Chronocidal

I thought whole sections of the lower legs and backplate in the 1/55s were metal as well? Not to mention the landing gear. The feet being metal on the VF-1 HMRs is a nice feature, and gives them some good stability, but the VF-0s don't even have that, because the feet are much more detailed.

And no, the legs never fit all the way up the pegs either, because the packs actually collide with the backplate before they can sit in place. Bandai.. proving once again they can absolutely take a perfectly functional system someone else made, and make it worse in every way.

Availability of either dependent, of course. Though, I did have a funny thought about why there are so many returns. How many people unfamiliar with the franchise and the Arcadia/Bandai marketing shenanigans in Japan may have bought this expecting the Arcadia version? The molds are almost identical, and Amazon doesn't have any pictures of the packaging on the page (though someone did post a series of photos in their review). I could see someone so blown away by the fact that they found a VF-0 on Amazon that they completely missed who made it. Far as shipping goes though, this one set a record. Purchase to door in under 20 hours. Packaging was bare minimum though, just a plastic bag over the box, so I can see a lot of folks receiving these pretty banged up, and returning them. Mine fortunately didn't travel far enough to get any damage, but not even using a bubble pack is pretty crappy on Amazon's part.

I think people are disappointed in how cheap it feels, and maybe what feels like a lack of detail? I don't honestly feel like there's anything wrong with it, but I think part of the issue is that it's got even less metal than the HMR VF-1, so it's very light. I don't know what people really expected, considering it's a shrunken Arcadia VF-0 model.

Sheesh, at that price, I'll take a chance on a second one.

Nice work! Glad you got the proportions and measurements down so they work. I am a little surprised it's strong enough when printed that direction though, since I would think the layers would make the tabs much more likely to snap off. I've had half a mind to print some more realistic pylons based on something like the F-18 for a while, but hadn't gotten the motivation. Are you planning on selling these through somewhere like Shapeways, or just sharing the files when you're happy with them? The most annoying part for me with many of Bandai's weapons mounts is their inability to do a 5 minute google search to look for photos of how actual weapons mount to pylons. Those AMRAAM look-alikes would fit much better if they had the pylon attachment at the 45-degree point, making the fins into an X instead of a +.

I think the complaint wasn't so much about Boeing making military hardware, because they've done Boeing planes before. It was primarily because the V-22 doesn't have any civilian version, even though it's been proposed (and ignoring the fact that LEGO made a knock-off Osprey before as one of their minifig-scaled sets). The structural concerns were real though, I watched someone build it up from the instructions that were leaked, and the gearing system designed to move all the parts was ripping teeth off of the gears. There were just too many stresses on them in different ways, and the shifting mechanism was causing hard stops and reversals. There were definitely ways to mitigate that, and I think they proposed a re-design, but they probably took the easy-out blaming the military situation.

I'm betting the color difference is either between painted and bare plastic, or possibly different plastic types. Looks pretty good overall though, and I think those sorts of things pop out more in photos than you generally see in person. I'm guessing HLJ is out on vacation as well though, because my order with them has been "processing" for three days. now.

No, I think it's blatantly obvious that this has been a direct copy of the design from day one. The screw covers are all in the same spots, the details are all the same, heck, why do you think this and the VF-4 are the only models to have moving gear doors, rather than having them attached to the gear themselves? And yeah. The gunpod collision was fixed in later Arcadia VF-0 releases, but the VF-0D was the first new VF-0 mold they made.

I would love to see this scheme on an MP Ramjet. That's a beauty, and just makes me think of the splinter-schemed Sv-51 Dobber did back in the day.

It's always possible, it's just not usually how Bandai operates. Maybe this will be an exception, who knows. I totally get it about not wanting to focus so heavily on the negatives though. We're all just screaming into the void hoping Bandai will somehow hear us. Far as making my own version, I'm actually really tempted to try and tweak the Yamato design to fit bigger legs. I think starting from a version that already works well would be a better place to begin than starting from scratch. The design is slim enough that you could give it a little more bulk to the engines and underside without severely killing the looks, and there's actually some space in the upper backplate being wasted by the covers that make it presentable without the legs attached. Hollow out the underside, and experiment with some new ways to position the legs, and I bet there is a bit more space to work with. While I think Bandai went overboard on how long they made the back end, I do think making the engine humps wider and center space a little narrower might be worth it for the extra space. If you can get the feet inside the calves entirely, and then fit thicker calves under the engine blocks, you could at least get the legs a little thicker. I don't think the side profile has never been that bad, they're just really skinny from the front. A part of me is still holding out a tiny hope for the Bandai version that we've just been seeing bad angles that make the back end look out of proportion. Whatever the result, I do look forward to seeing some good top and side comparison pictures.

They do, but it looks like it's just the same shade as the other light blue plastic parts. I'll still take it over silver. Maybe Bandai got wise and realized how much money and effort they could save if they just left the gear the same color as the lighter plastic parts.

Nah, this debate isn't about which is better. The Arcadia and Bandai YF-19s are both beautiful, with slightly different takes on the design with regard to how curvy or realistic the plane should be. Arcadia went more animation-styled, while Bandai's looks more like a Hasegawa mold made to transform They both made choices with pluses and minuses compared to the other, but they both succeeded in making something that's actually pleasing to display as both a fighter and battroid. This YF-21 is not that. It's got severe deviations from the established look of the plane in both modes we've been shown, some of which have absolutely nothing to do with the transformation at all, and Bandai just decided, "Nah, we like our design better than Kawamori's." (I know it's the least of this figure's problems, but the fat cockpit cover bothers me to no end, because there is absolutely no reason to make it that shape. Nothing in the nose transforms.) Honestly, I know I'm exaggerating how bad I think it looks. But it's just passable at best, and the aesthetic choices they've made are completely baffling. It's not fun to look at in either mode, because your eye gets immediately drawn to the funky proportions. It's not like they compromised one mode for the other, like Yamato did by shrinking the legs to fit in a slim fighter mode. It's that all the modes look equally bad, because none of the proportions in any mode make it look good.

Yeah, it's definitely frustration. We love these designs because we love how they look, and when Bandai makes choices that screw with the proportions and overall aesthetic without offering any clear benefit, it's intensely irritating. This is not unique to this fanbase. Go look up 1/6 scale figure sculpts, or die-cast metal aircraft discussion forums, and you might be surprised at how civil and well-mannered the discussions here are. When people are passionate about a design, they will absolutely raise the torches and pitchforks for people screwing with what they see as how something should look. The part that gets me up in arms the most is that it's not that this cannot be made better, because it has been proven in the past with better iterations of the design. It's that Bandai is choosing not to use some obvious options to make all of the modes better. That's the frustration. It could be much better. But Bandai gonna Bandai, and they're going to shove this mess out to market regardless, because they probably don't have anyone on the design team passionate enough about the design to care that it looks like ass. And I definitely mean that in the literal sense, because the entire thing is utterly badonkulous. "It's not just good.. it's good enough."

Ok, nose and gear aren't linked, but I think that mechanism is perfect. I might need two of these... And I feel like I want to mix the parts and make an XB-70 in the same scale now. I think my only concern for the set is that the stand will need a wider/heavier base, so I might need to get some more brown bricks to bulk it up with.

Yeah, glad I grabbed two of these. I can use the spare white landing gear on my VF-0S. I'll be really amused (read: screaming in frustration) if we start seeing them paint the landing gear on other valks after this.

I'd love to see them actually make something that would encourage Arcadia to put out more VF-11s, or better yet, some of those early-production VF-19 variants. I think the biggest problem with any of that happening is a mix of Bandai and Kawamori himself, though. You aren't going to stop Kawamori from designing fancy new VFs for every new release, whether they fit the setting or not, as seen with the VF-0. And as long as Bandai is funding the show, it's going to be driven by their desire to make as many fancy and colorful new toys as possible (even if they never bother to capitalize on the designs). Very likely that the best we're going to get is brief cameos of old designs, as seen in Delta. At this point, the best I'm going to hope for is that we get something without the insane airshow demonstration team schemes this time around.

Funny, I definitely got charged for my HLJ order.. but it's yet to make it to my warehouse for shipping, it's been in processing over a day now. Not in a rush, since I'm waiting for other things to come out before I ship, but still weird to see them take that long.

You know, after all that weird hype around the Roddenberry Archive, and those "765874" clips, I'm really hoping that they introduce Yeoman Colt in this series. I was thinking it would be fun to see them translate some of the comics with her alternate future trip into a several episode arc, but they would have to adjust the timeline quite a bit, since she'd already left the crew, and was well on the way to getting her own command by this point. If they're following the original events leading up to Pike's accident, they've got seven years in-universe before that's supposed to occur, based on what I'm reading, but I don't know how closely they're sticking to that, if at all.

That's a really fair point. Seems silly to make things for kids who probably have no idea what Star Trek even is. Though I guess they might be banking on the idea that parents will get their kids into the shows? It's actually kind of weird to think about, but to make a BSG reference, "This has all happened before, and it will all happen again." Consider the condition the Trek Fandom was in after TOS ended, and TNG hadn't begun yet. The franchise was being kept alive by movies, and when TNG first appeared, it was hated by a lot of the fandom. It took a couple of seasons before TNG found its footing. I don't want to make any sweeping generalizations about the quality/content of the current shows, but I can definitely see the parallel in how the fans are receiving the new material. If you string together Discovery and SNW as a single "show," we're kind of right back in the early seasons of TNG. We're back in a period where there's new content for kids to get into, whether that's SNW, Lower Decks, Prodigy, or whatever else. It's a great opportunity for kids to be asking their parents, "Hey, what's this space show about?" I know, because it's exactly how I got into TOS. I saw TNG on TV, and my dad went, "Hey, I used to watch something like this when I was growing up." (Ok, maybe embellished a bit, but I do remember growing up watching both shows with my dad). Or maybe they're just targeting the potential demographic of kids who see their parents' cool spaceships in the display cabinet, and want one of their own? I know I heard stories like that when Yamato first started making their new VF-1s, and some of the members with younger kids here were grabbing up Chunky Monkeys to give their kids so they had something too.

In current prices, sure, but the Art Asylum/Diamond Select ones were around $60 when they released, and I even saw some of those on clearance. And despite the saucer separation feature, the pictures shown so far don't have as much detail as the 1992 version. Inflation aside (because the original toy was $25 at the time), this is a pretty significant downgrade from that one, and it's pretty clear they really only intend to sell this to kids who don't care. I would argue the same for the TOS version, but that gets a partial pass, due to not having those sorts of details to begin with (but the screw holes are still incredibly obnoxious). I can't really fault them for targeting that market, but in the vacuum left by both Eaglemoss and Diamond Select either dying or ending their production, all this is doing is driving prices and demand higher for something targeting the collector market.

Hah, is there any reason the wing needs to extend on this one, or did they just do that to get around not having room for the hinge pin in a stationary location? Frankly speaking? I might just glue the wings in place extended. Screw that noise.

Truth! I don't have any qualms about displaying a couple of HMRs at the office both for the lower price, and smaller footprint. They're just good for swooshing during conference calls.

That "special" stand adapter to use with super packs was a mistake, or at least the clear plastic was. Mine cracked the first time I tried to mount it.

Honestly, at this point? I'm tempted to buy a Bandai version just for the legs, and hack them up so I can swap them onto the Yamato YF-21 for battroid, and be done with the whole mess.