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This was bound to happen...gray market VF's?


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  • 3 weeks later...
1 hour ago, Pedro2k6 said:

IIRC, I post some pics of the display arm, S. 1 Member of a Mexican macross group on facebook got one.

Oh yeah. I forgot that one. My bad. ^_^ 

But beside that, there was no movement. I know some of the members here were planning to, I for one decided not to. So I don't know what happened to the other members who said they're going to order it.

 

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  • 1 month later...

Maybe this will force Arcadia to reissue their SSP? I have two Arcadia Valkyries that need theirs. :)

On the other hand no other VF-1 from Arcadia is missing their Super Parts with the exceptions of the first two releases. So maybe there is no incentive releasing them again.

If this is the case and the KOs are comparable in quality I might have to get those. 

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I received mine today, and I must say that it was a great surprise, but not 100% perfect. I made a side by side comparison with my Arcadia Premium Finish Roy super parts.

1) the goods: The Valkyrie Factory copy is very well made, it is packed in a double carton box just like Bandai's super packs. It looks like injected plastic and definitely not resin as I feared. The color is near identical, you couldn't tell the difference only under high light. Most parts are color-injected. The KO uses black screws which look nicer. The clear red part of the KO Strike part has its sprue cut hidden, where the Arcadia's cut is visible. No "Made in China" label on the KO !!!

2) the bads: There are slight differences, the seams are more visible with the KO parts. If the panel lines look identical, a few panel details are less sharp than the original Arcadia's. The painting is almost on par with Arcadia, except for the missile yellow bits and a default in the metallic paint on my copy at the rear of one turbine reactor.

3) The failure: At this point of the SbS comparison the KO Super parts would be totally worth if you still have a few VF-1 naked as I do, but unfortunately the Strike pack didn't mount very well. The culprit is the back pack bar which is made in a less rigid plastic than the Arcadia's bar. You can feel that the KO attachment bar is sloppier when you take the pack in the hand and when mounting the back pack assembly, the strike part is sagging on the outside because the rear fin push on the pack, the result is unsatisfying. With some massage, you could obtain a straight alignment, but to be honest it needs some sanding to completely fix the issue.

Arcadia has the same issue, the strike pack is plying the rear fin, but because the attachment bar is much more rigid, the Strike part is kept straight to the detriment of the rear fin.

Conclusion: I would recommend this pack for those who NEED a strike super pack, it doesn't come cheap reminds you. For those who don't  mind a bit of sanding/ work to strengthen the attachment bar, this pack is totally a great value. For custom works, I would wait a bit until the price lowers a bit and buy it when it would be under the 20-30 USD.

 

 

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So the tails knocking the left pack offline is nothing new, and I modified most of my Yamato super packs to correct for it.  Given these are knockoffs, I'd be a lot less worried about screwing them up by doing this.

Thanks for the review and comparison, it's nice to know they're available.  The quality seems decent enough that I might actually pick up a set for customizing into an orange and tan set for a VF-1D. :)

Edited by Chronocidal
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I was frequently reading into this thread every now and then and the pics that @Xigfridhas posted up has made me thinking.. Could these KO Fast/Strike parts and the VF-1 valks be produced by BB7/YM (the ones that makes variant KO MP-11s and the coneheads) and are possibly better than the official releases? I have a YM-03 and it was better leaps and bounds than the original release of the MP-11 (I read that the releases with the Long Life brand Logo is just as the same of the original one).

 

Won't be surprised if BB7/YM did branch out into this field and made their own tweeks in regards to the molds. <_< 

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14 minutes ago, Lolicon said:

Those look kinda interesting. How much did that set cost in total with shipping? Maybe my Angel Birds could use a set. :rolleyes:

The supers are about 600-700gr probably, that can give you an idea of the shipping rate. 

My shipment had a few other things: diecast trucks and so, it weight 4Kg and  TapbaoFocus' cost was 450 CNY via EMS. 

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14 hours ago, Killaforevah said:

I can't seem to find the SSPs in aliexpress. Does anyone know what to search for? I found the vf-1, but it is in pre-order and was suppose to come out in Oct

I don't see the SSP on aliexpress, only on TaoBao. I bought some KO SSP and got them yesterday. Mine seem be fine, and the packs line up straight. The seller I messaged about the 1S says it's *supposed* to be released this month. There was production issues/delays, hence why they never made it out July 2017. We'll see though if it actually gets released.

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7 hours ago, vfxraven19 said:

I don't see the SSP on aliexpress, only on TaoBao. I bought some KO SSP and got them yesterday. Mine seem be fine, and the packs line up straight. The seller I messaged about the 1S says it's *supposed* to be released this month. There was production issues/delays, hence why they never made it out July 2017. We'll see though if it actually gets released.

Cool, thank you. May I ask (assuming you are in the US), how much did the SSP cost, including shipping? I know the KO valk will be going for ~$140 on Ali. I'm trying to get an estimate on how much a KO vf-1+SSP would cost shipped to the US, and see if it's better to just get the arcadia version

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16 hours ago, Killaforevah said:

Cool, thank you. May I ask (assuming you are in the US), how much did the SSP cost, including shipping? I know the KO valk will be going for ~$140 on Ali. I'm trying to get an estimate on how much a KO vf-1+SSP would cost shipped to the US, and see if it's better to just get the arcadia version

1 SSP costs me about $50, including shipping.

I pre-ordered a KO VF-1S when it was announced, going for 390 CNY (roughly $50 USD) + any shipping.

You're almost going to see a set (KO VF1 + KO SSP) for about $100 + shipping.

Shipping can vary. If the seller doesn't ship directly to the customer, they ship it to a warehouse within China. Once it reaches the warehouse, you are contacted by TaoBao when your order is ready to be shipped overseas. They also use Chinapost/EMS, but I've had JCEX/UPS make most of my overseas deliveries.

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On 2017-12-14 at 11:09 AM, vfxraven19 said:

1 SSP costs me about $50, including shipping.

I pre-ordered a KO VF-1S when it was announced, going for 390 CNY (roughly $50 USD) + any shipping.

You're almost going to see a set (KO VF1 + KO SSP) for about $100 + shipping.

Shipping can vary. If the seller doesn't ship directly to the customer, they ship it to a warehouse within China. Once it reaches the warehouse, you are contacted by TaoBao when your order is ready to be shipped overseas. They also use Chinapost/EMS, but I've had JCEX/UPS make most of my overseas deliveries.

Hmm that was cheaper than what I paid. I believe it was $100 for just the vf-1. Basically old Yamato pricing.

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