Lord_Of_Tetris

You know, I'm changing my tune after hearing multiple people report that, in the videos and magazine interviews, the designer says removing the legs is optional. I'm taking a wait-and-see approach. The way I see it is: I'm a hardcore "the entire figure has to be in one piece at all times!" purist, but I have no problems with a figure that can stay in one piece at all times but has the option of detaching and reattaching parts for a non-essential purpose. Off the top of my head, let's take Maketoys' Starscream mold, which includes Meteor and Lightning. Display pieces showed a full jet, and a robot that had the nosecone removed, which resulted in a cartoon-accurate smooth backside that led many to believe there was some ingenius robot-mode storage for the nosecone. And then we found out the nosecone was a removable piece. At first, I was put off by the detachable nosecone piece. Nay, I was outraged. Well, I gave Maketoys Meteor a chance. You know, it can totally be transformed without detaching the nosecone. Doing so makes the transformation a lot more frustrating, and it ends up with a nosecone hanging off Meteor's back. But, darn it, several Starscream toys have a nosecone on the back, such as the G1 toy and the Classics toy, and so I don't think a nosecone on the back is a huge negative. A few months later, I freaking love my Meteor and Lightning. 99% of the time, I transform it by keeping it whole, and I keep the nosecone attached during robot mode. Heck, I enjoy the challenge. 1% of the time, however, I save myself some frustration and just take off the nosecone when I transform it. With the way I see it, I'll probably go through the same emotions for Bandai's VF-1J. I can keep the legs attached for a somewhat more-frustrating transforming experience, and I'll probably lose out on the waist rotation. Or, I can save myself some stress and detach the legs, and then I can use the waist rotation. As I said, I'm a hardcore purist for the figure being in one piece at all times, but I have no problems with options. To a lesser degree, let's think of pretty much every toy based on the YF-19 and VF-25 transformation scheme. We've all been removing the shield from the jet and reattaching it to the arm. Come on. We've all been doing it for years. It's possible to transform the YF-19 (and its variants) by keeping the shield attached to the left arm, but come on, we've been removing it. I don't have my VF-25 toy in front of me (I'm at work), but I have several v1 and Renewal versions, and I don't think there's any way to get the shield onto the arm without removing it from the jet. PS. I know there's better examples out there than Maketoys Meteor, regarding figures that have optional parts removal for transformation. Heck, there's probably figures in my own collection that are better examples. But I'm at work, and nothing else comes to mind at the moment.

Not necessarily. I'm not saying I've discovered how it works, but I've thought of a way that it could work, in which a folding nosecone allows for a smaller crotch piece, no huge side profile, and still lets the wings close. If the nosecone doesn't fold up all the way, but more like a fold of ~45 degrees, then I can imagine a seamless look with a small crotch armor piece. Also, I'm at work, so the best I could do was an MS Paint diagram. Marvel at my amazing art skills.

Aw man, the legs detach and re-attach? *kicks dirt* I was hoping for perfect transformation.

I THOUGHT THE SAME. I already have the DX Chogokin of Messer and Mirage's VF-31. I'm very happy I bought them, and they're fantastic. However, these things are way too expensive, and the price of a DX Chogokin VF-31A is INSANE. I was hoping to get two or three transforming VF-31A Bandai 1/72 model kits as a cheaper way to fill out the squadron, but THERE IS NO SUCH KIT. WAAAAAAAH #firstworldproblems

What I hear over and over is some variation of, "Why can't the DX Chogokin SV-262 just transform the same way as the 1/72 model kit? It's so much better!" After I build my first one to keep in Gerwalk mode, if I find the transformation to be enjoyable, I might just buy a second model kit to transform back and forth for fun. At the moment, with my only experience being the DX Chogokin, I cannot imagine a universe in which transforming a SV-262 is anything else but an exercise in self-torture. And, for some reason, I can't find any in-depth written reviews of Bandai's transformable Macross kits. Any RG or MG Gundam, you name it, you Google it, and you'll find a dozen YouTube reviews and in-depth text reviews describing every square inch of the toy and its build process, with dozens of photos. I honestly can't find any reviews of that depth for these Macross models. I'm aware the 1/72 Bandai model kit of the SV-262 has a more-enjoyable transformation than the DX Chogokin, but I have no idea how or why it's better.

Heh. Wow, has it been over a year since I posted my work-in-progress photos of the VF-31 kit? I actually checked this thread thinking there was news or some new photos of someone's finished kit, I read your quoted post, then I thought to myself, "Hey, whoa, this guy's model kit skill is pretty darn GOOD!" Then I recognized my own tables and realized it was my own post. :P In the year (wow, time flies) since I posted that, I've finished that kit and built another 1/72 VF-31, this time the Messer custom. I wanted to collect the whole cast, and doing it with the model kits is a ton cheaper than getting the whole cast by way of the DX Chogokin toys. I still think the 1/72 Bandai VF-31 kit is an underappreciated gem. In every mode and every angle, it looks exactly like the mecha/jet it's supposed to look like. It requires very little part removal or swapping to transform. Building it isn't overly difficult, it just takes a lot of patience because of the many small parts. Compared to EVERY Zeta or ZZ Gundam model kit I've ever built, the VF-31 kit is more durable, has a more-enjoyable transformation, and is generally just better. But the stickers. Those stickers, man. Probably 80% of the entire surface area of the jet is stickers. A nightmare. In response to your question: I don't recommend building it first and then stickering. I did it by stickering each piece as I went along. If you tried putting the stickers on a completed model, you'd need to basically perform surgery as you try to very-precisely apply a sticker to a piece you can't really access anymore. Many of the stickers are several inches long and cover several square centimeters. If you screw up by even a few atoms on one end, you'll find that the inches-long stripe is several millimeters off-mark by the time you're done putting that sticker on. Look at it this way: Would you rather be holding an entire jet in one hand and a sticker in your shaking other hand? Or would you rather be holding, say, a leg in one hand and a sticker in the other hand? If you're just holding a leg, an arm, a cockpit, etc, you have more freedom to angle it to your liking. Oh, and I just ordered a 1/72 SV-262 model kit. I don't really intend to transform it, and (based on the photos) the robot mode isn't that stellar. I have two DX Chogokin SV-262, and transforming it is a nightmare. I'm keeping one Chogokin SV-262 in fighter mode, one of them in robot mode, and I'm keeping the model kit in Gerwalk mode. Transforming the DX SV-262 is literally so hard, I haven't even figured out how to put it into Gerwalk mode, and I give up. I'll just keep the model kit as a Gerwalk and call it a job well done.

Are there any mold differences? It looks like the leg armor part can now actually store the gunpod.

Looks pretty cool! And....1/8 scale? Wouldn't that make these heads the size of one of those bouncy yoga balls you use for a chair?

The painting on that crew member is SO GOOD, I really thought you Photoshopped a photo of a real person into the model kit.

*does a Google search for VF-14 Vampire* WHY HAS THIS NOT BEEN MADE INTO A TOY? *does a Google search for VF-5000* WHY ARE THERE SO MANY COOL VALKYRIE DESIGNS THAT ARE NOT YET MADE INTO A TOY? I WANT, NAY, DEMAND THAT ALL THESE COOL DESIGNS BE MADE INTO A TOY! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH

You know....I never once freeze-framed that particular scene. Are those VF-17s???

The magazine scan shows what really looks like 2 identical photos of the canopy opening. What's the difference?

How can anyone afford NOT to buy this?

What, exactly, is the history behind that armor? I've seen kitbashes of it over the years, and I just assumed it was a fan being creative. I've never seen that armor in Macross or DYRL. Looks awesome, though. Does the VF-1 still transform with the armor on?

The paper stickers aren't good quality either. The art is too low resolution, certainly lower than the typical HG Gundam kit.