DX VF-25G

[Jasonc]

I asked what the holdup was, but as it's been almost 24hrs., I have yet to get a response. Still, I find it odd that it takes this long for them to ship. Even with HLJ, when I'm one of the later ones who pay, the item is processed and out the door in two days. They are either poorly organized, or didn't acquire enough of these, and are trying to get them from other locations, once again. So far, I definitely wouldn't suggest using them, but as one said, hit and miss. For me, I prefer not to take chances like that.

[mechaninac]

In answer to earlier inquiries, unlike the 25S, the wing gloves and shoulders are molded in their proper color.

That is very welcome news. If, and this is a big if, Bandai saw fit to invest in new tooling to mold the secondary colored parts to run concurrently with the production from existing molds in order to get the full compliment of pieces in their properly pigmented plastics, what are the chances that any re-release of the 25S will come with color keyed plastic instead of painted pieces?... Just wondering...

[Chronocidal]

I actually wouldn't really count on that unfortunately, since off the top of my head, I'm not sure if any of Ozma's parts were actually molded in that gray. I could be wrong, but it seemed like all the sections in that partiicular color were only painted. If that isn't the case then they have no excuse, but it probably would have been cheaper to paint the pieces than try to mix a second color of gray plastic, just for that release.

In the VF-25G's case, blue and white are used a lot, so there's no extra expense involved in using white plastic. Or, you know, they might have just thrown out another production run of just the particular parts tree containing those pieces for the Alto, and recycled the excess parts.

Makes me wonder what kind of shenanigans we'll have to deal with when Luca's comes out, since I'm pretty sure his is another mix of similar shades that will probably get painted instead of molded in color.

Edited October 5, 2012 by Chronocidal

[Lolicon]

25S uses that light grey shade of plastic in a number of places: head, hands, underside, landing gear doors. That's all I can see, with the armor packs on.

On another note, does anyone know if polishing compound will have any adverse effect on the canopy tint? Mine has some minor scuffing from the factory that I'd like to buff out.

Also, Klan doesn't fit very well in the pilot's seat.

[Kolz]

Hi guys, just wondering does anyone know if the Gallia4 Fold Set issued for the previous VF25g fit the new VF25g?

[Chronocidal]

Also, Klan doesn't fit very well in the pilot's seat.

Hey, they at least got that right.

But yeah, I dunno about the gray plastic then, that's just lame. Maybe it's because they just couldnt justify the waste to mold more parts in that color.

Dunno about the canopy though. I'm under the impression that they actually are using tinted plastic like in the 1/100 kits, so I don't think there's any coating you would damage by polishing it.

[OzmaLee74]

Just in!

[BoaRepublic]

+1 for Nippon-Yasan

I also just got my VF-25G in

[UN Spacy]

Folks that ordered from NY.

How much did they charge for EMS shipping?

I wanna see if it's about the same as they're charging for the VF-4.

[NightCastle]

Folks that ordered from NY.

How much did they charge for EMS shipping?

I wanna see if it's about the same as they're charging for the VF-4.

Mine was about $40.

[BoaRepublic]

Mine was $40.39 EMS Express

I got notice of shipment on Oct 1

I received the valk on Oct 5

Oh, I see. They're charging me $59.10 for the shipping on the VF-4G

Maybe heavier or bigger box? That's $20 more though....can't be that much bigger or heavier?

[Loop]

I had to miss my delivery, so I will pick mine up on Sat morning.

[NightCastle]

Mine must have done something wrong. It is in retention.

[3D-Brainx]

Mine was $40.39 EMS Express

I got notice of shipment on Oct 1

I received the valk on Oct 5

Oh, I see. They're charging me $59.10 for the shipping on the VF-4G

Maybe heavier or bigger box? That's $20 more though....can't be that much bigger or heavier?

Although now they are a bit smaller, Yamato has a history of big, space-consume (not to say useless) boxes, it might be just that.

[Dobber]

I'm using registered airmail for the 25G. Shipped on Oct. 1 and it as showing as arrived at JFK so hopefully not too much longer. Shipping cost me $34.54.

Chris

[Jasonc]

Mine still says it's being processed, and no response to either of two emails.

[jenius]

Mine is waiting in japan until I can figure out if I'm getting a yf29 focker.

[OptionZero]

Does anyone still need a VF-25G? I have an extra one (yesasia and NY both came through, unexpectedly)

$240 shipped to US48

[OzmaLee74]

Just had a chance to open fiddle with it this morning and not sure if its just me but it feels more solid than my Ozma and Alto. Could be that as posted earlier, joints are tight and I didn't notice any floppiness either. + 1 Bandai

[Chronocidal]

Picked mine up about an hour ago, and have to agree, they definitely tightened this one up a good amount. Not perfect, since of course, the right shoulder joint is alreadly mostly limp, but the wings aren't flopping around.

Unfortunately... one more case of missing crotch plate. I noticed the head sitting too low in fighter, and didn't realize it until I pulled down the legs, but yeah. They just flat out forgot it. Of all the ones to forget it on too, this is the one I might actually pose in Battroid.

If anyone has a way to acquire replacement parts directly, I'd greatly appreciate help with this one. I don't think NY deals in spares, but if someone who ordered from HLJ could request the part for me, that'd be amazing. Although, I'm not sure how HLJ deals with spare parts from Bandai.

I'm open to anyone with ideas about this one, really. Otherwise, I might just steal the crotch plate from Alto or Ozma and repaint it, since those two mostly stay in fighter, or with armor.. or maybe even not, since I don't think the white plate from Alto would look bad anyway.

Edited October 6, 2012 by Chronocidal

[Lolicon]

Oh man that really blows dude. That's Bandai QC for you, huh.

Luckily no problems on mine aside from the usual minor things on every DX release. Though the canopy scuffing was on the inside. Not sure how they managed to scuff up the inside of the canopy like that, but that's Bandai for you.

One quick phone pic before I disassemble this baby...

Can't wait till super parts and hopefully a Gallia IV set are released. Looks a little naked to me without super parts.

[Mommar]

Wow that sucks. Whenever mine eventually decides to show up I hope I'm not missing the crotch plate.

[mass driver]

Picked mine up about an hour ago, and have to agree, they definitely tightened this one up a good amount. Not perfect, since of course, the right shoulder joint is alreadly mostly limp, but the wings aren't flopping around.

Unfortunately... one more case of missing crotch plate. I noticed the head sitting too low in fighter, and didn't realize it until I pulled down the legs, but yeah. They just flat out forgot it. Of all the ones to forget it on too, this is the one I might actually pose in Battroid.

If anyone has a way to acquire replacement parts directly, I'd greatly appreciate help with this one. I don't think NY deals in spares, but if someone who ordered from HLJ could request the part for me, that'd be amazing. Although, I'm not sure how HLJ deals with spare parts from Bandai.

I'm open to anyone with ideas about this one, really. Otherwise, I might just steal the crotch plate from Alto or Ozma and repaint it, since those two mostly stay in fighter, or with armor.. or maybe even not, since I don't think the white plate from Alto would look bad anyway.

Sorry to hear about that Chrono. That seems like such a huge oversight. How does Bandai miss such obvious QC issues?

Recieved mine an hour ago too. So far, everything except the right shoulder feels tight. It's just going to get more loose with the sniper rifle attached. The PVC head laser suffers from some mild gashapon disease. There was minimal paint overspray on my copy near the knees but overall it looks good.

Edited October 6, 2012 by mass driver

[Chronocidal]

Well I have to admit, for as many other possible issues that could have shown their ugly head, I'm glad it's something relatively simple, and hidden (except in battroid).

I might be tempted to get the super packs now, just so the spare crotch I'm using doesn't look out of place. Well.. I should say more out of place.. considering the ones with super packs are unpainted anyway. I've got the one from my Alto packs as a placeholder now, just to keep the head held up in fighter mode.

I think though, that the main reason for this is that it looks like I actually got one of the ones randomly pulled for QC inspection (ironic, isn't it?) The packaging had a bunch of extra tape on it, as if it had been opened and re-sealed, and it was actually mis-transformed in the box. Whoever was fiddling with it had left the gerwalk support hanging down between the arms instead of folding it up, and it was keeping the entire thing from locking properly. However left it like that probably knocked off the crotch piece and never noticed.

Edited October 6, 2012 by Chronocidal

[mass driver]

Do you have any recourse? Can you send it back for a replacement?

[Chronocidal]

With NY, probably not, I think someone said they don't deal directly with replacements. If they do, great, but I'm not holding my breath on it. They do say on their site that they will work with the production companies about problems though, so I'm going to contact them to find out.

Really though. It's probably 10 cents worth of plastic. Unless I can get just that part shipped to me, the process to get a replacement will be approaching the value of the entire thing, so I don't see the point in bothering with it.

I could probably make one via Shapeways in less time than it would take for me to ship it back, and have them ship me a new one.

Now, if someone here has a way to contact Bandai's customer service directly, that'd be great. But again, the cost to ship is going to be far more than the part is worth.

Basically, this is just one of those ways that everyone in rest of the world has been screwed over because of HG's nonsense. I'm just glad that when I finally did get personally screwed, it was something relatively minor.

Edited October 6, 2012 by Chronocidal

[ArchieNov]

Someone also tried to get a replacement part from NY in the past. They weren't as bad as AmiAmi in their reply (e.g. offering a few yen as compensation), but I believe they asked to have the entire thing shipped back to them at your cost and then they'll ship a new one back to you as replacement.

[Chronocidal]

Yeah, it's just not worth that much to me.

If someone who has contacts in Japan wants to try and order a spare replacement from Bandai directly, I'd be happy to compensate them for the effort/shipping, but I'm not going to ship the whole thing back for something that small.

Since I doubt Ozma will ever be out of his armor in battroid, maybe I'll just repaint his normal crotch plate blue.

Edited October 7, 2012 by Chronocidal

[Murphy]

I think though, that the main reason for this is that it looks like I actually got one of the ones randomly pulled for QC inspection (ironic, isn't it?) The packaging had a bunch of extra tape on it, as if it had been opened and re-sealed, and it was actually mis-transformed in the box.

Was the red tape on the outer box, or inside on the styrofoam part? I wonder if NY was able to sell more 25's because they got a hold of all the defective ones?.... Just kidding, just adding fuel to the paranoia pot.

[Chronocidal]

There wasn't any red tape anywhere, just an abunance of yellowish tape holding down the cardboard over the styrofoam. Usually it's just a simple few pieces holding it, but this had tape wrapped all the way around the edge, and folded over the foam.

Just my speculation about the QC inspection. The outer box wasn't double taped, so if someone did open it, it happened before they put it in the actual outer box.

[Murphy]

There wasn't any red tape anywhere, just an abunance of yellowish tape holding down the cardboard over the styrofoam. Usually it's just a simple few pieces holding it, but this had tape wrapped all the way around the edge, and folded over the foam.

Just my speculation about the QC inspection. The outer box wasn't double taped, so if someone did open it, it happened before they put it in the actual outer box.

I read it to fast and thought you said red tape, cuz companies usually mark defected items with red tape so workers know it should go back instead of out for sale, but yea mine had the extra tape around it also.

[Loop]

I opened mine up yesterday morning, It did have double tape on the outside which made me paranoid. On the inside of the box everything looked normal. Initially I started freaking out when I thought the gunpod was missing, until I noticed it was packaged with the stand parts.

[mass driver]

Mine had double tape too. I'm thinking they're all like that.

[PsYcHoDyNaMiX]

I opened mine up yesterday morning, It did have double tape on the outside which made me paranoid. On the inside of the box everything looked normal. Initially I started freaking out when I thought the gunpod was missing, until I noticed it was packaged with the stand parts.

Where did you order from?

[Chronocidal]

Mine had double tape too. I'm thinking they're all like that.

K then, guess they just changed packaging standards on this one.

One funny thing to note.. they actually made the gunpod bigger compared with the first version. It's not huge difference, maybe about half an inch, but I might be tempted to mod the old one to fit now. Actually, I'm tempted to try out the gun from my 1/72 kit, and see if it looks a little more reasonable in size when mounted.

Going by the one shot I've seen so far (about 5:15 into episode 7, right as Ozma calls for Planet Dance formation) the gun should only reach from the hip clips on the plate behind the landing gear, to the back edge of the ankle collars. That makes this gun about an inch and a half too long.

On the other hand, the gun from the kit looks dead on. Go figure.

I wonder how difficult and expensive it would be to scale up the kit gun, and Shapeways it? Probably no way you'd get the same level of detail, but it'd be interesting to try.

Edited October 7, 2012 by Chronocidal