01.24.08

Yamato (Dengeki) 1/48 Clear Super Parts

Posted in 1/48, Macross/Robotech TMS, VF-1, VT, VE Valkyrie, Yamato at 1:56 am by micronian

 

Critique(updated) – Is it worth your effort?

Since this isn’t a toy I’ll spare it from the rigors of a full review.  What it is is a mail-in/mail-order special release by a Japanese hobby magazine (Dengeki) that partnered with Yamato.  Honestly, I’m not the greatest wealth of information on these so I’ll try to avoid giving too much of a history based on extrapolations of the little I’m certain of.  I can tell you they come in a very plain white box with blue text.  The outer white box works as a sheath for an inner white tray that slides out to reveal the inner armor parts. 

 

The “clear” parts match the texture of the original parts they’re replacing which means they’ll appear a bit opaque from the ever-so-slightly grainy surface.  A thin network of structural support also in clear-ish plastic is a nice feature that does spruce up the look of the parts.  These were only offered for a limited time and, as such, have become more and more scarce but there’s nothing guaranteeing that Yamato won’t include them in some future release to my knowledge. 

 

There’s also so little to these parts that it’s hard to see them becoming a huge collector’s item.  In fact, I think the universal feeling someone has when they first receive this is “Wow, this is what I paid for?”  As such, I highly recommend people not peter out more than $20 for a set of these things.  Think about what you’re getting.  You’re getting two leg armor covers, two booster covers, and two missile boom covers but that’s about it. 

 

The true silliness here is that, if you wanted to show off the inner-workings of the 1/48 armor, you could achieve this far better by simply removing the stock covers.  The “clear” covers aren’t so clear that they offer close to the visibility of the naked fastpacks.  So, essentially, these parts are a total gimmick that are only cool because of the visual presence of something that looks a bit different from the typical 1/48s. 

NOTE: This Critique has been updated – Existing pictures were cleaned up and new pictures were added.

Original Post Date: July 3rd, 2006 

Permalink