jenius Posted June 26, 2023 Posted June 26, 2023 Yeah, the 31A was glorious, it's the AX that has been mildly problematic in fighter mode. I don't think this has anything to do with mold degradation, it's all related to the unique aspects of the AX. Quote
treatment Posted June 26, 2023 Posted June 26, 2023 https://twitter.com/simsim5479/status/1673328530166276100?cxt=HHwWiICzkdfb7bguAAAA Quote
Lolicon Posted June 26, 2023 Posted June 26, 2023 Might be an easy fix. But it is a $200 toy, so maybe we shouldn't have to? Oh, if anyone was wondering, the reissue does not come with the special Walkure stand that came with the initial release. Quote
autoNamed Posted June 26, 2023 Posted June 26, 2023 So are the fighter mode arm/gun/panel fitment issues fixed? Quote
jenius Posted June 27, 2023 Posted June 27, 2023 So far one report said it was only better on one side... So maybe not. Quote
sjoebarry Posted June 27, 2023 Posted June 27, 2023 11 minutes ago, jenius said: So far one report said it was only better on one side... So maybe not. Wasn’t that for the Bogue? Sorry I’m a bit behind with all of the 31AX releases. Quote
jenius Posted June 27, 2023 Posted June 27, 2023 On 6/24/2023 at 11:57 AM, treatment said: I don't have a 31AX and not planning on getting one, either, but here's the latest tweet about the re-issue being "properly renovated" than the first edition's ... (couple of additional pics in the author's tweet-page): https://twitter.com/muko037/status/1672520077365886976?cxt=HHwWgIDSscSJ_rUuAAAA add/edit: additional tweets and pic from simsim5479: https://twitter.com/simsim5479/status/1672420882332131332 https://twitter.com/simsim5479/status/1672529485911171078 This is the only post about the reissue I've seen. It offers only limited hope. Quote
Angesdad Posted June 27, 2023 Posted June 27, 2023 17 hours ago, treatment said: https://twitter.com/simsim5479/status/1673328530166276100?cxt=HHwWiICzkdfb7bguAAAA Pop it out, heat it up, realign, dip it in ice cold water, done.😁 Quote
jenius Posted June 27, 2023 Posted June 27, 2023 I'd be curious to see if bent head lasers is a thing now... I suspect the user or the person at the factory who threw it in the tray just had it snag on a hand at some point since, as others have pointed out, not a lot of good places to handle this thing. If we see a rash of them though, we'll know it's manufacturing related. Quote
treatment Posted June 27, 2023 Posted June 27, 2023 https://twitter.com/cross_W42S/status/1673662818564857861 Quote
treatment Posted June 27, 2023 Posted June 27, 2023 https://twitter.com/cross_W42S/status/1673708116557582337?cxt=HHwWgsDSkcKqmrouAAAA Quote
Chronocidal Posted June 28, 2023 Posted June 28, 2023 (edited) I'm pretty sure the issue MANY people are having is related to the borked up elbow/wrist slide extension. Finding a place to actually apply pressure to make the arm slide into the proper orientation for fighter mode is not trivial to begin with, and they seem to have slopped glue throughout the mechanism. Edited June 28, 2023 by Chronocidal Quote
Bolt Posted June 28, 2023 Posted June 28, 2023 I'm actually curious to know just how bad is the AX run(s). Are we talking 1% or less, coming out so bad or having qc issues? I imagine Bandai doesn't care, if so.. Quote
jenius Posted June 28, 2023 Posted June 28, 2023 The bad fit of the arms was universal, something was definitely off in the molds and probably exacerbated by the assembly. Quote
treatment Posted June 29, 2023 Posted June 29, 2023 reissue at amz-jp for 24950y + shipping available as of this posting: https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B0BTH7S446 Quote
davidwhangchoi Posted June 29, 2023 Posted June 29, 2023 tempted but skipping all these delta movie valks for now. Quote
lechuck Posted June 29, 2023 Posted June 29, 2023 (edited) It has one review on AJ at the time of writing this, so not exactly representative. Edited June 29, 2023 by lechuck Quote
Mommar Posted July 3, 2023 Posted July 3, 2023 On 6/27/2023 at 8:41 PM, Bolt said: I'm actually curious to know just how bad is the AX run(s). Are we talking 1% or less, coming out so bad or having qc issues? I imagine Bandai doesn't care, if so.. It has to be much larger than that. The odds of so many of us being part of that 1% is basically impossible. Quote
jenius Posted July 3, 2023 Posted July 3, 2023 It's semantics but I don't think "QC issues" is the right term. QC issues make me think of things being broken or faulty and that's your usually 3-5% of anything manufactured. I think 100% of the AX toys (up until the reissue, the jury is still out there) had bad tolerances that are exascerbated by build quality issues, so some are worse, but even the best one is 'off' because Bandai didn't have the pegs and slots in the perfect locations. Quote
Chronocidal Posted July 3, 2023 Posted July 3, 2023 I could see how a lot of these issues could get thrown in the QC category from being sub-par parts that got pushed through, but the overwhelming amount of flaws makes me think the majority of the production run was below spec, and they decided to shove through anything that was minimally viable. Some of the stuff I've seen makes me think the manufacturing of the parts themselves has got some nasty slop in it. I don't know how the whole assembly and molding process works, but how on earth do you get parts with cockeyed pinholes drilled into them? I can't imagine that kind of thing is done by hand, and if it's automated, the tooling to drill the hole must have gotten sloppy somehow. Quote
jenius Posted July 4, 2023 Posted July 4, 2023 I think that's in the 3 to 5% bucket. My recent dx toys haven't had those issues, just that same guns and wings tabs not aligning. Quote
Bolt Posted July 4, 2023 Posted July 4, 2023 (edited) 4 hours ago, jenius said: It's semantics but I don't think "QC issues" is the right term. QC issues make me think of things being broken or faulty and that's your usually 3-5% of anything manufactured. What's the proper term? Faulty tooling? Low grade outsourcing? Mold fatigue? I would think that such things would've been noticed along the way. Another question, in comparison to other DX's, how bad is this one? AND.. has Bandai even addressed or made a peep concerning these Issues.? Edited July 4, 2023 by Bolt Quote
autoNamed Posted July 4, 2023 Posted July 4, 2023 (edited) Whatever the cause, these figures cost well over $200 MSRP. It really is incredibly shitty and kind of unconscionable that Bandai see it fit to sell (and knowingly re-release!) an expensive premium product that they’re fully aware is defective, like they just expect collectors to fork over the cash regardless. Really makes me question them as a business tbh. Edited July 4, 2023 by autoNamed Quote
Sanity is Optional Posted July 4, 2023 Posted July 4, 2023 3 hours ago, Bolt said: What's the proper term? Faulty tooling? Low grade outsourcing? Mold fatigue? I would think that such things would've been noticed along the way. Another question, in comparison to other DX's, how bad is this one? AND.. has Bandai even addressed or made a peep concerning these Issues.? The proper term, speaking as a mechanical engineer, is Bad Tolerancing. With injection molded parts, the variance is low; so the driving factors are the tolerances of the molds themselves, and the shrinkage of the material. Quote
Lolicon Posted July 4, 2023 Posted July 4, 2023 3 hours ago, autoNamed said: Whatever the cause, these figures cost well over $200 MSRP. It really is incredibly shitty and kind of unconscionable that Bandai see it fit to sell (and knowingly re-release!) an expensive premium product that they’re fully aware is defective, like they just expect collectors to fork over the cash regardless. Really makes me question them as a business tbh. ^ This. Regardless of the reasons behind it, Bandai is currently crapping out inferior quality products at a higher price than they were just a couple of years ago. Even long-proven toys from way before the pandemic have taken a step down in quality. Sure, the Revival 25 has that nice matte finish now, but it still has the same problems as before (the "improved" joints are a joke) and introduces a few new problems, like the incorrectly painted stripes. Good thing it comes with super parts to cover that up with. I mentioned I wasn't a huge fan of the HMR VF-0S in another thread. Aside from being overpriced for what Bandai is giving you, another major reason is, well, I'll let Rocket handle it: Quote
Graham Posted July 4, 2023 Posted July 4, 2023 (edited) After 6 years away from Macross (for various reasons), I'm just stating to get back in and collect some of the toys I missed during my hiatus. I picked up the VF-31AX Kairos Plus last week and I have to say I'm pretty happy with it. I haven't transformed it yet, it's staying in Fighter mode so far, but looks great in my opinion. My only complaint so far is the gap behind the cockpit, which can be massaged away to a certain extent, but tends to open up again once you actually pick up and handle the toy. I love that it is a more heavily armed, combat-oriented version of the VF-31 with micro-missiles instead of drones in the leg bays and larger arm-mounted rail guns and a beam gun mission pack instead of the drone charger. Edited July 4, 2023 by Graham-Is-Back Quote
Angesdad Posted July 4, 2023 Posted July 4, 2023 (edited) 9 hours ago, jenius said: The 0S looks like melted ice cream? @Lolicon I believe is referring to the lack of details that could've been tastefully added, blunt panel lines that do not convey scale, and the color of the pale plastic used for the entire figure...melted vanilla anyone? Having said that, I do wish that the upcoming 0D is a better ice cream. Edited July 4, 2023 by Angesdad Quote
Mommar Posted July 5, 2023 Posted July 5, 2023 So are all of these new pics from the second Hayate release? Quote
treatment Posted July 6, 2023 Posted July 6, 2023 (edited) I said I wasn't planning on getting this 31AX, but with the favorable exchange-rate and relative cheaper shipping from amz-jp, why not? So I did. As such, compared to all various pics of the first-edition I've seen and watched, Bandai seemed to have fixed the side-guns issue: indeed, the side-guns on my copy of this re-issue are not pointing downwards anymore: Unfortunately, the sides and the underside are still quite gappy and non-flushed in places. Here's a pic of the underside of my copy. Looks like regular panel-lines, but they aren't: add/edit: btw, not sure if anybody mentioned or knew about it already, but the reissue comes in blister instead of the first-ed's styrofoam: Edited July 6, 2023 by treatment Quote
Chronocidal Posted July 6, 2023 Posted July 6, 2023 Yeah, I am happy to see them ditching the styrofoam, at least mostly. I do appreciate the rigidity it gives the packages, but otherwise I would just rather get rid of the chance of it causing yellowing somehow. Quote
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