Lord_Of_Tetris

I find it highly ironic that my most expensive Macross toy is also the toy I'm least fearful of breaking and, therefore, the toy I transform the most. The Bandai 1/60 Chogokin VF-31. Solid as a rock. All the tolerances are PERFECT. All the joint tightness is PERFECT. Based simply on structural integrity, the toys I find most playable are (in no particular order): Yamato's VF-19s. Arcadia's YF-19. Yamato's 1/48 VF-1. DAMN, that is rock solid. 15 years old and still rock solid.

Am I the only who thinks this "weathering" looks hideous? Don't get me wrong, I think weathering effects look pretty darn good if done right, but the weathering here is so.....orderly. So organized. So uniform. It's basically panel-lined with some "bloom" around the lines. It looks like you put the Valykrie into Photoshop and turned the contrast way, way up. A good weathering paint job has some randomness to it, and it shows weather in places where it actually looks like dust and soot would gather.

Does the charger pod angle down? I'm afraid to try...

How do you transform it into Battroid mode and have the backpack-mounted weapons pod completely out of view? When I do it, I have at least 1 solid inch of backpack sticking up behind the head. I really like the way this looks with the backpack tucked out of sight, which lets the silhouette of the robot stand on its own, and makes the head more visible because it's less busy above the neck. Can someone post pictures of their figure from the side and back, showing how to transform the backpack out of view? Is the backpack removable?

Just a Gundam marker. It indeed stays on as I continue to build.

Did someone say tampo? So much Tampobuyit Look at all that beautifulbuyit Tampo! Even the little Keithbuyit figure is a work of art! And see inside the jet intakes? Tampo!

Look at that smooth, smoothbuyit underside... Armature can let you rotate the gunbuythis, like a turret. Even if you remove the gunpod, the underbelly of the jetyouwanttobuy looks like a solid and smooth piece.

Ah, I see. In all honesty, I wasn't thinking of the kit that way. My preference for model kits is more the Bandai variety. I don't consider myself unskilled, though with 8 hours of work a day, laundry, gym, cooking, doing dishes, etc, I only get to build for ~30 minutes and only 2-3 times a week. I tend to gravitate more towards the Bandai-esque type of kit. I've built other Hasegawa's kits, such as the YF-21 and YF-19, which didn't require too much paint because those jets didn't have large surfaces that were a different color from the plastic. And so, when I see a new model kit, my initial assessment is based more on the Bandai/Gunpla preference.

Here we go again! Previous VF-31 took me ~1.5 months. OTHER THINGS got in the way of my model-building priorities, such as 8 hours of work each day, gym, cooking, laundry, washing the dishes.....so I worked on the model 30 minutes at a time, maybe 2-3 times a week. Wheeee! I usually use paint to color my models, but the pilots were so small that I used Sharpies.

Heh. I'm not lucky enough to have a toy of the VB-6 or VF-4. I was comparing the SV-262's smooth, sexy underside to the other toys in my possession.

Yep. I have dozens of transforming jet toys, and the SV-262 has THE smoothest jet underside of them all. The second-smoothest jet underside award goes to the YF-21 (which I don't have), but even so, the YF-21's smooth jet underside is literally 2 large slabs of hip kibble. The SV-262's smooth jet underbelly isn't created by kibble, but by actually having parts that--when placed next to each other--look like a smooth jet underside.

Hmm. I'm both relieved and kind of disappointed at the stickers. Relief, because some of the stickers are 1 piece whereas they would be several pieces on other kits. For example, the Hasegawa YF-19 and YF-21 have several stickers around the cockpit area, whereas the VF-31 has the blue stripe, white stripe, gray area, red triangles, and Delta 05 designation all as 1 sticker. Whew. I find waterslide decals a pain in the butt, and I'd rather apply 1 sticker instead of 5 tiny ones. I'm also disappointed, though, because the stickers don't have enough coverage for the colored parts of the jet. I understand that jet model kits are frequently cast in 1 color of plastic, and these rely heavily on painting. Look, I get it. I've built several Hasegawa jet kits. However, the VF-11, VF-0, YF-19, and YF-21 (AKA the kits I've built) were essentially 1-color jets with small splashes of color here and there for details. You could conceivably build a decent-looking jet using only the decals. The VF-31 is not a 1-color jet with colors here and there for details. The VF-31 has large areas that are white, large areas that are blue, and large areas that are gray. Would it kill Hasegawa to use different colored plastics? A kit with blue and white plastic would be fine. A kit with blue, white, and gray plastic would be better. With the VF-31 kit, even if you applied all the stickers, there would still be large areas that mandate painting, such as making the wings blue. :/

Hmm. For what it's worth, my advice on buying the SV-262: It's not for everybody. Me, personally, I LOVE it...conditionally. First, the good: I simply DO NOT UNDERSTAND people who find the SV-262 ugly. The robot mode is beautiful. I don't think there's ANY transforming mecha that looks quite like it. I love the Anubis/Batman head. I love the colors. I'm not afraid to play with it and put it int various poses. It holds poses quite well. The arms and legs are on double joints, and it has so much personality. The sculpting. OMG the sculpting. You could feasibly poke your eye out or prick your finger into bleeding with this toy. This is a COMPLIMENT. Bandai did NOT compromise on the sharp angles, and it's sleek and gorgeous. I find the jet mode gorgeous as well. Again, I don't think there's ANY transforming mecha with a jet mode quite like this. It's sleek. Looking at it from the side or the front, it's no thicker than my hand. I simply cannot BELIEVE such a huge robot was stuffed into such a sleek jet. If you look at it from the bottom, if you didn't know this was a transforming jet, you'd think the jet bottom was a solid piece of plastic that covers up the bottom of the jet. And the tampo printing. THE TAMPO PRINTING. The SV-262 is in the Top 10 for most-painted and most precisely-painted figure. It LOOKS like a lovingly hand-painted model kit, especially in jet mode. And now, the bad: Although it is tough as nails in jet mode and robot mode, the transformation is terrifying. I transformed it 3 times, ever: 1) right when I opened it, from jet to robot mode, 2) that same day again, from robot mode to jet mode, then 3) months later, jet to robot mode. Each time was a terrifying, terrifying, terrifying experience. An analogy would be, this is what MP-5 Megatron would be if he was a jet. At many points, I was fully convinced I had a defective toy because Parts Y and Z got in the way of Part X, and the only way to get Part X into some other position is if Parts Y and Z simply weren't there. It's not intuitive. You can't picture in your mind, "Hmm, I know what a jet looks like, and THIS piece clearly looks like it should be in THIS position, rotated THAT way." Nope nope nope. The transformation has so many moving parts, many of which seem unneeded. Rather than be helpful, this high amount of moving parts means you have more things that must be in a precise position to achieve Gerwalk or jet mode. Every part is connected to several other parts, and moving 1 part means 3 other parts were just moved. Now, multiply that frustration with the difficulty of not being able to picture what position it should even be when you're done. It's exhausting. Jet mode: worth it. Robot mode: worth it. Gerwalk mode: not very stable, but awesome looking, and worth it. If you can afford multiples, I would strongly advise you do so. Keep 1 in robot mode, 1 in jet mode. It's what I did. In conclusion: SV-262. Great figure, terrifying transformation, not for everyone. Worth it, if you like the design and can afford multiples.

Oh, I see. WELL THEN. What's the best place to preorder Macross stuff? I do most of my preorders on Big Bad Toy Store, but they don't have Macross products for some strange reason. What I like about BBTS is their Pile of Loot feature. When your preorder arrives, it goes into your Pile of Loot. You choose when to ship, which means 1 shipment could contain 5 different preordered items, all of which came in at different times, and you only need to pay for shipping once. What I don't like about preordering at most stores is that you put in a preorder, it arrives, then it ships to you, and you pay shipping for that 1 preordered item.

Serious question... Is there really a NEED to succumb to preorder madness for the VF-2? I just searched eBay for "Hi Metal R Macross," and they're very reasonably priced. Many have prices in the double-digits. The more-expensive stuff is still within $40, plus or minus, of a ~$150 average. Is it that risky a plan to just wait for the VF-2 to hit mass retail and get one on an American site, such as eBay and Amazon?

It's done! After ~1.5 months of working on and off on the Bandai 1/72 model kit (several times a week, for ~30 minutes each), I've completed it! No special tools or skills required. All of this is the result of the provided stickers, a Gundam marker, some plastic cement, and a small amount of paint. Despite being so light, it's very back heavy. Bang bang! Pew pew! It's not flexible enough to go into the crouching position. BUT! With some creative use of the knee pad... Yack! Deculture! I've applied maybe 80% of the provided stickers. All of the stickers with the large surface area. I'm not going to apply the rest of the stickers. I don't necessarily NEED to see dozens of "no stop" or "no lift" stickers, plus it's already so stickered up, I'd rather not have it look like Papercraft.

Aaaaaaaaaaah what have I done. I ordered a Dx Chogokin VF-31 (Messer's colors) despite firmly swearing I wouldn't buy one until HLJ gets them back in stock. All in all, I paid ~$250, which I know isn't a bad price, but it's the most money I've ever spent on one figure. Heh. You know, the intent really was to use the 1/72 model kit as a cheaper alternative to the Dx Chogokin. Ah well. As I wait 3 weeks for my VF-31 to arrive, I'll hype myself up with the model kit. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaalmost done. VERY impressive model kit. All this is the result of the provided stickers, a Gundam marker for panel lines, and very small amounts of paint (for example, I painted the intakes gunmetal gray) Model not 100% finished yet. Still need to build the forearm-mounted guns. Looks good from every angle Painted the landing gear black. Would probably look better if I painted the struts gray or white, but I didn't have the patience. :/ Here it is with the Dx Chogokin 1/60 SV-262. You know, I know these are in 2 different scales, but they look pretty darn good together. I don't even mind that the SV-262 is bigger than the VF-31, as I'm totally fine with the bad guy's jet being bigger, beefier, and meaner-looking than the good guy's jet. And, I grew up watching a cartoon where a police car transforms into a robot the same height as another robot who transforms into an F-15 jet. Scale isn't all that important to me. Darn good looking model kit, even with my meager skills. Oh, and you can see that I colored the little Hayate figure using Sharpies. After I'm done with the build, I'll finish putting on the stickers. I don't have a pre-set plan for which stickers I'll put on, but I know it won't be all of them. I don't necessarily need to see a hundred "no step" markings, plus, the kit has so many stickers already I'd rather not make such an elegant design look too busy...or like papercraft.

Just paid 2,290 yen for shipping. Figure plus shipping means I just put down ~$250 for ONE figure. I've NEVER spent this much money on ONE figure before. Sure, I've made purchases greater than $250, but it was for multiple items. Here, I took a selfie to show my complete confidence that I made the right decision about how I'm using my money.

And then I'll change my tune to: I HAVE DONE THE RIGHT THING OH MY GOD MY TOYMY TOYMY TOYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

Shipping estimate: 3 weeks. Remember when Bart Simpson wrote Milhouse a check for $1 million, dated "in 10,000 years" and then Milhouse silent sat there for a few minutes, checking his watch every few seconds? Well.... Me: *checks watch* Me: *checks watch again*

I did it! I did it! I purchased one! Someone on a different message board linked to a Messer VF-31 for a reasonable price. My credit card does not charge for a foreign transaction. I purchased one! In other news....I just spent ~$230-ish on ONE figure. I don't exactly have a ton of disposable income. *bank account stomach growls* WHAT HAVE I DONE???? OH MY GOD MY MONEY. MY MONEY MY MONEYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

Pretty slick, if I do say so myself.

Darn things like "full time job," "cooking," "laundry," and "going to the gym" mean I only have ~30 minutes a day to work on model kits. Grrr.

Does anyone have any advice on how to safely free up the wing armatures from the leg while transforming from jet-to-Gerwalk or jet-to-battroid? Putting the wing armatures into the legs is simple enough. A rectangular tab of the wing armature goes into a rectangular notch in the leg. Getting them out, though, seems to be like pulling apart something held together with superglue. Any magic tricks to this? Is there a hidden position that makes this step easier? Should I sand the tab somewhat? I'd rather not sand such an expensive toy...

See the part I pointed at in orange? It's a small, flat piece that slides back and forth inside some grooves located in the body of the jet/robot torso. I drew a 2-sided arrow to show you its intended motion. The fit inside the grooves is very, very tight. You should sand the tabs on the small, flat piece so that it slides back and forth easier inside the grooves.