Bandai DX Chogokin 1/48 VF-1

[no3Ljm]

Clear scan of the cover. It does look nice. 

Things to notice:
- Side Covers included
- Double-jointed elbow
- Holes in elbow joint (probably for locking tabs)
- Dark part something underneath the cockpit area (presumably the leg bars)
- Swivel (or Rotating?) Gerwalk joints between the intakes and thigh
- Looks like it has a rotating knee joint as well
- Good amount of tampo prints in Battroid Mode
- Exposed locking tabs behind the legs
- Leg fins fold joints (for future GBP release?)
- Even if it's too early to see, the shoulder joints looks like it has a sliding mechanism

I really like what I'm seeing.  

 

Edited July 23, 2018 by no3Ljm

[Shizuka the Cat]

At first I had thought this might have been the Tamashii Nation's VF-1J announced back in 2015... but it does seem quite a bit different in design.

[Ignacio Ocamica]

46 minutes ago, no3Ljm said:

Clear scan of the cover. It does look nice. 

Things to notice:
- Side Covers included
- Double-jointed elbow
- Holes in elbow joint (probably for locking tabs)
- Dark part something underneath the cockpit area (presumably the leg bars)
- Swivel (or Rotating?) Gerwalk joints between the intakes and thigh
- Looks like it has a rotating knee joint as well
- Good amount of tampo prints in Battroid Mode
- Exposed locking tabs behind the legs
- Leg fins fold joints (for future GBP release?)
- Even if it's too early to see, the shoulder joints looks like it has a sliding mechanism

I really like what I'm seeing.  

 

Thank you for posting this scan, looks very good!!!!!

[seti88]

26 minutes ago, Shizuka the Cat said:

At first I had thought this might have been the Tamashii Nation's VF-1J announced back in 2015... but it does seem quite a bit different in design.

 

That tease was 1/35th scale as opposed to the incoming 1/48th scale. 

 

Edited July 23, 2018 by seti88

[Sildani]

So, pre-order on the 27th, so that’s Thursday night for us Americans. It’s a normal release, not a web exclusive, so the regular suspects will have it available most likely on a pay-later basis. Finally, the P.O. will start at 4:00PM Japan time, which’ll work out to 3:00AM EDT. 

Am I missing anything other then price?

[seti88]

Awaiting news on the gimmicks and such so that it will blind us to the price. That should be tomorrow-ish on the tamashii page hopefully.

 

[chyll2]

24 minutes ago, Sildani said:

So, pre-order on the 27th, so that’s Thursday night for us Americans. It’s a normal release, not a web exclusive, so the regular suspects will have it available most likely on a pay-later basis. Finally, the P.O. will start at 4:00PM Japan time, which’ll work out to 3:00AM EDT. 

Am I missing anything other then price?

the recent PO madness was 6PM Japan time. So without confirmed timing, people from the West will need to call in Sick for Friday

[Sildani]

That’s 7:00AM here... entirely doable! Even pleasurable considering!

[seti88]

I recall the PO time reverted back to 4pm JST for the recent HMR VF-2SS nexx PO.
 

[Lolicon]

1 hour ago, no3Ljm said:

Clear scan of the cover. It does look nice. 

Things to notice:
- Side Covers included
- Double-jointed elbow
- Holes in elbow joint (probably for locking tabs)
- Dark part something underneath the cockpit area (presumably the leg bars)
- Swivel (or Rotating?) Gerwalk joints between the intakes and thigh
- Looks like it has a rotating knee joint as well
- Good amount of tampo prints in Battroid Mode
- Exposed locking tabs behind the legs
- Leg fins fold joints (for future GBP release?)
- Even if it's too early to see, the shoulder joints looks like it has a sliding mechanism

I really like what I'm seeing.  

 

Looks good. Overall better proportioned than the Yamato. Chest plate looks a bit large, but it could just be the angle the pic was taken in. Still has what looks like the back of the forward fuselage jutting up from underneath the chest plate like the Yamato "priest collar" (though this is something that never bothered me). 

No "NO STEP" markings visible on the underside of the wings, so that's a good sign.

Prefer this heat shield proportion over the elongated abdominal look on the HMR heat shield. 

Will get this and probably the Focker 1S if it's released. 

[seti88]

 

[EmilianoAlfaro]

 

It seems to me, or the chest is very flat?

[jenius]

13 minutes ago, EmilianoAlfaro said:

 

It seems to me, or the chest is very flat?

Looks pretty standard to me.

[HardlyNever]

With all that detail they can't fill in that one line on the heat shield?  Seems a bit lazy...

It looks like we finally might get "modern" articulated hands, though, which we sorely need on a vf-1.

[Mommar]

I just can’t get excited about this thing.  An even bigger VF-1 is not what I’m looking for.

[treatment]

16 minutes ago, EmilianoAlfaro said:

 

It seems to me, or the chest is very flat?

 

3 minutes ago, jenius said:

Looks pretty standard to me.

 

Looking at the poster shot, yeah. 

It kinda does look as flat as the old 1/55.  A bit wider than the backside and protruding to seem to block the shoulders, too.  A bit raised up, too.

Not quite as rounded/concave-ish as the Yammie/Arcadia 1/60v2.

Those side-fillers looks like a simpler copy of the yammie/arcadia option parts.

[seti88]

8 minutes ago, HardlyNever said:

With all that detail they can't fill in that one line on the heat shield?  Seems a bit lazy...

It looks like we finally might get "modern" articulated hands, though, which we sorely need on a vf-1.

There seems to be a panel line there. At this scale maybe panel lines would be deep enough for some customs. But yeah it would be nice if there was one there already.

Just now, Mommar said:

I just can’t get excited about this thing.  An even bigger VF-1 is not what I’m looking for.

Wont conclude anything yet until the special announcement page on the tamashii site is out.

[jvmacross]

I assume the 1/35th Anniversary version is dead?  It would be lame of Bandai to have collector's sink part of their collectibles budget on this only to release the mother of all VF-1's a year or two later.  But, then again, they probably will have us all do just that when they scale this 1/48 down to the 1/60 range.

Although I will definitely pick up a couple of these for sure, I just do not have the same level of awe for it as I did and still do for that 1/35th scaled version.  I hope they learned alot from it and were able to apply most of it into their scaled down version.  At this point I think I would be more excited about a N-Ger or VF-1D HMR announcement. 

[moose]

Who will have this usual suspects?

[jvmacross]

7 minutes ago, Mommar said:

I just can’t get excited about this thing.  An even bigger VF-1 is not what I’m looking for.

It would have to be a pretty dang big VF-1 to have gotten excited.....1/48 just seems more like "been there, seen that"....I think Bandai missed an opportunity for an epic release....the 1/35 they teased would have been ideal and completely acceptable as a limited run, consisting of only the most "popular" VF-1's....TV Hikaru, DYRL Strike Hikaru VF-1S...and a few others...no one would have expected or wanted a complete line of 1/35th scales VF-1's.....in short, it would have been the centerpiece of any PT VF-1 collection

I believe the same goes for this current line of 1/48 VF-1's....no way this will go beyond maybe a half dozen VF-1 varieties before they go Yamato on us with a 1/60 release....

[seti88]

I second the hmr choice. As for valks at 1/35 scale, bandai is probably going the safer route as a1/35 would be released at higher price ranges. With all the releases so far maybe they think not many collectors would b able to afford it. 

Not only that but not many would have space to display it.

[recon]

More pics from the mag. Sad to say i would be passing on this if it was 1/48

[Kinzoku VF]

Great to get a few more insight on this piece. Still difficult to tell if it's truly 1/48. Only thing that bothers me is that HMR looks....Feels like a ' DX HMR'. Nothing wrong with that, sure, but as far as getting an entire squadron? Nope. I still have most of my Chunkies, Yamato V1 & V2 and 1/48, even my Toynamis, and of course my HMR. It'll reallly have to be priced less than ¥20000  (considering you'll have to shell out for all the armor parts and such).

Like others have said, I was also more interested in that old 1/35 DX Chogokin pics that had been doing the rounds for a while now rather than this one. They most probably dropped it completely, as price-wise it would've been in the ¥35/40000 or more...Too risky as it would leave out many customers able to shell out for the entire 1/35 squadron at that price range  (not even mentioning the super parts....).

Most likely why they ended up scaling it down just to make it affordable. But in the process, we end up with something that doesn't really look 'different'. I mean that 1/35 had great details, light gimmicks and who knows what else (maybe even removable plates to see the inside mechanical parts just like with the DX Chogokins)

I'll probably get one 'out of curiosity', but can't say I'm truly excited. Definitely not convinced we need yet more VF-1's. Unless it was a truly unique piece (like that 1/35) not a scaled up HMR.  Also, will it now be just a matter of time until we get an announcement from Arcadia regarding the possibility of a 1/48 V2 ? That would be the icing on the cake. Truly wish they'd stop milking the poor old VF-1 (just for a while at least) and start working on pieces from the Macross universe that never got released. 

[ItanoCircus]

delete.

Edited July 23, 2018 by ItanoCircus

[no3Ljm]

14 minutes ago, ItanoCircus said:

I found pics.

http://imgbox.com/DXKliGou

http://imgbox.com/icA0pCJG

http://imgbox.com/Tsg4lwFR

http://imgbox.com/oO56fn9T

http://imgbox.com/GtvUH2FO

http://imgbox.com/lbWTCRn6

Thanks for sharing. But those were old pics from last year. And it was already been posted from earlier pages.  

 

Edited July 23, 2018 by no3Ljm

[Shizuka the Cat]

The one thing that worries me just a little bit is Bandai's commitment to a VF-1 product line.

Origin of Valkyrie died prematurely. And the Hi-Metal line never got around to doing things like the VT-1, VE-1, VF-1J, and VF-1A TV Max before being phased out... though I admit that the successor Hi-Metal R line is looking promising so far, though the verdict is still technically out on this regards (we are still lacking VF-1A TV Max, TV Kakizaki, DYRL Max and Kakizaki, VF-1D, etc).

And, admittedly, Bandai has been more consistent as of late, regarding its releases for DX Chogokin Macross Frontier and Delta lines. So hopefully this DX Chogokin VF-1 series of toys gets a comprehensive release slate.

Edited July 23, 2018 by Shizuka the Cat

[recon]

One thing for sure, bandai did eliminated the short neck syndrome and oversized chest piece in battroid mode and check out those forearms. I thought that this VF-1J is a TV ver cos i remembered something about the difference dyrl and tv forearms but when i look at the hands...dyrl

Edited July 23, 2018 by recon

[Ignacio Ocamica]

Well Yamato 1/60 v2 VF-1 is the most complete line out there. Bandai is releasing enemy mechs and destroids in the HMR format. But I highly doubt we'll ever see every VF-1 in HMR format, Yamato even released the VF-4, VF-17, VF-19, YF-19, YF-21, VF-11.

I'm not against being proven wrong by Bandai though.

[jvmacross]

35 minutes ago, Kinzoku VF said:

Definitely not convinced we need yet more VF-1's. Unless it was a truly unique piece (like that 1/35) not a scaled up HMR.  Also, will it now be just a matter of time until we get an announcement from Arcadia regarding the possibility of a 1/48 V2 ? That would be the icing on the cake. Truly wish they'd stop milking the poor old VF-1 (just for a while at least) and start working on pieces from the Macross universe that never got released. 

Technically, we were overdue for a new DX "mold".  For what it's worth, this new Bandai DX is the 5th generation of DX VF-1 since the original Takatoku 1/55 (6th if you include the Bandai 1/72 HCM....7th if you want to include the 1/55 Toynami (which itself was a rescaled 1/72 HCM).  If Bandai goes the Yamato route, Bandai should come out with the 6th Gen in a couple of years as a rescaled 5th gen 1/48.

At this point, it would be suicide for Arcadia to come out with a V2 1/48.....as it is, they have been beat to the punch on a new gen VF-1.  A V3 Arcadia VF-1 would have to be so much more advanced than the upcoming Bandai DX 1/48 and loaded with more gimmicks that it would be way too expensive to reach the market.  It would spell BK for Arcadia.  It would seem Arcadia has been outplayed by Bandai in terms of VF-1's.

I agree totally with the notion of releasing the rest of the VF's that Yamato never got to produce....there were not that many left.  For reasons we really do not know, they seem to be stuck on "Zero".  However, if Bandai releases a Macross Delta VF-22....I think it is game over for any other new VF's from Arcadia.  What Arcadia needs now is either a VF-5000 or a TV SDF-1 in 1/3000 to remain interesting and/or relevant in the PT Macross/VF game.

Edited July 23, 2018 by jvmacross

[no3Ljm]

5 hours ago, Ignacio Ocamica said:

Thank you for posting this scan, looks very good!!!!!

Sure thing, Ignacio. 

5 hours ago, Sildani said:

So, pre-order on the 27th, so that’s Thursday night for us Americans. It’s a normal release, not a web exclusive, so the regular suspects will have it available most likely on a pay-later basis. Finally, the P.O. will start at 4:00PM Japan time, which’ll work out to 3:00AM EDT. 

Am I missing anything other then price?

Uhm, since it's a normal release, you might need a punching bag and a tissue paper just in case. 

1 hour ago, seti88 said:

Looking sweet even thought it's still looks blocky for me.  

44 minutes ago, moose said:

Who will have this usual suspects?

One of them is me. 

5 hours ago, Shizuka the Cat said:

At first I had thought this might have been the Tamashii Nation's VF-1J announced back in 2015... but it does seem quite a bit different in design.

55 minutes ago, jvmacross said:

I assume the 1/35th Anniversary version is dead?  It would be lame of Bandai to have collector's sink part of their collectibles budget on this only to release the mother of all VF-1's a year or two later.  But, then again, they probably will have us all do just that when they scale this 1/48 down to the 1/60 range.

Although I will definitely pick up a couple of these for sure, I just do not have the same level of awe for it as I did and still do for that 1/35th scaled version.  I hope they learned alot from it and were able to apply most of it into their scaled down version.  At this point I think I would be more excited about a N-Ger or VF-1D HMR announcement. 

Yeah. Too bad it's not a 1/35 scale. But looking at this pic, I think it's not that bad as a centerpiece.

Photo from CollectionDX.

[jenius]

Arcadia already said a 1/48 V2 was cost prohibitive and, seeing at what they've been doing, it seems a 1/60 V3 was also cost prohibitive. It's going to be very interesting to hear the price on this thing... if it's close to existing DX prices than Arcadia is going to have a hard time justifying a lot of 1/60 V2 releases. They gotta tell us the price soon right?

[jvmacross]

46 minutes ago, Shizuka the Cat said:

The one thing that worries me just a little bit is Bandai's commitment to a VF-1 product line.

Origin of Valkyrie died prematurely. And the Hi-Metal line never got around to doing things like the VT-1, VE-1, VF-1J, and VF-1A TV Max before being phased out... though I admit that the successor Hi-Metal R line is looking promising so far.

And, admittedly, Bandai has been more consistent as of late, regarding its releases for DX Chogokin Macross Frontier and Delta lines. So hopefully this DX Chogokin VF-1 series of toys gets a comprehensive release slate.

I think Bandai is committed to "Macross"....at least until the TV shows stop coming.

Origin of Valyrie was just a nostalgic release.....during a time when Bandai still did not really care much about Macross.  the original Hi-Metal line failed due to competing market forces at the time of their release.  HMR is winning now because Bandai is now almost 99% in control of the market for Macross PT toys...not to mention that it found the sweet spot at this scale and price with many collectors.  It is ironic that Arcadia's new higher prices have probably driven many to collect HMR instead.  Plus let's face it....at roughly 1/100 scale, it has the potential to become the most complete Macross in-scale line ever.

I would not expect the 1/48 DX line to be very "comprehensive"....however, a new Bandai 1/60 DX line will cause epic hemming and hawing among several Macross collectors....the likes of which we have never seen before.  It was one thing to move from 1/55 to even Yamato 1/60 v1....where there were only a handful you would need to replace....Now, you have an almost complete set of SDFM/DYRL VF-1 V2's to replace...and that's not including the M+,M7 and M0 valks at the same 1/60 DX scale.

With Bandai releasing the M+ YF-19....I think there is a possibility that we may be faced with doing at least some "upgrading" in the near future.

To anyone who has been collecting Macross for 30+ years....this is both nothing new and completely warranted and expected.....

Macross4Life! 

Edited July 23, 2018 by jvmacross

[seti88]

The pessimist in me is already anticipating that i wont be able to afford this, and am getting hyped up for nothing.  

sigh.....

[jvmacross]

11 minutes ago, no3Ljm said:

Yeah. Too bad it's not a 1/35 scale. But looking at this pic, I think it's not that bad as a centerpiece.

Photo from CollectionDX.

 

Until you look at this pic.....

 

[Shizuka the Cat]

16 minutes ago, jvmacross said:

Plus let's face it....at roughly 1/100 scale, it has the potential to become the most complete Macross in-scale line ever.I

Technically, I would say the Toynami 1/100 line is more comprehensive than the HMR line (regarding VF-1 toys)

Between both the US and Japanese Toynami releases having done TV VF-1J Supers for Hikaru, Max and Miria, TV VF-1A Max and Kakizaki, DYRL versions of various fighters, cannon fodder, VF-1D, a stealth version, at least 4 types of GBP (red, yellow, blue, and stealth), separate super/strike parts, etc.... I think the only things that Toynami has not released that HMR has are the VT-1 and VE-1.... I think.

That being said, the HMR is definitely a higher quality (though more expensive) product, so I do hope that HMR does become as comprehensive as Toynami for 1/100 VF-1 releases. 

Edited July 23, 2018 by Shizuka the Cat