Review: Does this feel like 15 years of progress since the Yamato 1/60?
Packaging & Extras: (4.5/5)
The VF-19 comes in a decently efficient box (37.5 x 24.5 x 14.5 cm) decorated with dynamic product shots. The paper stock is a decent weight but there are no gimmicks such as opening panels that reveal the toy within. The first tray contains the VF-19 as well as:
1) 2 x pilot figures: Standing and jamming on his guitar, and seated
2) Speaker Pod Launcher
A small cover in this tray conceals a baggy that holds:
3) 3 x pairs of hands: fists, gun holding, open
4) 2 x optional faces: battle mask (no mouth) and singing (open mouth)
5) Left and right intake fan covers
The second tray contains:
6) Display stand consisting of a base and arm
7) 3 x adapters (one for each mode). The fighter adapter is three pieces, the main cradle and two small leg supports
also in the box is:
8) Full color instructions
Does the VF-19 really have a singing face in the anime? No, this is a Bandai interpretation and if it offends you, just leave it in the baggy. What other accessories could we have hoped for? Some would argue that the Sound Booster should have been included. There’s also a “Speaker Pod Gamma” the Basara uses against the Fleet of the Strongest Women that no toy company has tackled yet. Yamato included back of the leg cavity fillers and a second shield for GERWALK/Battroid modes but Bandai has attempted to address the need for these parts in their design while giving us a display stand and fixed posed hands.
Charm & Collectability: (3/5)
Released in October 2025 for the bold MSRP of 33,000¥ (before domestic tax of 10%), this toy struggled to find an audience. The Arcadia bundle with a Sound Booster retailed for 34,800¥ and the original Yamato VF-19Kai retailed for 22,000¥, customers understandably felt the DX was over-priced. A process of rapid markdowns had the price settle around 18,000¥. After Bandai’s Hi-Metal R VF-19 suffered a similar fate, Bandai is left to ponder the strength of Macross7 demand and the limited demand for Macross7 outside of Japan. It’s also possible that Bandai hurt their cause by selling the Hi-Metal R toy only a year prior. Response to the DX has generally been favorable so the poor sales aren’t an indicator that the toy is perceived poorly. The DX VF-19 features some metal parts, has decent heft at 450 g, and is in line with the very popular 1/60 scale at 33.5 cm long in fighter and 23 cm tall in battroid (can be a little taller by adjusting some joints but a perfect 1/60 scale would be 26 cm tall). If you’re comparing to a Yamato 1/60, it’s a half cm longer in fighter mode and essentially the same size in battroid while being 25 grams heavier. Though the Fire Valkyrie is a polarizing design, all the elements are here that should make this a desirable collectible.
Sculpt, Detail, & Paint: (9/10)
Fifteen years ago, Yamato set the bar high with their 1/60 scale VF-19 Kai. Yamato included a Basara pilot figure in his street clothes with the 19Kai and his spiritia harnessing pilot uniform with their sold separately sound booster accessory. Bandai went straight to the pilot uniform for their figure. For the size, the pilot is nicely detailed. There’s a slight opaqueness to the cockpit canopy, almost like it received the same matte finish as the rest of the toy, so you won’t see Basara quite as clearly as you do in the Yamato. The sculpt of the cockpit is improved over the Yamato but lacks the silver-painted accents panels or yellow stripe that Yamato added. Yamato’s lightning bolt has black outlines and has curves that make it look hand drawn while the DX lightning bolt drops the black borders and has straight lines.
Zooming out a little from the pilot and cockpit, the biggest change is the matte finish which softens the red hue. Yamato was already making matte finished toys in 2011, so their VF-19 was an intentional exception, arguing the Fire Valkyrie was like a sports car, it was meant to be a shiny red spectacle that grabbed your attention. Not all customers loved Yamato’s decision, so this was an opportunity for Bandai to differentiate themselves. Yamato failed to perfectly match their red plastic and red paint for the metal parts like the fronts of the shoulders, a situation that seemed to get worse when Arcadia reissued the toys, and there’s no evidence of this issue on the DX. While both Yamato and Bandai included translucent plastic sensors and painted black accents, Bandai loaded the DX with markings and warnings which are small and tastefully done. Similarly, Bandai includes more molded panel lines that add to the toy’s visual depth. Bandai continues to overlook the landing gear. Yamato painted the gear and their interior bays white and it looks fantastic. Bandai left the gear bare metal and the bays the unpainted plastic of their construction leaving them entirely forgettable; likely a strategic decision since the gear and bays are frequently concealed or hidden under the plane.
Both Yamato and Bandai did an amazing job capturing the essence of fighter mode with only slight visual differences in the shape. As with the lightning bolt, the DX’s fighter mode looks like an effort to take a hand drawn design and render it like a computer or real-world airplane. While Yamato tried to capture all the gentle curves, Bandai subtly straightens some of the lines out like the spine when viewed from the profile or the bell bottoms around the feet. Bandai also reduced the angle of the nose which better matches the profile schematic than the more pronounced downward slant of the Yamato. Bandai and Yamato both extended the knees in fighter mode which does not conform with the line art.
I’ve never been a fan of the VF-19’s GERWALK, particularly how the wings tuck into the armpits, but both toys did an admirable job emulating the art. Macross7 was near the end of the hand-drawn era, a time when artists could freely shift the proportions of the vehicle to make it look tougher or faster or whatever worked best. In most GERWALK art, the 19Kai has huge shoulders, long arms, and thick legs that simply wouldn’t work in fighter mode leaving toy manufacturers to determine what compromises can be made to get things close. Yamato scores points for the inclusion of the GERWALK/Battroid-mode specific shield with its more dramatic taper. Unfortunately, the Yamato toy has problematic ankles which generally left it posed in very stiff-looking positions, nearly horizontal with the legs only splayed slightly, while the DX toy is much easier to make look dynamic with wide leg sweeps and steeper nose angles.
While battroid mode doesn’t look bad, it’s a step backward from Yamato, and it’s my belief that not prioritizing this mode is part of why sales did not meet expectations. You might think the lack of leg cavity filler accessories indicates that Bandai incorporated integrated covers but you would be wrong; battroid looks atrocious from behind. You can creatively twist the back hip kibble to try to minimize this. Though the head and neck look proportional to the body, the Yamato head is larger and neck slightly smaller, which looks better, particularly when compared directly to the line art. The Yamato is thicker through the chest and looks chunkier, better capturing the spirit of anime. Yamato also only has a small gap above the uniboob while the DX gap is uniform across the top. Yamato has flaps on either side of the section below the uniboob to conceal the cavities and the DX toy does nothing. The DX has superior bicep thickness, includes the vernier thruster above the foot (only seen in the most detailed line art), and corrects the colors on the back of the hands (which Yamato always inverted). Bandai also eliminated the black accent under the knee that Yamato included which looks closer to most line art though there were scenes in the show where there appears to be a cavity under the knee which was clearly Yamato’s inspiration.
Design: (9/10)
We’ll begin by highlighting the design elements that have carried forward from the Yamato and then highlight the differences:
1) Integrated landing gear complete with slide out mechanisms to allow the doors to open completely and conceal the hinge. Rear landing gear angle outward and lock in place. Tires are rubber and spin. Front landing gear features an articulated tow bar.
2) Canopy opens and cockpit accommodates separate pilot figure. Bandai also added a couple slots to the cockpit and a standing Basara figure so you can have him standing on the edges and serenading the Protodevlin.
3) Perfect transformation from fighter to GERWALK and battroid. Parts lock firmly into place in all modes. The head conceals nicely in fighter mode which is no small feat since the head is large.
4) The speaker-pod launcher (gun) can be attached directly in fighter mode and includes mechanisms to lay flat in fighter mode. The DX has an angle that unhinges allowing it to lay flatter than the Yamato could.
5) Legs conceal missiles which can be maneuvered to appear to be launching from the leg cavity in battroid mode. The missiles attach via ball joints which makes rotating them a bit easier than it was on the Yamato.
6) The use of metal is intelligent. It reinforces the toy’s spine and ankles (and probably some other joints I didn’t notice). It’s not just metal content for the sake of metal content.
7) The VF-19Kai’s shoulders conceal speaker detail which is easily revealed in battroid or GERWALK modes
8) The VF-19Kai face can be easily replaced with the version without the mouth or a singing mouth, all faces locking firmly in place.
There are two features included with the Yamato that were abandoned by Bandai. The first is a really cool feat of engineering and the second was likely more a factor of assembly than a feature:
1) Yamato features a rotating pilot seat so the pilot remains horizontal in battroid mode.
2) Yamato features a removable magazine on the speaker pod gun.
Bandai added some new design elements:
1) Bandai achieves more perfect transformation with an integrated neck cavity filler. This is an optional, plug-in part on the Yamato.
2) Bandai includes removable intake fan cover parts. Though not perfect transformation, the parts can be removed to achieve an atmospheric flight look in fighter/GERWALK modes.
3) Bandai achieves more perfect transformation by incorporating a sliding attachment point in the shield. Yamato included a second shield which (optionally) could be swapped with the fighter mode shield for a better look in GERWALK and battroid modes
4) While both toys feature speakers in the shoulders, the DX includes the ability to recess the purple diamond accent in the shoulder to better expose the speaker.|
5) Though no weaponry is included, Bandai adds hard points compatible with the weaponry from the VF-171 and YF-19 full-set kit. There are three hard points per wing though their placement is very close to each other which will limit some layouts.
6) Bandai has sliders in the back of the leg to address one of the cavities. Yamato included separate cavity filler parts, Bandai didn’t think anyone cared enough about the back of the leg to do the same.
7) Straddling the line between design and durability, the biggest fault of the Yamato toy was its ankle joints. Once the ankles were placed in a heel up, toe down position (standard for GERWALK) the ankle would become loose making GERWALK mode very difficult to enjoy and battroid mode less dynamic. The DX includes ankle joints that have a huge range of movement while retaining the resistance necessary for the toy to stand in dynamic positions in either GERWALK or battroid modes.
Where Yamato included a couple adapters for a sold-separately display stand, the DX includes the standard black DX display stand with clear display stand adapters. While Yamato and Arcadia’s sold separately display stands are generally superior to the simple DX stand, the VF-19’s fighter/GERWALK adapter failed to seat securely enough under the cockpit which made it difficult to display in fighter mode and cumbersome in GERWALK. In contrast, the DX display stand is fixed in all respects, simply elevating the toy horizontally, but it does enough to make the toy look like it’s flying in all modes and can support the weight of the toy.
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Durability & Build: (8/10)
Time has not been nice to the Yamato toys so I’m hesitant to praise the DX, which also seems to be very solid. My toy feels a little loose during transformation but has pleasant resistance at each joint when it arrives at each mode. The left shoulder is too tight, limiting my ability to move the arm forward, though it moves back well enough. I’ve seen various reports of manufacturing issues but nothing that seems outside the usual 5% rule. Getting the hips to unlock and rotate down when going back to GERWALK or fighter was VERY difficult for me and feels like a place where someone can break their toy trying to force it.
Articulation: (9.5/10)
The head is a ball joint that spins 360 degrees, has impressive up and downward mobility, and can cock to either side. A pivot at the base of the neck allows the head to travel forward which looks cool when you’re doing a profile shot with a twisted head. The lasers on the side of the head can rotate however you like but they only have the slightest range of movement to angle outward. As with all perfect transformation 19 toys, the shoulders pivots that can swing backward which can be handy for arm behind the body poses. No one has come up with a manner for allowing the shoulder to continue to swing forward to position the arms at the front of the chest for better mobility around the chest bulge which is what it will take to get a perfect 10 here. At the end of the shoulder swivel is a ball joint. The arm can rotate 360 from this ball joint and extend 90 degrees from the body. The shoulder covers attach to the arm and can angle steeply and move out of the way as to not negatively impact arm mobility. There are two hinges in the elbow which function together to allow a full 180 degree range of movement and it works even when the bicep cover is down making the arms look beefier. The hands attach via pegs and have an articulated wrist allowing them to rotated and angle in our out. The thumb joint is a ball and the trigger finger is hinged with the other three fingers being attached to each other and connected via one knuckle. There is a waist, which would be impressive but it can only twist a few degrees. Even when the hips are moved to a lower position (not easy with the way they lock), the waist still only offers minimal rotation. The hip can rotate all the way back or forward and a gimmick behind the intake allows the legs to splay a full 45 degrees outward for massively wide stances. A hinge within the hip also allows you to rotate the leg so the toe points in or out. This fancy hinge replaces the pivot Yamato incorporated behind the intake and is what allowed Bandai to have a similar wide stance while still having intake fan detail. Below the intake, the GERWALK joint is limited to about 30 degrees of movement, very similar to what Yamato accomplished. The knee houses a twist point and can allow the foot to swing back about 120 degrees. Ball joints in the ankle attach to an extension mechanism which allows the foot to get far enough away from the bell bottoms to twist and angle in any direction and makes a solid base for dynamic posing.
Total Score: (43/50)
This toy scores higher than the old Yamato (now Arcadia), primarily because it appears to have fewer durability issues and is much easier to handle. If Arcadia reissued the Yamato VF-19 toys and addressed the loose ankles while improving the durability of the joints (particularly the shoulders), it would be hard to recommend one of these toys over the other. Bandai was in the unenviable position of competing with a toy that looked great in all modes so they had to compete on features. Overcoming Yamato’s Achille’s heels was easy but Bandai hasn’t done enough beyond that to make this a ‘must upgrade’ alternative. The diamond recessing in the shoulders, the integrated neck cover, and the numerous additional paint applications are all nice but I found myself liking the look of the Yamato more in battroid mode and wishing Arcadia had simply made some improvements to their mold instead. Speaking of which, ARCADIA, refresh that YF-21 Yamato mold with better joints already!