Bandai DX Variable Stand (Smoke Clear Version)

Observations & Critique: For use with Bandai’s DX VF-25 and VF-27 toys (all variants)

It seems like Bandai has elected to sell all of their Tamashii exclusive items in black & white packaging which I guess makes sense because no one is ever going to see these boxes until they’ve already purchased the item.  The stand’s box does what it needs to do, it tells you what’s inside and gives you some hints as to what the stand is capable of.

While this may be an exclusive item it’s not going to be some sort of collector’s item.  In fact, being an exclusive pretty much just means this thing is going to cost you more than it ought to.  There are many display stand choices available to you, this will be one of the more expensive options.

The smoke/clear plastic is attractive, as is the overall base.  There’s some mechanical looking segments of the toy to make it seem like it’s hoisted up by some futurist hangar looking instrument.  For the most part the stand does a good job of keeping your focus on the toy, not the stand but I couldn’t help thinking that all of the connection points to the nose of the fighter modes were overly large.

The early adopters to this stand were rather vocal in their displeasure that the stand could not support battroid mode.  As a result, Tamashii indicated it would send everyone battroid connection pieces in Fall.  In the meantime, this stand is for fighter and GERWALK modes only.  If you own a Bandai DX VF-25 toy you’re probably thinking that you don’t want to display your toy in GERWALK mode so that means this would just be a fighter mode only stand for you.  The VF-25 nose attachment does make an effort to make GERWALK mode better by keeping the crotch connection elevated but it doesn’t really work.  I tried to show off my armored Ozma toy in GERWALK and the weight of the leg armors caused the legs to swing forward making it look like the toy was transforming from GERWALK to battroid rather than holding GERWALK mode.  As you can see from the photos, without the armor on the stand does significantly better.  Since the Bandai DX VF-27 toy handles GERWALK significantly better the display stand also works out better for that toy.  Unfortunately, one aspect of the VF-27 that makes it looks so cool (to some) is its oversized gun… a gun the display stand does not support in fighter mode (although it does support the VF-25 toy’s gun).  So, now that I’ve gone over the nuances of the design, let’s focus on the stand’s core.  The boom of the stand is an octagon so it can be removed from the base, angled, and reinstalled and it will remain perfectly firm.  There’s a support rod that extends from stand’s center to further lock the boom in place and provide support.  There’s also an option third support that can be connected to the stand’s plank for when you want to display a fighter mode toy horizontally.  The boom’s lock slides along the stand allowing you to pick any one of four possible angles.  Finally, to make sure the toy won’t go anywhere no matter how extreme the angle you choose, footcuffs are provided for both the VF-27 and VF-25.

The stand itself feels clean and sturdy.  There is no paint and the finish of the smoke/clear plastic is uniform.  The sliding mechanism is stiff and the fit and finish of all connecting areas is excellent.  This is a first impression but I findi it highly unlikely this stand will break when used as directed.

 

While the stand does allow for a very sturdy connection to the toy and lots of angle combinations it’s far from being higly adaptable.  There’s no mechanism at the end of the boom so however you have the boom angled is how your toy will be angled (with exception to GERWALK mode which has connection pieces that fix GERWALK into a different angle).  What this means is that if you wanted to display your fighter mode toy in some sort of a dive it’s just not going to happen.  Want to buy three of these display stands and stack them next to each other and show three DX toys flying horizontally at different heights?  Sorry, can’t do that either.

It’s a neat stand and it does show off the DX VF-25 toys in fighter mode very well.  I particularly liked my DX toys in sort of a 75degree vertical launch with one twist on the boom (that angle pretty much conceals all the flaws of either of the toys).  That particular pose is also very difficult to pull off with more basic (ie cheaper) display stands.  The real big benefit to this stand is that it really locks the toy into place.  I’ve had toys on other display stands where someone bumping a display case could have led to disaster but I’d never have any fear if my toys were on these stands.  In the end, it’s a very sturdy stand that doesn’t have the flexibility of some cheaper stands.  I’ll revisit this review when the stand has the ability to support battroid mode.

As promised, Bandai followed up there display stand release by mailing out attachment pieces for battroid.  Unfortunately it’s just an erect adapter without any articulation so you are pretty much limited to putting the boom vertical.