Chronocidal

Now the question is, after pushing them that far, if you move the ankles back to the centered position, how loose are they? The short version of the issue with the ankles is that the design of the joint is bad. Why is it bad? I'm not even sure. There seem to be many variations on how badly the ankles loosen, and it seems like no one has the exact same problem. Graham mentioned the paint on the ankles on the Fire Valk possibly being a problem, due to uneven distribution. I'll buy that, it seems like a likely problem on this type of joint. Since the Blazer doesn't have this paint anymore, it makes sense that the ankles on it would be better, and my personal experience is that they are. Are they fixed though? Not really. I still had to stretch mine out to get a good gerwalk bend, and once stretched, they're no longer firm enough to do a static battroid pose. After loosening my Fire Valk's ankles enough to get a good stable gerwalk pose, they have absolutely no tension at all when centered. And by saying they have no tension, I mean I can spin the feet like a propeller. Let me point out the clearest thing that comes to mind. This is a ball joint. It should be spherical. You should not need to stretch it. The tension should not change depending on how far you move it. Ergo, this joint is not spherical. How this happened, who knows. But it's the only explanation I can think of that explains why the joint acts this way. Either the ball or socket is not the right shape. Personally, I suspect it's a side effect of the way the ball is made of a combination of metal and plastic pieces. I don't even want to think about what kind of stress stretching the joint to let it move to the extents may actually involve. One of these days, the screws holding the ankle may give way entirely from repeated stretching. Bottom line is that the joint has a problem. What it comes from, who knows, but for whatever reason, the ball joint isn't a ball. It's not consistent, because people have the problem to varying extents, but something in the manufacturing or assembly process is making the ball joints uneven.

Yep, can't say I'm at all surprised. Each of the pieces Graham mentioned were made using the same plastic that was used for the arms, which we all know tends to explode. I got a first issue 0A, and I SOAKED both entire knee joints in superglue. All sections. Then I added a coat to the hip bar clips for good measure. When I got it, the knees were covered in spiderwebs of stress fractures starting to form. You can see the same types of cracks further up the knee joint in that picture. Those were all over both knees on mine. I saw them from the outside, and then opened them up to soak everything in glue. That plastic was BAD. I think it got better with later releases, but something in that batch of releases just did not work.

That's part of why some people don't like the ankles. Because you can't point the toe down far enough without stressing the joint, you have to keep the nose lower. Although... if you're content to just stretch the joint, and just accept the fact that you'll have to tighten the ankles before attempting any battroid poses, you can get pretty close. Here's what it looks like if you don't bend the knees as far forward as they will go. The knees are one click before full bend, and the ankles don't need quite as much range to get a good level pose this way. If you're worried about stressing the ankles, this works, it's just not as stable because the feet aren't as far under the body, and the weight is farther forward. Because my ankles are stretched, the ankles didn't hold well for me in this pose, and the nose began to fall after a minute or two. If you really push the ankles to their limit (one notch before full ankle extension, with the heels pushed up to the point of touching the ankle collar), and bend the knees all the way, you get a slightly lower nose. Personally, I like this better. It's more balanced since the feet are more towards the center of weight, and since the ankles are pushed farther, they actually hold in place better. Since I've stretched mine, they hold in this position pretty well. I just have to tighten them up for battroid. Plus, I think the lower nose just looks more aggresive in general. Also, with the nose lower, you can rotate the arms up further at the shoulder, which gets them away from the wings roots, and lets you drop the biceps more. Keep the nose level, and you're stuck keeping the elbows pointing almost straight out to the sides. I should mention, I very rarely leave my valks in anything but fighter mode for more than a couple hours at most. I don't display them this way, so I personally can't vouch for how long they'd stay posed this way. I did leave my Fire Valk in gerwalk for a few hours this way last week, and it stayed in place, but that's the longest I've done it. I may leave this one in this pose for the evening and see if it holds up standing on the carpet.

K, I'll have to blame it on bad encoding then. My copy, and most of what's on youtube isn't nearly that sharp or clean. Reminds me, I need to track down the better quality version of M7.

I think it's just because of how dark the VF-17 is, and how little else there is that's actually white around the stripes to compare to. Most times, they really do look like they're supposed to be white, unless you see them next to something that's clearly bright white or silver. In the opening, the stripes do look like they're meant to be white. The limited palette in the animation means you only have so many colors, and shadowed white often gets drawn in shades of light grayish-blue. In this case, the white head on the VF-17S looks nearly the same color as the stripes on the VF-17Ds following it in the shot where they're hovering across the sand. The shot also happens to use the same color for the clouds.

If the plastic ball were separating, it shouldn't lose tension side to side or front to back; if anything, it would spin, because the ball looks like it forms a cap to the metal ankle piece.

You know... I understand that this system usually works decently well, since we've seen it in so many games. But I wish people would try something different. It's kind of sad, I was really looking forward to maybe playing this. I mean, I might still try it some day, but I'm just so tired of computer games emulating dice games. If you want to play games based on random number generators, more power to you, but computers are capable of so much more. I guess I just wish more developers would explore new ways to play instead of sticking to such a simple mechanic. I mean, there are games that use very different mechanics to play, and I love them for it, but I've yet to see any big ticket developers work on anything similar. Most of them are free-to-play mmos hosted by random companies, and developed elsewhere. There any estimate for how long til this opens up fully? I don't have much time to beta test at the moment, but I might try a demo and see if I like the story enough to ignore what I don't like.

Wait, so, there's no rubber friction pad in the joint at all? Like.. every other ball joint Yamato has used in the past? I think the problem with the inconsistent tension is that the socket and ball just aren't spherical at all, or gets stressed out of shape during assembly. I mean, it is made up of two different materials after all, which have entirely different structural properties, and aren't going to react to stress at all in the same way. I'd love to understand why they thought a joint designed like that was a good idea, but every bit of my engineering education tells me there's something really wrong with that ankle design.

Yeeeeeeeeeeesh... I just looked at those web order sites... APRIL??? Why on earth does Bandai take so long to release anything after the pre-orders are out?

My Fire Valk's ankles definitely didn't move farther than that pic when I first got it. I had to stretch them out, and now they're only tight at the extremes of their range, unless I go and retighten the screws, which means they revert to that miniscule range in the pic. Anything approaching centered is pure slop after they've been stretched. Also.. I wish I could slap some sense into the people deciding to use those pins. It seems as if while Bandai has finally taken a few hints from Yamato on aesthetics, Yamato is doing the reverse, and adapting mechanical methods used by Bandai. Those pins? They're all over the Frontier valks, especially in the shoulder sections. They also are one of the first hinge types to go absolutely wimpy. All the joints using that method on my old v.1 VF-25 and VF-27 are as limp as soggy toast. Even my v.2 Alto is only a couple months old, and the pins like that in the shoulders are already sloppy enough to let the entire arm swing back and forth if I tilt him enough. And I've only transformed that valk a half dozen times at most. Hopefully Yamato will have better luck with those types of pins, but the fact is.. it's a whole lot easier to compress a hollow pin than a solid one, and over time, those pins will compress, because it's the path of least resistance.

See, I still don't buy it. The ankle joints don't make a lick of sense. Why the hell is this possible.... while forward and back motion is limited to this? See that pivot mid-way up the ankle? If that were rotated 90 degrees, it would let you point the toe an amazing amount. Instead, we have a joint that allows you to bend the ankles sideways farther than the legs can even be spread. I just can't believe they would design that joint that way on purpose.

Here's the thing about those screws... they hold the ankle together so the ball joint is tighter in the center. Loosen them up, and it'll be loose there.... but move it to the edge of the range, and it gets tight again. Plus, once you bend the foot that far in gerwalk, it's actually more balanced, because you can actually get the feet underneath the center of mass. Even if they're not as tight, you've got less weight in front to make the thing tip over. Mine's been sitting all evening in gerwalk with it's screws entirely loose. What I'm thinking is causing it is that the ball joint really just isn't round. It gets tighter at it's outer limits, and pushing it there spreads the joint, making it loose in the center.

Ok, just to clarify.. yes, putting my 19S in that pose did screw up the ankles. They're loose now. I just place myself in a category where I can tolerate that, because I bought it purely for the fighter mode. I might transform them once in a while, but I love the VF-19's fighter mode, and this thing nails it for the most part. Truthfully, for whatever reason, with all the other brilliant engineering involved in the VF-19 design, the ankle really is a failure. I can't understand anything about why they would choose to design it this way, and unless you stick to fairly static poses or use a stand, it's bound to give you issues. Once I get the guts to go tinkering with the legs on these, I might take out the ankles and see what else can be done. I doubt I'd be able to develop a replacement, but I might see about rearranging the way the parts work. Truthfully, the only thing keeping those ankles from working well is the fact that they're mounted SIDEWAYS. The big pivot joint above the foot is facing the wrong way, and you wind up with massive side-to-side range, and no ability to point the toe. There's no reason I can see why the ankle shouldn't work with that joint facing the other direction. It's just a matter of figuring out how to get it to mount 90 degrees off from where it is now. It's the kind of thing that makes you think someone just happened to misinterpret a drawing, and designed a part that's 90 degrees off from what it was supposed to be. I'll see about putting pictures up later of what I mean, but I think it's pretty clear. Edit: Screw it. No, really, why the bloody hell do they always have to go back to supergluing covers over all the important screws? They had a good thing going when they went to the v.2 VF-1, and then they went back to gluing everything shut like the Macross Zero stuff. There's really no way to get to the ankle assemblies without destroying the legs. Edit 2: Ok, here's a fun trick.. if anyone's willing to try it.. just loosen the screws on the ankles, or take them out entirely. After trying that, my Fire Valk is pulling off an even better angle than my Blazer can. Sure, if I move the ankles back, they're loose, but even with the screws removed, the ankles seem to like staying with the toes pointed as far as they will go. I dunno if this is just because I've barely used them before, or what, but maybe the trick to this is just loosening the screws, then tightening them once you pose the ankles the way you want. It's a lousy solution that shouldn't even be needed... but it might be enough to hold a good gerwalk pose for a display.

Ok, after playing around with this one a bit, I think the ankles are better. Still iffy due to the potential for the ball joint to loosen up, but I definitely can get more range of motion from the Blazer than I can from the Fire Valk. I went ahead and really tried to push the ankles far this time, just to see at what point they become loose. The Fire Valk's ankles wouldn't move as far as the Blazer's (note the angle of the lower leg, and how much lower the FV's nose is), and after re-centering the feet, they're fairly sloppy. The Blazer's? Not quite as much. They're still semi-sloppy around the center, but not quite as bad. Also, I should note.. once you stress the ankles in a particular direction, they'll generally be pretty firm around their limits. Okay for if you want to pose a lot in gerwalk, not so much for battroid. They're still a far cry from the old ratcheted ankles we've gotten used to. But I suppose if you push the ankles to where you want them, and leave them there, they might still work ok. You just might have to re-tighten the joints if you want a different pose.

Nope, that's definitely the metal bar that sheared off. What's scary about these breaks is that you're bound to put some stress on that metal just from prying the legs away from the underside of the chest plate. Those clips hold the intakes really tightly, and I can definitely see someone finally prying the intake loose, only to have the metal bar snap from the sudden stress when the clips let go. I'll see about taking some pictures of how I transform the legs later today. Been too busy fiddling with my Blazer to mess with the VF-25 much.

Those pics are kind of hard to tell from, but you can definitely pick up the transparency. I might just have gotten a particularly bad case, which is bound to happen every so often. What I notice the most though.. Angle the wing into the light so you can see a reflection on it, then run your fingernail along the underside of the trailing edge, pressing very lightly. When I do that, I can see a sharp bump in the surface of the wing, caused by my fingernail. Here's a few shots I took of what the edges look like. What this really reminds me of is the mold flaws that happen in styrene kits, where either not enough plastic gets into the mold, or excess plastic forms a jagged edge along the back edge of a part. The first pic really shows it best, especially if you look at the reflection. The edge is really uneven, and there's a definite curl to the surface. In comparison, the Fire Valk's wings are indeed thin, and you can see a little light through them, but no where near as much as the S-model. The wings are much thicker feeling, and the edges are nice and straight. I should say though... as precise as they are, none of my Hasegawa valk kits have wings anywhere near this thin at the edges. They're so thin, I can nearly shave off material by scratching at the edge. It wouldn't surprise me at all if the wings get damaged just from being ejected from the molds.

Well before anyone panics, I might've gotten just a bad molding on the wings. But I'd suggest everyone else look at theirs for anything similar. Two things I noticed: the back edge of the wing might be uneven, and the trailing edge of the wing root on mine has a tendency to droop below where it should connect with the tail. I can press the wing root up to meet with the tail, and it might stay for a while due to the peg on the tail, but it doesn't stay connected long, and springs back down.

Well, not usually.. but people might frown upon them when they are contained generously.

K, I think I understand what you mean. You basically twisted the feet sideways enough that the stupidly huge side-to-side range actually acts to let you point the toe more. I guess that works. I still want to rip the entire assembly out and rotate it 90 degrees. Having that much side to side motion makes no freaking sense at all when the foot won't even rotate 10 degrees forward or back.

Well, only reason I'd use sharpie here is that on this dark blue plastic, I can't really see a difference. That, and I don't happen to have any gundam markers. Seems to have covered it fine in this case. It's a little different shine than the other black paint, but it is a very small area I'm talking about, so it's hard to notice.

Ok, the only problem with that.. pushing the ankles to where they match your pose is pushing them too far. Mine don't move anywhere near that much without stressing the joint, and moving them enough to pose mine the same way made the ankles go floppy when I straightened them out. One other thing I noticed.. it's only happened on one of my shoulders, but be aware, the black section on the tip of the shoulder plates is not black plastic, it's blue with black paint. Prying the shoulders up away from the legs with my fingernails has completely worn the black paint off the tip of the shoulder already. Nothing you can really do about that, it's kind of the only place to lift. Fortunately it's still dark blue plastic, and easy to touch up. I'm going to go dig out a sharpie, and see if that covers it.

I might have to watch this just to see what it's about.. possibly the earlier series too. I'm kind of a sucker for long multi-series storylines. Also, appears that Itano Circus is in full effect, and seeing the name Gabriela Robin attached gives me a warm fuzzy feeling.

On the good side of things, I don't think stressing the head guns is too big an issue. Yes, they're thin, and probably relatively fragile, but they also are not attached firmly to the head. Put them under any significant stress, and depending on the direction, they may just pop off the head instead of bending. I'll have to compare these ankles to the ones on the Fire Valk like I did before. I still do not understand the thinking behind the ankle design one bit, because the ankles still have that stupidly huge side-to-side range, and still allow next to nothing in the way of front to back motion. I do know that one of my ankles is floppy already, because I pushed it too far. It's sad, on such an otherwise well-designed Valk, the ankles are next to useless. I might have to see how hard it would be to disassemble and rework the ankles so they actually bend a useful amount.

They continued that trend through Frontier I believe. I can remember a few instances where Alto was dodging around like crazy, and the head lasers looked like they were going on full auto as an anti-missile defensive weapon, shooting in various directions simultaneously.

Ok, there actually is one thing you can do that might at least partially reduce the stress that bar goes through if you're worried about it. I'm not sure how people tend to actually transform this thing, but one thing that always struck me as funny about it: during transformation, you pretty much rotate the hips a full 360 degrees, due to the way the fuselage folds over twice. First, you rotate the swing bar, then you rotate the crotch plate up. If you keep the legs oriented correctly during this, it's probably putting a lot of extra wear on the hip joints (which can't help with them getting loose..) There is a way you can rotate the whole thing without rotating the hips on their ball joint though. If you bend the knees fully, and then rotate the lower legs so the feet point directly outwards to the sides, there is just enough room to swing the legs around the full 360, and they'll pass under the arms. I don't know if this is what anyone does already, but I prefer that method to twisting the hip joint completely around. If anyone wants pics of how to do this, I can take a few.