Bandai 1/60 DX Chogokin Macross Plus YF-21

[Actar]

Issues regarding accuracy aside, all I'm really looking for from the DX Chogokin is stability and heft. I want a toy that I can both play with and display. As much as I love my 1/60 Yamato, I never take it off the shelf or transform it because it's just so light, flimsy, and floppy. Even getting it to stand is a challenge thanks to the loose hips. As long as the DX Chogokin is a fun poseable figure that transforms, I think I can overlook most of its accuracy inconsistencies.

That being said, the double-hinged elbows are indeed a point of concern, and so are those what look to be ball-jointed hips. Studying the images, it looks like pressing the black button above the hips will allow you to detach the entire assembly and replace it with that blue plate. Very reminiscent of the recent Transformers MPM Jazz figure.

 

Edited October 24, 2023 by Actar

[wm cheng]

I don't get how the nose in fighter mode could look even shorter but in battroid mode look too long?!?!  I was hoping there would be some magic transformation to extend the nose in fighter and shorten it for battroid as the YF-19 lower calf fill out panels were genius.  I'm still getting one though (if I have any luck at pre-order time).

[Mog]

They didn’t do the Yammy “shorten the nose for battroid/push the cockpit closer to the nose for battroid” trick.

[Raikkonen]

You're all still gonna buy it. 😂

[Actar]

27 minutes ago, Mog said:

They didn’t do the Yammy “shorten the nose for battroid/push the cockpit closer to the nose for battroid” trick.

I want to know if there's a good reason for it. Like, for instance, if there's some kind of internal mechanism that covers up the cockpit windows from the inside. Or if it's simply due to laziness or budget constraints. 

[R0P3-F15H]

53 minutes ago, wm cheng said:

I don't get how the nose in fighter mode could look even shorter but in battroid mode look too long?!?!  I was hoping there would be some magic transformation to extend the nose in fighter and shorten it for battroid as the YF-19 lower calf fill out panels were genius.  I'm still getting one though (if I have any luck at pre-order time).

Likely due to camera angles for the magazine, the one of it in battroid is a better representation of its size. sadly, this is a transforming toy that has 3 modes, turns out its kinda hards to make that super accurate, even the yamato sacrificed leg size to make a better fighter mode! its all about sacrificing what for which mode and bandai likely wanted to balance it this time around for better or worse.

[Chronocidal]

What I'd like to know is what all the space ahead of the shoulders is being used for, if anything.  Yamato's was absolutely jammed into the belly, and Bandai's looks like there's just a pile of empty space ahead of the shoulders here.

Also, I tweaked the arm on the right side.  I would happily deal with a wider body if they would beef up the arms enough so that they could be longer and thicker, which would let you collapse the elbows and hands into them to make room.  The way the hands are stored right now looks incredibly sloppy.

[Mog]

For comparison purposes, Yamato’s 1/60 fighter from a similar angle:

Not exactly a perfect match to the Bandai’s angle.  But with the nose closer to the camera, you would expect it to exaggerate the length of the nose a bit.

Not seeing that with the Bandai fighter pic is concerning.

Edited October 24, 2023 by Mog

[Chronocidal]

9 minutes ago, Mog said:

Not exactly a perfect match to the Bandai’s angle.  But with the nose closer to the camera, you would expect it to exaggerate the length of the nose a bit.

Not seeing that with the Bandai fighter pic is concerning.

I think the issue with the Bandai pic is that they used a focal length that gave the picture almost no foreshortening at all.

[rematron]

I'm also not liking how the arm canons are pointing inward in that photo.  Great if it's shooting at something a few meters in front of it.

[DownIsUp]

I hope to God that this has ratcheted limbs like the VF-31 molds. With how much mass the legs have to deal with, ball joints would be insanely loose very soon

[jenius]

1 hour ago, Chronocidal said:

I think the issue with the Bandai pic is that they used a focal length that gave the picture almost no foreshortening at all.

Definitely this. 

 

17 minutes ago, DownIsUp said:

I hope to God that this has ratcheted limbs like the VF-31 molds. With how much mass the legs have to deal with, ball joints would be insanely loose very soon

The VF-25 metal ball joint shoulder definitely has not aged well. 

[davidwhangchoi]

i hope this will be on clearance if no ones likes it and i can grab it for cheap like the sv-262 draken.

it's possibility but not sure... but i will hold out for now.

i'm glad there's more pics and updates. 

next year Macross will be more mainstream. 

[Raikkonen]

21 hours ago, Mog said:

For comparison purposes, Yamato’s 1/60 fighter from a similar angle:

Not exactly a perfect match to the Bandai’s angle.  But with the nose closer to the camera, you would expect it to exaggerate the length of the nose a bit.

Not seeing that with the Bandai fighter pic is concerning.

Lol. No.

Angle's not similar (tip of red fin touches tail in first pic while in second no where near), and... focal point completely different.

[Mog]

The point still stands though:  the nose and cockpit in fighter mode looks short and stubby on the Bandai.

And then because of the design choices by Bandai, it still conversely looks too long in battroid mode.

A quick and dirty shot to try to mimic the angle of the Bandai pic:

[Mommar]

On 10/24/2023 at 10:54 AM, borgified said:

Sunny Side up egg punch effects? How un-original.. 

After all this complaining, who here Is not (I repeat Is Not) getting this version of the DX YF-21 at all ‘cause its not faithful to the  original Anime Series? 

After all said and done, there’s still someone that changes their mind and says: “Oh screw my budget and my original thoughts. I will still get it due to FOMO and I want to be part of the gang in getting one. I want to be like the Joneses and stay in trendy with the times. The others are so out of style”. 

I'm not getting it because they managed to make it look bad in all three modes regardless of accuracy.

[MacrossJunkie]

I'm on the fence on this one. Unlike other releases where I actually like them, the implementation of this DX YF-21 is rather disappointing to me, so if I get it, it would just be to collect it. It's at VF-25 v1 levels of disappointment to me. I wish they would have made more effort to have the battroid look good so that it could look good in at least one mode since fighter mode was a lost cause anyway. Those tiny anemic arms just kills it for me. It boggles my mind that they made all that effort to have thick legs, but then completely disregarded another key aspect of the battroid's shape. This DX never skipped leg day, but has never even heard of arm day.

Here's to hoping Mr K at Arcadia gets around to revisiting the YF-21. 

[Duymon]

so I assume we're getting the YF-21 full set first, and then 3 years later they'll release the barebones version for 1000 yen less?

[MacrossJunkie]

1 hour ago, Duymon said:

so I assume we're getting the YF-21 full set first, and then 3 years later they'll release the barebones version for 1000 yen less?

Three years later, after inflation, it will probably cost the same as the full set did 😛

[seti88]

On 10/25/2023 at 12:20 AM, Ignacio Ocamica said:

Better scans (taken from toysdaily forum):

On the length of the nose/fuselage from intakes on, wide lens shot or not, to me it does look a bit shorter/ less stubby? than previous prototype.

Although this makes battroid mode to look fitter and will make legs look to sit less further up. 

For me, fighter is not as stylish as the yamato forward looking wise, however bandai's design is not bad either.

Tampo will as usual, save the day. 🤣😅

 NETFC ftw! 🤣🤣 .......i kid....

Edited October 26, 2023 by seti88

[Graham]

On 10/25/2023 at 3:29 AM, Shawn said:

I love this shot, I get serious Psycho Gundam vibes. I'd buy one just to display it like this

Personally I think it looks really good. Agreed a sleeker fighter mode would be preferable-as that is how I display my items, but it still looks good to me.
I do like seeing the amount of metal they are using in joints, I think it is going to need all the extra help it can get to be stable without the stand.

 

Psycho Gundam always makes me chuckle.

I call it the Lazy Boy Gundam. In my view, It's basically a robot that transforms into a robot sitting in a chair. 🤣

[Lolicon]

This is what transformation looks like in Gundam. 

[seti88]

That looks like zeta gundam in flight mode?

[davidwhangchoi]

@Lolicon

[MacrossJunkie]

50 minutes ago, Lolicon said:

This is what transformation looks like in Gundam. 

[MKT]

On 10/25/2023 at 5:28 AM, Actar said:

Issues regarding accuracy aside, all I'm really looking for from the DX Chogokin is stability and heft. I want a toy that I can both play with and display. As much as I love my 1/60 Yamato, I never take it off the shelf or transform it because it's just so light, flimsy, and floppy. Even getting it to stand is a challenge thanks to the loose hips. As long as the DX Chogokin is a fun poseable figure that transforms, I think I can overlook most of its accuracy inconsistencies.

+1. Of all the Yammie YF-21 / VF-22 molds variants, I only have VF-22 Milia in Battroid, and seeing how it went I have no desire at all to transform the rest. That VF-22 could hardly stand on its own, and in the display case would slip on the smooth glass surface, so I had to put a felt mat under its feet to increase friction for it to stand properly. Eventually I transferred it onto a stand but the hips would not hold their position for long & just dangle down. 

If the joints are stable and strong, then I'm sure we will be able to find some nice angle to pose it in for display, as perhaps what we are already doing for most of the other valks. 

From the pics, it looks like the legs detach with the crotch as a whole single piece for delimiter mode, instead of individually like Yamato's. Too bad, as I thought perhaps I can swap Bandai's legs in onto Yamato's for battroid. 

 

[dur]

I have a confession to make: I never liked the YF-21/VF-22, fighter or battroid.  I think maybe someone with my aesthetic designed this, because I do actually like the bandai rendition specifically because it does not look like the source material.

 

I am getting one and really hope we for some bizarre reason get a wright immelman VF-22S at some point.

[Raikkonen]

11 hours ago, Mog said:

The point still stands though:  the nose and cockpit in fighter mode looks short and stubby on the Bandai.

And then because of the design choices by Bandai, it still conversely looks too long in battroid mode.

A quick and dirty shot to try to mimic the angle of the Bandai pic:

I get what you saying.

Bandai's picture is taken so that everything around the central point is brought out as much as possible out of perspective, making the nose look smaller than what it is. 

Eventhough the nose looks shorter vs Yamato's, I don't believe that magazine image is a true indication of any proportions. 

[26662]

On 10/24/2023 at 3:25 AM, MKT said:

Hmm it highly looks like there's going to be delimiter mode, by the looks of that partsforming inner belly plate cover.

(Image borrowed from Macross Mecha Manual site)

Thanks for the share!  I wasn't familiar with the ventral belly plate and was trying to visualize it fitting on the plane's dorsal surface.  That's badass.

[seti88]

5 minutes ago, 26662 said:

Thanks for the share!  I wasn't familiar with the ventral belly plate and was trying to visualize it fitting on the plane's dorsal surface.  That's badass.

This DX is a parts-former! 

Pre-Order Ca.....

Still would like to see if the limbs and legs are separate from each other, or are still attached to a common plate for ease of removal/reattachment when substituting with the delimited belly plate part..

Edited October 26, 2023 by seti88

[Raikkonen]

After looking at the images again of all 3 modes... I think more than the nose being short, it's actually the back being over sized to compensate for the legs in plane mode. 

Definitely looks like Bandai prioritize transformation, then battroid, while the rest is what it is once it transforms. 

Edited October 26, 2023 by Raikkonen

[Test_Pilot_2]

Looks like the Yamato is the one to have for fighter display while the new Bandai is the one for battroid.

Why not both?

[Sanity is Optional]

Well, glad I've got a couple of Yamatos, but I'll be grabbing a bandai for battroid. Not sure which Gerald I prefer yet.

[wm cheng]

On 10/24/2023 at 7:14 PM, Mog said:

For comparison purposes, Yamato’s 1/60 fighter from a similar angle:

Not exactly a perfect match to the Bandai’s angle.  But with the nose closer to the camera, you would expect it to exaggerate the length of the nose a bit.

Not seeing that with the Bandai fighter pic is concerning.

It's just not the same angle, it has to do with the focal length of the lens.  You shot your Yamato with a very wide angle lens (short focal lengths), so it exaggerates the perspective and elongates the nose disproportionately.  Where as long lenses (long focal lengths) tends to compress background and foreshortens length towards camera.  I think the magazine was shot with a long lens, look at how parallel the wing root separation lines are vs. your Yamato wing roots definitely converge at the perspective vanishing point within the image.  I'm still holding out hope for that side angle view we were treated to earlier on.  I just hope all this complaining here means I might have an easier time at pre-order (but somehow I don't think so :P)

[Shawn]

I wonder if this is the release button to remove the legs and the mounting plate

 

then the delimiter mode plate has a plug in tab

 

I wonder if the arms are attached to the leg plate, or if they stay on and tucked in for delimiter mode. Hard to tell from the limited pics

 

edited: maybe they are attached to the leg plate-the uncolored version shows the break in the joint, and looks like it is mounted to the back