DX Chogokin VF-17S

[PointBlankSniper]

9 hours ago, davidwhangchoi said:

@PointBlankSniper @Chronocidal

I can't understand Japanese so you'll have to re-confirm if you can understand native Japanese
 

 

 

I just watched with auto TL captions. I'd say it's comprehensible if you just listen for those random english names and model numbers and keep your eyes peeled for when it consistently garbles them up, because YT doesn't know franchise specific lingo.

Quoted the two screenshots to make a couple points.

The first is that the fighter mode's legs are nearly as thin as the arms. Those are basically the 171 proportions, if not possibly slightly worse. Obviously, those same proportions don't come close to matching the battroid mode beside it. A toy can only mirror one form, or neither, and it looks like bandai made their choice here.

Second, it is no gargantuan beside the Blazer valk. This image looks about the same scaling as the DX YF-19 to the DX VF-171EX I have beside me. Unless the Blazer is supposed to also tower over the YF-19, it doesn't look like 17 could be any bigger than the 171.

[Graham]

42 minutes ago, PointBlankSniper said:

I just watched with auto TL captions. I'd say it's comprehensible if you just listen for those random english names and model numbers and keep your eyes peeled for when it consistently garbles them up, because YT doesn't know franchise specific lingo.

Quoted the two screenshots to make a couple points.

The first is that the fighter mode's legs are nearly as thin as the arms. Those are basically the 171 proportions, if not possibly slightly worse. Obviously, those same proportions don't come close to matching the battroid mode beside it. A toy can only mirror one form, or neither, and it looks like bandai made their choice here.

Second, it is no gargantuan beside the Blazer valk. This image looks about the same scaling as the DX YF-19 to the DX VF-171EX I have beside me. Unless the Blazer is supposed to also tower over the YF-19, it doesn't look like 17 could be any bigger than the 171.

M7 mecha size comparison.

[Chronocidal]

Yeah, unfortunately, no part of that art makes even the slightest lick of sense.

[PointBlankSniper]

Oof

The only thing to be learned from those sketches is that the 17's fighter mode is intended to have skinny legs.

That and Yamato definitely threw battroid scaling out the window as far as they could when they made their 1/60s. Honestly, their 17 had weenie legs too. It just had a wide Keanu top.

 

I also noticed the 171 still has one of the missile ports on each shoulder. Was under the impression that both were missing from all the comments.

[Froy]

Besides being the second worst case of anime magic (YF-21 being thecl first) bandai didn't even cared to modify the truster at the feet to match the VF-17, making it a complete reuse of the 171 legs. Even the yellow markins are too small.

With shose skinny legs I doubt there is enoguh room to pull out the legs storage gimmick.

Edited Monday at 10:06 PM by Froy

[jenius]

Maybe this will be like the Hi Metal R Fatty from Votoms where the initial prototype has lots of room for improvement and the final product addressed almost every concern... It can happen!

[Apok451]

On 9/25/2025 at 1:52 AM, davidwhangchoi said:

Like the Isamu YF-29 Durandal Custom,

they should've marketed this as a 171 in M7  Diamond Force custom color. 

I would buy that.

[treatment]

1 hour ago, jenius said:

Maybe this will be like the Hi Metal R Fatty from Votoms where the initial prototype has lots of room for improvement and the final product addressed almost every concern... It can happen!

Did Bandai ever shown even a gray/unpainted prototype like with both the HMR Fatty and the DX YF-21?

 

 

[jenius]

I only remember a colored prototype of the fatty, not sure on the 21.

[davidwhangchoi]

18 hours ago, Graham said:

For further comparison of the VF-17S vs the VF-171, here's the 'detall-up' VF-17 lineart showing full panel lines and other details.

IIRC, these pics were first seen in the "Macross 7 Animation Materials" book, published in 1995. 

Credit to macross2.net for the pic, saves me having to scan the page from my book. 😅

Interestingly, despite their simplified transformation and limited articulation, the old Bandai 1/65 scale VF-17D/S toys from the 90s actually feature most of the panel lines from the detail-up lineart.

There is so much detail difference and proportional difference between the VF-17 and the VF-171. You just cannot use VF-171 legs and most other parts of a VF-171 and call it a VF-17......sigh.

Being a huge VF-17 fan, the more I look at the Bandai DX photos, the more depressed I get.

Thanks @Graham

this is illustration is the cleanest image of the VF-17. esp. the underside of fighter, seeing how wide legs could be stored underneath...  

[Chronocidal]

7 hours ago, PointBlankSniper said:

I also noticed the 171 still has one of the missile ports on each shoulder. Was under the impression that both were missing from all the comments.

I think the 171 was always supposed to have the single port, but it moved up to the top of edge of the shoulder plate in fighter mode, since the shoulders were compressed so much.

Man.. I went looking for scenes in Frontier where they might have used those ports, but got sucked into just watching a bunch of episodes.  

Time for a rewatch, clearly.

[Scyla]

With the preorder being scheduled for tomorrow October 1st, do we have a time slot for the preorder? Is it 5pm JST?

[Chronocidal]

Being tomorrow would put it tonight around midnight PST, depending on timezones and daylight savings shenaniganry.

[jenius]

Well it invoke PO madness? Can't wait to find out!

[Froy]

Wasn't the VF-19 kai like a super popular valkyrire?

Still availabe on many stores.

I don't see the 17 selling out. Not with that treatment. 

[Chronocidal]

I think we're firmly in the realm of Bandai retreading designs that Yamato already covered the demand for a decade ago, and we're in a market that didn't have that much demand to begin with.

I'll see if I can pick up an HLJ or AE order, but I'm not going to stress over it.  I should really be asleep before they go on sale, but I would not be surprised to see them still available when I wake up.

[Mommar]

On 9/29/2025 at 2:07 AM, Graham said:

At a bare minimum I hope Bandai may consider the folloing changes before releasing the 1/60 DX VF-17S, to make it slightly more acceptable:

1. Shoulder armour resculpted to add the VF-17's characteristic twin micro missile launchers, which were priminantly featured in the anime
2. Complete leg resulpt to get rid of the VF-171's leg micro missile launchers, add the VF-17's gunpod port, make the legs slightly more chonky and add correct panel lines.
3. Make the crotch piece in Battroid mode angle straight down instead of forward.
4. Beef up the arms as much as possible.
5. Remove the hard points from the wings (VF-17 never used external hard points).

The above is probably just wishful thinking and may not even be possible.

To be honest, being a huge VF-17 fan I'd prefer a clean sheet of paper design, rather than them basing it on the VF-171 toy, but I'm enough of a realist to know that is not likely to happen, given the VF-17 is not a fan favourite design.

Hopefully one day we get a better VF-17 sculpt in from either the HMR line or the HG Shortcut Change model kit line.

You realize they're doing none of that, right?

[Chronocidal]

Yeah, once they've put out product images, it's pretty unlikely Bandai will make any changes at all, no matter what feedback they get.

They sat on the YF-21 for so many years, and had so much time to correct their bad decisions, but nothing ever changed from that first prototype.

[Actar]

Honestly, I got one, but I don't know if I want to keep it due to all the aformentioned accuracy issues. At the very least, is it safe to assume they'd fix the QC and design issues of the 171?

[kajnrig]

On 9/26/2025 at 5:44 PM, PointBlankSniper said:

Well, I just watched the morita guy's deep dive into VF-17 design lore, literally the day before this toy was announced. Unless that channel is all fanfic and lies, or I'm tripping out, the lore is supposedly contrary to what you and others are saying.

Huh, seems you're right. The specs sheet even reflect that, with the 17 being shorter (length and height) and lighter than the 171. It certainly doesn't look like the smaller craft, though, and it being classed as a heavy fighter/bomber whereas the 171 is a general purpose fighter doesn't help, either.

On 9/26/2025 at 5:44 PM, PointBlankSniper said:

None of this suggests going from a 3 storey gargantuan stealth bomber to a modest 1 storey playground replica of it. Especially not with the engine swap going in the opposite direction. That's why I don't understand why they are considered vastly different sized aircrafts with no parts commonality around here.

Well, not THAT drastic a difference, but certainly to my eyes the 171 looks pretty clearly downsized from the 17. I suppose I just inferred wrongly from the lore that "downgrade" and "cost effective" both meant smaller... because again, and I hate to emphasize it, but the 171 looks slimmer and smaller than the 17.

Either way, I still don't like the decision. I agree that I'd be more amenable to it being a "VF-171 Diamond Force colors" or whatever instead.

Also, apparently the head sculpt is significantly inaccurate anyway? The top of the head retains a glaring pointed detail carried over from the 171 when all the 17S artwork is very obviously not so.

[PointBlankSniper]

14 hours ago, Chronocidal said:

Yeah, once they've put out product images, it's pretty unlikely Bandai will make any changes at all, no matter what feedback they get.

They sat on the YF-21 for so many years, and had so much time to correct their bad decisions, but nothing ever changed from that first prototype.

TBF the new revival Armored Ozma from its promo, to box art, right down to the instructions, had the wrong paint job on the head. Same for the visor and canopy colors on the 27. Those came out to be animation accurate like the renewals when you look at the actual toy. So bandai is willing to ignore all their photographed/rendered materials and sneak in a correct toy in the box. But this scenario we now have is very drastic, and requires new molds, so it almost certainly is not happening. Maybe if people scream at them on twitter as early as possible, there would be a chance lol.

[treatment]

interesting web-translated verbiage admission from official Tamashii Nations...

https://twitter.com/t_features/status/1973245276841533522

web-translated:

"working backwards from the evolved VF-171". 

The comments on that tweeter-feed were quite amusing.

Also, someone noticed the front landing gear of the DX 17S is a bit too far up front...

https://twitter.com/cross_W42S/status/1973454106531688659

 

 

Edited Thursday at 02:56 AM by treatment

[seti88]

No PO madness for this one... still available on HLJ..

Am on board this as a stealth-ish looking vf-17-ish, since the old DX vf-171 CF which was a closer(?)-ish-ish stealth look had not the best reputations....

lots of '-ish's...

likely a fighter mode on display but even then, for a stealthly colors look and definitely not on proportions...

but the past few pages has been no less classic macrossworld dissections of the vf-17.... awesome!

no doubt, i would wish for a new better represented proportion wise, DX VF-17, but who knows when that would be...

Edited Thursday at 04:28 AM by seti88

[Graham]

In my headcanon, I will treat this as a very early development test version of the VF-171 that still used some VF-17 parts, before the VF-171 design had been completely finalised.

And it had been assigned to Diamond Force for flight testing. 😅

[seti88]

12 minutes ago, Graham said:

In my headcanon, I will treat this as a very early development test version of the VF-171 that still used some VF-17 parts, before the VF-171 design had been completely finalised.

And it had been assigned to Diamond Force for flight testing. 😅

Nice! Doujin /fanfic magazine info if anyone does one!  

[MKT]

Mostly likely will pick this one up after release, depending on how reviews go.

Bandai can justify all they want the reason for this 17 taking Ozempic treatment, but the fact is they have acknowledged how the 17 is supposed to look like in their older 1/65.

[Lolicon]

It looks like more than 50% of this thing is just straight up recycled 171 parts. Which is nonsense as the 171 is to the 17 like the VF-19 is to the YF-19: same aircraft series, but should consist of 100% different parts.

[recon]

I'm liking the look of the DX VF-17. Hope there will be a revision to the legs, leading to the production as i dun mind a fatter version

Credits to EXO for sharing on FB

[PointBlankSniper]

Honestly, the only thing glaringly inaccurate in fighter mode is that the elbow guns are far past the shoulder panel gap that it should have been in line with. And then the shoulder missile port(s) upon closer inspection. Otherwise, line art for fighter mode seems to have always had those leg proportions.

[Scyla]

56 minutes ago, PointBlankSniper said:

Honestly, the only thing glaringly inaccurate in fighter mode is that the elbow guns are far past the shoulder panel gap that it should have been in line with. And then the shoulder missile port(s) upon closer inspection. Otherwise, line art for fighter mode seems to have always had those leg proportions.

To me, from the top view the major issues are the details on the upper intake covers, the incorrect feet and the shape of the wing lights. I think the feet are the most egregious inaccuracy for this view.

There is a bunch of additional surface detail not on the VF-17 line art but I can explain this away by being an attribute of the DX style. The problem is that the details are a copy from the VF-171 and not new details for the VF-17.

I assume, Bandai couldn’t have shortened the arms a bit more in fighter mode because of the underlying engineering.

Since the preorders are not selling like hotcakes Bandai might revise the VF-17 but I doubt it.

Edited yesterday at 12:14 PM by Scyla

[recon]

3 hours ago, Scyla said:

To me, from the top view the major issues are the details on the upper intake covers, the incorrect feet and the shape of the wing lights. I think the feet are the most egregious inaccuracy for this view.

There is a bunch of additional surface detail not on the VF-17 line art but I can explain this away by being an attribute of the DX style. The problem is that the details are a copy from the VF-171 and not new details for the VF-17.

I assume, Bandai couldn’t have shortened the arms a bit more in fighter mode because of the underlying engineering.

Since the preorders are not selling like hotcakes Bandai might revise the VF-17 but I doubt it.

How lazy can bandau get. It just a simple retool for those parts esp the feet and intake covers and they couldnt even spare the effort. Sighs. Am still hoping that the model shown in just a mock up and hope that bandai will surprise us

[PointBlankSniper]

16 hours ago, Scyla said:

Since the preorders are not selling like hotcakes Bandai might revise the VF-17 but I doubt it.

I think everyone is reading too much into the preorders with an old mindset. Everything from revivals like 25G, Tornado, 31J, 262Hs, 171EX, 25S armored and 27, have all been selling out very slow. Some of them are still in stock. Even the PO for the Fire Valkyrie is still in stock at a few places. PO madness is simply no longer much of a phenomenon for these toys. The only exception to this was probably the YF-19. While the 21's sales were hampered despite being new and having demand...

It seems like it's just the current trend with DX Valks. It may just be the result of the overall known issues of recent bandai action figures in general, including metal builds, and the economy, and bandai overproducing as they embrace global releasing valks after the legal issues of the macross IP cleared up

Even if they had perfected the sculpt for this release, my guess is that it would just sell out at a similar same pace. There's no way this thing could sell out faster than the 19Kai

Edited 11 hours ago by PointBlankSniper