparing it to some of my ARII 1/100 fighter models (widely recognized as the BEST 1/100 rendition of the Valkyrie), it is clear that the designers took some creative license with these, seeming necessitated by the fact that these are fully transformable... Except for the shoulders, which really do have no right being THAT big The length and wingspan are pretty close to the ARII, but the breadth of the legs and arms in fighter mode are much greater. The front fuselage also seems to have been scaled 'up' a bit. It still kicks the poo out of the old Taka/Bandai 1/100 in terms of appearance and posability though. I'll have to report back on durability later Now, to mount this sucker on its stand... Muhahhahhaa!

I preordered one when they were announced, and the only issue I had was one of the little high gain antennae on the side of the front fuselage coming off. Easily rectified with a dab of ca glue.

I agree with Seven and Chrono. This series is nice, and I like it for what it is, but it could have been more. Doesn't hold a candle to the original despite its many similarities, but this is not necessarily a bad thing. I mean, how could you outdo Aim For The Top?

LL Cool VF1J, Yes it was a store in the same chain, but mine was in the Pasadena Mall. There was another one at the Arcadia Mall. That place was great, especially when they had markdown blowouts on model kits and stuff (I'm still kicking myself for not having picked up that $4.95 1/40 Orguss Bronco II kit that they had). They hosted model contests which I entered frequently, and displayed everybody's models in the main glass display case/counter. In my eyes, other toy chains like KB just could not compete. Later, they had a full-on skateshop too, which dovetailed nicely with my changing interests Danth, not sure if those boots were available as CFs, at least, I've never seen one to my recollection. Maybe someone else knows? *edit, doh, ^^ *

Don't know about major retailers, but mine came from a little gift shop across the street from my school which had a lot of imported bootleg things like Sanrio stuff and transformers (I seem to remember lusting after a bootleg soundwave that they had too) . My local toystore (Karl's Toys) had Takatoku valks, Orguss, and Dorvack toys, Gakken Mospeada stuff, all alongside the transformers stuff. Never could afford any of that though as a kid, so boots and model kits were pretty much it for me.

Yep, you're talking about my childhood here too . I was not well off enough as a kid to be able to get an import 1/55 or a jetfire, so I had to make do with the $10.00 1/100 bootlegs. As far as I was concerned at that point, it was just about the coolest toy ever. I played the hell out of my 1S, and broke both shoulder joints within a couple of months. Sadly, my superglue fixes would never last through a transformation. Heavy nostalgia with these things for me.

I don't think that these look that terribly bad, but I haven't handled one yet either. I have some on preorder thru TMP which, if I don't like, I figure I can sell and get my money back. As Jenius may remember me telling him when the MPC Alphas came out, I like to compare toys more based on scale than anything else. Like the Alphas when compared to a three-mode Gakken 1/55, I think that these visually look better than any other 1/100 transformable VF-1 to date. I'll have to wait and see to tell whether I'll really like them in a physical sense, once I've gotten one.

The ones that came packaged in fighter mode were called "Hawk Fighter". These generally go from $10-30.00 these days, depending on condition and what it comes with. I sold the one in the picture for $20.00 shipped, same as what I paid for it.

Alright, thanks for the heads up Valkyrie!

Yes, the feet were metal on these. These were boots of the Taka/Bandai 1/100. I had a 1S version as a kid, my friend had a 1J. I recently sold this one in the picture to Kanata.