Arcadia: 1/60 VF 1S Roy Focker Special Movie Ver

[eriku]

Such a hard work is for toy companies to please everyone!

Yamatocadia has done a pretty good job of it, though. They have some grey ones for people who like that, some bright white ones for those of us who prefer that, some flamboyant ones for people of that persuasion.

Speaking of my brighty-whitey Roy, mine didn't arrive today like I was hoping it would. I'm wondering if NY actually shipped it yet. The status says "Shipped" but lists no tracking number (using EMS) and they haven't responded to any of my inquiries. Not a really big deal, but this combined with recent experiences other people have had makes me think this will be the last time I order from them.

[sreichma]

HERE IS THE REVIEW I RECEIVED MINE TODAY

It is really a misprinted TV 1S with the wrong pilot and free stand.

It is Bright TV white. Next to my TV Roy it is the same white.

It is a TV VF-1S except, it is missing the ejection seat warning on the nose, it has yellow arrows on the head, it has a DYRL figure instead of a TV figure, the animation hands are bright white instead of DYRL white.

It has waterslide decals.

[xrentonx]

I really wished they didn't go with bright white...

[Vi-RS]

They really should have went the other way around to off white.

[DarrinG]

Oh gosh - 1,000 times I agree - sheesh - rats...

[Reïvaj]

Not happy with the colour decision either.

[Raptor One]

It has waterslide decals.

Looks like I may be using waterslide decals for the first time ever in the near future

[YF-29 Durandal]

Why is it called ''special movie version'' if it's tv white?

[Vi-RS]

Why is it called ''special movie version'' if it's tv white?

Because it's in the movie paint scheme, but they decided to change the body from off white to white.

[SuperSenpai]

I guess this confirms that my long-held suspicion that there never really was a legitimate reason why the TV 1S and DYRL 1S were different shades of white, other than to make obsessive Macross fans think that making each one a different shade was somehow more anime-accurate.

[Jasonc]

Just got mine in today, and overall, at least it has a stand. Aside from that, it's just another VF-1S. Box art is whatever, the bright white is whatever, so overall, whatever. Wake me when they come out with the Max and Milia 1J, or something new.

[skullmilitia]

Why is it called ''special movie version'' if it's tv white?

It's got the DYRL Roy figure duhr's!

But really..

WHY NO TAKE A PICTURES!?

[barurutor]

For a moment I was having second thoughts about my Hikaru 1S preorder because of the mixed reactions to the Roy 1S color, but then I figured I'm supporting Arcadia and there was no Yamato TV white 1S with red trim anyway.

[Kanedas Bike]

Well at this point as long as they don't change the color/shade of white in between re-releases of the DYRL lineup.

That said I think the Hikaru and Max color schemes might look good in "TV" white, but with the Roy it really does seem like a waste of time/money/whatever when you consider a minor change here and there between SDF and DYRL.

-b.

[recon]

Correct me if im wrong, when i look through the screenshots of both DYRL and TV, both the VF-1S looks the same white tone to me. Although i would have preferred the DYRL valks to be of a greyish/white tone, the reissue of VF-1S Roy and Hikaru is still pretty good news to me who is playing the catching up game for both DYRL and TV variants, except for the missing ejection seat warning sign.

[jenius]

You're not wrong, there was no rhyme or reason why Yamato had off white for DYRL valks and bright white for TV valks.

[Falcon18]

It has waterslide decals.

Just waterslides or waterslides+stickers like the 30th release?

I'm not too bummed about the colour. Hikaru's my first DYRL? It'll look fitting with the TV 1S that I have.

[Valkyrie23]

I prefer the off-white color for valks sitting on my shelf. Good to know my panic buying of multiple DYRL Roy and Hikaru VF-1S valkyries did me some good in the long run.

[DarrinG]

Just got mine in today, and overall, at least it has a stand. Aside from that, it's just another VF-1S. Box art is whatever, the bright white is whatever, so overall, whatever. Wake me when they come out with the Max and Milia 1J, or something new.

Boy did you nail it. Wake me up when you hit the mark.

Right now I'm waffling between yawning and just scratching my head over their strange decisions.

I need to write Arcadia in the wish thread . . .

[sreichma]

Just waterslides or waterslides+stickers like the 30th release?

I'm not too bummed about the colour. Hikaru's my first DYRL? It'll look fitting with the TV 1S that I have.

Water slides + the full usual sticker sheet are included so 2 sets. The Waterslides are a duplicate of what's on the sticker sheet.

Here's the deal, I'm down with my purchase because its a flip top lid with a stand and its Roy. Yamato specific stands are pretty much non-existent now, so a Valk with a Stand is a buy for me. That said, I will not be purchasing anything else from Yamato in regards to VF-1's until they issue something else other than the two Hero 1-S's and Hikaru 1-J.

[derex3592]

any of you guys that DON'T want the waterslides --right here!!!!

[Gakken85]

It makes sense to differentiate them. And bright white makes it more cartoony and animation like...where as the goal of the film was to be more realistic.

[jvmacross]

It makes sense to differentiate them. And bright white makes it more cartoony and animation like...where as the goal of the film was to be more realistic.

But weren't they white in the film?

Pay no attention to these cels that show the VF-1S Fokker as more "greyish"...and Max's as "yamato off-whiteish"....

...or was that bright white?

.....maybe Yamato knows that die-hard collectors will re-buy them all in the "corrected" bright white schemes....and this is just a test to see whether or not collectors would be willing to plunk down their cash for a VF-1 3.0 regardless of how much they've invested in the 2.0.....

Edited December 10, 2013 by jvmacross

[Vi-RS]

But weren't they white in the film?

These are off white.

[SuperSenpai]

I get that Yamato/Arcadia makes an effort to produce toys with a lot of attention to detail because they are supposedly fans of Macross or whatever, but let's not kid ourselves -- they are out to make money, and they understand well the obsessive collector mentality that thinks it needs every iteration of a toy in order to have a complete collection, or that somehow thinks minor differences in coloring and sculpt make a toy more anime-accurate. It's funny because even within a given anime you see a ton of variation in coloring and sculpt, as pointed out in jvmacross's examples above. Look how chunky the valks are in those cels -- they don't look anything like a 1/60 sculpt -- closer to a 1/48 or even a 1/55 chunky monkey. Colors range from white/off-white to almost gray.

[Mechapilot77]

i always thought they were different becaue in dyrl they start off already in space...thus more dimly lit scenes= off white to grey look. sdfm starts on earth where you can see them in " natural lighting" adn they are clearly white.

[eriku]

Just got mine from NY. While the image of the box front is a bit uninspired, I have to say that in hand I find the overall presentation rather attractive. It's got a front flap so you can look at the toy without opening the box. With all the yellow & black the box definitely shouts Roy! But I didn't get this for the box so my commentary on the package ends there.

Random observations on the toy:

The toy itself is, of course, nothing really new. The plastic quality, tampo quality and overall finish are the same as what we saw from Yamato, which is to say excellent. It transforms smoothly and everything works just like it always did, including the feet that require excessive force to pull out.

I'm at work so I don't have a Yamato at hand to compare with, but the the diecast metal parts (plate/swing bar/shoulder bars) seem to have a different paint coating from Yamato's that matches the matte finish, texture and color of the plastic perfectly. For some reason I'm remembering the paint on Yamato's metal parts being slightly more glossy but I could be wrong.

The pilot figure seems to have a cleaner paintjob than what I'm remembering, or what I have experienced.

The backpack hook, shoulder hinges, shoulder sockets (under the shoulderpads), hip sockets and wrist hinges are all the same ultraviolet white as the unpainted kits. Were other releases like this or is that unique to this release?

While already confirmed by the earlier photo, the option parts are indeed in a small baggie under the stand tray.

The stand looks really nice and feels well made, although I'm at work so I haven't assembled it or tried it yet.

Careful putting the inner tray back in the box, the sheet of waterslides is taped to the outside of the baggie that holds the instructions and stickers and could very easily be bent if you aren't careful.

Overall I'm very happy with this. I'm happy to have a VF-1S Roy back in my collection and I like the brighter white so this release is a good fit for me. I also like darker decos, too. I guess I'm not really an "either/or" Macross fan with the white/offwhite debate. I'm pretty omnivorous.

In any case, this release is a good way for people to get a Roy without spending Crazybucks and it's a very good indication that Arcadia can and will continue to provide us with the same high standards of production that Yamato treated us to.

Edited December 10, 2013 by eriku

[Gakken85]

Looks gray to me. haha.

I think the ultra white looks kind of like something straight out of an animation cell and makes me think of the TV show.

[Valkyrie addict]

During my many views of DYRL I came up with the conclusion that part of the great animation details they went into was how lighting affected the surroundings. DYRL goes into great lengths to present its 4 main story acts in very different areas with different lighting. First in space, dark lighting made the valk look dark grayish as well as the Regult that looked dark greenish. You can see how the explosions make the Regults look gold, how Max closeup looks white. How in the initial scene with Skull squadron taking off the valk look white and the shadows looks grayish. There are many scenes that you can see how the shadows make the valks look grayish but in clear lighting they look all white.

I think the best place to see how they went into lighting affecting the valk colors is the Max and Millia dogfight, the stage is sortof at sunset with the ambient a yellowish washout making the sea look kinda of teal instead of light blue, as well as Max blue highlights, it doesn't look blue, it looks teal and the valk off white, but right at the moment when he enters the Meltrandi ship before Millia's ambush, before the light turn off, you can see the valk is clearly white with blue highlights. You can also see a nice animation detail when Kakizaki gets shot down, both Max and Kakizaki are in Hikaru comm view, when Kakizaki gets shot max looks to his right, where Kakizaki is, but in the comm view it looks like he's look away from Kakizaki instead of making him look into Kakizaki in the comm view that would be really backwards, a very common mistake I see a lot made even in Hollywood movies, DYRL did it right.

Also, best way to end the white/gray/lighting valk is Misa's uniform, during the opening scene her uniform looks gray, like the valks, but in the next scenes where she's in the ship with good lighting, her uniform is the usual white.

The off white was just a Yamato thing and I think Arcadia is correcting now because the DYRL Blue Ray show this detail better.

On topic, my Focker is stuck in NY customs....whyyyyyyyyyyy???? :angry:

Great review eriku, I'm happy to read Arcadia fixed the metal part off color to match. I detested that from the old Yammies.

[Vi-RS]

Honestly in the real life nothing is pure bright white, even any white cars that you see on the street are some sort of "off white" which can subtlety blend into the environment. IMO debating the white in the scenes is irrelevant, the answer is inconsistent shades of whites. You will never see any valkyrie artworks in white as well.

I don't know why Yamato chose to have different whites on the TV and Movie schemes, but the point is having pure bright white plastic on a toy is a bad choice.

[Bub]

Off white or bright white, what matters is that it DOESN'T YELLOW. That’s all.

[Vi-RS]

Off white or bright white, what matters is that it DOESN'T YELLOW. That’s all.

Unfortunately it does, that's the reason that using bright white on a plastic toy is a bad choice to begin with.

[Mommar]

How long does it take for Bright white plastic to yellow?

[eriku]

How long does it take for Bright white plastic to yellow?

Anywhere from a little while to never. It all depends on environmental conditions, sun exposure, smoke exposure, type of plastic, etc. I have white toys almost 40 years old that have never yellowed. I have white toys that yellowed in one year. I just choose not to worry about it because I have a lot of white toys, or toys with white parts, and the vast majority have never yellowed in the slightest.

As for this most recent Roy, people are making it sound as though it's some sort of pure, ultra white. It is not. It's not grey, it's not cream-colored, it's not a shadowy white, and it's not as dark as the Yamato DYRL toys, but it's certainly not pure white. He's not even as bright white as the unpainted kits.

Edited December 10, 2013 by eriku

[Vi-RS]

How long does it take for Bright white plastic to yellow?

It really depends on the environment you have, but all plastics age no matter what colors. Apparently bright white picks up all the difference. My first Hikkie 1J back in the 2008 shows signs of yellowing comparing with the reissue gray goggle version.