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Hi-Metal R


joppewo

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There never was a mass produced Milia Hi-Metal, not even as a web exclusive. If Bandai does pull the trigger this time, it'll be a first. The Milia from EXO's photos looks like it's a repainted Hikaru VF-1J, as there are lots of instances of white plastic showing beneath the red paint.

As others have noticed, Bandai never made TV style arm armor for the Hi-Metals. The web exclusive Super/Strike Armor sets that were sold separately were DYRL style. Though Bandai did include TV style stickers, in case buyers were determined to equip them on TV valks anyway. It wasn't an ideal solution, but since the Hi-Metals were supposed to be mid-range toys, I'm not surprised Bandai cut a few corners.

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I'm not sure I can justify buying all VF-1's again in a new scale, but the destroids and the regult interest me a lot, especially the Monster. I assume the Monster will also be about 1/100 scale? It may then be a tough choice between that and the X-Plus 1/72 vinyl toy in the end. I guess the Hi-Metal Monster may be cheaper and have a bit better articulation than the X-Plus. On the other hand, sometimes size matters...

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I'd like it if the VF-1S head design was tweaked a little more and the insignia on the heatshield was lowered a bit. Otherwise these look great. I'm just hoping they're not comparable to the Yamato 1/60s, pricewise.

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I'd like it if the VF-1S head design was tweaked a little more and the insignia on the heatshield was lowered a bit. Otherwise these look great. I'm just hoping they're not comparable to the Yamato 1/60s, pricewise.

Thing is, they did adjust the heat shield insignia when they did the DYRL VF-1A Valks (which were web exclusives and made after the VF-1S which was a general release iirc)...I guess later runs of the VF-1S are just going to be reprints of the first one.

dyrl_hi-metals_battroid.jpg

Edited by RyuRoots
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I was at the show on Saturday and I heard that Bandai was thinking of re-engineering some parts of the VF-1 Hi-metal mold (and Kawamori was actually making corrections to the CAD files onsite). Notably, the nose may be removable a la Yamato, which should help facilitate the Armour Parts.

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I was at the show on Saturday and I heard that Bandai was thinking of re-engineering some parts of the VF-1 Hi-metal mold (and Kawamori was actually making corrections to the CAD files onsite). Notably, the nose may be removable a la Yamato, which should help facilitate the Armour Parts.

Shi* just got real

"You got this wrong, here give me your computer I will fix it quickly"

shoji-kawamori.jpg

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Ugh... I feel that making the toy more complicated would be a big mistake. The thing held its own just fine against the bigger Yamato toys... the biggest improvements they could make is to add landing gears but at this scale I think that would be a mistake because they'd probably be fragile or look like crap.

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I was at the show on Saturday and I heard that Bandai was thinking of re-engineering some parts of the VF-1 Hi-metal mold (and Kawamori was actually making corrections to the CAD files onsite). Notably, the nose may be removable a la Yamato, which should help facilitate the Armour Parts.

Nose removal like the old 1/48s?

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I was at the show on Saturday and I heard that Bandai was thinking of re-engineering some parts of the VF-1 Hi-metal mold (and Kawamori was actually making corrections to the CAD files onsite). Notably, the nose may be removable a la Yamato, which should help facilitate the Armour Parts.

I'd like to see an adjustment made the shape of the forward fuselage so that the cockpit and canopy sizing can come closer to actual 1/100 scale.

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Rumours of nosecone removal and more parts swapping...we goin' backwards here, folks :(

If they're gonna do this, engineer it to have less parts swapping, please!

Edited by xrentonx
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Guest davidwhangchoi

I was at the show on Saturday and I heard that Bandai was thinking of re-engineering some parts of the VF-1 Hi-metal mold (and Kawamori was actually making corrections to the CAD files onsite). Notably, the nose may be removable a la Yamato, which should help facilitate the Armour Parts.

that would be awesome Kawamori involved. i may buy the whole line. was never interested originally hi metal line up. for 75 (the hi metal price back then) i'd rather buy a yamato v2 on clearance for the same price as they are so much superior. but now that all the yamato repaints are pretty much exhausted this is great timing with that monster and regult.

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I'd buy a couple (at least a 1S Roy & a 1J Hikkie + GBP) if theyre re-engineered to integrate the heat shield and landing gears.

You need to qualify that more. Do you care if the landing gears look terrible and break easily? Do you care if the landing gear doors are just one big piece of plastic or do you want them to be the three door variety? If they shrunk a 1/60 toy down to 1/100 size and kept all the cool things about the 1/60 design then it would probably cost more than a 1/60 toy, are you cool with that? Do you want it to be cheaper because it's smaller? Do you care if Bandai has to reshape the sculpt somewhere to be less anime accurate to accommodate the shield?

I think this really reflects the problem with the Macross merchandise market. Everyone wants something cheaper but no one wants to compromise on the premium attributes. I mean, I see that more in the Robotech market where people want to compare everything to Transformers but the problem definitely exists with Macross and I think that's why the Hi-Metal line didn't go further in the first place. For Robotech it's extreme, basically the fandom seems to think no toy should exceed $49.99 and should be amazing. I'm optimistic the line has a chance around this time since people won't be thinking "Why would I buy a 1/100 toy for $70 when I can wait for the Yamato 40% off scale and get a 1/60 toy for that amount."

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You need to qualify that more. Do you care if the landing gears look terrible and break easily? Do you care if the landing gear doors are just one big piece of plastic or do you want them to be the three door variety? If they shrunk a 1/60 toy down to 1/100 size and kept all the cool things about the 1/60 design then it would probably cost more than a 1/60 toy, are you cool with that? Do you want it to be cheaper because it's smaller? Do you care if Bandai has to reshape the sculpt somewhere to be less anime accurate to accommodate the shield?

I think this really reflects the problem with the Macross merchandise market. Everyone wants something cheaper but no one wants to compromise on the premium attributes. I mean, I see that more in the Robotech market where people want to compare everything to Transformers but the problem definitely exists with Macross and I think that's why the Hi-Metal line didn't go further in the first place. For Robotech it's extreme, basically the fandom seems to think no toy should exceed $49.99 and should be amazing. I'm optimistic the line has a chance around this time since people won't be thinking "Why would I buy a 1/100 toy for $70 when I can wait for the Yamato 40% off scale and get a 1/60 toy for that amount."

Make the integrated landing gears + doors and heatshield from metal. Oh, and make them cheaper than the 1/60.

I know, smaller doesnt necessarily means cheaper. Smaller dimensions with smaller tolerance with the same plastic material will definitely make the Cpk value (process capability) low, hence not within the 6-sigma tolerance control. Usually what people/design engineer would do (at least in dyson) is either substitute the material with better (more expensive) plastic or go metal for smaller parts that need to be durable (sintering/wirecut/etc - but more expensive). Or metal stamping (?) - not an area Im familiar with.

Point is, I dont care how they do it, but they need to, if they want me to throw my moneh. Otherwise I will find it hard to appreciate the "improvements", but thats just me. I'll just drool over online pics like I did on the ol Hi-Metal line ;).

But prolly I'll get the destroids this time.

EDITED : Re-read your comment and I too am optimistic that the Hi-Metal line will do better this time due to the relatively higher price tags for the premium stuff that Arcadia set.

Edited by aaajin
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While I do love the idea of a 1/100 toy that was a shrunken 1/60 and still solid, I think it would probably cost the same as the 1/60 toy and then obviously people would go for the bigger toy. If they're going for a universe where people can build fleets, then I think they'd be smart not to go that route.

I predict people will end up going in for the oddball stuff like destroids and then start thinking "Man, I could use a valk for diorama purposes".

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