MikeRoz

The thing that killed the Yamato 1/48 for me was the way they shoulders hung down way too far in fighter mode. Ruined the lines for me. I probably wouldn't have bothered with the 1/60 v2 line if not for that. Though, now that I think about it again, the PF releases probably would have been enough to get me to break.

I didn't get the impression that Michelle Yeoh was in any way a victim here. Maybe I'm the victim of successful PR, but it always seemed to me like she'd been pushing for this series/movie to happen and enjoyed playing the mirror version of the character. I felt a little bit like I was watching a Stephen Segal film or a later Rock film.

The usual US stores have gotten all the TWE items (except VF-1s) since the revivals started. What's different about this listing?

The usual US stores have gotten all the TWE items (except VF-1s) since the revivals started. What's different about this listing?

The usual US stores have gotten all the TWE items (except VF-1s) since the revivals started. What's different about this listing?

My replacement head laser was fine, but the original head laser was in there really snug. I pulled and pulled, and what finally gave wasn't the laser itself, but the yellow housing it comes in. It has a flared base that should have been big enough to keep it from popping out. I was terrified things were glued together underneath it, so I spent an embarrassing amount of time trying to shove the housing back in from above, even though it didn't fit (yet it got out somehow...?). Don't do this, it will make marks (which are fortunately very hard to see once the housing is in, but still...). Eventually I gave up and realized that the 'face' was held on by a simple ball joint, the 'head' and 'cowl' assembly was also held on by a simple ball joint, and the grey part behind/above the face in the cowl is held on by a single screw. Pop that out, pop the yellow laser base back in, then reverse the disassembly steps, and you're good to go.

Just got a shipping label creation notification from FedEx on behalf of Bandai. They don't usually do that for P-Bandai purchases, and I've already gotten my shipment for this month anyway. The weight is also 0.1 pounds, which can't really be a model or anything else I'd have purchased. I think we domestic US customers are finally getting our head lasers.

They've released revival versions of the 25F, 25G, and the 25S with their add-ons. They have to release the RVF-25 with its ghosts, right? Right? Right? There's no way they'd start a squadron and then never finish it like that, right? Right?

USAGS has this up for pre-order, now it's just a matter of waiting for a crazy discount code.

I have the original Renewal Tornado parts but, aside from a test fitting/swooshing, I don't think I've ever displayed them.

I wouldn't mind having a backup Revival 25F but the price is making me hesitate.

Person I just bought a VF-27 from is breathing a huge sigh of relief right now. I bought their VF-27 and held off on their VF-25G + supers combo because with the 25F, 25G, and 25S all getting combo releases, surely the 25G was right around the corner? Never would I ever have thought an "enemy mecha" would get a release before the fourth member of the protagonist's squad. Called that completely wrong.

44 minutes ago, Lolicon said:

So I originally bought two YF-21s from Japan. One arrived intact, the other with a broken head laser.

Since Bandai considers it a "quality variance" and refuses to provide any support to replace this one piece (it would be pretty easy to just mail some replacement head lasers out), I went and bought one off Amazon US.

The first unit I got from Amazon had a broken head laser too. I immediately exchanged it for a replacement. The replacement unit had an intact laser. So I am sending the broken unit I originally got from Japan in its place and getting a full refund.

This is the kind of crap I have to resort to for a simple fix on a pretty expensive toy because Bandai ultimately is a shitty & anti-consumer company.

2 out of 4 units arrived broken. A 50% failure rate is absolutely unacceptable in any product line. (Yes I know this is a tiny sample size but this is a widespread issue and I would not be surprised if the real failure rate is actually pretty close to 50%.)

So you received a unit with a Bluefin sticker from Amazon, and you're sending them back one without?

On 9/13/2024 at 3:33 PM, rsvictor1976 said:

My first transaction with @Face_Forward and it went really well. I'm looking forward to future purchases from him. 

Seconded

I'm shocked. Nozomi Crunchyroll finally delivers on a Macross title, and it's not even one of the ones that was previously announced. Here's hoping whatever logjam was there is now broken and we see Frontier soon too. And yes, even Delta and 7, I suppose.

PMed

I was about to pull the trigger on a CDJapan order that included this and the 4K DYRL? release, but blinked when CDJapan said they'd make me split it into two orders. I wish I knew the chances of this getting a US (not UK) release, and of that release having all the same extras as this release, just fully translated/subtitled (like the audio commentaries and booklet).

I see that's the -31F Draken set and not the version for the -262Hs. Would you be willing to sell it separately from the -262Hs?

40 minutes ago, MacrossJunkie said:

Just an update on the progress of my submission to the Bandai replacements form.

I got an email today saying the following;

Quote

Thank you for reaching out to Bandai Namco Toys & Collectibles America.
 
We have forwarded your inquiry to our manufacturers in Japan to see if this replacement request can be fulfilled at this time. We thank you for your understanding and appreciate your patience with this process. We hope to be able to provide an update for you soon.
Thank you,

BNTCA Customer Service

 

Word-for-word what they put on my ticket yesterday.

My USAGS order has arrived and my head laser is definitely bent. (Just in case this post is read out of context at some point, this is almost certainly not USAGS's fault given how widespread this issue is even in Japan.) Is there a single post that gives a checklist of all the other potential issues I need to check for?

VF-25F  Renewal - $150
I bought this from a fellow forum member here many years ago as a backup. It has zero yellowing because it's spend most of that time in the box - it's only come out a few times for comparison pictures with my yellowed VF-25F Renewal.

VF-25F Renewal Super Parts - $75
I don't have the brown shipper - what you see is what you get. These were displayed.

GFFMC Wing Zero EW Noble Colors Ver. - $350
This is in a sealed brown shipper.

I know they're probably not in any of the upcoming slots in the near term, but I have to wonder if they'd ever issue revival versions of:

YF-30
VF-19 Advance w/Supers
VF-27 w/Supers

7 hours ago, herkulease said:

A dartboard would imply there's at a bare minimum some thought put into it. That is they at least picked out something to put on the board.

It feels more like some went "Oh i had a dream about this VF last night" lets make it that.

I feel like there has to be drugs or a very young toddler with a short attention span that's a part of this decision making process too. How else do they dredge out every possible canon and non-canon YF-29 design possible, so much so that they even re-issue the non-canon 30th anniversary Roy scheme (have they ever re-issued a non-canon scheme before this?), but seemingly get bored in the middle of releasing their VF-31 lineup or their 1/48 VF-1 lineup? I could see the WWM stuff causing their interest in the VF-1 line to cool, but they can export all the VF-31 toys they want overseas.

5 hours ago, grogall said:

As a consumer this might be, but as a manufacturer you have a completely different approach to a product! I'm in product development myself, and really never care much about what other companies have developed or might come out with. We also have the Ferrari license to produce in 1/8 scale which other companies will not touch...

We are the industry standard in that scale, and don't look much at other manufactures that came previously!

As for the differences in 1/48 from Yamato to Bandai, the quality is quite different although from the outside they might look the same! Sure Bandai has disappointed us in more ways then one with the series but it is still the best out there in my opinion at that scale. 

Hasn't Mr. K done work for both Bandai and Yamato/Arcadia at this point? Or am I misremembering something I read here years ago?

30 minutes ago, MKT said:

Not sure if this has ever been posted on these boards before, but here’s Kawamori showing the YF-19’s 4th mode. And no, it’s not a pengroid, but very suitably the pterosaur. 

https://x.com/kawamoriexpo/status/1692706042453598645

Actually, the toy looks like Yamato’s instead of Arcadia. I guess my Yammie YF-19 can be brought out of obsolescence now for display. 

Nooooo, you can't let these toys see the sun!

JUN30 seems to still work, though I wouldn't expect it to last long given that we're 2 days into July.

Down to $154 before shipping and tax at USAGS.

16 hours ago, Chronocidal said:

"Ships from one of the greatest games ever made" has me incredibly curious, because it's such a broad subject to cover, and I have no idea what genre they might even be talking about.  Given the recent sequel, I could easily see them making some Homeworld ships, but I would be absolutely over the moon to see anything from something like the Wing Commander or Freespace franchises.  There are probably a lot of other options in arcade shooters as well, but I can't say those sorts of franchises would fit the sort of "collection" format they tend to focus on.

The "classic sci-fi TV series" could also be any number of things, but I'm crossing my fingers for Babylon 5.  The wild variety of designs from that show would make it easy to build a collection from.  I'm kind of struggling to come up with more candidates than that though, outside of maybe a ship or two from Buck Rogers.  I know there are a lot more series they could pull from (Space Above and Beyond, maybe?), but I don't know of a lot of really popular ones with more than one or two ship designs they could market.

I'll need to expand my display space if they start making too many more classics though.   

Freespace would be crazy for me but I doubt it has the audience to make bean counters happy. My money would be on Halo or Mass Effect.

I think there's a much higher chance you're right about B5, but I still worry about the popularity and the fact that the franchise seems a little cursed at this point.

17 hours ago, PointBlankSniper said:

BBTS resells jp exclusive p-bandai stuff too though. They can't be used as evidence of WWM release.

Yeah, I'm waiting for it to show up somewhere like USAGS or Crunchyroll before I make that judgement.

I'd normally expect the 'markup' to be higher if BBTS was self-importing, but with the pricing of recent WWM releases that's definitely not a given.