03.21.08
CharaWorks 1/144 VF-1 Valkyries (Series 2)
Observations & Critique: New Paint Variations and Something More
There isn’t enough new here to warrant a complete review since these are just repaints of existing “toys.” Production values of the packaging and inserts seems to have gone down slightly as they no longer feature any color (except for the individual item boxes as pictured above). The inserts now seem more like simple instructions than an introduction to the Valk/character. Honestly though, these toys are still sold gashapon style so I doubt the packaging or inserts really matters a lot to many people. The first pictrue below shows all the Series 2 inserts, the second picture compares a Series 2 insert to a Series 1.
Series 1 initially sold out somewhat quickly but was then reissued so if these toys are once again wildly popular you should think twice before running after them in the secondary market with fistfuls of cash. There’s still no diecast here and the toys still don’t feature any form of transformation so the perceived audience would be smaller than it is for various other VF-1 toys. The new VT-1 toy, as the oddball, will likely attract the most attention in the set (pictured below). The Minmay Guard valk may also become popular but seeing as it never appears in any animation it may stay simply just as desirable as any of the other valks. The “secret” figure is Hayao Kakizake’s VF-1A from DYRL which is a paint scheme almost no one wants and it seems to be included in almost every box of 10.
The best competition, as far as I can tell, for these figures would be Doyusha’s VF-1 valks. The Doyusha’s are full diecast and all feature moving wings with a ton of tampo printed decals. The Charaworks, in comparison, feel light and cheap, have some pretty large seams, but also have an amazing amount of detail when viewed from close up. One sad item missing from the Charaworks are the turbine intakes which were simply left hollow, the Doyushas have intake detail. To Charaworks credit, the VT-1 toy is a reworking of the mold to feature the two-seat cockpit and rounded wings.
The design of the Charaworks figures is pretty straight forward and minimalistic. Rather than going the Doyusha route of having the landing gears plug directly into holes in the leg, Charaworks instead used removable parts that could hide detailed landing gear bays. It’s a bit hard to get those parts to sit perfectly flush covering the bay though so generally I think the Doyusha looks cleaner if going for a landing gear free look. If you’re going to have the landing gears out the Charaworks makes up some ground. Check out the details below in the landing gear bay and various other places of the toy.
There were lots of complaints about the build quality of the original toys and I’ve seen many of the same complaints about this second series so I can’t say all that much has improved. Seam lines down the nose are still the most obvious build quality issues. My Minmay Guard had its nosecone/cockpit miss the gluing stage and also had a pretty bad paint job. Even so, I’d say all the ones i received in my box were good enough that I felt they were display-worthy.
Articulation on these toys is still limited to the non-super/strike, missle-free, VF-1A/J toys. The only articulation is the maneuvering of the wings (similar to how Doyushas work).
Overall I’d say these make fine display pieces but if you’re looking for a toy you’ll just be let down. These are little 1/144 fixed mode pre-assembled, pre-painted models. One odd note is that the decals for Hayao’s chase figure calls it a VF-1J. I think it’s funny they went with his DYRL paint scheme instead of his TV paint scheme as the Series 1 chase was a TV VF-1A Max. If you need a little $5 valk to keep you company at work, this wouldn’t be a bad choice.
