Bandai DX Chogokin 1/48 VF-1

[MacrossJunkie]

3 minutes ago, borgified said:

Going to list these here.

On Jungle:

DX Hikaru's 1s for 25.3k yen (Grade B) - https://jungle-scs.co.jp/sale_en/products/detail/443373

DX Missile set for 6,050 yen (Grade B) - https://jungle-scs.co.jp/sale_en/products/detail/443395

* I believe that they might keep it for you until shipping is resumed to overseas * 

Those seem like pretty decent prices. Especially for the missile set.

Tempting, but I think I'll hold out for re-issues and try to get the SSP and missile set in one go to save on the ridiculous shipping prices these days.

[Chronocidal]

I've sent in a pair of tickets about changing my shipping method, but apparently they weren't attracted enough to my request about "shipping options."

Do I need to literally say "I want to give you more money to ship my overdue order from a year ago"?

[MacrossJunkie]

35 minutes ago, Chronocidal said:

I've sent in a pair of tickets about changing my shipping method, but apparently they weren't attracted enough to my request about "shipping options."

Do I need to literally say "I want to give you more money to ship my overdue order from a year ago"?

Probably. It might also help if you send them a picture of yourself doing a dogeza as well.

[Jetreo]

Okini Land upgraded my shipping for 4x missile sets to DHL for free. 

Still waiting for 3x SSP sets fron NY, they offered to upgrade to UPS but it was too expensive. I might ask to change the shipping to ferry instead.

[Kyp Durron]

Got an email from AJ saying it will be delivered today, I go to the site and track the package there and it says 

Friday, July 24 12:23 AM
Out for delivery

Thursday, July 23 10:10 PM
Out for delivery

3:36 PM
Your package has left the carrier facility

So hopefully it's being delivered today by either UPS or USPS. 

[myk]

Christmas in july!  I hope you'll post up  pictures and your impressions on it as well...

[lavinrac]

7 hours ago, Slave IV said:

Everyone talking about SSP from NY...anyone get their second run Missile sets from them yet? I ordered one of each as backup from NY and I’m not worried about getting them but just curious. 

 

I ordered the second wave missiles.

Used the subject line in contact trick everyone has been talking about. I don't have them 'in hand yet' but they've sent them. I just said send by ferry cause $45 shipping on $60 worth of goods, especially just Missiles.. I just couldn't say YES this time.  But they left and have been bouncing around various parts of Japan. 

[davidwhangchoi]

12 hours ago, borgified said:

Going back to the olden days.. I peeked onto this this site when it was named Shawn's and Graham's Macrossworld and one the sides (either left or right), Valkyrie-Exchange (now gone) was one of the sponsors.

I remember this site when I had to pre-order HMR Roy's 1s with the stand from NY. Some of the members here got through the first initial batch with no issues and didn't pay the additional fee to get it shipped. I was on the second batch, had to wait for a restock and paid additional difference for the newer stock and waited close to two/three weeks before it got shipped. 

Didn't go onto this site any more until December 2017 and the rest is history.     

Edit: Skimmed DYRL quickly. Milia's Q-Rau missiles deflected off Max's 1s while transformation from Battroid to Jet Mode.

Valkrie Exhange is a user here, (i don't know if he currently posts or active recently) he was selling a bunch of stuff in the sales section a few years ago after closing down his site. I think his sales thread may be still in the sales section.  

[Kyp Durron]

1 hour ago, myk said:

Christmas in july!  I hope you'll post up  pictures and your impressions on it as well...

[myk]

38 minutes ago, davidwhangchoi said:

Valkrie Exhange is a user here, (i don't know if he currently posts or active recently) he was selling a bunch of stuff in the sales section a few years ago after closing down his site. I think his sales thread may be still in the sales section.  

Kevin Lam is his name.  I remember when he started to step away from his internet business when his daughter was born.  Hell I bet she's in college now lol.

 

Great guy by the way; I remember when my Yamato '21 FP didnt come with instructions or a decal sheet and he sacrificed ones out of his own collection for me and sent them out the next day.  Now that was service...

Edited July 24, 2020 by myk

[Ignacio Ocamica]

Yes, Kevin, I bought tons of stuff from him. Really great guy!!!

From Montecito, CA if I remember right.

My 1D v1 came with no sticker sheet and he offered to send me one (no need to cause I had from all the other v1's).

Edited July 24, 2020 by Ignacio Ocamica

[Duymon]

Man I kinda miss those days. Kevin Lam of Valk Exchange and Jerry Tsai of VF1x.com. Got my first yammies from them back in the day.

Edited July 24, 2020 by Duymon

[treatment]

Yeah.

Kevin/Valk-Exchange was awesome. 

Think most of us got our valks from him instead of HLJ. lol!

Think he's still around and just lurk or something. 

[DYRL VF-1S]

Ok ok, I love all this nostalgia but what does this have to do with DX 1/48 again?

 

 

 

 

....sorry, I'm gonna be that guy who calls it out.  Notifications are lighting up for nothing.

[treatment]

3 minutes ago, DYRL VF-1S said:

Ok ok, I love all this nostalgia but what does this have to do with DX 1/48 again?

 

 

 

 

....sorry, I'm gonna be that guy who calls it out.  Notifications are lighting up for nothing.

 

Better discussion points than N-Y in this thread...

[DYRL VF-1S]

1 minute ago, treatment said:

 

Better discussion points than N-Y in this thread...

Which I created a dedicated thread for as a solution.  Want me to create a dedicated thread for "Back in my day" or "I remember when I joined 20 years ago..." or "Bob was a really great guy...?"  I don't just complain; I offer alternatives.

But yeah, it is much better than complaining about NY!!  Haha... I do appreciate that.  It would be cool to get back on topic though, and all kidding aside, it wouldn't be a bad idea for someone to create a thread to just bs about foregone days.  I totally get it, and it's fun to reminisce about things.

[treatment]

You never know.

Kevin and the other former vendors might just encourage them to restart their old Valk distro-business given the various shenanigans that N-Y, NinNin, or whoever has been griefing everybody else here about the 1/48 DX and parts...

 

[DYRL VF-1S]

2 minutes ago, treatment said:

You never know.

Kevin and the other former vendors might just encourage them to restart their old Valk distro-business given the various shenanigans that N-Y, NinNin, or whoever has been griefing everybody else here about the 1/48 DX and parts...

 

Totally.  I mean, we go off-topic all the time in this thread.  It's one of the things I like about MW - it's not moderated so tightly that every little thing is censored like in other groups.  But, to be fair, this has been going on for days and not isolated to convo you're referring to.

I would love another means to acquire DX valks too.  Count me in.

[RedComet]

23 minutes ago, DYRL VF-1S said:

Ok ok, I love all this nostalgia but what does this have to do with DX 1/48 again?

OK let me make an "on topic" post to crowdsource some ideas for the DX Alaska Base 1A project.

Question 1: As long as we are making some decals, we might as well really go for it. So far I am thinking replace the "SDF-1" with Alaska Base, and replace Prometheus with "Grand Cannon" maybe? Also would need a fitting squad name instead of Vermillion. I was thinking Grizzly 2, Grizzly 3, Grizzly 4 markings (I feel like Grizzly Leader would be in a 1J). It would also be cool if each Alaska base custom had a unique pilot name and rank fitting a 1A pilot. Also there would need to be new white UN SPACY for the legs, which will be painted green (It would still be Spacy right? That's Space + Navy) Any other ideas for decals?

Question 2: It would make the Alaska Base custom a lot easier to make if the shoulder armor was removable. It appears to be glued on. Has anyone attempted to remove this part for some reason? Or perhaps a similar part on a different figure? Or know of any effective but safe solvents? Any advice would be much appreciated!

 

photo credits @jenius

Edited July 24, 2020 by RedComet

[SpaceCowboy]

Quote

Why are you sticking with NY? 

Eh, I'm not sure I really am.  I mean, I think it's important to know what you are getting into with NY - that they DO NOT have the stock they are selling, and it might take them a substantial amount of time to fill your order, so anyone here considering them should take that into consideration when purchasing from them.

And, even that would be okay, if they would just communicate, but they seem to have a disdain for their customers. 

I was going to write them off, but there are a few strong defenders here, that I thought "eh, maybe they are right", so I decided to try them again with the SSP, but I'm seeing the same pattern, I now know what to expect from them.  I think I will eventually get them, but jesus, if they would just respond and say "yes, it will take a few months longer to get supply" that would be fine.  I don't mind waiting as long as they come through, but I hate being left in the dark, and that is their standard operating procedure.

I feel like there should be a list of storefronts that are separated into a few categories:
1)  Stores that sell what they have been allocated
2)  Stores that sell betting that they can buy them on secondary markets and fulfill your order (selling what they don't have allocated)
3)  Stores to be avoided

1 is where you want to buy from
2 should be considered only with full knowledge of what you are getting into
3 should never be purchased from

[Paco Grande]

14 hours ago, Slave IV said:

Everyone talking about SSP from NY...anyone get their second run Missile sets from them yet? I ordered one of each as backup from NY and I’m not worried about getting them but just curious. 

 

I mentioned in this forum recently that I received a second run missile set from NY. I'm in Canada so I was able to use EMS and the set arrived in 7 days which is pretty much normal EMS speed so I was very happy. 

[Slave IV]

12 minutes ago, Paco Grande said:

 

I mentioned in this forum recently that I received a second run missile set from NY. I'm in Canada so I was able to use EMS and the set arrived in 7 days which is pretty much normal EMS speed so I was very happy. 

Cool, good to know. Thanks!

[Duymon]

Man I really hope later on we get M&M 1J sets as tamashii web specials. Would hate to have to fight the F5 war for those.

[davidwhangchoi]

52 minutes ago, Duymon said:

Man I really hope later on we get M&M 1J sets as tamashii web specials. Would hate to have to fight the F5 war for those.

i hope they come with fast packs. but i doubt it. 

Bandai will sell us seperate individual Max and Miria super packs as they did with Frontier/Delta fast packs per valk.  You can be sure they will be tamashii web specials.

[Duymon]

I bet that's prolly how it would end up :/

on a side note... my DYRL SSP order was created 13 months ago at NY..... wonder what would happen if I asked them for store credit and then applied it to a TV SP order LUL

Edited July 24, 2020 by Duymon

[Chronocidal]

34 minutes ago, Duymon said:

I bet that's prolly how it would end up :/

on a side note... my DYRL SSP order was created 13 months ago at NY..... wonder what would happen if I asked them for store credit and then applied it to a TV SP order LUL

Don't do it.  They won't apply your store credit to shipping, and if you don't order enough TV packs to take up the whole total, they won't let you use the credit at all.  

I'm going to search out that shipping upcharge tagline to get things moving, but for all that we've been through ordering these packs, they should absolutely send everything for no additional charge.  

Just think... if they had actually done what people paid them to do, and placed the SSP order during the first wave, we would have all gotten our packs last winter before the current situation started, and wouldn't be in this mess to begin with.

[Ignacio Ocamica]

[Darotower]

1 hour ago, Ignacio Ocamica said:

Love it!!!!

[MacrossJunkie]

5 hours ago, RedComet said:

OK let me make an "on topic" post to crowdsource some ideas for the DX Alaska Base 1A project.

Question 1: As long as we are making some decals, we might as well really go for it. So far I am thinking replace the "SDF-1" with Alaska Base, and replace Prometheus with "Grand Cannon" maybe? Also would need a fitting squad name instead of Vermillion. I was thinking Grizzly 2, Grizzly 3, Grizzly 4 markings (I feel like Grizzly Leader would be in a 1J). It would also be cool if each Alaska base custom had a unique pilot name and rank fitting a 1A pilot. Also there would need to be new white UN SPACY for the legs, which will be painted green (It would still be Spacy right? That's Space + Navy) Any other ideas for decals?

Question 2: It would make the Alaska Base custom a lot easier to make if the shoulder armor was removable. It appears to be glued on. Has anyone attempted to remove this part for some reason? Or perhaps a similar part on a different figure? Or know of any effective but safe solvents? Any advice would be much appreciated!

Q1: Those ideas sound pretty good. Except for Grand Cannon. It was supposed to be a secret weapon so they probably wouldn't have plastered it on the valks. I'd be more inclined to say put "Alaska Base" on the vertical stabilizers and leave the SDF-1 markings on the thighs blank. Grizzly sounds good. Alternatively, you could also consider Eagle (plenty of bald eagles in Alaska), but it could be rather overused. I've seen customs that used U.N. Navy and U.N. Air Force, but you're pretty safe sticking with U.N. Spacy.

Q2: That's the real dilemma isn't it? Acetone would likely dissolve the super glue or at the very least, soften it, but it also partially reacts with ABS plastic. And even if you were to try to force it open and not care about snapping connecting pegs inside and planned to glue it back together later, I'd be worried about stress marks showing up on the outside and that would be the least of the risks. There are other people with much more expertise in taking apart valks though, so maybe someone else can chime in with some good ideas here.

[Kyp Durron]

My Hikaru DYRL 1S showed up, basically Anymoon's observations/review seems spot on. I only transformed it once, then put it back into fighter mode, where it will forever stay as that's the mode I'm all about, PERIOD. 

Things I like :

1. Tampo detail. Nothing more to say, damn near any marking you ever wished your Yamato VF-1's had, this has in spades.

2. Panel lines. They are nicely done, and I think are finer than I remember my Yamato 1/60 V2's being.

3. Sculpt. IMHO, the sculpt is better than the Yamato/Arcadia 1/60 V2's. The sculpt is very well balanced between the different modes, and doesn't seem to make much in the way of compromises of one mode over the other. Fighter mode IS better than the Yamato/Arcadia 1/60's, they seemed to have taken from Yamato in regards to hiding the legs in fighter mode, but the engine legs are a bit sleeker from the side view, mainly the rear engine area, not game changing, but it's enough for me to notice. Look at Anymoon's pictures from their review which shows fighter mode from the side.

The nose/fuselage/canopy is also shaped better, they borrowed from Yamato's 1/48 line, which in my opinion was better shaped than the 1/60 V2's. 

4. Weight. It's got a really nice heft to it which I like.

5. The pilot. What I really like is that the DYRL pilot can grab both control sticks when you have it sitting in the cockpit, a nice touch.

OK. Time for the things I do not like in order from least annoying to the most irksome.

4. Wing flap articulation. Many of you seem to like this because it's like Yamato's 1/48 line and that's fine, but it's one thing I can frankly do without. If you bump it, you'll find yourself straightening it back out. I'd rather not have it at all personally because that would be one less irritating thing to deal with. But that's just me.

3. Head laser articulation. Yet another thing that many of you may like, but it's another thing that I never cared about, nor wanted. And it's yet another thing that if you bump it, you'll find yourself readjusting and wishing that it wasn't there to begin with. 

2. Leg/engine stabilizers do NOT lock into place. It's annoying, because when handling this, this is the thing that you might find yourself having to realign the most. I have NO idea why while they were borrowing things from Yamato's VF-1 playbook that they didn't take a page from them where this is concerned.

4. Arms do not stay up in fighter mode. I find this to be the most irksome thing of all. I can actually overlook the above issues, but this one really annoys me. It's another thing that you would have thought that while going over Yamato's VF-1 playbook, that they would have thought it a good idea to have tabs that actually lock into place.

The tabs that are there I guess were supposed to be friction fit, but the tabs don't even fit tight into the holes on the arms, so there's nothing to keep them from falling down. I don't know why Bandai even bothered having them there in the first place. 

And while we're on the subject, the tabs for the legs in fighter mode don't have locking tabs on them either, just pegs like with the arms, but they do manage to stay in place pretty well, but if you transform this thing a lot, I can see that becoming an issue at some point. 

Having said all that, I'm sure I could maybe coat those arm tabs with something to make them friction fit enough to not be an issue, maybe fingernail polish, I'm not sure. 

Despite these nitpicks, it is very nice, but as others have said, it's not what I'd call a game changer. Since I now have Hikaru's 1S, once I get my TV Roy 1S in, I'm done. 1/48 scale is pretty big and I just don't have the room to own a bunch of these. 

Edited July 24, 2020 by Kyp Durron

[Chronocidal]

Yeah, I've been tempted to glue the head lasers and ventral fins in place more than once.  The fins don't exactly -lock-, but if you press them into the legs fully, and then upwards, they kind of stop in a particular place.

The sloppy leg and arm tabs are just a lousy design, and I wish Bandai wouldn't have tried to reinvent things that already worked.  Frankly speaking, while fighter mode looks like a great mix of the Yamato 1/48 and 1/60 designs, I don't think Bandai thinks much about people actually keeping it in fighter mode.  Most of the issues you mentioned disappear in battroid.

[davidwhangchoi]

14 minutes ago, Kyp Durron said:

My Hikaru DYRL 1S showed up, basically Anymoon's observations/review seems spot on. I only transformed it once, then put it back into fighter mode, where it will forever stay as that's the mode I'm all about, PERIOD. 

Things I like :

1. Tampo detail. Nothing more to say, damn near any marking you ever wished your Yamato VF-1's had, this has in spades.

2. Panel lines. They are nicely done, and I think are finer than I remember my Yamato 1/60 V2's being.

3. Sculpt. IMHO, the sculpt is better than the Yamato/Arcadia 1/60 V2's. The sculpt is very well balanced between the different modes, and doesn't seem to make much in the way of compromises of one mode over the other. Fighter mode IS better than the Yamato/Arcadia 1/60's, they seemed to have taken from Yamato in regards to hiding the legs in fighter mode, but the engine legs are a bit sleeker from the side view, mainly the rear engine area, not game changing, but it's enough for me to notice. Look at Anymoon's pictures from their review which shows fighter mode from the side.

The nose/fuselage/canopy is also shaped better, they borrowed from Yamato's 1/48 line, which in my opinion was better shaped than the 1/60 V2's. 

4. Weight. It's got a really nice heft to it which I like.

5. The pilot. What I really like is that the DYRL pilot can grab both control sticks when you have it sitting in the cockpit, a nice touch.

OK. Time for the things I do not like in order from least annoying to the most irksome.

4. Wing flap articulation. Many of you seem to like this because it's like Yamato's 1/48 line and that's fine, but it's one thing I can frankly do without. If you bump it, you'll find yourself straightening it back out. I'd rather not have it at all personally because that would be one less irritating thing to deal with. But that's just me.

3. Head laser articulation. Yet another thing that many of you may like, but it's another thing that I never cared about, nor wanted. And it's yet another thing that if you bump it, you'll find yourself readjusting and wishing that it wasn't there to begin with. 

2. Leg/engine stabilizers do NOT lock into place. It's annoying, because when handling this, this is the thing that you might find yourself having to realign the most. I have NO idea why while they were borrowing things from Yamato's VF-1 playbook that they didn't take a page from them where this is concerned.

4. Arms do not stay up in fighter mode. I find this to be the most irksome thing of all. I can actually overlook the above issues, but this one really annoys me. It's another thing that you would have thought that while going over Yamato's VF-1 playbook, that they would have thought it a good idea to have tabs that actually lock into place.

The tabs that are there I guess were supposed to be friction fit, but the tabs don't even fit tight into the holes on the arms, so there's nothing to keep them from falling down. I don't know why Bandai even bothered having them there in the first place. 

And while we're on the subject, the tabs for the legs in fighter mode don't have locking tabs on them either, just pegs like with the arms, but they do manage to stay in place pretty well, but if you transform this thing a lot, I can see that becoming an issue at some point. 

Having said all that, I'm sure I could maybe coat those arm tabs with something to make them friction fit enough to not be an issue, maybe fingernail polish, I'm not sure. 

Despite these nitpicks, it is very nice, but as others have said, it's not what I'd call a game changer. Since I now have Hikaru's 1S, once I get my TV Roy 1S in, I'm done. 1/48 scale is pretty big and I just don't have the room to own a bunch of these. 

+1

1 minute ago, Chronocidal said:

Yeah, I've been tempted to glue the head lasers and ventral fins in place more than once.  The fins don't exactly -lock-, but if you press them into the legs fully, and then upwards, they kind of stop in a particular place.

The sloppy leg and arm tabs are just a lousy design, and I wish Bandai wouldn't have tried to reinvent things that already worked.  Frankly speaking, while fighter mode looks like a great mix of the Yamato 1/48 and 1/60 designs, I don't think Bandai thinks much about people actually keeping it in fighter mode.  Most of the issues you mentioned disappear in battroid.

+2

[myk]

I was just going to post or message you about your DX.  Looks like you have the same concerns as I do about the design.  The cons you mentioned actually bother me-the Yamato '48 was a brick solid fighter and that's why I loved it so much.  

Another thing you mentioned is having to coat parts with whatever; it's annoying to me that a piece costing me this much requires any sort of modification at all.  I got into RC cars, drones and whatnot after I got frustrated with self destructing yamato variable fighters, and you can spend hundreds, thousands of dollars like you will on these valkyries, but the difference is those RC vehicles are 100% good to go out of the box and will take a beating on top of it.  And they can actually fly and move around and stuff!

 

Edited July 25, 2020 by myk

[MacrossJunkie]

37 minutes ago, Kyp Durron said:

My Hikaru DYRL 1S showed up, basically Anymoon's observations/review seems spot on. I only transformed it once, then put it back into fighter mode, where it will forever stay as that's the mode I'm all about, PERIOD. 

Things I like :

1. Tampo detail. Nothing more to say, damn near any marking you ever wished your Yamato VF-1's had, this has in spades.

2. Panel lines. They are nicely done, and I think are finer than I remember my Yamato 1/60 V2's being.

3. Sculpt. IMHO, the sculpt is better than the Yamato/Arcadia 1/60 V2's. The sculpt is very well balanced between the different modes, and doesn't seem to make much in the way of compromises of one mode over the other. Fighter mode IS better than the Yamato/Arcadia 1/60's, they seemed to have taken from Yamato in regards to hiding the legs in fighter mode, but the engine legs are a bit sleeker from the side view, mainly the rear engine area, not game changing, but it's enough for me to notice. Look at Anymoon's pictures from their review which shows fighter mode from the side.

The nose/fuselage/canopy is also shaped better, they borrowed from Yamato's 1/48 line, which in my opinion was better shaped than the 1/60 V2's. 

4. Weight. It's got a really nice heft to it which I like.

5. The pilot. What I really like is that the DYRL pilot can grab both control sticks when you have it sitting in the cockpit, a nice touch.

OK. Time for the things I do not like in order from least annoying to the most irksome.

4. Wing flap articulation. Many of you seem to like this because it's like Yamato's 1/48 line and that's fine, but it's one thing I can frankly do without. If you bump it, you'll find yourself straightening it back out. I'd rather not have it at all personally because that would be one less irritating thing to deal with. But that's just me.

3. Head laser articulation. Yet another thing that many of you may like, but it's another thing that I never cared about, nor wanted. And it's yet another thing that if you bump it, you'll find yourself readjusting and wishing that it wasn't there to begin with. 

2. Leg/engine stabilizers do NOT lock into place. It's annoying, because when handling this, this is the thing that you might find yourself having to realign the most. I have NO idea why while they were borrowing things from Yamato's VF-1 playbook that they didn't take a page from them where this is concerned.

4. Arms do not stay up in fighter mode. I find this to be the most irksome thing of all. I can actually overlook the above issues, but this one really annoys me. It's another thing that you would have thought that while going over Yamato's VF-1 playbook, that they would have thought it a good idea to have tabs that actually lock into place.

The tabs that are there I guess were supposed to be friction fit, but the tabs don't even fit tight into the holes on the arms, so there's nothing to keep them from falling down. I don't know why Bandai even bothered having them there in the first place. 

And while we're on the subject, the tabs for the legs in fighter mode don't have locking tabs on them either, just pegs like with the arms, but they do manage to stay in place pretty well, but if you transform this thing a lot, I can see that becoming an issue at some point. 

Having said all that, I'm sure I could maybe coat those arm tabs with something to make them friction fit enough to not be an issue, maybe fingernail polish, I'm not sure. 

Despite these nitpicks, it is very nice, but as others have said, it's not what I'd call a game changer. Since I now have Hikaru's 1S, once I get my TV Roy 1S in, I'm done. 1/48 scale is pretty big and I just don't have the room to own a bunch of these. 

My thoughts on the things you like pretty much mirror yours.

As for the things you don't:

I was okay with the wing flaps, but I can see how they would be annoying. 

I didn't care for the individual head laser articulation either. I think having the whole thing being on a ball joint was enough and the individual lasers were just overkill.

While the 1/60 VF-1's also had that leg stabilizer, I felt that they were not as easily knocked out of place as on the DX. This part I hope they improve somehow.

The arms stayed up fine on mine, but I do think they could have made the peg a clip instead or have a clip mechanism similar to the 1/60s.

The legs do have a lock that is separate from the underside pegs, but that's from pegging into the sides of the backpack, but it was effective so I didn't really have much issue with these. 

 

At this point, I think the VF-1 toys since the 1/60 v2's have been fairly refined and any improvements that can still be made can't be big enough to make any new iterations a game changer, even if it had integrated intake covers that slide up and decent integrated side covers, short of it transforming itself.  Having said that, the improvements on the DX make it my favorite VF-1 toy to date. The quality of the sculpt, articulation, proportions, quality and number of details, and weight all contribute to making me feel like it's much better, but I can't call it a game changer either. You could say these are iterative improvements expected of a modern toy.

[Chronocidal]

See, I'm kind of on the fence about whether they -need- maintenance or modification.  I think what's evident in the design is that Bandai expects you to display it in battroid mode, and never touch it.  Done that way, there really are no flaws to be bothered by.

We've hit a point where there don't need to be many direct design compromises between fighter and battroid on the VF-1.  The proportions just work for both on the whole.  What we're seeing is how different brands will still prioritize one mode over another, or treat them as display models, rather than toys.

Bandai absolutely made a great battroid display model.  I think in their minds, the fact that it becomes a fighter aircraft is just a side detail.  They didn't go to extreme lengths to make fighter mode exceptional, it just benefits (or suffers) from the improvements they made for battroid.  The smooth pegs are just the bare minimum effort to hold it in fighter mode, rather than developing something to actually lock it solidly together.  

The biggest failing of the pegs is in fighter mode with the fast packs attached, because you remove the only support for the arms and legs that's not dependent on a vertical friction peg.  But of course.. again, this problem disappears in battroid mode.

As long as you display it how Bandai wants you to, you'll have no problems.  It's not their fault you like the fighter mode more.  

Edited July 25, 2020 by Chronocidal