Arcadia YF-19 coming in 2014

[Scyla]

To be honest all of the black test shots I know of where glossy. Here is an image of the VF-4G prototype:

Looks glossy to me and the final product was matte so draw your conclusions from that.

[skullmilitia]

I think it's just the lighting.

You can't just change arbitrarily from gloss to matte.

It's expensive.

[Guest davidwhangchoi]

To be honest all of the black test shots I know of where glossy. Here is an image of the VF-4G prototype:

Looks glossy to me and the final product was matte so draw your conclusions from that.

thanks for the test shot of the 4g scyla, i think reminds us not to worry about the shine

[Reïvaj]

Black prototypes always look great.

[close313]

Black prototypes always look great.

Yamato VF-19Fire_Winter WF-07.jpg

Oh man I actually wouldn't mind that recolour of McValk!

[Kanedas Bike]

Personally I'm good with whats included for the price. Do I lament the days of being able to pay $ 70 Yamato YF-19's? Sure, but I don't lament the product that was produced and I'm realistic when it comes to understanding the cost associated with producing these items.

It also helps that I haven't had any real problems with any of my purchases outside of some yellowing (mostly all v1 Bandai VF-25s) and the broken shoulder issue from the first run of Yamato v2 1/60 VF-1's so I don't feel as if I'm being "ripped off" when I spend MY money.

-b.

[Falcon18]

Agreed can't base much on test shots.

Knowing Yamato/Arcadia, we'll get a matte finish of the YF-19. Most of their valks are molded in that anyway including the old V1 YF-19.

That black 19 looks cool btw..

[Valkyrie addict]

Why are the prototypes made into black plastic anyway?

Is it like car prototypes that add funky scheme and tape to prevent people seeing the real details?

[Guest davidwhangchoi]

Why are the prototypes made into black plastic anyway?

i think robots are black when they're sleeping

opps(posted wrong pic)

Edited November 16, 2013 by davidwhangchoi

[Scyla]

Black prototypes always look great.

Yamato VF-19Fire_Winter WF-07.jpg

Not helping because a glossy toy came out of that prototype.

[xrentonx]

Goes to show you can't really judge from these pictures. The legs on that Kai test shot look almost matte.

[Dobber]

Black prototypes always look great.

Yamato VF-19Fire_Winter WF-07.jpg

That picture is awesome because it looks like it is holding a knife, reverse style, due to the angle of the wing and where the hand is. Very cool optical illusion, with the black 19 looks awesome IMO.

Chris

Edited November 16, 2013 by Dobber

[xrentonx]

Yeah, that black Kai is so much better than the red and gold one I got...I would trade up in a heartbeat!

[EXO]

They should release all valks as no paint kits in black, gray and white... (maybe red and blue. lol.)

[mechaninac]

Test shots are always run off unfinished injection molds; the inside surfaces have not yet received their final finish (high polish for gloss on the VF-19, etched for matte on everything else)... note that all the test shot images, regardless of the final product, have the same semi-gloss appearance. The whole point is to test the tools to make sure they work as designed, and that all the molded pieces fit as intended; once they're satisfied with the tools' performance, they'll add the proper inner treatment to achieve the desired molded plastic finish; then they'll have a final test shot, or even a pilot run, to make sure everything is ironed out, from the final appearance of the toy, to the efficiency of the production and assembly lines.

Edited November 16, 2013 by mechaninac

[Reïvaj]

Why are the prototypes made into black plastic anyway?

I guess it's simpler and cheaper.

[skullmilitia]

They should release all valks as no paint kits in black, gray and white... (maybe red and blue. lol.)

I'm pretty sure black and grey kits would be hot.

Honestly I'd buy a bunch if they were molded in black or grey.

Not sure why they didn't.

[Loop]

Yeah, I feel like the VF-1 kits really should have been released in grey plastic for the people that like to customize and paint.

[jenius]

I don't think black kits would sell all that great... black toys and kits definitely have a cool factor but they don't pop on a shelf so I don't think they sell very well.

[eriku]

To be honest all of the black test shots I know of where glossy. Here is an image of the VF-4G prototype:

Looks glossy to me and the final product was matte so draw your conclusions from that.

And now I want a black 'stealth' VF-4.

[lechuck]

Yeah, this seems like one of those classic cases where the company was damned if they did and damned if they didn't. The payload and all the extras are sweet... but 90% of people are going to leave 90% of them in the box. The smarter alternative would have been to sell an appendix with a display stand but then 90% of those people that would leave 90% of the extras in the box would bemoan that the extras should have been included with the original toy ignoring the savings they almost certainly would have received. In the end, I would have purchased all the extras, so it doesn't bother me, but it's a shame there isn't a bare bones option (nothing except the toy, pilot, and gun) for like $50 less.

This pretty much sums up how I feel about the release. I must be the only one here that is not really excited about getting the extra payload.

I am not going to even try them out, a quick glance and they will forever stay in the box.

Bare bones would do, but I would have liked the idea of a variant with FPs + arm cluster + stand. That would be an ideal seller for me.

[Mommar]

Nice save on those other test pics guys. Thanks for putting all of us panic-prone people back on course.

[Vi-RS]

I don't think black kits would sell all that great... black toys and kits definitely have a cool factor but they don't pop on a shelf so I don't think they sell very well.

The Griffon labor is fantastic up to this day in my book.

[skullmilitia]

I don't think the added payload is to fluff the price or make the price better.

Is be willing to bet the point of it was to mimic the This is Animation cover for M+.

As a salut to the anniversary.

I don't think they said "oh crap this thing is going to be 300$"

"Let's break budget and throw in payload freebies"

If you think it's too much, I'm sure there will be at least one more

Paint scheme if Arcadia makes it past the first year.

[EXO]

It doesn't break the budget to add small pieces of plastic but it does make the package deal a lot prettier and makes it easier to swallow the price. I'm not sure of the price of plastic anymore, I'm sure it's gone up, but it could be close to an added cost of less than $5 per toy. The higher price is due to higher labor costs, licensing fee, R&D and engineering costs and the much important profit margins. If you listen to the Macross Speaker Pod cast, you can hear Save mention the the rise of costs. And it's not just Macross, look at how other toys have gone up in price. I used to be shocked at how low they used to sell Hot Toys figures with the quality of sculpt and licensing they have to go through, but I think things have finally caught up.

A lot of people also compare Macross to TF... Remember, Hasbro and Takara Tomy owns the license to these things and have an exponential amount of customers versus Macross fans. Macross fans in number don't even compare to their 3rd party toys, and they don't worry about licensing.

Look at what Toynami is doing with the Voltron 30th Anniversary release. They added the stand that they've avoided selling for a long time just to justify the price hike.

[Guest davidwhangchoi]

I don't think black kits would sell all that great... black toys and kits definitely have a cool factor but they don't pop on a shelf so I don't think they sell very well.

yeah, this looks like the 25th anniversary colors that i never liked of the 1/48 1j and the old 19. which i don't think sold well.

the only black that is sorta not black that i thought was done well was the sv-51, ivanov,

[xrentonx]

To be fair, those black anniversary Valks all had misspelled words. "Advertise" Valks never do well because who's gonna fly a Valk like that into battle?

...unless your name is actually "Captain Anniversary of the 30th Platoon" or something

Edited November 17, 2013 by xrentonx

[skullmilitia]

Same person who flies a bright blue or bright red Valkyrie into combat.

A good pilot lol.

[Guest davidwhangchoi]

To be fair, those black anniversary Valks all had misspelled words. "Advertise" Valks never do well because who's gonna fly a Valk like that into battle?

...unless your name is actually "Captain Anniversary of the 30th Platoon" or something

lol

i wonder if this will have the other isamu pilot without the helmet?

[Chronocidal]

My personal problem with the 25th anniversary schemes wasn't the text (though the misspellings were dumb)... it was all the random pinstriping. It looked dumb, and really didn't do anything good for the design.

I mean, I have a lot of memories of similar designs. They're the models I had when i was 5 years old, and my parents bought me a paint marker to "decorate" them.

Edited November 18, 2013 by Chronocidal

[Guest davidwhangchoi]

Nice save on those other test pics guys. Thanks for putting all of us panic-prone people back on course.

i saw your question. he just answered it's matte. i guess you went off course again. jk

[skullmilitia]

MrK just said today's inspection day on the new test shot!

Hopefully more pics are heading our way!

[wm cheng]

i saw your question. he just answered it's matte. i guess you went off course again. jk

That's GREAT news!!! Thanks for clearing that up.

[Guest davidwhangchoi]

all Mommar

Edited November 18, 2013 by davidwhangchoi

[EXO]

MrK just said today's inspection day on the new test shot!

Hopefully more pics are heading our way!

It's always nice to wake up in the morning and see new pics of this baby posted on the boards already... lol. It's like an addiction.