eriku Posted April 27, 2009 Posted April 27, 2009 Meh, yet another review from Josh that I can't take seriously. I think the guy needs to take a break.
biggooftoybox Posted April 27, 2009 Posted April 27, 2009 Well i can say the box definitely looks pretty cool. It looks even better than the VF-25F box. Can't wait to get mine in the mail. Pity I'm not in HKG so i can bargain and get a much cheaper one. at HKD$300 that's a good deal. Unfortunately for me ordering from HLJ and shipping across the Pacific just aint cheap. Oh well. Still waiting for news of more obscure VF100s.
badboy00z Posted April 28, 2009 Posted April 28, 2009 CollectionDX reviews the 1/100 VF-25F. Protip: DO NOT WANT! Funny review. Lol.
Cent Posted April 28, 2009 Posted April 28, 2009 Josh seems like he's a little too angry to be doing the review right. His biggest gripe is really that its not as much a partsformer as much as it is a parts-rebuilder. I can sort of see his complaint, but personally, this is the big (and obvious) difference between PT and parts formers, and the 1/100 just is a little more extreme version of that. I don't actually mind the number of parts and the time required to transform it... But rather that the price is quite hefty despite the number of parts swapping (you're paying more for LESS perfect transformation) and that they still didn't even attempt to achieve accuracy despite having partsforming. Like what the hell was even the point if you're not going to make it accurate? >_>
QuinJester Posted April 28, 2009 Posted April 28, 2009 (edited) Josh seems like he's a little too angry to be doing the review right. His biggest gripe is really that its not as much a partsformer as much as it is a parts-rebuilder. I can sort of see his complaint, but personally, this is the big (and obvious) difference between PT and parts formers, and the 1/100 just is a little more extreme version of that. I don't actually mind the number of parts and the time required to transform it... But rather that the price is quite hefty despite the number of parts swapping (you're paying more for LESS perfect transformation) and that they still didn't even attempt to achieve accuracy despite having partsforming. Like what the hell was even the point if you're not going to make it accurate? >_> Wonder why it was okay for the Braiger (which was a GARBAGE toy... Still ticked that I bought it per the CDX review...) to be a total "debris field" of swapping parts. <shrug> It IS pretty hilarious to watch Josh get all worked up though. Edited April 28, 2009 by QuinJester
eriku Posted April 28, 2009 Posted April 28, 2009 It's funny on one hand (nerd rage is always funny), but on the other hand it would be unfortunate if a lot of people take him seriously. The thing isn't that bad of a piece as long as you don't mind assembling it. It's obvious that Josh was furious with the parts-forming aspect of it...which he should have known full well long before doing the review, so it's almost like he did the review just to showcase how much he hates partsforming. I don't like partsforming either, but the toy really didn't frustrate me. And if you leave the parts in the tray rather than dump them in a chaotic pile it's really not that hard to figure out what goes where. As for the Toynami comparison, I like Toynami's 1/100 valks but Bandai's so far are leagues better in terms of plastic quality and finish.
Vifam7 Posted April 28, 2009 Posted April 28, 2009 Josh seems like he's a little too angry to be doing the review right. His biggest gripe is really that its not as much a partsformer as much as it is a parts-rebuilder. I can sort of see his complaint, but personally, this is the big (and obvious) difference between PT and parts formers, and the 1/100 just is a little more extreme version of that. I don't actually mind the number of parts and the time required to transform it... But rather that the price is quite hefty despite the number of parts swapping (you're paying more for LESS perfect transformation) and that they still didn't even attempt to achieve accuracy despite having partsforming. Like what the hell was even the point if you're not going to make it accurate? >_> I can't argue with all the complaints regarding this toy. Yet, despite all the problems, I'm still buying them. Mainly for the 2 reasons of scale size and convenience of not having to build it like the 1/72 kit. Just a few simple fixes by Bandai could make this toy a lot better. I'm hoping Bandai is taking down notes and learning from these first releases.
ff95gj Posted April 28, 2009 Posted April 28, 2009 It's funny on one hand (nerd rage is always funny), but on the other hand it would be unfortunate if a lot of people take him seriously. The thing isn't that bad of a piece as long as you don't mind assembling it. It's obvious that Josh was furious with the parts-forming aspect of it...which he should have known full well long before doing the review, so it's almost like he did the review just to showcase how much he hates partsforming. I don't like partsforming either, but the toy really didn't frustrate me. And if you leave the parts in the tray rather than dump them in a chaotic pile it's really not that hard to figure out what goes where. As for the Toynami comparison, I like Toynami's 1/100 valks but Bandai's so far are leagues better in terms of plastic quality and finish. I take the review seriously; this really shows how... user-unfriendly the VF100 design is. This is major message of the review; I don't think this review would cause any misconception with the clear demonstration? Even though we know it's not a PTer (I wonder why people use PT for Perfect Transformation; it really confuses me the first time when I think it means Partial Transformation), it is another issue on how tedious and how "imperfect" the transformation process is. Personally I don't mind the part-forming. But it's too expensive for what it's made of, and I am waiting for the price to drop.
eriku Posted April 28, 2009 Posted April 28, 2009 I think he greatly exaggerates or at least exacerbates the tediousness by dumping the parts in a pile. It's obviously going to be more confusing and frustrating if the parts aren't neatly laid out, so he just made it worse for himself. It doesn't seem like a 'clear demonstration' to me with him tossing the parts around like that. He's welcome to be upset with the partsforming nature of it, but his ultimate conclusion of "it's crap" I find unfair and clouded by crankiness.
regult Posted April 28, 2009 Posted April 28, 2009 (edited) He had a bad flu when he did the review... I gave the first issue "F" a try and I have my mixed feelings. On the one hand, it's nice to have fighter and battroid without having to assemble, decal and paint it (1/72 kit), or pay a lot of money for a modern chunky (1/60DX). On the other hand, the price for the 1/100 isn't reasonable to me, I think it should be cheaper than the kit, say around 2000-3000 yen. On the technical aspect, partsmorphing is annoying, but I can live with it, what I don't like at all is the lack of a locking mechanism (a small 2mm tab?) to fix the legs in fighter mode. Finally, the deal breaker is the wrong location of the hip/leg in battroid: that made me buy one and only one, and passing on the "S" despite it being quite decent looking in fighter mode (and passable in battroid despite the hip). Hopefully, they'll fix the leg placement with future releases of the "clean" configuration, but I am afraid they'll only do it with the Armored, because that's a different crotch piece altogether. If they fix that (armored and clean), I'd be all over these 100s, whole SMS squad, all configurations! Edited April 28, 2009 by regult
ff95gj Posted April 28, 2009 Posted April 28, 2009 I think he greatly exaggerates or at least exacerbates the tediousness by dumping the parts in a pile. It's obviously going to be more confusing and frustrating if the parts aren't neatly laid out, so he just made it worse for himself. It doesn't seem like a 'clear demonstration' to me with him tossing the parts around like that. He's welcome to be upset with the partsforming nature of it, but his ultimate conclusion of "it's crap" I find unfair and clouded by crankiness. I agree to some extent; but if I have one VF100, I expect I would store the spare parts in a pile too. If I have to sort out everything nicely before transforming, now that is also tedious. The demonstration is clear in the sense that I know which parts are to be removed and put back. It's tedious in the design, not because he is not organized, etc IMHO.
eriku Posted April 28, 2009 Posted April 28, 2009 Whatever works for the owner. I find that having stuff in a chaotic pile is counterproductive. Bandai has the parts laid out neatly in trays and it was extremely helpful for me to know which piece came from which tray. It would take me far longer to transform one of these if I had the parts in a jumble that I had to sift through, and I would probably end up losing some, and that would be my own fault, not Bandai's.
Vifam7 Posted April 28, 2009 Posted April 28, 2009 He had a bad flu when he did the review... I gave the first issue "F" a try and I have my mixed feelings. On the one hand, it's nice to have fighter and battroid without having to assemble, decal and paint it (1/72 kit), or pay a lot of money for a modern chunky (1/60DX). On the other hand, the price for the 1/100 isn't reasonable to me, I think it should be cheaper than the kit, say around 2000-3000 yen. I would agree that the price should've been lower. Around 3000yen IMHO. 3500yen at most. 2000yen I think is a bit unreasonable as not even the tiny 1/200 HCMPro Gundams cost that low. On the technical aspect, partsmorphing is annoying, but I can live with it, what I don't like at all is the lack of a locking mechanism (a small 2mm tab?) to fix the legs in fighter mode. This IMHO was the biggest failure of the toy. I could live with the other issues. A simple tab to fix the lower legs into correct position would've improved fighter mode significantly. Since there is no tab, I'm forced to use superglue and permanently lock the toy in fighter mode. orz
Graham Posted April 28, 2009 Author Posted April 28, 2009 I keep the parts in little baggies. Not confusing after you have transformed it a couple of times & are used to it. Getting some really good posses from my Ozma. Thinking of buying a second.
ff95gj Posted April 29, 2009 Posted April 29, 2009 I keep the parts in little baggies. Not confusing after you have transformed it a couple of times & are used to it. Getting some really good posses from my Ozma. Thinking of buying a second. Still waiting for the price to drop. The cheapest I've seen is HK$250 on auction. HK$26X in a shop... Come on, HK$23X and I'm in... If it turns out nice, I'll buy a whole squad of them in super mode.
Graham Posted April 29, 2009 Author Posted April 29, 2009 I swore I wouldn't buy the Ozma and I did. I swore I wouldn't buy multiples, and now I'm thinking about it. I guess these things grow on you. I just like Ozma's VF-25S too much and want to have one in battroid and one in fighter mode. That way, no need to transform them all the time. And to answer an earlier question, the eyepiece does appear to be transluscent green plastic, not just painted on like the DX. Graham
ff95gj Posted April 29, 2009 Posted April 29, 2009 One thing that turns me off for the 25F is that the face paint work is a mess. At least out of the 10 boxes I picked up and checked, none of them pass my QC standard. I am not a perfectionists given the current price point, but still I put them down everytime. The 25S is a different story. I see nothing wrong with it so far, and I have a strange affection for the S type. I would get a plain 25S to display its skull tatoo (in fighter/ gerwalk mode), where in super/ armored mode it would be partially hidden by the extra tail booster. After reading the video above, I've got a taste about the part-forming. It's tedious for sure, but I am not someone who transform it everyday (or even weekly). And I think my experience with building the 4 model kits would help with the engineering design... The small size also makes it perfect for office display. Although I saw a DX Vf-25G once in an office of IT support team. Yeah I may have splited and kicked the VF100, but when I want to buy it, I can come up with reasons.
valhary Posted April 29, 2009 Posted April 29, 2009 thanks Graham now maybe thinking in buy one or two
Savvi Posted April 30, 2009 Posted April 30, 2009 hhhmmm, I'd probably just get 2, Mikhail's and Alto's. The video review is funny but I'd call a video vent more than a review. I'm sure he knew he had it coming hurhur~
logos Posted April 30, 2009 Posted April 30, 2009 Yeah he should have known what he was getting into and maybe he should have held off on his review when he was obviously so sick. Needless to say it's his review so if that's how he feels about it and you don't like it do your own. Personally I agree with some of his points (especially considering the price) but that's why I buy the 1/60 toys and not some parts former I am going to lose all the parts for eventually. My space is cluttered enough with Yamato missles and stand attachments!
Vifam7 Posted May 3, 2009 Posted May 3, 2009 (edited) Bandai made a few adjustments to the Ozma 25 due to consumer feedback. As per the Tamashii website info here: http://www.tamashii.jp/t_item/t_item.php 1. the crotch block has been strengthened 2. the Gerwalk mode leg part was changed from plug-insert type to a ball-joint type. Pic: Left side: Alto Right side: Ozma Towards the bottoms, Bandai suggests there may be more changes in store for Mikhail's 25 and the Armored 25. And they say that the VF100s line will continue to evolve as it goes along. I got my Ozma 25. Same parts-formation mess as the Alto. Feels a bit less floppy in battroid mode this time around though. Lower leg issue in fighter mode is still a fail. Once again I used CA glue to fix that up. Edited May 3, 2009 by Vifam7
promethuem5 Posted May 3, 2009 Posted May 3, 2009 What's the hip joint piece with the big white tab sticking off of it?
regult Posted May 3, 2009 Posted May 3, 2009 Still waiting for the price to drop. The cheapest I've seen is HK$250 on auction. HK$26X in a shop... Come on, HK$23X and I'm in... If it turns out nice, I'll buy a whole squad of them in super mode. Same here, and thanks to Graham and his praise, I am convinced now, completely forgot about the crotch/leg location problem in battroid. I can't play with the model kits, can't stand the looks of the DX...if these 100s keep improving, my wallet is really going to leave me for another man.
Hikuro Posted May 3, 2009 Posted May 3, 2009 I think they look better than either the 1/72 or 1/60's in term of fighter and gerwalk proportions, and overall appearance. But yeah the fact that you gotta swap out 90% of the valkyrie does turn me off as I do tend to loose pieces over time. However I'm more of the type of guy who says "Okay, I got 4 VF-25's here, One will go battroid, this one will go fighter, this one Gerwalk, and this one hmmmmm....I guess I'll also go Battroid and pose it oppisite to the first one so it looks neat!" and once in a while I'll change it up. Right now my display is more fighter looking than Gerwalk or battroid. But it'll change again in another month or so.
Graham Posted May 4, 2009 Author Posted May 4, 2009 One thing that turns me off for the 25F is that the face paint work is a mess. At least out of the 10 boxes I picked up and checked, none of them pass my QC standard. I am not a perfectionists given the current price point, but still I put them down everytime. Paint application on the vF-25S head is much better than the VF-25F. Graham
regult Posted May 4, 2009 Posted May 4, 2009 I think they look better than either the 1/72 or 1/60's in term of fighter and gerwalk proportions, and overall appearance. But yeah the fact that you gotta swap out 90% of the valkyrie does turn me off as I do tend to loose pieces over time. Does look very nice in fighter mode, but I disagree with you regarding the looks of the 1/72 model: that looks even better, albeit without the landing gears, because the nose gear in the model is placed too forward. I think the model looks best in all three modes, but it no fun to play with because parts are so delicate (=detailed). I am starting to have my doubts, probably should wait for the armored versions to come out since Ozma was almost always armored and they promised to fix the crotch/leg in that one... let's hope prices drop to about HK$ 230 and I'll jump in, fix or no fix it won't matter
edwin3060 Posted May 4, 2009 Posted May 4, 2009 Alto and Ozma They look great! This is with the glued engines, right?
ff95gj Posted May 4, 2009 Posted May 4, 2009 (edited) Finally, I have got my first VF100 (price dropped to HK$248 - around US$32 - couldn't wait till HK$238!). At first, when I opened the box, the first thought was: wow, now this is floppy. The back plate flops around when I handled it. The scale doesn't look quite right too; the crotch looks so big -- it's because the hips are so high. Even higher than the DX. (so puzzling for a part-former) Looking from the front, the head lasers are too narrow - I don't have the DX 25S, and I am accustomed to the scale of the 1/72 model kit. The hips/ intakes are too big. Or maybe they are just too high. (did I mention this already?) But you know what? It has already grown on me. I handled it a bit, and posed it a lot. Because it's already THAT floppy, I didn't care to handle it carefully and sparingly like the DX or Yammies. The scale doesn't look that bad with the right poses. It actually looks cool to me. The script details are fine, the paint work is decent on my 25S (not perfect, but no big complaints - some minor chip-offs, over the line, but I can live with those). It's a clean, fun toy. I think I may be getting the VF-25F tomorrow. Edited May 4, 2009 by ff95gj
505thAirborne Posted May 4, 2009 Posted May 4, 2009 They look really good in Fighter mode, way better landing gear than the DX, thats for sure!!!
Vifam7 Posted May 4, 2009 Posted May 4, 2009 They look great! This is with the glued engines, right? Yes. I glued the trailing wing root to the lower legs. Pretty much making this an expensive single-mode pre-painted snap-together kit for me.
edwin3060 Posted May 4, 2009 Posted May 4, 2009 Ahh well. I've been doing that with blu-tac myself. But there really needs to be a tab there to hold the legs in place
Shin Densetsu Kai 7.0 Posted May 4, 2009 Posted May 4, 2009 I know I am in the minority, but I really want to see Tamashii tackle the VF-1 soon, minimal parts swapping. I think it can blow away Toynami's 1/100 versions, as mine both have cracks in their bicep swivels, and while I like the concept, the PRICE especially, and the sheer amount of stuff that they come with, Tamashii can do way better and I crave seeing what they can come up with.
regult Posted May 4, 2009 Posted May 4, 2009 (edited) I did find it for HK$$248 today at around 20:00 at in's point, so maybe we bumped into each other? anyway, I actually bought it HK$2 more expensive in richmond111, reason? one of the female shop keepers was a b!tch to me, just because I was looking into the box (the little ozma had a bit of a paint problem in the foot) and did not fork the money in 4 seconds, she started complaining, asking me if I knew how much it has coasted her (...WTF?!) I just walked away. Back home with the "S" I said I'd NEVER buy, first thing I did was look at the backplate in case the big feature in the Ozma skull 1 were misprinted! that was completely flawless, but there are some yellow over black, yellow paint chip, and my rough handling during transformation did rub some light gray paint off, but it's not to die for. (yes, most of the lighter gray is painted on, so I think are some other major areas so unlike the almost fully bare "F", the "S" is pretty much a properly painted little model). (EDIT: Bandai did go lazy on this one, the tailfins for the battroid mode don't have "SMS" printed on, I know it would be rarely seen when wings fold in, but there were printed on in the first issue "F"!) The head looked a bit on the big side to be honest, very cool sculpt and paintwork, and I can confirm it has a translucent visor, had to put it against the light to verify. I used blue tack, and had to add some more to the sides of the arms, where the legs are tightly packed, so blue tack on knee and lower arms, and no more sagging. Still: c'mon Bandai, give us a peg somewhere! it's not rocket science! I will now swear I will not buy the "G", but who knows...following is an illustration of what happened once in the SMS hangar when the "G" went missing during a scouting of an area supposedly controlled by a faction of rebel Meltrandi (Galia VI??). Capitain Klan demanded an explanation from Ozma who had just landed. Edited May 4, 2009 by regult
regult Posted May 4, 2009 Posted May 4, 2009 Yes. I glued the trailing wing root to the lower legs. Pretty much making this an expensive single-mode pre-painted snap-together kit for me. Man, what a waste, at least you could have given the battroid mode a chance! Actually I keep them in fighter mode, first thing I did was to partsform the new "S" into fighter and put it side by side with the "F", and by the way, is that a cannon fodder ZakuII shoulder poking out in the shelf below? I see a green spike
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