onnasake

Anyone making replacements for the part I broke??

Likely not...I'm probably the only one that broke it...

Gee thanks for flipping my image for no reason, imgur.

OK, so I see that they did a TV Version VF 1 J, but there's never been a TV version Roy?

It's been two months but I still love my VF-4 Lightning.

The right side kite tampo has a big rub on it from transforming, though, and that bums me out.

Now I'm tempted to get Hikaru's other rides...I didn't like DYRL as much as the TV show, so I'd want the TV H-MR of Hikaru and Fokker's planes.  were they released in HM-R or only the original Hi Metal Revival from 2010 or so?

Also, I don't like the one that looks dark grey.   What do you guys think of that one....too grey, no?

Last time I was at my parents' house I found a box of toys I thought I'd lost.  Hadn't seen them in years.   In the box was a Playmates reissue of the old Robotech Tomahawk.

Is that too big to display with HM-Rs?  Obviously it's not very articulated, but I always thought it was a really cool toy.

16 hours ago, Roy Focker said:

Finally got my VF-4.

Easier to transform than I thought it would be.  This is an odd looking battroid.  Not much range with the shoulders.  It would outclassed in hand to hand combat.  The toy's color doesn't match the pictures on it's own box.  Fighter mode look gorgeous.

 

Yeah, the Battroid is quite unconventional, but for me that was just as much a draw as the sexy, sleek fighter mode.  The first time I saw it, I was so impressed by the way the nosecone is "bisected" and becomes the chest, as opposed to the traditional cockpit chest so many  other Valkyries use.

Yes, the giant shoulders are a hindrance, but it's so unique and over the top that I just love it.   I think it's my second favorite Valk of all time behind the glorious YF-19.  I know it's still only first quarter 2019, but it's gonna take a lot for any other toy to knock this guy out of my "number one for the year" slot.

In the few frames it's actually visible in Flashback, the wings alignment is pretty ambiguous.

I think if the toy's wings were droopy and couldn't be straightened out I'd find that more annoying.

14 hours ago, Chronocidal said:

So I went super low-tech/low-effort on a fix for the wing angle in fighter mode, and realized that there's enough play in the wing hinges to kind of just force them downward.  So, I just folded up a sliver of printer paper a couple times, jammed it in to the joint, and now the outer wings are even with the canards.  

I did originally make a small modification to the leg by shaving down the upper lip of the slot that the wing tabs into, but I'm not even sure that was necessary.  It did let the wings drop easier, and not snap in level so solidly, but they're not rock-solid to begin with, and there's enough slippage in the joint to push the wings downward without any changes.  I'm going to see if the paper is enough to push the wings down on my stock copy later today.

As a side note, the wing hinges aren't pinned, and just pop in and out easily if you want to do more extensive modifications.  Just doing something to beef up either the outboard side of those hinge blocks, or inboard surface of the wing root would push the wing downward.  You'd need the equivalent thickness of about three layers of printer paper* to angle the wings down the same amount as the Yamato version.

* I'm not sure what thickness of paper, but I'll check that later.  It was whatever I had on hand at the time.

I don't understand what you were going for here.  You don't like the fact that the wings are straight out and flat, like a normal airplane?   So it required a mod to correct?

Aren't the wings supposed to be flat?

Maybe at one point is was supposed to be SDF-01B and got confused?

Sorry....I'm useless...I have no idea how that kind of stuff and aviation works.

Just watched the Chinese quick review in this thread again.

He left the landing gear cover on when he converted it to Battroid, so I thought "yeah it does seem odd that I'm the only one doing this."  So I put it back in place, reassembled Batttroid, and once again, everything snaps in nice and tight.  No loose floppiness.

Obviously, I was doing something wrong earlier, which seems to be my "thing" when it comes to these toys.

My only problem with this is how much I'm freaking enjoying it.  Suddenly......I want more in this scale.   More...more...

On my 2nd transformation into Battroid I got stuck on the same part.  The rounded top of the chest just does NOT want to peg into the cockpit piece properly.

Well step one is making sure the landing gear cover is off.   Then when everything's lined it, it just takes a bit of massaging of the entire top/back structure to hit the sweet spot so that it's "latched" in and locked.  Once that's done it's totally solid.   I'm sure others can explain it better than me, once it's in hand.

But I started to panic twice now and managed to figure it out, so surely more experienced guys are gonna be able to explain it much better.  No need to panic!

So far, (knock on wood) everything snaps in nice and snug, especially once I figured out to remove the landing gear for Battroid.

Actually, not a bad/intuitive transformation back into Fighter mode....only took me a few minutes and I didn't even need the instructions!  Getting the thigh/arms just right was the hardest part.   This thing is just gorgeous and I love the optional "filler" pieces to make it look more like a model than a transforming toy.  (Not unlike the model Hikaru plays with in the last episode of Macross...hmmm.)

Here's with landing gears and gundpod.  Seems to have just enough clearance.

Landing gears with no gunpod:

And on the flight stand with no landing gears, and no gunpod....notice the attachment for the display stand has that open space for the gunpod, so that will always be there.

There were several points in the instructions that say in English"MAY CAUSE PAINT RUBS"...specifically the leg fillers.  I suppose they could damage the red stripe on the thigh.  I was willing to take the risk cause I think they look cool, but others may not.  I guess Bandai wanted to get into pre-emptively ahead of any potential complaints.

Absolutely beautiful.   I love it.  I'm gonna give it five stars on amazon.

Transformation was complicated, but I took my time, looked at that pictorial review a few pages back, and I got it.  Even for old fumbly fingers like me....I need not remind you what I did to my first Macross toy...

I had ONE sticking point: the chest simply wasn't pegging in.  Everything else was.  So I took another look, and i had the landing gear cover on.  TAKE THAT OFF for Battroid.   As soon as I did, everything snapped in nicely and stayed that way.

This is my first hi-metal, and it's a little small, but man  it's just wonderful.   I still want my beloved YF 19 in this format, despite the fact that the DX is perfect.

The fighter mode for this is amazing.  I guess all those little missiles come off but now way in hell am I gonna pry and lose 6 little missiles.

If you don't look at the fighter mode and feel a horrible pull on your heartstrings, imagining Minmei singing in 2012...well....you might just be a Zentreadi.

OK, if I can get this back to fighter mode with no problems I'm gonna give it the perfect score on amazon.

Here he is with Masterpiece Prowl, SHF Luke Skywalker, and Cobra Commander for a sense of scale.

OK, gonna put it back in Fighter now....I'll take some pics if I manage to not screw up!!

It's here!!!!

I'm in Japan and my Lightning is out for delivery today, so I should have this in a matter of hours.

I'm gonna try my not to destroy it with my clumsy ape-like fingers like I did my YF-19.   Already nervous cause these are smaller and more delicate than the DX.

Once it arrives, I can try to answer questions, take pics, if requested, but keep in my mind what an utter newbie I am with these.  I have dozens of MP TFs but these feel like a very different toy.

Still.....I'm excited!!!

My Lightning will be arriving Saturday or Sunday,

On the one hand, I want to avoid all pics and videos to be completely surprised by the brand new toy.

On the other hand, that ended in utter disaster for my YF-19.

Maybe I'll find a happy medium and go to videos when I;m really stuck on something.  Thankfully, between the 19 and my Sentinel Mospeada I have now learned to handle these toys as gently and delicately and possible and never ever use excessive force on anything.

This is my first Hi Metal R.....I am a bit surprised by how small it is,   It is NOT gonna scale well on a shelf with the YF 19.

Before you do anything, write to Bandai directly, and include pics of course.  Just be detailed and sincere.   They wrote me back right away, in English:

https://support-bandai.secure.force.com/inquiryen?id=a0R0K00000DFT9W

 

For giggles I checked onnasake's post on pg 88, and the break line is different, but the breakpoints are the same. 

I thought that was my picture and I then I was like "wait a minute....that's not my carpet!"

Different carpet, but same break.

I think I saw that the Flashback Minmei is gonna be 15000 yen. 

I only have one Minmei figure.  It's small, but it works for me.  The CM Corps trading figure from about 15 years ago:

I picked it up for a few hundred yen in Akihabara a few years ago.

Yes.

It's another YF-19 post from me.   Sorry if there's so many and they're so redundant.

I'm still just shocked by how much I LOVE THIS TOY.   Especially considering how horribly disappointed I was when I unboxed it.  Well, that was ALL on me.   Impatience, trying to force thing, skipping stuff in the directions, and most of all not watching videos explaining all the nuances.

In the months since I've got it, I have yet to get the fighter mode "juuuust right."   I can get Battroid looking amazing....but there are bits in the fighter mode that elude me.  The "naked" fighter mode with no fast packs is no problem....but getting those arms to fold in just right with that horrible little grey back of the leg piece and getting the long shoulder pads to all peg in?   It's drive me crazy.

Not to mention a few weeks ago I broke the strut holding the fold booster, but I jury rigged a pin in there that seems to hold it just fine as far as you don't excessively handle it, and I learned already:  these can be appreciated and even held, but do NOT excessively handle them!

Well, I just spent over an hour trying to go from Battroid to the "perfect" fighter mode loaded out with fast packs and fold booster.   Other than the shoulder armor still just being the slightest bit gappy, I'd say I'm finally about 95%  there.  Even got the wing roots in place, and the pegs that go into the sides of the neck almost flush for the first time!

What a sight to behold.  What a dream come true.  Hard to imagine my biggest let down of 2018 quickly became my number one toy of the year, with no contest.

I have seen the light.  I am converted and born again.  I love this toy!!

On 12/16/2018 at 5:31 AM, Foblander said:

I'd say you got away pretty lucky for dropping this toy. The core toy itself is still okay so that's something. Don't be too sad. I don't even care about the fast packs, missles, and fold booster. Lol

Soooo....you don't use your fold booster, eh?

You, uh, interested in working out some kind of deal for the little connector piece I broke?  (Assuming you have this toy, that is.)

I know I'm not being realistic.  Anyone that spent this much on a toy isn't gonna want to parse out the parts.

EDIT.......ah shitballz....I heard back from Bandai customer service and they say they're all out of YF-19s so they can't help me.

I know it's a long shot, but if any of you guys were crazy enough to buy multiples, and would be willing to live without that part, I'd be more than happy to trade missiles for it.  I basically load mine out with the fast packs and the booster, so ALL the missiles are just sitting in the box.  The pinpoint punch too...I don't think I've ever even removed it from the tray.  Missiles, missile connectors, green punchy thing...the connector is more important to me than any of those.  I'm a desperate man.

Well, if I wasn't dumbass of the year for yanking the leg off, I certainly am now.

So today I transformed the YF-19 from battroid to fighter.  Oh man, I was so excited...all the pieces and fast packs were lining up beautifully...maybe the best I've ever managed.  I attached the fold booster......

And I dropped the goddamn thing.  I DROPPED MY $300 toy.

After all the bullshit I've been through you'd think I'd be as careful as handling a Faberge egg but NOOOOOOOOOOO.

One of the green connectors that holds the Fold Booster snapped clean in half.  I tried gluing it but it just wouldn't hold.  I should count myself lucky that's all that broke.

Clearly, I was never meant to own this toy.

I very much prefer the bare diecast to painted.  I think it looks more like a plane's landing gears should look.

I know this is a nitpick, but I find myself looking at the cockpit and thinking they could have put some kind of tiny tampo in there for screen details.  Am I greedy or unreasonable for thinking that?  No way I'd attempt it myself, but it would be cool since there's details on just about every other millimeter of this thing, including the pilots.

The part where you basically unfold it all on that main little frame was the part that got me.  I'm sure I'd have broken it if I hadn't watched the video.  The tolerance was TIGHT.  It was also good to know going in how delicate this thing was, so I was more prepared to treat it like my Bandai and not my Transformers.