Lolicon

The placard says 33k yen with tax, so that's my limit. 🫠 Sure I can grab you one if they still have them.

It's unlikely there will be any left, but I'll pick one up if they're still available at the Tamashii store in Tokyo when I'm there in September. Absolutely no way I would pay any aftermarket markup for it though.

I got one of my YF-21s and the Metal Build Kampfer from Yoyakunow. So they're legit so far. Even the shipping rates were reasonable, unlike NY's habit of gouging on shipping. About 5000 yen for Fedex for the YF-21 and it got here in 2 days.

Ah well, Misa and Hikaru can sit in my empty cockpit 1D then.

Hey @tekering do the 1/48 pilots fit in the 1/60 Yamato?

I stick with my original postulate that Bandai decides which VF to release next using a dart board.

$50 in 1985 is equivalent to $146 today.

So they fixed the tail fins so they don't fall off when you breathe on them? I might consider getting a reissue if so.

Why didn't Bandai just glue the wing parts on? God knows Bandai loves glopping glue over everything else, including parts that are already held together by screws.

Come on guys let's cut Bandai some slack already. Don't you remember the SV-51 ankle debacle? Where Arcadia said having the wrong ankles installed was just a "quality variance" and told everyone outside Japan to piss off? Bandai is a pretty small company and couldn't possibly handle the cost of replacing all those broken head lasers.

I see a lot of returns and exchanges in Bandai's future.

Received my second YF-21. Slightly bent laser out of the box. I was able to straighten it with just my fingers, but there's a visible stress mark where the bend occurred. This unit will be my permanent battroid display. Oh, and F U Bandai.

Revivals have the chest stripes painted incorrectly.

Thanks! @no3Ljm! So an unopened YF-21 sold on Mandarake earlier. I think it's better to buy an opened item this time around so they can tell you if the head laser is busted or not. 😁 https://order.mandarake.co.jp/order/detailPage/item?itemCode=1265994300&ref=list&keyword=マクロス&lang=en

"Hi-Metal" is just a brand name, like Subway's "footlong" subs. An intentionally misleading brand name, but a brand name nonetheless. He couldn't exchange it but could return it? So couldn't he just return it for a refund and just buy another one?

Yeah. With something as detailed as the YF-21 it just made the unpainted landing gear even more of an eyesore than older valks that had way less tampo. Same with the DX YF-19. Nothing special about the process. Just mask, primer, paint, detail, and clear coat. That's some weapons grade BS right there. Man, if that's HLJ position, I don't have much hope for other retailers to actually do anything about the problem. In this case, it might be better to just buy from Amazon. Yeah there's a mark-up, but you'll be able to freely exchange it for a replacement if you get a broken laser. What a crap deal though. Pay a mark-up so you can replace a broken unit if you get one, or roll the dice elsewhere and pray you get an unbroken unit because Bandai has deemed it a "quality variation." F U Bandai. Typing this from the middle of a hurricane. Good times.

Okay, had some time to fiddle with it. Going from fighter to battroid wasn't too bad at all, other than kinda juggling everything while you move everything into place. Going from battroid back to fighter was another matter. Getting the panels to all line up and lock back together is a hassle. I think I will keep my second copy to keep it in battroid mode permanently. I still think the Yamato has a better looking fighter mode, but Bandai's looks pretty good too. For battroid, Bandai is definitely better. Took a couple of quick fighter pics.

The best way to straighten the head laser is to send the broken thing back and get a replacement.

My first copy arrived intact thankfully. I have a second one coming that I bought just in case, but I don't really need it. I'll either sell it or maybe it'll be my perma-battroid YF-21 toy.

So who's picking up the HMR VF-4 reissue?

You think Scott Hards is using YF-21 boxes as temporary ottomans in his office?

My YF-21 finally freaking arrived from Nin nin game. No busted head laser! Thank goodness. I guess I didn't need to buy a second copy after all (I only ever wanted one unit)... which would have been useful to know much earlier if they didn't take so goddamn long to ship out.

Goddamn nin nin game finally shipped out my YF-21, more than a freaking week after other retailers got theirs. My first time buying anything from them since the Kairos debacle and they suck just as much as ever. Slow to get stuff out the door and ridiculous overpriced shipping. This is why I refuse to buy anything from them except as an absolute last resort. I would have already canceled if they didn't require payment up front since it's popped up HLJ multiple times since the initial preorder. Nin nin sucks. They're barely a step above NY.

Well, I guess I'm not the only one around here with an affinity for anime maid girls.

Bandai - f***ing up things already solved by smaller companies over a decade ago.