DX VF-25 Renewal Series (Part III)

[ah_t00t]

Wanted to ask, does the super parts come with a brown mailer box? (like the YF-29 super parts)

[Save]

They haven't even sent me my shipping quote yet.

Should I be worried? No response to my email yet either...

Thats normal.

Thats normal. I haven got my quote too. They are too busy.

This is probably the last time I do business with them, as I dun like the way they keep you waiting till u ask them whats going on.

Most orders have been shipped out, only a handful left to process. Bandai shipped not only the Alto and Ozma super parts but a ton of stuff on the Friday eve of the Japanese holiday known as Golden Week which also happened to be the same weekend two major Macross events started. We have been working on orders even during the holiday, so not to worry they are coming.

PM me your order numbers and I will check on where we are with your orders.

Edited May 7, 2012 by Save

[Kurisama]

Oh I didn't know u worked at Tokyo-Hunter, Save.

I want to say a massive thank you for your site's services and letting a gaijin like me have the opportunity to buy 'exclusives' from Japan.

[shawnlee1981]

Since everyone's on the topic of super parts, any chance of the yf-29 having reissue of the super parts by tamashi web in retrospect to the reissue of the yf-29?

[nanoplasm]

Wanted to ask, does the super parts come with a brown mailer box? (like the YF-29 super parts)

Yes it does.

Since everyone's on the topic of super parts, any chance of the yf-29 having reissue of the super parts by tamashi web in retrospect to the reissue of the yf-29?

Not likely. =(

[ah_t00t]

Thanks nanoplasm, I just saw some pics of the brown mailer box not long after i posted this question, feel me-self abit silly haha

[shawnlee1981]

Yes it does.

Not likely. =(

Any reasoning?

If no reissue then have to resort to the hungry vultures on ebay

Seems the pricing is already going up rapidly and the availability getting really scarce compared to just before the reissue.

[Mechapilot77]

oh yeah....tracking says they have been delivered (this morning) and my doorman signed for it....time for alto to get his super armor! woot! mine was ordered form tokyohunter FWIW.

Edited May 7, 2012 by Mechapilot77

[ErikElvis]

Ozmas pack is sitting downstairs just waiting to get put on tomorrow

[ultraman zoffy]

Nippon Yasan FTW... ordered my Alto super parts 5/3 (6000 yen), showed up this morning 5/7. Also pre-ordered my Alto Armored parts through them; they're on point! No nonsense, super fast shipping and great prices.

[pud333]

I thought the YF-29 super parts were also going to be reissued along with the valk itself. I thought I read that somewhere... but I'm probably talking out of my arse again. I dunno.

[VF5SS]

hopefully I can get something up this week

Pretty great so far

[xrentonx]

Most orders have been shipped out, only a handful left to process. Bandai shipped not only the Alto and Ozma super parts but a ton of stuff on the Friday eve of the Japanese holiday known as Golden Week which also happened to be the same weekend two major Macross events started. We have been working on orders even during the holiday, so not to worry they are coming.

PM me your order numbers and I will check on where we are with your orders.

Thanks, man! PMed

[ALEXD]

Hey I was thinking of cancelling my preorder, are the parts worth it? are the nice looking and durable? or should I cancel?

[valhary]

why this part is uncolored?

[Chronocidal]

Simple answer, Bandai forgot.

Long answer, check back a few pages, it's been discussed a lot.

[Dobber]

Got my Alto fast pack...thanks Nanoplasm! They look great. One thing I was disappointed with though is the fighter mode stand adapter doesn't allow for the gunpod to be attached while on the stand. What I did, though, is use the front part of the original fighter mode stand adapter with the new rear-piece and it worked like a charm. So if there are any other fighter mode fans out there, that's what I would recommend doing if you want to use the Bandai stand.

Chris

[Chronocidal]

Just picked mine up, shipped safe and sound. This forum owes Nanoplasm a drink or ten.

HUGE improvement over the first version, but not problem free unfortunately. Only a few small things, but given what's come before, there's about five Picards worth of facepalm going on with regards to a couple things.

Mainly.. the hips. I don't understand it. I can't even contemplate a logical excuse for this, but Bandai just keeps on trying to get milk from that bull. You'd think after THREE tries at desiging hip armor that can stay on, they'd try something different.. but nope. In fact, they regressed. That blue movie Alto they released actually had fixes in place to get the hips to stay on, and they worked. Those fixes are nowhere to be seen here, and the method they attach is pretty much identical to the first release, and just as ineffective. They pop off if you breathe on them funny.

Also, the aforementioned crotch plate. No explanation, it looks like they actually forgot it existed, and threw it in at the last moment without realizing it doesn't match anything. The outer portion should be cast in the same dark colored plastic as the rest of the packs. They wouldn't even need paint for this. To make it accurate they would have to paint the actual pattern around the edge, however colored plastic would still be much better than what it is.

Aside from that mountain of stupid though, only a few minor things.

I've either got a warped backplate piece, or a warped backplate on my Alto. The forward panel with the probe and thruster doesn't attach really. It'll stay on, but only two of the four pegs will stay in at any one time.

Also, be careful with your moving panels. They're not attached all that well, and they may pop off rather than move. My missile doors did this the first time I tried to pop them open. The little flippy panels on the hip plates also can pop off easily.

Now, a couple things people might want to try fixing themselves.

First, the crotchplate on the V1. VF-25 is actually correct. I actually wonder how hard it would be to just adapt it to snap on over the standard plate for battroid mode, and just not worry about it in fighter.

Second, I think they forgot to paint a few of the circle/bar thrusters on Alto's set, specifically the shoulder packs (outer and inner side on each). Ozma's packs have them painted correctly.

Third, if you have trouble with the little hip flaps refusing to fold up and stay streamlined, check the little pegs on the hinge. I popped mine off accidentally, and noticed that the prongs on the flap had a decent amount of excess plastic, like you'd find after cutting from a sprue. Trimming that let the flaps lay down nicely.

Now.. two things I noticed that made me go "hmmm" (this is turning into a list of lists, I aologize )

One, the boxes are identical in length and width to the actual VF-25 package, so bundles are probably inevitable at some point.

Two, the packs are built to be compatible with Luca's sensor suite, so we can probably assume that'll happen too later.

Anywho, they definitely look nice. I just hope these can hold me over until the armor packs start shipping later this summer.

Edited May 8, 2012 by Chronocidal

[David Hingtgen]

the boxes are identical in length and width to the actual VF-25 package, so bundles are probably inevitable at some point.

They sure are taking their time then, as I still don't have a VF-25F for my on-order parts to attach to...

(If they announce a bundle quick enough, I can keep just the armor on order, and get the super pack+valk as a single set)

[Chronocidal]

I almost hope they'll release some sort of screwy version like the blue Alto again, if only because it was a cheap way to get a super bundle. And the colors weren't bad honestly, they just weren't canon.

Found a fix for the backplate, by the way. It wasn't warped, the piece on the underside of it that forms the mount for the thruster just wasn't pressed in completely, and it was colliding with the spine. Couldn't press it into place the rest of the way, so I just filed that big tab down so it won't hit anymore.

[UN Spacy]

Thanks nanoplasm!

They arrived today. I'll throw up a quick review tonight.

[Lolicon]

I like them so far. Kind of worried I'm going to snap that backplate antenna right off one day in a moment of carelessness, as it's hard plastic and not the softer material like the turrets.

Wish the purple parts on the chestplate were jeweled and not painted on.

Definitely will need to do a wash this weekend to bring out those details...

The stand attachment blows. Time to pick up some more Flightpose stands.

Oh yeah, also noticed the slots on the main boosters for Luca's attachment. So it looks like we'll be getting the entire SMS Skull Squadron with super packs. Yay!

Edited May 8, 2012 by Lolicon

[nanoplasm]

You are all most welcome. =)

Now back to packing the next batch. >_<

[Mommar]

It's amazing how sloppy Bandai can be with the details sometimes.

[VF5SS]

ahahaha

oh we have fun here don't we

[ultraman zoffy]

Been going nuts with earthquake putty lately for action figure posing, so I thought I'd try a tiny bit on the inside of the intake/hip armor to keep it on better... voila, problem solved. Not the most elegant solution, but it doesn't affect the paint on the armor or the toy at all, isn't permanent, comes off clean when you're done with it, you can't see it, and keeps me from getting pissed off when handling the toy like I do whenever I touch my 1/48 super stealth valk... I swear I'd throw that thing through a window if it didn't cost so much because of all the stuff that falls off during handling.

Edited May 8, 2012 by ultraman zoffy

[UN Spacy]

My fingers might have bleed. But it was worth it.

ENJOY!

[Mommar]

This video highlights the four parts of the armor that aren't colored correct on the Alto at about 10:40 in. That little diamond bit on the chest and the two intake covers are colored white like the rest of the valk when they really should be colored the same as the crotch armor to present symmetry and color coordination like in the show. That would make a huge difference in how it looks, though losing that darker border along the bottom would also help.

[505thAirborne]

Great review UN SPACY, I enjoyed it!

Now I just hope Bandai gets smart and re-releases the VF-25 as a bundle pack, Armor and all!!

[Kurisama]

Woot - Tokyo-Hunter super parts arrived bright and early today, speedy delivery; 4 days from dispatch to my door! Putting it together now... SO EXCITED!

[Graham]

Received my Alto Super Parts from Tokyo Hunter (Save), yesterday. Here’s my initial musings:

I’ve only put them on in fighter mode so far, as that’s the mode I prefer for most of my VFs. I think they look great. Paint application is first class and the tampo printing is really well done. If a few parts are painted the wrong colour, I didn’t notice and don’t really care to be honest. If it was a VF with a simpler colour scheme like the VF-17 or VF-19, any mistakes would stand out, but on the VF-25F as there’s so many coloured areas, it’s not really noticeable (at least to me).

I love that all the thrusters are on ball joints and can be individually moved, even the smaller maneuvering thrusters, that’s a great touch.

Several people have complained that the hip armour falls off easily. Well, I don’t know about Battroid or Gerwalk mode, as I haven’t tried those modes yet, but certainly in Fighter mode, the hip armour attaches very securely and you can actually hear it click into place.

I was actually very impressed by how easily and securely all the armour attaches in Fighter mode. The only minor difficulty I had was attaching the wing packs as it took me a while to figure out how to slide them on correctly.

My only minor complaint is that the missile hatches have a tendency to pop off when you try to open them, unless you are very careful.

All in all, great job Bandai! Get’s a 9/10 from me.

Graham

[NightCastle]

Hello all, I have been a lurker for a while and just had to post the strange luck I think I may have had this evening. This is my first post on MW, btw.

I was looking for a chance to get the YF-29. I recently was able to procure the VF-25F renewal for a decent price and was hoping I might get a chance to luck into a decent price or, if things worked out right, I might stumble on a pre-order that opened up for the YF-29. While looking at the sites that offered pre-orders in case they show a little stock after the release, I stumbled on a pre-order available on BigBadToyStore for 259. Needless to say, I jumped on it as it is significantly less expensive than eBay or elsewhere. After I got the confirmation e-mail, I went to my account on BBTS and had to verify that I successfully made the order. I was not imagining it. However, I have since checked BBTS again and they are now marked as sold out again. Is there a likelihood that I may still not get it? I am still holding out hope that it doesn't fall through. Just thought I had to share with others who might appreciate the situation. What do you think?

[GU-11]

Awesome review, UN Spacy!

Thankfully, my local hobby store actually came through this time, and brought in the Super Parts for both Alto and Ozma. Too bad about the latter; couldn't find myself an Ozma, so I only bought the Alto Super Parts.

BTW, welcome onboard, NightCastle!

Great review UN SPACY, I enjoyed it!

Now I just hope Bandai gets smart and re-releases the VF-25 as a bundle pack, Armor and all!!

Same here; hoping for a bundled Ozma VF-25S with Armor parts. It'd be the only way I can get Ozma's ride.

[ShadowRaven]

Hello all, I have been a lurker for a while and just had to post the strange luck I think I may have had this evening. This is my first post on MW, btw.

I was looking for a chance to get the YF-29. I recently was able to procure the VF-25F renewal for a decent price and was hoping I might get a chance to luck into a decent price or, if things worked out right, I might stumble on a pre-order that opened up for the YF-29. While looking at the sites that offered pre-orders in case they show a little stock after the release, I stumbled on a pre-order available on BigBadToyStore for 259. Needless to say, I jumped on it as it is significantly less expensive than eBay or elsewhere. After I got the confirmation e-mail, I went to my account on BBTS and had to verify that I successfully made the order. I was not imagining it. However, I have since checked BBTS again and they are now marked as sold out again. Is there a likelihood that I may still not get it? I am still holding out hope that it doesn't fall through. Just thought I had to share with others who might appreciate the situation. What do you think?

yeah i got lucky with a yf 29 preorder from them about a few weeks ago too. I had been checking the site frequently and i guess someone cancled their preorder since there was only 1 avaliable (you can see the max number avaliable just add a random large amount to shopping cart). I jumped on it immediatly. BBTS is pretty reliable ive had no problems with them. I saw a vf-171 avaliable a few days ago too.

Edited May 9, 2012 by ShadowRaven

[ultraman zoffy]

Hip armor on mine are also pretty solid... took off the dab of earthquake putty I had on the inside, and they actually do click in place pretty well like Graham stated. If anything, the only time they seem to pop off is when the side "thigh" armor on the ball joint right next to the hip armor knocks them off. Otherwise, they hold pretty well. For some reason, the lower right side leg armor on mine seems to be the most prone to flopping off.

As far as the missle hatches go... the hinge for the hatch rises up to allow for the hatch to clear easier, so as long as you don't push them back all the way down, they open and close smoothly and easily without popping off.

I'm no reviewer, but those are my layman observations so far. =)