jenius

I believe there is no possibility of a gift set, I think it's either a typo or, more likely, that's the release date. Maybe some other surprise is in store for 2016.

Maybe invert the red and black on the Hikaru 30th anniversary.

There's a Hik VF-1S HMR on Mandarake right now... https://order.mandarake.co.jp/order/detailPage/item?itemCode=1034747609&ref=list

I would vote the first one with jolly Roger.

Yikes, that's getting pricey.

My guess is that they are trying to determine if the failures on the 0A could be solved in the manufacture process or by doing a quick test while building rather than changing a part. Put the ball in the socket, screw, is there a gap? Put it aside, it's no good, try the next one.

Oh, that's a little tougher. The GBP kept popping up randomly after release. I think you're firmly in Murphy's Law territory. If you choose to wait, it will only become more scarce. If you buy one in desperation at a mark-up, Bandai will then release a lot more to retailers.

They didn't want to show the picture of the misprinted tampo intakes on legs not attached to the toys...

You talking about Roy? I think I'd start to panic at this point as it seems like preorders of a 'normal' release should have gone up yesterday. I'm sure he was like "Looks good, you should add an integrated heat shield and landing gear" and they were like "We want this to retail for like 7,000 Yen before optional parts" and he was like "Cool, but you should make the nosecone removable so the GBP doesn't look wonky."

I don't think I've been arguing better, just different, and I think I'm pretty consistent on that. Not sure why it matters though, it's the HMR thread and the toys are being discussed.

What are the MSRP of #1 and #2?

I was hoping since we already preordered the April release that would make May tonight... does that mean the Glaug will be New Year's night? If so, having an infant at home may actually give me a leg up on something...

Not tonight on the Glaug?

I think the number 1 reason for "Why isn't the HMR a smaller Yamato V2" is simply price. If you start from the "anything is possible" you eventually have to work toward "but what do we want to sell this for?" This is particularly relevant given the tough run the Hi-Metal line had the first time out and went up against Yamato's that were selling below a very reasonable MSRP. If you think about it, if the HMR were a small Yamato V2, it should theoretically cost MORE than a Yamato V2 both due to the realities of today and because of how precise the fit and finish of everything would need to be. Who would be buying the HMRs at more than the cost of Arcadia's recent releases? Maybe they could achieve some economies of scale, save some on plastic, and cut back on some details but you'd still be talking about a toy very similar in price to very recent larger toys so that'd be a losing proposition. I think this also gets to something else. People are saying, and rightly, "I don't like the HMR because it's not a deluxe toy." There's nothing wrong to being a buyer of deluxe toys and choosing not to go for non-deluxe lines. The frustration is not that the HMR line is what it is, the frustration is really that no one is currently making deluxe VF-1 toys. So you see some people unhappy because they feel they're buying HMR VF-1 toys because it's the only current option, and i think your "Meh, I'll try it out" is a very safe way to figure it out. If it's not for you, that's fine, you're waiting for the next higher end option (and again, nothing wrong with that). I think Bandai has been getting carried away with all the little extra bits.. they're trying too hard. Spent missile pieces for the GBP? Wings with/without hardpoints? To some it represents fun optional parts but, I think, for a lot of people it just looks like noise and loose bits to lose. I will say though that the heatshield and landing gears make sense to me. The landing gear doors alone could be a nightmare with tiny easily broken hinges that might not always seat properly or God knows what. We all know everyone would complain about the look of those landing gears too if they were integrated and God-forbid if you couldn't stow the gun. I'd guess the heatshield is also a durability issue. Metal might work but I would think the reason they wouldn't go that route is paint scraping. Aren't Yamato heatshields clear plastic with paint only on the interior side?

The only thing that sounds a little off in that argument is the 'skin in the game' statement since the reason we have ANY Macross after SDF is because Bandai has been ponying up. Sure, Bandai has been rather stringent about giving the shows a limited lifetime of support and has not taken many risks so their efforts have definitely been questionable. With Frontier, I think they were caught off guard by its popularity and by how savvy the consumers had gotten because of those other companies that had been producing toys for the series Bandai had long given up on. I mean, the first round of Frontier toys sure feel like a progression from Bandai's Mac7 toys rather than from Yamato's toys. Fortunately, they figured things out. I think the big difference now is the fairly rapid release of a sequel series keeping the license hot and the idea that Yamato proved a market existed and then exited that market. The Hi-Metal R line is a great opportunity because the smaller scale and cost reduces the risks pretty considerably provided they don't go crazy with over-production. I think that was sort of the trap Yamato had fallen into. Any missteps were very big deals.

Wow, did you just pat yourself on the back for finding a person who agreed with your negativity?

I think it's a Tamashii exclusive so I'm not sure you'll see many other listings.

Oh man, that's going to totally be a Tamashii exclusive now. .. HMR Box for all these little parts we keep giving you!

I don't think you can do a front landing gear and a rotating canopy. Also, not sure how easy rear landing gears would be if accommodating the gun in fighter. To the post with the pictures above, Bandai's monster is not 1/100, it's a robot spirits release so like 1/125, I can't recall.

They might surprise us with a notice of a reissue at some point or Bandai might surprise us with a 1/60 announcement at some point. All hope is certainly not lost but you may need to exercise a lot of patience.

Oh... then you really better check with Darrin to see if he sold his because as of right now, no one has any plans of making any 1/60 VF-1 toys.

Next Xmas Bandai should sell a HI-Metal set that comes with 1 Miria VF-1J and a DYRL VF-1A Kakizaki... so we'd get green and red and be festive. Actually, since Miria always sells so poorly (Max doesn't do much better) they should sell them together. Maybe they can get a Mars tie-in and sell them as M&Ms.

Gimmick might just mean 'press down' instead of just folding over. Maybe it 'seats' instead of locking. It's been years since I wrote it but since I only addressed it in that sentence I suspect it's not much.

Darrin was selling a set on the boards, not sure if they sold already. They are very hard to come by.

Another member just confirmed cracking on his Miria VF-1J in another thread. Maybe they tried to make it thicker for Miria to see if that'd solve the problem but when they saw more cracks they said "enough is enough."