Luclin999

Have you considered collecting piles of broken plastic? Because that is what Yamato Valks seem to deteriorate into after a few years. Seriously though.. Paying hundreds of dollars for what amounts to pre-assembled model kits that all seem destined to have one or more pieces of bad plastic in them is just ridiculous.

Well my latest acquisitions have arrived.. I finally have a Takatoku VF-1J Max.. A little loose in the sway bar but otherwise in very nice condition for a nearly thirty year old toy. He'll make a great addition to the 1/55th Squadron. As will this guy... A Takatoku VF-1J with GBP. (bought for $120 shipped ) The figure is in fair condition at best with considerable yellowing on several surfaces but it is an original Takatoku and still works very well for a figure to display the armor on. As for the GBP... You can see the original owner of the toy decided to do some custom weathering/blast marks to the armor pack so it is definitely not "minty fresh" but the armor is complete and after testing on a small section in the back it looks like most of the "customizing" can be washed off. However, I will probably leave it as it is for the time being just to see how I like the current look over time.

I've had my 1/48th VF-1A on display untouched for years (only transformed once to put it into battroid mode for display) and last year I went to move it on the shelf and noticed a large crack in the leg coming off of the connector pin. That was the last straw for me with Yamato. I am -not- spending hundreds of dollars on these things just so that they can deteriorate like that in five years or less while just sitting on display (in a quiet corner, undisturbed away from sunlight or any UV source). After that, my money has gone into collecting the vintage 1/55th toys. At least they don't just start falling apart over time.

1/48 = 3 1/55 = 18 (3 Takatoku, 11 Bandai, 4 Joons) 1/60 = 3 (v 1.0) 1/60 = 2 (v 2.0) 1/3000 = 1 (Matchbox SDF-1)

And that right there is one of the reasons that I stopped collecting Yamato Valks last year and went back to my first love, the Takatoku/Bandai 1/55th scale series. My first Yamato 1/48th scale figure has now cracked at the hip connector and my second 1/60th ended up with the dreaded shoulder issues. I just can't deal with the idea that I am paying $100-200 for a brand new figure that has those kind of QC issues and overall just feels too fragile. Frankly, the Yamato valks feel more like pre-assembled model kits to me while the Takatoku/Bandai Valkyries were definitely built to be actual toys and as such were built to last.

I think that Ray is right. I know that my Strike doesn't have them either.

Congratulations! I just bought a Takatoku in GBP Armor and a blue Takatoku Max tonight too. Hopefully I will have them in hand by this time next week.

$1400?? Ouch! I paid $300 for this one including shipping.

My latest acquisition and now favorite piece in the collection.

Frankly there are things that I like about both the 1/48th and 1/60th scale series. However, keep in mind that I still have far more 1/55th scale VFs than I do Yamato valks.

I think after reading that I'll be having nightmares tonight... (goes to lock up all of the white out and magic markers in the house....)

Today is a good day... I finally got a Strike Valkyrie. I've been wanting one of these for years and now it is mine. Figure and armor are near mint. Box is a bit rough but complete with instructions, untouched sticker sheet, Minmai figure, heat shield and wing missiles all still in bag, Gun with clip and all ammunition still on sprue and it even has the Bandai Hi-metal mail-away stat card.

Sorry for the poor quality, the Joons I took this picture from is actually in shrinkwrap.

Those Origin of Valkyrie pieces also show up regularly on Ebay for a fair bit less(even with shipping charges) than what Yesasia is asking for them as well.

The plastic Joons used is a bit lower in quality than the Bandai pieces but not so terrible that it won't hold together when being transformed. There are really no diecast parts on the Joons figures. The only metal on them is the sway bar, landing gear and various screws. Also, the molds for these were clearly cast off of disassembled Takatoku/Bandai figures and as such there is a small loss of detail present in the figures as well as a slight variance in the sizes of the individual parts versus a genuine Valkyrie. For example, the Jetfire armor on my Joons VF-1J fits reasonably well but the backpack assembly is just a bit too tight on the Joons figure and as such doesn't allow the tail of the valk to sit completely flush against the back of the toy in Batroid mode (as it can on Jetfire). One other thing to note is that the quality of the Joons' valks dropped off a bit towards the end of their run. My early released Red and Blue Valks are a bit better constructed overall than my "clown" VF-1J that they produced just before closing up shop. Overall if I were to rate my Joons for quality on a 1 - 10 scale, with 10 being a minty fresh vintage Bandai and 1 being the all plastic junk KOs that can be found at times on blister cards in dollar stores I'd rate my Red and Blue VF-1Js at 7.5 and my red/white/blue "clown" VF-1J at a 6.9.