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Hi-Metal R


joppewo

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First impression -- it's grey.

Molding differences, very minor, but they are there.

The nosecone is indeed removable. There's not much detail inside.

thats a bit weird, in the promo video and efss pics it didnt seem that grey....but from ur close up pics it seems a lot grey-er...

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First impressions.

Equipping the armour is simple enough. The hip armour is a bit of a cop out, since the intake guard pieces attach to the back plate, which means that any leg movement is severely limited. The rear boosters are OK at the moment, but with time, I can totally see the backpack joint start to give way and the whole section will eventually just plop down. And it's not like it has a clip to keep the backpack attached to the backplate behind the head, like on the Yamatos/Arcadias.

The whole thing has a satisfying heft to it once it is all armoured up.

Regarding die-cast joints -- I don't get it. The joints that are now die-cast never had any issues when they were plastic, and the joints which are plastic but had durability issues with plastic cracking, such as the main swingbar hinge and the Gerwalk joint -- which have developed cracks on my Himetal v1 -- are the same. Also, the diecast feet on my old 1J are now useless floppy pieces of junk (which is what invariably becomes of all modern Bandai stuff I own) which means it cannot stand on its own unless I'm really lucky in posing, which I was to take this photo.

Overall, it is pretty much what I expected so far. I haven't actually transformed to the different modes yet, so we shall see. It definitely feels good in the hand, but this being Bandai, there's this dagger hanging over it, or ticking clock, pick your metaphor.

For the record, I decided to get this at the last minute (literally the day before yesterday) because other than the 1/55 version, the only armoured valk that I have is the 1/48, and I wanted to try something new.



Ranato, do I detect some yellowing on your original version, or is that just the lighting?

It's both. There is definite yellowing, but it looks worse on these photos because I have ambient lighting with a yellowish tinge.


Regarding the grey colouring -- it's possible that having two Armoured 1J's in the market so close to each other, Arcadia and Bandai were told to differentiate the colours as much as possible. Just a guess, based on what Mr. K has said in the past, regarding the Fire Valk. For the Arcadia re-release, he wanted to make it a more metallic red, but he was told that that would not be possible because it would look too much like a competing product. Food for thought.

post-1318-0-91397500-1442744700_thumb.jpg

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oh! that is very grey isn't it! Can't say im liking that at all.. Well hey at least it ain't a pinkish white like Arcadia's 1/60! -_-

But it being grey just doesn't cut it im my book. There should be no reason that they fouled up the color choice like that. I'll bet quite a few people who are buying these things aren't going to be very impressed. :unsure:

So it would also seem that getting colors choices wrong isn't just limited to just one company.. :rolleyes:

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Oh wait, no, I forgot my biggest pet peeve so far!

It's this:post-1318-0-93179000-1442745992_thumb.jpg

The chest armour only seems to attach at the top of the breastplate, as far as I can tell. That means that the bottom is always loose, and I can just swing it up and down with my finger.

I hope I'm doing something wrong, 'cause.... That's pretty lame. -_-

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Close one there , but there was plenty on release date , which was September 19 Japan time , ( which was yesterday). There were tons on cdjapan and many at Hlj . Just keep track of the release date on the tamashii website and check back here often or close to release date incase you missed another preorder . Just remember Japan time , Japan time , ^_^

I see. So, on release day itself it shouldn't be a problem getting an order in. But, they tend sell out fairly quickly. Like in a day, but not within minutes.

Yeah, my problem is I'm not keeping up to date with collecting like I used to. I'll just need to set my calender to remind me. Thanks for the advice.

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Regarding die-cast joints -- I don't get it. The joints that are now die-cast never had any issues when they were plastic, and the joints which are plastic but had durability issues with plastic cracking, such as the main swingbar hinge and the Gerwalk joint -- which have developed cracks on my Himetal v1 -- are the same.

And I thought I was the only one who had this issue, the gerwalk joints have developed cracks on all my HM VF-1, while the shoulders that are now metal never had a problem to begin with. I can't see why the genious product designer behind this renewal release hasn't even tried addressing the real issues

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A lot of the hinge joints seem to be partly or completely die-cast now. Were there ever any durability issues on the original release for these joints?

Also, how are the feet? Are they floppy in battroid?

Well, they don't call it "Hi-Metal" cause it's wacked out on goofballs. :D

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This is more DYRL than SDFM.....so making it bright white like the first release would have been wrong....unless they were going for the "anime white" as seen on film....or like the recent Arcadia movie edition VF-1's...

The question is if this is too grey even for the fans of more "realistic" colored valks...

Personally, I like it....I agree with others that is it more like the old Takatoku in color...that it is old school...

R = Respect

:)

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Not surprised by the color -- I called it as looking slightly gray in a earlier post. Not really a deal breaker for me... as others have mentioned, it's not like this is the first gray VF-1 toy ever released, all the old chunkies were pretty gray. In fact, gray was the normal color, and bright white was the exception. The gray is probably less prone to yellowing.

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grey is nice but i still don't understand why they keep the lower part of the red stripes on the chest horizontal instead of slanted at an angle like what you see on the show.....

I have my personal suspicion that it's literally because they refuse to admit to the mistake the original 1/55ths made in the same way. They basically trademarked an inaccuracy. :p

Actually though, those stripes really don't look good at all.. neither the straight portion nor the angle really flows with the lines of the aircraft. Why'd they screw it up even worse than before?

Edited by Chronocidal
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