Bandai 1/60 DX Chogokin Macross Plus YF-21

[Paco Grande]

11 hours ago, orbitalharvest said:

in stock at genki if anyone still needs one:

https://hobby-genki.com/en/dx-chogokin/28238-dx-chogokin-yf-21-gard-gore-bowman-machine-macross-plus-4573102655165.html

 

Thank you for that. I currently only have a pre-order at Amazon U.S. and it's way too expensive. I'm thinking about cancelling that order. The HG price is way less and I almost pulled the trigger but I've spent too much on toys recently so I cannot purchase right now.

What are the chances that this item will eventually be available at Mandarake? I think I bought my YF-19 FSP from Mandarake years after release. My thinking is that many people do not seem very happy with this design so I'm thinking there may be a bunch on the secondary market.

[jenius]

I'm sure it will be available on Mandarake regularly.

[HardlyNever]

Personally, I'm banking on this being somewhat of a shelf warmer, for a variety of reasons.  Hoping to catch it on a discount in the next 4-5 months.

[Paco Grande]

1 hour ago, jenius said:

I'm sure it will be available on Mandarake regularly.

 

19 minutes ago, HardlyNever said:

Personally, I'm banking on this being somewhat of a shelf warmer, for a variety of reasons.  Hoping to catch it on a discount in the next 4-5 months.

Thank you both for your opinions. I just canceled my Amazon.com order. Too many toys this year and the price after you convert to Canadian dollars was $560 including shipping and taxes which is just nuts. For reference I paid around $500 for the DX VF-1J with armor set. They are really pushing it with the price of the YF-21.

[Pontus]

+1 Waiting for a deal on Mandarake/Amazon IF I ever get one, and ONLY if I can get it for less than a Yamato.  I already have a Yamato which is a great toy imho (thanks to @jenius awesome reviews for helping with that decision), but I guess I HAVE to get a second 21 one way or another since I just picked up a second 19 on Amazon.  Pretty hard to justify $350+ when I got the latest 19 for just $230.  And since that piece was clearly a shelf warmer considering there's still plenty of stock on hand, I wouldn't expect the 21 to be any different.  Unfortunately, this doesn't bode well for future releases or new designs if it's not profitable.

[Chronocidal]

Not sure you can compare this one to the re-release of the YF-19 though.  The demand for the original with all of the accessories remains much higher that I've seen, and while it's nice to have a budget version available, it's more like a consolation prize for the people who missed out on the better one.

[Lolicon]

That just means Bandai will reissue the YF-21 in a few years with all the accessories taken away, but for the same price as now.

[m0n5t3r]

5 hours ago, HardlyNever said:

Personally, I'm banking on this being somewhat of a shelf warmer, for a variety of reasons.  Hoping to catch it on a discount in the next 4-5 months.

A few clearance DX Chogokin VFs might not be a bad thing... as some have mentioned recently and in the past, Bandai's really been pushing it with their prices. 

[M'Kyuun]

22 hours ago, Ignacio Ocamica said:

More YF-21 is always better!!! Keeping my AmiAmi preorder.

 

Well, it stands unassisted. That's one important question answered. 

So weird elbows, stubby forearms, and Resolute Desk on his back aside, I think it's overall pretty striking. My main gripe with the Yamato is fixed, and fixed well. I can happily abide the chubbier fighter for this battroid mode, although I think the fighter represents pretty well. Comparisons to the Yamato and to line art are inevitable, but in the interest of striking a more equal balance between fighter and battroid modes, I think Bandai did a good job considering how much animation magic was employed both in Kawamori's line art and in the M+ OVA & movie. I'm excited for it. 

I got my PO through BBTS as FOMO loomed. As such, I'm paying a $100 markup, but if I canx my PO, I lose my $35 prepayment. At this point, I'm willing to just swallow the cost; it's a hard gulp to be sure, but I've waited a long time for this figure and I've been saying I'd take the prototype since 2019. Little has changed since that proto was shown (admittedly, it could have used some tweaks as suggested by any number of members here), but as the saying goes, "Bandai gonna Bandai" and here we are. However, on a positive note, as I mentioned earlier, I like how this looks. It's unmistakably the YF-21, the blue hue in this pic looks fantastic (I hope this is the actual blue color as the official pics for POs make it look a bit too dark, IMHO), the articulation appears to be well above standard (at least in the arms and legs), and there's no shortage of tampo. YMMV on whether that's good or bad; for $350, I'll take the tampo as opposed to YamArcadia's $300+ valks with barely any markings. Despite the design and transformation differences, they still managed to pull off the delimiter mode for those who want to do that. Yes, they had to resort to partsforming , but I'm sure that's an artifact of actually using those big nacelles to house the legs in fighter. Perhaps spring-loaded doors would have been preferrable, but that's not how they went. I have no interest in ever using the delimiter feature, so it's moot to me, but if that's how you want to display, they at least offered a solution. If I have one other niggle, it's Bandai's obnoxious reluctance to paint their landing gears white. Why? It looks so much better than the bare metal and reflects how real aircraft, at least in the US, are painted. Regardless, I'm all about battroid and I'm digging it. Looking forward to hopefully getting mine in August (BBTS are notoriously slow at getting stock).

[jenius]

That backpack grows every time I look at it. I really look forward to handling the toy so I can understand how this is what we ended up with. It's hard to believe a few more hinges wouldn't have made it so everything got smaller and fit tighter to the chest. 

[aurance]

YF-21 is my favorite Valk and I’m pretty bummed. This just isn’t working for me - too many odd compromises - so no purchase. But good on those who do like it.

[nightmareB4macross]

2 hours ago, jenius said:

That backpack grows every time I look at it. I really look forward to handling the toy so I can understand how this is what we ended up with. It's hard to believe a few more hinges wouldn't have made it so everything got smaller and fit tighter to the chest. 

I see the same thing happening with the backpack, as it also rears itself further from the main body. Good thing the camera or marketing guy notices and decided to use the wing as a side cover.

I know a guy who knows a thing about hinges to make things look smaller.

😅

[Ignacio Ocamica]

From IG:

 

[Froy]

Whoa. Look how high that back plate can go

[Pontus]

The more I look at it, the more ridiculous that backpack looks.

There have been other perfect transformation designs (and HMR of course) that have resolved a somewhat similar issue with VF-1 with the wings being too big for battroid by simply making the wings detachable and providing a smaller set.

Since the backpack on the YF-21 is pretty much all wing, it would make sense to have a similar solution here and have a swappable backpack/wings while keeping the larger one for perfect transformation.

Since it's safe to assume that's not being done here, perhaps a 3D print for such could be made in the future?

Edited June 21 by Pontus

[m0n5t3r]

36 minutes ago, Ignacio Ocamica said:

From IG:

 

Still looks best in GERWALK mode imho.

[Actar]

24 minutes ago, Froy said:

Whoa. Look how high that back plate can go

That does strike a rather imposing silhouette, I have to admit.

[Mog]

27 minutes ago, m0n5t3r said:

Still looks best in GERWALK mode imho.

They’re using the FP armor to hide how short the hip-guard/bellyplates are.

And they placed the battroid in such a way inside the display to make it hard to see how thick the backpack is.

[Chronocidal]

And... forgot to fold back down the lights on the wings.  

I'm still trying to figure out if the arms are actually as tiny as they look, or the view and angle are fooling me.

[26662]

42 minutes ago, Mog said:

They’re using the FP armor to hide how short the hip-guard/bellyplates are.

And they placed the battroid in such a way inside the display to make it hard to see how thick the backpack is.

I disagree.  There isn’t a conspiracy here.  They’re just posing the figures in logical, straightforward ways. 

[PointBlankSniper]

The backpack is true to Queadluun designs 🤡

NGL though, the quad gunpod is kind of cool. If only it would stop irking me for knowing that it's not perfect transformation... Kind of hoping belly plates and fast pack have the same gunpod connections, so I could choose to forgo landing gear compatibility in favor of perfect transformation instead. But I have serious doubts that is the case.

[ArchieNov]

Did I miss something? Why are people saying it's not perfect transformation?

[aurance]

1 hour ago, ArchieNov said:

Did I miss something? Why are people saying it's not perfect transformation?

When you transform into fighter mode with the FP on, the belly plates swap out with ones with fake gunpods because the real ones are too thick to clear the landing gear. I think that's the only partsforming afaik.

[Actar]

7 minutes ago, aurance said:

When you transform into fighter mode with the FP on, the belly plates swap out with ones with fake gunpods because the real ones are too thick to clear the landing gear. I think that's the only partsforming afaik.

No, no. One set of FP plates. There are thinner guns that need to be used, though.

Edited June 21 by Actar

[PointBlankSniper]

And the thinner guns are dummies that can't transform. I vaguely remember checking photos and seeing that they are hollow or have a different footprint, or something like that, which is why I doubt they are interchangeable with the transformable ones. Too lazy to dig pages back to check that.

It's only me that's whining about the parts forming though. Nobody else seems to care.

[aurance]

6 hours ago, PointBlankSniper said:

And the thinner guns are dummies that can't transform. I vaguely remember checking photos and seeing that they are hollow or have a different footprint, or something like that, which is why I doubt they are interchangeable with the transformable ones. Too lazy to dig pages back to check that.

It's only me that's whining about the parts forming though. Nobody else seems to care.

Naw, it's a sore point for me too, but one among many. That's why I bowed out early.

[wm cheng]

 I wonder when Amazon.com will deliver their orders - on June 29th or a few months afterwards?

[Chronocidal]

5 hours ago, wm cheng said:

 I wonder when Amazon.com will deliver their orders - on June 29th or a few months afterwards?

Very likely several months later, judging by how much later their release dates tend to be than Japanese sites.

Boy do I ever wish Bandai would just abandon its obsession with those stupid spring pins though.. looking at those elbow joints hurts my soul.

[Lolicon]

16 hours ago, PointBlankSniper said:

And the thinner guns are dummies that can't transform. I vaguely remember checking photos and seeing that they are hollow or have a different footprint, or something like that, which is why I doubt they are interchangeable with the transformable ones. Too lazy to dig pages back to check that.

It's only me that's whining about the parts forming though. Nobody else seems to care.

I also think it's incredibly lame to have parts swapping dummy guns for such an expensive toy. That's something that belongs on an HMR, not a DX.

[borgified]

10 hours ago, wm cheng said:

 I wonder when Amazon.com will deliver their orders - on June 29th or a few months afterwards?

I think in September/October if I read correctly. It’s going to take two months after Japanese Release date as the they got to slow boat it over to save on bulk shipping costs.

 

[IIymij]

Still wish the nose was a bit longer but oh wells

[Reïvaj]

On 6/21/2024 at 4:15 AM, PointBlankSniper said:

And the thinner guns are dummies that can't transform. I vaguely remember checking photos and seeing that they are hollow or have a different footprint, or something like that, which is why I doubt they are interchangeable with the transformable ones. Too lazy to dig pages back to check that.

It's only me that's whining about the parts forming though. Nobody else seems to care.

[M'Kyuun]

On 6/20/2024 at 5:59 PM, Froy said:

Whoa. Look how high that back plate can go

It's a thing you can do, apparently, but I doubt that's the intended position for the backpack. I'm hoping it can be positioned like the proto shots with the backpack flush against the shoulder swing hinge roots. In that config, the rearmost part of the battroid's hoody fits through the gap in the center of the backpack, just like the line art.

On 6/20/2024 at 6:52 PM, Chronocidal said:

And... forgot to fold back down the lights on the wings.  

I'm still trying to figure out if the arms are actually as tiny as they look, or the view and angle are fooling me.

No, they're a bit on the short side, but I think it's a concession for the double-jointed elbow joints which are bit large and ugly and definitely do not match the line art. I appreciate having double joints, but with all their engineering know-how, that that is the best Bandai could come up with is disappointing to say the least.

On 6/21/2024 at 4:29 PM, Lolicon said:

I also think it's incredibly lame to have parts swapping dummy guns for such an expensive toy. That's something that belongs on an HMR, not a DX.

Strong concur. Again, a company of Bandai's experience should be solving these challenges with clever engineering, not partsforming. Partsforming is somewhat acceptable for smaller, less expensive figs , but on a DX costing some of us north of $300, it shouldn't even be a consideration. It rankles even more when Yamato figured it out on their high end YF-21 sixteen years ago.

[PointBlankSniper]

Looking at the gunpods again, I don't think anyone would bat an eye if they were only as tall as the hollow dummies...

Tapered pegs vs straight pegs almost guarantee non interchangeability 😭

Gonna hope some third party cooks up thinner FP plates that work with real gunpods, or shrunken gunpods, or just thicker tires for the landing gears lol

[M'Kyuun]

On 6/23/2024 at 1:54 AM, PointBlankSniper said:

Looking at the gunpods again, I don't think anyone would bat an eye if they were only as tall as the hollow dummies...

Tapered pegs vs straight pegs almost guarantee non interchangeability 😭

Gonna hope some third party cooks up thinner FP plates that work with real gunpods, or shrunken gunpods, or just thicker tires for the landing gears lol

I reiterate, a company of Bandai's long experience and proven prowess at applying good engineering solutions (especially if it starts and ends with Gundam), stuff like the backpack, the partsforming bit for delimiter, the gunpod issue, and the lack of ground clearance with FAST packs on by virtue of too-short main gear are all half-measures, a sort of 'good enough' standard that conflicts with what they've shown they're capable of, and definitely a step behind Yamato/Arcadia.

I like it, and I'm getting a copy, but I'm certainly not blind to its flaws, and it's a bit of a bitter pill considering the price tag.