MacrossJunkie

Thanks! I did.

A few more shots in fighter mode.

Did some weathering, shading and highlights on mine.

Similar shape but different attachment points.

Mine finally arrived today from HLJ. Did a quick transformation of it to battroid and back and I have to say, I'm pretty impressed with the engineering of it. I really appreciate how they were able to make it so you didn't have to keep spare parts around to cover things or keep parts supported/locked in. Even the shoulder speaker gimmick where the cover flips down when you open it up was a nice touch. A far cry from the seemingly low effort YF-21 which was disappointing in so many ways. Also in contrast, I didn't really find any QC issues aside from one thing. The landing gear bay door on the left leg is missing a nub on one end so any attempt to open the door results in it simply falling off since there's nothing to hold it on. I'll try dabbing a little dot of super glue where there should have been a nub and see if that works. The leg swing joint for the A stance could be a bit tighter as well. Nitpicks in comparison to the QC nightmare that was the YF-21. I didn't even like the VF-19 kai with its McD's clown valk appearance, but I like this toy and it's instantly grown on me. They even tastefully tampo printed it rather than flood it with extraneous markings like Bandai has a habit of doing even though this is probably the one valk where it could be arguably justified if they did. I panel lined mine for now. Will see if I decide to do any weathering later on.

So I'm not the only one. It used to be that once I got notice that they had the item in the warehouse and I paid the shipping, they'd send it out in a few days. I guess I'll email them.

Has anyone that ordered from HLJ have theirs shipped yet? I paid their ridiculous fees for shipping and it's been sitting for nearly 2 weeks still "processing".

Those shipping and tariff costs are really nutty. Then the handling fee is just rubbing salt in the wound. Strangely enough, I'm glad there's been hardly anything I've been interested in buying for a while now. The tariffs have basically made importing things untenable.

I got hit with shipping shock from HLJ as well. came out to something like $118. Yeah... I'm not buying from them anymore. At least not while this tariff bs is ongoing. I paid it and that will be my last item. It would have been far cheaper to buy it over Amazon at this point. Even the JoyToy stuff I've been collecting doesn't have tariff fees this high and those come straight from China...

That's the main issue I had with the old Yamato 17 and 19. The ankles had a hard time holding up the weight of the toy in battroid and occasionally I would find they toppled over on their own even in a very neutral stance. I've had to resort to propping them up against a wall so I don't find them collapsed later.

I had actually picked up a 2nd copy when I was checking around during prime deals day. It wasn't one of the prime deals, but seeing it was 180, I still got it. Even with the replacement I got from Bandai, on closer inspection of the replacement parts, the head laser was still slightly bent and the canopy hinge still had cracks in it. So I will keep my original one in battroid mode with the blacked out canopy in use. The new one I got was perfect. No cracked canopy hinges, no cracked anything, as far as I can tell on initial inspection and no stress marks or bends on the head laser.

Yeah, just look at the Yamato 17's in comparison. I think they struck a great balance in the proportions for all three modes. With the FAST packs, it's even better. Bandai couldn't even bother remolding more of the parts to be accurate to the VF-17, skinniness aside. The only thing the Bandai beats it in is availability, which I guess is the most important factor for those who don't have the Yamato.

This is one of those occasions where the Yamato version is just better, imo. I was fine with the way the 171 as it was designed that way from the start. But the 17 was a chonkier design and had its own charms and aesthetics that were its own. The head even seems disproportionate to the body on this Bandai version. I wonder if the FAST packs will work on this if they decide to do them.

Did someone from Bandai infiltrate them? Looks overly tampo'd like they do with their Macross DX's.

I finally got a FDM 3d printer recently and decided to put it to the test. I'm printing out parts for a X-9 Ghost, I'm pretty happy with the results so far. The parts have come out quite smooth without the usual ridges/stair-stepping I would see on older printers. Almost as good as a resin printer, imo, but without having to need a separate ventilated space or having to deal with toxic chemicals and fumes. Can't wait to have this put together and painted.