Arii’s 1/100 scale Regult Battle Pod from the Super Dimensional Fortress Macross TV Series is a great example. Manufactured and designed in 1982 this kit is one of the better kits from the line that builds up to a great representation of our favorite two-legged cannon fodder monster, although not without some minor faults.

Regult Arii 1/100

Model kits have an unusual connection with toy collectors. Usually, they are bypassed and forgotten by toy collectors, as most do not have the skill to build the kits leaving some great subjects that have been represented in sprue sadly left behind and under represented.

Arii’s 1980’s Macross line is a perfect example. Some great subjects were injected into plastic model kits but because many of the kits in the line that were produced were less than satisfactory the entire line has had a bad reputation over the years, even though there are few well done gems in the line.

Arii’s 1/100 scale Regult Battle Pod from the Super Dimensional Fortress Macross TV Series is a great example. Manufactured and designed in 1982 this kit is one of the better kits from the line that builds up to a great representation of our favorite two-legged cannon fodder monster, although not without some minor faults.

Arii’s Regult kit includes: 2x off white sprue, 1x black rubber polycaps, 1x instruction, 1x promotional flyer, 1x sheet of decals, 1x Glue. No options are supplied. The skill level is moderate to advanced due to the fragility of the legs and paint masking.

According to Macross World this kit is a rare kit due to some quality issues with the upper leg joints. I picked up this kit about 7 years ago at an antique store in New Mexico for $14.00. I just happen to luck out when I saw it at a vendor booth with an “all items 50% off“ sign. This was good as the original $28.00 asking price was a bit overpriced. Today, expect to pay from $8.00 to $18.00 for these kits.

As with many of the early 1980’s Macross oil painted toy and model kit box art, this Regult box art is fantastic and first rate and really captures the spirit, realism and mystery of what I love about Macross to this day. The downside, and typical of the era, is that the model kit itself is not represented on the box top or sides, but in this case you are getting a decent kit.

The kit itself is a straightforward build, but there are some things you should be aware of. I was surprised to see so much flash on this kit but considering that these Macross kits out produced even the landmark Gundam 0079 from three years earlier shows the popularity of these kits and I am sure that the molds were run down. Some parts clean up are necessary for the parts to fit correctly, especially the rear facing cannons array on the top of the Regult.

Great care is needed when building up the upper leg area. Very much if you accidently drop even one tiny drop of glue in the wrong area forget it, it’s over. Make sure all the seams are filled properly before gluing those upper leg parts together. But if you take your time you should have no problem. I have read that the upper legs were redesigned in Arii’s later Regult kits, but as I do not own any of these later kits, I cannot comment on how they were redesigned.

Also the designers of these kits were more focused on playability of the kit after it is finished. They designed it so moveable joint parts are permanently joined together and cannot be taken apart. Since this kit was for display only I opted to leave those parts off for ease of painting at a later stage. Keep in mind this does not affect the pose ability of the kit after one is finished with the kit.

The six-gun cannons present a few problems, the major one being that two larger cannons are a bit awkward and thick for the scale, as the cannon barrel holes should be filed down to look more scaled. If you have the skill, new cannons could be lathed out of aluminum for a better look. The heels were also open so I boxed them so they can look solid. You might want to box in the toes as well which was something I was planning to do but I thought I did not have the right resources. It was not until I was nearly finished when I realized I did have the right book with the proper info. I will build up these details on the next Regult I build.

The body is three parts, the front, back and the bottom cap. I purposely left the bottom cap off until final assembly so I can put all the cannon parts in after I was through painting and decaling. My biggest complaint is how the jet nozzles are designed to be assembled together. Instead of having a bottom and top half the parts are split down the middle leaving a near impossible seam to fill. Filling the deep seam not only destroys the detail around it, but also destroys the shape of the nozzle in general and demands a lot of reshaping for the part to look right.

Painting this kit is where one needs to deliver, as all the painting details are no joke and quite intricate. This is not like your current Systeminjection multi-color sprue Bandai kit, this kit is molded in one color, off white and every detail needs to be masked and painted. I painted the kit with Tamiya and other than the light blue, which needed to be mixed, all the other colors were straight out of the bottle. Honestly, give yourself about a week to paint this little monster as there are so many small details involved and they just don’t paint themselves!

I sprayed a Testor’s gloss coat and applied the decals. I accidently dropped the entire sheet into water bowl so I had a limited time to quickly apply all the decals. Of what I can see the decals went on well but typical of the Arii decals, the instructions only tell you where to about six of the 25 decals provided. Thankfully Macross World saved me again and I was able to use their resources to place the other decals on the kit.

After a spraying a Testor’s flat coat, I applied a mix of black and burnt sienna oil paints for the weathering and finished it off with a silver color pencil to represent chips in the paint.

My other main issue with this kit is the scale. Since we here at CollectionDX already discussed scaling issues with some of the Macross vehicles here, there is no need to open a sore wound. But I am going to say its too small especially if you compare it to Imai’s 1/100 scale of Captain Kamujin Zentradi Armored Space suit, which I feel, is scaled correctly. I know the pilot has a snug fit in the Regult but there is no way the Kamujin kit would fit inside this Regult kit or fit through the hatch in the back. Also viewing the kit from the back, the Regult body looks squashed especially compared to Revoltech’s Regult.

Besides the jet nozzles parts and some scaling issues this kit builds up into an impressive model kit and stands out from the self amongst my other Macross toys and models. The best part about this kit is that it is one of the few representations of the Regult in any form and accordingly it is great to have an item few people have in their collections to display. The pose ability of the kit is quite good, with upper leg and waist pivot and bendable knees and toes and positional jet nozzles.

Again I suggest this kit to moderate to advanced builders due to the paint masking and upper leg fragility but if you take your time with the finish and parts you will be rewarded with a beautiful representation of a classic Macross vehicle.

©2009 Article and pictures Leonardo Flores and CollectionDX.

This set is bittersweet. The scene where Michel's valk arrives and Ranka starts singing is one of my favorite scenes in all of Macross Frontier. It sends chills down my spine. The set itself is great, but the fact that it only gets used in gerwalk mode really bumms me out.

The Galia 4 Fold set is a Tamashii Web exclusive. Collectors could mail away for the set, which is only available to Japanese residents. However, with the help of shops like Anime-Export, you can order them and have them shipped to the states.

The set is named after the Planet Galia 4, from Macross Frontier. In episode 12, singer Sheryl Nome is sent to the largely Zentradi military base on the planet Galia 4 to perform a concert. When she is stricken ill, a Zentradi uprising occurs. The SMS sends ace pilot and sniper Michel out with Ranka Lee to sing in her absence and quell the riot.

Unfortunately, the planet is too far away, but there has been work on an experimental Super Fold Booster that can get there quickly. This is the booster included in this set.

Once Michel and Ranka arrive, the fold booster is jettisoned and Michel's valk is equipped with sonic boosters that amplify Ranka's song, disrupting the renegade Zentradi attack.

As I said before, this is a mail-away set. While the parts are used with Michel's VF-25 Messiah valkyrie, they can be used with any DX Chogokin Messiah Valkyrie.

This is a small set. You don't get a lot. Included in the set is:

• Super Fold Booster x1
• Fold Speaker x4
• 1/60 Ranka Lee figure x1

The Fold Booster is plastic with clear dome parts. Unlike the Yamato fold boosters, nothing lights up. It can be attached with one of two different connectors, depending on if the toy has its armor parts on or not.

The Fold speakers clip onto the wings of the toy in either fighter or gerwalk mode. Unfortunately, the appearance in the anime is in gerwalk mode, and we all know how much the gerwalk mode on these toys sucks. Each booster is decorated with different colors on the points where they should be lit up, but these don't light up.

Also included is a tiny 1/60 scale Ranka Lee figurine.

This set is bittersweet. The scene where Michel's valk arrives and Ranka starts singing is one of my favorite scenes in all of Macross Frontier. It sends chills down my spine. The set itself is great, but the fact that it only gets used in gerwalk mode really bumms me out. And there is the price. The original Japanese retail is around $50 bucks, which is already too much. Add on the fact that you have to import it, and pay a markup due to the rarity... well, lets just say you need to be hardcore to get this set. Maybe if the fold booster or speakers lit up?

Regardless, good luck finding a set. We got ours at Anime-Export, and if you want one, maybe you should too.

Let's be fair, the toy is not terrible, it just has one terrible mode.

I'm not going to go over the pros and cons of the Messiah Valkyrie again, we all know its a mixed bag. Good fighter mode, good battroid mode, absolutely horrible gerwalk mode.

The RVF-25 Messiah Valkyrie Luca Custom is a special-use valkyrie used in the series Macross Frontier. Luca Angelloni is a meek, bookish member of the S.M.S. Skull Squadron who pilots the special Reconnaissance Version Messiah Valkyrie.

The toy is essentially the same as the other Macross F DX Chogokin toys, with some paint and mold changes. Each of the Skull Squadron members have a custom VF-25, different from the mass production version. You can get your RVF-25 Messiah Valkyrie at Anime-Export.com

Luca's RVF-25 features a unique head sculpt as well as a large radar dish on the back. Like the Michael Custom, Luca's valkyrie comes with super armor parts and a custom display stand.

In fighter mode, the main fighter is tight and looks great.

Adding on the super parts makes for a frustrating experience. Most of the armor parts fit ok, specifically the leg and chest armor, but the armor that covers the intakes falls off at the drop of a hat.

As far as gerwalk mode goes, its absolutely fu*kin terrible. Without the armor its a mess, add in the armor you just want to smash it with a hammer. Nothing stays on at all, and the armor on the back and wings just makes the whole rear sag. The stand is supposed to make it displayable, but fails miserably. I was too kind about it in my Ozma review - but after handling a few of these it really becomes apparent.

But lets not dwell on the misery of gerwalk form.

Battroid mode is really nice, much better than Gerwalk, but still you end up with too many armor pieces that don't fit well. Expect a waterfall of parts when trying to transform it. Best not to bother with them and just wait till you have the whole thing transformed.

The real weak point again is the armor over the hips, or the intake manifolds. There just isn't enough plastic on the clips to give them a secure connection.

There are some pluses to the armor though. I like the shoulder armor that has concealed missile pods, I like the leg and chest armor, and I like the big boosters. You can still have the radar dish attached on the back in this mode as well, but it dislodges easily.

The figure also comes with all the armaments of the other valks - the large gun, the two blades, and several interchangeable hands.

The stand that the figure comes with has a few issues. The main point of connection to the stand in fighter and gerwalk mode is a black tab that fits under the nose. Under the bottom of the nose is a tab that pulls out to connect to the waist in battroid mode. The black tip of the stand fits into the hole left by this piece when it is flipped out. This anchors the nose, but the rest of the toy simply "rests" on the rear plate. This would not be a bad idea if it were not for the fact that the front part can easily separate from the rest of the stand, causing the valk to come crashing to the floor. In battroid mode there is a separate stand part that attaches under the waist, but the figure stands fine without it.

So yeah, lots of complaints. So why did I get it? Well, I needed something to display my Tamashii Web Exclusive Ghost and Weapons Set. That review is coming up next.

And let's be fair, the toy is not terrible, it just has one terrible mode. Most Macross collectors will likely just display it in one mode anyway, and it DOES look really good in fighter and battroid mode.

Should you want to get one for your collection, you can get one at Anime-Export.com

The Fold Booster & Fast Pack set completes the Yamato 1/60 YF-19

HD Video review included!

If you get the YF-19 Valkyrie, you kind of need to get the Fold Booster & Fast Pack, it just seems incomplete without it. Yamato sold the fold and fast set as a stand alone set (as reviewed here) or they also sold a combined set.

The set, which runs about $50, includes the fast packs, cockpit parts, an additional pilot, and of course the fold booster, with stand.

So lets start with the Fast packs. FAST is actually an acronym for Fuel and Sensor Tactical. These are add-on armor packs that can enhance the Valkyrie's range or firepower.

The YF-19 FAST packs consist of shoulder and leg armor. The shoulder armor (while small) act as supplemental fuel tanks. In fighter mode, the tanks are grey aerodynamic blocks behind the center section. The parts feature a flip out connector that connects to the back of the shoulder blocks, while a flip down spacer moves the legs lower.

The leg packs are supposed to feature extra banks of micro missiles but don't open. You just have to assume they do. Each large FAST pack adheres to the side of the fighter with MAGNETS! The magnets, while not super strong, are strong enough to stay attached.

Fighter mode with the YF-19 is already a tricky thing to manage, and with the addition of the FAST packs it just gets worse. You click one thing in and another pops out and after a few minutes of this you are ready to throw it against the wall. If you are anything like me, you will just lose your mind.

Fortunately, in Battroid and Gerwalk mode, the FAST packs stay on just fine, so its likely that this is the mode you will want to display the toy in.

The next addition is with the cockpit. Included in the set is an additional seat and co pilot, one scientist by the name of Yang Neumann. You must remove the existing cockpit and kibble around it to replace this seat.

While all these things are well and good, the real reason you want this set is the Fold Booster. The booster enables the YF-19 to do a space "fold" to cover long distances in a short amount of time.

The fold booster consists of the booster itself, 2 connector parts, and a base (for storage when not in use).

The beauty of the fold booster is that it lights up. Yep - electronics. 3 LR44 watch batteries (not included) are needed to power the lightshow. Once installed, turn on the switch and the lights pulse and dance in patterns replicating its fold journey. It's really quite stunning.

The Fold booster attaches to the YF-19 by its two connector parts which snap in the body and around the shield. The fold booster is unusable in the other modes, hence the stand. It is worth noting that the YF-21 comes with parts so it too can use the same fold booster.

Could this set have been done better? Sure. But the cool light up fast pack, the extra pilot, and even the packs themselves (when in Battroid mode) are worth the money. If you haven't gotten a YF-19, go for the combo pack, as I hear the Valkyrie has had small improvements. Otherwise, this pack is neat.

A flea market find!

My first major foray into the world of robot toy collecting began with many trips to flea markets all around Massachusetts. I used to find lots of old Transformers, Gobots, Gundam toys, and countless bootlegs.

This is one of those bootlegs.

Beginning its life as one of Takatoku's Macross Henkei Type toys, this particular design is notable for being one of the smallest fully transformable VF-1 toys. This toy has been bootlegged many times by companies like Select and many more anonymous firms across Asia. I wish I still had the card this guy came packaged on. It had the worst drawing of a Valkyrie you could ever imagine. It was like someone had seen the infamous SPACE GANDAM V movie and was trying to draw parts of it from memory. Anyways, onto the toy itself.

Cast in two very distinctly colored plastics, this guy stands tall at around four inches high. Style wise, this guy is based heavily on the old lineart for the VF-1's Battroid mode. The combination of textured brown plastic with shiny yellow-beige makes this guy look like he'd be blend right in at some 70's house. Its singular accessory is a gunpod that can pegged into either hand. The whole thing is quite sturdy. More so than most examples of this toy I have encountered. I have no idea how old this guy is but his joints have been loose since the day I bought it.

Up close we can see the remnants of stickers that once adorned the chest and cockpit. It had the standard black and yellow crest and a skull symbol. These things were falling off right off the card and baking in the midday sun probably didn't help. The head only has two head lasers as opposed the VF-1S's usual four. As you can see, the arms are attached in the most awkward way possible.

From the rear we can see its hollow limbs and the awful molding of the parts. The air-conditioner sized backpack and wobbly knees complete the image of robust cheapness.

In GERWALK mode it all starts to go downhill. This toy's transformation has always been terrible, but the poorly molded parts make it even worse. The undercarriage is thick and unsightly.

This ugly duck is going spreads its stubby wings and fly I tell ya.

Fighter mode is where it all comes crashing down. Lacking a working backpack, the tailfins of this mode are made out of rotating panels from the shins. The arms slide backwards along the sides of the body and rest loosely between the legs. You actually have to pull the legs out a bit for this mode and the tiny metal plate that keeps them attached constantly rubs against the hip joints. The half formed nosecone juts out like a tiny beak.

Look at that sleekness.

The feet do not collapse, nor do the fists retract. I left the gunpod plugged in to give it some semblance of dignity.

Overall this guy has always given me a sense of morbid fascination. The combination of being some unknown generations removed from its original release and the sepia tones of the plastic make this guy seem like a relic from some bygone era. Maybe one of these days I'll get to handle an actual Takatoku Henkei Type but I've got this guy for now and forever.

Are you sick of Macross toys? Korea isn't!

So it's the mid-90's and because of Macross Plus and Macross 7, Macross is popular again. You are a sleazy Korean bootleg toy maker. How do you make some scratch? That's right. You rip off Takatoku's classic rendition of the 1/55 scale VF-1J Valkyrie toy from the original Macross!

Like Takatoku and the companies that followed them, you want to get the most of your toy molds, so you crank out some color variations. The Hikaru style is obviously first. You always start with the protagonist's robot. And then Max and Miria in blue and red are the next place to go. And then... well, you're basically out of VF-1J color variations from the show unless you want to go brown, but no one ever buys the brown one.

So what do you do? You make an olive green one. And what do you do after that?

You make a hideous clown robot.

Honestly, this color scheme looks like someone ate a Bomb Pop and then threw it up all over this hapless robot. Some huge Macross nerds have observed that it sort of resembles the Angel Birds demonstration Valkyries from the first episode of Macross. I tell these people they watch too many cartoons. The inside and outside of the vertical stabilizers don't match and it looks like the robot just shoved both fists into some mud.

While it's kind of nice that this toy does include a small amount of metal (the wheels, the swing bars on the shoulders and hips), the legs are entirely plastic and that's a bummer.

Also a bummer is the incredibly poor quality workmanship. None of the parts fit together well, the robot is pigeon-toed, and the head wobbles around on the spring in the neck. I actually had to open the thing and reassemble the head properly. While this is the same size as the original Takatoku toy, no, you can't swap parts between it and the original because the tolerances are all off and everything either shaped slightly wrong or ever so slightly bigger or smaller.

I think one of my favorite things about this toy is that the legs were clearly painted in blue and then they just painted right over it and you can clearly see the blue beneath it. Classy.

My mom got me this for Christmas when I was 15 or 16 from a local comic book shop. I don't know where the comic book shop got them, but they were selling them right alongside legitimate Bandai Macross 7 toys. A few months later all the Bandai ones were gone replaced by those sleazy Macross knock-offs. Ah, the world of illegitimate toy making.

There is a happy ending to this story though! A customizer on the internet wanted this particular crappy variation of the Valkyrie for some project he was working on and the money I got selling this to him I used to buy a Bandai VF-1S Super Valkyrie 1990 reissue. It was missing the armor and had a shoulder break I was able to fix using my stash of spare Valkyrie parts. Essentially I traded this piece of crap for a way better Valkyrie toy!

So remember kids, if you want a Valkyrie, get a different one.

The Macross toy it's okay to hate. Includes HD video review

By now, you are pretty sick of Macross, aren't you? Well too bad. We've got more. But not all that is Macross is good, and the VF100 VF-25F Messiah Valkyrie Alto Custom is a perfect example.

Review sample provided by Angolz.com

The main idea was to create a smaller toy that could transform into all three modes while remaining anime-accurate. I knew that there would be parts-swapping involved, but this is pretty stupid.

Maybe it's just me? Maybe I am old and cranky. But you can't tell me that they couldn't have pulled off a better transformation with less parts swapping. This isn't a toy, its a puzzle.

The toy is packaged in a nice window box with a flip up cover that shows the toy inside. the VF-25 is packaged in Robot mode.

On the plus side, you can pretty much take the toy out of the package and play with it in this mode. The thing is loose in the waist and legs, so posing it is a chore. I actually feel kind of bad about these pictures because they actually make the thing look really good.

And here's the rub - it DOES look really good. Those of you who will put this on the shelf and never touch it again should have no problem with it. But the thing does become a mess when you try to transform it.

It is more articulated than the DX Chogokin, and in some cases I think better proportioned. The head looks a lot better, and here the antennae are rigid.

The shield stays on the arm firmly, the hand graps the gun well. The plastic is hard, ABS in most places, with some POM thrown in for sturdiness.

However, things start to go wrong when you actually try to play with it. One of the ankles on mine has a tendency to collapse into the leg, and the white parts on the feet pop off easily. The groin thrusts out too much, and the swivel joint here is too loose.

Accessories for the robot mode include the gun, shield, knife, and several variant hands.

Transforming from Battoroid mode to Fighter mode, to put it bluntly, sucks. Bandai couldn't have made this a little simpler? Who wants to jump through all these hoops? Essentially you have to take apart the entire toy, and half of the toy gets replaced with new parts.

In fighter mode, you can choose to have landing gear exposed or replaced with flat panels. If you have a stand, Bandai includes clear stand parts so you can display this.

Watch the video, and feel my pain.

So as you can see, yeah, it looks OK in fighter mode, but is it worth all the hassle? I mean, good for you Bandai, you can engineer a complex puzzle of a toy, but just because you CAN doesn't mean you SHOULD. This thing really blurs the line between Gunpla and Toy. If you are doing that much assembling and disassembling, how is this not a model? And a model this size wouldn't cost $50, in any country. I really don't know who they are targeting with this one.

I can see the logic. Kaiyodo makes a Valkyrie out of PVC, it doesn't transform, they can sell it for $25 and they sell like hotcakes. Yamato makes the GN-U Dou non-transformable valkyries from PLUS, those are now ABS and POM, CAD-designed, and those sell well at $35. So Bandai makes the logical leap that if theirs transforms into three modes, why not $50?

The difference is that this is not fun. I get frustrated and angry changing all those little parts. With the others, I know what I am getting, they succeed in their purpose, and they are fun. This is not funny or fun.

Back to the toy for a bit, Transforming from fighter to Gerwalk is the same mess, only you have to yet again use some different parts to acheive this mode.

This time you have to add some 90% joints into the legs to position them downwards. Once again, an obvious example of lazy design. How is it that Toynami and even Banpresto can make small transforming Valkyries with less parts swapping than this?

Bandai, you can do better. The VF100 line has the potential for greatness in it's plan to make toys out of some really obscure mecha, but if they are all going to be parts swapping messes than you can count me out. By the time you've imported one to the states, and add on shipping, this thing could cost you as much as $70. At that point you might as well spend the extra bucks and get the DX Chogokin.

Review sample provided by Angolz.com

Mechanical Chain Display base by Kotobukiya

While it would have been nice to see Max's movie-ver. VF-1S come out in 1/55 scale, this one is equally appreciated, and hearkens (if in appearance only) back to his VF-1A from the series which was white with blue trim (which also has not been make into a 1/55 Valkyrie yet).

Video review included!

The 1984 feature film “Super Dimensional Fortress Macross: Do You Remember Love?” is an alternate retelling of the events of the 1982-83 TV series, with many storylines merged or rewritten to save time and provide an alternate look at the then-budding franchise…

Hikaru Ichijyo is a Valkyrie fighter pilot aboard Earth’s massive transforming space warship Macross, which was accidentally stranded beyond the orbit of Pluto in order to avoid an invasion by massive aliens known as the Zentradi. Within the ship are the preserved remains of South Ataria City which grew up around the rebuilt super-dimensional fortress when it crashed from deep space a decade earlier. Ichijyo’s interest in pop star idol Lynn-Minmei leads him to coincidentally rescue her from certain death after he disobeys orders when the Zentradi invade the Macross, and they are lost within the bowls of the ship for several days. Meanwhile, the Zentradi- a race of giants bred solely for the purpose of galactic conquest- are completely stunned and sickened by the equally-alien culture and music of “microns” [humans], and seek to destroy them as quickly as possible to preserve their own existence, and prevent microns from being used as a weapon against them in the ultimate war-of-the-sexes against their female counterparts, the Meltrandi. Ichijyo, Minmei, and the Macross’ tactical officer Misa Hayase are captured and taken aboard the Zentradi’s flagship to be interrogated, but a Meltrandi squadron breaks into the ship. Ichijyo and Hayase escape in the confusion and are teleported to a suddenly-devastated Earth, but unfortunately Minmei is taken to the Zentradi’s leader, Golg Boddole Zer. As Misa and Hikaru roam the wastelands of Earth and develop a new relationship with each other, they come across a huge sunken city of alien design which belonged to an ancient race called the Protoculture. 20,000 years ago, the Protoculture tired of the war between Zentradi and Meltrandi, and decided to start anew on Earth, thus making them the distant ancestors of all humans. When the Macross finally returns to Earth, it is discovered that Boddole Zer’s fleet of millions of warships are waiting there to lay a trap for the Meltrandi fleet by using a Protoculture song sung by Minmei to disable them! As the two massive alien fleets tear into each other, the Macross rises from its scorched homeworld alone armed only with a song that reminds all that love is the ultimate conquer…

. . .

The VF-1 Valkyrie series is a high-mobility fighter designed and built for the United Nations Space Navy (UN Spacy) for use in both in atmosphere and in Earth-orbit. The unique capability of this craft is that it is variable – it can rapidly change from the high-speed air-superiority Fighter Mode, to a humanoid-shaped Battroid mode which can stand toe-to-toe against 12m-tall Zentradi-sized soldiers, and a third hybrid mode called a Ground-Effect Reinforcement of Winged Armament with Locomotive Knee-joint (GERWALK) which combines some traits, mobility, and multifunction of the other two modes. Three primary combat models are available, differing mostly in their weapons and slight changes in capabilities: the standard mass-production VF-1A, the less-numerous squadron-leader VF-1J, and the more-limited senior commander VF-1S. A two-seat trainee version- the VF-1D- also exists, as well as a limited-armament two-seat VE-1 “Elintseeker” space-only reconnaissance fighter. Valkyries are nimble in an atmosphere as well as in space, but do not have enough fuel reserves or power for their paired thermonuclear engines needed to rocket out away from the planet unassisted; however they can successfully re-enter Earth’s atmosphere unassisted.

In the continuity of the movie (frequently abbreviated as “DYRL”), the Fuel And Sensors, Tactical (FAST) optional accessory armor has already been developed by the time that the Macross arrived at the ringed planet Saturn in the opening scenes. A FAST Pack augments the already space-capable Valkyrie variable fighter with additional fuel, armor, and weapons, whilst allowing it to still shift between its three modes at will. While the Super FAST Pack is seen prominently in the latter half of the series, the movie introduces the Strike FAST Pack which has a single variation- the right booster is replaced with a double-barrel laser cannon which can flip over the shoulder of the Battroid Mode as well if need-be. While Super Packs are used by all Valkyries in the movie, the debuting Strike Valkyrie is a commander- and ace pilot-only accessory.

The Valkyrie presented here is the VF-1A model. Various trivial stats aside, the easiest way to identify this particular model is in the head- it has a small square green monoeye and one laser cannon on top of it. The VF-1A model is the standard soldier mass-production Valkyrie, and so is not linked to any one pilot. In the series, they were typically liveried in white and tan brown, but notable characters often had more identifiable colors available to them. This remains so in the movie’s setting, but the liveries are more varied, often limited to squadron-specific designs. The liveries of the Valkyries in Skull Squadron in the movie are a variation of the so-called “Roy Focker Special” seen in the series- base-white with black and yellow highlights, and have the skull-and-crossbones across both the canopy shield and twin V-tail diagonal stabilizers. However, to identify characters within the movie-Skull Squadron, specific highlight colors are used: Focker (his typical yellow), Ichijyo (red), Genius (blue), and Kakizaki (green). This specific Origin of Valkyrie VF-1A Super Valkyrie is used by Maximilian Jenius in the movie, and so has the base-white with black and blue highlights. This particular fighter is seen only for not even a few minutes in the entire movie- initially being deployed along with the rest of Skull Squadron to intercept a force of Zentradi pods. As in the series, Max demonstrates his extraordinary ace pilot skills despite being only a second-lieutenant- quickly destroying three Regult pods by himself in the space of a few seconds! After the death of Commander Focker, Max is promoted to the leader of Skull Squadron and given a new higher-performance VF-1S variant in favor of his original standard-issue VF-1A shown here.

In 1982 when “Super Dimensional Fortress Macross” debuted in Japan, the Valkyrie mecha imagined by the series’ creator & mechanical designer Shoji Kawamori, became a near-overnight success as quickly as many of his other creations in the anime series. While there were other mass-produced transformable robots on the market from other unrelated series and movies, none of them seemed to have the appeal of the smaller and non-combining “real robot” Valkyries. Indeed, twenty-six years later, despite numerous sequels and successors throughout other “Macross”-titled series, the VF-1 Valkyrie has become and remains a legendary icon for science-fiction anime and toy/model collectors at-large both in Japan and across the world.

However, the complexity of the design at the time meant that toys and models often were designed to come apart in order to achieve the three modes of the variable fighter- a trait that continued to plagued designs for years to come. Takatoku Toys (aka TT) was one of the first to produce a fully-complete 1/55-scale Valkyrie that could transform without removing almost any components- utilizing both ABS plastic and die-cast metal to achieve strength and integrity. After the Takatoku Toys Valkyries became an equal hit, accessory sets for the Armored and the FAST Pack set were added.

When Takatoku Toys folded under in 1984, Bandai purchased the rights and molds to many of their toys, including the 1/55-scale toys.

. . .

For the 25th Anniversary of the start of the Macross franchise from 1982, Bandai commemorated the achievement with the re-release of four separate Takatoku Toys 1/55-scale Valkyries. These reissues make up the Origin of Valkyrie line released in 2008, highlighting two from the series-

VF-1S Valkyrie (Roy Focker ver.)

VF-1J Valkyrie (Hikaru Ichijyo ver.)

-and two seen exclusively in the 1986 feature film “Super Dimensional Fortress Macross: Do You Remember Love?”-

VF-1A Super Valkyrie (Hikaru Ichijyo ver.)

VF-1A Super Valkyrie (Maximilian Jenius ver.)

-the latter-two of which, ironically, Takatoku Toys did not survive long enough to release.

For the Origin of Valkyrie release, the VF-1A Super Valkyrie (Max ver.) seen in the movie is new- having never been released before by Bandai. However, with respect to their 20th-Anniversary reissues in 2002, this Origin of Valkyrie set has a brown-tinted canopy versus Takatoku Toys’ original clear canopy. Additionally, the FAST Pack’s ABS plastic has been changed from the normal light blue to an odd sea-green.

While the original release(s) had very few painted sections and many decals to fill in details like the red stripes and the UN Spacy delta kite logo, most of those decals are now stamped on, removing the need to place any decals on it- providing an immediate anime-accurate appearance right out of the windowed box. However, Bandai has now provided a bonus decal sheet which provides a much higher level of detail if you so wish- perhaps only the four decals for the shoulders are ‘required’ to make it completely accurate, with the others resembling warning labels that you might find on a real air fighter. (Over 30 warning labels are already stamped on when you take it out of the box- some of them with text so small that you need a magnifying glass to read them!)

In the gallery for this review are some pictures of the Valkyrie as it appeared mint out of the box; all other pictures will show it with detail decals [that I] selectively applied afterwords.

Fighter Mode

In this form, the Valkyrie more-closely resembles a late 20th-Century jet fighter, like the McDonnell Douglass F/A-18 Hornet. And yet, it has variable-sweep wings and expanding jet thrust nozzles like that of the Grumman F-14 Tomcat, allowing it to achieve supersonic speeds. In space, air-lifting surfaces are useless, and so it is equipped with thrusters at all of their tips.

On either side of the nosecone and rectangular air intakes are a pair of non-functional laser cannons. The cockpit is transparent, and allows a view of the pilot’s seat, though it is a simplified design. For transformation purposes involved in the Origin of Valkyrie release, the cockpit canopy can now be removed. Wedged tightly between the engine intakes and the undercarriage is a small rotating turret with one additional pulsed laser cannon. As mentioned above, the main wings angle away from the chassis, but can also sweep backwards. Different [for me only, perhaps] is that the wings can also extend to a full 90° perpendicular away from the chassis. (Why this is, I don’t know, since I have never seen a Valkyrie with wings extended out all the way as opposed to always diagonally.) The V-tail diagonal stabilizers have a single large Skull Squadron logo on the outside of each one. Though they move during transformation, they cannot move about in Fighter Mode. Along the engines near the exhaust nozzles are smaller flight stabilizer fins which cannot move, but do bear Jenius’s [movie] squadron ID number (013) which is repeated stamped elsewhere with across the toy. The exhaust nozzles themselves have small ribbed patterns across them to indicate vent fins; the nozzles are solid rather than being hollow enough to see inside of them. Two features that are inconsistent from the series, though, are that there are no hard points under the wings with which to attach missiles (none were ever made for these toys), and the provided spring-powered gun pod cannot attach to the undercarriage.

For movable features, the Fighter Mode features the aforementioned swing-wings, the exhaust nozzles can independently open and close (again due to the transformation), and the turret beneath can turn side-to-side a little & point the cannon down/up a ways.

Of interest to me, though, is the landing gear... The Origin of Valkyrie release(s) restore the Valkyrie(s) to as close to their TT origins as possible. (While the VF-1A was indeed released by TT, this particular movie variant makes its debut in 2008 despite being first seen in 1984!) First, while the landing gear struts are always made of die-cast metal, the ABS wheels were replaced with more die-cast. And the other is that now all three landing gear are spring-deployed, whereas in the past just the back gear was. In front of each gear is a small trigger that activates the powerful springs within. The back gear, also, now have the addition of separate ABS doors which flip open manually when the gear are extended! While not necessary for the nose gear, they do help to preserve the appearance of the legs where the retracted back gear reside.

GERWALK Mode

The basic GERWALK form retains the Fighter Mode’s nose & main chassis, but then deploys the arms and legs of the Battroid Mode. There are two infrequently-seen variations of this-

• with the arms remaining stored, but the legs are deployed, and the V-tails left open
• with the arms and legs deployed, but the V-tails are also left opened

-but the GERWALK is mostly seen with both the arms & legs deployed, and the V-tails retracted. While GERWALK Mode is capable of flight, it can hover across land faster than the Battroid Mode can, also allowing for more-effective close-range evasive maneuvers than Fighter Mode. All weapons from Fighter Mode are accessible here, while adding the accessibility of the arms and hands for grappling.

The two parallel engines- which run most of the length of the aircraft- fold downwards at the intakes to form a pair of reverse-knee legs & feet. The undercarriage from between the engines in Fighter Mode form the arms- the shoulders of which come to rest to either side of the air intake/hips. The V-tails have been collapsed down on top of each other, and the platform upon which they are mounted swings up-and-over to form a thruster backpack unit on top of the fighter’s back-half. The laser cannon turret remains between the air intakes/hips though. With the arms deployed, the Gatling cannon pod machine cannon can be inserted into the right hand-only since the left is a solid fist.

Figure articulation enters the picture with the GERWALK Mode... The shoulders ratchet forward backwards every 30°, and ratchet outwards every 30° out to horizontal. Because of the design of the toy, the swinging transformation joints that move the shoulders from between the legs to outside of them rest at a notable outwards angle, so bringing the shoulders straight down is not possible (even though they are shown as such in the anime series). Both swiveling joints in the elbows allow both full-twisting, and 90°-upwards movement. Both the knees and hips ratchet at every 30° forward/backwards, but unfortunately, the ankles do not move about, so putting the GERWALK into more-dynamic poses is not possible; thus, the legs become limited because of balance issues. (Really, all you can do is make it stand straight because the legs & feet are not capable of balancing the toy in any other way.) The laser turret- without the undercarriage to block it- can now swivel around 360°.

GERWALK Mode

The entire purpose of making a transformable fighter in the Macross universe is so that it can literally engage Zentradi soldiers at their own height since they are normally four times the size of humans! (According to the series’ lore, the GERWALK Mode was not intentionally designed into the VF-1 prototypes, and was accidentally happened-upon during the testing phases when an incomplete-transformation occurred.) The missile pods usually attached to the wings are disposed of since the wings need to be folded back for improved dexterity. But on occasion, wings with un-fired missiles can be left open, though this can potentially throw off the Battroid’s balance within a gravity field. The Gatling cannon pod can be wielded like a rifleman’s machine gun, and it retains full use of the single laser cannon atop the lower turret (now acting as the head of the Battroid). While it is still capable of flight in this mode, the Battroid is mostly meant for ground-based, even melee-range combat as its engines can quickly overheat from supporting itself without air-lifting wing surfaces, despite being V-TOL-capable. (In space, this obviously becomes a non-issue.)

While the legs straighten out and can now bend in a more human way, the main top-half chassis splits down the middle crosswise, and folds in upon itself, with the wings retracting behind the new humanoid form. The cockpit is now positioned in the center of the torso- covered by an additional retracted layer of armor- and the laser cannon turret moves to form the head of the Battroid. Unlike the VF-1S, Bandai never made a modified version of TT’s VF-1A head. Despite that its proportions are still a little off, it remains the most anime-accurate of the four original TT designs. (While prototypes for the heads of the -1A and -1J were built by Bandai, they were never put into production at any time. An alternate head was made for the -1S, but only appeared in Bandai’s first reissues in the late-80s & early-90s.) The original TT version had a removable cockpit canopy which could be replaced with an identical-sized cockpit shield equivalent, which- as stated above- is recreated here. When they first reissued the 1/55-scale Valkyrie(s), however, Bandai forewent the removable canopy- opting instead for a removable accessory which fit over the screwed-in-place canopy. (Why the cockpit shield was changed, I don’t know.) The arms go through no changes in the transition between GERWALK and Battroid Modes.

. . .

One of the more baffling issues with the VF-1 design for toy and model makers was the transition that the legs make- going from behind & below the cockpit to now hanging aside it. In official series line art, a collection of hydraulic pistons swing the engines/legs down and forwards, and then a pair of clamps emerge from the nosecone to grab onto them, forming the hips. Then, before the transformation is completed, the pistons release their grip on the legs, and retract back into the chest section. The magic of TV and instantaneous-transformation animation made this a non-issue, but most toy and model designs have simply substituted this process for detaching the legs completely, providing an accessory part which clamps onto the nose, and then reattaching the legs onto the now-hip joints.

Takatoku Toys was one of the first to solve this in a practical way- its 1/55-scale toy was breakthrough in making a complete and realistically-transforming Valkyrie. A pair of silver die-cast levers extend just beyond the leading edges of the air intakes ending in a pivot point. Then, during transformation, the levers pivot on these points, and allow the legs to swing down further than they could on their own. But, unlike the “real” Valkyrie, these die-cast levers do not detach once the transformation is complete, and can still be seen to either side of the cockpit in Battroid Mode.

. . .

For accessories, a Gatling cannon gun pod is provided, which can shoot five plastic projectiles (which actually resemble the missiles used under the wings in the series). Though not appearing in the series, there is a small sensor atop the gun pod which acts as the trigger for the spring-powered projectiles.

Rather than being held within a hidden storage compartment, the VF-1s carry their 50mm Gatling cannon from the undercarriage in Fighter Mode. The toy cannot do this as there is not enough clearance provided by the landing gear to do so; also, there is no slot or clip for the gun to attach to as there is not enough room amongst the undercarriage itself. However, as in the series, the Gatling cannons can be affixed to the outside of the forearm (as they are in Fighter Mode). Since the toy cannot do this (needing to make room for the retractable hands), an accessory clip is provided, into which the handle of the cannon can be attached.

. . .

Also of interest is the point that most of the detailed labels from the original TT version were replaced with decals that had to be applied by you after you removed it from the box. (While later releases would restore most of the originals’ stamped-on labels, decals were still used.)

Fuel And Sensors, Tactical Pack

(Super-type)

This particular set includes all of the parts necessary to convert the standard Valkyrie into a Super Valkyrie. These consist of:

• Two boosters and a connecting panel (needs to be assembled)
• Two fuel pods with clips (needs to be assembled)
• Two additional paired missile launchers

While the 1/55 Valkyrie toys were not designed from the start to incorporate accessory armor components, the FAST Pack had to still work in all three modes without significant interference. This is accomplished by using small tabs and clips on the armor which merge & hook onto the original toy.

In the series, the large boosters on top of the Fighter Mode are attached directly to the retracted/folded V-tail backpack. But since the original toy had no purchase, a special accessory ABS plate slips over the backpack, and then the boosters connect to the plate. (The other pairs of armor can’t really be attached in Fighter Mode.)

In Battroid Mode, the additional missile launchers hook and snap over the top & bottom of the outside of the lower arms. This way, when the arms form the undercarriage, there is still space allowed for the legs & arms to swing about.

The spare fuel tanks/thrusters for the legs are actually made of two pieces each. The larger exterior section must be carefully hooked over the two small flight stabilizer fins, and then held in place as the back section(s) slip into holes. An extended length of ABS along the inner-side of each leg- and the small clips along the fins- prevents the completed assembly from slipping off.

. . .

The completed Super Valkyrie is able to pose and transform just as easily as if it did not have the armored sections in place. The only limiting factor may be that the backpack thrusters add a good share of weight- putting it onto carpet may risk having it fall over backwards! Same with GERWALK Mode- because of the limits in the legs, balance is also a potential problem here as well, but on a hard flat surface there is no issue.

The other is that, in Battroid Mode, to prevent the Valkyrie’s own smaller white backpack from hinging open under the new weight, the dark green panel which is slipped over it has an extended bar that rests directly against the folded-up wings. (This, alas, prevents the Super Valkyrie from being posed in Battroid Mode with the wings open. You can optionally hold the backpack in place yourself if you want the wings open, but the moment you take your hand away, the backpack boosters- and thus, the toy- will suddenly flip over backwards!) In both Fighter and GERWALK Modes, however, this is unavoidable because that bar is not resting against the wings, so don’t turn it upside-down unless you’ve got a good grip on it. Now, during transformation, it is required that the backpack still be able to open easily like this, so you just have to deal with it.

When the Super Valkyrie is in Fighter Mode, the legs intentionally curve downwards- as they do in the series- to make room for the additional fuel pods on the lower legs; whereas without the armor, they are straightened.

. . .

Unfortunately, Takatoku Toys- despite the success of their “Macross” toys- folded under before the film’s release. Bandai did, however, later release a movie-specific VF-1S Strike Valkyrie (Hikaru Ichijyo ver.) set which could swap the front of the right booster with the paired movable laser cannons.

I first learned about Takatoku Toys’ 1/55-scale Valkyries when I was gifted one in 1991 for Christmas (the 1990 reissue which I covered for CDX). Whereas then I was simply thrilled that I was getting one simply because it looked cool, now I look back and see how well it has stood the test of time despite the damage it has taken over the years. To this day, Takatoku Toys’ design remains the standard by which I judge all others toys of the beloved variable fighter. Even with later releases by Yamato like their improved 1/60-scale Valkyrie design, it is not something that kids can play with- but rather a transformable collector’s figure meant to be posed and appreciated for its immaculate details rather than banged around between 6 year-olds. And so, for me to see Bandai reissue not one, but four 1/55-scale figures is like a dream-come-true. While my 1990 reissue will remain a treasured founding piece in my own collection, the Origin of Valkyrie line allows me to appreciate the quality of the design once more from a collector’s standpoint. (I tell ya- when I got [these] in the mail, it was like F-ing Christmas 1991 all over again!) While it was nice to have the super-detailed stamps and an even wilder assortment of optional decals with which to clutter up all of that carefully-poured ABS, I wish that some of the pre-packaged labels had not been there in order to preserve the less-cluttered anime look, and then allowed me to decide what went on and what didn’t. While I think having the extra labels, stamps, and decals makes it more “realistic” and will encourage collectors to customize as they see fit, I would like the option of preserving what I see from the original series. (What bothers me most is that they don’t explain where almost all of those decals go- you have to guess at about 90% of it!)

Of the four Origin of Valkyrie sets, this one, I thought, was the best at color coordination- light gray, blue, black, and sea green. While only seen on-screen for seconds at a time (at maximum no more than a minute in the entire film), it still works for me. While it would have been nice to see Max's VF-1S come out in 1/55 scale (which has the same livery as this one does), this one is equally appreciated, and hearkens (if in appearance only) back to his VF-1A from the series which was white with blue trim (which also has not been make into a 1/55 Valkyrie yet). But as a movie-exclusive, I felt this set was equally deserved of time in the sun. The decorations on the set- sensor(s) on the lower arms, warning labels on the back of the hands, blue skull-and-crossbones- also add to the movie's interpretation of it, as it did on Ichijyo's version of the VF-1A. Besides, the VF-1A Super Valkyrie (Max Jenius ver.) is just as good a Takatoku Toys 1/55-scale figure as the rest of them.

Author’s Note: I want to quickly and publicly pass on my heartfelt thanks to our own CollectionDX co-owner/CFO and fellow reviewer ShogunDan for giving me the opportunity to cover the Origin of Valkyrie line. He was unable to cover the four of them, and so he handed them all to me to review instead- to which I was both stunned and highly appreciative. ShogunDan- thank you very much!

This set is still great despite my biggest complaint being the trivial-only odd coloring of the Super FAST Pack.

Video review included!

The 1984 feature film “Super Dimensional Fortress Macross: Do You Remember Love?” is an alternate retelling of the events of the 1982-83 TV series, with many storylines merged or rewritten to save time and provide an alternate look at the then-budding franchise…

Hikaru Ichijyo is a Valkyrie fighter pilot aboard Earth’s massive transforming space warship Macross, which was accidentally stranded beyond the orbit of Pluto in order to avoid an invasion by massive aliens known as the Zentradi. Within the ship are the preserved remains of South Ataria City which grew up around the rebuilt super-dimensional fortress when it crashed from deep space a decade earlier. Ichijyo’s interest in pop star idol Lynn-Minmei leads him to coincidentally rescue her from certain death after he disobeys orders when the Zentradi invade the Macross, and they are lost within the bowls of the ship for several days. Meanwhile, the Zentradi- a race of giants bred solely for the purpose of galactic conquest- are completely stunned and sickened by the equally-alien culture and music of “microns” [humans], and seek to destroy them as quickly as possible to preserve their own existence, and prevent microns from being used as a weapon against them in the ultimate war-of-the-sexes against their female counterparts, the Meltrandi. Ichijyo, Minmei, and the Macross’ tactical officer Misa Hayase are captured and taken aboard the Zentradi’s flagship to be interrogated, but a Meltrandi squadron breaks into the ship. Ichijyo and Hayase escape in the confusion and are teleported to a suddenly-devastated Earth, but unfortunately Minmei is taken to the Zentradi’s leader, Golg Boddole Zer. As Misa and Hikaru roam the wastelands of Earth and develop a new relationship with each other, they come across a huge sunken city of alien design which belonged to an ancient race called the Protoculture. 20,000 years ago, the Protoculture tired of the war between Zentradi and Meltrandi, and decided to start anew on Earth, thus making them the distant ancestors of all humans. When the Macross finally returns to Earth, it is discovered that Boddole Zer’s fleet of millions of warships are waiting there to lay a trap for the Meltrandi fleet by using a Protoculture song sung by Minmei to disable them! As the two massive alien fleets tear into each other, the Macross rises from its scorched homeworld alone armed only with a song that reminds all that love is the ultimate conquer…

. . .

The VF-1 Valkyrie series is a high-mobility fighter designed and built for the United Nations Space Navy (UN Spacy) for use in both in atmosphere and in Earth-orbit. The unique capability of this craft is that it is variable – it can rapidly change from the high-speed air-superiority Fighter Mode, to a humanoid-shaped Battroid mode which can stand toe-to-toe against 12m-tall Zentradi-sized soldiers, and a third hybrid mode called a Ground-Effect Reinforcement of Winged Armament with Locomotive Knee-joint (GERWALK) which combines some traits, mobility, and multifunction of the other two modes. Three primary combat models are available, differing mostly in their weapons and slight changes in capabilities: the standard mass-production VF-1A, the less-numerous squadron-leader VF-1J, and the more-limited senior commander VF-1S. A two-seat trainee version- the VF-1D- also exists, as well as a limited-armament two-seat VE-1 “Elintseeker” space-only reconnaissance fighter. Valkyries are nimble in an atmosphere as well as in space, but do not have enough fuel reserves or power for their paired thermonuclear engines needed to rocket out away from the planet unassisted; however they can successfully re-enter Earth’s atmosphere unassisted.

In the continuity of the movie (frequently abbreviated as “DYRL”), the Fuel And Sensors, Tactical (FAST) optional accessory armor has already been developed by the time that the Macross arrived at the ringed planet Saturn in the opening scenes. A FAST Pack augments the already space-capable Valkyrie variable fighter with additional fuel, armor, and weapons, whilst allowing it to still shift between its three modes at will. While the Super FAST Pack is seen prominently in the latter half of the series, the movie introduces the Strike FAST Pack which has a single variation- the right booster is replaced with a double-barrel laser cannon which can flip over the shoulder of the Battroid Mode as well if need-be. While Super Packs are used by all Valkyries in the movie, the debuting Strike Valkyrie is a commander- and ace pilot-only accessory.

The Valkyrie presented here is the VF-1A model. Various trivial stats aside, the easiest way to identify this particular model is in the head- it has a small square green monoeye and one laser cannon on top of it. The VF-1A model is the standard soldier mass-production Valkyrie, and so is not linked to any one pilot. In the series, they were typically liveried in white and tan brown, but notable characters often had more identifiable colors available to them. This remains so in the movie’s setting, but the liveries are more varied, often limited to squadron-specific designs. The liveries of the Valkyries in Skull Squadron in the movie are a variation of the so-called “Roy Focker Special” seen in the series- base-white with black and yellow highlights, and have the skull-and-crossbones across both the canopy shield and twin V-tail diagonal stabilizers. However, to identify characters within the movie-Skull Squadron, specific highlight colors are used: Focker (his typical yellow), Ichijyo (red), Genius (blue), and Kakizaki (green). This specific Origin of Valkyrie VF-1A Super Valkyrie is used by Hikaru Ichijyo in the movie, and so has the base-white with black and red highlights. While initially deployed along with the rest of Skull Squadron to intercept a force of Zentradi pods, Ichijyo moves in to more-directly defend the Macross against orders. As he works his way inside, the Macross transforms to Battle Mode, and gravity control is disrupted- sending a frightened Lynn-Minmei hurling hundreds of feet downwards! Ichijyo catches her mid-air with his VF-1A, but then suddenly crashes into a large machinery room and his fighter is trashed… stranding the pop idol and her biggest fan together for days.

In 1982 when “Super Dimensional Fortress Macross” debuted in Japan, the Valkyrie mecha imagined by the series’ creator & mechanical designer Shoji Kawamori, became a near-overnight success as quickly as many of his other creations in the anime series. While there were other mass-produced transformable robots on the market from other unrelated series and movies, none of them seemed to have the appeal of the smaller and non-combining “real robot” Valkyries. Indeed, twenty-six years later, despite numerous sequels and successors throughout other “Macross”-titled series, the VF-1 Valkyrie has become and remains a legendary icon for science-fiction anime and toy/model collectors at-large both in Japan and across the world.

However, the complexity of the design at the time meant that toys and models often were designed to come apart in order to achieve the three modes of the variable fighter- a trait that continued to plagued designs for years to come. Takatoku Toys (aka TT) was one of the first to produce a fully-complete 1/55-scale Valkyrie that could transform without removing almost any components- utilizing both ABS plastic and die-cast metal to achieve strength and integrity. After the Takatoku Toys Valkyries became an equal hit, accessory sets for the Armored and the FAST Pack set were added.

When Takatoku Toys folded under in 1984, Bandai purchased the rights and molds to many of their toys, including the 1/55-scale toys.

. . .

For the 25th Anniversary of the start of the Macross franchise from 1982, Bandai commemorated the achievement with the re-release of four separate Takatoku Toys 1/55-scale Valkyries. These reissues make up the Origin of Valkyrie line released in 2008, highlighting two from the series-

VF-1S Valkyrie (Roy Focker ver.)

VF-1J Valkyrie (Hikaru Ichijyo ver.)

-and two seen exclusively in the 1986 feature film “Super Dimensional Fortress Macross: Do You Remember Love?”-

VF-1A Super Valkyrie (Hikaru Ichijyo ver.)

VF-1A Super Valkyrie (Maximilian Jenius ver.)

-the latter-two of which, ironically, Takatoku Toys did not survive long enough to release.

For the Origin of Valkyrie release, the VF-1A Super Valkyrie (Ichijyo ver.) seen in the movie is new- having never been released before by Bandai. However, with respect to their 20th-Anniversary reissues in 2002, this Origin of Valkyrie set has a brown-tinted canopy versus Takatoku Toys’ original clear canopy. Additionally, the FAST Pack’s ABS plastic has been changed from the normal light blue to an odd sea-green.

While the original release(s) had very few painted sections and many decals to fill in details like the red stripes and the UN Spacy delta kite logo, most of those decals are now stamped on, removing the need to place any decals on it- providing an immediate anime-accurate appearance right out of the windowed box. However, Bandai has now provided a bonus decal sheet which provides a much higher level of detail if you so wish- perhaps only the four decals for the shoulders are ‘required’ to make it completely accurate, with the others resembling warning labels that you might find on a real air fighter. (Over 30 warning labels are already stamped on when you take it out of the box- some of them with text so small that you need a magnifying glass to read them!)

In the gallery for this review are some pictures of the Valkyrie as it appeared mint out of the box; all other pictures will show it with detail decals [that I] selectively applied afterwords.

Fighter Mode

In this form, the Valkyrie more-closely resembles a late 20th-Century jet fighter, like the McDonnell Douglass F/A-18 Hornet. And yet, it has variable-sweep wings and expanding jet thrust nozzles like that of the Grumman F-14 Tomcat, allowing it to achieve supersonic speeds. In space, air-lifting surfaces are useless, and so it is equipped with thrusters at all of their tips.

On either side of the nosecone and rectangular air intakes are a pair of non-functional laser cannons. The cockpit is transparent, and allows a view of the pilot’s seat, though it is a simplified design. For transformation purposes involved in the Origin of Valkyrie release, the cockpit canopy can be removed. Wedged tightly between the engine intakes and the undercarriage is a small rotating turret with one additional pulsed laser cannon. As mentioned above, the main wings angle away from the chassis, but can also sweep backwards. Different [for me only, perhaps] is that the wings can also extend to a full 90° perpendicular away from the chassis. (Why this is, I don’t know, since I have never seen a Valkyrie with wings extended out all the way as opposed to always diagonally.) The V-tail diagonal stabilizers have a single large Skull Squadron logo on the outside of each. Though they move during transformation, they cannot move about in Fighter Mode. Along the engines near the exhaust nozzles are smaller flight stabilizer fins which cannot move, but do bear Ichijyo’s [movie] squadron ID number (011) which is repeated elsewhere with across the toy. The exhaust nozzles themselves have small ribbed patterns across them to indicate vent fins; the nozzles are solid rather than being hollow enough to see inside of them. Two features that are inconsistent from the series, though, are that there are no hard points under the wings with which to attach missiles (none were ever made for these toys), and the provided spring-powered gun pod cannot attach to the undercarriage.

For movable features, the Fighter Mode features the aforementioned swing-wings, the exhaust nozzles can independently open and close (again due to the transformation), and the turret beneath can turn side-to-side a little & point the cannon down/up a ways.

Of interest to me, though, is the landing gear... The Origin of Valkyrie release(s) restore the Valkyrie(s) to as close to their TT origins as possible. (While the VF-1A was indeed released by TT, this particular movie repaint makes its debut in 2008 despite being first seen in 1984!) First, while the landing gear struts are always made of die-cast metal, the ABS wheels were replaced with more die-cast. And the other is that now all three landing gear are spring-deployed, whereas in the past just the back gear was. In front of each gear is a small trigger that activates the powerful springs within. The back gear, also, now have the addition of separate ABS doors which flip open manually when the gear are extended! While not necessary for the nose gear, they do help to preserve the appearance of the legs where the retracted back gear reside.

GERWALK Mode

The basic GERWALK form retains the Fighter Mode’s nose & main chassis, but then deploys the arms and legs of the Battroid Mode. There are two infrequently-seen variations of this-

• with the arms remaining stored, but the legs are deployed, and the V-tails left open
• with the arms and legs deployed, but the V-tails are left opened (seen prominently in the movie as Ichijyo is rescuing Minmei)

-but the GERWALK is mostly seen with both the arms & legs deployed, and the V-tails retracted. While GERWALK Mode is capable of flight, it can hover across land faster than the Battroid Mode can, also allowing for more-effective close-range evasive maneuvers than Fighter Mode. All weapons from Fighter Mode are accessible here, while adding the accessibility of the arms and hands for grappling.

The two parallel engines- which run most of the length of the aircraft- fold downwards at the intakes to form a pair of reverse-knee legs & feet. The undercarriage from between the engines in Fighter Mode form the arms- the shoulders of which come to rest to either side of the air intake/hips. The V-tails have been collapsed down on top of each other, and the platform upon which they are mounted swings up-and-over to form a reverse-knee legs & feet on top of the fighter’s back-half. The laser cannon turret remains between the air intakes/hips though. With the arms deployed, the Gatling cannon pod machine cannon can be inserted into the right hand-only since the left is a solid fist.

Figure articulation enters the picture with the GERWALK Mode... The shoulders ratchet forward backwards every 30°, and ratchet outwards every 30° out to horizontal. Because of the design of the toy, the swinging transformation joints that move the shoulders from between the legs to outside of them rest at a notable outwards angle, so bringing the shoulders straight down is not possible (even though they are shown as such in both the anime series and movie). Both swiveling joints in the elbows allow both full-twisting, and 90°-upwards movement. Both the knees and hips ratchet at every 30° forward/backwards, but unfortunately, the ankles do not move about, so putting the GERWALK into more-dynamic poses is not possible; thus, the legs become limited because of balance issues. (Really, all you can do is make it stand straight because the legs & feet are not capable of balancing the toy in any other way.) The laser turret- without the undercarriage to block it- can now swivel around 360°.

Battroid Mode

The entire purpose of making a transformable fighter in the Macross universe is so that it can literally engage Zentradi soldiers at their own height since they are normally four times the size of humans! (According to the series’ lore, the GERWALK Mode was not intentionally designed into the VF-1 prototypes, and was accidentally happened-upon during the testing phases when an incomplete-transformation occurred.) The missile pods usually attached to the wings are disposed of since the wings need to be folded back for improved dexterity. But on occasion, wings with un-fired missiles can be left open, though this can potentially throw off the Battroid’s balance within a gravity field. The Gatling cannon pod can be wielded like a rifleman’s machine gun, and it retains full use of the two laser cannons along the lower turret (now acting as the head of the Battroid). While it is still capable of flight in this mode, the Battroid is mostly meant for ground-based, even melee-range combat as its engines can quickly overheat from supporting itself without air-lifting wing surfaces, despite being V-TOL-capable. (In space, this obviously becomes a non-issue.)

While the legs straighten out and can now bend in a more human way, the main top-half chassis splits down the middle crosswise, and folds in upon itself, with the wings retracting behind the new humanoid form. The cockpit is now positioned in the center of the torso- covered by an additional retracted layer of armor- and the laser cannon turret moves to form the head of the Battroid. Unlike the VF-1S, Bandai never made a modified version of TT’s VF-1A head. Despite that its proportions are still a little off, it remains the most anime-accurate of the four original TT designs. (While prototypes for the heads of the -1A and -1J were built by Bandai, they were never put into production at any time. An alternate head was made for the -1S, but only appeared in Bandai’s first reissues in the late-80s & early-90s.) The original TT version had a removable cockpit canopy which could be replaced with an identical-sized cockpit shield equivalent, which- as stated above- is recreated here. When they first reissued the 1/55-scale Valkyrie(s), however, Bandai forewent the removable canopy- opting instead for a removable accessory which fit over the screwed-in-place canopy. (Why the cockpit shield was changed, I don’t know.) The arms go through no changes in the transition between GERWALK and Battroid Modes.

. . .

One of the more baffling issues with the VF-1 design for toy and model makers was the transition that the legs make- going from behind & below the cockpit to now hanging aside it. In official series line art, a collection of hydraulic pistons swing the engines/legs down and forwards, and then a pair of clamps emerge from the nosecone to grab onto them, forming the hips. Then, before the transformation is completed, the pistons release their grip on the legs, and retract back into the chest section. The magic of TV and instantaneous-transformation animation made this a non-issue, but most toy and model designs have simply substituted this process for detaching the legs completely, providing an accessory part which clamps onto the nose, and then reattaching the legs onto the now-hip joints.

Takatoku Toys was one of the first to solve this in a practical way- its 1/55-scale toy was breakthrough in making a complete and realistically-transforming Valkyrie. A pair of silver die-cast levers extend just beyond the leading edges of the air intakes ending in a pivot point. Then, during transformation, the levers pivot on these points, and allow the legs to swing down further than they could on their own. But, unlike the “real” Valkyrie, these die-cast levers do not detach once the transformation is complete, and can still be seen to either side of the cockpit in Battroid Mode.

. . .

For accessories, a Gatling cannon gun pod is provided, which can shoot five plastic projectiles (which actually resemble the missiles used under the wings in the series). Though not appearing in the series, there is a small sensor atop the gun pod which acts as the trigger for the spring-powered projectiles.

Rather than being held within a hidden storage compartment, the VF-1s carry their 50mm Gatling cannon from the undercarriage in Fighter Mode. The toy cannot do this as there is not enough clearance provided by the landing gear to do so; also, there is no slot or clip for the gun to attach to as there is not enough room amongst the undercarriage itself. However, as in the series, the Gatling cannons can be affixed to the outside of the forearm (as they are in Fighter Mode). Since the toy cannot do this (needing to make room for the retractable hands), an accessory clip is provided, into which the handle of the cannon can be attached.

. . .

Also of interest is the point that most of the detailed labels from the original TT version were replaced with decals that had to be applied by you after you removed it from the box. (While later releases would restore most of the originals’ stamped-on labels, decals were still used.)

Fuel And Sensors, Tactical Pack

(Super-type)

This particular set includes all of the parts necessary to convert the standard Valkyrie into a Super Valkyrie. These consist of:

• Two boosters and a connecting panel (needs to be assembled)
• Two fuel pods with clips (needs to be assembled)
• Two additional paired missile launchers

While the 1/55 Valkyrie toys were not designed from the start to incorporate accessory armor components, the FAST Pack had to still work in all three modes without significant interference. This is accomplished by using small tabs and clips on the armor which merge & hook onto the original toy.

In the series, the large boosters on top of the Fighter Mode are attached directly to the retracted/folded V-tail backpack. But since the original toy had no purchase, a special accessory ABS plate slips over the backpack, and then the boosters connect to the plate. (The other pairs of armor can’t really be attached in Fighter Mode.)

In Battroid Mode, the additional missile launchers hook and snap over the top & bottom of the outside of the lower arms. This way, when the arms form the undercarriage, there is still space allowed for the legs & arms to swing about.

The spare fuel tanks/thrusters for the legs are actually made of two pieces each. The larger exterior section must be carefully hooked over the two small flight stabilizer fins, and then held in place as the back section(s) slip into holes. An extended length of ABS along the inner-side of each leg- and the small clips along the fins- prevents the completed assembly from slipping off.

. . .

The completed Super Valkyrie is able to pose and transform just as easily as if it did not have the armored sections in place. The only limiting factor may be that the backpack thrusters add a good share of weight- putting it onto carpet may risk having it fall over backwards! Same with GERWALK Mode- because of the limits in the legs, balance is also a potential problem here as well, but on a hard flat surface there is no issue.

The other is that, in Battroid Mode, to prevent the Valkyrie’s own smaller white backpack from hinging open under the new weight, the dark green panel which is slipped over it has an extended bar that rests directly against the folded-up wings. (This, alas, prevents the Super Valkyrie from being posed in Battroid Mode with the wings open. You can optionally hold the backpack in place yourself if you want the wings open, but the moment you take your hand away, the backpack boosters- and thus, the toy- will suddenly flip over backwards!) In both Fighter and GERWALK Modes, however, this is unavoidable because that bar is not resting against the wings, so don’t turn it upside-down unless you’ve got a good grip on it. Now, during transformation, it is required that the backpack still be able to open easily like this, so you just have to deal with it.

When the Super Valkyrie is in Fighter Mode, the legs intentionally curve downwards- as they do in the series- to make room for the additional fuel pods on the lower legs; whereas without the armor, they are straightened.

. . .

Unfortunately, Takatoku Toys- despite the success of their “Macross” toys- folded under before the film’s release. Bandai did, however, later release a movie-specific VF-1S Strike Valkyrie (Hikaru Ichijyo ver.) set which could swap the front of the right booster with the paired movable laser cannons.

I first learned about Takatoku Toys’ 1/55-scale Valkyries when I was gifted one in 1991 for Christmas (the 1990 reissue which I covered for CDX). Whereas then I was simply thrilled that I was getting one simply because it looked cool, now I look back and see how well it has stood the test of time despite the damage it has taken over the years. To this day, Takatoku Toys’ design remains the standard by which I judge all others toys of the beloved variable fighter. Even with later releases by Yamato like their improved 1/60-scale Valkyrie design, it is not something that kids can play with- but rather a transformable collector’s figure meant to be posed and appreciated for its immaculate details rather than banged around between 6 year-olds. And so, for me to see Bandai reissue not one, but four 1/55-scale figures is like a dream-come-true. While my 1990 reissue will remain a treasured founding piece in my own collection, the Origin of Valkyrie line allows me to appreciate the quality of the design once more from a collector’s standpoint. (I tell ya- when I got [these] in the mail, it was like F-ing Christmas 1991 all over again!) While it was nice to have the super-detailed stamps and an even wilder assortment of optional decals with which to clutter up all of that carefully-poured ABS, I wish that some of the pre-packaged labels had not been there in order to preserve the less-cluttered anime look, and then allowed me to decide what went on and what didn’t. While I think having the extra labels, stamps, and decals makes it more “realistic” and will encourage collectors to customize as they see fit, I would like the option of preserving what I see from the original series. (What bothers me most is that they don’t explain where almost all of those decals go- you have to guess at about 90% of it!)

While I am covering all four Origin of Valkyrie sets for CollectionDX, it doesn’t really matter which order I wrote & posted them in, nor does it matter which order you read them in; they are not meant to be read in order, nor are they meant to all be read at once- each is written as a stand-alone. (For the record, this set is the third one that I opened.) As always, Takatoku Toys did a fine job designing the variable fighter, and later incorporating the Super FAST Pack accessory. The head is a little more out of proportion than I was expecting, but it is not a let-down. But some of the complaints that I held in check regarding these 2008 reissues must also be addressed since the pattern(s) seem to extend beyond simple quality-assurance issues which may slip through the cracks. (For example, the single laser barrel and both wing joins on this one are really loose compared to the other three sets’.) And the big issue is the alignment of the parts that make up the Fighter Mode’s main chassis/Battroid Mode’s torso. Put simply- on all four sets they seem to be loose-fitting. How do I know this? From Day One when I opened it in 1991, my original VF-1S Super Valkyrie never had a loose-fitting anything, but 16 years later- fresh from the factory- these four do. While it is a slight irritation with the VF-1S and VF-1J, it became far more pronounced when I attached the boosters to the top of this set. It’s like the chest plate and inner torso can’t fit together smoothly in Fighter Mode, and the boosters only serve to exaggerate this flaw. While the legs and undercarriage/arms should line-up with each other, the arms droop lower because the loose chassis can’t handle the weight of the boosters! With the shoulders angled diagonally in GERWALK Mode, they push in the opposite direction upwards on the chassis, and it looks like it will snap in two (though I am very confident that it is strong enough not to)! To check, I put the FAST Pack onto the two non-Super Valkyrie sets [the VF-1S and VF-1J], and they reacted the same way. I would attribute it to age of the original TT molds, or perhaps to changes which Bandai made to them when they got them. It may just be me, but… four times in a row? Nuh-uh- it’s something else. And it is clearly not isolated to just this one set- it is widespread. (Don’t understand what I mean? Watch my video review and I’ll highlight it for ya!) The other thing is the change in the color pallet, mainly in changing the very-obviously white to light gray. Why do that? Same with the [two] FAST Pack(s)- where they are always a light blue (TV series) or dark blue (movie), here they are a very unusual dark green; a color which I have never seen before on either a Super or Strike Valkyrie. And please keep in mind that I am commenting on all four Origin of Valkyrie sets, not just the one here. This VF-1A Super Valkyrie (Ichijyo ver.) is still great despite my biggest complaint being the trivial-only odd coloring of the Super FAST Pack. Highly recommended!

Author’s Note: I want to quickly and publicly pass on my heartfelt thanks to our own CollectionDX co-owner/CFO and fellow reviewer ShogunDan for giving me the opportunity to cover the Origin of Valkyrie line. He was unable to cover the four of them, and so he handed them all to me to review instead- to which I was both stunned and highly appreciative. ShogunDan- thank you very much!

While Bandai got much right with their re-entry into the transforming, variable fighter market, I am stunned at what they got wrong... I take a look at Alto's VF-25F from the latest installment in the Macross franchise, Macross Frontier.

Bandai! They truly make some of the most awesome toys and collectibles on the planet. So when they announced that they had the license to the new Macross franchise to make toys I was ecstatic. I mean they're Bandai, they turn out SOC's, SIC's, SCM's, Soul SPEC's and ChogkinDX's with such consistent and exacting quality what could go wrong?

Well colored me surprised at how disappointed I actually am with their new series of Chogokin DX VF-25 Messiah's. While they got much right, I am stunned at what they got wrong. Which is a shame because this could have been an outstanding piece, instead it's just OK.

I bought my Alto Custom about 6 weeks after it was released from Angolz.com so I've had some time with it and I had hoped that my initial disappointment would wear off but it hasn't. So while others have been more forgiving of this releases flaws I am not.

The box is fairly small measuring 8 inches by 14 inches by 3 inches. Images of the actual toy and images from the anime decorate the box. Inside the box is the piece in fighter mode, packed in an old-school Styrofoam tray along with the included accessories.

Accessories in the box are...

• 4 sets of hands (closed fists, gripping fists, flat open hands and partially open hands)
• 1 gun pod (Howard GU-17A new model 5-barrel 58mm gatling gun pod in supernerdspeak)
• 1 gun pod clip (to attach the gun pod to fighter mode)
• 1 assault knife (AK/VF-M9 Assault Knife in supernerdspeak)
• Arm shield (standard bulletproof “anti-projectile” shield in supernerdspeak)
• Instruction Book

Let's start with the good.

Done in the 1/60 scale these Macross Frontier designs will blend well with classic Macross designs made by other toy makers in the same scale. Overall it's a stable, solid, good looking piece and transformation is fairly straightforward for such a “complex” design. While some have complained the finished piece isn't as slim as the line art I think they did do an overall good job capturing the look and feel of the VF-25 series of variable fighters.

While it doesn't have as much die-cast as the name “Chogokin DX” would imply, the quality of materials used for the main piece are excellent. High quality plastic, PVC and POM appear to be in use as well as metal in the ankles, thigh/intake, landing gear and shoulder block/joint. The toy feels solid and has a nice heft to it.

The included instruction book is clearly illustrated and enough to get you through the transformation even if you can not read Japanese. The booklet also features several full color splash pages with information about Macross Frontier and the latest variable fighter the VF-25 Messiah.

Fighter mode. The proportions are good though some have complained that the side profile is a bit chunky compared to line art. Everything sits and locks without being floppy or falling apart so performing barrel rolls with it is no problem.

The fighter does have die-cast landing gear with rolling wheels though they are a bit on the short side, barely clearing the ground with the gun pod attached. I suspect this will become a problem with later releases like Michael's VF-25. His Sniper Rifle is so big I doubt the landing gear they've designed here will clear it. Time will tell...

What I did find a strange design decision was the small fins on the lower back legs. In the series they're animated at an angle in fighter mode then fold into the leg during transformation. With the toy they have the range of motion to angle out properly but Bandai did not cut out the “slot” on the leg enough to allow it that freedom of range. Thus the leg fin must be left pointed straight down. What the...?

Now Gerwalk mode. Here's where I feel Bandai really dropped the ball. These pictures show the full extension of Gerwalk mode and as you can see it's not very good. The leg's have no rotation around the knees, it is just forward and back and that's as far as it goes. Not very dramatic or sexy is it?

There is however a “trick” to getting a dramatic display. You disconnect the intakes from the main body, pull the “crotch” down a hair and pinch the intakes in towards the body. Spend about a half an hour futsing around with the ankles and feet... then walk away carefully, praying to the toy gods no one stomps through the house shaking it loose .

Yeah, it looks good but it's that delicate. I just don't get what Bandai was thinking here. Would it have been that difficult to add just one more “click” to the extension to get upper legs straight? Had they done that and added a rotating joint above the knee they would have had a great overall toy in all 3 modes. Instead you get 2 solid modes and 1 delicate, origami, fragile display mode. Kind of a bummer.

Thankfully Battroid mode is better. Standing at 8 1/2 inches tall, the leg joints and range of motion are adequate. However a known quality control issue really shows itself here. Bad shoulder joints...

The joints that hold the “shoulder block” are actually fairly good. As a matter of fact these joints do allow you to get the arms in some excellent poses but sadly my right shoulder is very loose so it won't actually hold it's arm up at the shoulder without support. Ironically my left shoulder is super tight. Judging by feedback on the Internet it's a QC issue that plagues many but not all out there. So buying one is a bit of a game of Russian Roulette on whether you get a bum one or not. For the asking price and the QC we know Bandai can achieve; it shouldn't remotely be a question when purchasing one.

I also noticed after just a few days of handling that some of the tampo printing on plastic is prone to rubbing off. My Alto's left shoulder's SMS marking is half rubbed off with nothing more than casual handling and transformation. There are several other spots that have slightly rubbed off but nothing as noticeable or as prominent as the shoulder.

With today's engineering why the compromises in the design to begin with? There is no reason for swapping hands and such a lackluster Gerwalk mode? Was there not enough time to engineer a wider range of joints or rotating knees? Was it really that difficult to design articulated hands? Was it next to impossible to design a slot for the assault knife? Really Bandai? Really? I mean would these things have really added that much to the cost of the finished piece? Was there not enough time to make these things happen?

Sigh. I can let the other stuff slide but that Gerwalk mode is unforgivable. Granted you can cheat a good looking display for this mode but it definitely goes against the rest of the “toy-like” feel and charm and is such a let-down when compared to the other modes of the toy. It just leaves me feeling like they rushed to meet a release deadline or skimped to keep costs down. For the record I could have waited a month or two longer and would have easily paid more for these few simple features.

There is a lot to like about this release and only you as a collector can decide whether the cost of entry is worth what you are getting for the price. Personally I do not, but your mileage may vary. I expect more from Bandai in the 21st century and I just hope their upcoming Macross Quarter fares better.

You can get your Alto Custom VF-25 Messiah at Angolz. As of this article they are sold out but a little birdie told me they should be getting a restock any time now.