The Macross Thread

[QuinJester]

Hopefully Bandai will tweak that connection point on this release anyway to make it less problematic. It's not hugely loose on my DX Alto, but it's still a bit of a nuisance and I can only imagine the boosters making it moreso.

[eriku]

I wonder if a simple round peg/hole connection point would have been better. You can tell by the design that they wanted to try something new, something that in theory would work extremely well...but it barely works at all on mine. Hmm...I wonder if there would be any way I could just get a replacement part for that piece of grey plastic inside the hole that the T-peg locks into.

[eriku]

In case anyone here missed the CollectionDX Toy Fair report a few days ago, there is a particularly tasty nugget of news from Toynami...

"All of the Beta fighters are on display and George said that the factory that did the Beta Fighters now have all the molds for the Alpha, and will tooling them from here on in. There is a possibility that we will see all plastic giftsets that include an alpha and beta in matching colors."

Full report here:
http://www.collectiondx.com/article/...andai_tamashii

I think that is very, very good news. While I'm satisfied with my CMS Legioss/Tlead set, I would love to see Toynami's Legioss finally done justice with the good QC that the design deserves. I'd rather just buy a retooled plastic Alpha, since I don't really like the Beta enough to own two of them, but if this set becomes a reality and is at least as cheap as the all plastic Voltron, I'm in.

[Shin Densetsu]

"All of the Beta fighters are on display and George said that the factory that did the Beta Fighters now have all the molds for the Alpha, and will tooling them from here on in. There is a possibility that we will see all plastic giftsets that include an alpha and beta in matching colors."

Hell yeah, especially if they slash prices like they did with the plastic MPC Voltron! Please change the Alpha's hands to fixed pose hands!

I think that is very, very good news. While I'm satisfied with my CMS Legioss/Tlead set, I would love to see Toynami's Legioss finally done justice with the good QC that the design deserves. I'd rather just buy a retooled plastic Alpha, since I don't really like the Beta enough to own two of them, but if this set becomes a reality and is at least as cheap as the all plastic Voltron, I'm in.

Right on brother, same here!

See while I do like my CMs Zeta set, I found that neither the CM's Legioss or the Aoshima Legioss completely outdid each other. They balance each other out, as in whatever is wrong on one, is rectified on the other, but what is good on the other, is terrible on the other one. In some ways, both share the same bad traits, like the hands. The Aoshima's have better grip, but incredibly loose ball joints(nail polish won't work, good luck getting that tiny ball joint out without breaking it off), and plastic that may eventually disentigrate. The CM's has far more durable hands but the grip is terrible(mine cannot hold the gun well, the minute I move a joint BAM it falls out).

The plastic Alpha/Beta set might be the saviour of Legioss toys.

[eriku]

My 1/100 Alto just arrived! HLJ has been faster at processing/shipping than BBTS lately, which is just sick and wrong because I'm only dozens of miles from BBTS and HLJ is in JAPAN.

Now I just need time to sneak a peak at the little guy!

[delta7890]

Originally Posted by eriku

My 1/100 Alto just arrived! HLJ has been faster at processing/shipping than BBTS lately, which is just sick and wrong because I'm only dozens of miles from BBTS and HLJ is in JAPAN.

Now I just need time to sneak a peak at the little guy!

Be sure to give us your thoughts!

[Chaos Incarnate]

Pics!

[QuinJester]

Early bird for hte VF-25S Armored is up on HLJ

Macross F VF-25S Armored Messiah Valkyrie Ozma Custom

[eriku]

Pics:










Quick Review: Fiddly but not too frustrating and very nicely constructed. It's a quality piece and although I'm still not a fan of partsformers, I like it and I'm glad I bought it.

Random Thoughts:
I honestly don't understand the uproar I've read about this being fragile. Yes, it feels 'fragile'. It's a very tiny piece consisting of many, many small parts. There's no way for something like this to not feel fragile. It might feel more solid and substantial in your hands if it were made out of pure PVC, but then you would lose many of the small parts and most of the fine detail. I really feel Bandai did the best they could with this small scale making a piece that is meant to be extremely detailed and appeal to the adult collectors eye and yet not take up much shelf space. It rests on a plane between the DX and the 1/72 kit. If the DX is too toyish and clunky for you and you don't have the time or ability to put the kit together, the 1/100 is a good option.

The transformation was a bit of a chore, but the saving grace is that every single part made sense to me where it was supposed to go and how it was supposed to work. Nothing was difficult to remove or attach, nothing was frustrating, it was all pretty self-explanatory. There are very detailed instructions included, but I didn't need them.

Most importantly is that not once did I get the feeling that I was going to break something. Although there are many small and light feeling pieces, they are very high quality. Even the ball joints on the microscopic hands didn't cause any worry and popped right off and on with just the right amount of tension.

Battroid mode is very nicely articulated and holds poses pretty well. Some of the joints have small metal pins holding them together, which was nice to see. Mostly though it's a ball joint and friction joint affair. I like the chest/upper torso area better on this than the DX as it is easier to get into the right place.

Fighter mode looks beautiful and Bandai did an excellent job getting all of the pieces to line up and join together to avoid a gappy mess - a feat that almost seems more impressive on a partsformer what with all of the separate pieces that need to come together just right. One thing that will be a bummer for some people is that the legs don't peg into anything so if you hold the toy by the nose the legs will droop down a couple of millimeters. But keep in mind this is a very small toy so when you handle it you're probably always going to be holding the whole thing in one hand anyway.

Overall I really like it and I think Bandai did an excellent job. It's interesting to hold this in one hand and the Toynami 1/100 in the other because the difference in quality is quite striking. That's not a dig on Toynami, I happen to like their 1/100 VF-1, but they had to cut corners to make a cheap $20 toy. Holding them both makes it obvious why Bandai's 1/100 isn't in that price range. For me the 1/100 doesn't even come close to offering the same kind of joy that the DX does, but it's also a fun little piece of hand candy to just grab and pose.

I'm very much looking forward to the future releases in this line and I expect a lot of the upcoming valks which have simpler designs to have less parts swapping.

[pinoy78]

SCOOOOOOOPEDA!

Bandai is retooling the reissued DX VF-25F/S.
It looks like they are adding more attachment points.
Possibly to secure the Armored Pack?
The retooling will already be present on the G and RVF-25 variants.