Bandai 1/72 Scale Macross Frontier Plastic Models

[MechTech]

I think the sculpt looks good. The landing gear looks to be the same PC parts as on their VF-19 series. It's not a mark against them, but it shows the model/toy hybrid mentality Bandai has. It does look better than their 19 model too - improvement! I think it's a good model overall considering Bandai caters to younger children and not those of us who have children of our own! Plus metal gear for strength as on the VF-1's cost more. If you don't like it, dig into your spares box I guess - easy fix.

Great opportunity for some MW'er to make after-market parts to fix it - subtle hint... - MT

[IAD]

Oooh.... But the VF-25 is supposed to be so sleek in fighter mode!

~Luke

[badboy00z]

IAD, will you be making a RC VF-25??

[steelorange]

I do hope the fighter mode pic is just having a case of bad camera angle

[TSP]

hmmm...interesting...will wait reviews, hahaha

It will be discontinued till then :lol: I say pre-order while you still gets a discount on sales price...

Too bad HWJ already removed the VF-25 from their shop list or otherwise I would have added another kit.

Oh well, Ozma's Messiah and/or the armored pack versions are good opportunities to get more VF-25 kits.

Hopefully they don't cancel these like they did last year with the Engage Planet Kissdum NES-1 Fighter.

Edited August 14, 2008 by TSP

[wm cheng]

I guess Bandai is still telling us that all they care about are robots!

I'm even more disappointed seeing the fighter pics now than ever (I always held out some hope - but not anymore...) I'm just not a robot guy, I love the aircraft, and now that mode looks like an afterthought. Its not sleek at all! and whats with that turned up duck nose?! What a lost opportunity!!! (at least it looks only slightly better than the toy)

Yeah, that pilot looks more like a 1/100 scale pilot in the plane, in fact the entire cockpit tub and canopy looks really undersized (or the plane is really huge?!) The gears are just awful "toy pegs" - it even looks like the wheels are molded right onto the struts (total afterthought - anyone want to see good 1/72 scale gears, look at the academy F-16Cj kit!)

Glad there's waterslide decals (don't worry Graham, rub-on transfers only work on small stencils - large stripes is pretty hard to do in transfer) - but it looks like I may pass on this - unless some of the fine modellers on this board here can prove otherwise.

[Vifam7]

One thing to keep in mind is that Kawamori himself is supervising the designs on both the DX 1/60 and this 1/72 kit.　So if we have a complaint on the sculpt, I suppose some fault will fall on him for checking off on the final product. That or he has the final say on how his works should look like (which I suppose can differ between lineart, anime, and toy)

Edited August 14, 2008 by Vifam7

[cobywan]

You guys KNOW that there will be Wonderfest only fighter resin kits eventually. So don't fret it. Or learn to scratch build. (I know that's not easy with aircraft. John, you hip?)

[badboy00z]

Official line art and animation is not always consistent. I personally thinks it looks pretty good.

[David Hingtgen]

Heck, line-art's inconsistent with itself even in the same mode! Just look at the hip area in battroid mode for the YF/VF-19. Side-view and rear-view don't match up at all.

A bit OT rant: IMHO, all -19 toys/models should be done to match the rear-view, it works much better---the only thing I've ever seen done like that is SHE's VF-19S kit--it's the only way to make an F/S look right, though I believe that is how ALL -19's transform the hips/upper intakes, not just the F/S---it's just that the YF-19/A can get away without doing it and still look "OK"---but if done like SHE's F/S it'll look better in both modes.

PS--of course, since the "Lego designs rendered in CG" era of Macross (Zero, Frontier) the 3 modes are much better at translating to 3D without "adjusting" things. Though the Sv-51 has the most "magic" of the group, it still works pretty well, ignoring arm proportions. The VF-0 and VF-25 do amazingly well, even compared to the "works fairly well in 3D" VF-1.

[PetarB]

Well despite my misgivings, I've ordered one, and I am looking forwards to the challenge of making it not look like a toy.

[electric indigo]

Well despite my misgivings, I've ordered one, and I am looking forwards to the challenge of making it not look like a toy.

x2

[David Hingtgen]

Am I the only one here who both desired and expected the model to be exactly how it is? Did anyone honestly think that it'd be like a Hasegawa kit, and NOT exactly like a transforming MG Gundam kit?

[IAD]

IAD, will you be making a RC VF-25??

Dunno, probably not... I'd sooner do one of the green wingman VF-27s, but even that's a long shot.

Maybe I should try my hand at making a master for a fighter-mode-only 1/72, and get somebody to cast it for me.

~Luke

[PetarB]

Well David, I was at least hoping for a Bandai 'EX' range treatment. Look at their Yamato Ex, they can do fantastic work, but obviously they decided to aim for a different market here.

[Fly4victory]

David, You are not alone. A Hasegawa pure fighter would be so welcome.

I ordered one kit to see what it was like and if budget supports will buy one for each mode if I like the kit.

The Bandai VF-19 Kia I have has never left Battroid mode and the only Bandai I envision playing with is the VF-2SS.

[badboy00z]

Heck, line-art's inconsistent with itself even in the same mode! Just look at the hip area in battroid mode for the YF/VF-19. Side-view and rear-view don't match up at all.

A bit OT rant: IMHO, all -19 toys/models should be done to match the rear-view, it works much better---the only thing I've ever seen done like that is SHE's VF-19S kit--it's the only way to make an F/S look right, though I believe that is how ALL -19's transform the hips/upper intakes, not just the F/S---it's just that the YF-19/A can get away without doing it and still look "OK"---but if done like SHE's F/S it'll look better in both modes.

PS--of course, since the "Lego designs rendered in CG" era of Macross (Zero, Frontier) the 3 modes are much better at translating to 3D without "adjusting" things. Though the Sv-51 has the most "magic" of the group, it still works pretty well, ignoring arm proportions. The VF-0 and VF-25 do amazingly well, even compared to the "works fairly well in 3D" VF-1.

So with all that said, who's to say that the model/ toy's proportions isn't like the line art? Which line art would one look at for accuracy comparisons? It would mean that the model/ toy would never be perfect.

[badboy00z]

God I wish Bandai would revisit M7 kits...

[wm cheng]

Well David, I was at least hoping for a Bandai 'EX' range treatment. Look at their Yamato Ex, they can do fantastic work, but obviously they decided to aim for a different market here.

Yep! same here, the Yukikaze EX and Ace Combat EX kits show they can do decent aircraft if they wanted (although they do like their chunky landing gears!) - but this just doesn't look sleek in aircraft mode. Oh well, looking forward to seeing what you guys can make of it here! ;-)

[Noyhauser]

So with all that said, who's to say that the model/ toy's proportions isn't like the line art? Which line art would one look at for accuracy comparisons? It would mean that the model/ toy would never be perfect.

Seriously... the fighter looks like no lineart I've seen.

As I said about three months ago and what cool said above: nice battroid, crap fighter. Its shaping up to be exactly what I expected from bandai. I've already pre-ordered it.

[Vifam7]

Seriously... the fighter looks like no lineart I've seen.

Maybe Kawamori decided to make a few new changes?

[shrug]

They say he's supervising the models so make what you will of that.

[shrug]

[azrael]

Maybe Kawamori decided to make a few new changes?

[shrug]

They say he's supervising the models so make what you will of that.

[shrug]

No Bandai model looks 100% like the lineart they get. When you compare the animation lineart to the model lineart of any MG Gunpla, you'll see what I mean. Heck, even Gundam 00's animation lineart varies from the HG/NG model lineart

[Noyhauser]

No Bandai model looks 100% like the lineart they get. When you compare the animation lineart to the model lineart of any MG Gunpla, you'll see what I mean. Heck, even Gundam 00's animation lineart varies from the HG/NG model lineart

Exactly. Somehow I doubt Kawamori would tell them to completely change the design just because he felt it wasn't "correct." In reality he needs bandai more than they need him. Even if he had concerns I'm sure bandai workers would explain to him the inherent difficulties in making a transformable model, and I'll just shrug his shoulder and say "oh well."

[azrael]

Exactly. Somehow I doubt Kawamori would tell them to completely change the design just because he felt it wasn't "correct." In reality he needs bandai more than they need him. Even if he had concerns I'm sure bandai workers would explain to him the inherent difficulties in making a transformable model, and I'll just shrug his shoulder and say "oh well."

Kawamori can make whatever he wants stand straight on paper, but the folks at Bandai's Gunpla unit have to make it stand up straight, for real. A little epoxy, sanding, modding and it will look fine.

[Vince]

Since Bandai is the only one making them, and they are toy company so more toy like products should be expected, don't have to buy if you don't want to. No need to get upset ... , conversion kits will be out soon..... hopefully.

I've seen folk done incredible job with the first generation Gundam and Macross kits when they first came out, I'm sure we'll still have fun with this one.

Any news on maybe super pack, or armor pack?

[OmegaD3k]

Preordered. @_@

The model kit looks much better than the 1/60 toy line, which is why I canceled those and went for this instead.

[UN Spacy]

Images of the finalized toy haven't even shown up.

I don't know you guys can say the plamo looks that much better.

[renkenjutsu]

I'll be getting a couple if it's not sold out when it releases. One of them will go in the way of what Valkyrie addict did to his VF-11 model. *eyes his poor Roy revy in the corner. Or maybe the 21 for the dark grey joints.*

[badboy00z]

Anyone know if both the Alto and Ozma version will be released at the same time?

[protostar8]

I'll be getting a couple if it's not sold out when it releases. One of them will go in the way of what Valkyrie addict did to his VF-11 model. *eyes his poor Roy revy in the corner. Or maybe the 21 for the dark grey joints.*

Why do that? Just buy the joint pack that Revoltech/Kaiyodo released. No reason to waste a good figure.

[Graham]

Anyone know if both the Alto and Ozma version will be released at the same time?

I don't think so. No release date has been mentioned for the Ozma version yet.

Following Bandai's normal pattern, I would expect the releases to be 1-2 months apart.

Graham

[badboy00z]

If that's the case then I'll wait so I can see reviews of the Alto version first without having to worry about it being sold out.

[Graham]

Official Bandai fliers for the 1/72 VF-25F Alto version have started appearing in hobby shop windows here in HK. They show the release date as September, no specific day given.

No new photos either, just the same as already published on line.

Still, it's nice to see a Macross flier amongst the hordes of Gundam Plamodel flyers stuck on the windows.

Graham

[eyesonme78]

hope to see them out soon!!

[Vince]

better start saving up for second round...