DX Chogokin VF-171 Cannon Fodder

[xrentonx]

One day when I am past city small apartment living, I'll have nice things too! Er...the space to customize nice things into NICER things anyway

Edited January 10, 2014 by xrentonx

[Scyla]

I'd preferred it if we got the gray Armor Parts and unfortunately I don't have either MJs skills and/or equipment so they will stay forever dark blue.

A member here on the boards reported that they have a different hue than the VF-171EX armor (I can't confirm that). If this is true I guess it was a deliberate decision by Bandai to cast it in that color.

[mickyg]

Thanks guys. That clarifies a lot. And MJ, sweet! I was hoping someone had done that already so I could see what it looked like. I'm planning something similar so that's good inspiration.

[evolution_ayu]

Sorry if this isn't relevant but I just ruined the left leg on mine because I didn't read the manual properly. Does anyone here live in Japan and know if it is possible to get a replacement leg assembly from Bandai? On the other hand, I'm willing to buy it off anyone as well...

I've been reading this forum for some time and finally got around to sign up because I was dying to ask this question.

[close313]

I don't think you can get replacement parts from Bandai at all. I think your best chance is to find/buy another one to replace it. Maybe look for those who have broken shoulders and are selling them.

[mog_kupo]

Transformed mine from Battroid to Figher and then...........

[Newtype78]

Ouch!

A collecting guideline I have is to go for cannon fodder/mass production variants primarily. When they're available, I'll buy them over "hero" units. However, with the issues that seem to be reported by CF VF-171 owners(mainly the NUNS triangles crumbling), this is a case where I will probably opt for the Alto EX version instead.

[YF-29 Durandal]

I will never transform mine from fighter mode but I'm ok with that when I bought it from Mandarake.

[DantonVZ]

It can be fixed, i use a micro screw to make my own fastering, but after a certain time it brokes again. This is a very thin plastic for a holes, on the lower part under head...but you can try

[Reïvaj]

It's really unfortunate that this all looks so anime accurate...

[MacrossJunkie]

It's really unfortunate that this all looks so anime accurate...

LOL. So true...

So I guess Bandai went the extra mile to make it just like the show. Exploding bits and all. It's not bad QC, it's a feature!

[mickyg]

It does, doesn't it?

Add me to the list who've been Bandaid...

I've had mine for about two weeks and after looking at all the parts before I even attempted transforming it, I thought I was lucky and had escaped any issues with mine. Unfortunately I didn't look close enough. Transforming from Battroid back to Fighter allowed me to see quite a few things I'd missed before. The NUNS triangle on one side was pretty badly cracked and maneuvering that picky angled arm into position got me thinking - maybe if I pulled the shoulder off altogether, I'd be able to get the arm into position without stressing the black part? Unfortunately that little move completely shattered the part. It's now in 4 little pieces. Maybe I can fix it up with some combination of milliput or superglue or something. But it's certainly disappointing, to say the least.

That's the really bad part.

The slightly less bad but still obvious broken piece is the bottom triangle (on the other side, strangely enough). That's cracked but still seems to be useable.

Oh, and one side's arm was really hard to get into the right position, while the other one was fine. So with my trusty screw driver, I pulled the joint apart. Turns out one of the diecast joints was assembled with an L and an R piece! That's right, the top from the correct arm, and the bottom, from the wrong arm. The end result is the channel the parts pivot into isn't quite deep enough on one half of the joint. No wonder it didn't sit right.

Pictures would make all this easier to describe...

And lastly, the little piece that a few other's have found loose in the box? Yeah, that part is missing on my valk. It's the little plastic finger that holds onto the dicast chest to back hinge piece when in Fighter/Gerwalk mode I think. It doesn't seem to cause any issues not being there but I don't understand how it just falls out on some examples.

So here's my tally on one valk:

• Broken NUNS triangle
• Broken pivoting bottom triangle on the opposite side
• Missing retention part for the front to back diecast hinge/connection mechanism
• Wrong dicast part on the arm joint

Not great...

[MacrossJunkie]

Sorry to hear that. This release is so widely flawed with so many having bad or missing parts, Bandai should be ashamed of themselves. More so for not admitting to it or doing anything about it. I would find it hard to believe that their heads are so up in the clouds... or their posterior, that they would be so oblivious to the issues with this thing.

[mickyg]

Exactly. It's a gorgeous piece of engineering, don't get me wrong, but the quality of some pretty basic parts just really leaves a bad taste when it's all said and done.

[Tking22]

Damn this is a shame, I got a 17D with super parts for Christmas and I really wanted a 171 to go next to it. Like others I kind of despise the Alto color, for some reason I'm always a sucker for CF colors, it's such a shame that for some odd reason the second release of this mold is worse than the first, I can't help but wonder what happened? Hopefully we get a renewal 171 or just a second updated release of the CF version, I would really like to get one eventually.

[mickyg]

I should probably add that I managed to fix the NUNS triangle with a truckload of patience, a flat surface, some wax paper to set all the parts on, super glue, and a bit of baking soda to fill the gaps. The wax paper keeps the parts from sticking. It seems to be holding well and was fairly easy to sand the baking soda/super glue muck off the part when it dried. So far so good.

The other broken parts are still sitting with a crack. Nothing has fallen off yet so I'm no rush to fix it just yet.

Probably worth noting that if these parts are ABS (and I'm actually not sure) super glue is notoriously bad at bonding to this type of plastic. I'll just have to keep an eye on it.

[Xao]

Hi Guys, new user here. 'been reading the board for quite a long time, but decided to register an account to report my own CF171 breakage.

I was just starting to transform it; I was performing the first moves (on the head) when both of the filling black parts under the NUNS triangle melten into my hands. I'm not sure if I put some pressure on those parts, but I knew from the first time I transformed it from Fighter to Battroid that these things are fagile.

I must confess that the transformation was not smooth at all, I had to apply some force, becuase it's too damn hard and tight...

I'm kindda used to the feel of black plastic used by Bandai... somehow it has the same feel as the one used in the Bersek Garo figure, whose joints are stupidly fragile.

With my Full armor Ozma (1st release), this is my second broken Valk. Feels no good to have these expensive figures damaged like this.

Edited February 11, 2014 by Xao

[Tking22]

Damn that's awful, and I really wanted one of these, no wonder they are relatively easy to find for less $180.

[Negotiator]

Xao. Its not your fault. It's not that it fragile either. The alto version is fine. Plastic mix or whatever is crap and would have crumbled eventually.

[Tking22]

One thing I can't help but wonder, I mean it's killing me, is how, how could the second release be so much worse than the original Alto release? I just don't get it, has this ever happened before, has there ever been a second release of a mold that was genuinely worse than the first? I am seeing the CF 171 all over the place including here on MW, and it's relatively cheap, but I just can't, but I almost must because it's so pretty, and yet I won't, but I keep seeing it and I can't...Or can I? This really sucks, it's a strikingly beautiful bird when armored. Does anyone know if the Alto 171 got a re-release? Is there any chance at all we'll get another, possibly fixed run of CF 171s? If not, I may have to take the plunge, I see plenty of people waiting on re-issues on the Renewal 25s, I don't know if Bandai would even re-release either, and if they did would they favor the 25 over this since it was a pretty big disappointment?

[stormshadow0621]

Just checked mine after having it in display for over a year. Didn't see any cracks on the black pieces under the arm pits but stupid me wanted to check closer and than cracks started developing as I moved them a bit... did an experiment and the other side cracked just the same. Put tape over it so it doesn't break more. I never transformed it back to fighter after hearing about all the crack issues but I guess now I can.

My VF-171 Alto is fine so definitely this is an issue with the CF as I handle my toys with extra care.

[Mommar]

To me it almost seems like the tooling was off on all of the CF's. I transformed my Alto pretty much along side my CF and where everything was tight on the Alto it also all lined up. On the CF it seemed like the black triangles weren't sitting in shoulders quite straight. The arms didn't line up as well when attaching to the backpack in fighter. Just something about that entire mechanism seemed off. Plus the materials honestly feel different. The CF feels like cheaper plastic and I think Bandai cut corners all around on it.

[anime52k8]

I still think it was a bad batch of plastic. Mold degradation could be a factor too, but I just can't see how they could wear that much after one production run.

[Mommar]

I'm not sure if it's degradation per se, but the fit is definitely not the same.

[Reïvaj]

It is degradation. QC degradation.

[close313]

Is it the same as the gold plastic syndrome older transformers had? I've never gotten around buying a transmetal megatron due to that.

[eriku]

No, that was due to having too much metallic pigment in the plastic that caused it to not bond as well as it should have.

[takatoys]

I have to say that thanks to this issue I could get another VF-171 very cheap. First time in years that I got a pair of the same valk.

I have one in fighter and the other one in battroid. The broken triangles were a pain to glue but they are holding fine. Both toys make a great display together.

[Benbot]

This ticks me off that Bandai has done nothing to correct this. When we pay this much for something, shouldn't we expect that it will not be broken out of the box?

Does anyone have the skill and time to design replacement parts from Shapeways or something?

[aaajin]

This ticks me off that Bandai has done nothing to correct this. When we pay this much for something, shouldn't we expect that it will not be broken out of the box?

Does anyone have the skill and time to design replacement parts from Shapeways or something?

I asked the same question before, kurisama was planning to work on the parts but later decided not to pursue it (forgot why). nobody else picked it up later. could be because the thin profile of the triangle made it not feasible for shapeway parts tolerance, unless buyers are willing to sand down the parts to make them fit.

That gave me enough reason to avoid the toy. Too bad, the paint scheme looks really good in both fighter and battroid, but had to be avoided due to poor plastic quality. Been thinking to get alto's, but the paint scheme just doesnt do it for me.

If my memory serves me right, Yamato's 0A exploding arms & VF-1 shoulders were the worst prevalent QC that had ever happened in post-diecast Macross toys, but seems like even those pale in comparison to Bandai's exploding triangles, seeing how frequent the triangles been breaking on this toy. And no news of a re-release..

-sigh-

Edited February 24, 2014 by aaajin

[funkymonkeyjavajunky]

I have managed to transform (carefully) my toy to gerwalk. The crappy/breakable parts bent a little, but I adjusted the arms downward to remove as much pressure as possible. I have no doubt that if I fiddle with the arms too much the parts in question will break.

[takatoys]

At least we had the chance to get parts for the Yamato VF-1 shoulders. And Yamato offered free shoulder parts for the defective Megazone Garland in the US.

Too bad that Bandai does not care to do the same. It would have been perfecf to add free shoulder triangles on the armor set.

[Reïvaj]

Hey, I remember that Yamato even offered free replacement wings for the VF-19Kai when they realized that the little red and blue lights had been painted on the wrong side Not many people had noticed that little mistake.

[MacrossJunkie]

All I know is If they ever release any more variants/color schemes for the 171, like an RVF-171 or EX cannon fodders, I definitely won't be pre-ordering them. I'll wait for the ones who are [brave | feeling lucky | fools | suckers | ignorant of past breakages] to get them and report on any problems they've had with any new releases before I even consider getting one. The fact that Bandai's customer service is utter shite in regards to fixing problems of their own making and making things right for their customers makes it an easy pass for future releases of the toy.

[Sandman]

Yeah huge disappointment. I love the look of the 171 CF and was really exited to get one and it ends up being the worst release quality wise. Even worse than the VF-0/garland release. I bought three at $200 bucks each. I'm afraid to touch them. One is in display as fighter mode (never transformed) while the other two sit in their boxes. Sadly i'll never be able the recoup the money i put into them since i doubt they'd sell for over $100.