Bandai 1/60 DX Chogokin Macross Plus YF-21

[MKT]

I was casually checking the Yammie YF-21 secondary prices few months ago, and it seemed to have finally went down quite a bit, no doubt following Bandai's DX announcement. Today I checked again, the prices are back to old levels lol.. People tired of Bandai blue-balls!  

[Chronocidal]

I'd probably jump quickly on an Arcadia re-release, both normal and PF.  Would love one to match the PF YF-19  

[technoblue]

Indeed. If Bandai is significantly delayed or really backing out of releasing a DX YF-21 completely, I wouldn’t mind if Arcadia stepped in with their own updated design.

[Sokeijon]

Still waiting badly for new release of YF-21. 

[borgified]

Literally everyone is itching for a DX YF-21 @Sokeijon, but Bandai is known to p*** people off and sweep it under the rug.

Ask that same question years later Banda will say: "We never teased it or shown the prototype at all. It's all in your imagination".  

[frankell05]

I hope arcadia does a version of their own. I'd rather have that then the Bandai version. 

[M'Kyuun]

3 minutes ago, frankell05 said:

I hope arcadia does a version of their own. I'd rather have that then the Bandai version. 

Honestly, so would I, though I shudder at the thought of the impending price tag. That said, the Yamato 1/60 was nigh perfect; the disproportionate legs were it's only major failing, IMHO. If they were to fix that, likely at the cost of the thin tail section of the fighter, I'd be all-in. Hopefully, too, they'd install a more robust non-ball-jointed hip joint, as my Yammie YF-21 is pretty loose at the hips.

Bandai seems uninterested, which beggars the question of why tease a proto only to not move forward? Anyway, I think Arcadia can improve on Yamato's design; most of the work is already done for them. Proportionate legs in battroid would be fantastic, as that's how I display my valks. For those who prefer fighter, Arcadia could simply rerelease the unmodified Yamato version, appeasing both camps and making a buttload of cash in the process. 

[Robin-11]

I never got around to understand why there are 9 different releases of the YF-19(including Bandai, arcadia and 1/72 scale) and only two of the YF-21(yamato 1/72 and 1/60 if i am not mistaken)... i think that in M+ they have a similar screen time and they both play a very important role in the story(especially in the movie).

[Chronocidal]

Sadly, it's just not a popular design, judging from how much attention it usually gets, at least in comparison to the YF-19.  One of the first Hasegawa kits to get released in 1/48 was the YF-19.. but they never bothered even teasing a YF-21.  It makes me think they just didn't see the demand for it, which probably means Bandai doesn't either.

It would be interesting to see a revamp of the old Yamato mold, like Arcadia did with the VF-0, but I'm not holding my breath.  I think there's room to work bigger legs into it, but it would take a rebuild of the inside compartment, and probably make it look ugly.. which is fine, they need to ditch the removable legs anyhow.

Would be fun to see them add hardpoints to the wings though.  

[M'Kyuun]

2 hours ago, Chronocidal said:

Sadly, it's just not a popular design, judging from how much attention it usually gets, at least in comparison to the YF-19.  One of the first Hasegawa kits to get released in 1/48 was the YF-19.. but they never bothered even teasing a YF-21.  It makes me think they just didn't see the demand for it, which probably means Bandai doesn't either.

It would be interesting to see a revamp of the old Yamato mold, like Arcadia did with the VF-0, but I'm not holding my breath.  I think there's room to work bigger legs into it, but it would take a rebuild of the inside compartment, and probably make it look ugly.. which is fine, they need to ditch the removable legs anyhow.

Would be fun to see them add hardpoints to the wings though.  

Agree, and lament it. The 21, at least in fighter mode, is a beautiful design. I can see where people might have reservations about the battroid, as even to my eye, it's not as nice looking as the YF-19's. I'll concede that I like the 19's fighter mode better, as well, but I think both have beautiful fighter modes worthy of display. I appreciate, however, the Quedluun Rau homage in the YF-21's battroid mode given Guld's Zentraedi heritage. The issue I take with it is that Kawamori fudged the dimensions from mode to mode to optimize each without much thought to how that would affect the feasibility of transforming models and toys, which leaves us with the Yammie 1/60 with its compromised legs to optimize the fighter mode. Unless a really innovative solution is found to drastically change the leg shape, either one mode or the other is going to suffer on every transformable iteration of that valk, and that speaks to poor design. Sorry Kawamori-san, but it's true in this instance.

[Sanity is Optional]

When it comes to the YF-21/VF-22, I think a parts-former is probably the best solution. Maybe in the new Bandai HG 1/100 line alongside the YF-19 and YF-29.

It's just got too much anime magic (before even mentioning the morphing wings) to ever be made into a perfect transformation toy without at least one mode suffering.

Edited June 10, 2023 by Sanity is Optional

[Chronocidal]

50 minutes ago, Sanity is Optional said:

When it comes to the YF-21/VF-22, I think a parts-former is probably the best solution. Maybe in the new Bandai HG 1/100 line alongside the YF-19 and YF-29.

It's just got too much anime magic (before even mentioning the morphing wings) to ever be made into a perfect transformation toy without at least one mode suffering.

I'm actually not convinced it can't be done, but it's going to probably be fragile, and take some very complex plastic origami to pull off.

The Yamato design is a solid starting point, both from over all proportions and mechanical transformation, but I think what has to happen for better legs to be possible is to do part of what Bandai attempted in their prototype.  The upper engine nacelles need to be widened a little, and the underside of the fuselage needs to be hollowed out to let the legs recess into those spaces.

The "down side" of that is that you get an even less believable area for those engines to exist in than you have now, but I would gladly sacrifice any and all detail under the backplate for the legs to get more room.  I don't think the legs ever looked too bad from a side profile, but they need to be much wider, and that's exactly where they need room to expand.

Edited June 10, 2023 by Chronocidal

[twich]

Just remember that the member Xiegfried made a 1/60 VF-9 variable fighter in resin, and that was nicknamed the origami fighter.  With the vastly superior monetary and work force that Bandai has, it would probably be an easy job for them.  Heck, they already went to the trouble of prototyping it.  As for Arcadia, they also do what others have suggested and improve on the existing mold from Yamato, granted that they purchased that mold.  

Twich

[Chronocidal]

43 minutes ago, twich said:

With the vastly superior monetary and work force that Bandai has, it would probably be an easy job for them. 

Money?  Yes.  Superior work force?  Cannot say that's a given.  It would be an easy job for them if they cared to do it correctly.  That's the part I do not trust them with.

Even with all of the recent production and QA issues aside, their YF-21 had some serious issues to solve.  If they had strayed from the lineart in ways that improved the design, I would have probably been alright with it, but everything they did made it look worse.  They appear to be bound and determined to snatch failure from the jaws of success.

 

[twich]

1 hour ago, Chronocidal said:

Money?  Yes.  Superior work force?  Cannot say that's a given.  It would be an easy job for them if they cared to do it correctly.  That's the part I do not trust them with.

Even with all of the recent production and QA issues aside, their YF-21 had some serious issues to solve.  If they had strayed from the lineart in ways that improved the design, I would have probably been alright with it, but everything they did made it look worse.  They appear to be bound and determined to snatch failure from the jaws of success.

 

Sorry, to clarify, I was referring to numbers of employees, not necessary a larger amount of talent, then Arcadia, whom we know to be a small outfit.

Twich

[DewPoint]

They don't all just hire T-REX to do all of the design work? 

[Chronocidal]

9 hours ago, DewPoint said:

They don't all just hire T-REX to do all of the design work? 

The part I can never figure out about this is that I think T-REX did the design work for both the Yamato VF-17, and the Bandai VF-171.  Just because the same team did the designs doesn't mean anything once the contractor gets their fingers into it and starts dictating design features.  The VF-17 is a plastic tank, while the VF-171 tends to explode if you look at it the wrong way.

9 hours ago, twich said:

Sorry, to clarify, I was referring to numbers of employees, not necessary a larger amount of talent, then Arcadia, whom we know to be a small outfit.

Twich

All good, and it's a fair point.  They should be able to crank out a superior product with all of that help, but Bandai has always seemed to have very different design priorities when compared to Yamato and Arcadia. 

I'm not thinking of the little things like painting the gear white, or printing numbers backwards and trying to gaslight the customers that it was on purpose.  It's the larger design philosophy that they adhere to.. and a lot of times, their design choices just do not make a lick of sense.  They keep trying to re-invent the wheel, and always come up with something slightly less effective.

Without going through a pile of reasons why, I just don't understand their design logic.  It's often baffling and nonsensical, and so many things they get wrong would be so easy to fix with small adjustments.. they just never do.

 

[enphily]

fck

[CF18]

https://twitter.com/t_features/status/1685009750298447872?s=20

Edited July 28, 2023 by CF18

[twich]

9 minutes ago, enphily said:

fck

Oh my Christmas crackers! That is very good news! Now all we need is a non-3D printed fast prototype!

Twich

[MikeRoz]

Still no date. If there is a question and answer session for part 2, someone should ask what the date is.

[Chronocidal]

Freakin hell.

Fix it first you dingbats, it's got issues.

[Mog]

Let’s see if they actually fixed any of the things some of us were harping about.

EDIT:  @Chronocidal, guess we had the same thought! 😆

Edited July 28, 2023 by Mog

[borgified]

Bandai is going to screw this like the previous DX(es) with glitches and transformation errors. This has to be a outstanding release after the teases since 2018.  

[M'Kyuun]

Oooh, unexpected news indeed! Cautiously optimistic. Other than the ugly elbow joints and the arm guns sitting inaccurately in fighter, I didn't have too many gripes. At least the legs are proportional in battroid; that was always my beef with the Yamato.

1 minute ago, borgified said:

Bandai is going to screw this like the previous DX(es) with glitches and transformation errors. This has to be a outstanding release after the teases since 2018.  

Hope not. Hope so.

[leeboo1211]

17 minutes ago, twich said:

Oh my Christmas crackers! That is very good news! Now all we need is a non-3D printed fast prototype!

Twich

FINALLY! Been waiting forever so YF-19 has something to go against.

Well, if anything can always have a Yammie for F mode and DX for B mode. I'd probably just get a model kit for F tho.

[jenius]

I find it very unlikely it will have changed since it's debut. Other than very minor tweaks, Bandai usually stays the course.

[Chronocidal]

1 minute ago, jenius said:

I find it very unlikely it will have changed since it's debut. Other than very minor tweaks, Bandai usually stays the course.

Yeah, the fact that they're still showing the display we originally saw means they haven't done squat to it.  

I'm glad it's getting released, but I have absolutely zero expectations for it, and would much rather just see a PF Arcadia release.  This thing is ducking fugly in fighter mode.

[derex3592]

I suppose I'll TRY to get one to display in battroid next to the Yammy fighter. If I miss the PO, not gonna cry to much

[borgified]

From another Macross thread... Is anything different or it is the same screwed up teases as before?  

[scand]

 Can't wait! Just gave in and bought an old Yammie a couple of weeks ago though. Nice to see all of the pinky fingers going up LOL

[sh9000]

In for 2 orders of the YF-21.

[Shawn]

Otakon on left, prev display from a couple months ago on right

So is the pic on the left a camera/lighting thing, or do you think they changed to a deeper blue on this version?

I honestly can't see any differences between the 2

[Mog]

Bellyplates still look bleh and short, and you can see the back third of the bellyplate hiding on the backpack.

Not seeing any obvious changes.

. . . So, nothing on that TV SDF-1 they showed last year?

[Shawn]

Since this is Otakon, US based, we'll only see items from Macross Flashback and up, no SDF-1 for us here.