Bandai 1/60 DX Chogokin Macross Plus YF-21

[Nerd-linger]

Not sure if it was already posted, but HLJ has 4 in stock.
https://www.hlj.com/dx-chogokin-yf-21-gard-gore-bowman-machine-banc655165

Edited November 13 by Nerd-linger

[PointBlankSniper]

For the hand stowage issue, I kind of had it from out of box since YYK did an inspection. I tried to fix it but made it worse, before kind of actually fixing it, but can't be sure I really had it right because of all the other slop.

The things I vaguely remember trying are tucking the thumb under the palm and index finger, as opposed to a true open palm. That seemed to help clear the little swiveling piece in the side panel, and w/e else is bulging from the leg and bottom engine panels. I think that swiveling piece in the panel also isn't supposed to go fully rotated in. There's no proper stopping point, but I think if you go to the end of its rotation, it wedges under the double jointed swing out arm for the panel, blocking it's full closing motion. Hope that helps.

That swing arm also kind of catches on to the collapsed bottom engine panels in delimiter mode, when you don't get the panel angles perfect. It's kind of weird how a swing arm that seems to have the most open storage space on the whole toy catches on so many things, and it's so hard to notice it too.

[MKT]

I remember I had some trouble with the hands too in Fighter. All I did was lift the whole arm out to inspect the shoulders, rotate it slightly to test articulation and tucking them back in. It is really one of those annoying things needing a lot of eyeball estimation to align the arms and hands for the panels around it to close properly.  

[MikeRoz]

Just got a shipping label creation notification from FedEx on behalf of Bandai. They don't usually do that for P-Bandai purchases, and I've already gotten my shipment for this month anyway. The weight is also 0.1 pounds, which can't really be a model or anything else I'd have purchased. I think we domestic US customers are finally getting our head lasers.

[Mommar]

21 minutes ago, MikeRoz said:

Just got a shipping label creation notification from FedEx on behalf of Bandai. They don't usually do that for P-Bandai purchases, and I've already gotten my shipment for this month anyway. The weight is also 0.1 pounds, which can't really be a model or anything else I'd have purchased. I think we domestic US customers are finally getting our head lasers.

Yeah, that's the replacement fin.  I got one too.  Requires a signature too...

[M'Kyuun]

On 11/13/2024 at 3:08 PM, PointBlankSniper said:

For the hand stowage issue, I kind of had it from out of box since YYK did an inspection. I tried to fix it but made it worse, before kind of actually fixing it, but can't be sure I really had it right because of all the other slop.

The things I vaguely remember trying are tucking the thumb under the palm and index finger, as opposed to a true open palm. That seemed to help clear the little swiveling piece in the side panel, and w/e else is bulging from the leg and bottom engine panels. I think that swiveling piece in the panel also isn't supposed to go fully rotated in. There's no proper stopping point, but I think if you go to the end of its rotation, it wedges under the double jointed swing out arm for the panel, blocking it's full closing motion. Hope that helps.

That swing arm also kind of catches on to the collapsed bottom engine panels in delimiter mode, when you don't get the panel angles perfect. It's kind of weird how a swing arm that seems to have the most open storage space on the whole toy catches on so many things, and it's so hard to notice it too.

 

On 11/13/2024 at 8:10 PM, MKT said:

I remember I had some trouble with the hands too in Fighter. All I did was lift the whole arm out to inspect the shoulders, rotate it slightly to test articulation and tucking them back in. It is really one of those annoying things needing a lot of eyeball estimation to align the arms and hands for the panels around it to close properly.  

FWIW, I tried a number of finger/thumb configurations and nothing was working. Every time I tried closing the panel with the rotating bit, it would push the hand such that it blocked the panel from closing. I know the hands were tucked in there when I first transformed it, so obviously they fit somehow, but I just wasn't having any luck, so I just removed them both and everything went together as advertised. I didn't plan on keeping it in fighter; I just wanted to go through the exercise of transforming it. I definitely wish they'd done some things differently, as the YF-21 doesn't really have that complicated a setup. Bandai needlessly complicated the backpack with that repositionable grey panel, the blue chunk of aircraft spine that needs to tuck through, the lack of natural stops or soft locking points for the shelf/intakes, and of course the need for an external brace to bear the weight of all that backpack in lieu of good engineering. I sound salty, and perhaps I am a little--disappointed more so. However, I do like the look of both modes, but especially battroid. I just never liked the look of Yamato's battroid with those skinny legs, so, despite its numerous warts, I'm satisfied with how the DX looks and the fact that it's stable. That said, I'd still love to see, in light of Bandai's release, what Arcadia would do with a new take. Given their demonstrable passion for Macross, and the lessons learned from the 1/60 and now Bandai's DX, I think it's safe to assume it would be an impressive release.

[PointBlankSniper]

Got it back into fighter and high speed, with fast pack. Once again I'm reminded that the arm transformations are not even theoretically possible with the fast packs mounted on the stabilizers. For such a small piece, it's absurd how they managed to overlook this and do worse than the 31's oversized and all colliding armored parts in that department. In fact, I had even misread the instructions on that and proved it was physically possible to end up with the dorsal guns incorrectly pointed foreward in fighter mode without a partial mission pack transformation, making it more practical than it is in canon.

Back to the 21, putting the legs in that engine shell was not fun. I think I figured out that if the upper knee joint is straight, it will cause the calf to bulge out at an angle, and probably was the cause of all sorts of misalignment for the panels in the discussion above. In the end, I found that with the upper knee forward 1 click, and having the hips and lower knee compensate to get a slight arch against the belly plate, it resulted in much better fitment for the panels.

Somehow I got one of the longer arm cannons to pop out twice, or both consecutively once each, but only one has issues, can't remember which side the first time was. It seems that once you break the glue, those things might not have friction at all, and could just rattle its way out from being looked at. I put some crafting glue on, hoping for a non permanent/damaging fix. Did the same to the loose ailerons back when it was in a battroid, and think I forgot to mention the back pack kind of looked closer to line art proportions for the battroid to have them off. I wonder if that was the intention...

The cockpit to cowl tabs really didn't seem to catch anything, as I had it from out of box. I thought I fixed it when it latched while it wasn't fully transformed, but after completing transformation, the detent disappeared again. The nose sagged when breathed on, although it could almost hold if left alone. After some more messing around with the neck tab, the detent is kind of back again... Idk what's up with that spot lol.

Forgot to try fighter without the lock pin after knowing how tight the legs are in that shell, but I don't feel like opening and refitting the panels again atm. Maybe I'll try it out for a bit, right before I put it to gerwalk again for long term display

[David Hingtgen]

Does anyone have one where the nose gear COMPLETELY straightens out?  It's like there's always a slight bend at the joint---I've considered trying to file away a little bit of metal just below the hinge, but would like to know if that's a fool's errand.   

[Mommar]

Does this replacement fin look "new' to you, Bandai!?

[Paco Grande]

2 hours ago, Mommar said:

Does this replacement fin look "new' to you, Bandai!?

Wait are you saying that’s a replacement fin Bandai sent you? That is insane. I still haven’t bought this figure and I guess I never will at this point. What a joke. 

[Mommar]

1 minute ago, Paco Grande said:

Wait are you saying that’s a replacement fin Bandai sent you? That is insane. I still haven’t bought this figure and I guess I never will at this point. What a joke. 

Yes, this is the supposed "replacement" I was sent from Bluefin.

[Lolicon]

Double Bandai'ed!

[seti88]

Oh no! Someone thought the bend was missing and bent it! 🙊

[Paco Grande]

Now I’m wondering if the head laser is getting bent somehow before assembly and they just don’t care. That can’t be possible. It’s more likely that they are scavenging the head lasers from returned figures and not paying attention. Truly unbelievable. 
Not sure what’s going on with Japanese companies. Actually it’s a worldwide problem. Every company just keeps getting worse. 

[Mommar]

The e-mail I sent them was not kind.

[MKT]

Wow after all the waiting and this is what they came back with. 

[Graham]

Wow, just wow.

[PointBlankSniper]

Bandai's quality knows no bounds...

[wm cheng]

I can't believe there's a Black Friday sale on the Canadian Amazon.ca on a Macross Toy?!?! (I would never have thought the day would come - of course I already have one but its a pretty good price in CDN delivered!)

https://www.amazon.ca/TAMASHII-NATIONS-Macross-Spirits-Chogokin/dp/B0CRK23S71/ref=pd_ci_mcx_mh_mcx_views_0_title?pd_rd_w=28Mra&content-id=amzn1.sym.132f1a2b-de6d-4eb4-9982-d6fe080f8827%3Aamzn1.symc.40e6a10e-cbc4-4fa5-81e3-4435ff64d03b&pf_rd_p=132f1a2b-de6d-4eb4-9982-d6fe080f8827&pf_rd_r=HWHHEPZ7FEEHCGSWBN7Y&pd_rd_wg=LlJ20&pd_rd_r=b3c024e7-f1e5-4561-9bc8-8fa01b93435d&pd_rd_i=B0CRK23S71

[MacrossJunkie]

On 11/23/2024 at 3:08 PM, Mommar said:

Does this replacement fin look "new' to you, Bandai!?

Holy crap... now I'm dreading what will arrive in my mailbox. After taking months to get the replacement parts, this is what they send?!

[MikeRoz]

My replacement head laser was fine, but the original head laser was in there really snug. I pulled and pulled, and what finally gave wasn't the laser itself, but the yellow housing it comes in. It has a flared base that should have been big enough to keep it from popping out. I was terrified things were glued together underneath it, so I spent an embarrassing amount of time trying to shove the housing back in from above, even though it didn't fit (yet it got out somehow...?). Don't do this, it will make marks (which are fortunately very hard to see once the housing is in, but still...). Eventually I gave up and realized that the 'face' was held on by a simple ball joint, the 'head' and 'cowl' assembly was also held on by a simple ball joint, and the grey part behind/above the face in the cowl is held on by a single screw. Pop that out, pop the yellow laser base back in, then reverse the disassembly steps, and you're good to go.

[Paco Grande]

On 11/29/2024 at 3:57 PM, wm cheng said:

I can't believe there's a Black Friday sale on the Canadian Amazon.ca on a Macross Toy?!?! (I would never have thought the day would come - of course I already have one but its a pretty good price in CDN delivered!)

https://www.amazon.ca/TAMASHII-NATIONS-Macross-Spirits-Chogokin/dp/B0CRK23S71/ref=pd_ci_mcx_mh_mcx_views_0_title?pd_rd_w=28Mra&content-id=amzn1.sym.132f1a2b-de6d-4eb4-9982-d6fe080f8827%3Aamzn1.symc.40e6a10e-cbc4-4fa5-81e3-4435ff64d03b&pf_rd_p=132f1a2b-de6d-4eb4-9982-d6fe080f8827&pf_rd_r=HWHHEPZ7FEEHCGSWBN7Y&pd_rd_wg=LlJ20&pd_rd_r=b3c024e7-f1e5-4561-9bc8-8fa01b93435d&pd_rd_i=B0CRK23S71

I'm almost ashamed to say that I ended up buying one on that sale. It's going under the tree for Christmas but I briefly took it out of the box to check the head laser etc. I was super happy that my head laser is good as far as I can tell. So that was a relief. I checked the canopy and the landing gear and it all looks good. A screw cover fell off while I was handling it but I figured out where it goes and it snapped into place pretty well so I assume it wasn't installed all the way at the factory. The only issue I've found so far is the wing that is folded in the box has some sprues that weren't trimmed enough and the wing doesn't go completely flat. But I assume that will be pretty easy to fix.

I'm not nearly as fussy as most of you about line art accuracy and my first impression is that the jet mode looks a little weird but good enough for me. I like all the little details and I think overall it's a nice looking toy. There is a bit of mold release or something on mine but it wipes off. Some of the parts have shiny spots on them from the factory. Like the matte finish was worn off or something. But I've seen that on other figures and it's pretty common so I'm not that bothered by it. I'm sure it will look fine on the shelf from a normal viewing distance. The toy definitely has some heft to it. It feels dense, like it has a ton of parts crammed into the jet. With that black Friday sale it was still expensive but not that much more than I've been paying for my DX YF-19 FSP and VF-1 figures so it was definitely easier to justify the purchase.

Hopefully the other modes won't reveal any issues and I'm looking forward to opening it on Christmas morning with my kids.

Edited December 9 by Paco Grande

[PointBlankSniper]

There was definitely some mold release on mine too. Kind of weird that it doesn't seem to be on any other DX as far as I've seen.

[Mommar]

Hey, the second replacement fin is actually intact!

[davidwhangchoi]

nice to know bluefin in the end took care of your issues, though it took a bit.

[Radioguy]

8 hours ago, davidwhangchoi said:

nice to know bluefin in the end took care of your issues, though it took a bit.

RIP Bluefin. Bandai Namco is where the buck stops these days.

[MacrossJunkie]

Anyone else still waiting on their replacemet parts? I still haven't gotten mine even though I was probably one of the first to submit a request to Bandai Namco for replacement parts.

[locidm]

I have not and just shot an email to them yesterday but haven't heard back.

[kajnrig]

I'll be damned. Got mine in today and it's in good condition to boot. Didn't hear anything from either BN or Bluefin about it being on its way, but good to see nonetheless. The other posts, though, do have me wondering what it is about this part in particular that seems to be so troublesome to produce.

[davidwhangchoi]

3 hours ago, kajnrig said:

I'll be damned. Got mine in today and it's in good condition to boot. Didn't hear anything from either BN or Bluefin about it being on its way, but good to see nonetheless. The other posts, though, do have me wondering what it is about this part in particular that seems to be so troublesome to produce.

wow! looks perfect.