Shawn

I personally believe its the original. I dug out my original VF-1J Takani Milia Gerwalk board, and I don't see brush marks. And I think that is the dilemma-I don't think these were created in the normal sense of brush and paint-they look very flat, almost like it was done with markers (I know nothing about this btw). The paint is very thin and flat, there is not a thick build up of layers of paint from what my mind thinks of with an old painting with hills and valleys to the naked eye.

I found some old bits of correspondence between you, me, and Yamato, when you used to visit them for the reports! It was funny, I saw that auction, and was also searching an old hard drive for something completely different, and the VF-1D email was right there, like Kismet LOL It sort of freaked me out a little actually. What are the odds that this conversion kit comes up, AND I have a 20 year hard drive in the usb caddy referring to it, with pics. Spooky stuff! Also-that VF-1D assembly kit pic above was from a later release from Yamato. To this day I sort of feel somewhat partially responsible for that line of assembly kits. Iseki from Yamato was visiting the US, and we went out for lunch. He was asking what sort of things I'd want to see as a fan, and I said "I'm a model kit guy, I'd love to actually build those things myself form the factory, could you get the parts and send me an unassembled one?" He just sort of laughed it off. Then I said "Also, could you do anything with Megazone's Garland? That would also be a really fun item to have and no one has done it before" Those were the days!!

The seller added a few more closer up pics. In a world of gigabit ethernet and terabyte personal drives we still live in a world with jpeg compression. Ugh. Also-someone above mentioned it might not have been painted by Suzuki-I would strongly disagree as that is his regular signature logo on the bottom to the left of the Artmic label.

If we are speaking of a transforming toy, then yes, the Yamato v1 was the first officially released VF-1D toy. There were many fan built Takatoku customs before this of course. Even Takatoku encouraged you to customize your toys like from this pic, but they were not 'official'. If we are talking toys in general, then it could be ARII in 1997, who converted their 1/100 model kit line into a PVC painted toy ready to go out of the blister. Then there were also the Gummy type VF-1Ds from Bandai in 1985, about 2 inches tall. Here is a custom painted one-they originally came from the mold in just one color.

Well remember at wonderfest you buy the limited license for that event, so it was all legit and official. No boldness needed

I completely agree with you on the complexity. I bought the original one (used cheap) and went in blind to the process...never seen Delta, no Anymoon videos. Just had the box to look at. It was a personal challenge that took hours to complete!

Looks like there is a bidder, so it will be sold. B2 size as well...that would be a very nice addition to any collection. Can I crowd-fund $2k for a painting real quick? looking through my poster collection, they took elements from it to create another variant too

I hope the seller posts some higher quality pics, especially for a high dollar item like that.

We won't be turning this into a 'check out this auction' thread, I swear, but check out this auction...I think it warrants a break from the unwritten rule https://page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/c1174559450 Could this be the original painting by Suzuki? Its incredibly hard to see from the pictures. The sharp border seems odd, but guess there is something called 'tape' to get a sharp line like that, The only other orig full canvas drawings I know about were from Takani, but they went to the edge https://www.macrossworld.com/the-ultimate-yoshiyuki-takani-macross-collection/ Wondering what you guys think. The exchange rate brings it 'down' (LOL) to just $2000 USD Always loved this picture, it was also used for the Robotech promo posters from 1985 I believe it was created for this mini-mag

This is gotta be BIG box-like Quead size right?

I found an old pic of one of the prototype Yamato 1/48s (from 2002), and I think to this day it looks incredible. This one is hand painted and detailed, but I'd put this against the new Bandai 1/48 any day for sheer awesomeness. I like the flat white a lot!

Could you tell us a little of how you collected these over the years?

Wow-another Takatoku completist! You are are in an extremely RARE level of collecting to have gotten all of those! Most Impressive!!! Another super-collector here also recently (in Macross years) completed theirs-see the link below Amazed at both your treasure hunting skillz! (I'm also laughing at the fact that both of you also commented on the LENGTH of the hunt!)

I've not seen that kit up for sale in 15+ years. I know the v1 valks don't get a lot of love these days, but they were appreciated back in the day, and this kit is a very niche part of Macross toy collecting history!

This auction is up for another few hours https://page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/x1173464532 This was an official VF-1D conversion kit from Yamato sold at Wonder Festival 2002, with a run of only 30 kits (rare!) It was done by Nishikawa, who then designed the Yamato 1/48 line up! At this time in Yamato's existence, they only had the DYRL license, so they could not sell a VF-1D variant. This was a way for you to convert your existing v1 VF-1 DYRL toy into the TV VF-1D! They did get the TV license the next year and did a mass release, but for those who like the weird and rare stuff, this is a nice bit of Macross toy history to have!! Here are a few pics of the finished modification kit from my old archives I found on a hard drive, 2002!!