Slave IV

2 hours ago, R0P3-F15H said:

bit of a surprise to me given every time ive seen a PO go up they are gone within a day or less.

Again, partially because they make a lot less because there is less demand. We’re probably talking low 5 figures for most releases and for some of those to sell out instantly and others to go on clearance and still not sell out for months gives you a hint at how small the variance and fandom really is for Macross. 

2 hours ago, glane21 said:

It’s disappointing that Bandai can pump out deluxe metal builds of every obscure gundam  almost monthly but it’s years in between Dx Valkyrie releases.

They main disappointment is that the Macross fandom is not as big and doesn’t buy enough for Bandai to consider making more DX Valks because if we were that big, they would make more. 

59 minutes ago, 505thAirborne said:

Possibly for some that own the Arcadia VF-0's these HMR's kind of feel a down grade in both weight & details. 

Personally for me, I like the HMR series in general because it offers me the chance to have a squadron of those harder to find & often very expensive Valks, I simply can not afford multiple VF-4's, VF-0's and currently the ONLY quality VF-2SS. If a Macross Plus & Frontier line occur, I'll continue with this line because you know... multiple VF-11B's!!! 

As for the VF-1 Valkyrie, this is where the HMR line & I part ways, I have all that I need from Yamato & Arcadia in 1/60 & 1/48 plus a few DX versions. 

In the end I am looking forward to my VF-0D and fingers crossed for my Mac Zero toys to come, especially some SV-51's! 

Agree with all this! The HMR line is the best ever for Macross when it comes to display and play options. Especially with the Destroids and enemy Mecha. But you need at least a couple VF-1s to bring it all together. 

15 hours ago, Alex GS said:

the minute 2:27 solo fits so perfectly for Basara (very well edited video), sorry I'm very excited for this Vakyrie release  

 

Really nice! Needs more Max though.

13 minutes ago, Lolicon said:

Was considering getting that Threezero 1J but then I saw that they Bandai'd the landing gear, so nuts to that.

That's right up there with putting the on/off switch for the arc reactor light on their Iron Man figures underneath a panel that you need to unscrew to open... after pulling the torso off completely from the lower half.

Haha, I don’t care about the landing gears but I noticed they also Bandai’d the stand. Of all the things to copy, why that hideous, lame stand?!🤬

43 minutes ago, ChaoticYeti said:

That's one of the adapters I am most curious about using a service for as I printed them in 2 parts and glued them together myself.

Interesting. Well, LMK, I'm down to try that out and some others.

38 minutes ago, ChaoticYeti said:

Looking at setting up the 1/48 adapters on shapeways. Who wants to be my guinea pig in ordering a few and testing them out on their valks?

I'm in need of one that will work for a Battroid equipped with GBP so I'd be glad to try one out.

5 hours ago, Shizuka the Cat said:

Wait... wait... I just got an email from BBTS talking about the DX Chogokin YF-19 pre-order.

Didn't that come out years ago?  (looks in closet)   I own it.... and the Arcadia version.... and the Yamato version.

So.... umm....  can someone fill me in on what is up with this DX Chogokin pre-order?  A reissue?  Any improvements over the original DX Chogokin release?

Sorry for the inconvenience.  The baby keeps me pretty busy and I am not keeping up with Macross toy releases very well.

Thanks in advance!

-Shizuka the PhD Mommy Cat

 

What is mentioned below. And also, they “upgraded” the effect part to include two egg beaters (see pics to understand). Hope you are enjoying family stuff!

5 hours ago, ValkAddict said:

^ It's a reissue from Bandai. Unsure about any improvements on the design - still too early to know. It's selling for a higher price, but does not have any of the extras like the full set pack with missiles, etc.

Hope you and the baby are well!

On 5/1/2023 at 6:25 PM, seti88 said:

the fuselage/body seems to be too thick? 

No one has complained about the black landing gears? Is this still MW I’m on?😂

56 minutes ago, sh9000 said:

Super7 Reaction TMNT.

Nice set of Turtles. I kinda want that new Mirage Neca set but the price is ridiculous to the point where I just can’t support it. My son saw it and said he wanted it and his bday is coming up though. This birthday, he’s already getting a bunch of high end figures for the first time. SHF and other imported stuff where up until this, he’s only been getting Hasbro ~$20 level figure. 

6 hours ago, MacrossMania said:

😂I've been laughing so hard at these posts.  First time in a while.  And yea, I have this impulse too.  But that's where the madness has to end for me.  It's also probably why my collection of G1 toys is only good and not great.  I know guys who literally go to the ends of the earth to get items so pristine you wouldn't believe they were even real.  And they are not just a few, but literally hundreds.  I couldn't grasp that level of commitment.  My collection is nice, but definitely not on that level.  So with the box within a box etc.

As far as MOTU, you're just proving my point.  Pretty much anything G1 has that basic awestruck wonder about the boxes.  And again, that's why grading in general has been so important to the industry.  But I understand your gripe about putting your faith in some third party you've never heard of to judge a toy what your own eyes are perfectly capable of doing.  I look at it this way.  Grading is like any other institutional setting, traffic laws, criminal laws, federal regulations.  We all have to at some point agree that those laws are necessary to get by in life, because without them, society begins to buckle and collapse.  Grading isn't necessary in this respect, but it does conjure up the same faith-putting that makes those rules and protocols work for all of us as a society.  In other words (and this isn't a political point), we all have to believe that the laws are applied fairly, judiciously, and objectively.  Otherwise they don't work.  Same with grading.  I choose to believe that AFA is fair, judicious and objective when it comes to its grading criteria and how they are applied.  And all things considered, they've managed to achieve that.  Their integrity in this regard explains why they have become so popular and such a stalwart industry presence.  At the end of the day I put my faith in the process.

Plus, it's also like hearing your favorite song on the radio.  When it comes on, you're excited that there's someone out there in the ether who feels the same way you do about it.  So with grading.  When a spectacular piece comes back with a high grade, it's nice to feel vindicated about your suspicions.  And especially from an important industry actor.  But it takes a certain institutional mindset, and I totally get the impulse to buck the trend and say f*** all that.  Collectors are rebels in general, I think.

Lol yeah… I’m all about f rules that are not directly related to general safety. I don’t doubt they are fair about grading. I just don’t care about their grades. More power to people who do though. It’s all good. 

10 hours ago, MacrossMania said:

None taken.  If you ever manage to lay your hands on it then by all means.  And be sure to post some pics of that bad boy when you do.  I'd love to see some detail up close.  But until that happens, I'm going to just continue enjoying the world's highest grade

And as far as the grading goes, I don't think the collecting world is going to feel necessarily bowed by your opinion.  Grading has long since been settled in the collecting world as the signal source of value, quality and durability.  AFA is at the very top of the heap, with secondary players like CAS coming along nicely.  Toys are no different than comic books or coins in that respect.  The only real difference is that the way toys were marketed to the public back in the 80's was with the box itself, which featured innovative and highly inspiring box art.  GI Joe and TFormers are leaders here.  That was probably the first time that the box art played such a pivotal role in the marketing of the toys (aside from the cartoons, which the box art evoked).  And it's a big reason why grading has played such a crucial role in collecting G1 toys.  Make fun of us box collectors if you will, but the presentation of these pieces with the box art front and center is second to none.  You can see why grading has become so important, and why it wasn't for toys past, like tin toy robots, for example, which came in simple boxes.  I'm not worried about the grading aspect.

I get what you are saying and don’t want to sway you and others who believe in grading. I just personally think it’s a scam and don’t care about having any of my items graded at all. I have thousands of comic books and toys in “perfect” condition and I don’t need to pay someone to tell me that. If some professional grader looks at my stuff and says one of my “perfect” item has a tiny blemish and so and so has a better copy of it, I don’t care. But again, that’s just me so no knock on people who do value grading. 

As for leaders of box art, I agree with GI Joe and Transformers with their file cards, power grids and unique art. But I gotta say my first memory where someone collecting misb made a big impression on me was with MOTU. Some kid brought a sealed Beast Man in to school and I was wondering why he didn’t open it but at the same time, the colors of the figure in that clear bubble and that background splash are still vivid in my mind today. 

So yeah, I’m not making fun of box collectors…I am a box collector. Most my collection is still in original packaging either because that how I want it or I haven’t had time or space to open them. Even if I open, I keep the box for everything. If there was another unique shipping box that it came in, I keep that. I keep boxes for boxes that hold boxes so that I can keep more boxes, lol. I think blowing up some of my stuff when I was a kid pushed me to wanting to keep things pristine now and also having multiples. 

I don’t think it’s they can’t, they just don’t care enough. All probably goes back to economics as things always do when they don’t make other sense. If Macross made more money for them, they might care more. 

5 minutes ago, MacrossMania said:

On paper that's true.  But someone bought a super VF-1S from an old collection of the man himself - Shoji Kawamori.  I believe it was on this website actually.  It was absolutely dead mint, and I mean dead mint.  If AFA was honest with themselves it would easily grade higher than the one I have.  Kawamori knew how to keep his own collection lol

And that is definitely one I'd like to have.  The pedigree alone makes it worth a mint.

The reality is I'll keep this a very long time.  It's a prize piece in my collection and an early example of the stuff I went after.  In all likelihood I'll end up donating it to a Japanese toy museum if I don't sell it.

 

Yeah, see I didn’t know about that Kawamori one but that’s an example of why grading doesn’t matter to me. I know what condition my toys are in because I take care of them. I’d take that Kawamori one over your graded one any day, lol! Obviously no offense. 

1 hour ago, MacrossMania said:

And yes, I have that piece.  I haven't removed it from the polybag since the day it was shipped to me from Japan.  Years ago now.  But the polybag doesn't really do it justice.

 

That is the ultimate of all ultimates. Congrats. I mean it, even though I don’t care about the grade, that right there is the epitome of any collection, imo. The best version of the best toy ever made in the best condition possible. Outstanding!

42 minutes ago, MacrossMania said:

"One is blowing up my original Millennium Falcon toy with firecrackers when I was in elementary school" ~ LOL I had a Dreadnock Thunder Machine as a kid and blew it up with an M80 once.  Let me just say that was opened.  Cracked it in half like an egg.  Actually what I did was graduate to an M80 from progressively bigger and bigger firecrackers.  None of them worked.  Just blew off the doors, which on that model was fairly easy to do without breaking anything.  But the M80?  Whew boy.  Tore it right apart. 

Still remember it to this day.  I was whiling away the days on a secluded beach in Baja California.  Went down there with a friend and his mom who invited me to a little hut they owned.  At night you could hear the footsteps of wild coyotes stalking the place.  The footfalls of their padded feet could be heard just outside the windows, and I wondered what wild dog lay just beyond.  The nights were still.  The occasional rustling of grasses.  The moonlight filled the sky with ribbons of light that seemed to flow into eternity, spreading all of Christendom with hope.  And the days, when they came, were endless.  Time generously lapped against you like the gentle waves of the sunlit waters just beyond.  Sitting days on end at the water's edge trying to imagine a time when you actually cared about the real world.  Eons stretched before you.  The unfolding of time.  The shimmering of tender moments ... Something about that place.  The memories of those impressions linger on all these years later.

But as a kid, it was just fun to blow up anthills and GI Joes on the beach with the cheap M80s they were selling.  Just a lick of something to do.

Only thing is I don't regret it because I bought an AFA graded Thunder Machine (high grade, yes I care) about 9 years ago, and still have it to this day.  I must have been staring down at the toy gods or something and they gave me a second chance to redeem myself.

Pretty much agree with everything you said.  With Macross, Marvel and Star Wars, you have your hands full.  With all of mine, same.  I won't be buying those decks anytime soon.

Dude, did we live by and play with each other, lol! Perfect descriptions haha! It was good times back then when kids could easily buy M80s, Bottle Rockets and other ordinance with ease! And yes, you are absolutely right that it took M80s or stronger to actually destroy toys like that. There were some more powerful small firecrackers that could do some damage but when you wanted to be sure the job was done, M80+. That’s what I used to take out the MF. Not to mention the model space shuttle I launched into the air and exploded with a bottle rocket after seeing the Challenger on TV. 

And those poor ants…I waged war on them. Usually they would keep coming but after a bunch of firecrackers in the anthills and they were done. At least not coming back that way again. Flamethrower them with cans of WD-40…some sick stuff when thinking back to it. 

My way of redeeming the MF was getting a few bigger and better MFs over the years and most are still in original shipping boxes. So some of those things I did as a kid definitely led to me thinking I need extras of stuff I really like “just in case”. 

1 hour ago, sh9000 said:

Tomica Premium.

Nice! I got the one Ferrari I needed from TT:

4 hours ago, Anasazi37 said:

It comes down to how you can print them and what materials you use. It's not hard to design adapters that will snap in place so you can hold the valk upside down (which I did), it's another to be able to print them without going to a commercial provider. Consumer grade additive manufacturing options are more limited and because of how the material is laid down during printing, there is a "grain" to it. Introduce too much stress along the grain, which would happen if you start pushing adapters onto valks, and the adapters break. I went through multiple prototypes that suffered this fate. I also wanted to limit how much the adapters might scratch up paint jobs on custom 1/48s, so I increased tolerances to create cradles instead of snap-on adapters. I still need to complete my Minmay Guard and Blue Roses 002 customs and don't want them getting messed up by display adapters.

Good points! Lots of considerations... Other than some waterslides (thanks!), I don't worry about customs. I'm glad there are people putting so much thought into making our collections better.

1 hour ago, MacrossMania said:

lol talking like a collector again.  Nothing but excuses.  That dirty collector math always helps too.  "I always price things in Valk."  LMAO

For me the issue is not so much how much money to spend.  I have a set budget that I never break.  But where to spend it.  Of course in the grand scheme of today's crazy prices those decks are not all that pricey.  Reasonably priced in today's market.  The question for me is am I going to go down yet another branch of the collecting tree that sees me getting all tangled up in a thorny thicket I can't extricate myself out of?  If I had the discipline to stay at one or two, I would.  But collectors are like tragic figures.  The very thing that drives me to collect and amass great collections is our undoing in the end.  I just won't stop.  And having one will just drive me mad, because the collector in me is just going to pine for "the one that got away."  And another.  And another. 

I'll end up being more miserable than happy in the end.  I know because I have a decent collection of old school Tformers, Joes, MASK figures, go bots, machine robo, Takatoku, Bandai, ... And the list goes on and on.  But you know what?  Rather than enjoy what I have - the highest graded G1 VF-1S Bandai Super Valkyrie in the world, for example - I think about the ones that got away.  The pre-rub Soundwave that I could have bought along with both cassettes.  The dirt cheap Optimus Prime that I passed on.  The Megatron I didn't buy.  Or that one time this guy offered me a dead mint Big O (I've only amassed much lesser versions to fill the void, but they doesn't do that any justice).  The madness has to stop somewhere.

Lol, you know yourself and the collector’s mind well. I have two main regrets in my collecting. One is blowing up my original Millennium Falcon toy with firecrackers when I was in elementary school and the other was passing up on the Unifive Gatchaman God Phoenix set when it first came out and I had it in my fingertips. 

I don’t care too much about graded toys or comics and kinda think those services are silly but if you do have that piece, that’s pretty impressive and you would think it would be good enough for any collector but as you said, it never is. Luckily for me, there is some stuff I really just don’t care enough about to collect and I have been budgeting better since you mentioned that part of it. Right now (and since I saw the first Chunky as a kid), Macross, Marvel and Star Wars are my main weaknesses and those are plenty enough to break my budget without other distractions. 

18 minutes ago, Anasazi37 said:

Margins?   Much like the waterslide decals that I've produced for this community over the past 22 years, I'd be taking a loss if I offered my adapters for sale at a price that collectors would find acceptable (which is what I do). Especially when you factor in the amount of time required to design them, print them, clean them up, and ship them out. Big chunk of the design time was getting everything dialed in, to include recalibrating my printer for the filament I wanted to use and then making tweaks to the designs in order to ensure the prints were as close to the drafted dimensions as possible. I would care enough to print your adapters correctly, but it might be more than I can take on. My day job is...intense.

I feel this way about the adapters I just designed for the Yamato 1/48, since they are cradles that don't "clip" onto the valk. Do anything too crazy with them, like a close-to-90-degree banking pose, and the valk might fall out.

I remember pics of some of the Yeti adapters where he was holding the Valks upside down with no fear of them falling off. Quality!

30 minutes ago, MacrossMania said:

lol you're already doing the research.  Told ya.  It's only a matter of time.

I thought they would be worth something like that.  I don't think I would go down that road either, but it would be nice to own one or two vintage ones.  Of course, the one's I'm thinking are probably priceless at this point.  Couldn't get them then and can't get them now.  Some things never change, only the price.  Plus, I don't have the reservations you do.  I never considered myself a serious skater.  I had friends who were, but I never was.  So collecting one is all good for me.  

If you’re really interested and just want to collect one special one, I’d say go for it. To put it into perspective that we can all relate to, I like to price things in Valk. That one I was looking at is only one or two Valks worth, which is nothing in the Macross collection world since I can and often do easily get two or three of the exact same Valks for no reason other than just “because” without blinking. 

3 hours ago, ChaoticYeti said:

The laser etching helps the rubber washer grip. Compressive force from the rubber washer pushing out against the acrylic and hardware, along with added friction from the rubber filling in the rough surface of the laser etched acrylic "locks" it in place on multiple axis. I wanted to mitigate a need, or impulse to over tighten. It was never lost on me that if someone's $300+ figure fell off the stand I would be blamed.

Again, that attention to detail is much appreciated! My only regret is not buying more when I had the chance. 

2 hours ago, derex3592 said:

I've still got like two gallon ziplock bags full of Yetistand parts and pieces and adaptors. I should really go through them all at some point and get some more of my Valks on display with them! ROOM to do it is the problem!  

Nice, you need to put those to use! Like I said, my only regret is not buying more back when we could. Glad @BroTaku79 has stepped up to fill the need. 

51 minutes ago, ChaoticYeti said:

Interesting. Shapes are all eerily similar, but no laser etching or rubber washer at the joints. That saves a pretty penny as the laser etching process doubled the cost of getting the acrylic cut. The longer crescent moon arm with multiple holes was something I had thought of but I never went down that road specifically because of the laser etching on the joints increased cost so much per surface area dimensions. No laser etching, no downside.

Do many people have these stands? Do the joints stay put? Anyone crack an arm yet from over tightening?

That laser etching is an interesting difference I didn't think of. The washer thing and thickness are the first things I noticed though. So far, it seems ok but you definitely have to tighten a lot more for them to feel secure.

3 hours ago, ChaoticYeti said:

Ah...yep. I put several years into Yetistand. It was enjoyable and sometimes rewarding, but very stressful. I doubled down on my career during covid and don't have the capacity to fire up Yetistand like it was before. It looks like my acrylic design was....flatteringly taken over and I'm taking it as a compliment? I understand I left a vacuum. Yetistand was not cheap to run, so more power to you and I hope your margins are making it worth your while. I question some decisions, and I don't know who is responsible for the archistand stuff, but I have had zero involvement with that project, and only recently became aware of it.

 

Seems like the adapters have a bit of value in them. I have all of my digital files backed up for all of Yetistand. There are some intriguing questions in some old emails and dm's around buying all of my files. I don't think anyone is going to pay me what I think they're worth, but I am not against looking in to setting them up on a print on demand service. My only concern with that is quality control and tolerances. I took pride in dialing in the adapters as best I could. I don't know how well they will work if a service or other player prints them, and I don't know if they will care enough to adjust them to work as needed.

Thinking this through. 

That attention to detail is what sets the great apart. Thanks for everything you did for this community! Of course, we all hope you can figure something out that works for you regarding those adapters.