Yamato SDF-1 Macross in 1/3000

I admit I've been pretty lazy with the blog lately choosing instead to post comments on new stuff to forums or an odd pic on Facebook. But since Macross is a series near and dear to my heart, I felt I may as well do a repost of some comments and photos I made over on Robot Japan.

Almost a year ago Yamato teased everyone with an oversized 2 foot long SDF-1 prototype model. For those unaware, toy-designers often build prototypes larger than the final product in order to work out the fine details before scaling it down for production. Well, after the news broke, and people showed enough interest, Yamato actually made a limited run of the master mold in its original 1/2000 scale glory. For your thousands of dollars, you didn't even get a complete toy - you got the parts of the prototype to build your own 2-foot-long model.

I'm not that crazy, so I waited on a pre-order to get the final production version. It's slightly smaller in 1/3000 scale and still doesn't come fully assembled.

That's right, it is remarkably accurate in scale next to the Macross Quarter by Bandai (that one was advertized to be 1/750 scale, which, when the math is done, makes perfect sense).

To give a sense of size (not scale) here are some pics I posted on Robot Japan.
First is the "Storm Attacker" Mode next to a bunch of other Macross figures.

From left to right: 1/60 Destroid, 1/750 Macross Quarter, 1/3000 SDF1, 1/48 Valkyrie, 1/100 Battle-pod.

Not to scale: a Revoltech Giant Robo, a Soul of Chogokin EVA-01, a Brave Gokin Alphonse, Takara's Masterpiece Optimus Prime, and a Max Gokin Godannar.

A few comments: despite being well packed in a classic styrofoam tray, SDF-1 will never be mint in box again once taken out. There are simply too many parts that need to be assembled with glue or else they will pop off. What parts? Well screw covers for one thing. That's right, this is Yamato's final say on the classic anime icon and they did it right. It's so small-scale yet they thought of including a bunch of bits and pieces to hide even the screws!

It's mostly plastic but it's just right. No overly heavy limbs or accessories. Sadly during the photography session, the transformation of the Quarter resulted in the loss the main-gun (i.e. it disconnected itself and fell to the floor, causing a bent tip).
SDF1 will not have this problem. It's delicate where it needs to be (the bridge module up top), but also heavy where it should be (in the torso and legs). It's not as beefy as Optimus Prime despite being larger overall, but that hardly matters. The same design made of metal would have been dangerously unwieldy.

Overall, I'm really happy this finally came out the way it did. For a detailed look at this thing, check out Graham's insane coverage at Macrossworld!

Unboxing: Yamato life-sized replica VF-1 helmet

Months ago, the opportunity to order one came up and believe me, it made me delay a few other things. This was effectively made-to-order since I don't blame any retailer for not wanting to stock this insanely expensive (but so freaking exclusive) item without a pre-order. In fact, it was so hard to come by, I wasn't even sure my order would ever arrive and if I would end up with just a refund 6 months later.There it was... Apparently nothing ships from Toy-Wave.com without some. Even if that's the original shipping box from their own distributors. Next I looked at was the declarations documentation. Frequently these make the difference between practically "free" and the likes of my Macross-themed jacket where I paid over a hundred bucks in duty and taxes. In this case, written all over the box was a declared value of $3000HKD (that's about $425CAD)... and for some mysterious reason, Customs didn't charge me a single penny for duty except for about $20 for federal sales tax and a handling fee. I've given up on figuring out the CBSA.Openning the shipping box reveals that it literally is the shipping box and nothing else. It's fit exactly to the retail packaging with no room to spare.Interestingly enough, the retail packaging is nothing more than a plastic wrap and a cardboard slip around a huge styrofoam affair.What's a nice touch of class is a pair of white cotton gloves so I can pretend this is a ridiculously expensive collector's item up for auction. No wait, only the auction part is pretend, the rest is real. ^_^;;;And there it is in all it's glory. This this thing is simply huge. The replica is made to imitate the line-art proportions from the Macross animation work. The visor is supposed to house the eye-tracking targetting systms but of course, this replica is made of solid fibre-glass resin... so while my head fits in it, but it's so front-heavy that it won't sit properly without tilting forward. What the photos don't really convey is how beautiful it is in person. It's painted to a pearlescent finish and there's not a hint of over-spray anywhere. It will definitely get a spot of honour above my display.

Wearing a Valkyrie

I couldn't help myself... It's a little tacky but it's rare and limited outside of Japan. And on top of which, I'm a long time Macross/Robotech fan. This Valkyrie-themed jacket caught my attention right away. It was just a matter of finding a means to acquire an item intended only for the Japanese market exclusively (because well, I'm pretty certain Harmony Gold would have something to say about their international rights for the Robotech brand).And I couldn't help wearing it. I had to at least once. During the course of the day I gradually discovered the little features all over the jacket.The most distinguishing feature is the VF-1 regalia. Everyone keeps calling it a "flight jacket" but it isn't a cosplay piece (everyone knows the pilot's uniform on Macross was a plain white and red jumpsuit). From the shoulders down the sleeves, the jacket resembles the paint scheme on Hikaur Ichijio's Valkyrie fighter. Details include embroidered UN-Spacy logos, appropriate craft numbers, and of course carrier name. A real embroided name patch for Skull-leader with Ichijio's name is on the chest. For that authentic military touch, the patch is held by velcro.

The groovy feature is the music-player storage system. The forearms have zippered compartments for a portable device. The left sleeve has a velcro shaft to hold down an ear-phone wire. The velcro clasps continue right up to the colar. I'm sure Minmay would have approved.And it has the requisite "Engrish" not to be missed!

There are a some compartments of questionable practicality. The side pockets are button-closed (the left pocket has the official-licensed product seal inside of it). There is a pocket just inside the left breast. Lastly there's also a large compartment inside the back. For the life of me, I can't figure out what that's for. It seems to follow the entire length and I can't imagine the jacket being particularly comfortable if I were to put something in there. However, there is yet another little hole behind that pocket coming out to one of the velcro clasps on the back. I have no clue what this is for either.My jacket is sized "Large." The lengths fit me perfect (I rarely find anything where the sleeves actually stop of my wrists). But I don't know if I have a bulky frame or what, but it's very close-fitting. Am I disappointed? Not really, I plan to treat this as a collector's item more than an actual jacket. And in that respect, how far does it reach up the geek-o-meter? Very high.

Scopedog complete

Just a Twitter-style note: YamatoUSA's customer service came through and my replacement piece finally arrived. And in the right colour, I mean. *phew*

Yamato story continues

I was so psyched to find a postal slip on my door when I got home I did something I'm not known to do: instead of waiting for tomorrow afternoon as I pass the area on the way home, I decided to actually drive out to the post office to get my package.

I opened it to find a set of replacement armour bits for my VOTOMS, which is what I wanted except...

...right. They sent me the wrong colour. What I needed was a piece in a pale gray but the pieces sent to me were olive-drab, which doesn't help much. I wrote back to Yamato telling them this (but thanking them anyway for their effort). We'll see if another one (in the pale gray colours) shows up next week, but I'm not really holding my breath.

My VOTOMS collection

Pardon me while I go totally geek throughout this whole post. Scopedog was voted on ToyboxDX as toy of the year when it came out. That was a long time ago and I had other priorities back then (like hunting down a Soul of Chogokin Grendizer and that sort of thing. But I'll tell you what: I'm suitably impressed now that I have my own 1/12 scale VOTOMS. It's insanely huge and crazy detailed. And the price is right (now that Yamato's in business in North America).

And here's my modest collection:
I was able to grab pretty much everything in the line (well, I mean, all the upgrade packs) for just a bit over $200. A couple of years ago that would have been highly unlikely.

Now that I'm all grown up and still looking at all the accessory kits, I suddenly understand why little girls love Barbie so much... In the end, she's just a simple doll (with very few joints, for that matter). But it's all in the accessories. Something about having add-ons makes the thing more than it is.

In the photo above is the Scopedog itself along with two variations on the heavy machine gun (with and without the long barrel and the stock), the shoulder rocket launcher, an Uzi-like pistol weapon, a multitude of ammo packs and equipment containers, the parachute-pack, and of course the pilot figure (which was also sold separately)... Goes without saying that the ammunition cans all fit in the appropriate spots on the guns and storage hooks. Of course, while the parachute pack doesn't actually deploy, it does open up to reveal a series of removable bits of equipment in its storage compartments. Likewise, the rocket-launcher stores a set of 9 rockets, each with their own opening tail fins. The bazooka also collapses into a portable version of itself. Finally, mounted on the Scopedog itself is the flight-pack for zero-G combat.

I'm such a damn geek right now. Simple pleasures....

Another Yammie update

Got incoming today...

Tube 3 was loaded and fired before I knew it. Amazon shipped me my weekend order of comics and it arrived today. Did I mention I finished reading The Luna Brothers' Ultra last week? It was awesome and was everything it promised. So anyway, I decided it was time to finally follow up with the Annihilation collection. I got the first 2 hardcovers a while back. Say what you will about Marvel Comics in general but they sure know how to package their stuff in the end. I also ordered the first volume of Invincible (hardcover as well). I was amused by the character's guest appearance in Noble Causes and decided now was as good a time as any to check out the proper title.

I got news from Yamato. The rep said he was expecting to send out replacement parts on Thursday and asked for my address. Huh... no questions asked? Cool! Of course, I had already sent him pretty much all the info there was anyway including the photos I previously sent to the store. So that's some good news.

As for tube number 2, it fired some time last week but the tracking service does not extend beyond Hong Kong so I have no idea when it could be incoming. Could be en route or could be held at customs or anything. I hate this part.

Scopedog parts update

A little news: The folks at the on-line store where I bought my Scopedog directed me to contact the people behind the Scopedog, Yamato Toys USA. At the very least, the email was very sincere and came directly from the big boss... and that's very reassuring because I know they're on my side. They even said they'd "investigate the matter" if I didn't hear back from Yamato. And that's got to count for something.

As for what was in the second tube, that was loaded and fired late last Friday... I'll take pictures when that gets here...

Lamenting Scopedog

Well, I got good news and bad news. That big huge box (about 3 or 4 cubic feet) arrived at my door on Friday. The idiots decided to leave it there unsecured but luckily my folks were there to grab the box before something bad happened.

So what was it? It's a 1/12 scale "Scopedog" mecha from Armoured Troopers VOTOMS. And with the crazy sale that was on at the shop, I was able to snag the limited edition "Red Shoulder" elite model with the option clear armour parts. And on top on that, I was able to get a whole bunch of add-on packs like the additional weapons sets, the zero-G flight-pack, and the parachute module. All for a fraction of what it would have cost under normal circumstances.

Sadly, there's been a little, um, snag:


That unsightly seem? It's actually the first sign: the upper arm was flimsy and came apart the moment I took him from the box. I was needless to say, severely disappointed thinking that it was broken or something. But then I looked at the pieces closely and noticed:
Those are the 2 pairs of armour bits that should wrap around the upper arms. Notice anything? The pairs are supposed to snap-fit pegs-to-holes. But I've actually got only 1 "peg" piece and 3 "hole" pieces! Crap.

I've already written a message to customer service asking what my options are. I don't want to
ship the whole damn thing back (this sucker's huge!). But I asked about sending me a replacement piece...

So what if I can't get satisfaction? Well, I have 2 choices then... Firstly, because it's the limited edition, I guess I could just always display it with the clear parts (which would be kind of cool in itself). The other option is to mod the "hole" piece into a "peg" piece myself by cutting the correct elbow joint into it (because the "hole" piece only fits on the back of the upper arm outside the elbow) and then figure out another way to make some kind of pegs for it out of toothpicks and super-glue... hmm...