Despite all the poor choices made with this toy, I still kind of like it.

Despite all the poor choices made with this toy, I still kind of like it.

Who can forget the summer of  2000 – the whole net was abuzz with the coming of the Toycom Macross Plus Valkyries. I sure can’t forget it – those damn Valkyries put me out of business (back when I was running Cybertoyz). I suppose in a way I owe this site to them. If I hadn’t have had that terrible experience, I might still be running a toy store today, and CollectionDX may never have existed.

The VF-11b “Thunderbolt” was the third Valkyrie  released as part of Yamato’s Macross Plus “Kanzen Henkei” Valkyrie line. The design, like the other Macross Plus valks, was a radical departure from what we previously knew as Valkyrie toys. The complex transformation and sleek styling appealed to the then novice toy buyers.

All that anticipation quickly soured though when the toy finally arrived. The toy had so many flaws; it was met with universal disapproval. Today, people only speak of the VF-11b in hushed tones down dark alleyways.

But first, let’s talk about the good

The VF-11b looks really nice, and the paint and metal have a nice finish to it. The metal content is limited to the lower legs, but it still adds a nice feel to it. The toy transforms into all three modes and has working landing gear. The hands are removable and there is a separate right hand that can be replaced to hold the gun. The gun is really nice, with an expandable stock and a fold out bayonet.  The gun can be stored under the rear fuselage when in fighter mode. Also included was a sticker sheet and cockpit covers.

In robot mode, the figure is surprisingly agile. Ball jointed hips, articulated knees and feet, as well as very poseable arms make for some dynamic poses. When in robot mode, this toy just feels and looks great.

Unfortunately, Yamato made a lot of poor design decisions with this toy, which resulted in a lot of these toys suffering a lot of problems.

The first main problem is the ball jointed hips. The plastic used was too brittle and the fit onto the ball too tight, which resulted with this joint breaking easily. You could hack a fix by opening up the assembly that holds the ball and making this connection not as tight. This problem plagued this toy.

Another major problem was the shoulder blade assembly. In jet mode, these are the 2 small squares that are behind the cockpit. When transformed into robot mode, these fold out and become the shoulders. This toy was packaged in robot mode, so when you went to transform it back into jet mode; you found that those 2 panels didn’t fit correctly. The solution was to FILE DOWN the insides of the panels until enough room was made for the panels to fit into the small space. This also affected the fit of the shield in fighter mode. The shield would bump up against these panels and cause it to pop off the arm assemblies.

Sigh…

I would have sold this toy long ago if I really didn’t like the design. It is just visually appealing to me. I’ve made my modifications to my toy, so it does what I want it to do, but unless you are in love with this design, skip it.

If you are going to get a YF-19 and you want metal, this is the one to get.

The VF-19A Excalibur comes from the video game Macross VF-X2. The mecha design was done by Shoji Kawamori and the toy design was done by Billy Wong.

This was the second YF-19 type toy done by Yamato Toys, and the first to be reasonably right. This version is much tighter and sturdier than the original YF-19. Unfortunately, at this point a lot of people were turned off by the previous valkyries and did not give this one a chance. This is a shame, because this is not a bad toy at all.

The knees of this toy have been completely redesigned so there is no longer the ugly gap on the rear as was present on the original VF-19.

The VF-19A is made up of diecast metal and plastic and is transformable between all three modes - Gerwalk, Battloid and Fighter.

Included with the Valkyrie is a sticker sheet, variant hand and cannon. The cannon fits in the variant hand fine, but does not like to stay in its holding place in vehicle mode. This is the only major flaw with my version.  I would also be careful at some of the metal on metal connection points in fear of paint scraping, but it is not nearly as bad as with the original VF-19.

Overall, I would recommend this toy. If you are going to get a YF/VF-19 and you want metal, this is the one to get.

The story of Yamato's YF-19 is a long and complicated one. Yamato first announced that they had the license to make die cast transforming valkyries from the anime Macross Plus. They toys were loosely based on the Studio Half-Eye kits. Toycom, a US Distributor, announced that they would be releasing them in the states. Fans rejoiced, because these would be the first transforming valkyries in years. Dealers across the world began to take pre-orders, and fierce bidding wars began.

Unfortunately, Harmony Gold holds the rights to Macross and Robotech in the US, and fought with Toycom and Yamato for the rights to the property. Toycom lost, and the Macross Plus valkyries were never domestically released. Fans had to pay higher prices through import shops.

When the first version of the YF-19 got into consumers hands, it was riddled with flaws. Parts didn't fit, toys arrived broken, and people were generally disappointed with the toy. Yamato released a Version 2 toy that fixed a few of the flaws, but the general design of the toy is awkward and unstable. It was the first instance of a trend that continues with Yamato toys to this day.

This is the 2nd version YF-19. There is a lot of die cast in this toy, most of the legs, chest plate and wings are solid die cast, and prone to chipping. The YF-19 is capable of transforming into all three modes - battroid, gerwalk and fighter. All modes leave something to be desired. In Battroid mode, the YF-19 is not very poseable. There are a ton of joints, but you cant do anything interesting with them. Gerwalk mode (half fighter / half battroid) is just plain ugly. Fighter mode is the best of the bunch, but good luck keeping it together.

For all the effort Yamato put into this toy, there were a lot of things missing. Where was the landing gear with turning wheels? How about a pilot figure? Why can't the gun stay on when in fighter mode?

Yamato improved drastically with their 1/60 and 1/48 series valks. Hopefully Yamato will take all that they have learned and create a new and improved YF-19.