Chronocidal

Yeah, mine drooped a bit less than that. The plastic just got gooey with too much heat. It's really difficult finding the right amount of heat to move it without distorting it worse. I'm trying to think of the easiest way to mass produce spares, and finding some way to cut them out of plastic in the correct color seems like it would be the most reliable, just to avoid having paint rub off. Or, you know, in some dream dimension Bandai could actually accept responsibility for this crap and make good on its failures by sending out free spares to everyone who bought the darn thing. Between this and the stupid VT-1 tails breaking, this summer has been a quality control disaster for them. I'm tempted to buy a third just so I have a valid product support avenue to complain through.

(Snipped for saving space) 1. The canopy is definitely huge, but that's actually very fitting for the dual-elevation cockpit on the VT-1. It's so the instructor in the back seat has a clear view if they have to take control, and it's very similar to other dedicated trainer aircraft like the T-45 Goshawk and T-38 Talon. 3. The beige looks great to me honestly. I did a little bit of inspecting, and very little seems to be molded in orange, but the color matching is definitely better here than I've seen Bandai manage in some time. Molded orange parts appear to be limited to the tails, underside of the backpack, the backpack thruster flap, inner and outer leg panels, and the leg strakes (not counting the boosters and leg packs). 4. The fact that DYRL duty uniformed Hikaru looks like a much larger person than TV Roy bugs the crap out of me. Bandai just seems to exist in this warped reality where they are desperate to replicate animation, even if it makes no physical or logical sense, so we get these midget TV figures bouncing around massive cockpits and failing to grasp flight sticks the size of encyclopedias, while DYRL figures are properly sized and crammed in like actual fighter pilots in actual aircraft that can actually grasp the controls. 5. I just refuse to use those tail clips. They're not necessary, and all they're going to do is stress the tails. I'm almost tempted to putty over them to fill the divots taken out of the backplate. To Bandai's credit though, they had the sense to mold the tails in orange, and the backplate all in beige. To my knowledge, there are no places where painted and unpainted plastic connect or grind against each other when mounting the boosters, so you don't need to worry about paint scratches. I was impressed to see that the booster packs actually will stay in place without the tan mounting bracket though. You can't do this with the normal super/strike packs, because they don't have a substantial enough connection to the backpack, but the extra orange cover panel on the backpack of the VT-1 gives them an extra connection point, and they will stay on just fine, so long as you don't wildly swoosh the valk, or leave it standing in battroid. If you were so inclined, you could probably avoid the bracket entirely if you wanted to trust those tail clips to hold the backpack up, but I don't feel like it's worth the risk. The booster brackets have never really bothered me anyway; I feel like they were a huge step up from how the old 1/48 Yamato boosters were secured, and I like the boosters being sturdy enough to lift the valk by. 6. As much as some people may like the pop-up/sliding hinges that Yamato/Arcadia and Bandai have both adopted for gear doors at this point, I maintain that they have always been a significant step backwards from how Yamato used to do their door hinges. Older Yamato designs used a hooked swing-bar on the gear doors to pull them out and away from the wells, and it was both more functional and more accurate to how actual landing gear doors pivot. That's just how gear doors work in real life, they have to swing out and away to clear the bay. Those big curved hooks at the hinge are mounted to a pivot point outside of the gear bay. It lets the doors drop freely and swing away from the gear well. I'm not going to say they don't exist, but I have never seen a gear bay function anything like the sliding hinges used on the toys now. I think that sort of mechanism would just add multiple layers of extra complexity to what should be a very simple swinging door that is able to clear the bay by gravity assist alone in case of a hydraulic failure. Also, there is just no helping that very front gear door. Yamato nailed that design when they attached it to the gear strut, and Bandai's is a step backwards in every way. I worry I'm going to just snap that little twig of a door off every time I try to pry it open.

Realized it might have gotten muddled in the conversation, I was talking about a previous order experience with Luna Park, not Yoyakunow. I edited the original post to clarify that. So far my order process with Yoyakunow has been solid, I waited a little after release to request shipping of my extra VT-1, and I'm just waiting on the shipping charge now.

From what I saw on the one I heated with a space heater to fix, the white marks disappear close to the point where the plastic reaches its melting point. I was able to get rid of my stress mark, but when I brushed my finger against the plastic, it was very limp, so I pushed it too far, and it got too hot. I was able to get it straight for the most part, but what's amusing to me is that the tip of the laser actually bent in the other axis direction, and now the tip is slightly limp.

The figures are mostly just whatever, I actually just like building the valks themselves, since they're about 1/80 scale, and display really well with HMR valks.

Honestly, I'm not going to even label this a "bad" experience. They delivered without issue once I asked, and I purposefully dragged it out to see what would happen, so that part is on me. I'd probably still use them as a backup if I couldn't get something elsewhere, provided the price wasn't absurdly inflated. I'm not going to say it's a positive vote for them, but it's neutral at worst, and I'd be willing to believe it's just a miscommunication about them expecting me to request shipping when I was ready.

Yeah, Luna Park has never ever actually done anything wrong with my orders, but they seem to be very scatterbrained about when (or if) they send things without constant prodding. The last thing I ordered from them was a Mirage 31AX. I wasn't in a rush to receive it, since it was a backup, so I decided to wait and see if they actually sent it without me requesting it. In short, nope! Order was placed on October 25 2021, and they didn't ship it until I poked them, in February of 2023, almost a year and a half after the initial order. I had to wonder if my request sent them scrambling to find stock of it, but given the issues the 31AX line had, I don't suppose it was all that difficult to find one.

I wonder if some factory workers are confused about the fact that the tails on this one don't fold, and are trying to force them down during packaging.

Just keep in mind that removing it might make the pivot sloppier as it wears down. That's the biggest reason I kind of prefer the homemade one, I flattened it out so it sits flat against the back of the head, and doesn't rotate. If Shapeways had the right color to print them in, it might be worth seeing if they can make them in whatever crazy nylon mix they like to use, since it would be really sturdy.

If I can find my box of saved scraps from old Bandai kits, I might try and carve out another copy or two, just for spares.

Urgh.. I appreciate the effort, but that is the least VW Beetle looking VW Beetle Lego has ever produced. I don't want to be too harsh, since I know transforming stuff is so difficult, but I'd probably keep that one in bot mode forever.

No, they actually go this one right thankfully. Right is definitely blue. Reason I remember it (besides being around aircraft all the time) is an old catchphrase I picked up at some point: "Red, Right, WRONG." If you see the red light on the right, it means you're set up for a head-on collision. Still sucks they completely forgot to paint them, but I actually wonder if it's due to the extra layer of paint on those thruster blisters disrupting the normal production flow. Would be really funny to scrape away a layer of that tan paint, and find out they did paint the lights, they just got the layering out of order, and painted the tan over the top of them.

I don't think the animators picked up on the nuances, looks like they just did all of them red.

Sheesh, did they outsource both this and the YF-21 to new production lines? These are some of the dumbest and most preventable issues they've introduced in a long time.

For what it's worth, I think they all use that same material, and I don't think I've heard of any cases of it shattering on any of the previous releases. And, on the off chance they do wind up exploding.. I'm going to be perfectly honest, it won't matter to me, since I don't think I've ever transformed any VT-1 past half gerwalk anyhow.

I know it's weird and bafflingly Giger-esque, but I wouldn't mind the Batman Forever Batwing as well. For some reason, my memory of this one got blended with the TAS version, and I've always had a mental image of this one's fuselage with the TAS wings, which I think makes a really nice combo, honestly.

That... is an interesting choice. I guess so long as he leaves the mask on, it won't really matter? But I can't help think they're trying to pull more multiverse shenanigans and play with the nature vs nurture angle. I'm also not deep enough into Marvel history to know whether those two characters may have ever met or interacted in some way, but after their first foray into using characters from that franchise, I'm not sure I trust them to try again.

The VT-1 tails have never been able to fold all the way that I know of, even on the Yamato. They just didn't have as much of a drastic redesign, or what looks like as fragile a connection as the Bandai one does. The plastic really does look thin there. I wonder if someone in Japan could get the replacement part for you with your photos. I do think someone took apart the entire DX VF-1 early in the release cycle to repaint it in another set of markings, so you should find some helpful posts in the forum history somewhere. If you're able to get the backpack apart to access that hinge, it might be thick enough to drill into and repair with a metal pin to hold it together. As far as the tail clips on the backplate go though, I've never found a reason to use them. They definitely put stress on the tail hinges, and they've always looked funky to me, so I'm not going to risk it. Though, I have to give credit to Yamato for coming up with a less disruptive design for them, and in a smaller scale no less, Bandai's hinged ones take huge chunks out of the upper surface of the plane.

The stylization I'm kind of ambivalent about. It's a different look, more of a Gundam/Armored Core aesthetic, instead of being a pure transforming aircraft design. Interesting in battroid/gerwalk, but it's definitely not doing fighter mode any favors. Just looks sloppily slapped together, very much like the VF-2SS in both good and bad ways. Interesting detail on the legs to make them beefier though, it looks like the entire inside panel collapses to give the arms more room.

Really is a beautiful one, going to be fun setting up displays for it. I'm really glad they included the extra figures for it as well, since that helps solve a completely different problem I have.. I'll probably repaint one flightsuited Hikaru as Roy, and do some components swapping to make myself a DYRL version of his VF-1S, since Bandai seems completely uninterested in releasing that version. Unless that'll be the next one we get, of course. Maybe they'll throw out a Strike Roy VF-1S as the next 40th anniversary release before getting to the VE-1. Would be great if they bundled in the missiles too, but I'm not getting any hopes up.

You might be better off in the end if you actually need a replacement. I would not be surprised if replacements start getting sold on various sites though, and it's not too hard to make a replacement out of plain sheet plastic, minus the tiny little warning marking tampo. I'm wishing they had just make it non-moving like the Yamato for two reasons though.. one, it wouldn't slop around in a stiff breeze, and two, they would have had to remove it for packaging.

Interesting, it's back in stock at Anime Export, though the markup makes me think they're going through a third party seller.

Ahh, oof, yeah, that does hurt to get stiffed on the order. I didn't realize those were DYRL packs to start with. The color match for the kite looks really close though, glad the old stickers fit! Fortunately the strike sets come with so many spares we can afford to repaint a few.

So.. I got bored a little earlier, and curious about how difficult it might be to do this. Turns out Bandai's general yellow plastic in many of their kits is a pretty good match. This is just two of those big tabs they label sprues with, sandwiched together with cement, then cut and filed to shape. The notch was made by pressing a 1/8th inch drill bit into the plastic and cutting a dent, then filing a channel for the snap to travel. Not a perfect match, but not bad for about an hour's work. Honestly? I think I like it better than the stock one, just for filling out the mount, and not constantly getting knocked out of place. The pivot is horribly sloppy on the normal one.

I think with DHL that might not be wrong. I usually avoid them when possible specifically because they wind up being more expensive for large orders. Think it just comes down to whether a particular shipper is charging by weight, or by volume. Not sure which DHL uses, but when I look at options through HLJ, DHL seems to increase faster than other shippers when I add more items.