Chronocidal

I assuming this whole QC mess (including the YF-21 issues) is going to get pinned on whatever factory they contracted with. I'm not holding my breath, but I'm hoping they make spare parts available for both releases. Because of how the backpack is assembled, it would likely involve the entire backpack assembly. If they do that, I will absolutely try and get ahold of one to customize with bigger tails as an option. Also waiting on a third from Yoyakunow, so if I lose the QC roulette, I may be customizing one anyhow.

I would totally buy just a couple of boxes. Looks like ShowZ is sold out on these now!

The gear really do improve the whole presence. I almost wish this one's colors matched the VF-1D, just so I could do a straight backpack swap (or rather, I wish the VF-1D used these colors), but I might still try adapting some Hasegawa tails as an option. It would be a nice option, but considering I only really want to display this in either fighter mode with the boosters, or "tent mode," the smaller tails won't really stand out.

Ok, seriously, if THAT is the packaging, I am absolutely sold on a copy. I almost want to say I don't even care if the QC is lacking, since I've got a couple of the old unbuilt Yamato kits, and I could easily swap in original parts if they're not up to snuff. Heck, I'll paint one up myself in actual Autobot markings, and just store it in that box.

It's starting to feel like some manner of cosmic forces are at play to make this the worst release possible.

Not really wrong at all, but the fighter mode feels all over the place. If I were to make a very nerdy comparison? It's got very TNG Enterprise feeling about it. Some really good angles, but holy cow does it turn ugly if you catch the bad ones. Words do not exist to fully describe the massive chonky butt this thing is dragging around. It kind of feels like a boat. Not like a speedboat.. something more in the Maersk category. The nose definitely feels like it's of a different scale than the rest of the plane though, and I would genuinely be interested in seeing what would happen if it was just swapped out for something bigger. Yamato really nailed the mechanism for the nose to shorten it, and it's stupidly disappointing Bandai couldn't come up with something similar. The part I have trouble mentally processing is that the overall proportions aren't even that different... but everything looks completely out of scale by comparison.

Not without major surgery. They aren't the same style of hinge, and they didn't use the swapping mount for them.

I'm holding judgement until I get one in hand, but I do not even slightly entertain the idea that ThreeZero is going to release most of the variants that Yamato covered, so it's very unlikely that any manufacturer is ever going to produce something to replace them all. Visually speaking.. it's okay. Does a few things better, a few things worse, like someone stuck a Yamato and a Bandai DX in a blender, with some of the benefits and detriments of both.

I'm waiting on a third from Yoyakunow, so we'll see if I get snagged by QC roulette. If I get one with a broken tail, I might very well modify it to have swappable tails, and repaint a spare set from the angel bird to match... or maybe I'll use a spare set of tails from a Hasegawa kit (the strike pack versions come with spares that aren't used on the folded backpack), and see if they match up well enough to use. Would be an interesting project.

Mine stay in well enough with friction that I don't feel like they need glue, but the inner tabs feel the loosest. I usually lean toward non-permanent solutions for things like this, just in case I ever need to sell one of them. They're tight enough that a layer of scotch tape or even a slip of paper folded over the tabs will probably add plenty of friction to keep them in place.

I wonder if we've got a batch of sporadically bad plastic involved. I messed with mine, and it was pretty sturdy, but I also was really watching where I put pressure. In short, do not push the head into place via that sensor petal. It's easy to find your finger resting there. If it's too great a risk, you can actually pull off the spinning joint with the petal, it's just pressed onto the shaft, no locking mechanism involved. I just spun mine a few times and it pulled off cleanly, leaving just the shaft glued into the head. It actually might not be a bad idea to just drill out that plastic pin, and completely replace it with a metal one. Wouldn't be hard to do, provided you find the right diameter.

Yeah, that one is kind of a puzzler. Fortunately should be pretty simple to drill, pin, and re-glue? What throws me off about that piece is that it looks like it should rotate on that peg, but it does not. The Yamato had the entire armature swing around the side of the head to transform, but Bandai's version has the entire head rotate 90 degrees, leaving the arm stationary. The bad part of that is that the armature is also the easiest place to grab to rotate the head. On top of that, if the multi-directional pivot for the sensor panel is stiff, any stress from that joint is going to transfer directly to that point where it snapped. It's just.. it makes sense, but this is one more part Bandai should have made detachable, so it comes off before breaking. I definitely caught myself pressing on the antenna while trying to get the head collapsed for displaying it on the gear.

The one and only thing on my Bandai wishlist right now is for them to hire some competent freaking quality control for their releases. All other ideas can wait. They need to get their heads screwed on straight before releasing anything new.

Considering the comparison to the Yamato V2, I don't even think you can say it qualifies as a different scale, it's just another very slightly different take on a scale we already have saturation in.

Yeah, these issues are not happening in shipping, this is looking like it lands squarely on Bandai's packaging process.

Youch.. honestly, at that point? I'd be more inclined to clip it off, cut out the warped section and glue it back together before cleaning up the joint.

You know what, I was actually concerned with that part. I thought it was supposed to rotate, and I could see that pretty easily snapping off if you put pressure on the wrong part of the head. How is it that they made the HMR of this so much sturdier in every way? I've never seen those parts break off.

I actually think the only way this is going to get better is if Bandai gets shipped a pile of broken ones for replacement, so we might have to start looking for people who can initiate that process. It's a shame this one isn't being officially exported, or it would be a nice addition to the pile of YF-21's Bandai is going to have to support claims on. Bandai's refusal to support broken products is a pretty legendary black mark on their reputation, but they usually don't have mass failures like this to make it such a disaster.

I wasn't necessarily thinking in DX scale, more if they make an HMR version. But I did forget they're making a Fire Valk, so who knows at this point.

They were the primary focus, but you also had the Ghost X-9 (which no one has attempted to make outside of custom resin and 3D-printed builds, but I'm waiting to see if Bandai tries it), along with a couple of other designs that pop up here and there in Kawamori's design notes. Two that pop to the top of the list in my head the bomber escort/tanker seen in one of the competition montage sequences, as well as the drones it carried: Granted, I don't think either of those have any reason to transform, so they're not something Bandai would probably ever care about. You also have the Monster that shows up getting blasted by the YF-19, but also not a valk, and Bandai already made them anyhow. However, you also have this guy: An actual trainer model of the VT-17, in markings calling back to the VT-1. I would absolutely love to see that one produced by anyone, even if it has to be a VF-171 version. If we ever get a Sound Force VF-17, I am really hoping we see this as a repaint.

Hah, all good and realistic points! Can't disagree in the slightest. Weight and detail issues aside, I think the bigger issue is also why I don't have the 1/350 kit either: it's just so big. I've got one of the ancient AMT molds, and it sits unfinished in my closet, along with a couple of the Art Asylum/Diamond Select ones (which need mods to fix bad manufacturing and paint work), and the old Bandai pre-painted kit, plus a pair of the 1/1000 kits. Those are all of a size I can easily display, if I ever get around to finding places on shelves for them (and probably move out of earthquake country). I just can't say that about a 1/350 no matter how hard I stretch my imagination.

As much as one of these would be amazing to have, I can't bring myself to do something this big in metal. I know it's a particular feeling and presence, but I struggle to see the benefits of metal over many more versatile and flexible materials. I'd be much more likely to put the effort into the Polar Lights kit, partly because it would be much easier for me to fix my own mistakes than to fix TOMY's. I also have extraordinarily bad luck with refit Enterprises self-destructing. As amusing and hilariously fitting as it might be, the TMP refit design is not something that benefits from heavy materials, unless they're only forming an interior armature for support. The TOS version already had issues with the weight of the saucer, and I cannot see this one being any better. It'll be amazing to see, but I'm going to be living vicariously on this one, and enjoying swooshing my Art Asylum and Polar Lights versions.

Yeah, mine drooped a bit less than that. The plastic just got gooey with too much heat. It's really difficult finding the right amount of heat to move it without distorting it worse. I'm trying to think of the easiest way to mass produce spares, and finding some way to cut them out of plastic in the correct color seems like it would be the most reliable, just to avoid having paint rub off. Or, you know, in some dream dimension Bandai could actually accept responsibility for this crap and make good on its failures by sending out free spares to everyone who bought the darn thing. Between this and the stupid VT-1 tails breaking, this summer has been a quality control disaster for them. I'm tempted to buy a third just so I have a valid product support avenue to complain through.

(Snipped for saving space) 1. The canopy is definitely huge, but that's actually very fitting for the dual-elevation cockpit on the VT-1. It's so the instructor in the back seat has a clear view if they have to take control, and it's very similar to other dedicated trainer aircraft like the T-45 Goshawk and T-38 Talon. 3. The beige looks great to me honestly. I did a little bit of inspecting, and very little seems to be molded in orange, but the color matching is definitely better here than I've seen Bandai manage in some time. Molded orange parts appear to be limited to the tails, underside of the backpack, the backpack thruster flap, inner and outer leg panels, and the leg strakes (not counting the boosters and leg packs). 4. The fact that DYRL duty uniformed Hikaru looks like a much larger person than TV Roy bugs the crap out of me. Bandai just seems to exist in this warped reality where they are desperate to replicate animation, even if it makes no physical or logical sense, so we get these midget TV figures bouncing around massive cockpits and failing to grasp flight sticks the size of encyclopedias, while DYRL figures are properly sized and crammed in like actual fighter pilots in actual aircraft that can actually grasp the controls. 5. I just refuse to use those tail clips. They're not necessary, and all they're going to do is stress the tails. I'm almost tempted to putty over them to fill the divots taken out of the backplate. To Bandai's credit though, they had the sense to mold the tails in orange, and the backplate all in beige. To my knowledge, there are no places where painted and unpainted plastic connect or grind against each other when mounting the boosters, so you don't need to worry about paint scratches. I was impressed to see that the booster packs actually will stay in place without the tan mounting bracket though. You can't do this with the normal super/strike packs, because they don't have a substantial enough connection to the backpack, but the extra orange cover panel on the backpack of the VT-1 gives them an extra connection point, and they will stay on just fine, so long as you don't wildly swoosh the valk, or leave it standing in battroid. If you were so inclined, you could probably avoid the bracket entirely if you wanted to trust those tail clips to hold the backpack up, but I don't feel like it's worth the risk. The booster brackets have never really bothered me anyway; I feel like they were a huge step up from how the old 1/48 Yamato boosters were secured, and I like the boosters being sturdy enough to lift the valk by. 6. As much as some people may like the pop-up/sliding hinges that Yamato/Arcadia and Bandai have both adopted for gear doors at this point, I maintain that they have always been a significant step backwards from how Yamato used to do their door hinges. Older Yamato designs used a hooked swing-bar on the gear doors to pull them out and away from the wells, and it was both more functional and more accurate to how actual landing gear doors pivot. That's just how gear doors work in real life, they have to swing out and away to clear the bay. Those big curved hooks at the hinge are mounted to a pivot point outside of the gear bay. It lets the doors drop freely and swing away from the gear well. I'm not going to say they don't exist, but I have never seen a gear bay function anything like the sliding hinges used on the toys now. I think that sort of mechanism would just add multiple layers of extra complexity to what should be a very simple swinging door that is able to clear the bay by gravity assist alone in case of a hydraulic failure. Also, there is just no helping that very front gear door. Yamato nailed that design when they attached it to the gear strut, and Bandai's is a step backwards in every way. I worry I'm going to just snap that little twig of a door off every time I try to pry it open.

Realized it might have gotten muddled in the conversation, I was talking about a previous order experience with Luna Park, not Yoyakunow. I edited the original post to clarify that. So far my order process with Yoyakunow has been solid, I waited a little after release to request shipping of my extra VT-1, and I'm just waiting on the shipping charge now.