Chronocidal

It's definitely not the same, but my thought is mostly on the side of how much return they can expect to see on their investment. Without going too deep into details I don't know a ton of, I've always been under the assumption that Yamato's success with the VF-1 funded all of their more expensive ventures (VF-19s, VF-17s, and VF-4), but there wasn't enough demand to keep up with the higher production costs, and the VF-1 market got entirely saturated, so they couldn't use it as a reliable funding pool. In terms of Macross7, I think the only Yamato release to get multiple production runs was the Fire Valk (not counting bundle re-releases for the VF-17 packs). It's also the only one Arcadia reissued, and it made sense for the Japanese market, because yeah, it's iconic for that series. In Bandai's case though, making another Fire Valk at this point feels like a bad one to start off with, especially if they're interested in actually selling to international markets. There are just so many factors working against it: - Both Yamato and Arcadia have sold multiple runs of that specific valk in that same scale, so the market is fairly well saturated in both regions - There is so little difference between the two different products that probably only hard-core collectors are going to think "I need both" - Macross7, Basara, and the bright red and yellow scheme are all what I'd just call "acquired tastes." On top of that, they're actively sabotaging their own releases, by selling the HMR version so close. Throw in the tariff situation, and you're going to lose even more customers, because at least some existing fans who would otherwise happily gobble up duplicates are probably going to just convince themselves their old Yamato/Arcadia is good enough. Like, I get it, the Fire Valk is the icon of the show, so not making it first would feel dumb too. But trying to sell it again feels like a bad bet to make. I would love Bandai to start offering up more polls to see what people want, but I also don't think they have the mentality to make those polls effective on the international market. If I'm remembering correctly, we did have a poll long ago to help decide what the first international releases should be, but I think all it really covered was which series people wanted products from, not anything as specific as characters or paint schemes. I think that was one of the factors that led to the weaponless YF-19 re-release. (I also think this was before the licensing fiasco was "settled," so a lot of people blew their feedback comments on wishes for SDFM/DYRL products that we still can't get.) I will say though.. the Kairos getting a reissue is a wild card, and I'm really surprised they would even consider it. I don't want to get my hopes up, but I would love someone at Bandai to make the mental bridge between cool transforming aircraft and military aircraft collectors. People gobbled up the Kairos, and the prices stayed sky high from the get-go. I would love them to experiment that way with the VF-19, or pretty much any other Macross product they can sell here.

I think we're making the same point, but about different markets. I'm mostly speaking from Bandai's perspective, so when I'm talking about the domestic markets, I mean Japanese customers. Everyone else is international customers. Maybe a weird way to say it, but it made sense in my head. But yeah, that's basically what I mean. Bandai's doing the stupid, and instead of making and selling products that they know would sell well both domestically and internationally, they're chasing the imaginary money of an international fanbase that probably does not even exist. Bandai isn't in the same financial position as Yamato by any means, so they aren't going to sink or swim based on this one franchise. But if you think of their product funding as a "Macross account," they're making the same mistake Yamato did. They built up a ton of profit and good will with products people really wanted (Frontier, Delta, SDFM, Plus), and now they're rapidly burning through it by making an entirely new line for the oddball sibling in the family. It's maybe over-generalizing, but I think Yamato burnt itself out making the Macross7 releases, because they were too expensive to produce, relative to the demand that existed. They hit the VF-1 out of the ballpark, but they over-produced it, and it couldn't support the rest of their production lines forever. The worst part is that now Bandai is doing a worse job at it than Yamato already did. Despite not being "allowed" to sell to international customers, nothing really stopped us from buying Yamato's releases, so while some of us will probably be suckers and buy everything anyway, I would expect a lot of the international demand for Macross7 is already "satisfied," and won't be motivated to purchase something that's either hilariously similar like the Fire Valk, or worse in pretty much every way, like Bandai's attempt at a "VF-17." And like you said, it sounds like even the Japanese customers are rejecting the line, so Bandai can't even count on the show's original audience to support it. The funny part to me? All of this is just making me think that the HMR route was the right way to go with Macross7 all along. Bandai's original 1/65 Macross7 line was absolutely a low-ball, but I think it says a lot that they were only willing to invest that level of development in those toys when the series was brand new. Granted, Bandai is coasting on Yamato's coattails with the HMR releases right now, since they already paid for the majority of the design work involved. But as much as I would love to see them develop a full Sound Force in 1/60, I'm thinking we'll probably be lucky to get them as HMR releases.

You know the really funny/stupid thing.. this is essentially the exact same mistake Yamato made: spending a mountain of money developing a line of toys so niche that they really didn't even have enough of a domestic market to turn a sustainable profit. Bandai could easily milk the market for all it has to offer if they focused on something there is an established domestic demand for... but no, they just want to chase a market that is likely even smaller than the one Yamato targeted, because apparently they're just completely certain Macross 7 will be profitable this time. In a market where it never originally aired, and is probably the most mocked in the franchise as a whole. But what do I know. I'm not one of Bandai's market analysts. Maybe they just know history better or something.

Yeah, the paint is really what sold me on picking up this one. I just hope Bandai gets a color that vibrant.. you know.. if they ever get around to it.

That's pretty much the only reason I bought the ones I have. They've got some nice features that improve battroid (minus the ugly elbows), but they just fall behind in fighter mode in general when compared with most of the other recent releases.

That just makes me wish Bandai had done a revival of the old 1/65 instead, that looks so much better in pretty much every way. I actually wonder if this will drive up prices for the old version. Wouldn't that be a kick in the head for Bandai's financial analysis department.

They're even more cramped and further out on the wing than on the Advance though, since I think the Advance used the innermost hardpoint to help hold the boosters on, and you could only make use of the outer two with them mounted, but they still had room for more than a single missile.

Actually, my suspicion? Since the F/S have shorter wings, they probably copy-pasted the CAD of the outer wing segment, and those are the hardpoint spacings on the smaller wings. If we get them at all, of course. There's literally no reason to throw those three mounts so close together at the tip when the entire underside of the wing is blank.

My VF-1J had the arm slider issue, along with the wing paint problem. Fortunately the wing was a cheap enough component that they didn't balk over just sending me a new one, since it's not something they can really fix. I never tried to complain about the sliders though, since that's a problem I knew I could fix myself. I had to take the entire thing apart, but I was able to ream out the sliders with a small drill bit, and now they work perfectly. The thing was completely impossible to transform until I did that, the arms would not move.

Many thanks, grabbed a pair online. The nail set worked, but only to get the pins started. For now I've gotten them back in, but I might experiment with these heels more in the future. Bandai just managed to make two unique designs that only really work in a single mode.

So I'm dragging this one up again to see if anyone has recommendations on how to theoretically disassemble the legs of the DX YF-19, or possibly just extract the metal pins holding the feet together. I've been wanting to swap out the feet on this thing since day one with the VF-19 Advance, just to get them to look decent in fighter mode, but the legs are your typical Bandai special glue and screw sandwich, with no way to get access to what looks like it should be a very simple ball joint to extract and just swap the entire foot. So I'm left with spring pins. Is there a specific tool I could use to potentially press these things out, or am I stuck finding a nail of the right diameter to hammer into the pin and hope it eventually comes out? --- Edit: So I actually had a nail set that was the right diameter to tap out the heel pins, so I managed to get a pair off of both one of my YF-19 and VF-19 Advance. Looking at these though, I think I might try and make a hybrid heel. I don't like the thickness at all, but short of taking a hacksaw to the the high tabs on the YF-19 heel plate, they aren't going to work with a shorter heel paddle cover. As for the spring pins.. yeah, I hate these with a passion. For the moment, I managed to force one pair back in with a vicegrip I could crank to the proper size. The heels aren't as tight as they were before, but they're staying put, and I managed not to lose any paint on anything but the interior metal parts, which are covered by the plastic caps. So, for the moment, I've got the YF-19 to display I wanted all along. We'll see what solution I come up with for the VF-19 Advance I stole the heels from. If I had a resin printer, I might try and design a replacement heel cap that would extend the heel to the same length as the Advanced version, but I don't think my spool printer will be able to pull it off. Now to tackle the fugly wing tampo...

Yeah, I also have to wonder if this is based on using the mobile app, or just something that doesn't work in my state. There is nothing even remotely resembling those options on the website that I can see on my computer.

You know.. I keep hoping that one day Bandai will attempt to understand literally anything about aircraft, and the reason that things in real life are designed the way they are. But it is not this day. Yeah. They shoved all of the hardpoints toward the wingtip to the point that you can barely mount any of the weapons they've produced. You know.. instead of spacing them out like the YF-19 had them. I know, minor quibble, it's not like the Fire Valk ever mounted any weapons anyway, but it does mean that we'll be stuck with the same lack of space if we get a VF-19P. I don't know if anyone has complained about this in Japan, but I'd love to post this feedback to Bandai and slap them upside the head to try and convince them to just match the spacing on the YF-19's wings in the future. So, yeah. If you happened to buy at least two YF-19 Full Packs (or maybe two or three sets of VF-171 armor sets?) you're in luck.. you actually have missiles that will fit in all three spots.

I'm still a young'un with TF stuff, since I missed out on G1 entirely, and until G2 all I had was the deluxe Spay-C Gobot shuttle, and a Robotech-branded Bandai Joke Machine VF-1. I fell down the rabbit hole when I saw the fancy G2 commercials though, and asked for a G2 Starscream for Christmas of 93. He wasn't available, so I got a Ramjet instead.. which confused me for years, since he was essentially colored like Skywarp. G2 is also why I thought Megaton was always a tank. My younger brother got pretty into Beast Wars, so he had a bunch of them, but I think the next actual TF I picked up was the Walmart MP Skywarp.

Happened upon this by accident browsing Amazon, and I have no idea if the brand is any good, but boy do I want to build one of these now. https://www.amazon.com/Building-Control-Compatible-Rechargeable-Robotics/dp/B0D8149WMY?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B0D8149WMY&pd_rd_w=bL8QN&content-id=amzn1.sym.ee4d428e-9145-4c8f-81ac-5c7e8f43b2cc&pf_rd_p=ee4d428e-9145-4c8f-81ac-5c7e8f43b2cc&pf_rd_r=XY7XJG6YJMVMREV30R5B&pd_rd_wg=c3Dlu&pd_rd_r=7bc0e19d-ba8e-4417-a0a9-a8c26ac23526