Lolicon Posted May 30, 2022 Posted May 30, 2022 5 minutes ago, 505thAirborne said: I'll be keeping mine in fighter mode. Me too. It'll be the player two Alto color. Quote
MKT Posted May 30, 2022 Posted May 30, 2022 Not too worried about the crotch clasp, I think it was always something that can detach rather easily.. The extra crotch brace piece should be something that alleviates it somewhat. As for the legs, well, time to bring out the nail polish again.. Quote
Scream Man Posted May 30, 2022 Posted May 30, 2022 8 hours ago, ValkAddict said: I do have the Full set YF-19, but haven't transformed it. I was unaware that it had any issues. Thanks - I will look at the thread. I mean I've had mine a few years, transformed it many times as recently as yesterday, and Ive never tweaked a thing. Quote
blackconvoy_D01 Posted May 30, 2022 Posted May 30, 2022 10 hours ago, MKT said: Not too worried about the crotch clasp, I think it was always something that can detach rather easily.. The extra crotch brace piece should be something that alleviates it somewhat. As for the legs, well, time to bring out the nail polish again.. I thought I saw one commenter say theirs was fine IINM. Quote
Mommar Posted May 30, 2022 Posted May 30, 2022 12 hours ago, Lolicon said: I'm so used to Bandai cutting corners that the step back that the 31AX represented didn't come as much of a surprise to me. Want a tiny HMR VF-0 that costs almost as much as the DX VF-1J from just a couple years ago? Bandai's got you covered! To be fair, inflation, lack of supplies and short staff issues across the board do not help the issue. Quote
MKT Posted May 30, 2022 Posted May 30, 2022 1 hour ago, blackconvoy_D01 said: I thought I saw one commenter say theirs was fine IINM. From the more recent comments in the video, yeah it appears one commenter copy is fine, but another says his copy has the exact problems. Poster of video mentioned he has contacted customer support (Bandai?), and awaiting reply if this is acknowledged as defects.. Quote
borgified Posted May 30, 2022 Posted May 30, 2022 Haccaka's review on the DX MWW 25 https://hacchaka.net/archives/52081979.html * He recommends it for VF-25 fans since he thinks the sculpt is still good, but reported a loose left hip on his copy. * Quote
MKT Posted May 30, 2022 Posted May 30, 2022 Another video review. Somehow there’s no auto-translate subtitles on my phone YouTube app (Youtube on PC browsers usually have that option). If I’m not wrong, his copy doesn’t appear to have loose hips or crotch clasp. However, it appears that the Battroid chest lock mechanism introduced in Alto’s Full Pack YF-29, is NOT present here. Going backwards again Bandai? Quote
borgified Posted May 30, 2022 Posted May 30, 2022 Here's Mark H's full review on his DX 25 MMW. I think the issues reported in his first impressions vid are isolated and not in all batches in the DX 25 MMW line up and it boils down to how the DX itself is assembled down the production line. Quote
blackconvoy_D01 Posted May 30, 2022 Posted May 30, 2022 3 hours ago, MKT said: However, it appears that the Battroid chest lock mechanism introduced in Alto’s Full Pack YF-29, is NOT present here. Going backwards again Bandai? I was actually looking forward to the chest locking mechanism early but at the same time since the 25 doesn't have to support the same weight as the 29 does with super parts; maybe they ruled it out. Quote
Mommar Posted May 30, 2022 Posted May 30, 2022 I don't understand what's wrong with chest locking mechanism here. I've never had any problems with it before. Quote
sh9000 Posted May 31, 2022 Posted May 31, 2022 Looking forward to getting my VF-25 World Wide Max. Quote
MKT Posted May 31, 2022 Posted May 31, 2022 18 hours ago, blackconvoy_D01 said: I was actually looking forward to the chest locking mechanism early but at the same time since the 25 doesn't have to support the same weight as the 29 does with super parts; maybe they ruled it out. Or it could be Bandai just cheapened out; the chest mold for the 29 is different, so they could not directly carry it over to the 25. Whereas, hips between both are the same. Quote
Mommar Posted June 2, 2022 Posted June 2, 2022 AE is sure taking their sweet time getting around to shipping this. Quote
Sanity is Optional Posted June 2, 2022 Posted June 2, 2022 7 hours ago, Mommar said: AE is sure taking their sweet time getting around to shipping this. AE gave me a tracking number for mine, but it's not active yet. Quote
Lolicon Posted June 2, 2022 Posted June 2, 2022 We get an all plastic tray instead of the usual cheapass styrofoam tray? Looking good so far! Bandai is catching up to the futuristic year 2000! Aaaand... the honeymoon's over. Hey @Mommar remember how you complained that the reviewers kept "mistransforming" the nose and leaving an unsightly gap? It seems it wasn't their fault. It's because Bandai's craptastic QC strikes again! The nose simply does not fit properly and leaves that ugly gap. Good f***ing job Bandai. You messed up a slightly tweaked reissue of a 10+ year old toy. Quote
treatment Posted June 2, 2022 Posted June 2, 2022 11 minutes ago, Lolicon said: We get an all plastic tray instead of the usual cheapass styrofoam tray? Looking good so far! Bandai is catching up to the futuristic year 2000! Aaaand... the honeymoon's over. Hey @Mommar remember how you complained that the reviewers kept "mistransforming" the nose and leaving an unsightly gap? It seems it wasn't their fault. It's because Bandai's craptastic QC strikes again! The nose simply does not fit properly and leaves that ugly gap. Good f***ing job Bandai. You messed up a slightly tweaked reissue of a 10+ year old toy. don't worry! Bandai be weepin'... Quote
Lolicon Posted June 2, 2022 Posted June 2, 2022 Besides Bandai managing to screw up the nose, the rest of the valk looks good. Really like having a VF-25 with a matte finish. Maybe Bandai will reissue the Frontier valks retooled with matte finishes? Hopefully without screwing up the nose or any other parts that weren't broken before. Quick pics. Sorry my table is currently covered in valk parts, so floor pics with a phone for now. Quote
Lolicon Posted June 2, 2022 Posted June 2, 2022 Apparently, Bandai traded tab technology for that plastic tray. The gunpod kept popping off way too easily in fighter mode. I checked the tabs on the forearms that the gunpod handle is supposed to connect to. Any 31AX owners will be familiar with this: the tabs are too big to fit into the gunpod handle slots. I managed to get it onto one arm with a lot of force, but couldn't get it to fit on the other arm's tab. Never had this problem with my many other VF-25s. WTF Bandai? Quote
General Rasp Posted June 3, 2022 Posted June 3, 2022 Glad to see the nose cone doesn't look bad in the above pictures. Should be fine on a display shelf. Quote
ValkAddict Posted June 3, 2022 Posted June 3, 2022 4 hours ago, Lolicon said: The gunpod kept popping off way too easily in fighter mode. I checked the tabs on the forearms that the gunpod handle is supposed to connect to. Any 31AX owners will be familiar with this: the tabs are too big to fit into the gunpod handle slots. I managed to get it onto one arm with a lot of force, but couldn't get it to fit on the other arm's tab. Never had this problem with my many other VF-25s. WTF Bandai? ^ Another collector also reported this in a Macross Facebook group, that the gunpod would not attach tightly in fighter mode. Quote
Sildani Posted June 3, 2022 Posted June 3, 2022 It’s like they’re using a different factory for the WWM 25 than was used for the Renewal 25’s. As a diecast model airplane collector I hear a lot of griping by different manufacturers about the difficulty of getting production time allotted to them by their factory of choice and needing to go to another factory where the quality might not be as good just to get product out the door. I don’t think Bandai owns their own factories, so they might have a similar problem. Quote
MKT Posted June 3, 2022 Posted June 3, 2022 Thanks for the initial impressions @Lolicon. In the pictures and of others, have Bandai made the diecast parts totally black now? I see that in the landing gears and also the ankles.. Just like yourself, collecting Macross at this point mostly feel like for completist purposes. This mostly due to having run out of display room, so new arrivals mostly go straight to storage for the ever changing solution in mind to the display situation. Whilst waiting for my copy to arrive, I pulled my VF-25S from the display, fussed with it, and the early satisfaction of collecting DX Chogokin Macross toys came back to me, back when the v2 VF-25F Alto was really the first toy that immediately got me into this rabbit hole & toy collecting in general. I’ve forgotten being so impressed with how it felt in hand, how far toy tech has come from days as a kid, with the sharp sculpts, materials, integrated gimmicks & not to mention the perfect transformation factor enabled by Kawamori-san’s design. Once released worldwide, this WWM VF-25 might become shelf-warmish due to the rather meh impressions so far. I hope it doesn’t discourage Bandai reissuing the rest of the VF-25 colors, especially as the Frontier movies are now making it out of Japan. I’ll recollect them all in matte finishing, since the VF-25 is the one that started my journey.. Quote
Lolicon Posted June 3, 2022 Posted June 3, 2022 1 hour ago, Sildani said: It’s like they’re using a different factory for the WWM 25 than was used for the Renewal 25’s. As a diecast model airplane collector I hear a lot of griping by different manufacturers about the difficulty of getting production time allotted to them by their factory of choice and needing to go to another factory where the quality might not be as good just to get product out the door. I don’t think Bandai owns their own factories, so they might have a similar problem. That's disappointing to hear. We're paying a lot more and getting crappier products now. 18 minutes ago, MKT said: Thanks for the initial impressions @Lolicon. In the pictures and of others, have Bandai made the diecast parts totally black now? I see that in the landing gears and also the ankles.. Just like yourself, collecting Macross at this point mostly feel like for completist purposes. This mostly due to having run out of display room, so new arrivals mostly go straight to storage for the ever changing solution in mind to the display situation. Whilst waiting for my copy to arrive, I pulled my VF-25S from the display, fussed with it, and the early satisfaction of collecting DX Chogokin Macross toys came back to me, back when the v2 VF-25F Alto was really the first toy that immediately got me into this rabbit hole & toy collecting in general. I’ve forgotten being so impressed with how it felt in hand, how far toy tech has come from days as a kid, with the sharp sculpts, materials, integrated gimmicks & not to mention the perfect transformation factor enabled by Kawamori-san’s design. Once released worldwide, this WWM VF-25 might become shelf-warmish due to the rather meh impressions so far. I hope it doesn’t discourage Bandai reissuing the rest of the VF-25 colors, especially as the Frontier movies are now making it out of Japan. I’ll recollect them all in matte finishing, since the VF-25 is the one that started my journey.. Good eye! Yes the diecast ankle parts are painted black now. The landing gear are still plain diecast. Hey Bandai if you're painting the diecast parts now, why didn't you paint the landing gear?? The VF-25 is one of my favorite valk designs and seeing Bandai introduce a bunch of new problems that the original release didn't have is a huge disappointment, especially given how much this thing costs. More problems. Gunpod is warped. PPB knife handle is too big to fit into the shield now. Quote
jenius Posted June 3, 2022 Posted June 3, 2022 I thought Bandai did own their own factories AND they were one of the premiere automation operations but maybe I heard wrong? We've had a lot of VF-25s and the molds would be quite old... maybe Bandai had to do a new shot of the mold which introduced tolerance issues. Quote
MKT Posted June 3, 2022 Posted June 3, 2022 More and more issues.. Not too long ago some of us speculated Bandai might introduce fixes on the 31AX; if not Mirage’s, then Bogue’s. How the tables have turned. Instead, it’s new problems on a long established mold. Max’s YF-29 doesn’t look like a sure win now.. Quote
TheLoneWolf Posted June 3, 2022 Posted June 3, 2022 My guess is that these are new molds. It makes sense for Bandai to produce new molds for a potential VF-25 continuation through the WWM banner. Lolicon, thanks for sharing your intial impressions with us. I just wish they could've been better. Quote
Sanity is Optional Posted June 3, 2022 Posted June 3, 2022 1 hour ago, jenius said: I thought Bandai did own their own factories AND they were one of the premiere automation operations but maybe I heard wrong? We've had a lot of VF-25s and the molds would be quite old... maybe Bandai had to do a new shot of the mold which introduced tolerance issues. They do have their own factories for gunpla, IIRC the DX Chogokins and some other premium figure lines are not made in house. Quote
MKT Posted June 3, 2022 Posted June 3, 2022 1 hour ago, treatment said: so, wotafa... Add loose ankle ball joint to the list of potential issues.. Quote
derex3592 Posted June 3, 2022 Posted June 3, 2022 can't wait for this big bag of fail to hit my porch Quote
Lolicon Posted June 3, 2022 Posted June 3, 2022 Head lasers are now a soft bendy plastic instead of the rigid plastic from Alto's 25F. Your curvature may vary. Quote
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