Bandai DX Chogokin 1/48 VF-1

[Valkyrie2008]

2 hours ago, Sildani said:

Wow, that makes NY’s price hike look downright reasonable!

Is there an English mode for Amazon Japan? How do you get to it please?

Use Google Chrome, it'll translate.

[rdrunner]

4 minutes ago, seti88 said:

lol someone left it out to dry in the sun before display?

I think it might be the glass display reflection in front of the camera tho...

WOW what dont you have?!

arcadia should produce the pink vf-11 next!

 JOKE OF THE DAY! 

Now you mention it, they do stick out at angles in battroid....i just hope when tucked in fighter mode they can point straight 

Antenna articulation with multiple DOF would be nice. Think the Misa rescue scene at the Alaska base with the VF-1S... 

[Lolicon]

Alright Bandai, now where's that 1/48 VF-25?

[davidwhangchoi]

2 minutes ago, Lolicon said:

Alright Bandai, now where's that 1/48 VF-25?

how many you grab last night 2x?

[jvmacross]

15 minutes ago, davidwhangchoi said:

the greatest thing was when the new VF-0S was colored grey white. i immediately brought 3.

I had already stopped supporting Arcadia "reboots" by the time the VF-0A came out, plus did not approve of their "meddling" with the canon colors of it....did get some VF-0D though since it was all-new...

I did ended up purchasing their VF-0S later from a MW member once the Armor was released, which I bought only because I knew it  was never going to be made by any other vendor at that scale for a long time.  And after Delta came out....it now seems there is no limit to what Bandai will release, albeit not necessarily at 1/60 while Arcadia has the kung-fu grip on the Zero 1/60 scale license...

[Lolicon]

3 minutes ago, davidwhangchoi said:

how many you grab last night 2x?

Have 4x preordered. One I'm going to cancel or give to a fellow collector in town.

[davidwhangchoi]

5 minutes ago, jvmacross said:

I had already stopped supporting Arcadia "reboots" by the time the VF-0A came out, plus did not approve of their "meddling" with the canon colors of it....did get some VF-0D though since it was all-new...

I did ended up purchasing their VF-0S later from a MW member once the Armor was released, which I bought only because I knew it  was never going to be made by any other vendor at that scale for a long time.  And after Delta came out....it now seems there is no limit to what Bandai will release, albeit not necessarily at 1/60 while Arcadia has the kung-fu grip on the Zero 1/60 scale license...

lol Zero is like the only thing they have left for new molds. 

Bandai is in full conquer mode.

i was really not into hi metal bc it was a rehash of the old line as well (like what arcadia is doing)

but this new mold and scale is exciting. 

something new and fresh for SDF-1 Macross

 

 

 

Edited July 27, 2018 by davidwhangchoi

[davidwhangchoi]

6 minutes ago, Lolicon said:

Have 4x preordered. One I'm going to cancel or give to a fellow collector in town.

damn! that's amazing number. i got 3x one for each mode since it's a new line. can't wait for Roy to go ham

 

this size is perfect

[AlphaOne]

This will be my first VF-1 EVER. I always kind of passed on previous renditions but for some reason this one really resonated with me. 

[sh9000]

I’ll be happy to continue to support both the DX 1/48 and HMR lines.

[Slave IV]

40 minutes ago, seti88 said:

lol someone left it out to dry in the sun before display?

I think it might be the glass display reflection in front of the camera tho...

WOW what dont you have?! thanks for sharing the hankies, they look so nostalgic and in such good condition! kudos! 

arcadia should produce the pink vf-11 next!

 JOKE OF THE DAY! 

Now you mention it, they do stick out at angles in battroid....i just hope when tucked in fighter mode they can point straight 

That would be funny if they don’t articulate and ONLY point out. 

[davidwhangchoi]

4 minutes ago, Slave IV said:

That would be funny if they don’t articulate and ONLY point out. 

that's actually a legit fear that you pointed out.  since it is out of the resin prototype stage and was being handled by Kawamori in the youtube clip.

i fear it may be permanent...  

 

but the optimist in me says it looks like they can articulate a bit and just looks out of position.

Edited July 27, 2018 by davidwhangchoi

[jvmacross]

9 minutes ago, davidwhangchoi said:

lol Zero is like the only thing they have left for new molds. 

Bandai is in full conquer mode.

i was really not into hi metal bc it was a rehash of the old line as well (like what arcadia is doing)

but this new mold and scale is exciting. 

something new and fresh for SDF-1 Macross

 

 

 

The dumb thing about Arcadia and it's Zero license....where is the VF-0C? VF-0B?  They have the technology...they have the capability....they have the parts! 

Only missing the common-sense.

 

The DX 1/48 is cool, but not sustainable as an easy to manage collectible for most customers/collectors....neither was the 1/48 Yamato....thus they repackaged it at 1/60...again....and also in that specific odd scale probably because of Bandai having the death grip on the 1/55 scale...

The HMR scale works for exactly the opposite way why the DX at 1/48 will likely not work in the long run.....people want to be able to not only  "catch 'em all" ....but also to be able to "display 'em all".....just my 2 cents

[Slave IV]

1 minute ago, davidwhangchoi said:

that's actually a legit fear that you pointed out.  since it is out of the resin prototype stage and was being handled by Kawamori in the youtube clip.

i fear it may be permanent...  

Let us hope they gave us an additional point of articulation. It would be a nice added improvement. 

[jvmacross]

19 minutes ago, davidwhangchoi said:

damn! that's amazing number. i got 3x one for each mode since it's a new line. can't wait for Roy to go ham

 

this size is perfect

Everyone knows more than a handful will sprain something or other....

[davidwhangchoi]

10 minutes ago, jvmacross said:

The dumb thing about Arcadia and it's Zero license....where is the VF-0C? VF-0B?  They have the technology...they have the capability....they have the parts! 

Only missing the common-sense.

 

The DX 1/48 is cool, but not sustainable as an easy to manage collectible for most customers/collectors....neither was the 1/48 Yamato....thus they repackaged it at 1/60...again....and also in that specific odd scale probably because of Bandai having the death grip on the 1/55 scale...

The HMR scale works for exactly the opposite way why the DX at 1/48 will likely not work in the long run.....people want to be able to not only  "catch 'em all" ....but also to be able to "display 'em all".....just my 2 cents

honestly agree with the scale of the HMR especially with the enemy mecha which" I grabbed them all!"

the turn off was hi metal hype of Kawamori showing sketches like it was going to be a nice retool... ended up being the same mold. not knocking it but i guess i was over hyped looking for a new mold ala renewal and that let me down not the toy itself just the over hype. i still brought one of each. but not doubles to 5x like i normally would. the scale is perfect though, i just wish there's a renewal coming down the line with a retractable heat shield in the same great line and scale.

this 1.48 though is so low priced, full tampo'd and brand new mold. recipe for hype!!!!!

Edited July 27, 2018 by davidwhangchoi

[davidwhangchoi]

5 minutes ago, Slave IV said:

Let us hope they gave us an additional point of articulation. It would be a nice added improvement. 

looking at the photo again, the turrets seem like they can articulate like 10-30 degrees.

(fingers crossed that it can)

[sh9000]

12 minutes ago, jvmacross said:

The HMR scale works for exactly the opposite way why the DX at 1/48 will likely not work in the long run.....people want to be able to not only  "catch 'em all" ....but also to be able to "display 'em all".....just my 2 cents

Agreed.  This is the reason I bought them all.

[spacemanoeuvres]

I think it will definitely be a challenge to catch em and display em all at this scale; but this bad boy is so big and beautiful I don’t mind trying to figure something out.

The DX doubles down on all of the things that made the Yamato 1/48’s a dream toy. It’s almost everything I hoped for in a transforming valk when I was a kid. I can’t wait to get my hands on it. 

Edited July 27, 2018 by spacemanoeuvres
wrods

[mark-1s]

15 minutes ago, davidwhangchoi said:

looking at the photo again, the turrets seem like they can articulate like 10-30 degrees.

(fingers crossed that it can)

In that underbelly shot it appears that one antenna is angled out more than the other, so I think its safe to assume there is some degree of articulation and a bit of mis-transformation.  

[jvmacross]

I agree the DX 1/48 is a dream toy....but honestly, it is now just a re-occuring dream we had before...just slightly better.  I have not seen anything on this DX 1/48 that could not be replicated on a resized 1/60.  Bandai is just probably running out Arcadia's clock...playing the waiting game and the long game.

It is ironic how things have seemed to have flip-flopped in this Macross Game of Thrones....

Then: Bandai held the license for 1/55 DX VF-1's....and did nothing but re-release the same mold....then got outplayed by Yamato

Now: Arcadia holds the 1/60 DX VF-1 license....and does nothing but re-release the same mold....and just got outplayed by Bandai

In the Game of Thrones: Macross Edition....I'm afraid John Snow doesn't come back...

Edited July 27, 2018 by jvmacross

[MacrossMania]

1 minute ago, jvmacross said:

I agree the DX 1/48 is a dream toy....but honestly, it is now just a re-occuring dream we had before...just slightly better.  I have not seen anything on this DX 1/48 that could not be replicated on a resized 1/60.  Bandai is just probably running out Arcadia's clock...playing the waiting game and the long game.

It is ironic how things have seemed to have flip-flopped in this Macross Game of Thrones....

Then: Bandai held the license for 1/55 DX VF-1's....and did nothing but re-release the same mold....then got outplayed by Yamato

Now: Arcadia holds the 1/60 DX VF-1 license....and does nothing but re-release the same mold....and just got outplayed by Bandai

 

And this is why I agree with Lolicon.  Competition is a good thing for the hobby.  Otherwise we would have ended up with the lackadaisical attempts Bandai was infamous for in the 90's.  I can remember when you wouldn't even touch a Macross toy from Bandai.  Here's to hoping that Yamato recovers their old form.

[davidwhangchoi]

20 minutes ago, mark-1s said:

In that underbelly shot it appears that one antenna is angled out more than the other, so I think its safe to assume there is some degree of articulation and a bit of mis-transformation.  

yeah good observations. i see that too.

6 minutes ago, jvmacross said:

I agree the DX 1/48 is a dream toy....but honestly, it is now just a re-occuring dream we had before...just slightly better.  I have not seen anything on this DX 1/48 that could not be replicated on a resized 1/60.  Bandai is just probably running out Arcadia's clock...playing the waiting game and the long game.

It is ironic how things have seemed to have flip-flopped in this Macross Game of Thrones....

Then: Bandai held the license for 1/55 DX VF-1's....and did nothing but re-release the same mold....then got outplayed by Yamato

Now: Arcadia holds the 1/60 DX VF-1 license....and does nothing but re-release the same mold....and just got outplayed by Bandai

In the Game of Thrones: Macross Edition....I'm afraid John Snow doesn't come back...

everything you said so very true...  Bandai got so much more capital and muscle behind them it's going to be hard for arcadia.  bandai looked so crushed when yamato was king.

These Dx 1/48's may kinda a rehash in the most fearful way.  they may be floppy mess... did you see when Kawamori was handling the Dx Battroid? the wing fins popped off like the yamato 1/48's... but i'm still hype as hell bc we haven't had a new vf-1 mold in a long time.   

 still waiting for a Vf-1 that can non parts forming lower it's heat shield in fighter to recreate vf-1s entering earth's atmosphere and really act like a "heat shield" 

gimme a TV SDF-1 too. i hope arcadia or bandai tried to beat each other to the punch so we can have two TV Sdf's. 

3 minutes ago, MacrossMania said:

And this is why I agree with Lolicon.  Competition is a good thing for the hobby.  Otherwise we would have ended up with the lackadaisical attempts Bandai was infamous for in the 90's.  I can remember when you wouldn't even touch a Macross toy from Bandai.  Here's to hoping that Yamato recovers their old form.

i'm looking forward to the Sv-51. i hope it is amazing and they do well to go on to a 21 or 11b/c armored.

it sounds like Mr. K is cornered and has a hard time getting approval unless it's a safe cost effective to be profitable in his bosses eyes.  

i'm skeptical his bosses are supportive of new mold projects which costs alot of of time, R & D, and money... seems like there is minimal support for new projects due to fear of lackluster sales.  result: jack up the prices with mimal new tooling seems to be arcadia's means these days... (old mold, new tampo, charge premium)

the competition looks bleak atm.

        

 

[Sildani]

3 hours ago, VF-Zer0S said:

Wow I missed out. I didn’t know it had articulated fingers. 

Someone want to trade pre orders lol?

Hmm... what d’ya have?

[MacrossMania]

1 minute ago, davidwhangchoi said:

yeah good observations. i see that too.

everything you said so very true...  Bandai got so much more capital and muscle behind them it's going to be hard for arcadia.  bandai looked so crushed when yamato was king.

These Dx 1/48's may kinda a rehash in the most fearful way.  they may be floppy mess... did you see when Kawamori was handling the Dx Battroid? the wing fins popped off like the yamato 1/48's... but i'm still hype as hell bc we haven't had a new vf-1 mold in a long time.   

 still waiting for a Vf-1 that can non parts forming lower it's heat shield in fighter to recreate vf-1s entering earth's atmosphere and really act like a "heat shield" 

gimme a TV SDF-1 too. i hope arcadia or bandai tried to beat each other to the punch so we can have two TV Sdf's. 

i'm looking forward to the Sv-51. i hope it is amazing and they do well to go on to a 21 or 11b/c armored.

it sounds like Mr. K is cornered and has a hard time getting approval unless it's a safe cost effective to be profitable in his bosses eyes.  

i'm skeptical his bosses are supportive of new mold projects which costs alot of of time, R & D, and money... seems like there is minimal support for new projects due to fear of lackluster sales.  result: jack up the prices with mimal new tooling seems to be arcadia's means these days... (old mold, new tampo, charge premium)

the competition looks bleak atm.

        

 

My guess is that Bandai has a corner on the market, is probably receiving subsidies from the Japanese government as a marquis franchise and a flagship brand around the world, and probably has supply lines and factory production secured in sweetheart agreements with China and others in the Asian markets - making real competition virtually impossible for Yamato and driving the R&D and production costs up on every new mold for them.  I remember when Yamato ran into production problems with a recent mold and it got me to thinking that the basic mechanics of production is tipped in Bandai's favor because of the volume production they're doing, etc.  It's unfortunate and it seems like Bandai's playing dirty to win the game.  Something you would only expect from a corporate behemoth, but the sad reality is that that will probably result in reduced incentive in the long run to produce truly great toys.  I think we're in the sweet spot right now, enjoy it while it lasts.

[jvmacross]

With Bandai, competition is irrelevant....it's all about the profitability of the license/franchise......no TV shows = not enough profit incentive = no interest from Bandai....skip to Macross Frontier and we now have a franchise that's cooking with gas!  Bandai is well positioned to make better or as good as toys as Yamato/Arcadia...so not really concerned about any lack of competition.  The concern only comes when the creators and/or fans just get bored of Macross and this is then reflected by a lack of TV shows, which is the catalyst needed for the franchise to be profitable for a company, like Bandai, to invest in merchandise from it to sell.  But that is not to say that no company would be interested in making Macross toys....look at Yamato and the lack of TV shows during most of it's existence.

Yamato/Arcadia was/is an anomaly.  It prospered due to the lack of competition.  And it did just fine.  And even with the lack of competition, they became and arguably still are, the greatest purveyor of PT VFs ever.  But look at them now.  When it comes to quality Macross PT VFs....competition is clearly not required.  All that is required is someone at the helm that loves and respects the franchise and knows how to properly run a business. 

We did great when Yamato had no competition whatsoever....who was complaining then about bad product due to the lack of competition (aside from the quickly rectified VF-1 V1, which was improved not because of competative forces but because it was just not good enough)?  All Yamato improvements were driven internally....not due to a fear of being out-done by the competition.  The whole competition argument, when it comes to the Macross PT Toys, has no merit.

Edited July 27, 2018 by jvmacross

[VX31]

I didn't think this was as hard to get as the VF-25s / -31s.. I might be wrong.

 

[MacrossMania]

3 minutes ago, jvmacross said:

With Bandai, competition is irrelevant....it's all about the profitability of the license/franchise......no TV shows = not enough profit incentive = no interest from Bandai....skip to Macross Frontier and we now have a franchise that's cooking with gas!  Bandai is well positioned to make better or as good as toys as Yamato/Arcadia...so not really concerned about any lack of competition.  The concern only comes when the creators and/or fans just get bored of Macross and this is then reflected by a lack of TV shows, which is the catalyst needed for the franchise to be profitable for a company, like Bandai, to invest in merchandise from it to sell.

Yamato/Arcadia was/is an anomaly.  It prospered due to the lack of competition.  And it did just fine.  And even with the lack of competition, they became and arguably still are, the greatest purveyor of PT VFs ever.  But look at them now.  When it comes to quality Macross PT VFs....competition is clearly not required.  All that is required is someone at the helm that loves and respects the franchise. 

We did great when Yamato had no competition whatsoever....who was complaining then about bad product due to the lack of competition (aside from the quickly rectified VF-1 V1, which was improved not because of competative forces but because it was just not good enough)?  All Yamato improvements were driven internally....not due to a fear of being out-done by the competition.  The whole competition argument, when it comes to the Macross PT Toys, has no merit.

If you look at the quality of the toys coming from Bandai compared to today, there's no just comparison.  Their current output is leagues away from what they were doing in the 90's, when it seems they just didn't care.  The fact of the matter is that Bandai didn't care back then.  Then in the early 2000's Yamato did something that nobody else had done before.  They ushered in a completely new era of toy making with the 1/48's by redesigning the mold from top to bottom instead of focusing on the clunky 1/55 as the basic framework on which all toy molds were built, and they used CAD to do it.  Nobody had done CAD before that, as evidenced by the deeply flawed products that Bandai was producing in the 90's.  After the 1/48's hti the market and basically represented the dream toys for so many collectors up to that point, Bandai was in it to win it and rushing to catch up.  It took a few years and a couple of missteps with the V1 frontier toys, but eventually they started producing truly superb products.  I have many of the MF's myself simply because of their quality.  I couldn't care less about the cartoon.  

Yes, it's true, that with Kawamori the driving force behind their creative output, Bandai is producing some of the best stuff they ever have.  But without Yamato as the impetus, I truly doubt that would have ever happened.  To say that the competition argument has no merit is simply to ignore the history of toymaking in the last 30 years.

[jenius]

It's capitalism vs benevolent dictatorship. Capitalism assures progress through carnage. Benevolent dictatorship fosters progress but relies heavily on favorable circumstance that eventually fails. Yamato had a great run, making toys by fans for fans, and improving because they wanted to have the best toys.

[Froy]

Is it still available anywhere?

Kinda passed out this morning. I just didn't make it.

Was sleepy as hell.

[jvmacross]

36 minutes ago, MacrossMania said:

If you look at the quality of the toys coming from Bandai compared to today, there's no just comparison.  Their current output is leagues away from what they were doing in the 90's, when it seems they just didn't care.  The fact of the matter is that Bandai didn't care back then.  Then in the early 2000's Yamato did something that nobody else had done before.  They ushered in a completely new era of toy making with the 1/48's by redesigning the mold from top to bottom instead of focusing on the clunky 1/55 as the basic framework on which all toy molds were built, and they used CAD to do it.  Nobody had done CAD before that, as evidenced by the deeply flawed products that Bandai was producing in the 90's.  After the 1/48's hti the market and basically represented the dream toys for so many collectors up to that point, Bandai was in it to win it and rushing to catch up.  It took a few years and a couple of missteps with the V1 frontier toys, but eventually they started producing truly superb products.  I have many of the MF's myself simply because of their quality.  I couldn't care less about the cartoon.  

Yes, it's true, that with Kawamori the driving force behind their creative output, Bandai is producing some of the best stuff they ever have.  But without Yamato as the impetus, I truly doubt that would have ever happened.  To say that the competition argument has no merit is simply to ignore the history of toymaking in the last 30 years.

We are just discussing the history of Macross toymaking.....with that said, competition has had nothing to do with improvements in this toymaking niche....Yamato did not have a single competitor when it went from 1/60 VF-1 V1 to 1/48 VF-1 to 1/60 VF-1 V2+......I assume you wouldn't include Toynami since that would be ridiculous...

 

 

Edited July 27, 2018 by jvmacross

[F360]

3 hours ago, davidwhangchoi said:

How many did you end up getting last night?

you getting another MB Strike?  

haha,,,  I only got 2 from amiami.  and then 1 at cdjapan since I have lots of points and used the 500 yen coupon.

Was not able to get the Metal Build M9 yet,  waiting on my proxy.

[davidwhangchoi]

26 minutes ago, F360 said:

haha,,,  I only got 2 from amiami.  and then 1 at cdjapan since I have lots of points and used the 500 yen coupon.

Was not able to get the Metal Build M9 yet,  waiting on my proxy.

you should've gone with amazon. 1200yen fast shipping. it's unreal. they have also mp megs for an insane price too.  

for M9, you don't wanna go with anime export or nippon? i'm going to get one but not sure which retailer.

 

btw, are you on shmups? i see someone with the same avatar 

Edited July 27, 2018 by davidwhangchoi

[technoblue]

With all the positive activity that Hikaru's 1J generated, I hope Bandai continues pursuing other TV-style Valkyries at this scale. I would go bonkers if we got announcements for Roy's TV 1S, and Max and Kaki's TV 1As within the next two years or so. All three would be day one pre-orders from me. 

[Sanity is Optional]

19 minutes ago, F360 said:

haha,,,  I only got 2 from amiami.  and then 1 at cdjapan since I have lots of points and used the 500 yen coupon.

Was not able to get the Metal Build M9 yet,  waiting on my proxy.

Ah, you're where I'm sitting. Never would have thought that the general release VF-1J would be easier to get than the P-Bandai M9 during pre-order night.

What proxy you using for the Gernsback? I'm using FromJapan over here.

[edit] I still can't believe NY limited their preorders for the M9 to the level they sold out within minutes.

Edited July 27, 2018 by Sanity is Optional