Radioguy

This is still only appearing on ShowZ?

As this is a KO, I'm actually a little surprised they went with the U.N. Spacy tampos and didn't do the pilot in clear plastic. That would have appealed even more to the Jetfire audience than KC could.

7 hours ago, Chronocidal said:

I haven't seen any real reason to go for the knockoffs, but I might actually jump on this one.  It actually includes something Yamato and Arcadia never did:

A full set of painted TV missiles!  

I have enough other Yamatos to mess with that I won't really care if it feels sloppy, it'll be a great conversation piece.  

I'd have liked the strike cannon included since it was already KO'd.

10 hours ago, twich said:

So, it appears this version is $147.99 full price, which is cheaper than what we are seeing Valkyrie Factory sets for now, and no stand included!

Twich

I've seen VF KOs with fast packs for less than this. Now, the stand is a point, but it's a KO of the old floppy Yammie stand, so I'm not so sure it's not better to go for the "standard" version as that lists the transparent GITD covers too.

1 hour ago, R0P3-F15H said:

I can’t get over how good this thing looks!!

it just feels great to play with and i think ive transformed it back and forth about five times now? i might have to get more... 😓

I'm with you completely. It's my favorite. (Not that I have more than two DX valks atm!)

When I handle it and transform it, I love it, but also start to get a little annoyed that we haven't gotten a VE-1 or VT-1 as well. I feel like the Trainer, Elint, and Ostritch are the cream of the crop for special Valk designs from that era of Macross. To a blind man, the others would generally feel the same build despite head changes and fastpacks or GBP armor. The VF-1D feels just nicer, and ya got that racer too...

Those were good deals.

12 hours ago, Raikkonen said:

Yeah, I just finished transforming my 0D to plane mode for the first time, and I'm not impress. Junk was the word that at times when trying to fit the little fists.

I've never seen the 0S in person, but where I saw the bad transparent plastic was on a photo of the Max version on display at a Tamashi store. 

In case it's not still implied by my earlier "pennypinching" posts, I'm pleased at the final price I paid, which ended up equal to or less than Toynami's MSRP right now.

I know for some that price shouldn't matter for when it comes to evaluating a figure, but I have to be honest and say that if I had bought this at MSRP, I wouldn't be as pleased and might be griping more. Still, I can't imagine coming down too hard on this but for comparison to other HMR releases (My Dougram weighs like five times more). If I really had to find fault, it might be that @jenius's point that "there's too much" is likely true. I could live with less accessories and more metal or other improvements to the main figure.

2 hours ago, nightmareB4macross said:

???

Your past the two drink limit.

😛 

Hey, whatever it takes...even if it's pink...maybe. 😄

2 hours ago, Raikkonen said:

Question for everyone. How often do you transform your HMR and the joints and tabs still good after multiple transformations? 

Frankly, I'd love to know the same. I have transformed mine less than tree times each, and it's nowhere as easy as with my Arcadia's or DX. Sure is tighter than a Toynami, though.

Then of course I have gorilla hands and carpal tunnel as well, so maybe mine's not the average experience...

Yeah, I considered posting it here first, but did to the KitzConcept thread the other day as it was definitely a KO of that (Before we kinda sussed out it's probably another Arcadia KO dressed up). I wonder if it's Valkyrie Factory though, as not all that carried those have this offered yet.

3 minutes ago, MKT said:

That sounds horribly high & much more than any other JP online stores to ship an item of that size to the US. Essentially negates all the discount & puts it squarely the same as, or perhaps more, than US MSRP.

I wonder then if anything Amazon.jp is worth buying to ship stateside these days.. 

If sold and shipped by Amazon, I might have had a deal. Only saw two sellers who'd ship to the USA, and the second lowest price was one of those, but had the $60 shipping.

31 minutes ago, Raikkonen said:

How did you find the plastic and transformation? I'm still tempted myself for this one, but I tend to avoid white plastic. 

The transformation was ok. I'd be a liar if I said as pleasant as larger scales like 1/60 or 1/48 versions, of course. The fighter was tight and tightly pegged together. I agree with @jenius that you don't want to try and hold it from the nose in that mode as it will unpeg a little, but I'm quite pleased overall.

I had to hold it to sunlight to get any transparency from the wings, so I don't get that knock on this. If I had any big gripe it's that the feet are plastic, and that made me think of Toynami. In that area, I can say the metal is obviously lacking, but the joints are metal and feel secure.

35 minutes ago, MKT said:

It’s up again now @Sanity is Optional 

 

It is Yen 2000 for me, but I’m not in USA.

No such luck for me. Was showing $60 US, so around ¥8,000+.

40 minutes ago, MKT said:

Available at Amazon.jp for a great price (Yen 12,232 sans domestic tax as of writing):

https://www.amazon.co.jp/-/en/HI-METAL-Macross-Phoenix-Approx-Pre-painted/dp/B0BX2L8X9G

How much was the shipping on that? (Assuming you are in the USA too)

Spoke to Amazon about a different item damaged in delivery (being resent), and I brought this up while chatting. They're sending me the difference back! Surprising, as it's now gone to $110+ and still sold by Amazon.

Incidentally, that really has been the lowest price ever for it on Amazon:

https://camelcamelcamel.com/product/B0B23ZMHYZ

If they do metallics...yeah, know I may be in the minority on those, but I like' em.

Hell, @jenius and a couple others wanted clear versions, so they oughta beat KC to the punch and do that too (if they can).

I got him, and I'm pleased for the price. Thankfully Amazon shipped him in a padded mailer and not a bag as I'd feared. Maybe they are actually getting the message on returns due to poor packing/handling.

Thanks to Chareos on TFF2005, we have something that maybe ought to be in the grey market valk thread...but maybe here first.

https://www.showzstore.com/fg-model-fg-01-macross-vf1s-deluxe-version_p5471.html

https://www.showzstore.com/fg-model-fg-01-macross-vf1s-standard-version_p5470.html

WTF?

1 hour ago, jvmacross said:

Where's that from?

13 minutes ago, Big s said:

Since it’s an exclusive item, the sellers will probably be limited 

Yeah, just curious if any other listings have popped up.

Looks like BIG had a listing too.

https://www.biginjap.com/en/completed-models/29330-macross-dx-chogokin-vf-1s-strike-valkyrie-hikaru-ichijo-use-mechanic-edition.html

Along with LP, are those the only ones out there so far?

Has anyone seen or know what the VF-1S Mechanic Edt. EAN or product number is/will be?

3 hours ago, Raikkonen said:

It's also the small scale with thinner parts that creates this impression.

They probably could have used a denser yet slightly more elastic compound plastic, but that might have costed too much and even increased the weight, which adds up  when shipping out cases of them. 

But, I'm also glad they didn't go done the path of a PVC compound, sure heavier, more rubbery for less stress, but eventually hardens to easily break or becomes sticky. 

Well, durability is often equated with heft, and quality as a result, so I hope they don't regret not going with that compound plastic. HMR carries a certain reputation of quality above Revoltech, Toynami, etc., so I hope they haven't tarnished that. Part of me has wondered from the reviews whether they now consider the accessories to be an adequate tradeoff compared to more invested in the figure itself, though. I'll find out today if the 0S seems similar (and if my box survived). At the price I paid I doubt I'll have as much reason to complain as others on that one.

Saying that, I'm going to wonder if Bandai Namco considers the line a success or not if the 0S price stays or drops even more. With the 0D, I anticipate picking it up (no, I didn't succumb to that eKnight price yet), but if it's comparable in quality, I'll also wonder if the current price might still drop as well. Obviously, I want the line to continue (although I'd care less if DX increased production and were more easily found in the USA), but I'm also of the opinion that at a lower price point Bandai might actually erase Toynami from the market what with their price point gap narrowing already. I guess it depends on how much Bandai is clearing per piece sold, at least in the US market.

4 hours ago, Raikkonen said:

And even though there's some nice heft, it does feel like a already built but firmer model kit to display.

That bit reminds me of reviews of KitzConcept valks, and it scares me a little.

Again, despite what quality issues there my be, the poor shipping method is more likely the main reason for the labeling of the Amazon listing as "frequently returned".

Oh, it's also back in stock at the same price again sold by by Amazon. "Moderate box damage" is still about a buck less.

2 hours ago, Graham said:

I know I'm very late to the game, but after a 6 year hiatus from all things Macross, I finally decided to get myself some Bandai DX VF-1 this in the past month. 😅

Got VF-1S Hikaru + Strike Parts + missile set, VF-1D, VF-1A Kakizaki and VF-1J Hikaru + GBP-1S Armor.

Really nice toys. My only complaint is the way the arms and legs peg into the toy in fighter mode is not really secure enough with the Super/Strike Parts installed.

Congrats! I envy your collection.