Official 1/60 YF-21 News & Picture Thread (ver.2)

[Chronocidal]

lol.. I think looking carefully at the title of that pic should explain the size of the legs. Apparently, this one got some bad 'roids.

Edited April 17, 2008 by Chronocidal

[do not disturb]

considering how i never really cared for the 21's battroid mode, nothing bothers me about it.

after the first transformation to battroid(just to give it the once over), it'll be displayed in fighter mode for years to come.

if anything i'll just display the 1/72 version of it battroid mode since it doesn't suffer from the lack of leg flare. *poke poke*

[M'Kyuun]

I'm looking forward to getting mine from HLJ..got the spot cleared and ready next to my YF-19. Although I like the YF-19 better, the 21's resemblance to the YF-23 earns huge cool points with me. I never cared for the 21's battroid as much, although it's still a really cool design considering its intentional Zentraedi Armor aesthetic. The belly plates seem like so much kibble that I wonder why SK didn't just make the legs fit flush into shaped holes along the ventral surface in fighter mode. If they flushed up, they'd be non-obtrusive and the guns could attach directly to the outside lower legs or at the knee, rotating 180 deg in Battroid for a "gunslinger" look. The lower bell-bottom of the leg could be slightly more emphasized, looking more like flared nacelles on the fighter. Just my random thoughts. I fear the glaring eyes of the Disciples of His Utmost Froatiness may fall harshly upon me for my blatant blasphemies.

I'm also curious why some of you pay the $200+ for a Yammie, transform it once, and shelf it forever in the mode of choice, esp those who really vehemently dislike one mode or the other. For example, if I really hated the battroid of the YF-21, or Yamato's take on it, I'd be more willing to spend that money on a model of the fighter and commission a skilled modeler, or try my own hand if I had skilz. Is it just the coolness of Knowing you can transform it if so desired, or you're a completist, or Yamato is the shiz, or just b/c it's really the only toy of its kind right now and that gives it value now and in the future? For my part, I shell my hard-earned ducats for these b/c I love transformable mecha, esp with realistic alt modes and high articulation, and SK's variable aircraft are still at the top of my list in terms of realism, aesthetics, and engineering. And Yamato, IMHO, have set the bar high, the many past flaws and self detaching limbs and backpacks notwithstanding. Anyway, i thought I'd ask after having read various posts over the years of people buying these and seldom or never transforming them...like a handjob from Jenna Jameson, seems like your paying full price for half the pleasure. My $.02

-M'Kyuun

[Vic Mancini]

I'm looking forward to getting mine from HLJ..got the spot cleared and ready next to my YF-19. Although I like the YF-19 better, the 21's resemblance to the YF-23 earns huge cool points with me. I never cared for the 21's battroid as much, although it's still a really cool design considering its intentional Zentraedi Armor aesthetic. The belly plates seem like so much kibble that I wonder why SK didn't just make the legs fit flush into shaped holes along the ventral surface in fighter mode. If they flushed up, they'd be non-obtrusive and the guns could attach directly to the outside lower legs or at the knee, rotating 180 deg in Battroid for a "gunslinger" look. The lower bell-bottom of the leg could be slightly more emphasized, looking more like flared nacelles on the fighter. Just my random thoughts. I fear the glaring eyes of the Disciples of His Utmost Froatiness may fall harshly upon me for my blatant blasphemies.

I'm also curious why some of you pay the $200+ for a Yammie, transform it once, and shelf it forever in the mode of choice, esp those who really vehemently dislike one mode or the other. For example, if I really hated the battroid of the YF-21, or Yamato's take on it, I'd be more willing to spend that money on a model of the fighter and commission a skilled modeler, or try my own hand if I had skilz. Is it just the coolness of Knowing you can transform it if so desired, or you're a completist, or Yamato is the shiz, or just b/c it's really the only toy of its kind right now and that gives it value now and in the future? For my part, I shell my hard-earned ducats for these b/c I love transformable mecha, esp with realistic alt modes and high articulation, and SK's variable aircraft are still at the top of my list in terms of realism, aesthetics, and engineering. And Yamato, IMHO, have set the bar high, the many past flaws and self detaching limbs and backpacks notwithstanding. Anyway, i thought I'd ask after having read various posts over the years of people buying these and seldom or never transforming them...like a handjob from Jenna Jameson, seems like your paying full price for half the pleasure. My $.02

-M'Kyuun

Great post. I've never thought about the 21's belly plates like that before. I guess they are kind of redundant aren't they? For whatever reason I still kind of dig them in B mode. Similar to the 19's wings being hinged at the hips, there is just something about that look that appeals to me.

As for your second paragraph, I've always wondered the same thing. I don't get it either.

Oh well, to each their own.

Edited April 17, 2008 by Vic Mancini

[misterryno]

Me too.

But there is so much anime majic going on, the legs in that shot would make fighter mode look like a transformers technobot.

now nobody wants that....

OMG!!! YOU'RE KILLIN ME!!!

[Kyp Durron]

Is it just the coolness of Knowing you can transform it if so desired?

Yes.

-Kyp

[M'Kyuun]

Yes.

-Kyp

That's cool, but I don't know how you can just put it on a shelf unmolested...they are so much finger crack to me. I swear my YF-19 whimpers in the night if I don't pay it some attention after a few days.

[Vegas]

That's cool, but I don't know how you can just put it on a shelf unmolested...they are so much finger crack to me. I swear my YF-19 whimpers in the night if I don't pay it some attention after a few days.

im too lazy. bought tons of valks last march, most of them were only taken out from their boxes for a pictorial but never transformed.

Edited April 18, 2008 by Vegas Valkyrie

[M'Kyuun]

im too lazy. bought tons of valks last march, most of them were only taken out from their boxes for a pictorial but never transformed.

I have 2 1/48 VF-1 Valks that I bought and shelved without transforming, but I also have one that I keep out at the ready on my Valk shelf in the living room. The 1/48 is the only Yammie of which I've ever bought copies.

[Vegas]

i have my vf-1s hikaru in battroid mode for more than a year now. last time ive transform something was the black yf-19 and that was first week of march. ill definitely play with the yf-21 when it comes out.

[Crazy Canuck II]

I put this pic together to see what the 1/60 21 would have looked like if Yamato was able to give it bigger legs. I think it looks much better. I know fully well that there are compromises that need to be made to make a perfect transforming 21, but part of me (the part that loves the 21 battroid) just wishes they were a little less bias towards the fighter mode.

Edited April 20, 2008 by Crazy Canuck II

[Kyp Durron]

Everything in this world is a give and take and you can't please everyone. But I'm glad they did it the way they did because if they hadn't, it would have made fighter mode look like a pregnant Yak. Like the way the 1/72 looks...

-Kyp

[eugimon]

meh. We have two robot shows that feature bots that turn into vehicles (transformers and to a lesser extent Gundam). Macross is the only show (afaik) where we have planes that turn into robots. For me, the emphasis should/has to be on making a believable fighter mode ... otherwise, it's transformer.

[1/1 LowViz Lurker]

I agree: skinny limbs looks ok.

On the banprestos they look just right imo. (yeah I keep mentioning them but they do)

However, IF there was a way to not compromise on the legs being skinny I would prefer they added a bit of bulk like the d-stance. It just means the robot won't appear too weak.

Varible Fighters not tree stump legged bots who have a hard time shooting at one another!

haha. You can't say that about the girl robots in transformers though. They look pretty slim.

I have posability concerns regarding the ittty-bitty feet on Yamato's 1/60 scale -21.

Shhhh mr march is going to hear this. I'm with those who like clown feet if they can fit inside the thing. I don't know why but it just makes it seem more agressive, powerful, expressive.

Is it just the coolness of Knowing you can transform it if so desired, or you're a completist, or Yamato is the shiz, or just b/c it's really the only toy of its kind right now and that gives it value now and in the future?

Coolness of knowing it is transformable because it shows you what is involved in the process of turning from one thing into another and back again. The closer it is to what you see in the lineart, show, the intention of the creator, etc the more value you can put on it. (I don't mean in terms of money but in terms of how that toy was designed, and how the creators of the toy took all the steps to make it work instead of cut corners or just said "it's too hard to make it" and then cheat by making it swap parts.)

Having too much swapping parts is like the people who made the toy saying: "we don't care if the toy can actually do what it does in the show, just want you to believe it all happened and focus on the end result." I appreciate the look of the thing in final form as much as its ability to mimmick all the steps in-between.

I think my main reason for not touching them too much stems from them being big toys: that is to say you bought a big toy for detail reasons more than because you necessarily needed it to be large. If you could cram lots of the details with no compromise in a smaller package and it was easy to hold, maybe you would touch it alot. But I find bigger stuff like the konig monster better to be left alone since there are parts that don't lock down firmly. (big cannon on the top)

You would never do barrel rolls with a fast packed 1/48, but you might with a small banpresto or something that wasn't going to need you to put your hands on certain parts of the toy to keep it together. (ie chest that doesn't lock on the yf-19 for example )

Also I'd like to mention that fighter mode is the one mode where parts do lock down and firmly snap in place so maybe a lot of this has to do with people being too scared of floppy limbs if they play with it too much or the fear that their girlfriends/neighbours/friends would think they are kiddy and immature for having robots vs "realistic model planes" heheh Having the toys disguised is what hides them from others.

Edited April 21, 2008 by 1/1 LowViz Lurker

[Wicked Ace]

I put this pic together to see what the 1/60 21 would have looked like if Yamato was able to give it bigger legs. I think it looks much better. I know fully well that there are compromises that need to be made to make a perfect transforming 21, but part of me (the part that loves the 21 battroid) just wishes they were a little less bias towards the fighter mode.

That's not bad -- I could live with what you've done. Of course, the angle and close-up make a difference, too.

Edited April 21, 2008 by Wicked Ace

[M'Kyuun]

The enlarged legs look better to me, too, Canuck, but i imagine the fighter would would suffer serious fatass syndrome with the bigger bell bottoms. I can live with the scrawny legs, if only, unlike T-formers which are robots that transform into stuff, these are fighters which transform into robots, the emphasis mostly on the fighter.

On this note, isn't it odd that Has-Tak can make some pretty darned good land vehicles that transform into some pretty good robots(esp over the last 3 or 4 years), but just cannot make a sleek fighter, MP Starscream( SK's design) and the Robot Masters Seeker designs being the mere few exceptions. The Classics Seeker design was OK, but the entire forward fuselage, much like almost every T-former jet to date, is too small when compared to the rest of the jet. Massive undercarriage seems to curse the rest of the T-former jets...maybe it's glandular. As much as i loath the fugly F-22 ( yes, i think it's a boxy, diamond shaped turd with vectored thrust, esp when compared to the sleek and beautiful YF-23), i thought, given the attention to detail on the licensed Movie toys, that Movie Starscream would be on par with Kawamori-san's Starscream in terms of the jet's accuracy. As we all know, it was not to be, although every other licensed vehicle, including Blackout, are very accurate in their vehicle forms. The kicker is, Takara is a Japanese company who have even worked with SK over the years, no doubt have heard of a little thing called the Macross Saga and have seen the plethora of toys and models, and yet cannot take a few hints from Kawamori's How to Make a Sleek, Realistic Fighter and Shed that Unwanted Energon Belly While Enlarging Your Embarrassingly Small Cockpit handbook. One can only shrug incredulously and, perhaps, shake the head, wondering what coulda been.

[thankheaven]

meh. We have two robot shows that feature bots that turn into vehicles (transformers and to a lesser extent Gundam). Macross is the only show (afaik) where we have planes that turn into robots. For me, the emphasis should/has to be on making a believable fighter mode ... otherwise, it's transformer.

Agree, they are called variable Fighters afterall, not variable Battroids.

To me atleast its always fighter first, as realistic as they can get it. But it still needs to transform into a kickass robot.

Legs doesn't bother me at all if it means a slim and sleek looking fighter.

Best solution would have been to include an extra set of thicker, bigger legs for those who want to pose it mainly in B mode, like the extra hands for the TV-VF-1's.

Edited April 21, 2008 by thankheaven

[Mowe]

I like your changes. If they have fatten the legs, I don't think it will be that obvious in fighter mode, especially after the fast pack is on. I like displaying battroid mode anyway, so the battroid look is more important to me - just a personal thing.

I put this pic together to see what the 1/60 21 would have looked like if Yamato was able to give it bigger legs. I think it looks much better. I know fully well that there are compromises that need to be made to make a perfect transforming 21, but part of me (the part that loves the 21 battroid) just wishes they were a little less bias towards the fighter mode.

Edited April 21, 2008 by Mowe

[eugimon]

I like your changes. If they have fatten the legs, I don't think it will be that obvious in fighter mode, especially after the fast pack is on. I like displaying battroid mode anyway, so the battroid look is more important to me - just a personal thing.

the feet changes alone would make a pretty big change in fighter mode... ,As it is, the feet are exposed and flush with the beavertail. If they were longer they would stick out past the beaver tail. Widening the calf bells would mean the body of the fighter mode would have to be wider as well. there's not a hole lot of room from the pics we've seen of the under carriage.

[kanedaestes]

God i love being in a place where we can pick apart everything then once we get the figure we rejoice in it's greatness (unless it has terrible QC problems), god bless macrossworld. I for one don't care about how big the legs are in battroid as long as it looks great as a whole not just one particular mode. (which i know it dumb since it is made to look great as a fighter) Anyway, this thing is lookin far better that my 1/72 FP version so that is what has me satisfied right now.

[Batou]

God i love being in a place where we can pick apart everything then once we get the figure we rejoice in it's greatness (unless it has terrible QC problems), god bless macrossworld. ...

It's a little known fact that the nitpicking in fact fuels the Earth's rotation. If it ever stopped, it would be the end of life as we know it. That or the MW server would take a massive dump and keel over dead.

I'm doing cartwheels that this thing is coming out at all. Favorite valk, and it's plusses are far too many for me to whine about the handful of minuses. No, it's not perfect, but it is you've-got-to-be-kidding-me cool. I do want to know when the heck they're planning on releasing it though ... it's the 21st now, and we're veering into "late April" now.

[eugimon]

It's a little known fact that the nitpicking in fact fuels the Earth's rotation. If it ever stopped, it would be the end of life as we know it. That or the MW server would take a massive dump and keel over dead.

I'm doing cartwheels that this thing is coming out at all. Favorite valk, and it's plusses are far too many for me to whine about the handful of minuses. No, it's not perfect, but it is you've-got-to-be-kidding-me cool. I do want to know when the heck they're planning on releasing it though ... it's the 21st now, and we're veering into "late April" now.

From Graham:

Had dinner with 3 people from Yamato last night and was told the release date for the YF-21 is end of April or early May.

Not sure why you guys having been saying it's going to be released on the 9th or 10th April?

Graham

[dizman]

Somethings telling me early to mid May sounds like the release time, I hope I'm wrong and its the end of April though .

[Scream Man]

id think we'd have heard something if it was really close. i suspect Mid-may as well.

[ruskiiVFaussie]

id think we'd have heard something if it was really close. i suspect Mid-may as well.

Un-exceptable. May 11, birthday, Yamato must deliver late April and hlj.com with EMS shipping just before 10th.

*ED-209 swivels in front of Yamato employee with ship out deadline calender*

"YOU HAVE 17 DAYS TO COMPLY." *arm cannons whirl and ammo clacking*

Edited April 22, 2008 by ruskiiVFaussie

[GogDog]

Un-exceptable. May 11, birthday, Yamato must deliver late April and hlj.com with EMS shipping just before 10th.

*ED-209 swivels in front of Yamato employee with ship out deadline calender*

"YOU HAVE 17 DAYS TO COMPLY." *arm cannons whirl and ammo clacking*

[Wicked Ace]

Un-exceptable. May 11, birthday, Yamato must deliver late April and hlj.com with EMS shipping just before 10th.

We all hope you get what you want, if not sooner.

[Kyp Durron]

I'm praying for end of April, but I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if it was mid May...

-Kyp

[Scream Man]

Woo! Wife has agreed to get me this for our anniversary!

I love my girl!

[ruskiiVFaussie]

We all hope you get what you want, if not sooner.

The sooner the better for alll of us!

[Mog]

We all hope you get what you want, if not sooner.

Well if ol' ED-209 wipes out the old Yamato QC guy and the guy who designs the Yamato Macross boxes, would that necessarily be a bad thing?

[ruskiiVFaussie]

.. hmm, maybe the box designer guy should be the only victim? I think the QC guy should live, seeing that's he's the new guy.

[Beware of Blast]

All must go. The new won't come if the old doesn't go compltely. There oughta be dedicated queue at the slaughter house specially made for the Yamato bosses and employees.

[ruskiiVFaussie]

For the good people who are getting their 21's off HobbyLINKJapan.com, can you please postif they have given you make payment notice? The last couple of times i never got an e-mail, so i was a couple days lte getting mine paid.

Cheers in advance!

sorry, meant hobby link japan. www.hlj.com

Edited April 26, 2008 by ruskiiVFaussie

[Priss!]

For the good people who are getting their 21's off HobbyJapan.com, can you please postif they have given you make payment notice? The last couple of times i never got an e-mail, so i was a couple days lte getting mine paid.

Cheers in advance!

At Yamato's site there is a message that says the release date is changed to May T_T .....f**k

マクロスプラス1/60 YF-21　発売延期のお知らせ

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