Bandai DX Chogokin 1/48 VF-1

[sqidd]

7 minutes ago, sidearmsalpha said:

Haven't posted anything in years but I wanted to know if anyone else has had trouble getting their order filled for the DX VF-1S from Nippon-Yasan? I put in a pre-order a year ago for it and the Strike Parts for the November release which came and went. When I contacted them in December, I was told that I had to wait for the reissue of the Strike Parts in April. Well, that came and went and I've heard nothing from them. I even ordered the HMR VF-4G in October and I have not received a shipping notification on that either. I sent them inquiries a couple days ago but they haven't responded. I'm starting to worry that I'm going to get screwed on both these orders. 

[crackpot]

3 minutes ago, sqidd said:

 

Where he at?

 

Edited June 18, 2020 by crackpot

[jeniusornome]

@sidearmsalpha the short version of the answer to your question is - yes, it has been a common point of conversation in this thread for several months now, and there has been no apparent rhyme or reason as to who gets shipping notifications and when.

[sqidd]

2 minutes ago, crackpot said:

 

Where he at?

 

[treatment]

2 hours ago, DYRL VF-1S said:

Wellllll....good news is that the actual movie has animation errors where you see both black and red heat shields between scenes with Hikaru's 1S.  Annnnd the 1/55 Strike originally came with the black one.  So, I say whatever you want is accurate?  haha

Just to be consistent with their standard nickel-n-dime strategy from across their toy/model lines, Bandai will most likely and gladly offer the Black Jolly Roger heatshield as a TWE/PBandai standalone add-on for at least 5000y...

 

[sidearmsalpha]

5 minutes ago, jeniusornome said:

@sidearmsalpha the short version of the answer to your question is - yes, it has been a common point of conversation in this thread for several months now, and there has been no apparent rhyme or reason as to who gets shipping notifications and when.

 

Ok, thanks for the heads up. 

[DYRL VF-1S]

22 minutes ago, sidearmsalpha said:

Haven't posted anything in years but I wanted to know if anyone else has had trouble getting their order filled for the DX VF-1S from Nippon-Yasan? I put in a pre-order a year ago for it and the Strike Parts for the November release which came and went. When I contacted them in December, I was told that I had to wait for the reissue of the Strike Parts in April. Well, that came and went and I've heard nothing from them. I even ordered the HMR VF-4G in October and I have not received a shipping notification on that either. I sent them inquiries a couple days ago but they haven't responded. I'm starting to worry that I'm going to get screwed on both these orders. 

More specifically, if you purchased them together, that's your culprit.  The SSPs are the delay.  They weren't available till the end of April and NY doesn't split orders - they only ship once everything is in stock.  Unfortunately, if you selected SAL or in a location where EMS is not delivered, then NY is simply not delivering but holding your stuff due to Japan Post suspending shipments from COVID.

5 minutes ago, treatment said:

Just to be consistent with their standard nickel-n-dime strategy from across their toy/model lines, Bandai will most likely and gladly offer the Black Jolly Roger heatshield as a TWE/PBandai standalone add-on for at least 5000y...

 

HA - right?!!  And I'd be stupid enough to buy it. 

Edited June 18, 2020 by DYRL VF-1S

[borgified]

Why is everyone whining about their metal and plastic crack? If you're going to keep whining and b*****, then don't buy it!!  Leave some for the rest of us!! 

 

[vladykins]

22 minutes ago, treatment said:

Just to be consistent with their standard nickel-n-dime strategy from across their toy/model lines, Bandai will most likely and gladly offer the Black Jolly Roger heatshield as a TWE/PBandai standalone add-on for at least 5000y...

 

I was thinking a special temperature-sensitive heat shield that changes from black to red on if it is hot or cold, but sold for ¥9000

[CzarAlko]

46 minutes ago, DYRL VF-1S said:

More specifically, if you purchased them together, that's your culprit.  The SSPs are the delay.  They weren't available till the end of April and NY doesn't split orders - they only ship once everything is in stock.  Unfortunately, if you selected SAL or in a location where EMS is not delivered, then NY is simply not delivering but holding your stuff due to Japan Post suspending shipments from COVID.

HA - right?!!  And I'd be stupid enough to buy it. 

This is correct, I have an order with NY at the moment that I have not heard about for 6 weeks, I reached out to them and I was told they are holding it until Japan Posts opens again, which makes me think that once it opens it will be chaotic and maybe packages will get lost, so I am contacting them again to see if I can upgrade my shipping to DHL or UPS

[Knightdramon]

Received my Super/Strike parts from NY today. Ordered and paid over a year ago lol.

Put them on the DX Max just to try the fit, then put them back in the box to wait for Kakizaki.

Much like the missile set, bit underwhelming. Amazing tampo and finish. Bit lacking in display options [gap on the turbine/jolly rogers part?] and the bar that the strike parts slip on to connect to the valkyrie is veeeery thin.

I do appreciate how you can change the jolly rogers signs without needing to peel off stickers. 

[Chronocidal]

Thanks for the heads-up about missiles being in stock at AE, my notification got filed in the junk folder.

I'm going to hold off shipping them until both my Legioss and Kakizaki are ready to go though, which should theoretically be some time in August.

[Anasazi37]

13 hours ago, DYRL VF-1S said:

Ditto!  It sucks to have to be in this situation to ship to a tenso address and essentially pay more.  But, agreed - I selected my Tenso addy to deal with more reasonable people.  They pack things amazingly, and they are responsive.  Plus, DHL shouldn't be too bad because these are small boxes, and I only purchased two for this round.

So I pulled the trigger on asking AE to use my Tenso address for shipping and it appears to be working. For two Missile sets, they only asked for ¥990 (about $9.50 using PayPal). Same price for "Fast" and "Economy" options. For anyone else who wants to try this, I carefully entered the Rakuten Global Market version of my address since that one seemed to be most compatible with AE's address form. Fingers crossed. I know the next leg is going to cost me, but at least I'm not dealing with some sketchy courier service that wants my personal information.

[DYRL VF-1S]

Ditto. Though I used the AJ format and it made me do it in English. We shall seeeee!

[sqidd]

I think I'm going to have them ship to my Tenso address too. I've been emailing with them. Getting shipping estimates is like herding cats with them.

 

[jenius]

When NY started taking forever to ship I started using AE more. After I needed to communicate with AE regarding my Arcadia SV-51 and went in circles with them promising to do things and then never following up, AE became my second-to-last resort just in front of NY.

I'm glad Bandai made the missiles available again. They should make the missiles and super parts available like every three DX VF-1 releases.

[kkx]

My April batch SSP finally arrived. Shipping was costly and slow.

I have one extra from this batch, putting it up on the for sale forum.

[Sanity is Optional]

1 hour ago, jenius said:

I'm glad Bandai made the missiles available again. They should make the missiles and super parts available like every three DX VF-1 releases.

I suspect that was their plan, however FOMO made every macross collector under the sun try to buy enough for a couple squadrons up-front.

[DYRL VF-1S]

Mine shipped last night and made it to the correct ward, but it’s showing “investigation” now so I have no clue what that means. They sent it Yu-pack

 

[crackpot]

9 minutes ago, DYRL VF-1S said:

Mine shipped last night and made it to the correct ward, but it’s showing “investigation” now so I have no clue what that means. They sent it Yu-pack

 

They probably sent you real missiles...

[DYRL VF-1S]

HA! Guess I’ll find out soon enough

[F360]

35 minutes ago, DYRL VF-1S said:

Mine shipped last night and made it to the correct ward, but it’s showing “investigation” now so I have no clue what that means. They sent it Yu-pack

 

They are probably doing a final check on restrictions shipping to your country . 

[Grey728]

8 minutes ago, crackpot said:

They probably sent you real missiles...

LOL! Probably wrote 'Strike Pack" on the outside of the package.. Sounds dangerous! We better be safe and blow up that package with explosives!

[DYRL VF-1S]

3 minutes ago, F360 said:

They are probably doing a final check on restrictions shipping to your country . 

It shouldn’t be that because I sent it to my Tenso addy so it’s destination is in-country.

3 minutes ago, Grey728 said:

LOL! Probably wrote 'Strike Pack" on the outside of the package.. Sounds dangerous! We better be safe and blow up that package with explosives!

 Right?! lol

 My thought is that the address is somehow wrong or misspelled. AE didn’t accept the kanji or katakana for me when changing addresses so I had to do it in English. Were you able to do it in Japanese @Anasazi37?

[lavinrac]

Nippon-Yasan Super Strike Packs arrived in rural SW Virginia today. They came through. It was a long wait but they got them to me, and they REALLY make the toy just so much more awesome.. Now i gotta wait got my ~$75 plastic missiles.

PS:  Why is the most iconic pose of the VF-1S from the movie impossible to recreate (due to shoulder?) on EVERY toy and model? My Macross Modeling book has one the builder modified to do it, and the way it had to be done is all sorts of complex!

Edited June 20, 2020 by lavinrac

[crackpot]

3 minutes ago, lavinrac said:

Nippon-Yasan Super Strike Packs arrived in rural SW Virginia today. They came through. It was a long wait but they got them to me, and they REALLY make the toy just so much more awesome.. Now i gotta wait got my ~$75 plastic missiles.

PS:  Why is the most iconic pose of the VF-1S from the movie impossible to recreate (due to shoulder?) on EVERY toy and model? My Macross Modeling book has one the builder modified to do it, and the way it had to be done is all sorts of complex!

No inward shoulder movement and the toy can't shrug its shoulders. The animation makes it look like the strike cannon is pivoted inwards. 

[lavinrac]

2 minutes ago, crackpot said:

No inward shoulder movement and the toy can't shrug its shoulders. The animation makes it look like the strike cannon is pivoted inwards. 

Hahah yeah. Sorry i shoulda marked that as a joke. the 'real reasons' make sense, its just so frustrating!     'Anime Magic' 

 

[crackpot]

52 minutes ago, lavinrac said:

Hahah yeah. Sorry i shoulda marked that as a joke. the 'real reasons' make sense, its just so frustrating!     'Anime Magic' 

 

I think they can design a way for the VF-1 to have inward shoulder movement and still retain its ability to transform. A lot of toys have it. Bandai just got lazy with the VF-1.

[Anasazi37]

3 hours ago, DYRL VF-1S said:

It shouldn’t be that because I sent it to my Tenso addy so it’s destination is in-country.

 Right?! lol

 My thought is that the address is somehow wrong or misspelled. AE didn’t accept the kanji or katakana for me when changing addresses so I had to do it in English. Were you able to do it in Japanese @Anasazi37?

It's just going from one part of Tokyo to another, so my best guess is that the local post office is trying to deal with the translated address.

At first I attempted to use my address in Japanese, but as you also discovered, AE's site doesn't like that. I then translated the address as best I could, but was worried about accuracy. I also found that of the three fields AE gives you for a street address, only the first and third are functional (text in the second one gets wiped out when you save the entry). So, I landed on using the Rakuten Global Market version, which was already translated by Tenso and could fit in the first Address field. I also combined city and prefecture in the City field. This is what mine looks like:

Address: TSXXXXXX tenso.com, 42-4, Senjyuakebono-cho

City: Adachi-ku, Tokyo

Country: Japan

Zip Code: 120-0023

[lavinrac]

1 hour ago, crackpot said:

I think they can design a way for the VF-1 to have inward shoulder movement and still retain its ability to transform. A lot of toys have it. Bandai just got lazy with the VF-1.

It probably can be done. but i wonder what the cost in durability would be.. I am SO impressed with these DX 1/48's but at the same time.. the old 1/55 takatoku/bandai's Posability? Barely. but you could throw it on the floor and it'd still be in one piece.

 

[crackpot]

21 minutes ago, lavinrac said:

It probably can be done. but i wonder what the cost in durability would be.. I am SO impressed with these DX 1/48's but at the same time.. the old 1/55 takatoku/bandai's Posability? Barely. but you could throw it on the floor and it'd still be in one piece.

 

I'm sure Bandai would know what to do. They have implemented that on some of their toys.

[DYRL VF-1S]

1 hour ago, Anasazi37 said:

It's just going from one part of Tokyo to another, so my best guess is that the local post office is trying to deal with the translated address.

At first I attempted to use my address in Japanese, but as you also discovered, AE's site doesn't like that. I then translated the address as best I could, but was worried about accuracy. I also found that of the three fields AE gives you for a street address, only the first and third are functional (text in the second one gets wiped out when you save the entry). So, I landed on using the Rakuten Global Market version, which was already translated by Tenso and could fit in the first Address field. I also combined city and prefecture in the City field. This is what mine looks like:

Address: TSXXXXXX tenso.com, 42-4, Senjyuakebono-cho

City: Adachi-ku, Tokyo

Country: Japan

Zip Code: 120-0023

Cool... good to know for future. 
 

Mine reads like this:

Address: 42-4 Senju Akebonocho, Adachi Ward

TSxxxxxx Tenso.com

City: Tokyo

 Country: Japan

 Zip Code: 120-0023 

Edited June 20, 2020 by DYRL VF-1S

[jenius]

55 minutes ago, lavinrac said:

It probably can be done. but i wonder what the cost in durability would be.. I am SO impressed with these DX 1/48's but at the same time.. the old 1/55 takatoku/bandai's Posability? Barely. but you could throw it on the floor and it'd still be in one piece.

 

Doesn't the Toynami 1/100 do this or an I misunderstanding the articulation point.

[borgified]

1 hour ago, lavinrac said:

It probably can be done. but i wonder what the cost in durability would be.. I am SO impressed with these DX 1/48's but at the same time.. the old 1/55 takatoku/bandai's Posability? Barely. but you could throw it on the floor and it'd still be in one piece.

Has anyone here ended up dropping their copy of the DX VF-1 accidentally?

We know that the HMR can take a drop from nearly 2 meters high (6 feet) and still survive, with all that weight on the DX VF-1, will something be sacrificed?

Another useful factoid about the DX VF-1:  You can still use as a weapon to protect yourself against any possible thief or break ins as the feet is quite useful as a club (just like the Chunky Monkeys).   

[RedComet]

31 minutes ago, borgified said:

Has anyone here ended up dropping their copy of the DX VF-1 accidentally?

We know that the HMR can take a drop from nearly 2 meters high (6 feet) and still survive, with all that weight on the DX VF-1, will something be sacrificed?

Another useful factoid about the DX VF-1:  You can still use as a weapon to protect yourself against any possible thief or break ins as the feet is quite useful as a club (just like the Chunky Monkeys).   

Yes, I unfortunately posed my DX VF-1J a little too aggressively in Gerwalk mode and it tumbled off a 5 foot shelf Onto a wood floor  luckily the only thing that Broke was the antenna, and they do give you an extra