Bandai DX Chogokin 1/48 VF-1

[vladykins]

LOL he was being sarcastic.

[nightmareB4macross]

And pinned.

[Nsr250]

1 hour ago, nightmareB4macross said:

And pinned.

Will there be reissue of this VF-1S to fix the number and joint breakage problem?

[jenius]

1 hour ago, Nsr250 said:

Will there be reissue of this VF-1S to fix the number and joint breakage problem?

Not likely any time soon.

[RedComet]

2 hours ago, Nsr250 said:

Will there be reissue of this VF-1S to fix the number and joint breakage problem?

I mean there's a pretty reliable way to fix the thigh if it breaks (slightly longer screw). And there are decals to fix the numbers that come with Kakizaki (or that Anasazi has made).

[Nsr250]

9 hours ago, RedComet said:

I mean there's a pretty reliable way to fix the thigh if it breaks (slightly longer screw). And there are decals to fix the numbers that come with Kakizaki (or that Anasazi has made).

Does the Focker 1S have better build quality? Or they haven't made much improvement in the joint design or quality control?

[Angesdad]

2 hours ago, Nsr250 said:

Does the Focker 1S have better build quality? Or they haven't made much improvement in the joint design or quality control?

Allow me to chime in. Bandai QC is less than ideal and no, Focker isn't built better and absolutely no design improvements this time around.

As a matter of fact my two Roys showed consistently of more paint mishaps and noticeably looser neck joint than previous releases. Perhaps something more than my bad luck.

 

[borgified]

No collectable is defect free. There's issues that pop up during and after production and normal wear and tear unless you want to encase them in a tomb for eternity and not touch them forever (like AFA and PSA grading standards) or in a museum pose inside a display case.  

[Anasazi37]

6 hours ago, borgified said:

No collectable is defect free. There's issues that pop up during and after production and normal wear and tear unless you want to encase them in a tomb for eternity and not touch them forever (like AFA and PSA grading standards) or in a museum pose inside a display case.  

Agreed. I'm also trying to take a more relaxed stance towards toy production during the COVID era. The factories that make this stuff were shut down for some length of time and then likely had to slowly come back online at reduced capacity--all while dealing with supply issues for raw materials, a huge backlog of orders, and understandably stressed out/distracted workers. We're bound to run into more issues than usual in the near term and, at least for me, I'm happy that Macross toys are still being produced during such economically uncertain times. Compared to Gundam and other lines, Macross isn't very profitable for Bandai, so they could have easily dropped it to focus their reduced production capacity on other things.

For what it's worth, my two DX Roys, bought from two different sources, were in good shape. I did hear about a lot of paint issues with the previous DX Hayao release, though. At the time I chalked it up to Hayao being a much smaller TWE release, but in retrospect the production run for it was happening during the early months of the pandemic....

[sh9000]

Happy Birthday Shoji Kawamori!

Edited February 20, 2021 by sh9000

[Syro]

Can anybody recommend a decent proxy service for the VF-1D? I see plenty of entries in google just not sure if there are any to beware of... like a nippon yasan of proxy services. Thanks in advance

[mamboeidos]

can i check if PO place with CDjapan can be cancel?

 

I know for AmiAmi it can but not sure if CDjapan can be cancel

[vladykins]

On 2/20/2021 at 3:57 PM, Syro said:

Can anybody recommend a decent proxy service for the VF-1D? I see plenty of entries in google just not sure if there are any to beware of... like a nippon yasan of proxy services. Thanks in advance

There are a few non-proxy site like Okini Land that still have it (though for a markup). Okini has it for under $300:

 

https://okini.land/en/23368-dx-chogokin-vf-1d-valkyrie-fan-racer-bandai-spirits.html

 

 

[eggy99]

14 hours ago, mamboeidos said:

can i check if PO place with CDjapan can be cancel?

https://www.cdjapan.co.jp/guide/help/ordering/how_to_cancel_your_order

[Syro]

15 hours ago, vladykins said:

There are a few non-proxy site like Okini Land that still have it (though for a markup). Okini has it for under $300:

 

https://okini.land/en/23368-dx-chogokin-vf-1d-valkyrie-fan-racer-bandai-spirits.html

 

 

Yeah I had seen it at Nin Nin for 307 but that seems like a pretty big markup. I want to see if i can get it from a proxy before I go S&M on my wallet

[vladykins]

7 hours ago, Syro said:

Yeah I had seen it at Nin Nin for 307 but that seems like a pretty big markup. I want to see if i can get it from a proxy before I go S&M on my wallet

I know most folks are playing their proxies close to their vest now, since the proxies that have been posted have been overrun by people now- From Japan is basically useless now since that was frequently mentioned and now anyone making a DX purchase through there is usually getting cancelled due to too many people ordering through it.

My suggestion is to search up proxies and see what you can find.

 

As for Nin Nin, you are probably better off with Okini since I've had no problems with them and lots of folks have had issues with Nin Nin (though you are more likely to get a matrked up toy from Nin Nin than a MSRP order, even though the msrp order came in first).

[spacemanoeuvres]

1 hour ago, vladykins said:

I know most folks are playing their proxies close to their vest now, since the proxies that have been posted have been overrun by people now- From Japan is basically useless now since that was frequently mentioned and now anyone making a DX purchase through there is usually getting cancelled due to too many people ordering through it.

Ugh, this hurts my heart.  I really liked using From Japan.  Most other options charge significant fees (10-15% of item, plus 2-4% wire fees) which stinks.  I guess that's just the cost for acquiring these things now :/

I wish I had family or friends in Japan; that would make things a little easier haha

Edited February 23, 2021 by spacemanoeuvres
I like toys

[vladykins]

12 minutes ago, spacemanoeuvres said:

Ugh, this hurts my heart.  I really liked using From Japan.  Most other options charge significant fees (10-15% of item, plus 2-4% wire fees) which stinks.  I guess that's just the cost for acquiring these things now :/

I wish I had family or friends in Japan; that would make things a little easier haha

Yeah, my last two attempts with From Japan were either "Already sold our limit" or the second instance it looked like the order made it but it got cancelled for them being over the limit later. I know a lot of people had the latter recently. 

 

I ended up being able to get an order in at AE for not too much over retail. I do know the retail was higher on this than for the others- I think mainly to accommodate the extras like the fan racer. I know Roy's retail was ‎¥19,800 but I think the 1D was more like ¥23,100 or something like that.

[spacemanoeuvres]

15 minutes ago, vladykins said:

Yeah, my last two attempts with From Japan were either "Already sold our limit" or the second instance it looked like the order made it but it got cancelled for them being over the limit later. I know a lot of people had the latter recently. 

 

I ended up being able to get an order in at AE for not too much over retail. I do know the retail was higher on this than for the others- I think mainly to accommodate the extras like the fan racer. I know Roy's retail was ‎¥19,800 but I think the 1D was more like ¥23,100 or something like that.

Same here, I ended up ordering a 1D from mykombini for a little over retail.  I know some folks have had issues with them; but they have been good to me so far.

[Sanity is Optional]

From my experience with From Japan I think they don't have many P-Bandai accounts to begin with, compared to other Proxies. I got the impression they have a very low limit on anything that has limited quantity per account.

[Anasazi37]

13 hours ago, vladykins said:

Yeah, my last two attempts with From Japan were either "Already sold our limit" or the second instance it looked like the order made it but it got cancelled for them being over the limit later. I know a lot of people had the latter recently. 

 

I ended up being able to get an order in at AE for not too much over retail. I do know the retail was higher on this than for the others- I think mainly to accommodate the extras like the fan racer. I know Roy's retail was ‎¥19,800 but I think the 1D was more like ¥23,100 or something like that.

By the time all of the fees were piled on to the retail price by the proxy service I used, the total was almost the same as AE.

[Chronocidal]

A little note for those of you annoyed with the VF-1S head lasers always getting cockeyed.

I popped the mounts off of their little ball joints last night to examine them, and all of the lasers are pretty much just pegged into the mounts, so they can be pulled free, and everything is pretty easy to access if you want to work on them to tighten them up.

I didn't feel like using any glue, but what I wound up using was a tiny strip of scotch tape placed on the bottom of each individual laser peg, and pressed into the mount.  The lasers still move, but now the friction on each laser is more than the whole mount, so they mostly stay where you put them.

Edited February 24, 2021 by Chronocidal

[Syro]

17 hours ago, vladykins said:

I know most folks are playing their proxies close to their vest now, since the proxies that have been posted have been overrun by people now- From Japan is basically useless now since that was frequently mentioned and now anyone making a DX purchase through there is usually getting cancelled due to too many people ordering through it.

My suggestion is to search up proxies and see what you can find.

 

As for Nin Nin, you are probably better off with Okini since I've had no problems with them and lots of folks have had issues with Nin Nin (though you are more likely to get a matrked up toy from Nin Nin than a MSRP order, even though the msrp order came in first).

I had no idea about Nin Nin- thanks for the info! Okini sounds like the better option

[vladykins]

7 hours ago, Syro said:

I had no idea about Nin Nin- thanks for the info! Okini sounds like the better option

Some got lucky with Nin Nin with Roy, but it has been the exprience that they PO some at MSRP, ratchet up the price, sell more, rathet up, etc. Then they often fulfill the marked up ones first and work their way backwards. They've had a number of complaints, but not NY level of complaints. 

[Syro]

On 2/24/2021 at 7:56 AM, vladykins said:

Some got lucky with Nin Nin with Roy, but it has been the exprience that they PO some at MSRP, ratchet up the price, sell more, rathet up, etc. Then they often fulfill the marked up ones first and work their way backwards. They've had a number of complaints, but not NY level of complaints. 

Wow- that's the kind of tactics I was hearing about NY a few years back. Crazy that they would adopt the same style as the most hated store among Macross fans. 

Edited February 27, 2021 by Syro
grammer

[derex3592]

Well... I've put this off for a while now, well, since it was released.. so here we go.. let the customizing begin! 

[RedComet]

50 minutes ago, derex3592 said:

Well... I've put this off for a while now, well, since it was released.. so here we go.. let the customizing begin! 

I like mine a lot better after customization. What do you have in mind?

[Lolicon]

21 hours ago, derex3592 said:

Well... I've put this off for a while now, well, since it was released.. so here we go.. let the customizing begin! 

Let's see the final product!

[derex3592]

@Lolicon -- patience...

[KFDzero]

They all look so good so far. Maybe I should bust out my paints and airbrush... Nah, I'm too lazy in my old age so good work all. Keep it up 

[eggy99]

My grand summer plan was to use this warm weather to panel and weather my DX 1J and 1A, but got side tracked by other things and now it’s already autumn so the running out of time to use those Mr Hobby flat coat sprays etc for the finishing the work. 

Looking forward to seeing the finished works from you guys. 

[MKT]

Roy available again at HLJ!

DX Chogokin First Limited Edition VF-1S Valkyrie Roy Focker Special by Bandai (hlj.com)

I'm kinda half expecting a sorry-out-of-stock / system error e-mail later on..

[no3Ljm]

1 minute ago, MKT said:

Roy available again at HLJ!

DX Chogokin First Limited Edition VF-1S Valkyrie Roy Focker Special by Bandai (hlj.com)

I'm kinda half expecting a sorry-out-of-stock / system error e-mail later on..

And still limited to 20 per person as well.

[Froy]

Hell! Got an order thru!

[Sanity is Optional]

If I didn't already have 3...