01.05.10
Yamato GNU VF-11B Upgrade Parts
Observations & Critique: If at first you don’t succeed… charge more
At some point in 2009, with little fanfare and within a tiny circle of distributors, Yamato released upgrade parts for their Macross Plus GNU toys. The Upgrade parts were all packaged in the same box and differentiated only by a sticker slapped on the front. Of all the upgrade part kits the 11B’s has the least to it consisting only of replacement calves and back plate so the included super parts can be attached. The packaging has one major flaw in that it doesn’t contain a place to put the improved GNU toy. So, you take your GNU out of its original packaging, you improve it and add fast packs so it won’t fit in the old packaging, and there’s no where to put it in the new packaging. If you want to put the toy away now you’d have to disassemble it or just throw loose pieces in the box. It’s a minor qibble but a quibble none-the-less.
Very few retailers bothered carrying these upgrade parts for the GNU line. As one of the top complaints about the original releases was the price it seems unlikely very many people are going to spend more money to improve them slightly. I made my purchases more out of a morbid curiosity than anything else. As such, I don’t think this will be much of a collector’s item but you have to imagine that people will value the improved GNUs over the standard versions.
The super parts on the 11B look good. It seemed like the back missile booms could have been attached in a way that would have less of an affect on the toy without said parts. Beyond that the pictures really ought to illustrate what you’re getting yourself into.
Remember Bandai’s joke machine and how the super parts were attached? That’s pretty much how things work here also. Disassembly of the GNU toy is simple and straight forward, not requiring any tools (the major strength of the line from a customizer’s point of view). The calves and back plate are easily replaced and then the super parts are plugged in.
The only fault with the GNU line of toys is that they have a tendency to pop apart on their own since there’s really not much holding them together. Disassembling the toy and putting it together a few times will undoubtedly make these tendencies worse. On my sample I had some issues with the forearms separating during extreme posing. This was easily resolved by just pushing them back together but it’s not hard to imagine a scenario where a piece got lost because a GNU popped apart during mild play or posing.
The big let down of this set of upgrade parts is that there’s nothing here that would improve the articulation of the toy like there are with the YF-19 and YF-21 kits. Of course, that’s largely due to the fact the 11B was the best piece from an articulation stand point to begin with. Still, I’m a tiny bit let down but since Kaiyodo never made a Revoltech VF-11B Yamato didn’t have any competition forcing them to step up their game.
If you’re a huge 11B fan then you should check out my review of the stand alone toy which I did enjoy quite a bit. Sadly, I thought the first toy was too expensive so I find it really hard to recommend people spend more money to have that toy upgraded to include Super Parts. Had these parts been included in the first release (as well as a little stand) Yamato might have had themselves a real winner.
