Bandai VF-19 Advance....!!!

[Chronocidal]

AlmostImpossiblyTight.jpg

Yeah, it is physically impossible for the leg packs to reach that high, unless they purposefully mis-transformed the entire thing to force them up in the air, or mis-mounted the leg packs at some screwy and impossible angle.

[mickyg]

Although when the planets are aligned, you pinch your nose, tap your left knee, spin around in a circle and jump on the spot not to mention actually transform the thing correctly then she does look pretty good for such a complicated transforming toy! So regardless of the dodgy box art credit should go out to where credit is due.. Bandai did a pretty darn good job i say!

Absolutely. But I do question the ethics in the box art images though.

Edited July 20, 2015 by mickyg

[Loop]

It seemed it was more than just the box art. The promo pics on the sites you order from also had these images.. Questionable ethics for sure.

Edited July 20, 2015 by Loop

[spanner]

Definitely the box art antics are rather unethical on Bandai's part. But yeah its still wrong and its them not being completely honest about there product towards their intended customers.. but the toy is pretty bloody good so its forgivable.

[ArchieNov]

So much nitpicking lately. From the nose marking to the promo pics. Bandai isn't the only one that has edited their promo pics before. A lot of toy companies have done it, and will probably continue to do so. In fact, I'm not sure if there's any company at all that hasn't done this sort of thing at one time or another. So no need to make it seem that Bandai is such an evil company.

And like spanner76 says, the resulting end product is still a really good toy. So I don't understand the constant need to look for little things to nitpick. Yes, it's good to be aware of the negatives, but these last few nitpicks feel like it's pushing it already.

[Brand-X]

It's one thing to edit your box art pics, it's borderline unethical to photoshop it to make it seem as if it can do things it can't, such as fit together tightly, or have a fighter mode without gaps between the shield and legs or legs and wings.

[mickyg]

I'm definitely nit-picking ArchieNov - without hesitation. But to put it in context, I stated a few pages ago that this is now my favourite Valk in the collection. So perhaps I should stress that again.

I'd have had no issues at all if the image on the box or the promo pics on the sites I visited showed the thing the way I have it. Even the gaps are no real issue, now that I've got the toy in-hand. It's just a surprise to see it depicted in a way that is simply not possible with the real toy.

Yes, I know other toy companies do it as well. Doesn't make it any more right.

And as far as I know, most boxes have text that says something along the lines of "Pictures show a preproduction sample and the contents my not match..." I have to admit, I always thought this meant paint applications. But in this day of rapid prototyping, I suppose that could cover all manner of design changes.

Unless companies start putting production sample art on boxes and promo shots on the sites you purchase from, I guess this is going to be the norm. And furthermore, if they did, it would likely push the production release times out a lot longer.

TL-DR: I love this toy - just wish they'd been more honest with the box art and promo pics.

[F360]

not that I want to side with Bandai or anything, and it would be great if my VF-19 advance looks like what's shown in the pic but the end result is still pretty damd good.

ALSO, Bandai did put a disclaimer on ALL of those photo in question on their website, not sure if you guys notice but it's there on the bottom of every photo.

"these pictures is for illustrative purpose only"

http://tamashii.jp/item/10905/

meaning = The images may not perfectly or accurately depict a realistic object or process. The illustration is purposely designed to demonstrate a principle or sequence of steps so that the viewer better understands what is going on.

Details may be simplified or omitted, scale may be exaggerated, etc. Which means that the image is doesn't depict reality or endorsement, but is only used for beautifying the pages of book or website that the image is being used on.

on AMIAMI they have this disclaimer on the VF-19 advance pic too *Photos are of a prototype and the actual product may differ. "

and to my surprise it's still available, you can still buy it , lol , did amiami gotten another batch? when they received their DX Chogokin YF-29B Percival .

http://www.amiami.com/top/detail/detail?gcode=FIGURE-009634

Edited July 20, 2015 by F360

[spanner]

Yeah i guess it can be seen as nit picking but as Brand-X said it is in a way false advertising. But i guess most companies do it and its never too far off from the end product so most just either ignore the fact or arent even aware of it. Personally I dont like how the whole Valk feels and holds together when the leg bits are on so it doesn't bother me so much but if i thought otherwise about it and still couldn't match the box art then I'd be a little pissed about it.

[Chronocidal]

I think this is less about nit-picking the toy, and more about nit-picking Bandai's processes. I honestly don't care about the box, or the wrong markings on the nose, because the toy is awesome regardless.

What I do wish is that Bandai would get with it, and actually attempt to do things correctly, instead of passing it off thinking that no one will notice.

I mean, they're trying to appease aircraft otaku. I don't know how picky Gundam fans typically get, but Gundams don't have a real life counterpart to use any reference for. Aircraft do, and Bandai in the past has seemed to have an immense inability to grasp the kind of realistic details collectors tend to expect in a high end collectible aircraft.

You can't say it's for lack of reference material, with all the detailed drawings Kawamori puts out. Heck, 10 minutes glancing at an aircraft modeling book, or even just google searching aircraft photos would be a good start. Bandai just doesn't seem to want to go to those lengths.

[Sildani]

Nope. I think Bandai puts each Valkyrie through a cost/benefit analysis, and designs each one to a budget. As soon as it gets close to that budget, they stop and do the rest as cheaply as they can to come in under that budget. They then produce as many as they think will sell, no more, and that's that. They take their profit from that batch and leave the table.

I'm pretty sure they do it that way because 1) Macross isn't the most popular anime out there, 2) They know they're the only game in town for the Macross fan, 3) they looked at Yamato, say how many of their Valkyries were shelf-warmers, and said to themselves: "Nope. Not that. Not us."

Finally, I could be wrong, but it seems like Bandai sells every Gundam they ever make, in whatever iteration they make it in. How many times has the RX-78 been redesigned and re-released? How many Unicorn Rainbow Sparkle Unobtainium HX!! have been made?

How many of you guys have bought them all? 😉

[mickyg]

A fair assessment, Sildani. And at the end of the day, if it's working for them, then more power to them. They are producing a product that we want and were buying it. And you cannot say the product isn't improving with each new release, even if there are still "what on earth where they thinking" moments with each new release.

I would love to know what the numbers are in terms of "x produced, vs x that could sell" actually is. We may think it's staggering, but in actuality, maybe they make 10,000 in a production run, in a perfect world, they sell out, and 200 fans didn't get one. If that were the case, those are pretty good numbers. And the "loss" if you want to call it that, of that 200 that didn't get one, well that's just business.

Straying way off topic obviously.

I wonder how many if the VF-19ADV were produced? I wonder if that number is published anywhere? Any shareholders?

[spanner]

Id say at least 10,000 to 30,000 the absolute maximum. Any less and they risk not making a decent return and any more they risk them shelf warming.. and when i say "they" i mean the resellers. Bandai would sell/allocate the lot to its distributors and then walk the other way. The risk to Bandai would be resellers refusing to accept them knowing that they might not sell out and be stuck with left over stock that they'll have to heavily discount in order to move. Id also imagine that Bandai would get feedback from its resellers regarding sales patterns and set a manufacturing volume accordingly. I might be wrong about all of it but to me it seems logical.

Edited July 20, 2015 by spanner76

[chyll2]

my FromJapan Account has been banned but fortunately, I got a refund for my paid PO for VF-19 advance, though the price now has really increased, does anyone know where I can get one that is close to SRP that allows under-value the price? Preferably from Asian region

[Roanstalker]

my FromJapan Account has been banned but fortunately, I got a refund for my paid PO for VF-19 advance, though the price now has really increased, does anyone know where I can get one that is close to SRP that allows under-value the price? Preferably from Asian region

What did you do to get banned?

[Loop]

He most likely cancelled his order. Some of the sites in Asia can be harsh when you cancel orders.

[chyll2]

What did you do to get banned?

He most likely cancelled his order. Some of the sites in Asia can be harsh when you cancel orders.

Loop is correct, most of the asian site dont really take it well. Fromjapan has failed to deliver the item I ordered due to dependency. They want me to wait for FOREVER and cant give me definite time so I raised a dispute.

In my panic

[Roanstalker]

Loop is correct, most of the asian site dont really take it well. Fromjapan has failed to deliver the item I ordered due to dependency. They want me to wait for FOREVER and cant give me definite time so I raised a dispute.

In my panic

Oh that sucks. Was it through an online store or a preorder on yahoo auctions? At least they did refund you though. You're right it has risen. Even a starting bid of 22600 has now gone up to 29000. Yikes.

[Loop]

Oh that's the other thing, they accept PayPal but don't want to play by the PayPal rules. So if you do submit a dispute, 9 times out of 10 your account is blacklisted.

[VF5SS]

Sorry to keep you waiting, here is my full text review.

http://www.collectiondx.com/toy_review/2015/vf19_advance

[no3Ljm]

Sorry to keep you waiting, here is my full text review.

http://www.collectiondx.com/toy_review/2015/vf19_advance

Great review Veef!

[valhary]

great review like always

my only complain that in future repaint I hope fix the tampo on the intake part

[ArchieNov]

LOL it's like a police line-up. So who's the perpetrator??

[Loop]

great review like always

my only complain that in future repaint I hope fix the tampo on the intake part

I also pointed that out in a previous post. I don't get why they put it inside of the diamond shape.

[spanner]

LOL it's like a police line-up. So who's the perpetrator??

Haha! The guy on the very left! He's guilty of being really cool!

[mickyg]

I also pointed that out in a previous post. I don't get why they put it inside of the diamond shape.

They can be found on the real thing like this too (F/A-18 as an example):

[Loop]

The difference is that the F/A-18 says "Jet Intake" on the triangle and then the one in the center of the triangle says "Danger"

I thought the VF-19A says "Danger Intake" on the triangle and then says "Danger" in the center of the triangle. Seems super redundant to me... The one you posted makes much more sense.

Edited July 21, 2015 by Loop

[Chronocidal]

Remember, this is Bandai making aircraft warning markings. I wouldn't expect much past looking pretty at a glance.

They also slapped a "DO NOT TOUCH" on the side of the intake in the middle of a blank panel, "ACCESS PANEL INSIDE" in a few assorted places including some random screw cover panels, the knee joint, below the canards, and on every hardpoint, "DANGER" markings all over the shoulder packs which don't actually seem to indicate anything dangerous (except maybe the jagged edges?), and enough jack stand marking points to support a B-52.

I'd personally also like to know what a "GUN HOLDBACK INDICATOR" is.. especially as it pertains to a directed energy weapon.

[Loop]

I don't know Valhary's source of that markings image, but I prefer it over the mass markings on this one. Still glad I got 2 of em . I still hold to 1/3rd less markings would have been an improvement. They also went crazy on the nose with tampos. I think in some pics I also saw some that said "Step" on the back of the fighter somewhere.

Edited July 21, 2015 by Loop

[Bunneh]

https://www.google.com/search?q=gun+holdback+indicator&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8#q=fighter+aircraft+gun+holdback+indicator

I looked this up as well. At first I thought it was a warning light indicator for some type of jam or weapons malfunction light. It seems from the document I found seems to be some kind of manual safety pin which needs to be removed before flight. Apparently a real world application, like the 'remove before flight' red tags.

[Loop]

One day I will get one of them opened up to really see them all.

[mickyg]

https://www.google.com/search?q=gun+holdback+indicator&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8#q=fighter+aircraft+gun+holdback+indicator

I looked this up as well. At first I thought it was a warning light indicator for some type of jam or weapons malfunction light. It seems from the document I found seems to be some kind of manual safety pin which needs to be removed before flight. Apparently a real world application, like the 'remove before flight' red tags.

It's usually a visual indicator that the gun is "safed" and not electrically connected to a power source. Very good thing when an aircraft is on the ground and maintenance is being performed.

[VF5SS]

Remember, this is Bandai making aircraft warning markings. I wouldn't expect much past looking pretty at a glance.

Tenjin oversaw the markings.

[wm cheng]

Tenjin oversaw the markings.

Yeah, I don't think that's saying much - he's an artist, not an aircraft mechanic (hopefully an aircraft enthusiast). I deal with concept artists all the time that are amazing painters, but nothing makes sense because the creedo is; "...as long as it looks cool!" In fact, most of these markings are jibberish for their main audience who are Japanese, its just some interesting gak that makes it look a little more "complicated". I'm just glad Bandai spent the effort, it really makes the Arcadia offerings so bare and sparse.

[mickyg]

Yeah, I have to admit, even if some of it is non-sensical, and in some cases, downright silly, from a few feet away it looks awesome to see that there's "stuff" there. And I'm an aircraft nut!