Lord_Of_Tetris

Hmm. Personally, I think the VF-31 is the best engineered transforming jet toy I've ever handled, but I also admit it's not my favorite design. With some of the more-recent Valkyrie designs, it really doesn't look like it should be able to fly. For example, the YF-19 and VF-31, in Gerwalk mode, have their wings connected to the body of the jet by some very-thin wing kibble. I'm fine with suspension of disbelief, but if I think too hard about it, it looks like flying too fast or making too sharp a turn would snap off the wings. By contrast, the VF-1's wings (in Gerwalk mode) are connected to the body just as strongly as the connection in fighter mode, and so it looks like something that can actually fly and maneuver. The insect-like design is...eh...an acquired taste. When I first saw the head of Messer's VF-31F, my first thought was, "What? I'm NEVER buying that...Waspinator-like...THING." Shrug. It's now one of my favorite Valkyrie head designs. I like the uniqueness. It still reminds me of Waspinator, but hey, Waspinator is awesome, so...shrug. The large wing kibble is...eh...something I can live with. For better or worse, the Macross jet designs don't transform the wings, per se, but more like the wings fold away somewhere. (To illustrate: Studio Series Starscream transforms the wings in various places, and Starscream's robot mode doesn't have huge chunks of wing kibble hanging off it). The Valkyries that best fold away the wings (in my opinion) are the VF-17, YF-21, and VF-11. Pretty much every other Valkyrie has a huge wing kibble problem. The VF-0, VF-1, and VF-2 have the wings folded up in the back like a large board. The animation cheats it with some mass-shifting wings, but even then, seeing such a large wing backpack on a toy makes it look very impractical. The YF-19 has huge wing kibble on its thighs. It looked cool in the 1990s, and it still looks cool today, but having it on a toy really shows you how impractical it is. Seems pretty easy in combat to, say, grab the YF-19's wing kibble and tear it off the thigh and bam, it can't fly anymore. Heck, it seems pretty likely in combat to accidentally break off the YF-19's wing kibble. The VF-31's wing kibble...eh...isn't that much worse than most other Valkyries. It's impractical, but not moreso than the VF-1 with a board behind its thighs, or the YF-19 with huge kibble that can break off or an enemy can grab. It looks to me that it's pretty easy to shoot at a VF-31, miss, but hit the huge wing kibble. Bam, can't fly anymore. But.....ehhhh..........I'm pretty good at suspending my disbelief. I don't mind impractical designs if it at least looks cool. I don't need mecha to actually look like real combat machines (though that would be nice), as long as it looks convincing enough in the animation. I grew up with Transformers, Gundam, and Robotech. Off the top of my head, I have no problem with Starscream, Blitzwing, or the Arialbots walking around with gigantic wing kibble on their backs. Shrug. It looked cool. Omega Supreme walked around with half-circles of train tracks on his shoulders, but it looked cool. Plus, have you seen certain Gundams? Wing Zero Custom's angel wings. Yikes! Seems like any sensible bad guy army should just bum-rush Wing Zero Custom and tear off its wings, but nobody ever does. My point is, I'm willing to look the other way if the robot looks cool and convincing enough, and I think the VF-31 passes that test. Plus, the positioning of the VF-31 wing kibble kind of reminds me of the Hyaku-Shiki from Z Gundam.

Uh. What depressor tabs?

It's official. I'm dumb. I've had the toy for YEARS and never knew about that. Thanks!

So uh. I feel kind of dumb, because I've owned my VF-19 Advance for over a year and I've transformed it several times already. But, uh, the gun points slightly downward in fighter mode. Is there any moving part on the gun pod so that it points more straight in fighter mode? Is there an add-on part that holds the gun pod more straight? Or is the gun pod simply a piece with no moving parts, and it's supposed to point slightly downward in fighter mode? I feel odd reviving an old thread, but I don't have a Bandai YF-19, so I didn't want to post this in that thread.

Could it be that the YF-19 is going through some mold degradation issues? When a Transformer toy is reissued with slightly different tooling, or in different colors, there eventually becomes a noticeable drop in fidelity. There's a subtle degradation as parts sometimes don't fit as flush, or pegs are a bit loose. I have a Bandai VF-19 Advance. Is it fun to transform? BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! NO! But once you get it into each mode, everything lines up. Every peg pegs in with perfect tolerance.

Your mileage may vary: I don't have the YF-19, but I do have the VF-19 Advance, and I never move the hips up into the battroid position. It's just too risky, and it only raises the legs, like, less than 1cm. Yes, it results in a somewhat thin looking battroid, but I do some creative posing and I don't even notice the thin waist. It's just not worth it.

Hello! What's the protocol for posting pictures of one's model kit on an older thread? I searched "VF-0 Hasegawa MacrossWorld," which took me to this thread. However, it looks like this thread was made specifically by and for Andrea's model. I built a VF-0 Hasegawa kit, and I'd like to show it off. Would it be appropriate if I did so in this thread? Thanks.

Quick comment. I have two DX SV-262 figures. One for jet mode, one for robot mode. One of them, I've transformed into robot mode then back into jet mode, which completely turned me off to transforming this figure. I sighed, transformed it to robot mode, and never transformed it again. This prompted me to buy another one, to keep in jet mode. I've attempted Gerwalk mode a few times, but it was so confusing, I never actually got it into Gerwalk mode. Seeing this thread come back to life has made me curious about the 1/72 model kit. I bought one and built it. WHY THE DEVIL CAN'T THE DX VERSION USE THE SAME TRANSFORMATION SCHEME AS THE MODEL KIT? Some of the transformation steps make SO MUCH MORE SENSE on the kit!

Question: Are these kits all one color of plastic? If so...which color? The VF-31 are far more colorful than, say, the VF-0, YF-19, and YF-21, which (heh) just happen to be the Hasegawa kits I've built. I love the outcome of the model kit, but I'm not an expert modeler at all, and I found it quite frustrating that all the plastic was the same color. If the VF-31 is also all one color, and most of the colors are the result of DIY painting, this would be a major deciding factor in whether or not I get one.

Won't that glue the metal to the plastic, and then the joint won't move?

Any suggestions on replacement parts or ways to repair? I couldn't figure out how to remove the roll pin.

AAAAH! AAAAAAH! Help help help! I just purchased my first HMR VF-1 mold. I hadn't even transformed it yet, and I noticed it was broken out of the box. I received it MISB. The left shoulder joint has a crack in the plastic! AAAAAH! It's the cylinder part of the plastic shoulder piece, where the pin goes through. AAAAAH! AAAAAAAAAAAH! How do I fix this? Is there a replacement part on Shapeways? Can someone sell me a junker so I can take the left shoulder piece? It is easily removed from the body of the Valk. I circled in green where it's just a C-clip holding it to the body. Help!

You know, I'm changing my tune after hearing multiple people report that, in the videos and magazine interviews, the designer says removing the legs is optional. I'm taking a wait-and-see approach. The way I see it is: I'm a hardcore "the entire figure has to be in one piece at all times!" purist, but I have no problems with a figure that can stay in one piece at all times but has the option of detaching and reattaching parts for a non-essential purpose. Off the top of my head, let's take Maketoys' Starscream mold, which includes Meteor and Lightning. Display pieces showed a full jet, and a robot that had the nosecone removed, which resulted in a cartoon-accurate smooth backside that led many to believe there was some ingenius robot-mode storage for the nosecone. And then we found out the nosecone was a removable piece. At first, I was put off by the detachable nosecone piece. Nay, I was outraged. Well, I gave Maketoys Meteor a chance. You know, it can totally be transformed without detaching the nosecone. Doing so makes the transformation a lot more frustrating, and it ends up with a nosecone hanging off Meteor's back. But, darn it, several Starscream toys have a nosecone on the back, such as the G1 toy and the Classics toy, and so I don't think a nosecone on the back is a huge negative. A few months later, I freaking love my Meteor and Lightning. 99% of the time, I transform it by keeping it whole, and I keep the nosecone attached during robot mode. Heck, I enjoy the challenge. 1% of the time, however, I save myself some frustration and just take off the nosecone when I transform it. With the way I see it, I'll probably go through the same emotions for Bandai's VF-1J. I can keep the legs attached for a somewhat more-frustrating transforming experience, and I'll probably lose out on the waist rotation. Or, I can save myself some stress and detach the legs, and then I can use the waist rotation. As I said, I'm a hardcore purist for the figure being in one piece at all times, but I have no problems with options. To a lesser degree, let's think of pretty much every toy based on the YF-19 and VF-25 transformation scheme. We've all been removing the shield from the jet and reattaching it to the arm. Come on. We've all been doing it for years. It's possible to transform the YF-19 (and its variants) by keeping the shield attached to the left arm, but come on, we've been removing it. I don't have my VF-25 toy in front of me (I'm at work), but I have several v1 and Renewal versions, and I don't think there's any way to get the shield onto the arm without removing it from the jet. PS. I know there's better examples out there than Maketoys Meteor, regarding figures that have optional parts removal for transformation. Heck, there's probably figures in my own collection that are better examples. But I'm at work, and nothing else comes to mind at the moment.

Not necessarily. I'm not saying I've discovered how it works, but I've thought of a way that it could work, in which a folding nosecone allows for a smaller crotch piece, no huge side profile, and still lets the wings close. If the nosecone doesn't fold up all the way, but more like a fold of ~45 degrees, then I can imagine a seamless look with a small crotch armor piece. Also, I'm at work, so the best I could do was an MS Paint diagram. Marvel at my amazing art skills.

Aw man, the legs detach and re-attach? *kicks dirt* I was hoping for perfect transformation.