Boobytrap

Yes. I had completely forgotten about this issue with their first release and was sadly reminded when I opened it up.

This is an untouched photo. I don't think there is any doubt that it is not a pure white. The only argument might be whether it is more pink or purple. While under normal viewing conditions it isn't this bad it becomes much more pronounced in the recessed shadows under bright lights.

Pinkish white unfortunately. I don't have the first Arcadia release to compare against to see if it has been improved or not. I have the Yamato VF-1J and the pink is pretty obvious on the Arcadia when I put them side by side. So for me the Arcadia will will staying in perma-GBP mode to hide as much of the valk as possible and if I want to display one without armor I'll pull out the Yamato.

I've built every PG except for the RX-78 and Zaku and I would agree with other assessments that the Strike (w/ Aile pack) is probably the best PG Bandai has made. It fell right into the sweet spot between Bandai's philosophy change in PG design. With the early PG's (other than W0C but we won't go there) they focused more on the inner frame details (pistons, gears, pipes, rivets, etc...). They look great with the armor removed and a little paint to highlight those details. I also really enjoyed the builds as there was a lot of complexity and novel approaches. The problem was that once you put the armor on they were soooo plain. No parts separation, no panel lines, no bumps, no recesses, just giant pieces of plastic. Articulation, while pretty good for its time, is only so-so compared to more modern models especially with the added weight and restrictions when the outer armor is added. With later PG's (starting with the 00) Bandai shifted its focus almost exclusively to the outside adding all of the things I mentioned above (including articulation) that were missing. The trade off was that they pretty much eliminated all of the great inner details and build complexity (other than maybe adding LED's) the previous PG's had. They are OK builds but I always got the feeling that I was building an oversized MG. Even though they might be more pretty and have some fun light features I have definitely had a much greater sense of satisfaction in completing an earlier PG vs a later PG. With the Strike they were in that transition period so you get the best of both worlds; great detail on the inside and outside with fantastic articulation. I also have a preference for the body proportions they used and think it is the best looking of any Strike in any scale. In regards to durability I have found them all to be pretty consistent. While all PG use friction joints they hold their positions and I have not noticed any decline in their tightness over the years (I paint all of mine so I'm sure this helps). The only exception would be those that have large heavy weapons, the 00 being the worst offender. Something to keep in mind should you get the Perfect Strike. The regular Strike has no issue supporting the sword/shield/gun it comes with in extreme poses for long periods of time but I'm not sure how well the Perfect Strike would do with its large cannon and sword. Hopefully the new bits they have done for this version will take that into account if necessary.

Ordered a gundam kit from NY in January and selected JP. It's been in preparation in progress status since 5/1. I wasn't in any rush to receive it and figured they would just hold it until JP started to ship to the US again. Apparently they created a ticket on their own and are giving me a free UPS upgrade without me having to do anything. That was a nice surprise to see this morning. I definitely wasn't expecting that from them. Ticket message below: Hi ! Thank you very much for your order, unfortunately there seems to be something preventing us from shipping it to you… Do not worry though, we can fix this ! It appears that the shipping method you chose is not available for your country at the time. This year has not been easy for anyone, a lot happened already and we would like to brighten your day, even if just a little. So as a special thank you and with hope of better days to come, we would like to upgrade your order to UPS completely free of charge ! If for some reason you do not want your order to be sent this way, please let me know by replying directly to this ticket within the next 3 days and we won’t do anything. So in short, if you do not reply, you get a free UPS upgrade it’s just that simple I sincerely hope you will enjoy this special offer and that everything is going well for you. Have a great day, and stay safe !

They did the same thing to me with the MB Strike. They don't get their stock until very late so they didn't let me know until months after it had been released. Not the easiest of chores to secure one at a reasonable price at that point. The other thing they do that I don't like is list the release date on their site as the actual release date of the product, not the date they expect to receive the product. Then every month they send out a status update pushing the release date out to the next month. They do this for many months until they finally deliver to you or cancel. My MB Qan[T] they eventually delivered months after the release date. My MB 007SG I cancelled after waiting 5 months with no delivery in sight. When I cancelled they assured me they would be getting it but I wasn't willing to wait anymore. My MB Strike they cancelled 4 months after the release date. I won't even use them as a store of last resort anymore due to all of this. If I have to I'd rather pay a marked up price on YJA or eBay for more peace of mind.

Oh heck Yeah! So is all of that being sold together as one pre-order package? If so, is it already up for pre-order somewhere or is there a date it will be?

I'm not sure what you mean by it not being seated correctly. The peg is inserted all the way in the picture. There is no further space for it to be pushed in and no wiggle room for it to be adjusted. I have tried many times to get it to level. I have removed the parts and put them back together again and again but it still wont stay the way I want it. I'm glad to see that others don't seem to be having the same issues. I'm thinking that one of these parts may have a little extra plastic somewhere. My next step is to put it together without the valk attached and see if it still has the issue. If no issue there then I know that it is most likely an issue with how the part attaches to the backpack. If there is still the issue then it is most likely the pegs. Maybe removing a hairline amount of plastic will do the trick.

Here's a picture of the bowing. The one on the left side of the picture isn't too bad (although it doesn't always stay like that). The one on the right I can't seem to do anything with though. Another thing you can see with that picture that I forgot to mention is that the dish leans a little to the right. Not sure how to take a picture of something being loose. did you want a picture of the areas I was talking about?

Received my VE-1 yesterday (thanks DHL!). It looks fantastic. I was surprised though by some of the fit and looseness. The backpack boosters are ever so slightly bowed out. I've checked the alignment and part placement multiple times but nothing I do seems to keep them in the proper position. The backpack itself slides up and down (battroid)/ forward and back (fighter) too easily and doesn't lock into place. I have to adjust it every time I do something with the valk. The shoulder hinges are loose enough to almost be floppy. The heat shield is looser than any other valk I own and came off of the track a couple of times. The hip bar hinge is also looser than any other valk I own and was pretty floppy during transformation. All in all these are just minor annoyances but they were unexpected when compared to any other Yamacadia I own, especially with this one fresh out of the box. I don't own any of the original Yamato VE-1's so I'm not sure if any of these issues are just carry over from those versions. edit - also forgot to mention the wrist hinges, both the one that flips out and the one on the DYRL hands, are pretty loose. Thankfully this valk doesn't need to hold anything.

Execute order 66

Amazon.jp wouldn't be delayed by golden week would they? I would think they are too big of a machine to put everything on hold for that long of a time but I could certainly be wrong on that.

MK finally sent me the preparation in progress email. If they were charging me for it on the 16th it sure would have been nice if they sent it out a little sooner. At least there are some nice pictures in here to tide me over.

Received and paid for my invoice from MK yesterday. Super pumped to be getting this in hand soon.

Yeah seems odd but that's what they sent me. the release date of your product HI-METAL R VF-4 Lightning III Macross Flash Back 2012 BANDAI SPIRITS has changed. The new release date is : 17-03-2019.

I received an email from MyKombini that the release date for the VF-4G has been updated to 3/17. I'm really excited for this release. It will be nice to get something new rather than another repaint.

Yes they do, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. I think they did a pretty good job with those sculpts. A little better leg articulation, some tighter joints, and non-crumbly plastic is all the upscale would really need.

Thanks for all of the info. It looks like I'll have to wait to see features and price. I'd like to get some 1/6 Guyver figures but I'm hesitant if they only offer I and III. The last thing I want is an incomplete yet expensive set. I'm still waiting for them to finish the Figma lineup but that seems like a lost cause.

Do you have a link to any further information on these? I tried doing a Google search but didn't come up with anything.

Dang it, that will be too soon for me. I guess I will have to live vicariously through others.

If you get enough people interested what would be the time frame? I would definitely be in for this but wouldn't be able to swing it financially until March.

Wow, this was out of left field. With no announcement of a standard release to go with it I wonder if everything is just going to be premium finish for all future re-releases. It's better than nothing so I'm still getting it but I would have preferred to get a standard version to keep it consistent with the rest of my collection. This announcement is really a sigh of relief. There has been so little news of any re-release (actually Macross in general) from Arcadia that I thought that they had abandoned them. While the Bandai DX may be the new standard for VF toys my entire collection is 1/60 or 1/100 so I have no desire to jump into another scale.

Hmmm, while for my own selfish reasons I would say to go for it so that I have options to choose from it may be better for you to take a wait and see approach. While I know for sure what you would produce would put MAAS' efforts to shame I would assume their price point and the fact that it is a completed product would make theirs more desirable to many. Because of that people may pass on yours to hold out on the MAAS version making it difficult for you to get a good ROI. Of course who knows if MAAS will even make theirs and you have a pretty quick concept to production timeline so... Yeah I probably didn't help much there did I. For my personal preferences it really comes down to items being compatible with each other. If all you make is the bioroid with no properly scaled hovertank to go with it I wouldn't be as interested and would probably go with MAAS, as imperfect as it may be. But if you make other 1/48 scaled SC items to pair with them then I would definitely prefer what you produce.

Ugh, that's horrible. I know it's just a rendered version of the wire frame from the OP so I guess I should have been complaining then but seeing it fleshed out just highlights all of the issues with it. The sad thing is that I am so starved for a toy version of the hovertank that I will still probably break down and get it if it ever gets made. I just probably wouldn't ever display it in tank mode which in the end doesn't make it much better than the Matchbox version.

Nice! Other than the arms it reminds me a lot of the Kampfer which was always a favorite of mine.