ArchieNov

Mine was shipped last Monday.

Nice! The scaling looks much better between the 2 battroids now. Thanks for the pics.

Dunno why some are complaining about "copying". In previous posts, some of these same people say one way for BandaiArcadia/Yamato to improve on their product is to mimic/copy the way their competitors did it (assuming they did it in a better way). Now that Bandai followed a similar design to something, people are labeling them as copycats. Besides, who really knows who came up with the original design? Are all toys that use double-jointed elbows and knees "copycats" now? How about ball-jointed wrists? Did Yamato "copy" Bandai for adding diecast to their valkyries? My point is, toy design is always evolving. Unless there's a patent on a particular mechanism, then it's only realistic that people will take inputs from things that work. If everybody insisted that everyone should come up with their own unique design, then toys would end up being stupid complicated and may even end up worse. Personally, I prefer Bandai's design over the Arcadia one on all modes. I was never a fan of the chunky look on the YF-19. I liked it on the VF-19S, but on the YF-19 it looked too squat to me. The scale was also way off in battroid mode. But to each their own.

Bandai delivers the 19 I've always wanted. The proportions look perfect to me. I guess Shoji Kawamori really did oversee the proportions as was stated in the product's description.

Personally, the video made me like it even more. I was never bothered by "over-engineering" as long as it didn't result in a floppy mess. Now I wish I can secure a 2nd one at N-Y come release date. I gotta have at least 2 of these.

No changes to the engineering as far as I can tell. The joints on the new one were a lot tighter out of the box than the old one, though my old one still has pretty tight joints until today. Aside from the color scheme change, the only real difference I've seen is that they've now painted the insides of the engine thrusters on the lower row and the bottom of the feet black. The older version had these unpainted. Strangely enough, that was something I wished the old one had way back when I first bought it, so this change works for me.

This is off topic, but I think people are being too harsh on NY, Amiami, or whatever non-HLJ store that comes up. I assume most, if not all, of the ones that complain are Americans living in the US. Well I just wanted to say that the Return and Exchange policy that is practiced in the US is not the same in other countries, such as the one where I live in. You can't just return an item because of some issue that was not due to the fault of the seller. Unlike in the US where I've heard that people can return/get a full refund for a video game from the seller even after playing/finishing the game in less than a week. HLJ appears to be owned by an American so it's probably why their policy on returns/exchanges is more similar to the US. In my country, how NY and Amiami deal with these kinds of issues (defective product) is within normal expectations. The blame should be more on the manufacturer rather than the retailer, which is why their first option is to contact the manufacturer about it. Strangely enough, the only time I've received a defective item from an online store is from HLJ. I contacted them about it and since the item is no longer in stock, they just offered store credit but not equivalent to the item's price.

Did Guld and Myuung actually have sex? I remember Guld giving Isamu that smug look when he was confronted by Isamu about it, but I can't recall it being confirmed that something did happen that day in the hotel. Anyway, I also want the VF-19 Advance to meet/exceed my expectations. I like its sleeker look much better than Arcadia's version. I actually made a comment before about remembering the YF-19 Battroid in Plus not being as chubby/stocky as how Arcadia did it, and wished it had slimmer proportions. Based on the pics so far, Bandai nailed the proportions I wanted.

I didn't read the novel myself, so I don't know any more about it than what was posted in the forum. But here's the link to that discussion. It's found close to the end and the poster's name was ReddyRedWolf. http://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/maximilian-jenius-vs-alto-saotome.209039/ But in any case, people have also quoted Kawamori himself stating that Max is the best so that kinda ends any debate.

I know we're way off topic here already, but Max and Isamu are not equal in terms of piloting skill. Again, not saying Isamu isn't great. He's one of the best. But Max is on a different level. Several forums and discussions have already been made on who is the best pilot in the Macross universe of all time and the final result has always been Max. I even read a post that said in the novelization of the Wings of Goodbye, Max and Millia were still piloting Valks. And even Isamu was amazed at their awesomeness.

He had the potential. But Max was still better.

Max made Miriya look like a joke. And Miriya was the best of the best in the realm of the Zentraedi's rule across the galaxy. Isamu is good. But he couldn't beat a Ghost drone.

Well, the CF was never shown that way in the anime. The clear canopy was more of a symbolism of Brera breaking away from Galaxy's control. So if Bandai was going for screen accuracy they wouldn't include it. I personally think it won't have it, even if the mold is already available. If Bandai wasn't following screen accuracy, then nothing should've stopped them from releasing Armor Parts for the VF-25CF, Tornado Parts for Ozma, etc.

That looks kinda large for a 1/72. But I agree, it does look awesome!

So it'll come with fast packs? I think I see them on the legs in this pic.

Congrats on your purchase. I'm still waiting for mine to arrive. Don't worry, I feel the same way as you do. Whenever I've tried to defend Bandai (not just on this board), more often than not someone will go all out to put them down. And when I call out a few criticisms on some Yamato/Arcadia offerings, a defender is quick to appear. I don't trash either manufacturer as I like the products offered by both, but I recognize neither is perfect and they each have their own pros and cons over one another. The same is almost also true when I try to defend Nippon Yasan.

In my personal opinion as a toy collector, I don't think buying toys for the sole purpose as an investment is a good idea. I refer to buying multiple copies of a toy only to stash them away MISB somewhere hoping that in a couple of years their value will shoot up significantly and make a huge profit from reselling them. I guess the reason some people believe this will happen is because some vintage toys today really cost a lot. But here's the thing. The only people that see the vintage toys today as valuable are people in our generation (I assume in their 30's). In 20 years time, it will still be only us that will see value in these things, but by that time we probably wouldn't care as much anymore and would likely choose to spend our money elsewhere. Moreover, the children of today's generation do not have the same love for toys as we did when we were young, so they won't have the same attachment to toys as we do, nor will they see value in them when they grow older. Kids nowadays are more into video games, so if ever they will have a nostalgic attachment to something from their childhood it'll most likely be to those and not toys. Therefore, I believe it will be significantly difficult to sell the toys we collect today at premium vintage prices 20-30 years later. Especially since the engineering will probably be so much better by then. Moreover, seeing toys as an investment is somewhat parallel to how people saw comics as an investment 20 years ago. When this happened, it actually started to drive down the value of comics because so many copies were made and so many people hoarded mint copies. So comics lost their rarity and a lot of comic collections do not have the value that the person thought they would have by now. I fell into this trap myself and purchased #1 issues for Spawn, Wildcats, X-Men, etc. But alas these comics do not hold any significant value today. So what I'm trying to say is that I don't buy toys as an investment, and don't ever plan to. I buy them because I appreciate their design and engineering, can afford them now unlike when I was a kid, gives me something to fiddle around with, and allows me to relive my joy as a child whenever I would get toys. Edited for grammar. Typed this on my phone earlier.

Brera is emo? I don't think he is... Alto though...

What improvements were made?

Megatron looks kinda off without his Decepticon logo. That empty space on his chest begs for something to be placed on it

Thanks for all the compliments, everyone! I wish I had more space though. There are several other items from other lines that I want to display (e.g. Metal Build, SRC, World of Warcraft DC Unlimited figures, Riobot/Sentinel figures, etc). Sigh, it's every collector's problem... That's a great set up! Oh, and please don't get me wrong. I wasn't trying to compete or anything. I just wanted to share what my display looks like too after seeing everyone share theirs I've always wanted to display my toys in a more dynamic way like you do, but as the collection grows it gets harder and harder to do so haha.

Here's my display area. Not all Macross though.

Yeah. Told you it looks much darker in person as compared to the pic you posted from jenius' review.

Several areas actually. I'm surprised you don't see them. Neck - They finally placed it on a ball joint, but the range provided by that ball joint is very limited and you don't really get that much tilt from it. Shoulder swivels - Even though it's part of the transformation gimmick, you can't swing them forward very much. Arms & Legs - This is mostly due to the design where the large wings in the back hinder these from moving back. Yes you can swing the wings out but that looks silly IMO. Ankles - The ankle tilt is not that good. Sure you can get a wider spread with the hips, but unless the feet can stay flat on the ground it looks dumb. With the exception of the arms and legs, the areas I mentioned above could have been done better without requiring a change to the outside sculpt. I guess what I'm saying is that they placed more articulation points now, but the range of articulation is very limited. That's why I don't consider it something to praise when compared to other transforming toys which are much better articulated. I would rate it as a little over average.

I guess I'm the only one not impressed with the articulation. It's admittedly better than the usual offerings by Yamato/Arcadia, but I wouldn't say it's great.