Chronocidal
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If you look at the arm, there's a big crack running through it. There's also paint chipping near there, where the arms attach to the backplate. It's possible it's plastic, but if the plastic they're using is cracking that easily, I'm just fine not buying one. It is possible that only certain parts are made of resin, but who knows why they would mix and match materials that way. One thing I did notice though.. you can tell that the hardpoints should go all the way to the wingtip. There's a large panel on the upper surface of the wing that's popped up a little. It doesn't seem to be fitting very well either yet, so I think this is a pretty early prototype.
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Given the pictures we've all seen are of a resin prototype, I don't think they're making these yet. They might be using the hype generated from the preorder as a way to guess at how many to manufacture though.
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I actually wonder if any of the shops have actually gotten real numbers yet at all... What if that microscopic preorder was just based on the absolute minimum the various shops know they can get without any trouble?
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Actually, no, that's exactly the problem. Bandai doesn't do that. Look at the YF-29, and see the situation with it, and you'll know why everyone's so up in arms over this. While Yamato loves to reissue things with all sorts of repaints over time, Bandai has recently made one production run, and then pretty much killed production. They don't produce in large numbers, and it's a complete mystery if they'll ever even make a second run. This is in spite of how popular the items are. While I'm sure they have their reasons for turning down all that money people want to throw at them, it certainly makes them look stupid in cases like this, where they either decide they'd rather be famous for making rare collectibles than make money, or they have a complete lack of faith in the market to actually buy things they make.
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Uh, no, that will be them when they finally realize how many people want these. For now, they're sitting on whatever piddly pile of money they made from the tiny preorder count. And really, if they're going to be this stingy, I'd prefer a web exclusive order. At least in that case, you have a stated deadline to get in an order, not this stupid "Oops, you blinked, sorry, sold out!" crap.
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Screw this. I fell asleep after getting home from work, and missed another one. I'm just going to wait it out and hope HLJ does what they always do, and add more orders later. Bandai has to figure out sooner or later what a goldmine they have on their hands. When this many stores sell out their entire pre-order stock this fast, you'd think someone would get slapped for underestimating the demand so badly.
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Random thought just occurred to me, and I can't say there's anything solid to back it up.. but given the situation with web shops, I half wonder if Bandai might be taking flak from their home customer base, blaming low stock problems on online shops that cater to other countries? I mean, it might not be that specific.. but it wouldn't surprise me if they decided they needed to focus on getting their stock to the intended audience of Macross, rather than the online masses. If you're having to cut down production due to budget issues, it would make sense to focus on the local fanbase I guess. Doesn't mean they couldn't make a ton of profit selling outside Japan.. but if they have to cut back, they might be giving first dibs to local retailers.
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To be very fair to Bandai, the VF-171 is a gamble.. er, well, at least in their minds it probably is. Fans will want it like crazy, but this is where Bandai's experience with Gundam might really be hindering their marketing methods for Macross. See.. with Gundam, they really only seem to sell the hero units (the grunts sometimes break through, but it's not the norm that I've seen). The main character gets one nice shiny mech, slaughters countless enemy cannon fodder with it, and saves the day. Not many people want the ugly boring enemy mechs, unless they're piloted by some important character. Well here's the fun thing about Macross.. even the ugly boring enemy mechs and cannon fodder are pretty darn awesome, and a significant portion of fans would love to have them. I'd say it's nearly a miracle that Bandai even decided to make the VF-171 at all. Not trusting it to sell well is obviously a problem with the way Bandai views the Macross fanbase, but it's something they've had trouble getting over for a long time. Hopefully the crazy demand for this thing will knock some sense into the way they view the franchise. As awesome as we all think it is, and as much as we want one, Bandai probably doesn't have any reason to expect the design to be that popular, so they don't want to risk a huge production. Hopefully, when they get word of the crazy rush to buy them, they'll realize they can sell a lot more.
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Nice to see an official HLJ response, thanks for taking the time to talk with them. Guess there's just nothing to do but wait and see then. I'll keep hoping the HLJ page opens up, but it's apparently up to Bandai now. Hopefully with all the sites getting such high demand, Bandai will realize there's good money to be made, and open up the production further.
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For what it's worth, I don't think HLJ has ever been officially up. They typically start their pre-orders later compared with other sites from what I've seen with the VF-25s. Given how fast we were all refreshing, I don't think they even officially opened the order. I mean, there was what, 30 seconds between the time it went up and the time it was sold out? They've done it that way before, so it wouldn't surprise me to see them open it up later. The thing is, I don't even really care about getting a pre-order discount on this, even though it would be nice (especially from AmiAmi). I just want there to be enough production to actually get one once the shops have them for real, rather than this idiotic "we won't even make enough to fill the pre-order" malarchy. I still half think they only put them up as an advertising stunt to get an estimate for demand. I mean.. seriously. If it's going to be like this, we're probably all better off arranging a series of group buys directly from the Bandai Tamashii site. If they're so worried they won't be able to sell them, they might as well be web exclusives anyway.
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Wish I could say the same.. I've got work in 7 hours I'll probably be reloading those pages constantly tomorrow though.
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Yeah, HLJ has done that in the past. They might not open it up entirely until they have a solid number on the stock they will receive. I wonder if they're monitoring traffic to the pages to get an estimate of interest... if so, I'll gladly mash my F5 key to oblivion if it means we'll get a larger scale release.
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Ok, that is NOT possible. I have been refreshing that search every 30 seconds on HLJ. Keep an eye on it, it probably hasn't been opened for real yet.
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Yeesh.. well maybe all there is to do is wait for HLJ to get it.. didn't have trouble getting a preorder for Alto or Ozma there... but sheesh.
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What, a pre-order window of 15 min or less? That's ludicrous. What is bandai doing, not making enough to even fill the preorders for their market?
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They probably just added it to the system, I just checked it about an hour ago, and there was nothing there. So, now the waiting game to pre-order begins. Definitely going with Amiami this time, that's an awesome price.
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Protection from fraud, yes. Protection from ludicrous prices, not a bit.
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Yeah, I seriously doubt they'd only add one hardpoint. To finally go to the trouble to add a permanent hardpoint only to forget that there are three of them would be incredibly silly. The hardpoints under the wing are spread out quite a bit, with the final one very near the tip, so it's definitely possble the other two are there.
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I have to say.. those hardpoints look awfully familiar. Not going to get my hopes up that they're the same size, but they certainly look like the SV-51 hardpoints. I wonder.. if Bandai has been using some of the same CAD contractors as Yamato, could they be throwing an easter egg in for people who own stuff from both companies? Oh for the good old days when everyone used the same exact same O====O shaped pylons, and you could use your G.I. Joe missiles on everything.
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Well now, that's very interesting.. I was wondering if those fast packs would even be physically possible in fighter mode, but that close-up page helped a lot. I'm guessing the legs have to be dropped a notch like the VF-1 to let the packs fit under the backplate, but I was more wondering how the wings would fit against the legs. It looks like, instead of the entire pack folding away like on the VF-17, a small panel on the front of the leg folds underneath the wing to let it sit against the leg in the right place. Hopefully they'll have the whole thing figured out, and still let us use landing gear. Also very nice seeing that one suspected hardpoint under the wing. I hope they're all there, and we've seen the last of those goofy clip on weapons. Funny though, I love the mix of weapons on the VF-171.. We've got vintage missiles from the VF-0, some type of hexagonal micro-missile launcher... and what looks like a single AMRAAM.
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I don't think we ever saw the 171 without the armor and packs is the thing. They debuted already loaded with them, but there's no way that thing would fly in atmosphere with all that junk hanging on it. I'm resigned to the fact that it'll be a web exclusive, and just hope that we can get another group buy going when the announcement hits. I owe so much to Nanoplasm for setting up all the VF-25 armor buys.
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Interesting thing I noticed.. the legs will have to twist in two separate places. The Yamato just has the entire leg pivot above the knee, like the SV-51, but it looks like Bandai is using a separate pivot point below the knee to rotate the legs into position for fighter mode. I was worried for a second they weren't going to pivot above the knee, but the gerwalk is clearly pulling off a nice A-stance. Being able to twist above and below the knee might make for some interesting poses.
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About time! I'm slightly more excited about this than the VF-17D, but I plan to have both eventually. Will definitely be getting the Alto, not sure about the CF version yet. Not doubting the websclusive route for the super packs, but I do hope they keep up their current trend, and include all the missiles and such in one box. I really hope they come up with something better than clip-on missiles this time though. Yamato's had embedded hardpoints for over a decade now, and since the VF-171's wings aren't enclosed in a sleeve like the VF-25, there's no reason not to have hardpoint stubs under the wings. Heck, you don't even have to make them rotate, since the wings aren't actually variable in flight. On the other hand, if all else fails, we could just mod the wings to attach VF-0 missiles... I'm pretty sure some of the VF-171's were carrying vintage Unification War weapons. Also.. here's hoping the model division gets with it, and catches up to the toy division. I'm still waiting for my YF-29 variable kit, and I'd love to have a couple 171s to build up.
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Those customs are all kind of awesome, especially the blue (Max?) VF-0A, and the Chlore Q-Rau
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Don't think it would be quite that simple, due to the placement of the actual arms under the shield.. but it might be possible. You might need to modify the shoulder blocks to allow it though. One thing I did find a while back that amused me.. you can actually fit the head laser under the shield in fighter mode. I've put it that way a few times, just to see how it looked completely streamlined. This is looking beautiful, hope you get the clear coat issues worked out.
