09.16.07
Yamato YF-19 Super/Fold Set
Review: That’s a lot of Dimp!
Packaging & Extras: (5/5)
I couldn’t believe it, Yamato, the kings of the absolutely over-inflated box, actually included fast packs and a fold drive in the exact same-sized box as their original effort! The box and its art is kinda blah but whatever, it’s not huge! You get Isamu and his nerdy co-pilot, a replacement piece to make the YF-19 look like a one-seater, a couple pieces to attach the toy to the display stand, fast pack parts, and bonus fins built of weaker material for the area behind the cockpit (allegedely these fins were provided for customizers since the original fins are made of a paint-resistant plastic). A note on the fast pack parts, there’s almost nothing to them. The leg pieces attach via magnet and the shoulder pieces feature plugs that slide out for use in fighter mode but as a whole they’re entirely unremarkable. There is one HUGE item missing that’s bound to tick a lot of people off and had me tempted to reduce the score to 4.5 here; you do NOT get the batteries necessary to make the LEDs in the fold drive work. Even Toynami gave us the actual battery necessary… For the record, you need THREE LR44 batteries (they go by many different names by many different manufactures) and they can cost as much as $4.99 (US) each (or can be found for much cheaper). To see the Fold Drive in action visit YouTube (try this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zN2LnjOvQo).
Charm & Collectibility: (3.5/5)
It’s definitely a bit early to tell here. As this toy comes in a box the same size as the original, and since it has more stuff and a gun pod that actually sits straight, I have to imagine that demand for it is much higher than it was for the original. The YF-19 doesn’t have quite the universal appeal of the VF-1 though so even with all the bells and whistles I don’t see demand going through the roof at any point. If you have one, I suspect you’ll always be able to sell it easily… it might take a while before you’ll make a profit though. The 1/60s existence has pretty much thrashed the swelling collectibility of the 1/72, some comparison pics are provided below for scale and to highlight the differences between Yamato’s first effort and their current one.
Sculpt, Detail, and Paint: (8.5/10)
This is easily the best representation of the YF-19 in toy form. It looks a wee bit plain out of the box though and there are a few concessions that had to be made since the YF-19 and YF-21 involved SK’s greatest amounts of “animation magic.” I expected to be more put off by the gap between the legs and the wider “cod” piece than I was. The hands are a step up from the 1/48 VF-1 hands but they’re still a long way from excellent. Seam lines in most cases are very minimal.
Design: (8/10)
There is lots of cool stuff to rave about here but there are a few significant issues that really tug this score down. The design of the landing gears is beautiful (improved over the first edition), the gun that can be disassembled is cool, the sliding tail fins and collapsing leg sections to accommodate transformation are very intelligent, the shoulder stands used to keep the shoulders angled was a nice touch, and the removeable head pieces are an excellent and unexpected detail. That’s a lot of good stuff right there! Heck, even the whole cockpit area and its ability to accommodate both figures (which Yamato should have made slightly smaller), the ability to replace one figure, and its functioning entirely without hindering the transformation process is impressive (close-up below). There are some things lacking here though that I felt were obvious necessities. First of all, GERWALK needs, by its original design, help being held together. Surely some sort of mechanism could have been developed to make GERWALK a bit more stable. This seemed especially problematic to me if I went from Battroid back to GERWALK mode… the whole toy felt sloppy no matter how much massaging I did. If I went from Battroid to Fighter then back to GERWALK it felt better but it’s just not as rock solid as the VF-0 is. For example, if you move the YF-19’s arms in GERWALK it’s almost guaranteed that you will need to re-adjust the back area. Another seemingly simple fix would have been a latch to keep the chest area locked in position when in Battroid mode. Again, if you move the arms around there’s a good chance you’re going to have to re-adjust the chest area to conceal any gaps you may have created. This toy doesn’t have a really intuitive transformation either, and it’s complicated with seemingly every part of the toy doing something, so expect to spend some time trying to tweak everything just right when you go from mode to mode. With time you’ll know just where to put a thumb or a finger to adjust things… but don’t expect to be a master at this toy with a quickness. Graham from MacrossWorld posted a helpful guide on YF-19 transformation on YouTube, viewing it ought to tell you what you’re getting yourself into: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4vH6gA2VBw .
Durability & Build: (8/10)
It seems that fewer people are reporting catastrophic failures with this second edition YF-19 but those failures were pretty sparse on the first release also. The transformation process still isn’t easy though and a fair amount of patience is still HIGHLY recommended, especially in the neck of the fighter. Mine had a tendency to have one of its shoulder supports pop out when going from pose to pose. There’s no damage to the toy though and the part just needs to be slipped back into its track when this happens… still, that could prove annoying and I could definitely see someone having their’s pop off only to be lost forever. There are also still some complaints swirling about certain areas of these toys getting loose, of special concern are the wing roots which need to do a lot of moving and also need to support the weight of the wings. For a toy with this much going on, it seems to have better than average build and durability, but with as much going on as there is I still highly recommend it be handled somewhat gingerly and certainly not be given to a child as a present.
Articulation: (8.5/10)
There isn’t a whole lot that can really be improved upon here. The inclusion of a waist might have been nice… but it also seems pretty impossible and it may have been overkill since this toy has so many joints and twists as it is. I guess wing flaps could have been cool but those too could have proven more annoying than helpful. As with practically all toys like this, more mobility in the feet could have really helped. The hips are stiff enough for most poses but if you get a little too extreme the toy is bound to topple. Another thing that might have helped as far as that goes is putting rubber on the soles of the feet so they’d grab the surface you’re displaying on to prevent the legs from sliding when going for really crazy poses. The hips also don’t have quite the range of movement you’d see in the 1/48 VF-1 series but they still have more than most toys. I was a little let down that their wasn’t another swivel point at the intakes to let you spread the legs further into an A-stance. While your imagination isn’t quite the limit here you’ll certainly find this a fun toy to pose… especially when Yamato releases the 1/60 YF-21!
Total Score: (41.5/50)
No doubt this is a great toy scoring a good pace above average but it’s not perfect by any means. A 1/48 VF-1 Super Set used to retail for about $60 less and featured fast packs that were far more exciting than the little nothing pieces of plastic that come with this toy. But what about the light up fold drive?? Well, yeah, that’s defintitely a cool gimmick. Honestly though, if the 1st edition YF-19 had those four pieces that constitute fast packs how many people would have really sprung for a bonus set with the Fold Drive? I’m guessing not very many. How often are you really going to use that fold drive anyway?
Ayohtli said,
August 3, 2008 at 2:02 am
Hi, I really want a 1/60 YF-19, but it seems impossible to get a FastPack version these days. My question is: Is YF-19 *wihtout* FP really bad? Some say it’s not really that bad, gunpod and landing gear are easy to fix, but others say that it has major problems like stress marks on some parte of “neck”, or even broken things. I hope you can guide me here, thanks.
micronian said,
August 4, 2008 at 1:36 am
The simple fact of the matter is that I don’t have a review of the YF-19 1st edition on my site precisely because I heard so many people having issues with their’s. I really wanted to get one but I waited and then jumped on the opportunity when the Fold set came out. Honestly though, now that I own one, the gun sits up so high in fighter mode you’d almost never notice that it was crooked. The stress marking didn’t seem consistent with every toy either so it’s a bit of a gamble. So, if you can find one cheap you probably won’t burn yourself too bad but you should also keep in mind that this is a major hero fighter and will almost certainly be reissued with fixes.
Gorden said,
January 31, 2010 at 2:56 pm
I am interested in this 1/60 YF-19, however, I have some queries as below:
1) In contrast with Yamato’s recent release of YF-19 prototype Units 3 and 4, if there is any improvement in term of design, durability and build.
2) if the re-release version of 1/60 YF-19 (ie. the fist edition that does not come without super/fold set) still have the problems with the landing gear and the alignment of gunpod position in fighter mode.
It would be much grateful if you could guide me here.
micronian said,
February 1, 2010 at 6:00 am
From what I understand, there were some very minor mold changes to some joint pieces in the newest YF-19 releases. These changes have resulted in slightly improved tightness. Almost no one would be able to visibly discern these tiny differences but they’re welcome if they help keep the wings (at the hip in battroid) and shoulders stiffer. Issues on the very first release were not repeated in any subsequent releases.