Chronocidal
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Heck, if any English-speaking regions get any sort of officially subtitled release, I'm going to be importing them from there anyway. No reason to wait for a US version.
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I'm really hoping Roy is an exclusive like the HMR, just to avoid the mad dash.. heck, I'd be okay with all of them being exclusives, just so long as Bandai doesn't pull another 31A on everyone. It's anyone's guess which one is actually next, but we at least know they intend to make DYRL Roy, Max, and Kakizaki. If we get a VF-1D and VT-1, I'll be thrilled, but I'm going to try and limit myself to ten of these, and sell of duplicates of my Yamatos to help fund them. My dream lineup right now is basically Hikaru's 1J, Max's 1A, DYRL Hikaru, Roy, and Max 1Ss (Max will probably be a 1A judging by the strike pack ad), a DYRL brownie 1A, VF-1D, and VT-1, with one final set of M&Ms. I'm thinking I might give my brother the normal Arcadia releases for Christmas this year, since I have the original Yamato ones and the PF Arcadias. I've made it a point to pick up every matched pair of theirs I can, all the way back to the Joke Machines. I'm waiting until we get the final "parts included" photo before pulling the trigger on the strike packs though. I'm curious if the panels might be double sided.
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Yep, the intro scene has the whole squad in formation dumping reaction missiles into the Zentraedi fleet, fully outfitted in super packs, with Roy getting the strike version. Every member gets a bit of focus I think, but Max gets the lion's share of visible kills, before they highlight Hikaru's sloppy attempt to match him. Are they actually re-releasing the YF-29 though? I mean, the packs for that are so insignificant that they should have always been packed in, in my opinion... but I thought that display was Bandai's typical "Here's the thing you could have bought several years ago; Neener-neener-neener" showcase, like they always pull with the armored VF-25S.
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Honestly, I'm just in this to get some near HMR-scaled VF-31s. Measurements from earlier in the thread put them about 1/89, which is almost dead on scale with the HMR VF-1s. They won't work in battroid, but it looks like you'll be able to jury rig a perfectly fine gerwalk mode with them by leaving the legs closed. Maybe I'll paint up figures as some macronized Meltran.. cosplayers?
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As an oddball addendum.. how hard would it be to set up a scrolling lenticular animation of Minmay's dancing from the end of DYRL? Instead of having an actual LCD/tablet/etc behind Hikaru's valk, could you actually just have a setup involving a bunch of rotating cylinders that would give you a moving image?
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Ugh.. trouble with the "full skull squad" idea is that, for me, that means Roy, plus Hikaru, Max, and Kakizaki 1As, all in packs, in fighter formation. The strike-packed Hikaru 1S is the kind of thing you pose in battroid mode, weapons all aimed, standing in front of an LCD display of Minmay dancing. Think I'm going to have to just make the call and stick with four. That will at least give me enough to rotate displays of the group, assuming I can even get the other three. At least Bandai showed their hand for their DYRL release roadmap a little. I'm still hoping we get a VF-1D and VT-1 out of this series, but I'm not holding my breath. If I can walk away from this line with 10 DX VF-1s, I'll call it a day. Although.. I remember saying the same thing about the Yamato v.2 back in the day. I picked up so many of those on clearance over the years, I probably have closer to 30 by now. On the bright side, I probably won't have that problem with the DX releases..
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So.. if you think about it though, this could be a similar approach to the one they took with the VF-31s. They didn't release reaction missiles with any of them at first. Why? Because Hayate's first valk and Messer's never used them. Once they got to the valks seen with them on screen, they started including them. We've only seen Hikaru's 1J so far, and Max's 1A will be coming next, but neither of those used fast packs, so there's no reason to include emblems. Maybe if we get a TV Roy or CF, they'll be included in those. Really though.. if we're getting plastic inserts with skull logos on them? Easiest freaking custom in the book. Slap an old Hasegawa decal on it, or an old Yamato sticker, or print your own, or paint it, or whatever you have to do, but you're talking about applying a circular emblem to a flat piece of plastic. It would be nice If they included them, sure, but it's one of the simplest things you could possibly customize. The logo is simple enough, I'd be tempted to mask it off and just spray paint it. I'll be anxiously awaiting the final product contents pictures, because I want to confirm we're getting plastic inserts with each logo tampo printed, and not some kind of plastic stick-on panel that you have to choose between.
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Look on the bright side. Once the packs are released, and those other valks hit the market, you'll probably be able to sell those spare packs for the going rate of the valk itself. Also, I've really got no intention of waiting for TV parts. I'll probably get a pair of those when they arrive, but since every set will come with four sets of marking panels, I'm going to have plenty of spares to repaint with the kite logo, or any other squadron I could possibly want.
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Yeah, think I'll stick to my own computer sims. That looked.. well, I can't help but imagine that as a cross between Star Tours, and the Dumbo Ride.. they give you a lever to go up and down.. wheeeeeeee. -
Aha! Glad to see they're doing the sensible thing, but it also indicates what sets they might release in the future. Judging by this, I wouldn't be too surprised if we don't see a Max 1S or Hikaru 1A... which I'm actually perfectly fine with, since I don't really need duplicate schemes, even with different heads. Would be really quick work to re-label the Max or Hikaru ones with alternate numbers though, assuming they don't turn out to be double sided. In terms of Max's 1S though.. it really wouldn't surprise me if Bandai ignored the markings for that one since we never saw his 1S with packs. The nice thing about this is that even if you only order two sets, that means you'll have a bunch of spare roundels to repaint in custom colors or markings. I'm thinking of all the assorted super-packed brownies you see in DYRL. I'm either getting four or five sets, depending on whether I really feel like getting Kakizaki, so that will give me a ton of spare emblems to mess with. The important take-away from this announcement though is that if you want strike packs for any future potential releases, buy them now. Odds are we won't see them again for other versions, since they're giving you all the options up-front.
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It would make sense for them to release more of these armors, just to make the most of the molds, but I don't expect them to do it unless we see all of Delta Flight getting them in a new movie or show of some sort. Either way, I don't know if I would buy all of them. I should actually dig out my Delta movie box, and compare that blue one with the art on it, and watch to see if Arad and Chuck were using identical packs in the actual animation.
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I think the 31A in particular is an aberration in the usual TWE process. We'll likely never find out what went down behind the scenes to make that release such a disaster, but in the end, despite the terrible/non-existent communication on the matter, NY did come through and deliver what was ordered (nearly a year late, in some cases, I believe). In general, TWE releases are something that shouldn't have any pre-order madness, and there shouldn't be any shortage, because Bandai should be basing its production quantities on the pre-orders. This is why the VF-31A was such an odd case.. something happened to that production that caused it either to be heavily delayed, or smaller than the pre-order amounts. The big trick with TWE releases though? You probably don't want to wait too long, just for peace of mind. There should be no issue getting stock of the items, but what you want to keep in mind is that if you're on the fence about buying the item? Buy it anyway. Bandai does not re-release TWE items (or I've never seen them do it), so if you think you'll ever possibly want one, buy it now. Getting in a pre-order, and deciding later that you don't need it will save you a lot of money over skipping the pre-order, and deciding later that you really want one. Ask anyone who missed out buying Ozma's VF-25S armor pack about how they feel. These days, I pretty much purchase any TWE Macross item as a rule, whether I think I'll need one or not, because the demand for them will always be there.
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See, here I was thinking they were an actual modification to allow full-sized Zentraedi to use the valks as armor or a vehicle in a pinch, similar to what Klan did in Frontier, wearing a set of super packs.
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I want to say that I remember one side of the arm having an angled peg in the recess for the gunpod that the arm packs snap into, to help let you roll the packs in one direction away from the arm, but I might be imagining things. The pick is probably your best bet all around, you just need to lift one latch past that tab and then rotate the entire pack away.
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Well.. it might be a sloppy translation, and Bandai is hinting that you'll be able to use it on "other future VF-1 releases" without stating the obvious that you can also use the red markings on Hikaru's VF-1A. They probably don't want to show their hand on which ones will be coming next.
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Missile sets arrived.. I might explore alternate pylon options in the future, since these are so incredibly stubby. TV clusters were my main goal though, and those are probably the best of the group. All of them block the flaps from operating to a degree, but that's about standard operating procedure for Bandai.
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Got the delivery slip for my missiles from CD Japan in my box yesterday, so will pick those up this afternoon. Definitely grabbing two sets of Hikaru's strike packs though. I don't care how inaccurate they are, they just look good on Hikaru's 1J. If the roundels can be swapped out, I'll make myself some kite versions.
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Not to put a damper on the end of HG, but I really wouldn't get your hopes up at that affecting any significant change in the marketing or availability of Macross goods. Just because Bandai can sell something in the US, does not mean it will. As I'm sure anyone with experience acquiring the assorted Metal Build Gundam releases could tell you, just because you're not fighting a licensing blockade doesn't mean things will be easy to acquire.
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Bandai doesn't operate on the principle of doing what people expect. I have to assume they do all of their market research on the back end, and have their production numbers figured out long before the pre-orders ever happen. And I also assume that they don't give a rat's hindquarters about the international market, because Macross is for Japan only. If they actually treated pre-orders as ways to gauge interest, or determine production numbers, every single pre-order for the 31A would have been filled on release day. @Shizuka the Cat I'm sure you had a better time than most folks here. Seemed like the overwhelming majority of attempts wound up stalled in broken/unresponsive/terrible website shenanigans and cart-ganking. Seemed even worse than the Max 1A from my experience, if only for the frustration of having so many orders stuck in carts that were lost due to broken and unresponsive websites.
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Personally I'd happily get behind every site just offering no pre-order discount, and requiring payment up-front. That'll eliminate a great deal of the scalping, because you won't be enticing them with higher margins, and they'll have to take the risk up front. What you'll be left with is people who actually want the item for themselves, and will be more willing to pay ahead of time to secure one. Cut out the speculators, for the sake of the collectors. A trade-off really. Little bit higher prices for people who get there fast, but you'll be saving late-comers money by curbing runaway markup.
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Wait, you mean they actually thought it was necessary to come up with an in-universe explanation for these?
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Yeah, I'd believe it. It's just a mess. I'm not even going to count on NY though, at least not so far as getting out the product anywhere near the release date. Odds are, I'll wind up with the strike packs before NY manages to ship out all the orders. I just really hope we all get surprised by stock freeing up around release date. We're coming up on the VF-31E release, so we'll finally get to see whether the scalpers were over-zealous for a valk that won't sell well, or if we'll have another 31A mess of miniscule supply. I learned my lesson with the VF-31A though, I'm not dealing with NY's nonsense refund system ever again. I'll wait until I'm old and gray to get what I pre-paid for.
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Think I'm just going to call this at 1, and be done. I don't need duplicates, especially if they go and make Hikaru's 1A as well. Probably time to revise my planned purchases.. depending on what Bandai deems worthy of producing in this line. Hopefully will get the Hikaru and Roy 1S.. Probably stick to a VF-1D, VT-1 (please?), and DYRL Brownie 1A then. Much as I like M&M 1Js, I've got too many of those already. Far as the blood diamond analogy goes.. you can't really call out any of the distributors when Bandai is the king of that entire scheme. They're the ones restricting the supply from the very start.
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Oh, I'm thinking more in terms of the prices going higher in general. I don't like it, but sites that require paying up front at a higher cost are a great scalper deterrent. Whether NY's practices qualify as scalping is up for grabs though. I'd be perfectly happy if more sites required payment up front.
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I admit, it's safer for your wallet. I'm not so upset about the markup. I would have paid that earlier, if the sites had worked. If that's what it takes to reduce the scalper nonsense, so be it.
