Bandai DX Chogokin 1/48 VF-1

[seti88]

[LunchMeat]

Did anyone notice that in the official promotional video, the toy's designer managed to knock out one of the connectors on the adjustable aileron on the right wing?

I had the same problem with the Yamato 1/48. The wing flaps were just held in by tiny pegs, which made it easy to knock out during handling. Eventually, one of the pegs broke entirely, and I had to glue the flap in. I am disappointed to see that Bandai has not improved on this situation. (I'd consider omitting the adjustable flaps entirely, as in the Yamato 1/60 v2, to be an adequate solution.)

[Vi-RS]

52 minutes ago, Sanity is Optional said:

They might just have not put the inserts in yet, it's an unpainted prototype purely to show the transformation.

Makes sense.

[David Hingtgen]

35 minutes ago, LunchMeat said:

Did anyone notice that in the official promotional video, the toy's designer managed to knock out one of the connectors on the adjustable aileron on the right wing?

I had the same problem with the Yamato 1/48. The wing flaps were just held in by tiny pegs, which made it easy to knock out during handling. Eventually, one of the pegs broke entirely, and I had to glue the flap in. I am disappointed to see that Bandai has not improved on this situation. (I'd consider omitting the adjustable flaps entirely, as in the Yamato 1/60 v2, to be an adequate solution.)

Plus they're not even right---VF-1 seems to have no ailerons (like the F-14), should be nothing but Fowler flaps across the whole trailing edge (single-slot outboard, double-slotted inboard)

(

(At least VF-1's actually do have that style of airbrake, when they add it in---but those are SO not outboard ailerons in the lower-right pic)

[seti88]

33 minutes ago, LunchMeat said:

Did anyone notice that in the official promotional video, the toy's designer managed to knock out one of the connectors on the adjustable aileron on the right wing?

I had the same problem with the Yamato 1/48. The wing flaps were just held in by tiny pegs, which made it easy to knock out during handling. Eventually, one of the pegs broke entirely, and I had to glue the flap in. I am disappointed to see that Bandai has not improved on this situation. (I'd consider omitting the adjustable flaps entirely, as in the Yamato 1/60 v2, to be an adequate solution.)

cant wait for the reviews once the actual product is released 

[LunchMeat]

1 minute ago, David Hingtgen said:

Plus they're not even right---VF-1 seems to have no ailerons (like the F-14), should be nothing but Fowler flaps across the whole trailing edge (single-slot outboard, double-slotted inboard)

Good point. My concern is principally with the toy's playability, rather than its accuracy, but your analysis shows that there's even less reason to compromise the toy's durability.

[Mommar]

So the flaps are going to wind up being like the high speed mode on the 19’s.  A useless gimmick that ultimately hurts the toy.

[treatment]

19 hours ago, LunchMeat said:

Did anyone notice that in the official promotional video, the toy's designer managed to knock out one of the connectors on the adjustable aileron on the right wing?

I had the same problem with the Yamato 1/48. The wing flaps were just held in by tiny pegs, which made it easy to knock out during handling. Eventually, one of the pegs broke entirely, and I had to glue the flap in. I am disappointed to see that Bandai has not improved on this situation. (I'd consider omitting the adjustable flaps entirely, as in the Yamato 1/60 v2, to be an adequate solution.)

 

I anticipate it'll be as solid and stable as the stabilizers on their YF19-DX...

 

[The Smirker]

Hey, does anyone or any retailer have them for a decent price?

[Matt Random]

1 hour ago, Mommar said:

So the flaps are going to wind up being like the high speed mode on the 19’s.  A useless gimmick that ultimately hurts the toy.

That is how I've always felt about this gimmick on the Yamato 1/48. I would have preferred that Bandai not include it. 

[no3Ljm]

2 hours ago, The Smirker said:

Hey, does anyone or any retailer have them for a decent price?

Since we're near the release date, it's best to keep on tabs on those online stores for a few PO opening due to increased order number or from cancellations. After that, during the release date, there will be some opening.

 

[sh9000]

I have a feeling that Bandai will jump around with the releases and the next VF-1 will be from DYRL.  They’re kind of doing that with HMR and not releasing everything back to back from one series.  I would also love a VF-1S TV Roy and VF-1A TV Max and Kakizaki but it might take a while.

Edited November 27, 2018 by sh9000

[ScrambledValkyrie]

1 hour ago, sh9000 said:

I have a feeling that Bandai will jump around with the releases and the next VF-1 will be from DYRL.  They’re kind of doing that with HMR and not releasing everything back to back from one series.  I would also love a VF-1S TV Roy and VF-1A TV Max and Kakizaki but it might take a while.

I think you might be right but hope you’re wrong.  

The question is: if they release a movie version Roy next, do I go ahead and get it, not knowing if they’re going to ever do a TV version?

[Lolicon]

15 minutes ago, ScrambledValkyrie said:

I think you might be right but hope you’re wrong.  

The question is: if they release a movie version Roy next, do I go ahead and get it, not knowing if they’re going to ever do a TV version?

I would hope they'd go the HMR 1A route and just have two different pilots and two different heads. Those are the only differences between the movie and TV versions.

[jvmacross]

4 minutes ago, Lolicon said:

I would hope they'd go the HMR 1A route and just have two different pilots and two different heads. Those are the only differences between the movie and TV versions.

...except Bandai considers the TV and DYRL VF-1S Roy to be colored differently....have to milk that mold you know!

They did the same thing with the TV and DYRL VF-1J....

[Sanity is Optional]

8 minutes ago, Lolicon said:

I would hope they'd go the HMR 1A route and just have two different pilots and two different heads. Those are the only differences between the movie and TV versions.

Or release a pack with TV hands+TV head+TV pilot.

[sh9000]

57 minutes ago, ScrambledValkyrie said:

I think you might be right but hope you’re wrong.  

The question is: if they release a movie version Roy next, do I go ahead and get it, not knowing if they’re going to ever do a TV version?

 

30 minutes ago, jvmacross said:

...except Bandai considers the TV and DYRL VF-1S Roy to be colored differently....have to milk that mold you know!

They did the same thing with the TV and DYRL VF-1J....

Yeah a DYRL VF-1S Roy will probably be a different colored white or gray.

[Corrinald]

3 hours ago, sh9000 said:

I have a feeling that Bandai will jump around with the releases and the next VF-1 will be from DYRL.  They’re kind of doing that with HMR and not releasing everything back to back from one series.  I would also love a VF-1S TV Roy and VF-1A TV Max and Kakizaki but it might take a while.

I hope this isn't the case. It would be nice to see them stick to the TV series. The schizo release schedule of the HMR stuff leaves a lot of frustrating questions. Will they ever finish DYRL or release more Dougram stuff? Will we get a proper TV Roy release?  How about the Destroids?

It will be interesting to see how many DX VF-1 releases there will be.

Edited November 27, 2018 by Corrinald

[LunchMeat]

10 hours ago, Matt Random said:

That is how I've always felt about this gimmick on the Yamato 1/48. I would have preferred that Bandai not include it. 

Other useless gimmicks I could skip: opening airbrake (again, flimsy and easy to pop off on Yamato 1/48), opening nose cone.

I want something rugged that holds up to play. I guess the Yamato 1/60s were better in that regard than the 1/48. Thank god for my old Bandai 1/55.

[HardlyNever]

I'm not expecting Bandai to be generous with head/pilot swaps in a single purchase with this line (like they can be with the HMR line, sometimes).  This is a new mold and they're going to get their money's worth.  I think the way they are handling the accessories is a good indicator of where their head is at on this one.

For me, in a perfect world I'd like to get the Hikaru VF-1J, then a TV VF-1S with super parts, then a VF-1A release of basically any variety (maybe CF).  And that would do it for me in this line.  But I don't know if we're going to get all that, and especially WHEN we would get all that.

Edited November 27, 2018 by HardlyNever

[Sandman]

If they don’t offer those accessory packs for each release it’s going to get ugly really quick. Way worse than the armour packs for the VF-25.

[Chronocidal]

33 minutes ago, Sandman said:

If they don’t offer those accessory packs for each release it’s going to get ugly really quick. Way worse than the armour packs for the VF-25.

From a wallet perspective, it's already ugly.  What was the retail price, 18,000 yen?  That's just the raw valk, no accessories, no missiles.

Comparatively?  The Arcadia super pack bundles are going for under 20k.  That's a valk, and alternate hands, and all the missiles, and super packs. 

Bandai's priced the missiles at 4000 yen, so we're already at 22k.  Super/Strike packs, I'm not betting we'll see for under 12k, so we're up to 34k yen.  And since Bandai absolutely refuses to bundle anything, or sell them at the same time, you get to pay individual shipping on each item.  By the time all is said and done, we'll probably be paying close to 40k yen to get the same contents in one of the Arcadia bundles.

Honestly, it's not the prices that are driving me away from collecting Bandai stuff.. it's their freakin market strategy.  

Edited November 27, 2018 by Chronocidal

[Sanity is Optional]

I remember when people were talking about Bandai's pricing driving Arcadia out of business...

How the tides have turned.

[jenius]

Shouldn't you be comparing to the PF version though since Bandai is painting the markings on their toy

Another way to look at this is that Bandia deserves major props for not making people who don't care about the missiles pay for them by including them in the original release. Those people would rather pay 18K rather than 22K and have them included. Bandai just saved them 4K for something they wouldn't have used anyway. 

[Chronocidal]

I have a hard time comparing to the PF version when they tend to slap whatever markings they see fit willy-nilly across the valk without so much as a thought to look at a real aircraft, nor can they be arsed to paint the landing gear, or even put the ejection seat markings.  Bandai's tampo is a grab bag of good, bad, and obnoxiously stupid, as the YF-19 exemplified.

Far as the missiles go though, won't this be the first perfect transformation VF-1 ever released that didn't include at least some of the missiles? (Joke Machines aside, but they included the super packs.)  I have a hard time letting that slide, and I don't think anyone would agree that 4k yen extra is a reasonable price for something that's been included with pretty much every single VF-1 going back to the Chunky.

For something extensive like the YF-19 weapons set, I'd agree, but not even including the bare minimum TV missile clusters?  All of the HMRs have included those.  Why are they making a separate pack with all the missiles, when they could have easily packed the relevant versions of them in with the matching super and strike pack sets?

Really though, at the bottom line, I'm just sick to death of Bandai's exclusive nonsense.

Edited November 27, 2018 by Chronocidal

[F360]

I think you are comparing price on something that’s not at the same scale along with what difference they offer.

one is 1/48 and the other is 1/60.

missiles aside , the Bandai 1/48 have many accessories.  They even have posable fingers/hands and extra hands .

https://sp.tamashii.jp/item/12634/

as for missiles , you can’t just look at vf-1 , the many dx chogokins don’t include missiles either .

bandais tampoing May be off here and there but they practically give it for free , there’s also the option of removing what you don’t like or painting the landing gears .

 

Looking at at what’s out now , 18000 yen is a excellent price for what it offers .

missiles at 1/48 is also bigger than 1/60 so I don’t see it lower that 4000 yen .

22000 yen for the newest vf-1 at 1/48 scale is still an excellent price .   What price should they sell it at if you think it’s too much ?  

 

Ops , forgot about the display stands that Bandai includes.

Edited November 27, 2018 by F360

[David Hingtgen]

On ‎11‎/‎26‎/‎2018 at 2:36 PM, Mommar said:

So the flaps are going to wind up being like the high speed mode on the 19’s.  A useless gimmick that ultimately hurts the toy.

High-speed-mode is at least screen/art-accurate.  "Giant one-piece ailerons" are like no real plane that comes to mind, nor the VF-1's actual design.  They're a gimmick of the worst sort---"lets just add in some plane-esque features for play value, because some planes have sorta similar things there".  

[eggy99]

Who else is going to end up gluing those faux ailerons into place to increase the playability?

[Mommar]

27 minutes ago, David Hingtgen said:

High-speed-mode is at least screen/art-accurate.  "Giant one-piece ailerons" are like no real plane that comes to mind, nor the VF-1's actual design.  They're a gimmick of the worst sort---"lets just add in some plane-esque features for play value, because some planes have sorta similar things there".  

Cold comfort sacrificing structural integrity for a mode that looks like a plucked turkey shot from a cannon.

[no3Ljm]

12 minutes ago, eggy99 said:

Who else is going to end up gluing those faux ailerons into place to increase the playability?

I'll rather check the figure first before deciding on gluing it. If it's going to come as loose like YF-19's fin, then I'll probably dap a touch of nail polish where it pivots just to make it tighter. But if it's not a hindrance on its playability, I'll just leave it as is.

Besides, who does really 'play' with their Valkyries here? 

 

Edited November 28, 2018 by no3Ljm

[eggy99]

4 minutes ago, no3Ljm said:

Besides, who does really 'play' with their Valkyries here? 

 

Kyun kyun! 

[Sandman]

What I was getting at is the after market prices of getting accessories that should be included like bands and missles. If they only plan to release missiles once with the 1J then your going to have to spend astronomical aftermarket prices when the next Vf-1 is released. Either that or buy as many as you think you’ll need at the beginning.

[jenius]

I'm just playing devil's advocate, the strategy seems like a disaster waiting to happen.

[Chronocidal]

Yeah, that's my concern as well, and one they could completely alleviate by just including the darn things from the start.  If they do a single super/strike/missile/whatever release, and then they unleash the VF-1 flood gates, and the add-on packs are never seen or heard from again?  Not a happy thought, and it's the exact same situation they have with the HMR super packs and VF-25 armors, so it's not like they haven't set a precedent of screwing their customers that way.

Fortunately, there are enough weapons in one set to outfit a few valks, so I'll probably order doubles or triples, and just pray Bandai doesn't 31A the whole market, and drive the prices into the stratosphere.  At that point, I'll just use the Hasegawa weapons sets.. they're only about $15-$20.

I'll be honest, I don't like the big missile boxes anyway.   I just want what was seen on screen in the series, which is pretty much what every HMR release has provided thus far.

I know it's not Bandai's status quo to include any missiles.  Doesn't mean I don't think they should change that policy, and start throwing people a bone.  They've been adding hardpoints to everything since the 171.. the least they could do is consistently offer something to use them for.

Also.. I'm only comparing the 1/60 to the 1/48 in terms of included content, because comparing to the original Yamato doesn't account for the overall price increases across the market.  If we ignore inflation, the stand-alone DX VF-1 is more expensive than a super/strike bundle of the Yamato 1/48 as well.  

 

Edited November 28, 2018 by Chronocidal

[David Hingtgen]

2 hours ago, Mommar said:

Cold comfort sacrificing structural integrity for a mode that looks like a plucked turkey shot from a cannon.

I'll agree with that---the ailerons coming off are a minor inconvenience, but high-speed mode wing-hinges pretty much ruins the YF-19, making it a floppy mess.