Chronocidal

Really? Shoot, they're really all over the map this time.. They printed mine upside down.

Yeaah, if I hadn't completely disassembled the valk and manually drilled out those shoulder sliders to move, mine would have been entirely incapable of transforming to fighter. They required so much rocking back and forth around the shaft to slide at all that there was no physically possible way to slide them without completely detaching the legs to get them out of the way, meaning pushing them between the intakes to go to fighter mode was just not happening.

I remember the backpack/booster in the updated version had adjustable nozzles that were limp as soggy noodles, so maybe clearcoating the entire thing will fix that.

If you're not specifically after the tornado parts, you can still get the previous super bundle on Amazon right now.

Rest assured, all of your reluctant purchases are greatly appreciated for your perspectives. I'm not sure how many of these I even have, but I'm thinking I have one of the originals, two of the re-release with the packs, and one of the green re-releases with both heads. I doubt I'll grab another, but you never know how low they might drop on Amazon.

Sheesh, yeah, you're right, I forgot that one on the bottom of my pile. For how popular the YF-19 seems, I wish they'd dig out some repaints for it, since they would probably sell pretty well. It's kind of hilarious to me how much weight Frontier still pulls compared with Delta. I admit though, I forget which Delta releases have actually been exported. I know we got the Hayate super bundle, but did they release his 31AX here, or is that just available from Amazon because they're re-distributing the leftovers?

I'm getting the impression that the WWM Delta launch has been a fair flop, so now they're pulling out all of the old stuff from the last series that had international demand. That makes what, seven WWM Frontier releases? The WWM VF-25, Alto's YF-29, his Super VF-25, Michael's, the Armored Ozma coming, now the Tornado and Brera? Compared with Delta, which had another rehashed Hayate, and... what else? I wouldn't even call Max's YF-29 a Delta release, since that one's unfair on two levels, being the most re-painted Frontier mold, AND a favorite character from multiple previous series.

As much as I want Bandai to actually release something I want to buy, my wallet is appreciating the long breather. I wouldn't be surprised to see another new VF-1 release announced around Christmas though, or at least some new DX of some kind.

The head really doesn't bug me. What I find funny is that it actually does a better job of streamlining fighter mode than either Yamato or Banadai, since it's big enough to pretty much cover the shoulders from the front. Just funny to me, since fighter is probably this one's "worst" mode. Not that it's even particularly bad, it's just that the innovations ThreeZero made all benefit the other modes more, and the arms are just too big for a streamlined fighter. It's definitely in its own category compared with the other options, and feels much less like a toy, and more like a display piece, mostly due to the overall paint, rather than the bare plastic both Bandai and Yamato/Arcadia use. It's interesting to transform and pose, but all of that paint is definitely telling me to pose it, and leave it alone.

I'm kind of getting the impression that whoever posed the toy for the promos didn't actually know how to transform it properly? The legs look.. I mean, frankly, they look like they're kitbashed from another toy entirely, and it just doesn't look like they're collapsed properly? The thighs look like they're made from panels that can shift and move independently of each other.. or maybe that's just sloppy assembly? My brain is frying itself trying to understand the legs, because it looks like they tried to give the thing quadruple-jointed knees. It looks like each one has at least two ratchets, a twist, and slide, plus whatever that weird pinned joint on the back of the knee does... but in all of that mechanical shenanigans, it looks like they don't actually slide to collapse the knee at all? It looks like the knee is entirely exposed when "collapsed," and then pulls out even further from that point. And I still have no idea what that funky mid-intake joint is supposed to do. On the plus side, it does look like they actually painted the landing gear white.

Definitely needs a reissue, but I don't think the Kairos' canopy was ever frosted in the first place. It's the only VF-31 I have where I can actually see into the cockpit.

I'm happy for the folks who want this kind of thing, but I'm satisfied to sit back and watch... whatever this is. Like.. what the actual flying mc-frak is happening with the legs? Edit: Side note because I just noticed, but I wonder how far off those pics are from the "final" version, since I'm curious what they expect you to do with all those missiles if there aren't any hardpoints for them... and really just weird that they just decided to provide a full set of TV missiles.. then mismatched pairs of the DYRL boxes and reaction missiles.

Yeah, all quibbles about the actual media presentation aside, I'm loving the book itself. I'll definitely put the discs in my older Japanese release box, but the book is probably going to occupy my coffee table for years to come. I admit, I didn't read the description in detail, and wasn't actually prepared for how big the book is, since I was expecting something like an awkwardly sized squared-off standard disc case. I'd never bought any of the previous books of this sort, so I'm happy to have a nice big archive of the art. I will say I was slightly disappointed by the artwork choices for the prints though. As long as they were including the Hasegawa YF-19 box art, I would have preferred a matching copy of the YF-21's box, rather than a reprint of the prior release's box. But eh, it probably wouldn't be that hard to get a frameable copy of that art as well. Otherwise, the selection there has a couple of my favorite production images, so I'm going to be happy to get frames to hang them up.

I love how clean those displays look, will be amazing seeing your layout once it's all done. Hopefully still room for Kairos in there somewhere as well.. though I feel like that one doesn't deserve the bottom shelf treatment. Quick question about the stands though, is it a trick of the light, or are the feet turning bright yellow?

Interesting.. it does look funny without any of the red striping or other markings worn away, but judging by how mine arrived, it might not be hard to damage them yourself if you really want. On that note though, ThreeZero came through on my scratched up wing. Replacement came in a bubble-wrapped ziplock baggie in a cardboard envelope, and in perfect shape. Might be a while before I install it though, I've got the figure in a nice pose, and don't feel like taking it apart to swap it out at the moment.

Just noticed the payment went through yesterday from my bank, so I'm just waiting for them to ship at this point.

It needs some work to not be ugly depending on the angle, probably with some tweaks to the shapes, but I think it has potential, especially if the upper half could be a sleeve that covers the lower when collapsed. But yeah, the thing that gave me the idea was just the original art. Look at the angle of the tip of the tail compared with the root. The tails just look like they're swept back. Folding in the tails the way I showed would actually be more accurate to the art, since it would be angling the tips the same way. The shapes of the tails just wouldn't be the same, and the panel lines wouldn't line up properly, since it's clear that the art just has them morphing like the YF-21's wings.

So I had a thought the other night, and decided to try a quick and dirty concept model. It would take some very high-precision molding or printing to make the proper parts.. but maybe with the right tail design, we can have our cake and eat it too. The folded tail is not going to look very nice.. but when you fold it up, it's covered by the booster. Keep the overlap on the inner side of the tail and it might not look bad. If you had the molding capability, you might be able to get really fancy, and have the lower half slide inside the upper, but that would be much harder to pull off, while keeping the tail looking good when extended.

Will look forward to seeing your review/comparison when you get to it! It's an interesting mix of features to process.

Not going to lie, the E-Wing would be pretty tempting, if it were anything approaching a reasonable price. Even if they did shamelessly gank it from the EU, and smash it face-first into a bunker until the nose collapsed. Seriously, why do they keep doing that with ships? Stop ramming them into solid objects! Though.. it actually might not be hard to get a printed nosecone to slap over the the stub. I had no idea Dora the Explorer got isekai'd into Star Wars though.

That was my thought as well. It's not going to be a small amount of masking, but it's definitely doable, if you only want to reduce the shine on certain parts.

Same thought I had. Store the better content in the superior package. Same thing I did with my de-specialized Star Wars DVDs when I got the bluray box.

Updating this with a few more detailed options, specifically for the SendCutSend site. I didn't really break down the options for what materials are available, or what settings are needed, so here are the options I think would give the best results. First off, the parts should always be measured in millimeters, and loading the drawings should give you the following overall dimensions: The thickness of the parts should be as close to 2 mm as possible, without going any thicker. The original parts from Sculpteo were cut from 2 mm stock, but depending on the material options from SendCutSend, you might not get that exact number. After looking through the options, there are really only three with thicknesses close enough that I'm going to call them viable: 1. Stainless Steel (304 Series) This one is probably the first to try. A little less thickness might not hurt, and the material will be the most sturdy. 2. Aluminum (5052 H32) 3. Aluminum (6061 T6) I do not have the material knowledge to really know what the differences between these two aluminum options are, or whether either would be different enough from the stainless steel to make them more or less suitable. The prices are all close enough to really be negligible in the long run. In fact, the most effective option? Since the site has a minimum order of about $40 USD, you may as well just order as many variants as you might want to try. I was able to order over 30 individual parts before I went above the minimum price. I would expect all parts to need some application of a metal file to smooth out rough edges. In that sense, aluminum might be easier to work with. You will also want to clean out the insides of the loops to make sure they do not rough-up the plastic parts when inserted, especially the pivot point for the wing. You want it to rotate smoothly so it doesn't grind up the plastic shaft. Once I actually place an order, I'll probably do another replacement from scratch on one of my stock YF-19s, and document the process carefully. If anyone does order these, please post your experience here for reference, since I might not have time to actually get a test set ordered for a while.

Honestly, the solution to the tails for me is just to only display it with the boosters, or in gerwalk. I still am interested in kitbashing a different backpack together for one though, just to see how it would change.

I wasn't planning on repainting anything if I can avoid it, just taking some of what Bandai put there off of the spine, since it's such a huge patch. The wings would definitely need repainting though, and I've just never gotten around to it.