Scyla

Great job on the weathering and panel lining MacrossJunkie and pretty cool pictures. Does are not the worst pictures of different shades of green plastic on the RVF-25 V1. I really liked the toys when I first saw them but in comparison with the Renewals they made me realize how hideous they are.

Repacking some of my Renewals and I came up with a theory why the wings are bend upwards. It's due to the packaging! So the Yamato toys being stored in plastic trays only with foil on the parts that are in danger of being damaged (like the position lights). On Bandai toys you have the whole toy packaged in a plastic bag that is then stored in a styrofoam tray. If you are not careful about it when you press the toy inside the tray the plastic bag will apply force upward when rubbing against the styrofoam. Since the wings are wide and light this force will bend the wings upward. An extended amount of time in this position will bend the wings permanently. I thought of this because my RVF-25 was packaged in a way that forced one wing to separate from the legs and was bend more then all my other wings on the Renewals. What do you think? Does it sound plausible?

With this big head I'm eager to see a VF-1J model since on the Yamato onces the chin of the the J looks always to small, I really like the head that wee see in the show after the commercial break. Like in this scene where you can't see the chin but I'm sure you know what I mean. And I'm sure that someone had to point that out it's the same thing with Star Wars. When you constantly in contact with stuff that finished you feel the urge to improve it even if it's perfect. Maybe Kawamori is constantly fiddling around with his past designs (due to requests from toy and model companies) so he tries something different every time. That might happened here if Kawamori was involved in this kit.

As I said in another thread the good thing about the ankle design of the Frontier Valkyries from Bandai is that the hide the ball joint pretty well. The VF-171 has a beefy metal bar that slides in and out of the legs so when the legs are fully extended it still looks decent. Every time I pose the toy I extend the angles as far as they need do be to hold the pose. On the VF-25/YF-29 line I extend the ankles all the way. Since the renewals don't have that Urkel pants look of the V1s they look pretty good. On my VF-19/17 from Yamato I generally try to push the ankles as far as possible since their ankles are really skinny and for me makes it apparent that they are toys since a "real" Valkyrie would have a massive jet engine where the Yamato ones have two small die-cast rods with a ball in the middle. In general I feel that the angles should be pushed in as far as possible to give the Valkyrie a more beefy look especially for the stylized Valks from Macross 7 which have those super hero proportions.

Well I transformed mine back to Battroid today and know the damn thing won't lock together. Sometimes I wish I am a Fighter-Mode only guy but no, I have to play with those damn toys. Curse you inner child!

I would've felt the same way if the ELINT-fin could swing all the way back but the parts hinders the movement a bit. As I said those issues are no deal breakers but nitpicks. However I just get the feeling Bandai was lazy. This might sound like I have major problems with the toy but I don't. Its just... the potential for a great toy is there but someone at Bandai decided not to go the way to awesomeness but stop an inch before it.

Handling my RVF-25 for the first time it still baffles me why they felt the need to include the extra parts for the gun-pod. I managed to get the Gerwalk support strut with the gun attachment slit through the bicep and was able to clip in the gun. It is a bit to large to sit on the landing gear or in the stand but you can swoosh around with it. There had to be away to include a folding part or a slider to attach the gun without any extra parts. The same goes for the shield and the ELINT-fin. I feel Bandai was lazy with this one. The positive thing is it came with all the parts is in pristine condition and has tight joints. I think this is QC wise the best of the last 5 Renewal releases I own (counting the YF-29) with the YF-29 30th Anniversary addition being by far the worst. It has a small paint scruff on the underside of the radome but that is easily fixed. The intake clips that clip the legs into the main body are not as rigid as on the others but I don't think this is a problem if it stays that way. As it is it makes the toy easier to transform. Great toy! Love my complete Skull Squadron now bring the drones Bandai!

I think both a glossy and a matte finish can look good but the should be consistent. I don't like that my VF-19S is glossy and the other Macross 7 toys are matte. Why does the VF-19 have to be the odd man out all the time. I always thought that all the Valkyries have a rotating cockpit so that they don't get confused when the VF is facing a different direction than they do. In space it is not that big of a deal if you can't see whats happening outside and only have monitors showing you whats happening but when fighting on something with an atmosphere the gravity pulls you towards the ground and the ear is telling the body where the directions are. Don't know if you feel acceleration forces in space but it must be really disturbing if you feel the applied force in one direction and look in the other. That the VF-19 toys cannot close their cockpit is due to limitations I guess but in fiction the cockpit should rotate with opening the canopy. If I get that wrong with my limited Macross knowledge let me know.

Did this happen to any unit of the previous release? I changed mine from Battroid to Gerwalk and it seems fine. I need to check out the hinge.

The black gun-pod is still sparkling so not really an improvement.

Yes in the line-art they just fold in. However I always thought that the sliding part was cool and the process on the VF-19 was a little boring due to less moving parts. You could say that from an engineering standpoint I prefer the current YF-19 over the VF-19. I don't say that I don't like the canopy color I just pointed out that some people are not happy about that.

I think that the gun-pod can clip with the top of the barrel into the shield thats why it is stored perpendicular. I cannot imagine that it is pegged into the arm.

On the predecessor the tail fins could slide upwards and then fold in where on the VF-19 they only fold in. On the CAD image is a seam that goes through the entire lower leg indicating no moving parts in this area. So I figured that the only way the tail fins move is to fold inside just like on the VF-19.

Some people won't be happy that the gap in the chest plate is still there and that the canopy tint is still purple. It seems like this time the gun-pod can be attached to the shield. Also the tail fins seem to fold in in the same boring way as they do on the VF-19

Makes you wonder how the next generation of VFs would look like. Guess we find out in five years when they present the VF-35. Hopefully nor more 180° torso rotations between the LERXs and nosecones folding between the front landing gear doors. Back to the VF-25. I can't wait to open the RVF-25 that is currently sitting at home. On a side note I think a new Macross show should have lots of female Valkyrie pilots so I don't have that nagging feeling in my head that something is wrong when I cuddle with my Valkyries (especially the RVF-25).

Thanks for the explanation. When I said differently designed I meant that on the VF-25 the metal block that is the ankle is meant to be visible when the foot extends. I thought the VF-171 has a block inside of the legs that hides the skinniness of the ankle better. On the VF-19 they're not hidden and on the Shaorins picture you can clearly see the skinny ankle which I think looks ugly. For me this destroys the look of the Valkyrie because it is now obvious that it is a toy where a "real" VF-19 would have some sort of massive thruster block. Sure they are all ball joints so you have a similar design I just think that Bandais Valkyries hide that better but maybe I have a wrong image of them in my mind. So if Arcadia manages to hide that and allow for a good Gerwalk-Mode I will be glad otherwise the YF-19 will be a excellent toy if the incorporate all the improvements from the VF-19 line. Not perfect but still excellent and worth the money Arcadia is asking for (I assume 30k Yen ).

Really? Hm, I thought they had more bulk in the ankles then the VF-19. Gonna have to check them when I'm back home, where a pastel green something is awaiting me.

The Gerwalk-Mode of the VF-19 line is certainly the weakest of the three and its one thing where Arcadia can improve. In the VF-19 thread there was a picture of the previous iteration of the YF-19 that shows how much you can tilt the feet of the Valkyrie downwards allowing the feet to come forward under the front of the fuselage. This allowed for a pretty good looking Gerwalk pose. The bad ankles of the VF-19 in addition with not enough leg movement especially in the Gerwalk-joint make them look bad for my aesthetic sense. Because of the long forward fuselage and the general leg placement of the VF-19 design the feet have to come a long way forward to give a balanced look. Another thing of the VF-19 angles is that they are to skinny when you expose the joint which I do when I pose the Valk with its other Macross 7 siblings. The VF-19 in Battroid-Mode is just to small and spindly compared to the others so I extend the legs to make it taler which exposes the join. Of course a solid block of metal in the angles would've resulted in a $50 higher MSRP and the missing missile launchers in the legs and maybe missing rear landing gear. I always liked the way the ankles are in Bandais Renewal (+YF-29) and VF-171 line. Of course they are different planes that are differently designed but once again this is an area where Arcadia can improve. I'm eagerly awaiting more prototype pictures from them.

Just be careful when you're moving the ankles. If you feel drag when tilting the feet downwards better stop. Jenius has shown in his video review for the VF-19 a way to pose the toy in a semi-decent Gerwalk-pose without stressing the joints. Check it out.

I sure hope so!

I know what you mean. For me the YF-19 always looked like real military gear and not like an anime superhero like the VF-19 from Macross 7 does.

Where are those pictures being taken? Seems unlikely to be the Arcadia showroom since there are a Bandai YF-29 Durandal and VF-27 Lucifer displayed on the right wall in the second picture. According to the google translator the text reads: Luxury VF deformation exhibition now so it seems like some kind of Macross the Deformation or something. Love the first quote: Ramp⁈ of mystery It is a ramp of mystery indeed.

I think they look already bulkier on the CAD images compared to the previous YF-19. Since I don't have the previous iteration I can't say this for sure.

Thanks for the review. The 50 shades of green look awesome but the more I see about the additional attachment pieces the more I'm dissatisfied with them. Especially for the gun-pod. It's confusing for me why they didn't adapt the awesome solution from the VF-25G for this plane. Maybe they forgot and hat to add a quick fix (like the part that keeps the legs together in the Armored Messiah configuration). For the shield it could be as simple as a slider on the forearms for the ELINT-fin. I know that the fin wouldn't sit line art accurate on the arm know but I'm pretty sure that in the 3d model of the RVF-25 they just jammed the shield into the fin without thinking about it. Oh well enough ranting for today maybe the solutions make a little bit more sense when I have the Valk in hand.

Hehe, reminds me of my MP Rodimus who I had for 6 month until I was able to get him to alt mode. Those damn feet.