Chronocidal
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Actually, the legs are still going to have to rotate completely sideways to stay attached to those ball joints.. the ball joint will just have to come out the top of the leg, instead of rotating around the side like on the YF-21.
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"Very tight" hip joints would be like calling the sun "a little warm." Mine could rotate side to side a little, but rotation was almost out of the question for mine. I'm almost tempted to disassemble the hips and file down the ball joints, because they are scary to move. I mean, "holy crap, I feel like I'm going to break this thing in half" scary. Or.. you know.. I could always just leave it untransformed in fighter mode for a few months. The hips will probably be nice and loose in no time.
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Wow. This could be awesome. You know, I've never appreciated how useful it is that you can just pop the tails off the VF-0 until now. Fun question though.. aside from replacing a few parts, what mods will this require to the original parts? The legs and wings are plenty easy to swap in and out, so the majority of the work looks like it wouldn't even require any permanent changes to the stock VF-0. You could potentially change it back and forth as you liked.
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Well if you fold the thighs into the engines, you can't have a perfect transformation. I know people think there would be room there, but I doubt there will. Plus, most line art shows the thighs housed in the center of the wing, so I don't know why they would change that. What does need to happen is that the knee joints will probably be somewhere mid-engine in fighter mode, and will have to slide forward into the intake. I've seen various ways people have covered that gap in the past, and it might just be as simple as a sliding cover that pulls forward along with the knee joint. One thing that does concern me a bit is that the hip joint will likely be very similar to the YF-21's, since it will need to rotate sideways and fold flat. While I don't think we'll have the balance problems the YF-21 has, I know the hips on mine aren't very stiff (though that may be due to the way they're designed to disconnect).
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K, that makes more sense then. Not sure it will help hold the legs up any, but I'll find out later. Thanks.
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I probably just need to put pics up about what I'm saying later. I definitely got the backplate locked down into the ...well, whatever the plate is that the legs are attached to. That's part of the problem.. what is that plate even called? The fuselage is definitely supposed to lock directly into it, but it definitely won't stay there. Anubis20 definitely has the same issue (you can see the contour and the darker part that fits into it in his pic), with the fuselage structure sitting ahead of the little contour it's supposed to rest on. It's in the last page of the instructions, that diagram showing how the fuselage is supposed to fit directly into the curved recess on that plate. I can definitely press the fuselage in there, but there's nothing to keep it there. Probably will just have to wait til tonight after work. Just doesn't make sense without pics.
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Not sure what you mean about pushing it one click to the side.. side of the leg, or side of the fighter? I'll have to check later, since it sounds like what you're describing is that the knees have some kind of side to side motion. I'm pretty sure it's all lined up correctly though, because the legs line up just fine with the center belly plate, and they do click into place on the backplate, and with each other.. they just don't like to stay there, because they're too heavy. If I pick up the plane by the wings, the legs unseat themselves and drop down. The locator tabs on the backplate just aren't enough to hold them.
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Oh, hah.. I should have read that better.. I was about to ask if you'd be able to make blank wings with the hardpoints, instead of the clip on ones. I'd love to get some spare wings with hardpoints, especially for the YF/VF-19s, and VF-25s. Actually, what I'd love is a conversion kit to turn a VF-19P into a VF-19S.. but that would be a lot more extensive, and would need to include the entire wing glove assembly, as well as a new head and shoulders... but I'd settle for the wing gloves if you could pull it off.
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I'm still pretty confused if I'm transforming the chest/head correctly, since nothing actually locks to anything else solidly.. except the backplate to that flap that folds up the back. The head is just resting on that flip up panel from the chest plate, which isn't supported by anything either. That back flap definitely doesn't like to sit in the right place either, so I might be missing some tiny detail somewhere. I have to give them credit though, because fighter mode is rock solid, and I wish the 17's legs were designed more like the 171's. The lower leg twist, and the way they attach just works better. Getting the 17's knees in the right position for fighter mode is a pain (I don't know how many times I've extended or collapsed the knee joints too far trying to hit that middle detent where they fit), and they really don't lock in the up position very well at all. I'll probably have to give the super glue treatment to the long tabs under the backplate that align the legs, because they really don't do anything to hold them up.
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Ok, having received both my VF-17 and VF-171 on the same day, I think I can compare them in one word each.. VF-17: Beefy. VF-171: Overcomplicated. They're both beautiful, but in terms of the 171.. I have never been so worried I would snap a piece of metal in half. If Bandai has any flaws in the metal on the hip bar, the legs will snap off. Midway through the transformation to battroid, you have to rotate the hips 180... mine wouldn't budge. I had to force them to move at all, and that was horribly stressful to do. I've transformed them both a couple times now, and while I like the shape of the 171 better, the 17 definitely wins out on simplicity. In particular.. the little streamlining plates on the underside of the shoulders. Both the 17 and 171 do them, but in completely different ways. And Bandai decided to make them ridiculously over-engineered, and a royal pain to move around. On the Yamato, I just popped the panels off to transform it, and saved myself the hassle. One thing I do plan to do eventually.. when I get the super packs? I'm swapping in the hardpointed wings, and gluing those stupid pins in permanently. I can't believe Bandai was so.. I don't even know a good word.. that they didn't include the wings to begin with. It's needless excess, it serves no purpose, and all it does is add a few bucks to the cost of the parts. On the other hand, I prefer the nose gear on the Bandai, because it doesn't need that third front door the Yamato uses... it might be line-art correct, but it doesn't work well with the catapult bar. Bandai still haven't figured out that landing gear are supposed to be white, but they're getting better about making them reasonable shapes.. they even included the shock scissors on them this time. Call me satisfied with both for now, I just need to master transforming them. One trick I discovered though.. if your pins tend to fall out on the 171, swap them. I did, and both wings actually got tighter somehow. Also, I've never appreciated gummy head lasers as much as on the 171.. my first transformation back to fighter, I managed to catch one of the head lasers under the arm when I snapped it down. It was only bent for a few minutes before going back to its correct shape. Oh, one last thing.. Bandai? LEARN HOW TO MOLD WINGS THAT DON'T WARP ALREADY. Both mine are definitely curled up. Not a lot, but enough to make it obvious they still don't know how to avoid that.
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I think aside from a few things, I really love what they did with those scenes. As far as the opening goes though, I don't care for the character flashes. That's a newer thing, and I don't think it's very fitting for the places they put them in. The original also had the SDF-1 against cityscapes to emphasize just how huge it is.. that gets lost against star backgrounds, and further distracted from with the character overlays. Most of what's there I think is pretty close to the original, and I wouldn't mind seeing the entire series animated in that style. The combat scenes are amazing, especially the clip with Vermillion Squad going against that cruiser, and it makes me want to see a redone version of the Max and Millia fight.. actually, ALL of them. The one shot of Millia holding the knife has me really wanting to see the entire series redone, just so we can get that fight re-drawn. It's probably just my personal taste, but I actually enjoyed the bits of humor they added too.. for some reason, chibi-fied Shammy crying in the audience just fits somehow. They definitely played up Minmay's concerts to be more modern looking though, which I think isn't entirely bad. They pretty much gave the performances a dose of MacF, but kept the costumes original, and not so fan-servicey (except the bit of her with the heart-tipped tail and the miniskirt.. I dunno where that came from. ) Also, the Q-Rau pin-up poster shot. I would buy a full sized print of this in a heartbeat.
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I think it's due to the way they're rearranging the site. If anything at all about that "order stop" field changes, the alarm will go off. That includes any kind of format changes (font size, color, alignment), or any change to the field itself as far as the size or where it's located. I've definitely had the alarm go off because they centered the text, or added a space between the words.
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I wouldn't panic about the VF-25G just yet. If things go anything like they did for the VF-171, you might be able to get one from Nippon Yasan still. I only ordered a VF-171 from them two days before release (when I went to pre-order the super packs for it), and they still had them. It's sitting at the FedEx office for pickup as I type. That's potentially sad about the VF-4 and HLJ, but I bet if you had asked them if they'd be carrying the VF-1 kits, Fan Racer, VF-X, or any of the other Yamato "exclusives" they probably would have given you the same reply. We probably won't know until later if they'll get them or not. Yamato knows they have a lot of international buyers, so hopefully they'll figure out some way to make it available. If not, that's going to be one gigantic group buy.
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Well, given what happened with the VF-171, they might just wait until it goes on sale officially. Apparently, HLJ opened orders for the VF-171 at release, and had a few to sell. They might do the same thing again.
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Got the same "3rd Quarter 2012" thing from BBTS now too. I should just cancel probably at this point, since I should be picking up my VF-17 and VF-171 both from Fedex on monday.
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Well this is interesting.. Nippon Yasan noted me that they were sorry that my order had been delayed, and offered to upgrade me to Fedex Priority. So apparently they either still have stock, or are getting more of them. No word from BBTS though.
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Sounds kind of similar to the way some people had a leg on their SV-51 just snap.. not a wide-spread issue, but nearly catastrophic for the person it happens to. I would imagine there might still be a way to fix it though. You might not get as much posability out of the joint, but it might hold the leg on at least.
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Phew, my order finally cleared customs. HLJ replied to my email asking about it as well, and it appears they were able to clear it up easily enough. Score one more for their customer service.
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Aircraft Super Thread Mk.VII
Chronocidal replied to David Hingtgen's topic in Anime or Science Fiction
Oh yikes, I totally passed up the DCS F-14 thing. Amazing, I can't wait for that, and it'll give me a good reason to get that TM Warthog. As for the F-18E/F though, Janes did put out a pretty decent sim for that years ago, but yeah, it's way out of date now. It was definitely one of those that needed a thousand page manual, and had what I think was the only fully 3D cockpit Janes made before falling off the market. Maybe not the best technically accurate sim, but people have gone and accurized it a ton in recent years. -
All Things Videogame Related: EXTREME VS!!
Chronocidal replied to Keith's topic in Anime or Science Fiction
Never got to play Starlancer, but after modders got ahold of Freelancer, it actually became something quite epic. If you stop thinking of it as a space combat game, and more of an rpg shooter, it's quite enjoyable. I wonder if they've got Privateer2 though, I'd love to see more of David Warner. -
So, if NY shows your order as "Preparation in Progress"... what does that mean? Do they have it in stock, or is that just what happens once you pay? I know some people said they were having theirs cancelled, so I don't expect it to go through, but it would be weird if it did.
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Oh, I hope this is very unique, but I'm going to write a request to HLJ that if they're going to continue adding promotional items like that, they need to put a minimum value for those items so this doesn't happen again.
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All Things Videogame Related: EXTREME VS!!
Chronocidal replied to Keith's topic in Anime or Science Fiction
Oh shoot, they have WC4? I heard it wasn't as good as 3, so never really chased it down, but given how craptastic the combat/space sim market has been (I honestly don't even remember how long it was since we got a good space combat sim), I find myself looking back through my collection for fun stuff to try. I've still got my original WC 1-3, on the original disks (diskettes for WC 1), and make a habit of playing through them every once in a while with DOSBox. Works beautifully. Kinda wanted to give Prophecy a try too, but never managed to get a copy. The ship designs in that were some of my favorites from the entire series. -
Heh.. so I wondered.. yeah, once again Bandai doesn't "get it" with aircraft. Designs for the missiles are lined up with the fins inline with the pylons. Though for what it's worth, I think Yamato goofed on that one too with the VF-0.
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Remind me to slap HLJ for including those dumb freebie materials on the invoice. My package is locked up in Alaska for the weekend because they didn't put a price on the Quarter concept art, and it's got 9 copies of it, so now customs is probably going to hack open the box and verify what's in it. Edit: Correction, remind me never to buy crap that has free bonus items again. They refuse to ship it to me unless HLJ assigns a value to the materials. So now I have to call them, and tell them to call Fedex, and tell them how much those stupid posters are worth. I wanted to slap the guy on the phone too.. I was like.. "It's a piece of paper. It's worth 10 cents tops. Now send me my crap."
