Arcadia YF-19 coming in 2014

[Mommar]

Just checked mine and yes!! You are right!!

The hinge on mine is stiff, I didn't know that the metal bar can actually slide towards the nose cone, after using some force, finally got it right!!

Thank you!!!

That hinge can be SUPER TIGHT. I've honestly never been able to get that hinge to budge on my 19P totally.

[OzmaLee74]

Not sure about you guys but the Fast Pack was a PITA to put on in fighter mode. Didn't think that just putting on 4 parts would take me 20 minutes.

[valhary]

I feel the old yamato instructions are better and less confusing although love the new arcadias design I hope that are more specific in the future releases

[Guest davidwhangchoi]

so how do you transform it without the black paint on the sides of the cockpit getting scratched? i don't think i can file metal.

Edited April 10, 2014 by davidwhangchoi

[MILKAUTICO]

yet I do not get mine, the seat rotates in the cockpit when transformed in battroid?

[Guest davidwhangchoi]

yet I do not get mine, the seat rotates in the cockpit when transformed in battroid?

on the yf-19, the cockpit cannot rotate in battroid.

[Scyla]

No it doesn't. I think they didn't include the feature because it would be to difficult to make it work because the YF-19 has a hinge for the front canopy section where the egress hatch would be on the M7 VF-19 Valkyries. Plus (pun intended) the egress hatch was never featured in the animation of Macross Plus but was a prominent feature of the Fire Valkyrie in M7.

[edit:] And since the YF-19 is a two seater Valkyrie it would be extra difficult to implement that feature for both seats. On the VF-19 the cockpit won't close when the seat is rotated and the seat is rotated though a gap in the bottom of the cockpit. This was probably not possible on the YF-19.

Edited April 10, 2014 by Scyla

[MILKAUTICO]

on the yf-19, the cockpit cannot rotate in battroid.

Thanks, it's a shame. would have been great as in the other models.

Edited April 10, 2014 by MILKAUTICO

[wm cheng]

Well, after 7 days in transit via EMS... I finally got my hands on this toy. I agree with everything already said about this toy, but still am a bit disappointed, especially factoring the $300+ cdn price tag (in fact it was closer to $390cdn after shipping, I didn't get the Black Friday sale - but luckily I escaped customs or duties, so NY comes through again, although a bit late for charging a steep 5,400Y in EMS that took 7 days!). Luckily my copy is fine, no breakages yet. I have the non-aligning right tail fin (how did you correct that again? - the other one is fine) and one of my little gullet doors don't close flush (how was that corrected again... where was the excess glue? - these threads move so fast, I couldn't find the solution back 10 pages!) Maybe we could start a new thread or pin these corrections to the front of this thread (along with sanding the rear backpack as to not scratch the black paint). I'd just thought for such an expensive toy, we wouldn't have to make all these corrections right out of the box!

I am more critical of this toy because its a 50% increase in MSRP - I don't get a 50% increase in pay for doing nothing, I expect that much better quality or design. If it were a 5% increase or something geared to inflation, then I would expect the same quality as before. What if the cost of living just went up 50% - wouldn't people expect more or be more critical?

No denying its a beauty, but that's got more to do with the original K design.

I don't mind the plastic, its way better than the glossy finish which I think looks cheap & toylike IMHO. How come no one has mentioned the really low hanging down tilted gunpod, its almost touching the ground when the landing gears are out - if only the gears were a few milimeters taller. I find there is excessive gap on the back between back plate and intakes that really detracts from the aircraft mode - I was hoping that it was just mis-aligned, but it I see it in all the photos and now I see that its the design of the toy. Funny how some panels have a great tight flush fit like the little doors around the head, but you've got huge gaps at other areas. That collapsing side panels on the shield still creates a huge gap either side when they're extended - why create the collapsing panels when they don't even cover much when they are extended. It just seems unnecessarily complicated / over-engineered to the point that its more fragile than fun to transform. I wished there was a simpler canopy hinge that doesn't involve a partial transformation to just open or close the canopy or I really don't see why the tail fins needs that extra hinge to fold back that part, it really doesn't contribute to the look in anyway. Then on the opposite side of the coin, why not hinge the canards like the VF-4 instead of pulling them out and rotating them / a very non-elegant awkward (parts-former) solution. I just don't get it - what could the Arcadia engineers be thinking? The real lack of tampo printing really bothers me - especially when they chose to not include waterslide decals yet they do for their VF-1 releases. I have to give Bandai props for printing everything on the toy. Some panel lines are impossibly faint too (such as the grey stripes on the top).

Overall, I'm happy they revisited the YF-19 (I never bought the original because of the fat gullet) but I'm not overly impressed with Arcadia. I was hoping for a VF-4 quality toy from here on out, but I'd say its below Yamato VF-4 and SDF-1 around the VF-11 quality - maybe even below Bandai VF-25 renewals as at least they are fun to transform and have everything printed on them AND INCLUDES A STAND (excluding the pre-ordering fiasco!). I no longer have as high hopes for the VF-0D... which is too bad. I just hoped the first new Arcadia toy would just hit one out of the park! I think a lot of people are letting Arcadia off easy because they spent so much for a toy (people tend to like stuff just because they spent a lot of money on it, its like self justification) - I on the other hand feel overly critical because they thought they could charge so much for a toy of this level. I'm glad I didn't get more than one, I had thought to get 2 since I actually think they really improved the Battroid mode the most but I don't feel they deserve my second purchase. I am "satisfied" with my one copy and will display it in the "This is Animation" cover configuration after I had corrected it, with decals, light weathering and panel lining - I just really wanted to be "over-joyed" with it. I think THAT was my biggest disappointment.

Now please, can someone print true white and make us some aftermarket waterslide decals? Pretty please??!

[Swoosh]

Thanks, it's a shame. would have been great as in the other models.

I am pretty sure it will be implemented in the next version, release in 2021.

[auberondreaming]

I rewatched plus last night and I had a question. It's specifically stated the point of the 2 yf's being tested is to include fold technology in them. I may have missed the line explaining it, but when isamu and the kid are heading to earth, why does the yf-19 need a fold booster?

[Gakken85]

Wm cheng - Honest reviews are great. Thanks for a solid opinion.

I'm hoping they will learn from this release to work on the VF-0D... but it does seems Arcadia is cutting corners that Yamato didn't. The tampo printing on the VF-1's is a good example.

Edited April 10, 2014 by Gakken85

[Guest davidwhangchoi]

hey, i said the stealth system failed. i'm honest too.

[Gakken85]

haha you're always honest

[Scyla]

I rewatched plus last night and I had a question. It's specifically stated the point of the 2 yf's being tested is to include fold technology in them. I may have missed the line explaining it, but when isamu and the kid are heading to earth, why does the yf-19 need a fold booster?

The fighter competition is on the New Edwards Air Base which is on the Planet Eden. So to get quick to earth the YF-19 had to use the fold booster. Hm so Yang Neumann is only 16 years old? How odd.

*snip*

Some of the issues come from the fact that in order to save cost Arcadia decided to base the YF-19 heavily on the VF-19. At least that is my opinion. That the gun-pod sits so low, doesn't have to proper cooling vents and that the canards fold in the way they do stems from the way they are on the Excalibur. I think this is probably also true for the tail fins. On the previous iteration of the YF-19 they slid upwards to create room for the heals in Gerwalk-Mode. Since there is no sliding mechanism for the tail fins on the VF-19 they opted for folding the tail fins in.

Please keep in mind that this is all speculation on my part because I don't have the Yamato YF-19 and the new one (yet). These are all observations I gathered from my VF-19S.

[anubis20]

so how do you transform it without the black paint on the sides of the cockpit getting scratched? i don't think i can file metal.

I taped up the area and it was fine. When I transformed back to fighter mode i could clearly tell the tape had done its job. There was an indentation that could be seen on the tape on the sides of the cockpit. I pretty much tape all the black paint that is covered when going to battroid mode. Its not an elegant solution but it works and it cant really be seen in battroid. Some call me paranoid for this but id rather do that than have scratched paint.

Well, after 7 days in transit via EMS... I finally got my hands on this toy. I agree with everything already said about this toy, but still am a bit disappointed, especially factoring the $300+ cdn price tag (in fact it was closer to $390cdn after shipping, I didn't get the Black Friday sale - but luckily I escaped customs or duties, so NY comes through again, although a bit late for charging a steep 5,400Y in EMS that took 7 days!). Luckily my copy is fine, no breakages yet. I have the non-aligning right tail fin (how did you correct that again? - the other one is fine) and one of my little gullet doors don't close flush (how was that corrected again... where was the excess glue? - these threads move so fast, I couldn't find the solution back 10 pages!) Maybe we could start a new thread or pin these corrections to the front of this thread (along with sanding the rear backpack as to not scratch the black paint). I'd just thought for such an expensive toy, we wouldn't have to make all these corrections right out of the box!

I am more critical of this toy because its a 50% increase in MSRP - I don't get a 50% increase in pay for doing nothing, I expect that much better quality or design. If it were a 5% increase or something geared to inflation, then I would expect the same quality as before. What if the cost of living just went up 50% - wouldn't people expect more or be more critical?

No denying its a beauty, but that's got more to do with the original K design.

I don't mind the plastic, its way better than the glossy finish which I think looks cheap & toylike IMHO. How come no one has mentioned the really low hanging down tilted gunpod, its almost touching the ground when the landing gears are out - if only the gears were a few milimeters taller. I find there is excessive gap on the back between back plate and intakes that really detracts from the aircraft mode - I was hoping that it was just mis-aligned, but it I see it in all the photos and now I see that its the design of the toy. Funny how some panels have a great tight flush fit like the little doors around the head, but you've got huge gaps at other areas. That collapsing side panels on the shield still creates a huge gap either side when they're extended - why create the collapsing panels when they don't even cover much when they are extended. It just seems unnecessarily complicated / over-engineered to the point that its more fragile than fun to transform. I wished there was a simpler canopy hinge that doesn't involve a partial transformation to just open or close the canopy or I really don't see why the tail fins needs that extra hinge to fold back that part, it really doesn't contribute to the look in anyway. Then on the opposite side of the coin, why not hinge the canards like the VF-4 instead of pulling them out and rotating them / a very non-elegant awkward (parts-former) solution. I just don't get it - what could the Arcadia engineers be thinking? The real lack of tampo printing really bothers me - especially when they chose to not include waterslide decals yet they do for their VF-1 releases. I have to give Bandai props for printing everything on the toy. Some panel lines are impossibly faint too (such as the grey stripes on the top).

Overall, I'm happy they revisited the YF-19 (I never bought the original because of the fat gullet) but I'm not overly impressed with Arcadia. I was hoping for a VF-4 quality toy from here on out, but I'd say its below Yamato VF-4 and SDF-1 around the VF-11 quality - maybe even below Bandai VF-25 renewals as at least they are fun to transform and have everything printed on them AND INCLUDES A STAND (excluding the pre-ordering fiasco!). I no longer have as high hopes for the VF-0D... which is too bad. I just hoped the first new Arcadia toy would just hit one out of the park! I think a lot of people are letting Arcadia off easy because they spent so much for a toy (people tend to like stuff just because they spent a lot of money on it, its like self justification) - I on the other hand feel overly critical because they thought they could charge so much for a toy of this level. I'm glad I didn't get more than one, I had thought to get 2 since I actually think they really improved the Battroid mode the most but I don't feel they deserve my second purchase. I am "satisfied" with my one copy and will display it in the "This is Animation" cover configuration after I had corrected it, with decals, light weathering and panel lining - I just really wanted to be "over-joyed" with it. I think THAT was my biggest disappointment.

Now please, can someone print true white and make us some aftermarket waterslide decals? Pretty please??!

I would also like to know the solution for the misaligned tail fin please.

[Chronocidal]

They were just concerned with being designed to handle the stresses of fold travel, and mounting the boosters really. There's an episode of M7 where Gamlin mounts a booster on a VF-17, and it almost shakes itself apart trying to fold.

Anyway, the earlier issue about doors not laying flush was about the ones next to the head, not the little gullet flaps. Some people had glue under those head doors which was keping them from closing.

On the other hand, one of my gullet flaps does pop out a little. Those flaps are so thin, they're very prone to warping or bending.

Overall? I guess I can agree I'm not "overjoyed" with the YF-19.. but at the same time, I'm thrilled to finally have one to display next to my YF-21. While I don't like a couple of design choices, I can live with them. I got over the droopy gunpod long ago with the VF-19s, and I generally don't mount it anyway since I prefer clean planes.

[Guest davidwhangchoi]

haha you're always honest

lol

I taped up the area and it was fine. When I transformed back to fighter mode i could clearly tell the tape had done its job. There was an indentation that could be seen on the tape on the sides of the cockpit. I pretty much tape all the black paint that is covered when going to battroid mode. Its not an elegant solution but it works and it cant really be seen in battroid. Some call me paranoid for this but id rather do that than have scratched paint.

thanks for the tip. i noticed you handle things with Mr. K's glove on. you really handle your stuff with professional care. i think anytime you sell your things, everyone knows it's practically brand new.

Edited April 10, 2014 by davidwhangchoi

[Actar]

Anyhoo, got mine from AmiAmi today and it's in perfect condition.

Edited April 10, 2014 by Actar

[anubis20]

lol

thanks for the tip. i noticed you handle things with Mr. K's glove on. you really handle your stuff with professional care. i think anytime you sell your things, everyone knows it's practically brand new.

Yup thats how I try to keep them. I hate scratches because once I see the defect, my eyes are automatically drawn to said defect and it bugs the hell out of me The gloves are for the fingerprints, cant remember who told me this when i was young but they said oil from your skin damages finishes and ive been paranoid since. Dont know if it was true or not but now its just hardwired into my brain

Edited April 10, 2014 by anubis20

[SuperSenpai]

Received my YF-19 this morning from HLJ. I had it sitting in Private Warehouse for a bit, and then requested it to ship on Monday morning, so it took about three days to get it via EMS. It was packaged in a shipper box with those big air-bubble cushions, but no bubble wrap. I didn't transform it or otherwise handle it too much, but I did open it to inspect for damage and for first impressions, since this is my first YF/VF-19-type valk. Thankfully, there was nothing broken, and I didn't notice any obvious scratches, gluing mishaps, or other blemishes. The only very minor thing I noticed was that were spots of oily residue here and there -- I'm told they use that as a releasing agent to get the parts out of the mold?

My first impressions are that it's a great-looking valk, with good heft, and feels solid. I do echo wmcheng in that I feel they should have done more pre-painted detail, especially for the price they are charging. Having taken a look at all the missiles and FP parts, I can honestly say that it's sort of nice that they included them, but truthfully having them was not that big a priority for me and I think in retrospect I would have been a lot happier if they had an option for a stand-alone valk release for about $100 cheaper. After seeing what Arcadia has done with the latest VF-1 and now this toy, I think I've arrived at the opinion that I'm one of those guys who'd rather save some money and just get a nice, solid, stand-alone valk with some basic accessories -- esp. "canon" accessories that get screen time, or something useful like a decent stand -- than pay a lot more money and get a lot of stuff I don't necessarily want. I'm still glad I got this one, since it's a nice valk and my first of this model, but if Arcadia's future releases are going to continue to include lots of extra accessories and exceed the $200 mark, I'm not sure that they'll be getting more of my business.

Edited April 10, 2014 by SuperSenpai

[eriku]

Well, after 7 days in transit via EMS... I finally got my hands on this toy. I agree with everything already said about this toy, but still am a bit disappointed, especially factoring the $300+ cdn price tag (in fact it was closer to $390cdn after shipping, I didn't get the Black Friday sale - but luckily I escaped customs or duties, so NY comes through again, although a bit late for charging a steep 5,400Y in EMS that took 7 days!). Luckily my copy is fine, no breakages yet. I have the non-aligning right tail fin (how did you correct that again? - the other one is fine) and one of my little gullet doors don't close flush (how was that corrected again... where was the excess glue? - these threads move so fast, I couldn't find the solution back 10 pages!) Maybe we could start a new thread or pin these corrections to the front of this thread (along with sanding the rear backpack as to not scratch the black paint). I'd just thought for such an expensive toy, we wouldn't have to make all these corrections right out of the box!

I am more critical of this toy because its a 50% increase in MSRP - I don't get a 50% increase in pay for doing nothing, I expect that much better quality or design. If it were a 5% increase or something geared to inflation, then I would expect the same quality as before. What if the cost of living just went up 50% - wouldn't people expect more or be more critical?

No denying its a beauty, but that's got more to do with the original K design.

I don't mind the plastic, its way better than the glossy finish which I think looks cheap & toylike IMHO. How come no one has mentioned the really low hanging down tilted gunpod, its almost touching the ground when the landing gears are out - if only the gears were a few milimeters taller. I find there is excessive gap on the back between back plate and intakes that really detracts from the aircraft mode - I was hoping that it was just mis-aligned, but it I see it in all the photos and now I see that its the design of the toy. Funny how some panels have a great tight flush fit like the little doors around the head, but you've got huge gaps at other areas. That collapsing side panels on the shield still creates a huge gap either side when they're extended - why create the collapsing panels when they don't even cover much when they are extended. It just seems unnecessarily complicated / over-engineered to the point that its more fragile than fun to transform. I wished there was a simpler canopy hinge that doesn't involve a partial transformation to just open or close the canopy or I really don't see why the tail fins needs that extra hinge to fold back that part, it really doesn't contribute to the look in anyway. Then on the opposite side of the coin, why not hinge the canards like the VF-4 instead of pulling them out and rotating them / a very non-elegant awkward (parts-former) solution. I just don't get it - what could the Arcadia engineers be thinking? The real lack of tampo printing really bothers me - especially when they chose to not include waterslide decals yet they do for their VF-1 releases. I have to give Bandai props for printing everything on the toy. Some panel lines are impossibly faint too (such as the grey stripes on the top).

Overall, I'm happy they revisited the YF-19 (I never bought the original because of the fat gullet) but I'm not overly impressed with Arcadia. I was hoping for a VF-4 quality toy from here on out, but I'd say its below Yamato VF-4 and SDF-1 around the VF-11 quality - maybe even below Bandai VF-25 renewals as at least they are fun to transform and have everything printed on them AND INCLUDES A STAND (excluding the pre-ordering fiasco!). I no longer have as high hopes for the VF-0D... which is too bad. I just hoped the first new Arcadia toy would just hit one out of the park! I think a lot of people are letting Arcadia off easy because they spent so much for a toy (people tend to like stuff just because they spent a lot of money on it, its like self justification) - I on the other hand feel overly critical because they thought they could charge so much for a toy of this level. I'm glad I didn't get more than one, I had thought to get 2 since I actually think they really improved the Battroid mode the most but I don't feel they deserve my second purchase. I am "satisfied" with my one copy and will display it in the "This is Animation" cover configuration after I had corrected it, with decals, light weathering and panel lining - I just really wanted to be "over-joyed" with it. I think THAT was my biggest disappointment.

That pretty well sums up my thoughts on the toy, too. It's pretty and it looks good standing there, but to me it doesn't feel like $300 well spent. I LOVE handling the VF-19 toys, but this YF-19 just has that fussy 'don't touch me' feel. I'm sure the VF-0D will be better considering it's a simpler transformation design.

[no3Ljm]

Just checked mine and yes!! You are right!!

The hinge on mine is stiff, I didn't know that the metal bar can actually slide towards the nose cone, after using some force, finally got it right!!

Thank you!!!

Cool! It's a little bit tricky doing that slide the torso thing, but it really does do the trick.

Here's the comparison I have from my previous post to the corrected one suggested by anime52k8.

so how do you transform it without the black paint on the sides of the cockpit getting scratched? i don't think i can file metal.

I just sand it using my regular model kit sand paper I used. Just enough for not to make contact on the cockpit area. I might do some thin sponge thing and tape it on the corner just for the cockpit to rest on it without touching the metal back. Funny at first because when I'm sanding it, I'm thinking how come it makes silver dust. Only to find out by tapping the back that it was not plastic but metal. Hehehe.

[Sandman]

I taped up the area and it was fine. When I transformed back to fighter mode i could clearly tell the tape had done its job. There was an indentation that could be seen on the tape on the sides of the cockpit. I pretty much tape all the black paint that is covered when going to battroid mode. Its not an elegant solution but it works and it cant really be seen in battroid. Some call me paranoid for this but id rather do that than have scratched paint.

I still haven't got mine. Has anyone been able to transform this thing without scratching the black paint on the cockpit sides? Or is this guaranteed to happen if you don't put tape there?

[no3Ljm]

Yup thats how I try to keep them. I hate scratches because once I see the defect, my eyes are automatically drawn to said defect and it bugs the hell out of me The gloves are for the fingerprints, cant remember who told me this when i was young but they said oil from your skin damages finishes and ive been paranoid since. Dont know if it was true or not but now its just hardwired into my brain

The glove thing is true. Especially when handling diecast toys.

[no3Ljm]

I still haven't got mine. Has anyone been able to transform this thing without scratching the black paint on the cockpit sides? Or is this guaranteed to happen if you don't put tape there?

It's guaranteed to happen since the metal part is closely rest on the side of the cockpit. It will happen sooner or later if you don't put protection at first since while transforming into battroid mode, the cockpit will tend to move inside a lot while you trying to put the nose cone and lock it to the torso. Remember by doing this, you need to put force on it. So that makes the rest of the cockpit shake at the back. It's not major shaking and all, but it will still touch it atleast. It happened to me, so I guess the best thing to do once you got yours is cover it with tape suggested by anubis20 or just sand that pointy metal thing. Hope that helps.

[Sandman]

That's disappointing. I have a hard time believing Arcadia didn't notice this in testing (if they do testing). After the VF-4 and VF-19, i was expecting as good quality as those two valks especially for the price.

[no3Ljm]

That's disappointing. I have a hard time believing Arcadia didn't notice this in testing (if they do testing). After the VF-4 and VF-19, i was expecting as good quality as those two valks especially for the price.

True. Sometimes I wonder if the price tag really delivers it all. I know I like their version of YF-19 now. (I don't have the previous 19 releases before.) But when I did researching on every releases Yamato made before I really can't believe Arcadia will release something with that price tag. I'm still trying to convince myself why did I bought this to think I could have bought 2 Hot Toys fig for that price. I mean detail wise Hot Toys got the edge. I know they're both different category but still the price and the misses it brings by Arcadia. Is it because they're trying to do a 1 exclusive valk a year with its limited initial run depends on who preordered that's why it costs more? Design and manufacturing-wise? And lower the price afterwards once demands went up for a second run? As a first time buyer like me of new releases, would I wait for the second run? Or gamble on first high-priced releases hoping that if Arcadia decided not to do 2nd printing, got the chance to avail the first time? I guess in the end that's the price we pay as a collector.

I mean they will not do it if no one will fall for it, right?

[Ignacio Ocamica]

or just sand that pointy metal thing. Hope that helps.

Do you have a picture of the pointy part? I should receive mine tomorrow and want to prevent the black paint from scrapping

[Mommar]

Hey anime52k8, could you post pics on how to tighten the ankle on the YF-19 for all of us? Thanks.

[aaajin]

I assumed they used a different model for promoting the figure. Hence, *Actual product may vary*. However, I did try transforming it again and see if I could swivel more the torso downward once the fuselage locks itself. But from what I see, it won't bulge anymore once everything is in place. Actually, what bothers me most is why the 2 sensors on his torso have some mold. First time I transformed it, I thought the cockpit flaps will rest on that mold, which technically, it fits the flaps. But according to the manual, those sensors should be inside (touching the side of the torso) and the flap covering some part of it. In which I pointed it out on the transforming video that I've uploaded recently.

Anyways, here's some photos I took regarding the torso concerns. Hope it helps.

Wouldn't be nice, Arcadia, if the figure is also as same as the prototype used for marketing.

Do you have a picture of the pointy part? I should receive mine tomorrow and want to prevent the black paint from scrapping

no3ljm showed them in his last photo circled in green

[Ignacio Ocamica]

Thanks, that last picture shows the pointy edges!!!!

[no3Ljm]

Oopps. Didn't see the previous post. Reply deleted. Sorry about that.

Edited April 10, 2014 by no3ljm

[Valkyrie2008]

Those who received their's from AmiAmi, didn't they offer SAL shipping, if so, how much?

[Chronocidal]

Oh, one thing I realized... I remember someone wishing the canards folded down like the VF-4, instead of rotating. That actually wouldn't work, because unles they rotate backwards so the sweep is in the opposite direction, they'd probably be interfering with the hip joints.