Pontus

Sorry, been working long hours and trying to ask from work.  But I transformed it and managed to wiggle the shoulder joint back down.  But the thumb joint was super stiff and broke off when I tried to fit the gun!  Yay.  And of course, no fixed pose hands.

I only just took mine out of the box and haven't transformed it yet, but the shoulder hinges have a huge gap between them and the panel.  I see a bit of gap in other pics, but nothing this big.  Will those drop down if I transform it properly, or did I get a dud?

On 2/14/2024 at 10:28 AM, Scyla said:

Got my VF-19 Kai yesterday and the different shades of read is stark, even in hand.

And it is not just the shoulder swivels but also the die cast spine and the brackets for the Sound Booster that are the same different shade of red. Plus the red plastic has a lot of tiny, yet visible scratches: disappointing.

Indeed.  Although I think that different shades can look good and take away from the massive amounts of plasticky red everywhere, these just look like bad plastic.  Frankly, the whole thing is way too plastic looking.  

But I like to look at problems like this as something fun to do to make it better and, in this case, maybe learn a new skill.  I'm looking into electroplating plastic.  A little red acrylic over nickel plating makes a perfect metalic red!  I'm thinking I may try to plate some gold on it too.  Does anyone have any experience plating their valks?

10 hours ago, arbit said:

 

I always wanted to do that effect for the SDF-1 cannon.  

Is it a Tesla coil? Someone explain to me how safe that is? Is there no heat melting the plastic?

It's definitely not a tesla coil.  Looks like a simple circuit to increase voltage to jump the air gap similar to what you find inside an electronic fly swatter but with much higher voltage.  It's basically creating high voltage static which is most likely quite safe.  Those batteries have enough juice to kill you if the current is concentrated, but since they have to increase the voltage to at least 60,000V in order to jump what looks like about a 6cm air gap, the actual current will be miniscule, and it's the current that kills you, not the voltage (otherwise a simple static jolt would kill you).  As such, it probably wouldn't have enough wattage to melt the plastic unless you left it running for quite some time.

As for the MASSIVE amounts of electromagnetic radiation coming off of that thing, you would NEVER see this as an actual product because it could induce some VERY damaging voltage in any nearby sensitive electronics.  I wouldn't want my cell phone or computer anywhere near it.

Edit: on successive viewing, I'm starting to suspect that this is a fake video.  First of all, why are they using "Mr. Muscle" cleaning solution instead of flux which should be included in the solder?  Secondly, the arch wouldn't hop around from pin to pin unless you forced it to with separate wires to each pin.  It would only go to the pins closest to each other and pretty much stay there.  I think it's BS.

On 5/20/2024 at 11:18 PM, Slave IV said:

Nice! Unless you already have it and just filling in, I would definitely recommend you get an Arcadia VF-0. It’s redesigned from the Yamato and so good, I’d say it’s the best Valk toy ever made. Or at least top three. 

Incidentally, if anyone is interested,  a seller on ebay just listed several non-PFs and a PF for sale... for the low low price of $1000!!! A friend of mine put this sort of thing best, "Tuna fishing."  Maybe one of them will get folded into the orbit of Pluto.

I hope there's no sensitive electronics around that thing when you light it off.  Especially ones with antennas.  Like your cell phone.

1 hour ago, Slave IV said:

Nice! Unless you already have it and just filling in, I would definitely recommend you get an Arcadia VF-0. It’s redesigned from the Yamato and so good, I’d say it’s the best Valk toy ever made. Or at least top three. 

Yup, both PF and not are in my alert list (along with the reactive armor), but even on Manda they're stupid expensive when available.  But I managed to snag this pristine, unyellowed Yamato on ebay for a decentish price, so it'll do for now.  I won't mind having 2 tho, as I did for the Elintseeker after buying the Yamato on Manda for under $200 then being the sole bidder on an Arcadia PF from a US seller for just $225!  I felt kinda bad about that actually, but I assured them it was going to a good home, not a reseller.

I have been almost completely holding back from purchasing for the past few months despite it being an excellent time to make purchases from Japan and seeing my personal grails come and go.  But I've recently had some financial ease... did I overcompensate? 

These complete my recon collection as well as filling out all the missing numbers in 1/60 wherever possible.  I'll have to settle for HMR VF-2SS because Evolution got bad reviews.

Now to figure out where to put all these.

1 hour ago, Sanity is Optional said:

Of the two, I'd definitely say the SV-51 box is larger and would expect it to have a higher cost to ship. Package size, especially width, costs more than weight.

I would normally agree, even if it was double the price to ship, I could chalk that up to being in the next size bracket.  But FIVE TIMES more?!  C'mon.  I bought six different yammie/arcadia 1/60 scale valks with shipping at 5400, 5120, 10k, and 24300.  I'm sure it's probably down to the box size they had available to put it in, and it's totally whatever DHL told them THAT box would be, but that doesn't make it any less frustrating when I have to commit to purchase before seeing the shipping cost.  But I saved some serious coin on the rest of the haul, so I guess I can't complain too much.  And tracking says it'll all be here tomorrow/wed., which is super fast from Japan considering I ordered Friday!  So I'll soon be too happy to remember it anyway. 

+1 INDEED! I first saw this on my phone, and it seriously took me a hot minute to realize it wasn't a painting.  I thought, "Wow, they did a good job of getting the shadow on those clouds right, but... there's shadow on the sky too... wait... OH! NOICE!"

I'm kinda po'd with Mandarake.  Their shipping charges are all over the place, and despite the fact that they do a good job of consolidating purchases across stores on their order page, their billing is completely separate which screws things up.  Like the shipping charges, each store seems to have their own way of doing things when it comes to billing and inventory.

So I bought several different Arcadia valks in similar packaging with similar sized boxes.  Sahra charged me just 5400¥ to ship the massive VF-19 Fire.  Nakano charged me a whopping 24,500¥ for the SV-51!!!  

Then, I had 2 different automatic payment entries in Paypal for Manda (now like 6), both set to credit.  But it seems that each store (which doesn't show up in Paypal) has it's own entry, so you'd think that it would ask what payment method you want for different/new stores.  NOPE.  But it did automatically draw nearly $600 from my personal checking account on 2 different orders!!!

Even if you think you have it set correctly, I highly recommend that you delete ANY and ALL Mandarake entries in your paypal automatic payment section (you have to go to settings, then payments to find it buried there).  Manda will show up there every time you place an order, so make sure to check before you purchase anything.  Then paypal will force them to give you payment options instead of TAKING IT OUT OF YOUR GD CHECKING ACCOUNT FOR NO APPARENT REASON!

On 3/8/2024 at 3:31 PM, jvmacross said:

At this point I want to see what they'll do with the Millia fig...I assume they are going cloth too in her UN Spacy officer uniform...just sticking to zero expectations for that one...as I have it on PO already with the Arcade VF set...

What Millia fig?  I don't see a PO for that one on their website.  Or is someone else dipping into figs and I missed it?

Considering how low the bar is set by Toynami (not even remotely acceptable), and not everyone wants to paint a still model statue, those are pretty much the only real options, so I don't mind the minor issues with their figures at all.  Are they perfect?  No, but good enough.  That's about it, but at least someone is making an effort.  I hope they release the pilot figure tho, and PLEASE bring on the other characters especially Kakizaki, Global, Claudia, and the bridge bunnies in that order.  I'll buy every one they release.

17 hours ago, jvmacross said:

You may want to check that...$70-ish was just a "deposit"

Yup, you're right, my bad.  And $100 for shipping 2 large toys doesn't seem that bad.

On 2/25/2024 at 1:58 PM, MKT said:

Artillery Battle Pod

PO link: https://www.kitzconcept.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=61&product_id=129

Thanks for that!  ...Aaaaand, nope.  I paid $70 for the first one, but now they want $140 for "two for the price of a single product" which is supposedly now double the price. (edit, $70 was the deposit, it's actually $133) Still seemed like a good deal until I went to check out and the express shipping was $100 - despite it being only $35 for my original preorder - or standard shipping which they say takes 4mo.  If they ever actually release the darn thing and have some extras on sale later, I'll consider it, but otherwise, they can keep their 💩!

18 hours ago, MKT said:

2. Battle Pod has new missile pod add-ons. Those who PO’ed early are supposed to take note. My reading of it is that it is possible the missile pods are a bonus item. There will be 2 other new missile pod accessories / variants, details to be revealed later.

If this is true, they need to advertise that and commit because that would certainly at least triple their sales.  Personally, I would preorder/buy 3 more right now if this was official if it meant I could have a light, heavy, and hopefully a scout version (pleeeeeease).  As it is, I feel like I'll be lucky if they ever actually release the darn thing, so I'm not holding my breath.

25 minutes ago, tekering said:

As is well-known by now, the official stats on Zentraedi mecha are nonsensical; there's no way a 10-meter pilot can fit in a 15-meter Regult. 

That's exactly why I was looking forward to this one and avoided buying HMR versions.  They just didn't make sense to me, and there's scenes in the show where they indeed seem much bigger than valks.  I was going to use 1:72 regult kits to match my other HMR, but once this was announced, I was excited to not have to do another model I don't have time for.  And I haven't been collecting any of Kitz valks, so I don't have to find any... did Yamato or anyone ever even make 1:60 Regults?

I can't find a meme or a proper gif to make one, but in the immortal words of Tuco Salamanca, "Talk... is talk.  But owing me <toys>?  That's bad."

Looks like I've got some binge watching to do!  Not all of these are new purchases, but it's nice to have everything together at last.  Still looking forward to the legit releases coming out this year, but this is what I could get with english subs for now.

I'm surprised it didn't come up in the Amazon listing for all the other DX WWM releases along with the YF-19 (only $217!) because they're all on the same listing.  Maybe it will soon, so keep an eye out there too.  I just pre-ordered the 171 there for $275 which is just shy of my maximum price for valks.  I thought seriously about pre-ordering a second 19 to go with a DX 21, but I'm not paying $350 for a 21 when I have a perfectly good Yamato.

It's funny though how prices change.  Before Bandai first showed off the prototype 21, prices were insane for the Yamato.  Afterwards, they came down to the $200 range for a bit.  Now that the DX is getting an actual release and preorders, prices on the old Yamatos are back to being sky high again.  No sense.

38 minutes ago, Test_Pilot_2 said:

Thanks man, I have the jettison videos of the old school GBPs. I'm looking for the jettison of Zettai Live! Armor parts on the VF-31AX. I appreciate the link to the GBP videos. I simply cannot find anything on the Zettai Live! movie aside from brief clips =/. I'm subbed to multiple anime channels and cannot find the movie, either :(. Otherwise, I'd love to watch it and reference the jettison from the movie.

Oh duh.  You said Hayate not Hikaru.  Doh, sorry, I was distracted by all the beautiful shots of VF-1 GBP above. I actually just purchased the movie with english subs from Amazon here if you wanna buy it.

3 hours ago, Test_Pilot_2 said:

My VF-31AX Armor just came in. Does anyone have a snapshot or better yet, short clip, from when Hayate jettisons his super armor available? I also just got my shipping notice on both my Armored VF-171 renewal AND my white Moshowtoys Takeda. Very excite!

SDFM or DYRL?  If the former, episode 9, "Miss Macross" @17:50 in this youtube video.

1 hour ago, twich said:

So, I contributed to this at its most basic level. I guess I was unaware that this would not be arriving in our hands until December 2024. Probably my ignorance of these things, as I had never been on kickstarter before this, but didn’t realize the timeframe. I am super excited that I will get a 4K copy of Macross 2, to go along with my old copy of Animego’s Super Dimension Fortress Macross that they did……

Twich

I'm pretty sure I remember seeing that it initially had a planned release of March if basic goals were met, but they stated that would extend if more funding was reached in order to add in features.  Now that 4k and dub and all the other goodies are funded, it's going to take a much longer time to make/add them.

Clearly, BBTS takes preorders and then tells Bandai how many they sold/need.  Simple, confident and easy for the customer, and maxes profits.  WHY IN THE WORLD WOULD ANY STORE ONLY OFFER A LIMITED NUMBER OF POs ON AN UNLIMITED RELEASE?!!!  This crap makes me not want to use Amiami anymore, but it sounds like ALL the Japanese stores do this.  WHY?  This makes zero sense.

Refresh, refresh, refresh... BAM, got it.... nope.  Refresh cart, add 1, no.  Refresh cart, add 1, no....  30mins of this instead of making overtime at work... I could afford the BBTS order if I stay working.

Wow, Ami ami sucks.  I clicked order the moment it went live, and it immediately said none in stock, pre-order closed.  That's what I get for breaking tradition and trying to participate in a pre-order rush.