Battroid mode:
Yamato said Battroid was the focus of this toy, designing the rest of the toy around what they wanted Battroid to look like, and they did not dissappoint. They really did a great job in capturing the chunky, yet agile nature of Battroid mode. I particularly love the look of the samurai wing kibble on the hips. If it weren't for those, you really wouldn't be able to tell it used to be a plane.
The spine is all diecast.
How many valkyries can you pose on one foot? This is probably the only one. The articulation and the balance is amazing. It helps having those chunky feet.
The shoulders open to reveal speakers. Yeah, makes no sense, but whatever. I think we've established by now that Macross 7 is nutty.
Bits and pieces:
The Basara in civilian clothes on the left is the one that comes with the valkyrie. The rocker one on the right comes with the Sound Boosters.
Missiles in the legs. Makes more sense than speakers in the shoulders.
The gun pod has an amo clip you can take off. Also, the gun pod attaches underneath in Fighter and Gerwalk modes. I just forgot to do it, which is why none of the pictures show this feature.
Extra face plate, should you not like the clown face.
Extra anime accurate shield on the right. Nice they included it, but unnecessary.
Typical Yamato engineering with the hands folding out of the arms.
Final thoughts:
Pros - Definitely lots to love here. This is Yamato's finest Valkyrie offering. All the years of trial and error have paid off. The QC is solid, despite the minor gerwalk issue, and some instances of people getting loose ankles right out of the box. Yamato changed their manufacturing to a different plant, which had much better QC control, and the change really paid off here. It really shows. You can transform this toy with confidence. The transformation itself is fun, yet easy enough to do. It takes me about 15 minutes every time I want to transform my Bandai VF-25F. It takes me mere minutes to transform this toy. The fluidity of transformation is second to none.
Cons - The only thing that really bothers me is the lack of fixed plastic fists that other valkyries came with, but it's a minor issue since the gun fits so well in the articulated hands. I suppose the red is a big turn off for many people. The VF-19 Fire custom looks like a Samurai Ronald McDonald on crack. If you don't like the red, there's the VF-19S alternative which just came out, in a shiny blue and yellow. This has different molding for heads, shoulders and wings, less gimicks and no Sound Booster accessory.
Another con might be lack of tampoo printing. The toy comes with stickers, but there are no instructions as to where to put any. Would be nice if this was the one valk that came panel lined for you, so it can bring out the details since the red tends to blur everything.
Price. It is EXPENSIVE. The change to the better manufacturing plant also meant increase in MSRP. The MSRP for this toy is a whopping 22,000 yen! (approx $290 cdn) You can find it at HLJ.com for 10% off. I got mine from HKCollectibles, which was the cheapest place at about $220 USD, which is an easier price to swallow.
It was worth every penny though. A must buy for any Macross fan. This chunky valk is so different than Bandao's sleek and sexy v2 VF-25F, but it is just as cool.
