Actar

I got mine from HLJ quite some time ago. I know they just suspended shipping for a few days, but I don't think that explains the several-week delay. Perhaps it's an issue related to country?

Posed together with the OG Bandai VF-17S!

I have no idea why Bandai decided to do that. Because of the cavity, there's a really annoying split in the neck cover in Gerwalk mode. This is definitely one of those bizarre Bandai engineering oversights that really should have been caught during the design process.

Yeah, the order of operations is much more complex. I like to fold out the arms, fold down those panels behind the shoulders, fold the arms back, and then flip up the neck cover. Were you able to see what I was talking about regarding how the head rests in a cavity in the back?

From my investigation, the head fits snugly in the cavity in fighter mode. However, extending the torso causes the cavity to move as it's on a slider separate from the head. If the torso gets extended while the head is in that cavity, it gets misaligned and scrapes the sharp points on the head like the tip of the red fin or black head crest and maybe the face. So, when extending the torso from fighter mode, it's best to raise the head first. That's also why the neck cover splits when in Gerwalk mode. The head can't sit properly in the cavity and puts pressure on the neck cover.

One thing I noticed is that the head fin and crest actually rest in a cavity when in fighter mode. When extending the body from fighter mode, make sure to raise the head first. Otherwise, the head can get scraped/chipped/dented. I think this is also why the neck cover has a gap in Gerwalk mode. Because the main body is slightly extended and pulled away, the head can't sit properly in its cavity, causing the neck cover to split.

This is the best I can get it in both positions! Looks like the barrel sight bumps into the crotch piece when brought forward.

Regarding the gunpod, the pivoting grip really doesn't do much as there's really no room for the gunpod to angle on that pivot...

Alrighty! I just got my VF-19 Kai in hand! I absolutely adore the matte finish, and it gives it a very different feel from the Arcadia version. Everything feels solid enough, but some of the joints on mine are annoyingly loose like the Gerwalk joints on the legs. Speaking of the legs, I have to ask you guys if any of you have experienced this. Transforming from Fighter to Battroid didn't pose any issues. However, on the transformation back to Fighter, both legs just refused to swing back down at the hip even after disengaging the locks. Only after forcing them and getting a horrendous "click/snap" sound on both sides did they decide to move again. Since then, they've been working just fine. I've had no issues with this mechanism on my YF-19s and VF-19 Advances, so I'm kind of at a loss as to what happened. I first assumed that maybe I didn't pull the legs out enough, but that didn't seem to be the case. Then, I assumed that I didn't compress the locks enough, but that didn't seem to be the case either. Then, after forcing them, I noticed that there was a bit of grey plastic lying on my desk after the transformation, which I assume broke off from somewhere. Was there some extra flash on the transformation locks or did they change the mechanism to function differently and I just broke something? Again, for what it's worth, they seem to be working perfectly fine now.

At least there are locks on the 19s. The way they did the 21's hips was atrocious.

Finally shipped out! I can't wait to get my DX Chogokin VF-19 Kai in hand. Bandai will make the most asinine design and engineering choices one day and implement crazy innovations like finally integrating the neck cover of the VF-19 into the transformation the next. Really want to play with the shoulder mechanism in person, too.

Hm... I got charged for my VF-19 over on HLJ, but it hasn't been added to my Private Warehouse yet. It seems to be still stuck in processing? Hope it doesn't take too long and nothing goes wrong.

Honestly, I got one, but I don't know if I want to keep it due to all the aformentioned accuracy issues. At the very least, is it safe to assume they'd fix the QC and design issues of the 171?

The bizarre thing is that the joints started off tight enough, but got looser the more I transformed and posed it. Bending the knee fully into Gerwalk configuration seemed to have a ton of resistance at first, not sure if that made it worse...

I filmed a video of just how loose my YF-21's knees have gotten. https://youtu.be/wGxk-op1rLA Seriously, of all its faults, this is the most egregious in my book...