WhatBoutMyStar

4 hours ago, MKT said:

For quick visibility. HMR VF-0A, Yen 14k:

https://order.mandarake.co.jp/order/detailPage/item?itemCode=1262263937&lang=en

For an unopened box, that's a pretty substantial discount from the 17,600 yen regular price. All I can see is just a little ding on some of the corners of the box.

7 hours ago, rsvictor1976 said:

Thanks for the info. It looks like I have the Renewal version. Based on the recent posts on this thread, is it safe to assume the Revival versions are also a floppy mess? 

I don't have the Revivals. I have the Renewal Alto and Michael 25s and also a number of 29s that share similarities with the 25. The design is just prone to having the joints loosen over time. If tightening the screws in the shoulders and hips/legs, which are usually the problematic areas, don't work, then at least the good news is that those joints are pretty easily disassembled so you can access the socket and apply some joint tightener like Kiki's or floor polish. I believe there are posts in the Maintenance thread about disassembling the shoulders and hips if you search for them, as well as videos on youtube on it.

I also corrected my prior post to note that the Revival 25s (not the Renewals) are bundled with the super parts. Inadvertent mistake just typing and posting quickly.

On 5/7/2024 at 11:56 AM, rsvictor1976 said:

Forgive me if this has been answered before, but is there a difference between the Revival version and the Renewal version? I bought a VF-25 Micheal a long time ago and it became a floppy mess and I swore I'd never buy another Frontier Chogokin but these Revival versions got me curious. I don't even know if I have the original or the Renewal version, is there a way to tell?

There are quite a bit of differences between the original and the renewal 25s, including the sculpt/proportions in battroid (the top of the legs/hips sit up much higher above the crotch area on the original). If it's in battroid, does your 25 have one locking tab or two metal locking clasps in the waist? If it's the latter, it's the renewal. The original was also prone to yellowing.

If you still have the box, the renewal 25G box should be white. The original 25G box was black.

Biggest visible difference with the revival v. the renewal is the matte finish. The revival 25F and 25G also come with the super parts bundled.

1 hour ago, M'Kyuun said:

The DX Sv-262 is a PITA to transform. I managed to transform it to battroid and that's how it has remained. I don't think I ever reattempted going back to fighter. The majority of it wasn't too bad, but those wing armatures were no fun. Since I display my valks in battroid, I'm good.

I venture the opinion that Macross Plus is more popular than Delta (will ever be), and so, too, the two primary valks (although I have a soft spot for the VF-11, a lovely design in its own right and a valk that gets too little love). If initial sales of the YF-21 are good, I think Max and Milia versions will follow at a minimum. However, we already know this toy is going to be a mixed bag, as we've already exhausted many pages airing our grievances of which Bandai seemingly did little to nothing to fix since the unveiling in 2019. Desperation for a new toy is driving the acquisition of the YF-21 for many, myself included, but I'm not blind to its faults, either. If it's a solid toy with a non-frustrating transformation, good tolerances, and overall good quality, I think it'll soften some the more questionable design flaws, at least make them a little more tolerable. However, given the amount of critique this thing has already suffered, any misstep in quality or build is going to deep six this toy due to the umbrage onslaught. I'm sure Bandai's fully aware of the criticisms, but they're betting on the fandom's desperation. The fact that all this feedback is out there and yet nothing really changed for the better indicates that they're happy to one-and-done with this mold. FWIW, I hope it's a solid toy. Shitty backpack design aside, I've been pretty content with the battroid mode since the proto was unveiled in '19, so for my display purposes, it does the job. That said, I don't really handle my high-end toys, but for those who like to mess with them, the build quality, tolerances, and aesthetics are going to be far more meaningful; failing these criteria, I don't see much of an afterlife for this toy in repaints. If it sucks, the internet won't hold back.

I was very much hoping that Bandai's DX would inspire Arcadia to take another crack at the YF-21. Even if they only did a partial retool of the Yamato to bulk up the legs, it would be the improvement I desperately desire. In all other regards, it's about as close to perfect as humanly possible. I'll take a chubbier jet mode if it means the battroid is more proportional, and hopefully the hips would be on ratchets this time around. The best thing about Arcadia is their genuine passion for Macross; it comes through in their toys, the little touches. I think a new YF-21 release from them would smoke Bandai's DX. Shame they didn't capitalize on the opportunity. In that absence, I feel we the fans lose.

I don't think it's the lack of popularity of Delta compared to Plus in itself (I recall a poll in Japan about 4 or 5 years back showing Delta was actually more popular than Plus). It's that the fans of Delta aren't in the typical demographic who would buy expensive collectible figures/toys, who are typically older and often driven by nostalgia. I remember that poll showing Delta fans being much younger, and I believe it was the only series where more than 50% of the fans were female. Also just from my experience with my own teenage kids and their friends, they simply do not care about toys and figures like I did growing up. They are more interested in their electronic devices and streaming/social media. Given the crowd sizes at Walkure concerts, I'm sure more way more revenues have been generated just by ticket sales of Walkure shows alone compared to what Bandai has grossed or will gross from sales of DX 19 and 21 valks from Plus or all of the Delta valks that have been released.

I'm speculating that Bandai realized this and decided it wasn't worth the risk going forward to press on with more DX valks from Delta, especially when the early releases of "hero valks" like the multiple releases of Hayate's 31J and Messer's 31F ended up quickly inundating the aftermarket for below retail price.  Plus, like SDFM/DYRL, falls much more in line with your typical collectors and should be a much safer bet for Bandai in terms of selling DX valks.

Like the limited edition metallic 25F with both Sheryl and Ranka, Bandai should put out an all metallic version of the fire valk w/ gold trim and include an extra Sivil figure.

I believe Mandarake was selling the 31J with the fold projection unit for 16,000 yen unopened recently. For basically around the same price of this revival, you could probably get that version which has been plentiful in the aftermarket as well as the the super parts set. You'd end up being ahead and better off given the extra sound booster which is a very nice accessory. Shame Bandai didn't sell it separately as I would've bought one for each of the other members of Delta Flight.

Don't really understand the rationale behind this when the 31J has had quite a number of prior releases already. If they're going to re-release any of the 31s, it should be the 31A and Arad's 31S given that they are more difficult to find and more expensive in the aftermarket. Perhaps Mirage's 31C in that group as well.

2 hours ago, onnasake said:

The stand for Myung is the transparent piece between the two I circled.  It can be plugged into the flight stand or the hand.  I don't know what the smaller one that says "Myu" is for.  And the grey piece doesn't seem to be part of the hands.  Maybe it plugs into the back or something?

 

Could the grey piece be an adapter so she can stand in the cockpit?

Yes, the gray piece is the cockpit adapter. The transaprent piece with My on the bottom is to adapter for her to stand in either of the valk's hands in battroid/gerwalk, or it can be plugged into one of the ports in the main display base so she can stand on the display stand. I have all of the tiny session figures and they all have these pieces.

18 hours ago, CollectorCanine said:

I was thinking much the same, from my own research.

HMR seems perfect for me size-wise, but the prices are still just a tad steep for me. They definitely look like they're worth they're asking price, but I definitely wouldn't be able to amass as many as I'd like to very fast. Still the cheapest option out there that isn't a model kit or total crap, though.

Another problem is the current aftermarket prices for some of the older releases I really want, particularly Hikaru's VF-1S Strike Valkyrie from DYRL, being kinda ludicrous.

If you want a DYRL Strike 1S Hikaru, you don't have much in the way of options that haven't been mentioned already. Even the aftermarket for the HMR version is pricey since they go for 20k yen+ on Mandarake (even more expensive than some very good DX valks like a couple of the VF-31s, which is just crazy to me). Another option is Arcadia, which will be re-releasing Hikaru and Roy's Strike 1S in a couple months and which are still up for pre-order from the online shops in Japan for like 21-23k yen, so basically a similar price as the HMR 1S Hikaru and I'd easily take the Arcadia all day over the HMR even though I like my HMR valks.

There's also the Valkyrie Factory KO of the Arcadia and I've seen Hikaru's 1S (non premium finish version without the strike parts) go for as low as $80 shipped from China. I think the strike parts separately go for $50-60. It's a KO, so obviously the build quality isn't going to be on par with the Arcadia, but it's likely the cheapest option available at this point if you want a 1S Hikaru.

tiny little fella - Newage Hound.

Given that Macross is such a small/niche market, I would think most Macross collectors have previously bought from or would be familiar with places like Mandarake, Yahoo Japan, etc. for used valkyries. Even retailers like AmiAmi sell used Macross items. Especially with the exchange rate lately, prices are significantly lower at these places than what you generally see listed on eBay everything factored in, so I'm not sure why someone would go to eBay as the primary secondary market for used Macross items.

As far as DX VF-1s on the secondary market, if they're not busted up, the demand still remains very strong for them and I don't recall seeing any used ones going for below MSRP. A lot of those came in sub-20k MSRP like the 1J, Hikaru and Roy's 1S, Max's 1A, etc. The 1D was a couple thousand more. The going rate for all those now are far higher than that. There certainly are Frontier and Delta valks, however, that I've seen go for below MSRP, even new/unopened in box like Hayate's 31J as one.

3 hours ago, Sandman said:

What are these?

Someone mentioned Walkure above and assuming the ones at the end in the front row are pink and red, then that would certainly line up for each of the Walkure members' color schemes. Pink = Makina, Yellow = Kaname, Red = Freyja, Green = Reina, Purple = Mikumo.

I'd rather have 1/12 figures of all of the Walkure members given KC has done a pretty good job with their action figures as opposed to VF-1s in each of Walkure members' colors, which makes no sense to me. I'd be very interested though if they put out Hayate and Mirage's 1EX since I highly doubt Bandai or Arcadia would ever release those.

20 hours ago, Chronocidal said:

Anyone after the Jetfire repaint, BBTS has them on clearance at the moment.

ShowZ has had the KC Jetfire paintjob for months now for even cheaper ($140 shipped, no tax) compared to the $169 price at BBTS not including the $4 shipping and tax. All that said, I don't have the Jetfire or any KC valk but one of my friends has the Jetfire. After handling it, I wasn't all that impressed and I certainly wouldn't pay $190ish out the door for it at BBTS or even $140 at ShowZ.

I must be one of the lucky ones that hasn't had any issue with the legs detaching on any of the 3 DX VF-1s that I have when transforming them, which granted isn't that often and I've only unpegged that lock once (when I first got the 1J) to check out the waist swivel feature only to think, eh not worth it, and never used it again on any of my VF-1s. I can can  sway the figure mid-transformation back and forth and it stays locked with the legs attached. The only annoyance I have w/ the DX is the leg fins easily getting moved or falling off. Otherwise, I think they are significant improvement over the older Yamato 1/48 and Yamato/Arcadia 1/60 VF-1s that I have.

30 minutes ago, t040484 said:

I did. No luck

That's absolutely terrible, and to me there's no way this is "extremely inconspicuous" or "acceptable" especially given that this is a near $300 figure w/ shipping costs. I don't have this reissue but have the prior Arcadia release, and honestly I'm not all that thrilled with the overall QC of the figure. It's a frustratingly fiddly figure. Count me in as one of those waiting, or hoping, for a DX Fire Valkyrie to replace it.

My friend got the new reissue a couple weeks ago and I recently got a chance to look at it when I was over at his place. I have the previous Arcadia. Don't have the original Yamato. I didn't have mine with me at the time but the new reissue looked exactly the same as mine including color, or at least any visual difference wasn't very noticeable to me. Only difference was some slight joint tolerances in a few spots. But I attribute that to just varying QC along with mine just being older. His also has a stress mark on the right trigger finger like others have reported that problem. Friend didn't notice it before until I pointed it out to him.

I think every DX WWM valk that's been on Amazon US has been discounted/on sale at one point or another, and some by a lot. That includes all of the 25s, Hayate's 31AX, and Max's 29. The 19 is still in preorder status on Amazon, yet it's already been discounted by $30+. I wouldn't be surprised in the least if it goes under $200 on a sale at some point after it's released. Likewise, I wouldn't be surprised to see the 21 get discounted on Amazon at one point or another both in preorder status and also after release, and actually I expect it.

I like my 262 a lot, but it’s not surprising in the least that anything Delta has died off and prices for many of the prior valks have tanked other than something like the 31A. From my experience, fans of the show skew much younger who don’t have sizable discretionary income to spend on expensive figures especially when the Japanese economy isn’t doing too great. Many also aren’t interested in collecting these figures and like the show for other reasons (e.g., music).

Older collectors/fans of the franchise, who are the ones with money, and those especially outside of Japan absolutely despise the show and have no interest in anything whatsoever tied to the series other than diehard completionists who begrudgingly buy the figures for the collection despite vehemently hating the show, but they are very small in number. So it makes perfect sense from Bandai’s standpoint not to waste resources and throw good money after bad. Maybe they’ll release some stuff far from now for the 30th anniversary of Delta or something like that, but I’m treating the series as effectively dead and not expecting anything new.

The price of this has dropped down further on Amazon to $164. Looks like Amazon can’t get rid of these things fast enough, as well as other Macross figures. 

All of the Tiny Session figures have been on deep discount for a while from the usual online shops in Japan. Amazon also has discounted almost all of them at one point or another to $30 and even less especially Kaname/Messer and Freyja/Hayate.

FWIW, I bought 5 of mine at various times from Amazon when they were on sale. Every time, the figure was packaged fine in an Amazon box (although a couple times without any additional padding, but ultimately no damage to the item box itself).

The Delta figures in my opinion are better than the Frontier ones. Big part of that is that the stand is absolutely terrible for the 25s.

Amazon has this on sale as an early Black Friday deal at $177.99 for those who may still be interested. Believe this is the lowest price it's ever been.