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Chronocidal

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  1. Chronocidal
    I'm kind of assuming anything that near the feet would just say "BEWARE OF BLAST" (engrish not withstanding), and the pattern of characters at least looks like it lines up well enough with that.
  2. Chronocidal
    Yeaaaah, uh, that's gonna be a really good way to completely destroy their younger audience. When a kid has to borrow their parents' phone or computer to actually build a set they got, we've hit a brand new level of suck. Edit: I can't actually find the survey they're discussing though, it looks like the backlash may have been so severe they already pulled it down. Let's hope so.
  3. Chronocidal
    Definitely better box art, but I really can't justify buying one more just for the box.
  4. Chronocidal
    Thanks for those! Looks like a set of four glued pins surrounding the tail hinges, maybe another two around the body hinge area. Would probably be really difficult to separate the halves without breaking or destroying part of it, but I imagine someone will find a way.
  5. Chronocidal
    Didn't really consider it until now, but someone needs to take close-ups of the backpack on this one, since I think this is possibly the best way to determine how to disassemble them with the least damage, since you can actually see the connection points. The backpacks use no screws, and are your typical modern Bandai glue sandwich. Not saying to disassemble this one, of course, but just knowing where to pry is a good place to start.
  6. Chronocidal
    I'm guessing the top of the main body opens up and it has to flip/rotate around to bring the cockpit out front, swapping it with the blank panel when transformed. Doesn't look anywhere near as complex as the Legioss, fortunately, but will definitely be fun to see how they do it. I'm mostly interested in seeing how well the two craft mesh when combined, since it looks like you should be able to slide in the connection arm to snug them up close, but it will depend on whether the arm locks in certain positions.
  7. Chronocidal
    Should we start crossing our fingers ahead of time that the Tread connection peg is stronger than the stand that came with the Legioss?
  8. Chronocidal
    Darn, I was hoping for a Project Wingman miniseries. Still, could be entertaining, I'll be curious to see how the style turns out.
  9. Chronocidal
    Ok, I am going to say that is pretty disappointing for $80. Not even including any of the actual guards there feels a little silly, and the skiff looks severely undersized.
  10. Chronocidal
    I would bet that's because the missing key figures (Luke, Han, Chewbacca, Lando, and Boba Fett) all came with (or will in the future come with a new version of) the smaller skiff.
  11. Chronocidal
    You're right about the gunpod handle needing to swap out, so I guess that does mostly even out the parts swapping total between the two. This one's gun is basically equivalent to both Yamato and Bandai designs. Considering the HMR VF-0 has managed a perfect transformation gunpod now, I actually wonder if that's even necessary at this point. It is disappointing to have to swap the hands to hold the gunpod, but I'm feeling like this just really isn't one you want to display in fighter mode anyhow. There are better options for that, and this one's benefits primarily fall in gerwalk and battroid. It startled me how easily those couple of spots were rubbed off on the intakes, but I have rubbed back and forth on the undersides of the wings and in a couple of other obscure spots to test, and haven't seen anything like that happen there. I'm not sure why those spots on the outsides of the intakes are so prone to flaking.. maybe the high curvature? When I get my spare wing, I'll experiment with durability and touch-up methods on the messed up one, and see if there are any reliable ways to touch up any worn-off panel lines. But yes, the consistency of the color and gloss level on the exterior surfaces in comparison to the interior surfaces of things like the airbrake, hip hatch, and gear doors leads me to believe the entire thing is painted, top to bottom. I'll give them credit where due, because it means there are absolutely no color matching issues between the plastic and metal like Bandai and Yamato/Arcadia have had, but it does push this one into a different category of collectible, feeling a lot closer to something like a diecast aircraft model that just happens to transform, rather than something you're going to want to play with, transform, and pose frequently.
  12. Chronocidal
    There we go.. that's exactly what this is... It's the Leg Day Valkyrie.
  13. Chronocidal
    In fairness to Transformers, they usually at least make some attempt to hide the pile of kibble under the jet. This one doesn't even do that properly. It works fine as a bot, but I don't think I've ever really seen a less-attractive interpretation of a VF-1 fighter mode. In a weird way.. it kind of looks like an obscenely chonky bootleg mashup design? As if someone tried to merge a Chunky Monkey with legs from some other VF-1 knock-off of a completely different scale.
  14. Chronocidal
    Yeah, I really just cannot understand the weird elbow thing. All of the packaging still shows the original (correct) design as well, so I don't know what went wrong. Looking specifically at the elbows, they do not look like they're a separate moving part, they look like they've been sandwiched between the arm halves as part of the structure now. I think my biggest overall concern, from a handling perspective? This thing is beautifully painted, and nice and heavy.. but because of that, it comes off as something you are not intended to handle frequently. Yamato/Arcadia, and even Bandai valks are primarily unpainted plastic with varying amounts of tampo prints, and they can generally be handled without too much worry of scraping or damaging the paint. The couple of Arcadia weathering versions I have seem to have a clear coat specifically to protect the weathering. This thing may as well have a giant sign on it saying "WARNING: FRAGILE PAINT - HANDLE WITH CARE." Everything is painted. All of the plastic, all of the metal. But I'm not seeing any sign of a clearcoat. The two thruster/sensors on the sides of my intakes have already lost all of their panel-lining, just from me picking up the toy. It brushed off disturbingly easily, and it makes me wary of actually handling it too much. The tampo warnings on the nose blisters are wearing off just from clipping the hips into the nose. It looks very nicely finished, but that means it's much more like a model than a toy, and should probably be treated as such. On the other hand though.. I know I complained earlier about needing the side covers to hold the battroid together. That's not entirely true. The hips still clip in well enough to hold it decently, and I discovered earlier that leaving the back able to shift enables a few poses you wouldn't be able to accomplish otherwise. Without the chest and back locked by the fillers, you can push the wings out far enough to let the intake rotate completely back. The torso is a bit sloppy this way, but it also gives you a pretty substantial upgrade in flexibility. I'm not usually one that experiments with poses much, so I'm not sure if any of the other VF-1s on the market can pull this off, but I don't think any of them have this deep of a knee bend. Have we ever gotten a transforming VF-1 that can do a kneeling/aiming pose? (No, the Revoltech doesn't count ) The only real downside to those ankles (aside from being a little loose forward to back) is that they don't twist side to side, since they aren't ball joints. So yeah, the more I mess with it, the harder a time I have giving a this guy a fair assessment, because I keep finding things it can do that I don't usually look for.. The amount of paint worries me with the potential to rub while handling and transforming it, but this may be the most posable (near)perfect transformation VF-1 we've gotten to date. I'm just having a harder and harder time calling it a "toy," because it seems the most likely to lose paint out of every VF-1 I own at this point.
  15. Chronocidal
    What I really want out of the HMR line at this point is for Bandai to actually acknowledge all of the things they have teased, and then buried in their "unfulfilled promises" warehouse like the ark of the covenant. And, you know. A mini YF-19 and Non-Bandai DX-based YF-21 mold.
  16. Chronocidal
    Yeah, no. I tried, and it looks like they've completely redesigned the arm since that initial photo. The elbow section feels completely glued in place. Just doesn't make a lick of sense.
  17. Chronocidal
    Generally "non canon" just means things like DYRL which are supposed to be movies that were filmed in-universe, similar to how part of Frontier's plot is the production of a Macross Zero movie. I think some of the characters in Macross 7 at one point actually discuss watching DYRL in theaters, so the whole thing is really one giant pile of meta-narrative. The really "fun" question to ask.. was the Macross Zero we watched the in-universe movie, or the actual event? It's been debated back and forth what the "actual" version of any event really is, with regards to things like the differences between SDFM and DYRL. The same thing kind of happened with both Frontier and Delta, since the summary movies changed some key events (Frontier's changes were probably the most drastic). I think the most common consensus is something like "the truth lies somewhere in the middle." Which.. of course, only Kawamori really knows. I believe Macross 2 is the only one generally referred to consistently as an "alternate timeline." While you could speculate it could also be some kind of in-universe production in the canon Macross universe, I think everyone just agrees that since Kawamori wasn't involved (in either the designs or the plot itself), it needs to be placed in a separate category.
  18. Chronocidal
    Just in a general sense, I think the Bandai DX does about half of those specific things, which the ThreeZero entry mimics for the most part, as well as adding that inner ankle panel you mention. Bandai did add some coverage for the empty spaces from the top of battroid by adding a filler panel to the hatch that opens to let the head through, and added that specific outward joint at the hips, though it doesn't have as much range as you might hope. I'm not sure there's actually enough room in the intake to put a full 90-degree lateral extension. while still maintaining the other 90-degree bend for gerwalk mode. Getting the hips to clear the wings is probably a pipedream without somehow shortening them, but I'd be curious what you mean for the hip bar and mushroom swivel. Some of what you mentioned might actually be closer to how the HMR VF-1s do the hips, since they forego the thin hip bar for a larger bracket that mounts behind the nose and clips around it, and they do include a smaller clip-on set of wings for battroid to get them out of the way, but the HMR releases accept a fair amount of parts-swapping. Not sure a really good way to lock the backpack has ever been developed though, short of how the backpack booster mounts lock it in place by presence alone. A more robust backpack hinge with solid detents would probably be a good start. You might enjoy some of the tweaks ThreeZero made to the design, since it seems more focused on making a solid battroid figure. My comments were pretty harsh on it, but I got soured a bit by some paint damage and having to heavily modify the arm sliders out of the box to transform the toy at all. Have to agree with your earlier thought though, I'd be really curious to see how Takara would approach the subject. On another subject entirely, I've always wondered if someone could manage some kind of insane collapsing panel origami to give Megatron legs that were a good size in robot mode, but collapsed down to make the grip of the pistol not look like some kind of double-wide magazine customization.
  19. Chronocidal
    The Messer HMR was just a completely baffling choice, full stop. Why, when Delta has two canon VF-1J schemes seen in the training episode, would they just whip up some bizarre half-cooked transfer design for the scheme of one of the least-interesting characters in the show? (At least, I was under the impression he was, but I don't even try to understand the Japanese character popularity ratings.) It was DUMB. And they still have not made those Hayate and Mirage schemes in any format. Seriously, WTF Bandai? Unfortunately, a lot of the best schemes they cooked up for Macross 30 were for toys that Bandai just doesn't seem to care about revisiting, unlike their golden child the YF-29.
  20. Chronocidal
    Maybe crossed wires and thinking of the VF-0S HMR Max? But yeah, they'll do weird one-off schemes sometimes, but I'm sure it's dependent on how well the base mold has sold. The ridiculous abundance of YF-29 repaints is honestly staggering compared with everything else.
  21. Chronocidal
    They also produced several paint schemes (Ozma's. Rod's, and Isamu's YF-29s) and one valk (the YF-30) that are entirely unique to either Macross 30, or one of the other games. I seriously doubt there is an IP issue there. There were also a lot of really good schemes out of Macross 30 that they entirely ignored, probably because they were on other valks that didn't sell as well, and they didn't see them as worth the investment. I'd probably chalk Aisha's pink VF-19A up to that as well, since I really don't know how well it would have sold, but even with how bad the VF-171 releases were, I would have absolutely grabbed the Diamond Force or Millia repaints they gave it in the game.
  22. Chronocidal
    Thing is, there are still plenty of repaints Bandai could do of the YF-19 mold. They just don't. This applies to Arcadia too though. The closest we've gotten was the VF-19 Advance, which was just a YF-19 in SMS markings, while everything else remained essentially the same. I think Yamato got burnt with their Double Nuts and Bird of Prey releases for the old YF-19, and concluded no one really wanted anything else. There have been several video game schemes that could have been used (both VFX, and Macross 30 ones at least), and that's not even touching the Master File, or the assorted sets of markings that Hasegawa has released their kits with (which may have also come from the Master File).
  23. Chronocidal
    One thing I actually didn't consider, and realized just messing with transforming it again to mess with battroid, it really doesn't have anything to hold it together without the side fillers. I generally leave those in the box for all of my VF-1s, since I've never really been bothered by the side gap, but this one absolutely needs them to keep the torso together. Almost feels like I should apologize for the frequent edits, but I'm still kind of processing my thoughts on this one. I think.. overall? The paint and finish are something that sets it apart (though the panel lining on the intake pods has worn off just from me casually picking it up by the thighs?), and it's definitely heavy. I'm not entirely sure what is and isn't diecast because I think all of the plastic is painted to match it, but it feels like some substantial chunks of it are. My first impressions weren't good, thanks to the non-working arm sliders and messed up paint on the wing, so I might have judged it a bit too hard. But the short/simple summary is that this is just an odd beast to measure up. Good: - Lots of detail, sturdy joints, even if they aren't ratcheted, it just feels good to handle overall. - Overall shape and design are solid, looks like a nice hybrid of Yamato, Bandai DX, and HMR design features. - Many features taken directly from the Bandai DX and shrunken down, with better landing gear than the DX. - Some good innovation on the feet with the sideways hinge. - Transformation works smoothly, no real hitches once the arm sliders were fixed. Bad: - Arm sliders may or may not work without drilling them out. - Missile pylons seem completely oversized to use the wing hardpoints, while also looking incredibly small for 1/60 scale. - Panel lining is seeming pretty easy to casually rub off with mild handling, but will have to see how it survives over time. - Hidden button locks are an interesting feature, but just make transformation more annoying, and you almost need three hands to operate them because they're so awkward to press while both holding the toy and pulling on the part to extend it. - Elbow joints are just bizarrely designed, and bend in the wrong place entirely. - The little sliding hip bar slot cover (the front of the nose blisters) was entirely sloppy on mine, had to pull out the pin and wrap it with tape to give the slider friction. I remember this being a problem for someone else as well. - The beefy forearms are really only a negative in fighter mode, since they look good otherwise, but between them and the oversized gunpod, they hang too low, and that gunpod is planted firmly on the ground when displayed on the landing gear. Though, as an unintentional bonus, it stops the arms from sagging off of their pegs, so... partial positive? Ugly: - This valk actually requires more parts swapping than an HMR to transform. Two side covers to hold the torso together, versus swapping the canopy cover on the HMR. And whether or not you consider swapping the transforming fixed fists to be able to hold the gun acceptable, that's also something the HMR VF-1 doesn't need, because one of its tiny fold-in fists can hold the gunpod. I kind of feel like I want to see if I can make a stowable fist that can grip the gunpod. None of the issues are really huge, but it kind of feels like the small issues add up. The partsforming aspect feels bad though, and it didn't even occur to me until today, after I was transforming one of my HMRs to compare the proportions, and realized I only need to swap a single part. Late Update: I will absolutely give credit to ThreeZero where it is due. They're shipping me a replacement for the wing with the damaged stripe as soon as they can get the part in-hand to send. If only Bandai could ever be that helpful!
  24. Chronocidal
    Yeah, not sure why the ankles aren't great, but I'm just not a fan of friction-only joints in general, and these are all just pinned with no screws to tighten if they ever loosen. I was actually surprised they're not ball joints, since that ankle panel would give them so much room to twist if they were. Maybe I could squeeze something gently with a pliers to tighten them up. The paint wasn't a QC issue though, it was a boneheaded packing issue. The sleeve they taped over the wing to protect the painted details got aligned badly, and stuck the tape directly to the painted stripe, dissolving it, so removing the tape ripped it off. I emailed them about a replacement part, so we'll see if they can send me a new one after they return from holidays next week. (Getting a valk with actual customer service feels weird though. ) The hands.. eh. I didn't realize the fists actually would fit into the arms, so that is slightly better than I thought. I didn't think the doors opened far enough to fit them. Still would have preferred a blocky fist that could hold the gunpod on one side, but it is what it is. Really, it kind of just boils down to this one looking best in anything but fighter mode. It doesn't look terrible at all, but the weird leg angles and chunky/droopy arms don't work well, and those problems just don't exist as long as it's in gerwalk or battroid mode. (Or maybe it just needs to never be displayed on the gear.) Amusing side note.. this is probably the sturdiest box of any valk I own. ThreeZero uses thick cardboard for their packaging.
  25. Chronocidal
    Really fun reading your thoughts, thanks! The box absolutely blew me away when I saw what it was, it's just hilariously brazen. But yeah, it's a pretty good quality level for a KO, but there are definitely differences you can feel in the quality from one of the originals. Adjusting the shoulder joints, and filing down the chest tabs to let it unlock easier made a lot of difference for me. I ordered a pair, and will be converting one into a more faithful Jetfire, stripping the UN SPACY markings off, but probably not going so far as to try and replicate all the mechanical details painted on the original legs. One very easy change to make is removing the skull from the canopy cover, since it's just tampo'd onto black plastic, and comes off with some thinner (I used a Gundam Marker eraser pen). I know the original toy had the bare canopy, but the canopy cover gives him the look on the box-art, so I figured it was a good option, if I don't want to just pop the cover out of its track and remove it. The skulls on the boosters are going to be trickier, since they'll need repainting, or stickers to cover the entire thing. I expect we'll see custom sticker sets for these coming out from various sources soon though.
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