MKT

Up at Hobby Genki: https://hobby-genki.com/en/hi-metal-r/8027-hi-metal-r-vf-1s-super-valkyrie-hikaru-ichijo-4573102640741.html

Sold out instantly at Amazon JP..

Well, now sold out now for both AE & HLJ.. still available at Hobby Search. Didn't really think an HMR VF-1 will sell out pretty fast especially in these times.

AE still available.. I think only shows sold out for those who already ordered since there's a 1pc limit per customer.

Hobby Search: https://1999.co.jp/eng/10914085

Amiami's PO link says: "Sales Period Sep 02, 2022, 11:00 Japan Time" so they are breaking with convention here..

Jetfire!!

Did the sculptor confuse Rook with Yellow?

I think I just about run out of likes to press seeing all the great customs here today.

Very nice sculpt on Cammy, and even the earlier Chun Li they showed. I'm tempted but the promo pics for Pop-Up Parades always seem to show far more skin shading than they actually do, either via editing or lighting trickery. The actual figures almost always have next to no skin shading, somewhat like prize figures.

Loving that X-9 Ghost @chriswoo I’m surprised Yamato didn’t take a crack at it last time..

SDFM is Japan-only for now.. The product page link mentions 'General Retail' so it will not be a web exclusive.

https://tamashii.jp/item/14105/ Price: 12,100 Yen Release date: Feb 2023 Pre-order date: Sept 01, 2022 New TV head, TV arm missiles, and battroid side covers.

@MacrossJunkie Great weathering on the Hayate VF-31AX, and always a pleasure to see Macross display set-ups..

The differences between my 31AX Hayate's and Bogue's are substantial enough for me to be convinced Bandai tweaked the mold for Bogue's, that it is more than the luck of the draw. Yet when I see your pic, the gun appears to point down even more than Hayate's, so no idea what is really going on now. How is the gun on other side? This recolor also doesn't seem popular, there's currently close to none reviews so far online so it's hard to gauge further..

Back when these Banpresto SQ Delta figures were released, I was deciding between these or their Blau-Blume version. Ultimately, decided to go for the latter to show more uniformity as a group. Later on, I thought to pick up this set in their original costumes same as yours above, but by then only individual figures popped up sporadically. Pretty surprised more versions weren't made, as I think there were other costume sets especially in the first Delta movie.. Thanks. PVC weep/sweat is an affliction that look to be quite common for vinyl figures made up to circa the mid-2000s. Of all the CM's Macross Collection figures, the Miria 639 set they made for Yamato is the most prolific & worst offender. She's as sticky as any of our favorite childhood candy, and I have to clean & bath her just about every other year. There'll be a small pool of goo around her feet whenever I pull her off the shelves for that.

Gotta tell that to @rick.vale as its his display..

Thanks I’d love to say I picked it up at a good price, but nope. Figured I’ll justify Max this time as a reward for having saved quite a bit from hunting down a few other toys at bargain prices.

My VF-31AX Bogue arrived today: Upon unboxing, I had a mild surprise, because Bogue's insignia have slimmed quite a bit from what I remember from the promo images.. A quick check from a few pages back, confirms that the insignia proportions have been changed. Not sure what to make of it yet, the insignia in the original promo images do look somewhat too large, especially in comparison with Hayate's & Mirage's. But merely slimming it sideways instead of proportionately all around, makes the shield look a bit weird.. But most importantly, did Bandai put in any fixes to Bogue's mold? Early anecdotes around the web say yes, which got the hopes up, but some later comments from other owners say nope, Bandai-ed again. Straight out of the box, the valk was pretty much untabbed in a few key areas - the whole nose, both intake joints, the wings, and the arm cannons so it was a very floppy affair. After tabbing & lining everything every up, well, I am happy to report that YES, Bandai finally did apply fixes! First off, both wings tab fully into the legs. My 31AX Mirage's did show some improvement in this area back then, but even then they still don't seem to want to tab in all the way. Here, the wings do tab into the legs proper. How about the arm cannons? In 31AX Hayate's, for the cannons to point straight, the rear have to be untabbed from the wing, otherwise if tabbed, the cannons will point downwards. In my 31AX Mirage's, there appear to be only slight improvements in this area, such that it feels more like some luck of the QC draw, and I think for many people, they can at most only get one side to work. For Bogue's, you can tab the rear of cannons all the way in, and the fronts will point very much straight ahead. I don't know, was Bogue the best sharpshooter in the new Delta movie? This could be why! Nevertheless, the fit and finish around the cannons and underwing area is still not perfect. The various panels still have some residual push and pull against each other, so you won't get that nice flush finish of the base VF-31. But overall, the main pet peeves with the earlier 31AX releases are now gone. I have not transformed it yet, so can't compare with earlier releases to determine which exact areas Bandai tweaked to get everything to come well together this time. I'm still not keen to handle Fighter mode much though. The many sharp edges keep snagging on my clothes, and though the plastics appear strong, I'm sure there'll come a time one of the pointy bits snaps off with more playtime.

After so many years, I finally got CM's Max in his flight suit.. Miria doesn't have to be all alone anymore and melting in that dress (literally, some of these old PVCs weep like mad). Also, Bogue's 31AX showed up:

Every occasionally when I fiddle or look at RotF Megatron, his gunmetal silver and tank tread feet reminds me of a certain cool baddie in an old 80's show that briefly aired in my part of world, but I could never recall the names of both the baddie and the show. But the name 'Blaster' suddenly hit me today, and I am finally able to search up Blastarr from the show Captain Power. Although, Captain Power must have been very obscure over the years, that I can't find even a full image of Blastarr on the net today. Only a video though, and seeing Blastarr again, I kinda feel disappointed he doesn't look as bulky or huge as my hazy memory serves lol..

This WT-01 Ronin looks really great! I don't have any affinity to Drift or this Transformers series he is from, but I always admired some of the Cyber Formula cars, and making them transformable just ups the cool factor..

Somehow the valk has very minimal decals, even for a non-PF. PO Cancelled.

Colors look even better now overall, though I'm not really a fan of heavily tinted canopies. It obscures the pilot & cockpit detailing too much. Incidentally, the conformal tanks on the legs look to be the most subtle off all the valkyries:

Thanks for the info. I got an old Yujin gashapon R-90 from R-type III, which was the one I played the most, and for most part pretty happy having just that as representation of R-Type. Am weighing to get these Figmas, when I noticed that they made couple of Thunderforce Fire Leos, so might get that instead since I think Thunderforce ships are harder to come by.