Nani?!

This is a transforming toy we're paying $200 + dollars for.

I understand that people have a favorite mode but at that price, it better be functional and tight on all modes. If I just wanted fighter-mode, I'll make me a friggin model for less than 40 bucks.

Fortunately, I keep my valks in display 98% of the time, so I'm reminded less of the fact that the yf-19 doesnt lock in place in Battroid but if I handled it at all... It'd bug the crap out of me.

So yea, I definitely understand those who feel miffed...

It's also telling when of all people, "Fighter-mode-man" Dave is frustrated with it...

But in the same light as what eugimon said... It wouldn't be a yamato if it didnt have a couple "Duh!" retardations.

Thankfully, the retardations are getting milder and milder.

When you hear from your supplier, please let us know.

-Kyp

yea, I know but it has the foldildo.

I'd rather have the clear stand instead.

They need to rerelease the yf-19 like they're doing with the yf-21.

Including:

-Fixes to it's original problems.

-Fast packs.

-Clear stand.

I'm drooling at the 21 pics and my yf-19 is just standing there saying, "why the heck did I not come with fast packs and a clear stand?"

awesome........

Niceness.

Finally, I can almost smell it.

Looks like it's tampoed to the max.

Awesome.

No one's been singing bandai hymnals and praise wishing for their second coming to put the evil yamato to eternal damnation and gnashing of teeth.

It's hopeful optimism as a MACROSS fan that one of the biggest toy manufacturers in Japan is entering the fray interested in creating stuff we're interested in. Whether they know how to make valks and will ultimately make something that makes a difference is to be determined when this sucker comes out.

Bandai has the benefit of a clean slate as far as RECENT Macross Toys. I haven't followed any of their toy's development process and I have no bloody clue as to how much it can change and so the only thing we all have to go by is the stuff they created for that other anime. Stuff that, whether we care for or not, were endowed with a decent dose of quality.

And as much flak as you say Yamato gets for their slight deviations from proportions (which seem objective most of the time anyway) they also have people who praise them without hesitation and give them free passes as well.

Anyway.... lets get back to the bloody toy and it's fugly canopy hinge now, can we?

Ah... I'm getting these.

Hikaru, Focker, Max and Millia... make em and I will come.

I almost agree 100%. I think it's great to see more Macross products made by more than just one company. It's really personal preference and for me, if I'm buying a non-transformable, I want the best articulation possible which is Kaiyodo's Revoltechs. I think I'll pass on the GN-U figures and go straight for the NEW 1/60 Scale VF-1. I want that Valkyrie, bad!

Well put, I agree.

I also agree with Graham that it's beneficial for us to have options, and this situation it's been beneficial indeed.

In this case, I choose dynamic poseability for a non-transforming valk.

Whatever money I have, I'm going to put it towards the 1/60 yf-21 and vf-1 and any upcoming Macross Zero product... hopefully the vf-0d.

IMO, at the moment the Bandai sculpt looks like something Yamato would have put out 8 years ago.

Oh, the toy can definitely be improved a lot by a few small changes, but whatever they do, they have to get rid of that hinge pin on the canopy. I really, really can't believe that.

Graham

8 years ago is the 1/72 era for yamato.

Nippled, tab 2 breaking, fat legged, can't hold a proper gerwalk pose yf-19,

one legged, plastic cutout canopy heatshield, not to mention the hinges under the wingroots, vf-11b

floppy mess, only one pose poseable battroid mode, yf-21,

One / Seventy Two.

It's a good thing your joking Graham... Sadly, half the people here will actually rally around that nonsense and feel encouraged to add to it like so:

meh, you're too kind. Looks more like something bandai would have made... 13 years ago. Chubby, chunky and resigned to merely resemble the valkyrie it tries to be.

Pfft~~~ What a Yamaturd.

It definitely goes a bit nuts around here when Yamato releases CAD drawings, and the drawings are always heavily scrutinized. I believe it's fair to criticize a CAD drawing because at that time there's still hope that problems can be fixed.

However, I don't believe there's a cabal of Bandai sycophants who are hostile to Yamato. Sure, there are some people who have been burned and resent the way Yamato is worshiped by some, but I don't think they're rabid Bandai fans.

I think the CAD's get as scrutinized as they do because it's probably the only phase where fan's comments have any chance to be heard before things are set in stone. It's a minute chance to begin with, sure, but it's a chance.

The fact that they also fail to portray a complete picture (the objective wow-factor of a valk in the flesh) is also a major factor.

All the comments I've made about the CAD, I still feel the same way about the final product. I still think the sculpt of the 1/60 vf-0s is spot on AWESOME. I still think the tail fins of the yf-19 are a tad small and wish the gullet was even smaller (my opinion), and I still think the legs of the yf-21 are a bit thin.

What I am learning to do from either side of the spectrum is tone down the concern and take into consideration the OVERALL wow factor of the toy that although will not completely erase those gripes, will neutralize them enough to where they don't matter much.

Does anyone think Bandai will make this macross toy crap on purpose because they want gundam toys to succeed more than macross? With the only reason them wanting to do the toys being that they can just to *prevent yamato from having the license?

*ie more as a hostile move to deny something to the competition more than because you care about the thing you are taking from it?

Nope.

They just want a piece (or more in the future) of the growing pie, IMO.

Guys, it's all good if you're going to talk about what you think looks off on the prototype or not, but wtf is "Bandaide" & "Yamaturds?"

Don't turn this into some "Sony : Microsoft :: Yamato : Bandai" war because honestly, it's gay.

Shin isn't a "bandaide"... I know this for sure. I had a couple heated discourses with him regarding the business decisions of yamato (in the "silent-treatment-Macrossworld" era) and their quality (which was shotty then) of their products and he's defended them vigorously...

And Eugimon is clearly no "Yamaturd".... He's had a retarded shoulder vf-0 for an avatar for a good while.

(Although, he seems to have a shorter leash for bandai )

Stop the fanboy labeling. It's retarded.

It's good competition, indirect as it may be... and unless bandai f's it up totally, we can only benefit (however minute) from the slight drop of sweat that will go down yamato exec's brow.

As for the prototype:

That hinge is... disgusting... It needs to go. I understand it might be because of the breaking point right there but c'mon... yamato solved that problem in the yf-19.

With everything else however, (ie the big crotch, the head shape, antennae length, loose limbs) is still early to tell. The crotch needs to lock up, knees need to be set in place and the head is looking up, with the antennae a little forward.

posting a pic of battroid comparison for reference:

IMO, apart from the ghastly cockpit hinge, the sculpt is not all that bad. We've (well not me , but Mwer's ) cut more slack to yamato with the slight deformities that come from materializing kawamori's anime magic.

...... but the hinge has to go.... sorry...

Opinions are like A$$holes... some good for lovin, some just full of sh*t.

Life... oh well.

Complaints are a part of life as much as water is.

Everyone partakes in it to some extent and unfortunately many fill theirs with blind bitchy rage rather than logical arguments, and some do so at a higher frequency than others.

Everyone has tipped that balance between logic and emotion in favor of the latter and again... some more often than others.

The thing is, just as some people here are blindly opinionated against Yamato, likewise, there are some people here that are blindly opinionated just the same against an opposing opinion.

Since everything is written and saved in forums, passing complaints that would in the real world only last as long as the breath of air that was used to utter them, linger longer and are heard by more people.

The choice is always there and far easier to take to completely ignore posts that you discern is going in a direction that to some, is beating a dead friggin horse.

The funny thing is... so many of us choose not to.

What misleading? These are the current market prices of the toys. You can't go to sellers and say, "I want that for $165 because that's what it used to cost". If we could we'd all go to car dealers and demand they sell us a Rolls for what they cost back in the 60's. If you want to compare previous prices then the 1/48 Super at $165 should be compared to the old 1/60 Super at $100(HLJ). $65 difference then, still $65 difference now.

USD tanking versus the Yen.

Oil prices skyrocketing.

Cats and Dogs living together.

It all adds up. Would I prefer the lower original pricing? Absolutely! Do I think it's currently priced unfairly? No but I'm waiting on Graham to review one for us.

$65 difference then $65 difference now. Good point!

And yea, after you laying everything across the table, it doesn't look half as bad as it did intially...

I think the big question for myself personally now is that are these things worth it ($$)? They dont seem to look like they're going to go down in price...

I guess the whole experience with toys from japan have gone the way I feel about their food (sushi)... Bloody expensive for what you get, overrated and in the end leaves me unsatisfied...

huh.... ... I'm gonna go think about this....

Let's see:

1/48 Super Valkyrie would cost:

HLJ = ~$200usd

Toy-wave = ~$180usd

BBTS = $200usd

LOS = 1/48 1S($155) + Super/Strike parts(70) =~$225

New 1/60 Super Valkryie would cost:

HLJ = NA(no info)

Toy-wave = NA(no info)

BBTS = $155

LOS = $138.95

Hobby Search = $120

Over Drive Inc = $112.99

So averaging out a Super Valkyrie for 1/48(2 american and 2 japanese stores) = $201.

Averaging outa Super Valkyrie for 1/60(2 american and 2 japanese stores) = $136.

Huh. Still getting a new 1/60.

Good ol' way to see things clearer, put it all out on the table!

Softens the blow a bit relative to prices now...

but.... it's still slightly misleading.

The 1/48 Supers have inflated in price for a good two years now.

When they were first out I bought a vf-1j for $165.99 before shipping costs were applied.

135 to 165 difference is like the BMW 1 series to the 3 series.

I still believe if yamato wants to make this series a success like that of the 1/48's or somewhat close to it, they'll have to come down a bit. Here's to hoping there are more stores selling for the 112.99 price point. I'll buy them at that price. No way in Hell for 135+.

Why are the prices high? Because it's yamato and they know people will pay it.

Yea obviously, and that's why no matter how good they (yamato) get, they'll have a thorn jaming into my side.

It seems nowadays they raise price with each new release....

They increase the temperature just enough as we frogs sit in the water wondering if "is it just me or is it getting hot in here?"

They might just end up killing the whole hobby in the end. I mean, we're bound to wake up one day and realize how much we can buy with 135-235 dollars... and that we're spending that much for something that'll sit on some display for most of us...

Huh...

Stand or no stand, fast pack or not it still doesnt justify almost a 100% price increase.

(and the prices I'm mentioning are not the dirt cheap prices everyone is selling their old 1/60's now but the prices they were before. I bought my fast pack 1/60 vf-1j's for $75 + shipping back in the day.)

Risen prices of oil (for plastic), inflation (and whatever people list as factors yamato has no control over) still doesn't justify it...

and I'm surprised they're raising prices even though they know they'd have to convince many people who bought their whole line of 1/48's already to buy another vf-1 series...

I'm sorely disappointed.

yet another macross release i'm passing on because of their asking price.

yamatos been sucking their fans dry from day one and its only a matter of time before everyone gets tired of it.

i know i certainly am.

I... *long pause* agree...

'bout time the source got blamed and not just the online retailers.

If prices are not in the sub-$100 USD for these I'm not getting any.

Yamato is out of their mind. Ridiculous.

as i was implying in my post, the legs coming off is not the delimiter mode, for that, the arms need to be removable as well.

Personally, I think they removed the legs so they could take pics of the arms unobstructed.

I agree.

It's the same with the YF-19 legs and..... YF 19 doesnt have a delimiter mode.

So would it be safe to say that without Gundam, we wouldn't have Macross?? It's kind of ironic how people are bashing Gundam when Kawamori himself is a fan.

!!! You mean to say it's ok to like both gundam and macross together?!?!

Really though, who started this war against Gundam anyway??

Kawamori expression saying "ma...cross...." was classic~

What would have made it even better is if you put "Gun...damu" instead of "Gundam",

But yea, I imagined it like that anyway... freakin hilarious, haha

I agree... Toy-wave needs to up the ante. Definitely.

and since you bring the BBQ shop up, Toy-wave's BBQ ribs are their prices. It's what people go there for.

Yeah, their shipping pricing needs a revamp... yea, they need to consistently deliver....

But if people like their ribs enough, they'll be willing to go to it's location in the hood, wipe-off the residue on their silverware and deal with the ghetto-ness of the service.

Your decision too, proves the point... You'd return for their ribs...

So will I.

Always a riot with the humor, EXO.

Laughed my butt off.

Macrossman,

Thanks for the post. I'm an accounts manager so I'm familiar with business principals. I also have experience enough to know that crap happens more than 0.01% of the time. Especially when it's importing overseas products...

Yeah, Toywave isn't perfect.

First off, I'd revamp the whole website if you ask me. Shipping calculator with destination input is a must and yea, they need to hammer out a lot of the oddities. The yellow strip named "offer" should simply be labeled On-Sale or Clearance, etc, and yea, the 4% charge on paypal payments kinda bites considering they are a full fledged online store and not some ebay e-store.

To put it into perspective, we all wish every business was a Best Buy or a Target. Streamlined and virtually flawless, dependability and millions of satisfied customers, but the problem with reality is that there are many stores that fall well behind the standards you outlined... I agree, they should strive to meet them and it's practice all business should aspire to achieve but all businesses (so far) are run by human beings and I'll be damned if more than a handful of them run 99.9% efficiently.

Shopping in Toy-wave can be equivalent to shopping in a family owned corner store in the neighborhood. You go in knowing full well it's no Best buy. But you go there because you like the guy and know him by his first name, they were around here in the community for a while, and yea, you can get your stuff cheaper there. The guy might have an abacus for a calculator and may be hand writing his receipts but people go there because he does something right....

As our respectable resident valkaholic Kensei chimed in, Ken's been good to members here. IMO He's one of the best communicating e-hobby stores. What happened to him after the whole DnD situation was equivalent to being dragged out in the open, beat up and have store windows trashed all for a mistake...

I'm just simply extending a hand to help him back on his feet.

As far as what you seem to have gone through in your order, you also played a part in the delay asking him to add to the order... remember... this guy uses an abacus (figuratively)... But you got your stuff in good order and you're happy with the price.... D+?? That's a failing mark. A bit steep, No?