Aye Aye

Thank you all for your expert opinion and insights...taught me a lot already in a few lines =)

I'm also interested in the strike freedom kit: http://hlj.com/product/BAN965506/Gun....any opinion about building this one?

Thanks!

The PG Strike Freedom...I actually did start my Build and stopped, suffering from fatigue - hehe. Lots of parts and the backpack/wing gimmick has a lot of the pros and cons of the kit itself. While a completed SF is impressive from the sheer size of it, the wings are finicky and are very top heavy. They're known for actually snapping the connecting peg to the backpack due to the weight of the assembly. There's plenty of workarounds and strengthening methods to get around it to ensure it looks great and doesn't break. I opted to start the build on the wings first, painted everything, did the strengthening of the wing connecting pegs with putty fill...the whole bit, then gave up for awhile. Looks really nice, but the wings alone are around 200+ parts alone! If you're not painting it the one big problem is the gold inner frame details. It was very disappointing that Bandai opted to use two different golds for these details straight from the box. One is ok, while the other can only be described as baby food/puke yellow. Not very nice. Thankfully, other than the wing assemblage the good gold parts are the most visible out of the box (mostly). My panel scribing skills are still in progress and that's another area that I feel the PG SF needs some TLC with more details. The leg area especially, which are very plain Jane. Like some have said the SF came out during the recession and some feel Bandai didn't go all out as it would be cost prohibitive to the customer. I for one like the SF b/c there's a canvas here to make an amazing Build if you take your time in painting it and dealing with some of the structural shortcomings. Alternatives? Well not building anything you have the gorgeous Metal Build if you have the coin. The other option is to go with one of the handful MG SF kits, like the Full Burst kit, which is pretty awesome.

Agreed....I really like to have it for completionist sakes, but it looks friggin bizarre as hell.

Chiming in here on the PG Gundam front, as I own every PG gundam currently.

If you want to build any of these out of the box without painting Zeta looks very 'old school.' The PG Zeta is a great kit, but has a lot of the old style construction for the time period (screws, etc.). If you plan on painting it and your modeling skills are solid, you can scribe it, paint it, and make it look as good as anything that is out there, but it is a very time consuming process. The kit is over 700 pieces. The transformation gimmick can make it floppy, which is why some folks just build it one way and just leave it in either wavebird or Gundam mode.

The GP01/Fb is still one of the best PG, or rather gundam model kits even to this day. Out of the box build, and assuming you at least go through decalling it, and maybe flat coating it with Matte Top Coat, you can achieve a pretty nice looking finished product without going through the painting process. The one area that the GP01/Fb really excels at is the fantastic inner frame detail that really comes to life if you paint with quality metallic paints (i.e. Alclad, etc.). I have yet to put either of mine together namely because I plan on panel scribbing and painting which will probably take me about a ~7-8 months to do so. Kit is huge exceeding 700 parts. Keep in mind that PG kits don't necessarily mean its 'hard,' anyone can build them, but you have to pay attention and not rush through the build.

I think currently the best results straight out of the box for PG kits can be achieved with either of the three (soon to be 4) PG Unicorn kits + LED option kit. The kit looks amazing and simply trounces any of the figures and MG kits out there by a long mile. I really think the base PG unicorn with the full armor add-on + LEDs is just an impressive model and is a lot of fun to crank through. I will say my build for this + painting took ~8 months to put together. Hope that helps.

sorry if off-topic...I am a through and though Macross guy but want to 'extend' just a little into gundam...without knowing much about the series / characters, which one should I get:

RX-78 GP01/Fb PG: http://hlj.com/product/BAN916409/Gun

Z gundam PG: http://hlj.com/product/BAN75680/Gun

I like both and you can guess, I am at least semi-old school with these gundam things....

thanks!

Actually if you are a Macross guy, you probably should come full circle and build the GP01/Fb, as it is a Shoji Kawamori design, the only Gundam (so far) designed by the man himself.

Hey does anybody have a preorder date for the nu gundam formania ex release? I had both of the original formania releases and recently sold both of them for some nice stack of dough, so I'm stoked they're re-releasing with a fresh coat and new gimmicks.

I hear you, I use white rabbit as well. Its been very easy, but I didn't get my Destiny order in for the first run. I am guessing I am getting mine some time this month.

The Bad , I Paid $810 due to the nice exchange rate at the time. (I panic and paid the arm and leg price) before going to a different proxy route.

Good god man! That is some serious bankroll dropped on some Destiny goodness there. What is the proxy that you used for this one?

MB F91 really popped up a lot on US sites compared to other MBs! Nice! Hopefully everybody got one that wanted one.

Aww man I'm missing all these metal build PO's. I need to start checking the site more. I'm totally pissed I missed the blue frame. F91 I should catch on bbts.

Anyone have the link to blue frame at Nippon yasan?

Every MB since Strike Freedom has been horrendous to try to nab on the first PO. I mean, it is way harder to snag then any of the DX Valks. The other thing that is really working against us in the US, is that a lot of the US retailers that actually get stock have seen their allotment shrink from Strike Freedom to now. Some sites were absolutely complete BS - cdjapan had nothing showing, then BAM it popped as visible on their site sold out - WTF?! Made no sense.

F91 was way worse than Blue Frame. Reminded me a lot of Strike Freedom, which was wiped out almost instantaneously. Can't say I blame anyone that wants it, as I think this looks like the best MB figure to-date.

Ok cool, thanks for the clarification.

Right that is why I was asking if the entire pic was old as its confusing why they would be showing that with he outline of the QanT

Makes me wonder if the 00 7 Sword is getting a re-release.

What was the source and date of the pic of the QuanT? It looks like its old to me...especially considering that super low price of 7S.

Yep...got mine from proxy as well....easy. The scalping on eBay for that thing is ridiculous.

Ok, so 16:00 JST on the 31st...that is what??? Sunday the 30th at midnight PDT???? Ugh...not how I wanted to start the work week,,,but you gotta put in the time if you wanna do the crime

I'm actually thinking I might get a Heine Destiny instead, but still pretty expensive, and Destiny isn't that high on my <3 list.

Yeah, but how can you can you not resist the combo of having the Strike Freedom & Destiny with WoL displayed in face off mode!!! Heine is cool, but its just kind of a weird one off...I don't know if I will ever take it out of the box. You know speaking of the Heine, I have the event version of the Heine Custom, does the Tamashii Online version have the same packaging? I think the packaging is pretty sick on the event version.

They're really going all out on the F91. Very happy with the latest news on this and can't wait to preorder!!

Nice - me three! Weeeee!

This thing is a hunk, but c'mon its still friggin sweet. I am glad they even put this thing together to begin with considering how small a role it played in the anime. I love all of the armored craziness that Macross brings to the table, so if you have a VF-0S you OWE it to yourself to pick up a set. Super minor gripe, and its been said a million times: the absent red triangle tampo on the shoulder hatch...jeez its a defining detail here guys! Can a brother get a tampo???!?!?!?!

Hmmm...well it isn't perfect, but it's what we get. I did specifically snatch a VF-0S for this dang thing, so despite the lineart proportions being skewed, still getting one. The question is where to buy? I like hobby search, but normally they have preorders for the week posted early, so people know it's coming up. Not seeing it added on their site. I guess it's HLJ...which I don't like too much...

Fanboy is right though that the music in Frontier has more impact because it is combined with more effective visuals.

Frontier has better music because its composed by probably one of the best in the biz with Yoko Kanno at the helm. This thing was sunk when they did the idol group concept without bringing her back.

But to be franc does it even matter? If the execution is so bad you can't really convey the ideas...

Yeah this about sums up this train wreck.

Actually really hoping they make a movie version, and just go full Escaflowne and ditch the entire TV show plot for a completely different direction. Guess we wait another 8 years for another crack at it...

You know I missed out on the Arcadia VF-1J Armored valk...never really thought much of it, but putting both the RA VF-0S side-by-side with the Amored VF-1J just seems to make sense for that BEEFY valk display...damn need to find one for a reasonable price. Did they ever do the armored Mac7 valk? Love the look of the latest Mr. K tweet too! It will definitely be at the ¥20k price point though. Gotta love that ¥45k all in Mac Zero price for the valk and the RA haha...ugh.

Such a surprise to go UC, and excactly what I think a lot of us hoped they'd do. Anything other than Seed and 00 xforever.

SInce Metal Build is focused more on the AU timelines, I'd like to see Bandai do ∀ Gundam.

I do not think they specifically ever said it was focused on AU, and technically Turn A is sort of murky if its AU, UC, or something else - kinda like G Reco, but whatever that's getting too nerdy. Technically they also released the random as hell FMP mecha too.

I know they have tried to have the GFFMC line propped up as the UC toy line, but the Line has been so weird with its parade of Unicorn releases and re-releases. The lone bright spot being the RX-78-2 The Origin version, which is awesome. Would like there to be MB's covering the entire spectrum - it is by far the most collectible of the GUNDAM toy line (sorry robot spirits).

Stoked for this release, unconventional and totally breaks the mold of the atypical releases!

Though all the silhouettes are for reference, it would be a shame if they did the Star, and not do the Wing Zero Custom...really want another series repped in the MB line - and no, Build Fighters doesn't count to me on this one. C'mon Bandai!

Haven't been posting, but have been voting along for each episode, but after this drivel in ep.20...

As a whole Delta has been a train wreck at this point. The last two episodes in particular have been nonsensical and have dimished the series as a whole. I honestly felt, given the long exposition periods the 2nd cour has been rambling on through, the story had been getting better. However, these last two episodes in particular (especially ep19) have been a major smh moment for me.

I do like the idea of more Macross OVAs, especially a more serious toned, combat epic (a'la like Gundam's OVA success rate), as going between 6-7 years for new Macorss series releases, and the payoff is Delta (!) leaves little faith in the team's ability to execute on their story concepts. Now I am not going to give this the big send off just yet, as we still have about 5-6 episodes to go here, but things are not looking good my friends.