Evolution Toy - VF-2SS Valkyrie I 《MACROSS II ~LOVERS AGAIN~&#1

[charger69]

This VF-2SS toy from Evolution absolutely does not appear to be designed with any SAP attachment points. There's no slots, holes, pegs, tabs etc at all in evidence for connecting a SAP to.

Graham

Sad but true...

[Brand-X]

Ah, I hadn't even thought of that. I simply assumed that there's no way a company would release a VF-2SS without the option for a SAP pack.

I was super excited about this, even though it's not up to par with its competitors, but I think I'm going to have to pass on it now.

[aceoftherebellion]

I'm not heartbroken over the probability of no SAP. It would be really nice to have, but honestly, it's an expensive enough toy as it is. I imagine having a big honking accessory pack would just push the price up that much higher, and really the SAP is pretty meaty. Maybe not Armored-parts big, but big enough that adding it probably would push the final price tag up enough to make it that much harder to justify.

I said before and I'll say again, no matter what flaws/omissions/issues it might have, I'm just happy to finally be able to put a VF-2SS on my shelf. Being able to have a valk from every macross production? That level of completion was a pipe dream six months ago. I thought it would never happen. Now it is.

[spanner]

Also, I'll say what I said a few pages back.

This VF-2SS toy from Evolution absolutely does not appear to be designed with any SAP attachment points. There's no slots, holes, pegs, tabs etc at all in evidence for connecting a SAP to.

So I sincerely doubt that Evolution is planning to release a stand-alone SAP that can attach to the VF-2SS. So all of you expecting and hoping for a SAP accessory are likely to be dissapointed.

What I think will happen is that if the toy sells well enough, Evolution will modify the tooling and release a revised version including a SAP (that may or may not be removable, depending on how ambitious they feel).

Graham

At this point there are still many unknowns with the Evolution toy.. we haven't seen any further development photos of their product so we don't know how far things have come along. Maybe they have done more research and development incorporating improvements and features but are yet to reveal any of it. I guess we can only just wait and see how things pan out.

But I kinda get the gut feeling that this Valk may be Evolution Toys one and only attempt at anything Macross.. The fact pointed out by Graham that there appears to be no visible indication of any way to attach add on parts which further convinces me that this toy was only ever meant as a "testing the waters" affair and they indeed have made no plans for any additional parts or variants to be made available.

Are those people who have placed pre-orders based on the photos we have seen so far really that happy or content with the toy in its current and possibly release state?

Even early prototype photo's of past and current Yamato/Arcadia & Bandai Valks this early before release looked a heck of a lot more complete than the Evolution Toy does.

I dunno.. maybe im being too critical at this early stage and need to give things a little more time perhaps?

Edited July 23, 2015 by spanner76

[D' only]

preordered one from NY.

[MacrossJunkie]

The SAP would have been nice, if nothing else than to hide some of the shortcomings of the toy.

Hmmm, I feel like I said something similar about the v1 VF-25 releases and the super parts.

[chyll2]

The SAP would have been nice, if nothing else than to hide some of the shortcomings of the toy.

Hmmm, I feel like I said something similar about the v1 VF-25 releases and the super parts.

so should we wait for the renewal version?

[eriku]

I have never tried it. The rumor is possible blacklisting, they are not a friendly bunch that's for sure. I wonder if anyone has had success in cancelling and keeping their account?

I've cancelled with them intentionally a couple of times, and one time they cancelled on me because I was on vacation and unable to make a payment when the notice came in. I've never had any problems. I keep my communication with them concise, honest and polite and they have never made any threats.

The bigger risk with AmiAmi is their return/exchange policy. Basically if you get something with a problem you are pretty much stuck with it.

As for the SAP- I don't personally need or even want one but we have some very creative folks here at MW so maybe a set will be custom made for those who want one.

[Ignacio Ocamica]

Are those people who have placed pre-orders based on the photos we have seen so far really that happy or content with the toy in its current and possibly release state?

Even early prototype photo's of past and current Yamato/Arcadia & Bandai Valks this early before release looked a heck of a lot more complete than the Evolution Toy does.

I'm pretty much content. Since I'm not the #1 fan of the VF-2SS I'm willing to let some innacuracies pass. I see this like the CM's Legioss Tread set which took a ton of liberties from the lineart but is a very fine and playable toy.

I absolutely abhor the backpack hinges from this VF-2SS but i like the overall look.

[Kurisama]

So I did a quick PS job to see what was bothering me;

So on the left is the official toy, with what looks like PS colours, then the line art - and finally my edits.

More or less I tweaked;

• Head size and proportion, angled lasers and brightened/coloured the optics.
• Bicep split to double jointed elbow.
• Clip the chest vane tabs.
• Added read shoulder thrusters.
• Reshaped thighs, shins, stabilizers + feet.
• Tweaked the red stripes.
• Lightly made panel lines more obvious.

I think this is a closer representation to the original art - and doable. Still - this toy looks primed for custom paint work + decals!!!

[MacrossJunkie]

At this point there are still many unknowns with the Evolution toy.. we haven't seen any further development photos of their product so we don't know how far things have come along. Maybe they have done more research and development incorporating improvements and features but are yet to reveal any of it. I guess we can only just wait and see how things pan out.

But I kinda get the gut feeling that this Valk may be Evolution Toys one and only attempt at anything Macross.. The fact pointed out by Graham that there appears to be no visible indication of any way to attach add on parts which further convinces me that this toy was only ever meant as a "testing the waters" affair and they indeed have made no plans for any additional parts or variants to be made available.

Are those people who have placed pre-orders based on the photos we have seen so far really that happy or content with the toy in its current and possibly release state?

Even early prototype photo's of past and current Yamato/Arcadia & Bandai Valks this early before release looked a heck of a lot more complete than the Evolution Toy does.

I dunno.. maybe im being too critical at this early stage and need to give things a little more time perhaps?

I'd say it's fair criticism given that they are on pre-order now with the price point they are selling these things at with nothing more to go on than badly photoshopped early prototype pics which show a lack of refinement that gives [me] a more immediate impression of it being closer to those old transformable Banprestos in visual appeal than something you would expect for that price.

so should we wait for the renewal version?

Heh. If only that were possible.

Like Graham said, if these aren't being bought now, there's going to be no chance of something better coming down the road.

It's quite the dilemma. It's unfortunate their initial foray into the field of Macross toys just doesn't appear to be one where it would be a no-brainer to put down a pre-order. Instead, it's more like "taking one for the team" in the hopes of a better future. With the current pricing, it certainly is a big gamble as well as a big hit on the wallet if you're only getting one to see if they make a better one later since you don't know if enough people still will buy it to make your sacrifice mean something. For the people buying it that are happy with the current incarnation, good on them since they're getting something they want from the get go. No sacrifice there.

There's a bunch of factors that are different from the v1 VF-25s though. Frontier had just finished at the time and achieved a relatively decent level of popularity so even though the 25s looked bad, there was a high demand, whereas Mac2 is relatively ancient and wasn't all that popular to begin with (I think?), so the potential market to make the product successful is much smaller.

Secondly, the pre-orders for v1 VF-25S and F were sub $100 at most of the "usual suspects" of stores. So they were not as hard a sell at that price compared to the VF-2SS and its price.

Another thing is Bandai, being a large company, already had access to talent that could design something better, as seen with their 1/72 models of the 25 which were released around the same time as the toys. Bandai was just being dumb and essentially gave their B-team (Toys for boys group!) the task of making their first Frontier toys thinking it would be good enough. We don't know if Evolution has or can get the talent to do the same or not, even if these are a success.

[auberondreaming]

I'm happy with the look of this toy. The backpack hinges bug and the tabs on the collar are obnoxious, but otherwise it looks like a vf-2ss. There are things to nitpick beyond the these two points, but this is their first shot at a macross toy and it looks impressive considering they don't have any of the Arcadia or Bandai engineers who have been doing this for over a decade now. So yeah I'm happy, with the caveat of seeing the toy firsthand. If it's a floppy mess then of course they lose my business, but Ill give it a chance!

As a fun little engineering question, how would you guys fix those hinges? Moving them into the body of the intakes(?) would create a channel through those bodies to allow the tab they sit on passage during rotation. The problem seems that it is a full 180 rotation of a rectangular body on a plane, thus the hinges would need to somehow move but they would still need to be outside of those intakes. Perhaps not perfect transformation since this might be a anime magic problem? Attach them to the body for fighter, detach and attach to the backpack?

[Mommar]

So I did a quick PS job to see what was bothering me;

VF-2SS Kurisama Edit.jpg

So on the left is the official toy, with what looks like PS colours, then the line art - and finally my edits.

More or less I tweaked;

• Head size and proportion, angled lasers and brightened/coloured the optics.
• Bicep split to double jointed elbow.
• Clip the chest vane tabs.
• Added read shoulder thrusters.
• Reshaped thighs, shins, stabilizers + feet.
• Tweaked the red stripes.
• Lightly made panel lines more obvious.

I think this is a closer representation to the original art - and doable. Still - this toy looks primed for custom paint work + decals!!!

I'm not convinced the head needs to be larger, just that the chest vanes needs to be a bit shorter so the head is easier to see. And part of the problem is that the gap for the head is too narrow on the toy. It's far wider on the lineart. Good catch on the shoulder thrusters pretty much not protruding at all too.

I think the thighs area bit too thick on your new version as well.

[Sandman]

The no nozzle on the gun is really bugging me now. Hopefully that gets fixed for release.

[valhary]

personally Im not big fan of the SAP but until now we cant take for granted not compatible with one if is true that is a partformer that connect by magnets could use this same system to attach the SAP (yamato did it)

also I reiterate that pictures cant be taken like parameter because is a prototype and some times is hard make a correct transformation

I think that is what happened for battroid mode display additional is very often the person in charge not even know transform it

and with reference in proportions it would have to show in other angles to do a real evaluation

[Mechapilot77]

so no visible sap attachment points....is it possible they will use.....magnets with some clips maybe? this is evolution toys right?

[Bolt]

Ya. I think it is very possible what we're seeing MAY be prototype ish. By the time we actually get these in our fanatical hands , there may be a SAP option. If not, I won't lose any sleep. And besides there's shapeways & my dremel tool😈

[Sandman]

Not including a the SAP or at least attachments seems pretty shortsighted. It's the Yamato VF-1 1/60 ver 1 all over again and i guess Bandai's VF-25 v1 as well.

[dodiano]

Good thing I hate the SAP for years I tried to make my own custom transformable one without the damn SAP! Never could and I love this toy probably the only chance I'll ever have of owning a VF-2SS!

[Scyla]

To be perfectly honest I would rather buy a 1/60 VF-2SS from Arcadia or Bandai. However I think this won't happen ever. If we are lucky we might get this one out and than whole toy line is canceled. It is still possible that Evolution Toys sees a lack of preorders and cancel the line before the VF-2SS is released.

So since the chances of a better version of this Valkyrie are zero to none I won't pass on the one we might get. If a miracle happens and Arcadia picks up the license or Bandai puts one out in their Hi Metal R line I will also buy a version.

I know it makes no sense to some of you to invest in a toy that has so many blatant issues and I would like to have a version that is more like a Arcadia/Bandai YF-19/VF-19 than the old Yamato 1/72 YF-19 but we won't get one.

However I like the design of the VF-2SS enough (actually, I really love it) to invest in such a risky bet.

[jvmacross]

Evolution Toy's gimmick is the use of magnets...it shouldn't be too much of a stretch to imagine that they would somehow incorporate the use of magnets into their VF-2SS....possibly with the attachment of the SAP armor at some point....would help explain the lack of visible attachment points....

[Falconkpd]

We're all going to buy it anyway.

[valhary]

the attachment points seem like step back I prefer the magnet system at least for the superparts because give a cleaner design when the valk is naked

[Valkyrie addict]

Placed my preorder, but not entirely sold on this.

That bad photoshop didn't help. Y22,230, far steep for a valk with inferior PT mechanism and as far as we know, no accessories yet.

[Pedro2k6]

We're all going to buy it anyway.

Not me. December release. ...bad time...I prefer 2 or 3 VF-0S

[Duymon]

Considering the VF-19 advanced can be picked up for 23000 yen here the VF-2SS looks really, reall bland at around the same price point, Nonetheless I put in my obligatory one PO at HLJ in order to support more Mac2. I hope it does well enough that they release the earthbound J version that looks oh so much better

[Graham]

I'm hoping we do get a SAP someday, as the VF-2SS with SAP is one of my all time favorite looking space fighters.

[Bolt]

We're all going to buy it anyway.

Ha ha ! Yep😉

[Kurisama]

It'll be very interesting to see (once in hand) if a little magnet will stick on it at certain points...

[Graham]

I feel that magnets just by themself, even neodymium magnets would not be an ideal solution for attaching a SAP.

Even with stong rare-earth magnets, you still need at least some small slots and pegs to position the SAP parts and stop them from shifting position when being handled.

Just my two cents.

[strikevalk]

ahhh... the VF-2SS.

I've waited so long for this to be released, i shall come out of valkyrie retirement for this piece. I have no complaints whatsoever on the design, price, articulation, etc etc... I have fond memories from when i was younger, watching Macross II and day dreaming of a transformable toy. Just the fact that it's here fills my heart with joy lol!

[Graham]

Yep, same for me.

can't wait to get this, warts and all.

[Ignacio Ocamica]

That's the spirit!!!

[MacrossJunkie]

I feel that magnets just by themself, even neodymium magnets would not be an ideal solution for attaching a SAP.

Even with stong rare-earth magnets, you still need at least some small slots and pegs to position the SAP parts and stop them from shifting position when being handled.

Just my two cents.

That's so true. Some sort of anchor is usually needed. When Yamato used magnets for the leg armors for the 0, 11 and 19, they all had at least a small peg to keep them anchored in place. Without getting the peg in, they would still slide around. Even if multiple magnets were used, that would still be the case.

[jvmacross]