MKT

I was hoping that the Chronos, being Bandai's new matte-finished Chogokin at that time, would have somewhat different plastics & therefore better protection against yellowing than other Frontier valks of same era. Alas, based on my own copy and what I'm seeing around the net these days, they yellow just as easily.. I have since banished any, direct or indirect, natural sunlight source around the newer VF-31s and the VF-1s, lest they meet the same fate.

Actually, I want the Ba variants more, because the wings look more like the actual J35 Draken, rather than the Batwing of the Hs ones.

Well, all the more reason for those of us who may want to let go the Yamato, to still hang on to them to have best of both worlds..

A great way to start the year, fantastic pic!

Best chess set ever!!

http://anymoon.com/blog/?p=14429 Great review @jenius

Very, very nice!

Agreed.. so much better! Torso still slightly longer than I would have liked, but at least there's those great panel washed-looking mechanical detailing to look at there. Oh Arcadia didn't announce anything about that. It was just myself projecting my wish for Arcadia. Apologies if it came out differently. On side note, my copy arrived today! I only managed to open the box to inspect what's inside, before having to go away for the weekend. Quick thoughts from 5 minute unboxing: 1. The box is huge. It's somewhat like old Yamato's 1/48 VF-1 box size, except the whole package is quite a fair bit heavier. Opening it, I realised that it's not so much the toy is really heavy, but a fair bit of the package weight come from the very stiff & sturdy thick cardstock used for the main box, and perhaps the chunk of styrofoam block used to hold the toy and its accessories. I agree with @Bobby , the presentation style planning is admirable, but the printing of the graphics on the box and its sleeve are horrendous. They could be better off emulating Arcadia's 'premium' style boxes by not bothering with any graphics, but just words in shiny fonts. 2. How's the toy itself? Didn't have time to play or assemble it, only taking out each part to inspect for any apparent defects. Toy comes in Slave mode, but with the arms packaged separately beside it in the styrofoam tray. There's no articulated hands already attached to the arms, instead there's a variety of fixed posed hands. The toy itself feels tight, sturdy when I picked it up. It appears all the red areas are painted metal, whilst the silver or metal looking parts of the bike are plastic. But I didn't look closely enough to determine if these plastic parts are molded in colour, or painted as well. However, the colours of all the exterior parts seem to emulate real bikes in its granularity of paint and slight metallic undertones. Even the white areas are not truly white, but subtly pearlescent with very fine metallic speckles. So far, so good. Can't wait to return and properly handle it. But oh, I have one weird paint defect, and it is similar to the tweet posted one page back: There's like, a somewhat circular paint splotch in the exact same area as the pic above, and it is only on the left chest, not the right. It looks like someone dabbed a slightly different paint on that area to touch up something. So I do not know if this is a batch defect, or it appears on all copies.

Very informative there @Bobby. That design of the blue Garland looks real nice as well. Sadly, Megazone 23 as a whole seem to be a fringe anime; perhaps the original anime & its sequels were just average and didn't capture many fans. Till today, outside of Anymoon, it's quite hard to find any reviews of Arcadia's recent Garland. Hopefully Arcadia eventually get around to making that blue Garland after, and if, they eventually make the Hargun. I'd like them to take a stab to make the E=X Garland as well. Heck, perhaps an updated Motoslave too whilst they are at it making bike mechas. It's reassuring to know that companies such as Fewture & Sentinel are capable in making pretty solid first attempts in today's era of complex transforming toys (The Fewture Ex Gokin R-Jetan doesn't count in my books, because it's just tucking in arms and legs for that classic robot hanging off the plane look), especially after reading & hearing disheartening stories of Evolution Toys & Good Smile's attempts at transforming toys. Nippon-Yasan seem to be the cheapest at moment for this item. They have not jacked up their PO price of this item even after release... yet. And big surprise, their shipping of this item is actually cheaper than HLJs!

Having displayed them only in fighter mode for some time, I finally transformed a copy of the VF-1 fully to battroid. I wish I had done it sooner, because what a blast it is in battroid! Although there were earlier comments that Bandai's interpretation of this 1/48 is not as big a leap as compared to when Yamato's 1/48 first came out, there are enough small improvements that makes it a whole lot better in sum. The heft, the solidness, the joint tightness have generally been well touched upon, but I'm most impressed with the leg articulation it offers. The new sideway pivoting hip joint is subtle, but allows such great & natural-looking posing options. The other thing noticeable from all other previous VF-1 interpretations, whether the Yamcadias or HMRs, is that the folded-up wings at the back are located slightly further away from the torso. This allows more clearance for the hip to swing further forward, enough for most dynamic poses, without having to 'cheat' by engaging the gerwalk joints. Just these two improvements alone seem to allow almost any posing options we see in the anime, and that is still without using the new rotating waist feature. I only hope the hip ball joints doesn't go all loosey goosey by itself like the Bandai Frontier renewal toys over time..

@Bobby Thanks for posting up initial impressions. Great to hear that all the years waiting finally pays off, and the details look swell! It's a relief that its not a partsformer. Still, the shoulder swing bars look a bit thin and look like a fragile piece. Is that part plastic or metal? Sculpt wise from the pics, I'm a fan of the stylized bike mode, feels more like a modern interpretation of the original's blockiness. Slave mode always looked a bit off, because of the elongated waist area that makes the chest and legs look very detached. But overall, looks like the build of it makes it worth the design risks Fewture took.

Found a few more recent transformation videos below. Compared to the one posted earlier above, it appears that the arms can now be detached completely for transformation. Not sure if the detachment is optional to make it easier for transformation, like how some of us pull the Yamcadia's v2 VF-1 heads out when dealing with the swing bars, or if it is a compulsory step that unfortunately makes it a bit of a partsformer.

From listings, the Fewture Garland's 25cm in slave mode, making it almost same size as the recent Bandai 1/48 VF-1. However, the package is more than twice the weight. This is gonna be quite a hefty beast. The asking price may have seemed very high when it was first unveiled years back, but after gestating for 4-5 years and finally being released now, the price seem somewhat more palatable by today's standards. I mean, if Arcadia did their Garland now in this size and made it mostly metal, imagine the price it would be! I do hope the build & engineering is gonna be decent. From transformation video posted earlier up the page, it looked pretty solid, but the weight might be too much for motorcycle mode, as near the end of the video, the handler kept having to straighten the bike's mid-section from somewhat collapsing by itself. Hopefully, that flaw was only limited to the pre-production sample.

This image right here, destroys all prior Legioss toys. The feet are tucked in so nicely!

Just thinking that for battroid, it is supposed to look like the Q-Raus, hence the backpack engines I don't think Bandai has ever commented before how many times they revise a design before showing it, so back to the link in preceding page, where it was mentioned the shown design was already in 4th prototype, indicates how much Bandai seem to care about getting the design right for this. I hope 'release is undecided' is codespeak for 'possibility of further major revisions' instead of just very minor tweaks..

Whether box collecting or mecha building, one can never go wrong with HMR.. I actually got an extra copy of HMR VF-1S Messer in anticipation of FEXT Hobby’s launch booster. But it appears no further news after the initial teaser some time ago.

Heheh can't wait to see what you'll cook up @sh9000. But Monsters might be too big to fit a square space lol.. Perhaps, at the rate they being released, the new Kids Logic MiniTech series 1/285 pieces will be more practical for chess building purposes

Some random thoughts: 1. Yamato's fighter mode engine nacelles & booster may be too small, but overall proportions seem much truer to line art or even the beautiful fighter-only Hasegawa kits. 2. The arms on Bandai's not only too small, but they do not seem to be long enough, such that in fighter mode, the vertical stabilizers are a bit too far forward, so it feels like a bit too much mass hanging off the tail. 3. If viewed directly from front / back, the wing angle is too straight, and not canted downward enough. This was also a problem with both Yamcadia's and HMR VF-4? 4. It would be great, if Bandai could implement some sort of foldaway mass-reduction pieces on the legs for a slimmer fighter mode, something like the folding calf panels they did for the YF-19 / VF-19 Advance. Technically may not be line art accurate, but the legs are entirely hidden in fighter mode anyway. The pieces would then fold out and form a bulkier leg for battroid mode. This will borrow a bit from current Transformers figures design, but why not since so much anime-magic is involved.

Not having diorama building skills, I'm fantasizing going down a different route with an army of HMRs: build a chess set of UN Spacy vs Zentradis. Just need to make a large chequered surface area, maybe a coffee table top, for the figures to stand on. If Bandai does ever get to releasing the N-Gers and Q-Raus, with the Regult Scout, we should have enough enemy mecha variants for a Zentradi chess team! But as I'm typing this, I realize I will never have enough Regults as pawns, due to the crazy high prices they are going for today. Unless they get re-issued.

I'm thinking for those who only want a single 1/48 mold, the demand shifted from VF-1A Max to the upcoming VF-1S Hikaru, due to the Super Strike parts for it.

Hearing the reports of potentially loose joints on the wings & various other places kinda puts me off into transforming my copy. I would be content to leave it in fighter mode, but then Arcadia missed the big chance to fix what I think is the biggest visual flaw in this mode: the huge and inconsistent panel gaps especially at the areas around the wing root / shoulders. Visually, it's not much different from Yamato's in this aspect, although there's those extra panels near the head to mask the see-through gap. Perhaps due to the nature of transformation, there are just too many pieces around this area that have to come together and meet to form a nice, smooth, uninterrupted surface. It could sound like nitpicking, but I always felt one of Yamcadia's strengths ever since the v2 1/60 VF-1 was released circa 10 years ago, including all their valks since then, whether VF-11s, the VF-19s, the VF-0s etc, are the very fine and very consistent panel gaps & tolerances. The nosecone flows very smoothly all the way to the rear of aircraft. Where the panels separates for transformation, they look just like other regular panel lines in fighter mode. So much so that the v2 1/60 VF-1 is arguably better than the current DX Chogokins in this area. Hence the somewhat disappointment that Arcadia's SV-51 did not meet this standard they have set with their previous valks.

Gotta agree with this! The appeal builds up incrementally the more variants you get your hands-on, & lay them out to display. It’s also always easier to justify the next piece since prices are much more wallet friendly.

The individual elements of fighter mode look great, but somehow when they come together as a whole, something seem a bit off. The engine nacelles look too thick, the nose looks a bit too small and short or is the body just too long? I agree with what someone said earlier about how it reminds of Yamato 1/72 more than Yamato 1/60 on first impression. But seeing this makes me appreciate even more how tough decisions have to be made to work around the anime magic, and a testament to Yamato having made the right design choices in prioritising fighter mode in their 1/60 (if you are a fighter mode kinda person) while keeping very decent battroid mode looks. Bandai’s battroid mode almost knocks it out of park so far, mostly by the chunkier legs alone. So whereas Bandai’s YF-19 is almost close enough to Arcadia’s YF-19 in overall profile for all modes, that from a display perspective a person collecting will not lose out much in choosing one over the other, I feel no such inclination here. To me, it’s without doubt: must have both, keep Yamato’s 1/60 for fighter mode display, and get Bandai’s for battroid mode poses. What a time to be a fan! On a side mode, I seem to notice a trend that Yamcadia valks somehow always have sexier noses compared to any of Bandai’s iteration. Just some very subtle curves that hits me off. If Bandai eventually does get to making a VF-11, I’m expecting Yamato’s will still look better on the front end.

Yup, @Sanity is Optional is spot on. It took quite some consideration to get the Yamato GNU-Dou figures at first, because well, they don't transform! But as I don't really play with my stuff much, and spend more time curating the displays instead, I thought they'll be a great way to showcase battroid mode without spending a lot on doubles or triples of the 1/60 Macross Plus items for display. I'm comparatively late to the collection scene, so it took quite a while to find even just one unit of the 1/60 YF-21 & VF-11b at prices I was willing to fork out. Once I got the GUN-Dou figures in hand though, I'm quite happy with them. For its size, they punch well above their rather paltry prices they sometimes pop up at Mandarake these days - the sculpt is sharp, the plastics are sturdy, and they look anime accurate. They could do with a tad more articulation, but I understood from @jenius reviews that there are upgrade parts kit for that. Some pics while having fun with them.. (Used the VF-19 Advance as stand-in for the YF-19, which is currently boxed up) But best of all, they also come in colour schemes that isn't available on any other toy lines (but model kits perhaps?)..

Just fiddled again with the DX VF-1J, and one very nice thing Bandai did was to give great detailing to the intake fans. Fitting issue aside of the intake covers, the molding detail and the paint of the fans look really nice. It was one area which I was disappointed with on the DX VF-31, and so I never take off the intake covers for those. A bit of head scratcher, since intake fan detailing and paint was present in their DX VF-19 Advance, but the subsequent DX VF-31 regressed back to the VF-25 Renewals in terms of being unpainted.