Hiriyu

I just received my first modern Hi-Metal toy of any kind this afternoon, a Hikaru 1A Super ordered via Mykombini on Ebay. I hadn't purchased any Macross toys for about 7-8 years, and had sold my sizeable collection in mid-2015. I had missed out on the earlier 1/100 Hi-Metal toys as I had been pretty deeply ensconced in the Yamato ecosystem and hadn't really seen the point of them back in the day due to the then-current price/scale factor, but nowadays that situation seems to have been inverted (Will wonders never cease? Smaller-scale toys are now  available for less money than their larger-scale brethren? Wow!)

Of late I've really been feeling the itch for a VF-1 to mess with on desk duty, and the HMR seemed just the ticket.

Pardon the superlatives, but what a great little toy this is! I had watched a few video reviews of the recent releases (thanks as always Jenius!) but still didn't know what sort of experience really awaited me in terms of handling and aesthetics. I am very pleasantly surprised and impressed by the quality of sculpt, detail, and the rather nice sense of heft and tactile feel from this little valk in full-dress Super form. In my opinion it is every bit as nice to play with as a Yammie 1/48, and maybe even a little nicer! The jointwork is all nice and tight, and the "heft factor" versus size recalls the original Hi-Metal 1/55s and even the 1/60 V.1 Yamatos. This little valkyrie looks great on my desk and is so far a joy to handle. Job very well done, Bandai!

I doubt that I will ever become a valk-squadron completionist again, but I think that I can now understand why a lot of people are in relation to this series... How I wish that we had these 15 years ago.

I'm happy to report no issues with my leg armor, although they were assembled backwards as received - thanks to all of the posters in this thread for your observations and anecdotes in alerting me to potential issues - it is much appreciated. 

12 hours ago, tekering said:

Wow, I thought spelling "Iota" with a 'J' was just a mistake they'd made on the hobby show placards, but it looks like they're fully committed to it now!  

It's not consistent with any English spelling convention, Japanese romanization system, or previous product nomenclature...  It's depressingly consistent with Mospeada merchandising trends, however.  Stick (sic), Ley (sic), and Fuke (sic) can attest to how often products are mislabeled by ignorant Japanese companies.  

The Italians seem to have done this a long time back with the Lamborghini Jota, an ultimate "tuner" version of the Miura supercar, and more recently again with an Aventador Jota tribute model for 2019.

15 hours ago, no3Ljm said:

Lastly, material-wise esp the plastic used. Do you feel it's the same or Sentinel feels more high quality?

I'm not locidm, nor do I have a Sentinel ride armor, but I can affirm that the quality of materials in the Beagle/Toynami were very, very good (aside from the cloth portions of the rider suit). Most of the plastic in the Beagle had the feel of high-end industrial casting resin - it had a very hard and "dense" surface feel to it.

I was hoping/thinking that the dark panel lines and gloss paint on the fast packs of the KC 1/72 was just the result of hand-painting for the pre-production display sample. If they'll come that way out of the box it's maybe a slight negative but not a deal-killer if the price stays reasonable. I'm more concerned about how well the hinged lower nose section will close up, and hopefully stay closed - gappiness there would really spoil the look in fighter mode.

I dig the Sinead O'Connor option head for Minmei. Or is it Ilia?

He should probably add some watermarks to his images. *cough*

I don't and haven't owned the Matchbox vehicle Voltron, but I've read that leg connection issues (and lack of articulation) are one of its basic design flaws. If it were me, I probably wouldn't give the seller too much grief about it, so long as it wasn't an explicit issue with breakage.

I think that EXO did something with his suit back in the day and posted about it one of the old megathreads.

I don't have mine anymore but I had thought about potentially using electrical shrink tubing as it is very thin, flexible, and available in lots of different colors and diameters.

The appearance is much improved with the markings applied. I appreciate hearing your take on the toy, as I know you have a pretty balanced perspective on Mospeada merchandise. Thanks for the update Ignacio!

A google translation of the auction copy reads:

Quote

 

Is this version anticipated overseas sales or bullets (missiles) not attached because of safety standards.

It is painfully painted the notation of the box bullet purposely. (It is not graffiti, it is a reason that it is said to be a rare item.If it was sold or not sold it is unknown)

 

Because it is old, the box has damage.

 

Very unusual, sold goods after changing the package after the program ends.

Characters that also carry titles are unique ones.

The design of the box is iota, but the contents are zeta.

Are all three Types of Legios posted next to the box, probably all in the same box and you do not know if you can not open it? I guess.

 

 

I do not know what was released in the background but it seems to be a genuine article.

However, even among collectors, it is a problem item that speculation is jumping over how many versions are not known, even though the whole picture is unknown.

We obtained it at a toy event.

 

Seems indeed to be a late-production clearance/export model.

4 hours ago, ArchieNov said:

 

No, it’s neither of those. The ones I had didn’t have any numbers or letters marked on it. I’m almost about to believe that what I had were unofficial figures. But they were definitely high quality though so it’s hard to think they were bootlegs.

Gakken made several small ride armor variants. How about these?

You really do have to handle the 1/35 Gakken to understand why it's held in such high revere. Like the 1/55 VF-1, it is an extremely well-engineered toy with an excellent build quality. The joints are fluid and everything about it has a great tactile feel. Like the others have said, when judging its appearance it deserves to be appreciated within the context of its era.

All four of my MPCs remained intact up until the time I sold them in mid-2015. I dodged the bullet on the crumbling hand issues for the first three completely (the hands weren't an issue on the fourth-release Shadow fighter as they were of different design and material), and was generally lucky enough not to have any durability issues myself. The person who bought my Green alpha wasn't as lucky though, as he reported that the arm was broken when he took it out of the box.

Leg-ee-os is how they generally pronounce it in the show.

Interesting on the wing hardpoint breakage. It looks like the hardpoint was superglued in *over* an already painted surface. That's pretty freaking amateur.

Thanks for the link. I had seen the colored pictures of the Megaroad in Cruiser Mode before - I think that it appears in several of the common source books (Miyatake Design Works etc) but your above post was definitely the only time I've seen colored artwork of the attacker configurations. I do believe that I have seen the colored early versions of the Gerwalk armor suit and pod from your link before, but it's always nice to see more of those images archived here

On a semi-off topic tangent, looking at the Breast Fighter and the very early versions of the Valkyrie always gives me the distinct impression that Miyatake had a very heavy influence on the final design of what we know as the VF-1. 

@jvmacross Great photos. I've never seen the colorized pictures of the pre-production Megaroad and Breast Fighter before, only the b/w lineart. Very neat to see these, thanks.

Could it actually have retractable feet? It would seem to be one or the other.

They look like they could be Chia-Valks. No thank ya.

On 10/13/2017 at 9:33 AM, no3Ljm said:

Ok. Let's review this...

SDF-1 floating above. Check.

 

It looks like it's got the SDF-2 / Megaroad-style bridge:

Just spitballing, but there's another possible scenario that I've wondered about. Given that HG is already established as a distributor in the US and has already been granted US trademarks, I'd guess that there may be a possibility that Tatsunoko could renegotiate rights with HG with the proviso that HG be bound to honor any potential distribution arrangement between SN/BW and Tatsunoko for distribution of the sequels. It wouldn't be the most positive possible outcome, or indeed most likely, but it would potentially give each of the companies presently involved a piece of the existing pie and an expansion of the pie for all involved (well, except for maybe HG).

Tatsunoko would likely have more favorable prospects by cutting HG out of distribution entirely, but then would have to come to some kind of distribution arrangements for America on its own. If SN/BW want to have an American distribution, they pretty much have to work with Tatsunoko, but they carry a pretty large bargaining chip in the form of the sequels. Of all of the companies, HG would seem to have the weakest position in a license shake-up.

Whatever happens it will be interesting to watch.

Was quite bummed to hear the news. Great actor and musician. RIP Harry.

On 9/15/2017 at 0:41 AM, gingaio said:

Where we differ on the degrees of silliness, yes, I suppose that's subjective, too. Turning it over in my head, a space chopper does still seem a bit sillier than a space jet with wings, in the way that a Megazord seems a bit sillier than a Mobile Suit, even though both are inherently ridiculous. But I would have to add a big IMO to that. 

Your degrees of silliness comment recalls something my stepbrother told me back when I was 12 and building a 1/72 variable Valkyrie kit. He was a few years older and of a very regimented turn of mind (he later studied as an astrophysicist at an Ivy league school). He took a look at the model I was building, the instructions, and the box art, and quite magnaminously declared, "Wow. This is much less stupid than all of those other robots you have."  It was quite the compliment.

I trust Toynami about as far as I can throw an Eldorado, but heck yeah. Bring on the Auroran.

On 8/8/2017 at 3:40 PM, jvmacross said:

Only the VF-1S, more or less, was released in a similar scheme as the original Takatoku Henkei....

There were no Max, Millia, Hikaru VF-1J's or the VF-1A brownie....at least not from the Convertors line you seem to be referring to....

 

Here are the VF's that were released from that line....incidentally they all use the VF-1S mold....

 

I do remember a non-Convertors version that was sold in a couple of local SoCal drugstores and knickknack shops when I was a kid in the '80s - they may have been unauthorized versions, or imports from another market. I do not remember the name/label that they were marketed under, but they did use the Takatoku  TV color schemes and artwork on the packaging (they were blister carded like the Convertors). The only thing I remember from the packaging is that they were badged as "Battroid Walkyries".