Bandai DX Chogokin 1/48 VF-1

[beatsing]

 A little off topic, but members here have compared the Dx line to the metal build Gundams.  Amiami has a metal build in stock.

[beatsing]

I don't really see the similarity other than they also use metal and the price point is similar.

[505thAirborne]

I thoroughly enjoyed this review, nicely done Jenius! 

[seti88]

Very nice video! 

kudos jenius!

 

[jenius]

I think I must be doing something wrong.... I am not a fan of the DX Strike parts in fighter mode at all. The feet are the heftiest part of the toy. When I put the strike parts on, the legs both pop off their pegs with any sort of shake. The arms go right along with them. I had these on in battroid and loved them but wow, I expected a lot more from how it would all come together in fighter mode. Anyone have a tip on something I might be missing? I love the comically shallow peg that goes from the leg armor to the arm... like that does anything at all and even if it did, the arms are attached in the worst way possible to the back. What a head scratcher. 

[Lolicon]

As I already wrote in my DX SSP impressions, the DX's tabbing system for holding the legs and arms in fighter mode are inferior to Yamato.

I'm not so wowed by some tampo and a few improvements that I will overlook such obvious flaws.

[Lolicon]

SSP available for those that don't want to wait until April. 

https://order.mandarake.co.jp/order/detailPage/item?itemCode=1128221353&ref=list&keyword=マクロス

[DYRL VF-1S]

1 hour ago, Lolicon said:

As I already wrote in my DX SSP impressions, the DX's tabbing system for holding the legs and arms in fighter mode are inferior to Yamato.

I'm not so wowed by some tampo and a few improvements that I will overlook such obvious flaws.

 

1 hour ago, jenius said:

the arms are attached in the worst way possible to the back.

Yeah, have to agree there. In fighter mode, there’s almost no point in even trying to attach the arms to the legs with SSP on. That was a frustrating attempt.

[Sanity is Optional]

1 hour ago, jenius said:

I think I must be doing something wrong.... I am not a fan of the DX Strike parts in fighter mode at all. The feet are the heftiest part of the toy. When I put the strike parts on, the legs both pop off their pegs with any sort of shake. The arms go right along with them. I had these on in battroid and loved them but wow, I expected a lot more from how it would all come together in fighter mode. Anyone have a tip on something I might be missing? I love the comically shallow peg that goes from the leg armor to the arm... like that does anything at all and even if it did, the arms are attached in the worst way possible to the back. What a head scratcher. 

Weird, I haven't tried them in fighter mode personally but I wonder what exactly is making the arms pop off, the armor seems to tab on super securely to those at least.

[jenius]

It's the arms sliding off the pegs on the body of the toy and drooping down. The arm armors don't add much weight but that connection is just precarious enough without armors that the system fails apart with them. 

Both the leg and arms should have a notch on their connections pegs. The arms slide so they should slide right into a notch. The legs pivot at the knee so a notch would work there too. The vertical peg is nonsense.

Edited January 15, 2020 by jenius

[505thAirborne]

1 hour ago, Lolicon said:

SSP available for those that don't want to wait until April. 

https://order.mandarake.co.jp/order/detailPage/item?itemCode=1128221353&ref=list&keyword=マクロス

And Gone!!!!!!!!!

[no3Ljm]

This time it’s Hikaru’s VF-1S for Y27000.

https://order.mandarake.co.jp/order/detailPage/item?itemCode=1128247704

 

Edited January 15, 2020 by no3Ljm

[Lolicon]

5 minutes ago, no3Ljm said:

This time it’s Hikaru’s VF-1S for Y27000.

https://order.mandarake.co.jp/order/detailPage/item?itemCode=1128247704

 

Damn you noel, I was about to post that. 

[Lolicon]

2 hours ago, 505thAirborne said:

And Gone!!!!!!!!!

Back again! 

https://order.mandarake.co.jp/order/detailPage/item?itemCode=1126675367&ref=list&keyword=マクロス

[lavinrac]

I ordered Strike packs a bit after NY put them up the second time, for April. Should I be concerned about whether I will get them AT ALL? 

I can wait, but I'm a bit concerned they will not come through and by April it will be too late to get them without a huge scalper markup.

[sqidd]

1 hour ago, lavinrac said:

I ordered Strike packs a bit after NY put them up the second time, for April. Should I be concerned about whether I will get them AT ALL? 

I can wait, but I'm a bit concerned they will not come through and by April it will be too late to get them without a huge scalper markup.

I decided (I think a few others did to) that NY had more negatives than positives going for it when compared to other options. I had some VF-1S's and Strike parts PO'd though them (6 of each). If they responded to my emails it was either an answer to a question I didn't ask, or they blew me off. There are too many better options out there. I did a PayPal dispute knowing NY would ban me. I don't care, I'm done with them anyway. The day after PP gave me my money back (which was only a couple of days) I filled that order through other means. Did I get them at retail/PO pricing? No, not that. But I got them for a lot less than NY was retailing them for, and I got them right now. The majority I had shipped to my Tenso address and them forwarded them as a bundle to save on shipping.

Did I end up paying more than PO pricing (I wasn't in on it anyway)? Yes. Was it a lot more? No. Did I get everything right away? Sure did. And I don't have to worry about what NY is or isn't going to do and how long it takes to get it done. A bird in the hand and all that.

[Alphahorizon]

I cant remember who mentioned this to us way back regarding the pre-order for the strikes. But they mentioned AE, as I had not used them previously I decided to do so. I recieved an email that i wouldn't be getting them until the April release. However; they then sent out an email stating that they were wrong and I was right. I only got 3 sets (wouldn't mind a few more). Overall, and in MY EXPERIENCE only, AE was a good call. 

 

So thank you....DAMN it (someone deserves some kudos) I forgot who recommended them. By the time I ever got any email acknowledgement that Mandrake has a set of strikes they are already gone. Every single time. I'll try for a few more sets in Mar/April when the second batch is released.

[seti88]

2 hours ago, lavinrac said:

I ordered Strike packs a bit after NY put them up the second time, for April. Should I be concerned about whether I will get them AT ALL? 

I can wait, but I'm a bit concerned they will not come through and by April it will be too late to get them without a huge scalper markup.

No reason to be concerned. They have come through every order of mine.

And didn't ban me or anything even as i forgot/decided not to pay for a pre-order. Caveat was i was a reliable buyer as well.

 

[Slave IV]

2 hours ago, lavinrac said:

I ordered Strike packs a bit after NY put them up the second time, for April. Should I be concerned about whether I will get them AT ALL? 

I can wait, but I'm a bit concerned they will not come through and by April it will be too late to get them without a huge scalper markup.

They will come through and you should be at ease that you got them at the just about the lowest price possible. 

1 hour ago, sqidd said:

II had some VF-1S's and Strike parts PO'd though them (6 of each)...Did I get them at retail/PO pricing? No, not that. But I got them for a lot less than NY was retailing them for, and I got them right now. The majority I had shipped to my Tenso address and them forwarded them as a bundle to save on shipping.

Did I end up paying more than PO pricing (I wasn't in on it anyway)? Yes. Was it a lot more? No. Did I get everything right away? Sure did. And I don't have to worry about what NY is or isn't going to do and how long it takes to get it done. A bird in the hand and all that.

I know you had issues with NY and that is all good, especially when you are one of the few who stand by your word of never using them again. However, you are a bit contradictory in your statements above. I know you probably had the 1S at NY at their marked up price and probably got it for a bit cheaper elsewhere but there is no markup on the SSP from original listing price. You can still order the SSP from NY now for 9200Y + shipping which is less than anywhere else I’ve seen. Even cheaper than using a proxy to buy direct from Bandai. Just pointing that out so there is no misinformation but if I’m wrong, please point me to where I can get SSP for less than NY. 

[crackpot]

Probably the total was lot less compared to NY or paid in $ instead of ¥, which significantly raises the price. Let's see what he says. Either way, NY has more negatives and just because they still deliver a product (but at their convenience at a very later time), doesn't make that a positive. 

[sqidd]

35 minutes ago, Slave IV said:

They will come through and you should be at ease that you got them at the just about the lowest price possible. 

I know you had issues with NY and that is all good, especially when you are one of the few who stand by your word of never using them again. However, you are a bit contradictory in your statements above. I know you probably had the 1S at NY at their marked up price and probably got it for a bit cheaper elsewhere but there is no markup on the SSP from original listing price. You can still order the SSP from NY now for 9200Y + shipping which is less than anywhere else I’ve seen. Even cheaper than using a proxy to buy direct from Bandai. Just pointing that out so there is no misinformation but if I’m wrong, please point me to where I can get SSP for less than NY. 

True, my NY S's where at the scalper prices.

I did leave out that NY was completely out of S's and they were still 3000 (or was it 30,000) order numbers away from my order. How is a company that is out of stock on an item taking such a hard line on canceling orders? Sorry NY, once you were out of stock you lost your ability to say "We're not refunding your order, we will come through eventually". On that. People keep saying that NY always come though. But, people have mentioned that it has taken them over a year to do it. And sometimes they don't. If they don't come through you get a store credit that by the sounds of it is very hard to use. Who wants to wait a year? And who wants to wait a year only to get a hard to use store credit.

I don't have proof mind you. But it seems as if NY also prioritizes JP customers over US ones. This last Strike Pack PO kinda looked like that. As far as I can tell A LOT of people that were in on the first PO the first night were bumped to the April release after being confirmed that they were in the January release. That's not cool IMO. I may be wrong about this though.

Lastly, NY asking for final payment on the VF-0D's right before their release date was pushed a few months seemed a bit fishy.

My overall conclusion is I don't like the way NY does business. And when given the chance/asked I'm going to give my opinion of them.

[Slave IV]

9 minutes ago, sqidd said:

True, my NY S's where at the scalper prices.

I did leave out that NY was completely out of S's and they were still 3000 (or was it 30,000) order numbers away from my order. How is a company that is out of stock on an item taking such a hard line on canceling orders? Sorry NY, once you were out of stock you lost your ability to say "We're not refunding your order, we will come through eventually". On that. People keep saying that NY always come though. But, people have mentioned that it has taken them over a year to do it. And sometimes they don't. If they don't come through you get a store credit that by the sounds of it is very hard to use. Who wants to wait a year? And who wants to wait a year only to get a hard to use store credit.

I don't have proof mind you. But it seems as if NY also prioritizes JP customers over US ones. This last Strike Pack PO kinda looked like that. As far as I can tell A LOT of people that were in on the first PO the first night were bumped to the April release after being confirmed that they were in the January release. That's not cool IMO. I may be wrong about this though.

Lastly, NY asking for final payment on the VF-0D's right before their release date was pushed a few months seemed a bit fishy.

My overall conclusion is I don't like the way NY does business. And when given the chance/asked I'm going to give my opinion of them.

Yeah, all good and like I said, I totally respect your opinion and the way you stand behind it. Just another clarification...I don’t think anyone waited a year for their VF-1S since it hasn’t been a year yet. That was a one time case for the VF-31A which is a Valk people were paying $700+ for shortly after release and they still fulfilled all orders they took for under 18k yen. 

[sqidd]

17 minutes ago, Slave IV said:

Yeah, all good and like I said, I totally respect your opinion and the way you stand behind it. Just another clarification...I don’t think anyone waited a year for their VF-1S since it hasn’t been a year yet. That was a one time case for the VF-31A which is a Valk people were paying $700+ for shortly after release and they still fulfilled all orders they took for under 18k yen. 

I was referring to the 31 also.

And I know you know, but everyone else should know I'm working off hearsay for some of this. I wasn't around back in the day of the 31. 

I was under the impression that a few people here were pushed into store credit though??? Maybe that wasn't on the 31?

And I guess the next question is who has gotten a VF-1S from NY recently and what was your order number? I would be curious to see where they're at.

[Slave IV]

28 minutes ago, sqidd said:

I was referring to the 31 also.

And I know you know, but everyone else should know I'm working off hearsay for some of this. I wasn't around back in the day of the 31. 

I was under the impression that a few people here were pushed into store credit though??? Maybe that wasn't on the 31?

And I guess the next question is who has gotten a VF-1S from NY recently and what was your order number? I would be curious to see where they're at.

No one was pushed into store credit. Some people did not want to wait and demanded to cancel their non-cancelable order. Their option was to get credit or they could have taken it up with PayPal or their credit card companies to get a refund like you did on your other orders. If it were me, would have just sat back and waited and ended up with a 31A for about 20K shipped. 
 

As for the 1S, I’m pretty sure all preorders were fulfilled a while ago. 

[rocketblast]

7 hours ago, no3Ljm said:

This time it’s Hikaru’s VF-1S for Y27000.

https://order.mandarake.co.jp/order/detailPage/item?itemCode=1128247704

 

By the time I got up and saw that it was gone, no way that I'm going to pay over 30,000 yen for one of these.  I'm waiting for Fokker version.

 

Also I checked yahoo auctions and ALL of them say they won't ship outside of Japan. Either I'm missing something here or posting about those on here is kinda futile I dunno.

Edited January 15, 2020 by rocketblast

[Chronocidal]

9 hours ago, jenius said:

It's the arms sliding off the pegs on the body of the toy and drooping down. The arm armors don't add much weight but that connection is just precarious enough without armors that the system fails apart with them. 

Both the leg and arms should have a notch on their connections pegs. The arms slide so they should slide right into a notch. The legs pivot at the knee so a notch would work there too. The vertical peg is nonsense.

I really hate to find out that my very first concern pulling the VF-1J out of the box has been confirmed.   Freakin' Bandai.

Guess I'm going to be giving all those pegs a coating of super glue while I wait for NY to get off their backsides.

Edited January 15, 2020 by Chronocidal

[jenius]

1 minute ago, Chronocidal said:

I really hate to find out that my very first concern pulling the VF-1J out of the box has been confirmed.   Freakin' Bandai.

Without the strike parts on the legs also peg into the backpack which helps the whole system to work. When you fold the backpack over you lose that connection point and things just... don't work. What a shame. They added a lip to the nosecone peg... maybe they'll add lips to the other pegs too for the next run.

[Chronocidal]

Actually, depending on if the pegs are long enough, it might work to file a notch into those lower pegs that go into the elbows.  Since the arms slide freely forward and back, you could just slip them over, and then pull or push the arms to lock them, depending on which side the notch was cut on.  Would also depend on the plastic around the hole not being too thick, but it could be an alternative to beefing up the pegs.

Still ridiculous that they thought those were sufficient and that we get do do their engineering work for them.

Edited January 15, 2020 by Chronocidal

[Sanity is Optional]

36 minutes ago, rocketblast said:

By the time I got up and saw that it was gone, no way that I'm going to pay over 30,000 yen for one of these.  I'm waiting for Fokker version.

 

Also I checked yahoo auctions and ALL of them say they won't ship outside of Japan. Either I'm missing something here or posting about those on here is kinda futile I dunno.

Purchase through a proxy like Buyee or FromJapan. They will place the bid, receive the item via domestic shipping, and handle the international shipping.

[sqidd]

10 hours ago, jenius said:

It's the arms sliding off the pegs on the body of the toy and drooping down. The arm armors don't add much weight but that connection is just precarious enough without armors that the system fails apart with them. 

Both the leg and arms should have a notch on their connections pegs. The arms slide so they should slide right into a notch. The legs pivot at the knee so a notch would work there too. The vertical peg is nonsense.

When I read this thought to myself......self, "I don't remember those being an issue". And that is one of those things that drives me batty. I would have remembered. I just pulled my 1S with Strikes off the stand to check and it's as I remember it. A brick. I can shake the fighter and the arms/armors and gun pod don't budge. I don't know what I did to get it like that or if it's a fluke (a sample size of one is not a test). But mine is solid. Better than my 1/48 Yammies for sure.

If I accidentally figured out a trick I wouldn't know how to convey it. Because I don't know what I did.

[jenius]

I'll test it out on my other two tonight but so far, fighter mode is getting a big thumbs down from me. Hopefully I'll figure out a trick. I imagine the old nail polish truck would also work but would need frequent reapplication.

[Sanity is Optional]

Could be down to part tolerances, or sliding the arms into the right position so the peg has friction.

Speaking from a mechanical design perspective, dealing with slip-fit tolerances is a gigantic PITA.

[sqidd]

19 minutes ago, Sanity is Optional said:

Could be down to part tolerances, or sliding the arms into the right position so the peg has friction.

Speaking from a mechanical design perspective, dealing with slip-fit tolerances is a gigantic PITA.

I tens to massively over engineer my products so take this with a grain of salt.  If I were designing a valk I would have a way of actively locking stuff like the arms in place. I'd have to think long and hard about how to do it and make it "transparent" at the same time. I'm sure it could be done though.

If I designed a Valk it would probably be $600 though. So maybe I'm not the best person to get an option from.

[Slave IV]

3 minutes ago, sqidd said:

I tens to massively over engineer my products so take this with a grain of salt.  If I were designing a valk I would have a way of actively locking stuff like the arms in place. I'd have to think long and hard about how to do it and make it "transparent" at the same time. I'm sure it could be done though.

If I designed a Valk it would probably be $600 though. So maybe I'm not the best person to get an option from.

If we are talking about a Valk made with forged automotive grade alloys, $600 sounds cheap! Where's the preorder button?!

[Chronocidal]

18 minutes ago, sqidd said:

I tens to massively over engineer my products so take this with a grain of salt.  If I were designing a valk I would have a way of actively locking stuff like the arms in place. I'd have to think long and hard about how to do it and make it "transparent" at the same time. I'm sure it could be done though.

If I designed a Valk it would probably be $600 though. So maybe I'm not the best person to get an option from.

Or you could do exactly what Yamato did on their v.2 1/60, and just put a clip under the backplate to hold them up.  They nailed it, and for as much as Bandai managed to copy it, they also somehow flubbed some of the most structurally important features of the design.

There was literally zero reason to use a vertical press-fit peg fighting against gravity to hold up something that was going to be carrying more things in the future.  Literally any sort of locking mechanism whatsoever for the arms should have been an absolute no-brainer.

Edited January 15, 2020 by Chronocidal