Chronocidal

30 minutes ago, sh9000 said:

The DX VT-1 was 'Display Only' and there was no official announcement of a release.

 

That's what I wondered about mostly.  I kind of hope that one just shows up as a web exclusive.

Do we know how many different items are actually going up for sale tonight?

I'd assume that confirms the VF-0A, but do we have any idea if the YF-21 and VT-1 could be dropping as well, or will those be later?

1 hour ago, vladykins said:

Also- got Bandai'd since my Kaki showed up without one knee. 

Not sure what you mean, since he definitely has both there?  Unless you had to make a repair, and you mean you had to glue the leg together, it just looks like the kneecap got stuck closed.

It's actually made a decent amount worse, just by being mounted on the stand, since the giant mounting bracket blends into the packs.  All things considered, it might look pretty slim with the packs taken off.

I can say I use them as a backup, since their prices are higher to begin with, but there are other reasons to keep them as a reserve.

First off, many folks have had experiences of bad packing jobs done by them, resulting in boxes getting crushed.  I don't know if it resulted in any major damage, but people like their boxes intact.

Personally?  They have come through on my orders, but I would not call them exactly "proficient" at fulfilling them.  They may or may not actually send you your order when it arrives, and you may or may not have to contact them directly to remind them that the product you paid for at pre-order is several months overdue.    

In all fairness, the months-long delay was because I was not in a rush to get the product, and I was genuinely curious if they would actually remember I bought it.  In the end?  No, they never figured it out without me sending them an email requesting what I paid for.

On 11/24/2023 at 6:41 PM, derex3592 said:

DHL dropped Max on my doorstep at 7:35PM tonight. Pretty damn impressive seeing as I got the shipping notification from them Wednesday morning at 7:00AM. Didn't expect to see it till next week with Thanksgiving going on.  No damage to box.  DHL is ALWAYS perfect for me. LOVE the text notification and the digital sign for no signature delivery with them!  100000% better than USPS.🤮

Wish I knew how to get the ones near me to do the same, but DHL doesn't even deliver to my location.  They offload the shipment to some third-party courier in the general area, which has absolutely abysmal communication, and does not interact with the main DHL service to manage notifications and delivery schedules, and absolutely will not drop anything off without a signature, no matter how many times I tell DHL to tell them to do it.

Yeeeeeah.. uh.. that 180 gear is definitely a peak-Bandai feature.

The reason gear rotate in the first place is to turn flat and fit into the wing.. but apparently they made the bay so narrow they didn't have room that direction either?   

I will be really interested in seeing just how much space is saved by using the fake gunpods though.  They look exactly the same size.  Maybe the snaps on the normal ones are too strong, and they wanted to avoid people breaking the mechanisms to open them when pulling them out?

It's really not that bad a price, when you consider the exchange rate, and the combined price of finding a VF-1S and strike packs right now.

Not something I'm going to spend on though, too many other more important things coming.  Tempting.. but a properly printed tail isn't worth that much to me.

18 minutes ago, Raikkonen said:

Hmmm... if the fast packs are included, surely this is also a given (everywhere else outside Bandai's HQ) ?

Doubtful.  There is a picture with the packs and gunpods, along with the punch effects, but that's about it.

Maybe they'll include mounts for the ones that came with the YF-19 full set, but I'm not betting they're going the "everything and two kitchen sinks" route again.

A VF-22 from this mold is a brainless repaint honestly, it needs a grand total of like three new parts.  One if they get lazy.  Mostly will come down to if they feel like devoting the effort to the production line.

Given how good the Yamato M&M VF-22s were at shelf insulation for years, I'm not expecting them to try it.  It'd be a webshop exclusive, if anything.

Hey, at least they didn't pull an HMR this time.  The wings do have hardpoints.  

Or.. at least the display version does.. probably anyone's guess whether the release keeps them, since they were probably just modded VF-1D parts.

23 hours ago, grogall said:

My thoughts exactly, I read that the initial VT-1, 1:55 didn't sell very well, but today is well sought after. I don't know how well the 1:60 High MetalR line sold!? Since the Chogokin VF-1D is almost always sold out from Mandrake, the VT-1 and VE-1 will do well! And the VT-1/VE-1 share the same mould in most parts, its almost a given that we will see the VE-1 soon... 

Honestly, the only reason those two designs are so "popular" is because of the rarity.  I think certain people absolutely latch on to their unique design, and they're especially iconic with DYRL.. but historically?  They don't sell very well.

I got my original 1/60 Yamato v2s on clearance at HLJ, and it was only years later that prices started to climb.  The same happened with the HMR versions.  Pre-orders were a nightmare as usual, but after release?  They were available everywhere easily for a while.  I had no trouble getting three of each.

With this one?  I'm not waiting, because I seriously doubt Bandai will make more than one run, and they might not produce that many to begin with.

42 minutes ago, MKT said:

So yeahh.. agreeing with sentiment that the other 2 sound force VFs will look terrible in Fighter based on those sculpts. Wonder if Bandai is just showing them to pump up hype for the VF-19 Kai for more people to buy it in hopes for the other 2 to be released, and then make them quietly disappear from future events.

The sculpts though, would work better if they make the HG Shortcut Change kit version?

Would not be at all surprised if those are prototypes for 1/100 HG kits that they just displayed with the HMR Fire Valk to gauge hype for the designs, and decide whether considering an HMR version would even be worth the effort.

That would be a pretty egregious bait-and-switch, but also something I would entirely expect them to do.

2 hours ago, kloopit said:

I think it looks better. Also  Not sure if this has been brought up but they really need to add that v notch in the front of the grey canopy like in the line art and as seen on the Yamato. The rounded front canopy makes the the nose look soft and doughy. The v notch is a design feature that’s all over the plane.  I don’t understand what they would round it off. 

Because Bandai knows better than our lying eyes what Kawamori intended with his lineart.  

36 minutes ago, Big s said:

Maybe not standing straight, but possibly in an action pose. I think the stand will definitely help though and may be a necessity 

I think it's been pretty clear for a few years that Bandai doesn't even consider displaying these things without a stand as a viable option.

7 hours ago, Froy said:

Preorder cancelled they got belly fast packs wrong/diferent

 

The fast packs are the absolute least of my concerns.  

Yeah, those fast packs are definitely getting left off, but finally... this is the angle I've been wanting to see the entire time.

Tails definitely need to be a little farther back to be effective as rudders, but I guess when you've got engines that vector, it's less of an issue?  Still looks unbalanced, but the front end isn't as much of a problem with a better perspective.

6 hours ago, rematron said:

Yup, you’re absolutely right. I cropped and oriented the 2023 fighter photo to better match the 2019 battroid photo and the differences are a lot more subtle than I thought in my post. I can’t stop staring at this toy. Really looking forward to it.  Time for me to give it a rest. 😅
 

2019

2023:

Thanks for the close-up, it does show a couple of differences between them.  The front edge of the canopy does look a little different, and the details surrounding the edge are different now, so I think the canopy has changed quite a bit from the original.  They also added the cutout at the back to open it with a fingernail.

5 hours ago, sh9000 said:

I hope the Japanese stores don't make their limit to 1 because I'd rather buy and ship 2 together from the same store.

Even if they are being imported now, I would still much rather buy them directly from Japan, and avoid the Bandai foreign export inflation that happens.  Even ordering two from separate Japanese stores would probably wind up being less than two from a single store in the US.

And I'd much rather have a chance of even ordering one to begin with, rather than see every site sell out in less than a second.  

So my main question.. can you rig it to play the theme as it rises?  

Yeah, it does look like they've at least slightly addressed how ugly the canopy was at first, though keep in mind that the angle viewing the nose will alter that significantly, and it's going to look better from the top down than bottom up.

4 hours ago, jenius said:

That looks very unnatural... Wonder how it could have happened.

I'm just guessing, but the only thing I could think of that would cause that sort of failure is if someone managed to get the thruster flap jammed against the arms, and then decided they would force the backpack down come hell or high water.  

And to think we survived the era of BP-8.  

2 hours ago, Froy said:

So, I was loosening the hip articulations and noticed that there is one missing piece.

It seems to be just some kind of plastic filler. It kinda keeps the 2 halves of the socket together much like the other plastic piece below. 

Any ideas of it's function? It doesn't seems to affect the leg without it, was tight as hell.

 

It's Bandai's patented system to make sure anyone who attempts to fix their nonsense design work will be forced to chase a half dozen parts across the room any time they disassemble the thing.

They're so confident in their engineering superiority, they booby trap toys to make sure you can't put it back together if you attempt a fix yourself.  

3 hours ago, MKT said:

I never noticed them on my VE-1 before. Learning something new today lol. But you are right, the backpack is secure enough without using the locks.

I don't really know if it was ever about securing the backpack.  It felt more like they were trying to secure the tails, because, for whatever reason, they always had a weird springy hinge that would resist folding them up more than the typical VF-1 tail.

I'll believe it when they show more than one mode.  Those would both make rotten fighters.

Obnoxious or not, that one at least has a real life precedent, which is more than you can say about a lot of Bandai's tampo shenanigans.