WhatBoutMyStar

I guess I'm so used to Transformers transformations and in particular third party Transformers. While the 262 is certainly among the most involved transformations for a Macross valkyrie, it's a breeze for me compared to like 90% of 3P Transformers. Having transformed Fans Toys Ultra Magnus back and forth pretty recently, transforming a 262 in comparison is a joy.

The Beagle is still the most toon accurate if that's what you're measuring by. They are all fiddly and susceptible to breakage, although I don't find the Sentinel all that difficult to transform. It's also the most playable to me and I prefer the 1/12 scale. It's just that there are a number of hinges on the Sentinel that are easily cracked even if you don't do anything. All four of mine have suffered cracks which put a big damper on my feelings towards them, and also makes it hard for me to recommend them to others. If it weren't for that, the Sentinel would be a home run for me with just some aesthetic choices I would've preferred differently. As far as Houquet, I wasn't bothered as much by the color once in hand as I was by the head/face sculpt. Granted none of them are particularly great, but Houquet is just... ugh. Aside from opening up the figure years ago, the non-helmeted head has since remained in the box.

Anyone had their Sentinel Ride Armor crack at the swivel joints at the rear of the bike? Flipped my Houquet bike over to access the kick stand and found one completely cracked and the other with what seems to be a hairline crack developing. The figure has been rarely messed with. This now makes all four that suffered cracks, so extremely disappointed to say the least with the build quality.

Most Macross toys are shelf-warmers, not just the HMRs. All of the WWM releases in particular don't exactly fly off the shelves and have been readily available and often discounted. The base of people buying Macross valks and other figures like those on these forums is very, very small compared to other toy lines.

The awkward rear landing gears on the 31 are accurate to the how they were designed though. On a different note, the color of the DX 31C is so off from what it should've been.

Falling out as in the canards coming out completely while you're extending and rotating them for transformation? If so, yes it's not unusual. It's the same thing as with the bigger 1/60 Arcadia/Yamato Fire Valk. Might actually be faster to just yank them out and stick them back in the proper position for transformation. If the canards are just falling out on their own, then that's not normal and I would add a little floor polish or something like that to the peg.

Hobby Genki still has it listed for preorder as well as the usual stores in the US, with eknightmedia being the lowest I think at $115. Unless you have to have it as quickly as possible, I would think this along with the HMR Fire Valkyrie will have some deep discount sales in the future as I don't think they are going to sell all that well especially outside of Japan.

The one I had before I sold it also had one wing with a very slight curve if you looked at from the side, with the tampos and panel lining for the wings just slightly off and not matching when put together. I left it alone since it wasn't very noticeable from the front.

In addition to the stuff previously mentioned, you might also want to check the connections in the back to make sure they are properly alinged. Along with the main big tab, on the VF-0s, there are also two smaller metal tabs that peg in the back of the nose. If only the bigger tab is connected but the two smaller metal tabs aren't also tabbed in flush, it could affect the angle of the chest when folded down and even a small change in that could affect the heat shield covering the canopy. If everything is tabbed in flush, the heat shield should cover the entire canopy

But per the ironclad laws of Macross collecting, once you get a valk that's part of a squad, you're obligated to complete the team. Sorry, but them's the rules.

If you're going to pick up Max, you might as well pick up Kakizaki as well not only to complete Vermillion platoon, but also because Kakizaki comes with the display stand for Hikaru.

If you care about the pilot figures, the (newer and whiter) TV Super 1S is Hikaru, not Roy. But the pilot figures for the TV VF-1s so far are so undersized and tiny that it's hard to tell who's even in the cockpit. The newer releases including that Hikaru Super 1J, the Revival armored GBP 1J and the rest of Vermillion platoon also have side cavity fillers if that's something you care about, but I'm thinking the majority of people don't. I will say though that the plastic on the newer HMR VF-1s feel a little thinner to me than the older ones, but I could just be imagining things.

Yup, given that they've already shown the Mirage and Hayate HMR 1EX, you'd figure it'd be easy enough for Bandai to just go ahead with production and sell these. I think they would've sold well and would've been much more popular than the non-canon 35th Anniversary Messer grim reaper deco.

It wasn't completely floppy out of the box, but I also didn't like the stiffness of the ankles (or lack thereof) on mine at least with respect to the forward and back movement. Given the weight of the figure, it didn't take much when posing and adjusting it for it to suddenly tip forward or back as I'm handling it. It's also something I think over time will be prone to loosening up quite a bit. However, a couple applications of kiki's did tighten the ankles for me. That was the only area, aside from the nose sensor/crotch hinge piece, that I felt was too loose out of the box on mine. In any case, while I do think it's a good figure for the price and overall built well, I decided to get rid of mine. But took one final pic before it left.

They sold that as new? I expect boxes to have some dings from Amazon, but not mangled up with the tape seal broken. Not sure where you got hung up transforming to fighter, but I think it's a pretty straightforward transformation except for sliding the head/neckplate back into place for fighter which is annoying... along with the arms/shoulders, which are even more annoying to swing into position without them popping off.

I thought he kept the fire valk in a nearby alley by his run down apartment and he got to it by zip lining to it out of a window. Wasn't even hidden from sight or anything from what I remember.

I just wiggled it while pushing in a bit with some force before they went in although it's not the most secure fit and I don't want to force it more, but yea way more effort than should be required to put on missiles. The shape of the peg on the missles and the hard point on the wings don't look to be the same.

The Glaug and Regult are good (although stronger knees would've been nice) but a bit disappointing they don't come with pilot figures. Could've at least thrown us a bone with the upper torso of Quamzin or something to stick in the cockpit like they did w/ those Robot Sprits Q-Rare from Frontier.

The knees can rotate without having to extend them. Just need to get the knee covers out of the way. I've transformed the figure back and forth about 7 or 8 times now. After a little more shock oil on the rails and sliding the arms back and forth pretty hard, they finally slide now much easier. Not sure if excess flash or whatever needed to worn away. I am a bit more cognizant when transforming not to let the legs dangle, so thankfully I haven't had the swing bar inadvertently detach during my last several transformations which has been pretty easy and smooth sailing like transforming any other of my VF-1s. Still don't like those unlock buttons though or how big those tabs are in the lower legs. And like @jvmacross earlier in this thread, the beware of blast tampo on the nose of mine got dinged up and wore away very quickly in addition to that whole sliding mechanism for that crotch locking hinge being a bit loose.

At least for other toy lines, BBTS is consistently among the last in terms of delivering figures, whether that's getting stock later than other retailers or for whatever other reason. Only Entertainment Earth has been slower on average. From my past experience, Amazon is usually on the mark in terms of delivering pre-orders by their estimated delivery date or even a little before.

Whenever Bandai is ready to finally release Milia's Q-Rau that they teased ages ago, I think that's when Max's 1S will be coming. Who knows, that may actually be sooner than later as VF-1s generally sell better than others. Since it doesn't seem that the HMR Fire Valk is exactly flying off the shelves, which isn't surprising, Bandai may want to go to something that will be more a sure thing in terms of sales. As someone who would like to see the rest of Sound Force in HMR though, I'm not holding my breath for those or other variations of the VF-19 that I'd want.

I've had mine for a little over a week now. It does feel premium due to the weight of the figure. Gives it a solid feel. Paint work is clean. I also like the flip top box. There are some issues I have with it though that prevent me from liking this more. The biggest being the slide rails being way too tight. Even after applying shock oil, it still requires much more force than I would like to slide the arms back and forth along those rails for transformation. I've never had this problem on any of my DX VF-1s. The rotating swing bar connection can detach pretty easily on mine, and has 4 times during transformation since I've had it. I know many have had issues with their DX disconnecting, but I've only ever had it happen once on just one of my DX VF-1s in years. I guess I've been lucky with that. The tab connections for the hip/intakes in gerwalk and fighter are also way more finicky for some reason than on any of my VF-1s. Despite the larger size, the transformation process is much smoother for me on the DX than it has been so far with the Threezero. I'm also not fond of the buttons to unlock the sliding knee and feet joints. I've never had a problem with the lack of this on any of my VF-1s in the past, so I'm not sure why it was necessary to implement here. I'm mostly annoyed with the unlock button for the feet since it's right next to the protuding tabs on the lower legs which can block access to push it from the rear while handling. The knees out of the box were extremely tight, and while better now, they are still very tight compared to the rest of the joints on the figure. In contrast, I wish the ankles could be a little bit tighter in the forward and backward movement, as there is much more easy play in those directions than I would like. My DX VF-1s are much stiffer in comparison. I have applied kiki's twice and it's made it better, but I think I need a little more for my liking. The outward ankle tilt is fine though. I would've like to seen the use ratchets for this and other joints as well. As others have mentioned, the elbow joint definitely isn't the prettiest. Speaking of tight, I had to use the included spudger to take off the intake covers. Well, one of the intake covers, which launched a great distance and required almost 30 minutes for me to find. I immediately put in back on and didn't bother trying to take off the other. I'm fine with the lack of articulated hands, but I wish there were more fixed posed hand options like a left-handed gun holding hand. In fighter mode, the arms do noticeably hang below the rest of the valk, and the gaps from the side on the DX are even more pronounced here. The big, rounded head also protudes much more. Despite the above issues, I do like the figure and do appreciate improvements Threezero has implemented like the ankle tilt flap and the waist swivel without having to disconnect the swing bar. I still prefer the DX though.

Still loving the HMR Fire Valk.

Or more like Mirage's VF-1EX from Delta.