May 28, 2001 CURRENT RUMBLE The 19800¥ Question Gene Moy (words AND design) 5.28.01 The proverbial ship has finally come in. Big ass box from HLJ on my doorstep this morning. All else is forgotten. The inspection of the Big Scale box ensued almost immediately. In classic three-quarter profile, Uchuu Senkan Yamato departs the irradiated Earth on its 296,000 light year journey to bring back the Cosmo Cleaner from distant Iscandar. The back is a profile shot spelling out the different gimmicks and features of the ship. Great packaging, the copper metallic ink on the curvy signature, and the gold foil on the katakana Yamato, never mind the Big Scale Popinika logo are all very classy. The whole thing says this cannot be your father's Yamato. In retrospect, though, some of the shots are obviously Photoshop'd for effect, perhaps to offset the alarming lack of gokin content and lack of orange LEDs (more on this later) so, don't expect the warm orange of the product shot when you discharge the Wave Motion Gun or fire up the engines. The English caption on the front says it all: "IT'S ABOUT 1/625 SCALE REAL PROPORTIONAL HIGH QUALITY MODEL WITH A LOT OF GIMMICKS OF REAL SOUND AND LIGHT, AND SAME SCALE ACCESSORIES(THE COSMO ZERO, THE BLACK TIGER, AND THE COSMO TIGER II)." Breaking the seal, I upend the box to allow the contents to slide out assisted by gravity. From upper right, a plastic blister pack which is nearly identical to the pack which held the fists in SOC Great Mazinger -- here it holds the 3rd Bridge, the three forward deck guns, smokestack, rocket anchor with chain, one Cosmos Zero, two Cosmo Tiger IIs and two Black Tigers. Below is a cardboard box containing sprues of ABS parts. To the right of these two boxes, separated from them by a block of styro is the Cosmo Cleaner D in its "Mechanical Collection" model box. And below all these, a large white styro sarcophagus. I lift the two slabs which cover the treasure beneath. There, lovingly packed, is the beautifully-painted body of Uchuu Senkan Yamato, 2199 edition, held in place by two blocks of styro, the surfaces touching the Yamato's body buffered by a loose sheet of tissue paper so as to not sully the matte paint job or immaculate surface. It is remarkably detailed, the pulse laser batteries and all the fine little guns that surround the conning tower are reproduced in nearly hairlike fineness. Unable to withstand the wait any longer, I gently remove it from its restraints and pick it up. I am dumbfounded. There seems to be an alarming lack of weight. The only gokin on the Yamato seems to be the main engine housing. Everything else seems to be plastic. Before I say that expectations by retailers online were not been managed well or that there is no truth in advertising, I'm sure I must have read that there was a lack of gokin somewhere and forgotten about it. If not, well, punish the offenders. Somewhat perturbed nevertheless, I lay Yamato back in its resting place until I can dedicate some time to putting it together. Much later that evening. . . . Here's a hint folks: because the pieces are sometimes very small and fine, minna, do yourselves a favor, have an alert mind and eye when you start, clear off a desk or table, put down a light and a white cloth on the surface, and work on this with a pair of tweezers or small caliber calipers, and whatever tool you use to remove flash from sprues ready. Do the usual trim and file on the parts as needed. Things will go much easier on you if you do. Still somewhat pissed about the lack of gokin in this Big Scale, 19800¥ piece of plastic, I set about putting the ship in order. The first thing to do is to open up the battery compartment and put two AAA batteries in the darned thing. This way you will avoid the problems of having the fighters rattle around in the hangar bay and having the small fins on the top of the Captain's quarters drop off when you upend the boat. Believe it or not, the battery compartment door is triple-secured. It is held in place not only with its own latch but also with a small gauge Philips screw, which is then covered by the round, uh, "sensor array" (sic?) piece which turns to the left. After dropping the cells in (I would leave the screw out, actually, so you can remove the cells easily) and making sure that the power is off, you then assemble the base. This gives Yamato a place to sit while you jam the fins onto the engine or some of the deck guns into place. In retrospect, I wonder about the instruction order actually. I wonder if the 3rd bridge and the parts on the bottom, mostly fins and such, shouldn't go on first, then you can just mount Yamato on the stand and forget about the bottom, concentrating then on the top. There are a number of awkward points of assembly as I follow the instruction sheet so I experience several heart-stopping moments as I begin to assemble Yamato. Because we are dealing here with $180 of plastic, you don't necessarily want to use brute force in the assembly process. Still, the deck guns required some firmness in placement, as did the aft sets of wings including the three wings on the engine. Also somewhat terror-inspiring are the two fine antenna near the main bridge and the fine set of fins on top of the Captain's bridge. I am a little miffed that the main fin aft of the smokestack is bent, but it's soft and there's nothing again a little bending or heat won't solve. I like the gimmick that hides the Cosmos Zero fighter. My Cosmos Zero looks a bit worse for wear though. . . . Eventually it is all assembled (about an hour or two with distractions along the way). Another awkward moment as I fumble with the hidden switch on the belly which will deploy the wings. Success! I whip out my Powerbook, crank up the sound, and strike up an mp3 of Yamato Hasshin. Switch on! I start running down the different switches on the sound bank, mounted on the starboard side (right side). From fore to aft: The stud before switch 1 opens the forward port panel exposing the wave motion gun firing bolt and anti-ship missile bay. Energizes and fires the Wave Motion Gun. (Strap on your goggles.) Sound, red LED in the cannon barrel lights up. Deck guns firing sound. Pulse laser battery sounds. Wave motion engine powering up. Thruster rumble (rear view, lights up the main and auxiliary thrusters). Scramble klaxon (blink red LED in the belly hangar bay). Red alert klaxon (blink green LED in the conn tower, bridges light up). I suspect the controls and dials are on the starboard side so that you can present the ship in profile on your desk and then from your convenient standpoint, traverse the turrets and batteries at passers-by or co-workers facing your desk. To fire the wave motion gun at then however, you must rotate the ship. So perhaps the ship is meant to be held in hands with the right thumb or whatever fingers depressing the switches. The speaker is pretty much a standard miniature novelty speaker, wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't identical with keychain sound novelties, very tinny. The Cosmo Cleaner D is cute. There is a hairy moment with the small seat which goes in first before the rest of the Cosmo Cleaner, uh, tower, is placed, but fortunately the instructions are generally pretty clear being printed on the bottom of the inside of the box. I figure I'll remove the flash later. Yatta! The Cosmo Cleaner is secured into its berth on the display stand and the label is applied. As usual, it's not perfectly applied . . . I'll start by applying it from the bottom up next time. Now it is sitting here on the dresser. It is pretty impressive in perspective, a bit longer than my Powerbook G4 at 15" wide, but I wonder if it is worth the 19800 yen plus what, twenty bucks of shipping, I shelled out for it though, lack of gokin being what it is. I expected considerably more gokin, like the 1/850 Nomura version. As impressive as it is, Toy of the Year this cannot be. Well, we'll see when the Miracle House Arcadia comes out. . . .  RUMBLE INDEX  |  CURRENT RUMBLE