DX VF-25 Messiah Valkyrie WORLD WIDE MACROSS (WWM) 40th Anniversary

[jvmacross]

https://tamashii.jp/special/macross/vf-25/

 

Coming April 2022....

 

[no3Ljm]

[no3Ljm]

[seti88]

 

Edited November 20, 2021 by seti88

[seti88]

bandai: so team, what should we put on the wings?

team: let us think abt it.....hwwwwwwwm.

[DWN013]

Despite the dumb "WWM" on the wings, I'm down for one.  Nice repaint fuel and always happy to pick up another renewal 25.  Although I do wish they would make a V3 with wing hardpoints and missiles as seen in macross30 and VF master file.

[MKT]

6 hours ago, no3Ljm said:

 

 

 

This is the only pic that shows the back of battroid, but they did not flare out the hip skirts.  So can't tell yet if it has the improved 3-screws arrangement on the back hip as per recent Alto's YF-29.

But I guess the improvements are a given, since the hip mold for both VF-25 and YF-29 are similar right?

 

 

Edited November 20, 2021 by MKT
Typo

[Sildani]

Broadly similar, not identical. Looks like this has a matte finish though, so at least some mods were made. 
 

Hmm… which Super Parts would go best…

[Anasazi37]

I'm guessing there was a meeting at Bandai that went something like this: "Let's show collectors around the world that we care by trying to sell them a non-canon VF-25 and then base our global sales strategy for Macross on how well this one toy does."

Leading off with a non-canon entry is an odd choice. Historically, I don't think they do particularly well (for Bandai or Arcadia), so if there isn't a strong demand signal, I hope that Bandai doesn't misinterpret it. On the one hand, I get that they want to do something unique to commemorate their ability to do global stuff with Macross now, and maybe don't want to take away from the rareness of existing canon releases (although their recent reissue of the YF-29 Alto as a Full Set Pack undermines my argument). On the other, I don't collect non-canon valks because...they are non-canon.

I'll be interested to see what happens with this one. If nothing else, if they've made engineering improvements that might lead to reissues of canon VF-25's, that would be nice.

[aurance]

I’m not keen on the non-in-universe logo but a reissue set would be nice! I’d love a -25s, I missed out the first time.

[MKT]

Best way to test worldwide response is SDFM Macross release, but they likely still don’t want to go through HG.

As other Macross series not officially released worldwide, they could be thinking next best thing is to give the next most popular Macross (Frontier) in SDFM color. Obviously it is a Max colour scheme, but they are not calling it so (as compared to HMR Messer’s VF-1S) because perhaps, I don’t know, just to be on safe side with HG? A 40th scheme also needs a link to the original SDFM after all, otherwise it’s not exactly 40th as well.

Alternatively, as non-canon schemes don’t sell very well in their domestic market, perhaps they are looking to international to balance the numbers out, if that makes sense. Then if they see whatever allocated to international market, even non-canon, sells out too, they can then have the confidence for full worldwide release of everything else barring SDFM.

[Mommar]

Based on my interpretation on that page any release labelled WWM is now going to be a world wide release.  So this Valk is both a commemoration of 40 years of Macross and that it can finally be released World Wide as well.  I assume other products will have those same labels going forth.

I don't think the scheme works as well on Battroid mode but I think Fighter and Gerwalk is where this one shines.

Edited November 20, 2021 by Mommar

[sh9000]

This and the DX YF-29 Max will be bought.

[badboy00z]

Since this is a world wide release what's the best US based site to buy from? BBTS is probably the best right? 

[Mommar]

25 minutes ago, badboy00z said:

Since this is a world wide release what's the best US based site to buy from? BBTS is probably the best right? 

We don't know.  This is all new.  We know BBTS used to.  Entertainment Earth might carry this stuff too.

[derex3592]

4 hours ago, sh9000 said:

This and the DX YF-29 Max will be bought.

FACTS!!! 

[no3Ljm]

First PO links are now posted in the PO THREAD. For the time being please refrain on posting links and any PO discussions here. Thanks!  

 

[Britai 7018]

This fighter looks great. I've picked and sold various anniversary Valks over the years - but I feel like this one is a must pick up and keep. I mean, this is more of a celebration Valk. 

And agreed - YF-29 Max is a must pick up as well. 

[Knight26]

While I am not a fan of the VF-25, I will get this one if I can convince one of my local shops to stock and sell it to me.

[Anasazi37]

I woke up to find that this valk had already gone on sale and sold out through the popular online stores (HLJ, AE, AmiAmi, AJ), following the usual PO Madness pattern, with the added nut punch from Bandai that the PO event wasn't announced in advance. Yes, if I had actually wanted to buy this valk, I could have been constantly monitoring the PO thread, looking for any shred of news about when it would go on sale and back-estimating from the April 2022 release date to expect that it might happen soon, but my point is that non-MW news outlets had no info on this PO event (including Dengeki Hobby Web, which extensively covered Tamashii Nation Online 2021). Reading through the latest posts in the PO thread, it looks like pretty much everyone was caught by surprise.

This "worldwide" approach isn't off to a good start, in my opinion. I don't expect the situation to be any better if/when the valk is available outside of Japan, and if Bandai's plan is to do these no-notice PO events more often, I'll stop collecting their stuff. I can't drop everything I'm doing, at the last minute, to get up in the middle of the night and slug it out with scalpers. It's just not worth it.

[Alphahorizon]

Well put @Anasazi37. Just gets old. 

[Sildani]

Yeah, I can say this was my last PO attempt. I’m just too old for this crap, and my collecting priorities have shifted anyway. I wanted this Valkyrie not just for the paint but to support this new era of universal Macross, but this far it feels like “meet the new boss, same as the old boss.” Resounding meh. 

[Special Sauce]

4 minutes ago, Sildani said:

Yeah, I can say this was my last PO attempt. I’m just too old for this crap, and my collecting priorities have shifted anyway. I wanted this Valkyrie not just for the paint but to support this new era of universal Macross, but this far it feels like “meet the new boss, same as the old boss.” Resounding meh. 

Yeah, same here.  Got back into this from being out for a while.  Back when I originally collected Yamato was just starting out and things were pretty easy to get.  Stopped right before Bandai started doing Frontier.  I'm just going to wait until release time and see if I can score then.  I was able to the the VF-1J armor and Valk set pretty easily for only a slight markup using that strategy.  

[blackconvoy_D01]

I've never done the international advanced PO thing.  I thought WW meant TFSource, BBTS, Amazon US, etc.?

[Sildani]

You’d think!

[blackconvoy_D01]

17 minutes ago, Sildani said:

You’d think!

It's actually what I was relying on.

[jvmacross]

1 hour ago, blackconvoy_D01 said:

I've never done the international advanced PO thing.  I thought WW meant TFSource, BBTS, Amazon US, etc.?

No, apparently all it means is you no longer can blame HG for the PO madness....

BW should have waited to get their "WWM" distribution contracts aligned and ready to go before starting a "WWM" campaign.....we've been waiting for 40 years, what's a few more months or even a year to get everything right?.......it just makes it seem like nothing has changed, in terms of the toys many of us collect and want available without the shipping tax.........growing pains I suppose....eventually things will get worked out....we hope.....a year or less from now, the ideal situation will be the ability to PO everything that gets released via every online retailer you have listed and many more....crossing fingers!

 

[Anasazi37]

12 minutes ago, jvmacross said:

No, apparently all it means is you no longer can blame HG for the PO madness....

BW should have waited to get their "WWM" distribution contracts aligned and ready to go before starting a "WWM" campaign.....we've been waiting for 40 years, what's a few more months or even a year to get everything right?.......it just makes it seem like nothing has changed, in terms of the toys many of us collect and want available without the shipping tax.........growing pains I suppose....eventually things will get worked out....we hope.....a year or less from now, the ideal situation will be the ability to PO everything that gets released via every online retailer you have listed and many more....crossing fingers!

 

Exactly. When I saw the news about this valk, and what it represented, I thought, "cool, we'll see something about this being available worldwide in a month or two once all of the responsible parties figure out distribution," and then WHAM! Nut punch from out of nowhere. I hope these are just growing pains, where Bandai is going with what they know at the moment, and we'll eventually be able to order through domestic outlets like BBTS during reasonable hours of the day. Still, giving no advance notice, when they've always done that before, was pretty cruel of Bandai.

[Anasazi37]

1 hour ago, Lolicon said:

As someone else already pointed out, merchandise from other franchises that do not have any regional restrictions (Gundam, Evangelion, etc) are also subject to this PO BS.

Bandai is the cause of it. It was never HG.

Yep!

[Shawn]

Reset...lets stay on target please
 

[betocc]

Has anyone heard about this?

[Mommar]

4 minutes ago, betocc said:

Has anyone heard about this?

I just posted this in the Scoopuda thread.  I can't find a press release but I don't know why they would make that up.

[kajnrig]

Thank Christ.

[HardlyNever]

Kinda indifferent on this.  The vf-25 is middle of the road for me in terms of designs I like, but it would be nice to get one I'm less worried about handling (my alto is really showing its age).  I might end up getting it just for the "significance" of DX stuff no longer being locked down in Japan, if that in fact happens.

It would be great if they re-released super and/or armor parts with this.  That would certainly raise my interest.

[jvmacross]

It seems that recent developments indicate that the "madness" may be coming to an end....but yes, need to wait and see what happens with the next regular release to be sure....I'm thinking we may hear something soon about the release of either the HMR VF-0S or the re-release of the DX YF-19, which seems to be part of the WWM campaign.....