Chronocidal

It does look like they skipped the origami involved in the YF-19's legs, and went back to a simple cutout for the arms.  Can't say I'm upset about that though.  As impressive as the mechanism was, it was probably the absolute peak of excessive complexity in any Bandai product I've seen, and actually annoyed me because it prevented extending the feet in fighter mode.

Really want to see a top view to see where the canards fall on this one, but looks good in the angle shown at least.

Also kind of surprised to see them remove the intake warnings, but I admit I prefer this scheme without them  The red they had before just clashed anyway.

Now to see if they paint the gear..

I hadn't originally looked much at the big E-Wing when it came out, since the price turned me off hard, but when I found the Micro Galaxy one on Amazon the other day (and grabbed a pair to repaint/mod), I found the link to the big one as well (emphasis on big), and decided it was enough of a discount to grab.  

I know a lot of reviews are unhappy with the lack of weathering on it, but that honestly bothers me far less than the derpy nosecone they slapped on the thing.  It's not inaccurate, but it gives me the distinct impression that the designers running the franchise really just have no idea what the term "aesthetic" means.

Otherwise though, I really do like the new design overall.  The original always seemed too skinny to work, and I think the overall changes to the wings and shape work well.  This thing also has probably the best landing gear I've seen on any Star Wars toy, hands-down, each strut completely covered by a multi-door enclosure.

Of course the first thing I did after opening it up was to take it apart, and this E-Wing may be the most custom-friendly toy I have bought in decades.  Ten screws, and the entire toy came apart, in the sense that every part I would reasonably consider customizing was just snapped or slotted together, and came apart with minimum pressure.  No glue to be found, except a couple of small dabs on the nosecone, which I was able to pop easily with a screwdriver.

So, now the fuselage looks like this:

And the work can begin.  

I'm debating on what shape to go with though.  The old EU nosecone was entirely flat on the bottom, and longer, but also more angular.  I do want to curve it a little more, but I'm also kind of tempted to see how a more X-Wing-ish cone would look.

Good point, I'm mostly curious because the Fire Valk was the first one they actually released with, I think.  Will be interesting to see if they don't change them.

Can I also just.. point and laugh.. that Bandai finally are making white gear... and this is like the only oddball whose canon gear aren't white?  

37 minutes ago, sh9000 said:

This should be an easy custom.

At that point, unless you actually want the half-coated fighter mode, it'd be a lot less work just swapping the head and shoulder fins to a normal Fire Valk, and touching up the parts that aren't already red.  

I'm thinking something more like this:

I've been wanting to make one of this type for a while, but I really want to take that even a step further, and customize it into a short-winged variant.  

I'm much more comfortable experimenting on an HMR than I am with one of my old Yammies, so I'm going to see if I can't find a way to print up some conversion parts for the wings and wing gloves.

I'm wondering whether this one will hit clearance sales after release.  If it starts showing up discounted on Amazon later, I'll probably grab a few more for customs.

Hah, guess I haven't been keeping up with the thread.  

Up early for pre-order at AE, that's one (hoping for at least 3-4 )

https://anime-export.com/index.php?product=90969

Edit: Also up on Big In Japan (I've had good service with them for a few DX orders now), and there doesn't seem to be a limit, so grabbed two more there.

https://www.biginjap.com/en/completed-models/32922-macross-7-hi-metal-r-vf-19p-excalibur-zola-planetary-patrol.html

I know G1 gets retread every few years, but I admit I'm still waiting for the trends to roll back around and give us a modern Starscream with anywhere near as good a balanced set of modes as pretty much any modern MP car.

Not expecting it anytime soon, but it at least gives me something to hope for.
😛

That's one of the big benefits to these for me, they're much easier to display in cramped spaces, and I don't feel so protective of them that I don't want to leave them on my desk at work.

It's also a lot less work to customize them compared with the Yamato.  

5 hours ago, Tking22 said:

My first console was a Nintendo, not SNES, just the OG Nintendo home console, I loved it, and I've had every console since, all the handhelds, I love Nintendo, but also, frakk Nintendo. Since the Switch I've been side-eyeing them hard for tons of dumb crap they pull, and get away with, things other devs or companies would get absolutely drug for, but it's Nintendo and everybody loves Mario and Zelda. Plenty of people have gotten tired of modern Nintendo's shenanigans, it's nothing new, Switch 2 seems to be the tipping point for some folks, myself included. 

The list of "features," the cost, and all of this together is mostly adding up to give me a picture of two guys in the board room drinking and taking bets about how many user-hostile features they can add before people actually stop buying into the mess.

1 hour ago, Lolicon said:

Oh I haven't messed with the sound booster yet so I didn't know the holes were for that. Seems kinda janky to me when pretty everything is just a copy of the Yamato 19.

I haven't either, just recalling what I read.

Thing is, they didn't copy Yamato's sound booster, they just popped out another production of the original HM version, so the Yamato bracket design wouldn't work.  They just skipped a step by never making Fire Valk-specific shoulder panels.

2 hours ago, Lolicon said:

Was expecting this since the VF-19 has holes in its shoulders for the 19P speaker pods.

I think they also dual-purposed them for the soundbooster mounting bracket, but yeah, this was absolutely a no-brainer.  Considering the lack of releases in the past few months, I'm surprised this didn't happen sooner.

Bout time!  Now all the customs can begin! A little surprised that there's no 19S/F first, but I'm not going to complain.

I never got brave enough to rework my Yamatos, but the tolerances at this scale should be a little more forgiving to do some repaints, and make some custom wings to kitbash a couple of black and white VF-19Fs.

Bring it on!  I need a half dozen to experiment with.

See, that would be the perfect canopy, but that's not an upscale.  That would just be a straight remodel, more like the previous Blacktron release.  I wouldn't say no to a redo of that design, but it's never been my favorite, since the layout looks weirdly unbalanced with the cell sticking out and nothing like visible propulsion. 

I'd almost prefer an original design in that theme, or maybe an update of the next smaller design down the series.

Again, kind of lacking in the propulsion department (which seems pretty common across that entire line, actually), but I love the overall profile, and would love to see an unscale of the overall layout.  The fold-out wings were always my favorite feature about it.

The thing about that original canopy though was that it was stackable.  I don't know how many uses that feature got, but it's part of what made the Space Police II design so striking.

Ouch.  Yeah, hard pass until some sense comes to this mess, that's just insane.

If I need Metroid that badly, I'll probably just pick it up on a secondhand older model.

Looks like PC is just where everything will stay for the foreseeable future.

Marking something up to turn a profit is one thing.  This is far beyond that.  Considering how long it takes to ever get anything from them, I'd estimate they're making 100%+ profit on each one of those they sell (if they're smart about exchange rates and shipping methods, anyhow).

On that note though.. "next entry".. something 1st generation Space Police themed?  Please? 

Though being honest, I actually prefer the design of the second gen command ship, but I'd love to see a new take on the classic black and blue.

9 hours ago, mechaninac said:

A giant cavernous warehouse building shaped like a coliseum made entirely of boxes, most still sealed, some in shippers, with their mint status content safely encased within... 

I feel like I've read about this somewhere...  

I really just want them to reveal that the Air Force changed their minds, and decided they actually want the YF-23 this time.  

The missiles themselves from the 171 kit aren't that bad, it's mostly just the nonsense stub pylons they molded to the wings that need to go.  You could probably source some more realistic mounting hardware from any 1/72 weapons set that Hasegawa makes, and just glue the included missiles onto them.

Eh, don't underestimate the Air Force to put out something custom ordered in a hurry.  Not having to manage multiple sets of armed forces and export partner requirements will let it move a whole lot faster than the F-35 could ever hope to achieve.

Not discounting the Boeing issues, but I have to admit I'm happy seeing something not being handed out to Lockheed for a change.

Kind of funny, I was just considering that if you wanted some higher quality weapons and pylons, you could probably get them from a Hasegawa VF-0 kit, since the triple missile clusters are just copy-pasted from there...

But then I went looking, and can't find any pictures of Hasegawa VF-0s with those missiles anywhere, or even proof that they ever released a kit with them.  Kind of sad, but I'm actually mostly just surprised they don't exist.  

Similarities to the actual aircraft aside, I'd just love to see them attempt to make a transforming jet that looks even remotely capable of actual flight.

I think the ridiculously painful part about Air Raid is that we know they can make decent F-15s, because the Seekers exist.. they just can't seem to apply that knowledge to another bot with what should be a mostly identical alt mode.