WhatBoutMyStar

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.

Surprised to see this. I like my 262 well enough, but not enough to want to pick up Bogue's version. Would rather have Roid's or even better, MIrage's Ba.

If replicating the original toy look is the goal, wouldn't just removing the heat shield altogether be the way to go?

A very old Banpresto Sheryl crossover figure dressed up as Basara. She's Emilia-sized compared to Basara 1/60 pilot figure.

In person, I don't see any real issues with the red plastic, although my room generally is pretty dark without any natural light. After playing with it in battroid mode over the weekend, I really like it and find it much more enjoyable to handle than my Arcadia 1st release fire valk. There are definitely some very tight joints out of the box, including the elbows, bicep covers, and metal hip joints to swing them up for battroid mode. I have not transformed it yet as I've been just enjoying posing it in battroid. Along with recent Macross Zero valks, Bandai is doing a good job with the HMRs lately and I'm quite pleased overall. BOMBA!

I could be wrong, but I think the translucent pieces are supposed to be black light reactive as opposed to glow in the dark. I think many of us would be hesistant to shine black light on our valks for an extended period of time, or any time at all, given concerns about UV and yellowing.

If they're fine with doing the whole Transformers box and using the Transformers name, I don't get why they didn't just go the full route and just do the original Jetfire deco w/ the autobot symbol on the nose cone and FAST packs without any tie-ins to Macross. Why bother with the UN Spacy name and kite (which is missing the middle line) plastered around the valk, as well as the skull squadron jolly rogers on the vert stabilizers and heat shield? Just seems odd to me.

For those who already have the 21 in hand, does the gray arm swingbar hinge that's attached to the backpack shelf sit directly on top of the wings. In other words, is it directly making contact with the wing? MIne appear to be even though I believe I've transformed everything correctly. From looking at some of the recent videos as well as photos, it looks like this is just the way it is. However, the manual in the Battroid Configuration Complete picture shows some space between that gray hinge and the wing, so I'm a bit puzzled. This is particularly concerning because the shoulders are very tight. As a result, manipulating the arm at times will cause that entire gray hinge to move and pop itself out of the tiny tab that is supposed to secure it. That movement of that entire gray arm swingbar hinge will also cause it to directly rub right along the edge of the wing and cause wear.

So I finally had some time on this holiday afternoon to transform the YF-21, which was a very unpleasant experience. One of my feet required an excessive amount of force to open. I was almost at the point of giving up for fear of breakage. It was the complete opposite of the other foot that was smooth to open. I'm not sure if the transformation and end Battroid result was really worth it, with the huge, tilted up back pack, the arms and the short hip skirts being my main gripes. Some of the joints are also toleranced way too stiff more than they should be. I guess my laser is straight, so perhaps I should just be thankful for that.

I just wanted to add a picture of mine that was preordered from Hobby Genki that was not broken or bent. I feel extremely fortunate but at the same time very sad for others having to deal with this mess for such an expensive collectible.

My 21 from Hobby Genki was also fine.

I've done this on bent plastic with the heat, reshape, and then dump in cold water technique, but the bent plastic was a bit thicker than a valk's head laser where I would think this sort of bend really compromises the whole structural integrity. I'd probably expect the piece to just snap after heating up and trying to bend it back into shape even slowly, but I guess the piece is essentially ruined anyway so perhaps it's worth a shot. At this point, Bandai might as well start packaging their valks with the head lasers or antennas off and put it with the accessories.

The torso hinges themselves are fine for now. I can't say the same for my 25 renewals. One of my 25s also has a cracked neckplate. As far as the hips, they are like other Frontier era toys with hips and shoulders that were floppy out of the box right away or became easily floppy over a very short period of time with very little handling. Even the most recent 29 I have my Max 29, got loose pretty quickly. Tightening the screws worked initially, but they soon didn't. So I disassembled the shoulders and hips and applied some floor polish, which helps but will wear over time. I really like how the 29 looks especially in fighter mode, but if I'm being honest, I'm not very fond of playing with it and transforming it. But then I look at how pretty a bird it is and I'm glad I have them.

I don't have the Isamu 29 but these are seams on my other 29s and not cracks.

eknight has the 25F revival for $300, which I believe is the lowest so far of the US retailers. https://www.eknightmedia.com/macross-f-vf-25s-armored-messiah-valkyrie-ozma-lee-use-revival-ver-dx-chogokin-action-figure-by-bandai-tamashii-nations.html

For an unopened box, that's a pretty substantial discount from the 17,600 yen regular price. All I can see is just a little ding on some of the corners of the box.

I don't have the Revivals. I have the Renewal Alto and Michael 25s and also a number of 29s that share similarities with the 25. The design is just prone to having the joints loosen over time. If tightening the screws in the shoulders and hips/legs, which are usually the problematic areas, don't work, then at least the good news is that those joints are pretty easily disassembled so you can access the socket and apply some joint tightener like Kiki's or floor polish. I believe there are posts in the Maintenance thread about disassembling the shoulders and hips if you search for them, as well as videos on youtube on it. I also corrected my prior post to note that the Revival 25s (not the Renewals) are bundled with the super parts. Inadvertent mistake just typing and posting quickly.

There are quite a bit of differences between the original and the renewal 25s, including the sculpt/proportions in battroid (the top of the legs/hips sit up much higher above the crotch area on the original). If it's in battroid, does your 25 have one locking tab or two metal locking clasps in the waist? If it's the latter, it's the renewal. The original was also prone to yellowing. If you still have the box, the renewal 25G box should be white. The original 25G box was black. Biggest visible difference with the revival v. the renewal is the matte finish. The revival 25F and 25G also come with the super parts bundled.

I don't think it's the lack of popularity of Delta compared to Plus in itself (I recall a poll in Japan about 4 or 5 years back showing Delta was actually more popular than Plus). It's that the fans of Delta aren't in the typical demographic who would buy expensive collectible figures/toys, who are typically older and often driven by nostalgia. I remember that poll showing Delta fans being much younger, and I believe it was the only series where more than 50% of the fans were female. Also just from my experience with my own teenage kids and their friends, they simply do not care about toys and figures like I did growing up. They are more interested in their electronic devices and streaming/social media. Given the crowd sizes at Walkure concerts, I'm sure more way more revenues have been generated just by ticket sales of Walkure shows alone compared to what Bandai has grossed or will gross from sales of DX 19 and 21 valks from Plus or all of the Delta valks that have been released. I'm speculating that Bandai realized this and decided it wasn't worth the risk going forward to press on with more DX valks from Delta, especially when the early releases of "hero valks" like the multiple releases of Hayate's 31J and Messer's 31F ended up quickly inundating the aftermarket for below retail price. Plus, like SDFM/DYRL, falls much more in line with your typical collectors and should be a much safer bet for Bandai in terms of selling DX valks.