{"id":1276,"date":"2016-10-23T05:56:10","date_gmt":"2016-10-23T05:56:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/anymoon.com\/blog\/2007\/02\/02\/yamato-160-vf-1-first-releases-including-tru-exclusive\/"},"modified":"2026-10-11T04:41:38","modified_gmt":"2026-10-11T04:41:38","slug":"yamato-160-vf-1-first-releases-including-tru-exclusive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/anymoon.com\/blog\/?p=1276","title":{"rendered":"Yamato 1\/60 Version 1 VF-1 toys"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Mega Review: Includes original releases, super releases, armored release, and 2 seaters<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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Packaging & Extras:<\/strong> (3.5\/5)
These toys come in oversized boxes (30×27.5x10cm) adorned with product photography and produced from very thin cardboard stock dominated by a large plastic window that runs from the bottom over the top corner and around the top flap. Inside the box is a thin cardboard tray that holds the thin plastic clamshell that holds the toy and most accessories with some accessories, as noted below, taped in a plastic baggy to the back of the tray. The thin cardboard coupled with thin plastic windows and trays mean that the box is susceptible to crush damage and both the toy and the plastic window are susceptible to yellowing. There were two mass production versions of the VF-1A that come in the same packaging differentiated either by a round sticker indicating it’s the regular release of the toy or a star-shaped sticker indicating it’s the Toys R Us exclusive darker mass production variant. Regular VF-1 single-seat releases (no fast packs or armor) come with the following:
1) 4x Missile clusters (three missiles glued together)
2) 4x Do You Remember Love missile boxes
3) A gun with collapsing stock (V1.2 and greater variants also have collapsing grips)
4) A heat shield\/canopy cover for battroid mode
The baggy taped to the back of the plastic tray contains:
5) An extra nosecone plug for fighter mode
6) 2x curved antenna for GERWALK mode (one extra)
7) A pair of fixed posed hands (gun grip and open palm)
Smuggled behind the interior cardboard tray were
8) Stickers
9) Instructions & warranty card
The lack of a pilot figure is an obvious deficiency that Yamato would later address in their super bundles and two-seat releases. These toys do not include a display stand and were released long before Yamato created their Launch Arm display stand so there are no display stand adapters. Yamato would later bundle adapters for these toys with the Launch Arm Display Stand. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The VF-1D toy, released after the super\/strike releases, also included the same items from the single seat releases but added:
10) a copilot figure
Oddly, the pilot and copilot figure are anonymous UN Spacy flight suit pilots instead of Hikaru and Minmay. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Super and strike releases were the first to include fast packs. The box now measured 27.5×30.2×11.5cm. The following accessories were dropped:
\n1) 4x Missile clusters (three missiles glued together)<\/del>
\n2) 4x Do You Remember Love missile boxes<\/del>
\nIn lieu of those items, you received:
\n1) Pilot (in cockpit)
\n2) 4x reaction missiles
\nand, along with the other items included with the regular releases, you of course also received:
\n9) 2 x sticker sheets
\n10) Fast packs (2x leg armors for each leg, 1x forearm armor for each arm, and 2x boosters for the backpack)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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After the VF-1D, Yamato created the two unicorns of the DYRL Macross universe, the VT-1 SuperOstrich and VE-1 Elintseeker. Though the boxes for the regular and super releases were already large, Yamato went even bigger this time around. The boxes ballooned to an utterly unwieldy 38x38x12cm. To put that in perspective, that is a larger length and width than Yamato used for their 1\/48 scale toys!  These releases dropped all weapons so you didn’t receive:
1) 4x Missile clusters (three missiles glued together)<\/del>
2) 4x Do You Remember Love missile boxes
3) A gun
<\/del>You did get:
1) 2x Pilot seats
2) Custom fast packs including accessory antennae as appropriate
These toys still have the ability to stow missiles or a gun so some folks weren’t thrilled to see these accessories removed even if they’re never seen in the movie and logically wouldn’t be on these valkyries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Yamato’s 1\/60 Version 1 toys officially rode off into the sunset in 2004 with the final release: Hikaru’s VF-1J with GBP accessory. This toy includes everything that came with the regular release as well as:
7B) giant fists
9) 2x sticker sheets (one for the armor)
10) A pilot figure
11) GBP armor<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Charm & Collectability: <\/strong>(1.5\/5)
Yamato’s release of the “Version 2” 1\/60 VF-1 line relegated the version 1 toys historical footnotes but there was a seven year window where many viewed these as the best VF-1 toy. Though 1\/60 scale would go on to become the most prolific scale of Macross toy collecting, it meant the existing Takatoku and Bandai 1\/55 reissues (22.5 cm tall in battroid, 26.5 cm long in fighter) would tower over the Yamato product (19.8 and 24.8 cm, respectively). Yamato was keen to give their toys a premium feel, loading them with metal (mostly in the legs), so they weighed the same 350 grams as a Takatoku. Competition was stiff among several flawed competitors. The lack of perfect transformation led many to stick with Bandai reissues of the Takatoku or to pursue Toynami’s Masterpiece Collection which compromised on appearance to maintain perfect transformation while adding many of the same features Yamato included on their line. Yamato learned a lot from the version 1 toy as was clear to the enhancements they made to the line throughout its production run:
Version 1.1 – Backpacks were modified to work with fast pack boosters
Version 1.2 – Guns were improved to feature a collapsing grip as well as a collapsing stock. This allowed the toy to abandon the awful forearm filler pieces found on versions 1.0 and 1.1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Sculpt, Detail, & Paint:<\/strong> (6\/10)
The Yamato version 1 toy trounced its contemporary competition (Bandai’s reissue of the Takatoku’s 1\/55 scale toys and Toynami’s 1\/55 scale Masterpiece Collection VF-1) in the overall shape of fighter mode. Impressive details for the time included sculpted cockpit, paint application on the pilot’s seat, clear plastic parts on the wings, and three opening doors for the rear landing gears within the leg. On the negative side, the panel lines in the metal legs are of a different depth of the panel lines on the plastic which creates an uneven appearance. Yamato’s later 1\/48 toy would allow the feet to recess into the leg and tuck the head up higher in fighter mode, among numerous other improvements. Bandai’s reissues of the Takatoku toys had far superior paint applications, a common shortcoming that Yamato would wrestle with until its untimely demise. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Things get worse as you transform the toy out of fighter mode. GERWALK mode looks jumbled together due to problematic fit at the intakes and the misplaced twist point below the knee. Still, it sticks the mode more naturally than the Takatoku reissues which never felt comfortable in this mode with their limited ankles and lack of twist anywhere in the legs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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As the toy is optimized for fighter mode, there are concessions revealed in battroid: the nose looks too angular through the pelvis and the heads have all been shrunk. The VF-1S head is particularly egregious, perhaps that’s why Yamato never made a Strike VF-1S Hikaru movie type. For a toy that doesn’t have perfect transformation, the hips are too wide from the body and the bulbous connectors look awkward. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Yamato made two attempts at a mass production color VF-1A, the first exclusively for Toys R Us is darker while the later regular release is tan. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Super and Strike Parts were never sold individually and can only be purchased in one of the bundles. The proportions were slightly small but it’s a decent approximation of the line art. The backpack boosters have a removable panel that reveals some painted interior engine details. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Max & Miria toys are cast in hues that are less saturated than future companies would use. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Yamato didn’t take the easy way out with the VF-1D, they stuck to the line art and gave us a new chest, cockpit, heat shield, back plate, trap door, and head. It would have been nice if the hump on the trap door was painted instead of the entire door being cast in orange (as Yamato would do when they made the version 2 toy), the effort is otherwise very solid. Unfortunately, the pilot figures are two anonymous UN Spacy soldiers instead of Hikaru and Minmay, another shortcoming Yamato addressed on their version 2 toys.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The VE-1 Elintseeker was seen only briefly in Do You Remember Love but it received a Bandai 1\/55 toy though it had many deviations from the line art. Yamato made numerous changes to their mold to more faithfully recreate the design. The most prominent change is the 2 seat cockpit with the larger hump through the chest. Yamato also did a very good job capturing the unique FAST packs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Like the VE-1, the VT-1 Super Ostrich has the same two-seat configuration. This trainer vehicle also receives custom FAST packs that capture the look from the movie. As an added bonus, the VT-1 has pilot figures that simulate Hikaru and Minmay as they appeared on their joyride that ended in tragedy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The final version 1 release was a Grenade Box Protection (GBP) Armor + VF-1J Hikaru (as he appeared during the Miss Minmay contest). The GBP could also be purchased separately and is discussed more in the article dedicated to it. The included VF-1J is unchanged from the earlier super bundle which means it does not have that classic gray armor wrap around the eye. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Design:<\/strong> (4\/10)
By today’s standards, this toy is poorly designed. It feels as if Yamato had two goals in mind: 1) a good fighter mode presentation, 2) lots of diecast metal. This created some big problems which I’ll present in list form:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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