My first post...sorry for being long-winded...I just wanted to illustrate my long, unconsummated love affair with the YF-19.
I first saw "Macross Plus" during my junior year of college...the anime club projected the VHS tape on the big screen at one of the auditoriums on campus. Must have been about 1998. I was blown away!
First thing I did after I saw it was go hlj.com to see if there were any toys of that gorgeous mecha, the YF-19. All I found was a ridiculously expensive garage kit by Studio Half Eye. Looked fantastic, but pricey as hell, and I have ZERO modeling skills. Too bad. I'd have loved to have a toy of the YF-19.
I think it was sometime around summer '99 that I saw a story in Toyfare magazine, announcing the release of the Macross Plus planes. They were going to be made in Japan by a company called YAMATO but released state-side. No prices were given, but it was a good bet it would be cheaper than the garage kit, and plus, these were supposed to be good old-fashioned TOYS, with plastic and die-cast metal. Looked awesome!
But it was never released in the States. I am still not sure why. I guess the deal fell through. So now this amazing YF-19 is a Japanese exclusive. And I'm pretty sure it retailed for about $100!
In the fall of 2001 I moved to Japan with my then-girlfriend. (Big mistake, but that's not the point of this story.) I searched Akihabara high and low for the mighty YF-19, but all I ever saw was the infinitely less-desirable BLUE repaint, which had just been released. I didn't want a BLUE toy...I wanted the one that looked JUST LIKE the anime! I saw it once....in a display case..."not for sale."
I left Japan and forgot my dreams of the YF-19.....although I'd occasionally check ebay to see how much they were going for. Too much.
I returned to Japan in 2004 without a girlfriend. Much better decision. I would see the toy sometimes in Akihabara, but it was always out of my price range. I once saw it for only $70 or so, but a sticker warned that it was "used and broken." Not good enough.
Finally in 2006, I was delighted to see that Yammato was revisiting the wonderful YF-19 in it's original colors. In a new scale no less! This was bigger, badder, and even had a little pilot figure in the cockpit! It also retailed for almost $200....and teaching English in Japan doesn't pay what it used to. I'd torture myself by looking at it in the store....always looking, but never buying. Got even worse when they added the fast pack and the figure. I love the idea of the plane being able to hold the two tiny pilots in the cockpit. For some reason, details like that on toys really impress me.
I never got it. It was always too expensive, just out of my reach, and when it all comes down to it....it's just plain too BIG. I live in a very tiny room...I don't have room for a toy THAT big...it just looks cumbersome.
But it's been over a decade now....I still want a toy of the YF-19 as it appeared in the anime. A few months back I was in my local toy shop and saw the VF-19 from BanDai. "Hi Metal" it was called.
Man...it looked fantastic....great detail, nice compact size, but big enough to have some substance...and even a tiny little pilot figure!
If BanDai makes the YF-19 in the hi-metal series, I will FINALLY finally have the toy I've been wanting since I first saw Macross Plus all those years ago!! It would be EXACTLY what I had always hoped for!!
Hopefully...they WILL make this toy....I suppose it's just a matter of "when?" Any insiders know if such a thing is in the works?
