JLYC

I am in japan right now and I can tell you that all the stocks at kiddyland in shibuya was snatched by mainland chinese uncles and aunties within half hour on launch day. There were probably 20 boxes at the store. These people aint collectors they are flippers. Its a free maeket but I can understand how local fans could be upset.

Just got my VF19 Advance couple hours ago. I only have the Yamato YF19 as comparison and it's night and day- Bandai has it down. The weight is solid, the whole thing is very sturdy, and the panel lines and markings are very detailed, like Hasegawa level detailed Even the instructions are in full color..whole package speaks quality and value, esp if you take into account the cost difference of 100,00 yen. I think you'll only need an Arcadia YF19 if you're a Macross Plus purist. I am still get an Arcadia later to see how they all compare but the Yamato and Bandai got my YF/VF-19 fix just right for now.

i believe so...and it's not just the vf19...there were some other collectibles that were long sold out that all of a sudden appeared on hlj as in stock again

was surprised to see it in stock when i was just browsing hlj. took me a couple hours to bite the bullet but after i placed my order it's out of stock again so maybe i got the last one.

https://youtu.be/YMqu-iHKaT0?t=33 the above is what bothered the heck out of me...that GM pilot just pumping the joysticks back and forth which ruined an otherwise intense scene...i think the controls look the same as the arcade virtual-on and we all know how many moves the mechs can make in that game vs a mobiel suit (are there special buttons for 'cool poses' btw?). ...maybe they are just trying to stay faithful to the 70's Gundam UC esthetics...but new Macross should strive for better

I guess due to the restraint of the physical space in cockpit of valks I could give the limited use to joysticks a bit more of a pass in the macross universe...but in a mobile suit physical space should be less of an issue and cockpit controls more like the Gunbuster would be more realistic (although Newtypes prob control the suits to some extend with their psychic power than just buttons and joysticks).

I can suspend my disbelief pretty well...I think we all have to do that to be a sci-fi fan, especially in the realm of anime mechas. However, as time goes on, I wish animators would make more effort in making the mecha controls more realistic. I think they started in the right direction with Macross Zero..and I understand that for the sake of continuity they can not make the tech 'more advanced' in Zero than in the original Macross series. However, in Macross Frontier, the pilots are still controlling the Valks with complex arm/leg/wrist/ankle/finger movements with joysticks. A little OOT, but I just watched the trailer for Gundam Thunderbolt and it looked like a great realistic military scifi series but then a shot of the gundam pilot pushing his joysticks back and forth just ruined it for me. If anyone has seen MADOX- that's an example for great realistic anime armor controls and that was in the 80's. Hollywood also does mecha controls more realistically, think District 9, Avatar, Pacific Rim, even Aliens. So can we expect more realistic controls from Macross Delta? Heck even if they made up some virtual brain-waved powered UI (like in Evangelion) it would make more sense than controlling a giant robot with 2 joysticks and footpedals- that type of outdated simplistic offering is acceptable in the giant robot or power ranger genre but is just lazy design to me in series like Macross and Gundam where some sense of realism has always been attempted. Thoughts?

one thing i have learned in collecting over the past decade is that most of the time, patience instead of paying inflated secondary market prices pays off long shot, but hope they'd redo the SDF1 too...never say never!

I can imagine...most of the time after I won something from auction for what I think is rare item (which I have waited long, long time for something decent to show up), guaranteed 2 days later there would be multiple listings with lower opening bids. If you got your VF4 at fair market price at that time, then it's fine. At least you got some enjoyment out of it already. No one has a freaking crystal ball on what these companies would do, so as a general rule patience is virtue. I remember I missed out on the Alter 1/100 Yukikaze figures and they were going for $300+ on ebay...and guess what a couple years later they were reissued. and I got them at half that.

Can the fast packs/extra armor be removed on this? Havent seen any pictures of the piece without them and i would prefer clean look..thanks.

on the toysdaily review the chinese caption says waterslide decal...and that the decal sheet on the new release is bigger than old one. hope it's correct.

Thanks! that's a better solution than others that i've seen.

Can you please show how you adjust your detolf shelf? Looks like some sort of adjustable screw but if you can let me know what it is exactly it'd be great. Thanks!

nice!! i really want it BUT i'll wait for the strike/super and other variations that will inevitably come and choose from the pickings

agreed. those are just hands.

just breath-taking awesome...as usual.

glad to see that this new release has spawned many first-time modelers... with time i really hope these 'newbies' will gain the skill and confidence to tackle more difficult projects or start doing custom work/mods...i think this is the first time in the 5 yrs i've been on MWF that i've seen so much activity on the modeling forum and it's pretty exciting. i have just bought the Macross frontier DVD and i'm sure after i watched a few episodes i'll have the urge to snap up a vf-25 myself....but i'm sorta waiting for the full armored VF-25s to come out...hopefully soon or i'll have to make it a scratch-build project.

did you paint the gray areas at all? if not..i must say that even in stock gray it looks pretty good if yes, good job on the paint!

i used to buy double of the kits i really liked too...thinking i'd try a different color scheme or do some mods now i realize that i'd be lucky if i get one built so all the doubles are going on sale now as for kits 'selling out'...i've come to the realization that the chance of that happening to IP kits is close to none. Just look at all the bandai and hase re-releases. Resin kits are another story. Just admit it..it's an addiction and sort of 'shopaholic' sickness..like women and their shoes or women who buy mulptiples of same shirts in different colors..lol

thanks for the link. the fighter is definitely the weakest..there are some very obvious gaps in the promo pics already and they'll probably be even bigger in 'real life'. the hinge on the wing is also very distracting. in battroid mode, flaws of the transformation gimmick is less obvious.

man..i hate you ...as would many other modellers as it's because of people like you that models are becoming more like snap-together toys nowadays (j/k..i'm just giving you a hard time lol) all kidding aside..i am actually very pleasantly surprised by how nice this kit turned out. As my life become more and more time-challenged I'm no longer totally averse to glue-free, seam-line-free models as long as the result is not compromised to make the build easier. I'd still paint that sucker before calling it a model though

wow...if the greeny is near production...that's sad...it looks like sh*t making it transformable was always a bad idea imo. at least the toy/non-modelers crowds can rejoice that they can get a crappy 'representation' of the happy snap-together valk if they don't want to shell the bucks for the DX toy.

nice! but would be much nicer without the 'exhaust'/'flame' simulations. They look like freaking tentacles.

it's because B-Club IS Bandai. a rip-off subsidiary of Bandai, imo.

If you're on a budget and not too experienced with models, I would count out resin kits. Get a Hasegawa..you should be able to pick one up for reasonable price...I picked up a Super Valk for $12 on my last trip to Asia... it will keep you busy for hours to days and the proportion and detail of these kits are awesome!