DX Chogokin VT-1 Super Ostrich

[Radioguy]

16 minutes ago, no3Ljm said:

From Facebook. Better check also the head's sensor. Said it was purchased from Luna Park.

Ain't touching until I hear back from LP first.

[Chronocidal]

You know what, I was actually concerned with that part.  I thought it was supposed to rotate, and I could see that pretty easily snapping off if you put pressure on the wrong part of the head.

How is it that they made the HMR of this so much sturdier in every way?  I've never seen those parts break off.

[Corrinald]

Mine arrived from proxy with intact vertical stabilizers. I haven't had a chance to mess with it beyond a quick inspection. 

[Sayroll]

So I got an answer from Luna Park after receiving my VT-1 with a broken tailfin. They asked me if damage was caused by the shipping carrier or if it was a manufacturer defective item, to which I answered that it was most certainly the latter since my package was in perfect condition.

So they are telling me that they’re checking with Bandai to see if item can be exchanged. To be continued, but there is no way I’m going to pay another 9000 yens for shipping, because in the meantime, I took the toy out of the box and transformed it and…

I have Hikaru’s VF-1J (first release), Max’s VF-1A, Roy’s VF-1S and the VF-1D, and they’re all great toys, sturdy, no floppiness, even the leg bar on my VF-1J has decent friction, but this VT-1 is a joke.

The plastic part that is supposed to tab in the back of the nose in batroid mode simply doesn’t hold. It’s not that it’s loose or anything, it just doesn’t stay in place. And as a consequence, the batroid is a floppy mess.

I can’t even display the toy in fighter because of the broken tailfin…very disapointed here.

[MKT]

14 hours ago, jenius said:

I took mine out for a hot second but I'm still focusing on the YF-21 for now. As someone else observed, the stabilizer that is frequently broken was knocked inward on mine but it wasn't enough to break it.

Ditto on my copy as well when I first opened it.
 

13 hours ago, vt102 said:

Add one more. I'm so disappointed in Bandai. FML. Can we start claims with the companies we bought them from? And my boxes are perfect no damages.

Sorry to hear this, & also seeing it’s the same left stabiliser again that’s broken.

 

11 hours ago, no3Ljm said:

From Facebook. Better check also the head's sensor. Said it was purchased from Luna Park.

At first thinking if it was just a single isolated case, but someone else in that post also had the same broken part.

[no3Ljm]

3 minutes ago, MKT said:

At first thinking if it was just a single isolated case, but someone else in that post also had the same broken part.

Mine is still in transit from Anime-Export since I just paid my shipping yesterday. Hoping for the best at this point. 

Just one more Valk for me, Bandai. Please don't screw up Hikaru's Super VF-1A if you decided to announce it. And PLEASE announce it fast. Like yesterday!

[davidwhangchoi]

bandai quality slowly starting to become a dumpster fire. not quite there but it's alarming to see many reports when prior dx vf-1's didn't have this drama  

[Radioguy]

1 hour ago, no3Ljm said:

Mine is still in transit from Anime-Export since I just paid my shipping yesterday. Hoping for the best at this point. 

I seriously hope you don't have any breakage. They just shorted me on a shipping compensation for an item they sent that wasn't new, but charged as such. They're sending me a replacement but they knew they had me against a wall here, and will only ship it at my cost (despite them acknowledging the fault was not mine).

That will probably be my last ever order with them. Frankly, their site sucks, and they have no mailing list. I should have expected something else might be wrong with them before this, but lesson learned now.

[no3Ljm]

1 minute ago, Radioguy said:

I seriously hope you don't have any breakage. They just shorted me on a shipping compensation for an item they sent that wasn't new, but charged as such. They're sending me a replacement but they knew they had me against a wall here, and will only ship it at my cost (despite them acknowledging the fault was not mine).

That will probably be my last ever order with them. Frankly, their site sucks, and they have no mailing list. I should have expected something else might be wrong with them before this, but lesson learned now.

Sorry about that. I haven't had any bad experience from them yet at this point. They're usually one of my go to for some P-Bandai stuff. And if ever I missed some PO's from regular releases.

[Shawn]

1 hour ago, Sayroll said:

The plastic part that is supposed to tab in the back of the nose in batroid mode simply doesn’t hold. It’s not that it’s loose or anything, it just doesn’t stay in place. And as a consequence, the batroid is a floppy mess.

I can’t even display the toy in fighter because of the broken tailfin…very disapointed here.

Hey-I thought I was the only one, yes mine also does not stay secure at all, it just pops out.
Sounds like they ran the DX VF-1 molds into the ground and need to freshen them up lol

Can't wait to see what new problems arise from the 50th anniversary version.

[Radioguy]

1 minute ago, no3Ljm said:

Sorry about that. I haven't had any bad experience from them yet at this point. They're usually one of my go to for some P-Bandai stuff. And if ever I missed some PO's from regular releases.

Same. Certainly I rated them higher than LP. Ironically, since Schrödinger's Ostritch would more likely seem a Bandai issue, LP is faultless so far. Of course, we'll see what they offer....

Like @Sayroll, and especially after my AE experience, I'm not accepting being on the hook for this one.

 

[Radioguy]

Just now, Shawn said:

Can't wait to see what new problems arise from the 50th anniversary version.

Oh God...and I want one of those...or is it wanted?

[rsvictor1976]

Do the legs with the super parts on not attach at all to the tabs on the back plate for fighter mode in this video, or did she just do it wrong? 

 

Edited August 3 by rsvictor1976

[Shizuka the Cat]

18 minutes ago, rsvictor1976 said:

Do the legs with the super parts on not attach at all to the tabs on the back plate for fighter mode in this video, or did she just do it wrong? 

 

 

The leg armor does have holes for the pegs to go into...

However, it looks like Yuka missed that and failed to insert the pegs in....

 

P.S.

Also, as someone who also has long nails with polish, seeing Yuka handle the VT-1 with her nails and without wearing either gloves or finger cots on really gave me anxiety. My nails have caused paint damage in the past, so I always use gloves now.

Edited August 3 by Shizuka the Cat

[Angesdad]

My VT-1 just came in the mail this afternoon. The very first thing I did was shaking the box up and down side to side to hear any broken pieces bouncing around. - Sadly enough that is a testament to Bandai’s quality control today.

Side note, this was my virgin order from YYK and contrary to all the stigma associated with former NY, they came through for me no problem with a kind of packaging that surpasses HLJ’s in the amount of bubble wraps and papers used to protect your valuable toy over the Pacific.

+1 for YYK.

[Radioguy]

1 hour ago, Angesdad said:

My VT-1 just came in the mail this afternoon. The very first thing I did was shaking the box up and down side to side to hear any broken pieces bouncing around. - Sadly enough that is a testament to Bandai’s quality control today.

Side note, this was my virgin order from YYK and contrary to all the stigma associated with former NY, they came through for me no problem with a kind of packaging that surpasses HLJ’s in the amount of bubble wraps and papers used to protect your valuable toy over the Pacific.

+1 for YYK.

Again, just to reiterate, there was NO NOISE of anything loose when I got mine.

[Shizuka the Cat]

1 hour ago, Angesdad said:

My VT-1 just came in the mail this afternoon. The very first thing I did was shaking the box up and down side to side to hear any broken pieces bouncing around. - Sadly enough that is a testament to Bandai’s quality control today.

Side note, this was my virgin order from YYK and contrary to all the stigma associated with former NY, they came through for me no problem with a kind of packaging that surpasses HLJ’s in the amount of bubble wraps and papers used to protect your valuable toy over the Pacific.

+1 for YYK.

For me, AmiAmi's packaging of my DX Chogokin YF-21 was the best I had ever seen, done in such a way as to guarantee that no pressure could be applied to the YF-21's actual box top, thus mitigating risk of pressure being applied to the head laser/antenna that has infamously been bent for some folks.

My DX Chogokin VT-1 from Yoyakunow looks to have tentatively arrived with no problems, though I would not say that their packaging was done as well as AmiAmi's,  YYK's shipping box left small space margins for the VT-1's own box that were filled with crumpled newspaper, whereas AmiAmi's shipping box provided a huge gap beteen itself and the YF-21's box top, so that even penetrative impacts to the shipping box would have difficulty reaching the YF-21's own box.

While I am glad my VT-1 from YYK tentatively arrived okay, I do feel that a little bit of bad luck could have changed the result, whereas I feel like a lot of bad luck would have been required to damage the YF-21 from AmiAmi.

 

[davidwhangchoi]

54 minutes ago, Radioguy said:

Again, just to reiterate, there was NO NOISE of anything loose when I got mine.

damn it, now i have to break open both. i wanted to keep one sealed to collect and one opened.

Bandai Q/A is trash for these two DX releases. 

[vt102]

1 minute ago, davidwhangchoi said:

damn it, now i have to break open both. i wanted to keep one sealed to collect and one opened.

Bandai Q/A is trash for these two DX releases. 

I wanted to keep mine sealed too. Maybe I should have, but would have never known it was broken.

[davidwhangchoi]

Carefully opened both VT-1's and both copies wings or head radars are intact.

I'll consider them mint and just briefly checked for quality assurance and off to storage they go. 

i even wrapped the plastic sleeve inside the brown p-bandai shipper in the same pattern as came from factory.  

first copy left and right stabilizers was perfectly seated in place when i opened the box.

2nd copy had the left stabilizer slightly pushed in towards the center as reported in several posts.

 

I guess, i have a piece of mind until i get my yf-21 copies down the line...

 

 

Edited August 3 by davidwhangchoi

[grogall]

Still nothing from the super customer service from @LUNA PARK ! Maybe I should start warning about this mob on their YouTube site, and  their Super Customer Service! 😡

A person I know ordered his last week, from them and received his model yesterday!? So WTF is this companies problem?

Edited August 3 by grogall

[MKT]

6 hours ago, davidwhangchoi said:

i even wrapped the plastic sleeve inside the brown p-bandai shipper in the same pattern as came from factory.  

That plastic sleeve was a surprise. This is probably the first P-Bandai Macross item that comes with it.

 

6 hours ago, grogall said:

Still nothing from the super customer service from @LUNA PARK ! Maybe I should start warning about this mob on their YouTube site, and  their Super Customer Service! 😡

A person I know ordered his last week, from them and received his model yesterday!? So WTF is this companies problem?

LP didn’t even give an approximate date to ship your item? Just radio silence since release? 

[grogall]

53 minutes ago, MKT said:

LP didn’t even give an approximate date to ship your item? Just radio silence since release? 

They keep saying we will check with the warehouse... But no tracking # or firm shipping date! They also said that because I ordered two, that's what's the delay!? 🙄

Edited August 3 by grogall

[Radioguy]

33 minutes ago, grogall said:

They also said that because I ordered two, that's what's the delay!? 🙄

Could that be because they are coming through two different proxies?

[glane21]

1 hour ago, grogall said:

They keep saying we will check with the warehouse... But no tracking # or firm shipping date! They also said that because I ordered two, that's what's the delay!? 🙄

I only ordered one back on 1/26 and it’s still sitting at “waiting to be shipped” status. I haven’t emailed them yet but I’m getting irritated.  Anyone have a link to their site where it’s in English?  Because I can’t tell what all the links are.

If they have any common sense they will open and inspect the VT-1 stock they have and only ship ones that are not broken.  That way the factory damaged items stay in their hands to work out exchange with Bandai and they do not have to field a bunch of angry customer returns with shipping complications.  It’s obvious so they probably will not do that.

[grogall]

1 hour ago, Radioguy said:

Could that be because they are coming through two different proxies?

Look they have sent out probably 50+ units since the release on the 17th, received on the 19th. I ORDERED IN JANUAR, on the 27th. so saying that they have too wait for two is BS!! there are probably 5 people here who ordered after that date, and have received theirs.... 🤬

A store that doesn't work on a first order first ship basses is not practicing proper business etiquette! and charging people for premium, to think they would get faster shipping, but still delaying the shipping and for filling new orders instead, is just plain deceptive! But since @LUNA PARK doesn't even chime in anymore, shows where this is going! Nippon Yassin should be a reminder to everybody when you screw your well paying customers!

Edited August 3 by grogall

[vt102]

On 8/1/2024 at 9:02 PM, no3Ljm said:

From Facebook. Better check also the head's sensor. Said it was purchased from Luna Park.

I checked mine. It looks intact. But I didn't remove the Valkyrie from the tray. I'm so disappointed and disgusted with this purchase. It has been a while since I bought such an expensive item, and to have it broken right out of the box. So I made a impromptu decision and bought another DX (not another Ostrich). Hopefully this one will arrive, and arrive safely. 

[vt102]

2 hours ago, glane21 said:

I only ordered one back on 1/26 and it’s still sitting at “waiting to be shipped” status. I haven’t emailed them yet but I’m getting irritated.  Anyone have a link to their site where it’s in English?  Because I can’t tell what all the links are.

If they have any common sense they will open and inspect the VT-1 stock they have and only ship ones that are not broken.  That way the factory damaged items stay in their hands to work out exchange with Bandai and they do not have to field a bunch of angry customer returns with shipping complications.  It’s obvious so they probably will not do that.

I'm sorry to hear you didn't receive your order yet. Hopefully they are doing what you mentioned and inspect them before shipping out. But at the same time, some people want to keep theirs sealed. I was planning to keep mine sealed, but after seeing what's happening, I opened mine, and I am one of those that got screwed. I don't know what's worse, not getting one yet, or getting one that's broken? 😔 

[Graham]

On 8/2/2024 at 3:02 PM, no3Ljm said:

From Facebook. Better check also the head's sensor. Said it was purchased from Luna Park.

I just broke my head sensor in that exact same place, trying to get it into the correct position for fighter mode. 😭 

My fault for not being careful or patient enough and not studying it enough first.

I swear I hardly used any force though and it just snapped while I was trying to turn it.

[Chronocidal]

Yeah, that one is kind of a puzzler.  Fortunately should be pretty simple to drill, pin, and re-glue?

What throws me off about that piece is that it looks like it should rotate on that peg, but it does not.  The Yamato had the entire armature swing around the side of the head to transform, but Bandai's version has the entire head rotate 90 degrees, leaving the arm stationary.

The bad part of that is that the armature is also the easiest place to grab to rotate the head.  On top of that, if the multi-directional pivot for the sensor panel is stiff, any stress from that joint is going to transfer directly to that point where it snapped.

It's just.. it makes sense, but this is one more part Bandai should have made detachable, so it comes off before breaking.  I definitely caught myself pressing on the antenna while trying to get the head collapsed for displaying it on the gear.

Edited August 4 by Chronocidal

[Duymon]

1 hour ago, Graham said:

I just broke my head sensor in that exact same place, trying to get it into the correct position for fighter mode. 😭 

My fault for not being careful or patient enough and not studying it enough first.

I swear I hardly used any force though and it just snapped while I was trying to turn it.

I also broke mine when I was turning the head. Luckily some drilling with a 1mm bit on a pin vise and a paperclip and krazy glue later it's stronger than factory XD

[davidwhangchoi]

1 hour ago, Graham said:

I just broke my head sensor in that exact same place, trying to get it into the correct position for fighter mode. 😭 

My fault for not being careful or patient enough and not studying it enough first.

I swear I hardly used any force though and it just snapped while I was trying to turn it.

 

33 minutes ago, Duymon said:

I also broke mine when I was turning the head. Luckily some drilling with a 1mm bit on a pin vise and a paperclip and krazy glue later it's stronger than factory XD

if Macross World veterans are breaking the head sensors, then this is some fragile POS...

did they make the stabilizers and head sensor from dry playdough???

 

[davidwhangchoi]

@Graham@Duymon

https://www.bandai.com/pbandai-returns

P-Bandai returns and replacements

Doesn't hurt to try it

(edit: i know we don't have the order number as required on the site maybe the store/proxy that ordered may have it on file, i know it's a longshot...) 

Edited August 4 by davidwhangchoi

[Chronocidal]

1 hour ago, davidwhangchoi said:

 

if Macross World veterans are breaking the head sensors, then this is some fragile POS...

did they make the stabilizers and head sensor from dry playdough???

 

I wonder if we've got a batch of sporadically bad plastic involved.  I messed with mine, and it was pretty sturdy, but I also was really watching where I put pressure.

In short, do not push the head into place via that sensor petal.  It's easy to find your finger resting there. 

If it's too great a risk, you can actually pull off the spinning joint with the petal, it's just pressed onto the shaft, no locking mechanism involved.  I just spun mine a few times and it pulled off cleanly, leaving just the shaft glued into the head.

It actually might not be a bad idea to just drill out that plastic pin, and completely replace it with a metal one.  Wouldn't be hard to do, provided you find the right diameter.

[Sanity is Optional]

Well, mine showed today, and the tail fin is fine, still need to check the head though.

I guess between a broken VT-1 and a YF-21 bad head laser, I'll take the bent head laser. At least that can be fixed/replaced much more easily.