MKT

Just a slight rant about the Premium Finish plain black boxes.. Because there is no image or actual description on the box of what type of item it is, it has higher risks of customs detention where I am, which means a visit to them to explain. Or, the customs will just sloppily tear open the flaps to confirm what item is inside before letting it through. I would rather Arcadia just use the normal non-PF boxes, with a sticker to identity it as PF..

Given the steep price, it sounds like quite a few of us collectors are adopting a wait and see approach, since although Arcadia's being a new mold, from pictures its not significantly different from the previous Yamato. In this situation, I wonder if it would have been better if Arcadia made an SV-52 first? SV-52 only needs slight changes from the SV-51 mold, but visually its different enough to be viewed as an entirely new model for more buy-in at the start. I do like the SV-52 design over the SV-51 actually..

Having collecting only Macross valks, I thought the valk-only displays in my collection looked a bit.. sterile. So recently I set out to get some character figures to match them. When Arcadia announced this FB2012 Minmay, I was piqued to perhaps match it with the HMR & Arcadia VF-4s , but really not too excited about its rather high price. It appears that the only other FB2012 Minmay made (I could be wrong), was the Toy Book figure back in 2004, and today it arrived at my door. The sculpt isn't too sharp, the colours look flat & bit washed out, but its a pretty decent for a figure of that era I guess. More of trading figure quality, like the CM's. Here it is with the HMR VF-4. Another view with Arcadia's VF-4G. Size comparison with the CM's DYRL Minmay. View of her rear.

That's the Boeing 747 Fast Pack right there!

Saburo's always excellent pics makes it more satisfying to look at than the actual item in front of me!

Yup, this release is expensive, but it is quite expected given the rather similar price of the VF-0, and that SV-51 is a very large bird.. The various VF-0 didn't seem to exactly fly off the shelves; it could be they were also pricey then, or because of the reports of legs falling off, but they eventually did sell out not long after release & command some higher prices. I'm thinking back on my valk buying habits over the past few years, and naturally I would go for the low hanging fruits first. Only when there was a draught of releases or availability of other valks to fill the holes in my collection, then only did I look toward obtaining the various VF-0. I suspect this would be the case here as well with many collectors? Not sure how Arcadia would be able to fix the floppy wings from Yamato's iteration, given the overall thin & spindly design, but I have faith in T-Rex. Factory QC though, is another story - hopefully no more legs falling off shenanigans like the VF-0D & 0A.

Just in case you missed it, the HMR VF-4 already comes with a stand.

I wish Bandai would announce the Ba variant next. In fighter mode, I would prefer this over Keith's Hs variant, simply because the wings will look more like the actual namesake Drakens. I do love the Hs, especially the Anubis head in battroid, but at same time in fighter-mode, it reminds me more of something Batman would fly in (and so does the Frontier VF-27s as well ). Not that I am complaining, the SV-262s overall are a refreshing take on new valk designs.

Just my first post here on these boards, but I've been lurking for quite a long while ever since I accidentally got hooked on the first valk purchase sometime ago and went straight deep, deep down the rabbit hole.. Currently, am just sort of trawling through & acquiring the varied valk representations of different eras.. the older Yamato 1/48s, Yamato 1/60s, Frontier 1/60 renewals, to the current HMRs, DX Chogokins and Arcadia valks. One of more recent acquisitions were from apparently the much maligned Bandai's VF100 range, but thanks to Jenius's invaluable web site resource, I've managed to identify the VF100 Fighter-only VF-25F & VF25S with their special metallic paint. I gotta say despite the lightweight feel, the paint app and tampos just fantastic! Pics below (I wish I have the photography skills of some of the more esteemed members & enablers here to better highlight the metallic paint).