DX VF-25G

[jenius]

Everything in life has a 5% fail rate it seems.

[Loop]

I transformed mine and noticed when I pulled the leg down, that the pointy part at the top of the shin near the knee is rolled over with a stress mark

[Ignacio Ocamica]

I guess I must have gotten a bad copy. The arms are loose so they won't stay in position. They just flop down. The vertical hinge on the left shoulder block is loose so the left shoulder droops down and won't stay up. The horizontal hinge for the right shoulder block is so loose, that the arm and shoulder just keeps swinging backwards from gravity. You can actually rock it up and down on the hinge. Tightening the screw doesn't help. I put some super glue on all the loose hinges, but it's really just a temporary fix as movement from one transformation just loosens it up again and requires reapplication of glue. I'm going to try to take apart the right shoulder block and layer some glue on the hinge since there is such a huge gap or maybe take some pliers and gently try to squeeze the top and bottom parts of the hinge closer.

The gun was all crooked. It angled to the left quite visibly. I had to heat up the plastic with a hair drier and try to straighten it out. It looks much better now, but it's still a bit twisted along its axis.

I'm fairly disappointed in the build quality compared to how good Alto's and Ozma's were.

I've been layering on clear coats and weathering to hide all the scratches in the plastic which seem to be particularly visible on the blue.

On the up side, I was happy they included a plastic head laser to replace the pvc one with.

Wow, you received a lemon!!!

Where did you get it from?

[Reïvaj]

Where did you get it from?

I don’t think that matters, it seems to occur randomly.

[MacrossJunkie]

Wow, you received a lemon!!!

Where did you get it from?

I got it from HLJ.

I can understand one part being loose, but for so many areas to have problems is just really unlucky.

Well, at least it's not outright broken, just very very loose.

[Loop]

I got it from HLJ.

I can understand one part being loose, but for so many areas to have problems is just really unlucky.

Well, at least it's not outright broken, just very very loose.

Still sucks though, as that would most likely make me keep it in fighter mode which defeats the purpose of a transformable toy.

[Ignacio Ocamica]

I don’t think that matters, it seems to occur randomly.

Yeah I know, it's just a matter of being lucky and receiving a perfect copy. I was wondering which vendor he got his VF-25G from cause he might have just send it back.

I got it from HLJ.

I can understand one part being loose, but for so many areas to have problems is just really unlucky.

Well, at least it's not outright broken, just very very loose.

Extremely unlucky indeed!!

Edited October 11, 2012 by Ignacio Ocamica

[UN Spacy]

Should be here tomorrow...video review by this weekend.

[Mommar]

My 25G finally showed up today. While I don't have completely floppy arms like Macross Junkie, they are severely loose compared to my Alto and Ozma and I can't hold the gun up. Luckily I'd always planned to pose it in prone but it still sucks this go around the QC is so much worse. I also noticed the crotch plate hardly holds in place. Posing in battroid while standing upright is extremely FRUSTRATING with this thing. It constantly collapses. And the right side front landinger gear bay door is does not align right at all. It cannot close straight. Also, Alto and Ozma had slightly curved wings but at least they were symmetric. This one only has one curved wing and it makes it lopsided.

[neoexcaliber]

I wouldn't be surprised if Bandai decides to revisit the series and release the 'perfect' version sometime later.

[jenius]

I wouldn't mind.

[sharpnel]

This is the pose that sold me when I saw the promo. Everything looks fine on mine. No issues that I could find.

Edited October 12, 2012 by sharpnel

[charger69]

AE $227

http://www.anime-export.com/product/11461

[wm cheng]

Damn you sharpnel!! Those are amazing photos of an amazing pose.

I've been strong up to now, but seeing those, I bit the bullet and ordered from Nippon-Yasan, they lowered their price to $216, plus I picked the Eco Air-Mail (with tracking and insurance) so that saved me a bit on shipping too.

http://www.nippon-yasan.com/lang-en/macross/2631-macross-f-dx-chogokin-vf-25g-messiah-valkyrie-michael-blanc-custom-renewal-version.html

(makes working another weekend overtime a little more palatable)

Edited October 12, 2012 by wm cheng

[sharpnel]

Damn you sharpnel!! Those are amazing photos of an amazing pose.

I've been strong up to now, but seeing those, I bit the bullet and ordered from Nippon-Yasan, they lowered their price to $216, plus I picked the Eco Air-Mail (with tracking and insurance) so that saved me a bit on shipping too.

http://www.nippon-ya...al-version.html

(makes working another weekend overtime a little more palatable)

Resistance is futile when it comes to that pose. You won't regret it.

[Chronocidal]

Yeah, I noticed the lopsided wings on mine too, but it wasn't too pronounced.

I kinda don't get it. How is there this much variation in quality? Are they making each one by hand?

[Loop]

Yeah, I noticed the lopsided wings on mine too, but it wasn't too pronounced.

I kinda don't get it. How is there this much variation in quality? Are they making each one by hand?

Lol, that would explain the low production numbers.

[Tober]

I kinda don't get it. How is there this much variation in quality? Are they making each one by hand?

As opposed to what?

I think tampo printing is machine applied. Assembly is done by hand.

[Loop]

As opposed to what?

I think tampo printing is machine applied. Assembly is done by hand.

He was making a joke about how the curled wings are not consistent. They use a mold to create the wings. I think the question of how the wings are curled differently between all the valks is a valid question IMO. If each one was made by hand the differences would make more sense as hand made goods do have minor to major differences depending on processes.

Edited October 13, 2012 by Loop

[Tober]

He was making a joke about how the curled wings are not consistent. They use a mold to create the wings. I think the question of how the wings are curled differently between all the valks is a valid question IMO.

Okay.

[Loop]

Tober your response actually made wonder, maybe the curling is happening during the tampo process. Maybe they are using a strange surface that leaves room for random bends? Maybe the wings are taken out of the molds while they are still to soft? Who knows...

[Chronocidal]

That actually would explain a lot about the wings, but I still can't exactly comprehend how Bandai has NEVER been able to make their wings flat.

It's not exactly something other people can't clearly do...

[pud333]

Huh. The QC on mine is the best of the renewals so far. Looks like some people got lemons. Whatever. They'll all end up with loose joints in six months anyway even if you don't touch them.

[MacrossJunkie]

That actually would explain a lot about the wings, but I still can't exactly comprehend how Bandai has NEVER been able to make their wings flat.

It's not exactly something other people can't clearly do...

I think if the curve on the wings bothers anyone, just heat the plastic and straighten them out like I had to with the rifle.

[Chronocidal]

Oh, not saying I don't already.

I'm just saying it's funny how a company as experienced with plastic models/toys/etc as Bandai could have such trouble molding a flat piece of plastic, when their competition has been at it for years now.

[Loop]

I think another possibility could be when they package the valks, maybe they just throw them in the foam without care and after time the weight of the valk causes them to bend...

[mqvu]

Woohoo! - just got my VF-25G delivered today, now I'm part of the club ... just gotta wait for the re-release of the VF-25S and I'll be a happy camper

[Bunneh]

Any signs of warped wings, dents, loose shoulders, bent cannons, missing crotch plates, or chipped paint??

I'm starting to think teh customs officer in NYC took mine home with him...

Edited October 14, 2012 by Bunneh

[xrentonx]

Just picked mine up from the post office today too. I love it lots.

Took me a long time to transform it and as usual, I always have problems getting the head to slide and pop up. Everything came tight as a drum, nothing cracked, no missing pieces, no nothin. Looks like I'm batting a thousand with every Valk I own.

This was the NY shipment. As much as I didn't like the pricing game I had with them, the little thank-you note they handwrite is nice so they got that going for them. My HLJ copy comes in next week so I have a second one of these to inspect and gawk at soon.

[mechaninac]

Got mine this Saturday as well. The first thing I did was check everything to make sure nothing was missing, and I'm happy to report that all is accounted for; also, paint and tampo applications are flawless and, unlike my F, there is no slight "bite" taken out of the right LERX/swing bar. However, as others have mentioned, mine suffers from wing warping as well, specially the right wing bends up enough to be visually noticeable even from a distance... not happy about that, and something I'll eventually need to attempt to remedy. Other than that, the surfaces have a slightly oily film (mold release lubricant I assume).

I found the blue to be much darker than I was expecting from all the pictures, and the joints nice and tight; however, at least straight out of the box, things were not alligned as perfectly as I'd like: left leg just didn't want to sit as high up as the right in fighter mode.

One thing I found underwhealming is the sniper gun... it looks "cheap" to me. It's probably due to the plastic Bandai used; on mine there are obvious flow and knit lines that cause it to look "toyish". They could also have made it 5-10% smaller or a bit shorter and it would have looked better in fighter mode without being undersized for GERWALK and Battroid, but that is just a nit-pick.

Overall, not bad, and a worthy addition to the collection... Now, when is the anouncement for the RVF-25?...

[Loop]

Seriously Bandai, RVF-25 announcement.

[David Hingtgen]

Yeah, I noticed the lopsided wings on mine too, but it wasn't too pronounced.

I kinda don't get it. How is there this much variation in quality? Are they making each one by hand?

When injected plastic parts come out of a mold, they're still warm. Time is money, so they are only allowed to cool JUST enough to hold their shape when they're popped out, so as to get ready for the next batch as soon as possible. And the technology/timing isn't perfect (even Bandai gets flow-marks in their best and newest kits, which is purely a heat-distribution issue)

The long skinny wing parts are of course the most-influenced by this process, so even 1 degree or 1 second can make the difference for whether they will warp when pulled out of the mold. Thicker square parts are much more tolerant.

[MacrossJunkie]

Hopefully they announce the RVF-25 for a release early next year. I want to complete skull squadron, but there's already so much stuff coming out this year that it's too expensive to try to squeeze yet another valk in this year. I don't even want to think about how hard it's going to be get Luca's VF. Each subsequent release has practically doubled in difficulty to obtain.

Well, I hope they make enough. Skull squadron needs their little buddy...

[PsYcHoDyNaMiX]

Awesome pic as always MacrossJunkie!

[Chronocidal]

Indeed, they look beautiful there. Do wish they'd gone a little lighter on the canopy tint with Michael's though. It looks so much stronger compared with the other two.

As far as difficulty.. well, Ozma and Alto were both easy to get preorders in if you jumped on them. Probably partly because Ozma's preorder went up before Alto's was even released, so there were no reviews to reassure people. Once the reviews hit though.. ugh.

I kinda think Luca's might be somewhat easier to get, just because of the generic lack of anything his plane was ever seen doing. I don't think he's anyone's favorite character. If anything, he should be the first to be bundled with his packs, because I don't recall ever seeing him with them off. Heck, I'm not even sure he ever transformed out of fighter.