Dimis

I have the VF-1A Max and think it looks great but it's got the plain canopy. I don't know what anyone else says, i love the rainbow effect. How much did you get it for and where from?

I would be very careful about buying used items from those type of "recycle" shops as your first experience, unless there's a ton of pictures. I've had a horrid experience that even my proxy service agreed to get the shop to refund me - them and then they refunded me - after i received it and sent them pics. The item was broken and glued together but listed as A condition. Although they check they don't check nearly as thoroughly as personal sellers do.

Macross collectables in fighter mode are always easier to rationalize. I've always been fascinated with things that fly and japanese anime, so anything that looks like an airplane doesn't surprise my relatives and friends. Now it's not my fault that Gundams, Getters and some others fly too! My Gundam Metal Builds and Composites, and Fewture Gokins do initiate that "are you not drifting too far with all this?" look.

I'm guessing they added the extra Y10000 on the original release's price for the booster, plus an extra 10% for the gold paint

Bandai does have the DX Soul of chogokin line that Mazinger was released in. (I do envy those who actually like that design. I hate it) That was really impressive.

And the weathered VF-1S maxes are unreachable. I have Roy's and Hikaru's weathered S, but i have given up on Max's. For the last two years i've not seen it sell for less than Y40,000 so with Proxy fees and shipping, $500

Which is why Bandai does regular releases most of the time. If someone is not guaranteed 1 copy at pre-order, maybe he will end up pre-ordering 2, or 3 :-P

The M3 is what Bandai would go for, but they would also make sure they include some green and yellow paint lines somewhere because only blue on red is never enough. The M7 is what Arcadia would choose.

I think the original yellow was better. If i didn't have it i would still buy the old one! But i do have an issue with gold and metallic paints in general on toys/models. Makes them look a bit street-fareish. If they had made it yellow-orange instead (like that Sazabi yellow/orange i mean) then it would have looked MUCH better together with the black accents.

SV-51 in 1/48 ! Better move that TV someplace else!

From what i remember it was the very last step about getting the legs in place correctly and then sliding the covers over that was the most annoying part because the tolerance is minimal. Up to that you shouldn't have a problem.

LOL. YF-21 gave me a slight fever at the time. Took me 30 minutes to do it safely, and that's after and while watching visual guides.

I agree with you. This darker grey looks richer.

I wish NY could start a warehouse option ! But if they did they would no longer be able to make profit from shipping costs as they currently do. Therefore unless all their customers refuse to place orders unless they do that, they never will.

"Complete the Red and Black stripe collection", is starts that way ! Then something grey or tan creeps in and suddenly you got another 10 variants to chase ! Happened to me ! LOL

I agree. Getting worried about Tamashii Nations exclusives is reasonable - some not popular Tamashii Shop items too perhaps - but this will definitely be available on release for a reasonable price. Every other DX has been the last couple of years ! I paid Y25000 for the Super VF-27 and then it was available for Y17500!

Agree with the above. For instance the Metal Build Destiny was sold out everywhere instantly. Not to mention what prices the Metal Build Raiser for the 7 Swords was fetching until the combo pack was re-issued. If you were a Gundam collector of similar merchandise you'd be just as annoyed, and perhaps more because the sort of premium those mount up if you don't get them within a month after release is exponential to Macross'. Also if you were a modeler with a preference for Master Grade Zeon suits, again you'd be forever angry as one person mentioned above. I'm not a modeler but i stalk forums because i love Zeon suits. They are so sparse and their updating is so "not happening" you'd have to develop new skills to make something look as sophisticated as a Gundam suit.

I paid for mine within hours of receiving the payment request, but they are in Preorder- Payment OK still. While another Tamashii exclusive released the same day, the SPEC Gilgasamune, was shipped yesterday. So i'm guessing they may be buying mine as we speak. :-)

I think all-blue is a bit overkill. If there were enough white or light gray details to balance it out, maybe, but i for one wouldn't buy it - and it is one of my favorite designs.

When i had done some browsing across non macross-focused forums and blogs on the VF-4, the general opinion was that it is one of the more fascinating fighter-mode valks.which is so bizarre when Macross collectors would not necessarily buy it! This fighter is my most favorite of all too - and so is the backshot of the battroid, love those two huge thrusters. A redesigned SV-51 Ivanov - without sagging wings - might be a contender but it's going to be so long, it will still be annoying to handle.

After the VF-19 was released Yamato had said that they had considered making the intakes removable but that would compromise the poseability in battroid which they thought was an important mode for this valkyrie. I remember it well because i was quite annoyed as i always prefer the fighter mode. So if they made that decision only 3 years ago, would they redesign it so soon? Ok Bandai kind of did with the VF-25 but that was because they put no thought into the V1 in the first place anyway.

Mine from NY. Looks fine but i won't transform it because i have the V1 too. I want to keep it mint because i will certainly not be getting a 2nd. (Or rather third?)

Once i proved that an ebay seller had knowingly sold me a used Soul of Chogokin for new and Paypal still wouldn't make him pay for the return shipping costs. I seriously doubt they'll support you on this.

The thing is that you need to use a tracked delivery for Paypal to cover you in case they say whatever afterwards. As long as they agree for you to return it for a refund and send it with a tracked delivery you will eventually get the agreed sum either by them or Paypal. Also you don't want to go into an argument about whether they received it or not !!!

To date i have had only item by Yamato arriving broken and that was a Megazone 23 Proto-Garland. I also had a VF-19P, and a VF-1S Hikaru weathering with a small paint transfer issue each (thankfully not noticeable on the second). With Bandai instead i see sloppy paint application or paint chips, and parts that may not align perfectly. I have been under the impression for a while that with Yamato the problem was after manufacturing, that the assembly and testing was done too early after painting as though they were rushing them out of the factories, but with Bandai the problems creeped in during the manufacturing of parts or the painting. I'm not sure whether the stages i described are so, but that's the only way it makes sense to me. So this issue with Arcadia seems to fit again.