MKT

Hmm I do like my valks perverted! The seat gimmick is like the VF-0S/A seat gimmick, it doesn't really add much to the toy, but the fact it's there is a nice thought and another example of why Arcadia sometimes go the extra mile for these little things.

VF-27 is a fine valk. Most of the time I liked it better without the Super Parts, but only recently I think it looks nicer with it.

Totally agreed on the scheme, it was masterfully done & icing on top of everything else the 262 represents. When the prologue episode of Delta was first shown back then with the toys revealed around the same time, I was actually more excited for the 262 than the 31. It was a combination of feeling the 31 being not fresh enough as it was a heavily redesigned YF-30, and the 262 not only being a new design but also being the first ‘single’ engined VF. That the 262 almost wholly resembles a real-life jet fighter, that I would argue it resembles the Saab 35 more than the iconic VF-1 does the F-14, really made me look forward to PO night & it’s eventual release for some good old swooshing & nerd out playtime. I think the SV-303 gave me the same feeling of anticipation for a DX when it was teased in the movie trailer & line art reveal, but that has fizzled out somewhat with the slow realization that Bandai seemingly not wanting to merchandise anything out of it. No DX, no 1/72 kit, not even the tiny Mecha-Colle kit for it.

That's what I love about 3rd / late gen Yamato & Arcadia valks. The precise feel of it when handling them.

Haha yeah most of Bayformers were a mess, only the first one made a good impression on me because it was something new at that time. I still managed to catch all though, just for the interest of transforming robots & the spectacle on screen. By the 3rd or 4th movie, there was no longer any logic on how they transform, no thought or at least pretence on how each part went from one form or another. It’s basically predetermined robot form aesthetics they wanted, then some alt bits randomly stuck on them. Given that huge, huge dose of movie equivalent to ‘anime magic’, it was always interesting to me how toy designers engineer the transformation to have both modes look as close as possible to what was depicted on screen. Anyway, I digressed enough. Back to topic..

I daresay it will. It has an advantage of not being prone to obvious yellowing, something we can’t say for another mini-grail the YF-30 Kronos.

Or get some Transformium as per Age of Extinction. It is for transforming after all.

Thanks @Saburo. The resemblance with Death Star trench is coincidental, as I don't really have much background options for pics. But I can perfectly understand why it looks somewhat like the SW trench haha..

That Fatal Fury port is pretty impressive. Back in the days, Takara would port lots of Neo Geo / SNK games to the SNES. Naturally graphics & sound took a hit, the crucial gameplay wasn't as tight as say, the various Street Fighter 2 versions were on the SNES, but they were pretty decent ports overall so I had lots of fun with them. Play the most current SNK games at the arcades, then go home after to play last year’s SNK games on the SNES lol. The Genesis was mostly skipped out from these ports as it was believed gameplay would be too compromised from the original. Seeing the gameplay of this Fatal Fury port on Genesis now look to be even better than any of the SNK ports on SNES.

I was keeping hopes high for a long time for more SV-262.. whether the Ba or the Elvis, because they kept introducing new schemes with every new Delta show. In hindsight, I think it's more to milk the molds for their 1/72 kit. They must have given up on more Chogokins early on, hence in the first Delta movie they put the Lil Drakens on the 31F probably in belief those would sell better with a 31 than a 262.

KC finally got back to me. It was just a brief one saying they will send me replacement parts once they get them from their factory.

More Mac Plus..

Hmmm 'fold booster strut front and back' included. This is a bit of a tell and am speculating here. It means any future fold booster will not be singularly marketed just for, or to include for the YF-21. It will be for YF-19 only, which means the fold booster will be released together with the other YF-19 parts, minimally the Fast Packs. The fold booster can then obviously be used for the YF-21. The bad news is if you want to have 2 fold boosters, one each for YF-19 and YF-21, you have to buy 2 sets of YF-19 add-on & parts. Is Bandai really gonna pull off this d*ck move?

@tekering the latest pics are awesome. The Atelier-Aya figures have always needed their bikes, and now you've done them justice.

I've been casually observing Jada Toys' line over the years. They mainly focus on 1/24 & 1/32 scale die-cast movie cars - among others they have BTTF, Fast & Furious, movie Transformers, Ghostbusters and arguably the most prominent line are the Batmobiles. What sets them apart is that the 1/24 ones tend to come with an accompanying die-cast mini figure, so most of the Batmobiles come with the appropriate Batman mini-figs. Recently, they have also started to bundle in mini-figs to their 1/32 line as well. 1/18 is new scale for them, with added electronics, and began with R-Patz's The Batman & classic '66 Batmobiles. The metal mini-figs became popular enough by themselves and they were spun into their own line. They have mini-fig sets now across Marvel & DC comic characters, and it is a great way to have representations of the vast number of comic characters without breaking the bank. What becomes arguably bizarre is when they do fantasy mash-up pairings of their metal mini-fig characters with their die-cast car to recycle the molds. How about Wolverine with a Corvette Stingray: Or a Chun-Li with a Mazda RX-7: Or as many of us already know, Robotech with the Toyota Supra: I do want the Robotech mini-figs, but I don't want to shell out for the cars as well lol. Hopefully, they release all 4 mini-figs as a set by themselves later. Now that would be a great set.. Maybe put out the blue Reliant Robin as well haha.

I should have clarified, what I meant wasn't discounts due to shelf warming like some of the other WWM items. It's just from observation that US stores sometimes throw out a voucher or two randomly before or after release. For eg, someone posted in the YF-19 tread that USA Gundam store had a 20% coupon specific for Macross items, and it worked for both the yet to be released YF-19 & VF-171 Alto. If not mistaken, I think I saw this sort of coupon or discounts at other stores too on older WWM items, and they appear independently whether or not the items were doing well.

It's funny how these multi-scrolling shooters only happened in 80's.. That said, top-down shooting is pretty crazy. It feels like driving around in reverse.

Great details @tekering. Those cables & hoses really levels up the kit!

I remember this scene! Only 2 pilots that have this kinda derring-do.. Isamu & Maverick lol

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/madoverlord/macross-ii-lovers-again-alus-edition/posts/3996597 UHD / 4k resolution is now available, either by paying extra $10 or if it meets $351k funding.

Re-update old pic. Attempt to make it look CG-ish like Zack Snyder's show lol.

Happy 30th Anniversary Macross Plus.

I guess the Amazon PO price must have been very good. Alternatively, Mandarake has quite a few unopened (new) units available and they are actually below JP retail. From what others have reported, even at full JP retail price, it is actually cheaper to buy & ship from there than paying US domestic retail for WWM items. But of course, it comes back down to Amazon's PO price.. Whichever option you take, hopefully everything works out for you.

If its any consolation, there will always be a store or other in US that will offer some substantial discounts along the way for WWM items.

It'll be a waste for KC to give up all they have learned from making Dana & her armour to not offer the other SC characters. But at same time, do we want to wait another 3 years or more for the next SC figure? Their backlog is already ever growing as it is. The VF-1A Max & Miriya special color were sold with either Max & Miriya figures, and there has been absolute ZERO progress on either of them, despite their initial gaslighting that both will be out in 2023. Not to mention the deposits they have taken for other older PO items.. Not very long ago I was pretty patient with them but now the goodwill is drying up. The only other company on which I am aware of being so tardy, fast and loose with their release dates would be Super 7? Perhaps Ramen Toys / Calibre Wings as well, but at least Noel is always on top with updates whilst KC is just starting to feel Ponzi-like by using deposits on new orders to finance their older figures..