Chronocidal

Pretty much, though they wander around depending on the particular proportions and transformation.

Yeah, my understanding is just that it's a very common example of this trope: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BlandNameProduct I couldn't even name them if I tried, but I feel like I've seen the same upside-down McDonalds logo in a ton of anime. Apparently it's common in Inuyasha, and I think it happened in Haruhi as well. Various series love doing this with all manner of brand names, coming up with misspelled twists like "Espon" printers, "Sanisonic" electronics, "Starbooks Coffee," and I know at least one instance of a computer with a pear as a logo. How this one ascended into a real life crossover meme I have no idea, but I would be curious to try the different sauces. I know I've had a type of sweet chili sauce before, but might not be the same thing.

Originally I only picked up extras of certain favorites, usually for alternate display options. When Bandai entered the arena, I started buying extras for two more reasons: 1. Bandai does not offer replacement parts, and good luck getting a replacement product at all when they purposefully keep their production numbers so low 2. Certain webshops have proven to be unreliable in actually delivering what you pay for. Sometimes I order from multiple sources just to make sure I get one at all. In the case of things like the VF-171, I bought extras just to have spare parts to repair the ones that disintegrate. While I don't have a good display space setup yet, I do plan for how I would like to display things, so that usually means at least two of each valk for multiple modes. Certain favorites I'll grab more for alternate loadouts or display options, or just to have extras of certain features, like the pile of Bandai YF-19s I picked up so I could have missiles to load every other naked Bandai valk (it's my favorite anyhow, so it's not like it was just for the missiles ). I have reached the point where many of the multiples don't really make sense anymore though, and I am considering thinning the collection. I've never bought things with the intention of later selling them, but the idea that some of them could serve as a resource in an emergency has always been in the back of my mind.

Yeah, kind of. Between the insane number of independent joints in the arms having to be lined up, the incredibly tight metal joints in the backplate, and just all of the issues existing in the legs, it really is the most aptly named valk ever.

Maybe we'll get lucky, and the NA release will wind up the way the PC release of HAWX included all of the future DLC in the original install, and all it took was a text editor to unlock it all.

Boy, that just makes me want to re-decal all of my HMRs with un-bolded font.

I think Frontier was Bandai's first foray into "aircraft things" for the most part. The main characters got numbers, but anyone not named was treated with all the respect of a typical grunt Zaku. The overall markings of the 171s make me seriously question whether anyone working on the animation models had ever seen a military aircraft in their lifetime. Fortunately that mostly got resolved by Delta, and there's a reason why the Kairos is so loved. And yes, some of the releases had "NO STEP" printed on both the upper and lower surfaces of the wings. The "excuse" commonly cited is that they operate in space, but I think it's a lot simpler than that. They just replicated the CGI model textures, which copy-pasted the upper and lower wings. They put them there because the production photos had them.

Makes me wonder if the old SDK is still archived and available somewhere. I had a great time making custom maps for BF2 back in the day. Hoth was a lot more interesting when the map was doubled in size.

Real pity we never got a seated Minmay for the VF-1D. Still feels ridiculous.

Looking closer, I want to know who goofed up and gave Hikaru's 1J yellow circles on the legs like Roy's and Max's.

The parts swapping for the MAXL is going to be so extensive they might as well just give you two separate kits. Can't read any of the text, but is there anything there about it being a multi-mode kits like the others?

So I've continued my spree of builds (and box condensing, because yeesh), and threw together one of the VB-6 kits tonight. Pretty good size, but smaller than the Robot Spirits version, so it's less of a match to the HMRs than that version. Feels good in the hand, and very swooshable in shuttle mode though. I think it actually holds together a little better than the Bandai, though being lighter helps there. It's still a hefty kit though, lots of very dense plastic construction in the legs and body. Design looks closer to the original lineart than the variations made for the Frontier version, with more of the original layered nose shape. This one's an oddball, in a couple of good ways. First, unlike every other VFG kit that requires a ton of parts-swapping and alternate builds to make the various modes, this one is very close to being a perfect transformation kit. You pretty much just remove the motorcycle-style seat cushion to free up the hinges to achieve the standard Monster gerwalk. Otherwise, the transformation has one part to swap: just the cockpit/head for going to destroid mode. There are two additional parts that aren't required, but I was impressed that they included them, because they actually achieve something Bandai didn't even try with their Robot Spirits version: they actually gave the shuttle retractable landing pads. They're nothing particularly special, and they have to be removed for transformation so they don't snap off, but the shuttle has two fold-out pads that pop out near the hip joints, and work as landing supports. There's also a third stationary skid in the back.. so it's kind of a half-done job. But still. It's something the previous VB-6 attempts haven't done. I didn't try transformation to destroid, but going to gerwalk was simple enough. Lots of hinges and posability in the arms, and they weren't too heavy to stay up. I think my only real complaints are that the back section where the figure would sit looks weird (not to mention the motorcycle-style handlebars that remain), and that the cannons feel pretty undersized. I know why they are, but the shuttle is definitely the best mode here. Being perfectly honest, I only really bought these for the shuttle mode. I do find it funny how capable a transforming kit it is though, and it feels like it has better flexibility than the Bandai version, probably from the number of multi-directional joints in the legs. The build is pretty complex though, especially in the legs, and there are a couple of easy ways to mix up the parts for the hip joints, meaning you might have to take things apart and rebuild them to make sure they line up. I also actually needed some clamps to get the thing together, because the main hip joints were so tight. No amount of finger pressure was going to get those pegs into the sockets. Imagine my frustration when I discovered that the pieces that took the clamps were the ones I assembled the wrong way... It wasn't as bad as I first thought though, and the really difficult socket didn't need to be pulled apart, just twisted the other way and reassembled with the parts on the opposite side. Altogether a fun little build, in an absolutely massive box. I could probably melt down the trees and make another kit.

Either that.. or they're inflatable pool toys.

I've really been enjoying these, and the VFG kits the past couple weeks. I could definitely finish them up nicely, paint them, decal them, and all.. but I just have fun snapping them together quickly. They come apart again easily enough to go back and finish, it's just satisfying to cut the parts loose and build something in an evening. I probably spent more time cutting and trimming the parts than I did actually building. Sadly though, the way the weapons mounts work on the CF is really just cheap looking. The pylons are simple tabs sticking out of the wing, and the weapons just slide onto them until they hit the wing. Even the DX versions were better than that. I wound up just using the plain wings. I'd really recommend just going through spare parts bins for some actual weapons pylons to use, or just cut something better out of sheet plastic.

I just discovered something kind of hilarious about these kits. In the process of putting together my 171 EX, I noticed that there was one spare piece that the instructions never used, and I couldn't tell if they ever mentioned it at all. It was just a U-shaped bar, that looked like a support for something. Not having a place to put it, I decided it would make a good set of armrests for the EX-gear seat, since it didn't have any, for some reason. Filed a slot in the center of the part and in the back of the seat to slot together, and bingo. Armrests. Imagine my surprise when I go to put together my teal 171 kit, and discover that's exactly what the part was for. Somewhere in production, they forgot to cut a slot in the back of the EX seat to let the armrests attach. The normal 171 used a different seat back design, which had the slot for them all along. Makes me wonder what was going on when they released these kits, since the EX version came out first, without weapons, but using a part meant for the CF.

I did grab a few of the 1/144 Delta fighter kits, they go really well with the Kotobukiya Ace Combat ones.

It's crazy to consider, but the vast majority of the A-Wing filming models came from 1/32 scale kitbashes, primarily F-14s, and F-16s. The main body is slapped together from four upper wing-glove halves, while the engines are actually taken from the old 1/32 Hasegawa F-16 mold (I recognize the parts, since I have that kit). It doesn't always get translated into toys, but the reason why the engine tubes taper inwards is because they're made out of the intake ducting. The vent structure in the middle is just two intakes slapped together top-to-top. You can tell the canopy is actually something mounted backwards as well, due to the curvature. I think it's been speculated to be from either a P-47 or P-51, maybe something like an F-86.

Yeah, but given Bandai's penchant for "creative" interpretations for how numbers are supposed to be printed, it's good to have the reassurance that they're not screwing up another release on purpose.

Judging by the other views of this thing.. I think the problem is actually the inverse. I think they were forced into that giant chonker of a backpack by their overall proportions, and decided to try and make it look not so stupid by having the wings not fold flush, just so there wasn't a massive void of nothing sitting behind the torso. Flat-folding wings is not a hard problem to solve. That's really the thing that bugs me the most. I really do not understand anything about the design strategy that went into this thing. It's not even about the transformation itself, it's just the pure aesthetics. It seems to me like there are just so many little things they could have done to improve the overall presentation, and they just chucked them all in the bin, and went "Nah, let's just leave it ugly."

I'm actually really hopeful they'll try and do few other series of these. Would love to see a full Fire Bomber set, and I think it's high time we had a YF-19 and YF-21 pair.

Really nice detail, on both the rocks and the ship. If you can get ahold of some of the 1/144 Ties Bandai makes, you could probably add a couple of them to the scene. They're a quick and easy build, and not so expensive you'd feel bad about melting one down to simulate it smashing face-first into one of the rocks.

I've got a good few of these now, and while I've built some of the figures, the primary reason was to get a few valks in HMR scale, since the sizes are just about perfect (I think something like 1/85 scale or so). I'm currently tackling a couple of the VF-31s and plan to consolidate boxes since they're so bulky, and all the parts come on tons of sprues. One thing that always strikes me about these kits is that the color breakdowns for various versions are so sloppy, for lack of a better term. They make all of these kits in so many colors, but when it comes time to release new ones, they only need one or two parts in a different color.. so they just say "sprue it" and throw an entire extra sprue in the box. Some of them come with so many extra parts, you can almost build a second fighter mode just from the spares. The orange and tan Kairos is probably the most excessive for this. I know it's not like they're wasting plastic (in theory), but it definitely inflates the costs of the kits when they have that many extra bits. Once I get the parts clipped off for the Monster kits, I'll probably be moving all of the actual kits and figures into one of those boxes for storage, and just fill the other with the spares.

I am glad I decided to splurge and only get the PF back in the day. I'd be kind of terrified to imagine the price increase for that one now.

Assuming you mean the upper triangles that sandwich the shoulder joint, and not the lower ones? The fact that there are two sets per valk has always been a small point of confusion. Judging by the way I saw my upper ones break, I'm not sure if it was related to bad plastic, bad assembly, or a combination of the two. What I think happened with the upper triangles is that the assembly line took a shortcut, and instead of screwing the shoulders together around the ball joints, they screwed them together, and then jammed them over the ball. The actual process of getting those parts together is a three-handed job, so I can understand why they would use the shortcut, but it caused a lot of the parts to crack. The lower triangles are just a nonsense design to begin with. Expecting something that fragile to survive shoving a metal spring pin into was too much to ask, especially if the plastic was already flawed. I did have some success repairing a broken pair of those though. It came down to extracting the spring pins, then carefully gluing and sanding the parts back into shape to slide on one another correctly. Afterward, I replaced the spring pins with a section of insulated wire the right thickness to fit. The rubber coating wound up providing a nice amount of friction in the rotation, without stressing the parts. All things considered though, those parts should be discarded entirely, and replaced with something that isn't so fragile. I came up with a rough design for a replacement that copies the design from the Yamato VF-17, but have never gotten around to making a set to test, since I didn't think my filament printer would be up to the task. After those VF-11 intake covers came out so well though, I might give it a shot. It might take some very fine drilling to get a sturdy hinge made. The tricky part is probably making a part precise enough to fit in the same slot as the existing green part. That's a really thin part, with a really small screw holding it on. Otherwise, I think that folding panel would accomplish the same thing as the stock parts. It might dangle down from the chest, but I think it might even fit rotating 180 degrees to fit under the chest panel. Of course the other option is to just yeet those lower triangles into the abyss, and deal with the slight lack of streamlining. They're small enough to kind of just overlook in the long run.

If they did, it has to come down to the different specifications that Bandai and Yamato had for their designs, because the two could not be any more different in execution. Yamato's VF-17 is very pointy, but it is an absolute unit of a chonky valk that is deceptively simple in its function, and feels rock solid in hand. Bandai's version is the most overcomplicated and overengineered pile of self-combusting explodium I've ever seen.