Bandai DX VF-31

[spanner]

9 minutes ago, Axelay said:

I don't like the VF-31F's head one single bit. It is my least favorite head design of any of the Valkyries which I have ever owned. However... I do really like the paint scheme of Messer's. If I could swap the head for another variant (which matched the paint scheme), then I would be quite pleased.

yeah same here.. even now after the better part of six months after release I'm still not any more fond of it..  But yeah the color scheme has kinda grown on me a little! 

[Mommar]

51 minutes ago, Axelay said:

I don't like the VF-31F's head one single bit. It is my least favorite head design of any of the Valkyries which I have ever owned. However... I do really like the paint scheme of Messer's. If I could swap the head for another variant (which matched the paint scheme), then I would be quite pleased.

My solution is to leave it in Fighter mode, it's the only mode it was ever in the entire show anyway.

[Lord_Of_Tetris]

I guess the VF-31F is a VERY acquired taste!

When I first saw photos of the VF-31F toy, I thought the colors were terribly boring. And then I watched ~13 episodes of the show and bought the toy, and now Messer's VF-31F has my favorite colors of the Delta squad jets. Something I dislike is overly busy designs with too many colors and too many details, and I kept thinking to myself, "Man, Hayate/Chuck/Arad's Valkyries really do not look like machines created to wage war."

Yes, I know they're a support team for pop idols, but I still think the other Delta squad members are too colorful. I'm not saying I need it to be like SDF Macross where the jets only differ by the stripe on their chest, but I guess I need my transforming mecha to look like they'd be taken seriously by allies and enemies alike.

And so, now that I've seen some episodes and I have a VF-31F Messer figure, it's my favorite color scheme. No, it doesn't as functional or aggressive as, say, a desert-camo real-life F-22, or even the YF-19 in Isamu's colors, but it's something that I can visualize as convincing-enough as a weapon of war.

Edited October 19, 2017 by Lord_Of_Tetris

[Sanity is Optional]

I'm fine with the colors, even if I don't like the head. Thus why my VF-1S Messer just showed up in the mail.

The only color scheme I really dislike from Delta is Chuck's yellow-tan color. Which is unfortunate, as I'm a fan of Valkyries with radar dishes.

[seti88]

10 hours ago, no3Ljm said:

Ditto! Love him more in that scheme.  

Hey! Kababayan, that's foul!  

Well said, sir!

Atleast with you, Messer's VF-31F head reminds you of a praying mantis. While the YF-30 Chronos reminds me of a cockroach. And I think Praying Mantis looks better than Cockroach.

 

made me spit my coffee! but yeah i recall it looking like that in the beginning too with the black stripe and head shape..i must have forgotten abt it! 

certainly enjoying the insectoid run of macross valks!

6 hours ago, Lord_Of_Tetris said:

I guess the VF-31F is a VERY acquired taste!

When I first saw photos of the VF-31F toy, I thought the colors were terribly boring. And then I watched ~13 episodes of the show and bought the toy, and now Messer's VF-31F has my favorite colors of the Delta squad jets. Something I dislike is overly busy designs with too many colors and too many details, and I kept thinking to myself, "Man, Hayate/Chuck/Arad's Valkyries really do not look like machines created to wage war."

Yes, I know they're a support team for pop idols, but I still think the other Delta squad members are too colorful. I'm not saying I need it to be like SDF Macross where the jets only differ by the stripe on their chest, but I guess I need my transforming mecha to look like they'd be taken seriously by allies and enemies alike.

And so, now that I've seen some episodes and I have a VF-31F Messer figure, it's my favorite color scheme. No, it doesn't as functional or aggressive as, say, a desert-camo real-life F-22, or even the YF-19 in Isamu's colors, but it's something that I can visualize as convincing-enough as a weapon of war.

well for those clamoring for low-visability valks, messer's valk is almost as low-viz with the grey/dark scheme.
i would put it in the category of a night fighter low-vis (ala ww2 night fighters).

 

[kajnrig]

13 hours ago, Lord_Of_Tetris said:

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the toy is an accurate portrayal of how it looked in the cartoon.

It is, I was talking about the head design in general, not specifically about the toy.

[no3Ljm]

13 hours ago, Lord_Of_Tetris said:

Hahahahahaha. Although I do think the YF-30 Chronos is more insectoid than most 1980s mecha, my opinion is that it's a happy medium between the elegant 80s look and the overly-skinny insectoid look of the newer Macross figures.

I always thought the YF-30 head looked like a mix between the VF-1J and Beast Machines Jetstorm (Google the CGI model, not the toy). I didn't see anything insectoid about it, and I never thought to associate the YF-30's head with any type of bug. Now that you mention it, I can totally see how the YF-30 head could be construed to look cockroach-y. 

Hahaha! For me the insectoid look really started with Frontier and onwards. The only Valk featured in that series that looks more traditional head was the 171Ex's.  

7 hours ago, Sanity is Optional said:

The only color scheme I really dislike from Delta is Chuck's yellow-tan color. Which is unfortunate, as I'm a fan of Valkyries with radar dishes.

Ha! You have to admit that a yellow/tan radome valk always beats a mint green radome valk anytime, anyday.

2 hours ago, seti88 said:

made me spit my coffee! but yeah i recall it looking like that in the beginning too with the black stripe and head shape..i must have forgotten abt it! 

certainly enjoying the insectoid run of macross valks!

well for those clamoring for low-visability valks, messer's valk is almost as low-viz with the grey/dark scheme.
i would put it in the category of a night fighter low-vis (ala ww2 night fighters).

Coz it really does look like a cockroach head.

 

[Sanity is Optional]

39 minutes ago, no3Ljm said:

Ha! You have to admit that a yellow/tan radome valk always beats a mint green radome valk anytime, anyday.

I actually prefer Luca's solid green valk to the VF-31 with yellow pinstriping, as far as paintjobs go.

Edited October 20, 2017 by Sanity is Optional

[brouken]

9 hours ago, Lord_Of_Tetris said:

I guess the VF-31F is a VERY acquired taste!

When I first saw photos of the VF-31F toy, I thought the colors were terribly boring. And then I watched ~13 episodes of the show and bought the toy, and now Messer's VF-31F has my favorite colors of the Delta squad jets. Something I dislike is overly busy designs with too many colors and too many details, and I kept thinking to myself, "Man, Hayate/Chuck/Arad's Valkyries really do not look like machines created to wage war."

Yes, I know they're a support team for pop idols, but I still think the other Delta squad members are too colorful. I'm not saying I need it to be like SDF Macross where the jets only differ by the stripe on their chest, but I guess I need my transforming mecha to look like they'd be taken seriously by allies and enemies alike.

And so, now that I've seen some episodes and I have a VF-31F Messer figure, it's my favorite color scheme. No, it doesn't as functional or aggressive as, say, a desert-camo real-life F-22, or even the YF-19 in Isamu's colors, but it's something that I can visualize as convincing-enough as a weapon of war.

Well, how else would you color the planes of a unit whose primary function is to distract and subdue the enemy through music/culture? If Delta Squad used military colors, then wouldn't that make the enemy shoot them even more? This is actually hinted at in the show, where they showed the early stages of Walkure. During their initial unsuccessful sorties, Walkure wore less gaudy and more functional clothing, while the valks had the default military/navy grey colors (except for Arad's who retained his dragon skull emblem).

Or would you rather have them look like this?

 

[gozilham]

11 hours ago, Axelay said:

I don't like the VF-31F's head one single bit. It is my least favorite head design of any of the Valkyries which I have ever owned. However... I do really like the paint scheme of Messer's. If I could swap the head for another variant (which matched the paint scheme), then I would be quite pleased.

How about this one? 

the 31F looks weird for me too.

but the color and marking is good. 

[kajnrig]

When I saw the original low-res shots of the VF-31s' heads, I bore out hope that the VF-31F would feature a head design similar to this one from Armored Core 4's Aaliyah designs (also by Kawamori). Even as the series progressed, I didn't really get any clearer, sustained shots of the head, so it wasn't until the toy/model kit came out that I got a good idea what the F's head (and all the others', for that matter) looked like, hence my disappointment. The F's head looks fine by itself, but when the expectation is something like this, it's... unimpressive.

 

[DARKWIND]

Any word on when the VF-31A is going to release?

I am happy to see one has at least been mocked up here in this pic.

That's the one I'm looking forward to the most.

[spacemanoeuvres]

24 minutes ago, DARKWIND said:

Any word on when the VF-31A is going to release?

I am happy to see one has at least been mocked up here in this pic.

That's the one I'm looking forward to the most.

Nah, that was made just for kawamori. It’s never being released. 

 

Edited October 20, 2017 by spacemanoeuvres

[Xigfrid]

21 minutes ago, DARKWIND said:

Any word on when the VF-31A is going to release?

I am happy to see one has at least been mocked up here in this pic.

That's the one I'm looking forward to the most.

 

You can still pre-order the 31A though

Here is the most relevant link with prices and order page links.

@spacemanoeuvres are you seriously skipping the 31A ? It is so bad!

[spacemanoeuvres]

@Xigfrid lol nah I was just being silly. I got 2 preordered at NY

[Xigfrid]

Haha I was almost shocked

[Mommar]

1 hour ago, DARKWIND said:

Any word on when the VF-31A is going to release?

I am happy to see one has at least been mocked up here in this pic.

That's the one I'm looking forward to the most.

The 31A is due out in April.

 

So have Messers super parts officially been released because the set I ordered from CDJapan show no signs of movement.

Edited October 20, 2017 by Mommar

[DARKWIND]

Thanks guys, I've been away from the site and had to check in

[anubis20]

44 minutes ago, Mommar said:

The 31A is due out in April.

 

So have Messers super parts officially been released because the set I ordered from CDJapan show no signs of movement.

They have been released. The problem is that if they bundled the order with other web exclusives its delayed until the last one comes out for the month. Thats whats holding my shipment up. I bundled the super parts with Figuarts Mk V and that doesnt come out until the 25th. Probably the same reason why NY hasnt shipped out my 2nd Super Parts set and I ordered that one by itself. 

Edited October 20, 2017 by anubis20

[Mommar]

6 minutes ago, anubis20 said:

They have been released. The problem is that if they bundled the order with other web exclusives its delayed until the last one comes out for the month. Thats whats holding my shipment up. I bundled the super parts with Figuarts Mk V and that doesnt come out until the 25th. Probably the same reason why NY hasnt shipped out my 2nd Super Parts set and I ordered that one by itself. 

You mean CDJapan or NY thrmselves bundled their orders with other web exclusives?

Edited October 20, 2017 by Mommar

[Valkyrie Driver]

How long are pre-orders going to be available for the VF-31A?

[anubis20]

19 minutes ago, Mommar said:

You mean CDJapan or NY thrmselves bundled their orders with other web exclusives?

Yea, they must place big orders at once for the month. 

[Mommar]

5 minutes ago, Valkyrie Driver said:

How long are pre-orders going to be available for the VF-31A?

I don't believe a cut-off date was ever stated.

[enphily]

10 minutes ago, Valkyrie Driver said:

How long are pre-orders going to be available for the VF-31A?

AE says october 27

[WaferMouse]

10 hours ago, no3Ljm said:

Ha! You have to admit that a yellow/tan radome valk always beats a mint green radome valk anytime, anyday.

I guess we'll find out next year, though would it really be fair of me to compare my V1 RVF-25 against the 31E?

1 hour ago, anubis20 said:

Yea, they must place big orders at once for the month. 

Ah, I was wondering about this too. More time to get my missiles prepped, I guess.

[no3Ljm]

1 hour ago, WaferMouse said:

I guess we'll find out next year, though would it really be fair of me to compare my V1 RVF-25 against the 31E?

Let's just hope first that Bandai is still planning on making the DX VF-31E in fruition. It's funny considering that even in their transforming 1/72 kits there's no sight of VF-31E too.

 

[Pedro2k6]

VF-31F SP review.

 

[no3Ljm]

^ Instruction manual is now back to being black & white. PO cancelled. 

I wonder what he was saying about the boosters. Is it a different dark grey tint compared to the previous VF-31J SP release? It should be just color swap on the blue parts, right? The rest tint are the same.

 

 

[ridgebacks]

1 hour ago, no3Ljm said:

^ Instruction manual is now back to being black & white. PO cancelled. 

I wonder what he was saying about the boosters. Is it a different dark grey tint compared to the previous VF-31J SP release? It should be just color swap on the blue parts, right? The rest tint are the same.

 

 

He's saying the booster is exactly the same, except one piece is black instead of J's blue.

Rest of the armor pieces are all the same as J's but with colour swapped.

The F with SP packs looks more "military"/real than the J's blue, which makes J looks like a show plane.

 

And he already ordered the Kairos which he will put out a review ASAP next year.

[IIymij]

Did I already miss the PO for the VF-31F Fast packs?

 

[Mommar]

4 minutes ago, IIymij said:

Did I already miss the PO for the VF-31F Fast packs?

 

Po's for them were back in April.

[no3Ljm]

46 minutes ago, ridgebacks said:

He's saying the booster is exactly the same, except one piece is black instead of J's blue.

Rest of the armor pieces are all the same as J's but with colour swapped.

The F with SP packs looks more "military"/real than the J's blue, which makes J looks like a show plane.

 

And he already ordered the Kairos which he will put out a review ASAP next year.

I see. Because during the video, I somehow noticed that the greys on the boosters have a different tint compared to the 31J. Or probably that's just me.

 

[IIymij]

1 minute ago, no3Ljm said:

I see. Because during the video, I somehow noticed that the greys on the boosters have a different tint compared to the 31J. Or probably that's just me.

 

I think it's just lighting 

[spacemanoeuvres]

Are their super parts specific to the 31-A in the show?

Edited October 20, 2017 by spacemanoeuvres

[wmkjr]

I think the different colored parts are grey instead of the main characters colors.