Observations & Critiques: Also known as “super armor”
This accessory, when purchased individually, comes in a two-tone shipper box. The retail box inside is composed of a large window that shows off the goods with product pictures adorning the back. I like this two-box approach; It’s not quite as classy or convenient as a box with a flip top lid but it gives similar benefits. Inside the box you’ll get the super parts and:
1) 8x LR626 batteries
2) 6x reaction missiles (2 sets of 2 and 2 individual missiles)
3) Instructions (you can see the scan below)
What’s not included? A display stand arm optimized for a VF-1 with the Super Parts attached would have been nice.
KitzConcept revised their VF-1 toy twice and the Super Armor once, then released a huge variety of toys that included numerous gift-sets with color-matched Super Parts. Max and Miriya have retail VF-1 and Super Part boxes together behind a sleeve. The Dark Gold release has an exterior box with retail VF-1 and FAST packs boxes inside. The God of Flame (red) has an exterior box with a retail VF-1 box inside along with the clear tray for the Super Parts. KitzConcept then moved toward a sturdier, generic box that houses both the VF-1 and Super Parts differentiated only by a sticker on the front. The Dark Gold version, being the first dark release, came with white reaction missiles in the tray and a separate baggy with black reaction missiles. All future dark releases had dark missiles in the try and did not include white missiles.
KitzConcept offered the Super Parts as a standalone accessory in April 2019 for $69.99, included it in bundles, and offered sales where they would include both the FAST packs and a VF-1 toy at a discount. As the parts fit all VF-1 toys variants, it’s possible that these will hold their value. I believe the standalone colors were updated in 2022 and sold in the same packaging as the first release but I haven’t received confirmation.
Like the 1/72 VF-1 toy, the paint applications on this accessory are top notch and easily surpass the Yamato 1/60 version 2 toys. The kites painted on the backpack boosters give these parts a more complete look. The paint quality is similar to Arcadia’s “Premium Finish”. Not only will you find painted warnings and descriptions, the parts also have a panel lining effect for additional pop. Even the paint on the internal mechanical detail pieces surpassed contemporary products. The forearm armors are constructed in a way as to eliminate any visual evidence of screws. Where KC doesn’t exceed their competition, they match them, such as the mini missile detail on the ‘missile booms’. I’m also a big fan of the color used. The Yamato super parts always struck me as desaturated. As the 1/72 VF-1 toy takes a lot of its visual cues and design elements from the Yamato 1/60 V2 toy, the same is true for the fast packs, right down to the overly large forearm armors that extend too far behind the elbow in battloid (a compromise to make fighter mode more perfectly emulate the line art). My only nitpick was that the boosters on the backpack sit a little farther from each other than they do on the Yamato accessory.
KitzConcept took the generally accepted approach to Max & Miriya’s Super Parts that the exterior leg and backpack booster components should be color matched to the VF-1. All other parts were rendered in a color that is much lighter than standard FAST Packs. The lighter color provides more contrast but some people may have preferred a darker look.
While the standard blue/gray makes the Super Parts a nice trim element for mostly white VF-1 schemes, KitzConcept gave us a new take on the parts for their “Dark” super bundle sets. These parts all follow the same pattern, only differentiated by their accent paint. As the parts match the black of the underlying VF-1, they look more integral when installed. Instead of a fighter jet with space boosters bolted on, the dark schemes with their super parts installed look like a purpose-built space fighters. The micro-missiles are copper/gold instead of the white of regular releases. All other missiles are black with accents that match the trim on the underlying VF-1.
The most critical design aspect for fast packs, as far as I’m concerned, is their ability to stay on the toy and allow a person to handle it similarly to how they did without the accessory attached. There was a learning curve for me as I wasn’t getting the covers for the micro missiles on correctly and they kept sliding off. Once they were pressed firmly in position, I was quite happy with how well everything stayed together. Only my black & silver parts have been frustrating in how easily one of the backpack boosters dislodges.
Unfortunately, while the toy doesn’t handle worse with the fast packs attached properly, they do introduce a new issue. When the fast pack is attached in fighter mode and the gun is stowed beneath the vehicle, the VF-1 can’t sit on its landing gear. You will find your front landing gear floating off the ground. I recommend removing the gun.
The VF-1 comes with a display stand but it was not made with the Super Parts in mind, though this is only an issue for fighter mode. To use the display stand in fighter mode, you should remove the gun, but the back of the gun is how the back of the display stand connects to the toy. The tab behind the head will keep the toy up but it will want to slide down the rear of the arm into an upward angle. A second option, also with the gun removed, is to collapse the rear portion of the display stand arm and only use the front tab behind the toy’s head, but that leaves the bulk of the weight unsupported and is not sturdy. KC should have included a display stand arm/adapter that worked better for the toy when outfitted with the fast pack with this set.
If you choose to use a router style display stand so you can display the toy in fighter mode with the gun installed, you’ll notice the gun has an unnatural angle that would lead to it shooting at the ground while flying straight. This is particularly prevalent on the V1.6 toys that moved the tabs on the leg used to secure the arms to the highest point on the back of the legs. This means the arms must angle steeply up beneath the backpack to be secured by the pegs. If you’re using a router style display stand, you can unpeg the arms and bring them lower to reduce this effect but it will leave the arms unsupported and they may droop.
Though the bracket used is inconspicuous and see-through (black on some releases), I’m not a big fan of needing a bracket to attach the backpack boosters in the first place. Given the smaller scale, it’s more forgivable here but not ideal. I think of Bandai’s original Hi-Metal (OHM) line (which handled super parts better than the Hi-Metal R line because the OHM line had a backpack that locked into position) and how simple and well that system worked, it’s a bit of a bummer to see the less sleek approach used here.
As mentioned above, the armor has removable panels that expose engine detail. The lights are bright but don’t bleed through areas they shouldn’t. One of my complaints about the design of the 1/72 VF-1 toy was the awkward positioning of the switches for the lights and KC compounded that issue with their fast packs. In order to turn on the lights in the legs or arms you need to remove the armor panel and expose the detail beneath and a tiny switch. Making this much worse is how firmly the covers attach. It’s tough to pop those panels off which would be a good thing if you didn’t need to do so to get to the light switch but, as it is, makes the feature unfriendly. A better solution would have been to turn the Vernier thruster on both armors into a button for quick-and-easy light-up fun.
Guardian or GERWALK mode has tenuous intake connections on the underlying VF-1 toy (version 1.0 and 1.5) and the weight of the super parts causes the intakes to become disconnected more frequently. I was more successful with the intakes remaining connected on the V1.6 toys but it remains an awkward mode for all versions of the toy.
The underlying VF-1 toys were designed with the later release of the super armor in mind so this armor will fit all KitzConcept VF-1 variants and you can mix and match as you choose.
The build quality and paint on my sample seems top notch. Speaking of paint, I did have an odd issue with the paint where the forearm armors attach, it’s almost like some plastic got left behind when the armor was removed.
A durability PSA, the back of the leg armors can latch too firmly to the peg that comes out of the back plate in fighter mode. The peg on my Dark Silver release was ripped off entirely! Afterward, I was able to see how I could have resolved this without breaking my toy so see the picture above. If the part seems stuck on, first see if you can remove the armor from the back of the leg which will let you wiggle it more freely. If it’s still stuck on, you can detach the side of the leg armor, unscrew the two halves of the back of the leg armor, and then use pliers to pinch the interior clamp which causes it to open and release the peg.
KitzConcept improved later releases of the Super Parts by making the armor cover on the backpack booster easier to remove. On the early version of the Super Parts, the maneuver thruster pokes through an opening in the cover and is easily pulled off with the cover as you attempt to access the light switch beneath. Later versions split this opening so the thruster is safe. In my first hour with the original release of the Super Parts, I needed to glued THREE thrusters back on. For the leg armors, it’s very important you unlatch the top peg (toward the knee) before worrying about the connection near the foot, watch my video review for instructions. Though my underlying V1 VF-1 toy had its hard points sheared off by the TV-style missiles, I did find the reaction missiles much more forgiving.
There are two primary areas I look at when it comes to articulation relating to an accessory. The most important aspect is that an accessory should not (generally) inhibit the articulation of the underlying toy. Fortunately, these fast packs pass that test and leave this toy as much fun to handle with the fast packs as it was without them. The other area to be considered is whether the accessory itself has any articulated features. For most fast pack toys, the big booster on the back pack is a ball joint that can be angled but the light-up feature likely made this impossible. Sometimes the smaller thrusters can also be repositioned. On this accessory, there is absolutely no articulation to fiddle with.
I’m a big fan of the KC VF-1 toy in battloid mode and I think that’s also where these fast packs perform best since the weak hardpoints on the wings won’t be an issue. The light-up gimmick could have been a lot of fun, it’s unfortunate that the execution wasn’t better. Like the 1/72 toy, these fast packs show a lot of promise but also several issues I hope are addressed in subsequent releases. If you’re happy with your VF-1 purchase then you’ll probably be happy with these. Given how close this accessory is to the price of a VF-1, and how clunky the light-up effect was employed, I really wish these fast packs were simpler and less expensive.
Original Post: April 28, 2019
Updated October 9, 2019 to include pictures of the parts on the Dark Gold and Dark Red VF-1S releases.