Bandai DX Chogokin 1/48 VF-1

[Lolicon]

20 hours ago, Shawn said:

I found an old pic of one of the prototype Yamato 1/48s (from 2002), and I think to this day it looks incredible.
This one is hand painted and detailed, but I'd put this against the new Bandai 1/48 any day for sheer awesomeness. I like the flat white a lot!

 

That looks so good even 20+ years later.

And yet Bandai still won't give us a DX VF-1A Hikaru despite being a simple color swap.

Bandai also needs to take notes on what just the right amount of tampo printing looks like. And Arcadia needs to make all their releases "premium finish" because a sticker sheet is pretty lame for toys costing north of 30-40k yen.

[Phangry]

It feels like Bandai is focusing solely on toys they can release internationally at the moment... and it sucks because I would take any VF-1 variant over more Frontier/Delta. 

The last two years it's been what, the DX Super Ostrich, the ugly Anniversary VF-1J, the Hikaru 1S re-release, and the HMR Max and Kakizaki tv VF-1A's?

[grogall]

11 hours ago, Robin-11 said:

It is amazing. I believe the silhouette on fighter mode in the Yamatos 1/48 is still unmatched. 

Head drops down way too much, and the arms are also not flush with the legs! Bandai vastly improved both of these shortcomings! I also find that everything is very loose on the Yamato toys. and the very spars printing of the details is what put me of from the beginning... 

[davidwhangchoi]

13 hours ago, Lolicon said:

That looks so good even 20+ years later.

And yet Bandai still won't give us a DX VF-1A Hikaru despite being a simple color swap.

Bandai also needs to take notes on what just the right amount of tampo printing looks like. And Arcadia needs to make all their releases "premium finish" because a sticker sheet is pretty lame for toys costing north of 30-40k yen.

That Yamato looks amazing, Bandai smears tampo on like a girl with too much makeup.  

[Slave IV]

Yamato 1/48 is still the smoothest perfect transforming Valk and one of the best looking in fighter mode. Only main drawbacks are the hands and floppies when you start adding the optional parts to it. 

[ArchieNov]

On 2/9/2025 at 3:48 PM, Steady said:

Yeah, I have to admit that ThreeZero VF-1 toy looks pretty good.  I'm still aiming for a 1/48 Bandai DX.  YOLO.  😄

I have the Threezero VF-1J and 1S, and I will admit that these are best roughly 1/60 scale VF-1 toys so far. They're not perfect, but they do more things better than the others. So not everything with the Robotech label is subpar, or at least not anymore.

[m0n5t3r]

2 hours ago, ArchieNov said:

I have the Threezero VF-1J and 1S, and I will admit that these are best roughly 1/60 scale VF-1 toys so far. They're not perfect, but they do more things better than the others. So not everything with the Robotech label is subpar, or at least not anymore.

I'm jealous... still no sign of my threezero VF-1S arriving locally. I can't wait to get my hands on it.

Edited February 18 by m0n5t3r

[MKT]

I think one factor that makes the Yammie 1/48 still endearing after all these years is how they are generally much more resistant to yellowing compared to Bandai's products. This, coupled with the other bad ass non-white schemes.

[BlueMax]

15 hours ago, MKT said:

I think one factor that makes the Yammie 1/48 still endearing after all these years is how they are generally much more resistant to yellowing compared to Bandai's products. This, coupled with the other bad ass non-white schemes.

I'm afraid I cannot agree with the part regarding yellowing. Yamato 1/48 plastics are just as prone to yellowing. Also, the grade of plastics used seem to be at teast a grade lower, and significantly worse so on the color molded plastic, at least in the blue. I have feedback from a friend who I sold a MAX 1A to feedback that the intake area of the thigh-hip tealed/ yellowed badly (even without exposure to visible light), and when trying to transform from plan to gerwalk mode, just CRUMBLED.

As for the sculpt, it was the absulute pinnacle of VF toy engineering back then circa 2002 (just 2 years shy of a 1/4 century after release!!), and the proportions in fighter mode, with proper paint apps, is still up there even compared to the Bandai DX.

[MKT]

On 2/19/2025 at 3:31 PM, BlueMax said:

I'm afraid I cannot agree with the part regarding yellowing. Yamato 1/48 plastics are just as prone to yellowing. Also, the grade of plastics used seem to be at teast a grade lower, and significantly worse so on the color molded plastic, at least in the blue. I have feedback from a friend who I sold a MAX 1A to feedback that the intake area of the thigh-hip tealed/ yellowed badly (even without exposure to visible light), and when trying to transform from plan to gerwalk mode, just CRUMBLED.

As for the sculpt, it was the absulute pinnacle of VF toy engineering back then circa 2002 (just 2 years shy of a 1/4 century after release!!), and the proportions in fighter mode, with proper paint apps, is still up there even compared to the Bandai DX.

I do agree on the plastics grade being lower on the 1/48. They seem to become a little more crunchy / brittle over time - any areas that are stiff requires careful handling as they might break. One of my 1/48 bay doors snapped when trying to pry them open, and one of the leg super pack clamp broke too whilst trying to remove.

I can relate to the blue used for Max, though mine is the 1J. The same intake area you mentioned also yellowed first on mine, far earlier than any other areas of valk, and the pattern of it suggests just bad plastics composition rather than UV or oxidation.  

[vladykins]

Only one of my 1/48 Yamatos to have yellowed at all seems to be my urban camo GBP. Grantedf, I'm down mostly to darker colors now, but my low vis is fairly light and shows no yellowing. 

[jenius]

It's pretty common to see the chests on the Yamato 1/48s yellowing, particularly the DYRL colors. 

[Froy]

I should undress my 1J. It's been sitting with the GBP on since I got it 20 years ago. Yikes!

My Focker seems to be doing ok even I used to take a ton of photos of it under direct sun light

Edited February 27 by Froy

[vt102]

If anyone is in the Osaka area. The Daimaru Umeda building has a Tamashii Nations pop up shop in there (till October 2025). There is also the Pokemon and Tomica stores in there too.

[Lolicon]

34 minutes ago, vt102 said:

If anyone is in the Osaka area. The Daimaru Umeda building has a Tamashii Nations pop up shop in there (till October 2025). There is also the Pokemon and Tomica stores in there too.

Sweet! I'll be in Osaka later this month so I'll have to check it out. 

[vt102]

Some of the Macross items. The ones displayed were available for sale.

[grogall]

7 hours ago, vt102 said:

Some of the Macross items. The ones displayed were available for sale.

Great another regurgitated VF-1J! 🙈 Instead of delivering something new that most people would actually buy... Like Max VF-1A D.Y.R.L or Kakazaki VF-1J from the TV series... Must be assigned to a low level product manager, with no knowledge of the series! 🤮But eh! At least you get missiles wich should have been included with the first release! 🙊

Edited yesterday at 03:17 PM by grogall

[rsvictor1976]

2 minutes ago, grogall said:

Great another regurgitated VF-1J! 🙈 Instead of delivering something new that most people would actually buy... Like Max VF-1A D.Y.R.L or Kakazaki VF-1J from the TV series... Must be assigned to a low level product manager, with no knowledge of the series! 🤮

This is just a display from a recent Tamashii Nations pop up temporary shop, They just sell what they already have in stock, not like a permanent store location. This VF-1J is the in-store exclusive one that came out last year. 

[grogall]

9 minutes ago, rsvictor1976 said:

This is just a display from a recent Tamashii Nations pop up temporary shop, They just sell what they already have in stock, not like a permanent store location. This VF-1J is the in-store exclusive one that came out last year. 

Thanks! I know since I also have one in the black box! But they could have done any other Valk to celebrate Macross since 1982 instead of regurgitating the third release of this VF-1J! 😡 This Valk would have flown of the shelf if it was a VF-1A Brownie (Canon Fodder)!!! 🤗

Edited yesterday at 03:30 PM by grogall

[rsvictor1976]

3 minutes ago, grogall said:

Thanks! I know since I also have one in the black box! But they could have done any other Valk to celebrate Macross since 1982 instead of regurgitating the third release of this VF-1J! 😡

It could be worse. At least it's not a commemorative t-shirt or hat..

[grogall]

Just now, rsvictor1976 said:

It could be worse. At least it's not a commemorative t-shirt or hat..

Please don't give P-Bandai any ideas! 😱🤣

[seti88]

Bandai is holding out any new variants to raise prices?

[vt102]

18 hours ago, grogall said:

Great another regurgitated VF-1J! 🙈 Instead of delivering something new that most people would actually buy... Like Max VF-1A D.Y.R.L or Kakazaki VF-1J from the TV series... Must be assigned to a low level product manager, with no knowledge of the series! 🤮But eh! At least you get missiles wich should have been included with the first release! 🙊

Maybe so.... But I'm glad I stumbled upon this pop up store. I didn't get a chance to get the original J, let alone this one last year. So I'm a happy camper. 

[pengbuzz]

On 2/19/2025 at 2:31 AM, BlueMax said:

I'm afraid I cannot agree with the part regarding yellowing. Yamato 1/48 plastics are just as prone to yellowing. Also, the grade of plastics used seem to be at teast a grade lower, and significantly worse so on the color molded plastic, at least in the blue. I have feedback from a friend who I sold a MAX 1A to feedback that the intake area of the thigh-hip tealed/ yellowed badly (even without exposure to visible light), and when trying to transform from plan to gerwalk mode, just CRUMBLED.

As for the sculpt, it was the absolute pinnacle of VF toy engineering back then circa 2002 (just 2 years shy of a 1/4 century after release!!), and the proportions in fighter mode, with proper paint apps, is still up there even compared to the Bandai DX.

That's how I lost my 1/48 VF-1S Roy; the thing pretty much crumbled to bits on me, even after keeping it out of direct light. On mine, it was the back piece where the tail attached, and then the upper arms. I never was able to afford to replace it (ended up crippled after buying it), and still cannot afford a replacement even some time after this happened. 😭