VT-1 & VE-1 REVIEW

REVIEW OF YAMATO'S 1/60 SCALE

VE-1 'ELINT SEEKER'

VT-1 'SUPER OSTRICH'

Introduction

The Yamato 1/60 scale VE-1 'Elint Seeker' and VT-1 'Super Ostrich' toys were released together back in August of 2003.

These Yamato versions mark only the second time that these particular mecha have been made as transforming toys. The first time, being Bandai's 1/55 scale versions first released back in 1984. However, the Bandai versions are now ultra-rare and much sought after, with mint or near-mint version selling for as much as US$1,000 or even more!

Box

For a 1/60 scale toy, these boxes are huge. I mean they are actually slightly bigger than the boxes for the Yamato 1/48 scale VF-1 toys. The box measurements are as follows: -

15" (38cm) x 15" (38cm) x 4 3/4" (12cm)

The boxes for the Yamato VE-1 and VT-1 caused a lot of consternation amongst both Macrossworld sellers and buyers, as the large box means a larger and heavier shipping carton and thus more expensive shipping costs. Plus, the huge boxes also take up a lot of storage space for those collectors who like to keep their toy boxes.

The boxes are basically Yamato's standard 1/60 window box, just much bigger than normal. However, most people (yours truly included) feel that this large size is totally unnecessary, as there is so much empty wasted space in the box. The boxes for the VE-1 and VT-1 could have easily been made the same size as Yamato's 1/60 Super and Strike Valkyries.

Paint Job & Markings

In my opinion, these two toys feature the nicest paint job of any of Yamato's 1/60 scale VF-1 variants. The paint is smoothly and evenly applied on all the die-cast metal parts and is a nice gloss or semi-gloss finish, which should prevent the dirty fingerprints so common on some of the earlier 1/60 toys. The paint is also very well applied on the plastic parts as well.

The only markings on these two toys are the tampo printed UN Spacy emblems on the left wings and the 'Eye' marks on the sides of the VE-1's FAST packs.

Accessories

These toys come with their removable Super and Elint FAST packs, but that's about it. No gunpod, no missiles and no spare hands either. Mind you, as neither the VE-1 nor VT-1 were shown with weapons in the 1984 animated movie 'Macross - Do You Remember Love', the exclusion of weapons is not really surprising. Both toys share the same instruction manual and sticker sheets.

Both toys come with two removable figures in the cockpit. The VE-1 features two identical UN Spacy pilots. The VT-1 features Hikaru in the front seat and Minmay in the rear.

The Toys

The toys feature the basic VF-1 1/60 arms and legs, with of course a newly sculpted two-seat cockpit and nose section exclusive to the VE-1 and VT-1. Other re-sculpted parts include the heatshield, heads, chest-plate and backpack/tail fin assembly.

I really don't have too much more to say about the actual toys. Fit and finish are very good on both toys. Although both toys feature the normal 1/60 design flaws, such as the non-locking landing gear which collapses too easily and limited shoulder rotation.

FAST PACKS (Super Parts)

The Super parts for both toys are very nicely sculpted and both the VE-1 and VT-1 feature removable engine covers. The VE-1 Super parts feature several fairly fragile antenna parts, so care must be taken when handling these.

Despite the large folding antenna/sensor clusters on the arms, the VE-1 can still be displayed 'wheels down' in fighter mode, although in my opinion it looks much better 'wheels up' on a display stand to simulate flight.

The VE-1 and VT-1's back Super parts do attach differently than the normal FAST packs found on the 1/60 VF-1S Strike and VF-1J Super. Both the VT-1 and VE-1 feature a separate removable bridge section, which snaps on top of the backpack. The left and right engine sections then plug onto the ends of the bridge section. This is different from the VF-1S Strike and VF-1J Super, where the FAST Packs plug directly into slots in the backpack.

Transformation

Transformation is straight 1/60 style with no real surprises. The only difference is the locking mechanism for the backpack. To get the backpack to lock into position requires a bit of fiddling with the back pack hinge including some heart stopping moments, where you do need to push or pull with some force, but once you get it right, the backpack is rock solid.

The only difficulty I had during transformation was getting the chest-plate to slide down during transformation to Battroid mode. I didn't need to loosen any screws to achieve this. All that was needed was to wiggle the chest-plate guide in its track a little to get it to slide all the way down.

Complaints

When the VE-1 first came out, a lot of people on Macrossworld complained about the radar dish arm being permanently connected to the backpack, which means you can't really have a non-FAST Pack VE-1 in fighter mode. Well you can sort of, but you have a big arm sticking out of the back of the plane! Many members preferred the older Bandai 1/55 system, which has the radar arm a detachable part that plugs into the FAST packs. So, which way is correct? Well, even the official line-art is not really clear on this point. However, I would just like to remind everybody that the Hasegawa 1/72 scale VE-1 model also has the radar dish arm connected to the backpack, just like the Yamato toy.

Another common complaint about the Yamato VE-1 and VT-1 is the tail fins. For some reasons Yamato decided to make these much smaller than on their regular 1/60 VF-1 toys. I'm guessing that this is due to the fact that for the VE-1 and VT-1 the tail fins are not supposed to fold shut when in Gerwalk or FAST pack fighter modes. Also, the tail fins cannot be canted outwards, other minus point.

I'd just like to say that personally the small tail fin issue does not bother me, as I never remove the FAST packs from these toys, so it's not noticable.

Conclusion

In my opinion these are the nicest looking of the Yamato 1/60 line. However, due to the fragile nature of some of the FAST pack parts, they are more display pieces than actual toys. Mine are kept on permanent display in fighter mode.

As it is unlikely that Yamato will make a 1/48 VE-1 and VT-1, I'd recommend getting these toys if you like the VE-1 and VT-1 design, but can't afford or don't want to pay the big bucks for the Bandai versions. However, don't wait too long before getting them as both are getting harder to find already.

Graham
23rd February 2004


VE-1 BOX	VT-1 BOX


*VE-1* FIGHTER	*VE-1* GERWALK	VE-1 BATTROID

*VT-1* FIGHTER	*VT-1* GERWALK	VT-1 BATTROID

VE-1 FAST PACKS	VT-1 FAST PACKS	INSTRUCTIONS & STICKERS