Kyp Durron Posted February 4, 2011 Posted February 4, 2011 (edited) Just got the payment notice from AmiAmi and sent payment, hopefully this means that my order was part of the initial February shipment. If so, I will post my review here as soon as I get it. HLJ shows the GX-58 as an April restock!. So most likely my order is among the few that actually will ship out meaning I should be getting mine sometime next week. Yay! -Kyp Edited February 4, 2011 by Kyp Durron Quote
mechaninac Posted February 5, 2011 Posted February 5, 2011 -- I hate you....-- I too preordered with AmiAmi but have not gotten any notice or payment request, yet. Do post plenty of pictures when you get yours so that we Andromedaless slobs can vacariously enjoy this most eagerly awaited Chogokin release... so envious... Quote
Kyp Durron Posted February 5, 2011 Author Posted February 5, 2011 Mine's either being shipped today or the following business day. Don't worry, they'll be plenty of pics. -Kyp Quote
UN Spacy Posted February 5, 2011 Posted February 5, 2011 I also got a payment request for the Kodai jacket. What the HECK!?!? End of February my arse. Quote
Kyp Durron Posted February 5, 2011 Author Posted February 5, 2011 (edited) Mine shipped as well. It should be here by Thursday or Friday next week. -Kyp Edited February 5, 2011 by Kyp Durron Quote
Snail00 Posted February 5, 2011 Posted February 5, 2011 (edited) Payment request received from HLJ. My wallet is officially DEAD Edited February 5, 2011 by Snail00 Quote
UN Spacy Posted February 5, 2011 Posted February 5, 2011 After three high items within the last two months...and to quote Kenshiro. My wallet is already dead. Quote
eugimon Posted February 9, 2011 Posted February 9, 2011 That's nice, but not nearly as grand as the blue blimp. Quote
UN Spacy Posted February 9, 2011 Posted February 9, 2011 Please enjoy my review of GX-58 Andromeda. She's a BEAST!!! I'm a little too tired to upload my pictures and written review. I'll try to have that done later today. Quote
eugimon Posted February 9, 2011 Posted February 9, 2011 much better lighting on this one than past video reviews. Quote
myk Posted February 10, 2011 Posted February 10, 2011 Wow thanks for the show and tell, 'Spacy. You know I've never understood the design of the Andromeda, what with it being very sparse with guns-specfically AA guns. I realize that the Andromeda was supposed to be new, sleek and therefore uncluttered but that nest of guns on the Yamato would've looked great surrounding the bridge tower of the Andromeda, in my opinion... Quote
Dobber Posted February 10, 2011 Posted February 10, 2011 Yup, I agree. Congrats on getting Andromrda, I'm very jealous ( I had to cancel my pre-order money's been really tight. ) Shame they didn't come up with that 5 sound effect. They should've used a missle or torpedo sound effect. Oh well. Looking forward to seeing more! Chris Quote
UN Spacy Posted February 11, 2011 Posted February 11, 2011 I've had a night to fiddle with Bandai's GX-58 and I'm pretty damn impressed. Even though the Andromeda was only featured in a few Starblazers episodes I fell in with the design at an early age. Heck, I still have the worn out VHS with the Battle at Saturn on it. US: JPN: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QH3psLCPLMw SCULPT: I don't have any line art books on me but she looks exactly like she did in the television show and movies. Remember how the GX-57 had a bit more of the live action + resurrection look to it? None of that happening here. Weighing over 1.5 lbs she's got die cast in all the right places. But don't go looking for a Marmit here. SHE IS BEAUTIFUL. 9.5/10 Protip: She's got 11 large antenna scattered around her, it's made from a hard plastic so don't worry about it bending or breaking. I wouldn't wear a long sleeve sweater around it. Loose clothing can catch on one of them easily...just be careful folks. PAINT: Similar to the Yamato in that it's primarily gray but with more random spots of cream color on the main guns. bridge, and bow. It's also got a bit of weathering along the large vertical lines across the ship. I actually prefer the darker gray that they used here. If you prefer a bit more detail you can always go nuts with a Gundam marker. 8.5/10 GIMMICKS (SONGS): Most of them sound like they're from the second season...except for the fourth one...I can't put my finger on it. But it definitely seems a piece that is more fitting for the Yamato. 8.5/10 (SOUND FX): The dual wave motion cascading sound effect is pulled straight out of the show. If you're a fan you should be able to differentiate between the two. You also dont' get the target scope opening and trigger firing sound...as it should be. The shock cannon sounds are different from the Yamato, but the anti aircraft guns, and engines are the same. Half are brand new, half are reused, and there's NO fifth sound effect. BOO-urns. 7/10 (SHIP): No hidden dials or cutaway hatches with inner detailing like on the BPX-01 (the main fighter bay door don't count). All four shock cannons can be turned at the same time. It's very light on gimmicks...which I didn't really care for that much. What you're getting here is a CLEAN sculpt which looks absolutely bad ass. 8/10 Overall I'm VERY impressed with GX-58 Andromeda. Quote
myk Posted February 11, 2011 Posted February 11, 2011 I've had a night to fiddle with Bandai's GX-58 and I'm pretty damn impressed. Even though the Andromeda was only featured in a few Starblazers episodes I fell in with the design at an early age. Heck, I still have the worn out VHS with the Battle at Saturn on it. I'd say the Andromeda Super-Space-Dreadnought is probably my favorite starship of all sci-fi/anime. It's too bad it went down the way it did, but what a beautiful ship... Quote
emerson Posted February 12, 2011 Posted February 12, 2011 Wow, looks great! I'll have to take some pics of mine next to the Marmit Daigokin version. Unfortunately, I won't be anywhere near both toys until April. Hopefully these sell well enough for Bandai to consider releasing more ships from the Yamato pantheon...For example, Marmit's teeny weeny rendition of Deslar's flagship, though heavy and pretty, was such a letdown. Quote
Kyp Durron Posted February 18, 2011 Author Posted February 18, 2011 No need for me to add a review since UN Spacy pretty much summed it up in his own review. However, after looking at the line art and comparing the Marmit and Bandai versions, I have to give the overall line art accuracy to Marmit. However, there are certain aspects of the Bandai version that was done better such as the command tower's sculpt. I'm not saying that Bandai's take is bad or anything like that, it's a great piece, but from what I can see Marmit nailed it better overall. They're just ridiculously priced for what they are compared to Bandai's version. Also, while I like Bandai's color choice, the Gray really is too dark anime accuracy wise. -Kyp Quote
Snail00 Posted February 23, 2011 Posted February 23, 2011 Got mine today and Im not impressed with it as I thought I would be. Comments to follow the pics Metal Parts The rear booster nozzle Since people complained about the soft antennas on the BOP Yamato I dont like this hard ones, brush up against it and I can see this breaking. Very Fragile Quote
Snail00 Posted February 23, 2011 Posted February 23, 2011 (edited) I cant believe for 250 dollars they could not fill in that gap with some detail I think I can expect more Metal for 250 bucks. Probably wont sell well on the 2nd market as the metal content is pretty thin, reminds me of the Max-Factory Dragonar where it barely had any metal and therefore did not sell well. Don't get me wrong I like the Andromeda but I think this should have been priced at 120 US. I would have preferred to get a MG of this where I can do all the wiring. I'm glad i didn't buy the SOC Yamato. I am now very happy with my BOP Yamato. Also I thought the Andromeda had retractable wings. The electronics are soso. On mine they don't activate very well or not at all. Again for a getting a toy with its biggest selling feature that doesn't work is again a big knock on getting this. On the one time it did fire the cannons, it barely lit up in a bright room. The piping either sucks or there is some awesome camera work in action. Maybe mine is just a bum model. For Capital ships in the Leiji Matsumoto design line you cant go wrong with Aoshima. Affordable and the whole bloody thing is metal. I like that since its pretty much a stationary object that you cant pose. The second best is the BOP Yamato. You have small details that you can showcase and very nice features that actually WORK! Edited February 23, 2011 by Snail00 Quote
myk Posted February 24, 2011 Posted February 24, 2011 (edited) Thanks for taking the time to put in some detailed criticism of this piece. While I agree that the randomly failing electronics on your edition is completely unacceptable, I think that for the price of $250 I could easily live with the other issues that you listed. I don't equate metal content with quality or long-term desirability so that isn't a major issue with me also. Factor in the idea that I'm past the point of my life where I want to build models and just want to enjoy a static display out of the box, this Bandai piece is really the only way to go. If price remains a problem, I can justify it buy looking at all the high-dollar Yamato Variable Fighters that have come out over the years-some were well built, many others not so, yet I and countless fans still bought them up so I could let the Andromeda's shortcomings slide. I hope you can exchange that ship for one with electronics that work properly... Edited February 24, 2011 by myk Quote
mechaninac Posted February 25, 2011 Posted February 25, 2011 (edited) I got mine from AmiAmi a few days ago. Shipped EMS it cost me $283.00 in total... quite a pricey beast, $100.00 more than I paid for my BPX-01 Yamato. I can honestly say that I was not overwhelmed by it out of the box, but neither was I underwhelmed or disappointed by it, but I did not get that "Wow!" reaction that I experienced when first opening the SOP's box. Compared to the BPX, it is not as heavy, nor as chock full of gimmicks; depending on your point of view this can be a positive or a negative... it certainly does not feel like you're getting as much "toy" for your money. On the plus side, it is big and wide, beautifully sculpted, and the stiff fins and antennas are way better than the child-safe ones on the BPX. On the minus side, as mentioned before, the hull color is a few shades too dark... actually darker than my Yamato. This ship, like the Borodino class, should be much lighter than the battleship gray on the Yamato. All in all I'll give Banday a 7.5 out of 10 on this one... It does look really cool next to the Yamato. Edited February 25, 2011 by mechaninac Quote
myk Posted February 25, 2011 Posted February 25, 2011 On the plus side, it is big and wide, beautifully sculpted, and the stiff fins and antennas are way better than the child-safe ones on the BPX. On the minus side, as mentioned before, the hull color is a few shades too dark... actually darker than my Yamato. This ship, like the Borodino class, should be much lighter than the battleship gray on the Yamato. All in all I'll give Banday a 7.5 out of 10 on this one... It does look really cool next to the Yamato. Big wide and beautiful sculpting is alright by me. I could imagine breaking those antennas off but oh well. As for color, I never liked the ghostly, bright color of the ship in the cartoon (if that's what's considered accurate), so I'm ok with that too. The price? Yeah well... Quote
mechaninac Posted February 25, 2011 Posted February 25, 2011 Don't get me wrong; I'm not advocating for a light gray to light ghost gray hull on the Andromeda, but something like a neutral gray or slightly darker would have been more in line with the ship's lighter tone than the Yamato as seen in the anime and would have the benefit of making the sparse surface detail of the toy stand out more (as it is, what is there gets lost amid the dark greyness of it all). If I were to hazard a guess, I'd assume that Bandai chose the dark gray in order to minimize the possibility of light leakage. Quote
Kyp Durron Posted February 25, 2011 Author Posted February 25, 2011 While I still say that Marmit nailed the overall sculpt better than Bandai, the Marmit being WAY overpriced makes the Bandai version the only real option for the rest of us. -Kyp Quote
Snail00 Posted February 26, 2011 Posted February 26, 2011 The Fleet Personally in those nerdy what if's I think the blimp could take them all down. 360 missile, laser spread throughout the whole ship. And one hot pirate captain! Quote
Kyp Durron Posted February 27, 2011 Author Posted February 27, 2011 You know, I'm wondering if maybe they had QC issues with the first part of production and maybe that's why the initial shipment shipped out in February like it was supposed to, but the rest of the production was delayed to resolve those issues leaving the remaining shipment to ship out in April... Has anyone noticed that the weathering on the Andromeda is much more uniform and consistent than on the Yamato? My Yamato has overspray and some of the panel line weathering is too light while others are really dark. I think they cracked down on that during the production of the Andromeda. On another note, the more I play around with mine, the more I like it. I still wish they would make a lighter gray that's more anime accurate. -Kyp Quote
vt102 Posted March 2, 2011 Posted March 2, 2011 Got mine today and Im not impressed with it as I thought I would be. Comments to follow the pics Well if it is that bad..... you can sell it to me. Quote
Snail00 Posted March 3, 2011 Posted March 3, 2011 Well if it is that bad..... you can sell it to me. sure $300 + shipping Quote
UN Spacy Posted August 8, 2011 Posted August 8, 2011 Quite a steal at 42% off. http://www.amiami.jp/shop/?set=english&vgForm=ProductInfo&sku=TOY-RBT-1387&template=default/product/e_display.html Quote
myk Posted August 9, 2011 Posted August 9, 2011 Quite a steal at 42% off. http://www.amiami.jp/shop/?set=english&vgForm=ProductInfo&sku=TOY-RBT-1387&template=default/product/e_display.html Wow thanks for the heads up. Would you personally vouch for this vendor? Quote
Dobber Posted August 9, 2011 Posted August 9, 2011 Absolutely, amiami has great service and their prices are usually better than Hlj. Frowning on preorder cancelations is their only drawback. You can do it but they may not let you order from them anymore if you do it too much. Ironically, the only time I ever requested an order cancelation from them was for the Andromeda! Chris Quote
myk Posted August 10, 2011 Posted August 10, 2011 Thanks for the input 'Dob, your word carries weight. I'm actually looking into this for a friend-he's hot and heavy for this ship while I have to buy shocks and tires, lol... Quote
wm cheng Posted August 16, 2011 Posted August 16, 2011 Thanks so much for the heads up! Just ordered it - killed me not to the first time around, but at this sale, I just had to bite. Unfortunately though, their S&H seems a bit high (and you don't get an estimate until you purchase) - I got dinged $67cdn for EMS shipping (no other option) and I'll probably get dinged again when brokerage and customs & duty get me (the deal isn't turning out so much of a deal in the end!). Just a word of warning to Canadian customers. Hope its worth it! Quote
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