Arcadia 1/60 Super VF-1J Max & Millia Release

[SuperDimensionalDave]

Knock on wood my Arcadia Millia is good to go, no HP issues. I wonder if what looks like stress marks around the HP on his is actually from the glue used. Kinda like the white hazing you get from superglue?  Anyway I wish Arcadia would in addition to re-issuing what Yamato had already released, also give us some stuff they never did. Like say... a Millia use VF-17S?  I'd kill for one of those. 

[davidwhangchoi]

Arcadia seems much more sloppier with QA.

i'm pretty disappointed with all these reports of stress marks and hardpoints that are incorrectly glued. and may even be the shape of the hard points themselves.

Go Yamato!

[Slave IV]

1 hour ago, HardlyNever said:

Damn... I didn't know I was the one holding this whole thing back...  Let me go buy 5 and kickstart this whole thing so we can all be 3D printing this stuff next year... Get serious, man (but I am considering buying a 3D printer for our workplace).  Maybe I'll buy an oculus rift, and a vive while I'm at it, because me not buying that is definitely holding back VR. 

Back to the hardpoints, is this simply a bad QC issue?  Not to beat a dead horse, but me and 3-4 other people had part of their backpack break on the super Focker release, and no one was calling the mold dead then, it was just bad luck.  This looks to be a similar situation to my eye, only this is getting more attention because the people speaking up are being more vocal about it.

Haha, nice! I'm not pointing the finger solely at you but just saying since you are the one bringing it up. I'm a strong believer that 3D printing is going to keep getting bigger and bigger but think it will take more time and more people supporting it. 

The hardpoint issue does seem to me at least to be a qc issue since mine and many others have no problems. But to have as many reports as we have is already pretty bad. These things should be 100% or very close to it out the factory considering the limited amount and price of them. 

[Chronocidal]

9 minutes ago, davidwhangchoi said:

Arcadia seems much more sloppier with QA.

i'm pretty disappointed with all these reports of stress marks and hardpoints that are incorrectly glued. and may even be the shape of the hard points themselves.

Go Yamato!

That's the funny part.. there's nothing incorrectly glued at all.  Here's a pic of the hardpoints on a disassembled/modded wing, taken from kyekye's thread about customizing the wings.

The hardpoint mounts are a single piece with the wing, and a panel glues over the top of them.

The fact that stress marks are appearing in the supports that connect the shaft to the wing tells me that the pieces are being ejected from the molds improperly, or sloppily, and at an angle, and that is putting a shearing or twisting stress as the hardpoints.  The fact that the hardpoints are also appearing to have a thicker lip could indicate several things, including both mold degradation, and improper closure of the molds.

[SuperDimensionalDave]

If you want to really get your a$$ chapped go check your old invoices for your Yamato old 1/60 V2's. Or even better google HLJ old listings from 2009 for them. Arcadia has more than doubled the price on these since 2009. HLJ had gone as low as 8900 yen on sale on a few releases (and you know although they might have made little, they weren't losing money at those prices).   I know inflation is a real thing. Also the economic downturn played a factor as well that we still feel today. I'm 45, I've worked in both Realestate and automotive over the years. I've witnessed prices change since 1990. But not much has doubled since from 2009 to today. And the toys that have doubled are superior products. Look at Marvel Legends. They were 11.99 back in the day. Now they're $19.99 but I'll pay that all day long. They're far superior today. Although I still love quite a few of my old Toybiz releases. Applying that math to Macross toys I guess in 2027 a 1/60 Macross Valk will cost $520. I'll stop ranting about Arcadias prices but end with just this. If youre going to double the price, you dang sure better double the QC and craftsmanship. 

Edited March 8, 2018 by SuperDimensionalDave

[jenius]

Yamato went bankrupt so... That pricing isn't a good barometer.

[SuperDimensionalDave]

11 minutes ago, jenius said:

Yamato went bankrupt so... That pricing isn't a good barometer.

I sorely doubt underpricing Macross toys put them out of business. They released toys for many lines. Not all of which sold well or at all. They stretched themselves pretty thin with their 1/8 and 1/6 anime vinyl figures that constantly went on super clearance (how many different Ikki Tousen figures did they make that got marked down to 80% off?). And if it was Macross toys that killed Yamato I doubt that Arcadia would have immediately started cranking them out again. Notice Arcadia hasn't really gotten into the vinyl figure and action figure business though. At least not to the degree Yamato had. Probably not a coincidence. Kenner went bankrupt also and they had Star Wars. Just sayin.  Speaking of Yamato's demise, does anyone have a link to an article or anything with the official story on it. I've googled it many times and never found anything official. 

Edited March 8, 2018 by SuperDimensionalDave

[davidwhangchoi]

57 minutes ago, Chronocidal said:

That's the funny part.. there's nothing incorrectly glued at all.  Here's a pic of the hardpoints on a disassembled/modded wing, taken from kyekye's thread about customizing the wings.

The hardpoint mounts are a single piece with the wing, and a panel glues over the top of them.

The fact that stress marks are appearing in the supports that connect the shaft to the wing tells me that the pieces are being ejected from the molds improperly, or sloppily, and at an angle, and that is putting a shearing or twisting stress as the hardpoints.  The fact that the hardpoints are also appearing to have a thicker lip could indicate several things, including both mold degradation, and improper closure of the molds.

thanks for the images.

seems like the mold degradation is similar to the complaints man had of some of the encore g1 reissues. i'm just glad i grabbed all the yamatos before they went belly up. 

I really hope this is a fluke and the hard points can be re-corrected. Mr. K mentioned already having to retool the mold slightly to improve joint tightness for this release. prior to release. hopefully they can retool the hard points. 

 

 

[SuperDimensionalDave]

2 minutes ago, davidwhangchoi said:

I really hope this is a fluke and the hard points can be re-corrected. Mr. K mentioned already having to retool the mold slightly to improve joint tightness for this release. prior to release. hopefully they can retool the hard points. 

I think they've more than gotten their money's worth out of the VF-1 mold. If it's starting to degrade then maybe it's time for a VF-1 V3?

[jenius]

20 minutes ago, SuperDimensionalDave said:

I sorely doubt underpricing Macross toys put them out of business. They released toys for many lines. Not all of which sold well or at all. They stretched themselves pretty thin with their 1/8 and 1/6 anime vinyl figures that constantly went on super clearance (how many different Ikki Tousen figures did they make that got marked down to 80% off?). And if it was Macross toys that killed Yamato I doubt that Arcadia would have immediately started cranking them out again. Notice Arcadia hasn't really gotten into the vinyl figure and action figure business though. At least not to the degree Yamato had. Probably not a coincidence. Kenner went bankrupt also and they had Star Wars. Just sayin.  Speaking of Yamato's demise, does anyone have a link to an article or anything with the official story on it. I've googled it many times and never found anything official. 

No, the V2 didn't kill Yamato, far from it, but it's a company and no product exists in a bubble. Yamato ran out of cash, they needed to make more cash, ergo, they should have been generating more money. They may have sunk money into products that didn't sell but they would have survived had they generated more cash from the products that did sell.

[SuperDimensionalDave]

21 minutes ago, jenius said:

No, the V2 didn't kill Yamato, far from it, but it's a company and no product exists in a bubble. Yamato ran out of cash, they needed to make more cash, ergo, they should have been generating more money. They may have sunk money into products that didn't sell but they would have survived had they generated more cash from the products that did sell.

While I do agree, you could also say that had they not sunk money into molds and production costs of other lines and products that didn't sell well or even at all they would have had more cash on hand and not run out of cash and survived also.  I personally think they backed too many ponies. They spread themselves waaay too thin making too many different types of products (gashapon, trading figures, statues and vinyl figures) from too many properties. They slapped their name on everything. And when more of it didn't sell then did they found themselves digging for lint in their pockets.  Heck there's still a TON of unsold Yamato figures on the net. Marked down from $120 to $35 and stil unsold. 

Edited March 8, 2018 by SuperDimensionalDave

[Lolicon]

21800 isn't double 12800.

[Chronocidal]

14 minutes ago, SuperDimensionalDave said:

While I do agree, you could also say that had they not sunk money into molds and production costs of other lines and products that didn't sell well or even at all they would have had more cash on hand and not run out of cash and survived also.  I personally think they backed too many ponies. They spread themselves waaay too thin making too many different types of products (gashapon, trading figures, statues and vinyl figures) from too many properties. They slapped their name on everything. And when more of it didn't sell then did they found themselves digging for lint in their pockets.  Heck there's still a TON of unsold Yamato figures on the net. Marked down from $120 to $35 and stil unsold. 

This is why the anniversary releases are so utterly baffling.  I know they don't sell.  You know they don't sell.  Arcadia has to know they don't sell.  And yet, they're sitting there lighting stacks of money on fire to setup the production line to produce them.  They have nowhere to go but the bargain bin.

I do think part of what damaged Yamato though was that their standards of production actually got too high to be sustainable.  Their designs got fancier, the molding had to be higher precision and in higher quantity for more parts, and they started making designs with far less potential for official repaints.  I love my VF-19s to death, and I would have bought a ton of unassembled VF-19 kits, but we never got those for the same reason that the VF-19s were a strain on Yamato's production: way too many pieces, and way too complicated for the average person to assemble.  I've tried taking them apart, and it would not surprise me at all if part of the VF-19 assembly line costs included custom tooling and jigs just to put the things together properly.

[Sanity is Optional]

2 hours ago, Chronocidal said:

I'm trying to recall exactly which part on the backpack broke for you, and I think I remember discussing it.  Was yours the one that had a mis-molded flap peg that broke the hinge casing when you rotated the flap?  If so, I think part of the problem there is that you did have a very rare case that hadn't been seen before, but looks like a very common user error, where the backpack gets caught on the backplate, and breaks when folding it.  I think yours is literally the only case I've ever heard of that being due to a mis-molded peg, and sounds like it should have prevented the parts from even being assembled correctly.  The fact that it hasn't been more common makes it sound like it's absolutely a fluke molding flaw.

My VF-1S Roy did the exact same thing, pretty easy fix though.

[valhary]

what makes me question of the Arcadia veracity is the fact to order the project developer justify the overpriced 

until I know that's the job of public relations division

but of course there are taking advantage that the most of Macross fans know that Mr. K was member of the Yamato crew and have our respect

[Lolicon]

So yeah, instead of comparing anime toys to "real estate" or whatever you may have worked in, why not compare them to... other anime toys?

KOS-MOS figure produced by Alter in 2007. 6800 yen

https://hlj.com/product/ALT20164/Fig

A comparable quality anime figure from the same company coming out this year. 17800 yen

https://hlj.com/product/ALT20472

That's a pretty big increase in price. By the logic given above, since "real estate" didn't double in price, then surely plastic (or PVC) anime toys can't double in price either, right? Or more than double, in this case. That second figure definitely is not "twice as good" as the first.

BTW Alter is a subsidiary of... Bandai! Dun dun dun!

[no3Ljm]

Not to instigate anything but there is already an existing thread for that where you guys can just continue that discussion.

 

[SuperDimensionalDave]

23 minutes ago, Lolicon said:

So yeah, instead of comparing anime toys to "real estate" or whatever you may have worked in, why not compare them to... other anime toys?

KOS-MOS figure produced by Alter in 2007. 6800 yen

https://hlj.com/product/ALT20164/Fig

A comparable quality anime figure from the same company coming out this year. 17800 yen

https://hlj.com/product/ALT20472

That's a pretty big increase in price. By the logic given above, since "real estate" didn't double in price, then surely plastic (or PVC) anime toys can't double in price either, right? Or more than double, in this case. That second figure definitely is not "twice as good" as the first.

This logic of "since real estate hasn't doubled in value toys can't double either" is no logic I've ever stated so not sure where you got that from.  Sounds like a conclusion you generated on your own.  I said I have witnessed inflation and our economic downturns backlash. And stated that I've worked in real estate and automotive whilst doing so. I can find just as many anime figures released in 2009 and today who's prices are similar or the same. Let's compare apples to apples and not "comparable apples". Megahouse has been cranking out 1/8 figures since 2005 and their average prices have gone from average 9800 to today around 11000. You are just finding one example that you deem as "comparable in quality" to suit your argument. Everyone has all the internets at their disposal so they can do the searching I don't need to. Bottom line is these aren't comparable quality different scale different figures from the same or similar company. These are identical releases of identical toys from same molds by different company. 

Edited March 8, 2018 by SuperDimensionalDave

[SuperDimensionalDave]

56 minutes ago, Lolicon said:

21800 isn't double 12800.

Very observant. I'm glad you mentioned that. 21800 is also not the MSRP. It's 23544. And that is close enough. Couple that with today's exchange rate that is more than double in U.S dollars. Also more than double what a lot of Yamatos were sold for. Check HLJ's old listings. A Max V2 VF-1S was as low as 8900 yen back then. I'm not saying these are the prices they should be sold for now. There's no way a company could produce the identical product with identical quality today for same price as 2009. I'm just saying double or even close to double for same unimproved product with same flaws included is a bit much. 

Edited March 8, 2018 by SuperDimensionalDave

[Sandman]

14 hours ago, jenius said:

But the Yamato ones have the exact same issue plus the canopy issue.

Are you speaking about all Yamato vf-1 valks or just the max and Mireya? I have almost all of them and never noticed this issue. However I don't have the max and mirya. I also don't use the missles that often either.

[Sandman]

I never believed vf-1 pricing is why Yamato went out of business. To me a major factor was Bandai. When  Bandai started offering a comparable product (renewals) and made them hard to get (preorder madness) it changed the game. People started getting Bandai DXs on preorder night and waited on Yamato releases (sometimes till they were marked down) because they were always available after release. 

[Scyla]

1 hour ago, Chronocidal said:

This is why the anniversary releases are so utterly baffling.  I know they don't sell.  You know they don't sell.  Arcadia has to know they don't sell.  And yet, they're sitting there lighting stacks of money on fire to setup the production line to produce them.  They have nowhere to go but the bargain bin.

I do think part of what damaged Yamato though was that their standards of production actually got too high to be sustainable.  Their designs got fancier, the molding had to be higher precision and in higher quantity for more parts, and they started making designs with far less potential for official repaints.  I love my VF-19s to death, and I would have bought a ton of unassembled VF-19 kits, but we never got those for the same reason that the VF-19s were a strain on Yamato's production: way too many pieces, and way too complicated for the average person to assemble.  I've tried taking them apart, and it would not surprise me at all if part of the VF-19 assembly line costs included custom tooling and jigs just to put the things together properly.

I recently came up with the theory that the anniversary Valkyrie are part of the license deal. So if you wan't to have the license you need to produce the anniversary Valkyrie. 

That leaves the question why Bandai doesn't have to produce these paint jobs but maybe they are too big of a company to have clauses like that in their licensing being the shows sponsor and all.  

[Chronocidal]

2 hours ago, Scyla said:

I recently came up with the theory that the anniversary Valkyrie are part of the license deal. So if you wan't to have the license you need to produce the anniversary Valkyrie. 

That leaves the question why Bandai doesn't have to produce these paint jobs but maybe they are too big of a company to have clauses like that in their licensing being the shows sponsor and all.  

I've considered this as well, really.  But I don't question why Bandai doesn't do it, because let's face it, they've been bankrolling the franchise since Frontier.  

Far as competition from Bandai contributing to Yamato folding though, I don't buy it.  Frankly, they weren't competing directly with Yamato at any step of the way.*  The closest they came was when they tried to break into the VF-1 market with the original Hi-Metal, and it fell flat, because they cost more than the Yamato VF-1s were going for, and were significantly harder to get.  The HMR line still costs more than I paid for most of my original Yamato VF-1s.  The market has just adjusted to the point where the Arcadia releases are probably closer to what they should cost now.

Yamato was pumping the market full of transformable jets long before Bandai released a product that could even be remotely considered competition, though.  The difference is that Yamato was producing niche collectibles for a specific market, while Bandai was making toys for a current generation anime.  There's no way to properly gauge the popularity of any Bandai product, because all of their products wind up on scalpers' radar as a potential investment. 

Once Bandai got over the bumps from the first DX VF-25 and proved they could make a quality Macross product, they popped up on scalper lists everywhere, and artificial scarcity took over.  The seconds-long pre-order scramble we have today didn't really even exist for Macross items until the Michael VF-25G orders popped up, because up to that point, no one actually had any proof in-hand that Bandai could make something worth buying. 

* The only design they've come close to duplicating was the VF-19 Advance, and that was long after Yamato was gone.

Edited March 8, 2018 by Chronocidal

[jenius]

This thread is all over the map in a fun way.

1) yammies have the hard point issue (probably all releases). That said, it's unclear what the issue is or what causes it. Is it rough removal of the part from the mold? Some of the disconnected hard points could be user error so it's super hard to nail down. Maybe it's rough treatment at the factory so maybe some releases are more prone to it. Maybe the Arcadia toys are more prone to it due to the condition of the mold or some reworking. For Yamatos, the issue is pretty rare but it would take really colorful valks to see early issues and we haven't had colorful valks in a long time.

2) a lot of Yamato's decision making process was probably spurred by investors or creditors. Ironically, they were probably told that if they didn't diversify their price points and products then they were doomed... So they did and got burned. Lots of other issues came into play as well but we don't know enough. Like maybe it seems like they released too many vf1 toys to rapidly and saturated the market but they may have been releasing them so rapidly to solve liquidity issues.

I think HMR is a real sweet spot. For Yamato to do 1/60 it meant huge investments in super premium toys. Bandai is able to take smaller bites.

 

[davidwhangchoi]

1) wrong. it was not an issue on yamatos. not all vf-1 releases had an issue. i've seen maybe one or two yamato hard points pop off due to non abuse. it was not a common issue or there would've been a thread on it constantly.  and yes it was rare. nowhere near what is being commonly reported with arcadia. defining the term " an issue" a problem that is a common occurrence such as: Arcadia 0A legs popping off/canopy scratches due to heat shield pins not being filed down. 171 triangles crumbling. Arcadia hardpoints may have been poorly designed by what is being discussed.

the stress marks are an issue that was not shared on the virgin road nor previous Yamato Max and Miria releases. 

perhaps the type of plastic or quality is different. 

 

 

 

 

   

[jenius]

Right... And Yamato rainbow canopies don't crinkle. Not an issue.

Edit: I'm being glib, if it doesn't reach the standard of "issue", that's fine and I don't want to go down the semantics hole, but there are several Yamato owners that saw it happen also so obviously Yamato was not immune to hard point breakage.

Edited March 8, 2018 by jenius

[davidwhangchoi]

8 minutes ago, jenius said:

Right... And Yamato rainbow canopies don't crinkle. Not an issue.

 none on mine at the moment.

i think out of my entire collection of vf-1's i had 2 crinkled rainbow tints which going into buying i was aware of the "widespread issue" on specific valks in particular. 2 or 3 specific releases. the virgin road, roy weathering. and vf-1a hikaru. (miria had a ultra thick coating but was ok on mine)  

aside from the 2 to 3 "known issue" rainbow canopy valks which were later corrected. i've never ever encountered a rainbow flake on later releases for example any low viz roy ever. out of the 5 copies i owned none of them flake. and out of my entire collection of yamato's which i own multiple copies of many. i don't have issues but i know those few releases did have issues. 

hard points are a different matter. yamato hardpoints coming off are a rare occurrence as much as a vf-1 foot coming off bc it was not glued on properly. (happened to me on one of my mass production vf-1a's)   

[technoblue]

In my experience buying Yamato or Arcadia has always been a quality lottery of sorts. It's why I'm thankful for that version spreadsheet which notes which of the older Yamato releases are safe. I noticed that Arcadia releases have been added on, so the hardpoint stress/fracture might be an informative point to be aware of w/ the standard Arcadia Max release if it really is common and not just a QC failing from a bad batch.

I prefer that kind of info to the debates over personal preference. I mean, it's great to see the fans who have pristine collections, but that is rare too when you pay attention to what is being written.

The idea that Yamato releases are somehow superior is simply one side ignoring the other side's evidence to the contrary. Man, deja vu. We already went down this road with the 0D/0A and I'm not going to wear my rose colored glasses again. I was roasted pretty good for being tone deaf to the experience of others then. Having empathy is always better.

If we're lucky, maybe Arcadia will stop with the minor adjustments to the old Yamato v2 mold and release their own new VF-1 mold in the next two years. I would think that having/correcting issues would be costly and a new/updated VF-1 mold would be to Arcadia's benefit, but I could be wrong.

[davidwhangchoi]

yamato are superior because the mold did not degrade. i'm not saying yamato didn't have issues. i would prefer instead of saying blanket preferences blah blah blah statements that the posts are carefully read. i was speaking about specifically the hardpoints and stress marks on the arcadias.  yamato did not have these issues. 

the posts digressed to rainbow canopy which i responded as well. 

this is the max and miria arcadia thread. the reason perhaps there are issues is the mold is degrading. and arcadia HAS tinkered with it bc of it. 

now being glad i brought earlier yamato releases does not say anything but that.  the mold degradation issue, hard points and stress marks.   

 

and FYI i have all arcadia releases on pre-order and brought every new release so is that blindly favoring yamato bc i brought all Arcadia releases and have an opinion?   

 

Edited March 9, 2018 by davidwhangchoi

[mickyg]

Dislcaimer: I have no experience with any 1/60 scale M&M release.  I do have experience with the hardpoint issue on two of my early release Yamato V2 VF-1 purchases, though.  Both were brand new, I might add.  The first was the Super VF-1A Hikaru release (which if memory serves is one of the first that came out of the V2 line) and the other was a Super VF-1J Hikaru.  Both had issues with the hardpoints and both required some minor surgery to repair.  I should also add that both have held up for years after the fix (just super glued the part back in).

The size of the rib in the new Arcadia shots that have been posted definitely seems strange.  I recall Arcadia specifically mentioning some tweaks made to the release but I can't remember if the mounting points were one of them.

Either way, to me, this is an issue of design which is inherent to the way the wings are put together and is not an issue of mold quality.  The simple fact is that unless the back of the hardpoint is glued to the filler piece on the top of the wing, the torque/torsion force applied to those tiny fingers of plastic that hold it to the bottom of the wing, is simply too great and the part fails.  If the mount is properly glued to the filler piece, that surface is far bigger and the force is transferred to the filler piece.  In that case, it's not ever going to fail.

I shored up the piece on subsequent Yamato valks I purchased, by applying thin super glue to the hole in the mount and letting it spread.  This ensures the mount and wing filler are as close to one piece as you can get with simple super glue.  Using an ABS glue would be better but I didn't have that when I was messing around with my valks years ago.

Can anyone see any evidence of glue on the backs of the hardpoints?  The whole filler piece is glued in so the glue should be visible somewhere.  My guess is that it's not applied to the whole part, which would certainly help.

[davidwhangchoi]

5 minutes ago, mickyg said:

Dislcaimer: I have no experience with any 1/60 scale M&M release.  I do have experience with the hardpoint issue on two of my early release Yamato V2 VF-1 purchases, though.  Both were brand new, I might add.  The first was the Super VF-1A Hikaru release (which if memory serves is one of the first that came out of the V2 line) and the other was a Super VF-1J Hikaru.  Both had issues with the hardpoints and both required some minor surgery to repair.  I should also add that both have held up for years after the fix (just super glued the part back in).

The size of the rib in the new Arcadia shots that have been posted definitely seems strange.  I recall Arcadia specifically mentioning some tweaks made to the release but I can't remember if the mounting points were one of them.

Either way, to me, this is an issue of design which is inherent to the way the wings are put together and is not an issue of mold quality.  The simple fact is that unless the back of the hardpoint is glued to the filler piece on the top of the wing, the torque/torsion force applied to those tiny fingers of plastic that hold it to the bottom of the wing, is simply too great and the part fails.  If the mount is properly glued to the filler piece, that surface is far bigger and the force is transferred to the filler piece.  In that case, it's not ever going to fail.

I shored up the piece on subsequent Yamato valks I purchased, by applying thin super glue to the hole in the mount and letting it spread.  This ensures the mount and wing filler are as close to one piece as you can get with simple super glue.  Using an ABS glue would be better but I didn't have that when I was messing around with my valks years ago.

Can anyone see any evidence of glue on the backs of the hardpoints?  The whole filler piece is glued in so the glue should be visible somewhere.  My guess is that it's not applied to the whole part, which would certainly help.

i don't know if Mr. K tweaked the hard points specifically but mentioned the joints were tightened due to the aging mold. now it's possible that the hard points were tweaked purposely and if so it may been on the list of tweaks to keep the mold updated. 

it's possible due to the way the wings are assembled together mold degradation may not be the issue directly. now that might be the case, but you can't totally discount the fact that tweaks were made due to mold degradation and that the hard points are popping off these arcadias.   i don't mean to purposely disagree but possible hardpoint changes may be tweaked related to Mr. K address the mold degradation.

 

anyways, i'm off to bed and see you guys tomorrow. 

   

[technoblue]

13 hours ago, davidwhangchoi said:

yamato are superior because the mold did not degrade. i'm not saying yamato didn't have issues. i would prefer instead of saying blanket preferences blah blah blah statements that the posts are carefully read. i was speaking about specifically the hardpoints and stress marks on the arcadias.  yamato did not have these issues. 

the posts digressed to rainbow canopy which i responded as well. 

this is the max and miria arcadia thread. the reason perhaps there are issues is the mold is degrading. and arcadia HAS tinkered with it bc of it. 

now being glad i brought earlier yamato releases does not say anything but that.  the mold degradation issue, hard points and stress marks.   

and FYI i have all arcadia releases on pre-order and brought every new release so is that blindly favoring yamato bc i brought all Arcadia releases and have an opinion?   

Wow. A "blah blah" retort. Really?

Your preference for Yamato is coming through loud and clear. I doubt my reading comprehension on this point is in question, but thank you anyway. By the way, blind favoritism? Those are your words not mine. If you think the Yamato mold is superior with regard to hard points after all these years, and all these Valkyrie iterations, more power to you. Me, I don't know how simply passing the mold to Arcadia makes a difference.  The mold was already getting old before Arcadia got it, and Yamato was already tweaking the mold before Arcadia got it, which is why the v2 iterations exist. We already have known problems documented for well-known common issues between the v2 iterations, like cracked hinges and such, I'm guessing there are more known problems to add.

And it makes sense to me. As people get more familiar with the v2 VF-1, as more newbies discover these Valkyries, more issues will get uncovered. In the meantime, as long as Arcadia tweaks the mold instead of releasing a new VF-1 mold, more problems will pop up.

Personally, given Arcadia's other quality gaffs, I'm concerned with how they might or might not fix the issue. If this is a design flaw, mold degradation, or a quality issue (coming from a specific batch or two or three or ... from Arcadia's factory), then my hope is that they are aware of it and working on it.

What really sucks, especially with today's prices, is that we have to wait until the next release to see if any of Arcadia's fixes are working. It would be nice if they offered after-sale parts/repair kits to retailers. Then those who get a bum copy wouldn't have to play the return lottery (those who can return, that is), they could just get a replacement parts box to fix what's broken, like a wing w/ snapped hard points.

 

Edited March 9, 2018 by technoblue
corrected some odd formatting

[anubis20]

Opened my Max yesterday, not 100% sure if I have stress marks at the wing mounts or not out of the box. Cant tell if its a stress mark or light reflecting off it 

[davidwhangchoi]

4 hours ago, technoblue said:

Wow. A "blah blah" retort. Really?

Your preference for Yamato is coming through loud and clear. I doubt my reading comprehension on this point is in question, but thank you anyway. By the way, blind favoritism? Those are your words not mine. If you think the Yamato mold is superior with regard to hard points after all these years, and all these Valkyrie iterations, more power to you. Me, I don't know how simply passing the mold to Arcadia makes a difference.  The mold was already getting old before Arcadia got it, and Yamato was already tweaking the mold before Arcadia got it, which is why the v2 iterations exist. We already have known problems documented for well-known common issues between the v2 iterations, like cracked hinges and such, I'm guessing there are more known problems to add.

And it makes sense to me. As people get more familiar with the v2 VF-1, as more newbies discover these Valkyries, more issues will get uncovered. In the meantime, as long as Arcadia tweaks the mold instead of releasing a new VF-1 mold, more problems will pop up.

Personally, given Arcadia's other quality gaffs, I'm concerned with how they might or might not fix the issue. If this is a design flaw, mold degradation, or a quality issue (coming from a specific batch or two or three or ... from Arcadia's factory), then my hope is that they are aware of it and working on it.

What really sucks, especially with today's prices, is that we have to wait until the next release to see if any of Arcadia's fixes are working. It would be nice if they offered after-sale parts/repair kits to retailers. Then those who get a bum copy wouldn't have to play the return lottery (those who can return, that is), they could just get a replacement parts box to fix what's broken, like a wing w/ snapped hard points.

 

the vf-1 mold is getting old pure and simple. it is NOT favoring the NAME Yamato over Acadia. it's the same freakin mold for crying out loud. and i've been buying all the Macross releases regardless of name or company.  

it is referring to having earlier releases while the mold was not so used up. that happened to be when it was under yamato's name so yes i prefer when it the mold was not used up.

@mickyg posted the hardpoints are due to improper assembly and not due to mold degradation. while that is possible i disagreed. bc he admitted he doesn't own Arcadia Max or Yamato Max but was speaking of his early release V2 hard points falling off. those assembly issues was corrected in later releases. While it's possible Arcadia may have misassembled it as mickyg believes, i pointed out it's also possible that it's bc of the mold retooling that the hard points look different and are popping off.

 

it's possible it's still an assembly issue but that leads to another issue with Arcadia, i can understand if this was an early release mold having issues crop up such as knurled pins causing shoulder cracks, rainbow canopy flakes, hard points falling off. which were eventually addressed in subsequent releases and corrected. 

what people need to realize is this mold has been out for freakin almost a decade. all the issues that were resolved that are cropping up are unacceptable. 

so there's two possible reasons or a combination of both:

1. Aradia is shittier in manufacturing and QA testing than yamato bc there is no excuse for these issues cropping up with a release this old.

2. OR if that is not the case and Arcadia has the same QA as Yamato, then the issues popping up are due to the mold degrading and due to being retooled  "new" issues are popping up.

this is the same things happening to several old G1 molds that were retooled creating new issues. i mentioned the same issues with G1 reissues in my earlier post for this reason. take a look at TFW2005, one of the main issues people have with the reissues vs. originals is the mold is too old causing loose joints and problems.  Takara had to retool them to try and save the mold. IT'S NOT THE REISSUE NAME It is under that is the issue but the AGE of the mold. so when members say they prefer the hasbro 84 brand over the encore line. it's not the name brand they are refering to but the mold quality. and some retooled reissues had corrected some problems of the original mold but overall ppl prefer orginals over reissues.

does that mean the earlier releases in new condition are better? YES

does that mean the name Yamato make it superior? NO 

Yamato's are better than Arcadia's because they were earlier aside from the early production errors that were corrected later on.

but i do agree under yamato the mold got older, i remember Gakken complaining about a few late yamato releases having some minor issues so the mold was starting to show signs of aging.

now that time has gone by under Arcadia, the mold is definitely degrading further. 

 

  

  

[jenius]

You're making the assumption that there are more issues now then there were with Yamato and what you're being told, and what you're ignoring, is that that's not the case. The latest release will ALWAYS have the most vocal outcry about perceived quality issues. You've stepped into a recency fallacy and you don't realize it.