Chronocidal

Are they seriously releasing this one without the missiles again? Seriously, what is wrong with these people that they can't just include things they should? I'm guessing the bagged missiles came with the 31J-Kai then though, since they probably didn't have new trays available until Arad's release.

I really really do not trust Bandai to do this, after what they did with the Sv262. There was all the opportunity in the world for them to milk that mold with several more variants, and they haven't even looked at that design since the initial release. I think there's definitely a little more potential with M&M releases.. but we've seen how enthusiastic they've been about getting us the M&M DX VF-1s. I'm not holding my breath.

Yeah, I don't expect anything to be permanent with this, or set any kind of trend going forward. Best case is probably that they just give up on this game, but remember not to do something this stupid with anything else in the future.

Yeah, that's really weird, those lower legs on the two versions do not look anything alike. I'll just call them the "red stripe" versions, and they look much thinner. Markings aside, the darker part near the toe has a completely different width, giving it a much shaper angle, and the portion just above the knee joint is much thinner where it attaches to the hip. Also, the lip around the edge of the toe looks thicker, and some of the panel lines in the lower leg are entirely different, stopping with a panel line cut crosswise over the front of the ankle, rather than ending into the gray portion above the ankle.

Things like this make me very happy I grew up with model kits and LEGOs, and have absolutely no nostalgia whatsoever for non-functional overpriced knicknacks.

I can understand the logic of using a popular release to test the international waters, but when the market has been saturated with Hayate VF-31s for several years already, and anyone in the international markets who was that interested in Delta probably already acquired one (or more) anyhow, it feels dumb to me to use this as a measuring stick. This is my concern. Trying to judge demand for Macross items based on something that has a low baseline demand in this market to begin with, and those who were interested in are probably already tired of. Even if it gets heavily discounted, it's extremely unlikely I'm going to try and buy another of this same VF-31. Not that I'm expecting them to revisit the 31A at all, I just think they would get much better sales of that one by comparison, just from the relative demand that currently exists.

Exactly this. Maybe I'm overly biased toward realistic looking aircraft schemes, and just sick of Hayate reissues, but I don't see why anyone in the international market would pick Hayate over the Kairos at this point, given the option. It's been my impression for a while that the biggest demand for those was outside Japan anyhow, so why aren't they going after that demand instead of re-issuing the same copy for the fourth time? Anyone in the international market who wanted that one probably got it a long time ago, and unlike Frontier, I don't think Delta has nearly as much international audience to begin with. Maybe it's a benefit to finally come packed with the super packs, I guess, but I'd still rather see something different.

Hadn't really considered this, but that set would be a very nice source of orange panels for building a Shuttle tank, as well as a pile of those newer 3-stud diameter cylinder segments.

Considering how small the VF-1 actually is, it makes sense for the elevator to be bigger. The VF-0 is probably a better size standard to use, so I'd be curious how well a 1/72 Hasegawa kit would fit.

A little late replying, but this is part of the mess Bandai got themselves into with the VF-19 Advance and YF-19 DX releases. The Advance came with (mostly) Hasegawa fighter-mode feet. Looks fine in fighter mode, right? Yeah, well that gives you this in battroid. Then they over-corrected in the normal YF-19 release. Fugly short fighter heels that didn't even fit into the legs, but they looked fine in battroid. The Bandai DX ones have always had the issue that the feet are mis-aligned with the center of the legs though. They don't collapse far enough into the legs, and it made the toes look too big in general. On the 1/100 HG YF-19 kit, they just flat out gave up on getting the feet to look correct in fighter at all, and they don't even fold all the way because they're too tall. I still think the Arcadia option came out with the best balance, even if the toes wind up looking a little small in battroid. They probably could have fixed that if they designed the toes to extend a little once the ankles were extended. They're just all over the place, and no one really seems interested in trying to reconcile the different shapes outside of Arcadia. In Hasegawa's case it's not even really necessary, since nothing has to transform. I'm surprised they even went to the trouble of making the extras, since they look much worse than the stubby ones.

I think the larger ones do come out better, but I think the X-Wing is an oddball bad egg due to being so early in the product line, before the knew what they were really doing. Like.. it's really difficult for me to even comprehend exactly how they messed it up the way they did? It's like whoever was responsible for the CAD model didn't know anything about CAD, didn't know anything about perspective, or both. For some unfathomable reason, the panel lines on the X-Wing got projected like a badly-wrapped game texture, and came out distorted like some kind of funhouse mirror version. It's really wild. Also, for the record, I want to find whoever is responsible for the stupid "top engines are longer" gaffe that has persisted in toy X-Wings for so many decades, and pelt them with J-79 nozzles. You took a feature of one engine from one filming model, and decided "This is just how all the bottom engines are." It's ugly, and it unbalances the ships in one really irritating way, since it's VERY obvious from this photo that X-Wings should be able to stand on their engines. I will readily admit though, I'm probably as picky about X-Wings as David Hingten is about Tomcats. I grew up researching and trying to correct all of the molding issues on all of the models since I got my first MPC kit in roughly 1990, and it bugs me to no end how many ways people find to mess it up. Anyhow.. on a lighter note, speaking of David, yes, they did get the B-Wing markings correct, at least as compared with the Bandai model instructions. Whether the Bandai ones are 100% accurate I'm not sure, since my reference photos are of the model without the circle markings. Overall proportions look good, a huge upgrade from the old Action Fleet version. Cockpit still slightly oversized, but much better by comparison, and I like that they molded the whole upper half of cockpit as the hatch, instead of just the window, since it kept the right shape. Also like that the wings actually have a solid spring-tabbed ratchet to keep them in place, they're nice and solid in the open and closed positions. Just as a reminder.. yeah, much better.

Sheesh.. actually you know, the exchange rate has hit the point where those really aren't bad prices. Depending on what conversion fees and shipping you add on, 50k is about $315. Between the separate purchases and shipping, I think I paid more than that for the VF-1S and strike packs separately back when I got them on the first release.

Maybe when it hits Amazon it'll get discounted down to where it makes sense. If it does, I might consider it, just to get one in a plastic package rather than the old styrofoam.

Kind of sad to consider, but that basically boils Bandai's entire marketing strategy down to FOMO (fear of missing out). "Better buy everything we release, no matter how much or little you like it, because you never know when we'll release another thing you actually want that will interact with the thing you never bought in an essential way."

Just saw this pop up on my Amazon page, probably brings it closer in line with the import price, if not even lower. https://www.amazon.com/TAMASHII-NATIONS-Frontier-Valkyrie-Chogokin/dp/B0BGR4Z27D/ref=pd_rhf_se_s_bmx_gp_oa5mc7io_d_sccl_1_3/145-2860478-7794866?pd_rd_w=eoaM7&content-id=amzn1.sym.cb7b1ced-6cd6-4a13-a63d-cb1faaf99eb2&pf_rd_p=cb7b1ced-6cd6-4a13-a63d-cb1faaf99eb2&pf_rd_r=9R504FQXR1W7BYW90VV3&pd_rd_wg=3rUWp&pd_rd_r=749463a1-3c6a-466c-a50f-27b34ab31da5&pd_rd_i=B0BGR4Z27D&psc=1