ArchieNov

For what it's worth, I was able to straighten mine out without breaking it. It resulted in some stress marks but it already had them out of the box when it initially got bent, and I'd rather have some small barely noticeable stress marks rather than a bent laser. The plastic actually doesn't feel like it will snap that easily, or at least it's not as brittle as the head laser on the YF-19. This is probably the reason why everyone with this issue got a bent laser instead of a broken one.

I wonder if this will be a rare instance where an MISB copy will sell for less than an opened/inspected copy.

Glad it worked out for you too

I guess it was worth the risk to try and straighten the laser out myself. I haven't gotten another reply from Anime-Export so I'm guessing they won't be able to get a replacement part either.

I did contact Anime Export last Monday about it. They asked me to send some pictures of the damaged part and the box, which I did last Wednesday. But I haven't heard back from them since then. Since mine wasn't as severely bent as some of the others, I decided to try and straighten it out myself to see if it was possible.

I managed to more or less straighten the one on my first copy. It did cause some stress marks to appear on the other side, but at least it's somewhat symmetrical with the stress mark on the other side. Basically I just held the laser just right below the bend with one hand, then with the other held the entire tip up until the top of the bend. Then I slowly applied force to straighten it out. Fortunately it didn't break. Now I wonder if using a hairdryer can help remove the stress marks. I've never done that before but I've heard some people have done something like that on other toys.

Question: does this have a waist swivel? In wotafa's video, he does swivel it very slightly from side to side. But when I try it on my copy, it doesn't seem to budge at all. The peg that connects it to the torso is also square so I'm not sure. Edit: I watched another review and he was also able to swivel his waist slightly. I guess mine is just stuck tight.

How did you pull the part out? Do you just gradually apply force while pulling upwards until it comes off? I'm worried I might add extra stress marks if I don't pull it out properly.

Well if it makes you feel better, mine is transformed in the same way as yours. But the shoulders aren't too stiff on mine. I just followed wotafa's video to transform it.

So I finally had the chance to transform the YF-21 to Gerwalk and Battroid. And I gotta say, it looks waaaayyy better in person. Feels solid and looks like a beefy bruiser despite the slim biceps. The backpack gap doesn't even look bad, though I find it funny that the attachment part actually makes the gap wider than without it. In my opinion, they should've made the attachment part even bigger so it fills in the entire gap between the backpack and torso, so that it looks like one solid torso rather than having a gap in the middle. All in all, I really do like the look of the battroid. I find it superior to the Yamato aesthetically. I'm not as critical with line art accuracy as long as the end result looks nice. Same way as why I usually prefer the modernized looks for classic super robots over their original designs, as long as it's not too far of a difference.

You know, I have a theory on how these head lasers got bent. When you're pushing the top of the clamshell back on the tray that contains the YF-21, you will notice that the bubble that covers the laser shifts to the left or right depending on which side you push down on first to secure the cover on. If you're not careful, the sides of the bubble might end up touching the laser and potentially bend it because bubble is pretty solid. So I can totally imagine this issue being caused by careless folks who were packing the item from the factory. This might be a case of Bandai actually doing something to prevent the head laser snapping scenario of the YF-19 (by making the bubble stronger), but inadvertently causing it to be too sturdy that it can now damage the toy. I've included some pics to demonstrate. Default position before pushing down on the cover to lock it. You'll see that the bubble is perfectly centered over the laser. Pushing down on left side to close it. You'll see that it practically touches the laser already. Pushing down on the right side. Same result but on the other side.

Thanks! That's exactly what I needed to see

Ouch! I can't even imagine your pain. 3 out of 3 units having issues with the antenna is a nightmare. I guess I should be partially happy that I had only 1 of 2 with issues. Those who only got 1 and didn't have any issue with it were the lucky ones. By the way, is it really a laser? I can't see how this can shoot lasers. So I call it an antenna although it's probably just a head fin.

Yeah this is what I was saying yedterday. The plastic shell feels very sturdy so I can't imagine the antenna being damaged during shipping.

Thanks. I wish I could get a closer look at the detached antenna so I can check if the pegs are rounded nubs that's meant to come off if there's too much force applied to it. Too bad the video didn't show a close up of the antenna's pegs and also didn't show him putting it back on.

Sorry for the spam. But is it confirmed that the antenna is removable? I tried tugging a little on mine but it didn't want to come off. Didn't want to pull too hard since I wasn't sure how it's connected.

Okay I just opened my 2nd copy from Hobby Genki. The antenna was perfect this time. Thank goodness. Now I feel better about getting this 2nd copy as soon as Hobby Genki sent the notification that it was available again a few days ago. Now I wonder if Anime Export can do anything about the one I got from them.

Just received my first copy from Anime Export. Sadly the head laser is also bent... I am sad... But to be honest, I'm not sure if the packaging is at fault. I tried pushing down on the bubble above the antenna and it felt pretty solid. Even with a lot of force, the bubble doesn't touch the antenna. I am inclined to believe it got bent before or during packaging by Bandai. Now I'm undecided if I want to try and fix it. I can see stress marks on one side, but not sure if trying to bend it the other way will snap the tip off. On another note, this thing is surprisingly heavy. 2nd Edit: I just realized that my antenna is not as severely bent as the others, and mine is bent towards the opposite side of the other pictures shared here. So it's not all bent to one direction like some have suspected.

I am praying that at least 1 of my 2 will arrive without QC issues.

Man, I was willing to forgive most of the stuff that was upsetting people about this YF-21. But one thing I cannot accept is seeing how the shoulders do not tab into place in battroid mode. Should those joints loosen up, the arms will become so floppy.

In my opinion, the Yamato was way too tall. It looked stupidly taller compared to the other non-VF-1 1/60 battroids I had back then. I'm happy that the Bandai YF-19 and 21 roughly have the same head height.

I only just noticed now, but I just realized they included a swappable cockpit part to turn it opaque when in battroid mode.

Did I miss something? Why are people saying it's not perfect transformation?

Yeah, I saw that in stock notification too. I ended up ordering a 2nd copy...

This is the best side by side comparison shot I've seen so far. I know I have the unpopular opinion, but I much prefer the look of the Bandai one because the shade of blue looks nicer to me (I don't know if it's less screen accurate or not) and the tampo details really make it look more visually interesting and not as plain as the Yamato. I wonder if it's possible to do a similar shot but with their battroid modes?