Bandai DX VF-31

[Chronocidal]

8 hours ago, Graham said:

One of the key features of the YF-30 and VF-31 was having the interchangeable pods, so IMO it was a huge wasted opportunity not featuring this aspect of the design in the TV series more.

The weapons pod is really only one more layer on the massive pile of missed opportunities involved in Delta though.  It's like a 30 dropped thread pileup.  

I suppose the really dumb thing is that they gave all of the 31As the same pod design, which presumably means they also all have the micro drones in the legs... but for what purpose?  I guess I can see them working as countermeasures, but like so many other aspects of Delta, there's just no real explanation for it.

Really though, it's probably just to minimize the molds they have to make. 

I'm just waiting for the inevitable speaker pod and reaction warhead pack release.  Or maybe if Bandai grows some sort of customer appreciation gland, they'll throw in some weapons we can use on any of those empty hardpoints they keep providing us with.  That's what now, 5, 6 valks released now, that all come with hardpoints that're useless unless you bought an exclusive add-on from 6 years ago?  

Edited September 19, 2017 by Chronocidal

[Sildani]

Or buy the missiles Xigfrid made. We'll see how I do with them. 

[Sanity is Optional]

2 hours ago, Chronocidal said:

The weapons pod is really only one more layer on the massive pile of missed opportunities involved in Delta though.  It's like a 30 dropped thread pileup.  

I suppose the really dumb thing is that they gave all of the 31As the same pod design, which presumably means they also all have the micro drones in the legs... but for what purpose?  I guess I can see them working as countermeasures, but like so many other aspects of Delta, there's just no real explanation for it.

Really though, it's probably just to minimize the molds they have to make. 

I'm just waiting for the inevitable speaker pod and reaction warhead pack release.  Or maybe if Bandai grows some sort of customer appreciation gland, they'll throw in some weapons we can use on any of those empty hardpoints they keep providing us with.  That's what now, 5, 6 valks released now, that all come with hardpoints that're useless unless you bought an exclusive add-on from 6 years ago?  

To be fair, on the 31 the hardpoints are used for the shields on the superpack at least.

[ArchieNov]

Whatever happened to the Macross 7 speaker pod that Yamato showed off a few years ago? That was the only speaker pod I was looking forward to, not these little VF-25/31 speaker attachments. One of the few badass moments in M7 was when Basara shot that speaker pod into the enemy mother ship bridge and blew the enemy's helmet off with the sound waves.

[no3Ljm]

1 hour ago, Sanity is Optional said:

To be fair, on the 31 the hardpoints are used for the shields on the superpack at least.

That's true. But they do however forgot to put hardpoints on the shields so you have option on mounting RMS-1 Warheads.

 

[no3Ljm]

1 hour ago, ArchieNov said:

Whatever happened to the Macross 7 speaker pod that Yamato showed off a few years ago? That was the only speaker pod I was looking forward to, not these little VF-25/31 speaker attachments. One of the few badass moments in M7 was when Basara shot that speaker pod into the enemy mother ship bridge and blew the enemy's helmet off with the sound waves.

The Speaker Pod Gamma?

Teased last 2012 by Yamato. No news if Arcadia acquired it. Can't remember any photos that shows this kit in any Arcadia display.

 

[Chronocidal]

44 minutes ago, no3Ljm said:

That's true. But they do however forgot to put hardpoints on the shields so you have option on mounting RMS-1 Warheads.

On top of that, we couldn't use those shields if we wanted to (well, not without taking them off and spinning them around).  The ones in the show had a rotating mount like the 262's drones, otherwise the missiles would be pointed backwards.  

Just in general though, Bandai has been perfecting their art of shafting their customers with exclusive releases and add-ons for decades.  It's nothing new.  Macross fans just got spoiled by Yamato for years, with their practice of including all the options in a single box.  I do want to say though, the practice of including separate wings just so you have to purchase the add-on packs to even be able to mount any weapons is a special kind of giant middle finger to the customers that Bandai should be ashamed of.

Far as the product itself is concerned, I'd say the 31 is a high point for Bandai Macross products, at least as far as production value and engineering goes.  It's not fair to pin things like the stupid landing gear, and lack of accessories or weapons pods on the toy's design team.  The cockpit and canopy issues are pretty darn stupid, but at least one generally conceals the other.  Aside from that, the molding and paint on the 31s are generally as good as I could hope for (color selection notwithstanding).

I would say the marketing on the VF-25s was better thought out, if only because their add-ons and variants were better planned from the start, but that's also probably got a lot to do with the failed v.1 VF-25 line, and all the mistakes they got to fix the second time around.  The 31 isn't benefiting from that sort of hindsight.  Looking at line art for the speaker pods, I'm honestly not even sure those are physically possible as shown, so I wouldn't be surprised if we never see them at all.

What is frustrating though.. because they didn't put the RMS hardpoints on the shields we already have?  If we ever do get the missiles to mount on them, we also get to buy five more sets of add ons, because each set of arm shields will be uniquely colored.  

 

Edited September 19, 2017 by Chronocidal

[no3Ljm]

What's funny too is that a Valk with a 5-sec cameo in fighter mode only gets a 'Pinpoint Barrier Punch Effect' which we didn't see it get used in the movie. 

 

[Chronocidal]

6 minutes ago, no3Ljm said:

What's funny too is that a Valk with a 5-sec cameo in fighter mode only gets a 'Pinpoint Barrier Punch Effect' which we didn't see it get used in the movie. 

See.. I think that was Bandai throwing a miniature hissy fit over the fact that Arcadia got to keep the YF-19 license.   I'm actually wondering if they had already designed the YF-19 mold before Yamato folded, and shoved it into the second Frontier movie just so they had an excuse to produce it.

I've actually got the same suspicion about the VF-22 cameo in Delta, and I'm really hoping we see a Bandai take on that design in the next couple of years.

[Duymon]

7 minutes ago, Chronocidal said:

See.. I think that was Bandai throwing a miniature hissy fit over the fact that Arcadia got to keep the YF-19 license.   I'm actually wondering if they had already designed the YF-19 mold before Yamato folded, and shoved it into the second Frontier movie just so they had an excuse to produce it.

I've actually got the same suspicion about the VF-22 cameo in Delta, and I'm really hoping we see a Bandai take on that design in the next couple of years.

Yamato : We just designed the most frustrating VF transformation where 99% of owners will become engraged trying to get the legs back into fighter mode and the flaps closed, all because we over-engineered a disconnecting leg mechanism so that the YF-22 can go all super saiyan like in the Anime.

Nobody will ever over-engineer the design to make it even more frustrating and PTSD-inducing

Bandai: Challenge Accepted

 

 

Edited September 19, 2017 by Duymon

[Sanity is Optional]

Just now, Duymon said:

Yamato : We just designed the most frustrating VF transformation where 99% of owners will become engraged trying to get the legs back into fighter mode and the flaps closed.

How can it get any worse?

Bandai: Challenge Accepted

 

 

There is hope, both the Bandai VF-19 and the Arcadia YF-19 were pretty great. At least compared to the Yamato YF-19.

[Lolicon]

The Yamato YF-19 had many, many problems, but having a ridiculously engineered and frustrating transformation wasn't one of them. 

[Duymon]

25 minutes ago, Lolicon said:

The Yamato YF-19 had many, many problems, but having a ridiculously engineered and frustrating transformation wasn't one of them. 

I was talking about the VF-22 that Chrono Mentioned

 

[Lolicon]

48 minutes ago, Duymon said:

I was talking about the VF-22 that Chrono Mentioned

 

Sorry, I was responding to the post directly before. 

[barurutor]

The M7 speaker pod was supposed to be a kit based on the sign in no3ljm's photo. I suppose some enterprising soul could model it and sell on Shapeways. 

[Mommar]

$20 says Xigfrid could design additional pod designs, a la the Master File.

[Sanity is Optional]

Just now, Mommar said:

$20 says Xigfrid could design additional pod designs, a la the Master File.

Actually...

Grabs laptop loaded with Solidworks and a set of dial calipers.

Good idea, I was looking for something to do on the weekends.

[no3Ljm]

2 minutes ago, Sanity is Optional said:

Actually...

Grabs laptop loaded with Solidworks and a set of dial calipers.

Good idea, I was looking for something to do on the weekends.

Cool! Make sure that it transforms into Galvatron, ok?

 

[Zx31]

Never had a problem transforming the 19 Adv, 21/22, or 262. I can see where people would get tripped up, but I never considered any of them over-designed.

[no3Ljm]

16 minutes ago, Zx31 said:

Never had a problem transforming the 19 Adv, 21/22, or 262. I can see where people would get tripped up, but I never considered any of them over-designed.

As far as I remember, people here doesn't complain about how 'over-designed' it is. They complain about how 'over-engineered' it is.

Hahaha! Just kidding, guys. 

 

[Zx31]

Tomato / Potato

[Lolicon]

Cracked and picked up another 31C after seeing how she looked with super packs. 

[chyll2]

NY just adjusted the price back to 19500 yen for 31C

https://www.nippon-yasan.com/order.php?ipa=20591

[no3Ljm]

NY is trying to match Ami's PO discounted price. And as we speak, Ami is open again.

http://www.amiami.com/top/detail/detail?gcode=FIGURE-029195

 

[Lolicon]

In stock at HLJ but still limit 1 per customer. 

https://hlj.com/product/BANN16119

[spacemanoeuvres]

Turning out to be quite the shelf warmer. I think the scalpers may have blown their load on the premium finish sdf-1 lol

[Xigfrid]

11 hours ago, Sanity is Optional said:

Actually...

Grabs laptop loaded with Solidworks and a set of dial calipers.

Good idea, I was looking for something to do on the weekends.

Actually the 31A pod is eye catching, I will be looking this thread, particularly on Mondays now 

[Lolicon]

Yet the ones on Mandarake always get snatched up in minutes, even though the price difference is miniscule vs Amiami or NY, and ends up costing more when you add shipping (5200 for Mandarake EMS vs 4300 for Amiami DHL). But then a lot of folks are bad at math. 

[davidwhangchoi]

2 hours ago, Lolicon said:

In stock at HLJ but still limit 1 per customer. 

https://hlj.com/product/BANN16119

i'm tempted but will stick with 1 31C.

need to save 

[Alex GS]

I wonder if the availability of Hayate VF-31 was the same as these last two(Messer and Farina) on release date ?, currently Messer price I think is still reasonable even thou it went up a bit, not like the ridiculously price spike as Hayate. 

[spacemanoeuvres]

Yeah I had to pay a silly markup for my 31-J since I decided I wanted one a couple months after release. They're 30000 JY on NY right now lol crazeh

[chyll2]

Hayate's 31 got sold out more quickly since he is the main hero. irc, his VF got sold out fast and NY has to increase it to 22000 yen within the day. This is the same with Messer's but only his VF remain at 22000 yen for a longer time.

 

Though we can argue that as the month go buy, the hype from Delta dies.

Edited September 20, 2017 by chyll2

[Heatwave]

I can't get over how happy I am with the VF-31C now that I've transformed it correctly in Battroid mode.

I colours and head design are just awesome and it looks so great next to the VF-31J.

And to think I was briefly considering dropping my pre-order after being disappointed by Delta.

[chyll2]

1 hour ago, Lolicon said:

Yet the ones on Mandarake always get snatched up in minutes, even though the price difference is miniscule vs Amiami or NY, and ends up costing more when you add shipping (5200 for Mandarake EMS vs 4300 for Amiami DHL). But then a lot of folks are bad at math. 

Dunno about Amiami but HLJ vs Mandarake, it is a few yen cheaper to go with Mandarake. I will choose Mandarake since I have the option to under-value it. It does get sold out fast since they are selling 1 item stock compared to big allotment from the retail online shops.

[Alex GS]

21 minutes ago, Heatwave said:

I can't get over how happy I am with the VF-31C now that I've transformed it correctly in Battroid mode.

I colours and head design are just awesome and it looks so great next to the VF-31J.

And to think I was briefly considering dropping my pre-order after being disappointed by Delta.

Indeed , the valks from Delta are just beautiful, it intrigues me all this talk of whats going on with the transformation, the thing is I haven't opened mine, I have  valks from the Original Macross all the way to Delta  well placed in a shelf (well kinda hehe), all of them in their original box, I'm just happy to turn my head and see them and know that the Valkyries are well protected.