Chronocidal

Well, since they're designed to be lowered one notch in fighter mode, the legs don't lock in as tightly as the VF-25. I've never understood that particular feature of the thing. I might have to pick one up once this re-release happens though, the design has grown on me a bit. Though I'll be heavily tempted to paint it a nice flat gull gray color. That paint makes the thing look a bit like a chameleon caught in a pimp's wardrobe.

... Molotov Valktease?

Considering the way Bandai loves to design joints, there's really not a good way to tighten them... those pins they use are a pain. You might try forcing some superglue into the joint from the underside, or even into the center of the hollow pin, but there's not much room to get the glue in there, and any leakage will really show on the dark gray plastic.

You know, a funny thought hit me earlier. With them including the reaction missiles with the armor parts, they're cutting into the release scheme they used before. I wonder if they're just going to start including the stuff people had to order separately last time? Would be nice if they just went ahead and included the fold quartz booster and speakers with Michael's, and the ghosts with Luca's. I wouldn't mind shelling out a bit more if I can get everything in one package.

The wings and tails are all really badly shaped, but they are just flat slabs on that drawing. I imagine they'll be much better shaped later on.. I'm counting on it really, since those tails are nowhere near the right shape.

Look at the shape of the wings, that's a very rough cad model. They aren't even airfoil shaped yet. I'm not worried about the shape of the wings/tails/etc much because honestly, for this design they play absolutely no part in the transformation. They barely even move, so there's really no reason they shouldn't make them detailed later on. What does concern me a bit is the overall shape, which is a bit off in the nose, and such. They'll be using this model to plan how the transformation mechanism works, so key parts for the transformation like the nose and feet should be fixed at this stage.

Looks like a good start, but yes, I expect they'll be adding a ton of detail over time. That looks like a very basic computer model just laid out to get proportions. The wings are all slabs with flat edges, so I can imagine those will change a lot (I hope.. the tails are the wrong shape entirely so far). I agree about the proportions though, the nose doesn't look long enough, or rather the neck.. the overall size looks pretty good, but the canards look too far back, and much too small. As for the feet.. I think I can see a bit of why they wouldn't want to use the original design, but copying the VF-1's feet won't look good. I think if you figured out a good way to make a dual panel foot that extended, and then bent twice, it would work, but it might not be very sturdy. I'll have to see if I can get the model I have to make a gif. It doesn't look terrible, but having flat toe/heel panels sticking out from a longer piece looks a bit odd.

Honestly, I wouldn't let that stop you. Even if there is a re-release, the exchange rates might not be in your favor. Though, who knows if the re-release price would be less than what sellers want now.

Actually, I was kind of glad that the panel behind the head pops off easy. It made it easier for me to get the head transformed, and snaps right back on easily, and stays put if I don't pull on it. When I first transformed mine, I was worried I was experiencing an accidental return to the old turtle-neck problem. The head must have gotten some glue under it, because it would not budge off the plate. When I finally got it loose, the head came clean off in my hand. Fortunately nothing broke, and it just snapped back on, but yikes. One issue with mine I already was able to fix, with a razor blade of all things.. I noticed the left wing glove wasn't snapping all the way down, and was catching on the edge of the shoulder block. Well, I took the blade and shaved off some plastic from the underside of the wing, and along the edge, and it now sits perfectly flush. If things aren't sitting right, make sure to check for leftover mold release plastic, so you can trim it down. So far, I've only hit minor issues all around. My intake covers don't stay on (I'd just glue them in, but we might need to mount super/armor parts in their place later), my left wing glove flops back and forth easily, and my head was stuck down when I first got it. Actually, I should say the paint coloring is very weird. And this is definitely not a lighting issue. In the past, I know people have noticed issues with plastic colors matching, but I don't recall anyone saying that they had mismatched paint. I've got a lot. The lighter gray panels seem to be painted with all manner of shades, as if someone mixed up separate batches, and repainted certain parts. Some pieces are noticeably lighter, as if they gave more coats. The weirdest one... it looks like someone already weathered the underside of my left wing glove. It was definitely painted with two separate shades, and the brighter second coat didn't get into the detail, so the panel lines look like they are pre-shaded. I've also got mismatched painted panels on different halves of the same leg, right above the knee. Among others. The dumbest thing about some of these problems though.. particularly the wing gloves.. why on earth did they even paint those? The entire part is one color, so why would they mold it in the wrong color, then paint it to match? They've been doing that with some pieces since the v.1s, and for everything they've improved, this particular practice still makes no sense. I'll take some pics later to show what I mean, and in the grand scheme of things, it's not a big deal, but it's still.. well, just dumb.

Also.. while it's kind of a lame way to justify broken shoulders.. you really didn't see much of the VT-1 using its arms at all, did you? I got bad shoulders in mine, but never actually discovered it until someone suggested looking, because I never transformed mine past dropping the legs. Most of the iconic shots of the VT-1 in DYRL were either pure fighter, or half gerwalk, so I've never really had the urge to take it all the way to battroid.

Picked up mine after work, and very nice overall, but I wish Bandai could get a handle on their paint shading issues. I have to give them credit for trying, because the paint scheme on Ozma's VF-25 is nothing simple, but I've got varying shades of the same color all over the place, as if it was touched up with different mixes. Can't wait for the armor to finally get released, then this thing will be complete. Oh, should say, my intake covers don't stay in at all. Won't be a problem once I get the armor, but it's annoying.

Bingo, payment sent around 3:00 am today. And yep, I think I'm just gonna go ahead for both armor sets. I skipped the first release, so don't mind double dipping to get both Alto and Ozma, especially since they include the reaction missiles this time.

Know what I'd love? If they could figure out some way to ditch all the goofy extra attachments their stands always require. I honestly wouldn't mind if they could just put a few random reinforced holes on the bodies of the valks in obscure positions (under the main body, into the centers of the feet, etc), and then gave me a stand with a metal peg on the end that I can set at a variety of angles.

Well crap.. ok. Now I want both sets, just to make sure I get the painted set I hope they standardize them more than those pics, because having that many differences is just frankly... bizarre. I mean, besides the paint, they made multiple door designs? And the paint is terrible on the Ozma.. Why do I think the Ozma pics are of an earlier prototype? Happy to see the reaction missiles are being included from the start though. In for a group buy on both I think though. Definitely on Ozma, assuming they fix his paint, but might be fun to have an Alto as well.

The early pics showed the paint matching pretty badly as I recall. Probably partly due to the lighting used, but I do remember some people saying that the shades of gray used weren't put in the right places. As for the 30th anniversary logo... anyone else find it funny that we're getting that on a toy from the series that celebrated the 25th anniversary?

Maybe we'll get a red one first then?

Given how different the feet on this one are, I am interested in seeing what they do They're basically much more like actual thrust vectoring paddles than feet in this case, and they have to extend a lot to become the heel and toe. They're really just pads that hit the ground flat.

That's actually what always made me wonder how the VF-4 even functions.. I did see a transformation sequence once that detailed it, but it's messy. The upper legs are basically right down the center of the wing structure, and meet the engines sideways. When they drop down, the thigh does some magical rotation and winds up pointing out of the intake. With the arms out of the way, the tops of the intakes are open, so the thigh kind of rotates into that space. Looking at the pics a couple pages back, I think I see how it works now actually.. the thigh meets the side of the engine at about the middle. When the legs drop down, the lower leg rotates 90 degrees (toe outward) so the thigh is on the back of the lower leg, with the knee joint bent 90 degrees. Then the entire knee joint slides toward the intake, placing the knee right inside the intake duct. Good thing these things don't actually need air to run the engines. I really am anxious to see how they pull it off with a toy myself.

Still not sure I like the way Yamato seems to love making gappy knee joints in fighter lately, but I will probably still get a pair of these. I'm going to hold off for the D though, and pick up Millia's S model.

Well, I'm trying to remember.. wasn't Gamlin's VF-22 supposed to be web exclusive? Or was that just a limited release? Either way.. if they can engineer this to the same level as the VF-19, I'll pick up at least one (assuming HLJ keeps up their habit of selling the Yamato exclusives). Extra paintschemes would be nice, but we've only ever seen one canon scheme in the anime, so I'd expect that to be the first one. However, given where the major markings are, and how few moving parts are near them, I can see this being a rather easy one to customize.

Aha.. yeah.. now, if you want to make something that'll put a foam dart through a wall, glue some pvc into the missile launcher tube, and use that pump to shoot single darts.

Yeah, those pins are not going to last. I might go and fill them with glue myself.

I don't believe so, but I don't have my Fire Valk and Blazer to compare right now. I think the wing gloves are the same, just with different wings attached. The big differences would be the shoulders really, since those are entirely different between the Fire Valk and regular VF-19s. Also, the P has ventral fins like the YF-19, which would probably be attached to the different leg side panels that one has, with missile ports visible. If they make the P a web exclusive, I won't be too terribly bothered I think, since HLJ usually winds up with some of those for us. But on the odd case that they do make a VF-19 kit version, I want all the wing/canard options included at the very least, and it would be great if they included all the head designs and shoulder options, as well as the ventral finned leg version. I really don't see a kit version happening though. The VF-19 is an absolute mess of tiny mechanisms. I can't even imagine what would be required to assemble one myself.

Ok, Graham... if it IS the 19P... ask them to include both sets of wings, and both nose version pieces, so we can decide what wings to use, and whether we want canards. Maybe even multiple head designs. Head would be more difficult, but the wings are just a simple slab of plastic to install, and I want a spare set of short ones. If it's going to be a customizable one, I'd like them to make it able to be fully customized from the start, not restricted to a single version.

Yeah, portions of the YF-19 were made in plastic that was really similar to the explodium used in the VF-0s. It cracks, stresses, and disintegrates if you breath sideways. The YF-19 just isn't in as much stress as the VF-0 was, so it didn't happen as fast... for the most part anyway. I do recall people reporting that random bits of the plane would just crack.