Post by fenrir72 on Mar 6, 2010 0:29:40 GMT 8
Yamato, the name gives you mixed feelings when dealing with anime figures and well Macross mechs. 
Why the heck can they design engineering feats in the form of Valkyries and most often than not shoot themselves in the foot?
Anyway here's my first Yamato product review focusing on the kick @ss GBP Armor for their 1/60 version 2 Valkyrie.
Please Note: Used the VF1-S Hikaru as the center mech (which never saw the light of day whatsoever in the animated series or the DYRL Movie. In fact, not counting episode 9 of Ms Macross, the armor was just shown for about 10 seconds in the DYRL movie.
And yet it's been such an iconic upgrade that Yamato even made a stand alone set for their Valkyries.
Contents:
Chest Armor
Shoulder and Forearms armor (4 pieces) x 2
Loin/Groin Armor (6 pieces)
Scram jet/booster pack rear thrusters are adjustable)
Shin guard/armor
Elevator shoes
kidding, additional foot armor to make it look more proportional
Close up full armor
Ready to fire (btw, I did not include the additional launch effect flower of doom blooming effects)
Size comparison with a Meltran warrior
The Rant:
My first exposure to this product was the 1/48 set up. First time I beheld it I was
!
It was like a monster, bristling with weaponry and all those beer can missiles......wow! But the price was waaaaaaay out of my league.
Then Yamato came up with a smaller 1/60 which was all but sold out every time it was released locally(that must have been ver 1)
Then came the complaints of the "imperfect" transformation issue which all the more turned me off from getting one. Later, ver 2 came out and I said....ALRIGHT! But it came packed with the VF1-J which, for all intent and purpose was THE Valkyrie for the armor(animation wise too) but for some reason........I wanted "Skull Leader" to get the honor of wearing it.
So waited I did and got a DYRL VF1-S Hikaru sans armor..........plus another issue with the broken shoulder hinge made me avoid the VF1-J like a plague.
Well it seemed that I was condemned to just own an emaciated Skull Leader when lo and behold, a stand alone armor set was recently released......lucky or what?!
Issues!
Plus and Minus
Minus first.
1. Missiles are no longer removable (good and bad in as such you won't be worrying about loosing them)
2. Chest chamber launching effect extension gutted out in the 1/60 version.
3. A pain to "lock" in the shoulder and chest armor
4. Marshmallow hands(sure it is anime accurate but I wish it was more gundamesque........okay then maybe it's just taste preference)
5. Less detailed decals unlike the 1/48
6. Flower of doom launching effect for the missiles (too white, maybe the smoke effect could have been made a bit gray)
7. Supposedly won't fit other versions of 1/60 VFs
Plus
1. Makes the Valkyrie look more macho
2 Extra armor attachments on the "open areas" of the Valkyrie battroid mode gives it a more "seal" protected armor effect.
3. Ver 2 looks more refined in design than ver 1
4. Adjustable thrusters for the scram jet booster
5. Missiles are no longer prone to being lost
6. OT flower of doom bloom launch effect for the missiles............anime accurate alright
7.Extra foot armor stabilizes the mech when standing.
So the plus and minus are a tie. Did I mention already that it also makes the Valkyrie look more menacing?
One negative I failed to include is that the armor is not use able in jet mode. Whether or not that was Shoji Kawmori's intent I do not know, and well it was in the early 1980's so technologically it might not have been realistically feasible.
Anyway as a whole I am really satisfied that at least I have fulfilled some of my Macross high school mech fantasy of owning a Skull leader and getting him dressed up in such kick@ss augmentation gear.
I give it a 4.9 out of 5.
Why the heck can they design engineering feats in the form of Valkyries and most often than not shoot themselves in the foot?
Anyway here's my first Yamato product review focusing on the kick @ss GBP Armor for their 1/60 version 2 Valkyrie.
Please Note: Used the VF1-S Hikaru as the center mech (which never saw the light of day whatsoever in the animated series or the DYRL Movie. In fact, not counting episode 9 of Ms Macross, the armor was just shown for about 10 seconds in the DYRL movie.
And yet it's been such an iconic upgrade that Yamato even made a stand alone set for their Valkyries.
Contents:
Chest Armor
Shoulder and Forearms armor (4 pieces) x 2
Loin/Groin Armor (6 pieces)
Scram jet/booster pack rear thrusters are adjustable)
Shin guard/armor
Elevator shoes
kidding, additional foot armor to make it look more proportional
Close up full armor
Ready to fire (btw, I did not include the additional launch effect flower of doom blooming effects)
Size comparison with a Meltran warrior
The Rant:
My first exposure to this product was the 1/48 set up. First time I beheld it I was
! It was like a monster, bristling with weaponry and all those beer can missiles......wow! But the price was waaaaaaay out of my league.
Then Yamato came up with a smaller 1/60 which was all but sold out every time it was released locally(that must have been ver 1)
Then came the complaints of the "imperfect" transformation issue which all the more turned me off from getting one. Later, ver 2 came out and I said....ALRIGHT! But it came packed with the VF1-J which, for all intent and purpose was THE Valkyrie for the armor(animation wise too) but for some reason........I wanted "Skull Leader" to get the honor of wearing it.
So waited I did and got a DYRL VF1-S Hikaru sans armor..........plus another issue with the broken shoulder hinge made me avoid the VF1-J like a plague.
Well it seemed that I was condemned to just own an emaciated Skull Leader when lo and behold, a stand alone armor set was recently released......lucky or what?!
Issues!
Plus and Minus
Minus first.
1. Missiles are no longer removable (good and bad in as such you won't be worrying about loosing them)
2. Chest chamber launching effect extension gutted out in the 1/60 version.
3. A pain to "lock" in the shoulder and chest armor
4. Marshmallow hands(sure it is anime accurate but I wish it was more gundamesque........okay then maybe it's just taste preference)
5. Less detailed decals unlike the 1/48
6. Flower of doom launching effect for the missiles (too white, maybe the smoke effect could have been made a bit gray)
7. Supposedly won't fit other versions of 1/60 VFs
Plus
1. Makes the Valkyrie look more macho
2 Extra armor attachments on the "open areas" of the Valkyrie battroid mode gives it a more "seal" protected armor effect.
3. Ver 2 looks more refined in design than ver 1
4. Adjustable thrusters for the scram jet booster
5. Missiles are no longer prone to being lost
6. OT flower of doom bloom launch effect for the missiles............anime accurate alright
7.Extra foot armor stabilizes the mech when standing.
So the plus and minus are a tie. Did I mention already that it also makes the Valkyrie look more menacing?
One negative I failed to include is that the armor is not use able in jet mode. Whether or not that was Shoji Kawmori's intent I do not know, and well it was in the early 1980's so technologically it might not have been realistically feasible.
Anyway as a whole I am really satisfied that at least I have fulfilled some of my Macross high school mech fantasy of owning a Skull leader and getting him dressed up in such kick@ss augmentation gear.
I give it a 4.9 out of 5.
keeping the site active as a place to dump info for easier backtracking. 