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Aoshima Variable 1/48 Legioss for 2007


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Part of me refuses to believe they're actually WORSE than Toynami's offerings.

That's about where I stand right now. The backlash over the Aoshima release doesn't seem to be even a fraction as loud and negative as when the Toynamis first came out. Everyone and their dog's imaginary friend had a review and story to tell about the Toynami's, but people are somewhat mum on this one. I don't know if it's because so few people actually bought an Aoshima or if it's because they aren't as bad as they initially seemed. All I can say for sure is that I already like the looks of the Aoshima better. But without a difinitive documentation of problems it's hard to know what exactly is so bad about it, or if the outcry at the beginning of November was based largely on the let-down factor of it not being a 'new' Legioss, but rather a slightly retooled Toynami.

I'll probably just throw caution to the wind and get one. If the CMS is going to be around $300 I wont be able to get it, even though I honestly would love to. That pretty much leaves me with Toynami, which I've already tried and hated, and Aoshima.

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I think it's beacuse not many people have bought one and those who have all seem to have nothing good to say about it.

I for one will definitely pass on the Aoshimas. I've got two Toynamis already and have no desire for what is essentially the same toy with just a brighter paint scheme and a few extra missiles stuck on the outside.

Graham

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The problem with 'quality issues' (breakage, defects) is that they're statistical in nature - so one person may get a truly great specimen and think the toy is fantastic, while others get a pile of crap in the mail. As you say, you can only get a sense of how common quality problems are by monitoring the frequency of complaints. In any case, I own many of the toynamis and one of the aoshimas, and in my PARTICULAR case, the aoshima is not really worse than the toynami, but neither is it much better. I had one part pop off, but it popped right back on again. Again, fwiw, I know many people had terrible problems with both the toynamis and the aoshimas, so overall I think the toy is (unfortunately) a bit on the cruddy side no matter which version you get. :wacko:

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Well, I just decided to go ahead and buy one. At the price I got it for, it's not that big of an investment and I'll just be happy as long as nothing major breaks on it, like an arm or leg falling off, or a hand crumbling. If it breaks, I'll just put it on Ebay and let someone buy it for scrap.

I'll post some thoughts/opinions of it when it arrives.

Edited by eriku
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I wouldn't pay $60 for a Toynami version, either. :p

I'm not expecting much better quality than the Toynami, but I guess the cleaner-looking colors and possibly better hands was enough of an improvement for me to play Legioss Roulette. At least I know I won't be horribly disappointed if it crumbles like a skeleton koopa.

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Hope you get a good one eriku ... yes, please post a review when you get it.

Thanks in advance.

I'd be really interested on hearing how the hands are. Is the plastic better there? Are they painted, and is it really an issue? Plus are those chest missiles removeable?

I've been tempted to buy one just to get a blue Scott at a reasonable price.

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eriku - If you could post some side-by-side comparison pics, that'd be nice.

Thanks.

I'd love to, but I got rid of my Toynami long ago. I could post some side-by-side pics with the Morpher...and hopefully the Morpher wont end up looking better than the Aoshima. :ph34r:

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UPS just dropped off my Legioss. I'm still at work and wont be able to open it up until later tonight, but I'm already concerned because I hear something rattling around loose in there.... :ph34r:

Don't worry, its probably just your hopes and dreams.

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OK, I was finally able to take this thing out and spend some time with it. I'll cut right to the chase: It sucks. It feels like the Toynami toy in my hands. Well, that's not entirely fair. Some of the plastic seems to be of higher quality, but some of it almost seems worse. The tiny missile-bay hatch covers for example. Some of them are so thin that they start to bend when you try to open them, and I stopped pulling out of fear they'd snap.

The hands are truly terrible, just like the Toynami. Crappy painted plastic that will crumble if moved too much. The right hand on mine is so loose at the wrist it spins freely, and if you open the fingers too far the hinge pin starts poking out. Speaking of the right arm, mine is pretty much lame all around. The bicep doesn't slide out far enough and will not by any amount of force. The bicep swivel will not turn and actually feels like there is a square peg in a round hole or something, it's very strange. When I try to swivel it there is a ton of tension and the arm goes back into place like something is keeping it from moving.

What else? The head is loose and crooked, there are little chips and smears and imperfections all over the thing, the cockpit looks like someone painted it, poorly, with blue nail polish, the flaps that are supposed to snap together in the back in bot mode do not because one side has a round peg and the other side has an oval hole (what the hell??) - like a "o" and a 0"

Oh, and the front landing gear hatch...somehow it was assembled crooked, or molded crooked or something, because it will not close all the way so it's fluch with the fuselage. It sticks out about 1/4 inch and looks really shoddy.

Aside from those specific problems, the thing just doesn't look pretty in flight mode because few of the parts line up and lock together the way they should. This was a problem on the Toynamis and it's a problem here. The most glaring example of this on mine is the left shoulder/intake. I cannot get it to stay lined up with the rest of the thing so it sits crooked and looks absolutely terrible. If anyone knows how to fix this or can tell me what I'm doing wrong, please inform.

Overall I'm just happy NOTHING BROKE. Yet. It looks fine on display so it'll be an almost-adequate placeholder for whatever better Legioss toy comes along. If anything it inspires me to save up for the CMS. At this point though, I'm going to need to hear STELLAR reports on the QC of the CMS before I'll pay that much for it.

To anyone thinking about getting an Aoshima - if you're familiar with the Toynami and don't like it, I wouldn't bother with this one. Some parts are better, some parts are worse, most of it's the same. It's just simply not a good toy, at least not the one that I got - but then I wasn't expecting it to be. :mellow:

Here's some pics.

aoshima001.jpg

aoshima002.jpg

aoshima003.jpg

aoshima004.jpg

aoshima005.jpg

aoshima006.jpg

aoshima007.jpg

Edited by eriku
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At least if this were an MPC you could return it for a different one (not always a better one). This sucks.

I could probably get BBTS to exchange it for me, they're good about that, but I don't know if it's even worth the effort. I could probably even get them to refund my money if I sent them those pics, but I want a Legioss in my collection and it's been too hard to track down a 1/35 Gakken.

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eriku,

I know your pain, but yours looks a bit worse than mine minus a bent wing. From your pictures it looks like the head bracket it on backwards like mine was. To fix it you need to remove the screw that holds the upper chest together. Once the screw is removed you can pull apart the chest to get the the hinges that anchor the head bracket. Flip the head bracket around then rotate the head 180. Then just rebuild the chest, my chest screw was way to tight from the factory after I put it back pulling the torso up and down became easier. Also once the head bracket is flipped it will now set in parallel with the fuselage while in fighter mode.

aoshima is suppose to be offering full refunds on this product or giving replacement parts when they become available, but it only applies to buyers in Japan. I will be requesting a new wing and extra set of hands.

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Wow... simply wow.

Anyone still getting the Beta if Toynami comes out with it?

in like 3 years...?

Seriously though, it saddens me that we can't get a decent Mospeada toy. Hopefully it'll come when all the other toys stop scrambling for our paychecks.

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I really would love to hear what happened with Toynami and Aoshima. Who physically built these toys? Who was responsible for overseeing the product? How did toys this flawed ever make it to market? When I see a toy that makes my MPC Alphas look well-built then something is terribly wrong.

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eriku,

I know your pain, but yours looks a bit worse than mine minus a bent wing. From your pictures it looks like the head bracket it on backwards like mine was. To fix it you need to remove the screw that holds the upper chest together. Once the screw is removed you can pull apart the chest to get the the hinges that anchor the head bracket. Flip the head bracket around then rotate the head 180. Then just rebuild the chest, my chest screw was way to tight from the factory after I put it back pulling the torso up and down became easier. Also once the head bracket is flipped it will now set in parallel with the fuselage while in fighter mode.

aoshima is suppose to be offering full refunds on this product or giving replacement parts when they become available, but it only applies to buyers in Japan. I will be requesting a new wing and extra set of hands.

Thanks for the tip on the head, I may try that. The biggest thing that bothers me is the one arm not pulling out all the way and not rotating at the joint. There are no screws holding those parts together, all glue, so I can't get in there to see what the problem is.

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Very sad that this could happen to a normally good brand like Aoshima. I still feel that Toynami royally screwed Aoshima since there's really no way I'd imagine Aoshima to be this negligent considering their past die-cast products

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Thanks for the tip on the head, I may try that. The biggest thing that bothers me is the one arm not pulling out all the way and not rotating at the joint. There are no screws holding those parts together, all glue, so I can't get in there to see what the problem is.

I remember some reports of the biceps being assembled backwards on the Toynamis. Maybe that's your case. If not you can still do as most people did and tear the biceps apart with an exacto knife. Apparently Toynami used a cheap a$$ glue to put the whole thing together so it snaps off very easily, and judging from the reports, I doubt the glue used on the Aoshimas is any better. It's not like you can screw it up, because your average superglue should be harder than the s#it they used anyway.

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