Chronocidal
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Everything posted by Chronocidal
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Yeah, Bandai still doesn't seem to know how to make a good solid joint (which is, frankly, astounding due to what their major cash cow franchise is ). But the actual accuracy of the renewals is just a quantum leap ahead of the first versions. They just can't seem to nail it though. I actually wonder how much of what tends to go wrong with the Bandai valks is that they're specifically trying to not copy stuff Yamato has already done. I do wish they'd ditch the die-cast pieces entirely, or at least reduce them to what Yamato uses, because it never ever seems to cause anything but trouble. As far as the paint/colored plastic issue goes.. I think that's just lack of any foresight, or possibly a lack of trust in the franchise. I mean, why plan ahead and spend the extra time to make sure the parts on future versions are molded the right color, when you don't expect to ever have the line be successful enough to warrant putting out anything but a solid white VF-25F? Alto's is easy, it's all one color. Just means they didn't think enough about the later releases, or just chose to play it safe, and not spend the money ahead of time to prep for potential future products.
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Well, I'd rather see a Ravens VF-11 personally, but either would be nice. I don't want to see any more YF-19 variants until they make a v.2 YF-19 though. The old one just doesn't hold up anymore.
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That'll take a tiny bit of stress off the shoulder hinges, but those aren't the problem. The issue is that the "flappy" joints that the wing gloves rotate on often have the staying power of soggy cardboard. The right wing on my Ozma already flaps back and forth if you breathe on it funny, so there's no way it's ever going to support the armor booster without soaking that joint in superglue, or building a custom support to hold the wing gloves back.
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Basically, there's a reason those armor parts are supposed to be restricted for use in space.. they don't play nice with gravity.
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If they have the decency to include the speaker pods and fold booster with Michael's pack set, I might be willing to spring for those when they come out, but I think given we still don't have actual hardpoints on the wings, they'll probably be resorting to those stupid clip-on weapons again. Otherwise, Michael will probably be posed with no packs at all. Luca's an odd case though.. I don't think he was ever missing his packs, because I don't think we ever actually saw him flying in anything resembling an atmosphere.
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Huzzah! Actually I was a little shocked with the total for this one too. Probably due to seeing the shipping lumped in, but it almost hit $300. Fortunately, this was intended to be a birthday present to myself for months, so I've got enough set aside. But I might wait on getting a VF-17D and VF-19P after all, now that the news about the VE-1 and strike pack re-releases hit. So much awesome, so little money.
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I have noticed one small ding in the paint on one of Ozma's hips, but it was there from before I got the armor parts, possibly caused by hip armor that came with the super parts. I really still not sure how any bad scratches could even happen, unless you're extremely brutal with how you put those pieces on. They don't slide around at all, they just clip. Only issue I've had so far is that the wing boosters don't like to stay on as well as the ones that came with the super packs. They clip on securely enough to stay put, but I can't lift the wing sections by holding them, or they'll pop right off. The boosters are actually surprisingly lightweight though, for how bulky they are. I think I'm going to work on tightening up the wing hinges on my VF-25S before I try going to battroid though, since they've gotten very loose. The boosters will want to flop around like crazy right now.
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Hah, found it! Little different, but the angle of the shot is what made me do a double take.
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So, what day is the VF-19F supposed to come out? I'm anxious to get that one now.
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Is it terrible that I bought the giant Lego Millenium Falcon, and never assembled it? I got it (partly) for all the gray pieces (along with the original UCS Star Destroyer) because I know I'll be able to make some epic aircraft with those parts. I think I will NEED to get one of those Imp Shuttle kits though, I had no idea those even existed. I have the original kit, and it's a mess of badly fitting parts.. not to mention, it's really huge, and difficult to display. Those little snap Star Wars kits are rather nice though, I picked up the Jedi Starfighter and ARC-170 kits.. no where near the same scale though. Now.. the amusing thing. I know I've uploaded the pic here before, but I can't for the life of me remember where it is, or I'd link it.. I made a render of a low-vis YF-19 a long time ago, as a set of textures intended for Flight Sim use.. and it's nearly IDENTICAL to that angled pic above. I need to find it, because it just looks so similar.
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I'm pretty fortunate my closet is on the cool side of the apartment, and none of my valks are against the outside wall. But yeah, I've got those things stacked to use the space perfectly. They're like legos, where the odd sizes of some boxes make the perfect space to stick other ones. I am glad they've been sticking to the VF-1 sized boxes for everything new though. All my pack sets except for one, I actually got in bundles, and usually discounted. I sprung for a separate TV set early on, because I knew how rare those got with the 1/48s. The rest of the bundles are all DYRL though, and I'm only short two, since my original issue Roy 1S and my new DYRL CF don't have packs. I'm tempted to get three just in case (or to equip my other TV CF) but not sure if I'll want to yet. Counting specialty packs, I've already got 8 sets.
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This fall is going to be about prioritizing I think. The VF-25G, VE-1 reissue, and strike packs get priority, along with the VF-4. I'm not cancelling my VF-19F, since it'll be coming in about a week, but I might postpone the VF-17D/packs and the VF-19P until later, since they'll likely be around for quite a long time. Actually, I'm discovering that while I do like the VF-17S, I'm not in love with it, and may forego getting another altogether now that I can get separate packs for it... unless Millia's comes out I mean. Funny enough.. I'm getting more concerned about storage space than cost in some ways. I keep all my valks' boxes since I rotate out which ones I display, and so far, they all fit in my office closet. But that closet is filling up fast, and I either need to cut back on what I buy, or consolidate a few of my VF-25 kits into less boxes to save room (which is perfectly possible if you cut all the pieces off the sprues). Time to put on some Tetris music, and go at the closet once more.
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I don't believe that you could easily just snap two one-seater setups together to get the two-seater seat piece, since the seats both look connected to a single rail piece. It'd probably be very easy to mod two together though, with a minimal amount of cutting. As for the VT-1 packs on the VF-1D, I don't think that'll be possible, at least not without major reworking. I can try it when I get home with mine, but the VT-1's backpack is entirely different since the tails don't fold over, it has that extra thruster attachment on top, and the booster connections are in a different spot on the backpack because of it. I'm considering cancelling my super VF-17D preorder as well because of this stuff, but for something like the VF-25G, I wouldn't wait. I waited for the VF-17S to go on sale before getting one, and it's bound to happen with the VF-17D eventually as well, so I don't mind waiting a while on that. But with the way Bandai works, the absolute last thing you want to do is delay getting the renewal VF-25s. If you've got one on preorder, I'd hang onto that for dear life.
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FINALLY. Thank you Yamato! Think this is the last VF-1 on my list of "stuff I should really get, and missed before." In for a VE-1, and two more strike packs.
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I'm tempted to buy the kit just to get a spare VF-1D head to put on my VT-1 for fun.
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Hah, I just realized, everyone seems to have noticed the anchor cable, but can anyone tell for sure if that second figure is Micro-Klan? Or are they adding another copy of the figure they made for Ranka, and calling it Sheryl this time? Was hoping for a mini Klan, but sadly, that doesn't look like the right helmet for her, since I thought she was wearing Michael's gear in the last episode. Also, the anchor cable is giving me funny ideas of how the VF-25G should be displayed... if I knew the joints would hold him up, I'd mount him standing on the wall of a display cabinet, supported by the cable. Or maybe to save on joint stress, just have him prone, mounted upside down on the ceiling above my desk? You can definitely have a lot of fun with this one in the pose department.
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They obviously aren't the final colors at least, since it's just a materials test. But yeah.. after all the nonsense with Ozma's paint scheme, and how many parts were entirely painted over because they weren't molded in color, I'm not expecting this to go well. I think this'll be one VF-25 I completely skip getting packs for. I don't feel like disassembling and repainting the undersides of the wing gloves every time I attach or remove the packs. With Ozma, at least you still have gray plastic underneath, but if you scratch those wing gloves, you'll be left with a nice set of fresh blue stripes across your white paint. It's just sad, because it shows a complete lack of thought from Bandai about the issue, and it's even a step backwards from the first version. The original had the wing gloves molded in color. Not only are they relying on their historically lousy paint quality, but they're actually failing at one of the few things they got right the first time around.
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Well, my problem with the VF-19 boosters is that they look like someone strapped a pair of jetskis on the shoulders. They just look bizarre to me. If it weren't for the intakes on them, they'd be a lot less odd looking. I don't think the VF-19 ever really got a good set of boosters actually.. I mean, it wasn't supposed to need them to start with. And as fun as the VF-25 packs are on the wings, there's really no good usable place to mount those.
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Stupid question... why paint the die-cast hips, but not the shoulders? Anyhow, looks good, but I'm hoping and praying those aren't the final mold colors.. those idiots, and their painting over entire pieces instead of molding them in color...
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Possibly, though the shoulders are entirely wrong unfortunately. People would want to put the packs on the S/F, and they don't have the attachment points. Personally though, I really just can't stand the VF-19 fast packs, so, I'm not going to be in any rush to figure out how to add them on.
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That's why we need more kit versions, to help Yamato save on labor costs. Anyway though, it's definitely more than just labor cost. The complexity and quality of the engineering on these newer valks is definitely taking its toll as well.
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Well, maybe I should rephrase what I mean.. Are they different enough to look ugly and clash color-wise, or would it take someone going frame-by-frame in the anime to actually notice the differences? I really don't care about it being canon one way or the other, I just want the parts to stay on.
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Huh, I actually had forgotten about the brown feet on the TV CF version, mine's packed away at the moment. Now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure all the pieces that are normally dark gray were molded in dark brown for that one. This one is the main reason I'm sad that we can't get more strike packs released, though. I've got one set for each skull squad member, but I can't equip the CF with a set like that hangar scene in the movie. Actually, I'm mildly surprised we didn't see all three 30th anniversary DYRL releases as strike bundles... I don't think any of those three particular valks were ever shown without the packs during the movie (not counting the ones stowed in the hangars), unless Roy jettisoned his packs at some point.
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(link's above, got post-sniped ) It's one of the 30th anniversary releases, though seems like it might turn out to be difficult to get now. I decided to preorder one, and just picked it up from FedEx this week, but now HLJ shows them as discontinued (though we know how they love to slap "discontinued" on things that are out of stock ) It's just your standard DYRL-style cannon fodder. Same as the previous CF release, but molded in off-white (with matching paint), with DYRL-style head, spare hands and pilot. Comes with the side covers molded in brown, and the external seat mount.
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VF-4 scratchbuild from Model Graphix 209 & 210
Chronocidal replied to dialNforNinja's topic in The Workshop!
Ugh.. I like the battroid, especially the way they made the feet, even if it isn't canon... but that fighter mode is a mess. I don't know why they pushed the intakes back so far, and it unbalances the entire design that way. At first I figured it was for transformation purposes, but it doesn't look like it actually transforms, just that the parts can be built into either mode.
