Bandai 1/60 DX Chogokin Macross Plus YF-21

[Bolt]

7 minutes ago, Sildani said:

Is it December 31st or January 10th? And will

That's my only question now..

[wmkjr]

3 minutes ago, Bolt said:

That's my only question now..

WWM release Jan 10 PO (For Japan anyways)

Edited December 25, 2023 by wmkjr
added pic for oomph

[nightmareB4macross]

Well it will have a world wide release so this shouldn’t be too hard to obtain.

Edited December 25, 2023 by nightmareB4macross

[ValkAddict]

New pics look great.

[sh9000]

I hope to secure my 2 from Japanese online stores.

[Bolt]

3 minutes ago, sh9000 said:

I hope to secure my 2 from Japanese online stores.

Cheaper than BBTS , no doubt..

[treatment]

21 hours ago, Shawn said:

Wow that looks phenomenal-love it

 

 

hmmm, interesting...

https://twitter.com/simsim5479/status/1739097390555300204

web-translated:

 

 

direct link to tamashii-web PR (web-translated):

https://tamashiiweb.com/item/14740/?wovn=en#

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 25, 2023 by treatment

[MKT]

14 minutes ago, treatment said:

 

hmmm, interesting...

https://twitter.com/simsim5479/status/1739097390555300204

web-translated:

 

 

direct link to tamashii-web PR (web-translated):

https://tamashiiweb.com/item/14740/?wovn=en#

 

Sort of took it for granted previously that the cockpit seat will rotate like what Yamato / Arcadia did for some of their valks, but it sounds like Bandai is just making them swappable parts. 

[MKT]

Could be translation error, but I also wonder about ‘engine nozzle fins move one by one’. Not referring to the intake covers, are they?

[Anasazi37]

1 hour ago, Sildani said:

Is it December 31st or January 10th? And will it still be PO hell, or more calm?

Japan PO Madness on 10 Jan. Best guess is that US retailers will start their WWM POs about a week later.

[David Hingtgen]

1 hour ago, MKT said:

 

Could be translation error, but I also wonder about ‘engine nozzle fins move one by one’. Not referring to the intake covers, are they?

Pretty sure they mean the exhaust petals.  YF-21 has a pretty notable thrust-vectoring array back there.  Surely someone has a GIF of it?  I'm thinking particularly the "mind-machine link" demo scene.   

 

::edit::  Here: 【MAD】 MACROSS PLUS MOVIE EDITION　YF-21 on Make a GIF

[no3Ljm]

4 hours ago, davidwhangchoi said:

i hope the yen rate doesn't get strong vs. us dollar or we're going to be in deep trouble in June. 

I think the best way would be PO one from Japan and one from US shop. And cancel one based on what's the cheapest before the release date.  

[no3Ljm]

1 hour ago, MKT said:

Could be translation error, but I also wonder about ‘engine nozzle fins move one by one’. Not referring to the intake covers, are they?

Yeah. As per @David Hingtgen, I think they're referring to the 'engine fins' at the back.

[MKT]

28 minutes ago, David Hingtgen said:

Pretty sure they mean the exhaust petals.  YF-21 has a pretty notable thrust-vectoring array back there.  Surely someone has a GIF of it?  I'm thinking particularly the "mind-machine link" demo scene.   

 

::edit::  Here: 【MAD】 MACROSS PLUS MOVIE EDITION　YF-21 on Make a GIF

 

18 minutes ago, no3Ljm said:

Yeah. As per @David Hingtgen, I think they're referring to the 'engine fins' at the back.

Ah ok, that makes perfect sense now. The caption while prominently showing the front of Fighter threw me off earlier..

It's a good thing they painted up the intakes, consistent with the YF-19. Most of the other Chogokins so far have left the intakes unpainted.
Also the tampo markings look like pretty nice after being so used to Yamato's plain jane for so long. Luckily no ugly NETFC wordings on the wings lol. There's still those rather prominent 'General Galaxy' on the underside, but its ok as we'll already try to hide its belly as much as possible for display. 

 

[Froy]

I don't see any word about fold booster attachments being induced but it seems to be some holes on the for them 

[Bolt]

39 minutes ago, Froy said:

I don't see any word about fold booster attachments being induced but it seems to be some holes on the for them 

I'm taking fold booster attachments (of some kind) as a given, considering the hyper design/engineering going on here. At this point, I'm assuming the fold booster is a separate strung out purchase. But there's no way it's a provision that's been left out. 

Edited December 25, 2023 by Bolt

[no3Ljm]

45 minutes ago, Froy said:

I don't see any word about fold booster attachments being induced but it seems to be some holes on the for them 

7 minutes ago, Bolt said:

I'm taking fold booster attachments (of some kind) as a given, considering the hyper design/engineering going on here. At this point, I'm assuming the fold booster is a separate strung out purchase. But there's no way it's a provision that's been left out. 

Who knows? Since they didn't include it on the recent YF-19 release, Bandai might release a TWE release of 2 Fold Booster attachments down the line. And as a bonus, they might throw in some missile sets too and charge it for Y7800. 

 

[borgified]

Bandai loves to screw everyone over @Bolt and they hand out empty promises (just like Howard Chan since he's the CEO of Hot Toys). Tease all the product to grab attention and 95% of the time, we get nothing in return. 

[Bolt]

Lol. I know, i know. Clearly I've had too much egg nog to be so optimistic and naïve. 

[Big s]

I don’t know if it’s the added color or just the angle, but the arms have a thicker look now. There’s a few minor details that are off, but so far it looks really great. If it weren’t so expensive I’d definitely buy at least one, but I’ll settle for the hg kit.

[na2tt]

I'm so torn. Waiting for a decent YF-21 for a very long time, and I got a pre-order for the parts-former YF-21. I have the YF-19 for that parts-former one, so I can have the pair together.

This one is so nice, but it's so freaking expensive. And I don't have the Bandai YF-19 1/60, so I would need to get that as a set too. 

YF-21, one of my favorite valkyries, but ughh I'm not even sure if I should buy it for this crazy price.

[Sanity is Optional]

On the bright side, at current exchange rates ¥35,000 is about $245. So a lot better than what it looks like at first glance, should be under $300 with shipping to the US.

[Raikkonen]

10 hours ago, no3Ljm said:

Bandai does it again -- Love to Hate / Hate to Love.

Looks weird how the Gunpod protrudes from the belly plate.

The way I see it now, unless there's using cheating partsforming ala HG, no ways the line art will ever work in physical form in capturing all 3 modes 100% along with all the gimmicks in a hand held scale. 

But still, that long nose on battroid while its short in plane mode, really baffles me along with the huge area behind the shoulders. 

[MKT]

This being Macross World, let's analyze more pics.. 

Battroid is supposedly much improved over Yamato's, mainly due to the bulkier legs. But coincidentally, there is another YF-21 developed by Bandai, which is the HG kit. So comparisons are inevitable:
 

I think most of us can agree the HG looks fantastic, it has ideal proportions. On other hand, we can see the DX's nose is comparatively really long, and the hips are ultra-Urkel right up to near the chest, giving it unusually long legs. It's as if Bandai, in its clever ankle rotation engineering, overshot the lengths of the legs to make it as long as possible compared to Yamato's. But of course, this is not a fair comparison as the HG is a parts-former vs the DX that has to be perfect transformation.

However, if Bandai implemented Yamato's nose shortening mechanism, and just reduced the height of the top of the hips, we can get something like this:

In the edited pic, I've shortened the nose by about the same amount as what Yamato did for their Battroid YF-21. I've also lopped off a little the tops of the hips, without moving the hip joints or side skirts. The edited proportions now still nowhere near the HG, but I do feel it is much better than what it is now and in fact, the top of the hips can be lowered even further.

The way I see it, Bandai should be able to make both of these changes without adversely affecting other modes at all, so it is a bit of missed opportunity as Bandai have been teasing this mold for so long compared to other DXs. 

The DX VF-19 Advance / YF-19 never had so much controversy. They took what worked for Arcadia - from what I see the high-speed mode wings, and the thigh filler engineering from S.H.E kit, and even improved the sculpt a bit in areas and made an excellent toy out of it as whole. 

Here they did their own clever engineering solutions for the DX YF-21, but just kind of missed the mark in some key areas that could easily be fixed.

Anyway, this exercise is kinda moot, because this also being Macross World, I will still join the PO come Jan 10. 

[borgified]

Although it has been discussed so many times about the inconsistency between the 2 versions of the 21, looking forward to see the Yammie 21/22 and the DX 21 hand in hand.   

[na2tt]

@MKT Thanks for the photo comparison. Now I don't feel as bad if I don't buy the DX and just keep with my HG Parts-former

I'm in Canada, so the Yen is still relatively strong compared to the Canadian dollar. It's just hard to really justify 35000Yen + shipping..... TBH at most I expected 28500Y

[Big s]

14 hours ago, na2tt said:

I'm so torn. Waiting for a decent YF-21 for a very long time, and I got a pre-order for the parts-former YF-21. I have the YF-19 for that parts-former one, so I can have the pair together.

This one is so nice, but it's so freaking expensive. And I don't have the Bandai YF-19 1/60, so I would need to get that as a set too. 

YF-21, one of my favorite valkyries, but ughh I'm not even sure if I should buy it for this crazy price.

I’m in the same boat there. Space is also a bit of a factor, but yeah price is crazy 

 

13 hours ago, Sanity is Optional said:

On the bright side, at current exchange rates ¥35,000 is about $245. So a lot better than what it looks like at first glance, should be under $300 with shipping to the US.

$300 bucks is $200 bucks more than I want to spend on a toy, but even though I try to make exceptions, that price is still way too high 

[Sanity is Optional]

13 minutes ago, Big s said:

$300 bucks is $200 bucks more than I want to spend on a toy, but even though I try to make exceptions, that price is still way too high 

Boat's sailed on that one, only things you're going to get under $100 is maybe an HMR or Kitz Concept figure.

[M'Kyuun]

5 hours ago, Big s said:

$300 bucks is $200 bucks more than I want to spend on a toy, but even though I try to make exceptions, that price is still way too high 

These days, the smaller Hi-Metal toys, often with swappable parts, are going for what the DX toys went for just a few years ago. Inflation sucks, but that's our reality. Plus, with so few Macross toys being made period, companies can charge what they want, especially for higher end toys and fans are going to pay it for lack of alternatives and scarcity. I'd much prefer to pay Bandai's old $160-80ish for a DX toy, but as Sanity says, that boat has sailed. All we can hope for is a favorable exchange rate when the PO goes live. 

[IIymij]

12 hours ago, MKT said:

This being Macross World, let's analyze more pics.. 

Battroid is supposedly much improved over Yamato's, mainly due to the bulkier legs. But coincidentally, there is another YF-21 developed by Bandai, which is the HG kit. So comparisons are inevitable:
 

I think most of us can agree the HG looks fantastic, it has ideal proportions. On other hand, we can see the DX's nose is comparatively really long, and the hips are ultra-Urkel right up to near the chest, giving it unusually long legs. It's as if Bandai, in its clever ankle rotation engineering, overshot the lengths of the legs to make it as long as possible compared to Yamato's. But of course, this is not a fair comparison as the HG is a parts-former vs the DX that has to be perfect transformation.

However, if Bandai implemented Yamato's nose shortening mechanism, and just reduced the height of the top of the hips, we can get something like this:

In the edited pic, I've shortened the nose by about the same amount as what Yamato did for their Battroid YF-21. I've also lopped off a little the tops of the hips, without moving the hip joints or side skirts. The edited proportions now still nowhere near the HG, but I do feel it is much better than what it is now and in fact, the top of the hips can be lowered even further.

The way I see it, Bandai should be able to make both of these changes without adversely affecting other modes at all, so it is a bit of missed opportunity as Bandai have been teasing this mold for so long compared to other DXs. 

The DX VF-19 Advance / YF-19 never had so much controversy. They took what worked for Arcadia - from what I see the high-speed mode wings, and the thigh filler engineering from S.H.E kit, and even improved the sculpt a bit in areas and made an excellent toy out of it as whole. 

Here they did their own clever engineering solutions for the DX YF-21, but just kind of missed the mark in some key areas that could easily be fixed.

Anyway, this exercise is kinda moot, because this also being Macross World, I will still join the PO come Jan 10. 

Thanks for the awesome photoshop / comparison pictures! I really like the beefy arms/shoulders on the HG. I wish they could do that for the dx especially since those parts are not being swapped in the HG (correct me if im wrong).

I kind of wish they could tilt the nose a bit inward instead of it feeling like peeking pee pee. I'm still down to get 1 for PO though

 

[no3Ljm]

50 minutes ago, M'Kyuun said:

All we can hope for is a favorable exchange rate when it gets released. 

Fixed.  Since we mostly order directly from Japanese stores, they always charge when the item becomes available.  

[M'Kyuun]

On 12/24/2023 at 8:35 PM, no3Ljm said:

Yeah. As per @David Hingtgen, I think they're referring to the 'engine fins' at the back.

Certainly so. FYI, the real-world inspiration for those paddles was likely Rockwell's MBB X-31, a cool plane in its own right. 

[Sanity is Optional]

17 minutes ago, no3Ljm said:

Fixed.  Since we mostly order directly from Japanese stores, they always charge when the item becomes available.  

HLJ, notably, charges when the item is stocked.

[Lolicon]

Yamato 21 cost around 200 bucks in 2008 with the exchange rate at the time. It was around that time the exchange rate swung wildly in favor of the yen for the next several years. 

[Sanity is Optional]

19 minutes ago, Lolicon said:

Yamato 21 cost around 200 bucks in 2008 with the exchange rate at the time. It was around that time the exchange rate swung wildly in favor of the yen for the next several years. 

$200 in 2008 is roughly $280 today after inflation, so the Bandai price isn't terrible in comparison.