11.24.08
Yamato 1/200 Valkyrie Fighter Collection 1 Gashapon
Review: Pretty Dirty Things
Packaging & Extras: (2/5)
Gashapons never have lots of extras so I mean Yamato no slight by saying there’s nothing special about these packages at all. There’s a big black box full of smaller color boxes but no real way to differentiate them. Each toy comes with a little display stand with individual parts in separate baggies.
Charm & Collectabilty: (2/5)
Some people collect gashapons but generally small, non-transformable, no diecast toys don’t garner a lot of attention. These were priced a bit high compared to most gashapon toys so there’s likely a few people out there looking to scoop them up at a discount but I doubt many people will ever be out scouring these for anything above retail. When I was in Japan I did notice that the fighter modes of these toys usually sold for more than the GERWALK modes and the VF-1J LowVis chase figure fighter mode went for a couple hundred Yen more than any other toy. Each box comes with all three YF-19, VF-1J Hikaru, and VA-3 Invader toys and one version of the LowVis VF-1J. I got the LV VF-1J battroid with mine as pictured below. I’m really let down by the chase… I would have liked it better if it were a 1/200 version of the LowVis scheme Yamato did for their 1/48 line but, while similar, it’s not.
Sculpt, Detail, & Paint: (8/10)
As far as gashapons go, these are really nice. They got a bit thick of a wash, and the colors are questionable at times (the pale blue on the VF-1J toy particularly), but otherwise these toys correlate nicely to line-art of the figures in each mode. If i had to pick a favorite, I’d say the YF-19 came out the best.
Design: (7/10)
These gashapon feature parts that make sense. A gun will be a piece, an arm will be a piece, a leg will be a piece, etc. You do have to do some minor assembly but it’s obvious, easy, and intuitive. Since each part of the toy that ought to be a piece, is a piece, the construction of the toy won’t hinder your ability to make minor adjustments to get it to stand properly on its own when not utilizing the display stand. All GERWALK and Battroid toys can stand without the stands also although the VA-3 can be a bit tricky to balance.
Durability & Build: (9/10)
The only thing you may have to worry about here is paint application but all of my parts came out great. There’s only one fit issue on all of mine and that’s the VF-1J Hikaru GERWALK figure’s canopy doesn’t sit as low as it should. Some people may find the “wash” effect (it looks like the toys were dipped in a very thin black paint and then wiped down) a bit much but it shouldn’t conceal anything pertinent, it should just bring attention to the lines of the toy. What is significant here is that the toys are all made out of a more durable plastic than your normal gashapon toys so warping won’t be nearly the issue it has been in the past (especially with the more literal gashapon toys that come from vending machines in little plastic bubbles).
Articulation: (4/10)
You don’t really buy gashapon toys looking to put them in exciting poses. The battroid figures here do just enough to let you angle their guns however you like but don’t expect to go much beyond that.
Total Score: (32/50)
Gashapons aren’t the greatest toys in the world but as far as gashapon toys go these are really nice. There are definitely gashapons out there that are more fun to pose but there are very few that offer this nice a finish, feel, or provide this nice a representation. Unfortunately the price here is rather high for a diminutive piece. You can almost pick up Yamato’s VF-11B, YF-19, and YF-21 GNU figures (all three) for about the same price so it may be hard to convince yourself to spend this much money on a gashapon. Yamato is hoping to make quite a series out of this and also include one obscure valk in every wave (Here we have the VA3, series 2 will have the VF-5000) so if you’re looking for a tiny and very complete Macross collection this may be where it starts. Series 2 is due out in December and will include the previously mentioned VF-5000, Roy’s VF-1S, the YF-21, and another repaint of the VF-1.
Scorched Earth Toys » Yamato 1/200 Variable Fighter Collection Series 2 said,
April 6, 2009 at 5:06 am
[...] Nothing much has changed in regard to the packaging since the original VFC except that Yamato is no longer including a flyer on the next release. For a full review, click here to see my review of VFC 1. Beyond the flyer you still get a big black box full of smaller colored boxes that contain a well-packaged toy and display stand. [...]