DX YF-29 Durandal (Maximillian Jenius Unit) WWM Release

[Chronocidal]

Yeah, I think they just had a bad drilling alignment on this one.  The fighter looks fine, so I probably won't mess with it, but it's absolutely a dud.

I hate thinking this way, but it kind of feels like they shuffle the QC duds off to the foreign markets.  Technically speaking, this one is complete QC failure, because I don't believe it can transform, due to all the mis-aligned joints.

[Bolt]

8 hours ago, Chronocidal said:

Technically speaking, this one is complete QC failure, because I don't believe it can transform, due to all the mis-aligned joints.

Wait, what.?!  I didn't realize yours was THAT bad ! That's absolutely horrible  I usually like my VF's in fighter mode, but that would still piss me off..

[Angesdad]

11 hours ago, Chronocidal said:

Just got my order of this one from BBTS, since I let it linger.. and I sort of got a dud, I guess?  Not terrible though.

What I noticed immediately taking it out of the box though was that the left tail was completely limp.  The right snapped between two positions with a solid feeling, but the left was entirely loose, and just flopped up and down.

SO... I looked at it closely, and what became clear was that the hole for the shaft mounting the left tail had been mis-drilled.  It was canted at an angle that kept the tail from engaging the stops to keep it in place.  I had to snap out segments of very tiny plastic covers that held the shaft in, but they're absolutely invisible on the underside of the plane, and I don't know if I will even bother gluing them back in.

While I considered filling it with putty or cement and re-drilling.. I decided to just widen the hole to the correct alignment, and jam a small shim of paper to re-align the shaft.

Snapped the tail back into place, and the shim realigned it enough to get the tail to click up and down solidly.  I don't think I'll touch it anymore.

The front gear door is a little offline, and I think the tab snapping the nosecone in place is misshapen a little, but it holds well enough.  Otherwise, it looks good so far.

Edit:  I take it back.. they had some issues with this one.. somehow.  I don't know quite how they managed it, but I'm thinking they needed to train their hired help a bit harder.

Yeah, the nosecone mount is just completely offline.  In fact, I actually wonder if it would even transform.  The nose is so far out of line, I don't think it would fit between the sections of fuselage to go into battroid mode.

Yeah, nuts to that.. I don't really care for the YF-29 battroid anyhow.  It's just really weird seeing stupid production flubs this bad.

Ouch, it hurts to see that nosecone cocked to the side like that it's crazy! I too was going to share on the forum of my issues with the toy which is in pieces at the moment. - Mine came with inferior paint job (the norm perhaps), a fiber stuck in the paint & spider cracks along the frames of the canopy (never a dull moment), and dings & dents in various places from final assembly and packaging...Now every time I open up a DX, anxiety sets in and my heart sinks because it's almost certain that I will find QC shortcomings. Some WIP shots;

I had to conceal unsightly imperfections/cracks in the canopy thus went with a layer of yellow pearl + clear yellow without making it too opaque, Then redo the black canopy frame hoping it'd work out. Lastly I pasted Max's name tag thanks to awesome decals from @Anasazi37.😁 BTW, is Max a captain or a general flying the durandal in the last movie?? Somebody let me know please.

Edited March 1, 2023 by Angesdad

[TheLoneWolf]

8 hours ago, Chronocidal said:

Yeah, I think they just had a bad drilling alignment on this one.  The fighter looks fine, so I probably won't mess with it, but it's absolutely a dud.

I hate thinking this way, but it kind of feels like they shuffle the QC duds off to the foreign markets.  Technically speaking, this one is complete QC failure, because I don't believe it can transform, due to all the mis-aligned joints.

I'm sorry yours was a a dud. But since this was a worldwide release, you should be able to contact Bandai directly for customer support.

IMO, the biggest improvement from the new BW/HG agreement is that we can finally get some customer support for non-SDFM products.

[Bolt]

23 minutes ago, Angesdad said:

BTW, is Max a captain or a general flying the durandal in the last movie?? Somebody let me know please.

Max does captain an SMS carrier ship. And flys the YF-29 . Private contractor now working for SMS. 

[treatment]

1 hour ago, TheLoneWolf said:

I'm sorry yours was a a dud. But since this was a worldwide release, you should be able to contact Bandai directly for customer support.

IMO, the biggest improvement from the new BW/HG agreement is that we can finally get some customer support for non-SDFM products.

It'll be quite interesting if Chronocidal can get his dud-yf29 replaced either by BBTS or by Bandai themselves since this item is a WWM release and also definitely a big glaring Factory/QC-FAIL.

 

[twich]

I am wondering if we are starting to see mold degradation, since this has how many different repaints from the original and Macross 30 releases, then add the recent revival Alto Full Set Pack and now Max. My Revival Alto Full Set Pack is flawless, but my Max has some QC flaws that are kind of annoying, since this is supposed to be the representation of the most rare, ultra powerful Valkyrie in the Macross Universe, that we know of.

Twich

[Chronocidal]

4 hours ago, twich said:

I am wondering if we are starting to see mold degradation, since this has how many different repaints from the original and Macross 30 releases, then add the recent revival Alto Full Set Pack and now Max. My Revival Alto Full Set Pack is flawless, but my Max has some QC flaws that are kind of annoying, since this is supposed to be the representation of the most rare, ultra powerful Valkyrie in the Macross Universe, that we know of.

Twich

This wasn't a molding problem.  The person drilling the holes for the pins had to be either drunk or cross-eyed to bork it up this hard.

Honestly, in this day of insane shipping shenanigans, I'm more than happy to work on it and try to fix it myself, rather than try and navigate an international QC return labyrinth.  Even for internationally supported products, I'm not betting Bandai would be easy to work with.

To be clear though, I'm calling this a QC failure, because they failed to produce a product that does what it's supposed to do.  BUT.  That doesn't mean it won't look very pretty on a shelf in fighter mode, which was always my intention in the first place.  I'm going to give it a fine look-over tonight and see if I can't pop the pins for the nose and re-align it somehow, but I think the limit of this one is going to be fighter and gerwalk.  Considering how silly I think the YF-29 battroid looks with all the junk hanging off the back, I don't really see it as a major problem.   It's disappointing.. but it does what I wanted.

Edit:

So getting the nose pin out is just not happening without destroying the probes on the sides of the nosecone, but on the.. positive? side.. it turns out the hole for the nose rotation wasn't just mis-aligned, it was also incredibly over-drilled, so the pinhole is about twice the size it should be.  After some aggressive realignment of the nosecone, it will straighten out with the proper force applied.  Apparently they just managed to cut a massive gouge in the inside of the nose, and that pin has a bunch of travel on one side.  The natural tendency is for the pin to shift as the nose rotates, but if I force it into place, it stays where it should, and goes into battroid just fine.

Aside from all of that... it looks like everything else works as it should, and I'm actually kind of impressed how well it locks together in battroid.  I'm hoping they make these same improvements to the VF-25 re-releases, because the torso locked together nicely.  Hip joints are loose, but there are screws to adjust that now, and it doesn't have any trouble standing up on its own, so I'm calling it good for now.

Edited March 1, 2023 by Chronocidal

[Bolt]

2 hours ago, Chronocidal said:

This wasn't a molding problem.  The person drilling the holes for the pins had to be either drunk or cross-eyed to bork it up this hard.

Honestly, in this day of insane shipping shenanigans, I'm more than happy to work on it and try to fix it myself, rather than try and navigate an international QC return labyrinth.  Even for internationally supported products, I'm not betting Bandai would be easy to work with.

To be clear though, I'm calling this a QC failure, because they failed to produce a product that does what it's supposed to do.  BUT.  That doesn't mean it won't look very pretty on a shelf in fighter mode, which was always my intention in the first place.  I'm going to give it a fine look-over tonight and see if I can't pop the pins for the nose and re-align it somehow, but I think the limit of this one is going to be fighter and gerwalk.  Considering how silly I think the YF-29 battroid looks with all the junk hanging off the back, I don't really see it as a major problem.   It's disappointing.. but it does what I wanted.

Edit:

So getting the nose pin out is just not happening without destroying the probes on the sides of the nosecone, but on the.. positive? side.. it turns out the hole for the nose rotation wasn't just mis-aligned, it was also incredibly over-drilled, so the pinhole is about twice the size it should be.  After some aggressive realignment of the nosecone, it will straighten out with the proper force applied.  Apparently they just managed to cut a massive gouge in the inside of the nose, and that pin has a bunch of travel on one side.  The natural tendency is for the pin to shift as the nose rotates, but if I force it into place, it stays where it should, and goes into battroid just fine.

Aside from all of that... it looks like everything else works as it should, and I'm actually kind of impressed how well it locks together in battroid.  I'm hoping they make these same improvements to the VF-25 re-releases, because the torso locked together nicely.  Hip joints are loose, but there are screws to adjust that now, and it doesn't have any trouble standing up on its own, so I'm calling it good for now.

Good job👍🏼 Hopefully that pin won't wander into the over drilled cavity. Maybe fill it? 

[Anasazi37]

9 hours ago, Angesdad said:

Ouch, it hurts to see that nosecone cocked to the side like that it's crazy! I too was going to share on the forum of my issues with the toy which is in pieces at the moment. - Mine came with inferior paint job (the norm perhaps), a fiber stuck in the paint & spider cracks along the frames of the canopy (never a dull moment), and dings & dents in various places from final assembly and packaging...Now every time I open up a DX, anxiety sets in and my heart sinks because it's almost certain that I will find QC shortcomings. Some WIP shots;

I had to conceal unsightly imperfections/cracks in the canopy thus went with a layer of yellow pearl + clear yellow without making it too opaque, Then redo the black canopy frame hoping it'd work out. Lastly I pasted Max's name tag thanks to awesome decals from @Anasazi37.😁 BTW, is Max a captain or a general flying the durandal in the last movie?? Somebody let me know please.

Looking good! 

[Chronocidal]

3 hours ago, Bolt said:

Good job👍🏼 Hopefully that pin won't wander into the over drilled cavity. Maybe fill it? 

No way to really reach it to fill it in, it's a microscopic crevice between the nose hinge and the socket it sits in.  It's probably fine to leave it though, the pin just likes to wiggle out of place if you just push the nose down, but forcibly aligning it makes it stay in place.

[Pontus]

I finally got one of these from BBTS (super happy they still had them in stock) and opened mine up to transform to battroid and back.  Happy to report absolutely no issues on mine.  Everything is tight and right.  I love that they even added some light panel lining in spots but not too much.  And the copper covers... What an amazing bird!  This is my first and only VF-25/29 (or anything from 7/Frontier), and my only complaint is the transforming design.  Even watching @jenius transformation video (thank you thank you! ), I still had trouble and it's very delicate with fiddly bits sticking out ready to snap off if you're not very careful.  At least they give you an extra antenna, but those canards are doomed.  I certainly won't be doing much transforming of this toy if at all.  Fighter mode without the super parts is gorgeous imho, so I think it'll stay that way with Freyja singing its praises!

Edited May 30, 2023 by Pontus

[badboy00z]

It's late for the 1st Prime day but they have this for $183.49 right. Not sure if it'll carry on to tomorrow so grab yours now. Wish I hadn't bought it at full price when it first came out...

[Chronocidal]

Sheesh.. not something I would have expected to see in this lifetime.  

Actually tempted to pick up a second, but I really don't need more YF-29s.

Edited July 12, 2023 by Chronocidal

[Raikkonen]

Due to space and other priorities, I'm still undecided to pull the trigger on this one, or wait for the VF-25G Michael Blanc Revival, or hold out longer for the eventual Ozma Revival... 

[Pontus]

16 hours ago, badboy00z said:

It's late for the 1st Prime day but they have this for $183.49 right. Not sure if it'll carry on to tomorrow so grab yours now. Wish I hadn't bought it at full price when it first came out...

https://www.amazon.com/Tamashii-Nations-Absolute-Durandal-Maximilian/dp/B09YT84WJ5/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1WZD8HLSNKUKU&keywords=yf-29&qid=1689194074&sprefix=yf-29%2Caps%2C123&sr=8-1&ufe=app_do%3Aamzn1.fos.18630bbb-fcbb-42f8-9767-857e17e03685&th=1

Still up and a darn good deal, tempted to get another at that price.  Sure is a beautiful bird!

[twich]

This seems to be on special right now at Amazon!-$186.99-Limited-time deal for Prime Members: TAMASHII NATIONS - Macross Movie: Absolute Live!!!!!! - YF-29 Durandal Valkirie (Maximilian Jenius Use) Full Set Pack, Bandai Spirits DX CHOGOKIN https://a.co/d/dEhK8D3

 

Twich

[Chronocidal]

Screw it, I grabbed a spare.  Maybe it'll be less of a lemon than the one I originally got.  

[Chronocidal]

As a follow-up, it feels wild to exist in a time when I can order a Bandai DX valk from Amazon, and have it on my doorstep in two days.

Good news is, this one has none of the fit and finish issues of my first copy from HLJ.  The weird news though.. Did I miss a whole bunch of improvements to the VF-25 base transformation?

I ran this through a quick fighter-gerwalk-battroid-fighter cycle, and was incredibly surprised and pleased by the fact that the entire chest transformation is ratcheted now.  The chest plate has three distinct detents: one for fighter mode, one for battroid mode, and one that holds it in a solid position to rotate the nose into place under the head.  

I'm a little blown away by this, because I don't recall this even being part of the recently re-issued Alto VF-25.  Have they been making stealth improvements to this mold in between release cycles?  Because this was by far the easiest time I've ever had transforming a VF-25-based valk.

[MKT]

1 hour ago, Chronocidal said:

As a follow-up, it feels wild to exist in a time when I can order a Bandai DX valk from Amazon, and have it on my doorstep in two days.

Good news is, this one has none of the fit and finish issues of my first copy from HLJ.  The weird news though.. Did I miss a whole bunch of improvements to the VF-25 base transformation?

I ran this through a quick fighter-gerwalk-battroid-fighter cycle, and was incredibly surprised and pleased by the fact that the entire chest transformation is ratcheted now.  The chest plate has three distinct detents: one for fighter mode, one for battroid mode, and one that holds it in a solid position to rotate the nose into place under the head.  

I'm a little blown away by this, because I don't recall this even being part of the recently re-issued Alto VF-25.  Have they been making stealth improvements to this mold in between release cycles?  Because this was by far the easiest time I've ever had transforming a VF-25-based valk.

Not only is it strange we can order these WWM releases from unlikely places, but they are also still in stock for quite a while after release and eventually discounted lol.

On the chest ratchet, do you see 3 different detents on the underside of chest plate?
On the YF-29 Alto Full Pack release, there is one clear detent (pic borrowed from Anymoon):

 

There was some early confusion whether or not this ratchet carried over to the VF-25 WWM (released after Alto's YF-29), but later videos such as Wotafa's confirmed it. So we can assume VF-25 Revival Alto's & now Micheal's also have this. 

[Chronocidal]

46 minutes ago, MKT said:

There was some early confusion whether or not this ratchet carried over to the VF-25 WWM (released after Alto's YF-29), but later videos such as Wotafa's confirmed it. So we can assume VF-25 Revival Alto's & now Micheal's also have this. 

Yeah, no, I just checked my VF-25F.  There's one small nub on the pivot that gives absolutely no friction when rotating the chest plate.  They didn't make those same changes to the most recent VF-25 Alto.  I do think there were three separate ratchet points on the YF-29 Max though.

Will have to wait and see whether they did that with the Michael re-release when I get mine.

Edited October 15, 2023 by Chronocidal

[WhatBoutMyStar]

Amazon has this on sale as an early Black Friday deal at $177.99 for those who may still be interested. Believe this is the lowest price it's ever been.

[treatment]

15 minutes ago, WhatBoutMyStar said:

Amazon has this on sale as an early Black Friday deal at $177.99 for those who may still be interested. Believe this is the lowest price it's ever been.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09YT84WJ5

[derex3592]

OUCH. That hurts. 

[Anasazi37]

Saving my money for the DX Super Ostrich...and I had to prepay for my PO of the RIOBOT Voltron Legendary Defender. It set me back ¥92120. That hurt. A lot. But it's the first decent version anyone's made. The Playmates version sucked.

[WhatBoutMyStar]

The price of this has dropped down further on Amazon to $164. Looks like Amazon can’t get rid of these things fast enough, as well as other Macross figures. 

[Winterstar_343]

3 hours ago, WhatBoutMyStar said:

The price of this has dropped down further on Amazon to $164. Looks like Amazon can’t get rid of these things fast enough, as well as other Macross figures. 

Yeah, I decided to bite at that price. I don't have a '29 yet and that blue is pretty.

[Raptor One]

On 10/19/2022 at 10:38 PM, Raptor One said:

I've never been a fan of the YF-29 design but God help me I kinda want Max's 

Update: I got Max's 😅

 

As much as I like the paint scheme I still wasn't 100% convinced. Especially because the Gerwalk mode is kind of meh, and the hip joint can't rotate down a full 90 degrees, which is an annoying trend on some other Macross toys by both Bandai and Arcadia and severely limits the Gerwalk aesthetic. But after putting it into battroid, throwing on the Super Parts, and seeing how good it looks with them in both battroid and fighter, I will say I'm sold on the design. Feels good to have a modern Max valk as well! 

 

[Bolt]

Max's latest ride is pretty nice 👍🏼 

I bet Hikaru doesn't have anything so awesome..

Or does he ?