Budo

Finally, the gang is all together...

That's the Kaiyodo Xebec Eva-01 from 1999, metallic version. These had limited articulation and poseability, but I like how it looks displayed. Picked one up in Tokyo brand new in box for 2000 yen this may, couldn't pass it up for that kind of money.

I just got the MP-10v Optimus Prime from KBB... looks nice with his buddies on the shelf.

I went to Tokyo in early May and of course visited the Mandarake store in Akihabara, and they had a severely yellowed VF-25F for just 3000 yen. I wish I was more adventurous with these techniques, could have been a perfect cheap guinea pig for whitening.

I got one with my VF-1S Roy and I like it. I agree that there could be more articulation, but the range of possible poses in all modes is still pretty great, it's rock solid and, as someone noted, could carry much larger and heavier models than a 1/60 Valk. I don't mind the footprint as much, as it's JUST enough to comfortably store missiles and all the option parts/fixed pose hands/gimmicks that come with one Arcadia Valk. The one problem I have with it was noted in the review on anymoon.com - the storage covers are weirdly built, there's nothing to lift them up by using just hands... but that's a tiny complaint.

Nope, just that one. Although the paint has sort of chipped away in tiny bits at the edges, like you see on the above image.

It took me four hours to get it to battroid the first time. I was so careful I triple checked everything and watched three Youtube guides, as well as consulted the printed manual. But yeah, I sort of fiddle with them to find the optimal position to release both, as all the Youtube clips show them coming out rather easily. Perhaps the stiffness of the shoulder ball joints is the issue: Arcadia makes them SUPER STIFF, at least mine is. Every time I rotate the arms, I carefully hold the shoulder hinges, as the pressure bends them easily, and I don't care if these are not V1 - I'm not letting mine explode. Thanks, I'll definitely consult friends with more resources and experience (I know several master model builders and painters locally) if it continues to be an issue in the future. Anyway, I'm still extremely happy with it, even though its cost still weighs on me (in these parts, 16.600 Yen is the equivalent of a month's rent), but I just wanted to offer some perspective from the viewpoint of a "hands-on" owner, since I haven't found reports from the other owners of Arcadia VF-1s. Hope it helps someone.

Hello everyone! It's my first post here so forgive me for raising this topic from the dead - I didn't feel comfortable with starting a new one just to ask a few questions. Anyway - I'm a long time Macross (Robotech as a kid) fan from Montenegro (currently living in Serbia) and one of the things I had always dreamed of was a perfectly transformable VF-1 valk. My dream came true about a month ago when I got my Arcadia 1/60 Roy from my girlfriend as the best birthday present ever. Since it's almost impossible (or just incredibly expensive) to get anything of this sort in this neck of the woods, she grabbed the opportunity when one of our friends who lives in Japan was coming over unexpectedly and ordered it for me. Long story short - I'm a fan, not a collector and I wanted this to be able to handle it, play with it, pose it, take pictures, brag to my friends... Roy has been a source of joy for me (and envy for others) ever since I got him. I've read a lot about the various issues Yamato and others had with the various releases of the VF-1 toys, but I haven't seen comparisons with the one Arcadia release, so I thought I'd share some of my own (mis)adventures with my specimen... First of all - right out of the box, as I was handling the jet for the first time, a small piece fell out of it. Turned out to be a small piece of the engine detail in the foot: It's molded separately and upon close examination, it looked as if it was never glued in at all. I put a tiny dab of basic universal glue on it and put it back in its place. Pretty soon afterwards, the seat on the neck cover gimmick separated from the base (I didn't take pictures of this, it's self explanatory). Again, tiny dab of glue and it's back on. These two occurrences made me think that perhaps whoever was putting these tiny cosmetic bits together perhaps missed a few spots, which is something to think about, but certainly not that big of a deal overall. Then just yesterday, after more than a month of owning it, I had two problems: first a piece of one of the bottom fins fell off (I was very lucky to catch this, it's tiny!) Looking at it, it didn't break, but just fell off. As it's a fully painted piece, as it fell off, its paint stayed glued firmly to the base, and just the plastic detached! As you can see, it's back on, but I figure this could be an issue specific to the VF-1 as one hald of the landing gear bay door hits this piece of the fin as it opens and puts pressure on it when open, all the time. Other owners should take note, as this is an easy little thing to overlook and lose. Finally, the big problem: This is the side that rubs against the other shoulder when the arms are "packed in" in fighter mode. Am I doing it wrong somehow? Because no matter how I do it, it's such a tight fit and the shoulder pads rub against eachother when I pull them out or in. I must say, the paint job on the entire toy is impeccable, except for the shoulders, so I'm a bit disappointed at how easily a highly visible part is damaged. I've temporarily dabbed it a bit with a Sharpie so as it's not an eyesore, but I'm open to suggestions and advice.