Update: I see it being sold at Amazon for $178.20
Was excited by the news this July that Bandai was doing a version 2 of the DX Chogokin 1/60 VF-25F Messiah Valkyrie of Alto Saotome that originally came out in December 2008. The version 2 is scheduled to be released by October of this year, pre-order had already started in some online hobby shops based in Japan.
Bandai is boasting that this version is closer to the version found in the anime. Judging from the picture and the 1/60 VF-25F that I have, the renewal version seems closer to the 1/72 VF-25 model kits also released by Bandai that was personally supervised by Shoji Kawamori during its construction. I for one am happy that the crotch position of the renewal version in Battroid mode finally matches the one with the 1/72 model kit version. I tell you, I took a long time comparing the 1/72 model kit version with the image in the 1/60 DX VF-25F manual because I thought that they didn't seem right.
The pre-order price of the DX Chogokin VF-25F Messiah Valkyrie Alto Custom Renewal Ver is 10,150 yen at Amiami, 11900 yen at HobbyLink Japan, 11900 at Hobby Search. The 10,000 yen price is similar to the original release price of the 1/60 DX VF-25F Messiah, but thanks to the depreciation of the US Dollar, will cost more than the original if you are buying it from overseas.
