09.22.09

Bandai 1/250 Fighter Collection Gashapon (Series 1)

Posted in Bandai, Macross 7, Macross Frontier, Macross ZERO, Macross/Robotech TMS, Oddball, VF-0 Zero, VF-1, VT, VE Valkyrie, VF-25 Messiah, VF/YF-19 Valkyrie at 3:08 am by micronian

Review: Kawamori’s grand designs go bite-size

Packaging & Extras: (3.5/5)
There isn’t much to complain about here. The packaging is colorful, clear, and has some decent art. Each blind-packaged box contains one semi-randomly packaged toy, a display stand, a base (with information specific to that particular toy), and a flyer showing off all the toys available. The stand is nice in that it pinches the wings of the toy rather than requiring a peg hole to attach the stand directly. Of course, some may not like this makes the stand itself a bit more of an eyesore.

Charm & Collectability: (2.5/5)
It’s way too soon to tell if these will be very popular. It’s a gashapon series in an odd scale that lacks an enemy mecha and my experience indicates that those types of gashapon sets don’t typically become huge collectors items. This set does include several items I’ve not seen in gashapon to date, including the VF-2SS from MacrossII, the VF-0D from Macross Zero, and some lesser known repaints from Macross7 and Macross Zero. The “chase” piece is a VF-25 that looks like a Minmay Guard but with Sheryl on it. I’m sure someone is already working on a 1/60DX version of the chase. Each box comes with 12 pieces but there are 17 available (not pictured here are the VF-0A, VF-0B, VF-1J Hikaru, VF-1J Miria (Mac7), and VF-25 chase. I do not believe any box contains duplicates as I did not receive any.

Sculpt, Detail, & Paint: (7/10)
This is actually a pretty high score for a gashapon series. I found the level of detail to be roughly on par with what we’ve seen from Yamato’s VFC gashapon series (but without the heavy “wash” Yamato applies). In this small a scale there really isn’t too much in the way of finer details or panel lines. The cockpit canopies are made from a clear piece of plastic which is a nice visual upgrade from painted on canopies.

Design: (6/10)
It’s a gashapon toy so from a design standpoint there’s almost nothing here to review. The toys can be disassembled and reassembled, it was nice to see the puzzle comes together logically in such a way to conceal the construction. The wings on the VF-1 toys can be spread far apart or brought close in to the tail but don’t expect to do anything similar with the various other valks.  Generally now I give gashapon toys a 7 for design if they’re sensibly made (a seemingly correct number of parts).  If this were being scored against “true” toys it’d probably get a 3 or less.

 

Durability & Build: (8/10)
These toys are made of PVC and ABS plastic. PVC is the plastic that bends when mis-shaped and is generally responsible for “gashapon disease” or misfigured toys (usual symptoms are dropping wings and curved guns). Fortunately Bandai put the PVC where it could generally do no harm and made the parts that would be susceptible to the affects of packaging/gravity out of the more sturdy ABS plastic. There are minor build quality issues as it only takes something being very slightly askew in this scale for it to make a big difference.

Articulation: (3/10)
As far as the toys themselves go, the VF-1 toys are the only ones with moving parts (the wings). The display stands did prove fairly adjustable though. Since the stands do just cup the gashapon above them, you can use the provided stands for other gashapon such as the Yamato VFC toy (as shown below).

Total Score: (30/50)
Gashapon toys always score terribly because they have no articulation and very limited designs (this toy would probably get a 26 if I didn’t nerf the Design section for gashapons).  From what I understand, the Yamato VFC’s fighter modes are easily their biggest sellers so it’s no surprise that Bandai made an entire gashapon series dedicated to just the fighters. The tiny scale will also encourage people to buy them all while the fact a box can’t possibly contain the entire set will make Gashapon sellers happy. For my part, I’m still dealing with a bit of a Macross larger scale hangover so I’m really digging these little fighters. I could see myself 10 years from now having sold off all the toys that are sucking up so much storage but still having a shelf dedicated to my various gashapons. In fact, if you have a kid who isn’t too small and loves fighter planes, you might want to consider buying these, putting a dot of glue on each part that can be pulled apart, and giving that child 12 new planes (s)he can soar around with.  To save you the trouble, these scored 2 points less than the Yamato VFC line (which you should expect given the smaller scale will mean less detail and the lack of Gerwalk and Battroid modes which shaved a point off the already nerfed Design score) but if you’re not a fan of the dirty wash Yamato has been giving their valks (or you only care for fighter mode) then this is an excellent substitute.

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