11.24.09

Yamato 1/60 VF-22S

Posted in 1/60, Macross 7, YF-21 Valkyrie, Yamato at 4:25 am by micronian

Review: Even Mac7 haters agree, this toy looks sweet.

Packaging & Extras: (3.5/5)
You do get the two guns that came with the YF-21 toy (in matching colors to this release) and a pilot figure. You do not get the fast packs that came with the YF-21 toy (which makes sense since the VF-22 allegedly incorporated many of the fastpack components into the fighter’s frame) nor do you get the simple stand. The loss of the stand is sad. On the plus side everything comes to you in a much smaller package than the YF-21 came in. The box doesn’t have a flip-top collector’s lid but many people find those highly over-rated anyway.  This review features the Gamlin Kizaki but future releases that this post would apply to include the Max & Miria variants due out in December 2009.

Charm & Collectability: (3.5/5)
This toy marked Yamato’s first foray into announcing the volume of a production run. Yamato announced that this toy’s first release would be limited to 1000 toys. So, if there never is another release, there will only ever be 1000 of these toys in existence. However, that does not mean that Yamato can’t produce more if demand warrants another production run. It’s too soon to tell but the item didn’t sell particularly well, it’s starting to go on sale at various online toy stores, so it may really pan out to be a pretty rare item some day. In the meantime Westerners tend to shun Macross7 and many Mac7 fans weren’t diehard Gamlin fans so I’ll just leave the score here at average.

Sculpt, Detail, & Paint: (9/10)
She’s a beautiful bird but I have a particular bias toward the 21/22 design. Are the legs still too thin (as many complained about the YF-21 toy)? Yes, the legs are a bit thin but it makes fighter mode look that much more dazzling. The 22 is different from the 21 in that the guns are integrated into the leg plates. Yamato did a good job making it appear as if the guns could really fire from their holstered fighter position. The YF-21’s face-plate gimmick is gone (you could remove the face plate to reveal the mechanical detail below), as it would have to be, and no one cares.

Design: (8.5/10)
Yamato really knocked the ball out of the park on the YF-21 toy but the VF-22 falls off a little bit. There are a couple aspects unique to the 22 which made things harder for Yamato. First, the 22 doesn’t stow its guns like the 21 did. Whereas the 21 holsters the guns on the outsides of its leg bay the 22 conceals the guns within the leg bay. Sadly, the toy can’t pull this trick off so you’re going to have to find a place to stow the guns if you’re planning on transforming the toy often. This is a pretty big let down to me since it doesn’t seem like Yamato was not too terribly far from pulling the feat off and fighter mode is SOOOOO sleak that I don’t think anyone would have minded if they had added a bit more pudge for the effect (or, likewise, if the guns had shrunk down a bit). The other bummer is the lack of a heatshield for the cockpit. In the 21 the cockpit is concealed so it was no big deal but in the 22 you can clearly see the pilot and it doesn’t look right at all. At the very least I wish Yamato had included a flat gray removeable piece of plastic that could have been put inside the canopy. Yamato is making us stow the guns, it wouldn’t have been too terribly inconvenient to also stow one more piece of plastic. Other than those two gripes the 21 toy that forms this toy’s base is still a marvel.

Durability & Build: (8/10)
I experienced two issues on my sample. First, there were stress marks on the nose of the vehicle before I ever bothered transforming this toy and this toy was purchased brand new and was well sealed so I know that these are fresh from the factory stress marks. Second, the left side chest intake seems to be missing a bit of glue as during transformation it doesn’t feel nearly as solid as the right side. Transformation with this toy can be a bit of a struggle so it’s rather unnerving to put your hand on a part that doesn’t feel 100% solid (although it probably really is just missing a spot of glue and I doubt it’s anything I should be too concerned about as long as I don’t grab that intake and try to force it in the wrong direction during transformation). My original YF-21 had two issues that were worthy of note. The first problem I noted was that paint could be scratched during transformation, especially on the lower legs, and so I still recommend people take care not to grind the plastic of one part on the paint of another. The second issue was that the face plate on the toy popped off due to what appeared again to be not enough glue. There’s nothing broken, the face plate just gets glued on and it has fallen off, but either way that doesn’t seem to be a probelm with my VF-22. So, all those comments aside, this is still an impressively well put together toy, especially if it’s correctly glued.

Articulation: (9/10)
No difference here from the original YF-21 toy. The top-heavy nature of this toy will make posing it a bit of a challenge unless you cheat and use the leg armors as braces. If you want to get really dynamic you can extend the leg armors away from the leg a bit more at the hip.

Total Score: (41.5/50)
This is a great toy but it’s not as great as the original YF-21. While it may be a bit cheaper than the YF-21 at the expense of the missing stand and fast packs I just don’t see the bang for the buck. I might have changed my tune if the guns had stowed in fighter mode and something had been done to make the pilot look less silly in battroid (which is admittedly something only someone looking very closely would notice). If you’re a huge Gamlin, Mac7, or VF-22 fan then you certainly won’t be let down.

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