Lord_Of_Tetris

The YF/VF-19 is one of my favorite hero mecha of any anime. Maybe it's a nostalgia thing. I have 2 VF-31 toys, which are superior to my Bandai VF-19 Advance in every conceivable way, yet there's always the appeal of the YF-19. I have one VF-19 Advance, I LOVE the mold, flaws and all, and I would LOVE to get another one but it's so expensive. I happily welcome a YF-19 repaint of the VF-19 so I can get another of this mold at a less-than-$400 price. I don't really NEED too many mold changes. All I ask for is a cockpit that opens like the YF-19; 2 halves, rear half opening with the hinge at the back, front half with the hinge at the front. The Arcadia YF-19 opens like this, but the nose cone droops!

Not only does it not match the plastic, it's too translucent! Unless you're putting the decal onto a white surface, the color of the plastic will show through the Decal!

Let's also mention that the decals are LOW-RESOLUTION! Like an older comic book, from the Jack Kirby era! Okay, fine, not THAT bad, but you can clearly see that the labels are low resolution.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but we've seen many promo pictures. However, it's just the same promo pictures from....June? July? I'm pretty sure those were actual physical prototypes, not CG renders. However, they seemed to be hand-painted prototypes that were HEAVILY Photoshopped. For example, some photos show some rather distracting black metal hip joints, while other photos seem to have Photoshopped these joints out and replaced them with shadow. The Photoshop is so strong, it surely looks like CGI renders.

I guess the VF-31F is a VERY acquired taste! When I first saw photos of the VF-31F toy, I thought the colors were terribly boring. And then I watched ~13 episodes of the show and bought the toy, and now Messer's VF-31F has my favorite colors of the Delta squad jets. Something I dislike is overly busy designs with too many colors and too many details, and I kept thinking to myself, "Man, Hayate/Chuck/Arad's Valkyries really do not look like machines created to wage war." Yes, I know they're a support team for pop idols, but I still think the other Delta squad members are too colorful. I'm not saying I need it to be like SDF Macross where the jets only differ by the stripe on their chest, but I guess I need my transforming mecha to look like they'd be taken seriously by allies and enemies alike. And so, now that I've seen some episodes and I have a VF-31F Messer figure, it's my favorite color scheme. No, it doesn't as functional or aggressive as, say, a desert-camo real-life F-22, or even the YF-19 in Isamu's colors, but it's something that I can visualize as convincing-enough as a weapon of war.

Hahahahahaha. Although I do think the YF-30 Chronos is more insectoid than most 1980s mecha, my opinion is that it's a happy medium between the elegant 80s look and the overly-skinny insectoid look of the newer Macross figures. I always thought the YF-30 head looked like a mix between the VF-1J and Beast Machines Jetstorm (Google the CGI model, not the toy). I didn't see anything insectoid about it, and I never thought to associate the YF-30's head with any type of bug. Now that you mention it, I can totally see how the YF-30 head could be construed to look cockroach-y.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the toy is an accurate portrayal of how it looked in the cartoon. I must confess, my first reaction upon seeing the VF-31F head was, "Wow, that is hideous, I wouldn't be caught dead buying that toy." However, now that I've bought the toy (heh), I've completely changed my mind. It's an acquired taste, in my opinion. The VFs have been trending away from the bulky but elegant "straight lines" 1980s look and more towards a highly-detailed but very-slender insectoid look, which (in my opinion) was also an acquired taste. But I've now embraced the slender insectoid look, and I think the VF-31F head perfectly matches that look. Whereas the 1980s designs had a lot of straight lines, the VF-31 is better known for its curves. And, the VF-31F head is the curviest of them all. It doesn't have a single flat surface on it. The eyes are curved. The shape is an oval, instead of a straight-angled visor (like the VF-31S or the 2 visors on Mirage's VF-31C). Yes, it looks insectoid, but (in my opinion) the VF-31 looks insectoid anyway, with its Insecticon wings, very-long legs, and slender arms. The Messer head reminds me of a praying mantis, Kamen Rider, or even Michael Bay's Bumblebee design (with the battle mask on), all of which also had insectoid designs. I'm also a fan of elegance. Frankly, I'm not a huge fan of overly-detailed, overly-colorful mechas. For example, because of its overwhelming use of different colors, I think Arad's jet is hideous. What I like about the Messer head is that it gets the job done using minimal details. The Messer head has the least greebly bits, bumps, panel lines, markings, and colors out of all the VF-31 models, and there's something to be said for simplicity. My head-canon is that Messer is a very serious pilot, and he picked the VF-31 model with the biggest eyes so (again, just my head-canon) its optics are the clearest and most detailed so he can be maximally effective in combat. My 2 cents.

HUH. Neato. In hand-drawn form, it looks like one of those "only possible with anime magic" type things. Now that I see it in a physical form, I could totally imagine a transformation scheme similar to Lugnut from Transformers: Animated.

What are the arrows supposed to be pointing at?

OOOOOOOOOH, oh stupid Lord of Tetris. I apparently pulled Messer's VF-31 hips out some time ago, and they've been in the "out" position this whole time. I forgot I even did it, or that it's even possible. Good thing I didn't pull too hard when testing this out...

WHAT. I've had my VF-31 (Messer) for months and didn't know this. I just tried (gently) to pull out the hips and gave up because I didn't want to break it. Can someone take before/after photos? Thanks.

Yep. I'm not a big fan of swapping parts in and out, and the hands that actually can grip the gun (sigh) don't tuck away in jet mode.

It's back at HLJ. I ordered one! I wasn't even planning to. I just checked HLJ, noticed it's available, and bought it. Definition of an impulse buy. Sigh. Good bye, money...

I missed the preorder window for a variety of reasons. I'm kind of depending on the Mirage-colored VF-31 to end up like the Messer-colored version. It'll SEEM rare as diamonds for the first 1-2 months. Then, after that, the toy became VERY PLENTIFUL. If you wanted to spend ~$250 for one on eBay, it was available. If you took your chances, there were frequently sales threads on Macross World where people simply didn't want theirs anymore and it was still MISB in the HLJ packaging, and all they wanted was what they paid for it (about ~$220 total). And if you really wanted to take your chances, it's not that hard to find a new sales thread every month or so that sells a Messer-version VF-31 for about $200 used.

I KNOW, RIGHT? I simply do not understand why Bandai is dragging its feet with Macross toys when it's the same company that released Zeta Gundam in 1/44 Real Grade, 1/144 High Grade, 1/100 Master Grade, AGAIN in 1/100 Master Grade (in metallic colors), AND THEN AGAIN in 1/60 Master Grade (version 2.0), and in 1/60 Perfect Grade, and with most of those molds having recolored variants (Zeta Gundam in the dark gray colors, Zeta Gundam in the bright orange colors, Zeta Gundam in simple blue-and-white colors, Zeta Gundam in pink-and-white "Unicorn" inspired colors, entirely-red Zeta Gundam from a video game, etc).

I KNOW, RIGHT? I'm not exactly asking for a Starscream+Skywarp+Thundercracker+Thrust+Dirge+Ramjet+Acid Rain+Sunstorm+Slipstream repaint overload with EVERY Macross toy, but I really don't understand why Bandai isn't AT MINIMUM releasing the canonical, in-fiction Valkyries at a steady pace using molds they've already created. For each re-release, the amount of retooling should be quite minimal (a new head, perhaps a different wing shape) and mostly just a matter of different colors. Releasing the canonical color variants would present only benefit for the consumer and Bandai. Bandai can recoup the development costs for each mold, fans get more variety, and more supply means we don't need to charge each other up-to-4-digit prices on eBay for these things!

Heh. You know...I'd buy that. It's canonical to the TV show, and it's a fairly modestly sized decoration. What I'm opposed to is the huge eyesore of literally having the girl drawing take up the majority of THE ENTIRE JET. No. NO!

I would LOVE more variations of the YF-30 mold. It's a wonderful mold, and I'd love to possess more than just the 1 that I have. Heck, it's such a good mold, I want there to be more variations so we don't all have to fight over the rare and very-expensive pieces of the 1 release so that EVERYONE can enjoy this mold. In a perfect world, the new variations of the YF-30 would have some improvements, such as some way for the missile pack to hide out of sight in robot mode, like we can do with the VF-31. I'd love for variants to have DIFFERENT weapons in place of the missile pack. I'd like stronger, more-robust connections for the tailfins to stay connected to the main wing armature. I don't really see what can be done about the huge backpack or the rear-heavy balance issues, but I'd totally welcome whatever voodoo magic required to address these issues. But that's just a wish list. The mold is SO GOOD, as-is, I'd buy a straight-up re-release. I'd buy the variations of the other color schemes already used in the game. I'd buy variations that never appeared in fiction before. The mold is THAT good. Isamu colors? Sure. Focker colors, with the yellow stripe and a skull and crossbones logo? Yes please. Different head variations? GIVE IT TO ME. The shape of the YF-30 is already quite close to the F-22, and I'd totally buy a gray "realistic" version. You know what else looks like the F-22? Guld's YF-21. You know what would look great in YF-21 colors? The YF-30. Heck, you can paint it all colors of the rainbow like Action Master Thundercracker (Google it) and scent it with fruity flavors and I'd buy it. However, I will NOT buy ANY transforming jet that has a giant drawing of a girl all over it. No. Sorry. That's where I draw the line.

Is that a Hi-Metal R Battle 7?

Does anyone have advice or a trick to opening the bay doors for the front landing gear? Mine are in there TIGHT. There's 2 parts to opening the bay doors: pulling the assembly down (assuming the jet is rightside up), then opening the hinge. Opening the hinge is fine, but I feel like I'm going to snap the bay doors if I pull down too hard.

I'll admit, I saw the first few pictures of the Toynami 1/2000 SDF-1 and thought it looked kind of cool. I didn't like the over-use of metallic paint. I didn't like the use of too much blue when certain areas should be white. I didn't like the arms that, parodoxically, are oversized (the Prometheus' nose extends FURTHER back than the SDF-1's engines!) but look undersized because the 2 arms are overly thin. Despite all these flaws, I thought it looked like a competent, half-decent SDF-1. And then I saw those pictures of it from the bottom. WHAT HAPPENED? The upper half of the ship actually looks fairly good. There's a good amount of detail, and the sense of scale was quite competent. And then...the bottom. YIKES! It's like you're playing a PC game but the textures and bump mapping didn't load yet! It looks like you have PS2-level detail on the top but SNES Star Fox 1-level detail on the bottom. YIKES.

Newbie question: What is NY, can I have a link, and is it reliable?

Whoa whoa whoa whoa WHOA. People actually DON'T like Tampo printing? Now that I own a VF-19 Advance, this is the GOLD STANDARD for what I expect on my expensive action figures. And, based on the lavish Tampo on the SV-262 and VF-31 figures, Bandai continues to impress with the Tampo.

You are EAGLE EYED

HAHAHAHA, here I was, poor delusional plastic crack-addicted Lord of Tetris, thinking my purchase of the DX Chogokin VF-31 3 weeks ago was the stopping point of my Macross collecting, in which all the items I wanted were finally in my possession. I just ordered 2 of the VF-2SS from Bandai Online. Here, I took a video showing how confident and self-assured I feel about myself--and my bank account--right after making the purchase.