Arcadia 1/60 Perfect Transformation VF-0D for 2015

[Corrinald]

56 minutes ago, ErikElvis said:

Just ordered number 2. It was between this and a 1/4 scale spike spiegel figure. 

Nice! Where did you order it from?

[ErikElvis]

3 hours ago, Corrinald said:

Nice! Where did you order it from?

Good ol NY.  Hope it ships soon. 

[kkx]

18 minutes ago, ErikElvis said:

Good ol NY.  Hope it ships soon. 

Please let us know. I wonder, for item in stock (assuming that is indeed that case, you never really know with NY) and no "switching shipping" shenanigan, how long does NY ship things out.

[TheLoneWolf]

2 hours ago, kkx said:

Please let us know. I wonder, for item in stock (assuming that is indeed that case, you never really know with NY) and no "switching shipping" shenanigan, how long does NY ship things out.

For what it's worth, I ordered a PF VF-0D on 6/29 and paid for UPS shipping. It arrived on 7/2.

edit: And to confirm, it was from NY.

Edited July 14, 2020 by TheLoneWolf

[spanner]

43 minutes ago, TheLoneWolf said:

For what it's worth, I ordered a PF VF-0D on 6/29 and paid for UPS shipping. It arrived on 7/2.

edit: And to confirm, it was from NY.

Seriously....

[spanner]

9 hours ago, rdrunner said:

Haha, thanks, good to know there are other Family Guy fans here!

I think my repeated postings about NY may have caught their attention on MWF, and they finally sent instructions on how to submit (yet another) ticket to request a change in shipping method.  Finally received my 0D PF by UPS yesterday. 

Mine left Japan but has now been stuck in Shenzhen for two days.. the UPS tracking info says the shipment has been "delayed" ffs..

 

[TheLoneWolf]

40 minutes ago, spanner said:

Seriously....

Literally my reaction the day it arrived

[easnoddy]

They must not think much of all their preorder business. 

[ErikElvis]

6 hours ago, kkx said:

Please let us know. I wonder, for item in stock (assuming that is indeed that case, you never really know with NY) and no "switching shipping" shenanigan, how long does NY ship things out.

Notified that it was apparently shipped. I mean for $90 shipping it better get shipped quick. 

[kkx]

5 hours ago, TheLoneWolf said:

For what it's worth, I ordered a PF VF-0D on 6/29 and paid for UPS shipping. It arrived on 7/2.

edit: And to confirm, it was from NY.

 

9 minutes ago, ErikElvis said:

Notified that it was apparently shipped. I mean for $90 shipping it better get shipped quick. 

Nice. They do have stock at hand. Thanks for letting us know.

[MacrossJunkie]

Got my 0D from NY on Monday. Just opened it up. I'm not sure how I feel about the weathering as the official pictures and what they had displayed at shows looked a lot better, but I guess it's about what one should expect from a mass produced toy. 

[ErikElvis]

14 hours ago, ErikElvis said:

Just ordered number 2. It was between this and a 1/4 scale spike spiegel figure. 

Ordered the spike anyway. Hope the gf doesn’t find out. Might get a touch pissed. 

[DYRL VF-1S]

8 hours ago, MacrossJunkie said:

Got my 0D from NY on Monday. Just opened it up. I'm not sure how I feel about the weathering as the official pictures and what they had displayed at shows looked a lot better, but I guess it's about what one should expect from a mass produced toy. 

Even though they were mass produced, they were still hand-custom on the weathering and detail.  So each one, in theory, should look a little different.

[MacrossJunkie]

47 minutes ago, DYRL VF-1S said:

Even though they were mass produced, they were still hand-custom on the weathering and detail.  So each one, in theory, should look a little different.

Which actually makes it worse, but they probably didn't/couldn't spend a whole lot of time on each one. We're probably talking about factory workers just being told what to do and not having people who have skill in custom weathering handle this.  There are some areas that look particularly bad like the near solid black "streaks" on the air brake that are actually nearly non-existent at the point of origin and ending in a black pointed blob at the end away from the hole. They didn't even bother to wipe the touch points where they touched the brush to the panel lines to let the fluid flow through the panel lines so there's these round little touch points all over.  You could probably argue that some of it is part of the weathering, but the way it looks, it seems less intentional and more like lack of care. Oh well, perhaps I'll just end up trying to fix it myself if I have the time and inclination to, though that can quickly turn into a nightmare trying to fix mistakes on already weathered toys.

[easnoddy]

0D arrived.  How TF do you guys open the rear landing gear doors?  There are no gaps...why? 

[kkx]

43 minutes ago, MacrossJunkie said:

Which actually makes it worse, but they probably didn't/couldn't spend a whole lot of time on each one. We're probably talking about factory workers just being told what to do and not having people who have skill in custom weathering handle this.  There are some areas that look particularly bad like the near solid black "streaks" on the air brake that are actually nearly non-existent at the point of origin and ending in a black pointed blob at the end away from the hole. They didn't even bother to wipe the touch points where they touched the brush to the panel lines to let the fluid flow through the panel lines so there's these round little touch points all over.  You could probably argue that some of it is part of the weathering, but the way it looks, it seems less intentional and more like lack of care. Oh well, perhaps I'll just end up trying to fix it myself if I have the time and inclination to, though that can quickly turn into a nightmare trying to fix mistakes on already weathered toys.

I share you feeling after looking at online review and photos. If the price is not so high, this might not be such a big deal. But I am not that forgiving of the "mass production issue" if I have to pay near to half a grand.

[Chronocidal]

Yeah, I'll wait for one molded in the proper color without "custom" weathering.  Not that I expected much more than what was described there, but that just reinforces the idea that the price point was incredibly overblown.

[Grey728]

24 minutes ago, easnoddy said:

0D arrived.  How TF do you guys open the rear landing gear doors?  There are no gaps...why? 

I usually use a toothpick. I push one door down which gives me enough space to fit a toothpick in there to fish the other door open.

[MacrossJunkie]

11 minutes ago, easnoddy said:

0D arrived.  How TF do you guys open the rear landing gear doors?  There are no gaps...why? 

The way I do it is I push down on the larger of the two doors a bit. Enough for me to pick at the smaller door with a fingernail and lift it up. After that, the big door is no problem.

4 minutes ago, Chronocidal said:

Yeah, I'll wait for one molded in the proper color without "custom" weathering.  Not that I expected much more than what was described there, but that just reinforces the idea that the price point was incredibly overblown.

I too liked it initially for the better color than the ridiculous choice they went with for the first release. I naively thought that they could achieve what they showed in the official pics and the ones on display in the toy shows, but that was just wishful thinking. I'd have preferred if they just did the tampo printing (that's where most of the extra price went anyway if we're going by past PF releases that just had tampo prints added and no weathering).  I hate straining my eyes and trying to cut out stickers perfectly and also try to perfectly align and place them so having it all done ahead of time like the Bandai releases would have been a godsend. I'm not going to complain that the price for a more complete tampo printed toy from Arcadia costs more than a Bandai DX release which all come fully tampo printed out of the box. The size of the two companies just can't be compared after all. It is what it is and I was willing to pay the premium for the tampo printing done on the premium finish. After receiving it and seeing for myself how it looks, I just wish they left out the half arsed weathering which wasn't really needed if they couldn't do it properly. I didn't pay attention to their past weathered releases, but now that I look at pics of them, they were comically bad too. Either far too heavy or looked like it was done by someone who had 40 cups of coffee in the span of two hours.

[easnoddy]

7 minutes ago, Grey728 said:

I usually use a toothpick. I push one door down which gives me enough space to fit a toothpick in there to fish the other door open.

Pushing down one door did the trick, thanks!  Such a PITA on all modern valkyries.  I like the SV-51 where there is a piece to remove giving you access to the doors.

[sqidd]

2 hours ago, Chronocidal said:

Yeah, I'll wait for one molded in the proper color without "custom" weathering.  Not that I expected much more than what was described there, but that just reinforces the idea that the price point was incredibly overblown.

Too early to tell. If they come down in price at some point you're correct. If the price stays the same or goes up, you're incorrect. Economics 101.

[F360]

3 hours ago, Chronocidal said:

Yeah, I'll wait for one molded in the proper color without "custom" weathering.  Not that I expected much more than what was described there, but that just reinforces the idea that the price point was incredibly overblown.

The original MSRP for the VF-OD normal version without "custom" weathering or tampo was 40480 yen in 2015.  

3 hours ago, kkx said:

I share you feeling after looking at online review and photos. If the price is not so high, this might not be such a big deal. But I am not that forgiving of the "mass production issue" if I have to pay near to half a grand.

The original MSRP for the VF-OD  is already 40480 yen.   This PF ver is 44990 yen.   The price is not that much higher.  For me, just the printed on tampo in enough for me to get the Premium ver.  ( I hate their stickers) 

 

[MacrossJunkie]

15 minutes ago, F360 said:

The original MSRP for the VF-OD normal version without "custom" weathering or tampo was 40480 yen in 2015.  

The original MSRP for the VF-OD  is already 40480 yen.   This PF ver is 44990 yen.   The price is not that much higher.  For me, just the printed on tampo in enough for me to get the Premium ver.  ( I hate their stickers) 

 

It was a lot less than ¥40,480. I looked at my order receipt for the VF-0D from HLJ from back in 2014 and it showed ¥33,120, not including shipping.

[F360]

46 minutes ago, MacrossJunkie said:

It was a lot less than ¥40,480. I looked at my order receipt for the VF-0D from HLJ from back in 2014 and it showed ¥33,120, not including shipping.

ah. you are right.   I was just looking from Arcadia website for the msrp.   https://arcadia.ac/products/detail.php?product_id=201

But yeah. it around 33000 yen from the regular stores at the time sounds about right..  Preorder discount? 

correction about 10,000 yen difference 

 

[funkymonkeyjavajunky]

57 minutes ago, MacrossJunkie said:

It was a lot less than ¥40,480. I looked at my order receipt for the VF-0D from HLJ from back in 2014 and it showed ¥33,120, not including shipping.

I paid 31,400 (and 4,000 shipping) from Ami Ami.

Edited July 15, 2020 by funkymonkeyjavajunky

[jenius]

You guys know I keep the release schedule right? BOOM:

VF-0D Shin Kudo Custom, February 25, 2015 36,800 YEN
VF-0A Shin Kudo Custom, August 28, 2015, 34,800 YEN
VF-0S Roy Focker Custom, December 25, 2015, 34,800 YEN
VF-0S Roy Focker Custom “Premium Finish”, 41,904 Yen (tax included)

Anybody know the shortcut for the symbol "after tax yen"? I know alt0165 for ¥

Edited July 15, 2020 by jenius

[MacrossJunkie]

There's a separate symbol for after tax yen? I had no idea. I can't recall ever seeing it either.

I tried googling it to see what it looked like but can't find anything about it.

[Slave IV]

People always compare tampo printing as the deciding factor on price point. What about the fact that proper Arcadia Valks line up and tab together almost perfectly. Bandai had over 30 years of VF-1 toy development to study and they still can’t get the wings to line up straight. I like both but to me, Arcadia is still on a higher level of materials fit and finish.

[Sanity is Optional]

Wings line up fine on all 6 of my DX VF-1s...

[Slave IV]

17 minutes ago, Sanity is Optional said:

Wings line up fine on all 6 of my DX VF-1s...

Impressive. I don’t think I’ve ever seen pictures of DX VF-1 wings that line up cleanly and solidly without some massaging. 

[spanner]

The frustration continues.. 5th day stuck in Shenzhen China and UPS cannot give me any information and when I asked to speak to a supervisor I got hung up on.. 

They claim they are overwhelmed with freight and there are limited flights going from China to Australia which I find curious as how come DHL can deliver from Japan to Australia in 3 days and not experience the same issues.

I swear this Valkyrie is cursed.. delayed release date, jump through hoops to get NY to actually ship the bloody thing and now this!

It's gonna have to be the best Valkyrie ever released for it to be worth it.. 

[Chronocidal]

On 7/15/2020 at 10:38 PM, Sanity is Optional said:

Wings line up fine on all 6 of my DX VF-1s...

The wings might line up, but all of mine have sloppy arm/backpack/leg alignment, and nothing locks together anywhere as well as the old Yamato molds, especially with the goofy vertical pegs that seem completely incapable of holding up the legs and arms.  Bandai couldn't get this right on the HMR either, with the arms being too tall, or the backpack being slightly oversized, or the legs having to twist to meet the locking tabs.  They just cannot seem to make a VF-1 that lines up and snaps together solidly.

They're -pretty-.. but they just aren't incredibly solid, not in comparison to the Yamatos, and I find myself picking the old 1/60s up to swoosh around far more often, because I don't have to push something back into alignment every time I look at them funny.  I really do think the Bandai ones are more display models than toys.  That's not really a -bad- thing, it's just reality.

Edited July 17, 2020 by Chronocidal

[Slave IV]

14 minutes ago, Chronocidal said:

The wings might line up, but all of mine have sloppy arm/backpack/leg alignment, and nothing locks together anywhere as well as the old Yamato molds, especially with the goofy vertical pegs that seem completely incapable of holding up the legs and arms.  Bandai couldn't get this right on the HMR either, with the arms being too tall, or the backpack being slightly oversized, or the legs having to twist to meet the locking tabs.  They just cannot seem to make a VF-1 that snaps together solidly.

They're -pretty-.. but they just aren't very solid, not in comparison to the Yamatos, and find myself picking the old 1/60s up to swoosh around far more often, because I don't have to push something back into alignment every time I look at them funny.  I really do think the Bandai ones are more display models than toys.

Yeah, I don’t find the DX to be quite as bad as what you are saying but the overall point I originally was making is Yamato/Arcadia Valks lock together solidly and cleanly in all modes and that is worth more than some tampos to me. It should certainly be a more important point of determining value at least.

[Sanity is Optional]

Personally I'm the opposite. I much prefer to transform the DX compared to my Arcadia valks. Feels more sturdy, much more poseable.

Did you make sure you pushed the legs all the way onto the pegs? They do snap into place flush (well, 1mm gap) and the backpack/arms/legs all fit pretty solidly once that's sorted.

[Chronocidal]

 

1 hour ago, Sanity is Optional said:

Personally I'm the opposite. I much prefer to transform the DX compared to my Arcadia valks. Feels more sturdy, much more poseable.

Did you make sure you pushed the legs all the way onto the pegs? They do snap into place flush (well, 1mm gap) and the backpack/arms/legs all fit pretty solidly once that's sorted.

One caveat I realized I didn't mention, I'm talking about things locking together with the fast packs on.  Those just don't fit well, and turn the DX into a display model, for the most part.

I have pushed on the leg packs and arms until I am blue in the face.  They do not go all the way on, and no, there are no snaps involved.  The fact that there is a gap involved means they either flubbed the design and put the snap in the wrong place, or there isn't a snap at all.  Based on my experience, they're held on by nothing but friction.  I can dislodge anything very easily if I put any pressure on it.  Hope you don't like half-gerwalk, because pulling down the legs removes the majority of support for the arms on their tabs.

I'm still probably being overly harsh on them.  They do still hold together, at least mostly as well as the old Yamato 1/48ths.  They just don't snap together even remotely as well as the 1/60 Yamatos.  Maybe Bandai didn't want to plagiarize, but this is one case they literally should have, because they developed an inferior design.

What bothers me about it though is that it reminds me of the way Bandai made the v.1 VF-25s.  Nothing about those locked together solidly, and when it came to the fast packs, the design actually depended on the attachments being sloppy as hell.  The super packs only fit on the legs because the legs would slop around so much that dropping the knee joint wasn't necessary.

The vertical pegs "holding up" the legs and arms are the same sort of "good enough" solution.  Nothing locks together, you just have to push and shove stuff until it sticks, and pray gravity doesn't pull things out of alignment.  I've never even gotten the legs and arms fully seated on those pegs, which screams two very disappointing words to me: sloppy design.  The fact that I can't get the legs and arms to actually fit onto the pegs meant to hold them means that the molding and design were not precise enough to do so.

The fact that they're straight vertical pegs fighting against gravity is just stupid design.

Edited July 17, 2020 by Chronocidal