MacrossJunkie

I've prepared myself to pay VF-4 prices. Hopefully it will end up being less so I can consider getting two. But I don't see it being any less than $300 realistically.

I can't really say with much experience about this as I don't collect for the value of things (I devalue all of my valks within a week of getting them ), but from the perspective of a collector, wouldn't the fact that an original 1st copy made by a company that is now no longer existing (at least under the same name) hold some value? Besides, as far as we can tell with the VF-1S (aside from the extra stand ), there's hardly if any improvements and will likely just have fixes that were already implemented in later releases of the VF-1. I'm not even sure how many people really want that stand. The base looks comparable to the ones that came with the YF-21 and SV-51 which were huge and took up tons of room. I've removed nearly all my SV-51 and YF-21 stands from my display cases because they just needlessly eat up so much space. That said, it seems common sense to me that the more of something that becomes available to people, the less the individual item is worth in a market because you're satisfying the demand of more people. So if they release more of things that were released before, the value of the originals will drop. I'm not sure how many people actually care if something was made by company A vs company B, if the items are comparable. Even less so if the newer release has improvements. But as Graham says, we don't have a clue what they may or may not have in store for the future. That could be the extent of the VF-1 releases they have planned (not likely). Maybe they go under again before other future planned releases come out (hope not!). What if they go under before the next YF-19 comes out? People would feel rather foolish selling off their v.1's and scrambling to try to reacquire some. My suggestion to people is don't worry about the value, and just get them because you like the toy and can enjoy it in the present. Just don't start panicking and start selling off your entire Yammie collection in anticipation for all new and improved versions that may or may not come out of Arcadia.

Yeah, unfortunately, I haven't seen Bandai re-release any of their web exclusives yet. I wouldn't mind getting some things that I had passed on before like Alto's full armor and the super pack for his 29. I was going to repaint the ones for the Focker colored 29, but then I realized that I couldn't find any decals for the SMS logos or lettering anywhere.

Not to mention there's no guarantee you'll get a problem free toy back. You could get another problematic piece of junk that is either better or worse and have to decide again if you want to gamble another $40+ to ship again for try number 2. It's so completely retarded when it would be cheaper for both parties involved if they would just send replacement parts like Yamato did.

Mine came out to be ¥25,590 after shipping. That was using the cheaper SAL air shipping option instead of EMS or FedEx. I kept waiting to pay mine, seeing if the exchange rate would go back closer to 100 yen to the dollar, but ever since last week, it has been dropping a little bit each day. I finally said screw it and paid it before it got worse. I'm sure after bank fees and exchange rates are involved, it will end up costing me around $270-280.

I think Bandai's VB-6 is really underrated. I have rarely even seen people show pics of it. It's a pretty faithful adaptation of how it appeared in Frontier and it's solidly built with plenty of clicky joints. Actually, it's only a little smaller than Yamato's 1/100 monster. I calculated it to be about 1/110 myself using the length of the toy in shuttle mode vs the stated length in its specs.

I've done it both ways and either way fits just fine in the shield. That said, I tend to just keep the fingers extended and the thumbs positioned so that they're parallel to and touching each other.

I don't see why not. Even so, you would still have to deal with it lacking the white "NUNS" printed on it though or figure out how to get it on there.

You can just pull it right off. It's actually very easy to do.

That custom GBP set is badass. I love all the scratch built parts and extra detail he added to it.

I think you just really lucked on on your purchases. I don't think it's user error that is causing these things to have stress marks/crack and break. It certainly wasn't a problem with Alto's 171EX. The most I've seen with that release was just missing parts. Of the two 171s I got, the one I got from NY was flawed all around with missing and stray pieces, and a stress mark in one of the shoulders out of the box which eventually led to it cracking and breaking. The other I got from HLJ has been perfect. I had transformed it back and forth multiple times while weathering it and taking photos of it and didn't notice any issues. I'm still going to try to avoid transforming that one any further if I can help it. These two were first batch as well, so I don't think it makes any difference. It's just luck of the draw on whether you get a problem free one or not. You probably should have done the lotto when you found out you had 6 good ones. Or perhaps not because you may have used up all your luck with the 171s

It doesn't seem very likely the battroid exit would be implemented due to the fact that the front half of the canopy would be connected to the front edge of the cockpit area which wasn't true with the VF-19 F, S, P and kai which had a single piece canopy.

They did right at the top of the post. The source link was put there as well.

David, could you take a couple pics illustrating the two points? I'm curious if this is an issue with the re-release of the F and not the original renewal or if it's just something I didn't spot on the first release.

It's incredible how much QC fail Bandai was able to cram into a single release. I dare not even transform my single good one for fear it might explode into plastic shards.

I've personally resorted to wrapping some paper over the tips to prevent direct contact. Nothing else I've tried has worked to an acceptable level. If you get the set of 3 with the different sizes, you can mix the leg lengths together to assist with the posing for GERWALK and battroid modes. Even if you don't, you can still get creative with the stands for the purpose of posing your valks in those modes like in these pics I took where all three legs are the same length. Sometimes I only use one or two of the legs, although I wouldn't do that for a long term display scenario since a bump could make them fall.

For a second, I thought the door broke off the hinge... or maybe it did?

The lighting really makes a difference. I've been meaning to get some for my cabinets as well as a 4th cabinet but I can never find the time to drive all the way out to get another. Whenever my parents bring relatives over to my house to visit. They always give the relatives a tour of my entire house, much to my dismay. So inevitably they see my collection in my home office. Then they go, "Oh! You collect Transformers." which I then I do a facepalm. I try to explain they aren't Transformers and that I like the designs and they provide me some outlet for creativity in the form of painting and weathering my collection and generally spending a good bit of personal time getting them to look the way they do rather than just buying it, taking it out of the box and sticking them in the display. I try to use my SDF-1 as a primary example of the work that goes into this stuff. Some get it, some don't. The ones that don't, I kick out of the house. (not really)

That default scheme does look pretty good, but I have to wonder if a toy version would look anywhere as good or just plain bland as it would be solid gloss plastic grays which would be lacking the sort of textures you see in the game model that make it look good (to me at least).

Is it the parts on the back of the leg here that Yamato originally couldn't figure out how to do for the 1/60? http://www.macross2.net/m3/macrossplus/yf-19-fastpack/yf-19-fastpack-battroid-rear.gif

Wow, that is amazing work there! That's some convincing damage.

I wouldn't mind if it was just 1/72 scale and vinyl or a model kit.

I noticed a couple days ago that HLJ had changed the release date from 07/2013 to 08/2013. I'm guessing it got delayed for everyone and not just HLJ specifically.

Wow, that regult looks amazing. And it's so huge! You did a fantastic job on that.

I'm very curious to see how they manage to do the high speed mode. All these features are impressive.