Chronocidal

Yeah, that's an absurdly similar-looking Spartan. I'd be interested in seeing a final comparison of the actual product with that promo, really. The only differences I can see are the baton-holding hand's wrist is slightly different (probably because it's a swapped part), and the curvature of the round hatch on the side of the torso looks more bulbous on the KC version, but it could just be lighting. The weirdest bit is that even some of the molding flaws along the assembly seams look identical. Just reminds me of that story about the crashed B-29 bomber that Russia reverse-engineered so hard that they reproduced broken bits and battle damage in the production aircraft.

I'm betting the price is blown out by all of the larger elements involved in ship builds. I don't imagine the keel is built up from normal bricks, and those sorts of ship models have always gone for a premium because of the unique parts involved. That Cobra looks like a beauty though! I should probably think about that one before it poofs, but I'm still debating burning my VIP points to pick up the Shuttle Carrier 747. Plus I'm still really tempted by that Countach.

Yeah, this is basically all I want at this point, though I'd be perfectly happy if they did a dual TV/DYRL release for the CF. I really can't be forced to care what ship name is printed on the tails (and I still think it looks lousy on the side of the thighs anyhow), which is why one of my Roys is converted to a DYRL now (swapped the control panel from a spare Kakizaki, and repainted a spare DYRL Hikaru from a VT-1 in yellow). If Bandai really wanted to cover the bases, they could just include multiple swappable tails, but I'm not going to get hung up on the individual marking differences. I think the only other ones I might get suckered into are if they make M&Ms, but that's only from my OCD, as I've collected every other M&M pair produced since I started collecting.

Oh we did, that was my post about how mine exploded. Really, it was more of a post-explosion autopsy. If someone could get one apart in a slightly more coherent state, you might be able to get some good measurements of it. I would love to find a way to produce a functional replacement, or even just a permanent fighter mode mount for the rest of the leg, but that still requires getting the lower leg apart in the first place, which is a serious roadblock. You almost need to remake the entire lower leg from scratch.

See, this is the biggest nail in the coffin of Bandai's marketing strategy. The people who actually care about the things they're bothering to re-release? They already went through the effort to import the originals. You're not doing anyone any favors, Bandai, the people who want them already have them. All they're doing is deflating the market value of the original releases at this point, because the market is flooded with the few releases they're willing to keep churning out in favor of completing any of the lines people actually want to buy.

I have yet to see anyone successfully disassemble that disaster. The leg is screwed and glued in every way imaginable, and you're far more likely to break it into a hundred pieces than actually get it apart. I can't say the method doesn't exist, but it might take some very creative sawing and drilling to get the pieces apart in anything resembling their original shape. The best case is probably breaking it apart without distorting the parts so you can at least get measurements for what it should look like.

Oof, no, those are the pylons that come with the Legioss. Maybe making more of those for the kit would be an option? The hard part is probably finding a material that'll have the right properties to attach correctly without breaking.

Maybe if you're talking purely about developing new products? But if they have the choice of using their production space for something they (think they) can sell in a (theoretically) untapped market? Yeah, they're going to cater to the place that might theoretically actually bring in new customers. Otherwise, there's no explanation for why their releases for the past couple of years now have mostly played out like a greatest hits collection that everyone in Japan probably has multiples of by this point. We're obviously never going to see any data, but I would be really curious to see the sales numbers of all these re-pops based on region.

Yeah, Bandai looks like they have basically completely abandoned any product they can't sell overseas.

I gotta say, the missiles crack me up, because they might be the original mold used on the vehicle in the 80s. Now, I never owned the Triple T, but I picked up a set of extra missiles Hasbro sold for their vehicles (mostly for spares to equip my Hurricane), and it came with two of those tiny ones. Hasbro really loved those barbell-shaped weapon mounts, they also got used in the early 90s for their "Flying Fighters" jets, so I was thrilled when I could load up my Joe jets with all the extras those came with.

Yeah, the doofy backside of the cockpit has always bugged the crap out of me on the Legioss, for both aesthetic and aerodynamic reasons. I get that it doesn't really matter when you have micro-nuclear reaction engines, but it still looks stupid.

I think my biggest gripe with the entire design is just what insane nonsense they made the lower legs into. Like... just why did they make them do that? And is it even necessary, or are they just really fond of showing off how many moving parts the legs have?

Honestly, after they flubbed the AX release so hard, I really don't care if they put out more of them or not. I never liked the altered nose/canopy profile they went with, and in either case, I'd much rather see them go back to re-release the original Kairos. Would still like to get the original VF-31 packs for Arad and Chuck, but I figure those are a lost cause as well at this point, because Bandai seems to have just abandoned those characters in the dirt. I'm glad I picked up a couple of cheap super parts sets (Messer's, I think) to repaint into their versions if I ever actually get together the space to display the full flight. I do kind of prefer the AX super packs though, they look more balanced mounted centered on the wings. Maybe if I get bored someday I'll just do a Siegfried+ and kitbash the best parts of both versions together... Siegfried nose section and gunpod, AX wings, arms, and legs. The molds are so similar they'll probably just slot into place. Edit: Scratch that, of course, me being the lowly fan I am, I forgot my place. So silly of me to imagine Bandai might deign me deserving of tools such as screws in order to accomplish such a blasphemous slight upon their everlasting engineering wisdom. Seriously Bandai, get bent. Your designs suck, and unburying my AX from the depths of my closet reminded me why I banished it to the bottom of my pile in the first place. Miserable piece of sloppy, mis-toleranced garbage.

Yeah, don't expect to get it anywhere near release date. I'm STILL waiting for them to deliver on my original YF-21 kit preorder. Still, $35 isn't too bad, and Bandai's decals have never been worth the paper they're printed on anyway. I'll probably just make a custom scheme for it.

Don't be surprised if that's a web exclusive though. They love doing that for those "last episode power up" versions. I still have the original release though, and I grabbed a pair of the super bundles, so I'll probably skip it unless it's just the armor.