Bandai DX VF-31

[dero]

Considering the armour packs which came and were so very well integrated and presented for the 25s and 29, it's surprising how disjointed and out of place they look on the 31.  

This I say also that the Valkyrie looks so amazing and so well designed.  The armour packs seem so much afterthought.  Such a miss.  SDF and Frontier they used armour packs pretty regularly throughout the series, the Valkyries just almost beg to be bought with them.  Delta to me will be likely an armour pack free zone.

[seti88]

Maybe i m used to looking at an armored pack more akin to accompanying firepower with the armor like the GBP, RA, VF25 armored versions. To me delta valk's seem akin to fast /super(?) packs..Its a love-hate relationship on the add-on packs esp on the 31 fighter mode.

Battroid mode is beefier tho and i thk battroid complements the souped up 262's battroids with their packs.. still i would like for kawamori-san to have tried designing packs with more firepower..Maybe the all dancing valk was in his mind, but even that didnt quite materialise...

Edited January 9, 2017 by seti88

[sh9000]

Wow NY had a good price again but only limited to 1 this time.

[enphily]

"Naked VF-31 so beautiful, like a princess. WIth super pack it's brutal like a knight"(c) my female bro (i don't know how to name our relationships)

So, i want VF-31J with super pack and naked VF-31C (or conversely )

Edited January 9, 2017 by enphily

[chyll2]

Speaking of Super, I do think all of the parts are nicely integrated or complements the overall design, EXCEPT FOR THAT BOOSTER

[enphily]

9 minutes ago, chyll2 said:

Speaking of Super, I do think all of the parts are nicely integrated or complements the overall design, EXCEPT FOR THAT BOOSTER

Yes, boosters are terrible. And it's so overpriced too  

[Moosey]

3 hours ago, Shukenzero said:

How popular is Mirage vs Messer? If Messer is the more popular of the two, then Mirage shouldn't be a huge mission to get. I just hope the VF-31A is online exclusive, but given the past releases, it's unlikely. I just hope the valks can all be released asap. I don't want to be drip fed over three years to complete the collection. 

True, could be another bunfight (probably will be) 

I would benefit significantly by NOT having to work when they goes on sale (no internet at work)

The -31F went up for preorder what 2-3 weeks after -31J?

So Arad's bird goes up for preorder in the first week or two of May, then we get another in September and January again for the 5th of Delta squadron. So by my (super-advanced) Man maths, the -31A should go up for pre-order first week of May 2018!

[seti88]

This fed my valk addiction a lil bit ...

 

[ArchieNov]

8 hours ago, Duymon said:

because people kept Preordering "Safeties" at higher prices and then cancelled when they got cheaper ones near release

 

7 hours ago, Sandman said:

I think people were abandoning their preorders when bandai started releasing more stock on release day. Starting with the vf-171 CF, there started to be stock available on day of release. I remember this well cause i had 3 171s at ny for $200US a pop. On release day it was easy to get them at normal msp which i think was $140US. I actually honoured my preorders but i was sour about it. That was an $180 loss for me. And that continued to happen on each new release until finally they stopped doing that altogether starting with the VF-19Advance release. I missed that preorder but wasn't worried. Figured n-y would open up another batch before release. They never did which got me in a panic but i was able to snag one around release. I bet you anything that they were getting mass non-payments on their preorders and they said frakk it.
 

Edit - I see Duymon beat to this response in a more concise way.

If this is indeed the case, then it was something I had been warning people about years ago. I complained back then about how people were making preorders with N-Y only to not honor and cancel them later on once they found a cheaper deal somewhere else. I warned that if they kept doing stuff like that, eventually N-Y won't think it's worth it to secure additional stock from other retailers in order to increase preorder availability. 

 

[no3Ljm]

1 hour ago, ArchieNov said:

If this is indeed the case, then it was something I had been warning people about years ago. I complained back then about how people were making preorders with N-Y only to not honor and cancel them later on once they found a cheaper deal somewhere else. I warned that if they kept doing stuff like that, eventually N-Y won't think it's worth it to secure additional stock from other retailers in order to increase preorder availability. 

Then probably this is also one of the factors why Nippon-Yasan jack a price afterwards. If you're serious about this order, then you have to pay for it.

 

[Chronocidal]

Well, also remember the shenanigans Bandai puts shops through to procure stock.  They force retailers to buy tons of their lower ticket items before they're "allowed" to buy the fancier DX releases.

I don't know if this applies the same way to online shops as brick and mortar stores, but if NY decided it wasn't worth it to stock so many of Bandai's products, they might've been locked out of more stock.

They haven't really done their series of incremental price increases for a long time.  I'm probably going to end up paying too much on the back end for Mirage once hers gets released, since I want at least a pair.

[Sandman]

16 minutes ago, no3Ljm said:

Then probably this is also one of the factors why Nippon-Yasan jack a price afterwards. If you're serious about this order, then you have to pay for it.

 

They don't jack  the price as high as they used to. I paid $300US for the fokker yf-29 when it was first released. It was almost double the msp. It doesn't even cost that in aftermarket prices. This is what they charged for a preorder. I can't believe i paid that but back then we didn't have the choices we do now.

[Axelay]

I am absolutely fine with paying in full up front for a pre-order so long as I have some confidence that I will receive what I ordered. Knock on wood, but I've not been burned in this way by any sizable retailer yet.

[David Hingtgen]

16 hours ago, Bullet_Sponge said:

Lets say i knew a guy that was able to get their hands on a few of these.  They run a retailer in the states but are not allowed to sell them on their site.   

 

How many of you would be interested?

(The price would be competitive but not as cheap as HLJ preorder window, but CHEAPER than post release NY)

I'll be interested in Mirage's, whenever that may be. 

[ArchieNov]

37 minutes ago, Chronocidal said:

Well, also remember the shenanigans Bandai puts shops through to procure stock.  They force retailers to buy tons of their lower ticket items before they're "allowed" to buy the fancier DX releases.

I don't know if this applies the same way to online shops as brick and mortar stores, but if NY decided it wasn't worth it to stock so many of Bandai's products, they might've been locked out of more stock.

I wouldn't think that applies here (though I do remember this being brought up before). I believe we came to the conclusion that N-Y was able to have a higher number of preorders available not by securing more stock from Bandai, but by getting them from other retailers (possibly brick and mortar stores) and reselling them on their site. If I'm not mistaken, someone was able to prove this because one of his DX orders from N-Y still had the price label attached to it from the other store. It would make a lot of sense then for N-Y to increase the prices for succeeding batches because they were probably also buying them from these retailers at more than wholesale distributor prices. Add to that the cost of logistics as well.

And I don't know why N-Y still has the rep of being a scalper up to this day. It has been proven time and time again that N-Y usually offers the best prices for their initial stock compared to other online retailers. And they have also shown that sometimes when they open more preorders, the price doesn't increase from the previous batch (or even goes down at times). This is additional proof that they're basing their pricing more on how much it cost them to acquire the items rather than just marking them up unreasonably.

Anyway, I'm sad that N-Y is no longer able to be my main site for preordering these DX valks since they no longer open up more after the inital stock is gone. Fortunately, it seems Amiami is starting to fill that role now. Not sure though how they manage to secure their additional preorder stock.

[Slave IV]

Interesting people are talking crap about NY when they consistently offer the lowest initial preorder prices. They don't have to do so, especially when they are usually the last to list items but they still give the lowest price. Everyone sells out in seconds for these things so that's not their problem if you weren't able to get their initial offer. What happens after the preorder stock sells out is just up to the market.

Edit: I see ArchieNov just posted pretty much the same thing.

[Chronocidal]

It's only recently that NY has had the best prices at initial preorder, they used to be somewhere in the middle of the pack (and their faster shipping rates are still pretty excessive).  Amiami tended to have the lowest prices for the Frontier releases.

NY has a reputation for marking things up significantly later on, gradually increasing prices, but it's not like they don't have a good reason to do it.  If they're buying up things from other shops to sell online, then their prices are going to reflect the cost to buy them.

What I wonder is if NY employees have been blacklisted from other local shops for reselling online.  Would explain why they seem to have so much less stock the past year or so.

Anyway, two comments about the actual VF-31 though.. not significant problems, but minor annoyances that I'm curious if anyone else sees.

First, it seems like my ankle cuffs don't want to stay on.  Maybe it's the angle they're getting pressure from, but they seem to pop off any time I extend or collapse the ankles.

Second, anyone else noticing.. just thin paint, I guess?  I've barely transformed mine one or two times, but the blue paint on the intakes is wearing off just from handling.  Anyone have a good paint match to touch those up with?

Edited January 9, 2017 by Chronocidal

[ArchieNov]

I think MacrossJunkie was able to match the blue paint successfully. He may be able to help you.

Edit: Found his post

 

Edited January 9, 2017 by ArchieNov

[Raptor One]

7 hours ago, seti88 said:

In the series at one of the asteroid episodes, where we first saw the 31A depoyed in gerwalk...i do not remember any missile etc configs...its the same charger pod and there was nothing different in the 31A load-outs......*correct me if am wrong tho...

Yea I remember the in-series model of the 31A having the same configuration as the Delta Platoon valks, but according to official materials the 31A is supposed to have a missile pod in place of the charger pod and additional armament in the legs in place of the multidrones

[Mommar]

I tried to shave down a bit of the peg/square hole on the right wing of my 31 to see if I could get it to fit better and that still didn't solve my issue with the wing not completely folding up like on the left side.  It's as if there's something blocking it but I just can't tell what is doing it.

[Chronocidal]

Given how many parts are in that hinge, it could be some untrimmed plastic on the inside of it too.  I know the gray internal piece on one of my wings has a sprue-mark on it from what it was cut loose, and there's a bit of a bump there, but it's not enough to misalign my wings.  Are the edges clear where they meet up?

Also, thanks for that link to the painting post.  I haven't lost enough to make it worth redoing yet, but I was startled at how easily the paint just rubbed off.

[Mommar]

2 minutes ago, Chronocidal said:

Given how many parts are in that hinge, it could be some untrimmed plastic on the inside of it too.  I know the gray internal piece on one of my wings has a sprue-mark on it from what it was cut loose, and there's a bit of a bump there, but it's not enough to misalign my wings.  Are the edges clear where they meet up?

Also, thanks for that link to the painting post.  I haven't lost enough to make it worth redoing yet, but I was startled at how easily the paint just rubbed off.

 

I tried filing down the sprue marks as well.  No dice.  Not sure what you mean by "are the edges clear" however.

[ArchieNov]

1 hour ago, Mommar said:

I tried to shave down a bit of the peg/square hole on the right wing of my 31 to see if I could get it to fit better and that still didn't solve my issue with the wing not completely folding up like on the left side.  It's as if there's something blocking it but I just can't tell what is doing it.

I have a similar issue, but with the YF-30 and VF-22S from Yamato. Surprisingly, I don't have it on my VF-31J.

[MacrossJunkie]

2 hours ago, Chronocidal said:

Second, anyone else noticing.. just thin paint, I guess?  I've barely transformed mine one or two times, but the blue paint on the intakes is wearing off just from handling.  Anyone have a good paint match to touch those up with?

 

2 hours ago, ArchieNov said:

I think MacrossJunkie was able to match the blue paint successfully. He may be able to help you.

Edit: Found his post

 

Yeah, it wasn't too hard to match the color. I took Tamiya sky blue (X-14) and flat blue (XF-8). Using the sky blue as the base, I dropped about 4 drops onto a white bottle cap and then a couple drops of blue elsewhere. I dabbed in a little bit of blue at a time with a brush until it looked just right. Mix well before dabbing in more so you can see if it's just right or not.

 

 

17 minutes ago, Mommar said:

 

I tried filing down the sprue marks as well.  No dice.  Not sure what you mean by "are the edges clear" however.

One of my copies was pretty bad. The wing wouldn't go up all the way. It's not so much the square peg as it is the left over sprue on the dark grey pieces still sticking out of the plastic that forced a gap. I used an xacto knife to carefully shave away the plastic until the wing could go up without that unsightly gap.

Edited January 9, 2017 by MacrossJunkie

[zaino]

21 hours ago, Sildani said:

Concur. These are toys, after all. Totally inconsequential. 

He who dies with the most toys is dead. 

Fair points all across, interesting to see different perspectives.

 

I apologize to everyone for that outburst. 

 

Lets keep on the lookout for more openings for preorders

[no3Ljm]

1 hour ago, zaino said:

Fair points all across, interesting to see different perspectives.

I apologize to everyone for that outburst. 

Lets keep on the lookout for more openings for preorders

With that being said, when it comes to Macross collecting, MWF is the place to be.

 

Edited January 10, 2017 by no3Ljm

[mickyg]

Just got my 31J in and must agree - the box is excellent!  Here's hoping the toy is good too but first impressions are very good so far.

[spanner]

19 minutes ago, mickyg said:

Just got my 31J in and must agree - the box is excellent!  Here's hoping the toy is good too but first impressions are very good so far.

im sure you'll love it mate! 

[Graham]

I'm personally fine with having the Delta DX releases spread 2-4 months apart, makes them more affordable,without racking up a huge credit card bill if they were all released at once.

[seti88]

14 hours ago, Moosey said:

True, could be another bunfight (probably will be) 

I would benefit significantly by NOT having to work when they goes on sale (no internet at work)

The -31F went up for preorder what 2-3 weeks after -31J?

So Arad's bird goes up for preorder in the first week or two of May, then we get another in September and January again for the 5th of Delta squadron. So by my (super-advanced) Man maths, the -31A should go up for pre-order first week of May 2018!

My speculations on release....
August '17 - arad
Dec '17 - mirage
April '18 - chuck
August '18 - 31A
Dec '18 - Hayate's reaper valk!
April '19 - Arad's 31A skull leader valk?

unless bandai wants to diverse into another series. dat yf-19 DX bandai??

btw; this year may be a valk bonanza, already the 262 is coming out a month b4 messer's 31. COUNT 2 DX releases, MARCH/APRIL.
This year alone, we may get 6 bandai DX valks...

9 hours ago, Raptor One said:

Yea I remember the in-series model of the 31A having the same configuration as the Delta Platoon valks, but according to official materials the 31A is supposed to have a missile pod in place of the charger pod and additional armament in the legs in place of the multidrones

Mm not too sure abt the official materials, but normally DX releases mirror whats been shown in the series, so thats my only concern that DX 31A may come with the default chargers.
Really happy if they dont...

 

Edited January 10, 2017 by seti88

[IXTL]

Bandai might release Bogue's Sv-262Ba before the other 3 Delta squadron Siegfrieds. 

[seti88]

12 minutes ago, IXTL said:

Bandai might release Bogue's Sv-262Ba before the other 3 Delta squadron Siegfrieds. 

Since keith's 262 and messer's 31 are a month apart, there might be a July 262Ba release, followed by a Aug 31 release.
That was where i was speculating this could be a valk bonanza year!
 

Edited January 10, 2017 by seti88

[zaino]

4 minutes ago, seti88 said:

Since keith's 262 and messer's 31 are a month apart, there might be a July 262Ba release, followed by a Aug 31 release.
That was where i was speculating this could be a valk bonanza year!
 

one can hope

[Raptor One]

Isn't it more likely Arad's 31A gets released before the regular version?

[no3Ljm]

2 minutes ago, Raptor One said:

Isn't it more likely Arad's 31A gets released before the regular version?

Or the regular version first then Arad's as a Tamashii exclusive?