Minor/Repaint: Bandai DX Chogokin VF-1S repaint into G1 Jetfire

Discussion in 'Radicons Customs' started by sparkimusprime, Oct 23, 2020.

  1. sparkimusprime

    sparkimusprime Coffee+Black=Delicious

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    Oh heck yeah! I was thinking of grabbing some G1 repros and maybe a couple of others. I appreciate the heads up!:rock 
     
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  2. GrimCharr

    GrimCharr SciFi Geezer

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    Looks great. The actual Bandai/Jetfire toy always had a sleeker, sexier look than the Skyfire* mold they turned him into for animation/Siege, at least in my opinion. The later iterations just don't look like they could fly like this one does.

    I never really see these Bandai molds in the States. I looked on Amazon, and the price is eye-watering. Too bad.

    *I'll go on record that Skyfire is a better name than Jetfire, though.
     
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  3. sparkimusprime

    sparkimusprime Coffee+Black=Delicious

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    Thanks!
    Yeah, sadly there are no authorized retailers for Bandai macross merch here. To get them at a reasonable price you have jump through hoops and preorder them. Preorder night is still a crapshoot, though.
    I’ll concede that Skyfire sounds more regal and badass than Jetfire :D .
     
  4. Optimus1138

    Optimus1138 Well-Known Member

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    This is so beautiful. Makes me wish more than ever that we could get another mainline figure based on this design. While I still love the look of the old Classics Jetfire, the engineering is rather dated and his posability is just downright bad standing next to Siege and Earthrise figures, and the Generations one has a couple issues that just really bother me.
     
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  5. GrimCharr

    GrimCharr SciFi Geezer

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    If the Macross toys were more widely available, the molds may be more well known. I would like to paint or mod one a bit. It seems to be one of those things where the Japanese market is very specific to these, and there isn't a wide distribution for them beyond that.

    Watched a great Retroblasting YouTube video on the history of Macross/Robotech toylines and their availability. It really kneecapped Robotech's ability to have a toyline in the rest of the world because they couldn't use the Valkry molds. I'm wondering if the companies are determined to avoid licensing widely because of a feeling that they lost control and lost out on opportunities by giving away the Valkry mode to Hasbro in the 1980s. (Yes, they were paid. But they probably sat and calculated they could have made so much more if they had built up their own toyline/IP stronger than they had.)

    Jetfire was the coveted toy when I was a kid. It was the ne plus ultra of my collection when I got him. And long after other toys were put away, he always had a place of honor on a shelf of odds and ends because the mold was so cool.

    In a Japanese language class, we had an assignment to talk about Japanese cultural influences. I brought in Jetfire. The instructor explained to me how it was actually from the anime Macross and he recommended it. I of course had never heard of that. (I'd heard of Robotech, but it just went past me as a kid.) I had a sense from the Japanese that the Americanized transformers were really "for kids," but Macross and other IPs in their pure, Japanese form, were more sophisticated and mature to Japanese audiences.

    They may be. I started watching Macross episodes to check it out. I couldn't get through the first one, honestly. I am a Japanophile, but my love of Japanese storytelling leans more to Murakami and Kirosawa. I love the design sensibility of Japan, whether a Valkry or a V-tech engine. But I'm one of those kind of nerds who just never quite "got" popular anime beyond Akira.
     
  6. Optimus1138

    Optimus1138 Well-Known Member

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    Jetfire was always special to me too. Discovering the coolness of G1 Jetfire's toy (in 2006) was one of the main things that got me into Transformers, so Classics Jetfire held a similar place in my collection (I kinda ruined mine with Sharpies when I was little, I've thought about getting a clean one to do some proper customizing on). I've watched a couple of the Macross shows and I have some of the cheaper Valkyries that are available like the Revoltech one and two of the Toynami 1/100 scale ones, and they're fun to have on my mixed mecha shelf, but they're way too fiddly and fragile to be able to play around with much, and my new G1 character collection (mostly gonna be WFC and SS86 with a couple older CHUG figures thrown in the mix) just won't feel complete without a Jetfire that takes the design of his G1 toy but tweaks it just a bit to fit in better with the TF aesthetic.

    Based on Harmony Gold's actions it really does feel like they're holding onto the Macross IP purely out of spite and bitterness. They have to know that there's a market for those toys outside of Japan.
     
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  7. Gokai Tahu

    Gokai Tahu Emotionally compromised

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    What paints did you use on this guy? The finish is so clean
     
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  8. sparkimusprime

    sparkimusprime Coffee+Black=Delicious

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    I used tamiya paints. For primer I used their “fine” light gray primer. The red and black is airbrushed with two or three coats of semigloss clear.
     
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  9. Psychoshi

    Psychoshi Grammaton Cleric

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    This is amazing.
     
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  10. JackKnife

    JackKnife Well-Known Member

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    Then let me make your summer for you, sparkimus:

    Big West And Harmony Gold Settle Decades-Long Fight Over ‘Macross’ International Distribution

    Big West And Harmony Gold Settle Decades-Long Fight Over ‘Macross’ International Distribution
     
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  11. sparkimusprime

    sparkimusprime Coffee+Black=Delicious

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  12. JackKnife

    JackKnife Well-Known Member

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    Hey, like you I thought the day would never come!! I'm glad to be wrong about that! :yay:
     
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  13. RVDA

    RVDA Toy Designer.

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    Damn that's beautiful.
     
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  14. Paco Grande

    Paco Grande Well-Known Member

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    It’s fantastic that this happened but I haven’t seen any benefits yet. The latest Bandai DX figures are still only being sold in Japan and the VF-1J with armour set still cost me a fortune. Hopefully at some point we can buy DX toys locally.
     
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  15. JackKnife

    JackKnife Well-Known Member

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    Here's the latest I have on that:

    Big West Begins Global Macross Releases With Flash Back 2012

    Big West Begins Global Macross Releases With Flash Back 2012

    It will take some time for them to work out the merch releases in the US , but it's coming. The release of Flashback 2021 is just the start.
     
  16. CypherZero

    CypherZero Well-Known Member

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    Very impressive custom repaint into a G1 styled Jetfire. it's funny when I read comments of people who want a Masterpiece Jetfire, when all that has to be done is acquire a 1/48 scale VF-1S, and repaint it.

    Speaking of repaint, I recently acquired a Yamato 1/48 scale VF-1S, and have begun the process of repainting the Fast Packs and the jet itself. I'll post photos of my work...when I get the chance...
     
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  17. sparkimusprime

    sparkimusprime Coffee+Black=Delicious

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    Thank you for the kind words. I look forward to seeing your repaint. The 1/48 scale really is the perfect size for a G1 Jetfire.
     
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  18. Braddock

    Braddock Well-Known Member

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    I am so sorry that I came to this expecting to be very disappointed.....
    I am so not.
    this has been done brilliantly, and so cleanly!
    Well done dude, fantastic job.
     
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  19. CypherZero

    CypherZero Well-Known Member

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