Hiriyu

I love Mari Iijima's rendition of 'Born to be Wild' from that ep.

Looks like they've fixed the vernier nacelles so that they're fixed to the intakes instead of the thighs

I'd be willing to bet that the wings would be able to sweep forward in Gerwalk if the shoulders were angled down a just little, just as they needed to be on Yammie 1/48s and 1/60s (and Taka/Bandai 1/55s, and HMRs, and every other Valkyrie ever made).  The chest air intakes are a little bit larger than most other toys, but proportionally I don't see a lot of bad compromise going on here... the fact that we already have members saying that it's biased toward both battroid and fighter mode will attest to that, lol.

I'm looking forward to seeing more of this.

What is the controversy that everyone is talking about?

My HMR Hikaru Super 1A has the exact same issues with paint loss. I'm not bothered enough by it to repaint the affected areas, but it was something that I noticed within about a week of ownership, so you're not alone on that.

^ We had Takatoku and Bandai Macross 1/55s (and OG Gakken Mospeada, and Takatoku Orguss toys) in some of the better toy stores here in SoCal back in the '80s too.

My very first valk was a knockoff Taka 1/100 VF-1J, one of the ones with the Sasuraiger gun.

11 minutes ago, no3Ljm said:

I watched it again the second time and I didn't see any locking mechanism for the backpack when it gets folded. Would it just hang loosely or the hinge will be stiffer but gets loose over time?

 

If the hinge geometry is anything like the Yammie 1/48 or HMR, it shouldn't have any issue with staying uhh... fully erect. The hinges on those go just a little over-center.

And yes to the conversation above, the Yamato 1/48 did have the recessing back hatch as well. And yes, the tailfin pivots had some similar "looseness" during transformation -- the pivot needed that freedom of movement to allow the tailfin to move laterally so that it could fold as flat as possible. What the DX 1/48 really brings forward as advances to the general form imho is the Hi-Metal-like sliding arm joints, the extra leg cant-joint at the upper intakes, and the releasable Yammie-style swingbar w/waist joint. Alltogether I really like what I'm seeing am glad that I've got two on order.

I am a bit surprised that so many here apparently haven't had hands-on experience with the 1/48 Yammies. I must be getting old.

What I really like about the Sentinel Legioss is the fact that it's being designed by T-Rex. I really dig the novel nosecone/cockpit transformation scheme (props to @F18LEGIOSS for his very insightful schematics based on the shown prototype images). I'm a little less enthused about some of the more angular features in Armo-Fighter mode, and some of the very obviously WIP parts like the hollow shoulders, large shoulder swingbar relief gaps, and some of the basic proportions shown in the prototypes... Capt America is also 100% correct about the jamming of the leg units - check out the fuselage fairing which is prototyped as part of the flight stand fer chrissakes - but if there is any modern toy design firm able to do justice to the Legioss, then T-Rex has got to be up there near the very tippy top of that list.

I'll be keeping a keen eye on this one.

The way that the arms and head recess are really quite nice. One of the other things that gets me about the 1/48 prototype images is how evocative it is for me of the old 1/55 Hi-Metal prototypes, pictured in some of the old artbooks. I think that maybe it's the detailing of the airbrake, and maybe the shape of the jet intakes that really do it for me, but I get a really strong Chunky Monkey vibe from the 1/48 protos even though it's got all the modern design touches.

4 hours ago, orbitalharvest said:

loved those!  i always found they never quite got the nose cone shape right tho.  always turned down, instead of the distinctive profile shape of the valks we know and love

The 1/170 kits had the really wonky nose shape. These 1/100 kits were actually pretty nicely proportioned, excepting the gerwalk and battroid-only kits. The battroids were really chunky, and the gerwalks had the arms from the battroids which were much too large for the fighter airframes. The variable two and three-mode models were all pretty nice

13 hours ago, vlenhoff said:

i wish i had a shot of creating art for these boxes.

Those were all really cool kits with really cool artwork. I sold mine in bulk a few years ago.

The 011 looks absolutely fantastic on the HMR 101.

All the same, I'd love to see a release like the customized version shown by @recon@Slave IV

Just now, vlenhoff said:

My first ami ami. I got no money for this, but hey, i had to get it. i hope EMS is not too expensive, lol. i could not think quickly enough, so i selected ems.

I did the same, Vlen. EMS is expensive, but all things considered I'll bet you'll be fine for resale ultimately.

Got 2 at Amiami

doom wheel confirmed

I came here to drink beer and press f5, and I'm all out of beer...

Server Crash, in T-minus 5

T-Minus 10

4 minutes ago, Agent-GHQ said:

So i'm going through stock photos in AmiAmi and the youtube product review with Kawamori and I don't see any missiles!!!!! WTH is this correct guys? 

I'm thinking.... what if the next run comes with a painted visor or a combo pack with the GBP armor. Gosh.,,,, do I really need another run of 1/48 line again? 

Gosh. Jeez, when you frame it that way, you should probably just wait then by Gosh!

Well, whatever happens, this is a fun exercise

The last DX-style valk I bought new was a Yamato SV-51 Ivanov more than a decade ago. These insta-preorder hijinks are new to me, but I've got some good IPA on hand and plan to try to have fun with this, regardless of whether I snag one. Thanks for the tip @Tober

I've never purchased from Amiami before. Are the preorder quantities granted "add-to-cart" or "check-out" first? Meaning, will I be racing to enter my card credentials against those of you that already have them saved?

9 minutes ago, jenius said:

Man I saw 'first valk in a long time' and 'vf1A hikaru HMR' and assumed your welcome back was doing to include screwed up leg armors, glad it was a happy ending.

As am I. I only read through the last 10 pages of this thread *after* having ordered it, of course. Very happy to have had no issues and particularly in light of my sourcing.

A very happy 'welcome back', all things considered

Now for Gerwalk!

I just received my first modern Hi-Metal toy of any kind this afternoon, a Hikaru 1A Super ordered via Mykombini on Ebay. I hadn't purchased any Macross toys for about 7-8 years, and had sold my sizeable collection in mid-2015. I had missed out on the earlier 1/100 Hi-Metal toys as I had been pretty deeply ensconced in the Yamato ecosystem and hadn't really seen the point of them back in the day due to the then-current price/scale factor, but nowadays that situation seems to have been inverted (Will wonders never cease? Smaller-scale toys are now  available for less money than their larger-scale brethren? Wow!)

Of late I've really been feeling the itch for a VF-1 to mess with on desk duty, and the HMR seemed just the ticket.

Pardon the superlatives, but what a great little toy this is! I had watched a few video reviews of the recent releases (thanks as always Jenius!) but still didn't know what sort of experience really awaited me in terms of handling and aesthetics. I am very pleasantly surprised and impressed by the quality of sculpt, detail, and the rather nice sense of heft and tactile feel from this little valk in full-dress Super form. In my opinion it is every bit as nice to play with as a Yammie 1/48, and maybe even a little nicer! The jointwork is all nice and tight, and the "heft factor" versus size recalls the original Hi-Metal 1/55s and even the 1/60 V.1 Yamatos. This little valkyrie looks great on my desk and is so far a joy to handle. Job very well done, Bandai!

I doubt that I will ever become a valk-squadron completionist again, but I think that I can now understand why a lot of people are in relation to this series... How I wish that we had these 15 years ago.

I'm happy to report no issues with my leg armor, although they were assembled backwards as received - thanks to all of the posters in this thread for your observations and anecdotes in alerting me to potential issues - it is much appreciated. 

12 hours ago, tekering said:

Wow, I thought spelling "Iota" with a 'J' was just a mistake they'd made on the hobby show placards, but it looks like they're fully committed to it now!  

It's not consistent with any English spelling convention, Japanese romanization system, or previous product nomenclature...  It's depressingly consistent with Mospeada merchandising trends, however.  Stick (sic), Ley (sic), and Fuke (sic) can attest to how often products are mislabeled by ignorant Japanese companies.  

The Italians seem to have done this a long time back with the Lamborghini Jota, an ultimate "tuner" version of the Miura supercar, and more recently again with an Aventador Jota tribute model for 2019.

15 hours ago, no3Ljm said:

Lastly, material-wise esp the plastic used. Do you feel it's the same or Sentinel feels more high quality?

I'm not locidm, nor do I have a Sentinel ride armor, but I can affirm that the quality of materials in the Beagle/Toynami were very, very good (aside from the cloth portions of the rider suit). Most of the plastic in the Beagle had the feel of high-end industrial casting resin - it had a very hard and "dense" surface feel to it.

I was hoping/thinking that the dark panel lines and gloss paint on the fast packs of the KC 1/72 was just the result of hand-painting for the pre-production display sample. If they'll come that way out of the box it's maybe a slight negative but not a deal-killer if the price stays reasonable. I'm more concerned about how well the hinged lower nose section will close up, and hopefully stay closed - gappiness there would really spoil the look in fighter mode.