Salamander

It looks like a painted test-shot. See the gaps between the leg halves, and several other parts? Also looks like the paint has that orange-peel texture you get sometimes when using an airbrush. So I think it will get better later on.

Actually, this one is gonna happen. That, or they go bankrupt (again). Is it telling that I voted for everything except Megan Fox?

Heck, maybe they could let Michael Bay direct it. Since the main character (sort of...) is an advanced secret US military prototype helicopter blowing up bad guys it might escape relatively unbutchered. Also, they should totally release a Thunder in Paradise (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thunder_in_paradise) movie

To answer the original question, there's small tabs attached to the backplate that stop the wings from folding forward too far. These are very easy to break off. They are located at the top (in Battroid mode) of the backplate and measure about 1 by 1 mm... The gray spot you indicate is not where the tab is located, but likely wear caused by the wing rubbing against the plastic. Some 1/55 Valks also have very loose wing-ratchets, that may fall out during play. This causes very loose wings (thankfully, this only happened on a wrecker in my case).

Does anyone know whether the elevators on the flight deck are functional (seeing they appear to be separate pieces on the preview pictures)?

It almost looks like the crotch is too low on Alto's VF-25 (midrif just a tad too long?)...

Besides, final pictures of a Bandai product 6 months before release? Now that would be a first!

Considering the mass-release version has different paint apps the value of yours isn't going to drop by much...

Speaking of this, anyone know where I could find recasts of the missiles and the front halves of the Fast Packs for a Bandai 1/55 Strike Valkyrie?

This looks like a scratch-build model, not the DX Quarter...

If it's like the Saint Cloth Myth figures, it will use joints that depend on friction/tightness...

No, the canopy and heat shield attach using a tab at the back and pegs at the front. Swapping them is easy.

I'm officially blind.

This could give a totally different meaning to "Super Dimension" Hmmm.... For maximum fanservice, we'd have a SDF ship called "Nanase" (guess where both ARMD-carriers dock?) caught in a love-hate battle with the Micron Klan and the Berserk warrior lady Klan. Obviously the entire movie would play on a giant tropical beach-shaped planet. Featuring Luca as the hapless sod whose Valkyrie falls head first into the prominent front bulkhead of the various involved "ships". With a side-cast of Ranka and her army of octopus-like Varja (for the *cough*tentacles*cough*) threatening the nice beach from the sea, Sheryl for tremendous yet nonsensical mid-movie music show during which Luca trips over every man, beast, plant, microbe present, and supporting choir of Alto, Bobby (both dressed as you-know-what), Michael (falls off stage halfway the movie), Ozma (DA MAN), Brera (doesn't actually sing, sleeps in his own bubble until the grand finale)...

'500' instead of '005'? Knowing Bandai and their clear exclusives, it could even be intentional (it actually looks that way - look at the shape of the '5'!). Sometimes they even swap colorschemes... Some people like it, others don't. Since most clear versions aren't canon anyway, I don't think it's much of a problem, but YMMV.

It looks the same as the other shoulder to me. Nice metallic colors on the translucent Alto, BTW.

Packages from some companies are always checked, while other are not. I've now received really big packages from the middleman service I use for Yahoo Auctions Japan several times, shipped by EMS, and never had to pay a thing. Almost all HLJ packages are looked at by customs though. What really irritates me is that recently the import-tax free value was raised to 150 Euro, yet TNT still charges their stupid additional charges if they checked your registered mail/EMS package from Japan, even when the value is below 150 Euro...

Zombie Nazi Dogs in Spaaaaaaaace! sorry...

I'm surprised they didn't make one of Alto featuring his manly chest for the pretty boy fanatics...

Frankly, if it was a real pandemic, deaths in Mexico alone should be much higher than the 7 confirmed (downgraded from 20-something) and 80 suspected. Somewhere around 500-1000 would be more worrysome. Also, I can't remember these kind of reactions from when there were outbreaks of ebola and Marburg-virus in Africa and Germany, which caused around the same number of deaths while being MUCH more deadly (90% of infected people or so die...)... The 21st century: age of hysterics?

Okay, just found something flame-worthy on the RVF-25: Install armour & fastpacks in fighter mode. Now try extending the radome. Then try to rotate it. Yes. It hits the wing boosters and therefore can't rotate properly :angry: Also, either I'm doing something wrong or the RVF is too back-heavy in fighter mode for the stand. Mine keeps slipping off it backwards all the time...

On the other hand, non-exposure to allergenes (the chemicals/materials/whatever that might cause an allergic reaction) as a kid seems to be a major reason for developping bad asthma later in life. Which is why kiddies who spent most of thier life sheltered inside playing videogames without playing outside enough tend to have asthma more than kids who spent their entire life outside...

Dear God No. I can see the complaints about broken crotch connectors already, where the connector cracks and breaks in two pieces. Not to mention that the miniature pegs for attaching the upper leg armour will also break, since they are too flimsy to survive repeated insertion. And then the boosters will fit on fine, but the ultra-thin wing-root hinge will crack after 2 months. Then after 5 years and two 5,000 yen price increases we finally have a perfect rendition of the VF-25, and the shoulders still desintegrate if you twist them the wrong way - or in fact just leave the thing standing on your shelf. Of course, I bet Bandai would be perfectly happy with the additional money flow caused by the sales of spare parts. They might be slightly less happy when some collector's kid pokes out one of his eyes on the broken off shoulder of his Ver.3.5 1/60 Really Absolutely Perfect But For That One Little Thing But That's Now Canon Dixit Kawamori-San Transformable VF-25...

Can't be bothered to re-write my TBDX review, so here: I just retrieved my RVF-25 from the post office, and either people here are really unlucky, or they should fiddle a bit more with their VF-25's and perhaps read/look at the instructions a bit better. Or I got really lucky... The bad points: - Trolley cart landing gear. Could have been about 0.5 cm longer. I had some real trouble getting them to fold out, as my fingers were almost too large to reach the tab to pull them out (and I have *small* fingers) and they are kinda stiff. - The $%$%^^%&^ transformation to Battroid mode. Way too fiddly to get things right inside the chest while the torso was also flopping around at that point. If it was 1/55 or 1/48 scale it would have been better. - The ball joints that the shoulder missile pods attach with. I think Bandai should have used pegs here instead. The fit is kinda tight with the balljoints, and the balljoints are tiny. Scary. - Floppy waist joint. Why use a plastic ball joint at that point, Bandai? Also, one of the ankle joints is a bit loose when fully extended. - Knife storage non-existent. - Some joints could have used a larger motion range, especially the hips and elbows. Minor bad point: - The Goddamn Trays that contain the stand and armour parts. Hard to open without spraying parts all over the room. The contentious points (aka "tips"): - Getting the wings to lock in in fighter mode. This requires you to push the legs up, as they tend to sag down and then the peg and hole go out of alignment. - Getting the landing gears to lock in fighter mode. Just push them in further until they 'click'. - Getting the crotch to stay together/lock in (notice a pattern?). If you use the waist joint, the tab holding the crotch together tend to pop out and then go out of alignment. So don't use the waist joint, then re-align the crotch tab (that sounds dirty) and pop it in the connector (that sounds worse - Valk self-gratification, anyone?). - Getting the (lower leg/upper leg/crotch/chest/back/shield) armor to attach properly. Just make sure you look well at the pictures on the box/in the instructions, 'click' everything into place, and it should hold. Yes, including the upper leg armor that is said to pop off easily - I can tug on mine and it stays put. It may help to first pop in the lower tabs/pegs and then the upper (on all parts mentioned). - Getting the Fast Packs to lock (really, all the same subject - can't be a coincidence, can it?). Slide them onto the wing near the wing root (wing extended, tail fin extended), then slide them inwards a bit until they 'click' onto the wing root. Fold the tail fin down, and fold the wing back. - General advice: before screaming "IT IS LOOSE", be sure you put things together right and made them 'click' together. The color: - Frankly, I couldn't see a difference until I looked really well under natural light. There's a small difference under artificial light that seems to be entirely due to some parts being glossier than others. Maybe I got lucky... The good: - Shoulders are equally tight in the balljoint, perhaps a bit too tight in the metal hinge joints - No paint/tampo-print rubbing/flaking. Dry, non-sweaty/greasy/dirty with chemicals like alcohol hands help. - Oooooh! It can stand ON MY CARPET with no stand and full armour in BATTROID mode! - Hands fit tight yet are easy to remove. - The RADOME. THE RADOME. *drool* - The armour. *drool* - The general finishing. Nice, smooth, sharp. Nearly zero badly painted bits (a 0.5 square mm areas was rough near one of the wing roots). - The diecast. Could in fact be increased IMHO. - The additional hands - The box. Mmmmm, styrofoam. Compact, and yet a nice presentation. No window through which the toy can yellow. - No major QC problems like every single Yamato Valk has. - Modern Chogokin Bandai Valk. Nuff said. Of course, being a collector's toy, it is not fit to zoom across the room with all armour bits attached like I did when aged five, as that will lead to certain breakage (it did too on some of my childhood toys - G1 Bruticus, sorry I accidentally ripped your arm off while battling Computron (Lightspeed lost his head, too)...)

So...they suck because they are correcting the problem by sending replacement parts? And the shop (Overdrive, I assume) is paying for the shipping themselves so the customer doesn't have to? What's wrong with that? Why don't we ever hear the same about Yamato (considering how many replacement parts they need to mail out due to broken shoulders and other problems)? Would you rather have Bandai to say there's no problems whatsoever with the toys and ignore customer complaints?