The quality doesn’t feel bad - some things are tight and it’s a small piece so I’m being careful, but it doesn’t feel like it will break. I think it is probably easy to scratch the surface, but as long as you watch the transformation video and know how the joints work I don’t think you need to worry about it breaking or anything.

 

I just received mine today. Some quick thoughts:

It's about what I expected from a new third party company that produced a transforming jet for ~$80. The materials are pretty good. The plastic is nice and sturdy. There's a ton of tampo paint applications.

I love the look of it. Aesthetically, it's awesome. It's like Zone of the Enders meets Armored Core meets Ace Combat. I love that the jet-mode thrusters become thrusters in robot mode. I love the Anubis-like head. I love that the jet intakes become his pectorals. Except for the wing kibble, you wouldn't even know this was a transforming mecha (I mean this in a good way). I have no idea if this is a heroic or villainous mecha, but it has an evil look to it.

He can stand very well despite the small feet. Just looking at it, you'd probably expect it's very back-heavy, but it's actually very well-balanced. Whatever pose you're going for, you can easily put the center of gravity above the feet so that it holds a pose.

Articulation is serviceable if you imagine this is a slow-moving Armored Core or Metal Gear-like robot, who only needs to walk around and point weapons. Knees only bend 90 degrees. The bicep is attached to a shoulder pad that also rotates where it's connected to the torso. In theory, this gives you some options in posing the arms, but arm articulation is nevertheless limited because the bicep is so small. For example, Kalavinka can't do a bicep curl because the forearm is so much longer than the bicep. If you don't rotate the shoulder pad, then he can only reach straight forward. If you rotate the shoulder pad, then he can do things such as reach up. At the end of the day, Kalavinka isn't able to do cool martial arts poses or dramatic body posture.

Some of the tolerances aren't that great. For example, to reveal the robot head, you need to rotate the cockpit 180 degrees, and threading a part through a hole requires pinpoint precision. The part where the shoulders attach to the torso are rather similar to the Macross VF-31 arm/shoulder transformation (this isn't a compliment), but more fragile. I can easily imagine the shoulder armature being a commonly-broken piece.

Transformation scheme is quite innovative, but I'm not thrilled that I need to remove a large portion of the jet to become a shield. I realize this is quite common in Gundam and Macross mecha that transform into a jet, but it just feels lazy to me, like beast figures where a large portion of the beast detaches to become a sword or weapon. However, I admit I've been getting pretty tired of jet transformations too similar to G1 Starscream or the Macross VF-1, so I appreciate the innovation that went into this design and the engineering.

There's a ton of options for how to display the various weapons. I love that you can display the main wing kibble different ways in jet mode, and the front canards different ways. It's like having several different jet modes. However, the non-jet alternate modes really don't look like anything to me, like the one where the two feet are pointing forward, or the one where half the jet is on top of the other half of the jet.

The wings end up as hip kibble. This is fine, I guess, because that's how the art looks like, and the toy accurately portrays that. However, the hip kibble feels like a wasted opportunity. I wish the wings had some more joints or hinges so the various pieces could fold up more, or that there were more axes of movement so we could get some dramatic poses the wing kibble. My favorite example of a toy that creatively utilizes wing kibble is Bandai's DX YF-19 toy (Macross series), in which some rather large wings compress into some fairly compact hip kibble, and it has multiple axes of movement so you can pose it all sorts of ways and/or easily move the hip kibble out of the way to achieve whatever pose you're trying for. As-is, Kalavinka literally has large pieces of wing hanging off its butt, with very few ways to pose it.

I'm glad I saw the quote posted below before I got my figure. I tried to put the big missile pods onto the wingtips...very gently...and I don't see how it's physically possible. The clips on the missile pods are too small and not flexible enough, and the wingtips are too thick. These missile pods simply can't clip onto the wingtips like the art.

It's not as good as, say, a Bandai DX Macross jet, a MakeToys' seeker, or some of MMC's newer products (such as their IDW-inspired figures). It's about on par with something from FansProject, or an early TFC product (Hades and earlier), or some of MMC's earlier products (such as the steampunk biplane seekers), or Wal-Mart's MP-3 Starscream.

For the price, I think I got my money's worth. If you were to get a Bandai DX VF-1 toy, that would be the price of three or four Kalavinkas, but I don't necessarily think the VF-1 is subjectively four times more entertaining than Kalavinka. If you were to buy TFC's J-20 toy (which I think is GREAT!), that would be the price of two Kalavinkas, but I don't necessarily think TFC's J-20 is subjectively twice as good as Kalavinka. It's a good buy.

 

That's actually what drew me to it.

I also have TFC's Black Flash (the J20) and think it's pretty sweet too, so hopefully they look good kind of facing off against each other.

 

I like to make the un-armored robot mode as different as possible from the armored mode. Here's how I like to display them:

For the un-armored mode, I like to point the wing kibble up so that you get a Starscream-y look, and I like to position the shield vertically.



For the armored robot mode, I do it mostly like the instructions. You pretty much have to put the wings down into "hip kibble" position, because otherwise they get in the way of the missile pods you put on the arms. You also pretty much have to point the shield backwards, because the weapons get in the way.


A lot of the fun is coming up with different combinations of weapons to display this guy with. There's a groove on his shoulder that's just the right size for one of the handheld guns. The art, the instructions, and the stock photos don't show it, but the fit is just right and seems intended.

 

Mine came in and I haven't had a chance to transform it yet, but just putting the weapons on the plane mode I absolutely agree. If you try to put those missile pods on the wingtips, you're going to break something.

 

Here's my preferred "minimal" jet mode. The instructions tell you to point the front canards forward in this mode, but come on, this is obviously based on the J-20, and the J-20 has the front canards pointing backwards.



Since the jet looks a lot like a J-20, I figured it should have minimal weaponry, because the J-20 has most of its weapons internally. With minimal weapons attached, I like to use only one of the handheld rifles, which fits in a hole under the jet, between the legs. Considering this figure has a lot of Macross vibes, I figure it completes the Macross-like look to have the handheld gun between the legs when in jet mode.



Even better, with the rifle between the legs, the rifle actually blends in and isn't too conspicuous.



Gonna play around with this figure a bit more before posting my preferred "totally decked out in weapons" jet mode.

 

Jet with weapons & alt modes :
2 missiles pods clips have been sanded for compatibility with wings. Consequently, they can no longer be used with front canards or forearms.

 

My thoughts after having some time to mess around with it over the weekend:

I feel it's not bad but not great. It doesn't so much transform as 'unfold', if that makes sense. Articulation is extremely limited. It's sturdier than expected - it's not super hefty, but after Gauge's post I was worried it would feel like model kit plastic or something, but it doesn't.

The manual is pretty cool with all the extras, but the most important part, the instructions, are absolutely terrible. I was worried that 'official' modes in the manual other than the main plane and mech modes would basically just be fan mode type things, but they actually tab in and such (with what little tabs Kalavinka has, anyway). That said, out of those the F-40 mode and hovercraft mode are probably the best, the others seem kind of dumb.

Not a fan of the hands - out of the hands you get, only the flat hands can hold the rifles, which ends up looking weird. Also don't really like that there is literally zero attempt to hide the head. It's literally just sitting there under the cockpit, completely visible.

That said, it reminds me a lot of something from Armored Core, which was one of the reasons I ended up getting it.

I do like how there's a number of places to put the various armaments, however I definitely hope to get the replacement missile pods mentioned if they do end up being released, because on the wings there's just a couple of spots they can clip to currently without feeling like they'll break something (the plastic is thinner there and they're sized just right for it).

 

Oh so this is from Bigfirebird... I assumed was some mecha from some anime I never heard of...
Nice design, kinda reminds me of a Tau mech. And also, Shockwave cosplaying as Batman.   Love those small drones, but they should have included some transparent stands for them.

 

Just got mine. Haven't transform. The rocket launcher clips are really tough to slip into the wings. I don't feel like i should risk it to force it into the wings and wait for those replacements. I hope they really are offering those to everyone who got the first wave.

 

Got mine. Immediately added him to my forces:



 

Decent quality plastic. I too was wondering what to expect after Gauge let us know what was going on, but it's fine. I am curious what second-run plastic quality is going to be like.

He looks great in both 'main' modes (I really have no interest in the other fold-ups). It's like I've seen described--like a cross between Macross and Armored Core. All my weapons tab in securely with the exception of that issue with the wingtip pods, but I can either sand down the inside of the clips or just not bother. I love the extra hands, and it's cool that he can hold his rifles with the stock hands meant for transformation. I do wish the 'gun-holding' hand didn't have the thumb so high, as it would be another cool way to hold his rifle.

Robot mode is good. A nice-sized 'voyager' figure, at about 6.75" to the top of the head (taller with the antennae). The colors just work so nice all combined, with the black broken up by the markings or the gold pieces. I guess he could be broken up more, but I really like the mostly-black look of him.

Articulation is mostly good. It's actually a bit too tight in places, but everything's held together by screws, so some loosening and/or RC motor grease should fix that. Worst case, some sanding. I knew there was no waist swivel, so much as I'd like that, it's fine. The one articulation problem that's a real bummer is that there is no way for the shoulders to extend sideways/out from the body. (EDIT: I found out the shoulders DO extend sideways--they were just really stiff on my copy and I didn't notice them until later.) Also, I'm noticing my gold paint is scratching off rather easily. I might have to disassemble and repaint myself if it gets worse. The partsforming panel isn't my cup of tea, but I knew it going in and just decided to deal.

Jet mode is just KILLER. I love the way it looks with or without weaponry. As much as I'm more about Robot mode, the jet mode is what really sold me on this figure. I think it was pointed out here or on a video review, but I like having the canards facing angle-backwards instead of stock.

I know he's going for about $83 at Show.Z, but I was able to grab him for $71 at preorder, and overall he feels worth it. I'm really hoping they make more of this kind of figure, with better care on paint apps and that greater range of articulation if possible. And maybe no panels needing to come off.

 

Question, when are they going to release the second batch with all the fixes, and how do we know if the seller has the second batch?

 

Dunno about the 2nd batch but I contacted Show.Z about the replacement missile pods and they said they've received them and can send them out after the 20th when CNY stuff is done.

 

Thanks for the news!

 

After the 20th of this month? That's great news. Is the plastic quality on the wings fixed too? I remember seeing some cases of fragile pieces of plastic.

 

mine from showZ arrived a few days ago(including customs delay) with 2 extra weapon pods that were much more loose.
they're too loose for clipping into the arms(the weapon pods can clip onto the piece of wing that fills the arm) but work much better on the wingtips.

 

Did you try to clip the extra pods to the canards in bot mode?
Thanks for your answer.

 

not a very sturdy connection, but it works.

 

I'm going to wait after the 20th for all of the fixes. I wonder which other sellers will have the new revision of this figure?

 

I shaved the missile pod clips with a nail filer....and they clip on fine now to the wings and the chest canards. Make sure you do this if you're part of the first batch to avoid damaging the missile pods. As you file try it on to avoid filing too much of it.