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

[enphily]

21 minutes ago, Lolicon said:

Head lasers are now a soft bendy plastic instead of the rigid plastic from Alto's 25F.

Your curvature may vary.

My Alto have very soft antennas. It was 1st reissue i think

Also about nose section. On my YF-25 it's not alligned well too. So it's not new problem 

[Lolicon]

This one isn't a problem with the WWM 25. It's just an example of Bandai's obsession with glopping glue everywhere, even in places that don't need at and never did.

Encountered this while taking apart the forward fuselage. Had to break it open with a screwdriver after removing all the requisite screws.

[Angesdad]

44 minutes ago, Lolicon said:

Head lasers are now a soft bendy plastic instead of the rigid plastic from Alto's 25F.

Your curvature may vary.

Somebody put the kettle on!  

[Lolicon]

39 minutes ago, enphily said:

My Alto have very soft antennas. It was 1st reissue i think

Also about nose section. On my YF-25 it's not alligned well too. So it's not new problem 

You're right. Brain fart on my part. I was thinking of the reissued 29 for some reason.

 

17 minutes ago, Angesdad said:

Somebody put the kettle on!  

Only an obsessed weirdo would do such a thing to straighten the head lasers. Like me. 

Speaking of obsessed weirdos...

This one's minor, but there's some excess plastic left over from the molding process on the instrument panel on my copy. It'll have to be trimmed away and painted over. More work needed on a $200 toy. 

[Sandman]

4 hours ago, Lolicon said:

Only an obsessed weirdo would do such a thing to straighten the head lasers. Like me. 

 

I actually had some success using masking tape to fix the bendy head lasers. 

I couldn't stand the warped to the side head lasers for my rod yf-29b. So in fighter mode i used masking tape to tape the lasers to the fuselage straight. It didn't seem to be working and i forgot about it and left it on display for years. I recently moved so I was packing up my valks and then I noticed after removing the tape that the head lasers were straight. Only took 3 + years. LOL!

[ValkAddict]

Poor QA with this release = Bandai'd .... again!! LOL

[MKT]

11 hours ago, treatment said:

so, wotafa...

 

 

On the upside, the chest lock does seem present after all, and shown quite clearly on Wotafa's review. Interesting because another earlier reviewer's video was on contrary..

[Lolicon]

15 hours ago, Sandman said:

I actually had some success using masking tape to fix the bendy head lasers. 

I couldn't stand the warped to the side head lasers for my rod yf-29b. So in fighter mode i used masking tape to tape the lasers to the fuselage straight. It didn't seem to be working and i forgot about it and left it on display for years. I recently moved so I was packing up my valks and then I noticed after removing the tape that the head lasers were straight. Only took 3 + years. LOL!

Nice!

11 hours ago, MKT said:

 

On the upside, the chest lock does seem present after all, and shown quite clearly on Wotafa's review. Interesting because another earlier reviewer's video was on contrary..

Having taken her apart, I can confirm that the chest lock tabs are present. Now it's possible that it's not functional for that one reviewer due to poor fit or molding, which this unit has in spades. 

[Mommar]

Are we three for three on poorly constructed Bandai Valks now?  Two 31AX duds and now a 25?  Or four for four, the first set of AX Armored parts are as fidgety as the Valk it goes on, but Bandai have almost universally had poor fitting upgrade parts on Valks.

[Rein+]

On 6/4/2022 at 2:51 AM, Lolicon said:

This one isn't a problem with the WWM 25. It's just an example of Bandai's obsession with glopping glue everywhere, even in places that don't need at and never did.

Encountered this while taking apart the forward fuselage. Had to break it open with a screwdriver after removing all the requisite screws.

Would you kind enough to post how to disassemble those parts in macross maintenance thread?

[Lolicon]

16 hours ago, Rein+ said:

Would you kind enough to post how to disassemble those parts in macross maintenance thread?

You just have to remove the 4 screws on the rear underside and the screw inside the landing gear bay.

You'll have to rotate and twist the fuselage around in order to get an angle where you can reach and turn the screws with a small screwdriver.

Once those 5 screws are out, the entire thing comes apart.

Edited June 5, 2022 by Lolicon

[ArchieNov]

On 6/3/2022 at 6:00 AM, 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!

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.

On my copy, the nose is flush. I just need to make sure that the double hinge is positioned properly. If it's not exactly at the right position, it can prevent the nose from aligning perfectly when you fold it up.

[Lolicon]

Ready for some decals! 

[no3Ljm]

3 hours ago, Lolicon said:

Ready for some decals! 

[chriswoo]

7 hours ago, Lolicon said:

Ready for some decals! 

nice !! are you using the random decal from macross or you custom build the decal ?

[Mommar]

19 hours ago, ArchieNov said:

On my copy, the nose is flush. I just need to make sure that the double hinge is positioned properly. If it's not exactly at the right position, it can prevent the nose from aligning perfectly when you fold it up.

Mine showed up today.  Nose cone is no problem either.  Just be sure to push up at the very base of where the cone attaches to the body to make sure the tab moves all the way and it sits perfectly.  I don’t have the poor dit issues other people are talking about.

Edited June 8, 2022 by Mommar

[Lolicon]

12 hours ago, chriswoo said:

nice !! are you using the random decal from macross or you custom build the decal ?

Some of both actually. 

[Sokeijon]

Yeah, finally successfully added into cart and check out VF-25 WWM from Amiami. 

[derex3592]

Guess that question of whether or not American retailers are getting stock AT THE SAME TIME has been put to bed....***SIIIIGGHHH**** Oh well...BBTS will ship when they get them I guess. 

[Sildani]

I honestly wasn’t expecting that. Supply line bottlenecks gonna bottleneck. 

[Anasazi37]

Yeah...I never expected that, either. Figured Bandai would make them available for shipping to vendors in the US on the same day they released them in Japan. From there they get packed in a container and put on a boat. A few months later they reach the US. If I want something faster than that, I order it in Japan and have it shipped directly.

[Chronocidal]

BBTS has never been fast at getting anything, in my experience.

The last thing I ordered from them before this new Macross merchandise wave was that 3rd party Kalavinka transforming jet..  I'm still waiting on that one.. while I've been playing with the one I bought from HLJ on sale after release.  

I don't mind having a spare to customize, but when they don't get their stock until after Japanese retailers are putting the items up at clearance prices, someone is not staying on the ball with stocking.

Edited June 10, 2022 by Chronocidal

[Sandman]

Got mine today. It's amazing what a matte finish does to this mold. It's looks so much better. I want reissues of the old vf-25s with this matte finish.

[chriswoo]

10 hours ago, Sandman said:

Got mine today. It's amazing what a matte finish does to this mold. It's looks so much better. I want reissues of the old vf-25s with this matte finish.

You can just spray it mat coat with it and also it protect your vf longer from yellowish plastic.

[Sandman]

3 hours ago, chriswoo said:

You can just spray it mat coat with it and also it protect your vf longer from yellowish plastic.

I’m not confident in my abilities to do that without screwing it up.

[Magnus]

Well, my release has some pretty floppy legs in battloid mode.  Even with the extra screws.  I guess I need to open them up and see about fixing them somehow.  The shoulders aren't too bad, but I get the sense they'll get loose relatively quickly.  Also Bandai forgot to paint in the little black circles on the left shoulder of the figure, which seems like a weird qc miss. It makes me question why I bothered waiting for this release instead of just getting a used Renewal version.  I will say though that the matte color scheme is very nice.

Anyway, if this is supposed to represent a new, world-wide Macross future, it's certainly started off with a wet fart.   I mean, they want people to buy more of their products after this right?  I'm actually more annoyed about this figure than I am with the 31ax's, because at least those get the basics right, even if some of the tolerances are off.  

Edited June 15, 2022 by Magnus

[Sokeijon]

2 hours ago, Magnus said:

Well, my release has some pretty floppy legs in battloid mode.  Even with the extra screws.  I guess I need to open them up and see about fixing them somehow.  The shoulders aren't too bad, but I get the sense they'll get loose relatively quickly.  Also Bandai forgot to paint in the little black circles on the left shoulder of the figure, which seems like a weird qc miss. It makes me question why I bothered waiting for this release instead of just getting a used Renewal version.  I will say though that the matte color scheme is very nice.

Anyway, if this is supposed to represent a new, world-wide Macross future, it's certainly started off with a wet fart.   I mean, they want people to buy more of their products after this right?  I'm actually more annoyed about this figure than I am with the 31ax's, because at least those get the basics right, even if some of the tolerances are off.  

Yes, you are right. The world-wide thingy should started off with good quality and gain it's reputation. Seems like they have monopolized this piece of cake so the rest of things couldn't be bothered. 

I've received my unit yesterday from Amiami and the box is in perfect shape. Yet to open it though. 

[Lolicon]

Bandai also botched up masking and painting the stabilizers.

Even some of the internal tabs don't fit that well, which may be why they decided to just glue the front fuselage shut, when it was unnecessary on all previous 25 releases.

This valk feels more like a 3P KO than an official product. Or maybe it doesn't, after seeing the 31AX. 

Edited June 15, 2022 by Lolicon

[Sokeijon]

I've opened my VF-25 WWM. First look, fell in love with the color scheme and the matte surface. Carefully examined it, not too bad. Just little paint stained (on the wings) and glue stained (on the left ankle piecing). Saw some small scratches marks at the edge of the plastics. Probably due to transformation (friction between plastics) by factory workers during packing.

 

[chriswoo]

10 minutes ago, Sokeijon said:

I've opened my VF-25 WWM. First look, fell in love with the color scheme and the matte surface. Carefully examined it, not too bad. Just little paint stained (on the wings) and glue stained (on the left ankle piecing). Saw some small scratches marks at the edge of the plastics. Probably due to transformation (friction between plastics) by factory workers during packing.

 

 

Glad to see someone has less QC issue when received. I was interested how you DIY custom stand using the existing ugly bandai stand. can show me more and how you made it ?

 

[Special Sauce]

I ended up cancelling my pre-order after seeing all these issues.  I can always get one if I change my mind since it seems to be available in quite a few places.  I already have the renewal Alto and Ozma anyways.  

[Sokeijon]

9 hours ago, chriswoo said:

 

Glad to see someone has less QC issue when received. I was interested how you DIY custom stand using the existing ugly bandai stand. can show me more and how you made it ?

 

I bought it from China via Taobao platform. The seller 3D printed the connectors (top and bottom) so that it can be used together with the flexi bracket on Bandai stand. 

Edited June 16, 2022 by Sokeijon

[Lolicon]

Fixed up the WWM VF-25 a bit.

The matte finish out of the box looks great, and it does incorporate some of the improvements from the recently reissued YF-29, but the overall QC is pretty bad for a $200 toy. It easily has the worst QC of the 25 line.

Still, it's a VF-25 and she's quite lovely to look out.

 

Edited June 16, 2022 by Lolicon

[seti88]

1 hour ago, Lolicon said:

Fixed up the WWM VF-25 a bit.

The matte finish out of the box looks great, and it does incorporate some of the improvements from the recently reissued YF-29, but the overall QC is pretty bad for a $200 toy. It easily has the worst QC of the 25 line.

Still, it's a VF-25 and she's quite lovely to look out.

 

Hip kite on the hip. 😅

[MKT]

2 hours ago, Lolicon said:

 

 

 

Great work as usual @Lolicon! 

Mine arrived yesterday, handled it briefly. Does anyone think if the new, matte plastics somehow feels stronger compared to the older 25 releases? Although the YF-30 from that era is also matte finished, this one feels somewhat different. But when I put this and the old 25 on the scale, they weighed exactly the same (only 1g difference).