MKT

Perhaps this should be on another thread, but on somewhat related note, the 171, or rather the earlier VF-17, made me realize that Kawamori's inspiration for his valks wasn't so much the actual production jets, but the earlier concepts of them. Some examples: The VF-17 is often quoted to be based on the F-117 Nighthawk, but it really looks closer to its concept the Lockheed Have Blue. The VF-4 emulates the SR-71, but it's likely more akin to the YF-12 on account of the extra downward stabilizers at the rear engines. The VF-14 Vampire also looks heavily influenced by the SR-71, but apparently a very early concept of the SR-71 had the very same arrowhead-shaped nose.

The 171 CF was really the nicest color scheme for the whole 171 range, but I only got one and never transformed it till today because afraid of the exploding triangles. Would love to get multiples if they revived it.

Another Beagle popped up at Mandarake, but take note of the remarks: https://order.mandarake.co.jp/order/detailPage/item?itemCode=1213615610&ref=list&keyword=mospeada&lang=en

I don't disagree, $160 stateside is really overpriced. Fortunately, it can be had much lower from JP stores. I only hope whatever mark-ups Bandai US is imposing does not become the new standard for JP prices later on.

I can understand the sentiment of how looks cheap it looks, and it will be initially bolstered somewhat when taking it out of the packaging because of how light it feels relative to its size. This is especially when compared to the non-transforming mecha in the rest of HMR line. We do not have to look across at other HMR IPs, but in the Destroids line itself and the differences in heft is just night and day. But once you handle it with more time & transform this VF-0S, your opinions might change as it did mine because of other factors. Today I transformed it to Fighter, and just.. wow! The fit and tolerances are just phenomenal, everything lines up and tabs up perfectly, there's minimal gaps as can be expected, and there's NO freeplay anywhere. I daresay it surpasses the Arcadia VF-0 mold in this regard, which does have one or two loose areas, and definitely any of Bandai's own current Chogokin releases (looking at you 31AX!). This qualitative aspect is hard to convey, the best I can explain is that it has the more toy-like plastic flex of a typical Bandai Chogokin in Battroid, but the fit and tolerances of the best of Arcadia molds (VF-1!) in Fighter. This is quite an achievement at this small 1/100 scale. As mentioned before, despite the weight the plastics are strong, and the grey parts within the chest and neck although looking very thin appear to be made of POM. This is similar to what Yamato used for their old 1/15 Motoslaves, which has fair bit of small plastic parts, but because of POM material they don't feel fragile and till today haven't heard of any much breakage issues. It is also a pleasant surprise to find that unlike the HMR VF-1, the missiles can be individually separated from the tree (I know @Angesdad posted a pic earlier of them being worked on individually, it just didn't hit me then). Again, as testament to the tolerances, the missiles fit beautifully to their trees and the trees to the wing mounting slots.

I drew the line at these SD valks, but something tells me I’m gonna regret not getting them in coming years…

Yammie VF-19 Blazer is my first Yamato valk and whenever I see one it brings me back to the day how amazing it felt taking it out of the box. Top 2 Yammie valk till today.

Only last week, the store I PO’ed from said the new release date given by KC is Feb next year.

Couple of older pics, re-processed. Still one of my top favorite 3P TF toy, the New Age Mista (DotM Soundwave).

This is such a beauty. And at 20cm vehicle mode length, it is much larger than I thought it would be.

Tony taking a break from armor building playing with the 1/20 DX Ultimate Chogokin VF-1J Low-Vis Regenerated version.

"Hey, wait a minute... if that's the suitcase armor, then what is it I'm wearing?!"

Haha so the prototype HM YF-21 sculpt is the best for overall all 3 modes.. not much complains there.

Hope the intake details will be painted, otherwise they shouldn't bother with them at all.. I hardly display Bandai valks with intake covers off for those with unpainted intake details as they will look cheap (although it can be an easy DIY job).

Won’t be attaching these to the wings either. Gonna display them as standalone. Gotta say this looks much better than the previous Lil-Draken drones.

Why do I feel Bandai intentionally half-assed the original Strike parts so they can release this to milk us?

Nice recreation of Episode 1 when the VF-0S was introduced.

Ok look, white landing gears! Finally?! Edit: I just checked back the VF-0S prototype pics, those had white landing gears too. Sadly that didn't make it to release..

Yes yes! The one SDF-1 that has been missing for so long since Takatoku days. And hopefully they include a bunch of little destroids for that iconic maneuver which solidified SDF-1's legendary status.

With bigger legs and feet, hopefully it would be much more stable in battroid. As much as I like my Yamato, it could hardly stand on its own without toppling over. I am envious when I see pics of others that can get it to stand more dynamically when I can't with mine.

Now that you mentioned it, I only just realized this. I thought I saw his radar dish in the movie, but that was with his old 31E with 'Lil'Drakens.

Putting it in its own thread..