Chronocidal

Had to take a visual log of this one, I didn't know HLJ even had a shipping box this big. I thought I'd gotten their biggest in the past.. I was wrong. "Monster" is absolutely correct.

Just got my Arcadia gold-plated Fire Valk in, and doing a quick compare, I can't really see much difference up close in the red plastic. It's a little darker, maybe? But I actually wonder if that's just the color fading over time, since all of the colors on the new one seem a tad darker. Except for the bright orange paint on the shoulders and backplate. That's identical on them, and a terrible match on both versions. Otherwise, looks good, and glad to have a shiny one. Will probably display this one in battroid to hide the fugly canopy.

Yeah, it's gone, I wonder if they pulled it down just to help stem traffic on the site.

Wonder if that's a feature on just this specific valk, to address the fact that it doesn't have any arm packs. I don't have one handy to look at, but I think the arms usually rely on the legs holding up the arm packs to support them. Edit- Looked at all the close-ups I could find, and I'm really not seeing any reason for those slots.. and it looks like the opposite arm has a plug in that hole, so who knows if it's supposed to be there. It looks like the arms are just going to depend on the tabs that usually hold the backpack down.. which, yeah, I'll probably be looking for some way to reinforce those dumb arm pegs, or add a notch to them to lock the arms up, because they've never been worth anything.

Yeah, I really don't mind the 102, and modexes are -supposed- to be obnoxious. It makes sense they would reference the same number for the retelling. Little disappointing about the tent probably being paper, but there is a benefit to that. If it was solid plastic, it would be harder to light it up from inside with an LED campfire.

I think they received a pile of feedback about that, and eventually started using boxes, but my experience ordering one thing from them was a little weird, because they just seemd to forget about it until I reminded them.

Yeah, this is an angle I didn't catch before. That's insane. Makes me wonder if they couldn't just throw some sort of accordion fold into that massive panel and decrease the gap like they did for the VF-171, but yikes.

The free shipping shouldn't be underestimated, depending on the methods available.

Yeah, they're not too much more expensive than your usual proxy shipping service for normal TWE items. It's things like lottery exclusives where they add a higher premium.

I think CD Japan has sometimes listed TWE items as well, but it's a rare occurrence. They have the original VF-31A in their listing history, and I think I got a set of DX VF-1 missiles there, but it's really not something you can depend on. They do offer proxy services for hunting down rare items after the fact, with some markup applied.

Anime Export does usually carry the TWE items, but AmiAmi and HLJ do not. AE has been very reliable in the past, but they do require full payment up front, and they usually seem to have a shorter order window than many others. And no, we're not seeing this one stateside, unless someone sorts out the rights to DYRL lickety split.

I'm not too worried, so long as they aren't marking up the item as the numbers change. Could just be people adding or removing to the cart. As nice as it is to see those numbers, the systems that calculate them may not be reliable due to how people add and remove them like that.

I'm not seeing anything about status, but it might be an indicator of shipping/payment status? I opted for storage, to avoid having it delivered during the holiday week in July.

I do appreciate the fact that they listed the total available. I did see it go up and down a few times, but they didn't adjust the price. I think the question will be whether they re-open later with a price increase.

Yep, certain sites just open early for some reason, probably to streamline the order process from their allocated TWE order slots. Others just wait until it opens for real. Not sure if there is any benefit to either, but I guess ordering after they are opened might be more definite, since you're dealing with orders already placed? Hard to say.

Eh, if the recent reviews are decent, I'll give them a shot. AE is lagging behind tonight. Maybe I'll order a third as a backup when they open...

That's good to know then. I would still love to know exactly how all of that played out, but it's probably lost to history now. I am rather surprised I'm not seeing email spam from Luna Park about this one yet though, usually they're the first to send me ads.

Despite being so "rare" and unique, the VT-1 never seems to be a really huge seller in the end. I got both the original Yamato and HMR releases on clearance.

Got one at Big in Japan, debating whether I want to gamble on Yoyakunow, or wait until I see AE's listing. Edit - Yeah, if that's the case I might wait on that.

Hobby Genki's page is up https://hobby-genki.com/en/dx-chogokin/29076-dx-chogokin-vt-1-super-ostrich-the-super-dimension-fortress-macross.html Also, for those not aware, yes, this is happening in a few hours, because today is the 25th, and it's already the 26th in Japan.

Boy, yeah, in for two of these, but I need to find what places will offer them. The last few exclusives have been a one and done deal for me.

Got mine from AE today, did a quick unboxing and dropping the legs to check on them. Doesn't look like they've really changed anything about the locking mechanisms, but I think this one is going to be a pure fighter mode display forever. Not worth the risk, since I can see mold flow lines in the knees marking exactly where they will break if I ever stress them. Lower shoulder triangles have a factory-fresh stress mark where the pin was inserted as well. Will just keep this one in fighter for display, and leave the original release for transforming and posing. The shoulder triangles do look like they are an entirely different plastic this time though, both upper and lower. Obviously they're not glossy like the original release, but they're actually a very dark gray, more like a "rubber" color paint would make them. Might be for aesthetics, but I wonder if it's a more durable/flexible plastic than pure black would be. Wing mounts are definitely an improvement though, more like how they should have been all along.

Michael's.. I kind of get. Same super parts as Alto, easier to streamline the production. I wouldn't even be surprised if they do a Luca first as well. Ozma's is going to take a unique production to make all those parts though, so it'll probably be later. Maybe we'll even get an Alto armor set while they're at it. (And I still want that red Klan VF-25S )

I don't really care about Luca's enough to want another, but I hope they at least address the screaming elephant in the franchise and finally release an armored Ozma pack, just to satisfy the demand that has gone completely unanswered for over a decade.