Bandai 1/60 DX Chogokin Macross 7 Fire Valkyrie

[Actar]

All right. When will the preorder madness begin this time? I'm not missing out like I did with the YF-21, though, evidently, it's not going to be as bad?

[betocc]

1 minute ago, Actar said:

All right. When will the preorder madness begin this time? I'm not missing out like I did with the YF-21, though, evidently, it's not going to be as bad?

April 25, 2025 most likely 4:00 pm japan time 

[Chronocidal]

Ugh.. obviously the gear are bare metal, but I don't think that integrated neck cover is doing fighter any favors at all.  Now it's just got scoliosis.

\

I do think the overall fighter profile is a bit better than the Yamato though.  Better intakes (but still the same ugly knee gap), and the LEX looks like a better angle, making the nose look longer.  Still want to see a top view, but I'll try and bite for one at least.

Edited 4 hours ago by Chronocidal

[nightmareB4macross]

It has teeth?!?! Why?

🤣

[Chronocidal]

8 minutes ago, nightmareB4macross said:

It has teeth?!?! Why?

🤣

Is this a trick question?  

\

Though on that note, maybe it's time for a new edition of my avatar.. "LISTEN TO MY LAZOR!!"  

Edited 4 hours ago by Chronocidal

[sh9000]

Listen to my song!

[Arakure Knight]

Time for another pre-order it seems. Just waiting on the usual Yoyaku or Luna Park links to be posted.

Any idea impact of US tariffs on importers? Just saw Good Smile US stop all pre-orders based on this. At least things go on as normal for us down under here.  

[Actar]

48 minutes ago, betocc said:

April 25, 2025 most likely 4:00 pm japan time 

I'm trying to get in on HLJ myself, but they seem to not follow the standard preorder time...

[Zeliard]

Does anyone know what is the official / acceptable panel line colour to blend with this red?

[Chronocidal]

I'm honestly not sure HLJ is even worth trying lately, because they seem to be on Bandai's sh!tlist for some reason.  I am STILL waiting for my original HG YF-21 order, and they didn't even list the HMR VF-19P.

I don't think they've been getting sufficient stock from them for a long time.  Whether a DX release will be different, I don't know.

[Shawn]

I thought they forgot a piece for the head/neck, but that appears to be the design. From some angles it seems to be an abrupt drop off.

[Chronocidal]

3 minutes ago, Shawn said:

I thought they forgot a piece for the head/neck, but that appears to be the design. From some angles it seems to be an abrupt drop off.

Yeah, that's the price you pay for getting the neck cover integrated.  Can't say I'm actually a fan, it just looks like it breaks up the entire flow of the spine.

Looking like once again we're just going to be trading off positives and negatives between the Yamato and Bandai designs, with the perfect mix being a non-existent blending of the best features of both.

[Shawn]

Looking back at the Yamato, I do think the DX neck is an improvement....well maybe lol

Would need to recheck the Arcadia ver.

[treatment]

1 hour ago, Chronocidal said:

Is this a trick question?  

\

Though on that note, maybe it's time for a new edition of my avatar.. "LISTEN TO MY LAZOR!!"  

ahahaha!!!

nice!

...

Anyway, so this Bandai variant has:

• matte finish
• open-mouth weirdness. with teeth.
• bizarro head-placement with their integrated neck cover
• seems to only include a standing and sitting Basara pilot.
• 33k-yen (without tokyo-tax) /36,300y with tax

A bit steep to not include gummies of Mylene, Ray, and Vefidas. 

Them gummies most likely will be a separate TWE offering,  to go along with the most-likely TWE Sound Booster option?

 

Way to go, Bandai! 

 

 

 

 

 

[seti88]

1 hour ago, nightmareB4macross said:

It has teeth?!?! Why?

🤣

To whistle?! Beatbox?

 

[treatment]

couple of Heppoko Samurai tweets for full-sizes of his pics...

https://twitter.com/simsim5479/status/1915237363875537319

https://twitter.com/simsim5479/status/1915229417686868317

web-translated:

[Yugure0]

2 hours ago, Chronocidal said:

I'm honestly not sure HLJ is even worth trying lately, because they seem to be on Bandai's sh!tlist for some reason.  I am STILL waiting for my original HG YF-21 order, and they didn't even list the HMR VF-19P.

I don't think they've been getting sufficient stock from them for a long time.  Whether a DX release will be different, I don't know.

To be fair to HLJ, the HMR VF-19P isn’t retail so they won’t list it. It is available as a P-Bandai exclusive (or through a reseller).

Edited 54 minutes ago by Yugure0

[Mommar]

I'm gonna skip.  Not a Basara guy.  I got the HMR out of curiosity but I'm not dropping this much on a Fire Valk.  Hopefully an F/S happens, though likely the P will be next if HMR is any indication.

[MKT]

It's a contradiction of sorts in Fighter.. I like the overall sculpt, especially the sexy curvature behind the cockpit but there's that weird abrupt cliff at the neck cover. The intakes look great here - it's a normal feature on most other valk toys, but a first for a Fire Valk (?), but that knee gap is distracting and looks even more prominent than Arcadia's. Couldn't Bandai make that black area red or something to mask it a bit?

No complains on Battroid sculpt though. The legs are long yet suitably chunky. I'm just concerned that it doesn't look like there's a cockpit rotation gimmick, to enable us viewing Basara sitting inside the egress hatch. This is all the more reason for me to hold on to the other 1/60, or even hunt one on top of this. It's always the little Yamato / Arcadia extra little touches that really endears.

 

Meanwhile, just recording for posterity:

 

[Actar]

Issues with the neck sculpt aside, the fact that they went the extra mile to engineer a non-partsforming cover just goes to show how much more they give a crap about the 19 than the 21/22.