beatsing

@vlenhoff yup the spartan really feels like HI Metal.  if all the mechs were as good quality as the spartan, the HMR line would compete with the DX line.  Me too, I don't really like the spartan design in the TV series compared with the Tomahawk/defender/monster, but in hand, it is rock solid.  It's like the regult and glaug, in hand it's quality.

@sqidd that glaug should be up there as the regult, the glaug's quality is the best in my opinion.

@Saburo nice photo and backdrop.

@sh9000 nice work.  Did you ever do missile effects parts for the GBP?

15 hours ago, sh9000 said:

 

Thanks.  I like how this one came out too.

@sh9000 the cartoon filter looks very nice as the shades make the white look better, though the blue is not as bright.  It also looks less like plastic

20 hours ago, Lolicon said:

Thanks, and as mentioned above the S type had the stripes too. Then everyone got them in the movie, because it looks good. Oh and the wedding 1D had them too.

Ha ha brain fart on my part.  I meant the plain V stripes that the 1j had, were these only on 1j types?  The S types have a filled in V stripe with red or yellow, blue etc., which have a different look because of the extra color.  AFAIK, but I haven't watched the tv series for a long time, the 1a types didn't have any stripes and were plain one color on the chest.

As much as I like Max's blue, the plain chest could use some color.  My next valk is likely one with a different head and chest paint, even though I like cannon fodders.  

9 hours ago, GeneralTiki said:

I really love the aggressive poses you can get Gerwalk mode into with the DX.  This mode can look weak to me, but I think it’s all about the stance.

 

Me too.  I usually like the battroid and fighter mode more than gerwalk but this Dx has the best A stance. nice weathering.

@sh9000 the filter makes it look cartoony, like the intro pose.  Nice

@Lolicon nice panel line work, breaks up the white on top.  If Max's cartoon ride had a V like Hikaru's chest V it would look less bland.  Was the V only for the 1j rides?

7 hours ago, sh9000 said:

nice pose

1 hour ago, Bub said:

Agree. Perfect transformation that has optional ways of of doing so.  Unless you consider the removal and installatin of the intake covers as transformation.  The HMRs on the the other hand may be considered as parts formers due to installation of the landing gears and replacement of the canopy with heatshields. 

Yup

15 hours ago, vlenhoff said:

I am lost. Why do you call it parts former? The current DX also detaches or splits at the bar. Why are you not calling the DX parts former? I know the bandai kit failed, but that mechanism, as seen in the animation, is not parts forming. Since the part is attached one way or another to the toy while being transformed. 

As i understood the "appendages" swiveled, delivering and locking the legs to the waist, then they would detach. I don't think that qualifies as parts formers. The original Yamato V1, were parts formers.

I think bandai could effectively do this today.

@jeniusornome totally read my mind below.  As the swingbar separation is "optional", it's a perfect trans.

I was also excited when they announced the kit was based on the line art, and we'd get an accurate valk transformation.  I suppose the kit's parts kept falling apart makes it a parts former for me - no dis on Kawamori's original design.

I think Bandai could do this today too.  The DX line is far far better quality than the 1/72 model kits for the Frontier and Delta lines.

13 hours ago, jeniusornome said:

The two part swing bar was a weird design choice imo and I can see it being a problem as time goes on - the plastic clip that locks the two together could get loose I expect. I’d be a bit annoyed if they made it a solid piece later and reissued it. 
 

But since it doesn’t have to come apart to transform the figure, I wouldn’t call it a partsformer. In my mind that’s reserved for figures like... well, the v1 Yamato design. Or various High Grade 1/144 scale transforming Gunpla if any of you build those. Something where it’s like “first remove the legs and arms, transform this, then reattach these parts”.

 

From what I understand of that Bandai VF-1 model kit’s design I wouldn’t call it a partsformer either, just a design nightmare. 

exactly

10 hours ago, Anasazi37 said:

I was just looking at my unbuilt kit the other day, thinking about when I might try to tackle it. I also have the full line of original IMAI/Bandai 1/72 kits that I need to build (with the forward section that you have to swap out for Battroid mode, the ultimate partsformer). Not too difficult to assemble, but you also wouldn't want to partsform them on a regular basis.

Yup, the parts that clip together get loose after a few transformations to the point that they just fall off and you better glue them but then it doesn't transform.

8 hours ago, Sanity is Optional said:

Technically the Bandai kit is the most perfect transformation, as that stupid design nightmare of pistons attaching the chest to the legs actually is what is showed in the anime.

It's still a design nightmare though, and I'll take a functional swing-bar over that POS any day.

Yup so excited about that design, what a let down.  The swing bar is boring, but it works.

8 hours ago, jenius said:

I think, if done in 1/35 scale, the swing bars could be individual for each intake, like in the anime. They could move the legs to where they need to be. You would then need to open the nosecone and swing out the ball joints on either side. You would open the back of the intakes and attach them to the ball joints and close the back of the intakes to lock them into position. Ideally, you would then be able to disconnect the swing bar, pivot it, and have it act as the side cavity filler. 

I'm not sure if it's true: MP-01 was fan designed.  You should submit yours.  

7 hours ago, Sanity is Optional said:

Oh, I'm sure it could be done, hell the 1/72 model kit managed to fit in all the various mechanisms.

I just would rather not have a toy that worked that way due to the innate flimsiness of such a mechanism. Especially if it was completely unnecessary for anything aside from transformation accuracy.

I'm all for not having a box of parts to keep track of, but at the same time we only ever display these in one form or another, not midway between where such a mechanism would be relevant.

Yup, anime accuracy is awesome, but not if it's a flimsy mess like the model kit, cuz that's a crappy toy.  

5 hours ago, peter said:

 

1/35

Those hip connectors look different from the DX's.  I wonder what those connectors do.

5 hours ago, DewPoint said:

Sprue marks weren't really noticeable to me until the Spartan came out.  I could just be that the color made they stand out more.

Same

On 10/17/2019 at 12:26 AM, jenius said:

One thing I didn't mention in my review but probably will in the next one because it's happened on Max a few times now:
When you disconnect the swing bar, the plastic housing that locks it pegs into the back of the nosecone and secures the hip connection... but I've had that peg pop out several times during handling which makes the hip connection sloppy. It's easily remedied, and probably only happens because the hips are so stiff (generally a good thing) but it's a bit annoying.

Bandai needed to make that part a twist to lock to solve the unintentional popping apart.

Yes that's a good point @jenius.  My initial transformations with the Max did not disengage on their own.  Then I tried the instructions using the tool to disengage and swivel/rotate the waist.  After that, the plastic piece seems a lot looser.  Also, when the plastic housing pegs into the back of the nosecone, the metal bar is not parallel with nosecone or upper body.  I've tried multiple transformations (with and without locking in the Y shaped bar that clips the back to the chest) to fiddle with the bar/plastic housing angle, but if the plastic housing is flush to the nose/cockpit, the bar isn't.  More experienced hands on this board may be able to fiddle with it more to get both pieces flush and parallel, but it's design tolerances are pretty shoddy compared with both Yamato's 1/48 and 1/60 swing bar design that had enough tolerance to not have to try multiple times just to get the piece flush without popping itself out when we're not trying to separate the pieces.  

On 10/17/2019 at 12:33 AM, vlenhoff said:

Yup, I don't want to sound like a party pooper, but this is my main issue with the DX. LOL, i love the "bandaid" comment, as it is accurate.  We were so close to the near perfect Valkyrie. I know this has been discussed before, but i wish Bandai would have gone the line art way. Where the legs swing down, and they detach from the chest, and reattach to the nose cone. Or simply do it the HMR/Yammie way, as a solid bar and call it a day. I wonder if someone[shapeways] could make a solid swing bar that could replace that flimsy break away swing bar.  

Ha ha I call it like it is!  Yup we were very close to the near perfect Vlalk.  If Bandai fixes this issue, they can reissue all 3 valks and peeps would just eat it up.  

@vlenhoff, did you look at Bandai's model kit a few years back?  They did the lineart where the legs swing down, and detach from the chest with "appendages" that reattach to the nose cone.  it didn't sell well.  The model kit, like many of their Macross model kits, aren't for the feint of heart.  But also a lot of peeps don't like the partsformers, and like the perfect trans.  

Not sure if it's because the legs were too heavy, or Bandai didn't want to get sued for plaguerising Yamato/Arcadia's awesome design, but you're right, Yammie's /HMR is a better option.  

On 10/17/2019 at 12:34 AM, Sanity is Optional said:

I’m just wondering what I’m doing right over here, since all 4 of my DX figs seem to hold together quite solidly without sagging or disconnecting swing bars.

My initial transformations were quite solid with Max, but after disengaging the swingbar to try out the swiveling cockpit/waist out, the plastic on the swing bar has become much looser and can disengage while transforming.  At the store, the 1j disengaged right away, but it's probably been handled by other peeps since it's on display.

23 hours ago, tekering said:

If it had been intended as a joke, it would've been at Tatsunoko's expense, for having to farm the work out to other studios with lower production standards.

Sometimes the mecha was so poorly-rendered, it was practically unrecognizable...  

Attack of the clones

8 hours ago, Anasazi37 said:

I would love to see it transform, but you'd definitely need a lot of space and probably 3-4 people

I don't have the link, but there was a Youtube that had a self transforming metal VF-1 in that scale at a mall.  It did perfect transformation from fighter to battroid and back.  I thought that by now, some company would have miniturized it and sold it as a toy.  

1 minute ago, vlenhoff said:

Agreed, I don't like the swing bar as it is. It is like transforming something made out of glass. It sort of takes the fun out of it, doing a balancing act so the darn thing wont come apart. I can transform any of my 1/48 Yammies with my eyes closed. You try doing that with a DX, i tis impossible. That is the testament of the Yammies, fun, well engineered Valkyries. [except for the shoulder thing on the early 1/60]

Yup, same here.  I saw a reviewer set the legs on a table so the weight doesn't strain the joint (@jenius, maybe?) but it'll still pop out.  This kind of fit problem should have been dealt with at the testing (and redesign) stage.  I've fiddled with it a lot, and the top part vs the bottom part is never really flush to both the top of battroid and the cockpit connector, unlike the yammie which is flush even though it has a little give.  I wonder how many prototypes broke at the swing bar during testing.  

It's still an awesome product, but this part of the transformation process is really important as it's weight bearing.  

Looking at the clear plastic adaptor for the stand, it's obvious that it encloses the swing bar connector to support it.  without it, leaving it in battroid mode for extended periods of time would put a lot of strain on it, and sitting on a shelf, the top half would nose dive when the joint disengages.  If that weren't the issue, Bandai didn't have to make the adaptor enclose the swing bar joint to lock it in.  This is something I haven't seen much discussion about online (although I don't speak Japanese, so I don't know if they have discussed it), just comments about the stupid disengaging swing bar.  But not much about the "bandaid" of the adaptor, or that they could have designed it differently.    

2 minutes ago, vlenhoff said:

I agree for being a 10 year old design, it is mighty solid in all modes. 

This DX is lots of fun right now, but that plastic/metal swingbar might be an issue down the road.  And the arms probably will droop more too.  I'd rather Bandai not swivel the waist and have a solid swing bar, solid metal bar on a metal bracket because metal on plastic will eventually put too much weight on the plastic.  

2 minutes ago, vlenhoff said:

HA< i haven't noticed the arm thing in mine. Funny, I actually dislike thet little hook thing in the Yammie, 1/60, and I never use it. 

The arms sometimes droop in fighter mode; I think others pointed this out back when the 1j came out.  On my Max, it does it sometimes and takes some fiddling to get the arms/legs/backpack/gun all tight, bcuz when you move one thing, the others shift thoses fore arms off of the pegs.  The yammie didn't have that problem even though it came out a decade ago, and mine are still tight enough.  It's a small issue but noticeable compared with transforming the Yammie.  

3 minutes ago, vlenhoff said:

No, i am referring to the rear part in fighter mode. In fighter mode, where the back pack meets the legs. It has nothing to do with the swing bar. 

A swing and a miss.  Haha.  No idea.  The fact that the yammie 1/60 v2 arms stay in place is another issue that the DX has that even with the pegs, doesn't stay pegged but the yammie is solid.  I also liked that little hook for the backpack in battroid mode.  

2 minutes ago, vlenhoff said:

I personally can't really choose between these two. Both the YAmmie 1/60 and the DX are beautiful to behold, but what i don't get, if why the 1/60 and the DX wont do the fighter mode like the Yammie 1/48 does. That part, were backpack meets the legs at the back, is the best part of the Yammie 1/48. It is tight, and it looks just like it did in the animation. Even the HMR has that tiny gap back there for some reason. 

IIRC, it was bcuz some peeps had a hard time getting that swing bar into / out of the connector on the bottom of the cockpit.  Mine works fine, though, so I don't speak from experience.  The DX swing bar isn't totally flush with the cockpit, I think because of the part that goes from the back and clips to the inside of the chest in battroid mode.  I think Bandai knew about this problem, added to the problem of the weight from the heavy legs, and the torque, so they made the swing bar have a release part.  The swiveling waist seems like an afterthought.  If Bandai had designed it around separating the swing bar just for more waist swivel, they should have made the swing bar attach better, like on the Yammie as you pointed out.  

13 hours ago, jenius said:

Hey guys, I did this vid:

Curious what improvements you think I should do the format since I'll probably do something very similar with the DX and Yamato 1/48 when the 1S Hikaru is released. 

Cool vid.  Suggestion: compare the Yammie 1/48 vs 1/60 v2 vs DX, since the DX seems like amalgamation of the two other than the shoulders, hands, ankles, and of course that swing bar joint.  

On 10/10/2019 at 1:55 PM, Sanity is Optional said:

The problem on the Monster isn't the price, it's the shipping.

MSRP was 18000Yen, and it was available after release at MSRP for a loooooooong time.

 

As to must-haves:

Glaug

Regult

Spartan

Defender

Monster

VF-1J Armored (though the aftermarket on this one's a bit ridiculous, looking at $200)

+1

On 10/10/2019 at 12:49 PM, theraiden said:

 

I'm sold  Looking for a reasonably priced Regult online. I was never a fan of the Glaug so i'll skip that.
Would you say this is a good deal on a Monster? https://jungle-scs.co.jp/sale_en/products/detail/298618

Glaug is the best toy in terms of quality, build, articulation/size.  See the youtube reviews like @jenius and you'll see.  it's better than the Regult, which is also very nice.  Both these toys can shrink into parking mode, and stretch into crazy poses.  The quality is like DX Chogokin and the size is similar (for the Glaug) but the price is not so high like the Regult.  The Regult is similar in size to the HMR valks but quality feels nicer, but the Regult price is high.

The spartan isn't my favorite ground mech, but the toy is better than the defender, which I prefer the art/design.  Both these are available for a decent price.

The Monster bigger and heavier than most of the toys in my collection.  It's also very articulated, and lots of metal.  It's a chogokin.  It's on sale a lot.  But the shipping is expensive because the box is 2/3 size of a copy paper box.

The armored vf1j and strike 1s are nice.  

On 10/10/2019 at 6:08 PM, sh9000 said:

I would buy just 1 Bandai Q-Rau.

Just kidding.

Glad someone got the other VF-1S Roy at Amiami.  I was going to get it but decided to let someone have it.

Who are you kidding?  You're going to recreate the Miria and Max scene with a whole squad of QRau's.  Ha ha

If they make a missile set for Miria that would be a blast!

and its now 24000Y

2 hours ago, sh9000 said:

Thanks.  Took that pic in the morning.

Took this pic just now.

Looks good.  That blue is so cool.  

9 minutes ago, Digitalfiend said:

I think I've started down the rabbit hole... started with Max, then a missile set, then a super parts pre-order & vf-1s to go with that...and just received my HMR VF-1D with a VF-1J Super Valk Max ver on the way for my daughter.  I've got to stop lol...

You've already taken the red pill, might as well see how deep the rabbit hole goes.  

9 hours ago, sqidd said:

The wife and I separated our money completely about 5yrs ago. Best thing that ever happened to our mirage. 

Quoting Troy McLure:  "The only difference between our marriage and anyone else's is, we know ours is a sham"

9 hours ago, Digitalfiend said:

Coming from a Games Workshop world, a price like that wouldn't phase me one bit LOL.

 

I feel the same way!  The extra hands remind me too much of:

 

 

Ha ha ha Mickey hands!  Now I can't unsee that.  Right up there with frog face on Tomahawk

1 minute ago, Slave IV said:

Yeah, I like the extra hands. Just don't care about them either way. Glad to have them, wouldn't miss them if they weren't there. If they sold more extra hands, I'd buy them just to have and probably never use them. So I prefer they don't try to sell more hands.

Some third party or Arcadia should make articulated hands for the 1/48 and 1/60, I'd buy those.  Also maybe articulated cartoon hands for DX.  

And Bandai should make the stands have a tray to hold all the hands, etc.

11 hours ago, Matt Random said:

There are so many modern Transformers and other transforming robots that I just don't want to pick up and transform since it takes so long or isn't enjoyable. The VF-1 DX is not one of these. I quite often get the urge to pick it up and transform it just to enjoy the experience and to reveal one of the other great modes!

This.  Some MP take half an hour to transform.  This DX like the Yammies are like the old chunky monkeys - easy to transform.

11 hours ago, Foblander said:

The more I handle the DX VF-1, the more I appreciate the simple, but effective, improvements Bandai has made to make this toy more enjoyable when compared to the OG Yamcadias (which is still really good). This toy is so beautiful in all modes and nothing is overcomplicated. Sure the DX VF-31 is more impressive to many people, but the VF-1 keeps everything simple, which I love. I have zero complaints about the DX VF-1. Some people appear slightly disappointed that this rendition of the VF-1 is more of an evolution than a revolution. I honestly don't know what more Bandai could have done to improve it without compromising the essence of the VF-1's simplicity. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Improvements that add to the experience of handling the toy are welcomed though. 

BAndai could make window boxes with lids like the Yammie boxes for collectors who don't like to open their mint boxes.  A  better DYRL launch arm stand.  making preorders available to everyone.  Pilots that are big enough to hold the joystick.  Flight crew that came with the destroids.  A better swing bar.

Bandai really did a good job on this valk.  It's not groudbreaking, but it's the best valk on the market.  

12 minutes ago, Slave IV said:

I don't care about extra hands. In this case, the stock articulated hands are excellent.

I like the extra hands, and I like the articulated hands because middle fingers! and I don't have to swap them out all the time when I transform the valk cuz the Yammie hands were so small.

I like them all.  The 1j has those racing stripes and different chin.  The 1a/VT have realistic heads.  The 1s has a skull shaped head for the skull theme and the real yellow black paint scheme.