DX Chogokin VF-17S

[GGemini]

Didn't expect this! 

[GGemini]

https://tamashiiweb.com/item/15495/?wovn=en

[Graham]

Way too skinny in Battroid mode. 

Looks like it's optimised for Fighter mode.

But as the VF-17 is one of my all-time favourite designs (it was my top favourite for decades), I'm in, will be buying.

 

[strikevalk]

agreed on the "too skinny"... but damnit, its a VF-17S. I need it.

[Sildani]

This was not on my bingo card, but it’s great for fans. I hope it gets the VF-31 Siegfried treatment, not the VF-31AX Kairos Plus treatment. 

[Froy]

VACA SANTA!!!

[seti88]

Just when I thought I was out.

[nightmareB4macross]

Great, another remake worse than its predecessor. 🫤

Did Bandai just take all the cues from the VF-171 and paint it black.

Super pass on the first batch. Waiting for these to hit bargain bins.

[MKT]

Expanding the info from the link:

 

[MKT]

Great that Bandai is expanding on Macross 7. A skinny 17 in Battroid does look weird though, the feeling I get when first seeing this is akin to latest pics of Dwayne Johnson, as compared to say when he was in F&F.

It has a lot of the DX 171 vibes all over.

[treatment]

from https://x.com/simsim5479/status/1971020441360937452

 

web-translated:

 

[Chronocidal]

Ok, Bandi, NO.

You did not just duplicate the crappy knees on this.  You need a slap upside the head with the Yamato version. 

Seriously, screw this, that is just the worst possible decision ever.  None of the major issues from the 171 are even slightly different here, so there is no reason this is not going to explode catastrophically just like the 171.

Edited 19 hours ago by Chronocidal

[blackconvoy_D01]

Skinny or not im going for it, unless Arcadia steps up. 

[treatment]

Bandai just deliberately skipped leg day assymetrically on this...

 

[VF8000G]

I'm surprised how positive reception to this has been.  The 171 is one of if not the worst DX Valkyrie (second only to the V1 VF-25) and is now repurposed with almost no changes for a design that has totally different proportions from the lineart.   The YF-21 got a lot of crap but at least it was an earnest ground-up effort.

Edited 19 hours ago by VF8000G

[Graham]

Yeah, so checking the pics more carefully, it looks like they are reusing a lot of VF-171 parts.

As a result, there's a lot of things that are not lineart correct for the VF-17.

• It's missing the VF-17's dual micro-misille launchers on each shoulder.
• It's got incorrect VF-171 dual micro-missile ports on the inside of each lower leg.
• Lower legs are way too skinny.

I'm sure there are other areas that are not lineart correct also.

 

[Graham]

8 minutes ago, Chronocidal said:

Ok, Bandi, NO.

You did not just duplicate the crappy knees on this.  You need a slap upside the head with the Yamato version. 

Seriously, screw this, that is just the worst possible decision ever.  None of the major issues from the 171 are even slightly different here, so there is no reason this is not going to explode catastrophically just like the 171.

But, to be fair, so far the revival VF-171EX is holding up OK, with no issues.

[MacrossJunkie]

This is one of those occasions where the Yamato version is just better, imo.  I was fine with the way the 171 as it was designed that way from the start. But the 17 was a chonkier design and had its own charms and aesthetics that were its own. The head even seems disproportionate to the body on this Bandai version. I wonder if the FAST packs will work on this if they decide to do them. 

[sh9000]

I'll add the DX VF-17S to the collection.  Maybe keep it in Fighter mode and use the Yamato 1/60 for Battroid mode.  Hoping that a HMR VF-17S also gets released.

[Chronocidal]

10 minutes ago, Graham said:

But, to be fair, so far the revival VF-171EX is holding up OK, with no issues.

"Holding up" doesn't do anything to fix the fundamental flaws in the engineering of this design.  The legs are still one misguided transformation away from shattering, unless they've completely redesigned the mechanism, and I saw no change with that in the renewal.

[davidwhangchoi]

38 minutes ago, treatment said:

from https://x.com/simsim5479/status/1971020441360937452

 

web-translated:

 

lol

[davidwhangchoi]

1 minute ago, Chronocidal said:

"Holding up" doesn't do anything to fix the fundamental flaws in the engineering of this design.  The legs are still one misguided transformation away from shattering, unless they've completely redesigned the mechanism, and I saw no change with that in the renewal.

i wonder if the shoulder triangles will crumble 

[strikevalk]

ah man.... this is kinda Unaccpetable..... 

[Mog]

Thank God I prefer the 17D. 

The 17 has a ton of anime magic.  Just hard to get all three modes somewhat presentable on a toy.

But if you all are warning it has the same flaws/design issues as the 171, it makes it a much easier pass.

Don’t feel like dealing with preorder madness garbage either.

[blackconvoy_D01]

1 hour ago, Chronocidal said:

"Holding up" doesn't do anything to fix the fundamental flaws in the engineering of this design.  The legs are still one misguided transformation away from shattering, unless they've completely redesigned the mechanism, and I saw no change with that in the renewal.

I personally feel more secure with my renewals transformation. 

59 minutes ago, davidwhangchoi said:

i wonder if the shoulder triangles will crumble 

the plastic on the triangles isnt as brittle as the original.

[Graham]

8 minutes ago, Mog said:

Thank God I prefer the 17D. 

The 17 has a ton of anime magic.  Just hard to get all three modes somewhat presentable on a toy.

But if you all are warning it has the same flaws/design issues as the 171, it makes it a much easier pass.

Don’t feel like dealing with preorder madness garbage either.

I think the only way to get a VF-17 that looks lineart/anime accurate in all three modes will be if Bandai makes a model kit of it in the HG Shortcut Change model kit line, with swabable chunky lower legs.

[Chronocidal]

15 minutes ago, blackconvoy_D01 said:

I personally feel more secure with my renewals transformation. 

So, the issue is purely Bandai's terrible design choices for the leg, and their inability to write proper instructions.  I wrote a detailed guide to everything they did wrong in the old 171 thread, and listed some steps to hopefully help prevent the legs from exploding, but there is nothing that will fix the issues with the knee without a fundamental redesign of the knee mechanism.

Edited 17 hours ago by Chronocidal

[jenius]

A brand new toy based on a 14 year old release? Oof.

They should have done a missing link 1/65.

Edited 17 hours ago by jenius

[Graham]

I'm hoping that Bandai will make some last minute changes to the DX VF-17S to make it a bit more lineart accurate, but I'm not holding out much hope.

[MKT]

1 hour ago, strikevalk said:

ah man.... this is kinda Unaccpetable..... 

Quite right, especially when we compare to:

 

21 minutes ago, jenius said:

A brand new toy based on a 14 year old release? Oof.

They should have done a missing link 1/65.

Exactly, they should have started from the 1/65 as base reference sculpt and improved from there.

But I guess Bandai is going for minimal effort just swapping a few parts from the 171.

[Graham]

The 1/65 VF-17D/S is still one of my favorite Macross toys.

[Chronocidal]

So.. on the small plus side of things.. they can remold all of the explodium parts in the proper powder blue rather than that obsidian garbage, so at least in theory they'll be less prone to shatter.  (The splotchy color makes me think this is just a repainted 171 though.)

Also funny that they didn't bother to mount the gun in fighter mode.  Cuz.. you know.  It's the wrong one.  The least they could do is to mold a new one and just pretend they care.  

Edited 16 hours ago by Chronocidal

[Scyla]

That was a roller coaster ride. At first I was happy about a new sleek fighter-mode VF-17 with proper markings (two areas where the Yamato one was a real letdown).

But this all came crashing down after realizing it is a remold of the VF-171.

And the VF-171 mold has several, not just the terrible knee joint design: the shoulders, the sliders for the fists, the way the chest locks together, the wing connection, the shoulder triangles.

Sure later releases made them less error prone and more durable but I still don’t want to see them on new toys.

Plus it is super line art inaccurate in a way that the Fire Valkyrie is not (which is a re-shell of the DX VF-19 I assume).

If they had to reuse the VF-171 mold, Bandai should have take more care in re-shelling all the parts; this is just lazy.

To be clear I’m not harping on the proportions. You cannot replicate anime magic in a physical form and I would love to have a sleek jet mode VF-17 but it needs to be more accurate than this. 

Also why the hard points on the wings? I don’t remember the VF-17 having ordinance in M7.

[davidwhangchoi]

I'm glad i ended up buying one of those high priced Yamato 17D that never went on sale from sabrina_skimpy from China. 

[recon]

4 hours ago, Graham said:

Way too skinny in Battroid mode. 

Looks like it's optimised for Fighter mode.

But as the VF-17 is one of my all-time favourite designs (it was my top favourite for decades), I'm in, will be buying.

 

Yes its mine too. Now bring on the D variant plus Emerald force variants

Hopefully they will redesign the legs and knee joints to bulk it up as what they did for VF-19 instead of just repainting it and throwing a new head. They could use some of engineering ideas they did fof the legs for YF-21

Edited 15 hours ago by recon