CollectorCanine

Got this sucker in yesterday. Haven't had much time to mess with it due to being busy, but it's alright.

I'm a bit annoyed with some joints being too tight, the parts-swapping, and there being hardly enough clearance for the arms to tuck in during transformation to fighter mode and flip back out going the opposite way, but I don't regret picking this as my first Macross toy.

Why are old people so obsessed with toys having metal? lol

1 hour ago, mikeszekely said:

Preorders open tomorrow at 9:00am EDT, and I think they're another Target-exclusive.  I guess people are happy because a lot of them missed Tarn the first time for some reason?  I don't see a huge difference there.  Don't really need Tarantulas, either.  I guess the deco is based on some prototype.  That said, I guess I'll have to shell out for this set anyway to get Prime Cliffjumper (retooled from Legacy United Chase) and Squeezeplay (looks like a heavy retool of Titans Return Mindwipe).

EDIT: OMG, Squeezeplay's gun is molded to look like Browning from Masterforce.

Don't forget the Pulse stream at 11:00am, also.

The Tarn is repainted to look like his Cyberverse incarnation.

The Tarantulas is in the color scheme of the prototype for his original toy seen in the commercials and in some official artwork.

Probably just Bandai looking at Arcadia's designs and going "Hey, that's some cool engineering! Let's just borrow that for ours because someone else already did the work for us."

I frankly don't care what a guy like Doomcock has to say. lol

I've seen those listed on Amazon too. Very silly-looking bootlegs.

5 minutes ago, Alex GS said:

The PO will be soon if that's the date mention below:

Bandai - Hi-Metal R

VF-19 Custom Fire Valkyrie - Update Images

Price: 13,000 yen

Rel Date: Aug 2024

The 25th (tomorrow) should be when Bandai releases their official information on the toy. Because of time zones, we may even see that later tonight (in Eastern Standard Time). Preorders should come not long after.

4 hours ago, kalvasflam said:

Dear Lil Bob, please do not F*** up Macross.  Most definitely do not do a live action version with US rewrites.   Hollywood has screwed up enough original material.

Disney only has the streaming rights. They won't be able to do anything other than put Macross on their streaming service.

That's beautiful...

The pages also say it's slated for an August release date, so that's nice.

13 minutes ago, Slave IV said:

Is the sound booster separate again?

Most likely. 

32 minutes ago, Knight26 said:

So, everything I read keeps saying all 18 entries in the franchise for worldwide release, nothing, that I have seen anyway, says that SDF and DYRL are excluded.  Or am I missing something?

SDF and DYRL are included in the deal, but will be region-locked to only be viewable on the platform in Japan.

Says so on the Macross website.

https://macross.jp/news-detail/25073/

This was unexpected... but welcome because I use my parents' Disney+ account anyway.

I'll pay for Macross stuff with my own money once we get more physical releases.

Honestly, from watching my old AnimEigo DVD set and my Lionsgate/A&E Networks Robotech Complete Set, the video quality is identical. They look like they were definitely taken from the same video source and AnimEigo is credited with "footage restoration" on the Robotech set. This leads me to believe they used AnimEigo's restored Macross footage for every release after, including re-creating Robotech's edited footage with it, yet didn't use their remastered audio for whatever reason.

8 minutes ago, Big s said:

That opening makes me feel like taking a nap. It’s such a snoozer, it should have been the ending 

I honestly feel the opposite. lol

8 minutes ago, Jeff J said:

Interesting!

If they edited out more than a minute of content from each episode, then how'd they fill the standard Japanese TV time slot? 🤔

They cut a minute of content from each episode specifically so they could have a longer opening theme, longer ending theme, and "next episode" previews. That's how they made it fill Japanese TV time slots.

Their size is so obvious if you even do the smallest bit of research on Tomica, though...
It's just Takara-Tomy's equivalent to Hot Wheels. These are going to be around the size of a Hot Wheels car. It's not goddamn rocket science, people!

It's always so fascinating for me to hear about events that happened in fandoms long before I was ever a part of them.

Though it is frustrating to get into something, only to find out that its only physical releases in the USA came out when I was an infant or child and are now loooooong out of print and very expensive... I paid way too much for this Macross set, but it was still cheaper than what ADV's set is going for!

Though... I paid around the same amount as its original retail price mentioned above, so I guess that's not horrible?

I think my only complaint with the set is that it takes up a ludicrous amount of space on the shelf. lol

Yeah, Hasbro has said in the past that ownership of exclusives reverts to them at some point and that there are past very rare exclusives the design team badly wants to reissue, but they have to wait the 3 or 4 years before they can do so first.

Thanks for posting that link so I could secure them. Missed out on Trailbreaker the first time around and been eager for Earth Mode Hound, so this + better versions of guys I already have is good.

8 hours ago, Slave IV said:

I feel like I've seen much better deals than that but I haven't looked recently so maybe that's the case and we need another reissue soon! Also, if you aren't looking to have a huge collection, it might make sense to get one in a larger scale. Since you love the Hikaru Strike VF-1S, I think there is another release of the recent DX mechanical edition so those may show up for a reasonable price. You can also look into the older 1/48 Yamato or 1/60 Yamato/Arcadia Valks. Besides the original, these are all still great options with each one still being great at different things. Again, I love the HMR line but the true greatness of that line is in the displayability of a large collection of them including the Enemy Mecha and Destroids. And the non-transforming mecha are the real stars of that line too...the scale works really well for them. If I was to only have one VF-1, I would not choose the HMR version mainly because it's not as fun to play with by itself and requires a lot more partsforming to get looks in different modes.

The thing here is that the DX Chogokin toys are faaaaar out of my price range... and the recent release of the Strike Valkyrie with exposed mechanical details just doesn't appeal to me. I think the removable panels some VF-1 Super/Strike Parts toys have are unnecessary and a feature I'd never take advantage of... so one with translucent parts to expose the detail I already don't care about or want simply makes me annoyed it wasn't a straight normal reissue of the set in a normal color scheme. 

3 minutes ago, Slave IV said:

HMR are great, I have them all but if you are new to Macross and just starting, you might as well start from the beginning and get yourself a 1/55 “Chunky Monkey” VF-1. The finest toy ever made period and every collector of toys should experience at least one. You can get an original release or any of the reissues (and even some KOs). Depending on which one, they might be around the same price or less than an HMR and you don’t need to worry if it is slightly used. Even heavily used but well cared for copies could be in great condition to this day. 

I've been looking and the old 1/55 "chunky monkey" Valkyries are all going for around $500 now, even the reissues are around $300-ish...

A 1/55 chunky monkey in bad shape is still $200. I refuse to pay that much for something that isn't PERFECT.

I was an infant when this set was released, so I'm pretty happy to have found a copy! I paid way more than I should have, but I felt like I needed to have it.

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.

As someone who has only been into Macross for about a month now, what would be the best Macross toyline to get into first? Especially for someone like me who doesn't have a ton of space and definitely cannot afford things in the price range of the DX Chogokin toys.