Anasazi37

I'm continuing the print-evaluate-refine loop for the gunpod and the armaments, but they're looking pretty good now. I'm on the fence about how chunky the RMS-1 missiles are. On the one hand, I'm putting them on a chunky monkey, so it works, but on the other they do end up being a bit disproportionate compared to the UUM-7.

Same. They seem to be the first out of the gate.

I'm guessing that HLJ is still using their "eh...sometime before the end of October" estimate because the actual release date was only just announced. AE still shows 31 Oct as well. I can't remember a time when HLJ and AE didn't start shipping valks on Bandai's release date. This could be the exception, or the new normal, but I hope not.

All of that work just to touch up the canopy paint?

I also modified the back ends of each piece so they look more like the Hasegawa versions. MUCH better. Agreed. I've never been very happy with the DX connectors.

A little extrusion-based design work in Fusion 360, then some tweaking in 3D Builder to get the proportions right before merging objects, and voila! They're looking pretty nice. The original 1/72 connectors (on the left) are just way too chonky for me.

It really is nice to have access to a resin printer when working on customs, but it is a lot more messy and complicated when compared to extrusion/filament/FDM printing, so I save it for when detail truly matters. Assuming this next gunpod print run works out, my next small project is scaling up and modifying the 1/72 armaments that Minivalks (Senovis) posted on Cults3D: https://cults3d.com/en/3d-model/art/vf-missile-pack. I'm focusing on the RMS-1 and UUM-7 for a Strike project. I have the parts resized to 1/55 already, but I need to rework the connector and mounting system for each part. The current connectors are too chunky for my taste (I prefer the Hasegawa style) and I want to create circular recesses on top where I can embed small magnets.

That's exactly what my plush gunpod is missing, too!

Test print came out pretty well. I'm not 100% happy with the handle. I think it was under-supported during the print. Will fix that this weekend and run the print job again. Light sanding takes care of the slight faceting on the barrel.

Let's give this a shot....

Took a break from working on the 3D scanner to modify the GU-11 gunpod so it's closer to the anime. Fun project for a Sunday morning. Will definitely print this in resin for all of my 1/55 customs instead of modifying existing gunpods (my original plan). Thinking I'll keep the front part separate for ease of printing and painting.

Among other things, I told them that their markup on Worldwide Macross items was shameful, that they put far too much tampo printing on their toys, that limiting TWE items to Japan was insulting, and that they ruined a perfectly good Angel Birds release by stamping that ugly logo all over it. Stick to canon, finish your existing lines, don't artificially limit access to items, and don't tease us with prototypes (Destroids, Regult Scouts, YF-21, etc.) if you're not going to follow through. I didn't pull any punches.

That's my current theory. Or we're dealing with an elaborate hoax. I couldn't stop laughing for a few minutes after reading this. I check out both Target *and* Walgreens. Amazing selection of Macross products at both stores.

I now can't unsee that crotch piece. And I was planning to display this valk in Battroid. Guess I'll have to rotate it at least 45 degrees, in some kind of dynamic pose, so I don't have to look at it.

I just fired up a VPN with a connection through Tokyo and can only see the "Change of Ownership" page. Interesting.

Gave them a piece of my mind.

Same here. Opted to pay up front at AE to take advantage of the current exchange rate. It's how I was able to justify (to myself) purchasing Arcadia's plush gunpod, too! I was curious to see how big of a markup we'd be dealing with for the worldwide release. Given that the MSRP in Japan, without taxes, is ¥26,000 ($180), the markup is $100. That's 56% higher, which is significant. It's not the fault of BBTS or the other stores offering it outside of Japan--unless they're all part of some extremely well-organized secret toy store syndicate that ensures higher prices. I think we've established, after a few of these WWM releases, that Bandai just decided it was in their best interest to jack up the prices for stores overseas, who then pass that additional cost on to us. They're probably wagering that we're all more willing to hand over 56% more money instead of having to deal with PO Madness and scalpers. Are they right? I don't know.

WWM is stamped on the wings of the first worldwide valk:

Except one wing will have "NO STEP" markings and the other will have "ꟼƎTƧ OИ" to maintain visual symmetry

I pre-ordered the two latest Tiny Session releases, that also went live today at 4pm JST, from HLJ: https://www.hlj.com/tiny-session-vf-31j-siegfried-hayate-immelmann-machine-with-freyja-wion-bans64152 https://www.hlj.com/tiny-session-vf-31f-siegfried-messer-ihlefeld-machine-with-kaname-buccaneer-bans64153 Looks like they are both still available. I figured everyone would be fighting it out for the VF-25 Alto, so I focused on getting that one first (from AE), then circled back to pick up the two Tiny Session releases. I got all three items, across AE and HLJ, over the span of a minute. That's the game these days, unfortunately.

Agreed! On HLJ you now get a whole minute to try to secure a PO instead of seeing the item instantly sold out after an F5 page refresh. As I was buying mine at AE (they posted first), I was also refreshing the HLJ page to see how long it took to sell out. It took long enough that I probably could have bought one there, too, but opted to not be greedy and let someone else have it. I did grab the next two Tiny Sessions on HLJ, though. ...and those of us who are set in our ways! I'm having a hard time letting go of my mistrust of Bandai's international distribution plans and buying from a store in the US. I know that doesn't help with respect to encouraging Bandai to keep doing worldwide releases, but they also shouldn't jack up the per unit price for overseas customers by such a large amount. AE is sold out now, BTW.

...now with worse quality control....

And here: https://ameblo.jp/arcadiaac

Absolutely