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Yamato 1/60 VF-1D non "virgin road" review


Yuyuyami

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The fighter mode is extremely sleek and well put together. Nothing rattles, nothing shifts or slides under the pressure of handling it. What's especially nice is that, in contrast to the Takatoku Valkyrie, the legs peg into the fuselage.

 

I've heard a lot of complaints about Yamato landing gear being hard to deploy and stow, but not so with this guy. The front panels are easy to open without fingernails and there's a hidden third panel, under the knee, that makes the back landing gear easy to open up. As long as you don't close any of the doors, it's easy to stow the landing gear, as well.

 

One of the most striking things on the fighter mode is the canopy, which has an oily sheen to it, much like bath water with too much soap in it or an oil spill from a car on the ground. It gives me the impression of a one way mirror in that, from the right angle, it's impossible to see inside the cockpit.

 

The VF-1D also comes with a plethora of fighter mode accessories: a gun pod, two different sets of four missiles, Hikaru and Minmei pilot figures, and a stand adapter piece that clips to the under side of the jet just in case you have a compatible stand.

 

This jet is sturdy, well designed and fun to mess with. I give it a 10/10.

 

 

Gerwalk mode:

 

On some of the later Valkyrie designs, the Gerwalk mode has look incredibly stupid, in large part because there's always a huge chunk of jet hanging off the back with nothing to support it. The VF-1 Valkyries, however, are almost universally blessed with dynamic and well proportioned Gerwalk modes. The VF-1D is no exception.

 

The description "jet with arms and legs" still applies here and, unless you've seen how the Gerwalk modes really function in the Macross shows, you'll think it looks pretty stupid. Gerwalk is a bit of an aquired taste, but it's a good one to have, as a good Gerwalk mode deserves appreciation.

 

The only two flaws this mode has are the arms, which are absolutely dreadful on the 1/60 Yamatos, and the backpack, which can only solidly attach to the back of the figure in battroid mode.

 

I like this Gerwalk mode, but aside from thigh swivels and foot poseability allowing it to take on an A-frame stance, it's not any better than the Takatoku Valkyrie's Gerwalk mode. I give it an 8/10.

 

 

Battroid mode:

 

This is where the curse of the horrible Yamato 1/60 arms really comes into play. The hinge the arms are on does not lock in to place, which means you'll be fighting it as you try to pose the arms. Also, this hinge is notorious for snapping off on the older releases of the 1/60 VF-1* Yamatos, though purportedly this problem has been fixed on the VF-1D. I'm not convinced. The plastic is thin and it's under a lot of stress from the STUPIDLY tight ball joint on the shoulder. If you get a 1/60 VF-1* Yamato and you want it to last, you MUST pop off the shoulder pads and loosed the top screws on each arm so grip the shoulders have on the ball joint won't be so unforgiving. The shoulder pads will pop right back on when you're done. Aside from the shoulders sucking, to add insult to injury, the transformable hands are the most ugly things I've ever seen and I'm severely underwhelmed with the included swappable hands. It's not too much to ask that he could have a left AND a right splayed hand and a right AND a left gun holding hand.

 

Other than the arms, though, this figure is stellar. The torso is extremely solid, the blast shield isn't a separate piece and the legs have excellent posability. What I really like is how the Gerwalk knee joint allows the figure to move its thighs all the way forward, despite the air intake at the top of the leg bumping into the wings which would normally severely limit the poseability. It doesn't look 100% natural, but it doesn't look bad either.

 

The Battroid mode ain't bad, but the arms keep me from thinking it's good. As a display piece it's excellent, but it's not fun to mess with, nor should you mess with it like you would a normal Transformer's figure. I give it a 5/10 as a play piece and an 8/10 as a display piece.

 

Transformation:

 

The transformation is pretty complicated, though that's mostly because there are a bunch of tabs and such you need to layer properly and getting the swing bar in and out of the pelvis can be difficult the first couple of times. My favorite part is how the blast shield deploys.

 

There are several things to watch out for when transforming this: When going to battroid mode, the nose pushes up a centimeter or two, the arms need to be lifted over some small tabs, and the legs detach from the front of the fuselage by being pushed inward.

 

Overall, it's an inspired transformation and the only reason I'm giving it a lower score than I want to is because Yamato didn't figure out a better way to deploy the arms, which is why they suck. I give the transformation an 8/10.

 

 

Summary:

 

If you love Macross and Valkyries, I'd recommend getting one of these, but only as an MISB figure. If MISB isn't your thing, then you'll probably be disappointed. The arms, I feel, are just too delicate to handle a lot of transforming and posing. If you want something you can play with that will last, I'd suggest getting a Takatoku Valkyrie. Bandai has reissued the Takatoku Valkyries twice in the last decade and they didn't sell particularly well either time, so it should be easy enough to find one. I know for a fact that BBTS has a preorder for the more recent reissues, the Origin of Valkyrie sets, but they've been on preorder status for at least four months now, always reporting to expect them sometime in the current month.

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I have the new VE-1 Elintseeker, I like it, but I don't think it's a very complicated toy to transform, the arms are a minor annoyance at best. It's basically fold down the legs, swing out the arms, compress the chest and you're done. Pretty basic. Designs like the YF-19, YF-21 or SV-51 are more difficult to transform.

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