ayaxr

About to preorder at HLJ. So there's just one version that's both in English and Japanese right? Or are there separate versions in their respective languages?

Looks great but they almost look too big. Perspective maybe?

The lil drakens do look a bit bulkier in these shots than in the lineart (3d work). In the series they seem to integrate a little bit better into the overall look of the vehicle and maybe don't look as tacked on. But could be perspective....

Nevertheless they do look like a cool addition to the kit. I think I'll wait until this form is avaialble as one kit altogether.

This episode made me think that a series about the formation of Walkure might have been a lot of fun. Seeing them struggle to even show that the concept itself was plausible and then eventually coming together to get it done could have been a nice hell yea moment. Plus it would have forced them to actually give some depth to these characters

That actually might have been a good side story project or something like that. Or they could have used that setting as this series and leaned more on the military aspect thru the creation of Walkure and given us the healthy mecha dose thru there...

At episode 21 I don't really care how Walkure was formed anymore, its exposition for the sake of exposition and feels like a filler. Its something that could have easily been tied in early on in the series when Freyja joined and then we would have learned Walkure's past alongside the MC..I mean it makes sense that way doesnt it? At this point we should have been well into the final arc to get it to the home stretch with the stakes rising and rising.

And surprise surprise. Next episode features more "character development" with lots of talking and talking.

Yeah, I'm the same. Love the designs, but the show with it's lack of good mecha action, or even ANY mecha action is making me lose interest a bit.

Echoing the same sentiments here. Loved the VF-31s for the most part (skinny arms not withstanding). The Sv-262 has grown on me quite a bit but I'll admit it was not love at first sight.

At this point I've given up on the series and just liking the designs for what they are. Finding it hard to accept good mecha action being replaced by idols and their hardships. And their origin stories at 5 episodes from the end of the series.. LOL. end rant.

P-Bandai means "Premium Bandai." It's something Bandai started a couple years back where kits (and other items) not well suited for mass production can be ordered directly from them and produced on an as-needed basis. (Recent Gundam kits include the MG Powered GM, MG Altron, MG Heavyarms Kai, etc.) Unfortunately, P-Bandai is only available to customers in Japan, so until recently overseas customers had to resort to ordering these limited-run kits through proxy services, which would add various markups/service fees/etc. to the regular price.

Bandai now has partnered with certain proxy service companies to allow overseas customers to get in on these P-Bandai kits. Fees and such are still applied, but there are now at least "official" proxy services.

Can you give an example of one of these proxy service companies that are partnered with Bandai?

I had a glimpse of hope at episode 13 as to the direction of the story, I'll be honest I wasnt thrilled but that episode lit a very small fire.. Everything seemed to be cranked up to 11, while I didn't expect nor want all episodes to be that way from there on, I was hoping it would set the tone and scale of the war for episodes to come. I expected great space battles once they were forced to leave the planet and such, alas it never materialized and so far there has only been one space dogfight that was worth anything.....

What is going on with the pacing? Origin story at episode 21 is completely out of place... Unless there's a crazy plot to make this 2 seasons, cause otherwise there's no way to end this in 5 episodes and have it be even somewhat decent.

Anyone have any clue on the release date for the VF-31J? HLJ has it down as this month, but I'm getting a bit jittery as some of my stuff in the private warehouse will reach 60 days on the 22nd and I'll have to end up shipping out my loot possibly before this is released

I'd really love to entertain the possibility of a VF-171, but seeing as it didn't happen for Frontier.. I think chances here are even less.

Wow those pics are amazing. Makes me wanna pay the $500 asking price for it. but then the possibility of a reissue makes my mind go sane again.

I might have gotten a lemon somehow, but I would say don't expect the VF-31 kits to stay together without glue either. The one I've built pretty much falls apart at the seams any time I start to transform it. Worst offender is the tails coming off every time I try to fold them, second would be a tie between the hips falling apart and the entire wing assemblies popping off.

Or maybe they expect the stickers to hold it all together?

Some of the guys have said the tails definitely need glue. Not sure about the rest. (Mine is still in the HLJ private warehouse) .... Are any of these parts subject to be affected by how they are cut or trimmed from the sprue? Not saying thats the case, just wondering.

Metal Macross pins.

image.jpeg

1/18 scale tank for $15.99. Yeah.

Those pins look great. That flashback Minmay!

I got the email about the cancellation too. So yeah...thats that.

Good question.

Last night was a fluke, in my experience. In the previous cases, the preorder was open way too long and I went through the order process as smoothly as any other purchase would be, from selection to checkout.

But last night it was in my cart, I went to checkout and on the final page, just before "we've got your order" message, it timed out. I didn't know at the time, because I didn't check my email, but it was actually successful. Must have been a combo of clicking back, reloading the page, and who knows what else, but I ended up with a "ghost" in my cart that I didn't know was a ghost. I thought it was still the original item. So I spent the better part of the hour trying to finalise that one, never knowing it was actually a duplicate of the first order.

That was definitely not the case with the previous 3 Frontier valks. So I'm still hoping it went through on this one. It was DEFINITELY a different experience.

And as Brian points out above, my experience was pretty isolated with those Frontier valks. Just got unlucky, I guess. Still don't have an Alto '29 and it's been in my open orders list since April. I doubt it'll ever be fulfilled.

Thanks, your story is what makes me not be as happy as I otherwise would be. I'm mentally prepared for the letdown if it happens.... .....I think.

Petrov: Not sure you need to know much more about this but thought I'd chime in, just in case.

This has happened to me not once, but three times. First on the last Alto VF-25F release, then the last Ozma VF-25S, and finally on the last Alto YF-29. Every time it was when the pre-order was open and I managed to nab one after the initial rush had subsided. For the Messiahs, I think it was a day or so after the preorder started. I don't remember the time delay for the Durandal.

The only difference here is that this was all within an hour or so of the initial window. Maybe that's significant?

The other thing I've been thinking about is that these are preorder "slots" so to speak. I don't know how HLJ (or any other retailer) can possibly know how many they'll be allocated. So the whole pre-order process seems to either be a mystery, or an outright lie.

Just my two cents...

In your cases when you mentioned you had managed to get them after the initial rush, how was that? Did they not put an order stop for them back then? Was it in your cart and then you checked out? Just trying to understand how it differs from this case.

Whats your take on the kit as a whole? Always good to hear more opinons.

That looks amazing. I think the question about replacement decals came up before. Apparently Bandai no longer sells them on their own as replacements.
For older kits like the VF-25s there is a 3rd party option (which looks better and of higher quality) than the ones from Bandai. But I think its a long way off to have a 3rd party offering for these new kits.

I'm a bit terrified of the waterslides on this kit once I start building it because of that.

So I just got the email confirmation... now I guess its off to wait for HLJ to send me a "we're sorry but......" email maybe?

Well to me HLJ said it accepted my order but never got an email.. My hopes are pretty much dead. I doubt the order went thru.

So guess no other way to get it other than the crappy resellers at jacked up prices after december....?

Wow so this is madness with HLJ... So I keep trying, not even sure if its going to amount to anything at this point.

EDIT: So never mind.. lol its order stop.

HLJ and Nippon-Yasan is unpredictable sometimes when it comes to PO schedule. Sometimes they're minutes or hours late to post the actual PO page. And sometimes their on-time. AmiAmi and HobbySearch however is always on-time.

Can't wait to see the new guys comments and whatnot during the 5sec PO window tonight.

So its like that for preordering DX Macross toys? :/

Hi. I assume HLJ will have preorders for this too right? This is gonna be my first time preordering a DX. As I just cannot justify paying double the original pricetag for it later on :S...

If he'd only gone into aeronautical engineering... Japan would have the coolest looking air force in any universe!

Lol completely agree....

BTW here's an illustration that might help?

That's the plan, yes. I still have to get in some practice using my stash of VF-171s; hopefully I'll be able to get workable scans of both these itasha stickers and the VF-25 Deculture decals and create my own waterslides out of them.

I know another member here, Rock - the guy doing the recent slick Tornado Messiah WIP - is also trying to do the same. He has more experience at it than I do (his blog has a complete replica of the Hasegawa(?) 25F decals), and a more complete collection of Deculture decals, but lacks the hardware/software to do the rest. If we should be successful, we could feasibly upsize the smaller-scale decals to fit onto the 1/72 kits. Imagine a 1/72 VF-31 with one of those itasha decals on it...

That would be amazing. If you're able to do it and "mass produce" them I'd be in for a few of those designs.

All members of walkure are assigned to a specific pilot, we saw to whom from their interactions in episode 1, Mikumo rode Arad's valk, Messer saved Kaname, Makina asked to recharge the drones and Mirage did it, and Reina was flying with Chuck, and obviously the two new members were assigned together, or in short :

Thanks. Had forgotten that setup.