{"id":2967,"date":"2013-12-02T05:05:52","date_gmt":"2013-12-02T05:05:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/anymoon.com\/blog\/2009\/04\/06\/yamato-1200-variable-fighter-collection-series-2\/"},"modified":"2013-12-03T07:08:40","modified_gmt":"2013-12-03T07:08:40","slug":"yamato-1200-variable-fighter-collection-series-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/anymoon.com\/blog\/?p=2967","title":{"rendered":"Yamato 1\/200 Variable Fighter Collection (Series 1 & 2)"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Observations & Critique: Now includes series 1 and series 2 in one post
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Gashapon toys\u00a0never have lots of extras so I mean Yamato no slight by saying there\u2019s nothing special about these packages at all. There\u2019s a big black box full of smaller color boxes but no real way to differentiate them. These toys require minor assembly and come packaged with the following:
\n1) Display stand
\n2) Sticker (type of vehicle for display stand)
\n3) Advertisement (Series 1 only, see pictures below this section)
\nSeries 1 was sold in boxes of 10.\u00a0 Series 2 was sold in boxes of 12.<\/p>\n

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Some people collect gashapon toys but generally small, non-transformable, no diecast toys don\u2019t garner a lot of attention. Series 1 was released in June 2008 and MSRP’ed at 4,500 Yen for a box of 10 which was considered a bit of a reach in terms of pricing.\u00a0 A Series 1 box includes fighter, GERWALK, and battroid toys of all of the following except the chase denoted by an asterisk:
\n1) VF-1J Hikaru Custom
\n2) VA-3M
\n3) YF-19 Isamu Custom
\n4) VF-1J LowVisibility* (you get one random fighter\/GERWALK\/or battroid)
\nSeries 2 was dropped in January 2009 for an even more astronomical 6,840 Yen for a box of 12.\u00a0 Series 2 included fighter\/GERWALK\/battroid toys of all of the following (there was no chase):
\n1) VF-1S Focker Custom
\n2) VF-9 Cutlass
\n3) YF-21 Guld Custom
\n4) VF-1A Event Custom
\nI was in Japan in the summer of 2009 and noticed that the gashapon shops couldn’t seem to move the battroid and GERWALK mode toys.\u00a0 It seems like Bandai saw the same thing and thus did things better when they created their 1\/250 Fighter Collection series.\u00a0 Ultimately series 1 sold very poorly and it seems like many stores were still trying to offload series 1 when series 2 was released so they didn’t even bother ordering series 2.\u00a0 As a result, series 2 can be harder to come by while series 1 is still available, five years later, at very steep discounts.<\/p>\n

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Given their scale, these are really nice representations. They got a bit thick of a wash, and the colors are questionable at times (the pale blue on the VF-1J toy particularly), but otherwise these toys correlate nicely to line-art of the figures in each mode. If i had to pick a favorite, I\u2019d say the YF-19 came out the best.\u00a0 The YF-21’s battroid is probably my least favorite representation .<\/p>\n

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These figures feature parts that make sense. A gun will be a piece, an arm will be a piece, a leg will be a piece, etc. You do have to do some minor assembly but it\u2019s obvious, easy, and intuitive. Since each part of the toy that ought to be a piece, is a piece, the construction of the toy won\u2019t hinder your ability to make minor adjustments to get it to stand properly on its own when not utilizing the display stand. All GERWALK and Battroid toys can stand without the stands also although the VA-3 can be a bit tricky to balance.\u00a0 I did find it peculiarly complicated that Yamato opted to create numerous stand attachment pieces rather than having all toys connect to the stand through a simple peg.<\/p>\n

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There’s only one toy in either of these sets that seems to be a big build quality let down and that’s the VF-9 battroid figure that comes in VFC2.\u00a0 Something went terribly wrong when producing the right arm so that all of the holes on it are too small.\u00a0 There are holes on front and back for antennae or lasers but the incredibly small and frail parts have pegs to attach them that are too big for the holes in the shoulder.\u00a0 As a result, you can very easily stress mark the parts or have them pop off and disappear entirely.\u00a0 While I was able to make the toy come together for one photo shoot, years later I was not able to put battroid together again successfully.\u00a0 Much less troublesome but still annoying was a fit issue I had with the canopy glass on my VF-1J Hikaru Gerwalk figure.\u00a0 The only other thing you may have to worry about here is paint application but all of my parts came out great.\u00a0 Some people may find the \u201cwash\u201d effect (it looks like the toys were dipped in a very thin black paint and then wiped down) a bit much but it shouldn\u2019t conceal anything pertinent, it should just bring attention to the lines of the toy. What is significant here is that the toys are all made out of a more durable plastic than your normal gashapon toys so warping won\u2019t be nearly the issue it has been in the past (especially with the more literal gashapon toys that come from vending machines in little plastic bubbles). As with any Gashapon toy, even ones made of superior materials like these, take care when attempting to rotate anything as the plastic can seize and be damaged by the force… especially if you’re trying to rotate something that isn’t meant to rotate.
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