03.08.09
Banpresto 1/144 VF-1S/A/J Super
REVIEW(updated): Perfect transformation… but that’s about it
Packaging & Extras (4/5)
This neat little toy comes in a neat little box. Windows display the many extras and accessories prominently and the box itself is fairly attractive. The box isn’t overly large and it feels quite sturdy. The accessories are pretty nice for a toy this small. The canopy is swappable with a heatshield and the gun has a collapsible stock (it actually mirrors the Yamato 1/60 very much in these respects). No missiles are included but you do get landing gears and brackets to better support the fastpacks. Two sets of hands are provided, you may find some of the fingers to be freakishly long… I know I did. Let’s not forget the fact that you get heads to make this whichever VF you prefer… how cool is that?
Charm & Collectability (2/5)
It’s tiny, it’s completely plastic, but it is cheap and it does come in all varieties so it can boost collections. There’s no metal here and the toy has plenty of flaws to ensure it will never really be a hot ticket item. There were several variants of the Banprestos released, Super, Strike, or Standard. Since these were released Toynami has released their superior 1/100 toys that will be available in all the same varieties so the collectabilty of these have taken a hit.
Sculpt, Detail, & Paint (5.5/10)
For such a tiny toy it actually does a decent job resembling the lineart so long as you don’t have the landing gears attached and you look at it from a distance. The landing gears are terrible and the fastpacks could be a whole lot better in how they attach is nearly pathetic but I’ll touch on that more later. It’s pretty sad to see how much better the head sculpt of this toy is in 1S form over the original Yamato 1/60 (and the Toynami 1/100). The sculpt of the arms was sacrificed to allow the toy to hold its gun beneath it in fighter mode The cockpit area with its clip in canopy leaves a lot to be desired as well.
Design (5/10)
It’s important to remember that this section assumes that everything acts as it is designed to. A perfect Banpresto toy would be alright. The only real glaring flaw in the design relates to the fastpacks. Why in the world weren’t the fastpacks designed like jokemachine fastpacks where they would just attach by placing pegs in the valk itself? Instead the toy requires various brackets to hold itself together with the fastpacks attached. The arm armor is apparently supposed to stay attached via protoculture-style magic, I had to resort to a piece of Scotch (C) tape in all modes other than fighter. Honestly, if I were judging the fastpacks alone this toy would get an absolutely atrocious score. One really cool feature, one that definitely should have been incorporated on Toynami’s MPC line, is the addition of a ball-joint on the hips at the swingbars. The gun also can be attached in fighter mode but it hangs down too far if you plan on having the landing gears support the fighter. There definitely seems to be a lot of over-engineering here and the toy can’t keep up.
Durability & Build (3/10)
Tiny toys have tiny tolerances. Tiny toys made out of a soft plastic/vinyl are doomed to become rubble with even the slightest of play… if it takes any play at all. It’s entirely possible to get one of these toys only to discover that it is somehow warped. The fact the toy is rubbery reduces the likelihood of breaking items like head lasers off but seems to encourage full melt down of joints. Furthermore, the toy is practically entirely made of snap together construction so a little unexpected deconstruction is only a tug away. Mine came with a very crooked front landing gear.
Articulation (8/10)
The ball-socket-joints on the hips are a huge improvement here over previous swingbar efforts. Had they taken it the next step forward and made the legs swivel outward this thing would have been really easy to get into some really cool poses. The fastpacks shouldn’t really limit mobility if you can just get them to stick on.
Total Score (27.5/50)
For the price, these things can be a lot of fun. Unfortunately the build quality leaves a lot to be desired and I would definitely consider these toys to be fragile. Leaving the fastpacks in the box makes things better here… they aren’t particularly sturdy. It’s a shame that Banpresto tried to include so many little cool features on such a tiny valk. This toy really seems like it would have benefitted from just being made simpler.
NOTE – This review has been updated with all new pictures and for content
Original post date – June 13th, 2006
