ThreeZero ROBOTECH (Macross) Toys

[twich]

So now that I have had this toy for 24 hours or so, I have to ask...does anyone else have difficulty with the missiles?  They do not want to go on correctly and they look like they might break if I push too hard to get them on.  I put this right next to my FuGu VF-1S God of Flame (Jetfire) KO and the Jetfire is bigger.  My thought is that this thing has some real quality to it and I am all over buying these for $150 USD for a near 1/60 scale transforming VF-1 toy.  The Valkyrie Factory KO's go for about $130 on ebay, this is a much better toy.

Twich

[WhatBoutMyStar]

6 minutes ago, twich said:

So now that I have had this toy for 24 hours or so, I have to ask...does anyone else have difficulty with the missiles?  They do not want to go on correctly and they look like they might break if I push too hard to get them on.  I put this right next to my FuGu VF-1S God of Flame (Jetfire) KO and the Jetfire is bigger.  My thought is that this thing has some real quality to it and I am all over buying these for $150 USD for a near 1/60 scale transforming VF-1 toy.  The Valkyrie Factory KO's go for about $130 on ebay, this is a much better toy.

Twich

I just wiggled it while pushing in a bit with some force before they went in although it's not the most secure fit and I don't want to force it more, but yea way more effort than should be required to put on missiles. The shape of the peg on the missles and the hard point on the wings don't look to be the same.

[twich]

2 hours ago, WhatBoutMyStar said:

I just wiggled it while pushing in a bit with some force before they went in although it's not the most secure fit and I don't want to force it more, but yea way more effort than should be required to put on missiles. The shape of the peg on the missles and the hard point on the wings don't look to be the same.

I concur with your assessment.

Twich

[Chronocidal]

Just got my copy of this one from BBTS.. and I'm kind of just wondering what to do with it at this point.  It's not badly designed, or badly made, but a couple of issues are making me consider just returning it.

First off.. the arm sliders are impossible to move.  They do not slide, they will not budge with even what I would consider excessive force on the entire arm, and even trying a drop of machine oil did not loosen them up enough to slide more than a quarter of the way, and that was only by wiggling the arms back and forth with the legs completely removed to give me room.  The toy, in its current state, is completely incapable of transformation to fighter, because the arms cannot be pushed in with the legs attached.

It.. otherwise works.. and looks fine.  Maybe it's best left as a battroid only figure though?  Just disappointing that the tolerances are so impossibly tight, because it otherwise looks fairly good.  The funny thing about it to me is that it actually gives me the impression of being a bootleg Bandai DX.  Some of the features are suspiciously similar, to the point that it looks like they just copy pasted Bandai's work and shrunk it down.

Also.. I'm kind of pissed about the "protection" they installed for the paint, and wish they wouldn't have bothered.  Whoever wrapped the wings to protect the paint managed to achieve the exact opposite, because they managed to slap tape directly onto the paint, and dissolve the stripe in the middle of the wing.  It came off with the tape.  Yeah.  Not a good start to an unboxing.

I don't know.  I'm irritated about not even being able to transform it, I'm pissed off about the paint, and thinking it's just better off sent back.  Really a pity because it looked so promising, and whether this specific one is just a lemon, it kind of satisfied my curiosity about the dumb elbow joint, because nope, it doesn't bend where it should, and maybe I'm just better off getting my money back for a failed experiment.  

I will give them credit though, they managed to design much better main gear doors than Bandai.  They actually fold out without the sliding hinges I'm so tired of, and managed to get out of the way of the strut with no trouble, so there's none of the goofy sliding the door up and down to find the right position that doesn't conflict with the strut and leg fin like the DX has.

Edit: On the other hand, I might be able to just order a replacement wing from the company directly, since ThreeZero might actually be able to provide after-purchase service.  I'm not sure if I care that much if it can't transform, but we'll see what they say, and whether I can just order a wing without missing paint.

Edited Friday at 11:15 PM by Chronocidal

[Paco Grande]

2 hours ago, Chronocidal said:

Just got my copy of this one from BBTS.. and I'm kind of just wondering what to do with it at this point.  It's not badly designed, or badly made, but a couple of issues are making me consider just returning it.

First off.. the arm sliders are impossible to move.  They do not slide, they will not budge with even what I would consider excessive force on the entire arm, and even trying a drop of machine oil did not loosen them up enough to slide more than a quarter of the way, and that was only by wiggling the arms back and forth with the legs completely removed to give me room.  The toy, in its current state, is completely incapable of transformation to fighter, because the arms cannot be pushed in with the legs attached.

It.. otherwise works.. and looks fine.  Maybe it's best left as a battroid only figure though?  Just disappointing that the tolerances are so impossibly tight, because it otherwise looks fairly good.  The funny thing about it to me is that it actually gives me the impression of being a bootleg Bandai DX.  Some of the features are suspiciously similar, to the point that it looks like they just copy pasted Bandai's work and shrunk it down.

Also.. I'm kind of pissed about the "protection" they installed for the paint, and wish they wouldn't have bothered.  Whoever wrapped the wings to protect the paint managed to achieve the exact opposite, because they managed to slap tape directly onto the paint, and dissolve the stripe in the middle of the wing.  It came off with the tape.  Yeah.  Not a good start to an unboxing.

I don't know.  I'm irritated about not even being able to transform it, I'm pissed off about the paint, and thinking it's just better off sent back.  Really a pity because it looked so promising, and whether this specific one is just a lemon, it kind of satisfied my curiosity about the dumb elbow joint, because nope, it doesn't bend where it should, and maybe I'm just better off getting my money back for a failed experiment.  

I will give them credit though, they managed to design much better main gear doors than Bandai.  They actually fold out without the sliding hinges I'm so tired of, and managed to get out of the way of the strut with no trouble, so there's none of the goofy sliding the door up and down to find the right position that doesn't conflict with the strut and leg fin like the DX has.

Edit: On the other hand, I might be able to just order a replacement wing from the company directly, since ThreeZero might actually be able to provide after-purchase service.  I'm not sure if I care that much if it can't transform, but we'll see what they say, and whether I can just order a wing without missing paint.

I have not transformed mine yet but I’m already thinking about selling it as well. But for me it’s loose joints. The whole thing just feels really fiddly and not fun for me for some reason. I actually have that opinion of most Macross figures I’ve handled though. I normally collect MP Transformers and in comparison the Bandai Macross stuff always feels fragile and not as fun to handle. Not sure why. They look great but don’t handle great for me. 

The biggest issue for me with this figure is the fact that it’s impossible for the gun holding hand to transform with the figure which turns this into a parts former. I prefer perfect transformation so I never swap hands on my valks  I just use the poseable hands. For me that’s a deal breaker but I only found out about that issue many months after pre-ordering.  I don’t like the side fillers on Vf-1 toys either but it seems to be a necessary evil so I put up with that.

I quoted your post to say that there was no tape at all on the paint protection plastic on mine. They are just plastic covers that slide over the part. No tape needed. I’m wondering if the tape on yours was a mistake. 

Edited Saturday at 12:59 AM by Paco Grande

[Chronocidal]

1 hour ago, Paco Grande said:

I quoted your post to say that there was no tape at all on the paint protection plastic on mine. They are just plastic covers that slide over the part. No tape needed. I’m wondering if the tape on yours was a mistake. 

Yeah, it's a mistake alright.  There's a big smudge in the middle of the wing where it looks like someone just jabbed there thumb before the paint was dry.

Unfortunately, I'm probably out of luck returning it to BBTS, since they don't offer returns for "minor paint defects," which.. I wouldn't call it minor, but it's not a huge glaring issue.  I contacted ThreeZero directly to see if I can just get a replacement part for that wing, since I've read they do offer pretty good service for parts replacement.

As far as transformation goes though, I'm actually pretty satisfied that I was able to fix the arm sliders myself.  The backplate is pretty easy to completely disassemble, just a few screws, so I was able to get to the arm sliders to work on them.  What it resulted in was me having to drill them out so they would actually move under a reasonable amount of force.  Note, I didn't drill them completely, because then there would be absolutely no friction, and there's no solid locking mechanism for them in fighter mode.  I basically drilled halfway into each slider with a 7/16" drillbit, and it reduced the friction enough that I can move them reasonably easily, but they don't slop around.

So.. overall positives?  It looks good.  Probably best in battroid as others have noted, since the chunky arms don't work well for fighter mode.  Like I mentioned before, the landing gear doors are a serious mechanical improvement over Bandai's.  Paint all looks good, minus that wing, and the panel lining isn't as stark in person as it looked in early shots.  The details like the lenses on the wrists and lower legs are a step up from plain tampo like the Yamato, or even the molded detail on the Bandai.  I'm not sure they're supposed to be lenses, but they look nice that way.  The wrists are just metallic paint, but it pops.

The negatives of the design are pretty numerous though.  No ratchets anywhere to be found, and it actually makes posing battroid and gerwalk pretty precarious.  My ankles are giving me flashbacks to the Yamato Fire Valk's, and they take some careful balancing to make sure they don't just collapse.  It even has issues standing on the feet in fighter mode, which is something I've never really seen happen on any VF-1 before, since most of the weight is low to the ground in that position.  It's not exactly wobbly, but give it much of an angle, and it just flops over.

As mentioned, yeah, there are no hands in the arms at all.  It's really bizarre that the entire arm opens up with a ton of space, and it only stores the peg to mount the fixed pose hands on.  If they had reversed the hands to put the socket on the wrists, there would have been no reason to open the arms at all, and you could have just snapped covers over them.  I would have been perfectly fine with even some basic blocky G1 Jetfire hands to fold out, but there's just nothing in there.

Generally the design uses the same attachment pegs for the legs and arms as Bandai, with all of the same detriments.  They just sag overtime.  Nothing locks the arms in place in fighter at all, they just stay up by friction in their joints, and that same vertical peg into the elbow.  Only, unlike the Bandai version, the arm-locking pegs are actually metal on this one, which means it's much more difficult to sand them down to make them fit, and the arms just pop off constantly.

No painted gear, like Bandai, and there are some odd exposed metal joint pins on the legs that probably could have been covered somehow.

The locking buttons for the legs and feet?  I admit they're a novel idea, and function as intended.  But they're more of a nuisance than anything else.  I'd much rather have simple clicking extensions.

And there is absolutely no clearance for the gunpod on the gear.  The arms are just far too thick, and it drags on the ground in front and back.  The gunpod is also quite a bit larger than the one on the 1/60 Yamato, so that's part of the issue.  It looks like it was scaled based on the Bandai DX instead.

Now.. the weird bits.

This thing.. is really hard to pin down.  It feels like a three-way hybrid between a Bandai DX, a Yamato 1/60, and an HMR.

It has a pile of features lifted directly from the Bandai DX design (the foldout support in the backplate for battroid mode, the shape of the built-in neck and shoulder covers, the hip mounting door in the nose, the sideways joints in the hips, the shape of the feet and thruster vents, the folding nosecone).

But the overall shape of the valk in fighter mode though is closer to the more raked angular look of an HMR VF-1, with the arms angled so that the gunpod would probably blow the nose off when fired.  It also has the exact same ratcheting joint content as an HMR, which is to say, none at all.  All friction joints, all the time. 

Although.. the side view even reminds me of the 1/72 Hasegawa mold.  The whole body is fairly angled, with the legs angled downward pretty noticeably toward the rear.

The size is almost dead-on identical to a Yamato v.2 1/60, though the chest profile is a bit wider, and closer to an HMR, which probably helps the battroid proportions.  

It's just such a bizarre combination of best-of/worst-of from all of the major manufacturers.  I bet if I had a KC 1/72 to compare, I would probably find features copied from that one too.

It's just.. weird.

Though, on a slightly hilarious note.. for those of you having issues with the missiles not fitting... If you happen to have that Fugu-01 Jetfire that just came out?  The missiles fit it perfectly.  I did also try the missiles from a standard Yamato release, and while the TV and box missiles don't fit, for some reason, the reaction missiles somehow do.  Otherwise, the holes are slightly too small for the standard Yamato hardpoints, and there's no locking ring for the clips to engage with.  As far as the stock missiles go, I'm leaving them in the box, because they're roughly 60% of the size of the Yamato 1/60 ones, and look ridiculously tiny.. besides also being far too big to actually fit into the mounts they're intended for.  

I'm just going to stick with the Jetfire set, since they look much better, and forcing the included missiles in would probably spread the mounts, and ruin their unintentionally perfect fit... though, on the other hand, spreading those mounts might make them fit standard Yamato missiles too.

Edited Saturday at 02:59 AM by Chronocidal

[Pontus]

15 hours ago, Chronocidal said:

The negatives of the design are pretty numerous though.  No ratchets anywhere to be found, and it actually makes posing battroid and gerwalk pretty precarious.  My ankles are giving me flashbacks to the Yamato Fire Valk's, and they take some careful balancing to make sure they don't just collapse.  It even has issues standing on the feet in fighter mode, which is something I've never really seen happen on any VF-1 before, since most of the weight is low to the ground in that position.  It's not exactly wobbly, but give it much of an angle, and it just flops over.

I think you got a QC reject considering the paint issues and loose ankles.  The ankles on mine are perfectly stiff, seem quite well designed, and allows for some confidently aggressive posing.  As for the hands, I personally have no issue with the lack of fixed fold ins because I never display them on any of my valks of any model (unless forced to) because they always look tiny and delicate.  And since you'd never get folding SDFM style hands to fit in the arms without something being out of proportion, I don't see any other way around it short of some complicated folding.

I just put up a display shelf at work.  This and Roy's will be placed here since I don't need more copies of the same thing at home, and these seem pretty tough and relatively cheap.  It's kinduva shame to put these up at work tho, because so far, these are my favorite iteration of VF-1 and looks quite sharp!  But it looks like I'm going to have to find some more to display here as it's looking pretty empty.

[jvmacross]

If you attach the fists...they can fold into the arm...so technically it's as PT as a Yamato or Bandai DX...

I don't own any other Three Zero toys so not sure if wratcheted joints are not their thing.....maybe someone who is more familiar with their toys can confirm....

Mine is still holding up just fine since it's initial release and I have transformed it numerous times....the biggest weakness is that loose bit at the waist....not sure how well the same piece is holding up on the DX as I seldom transform the 2 I have opened....just don't care for the scale thus not as interested in fiddling around with it to find out...

[Chronocidal]

Yeah, not sure why the ankles aren't great, but I'm just not a fan of friction-only joints in general, and these are all just pinned with no screws to tighten if they ever loosen.  I was actually surprised they're not ball joints, since that ankle panel would give them so much room to twist if they were.  Maybe I could squeeze something gently with a pliers to tighten them up.

The paint wasn't a QC issue though, it was a boneheaded packing issue.  The sleeve they taped over the wing to protect the painted details got aligned badly, and stuck the tape directly to the painted stripe, dissolving it, so removing the tape ripped it off.  I emailed them about a replacement part, so we'll see if they can send me a new one after they return from holidays next week. (Getting a valk with actual customer service feels weird though. )

The hands.. eh.  I didn't realize the fists actually would fit into the arms, so that is slightly better than I thought.  I didn't think the doors opened far enough to fit them.  Still would have preferred a blocky fist that could hold the gunpod on one side, but it is what it is.

Really, it kind of just boils down to this one looking best in anything but fighter mode.  It doesn't look terrible at all, but the weird leg angles and chunky/droopy arms don't work well, and those problems just don't exist as long as it's in gerwalk or battroid mode.  (Or maybe it just needs to never be displayed on the gear.)

Amusing side note.. this is probably the sturdiest box of any valk I own.  ThreeZero uses thick cardboard for their packaging.

Edited Saturday at 07:02 PM by Chronocidal

[WhatBoutMyStar]

It wasn't completely floppy out of the box, but I also didn't like the stiffness of the ankles (or lack thereof) on mine at least with respect to the forward and back movement. Given the weight of the figure, it didn't take much when posing and adjusting it for it to suddenly tip forward or back as I'm handling it. It's also something I think over time will be prone to loosening up quite a bit. However, a couple applications of kiki's did tighten the ankles for me. That was the only area, aside from the nose sensor/crotch hinge piece, that I felt was too loose out of the box on mine.

In any case, while I do think it's a good figure for the price and overall built well, I decided to get rid of mine. But took one final pic before it left.

[Chronocidal]

One thing I actually didn't consider, and realized just messing with transforming it again to mess with battroid, it really doesn't have anything to hold it together without the side fillers.

I generally leave those in the box for all of my VF-1s, since I've never really been bothered by the side gap, but this one absolutely needs them to keep the torso together.

Almost feels like I should apologize for the frequent edits, but I'm still kind of processing my thoughts on this one.

I think.. overall?  The paint and finish are something that sets it apart (though the panel lining on the intake pods has worn off just from me casually picking it up by the thighs?), and it's definitely heavy.  I'm not entirely sure what is and isn't diecast because I think all of the plastic is painted to match it, but it feels like some substantial chunks of it are.

My first impressions weren't good, thanks to the non-working arm sliders and messed up paint on the wing, so I might have judged it a bit too hard.  But the short/simple summary is that this is just an odd beast to measure up.

Good:
- Lots of detail, sturdy joints, even if they aren't ratcheted, it just feels good to handle overall.
- Overall shape and design are solid, looks like a nice hybrid of Yamato, Bandai DX, and HMR design features.
- Many features taken directly from the Bandai DX and shrunken down, with better landing gear than the DX.
- Some good innovation on the feet with the sideways hinge. 
- Transformation works smoothly, no real hitches once the arm sliders were fixed.

Bad:
- Arm sliders may or may not work without drilling them out.
- Missile pylons seem completely oversized to use the wing hardpoints, while also looking incredibly small for 1/60 scale.
- Panel lining is seeming pretty easy to casually rub off with mild handling, but will have to see how it survives over time. 
- Hidden button locks are an interesting feature, but just make transformation more annoying, and you almost need three hands to operate them because they're so awkward to press while both holding the toy and pulling on the part to extend it.
- Elbow joints are just bizarrely designed, and bend in the wrong place entirely. 
- The little sliding hip bar slot cover (the front of the nose blisters) was entirely sloppy on mine, had to pull out the pin and wrap it with tape to give the slider friction.  I remember this being a problem for someone else as well.
- The beefy forearms are really only a negative in fighter mode, since they look good otherwise, but between them and the oversized gunpod, they hang too low, and that gunpod is planted firmly on the ground when displayed on the landing gear.  Though, as an unintentional bonus, it stops the arms from sagging off of their pegs, so... partial positive?  

Ugly:
- This valk actually requires more parts swapping than an HMR to transform.  Two side covers to hold the torso together, versus swapping the canopy cover on the HMR.  And whether or not you consider swapping the transforming fixed fists to be able to hold the gun acceptable, that's also something the HMR VF-1 doesn't need, because one of its tiny fold-in fists can hold the gunpod.  I kind of feel like I want to see if I can make a stowable fist that can grip the gunpod.

None of the issues are really huge, but it kind of feels like the small issues add up.  The partsforming aspect feels bad though, and it didn't even occur to me until today, after I was transforming one of my HMRs to compare the proportions, and realized I only need to swap a single part.

Late Update:  I will absolutely give credit to ThreeZero where it is due.  They're shipping me a replacement for the wing with the damaged stripe as soon as they can get the part in-hand to send.  If only Bandai could ever be that helpful!

Edited Monday at 03:49 AM by Chronocidal

[leMel42]

Here is a cropped photo from Threezero's product order page, and a photo of my VF-1J.  Has anyone been able to get that third segment of the elbow to pivot out of the forearm as shown on Threezero's site? Mine doesn't budge. That would fix the spindly look of the elbow.

 

 

- LeMel42

[Chronocidal]

1 hour ago, leMel42 said:

Here is a cropped photo from Threezero's product order page, and a photo of my VF-1J.  Has anyone been able to get that third segment of the elbow to pivot out of the forearm as shown on Threezero's site? Mine doesn't budge. That would fix the spindly look of the elbow.

 

 

- LeMel42

Yeah, no.  I tried, and it looks like they've completely redesigned the arm since that initial photo.  The elbow section feels completely glued in place.  Just doesn't make a lick of sense.

 

[jenius]

So curious to get mine... I wonder if this elbow thing is just a glue/manufacture issue.

[Radioguy]

Mine, sold and shipped by Amazon.

Looks like an extra No Step...or almost, on mine.

[Radioguy]

Gotta say, and especially for the price I paid, I'm happy I got him. The feel and build quality is better than expected; if not perfect. The overly-defined panel lining does bother me, as I thought it would, but it's nothing compared to overall positive experience.

The bulbous head I kept moaning about...well, it seems slightly less bulbous. Is that just me, or was there a downsize of it compared to the initial images from awhile back? I still think the goggle/visor should be a few percent bigger relative to the head, but it's not as bad as I first imagined it was form initial pics.

I'm handling him gingerly at the moment, and will do a couple transformations before setting on an opinion, but there's zero regret right now. If anything, I'm thinking I'll eventually grab the 1S so far.

[tekering]

Edited Monday at 01:35 PM by tekering

[MKT]

The third elbow joint must have been glued in place, seeing how no one is able to unlock it so far. It's an intentional change by Threezero from the initial promo images, and the biggest clue of this change is when the promo pics of Roy's 1S, put out just before the 1J's release, also show that joint being locked.

 

On 9/15/2024 at 3:36 AM, Chronocidal said:

None of the issues are really huge, but it kind of feels like the small issues add up. 

I feel this sentence kinda sums up the 1J, based on all the impressions, reviews & videos so far.

The Yamcadia v2 is a solid toy because what it has, it does them well and the shortcomings are more of what it doesn't have. There's really no complaint on what already exists on the toy, we just wish they implement something more after so many years.

For the Bandai DX, it has very nice improvements to the Yamcadia v2, but also went backwards on some stuff. Sort of 2 steps forward, half step back.

Threezero has more little compromises than the DX, but remains to be seen if the positives outweighs the negatives and to me they only manage to be so by a small margin. And at this price point, it seems to be just right given what it is. But I'll reserve final judgement until actually get it in hand.

 

[Chronocidal]

Yeah, I really just cannot understand the weird elbow thing.  All of the packaging still shows the original (correct) design as well, so I don't know what went wrong.  Looking specifically at the elbows, they do not look like they're a separate moving part, they look like they've been sandwiched between the arm halves as part of the structure now.

I think my biggest overall concern, from a handling perspective?  This thing is beautifully painted, and nice and heavy.. but because of that, it comes off as something you are not intended to handle frequently.

Yamato/Arcadia, and even Bandai valks are primarily unpainted plastic with varying amounts of tampo prints, and they can generally be handled without too much worry of scraping or damaging the paint.  The couple of Arcadia weathering versions I have seem to have a clear coat specifically to protect the weathering.

This thing may as well have a giant sign on it saying "WARNING: FRAGILE PAINT - HANDLE WITH CARE."  Everything is painted.  All of the plastic, all of the metal.  But I'm not seeing any sign of a clearcoat.  The two thruster/sensors on the sides of my intakes have already lost all of their panel-lining, just from me picking up the toy.  It brushed off disturbingly easily, and it makes me wary of actually handling it too much.  The tampo warnings on the nose blisters are wearing off just from clipping the hips into the nose.  It looks very nicely finished, but that means it's much more like a model than a toy, and should probably be treated as such.

On the other hand though.. I know I complained earlier about needing the side covers to hold the battroid together.  That's not entirely true.  The hips still clip in well enough to hold it decently, and I discovered earlier that leaving the back able to shift enables a few poses you wouldn't be able to accomplish otherwise.

Without the chest and back locked by the fillers, you can push the wings out far enough to let the intake rotate completely back.  The torso is a bit sloppy this way, but it also gives you a pretty substantial upgrade in flexibility.

I'm not usually one that experiments with poses much, so I'm not sure if any of the other VF-1s on the market can pull this off, but I don't think any of them have this deep of a knee bend.  Have we ever gotten a transforming VF-1 that can do a kneeling/aiming pose?  (No, the Revoltech doesn't count )

The only real downside to those ankles (aside from being a little loose forward to back) is that they don't twist side to side, since they aren't ball joints.

So yeah, the more I mess with it, the harder a time I have giving a this guy a fair assessment, because I keep finding things it can do that I don't usually look for..  The amount of paint worries me with the potential to rub while handling and transforming it, but this may be the most posable (near)perfect transformation VF-1 we've gotten to date.

I'm just having a harder and harder time calling it a "toy," because it seems the most likely to lose paint out of every VF-1 I own at this point.  

 

Edited yesterday at 12:59 AM by Chronocidal

[MKT]

Eh so even the base white color's painted? I was under impression earlier it has some sort of clear coat on top of white-molded plastic, but if the whites are painted then it would be good news for longevity against yellowing.

[danth]

On 9/14/2024 at 12:36 PM, Chronocidal said:

- This valk actually requires more parts swapping than an HMR to transform.  Two side covers to hold the torso together, versus swapping the canopy cover on the HMR.  And whether or not you consider swapping the transforming fixed fists to be able to hold the gun acceptable, that's also something the HMR VF-1 doesn't need, because one of its tiny fold-in fists can hold the gunpod.  I kind of feel like I want to see if I can make a stowable fist that can grip the gunpod.

So none of the hands that can hold the gunpod fit into the arm when transformed? I don't like that...

Doesn't the HRM require the gun handle to be removed to stow it in fighter mode? Does the Three Zero gunpod stow without removing parts?

[danth]

15 hours ago, Chronocidal said:

Everything is painted.  All of the plastic, all of the metal.  But I'm not seeing any sign of a clearcoat.  The two thruster/sensors on the sides of my intakes have already lost all of their panel-lining, just from me picking up the toy. 

That seems really bad.

Seems like a "so close but so far" situation. Maybe they can do another release with a clear coat or no panel lines, and include a gunpod hand that fits into the arm, and maybe improve how it holds together in battloid mode without the side covers. Those seem like minor changes with major benefits.

[Chronocidal]

You're right about the gunpod handle needing to swap out, so I guess that does mostly even out the parts swapping total between the two.  This one's gun is basically equivalent to both Yamato and Bandai designs.  Considering the HMR VF-0 has managed a perfect transformation gunpod now, I actually wonder if that's even necessary at this point. 

It is disappointing to have to swap the hands to hold the gunpod, but I'm feeling like this just really isn't one you want to display in fighter mode anyhow.  There are better options for that, and this one's benefits primarily fall in gerwalk and battroid.

It startled me how easily those couple of spots were rubbed off on the intakes, but I have rubbed back and forth on the undersides of the wings and in a couple of other obscure spots to test, and haven't seen anything like that happen there.  I'm not sure why those spots on the outsides of the intakes are so prone to flaking.. maybe the high curvature?  When I get my spare wing, I'll experiment with durability and touch-up methods on the messed up one, and see if there are any reliable ways to touch up any worn-off panel lines.

But yes, the consistency of the color and gloss level on the exterior surfaces in comparison to the interior surfaces of things like the airbrake, hip hatch, and gear doors leads me to believe the entire thing is painted, top to bottom.  I'll give them credit where due, because it means there are absolutely no color matching issues between the plastic and metal like Bandai and Yamato/Arcadia have had, but it does push this one into a different category of collectible, feeling a lot closer to something like a diecast aircraft model that just happens to transform, rather than something you're going to want to play with, transform, and pose frequently.

 

Edited 18 hours ago by Chronocidal