MKT

Yeah Arcadia’s really quiet this year. There has been no announcements or hints of new pipelines, every of their existing project’s been stalled & stuff that were supposed to have been released by now have been delayed twice (maybe more?). It doesn’t look like the VF-5000 can make it in time this year, and I do hope they didn’t cancel the Hargun. The latter was practically ready to move into PO stage. We all want them to take another shot of the YF-21, but it would be cruel if Mr K decides to maintain the sculpt almost as it is with Yamato’s & just made it more robust lol. Just like their v2 YF-19, VF-0 & SV-51.

Just no feels for this BeastKing iteration. It’s just too far removed from Voltron & the whole thing feels like a different robot altogether.

Yeahh just thankful it is being made in 1/72 even if it doesn’t really fit most valk scale. Can finally retire that cheap Testor’smodel kit I’ve been using to display haha.

One of well-known TF toy reviewer. Pretty cringe the way he manhandles the toy and forces parts to move, but it seems he does that for every toy, that he actually has a scoreboard for 'days without breaking something' lol. Good news is the toy held up.

Cracked open my 0A, transformed it straight to Fighter and attached the Ghost. I think Bandai did some tolerance adjustment from the 0S. As opposed to the 0D, in which most of everything was slightly looser, on the 0A it was the opposite. Stuff just feels tighter. For eg, the head, which is on a long, thin plastic pole at the collar, seem reluctant move up or down said pole so had to use quite a bit of finger strength to press into the underside of nosecone for Fighter. One of my shoulder joints is overly tight - basically the part where the metal is connected to the plastic C-clamp via a spring pin to become a sort of butterfly joint, is extremely stiff. The C-clamp bit is where it attaches along the sliding rails for transformation, and I had to resort to detaching the whole arm altogether from the rail, use a lot of force to rotate that small butterfly joint & then pop the arm back in. Likely have to do the same thing to bring the shoulder out of Fighter mode, & I hope the spring pin doesn't destroy the plastic as it expands over time. In the 0S, the rear landing gear doors do not seat as flush as they should be when closed, and I remember the one on the right leg being particularly egregious. So am quite pleased Bandai fixed that for this 0A. On other hand, the doors are quite a pig to open now with the slot being too tiny for the pick tool Bandai supplied. Had to use something sharper and it brings back memories of trying to open Arcadia's landing gear doors on their VF-0 lol. The landing gears themselves were extremely tight fit, much more than either 0S or 0D. I couldn't plug them in using just my hands at all. Had to use another separate tool with a blunt head to press the base flat part flush into the bay, and I don't know how I'm gonna remove them yet. Don't want to yank them out by the gear arms lest they break. Ghost booster attaches rather securely, the thruster nozzle is also rather tight so had to be quite careful when articulating it. Somewhat disappointed to discover that the inside of thruster, although has molded detail is naked plastic, so creating a disparity with the insides of the valk's feet thrusters being painted whilst the Ghost's isn't. Why, Bandai?

One of the boosters has that antenna thingy sticking out... hopefully that doesn't get bent, or at least make it a separate piece with extras like the Gerwalk antenna.

Well, at least there's new hope yet in securing replacement head lasers, & hopefully its Bandai now having a change of mind. I'm reluctant to think Bandai is forcing customers to contact them directly, screwing over international focused retail outfits like HLJ by telling them its 'within variation', and only giving service to JP domestic customers in a backhanded way to encourage overseas customers to buy from only respective local channels (which Bandai will provide aftersales support to!) in future with that massive mark-up. @nightmareB4macross Hopefully you get a satisfactory resolution for that broken stabiliser.

Thanks @Valkyrie Hunter D for pointing me to this thread. Just cross-posting this news: Hobby Master is making the 1/72 YF-23. News on grapevine is that there will be repaints down the road, including a fantasy JASDF version. https://x.com/specialdiecast1/status/1808441574063259861

Ok, the product page for Weathered 1J is now up: https://www.threezerohk.com/product/robo-dou-robotech-vf-1j-veritech-rick-hunter-weathered-edition/ Limited 2000 units. TZ must have done great sales for the regular version, and enough POs for Roy to settle on this quantity. Man, I feel bad for KC - they struggle to move even 100 units on some of their releases.

Great to hear the fix worked out 100%, thanks for sharing.

I remember Yamato's a bit nerve-wracking to transform the backpack the first time. Basically when the pieces at those areas disengage, it sounds like plastic cracking, but on other hand it is always these tighter tolerances on late Yamato / Arcadia valks that makes for a tight Fighter mode. I think the difficulty is transforming back into Fighter - the knees have to be in exact position for it to work. I see @Jenius already working on the Bandai DX review; as the Yamato YF-21 page has been updated with some DX content.

Don't really know where to put this, as we don't have a diecast aircraft thread. But I'm pretty excited that a 1/72 diecast YF-23 is finally getting made. Always wanted one as a companion piece ever since picking up a Yammie YF-21 years ago. https://x.com/specialdiecast1/status/1808441574063259861

Denzel Washington's usually great in any role he's in. But here he somehow looks out of place..

I actually rather have a weathered version instead of the normal, just so to have more differentiation between the scores of other Rick / Hikaru 1Js that I have in other scales. On other hand, the weathered edition as TZ is showing now looks a bit different from what we normally see as such on other toys. Here it just looks dirty.

Not sure if this has ever been posted on these boards before, but here’s Kawamori showing the YF-19’s 4th mode. And no, it’s not a pengroid, but very suitably the pterosaur. https://x.com/kawamoriexpo/status/1692706042453598645 Actually, the toy looks like Yamato’s instead of Arcadia. I guess my Yammie YF-19 can be brought out of obsolescence now for display.

Nice summary review.. and from your various vids, I like the poses you put the valks in.

Threezero event exclusive: Link: https://www.threezerohk.com/product/robo-dou-voltron-black-x-gold-edition/ Full set of pics:

Threezero’s doing a Rick VF-1J Weathered Edition as an event exclusive.

As opposed to the YF-19, external impact on the box seems unlikely to account for the head laser damage. I'm wondering now, what if the damage comes from the box being upside down somewhere along the way? Perhaps the blisters do not clamp the toy down sufficiently, and because of the toy's weight, the front of the toy somehow loosens from the blister and the head laser touches the blister. Weight of the toy then exacerbates the head laser rubbing & then bend from sideway forces during transport. But this really depends on how tight the blisters really are in holding the toy down, and I can't speculate more until I receive my own copy.

Nice video. Liked the way you did the comparison with lots of close ups & both regular + PF mimicking the same pose & camera angle. I’m still ruminating to pick up the PF, but afraid I’ll get a lemon with broken shoulders. Definitely no support for replacement parts at this time!

It’s saddening to hear a reply like that from HLJ. No doubt the worldwide units on the slow boat now are gonna be hit with plenty of bent head lasers, & Bandai already washing their hands off the whole matter leave a very bad taste in mouth even if the solution is just about the simplest ever when coming to replacing these parts. Will they still be as resolute having their head in the sand when more complaints start flooding from worldwide sellers? It’s nowhere near as complicated or costly to rectify as the YF-29 Alto shoulder misprint, or Arcadia’s double left ankles for the SV-51.

Chills me to the bone.

By one Franz Peter Siegfried:

These are great diorama pics!

Nice! Somehow the YF-21's huge shelf between the shoulders doesn't really look bad here. Man you have really prettied up this HMR VF-4. Great work! Seeing this, it reminds me how much better I like Arcadia's YF-19 for battroid. The legs just gives off a more solid stance, whilst Bandai's give me impression of an old man's bow legs.