Valkyrie Driver

Aside from the Arcadia, which is entirely too expensive, there is really no YF-19 to be had. The VF-19 advance from Bandai isn't out yet, and even then all of those are spoken for. I've had worse valks, still do. The YF-19 is still worlds better than the v1 VF-0A, which I have. I didn't want a VF-19F/S or Fire Valk, because they don't have the aesthetic I'm looking for. I'd love to have an arcadia, but like I said, too expensive...

The VF-22 is already in that AVF category isn't it? The VF-14 was a much earlier design, contemporary of the VF-5000 right?

It's hard to know when I'll get around to it, I have so many other projects to get done. Warhammer armies that need painting, airsoft guns that need tuning, a gaming table that needs making... I'll be busy for a good long while.

Yeah, I'll be done buying for a while. I might do some experimentation with diorama building.

You know, I have some really expensive hobbies. Between this, Warhammer 40k, Airsoft, and Battletech, I've dumped a ton of money into having fun. Good thing I'm at that cozy stage with all my hobbies where I can add in bits and pieces... And here's Bandai, making me want to spend more money...

I actually decided to round out the whole collection, Amazon was my intermediary, all are 1/60 scale, I got a Yamato YF-19 OVA colors, A CF SV-51, a VF-171EX alto custom, and a Tomahawk Destroid. I had to have the destroid, because That plus my v2 VF-1 inspired some of my favorite battletech mechs, So it was a must have. All told it was a hefty chunk of change, but will neatly round out my collection for the foreseeable future. The YF-19 is coming from Toystop, The SV-51 from AnimePop, the VF-171 from Origami-Japan, Tomahawk from Oneness World. The VF-171 and Destroid are coming from Japan, so they'll take a while. THe rest of it should be here next week at the latest.

I have a couple of these, and I saw one fella say that he gave one (or some ) to his son to play with (instead of a Yammie). I gotta say that is a brilliant idea. Does Toynami still make these?

Do you think they'll do a second run? Seems like a ton of people wanted this... Especially given the price point of Arcadia versions.

I placed the order this morning, should get some of it very soon, part of the order is coming from japan, so I'll have to wait a while for that. The rest of it is coming from the states so I should see that sooner. Thanks for all of your help.

This is truly exciting news for me. Given some of the more recent Bandai toys, I'm starting to like them. My v1 DX VF-25, and VF-19 Hi metal were a tad disapointing. Good to see that they're getting their crap together. I still want a 1/60 Yamato YF-19, because I love it, and it's available right now. I'll wait on it for now. The yammies seem to have stood the test of time, fairly well, so I'll stick to that. But this is definitely something I'll consider adding to my collection.

Thanks

I know the licence is a mess, so it makes seeing this come to fruition nearly impossible. But what exactly is it about the Macross licence that makes it impossible? there's some kind of crap with Harmony gold, but I don't know the whole story. You don't have to try to explain it if y'all don't want to, just pointing me in the right direction would be fine. But seriously, this would be fricking amazing. If we can see this in my lifetime, things would be great. When I have kids they'll get introduced to Macross, because I have SDFM and M+ on DVD, and all the other series on a HDD, and a bunch of the toys...

Thanks, I saw the Scorched Earth review. He mentioned some issues with one of the wing hinges being wonky and not cooperating. I just wondered if that was an issue with the CF version or not. I haven't purchased yet, I just wanted to make an informed buying decision. Seems like I'm going to be fine.

I've tracked down the VF-171EX Alto, a YF-19, and I've decided to go ahead and round out my collection with an SV-51. I know the SV-51 isn't as great as some of the newer toys, but I wanted to round out my M0 mini-collection (I have a VF-0A). Does the CF SV-51 have any problems I should be aware of?

Also, I'm not real impressed by the VF-25, there's too much fighter mode junk hanging off of it. I just like the cleaner looks of the VF-0/1/11/17/19/171. Though the 19 does have some fighter mode leftovers hanging out on the hips, I can deal with that, as it the Battroid mode still looks sleeker, more like a ombat machine, and less like a transformer. That's what drew me to the Macross toy line, was that the Battroids looked like mechs, and the fighters looked like fighters.

Thanks guys, I saw that issue with the CF, and decided to look elsewhere for some VF-17/171 goodness, I think I've found it and I'm happy with the price point, it's about what I expected to see, so provided there are no shipping issues I'll have my valks mid next month.

So, with my tax return this year, I plan on purchasing a couple Macross toys. I've found a yamato yf-19 that I want to purchase, and it's one that i have wanted for a good long while. The other is a VF171, but I don't know if I want that or a VF-17. I recently heard that Yamato went out of business, and is now arcadia. All the Arcadia toys I've seen are way more than the Yamato toys that I'm used to. I've been away for a while, so I'm not up on the new players. How is the Chogokin DX line? I have a pre-chogokin VF-25, and it's kinda floppy and not fun, so how does the chogokin line compare? Would I be happier with the older yamato vf-17 over the chogokin vf-171? Would I be happier with the Arcadia YF-19 or the Older Yamato? Help!?

I meant to refer my comment on drones specifically to the VF-11 drones. Drone converted fighters are rather rare these days too. We also have purpose built target drones as well. I see your point about the lack of interior space for the VF-11 being smaller. I'm not a big fan of aircraft that have all of their weapons strictly internal. It's weapon limiting. If you need to go slick and stealthy you can, but after the first day, you need more stores than the internal bays allow. So I imagine a retrofit with internal bays on the vf-11 would be much like the F-15SE. Engine technology is always improving, so I suppose they might be able to increase the engines output without increasing the size. It might not be a full upgrade, but it would be closer to AVF specs.

That's an interesting perspective. Though, I suspect the target drones are much the same as they are in present day, old models that get a remote pilot system. I would suspect that the VF-11 drones we saw are (supposed to be) VF-11A/B's. I like the VF-11, and given it's role and size are comparable to the classic VF-1 makes it the successor to the original Valkyrie. I could imagine that even in 2050-2060 timeframe, the VF-11 might still be in production in some fleets. The VF-11 seems like the most worthwhile candidate to be brought up to AVF specs. .

It's kinda cool I guess that things are so decentralized in Macross, with each colony fleet having its own culture. Not much heed gets paid to the economics of said future, I guess I have a hard time figuring out how a decentralized economy would work. Each Colony would have it's own local economy, as well as ties to the larger economy as well, and how that affects the military budget for each fleet. I gotta wonder what the less wealthy colony fleets look like. All we ever see is the New Macross type ships, are they all similarly equipped starting out, or do they start differently? I would assume that there are short range and medium range colony missions in addition to the long range ones too right? A fleet has to have a general idea of where they're going right?

So the Aerospace National Guard of Space Georgia might still be using VF-1's?

That sounds like the master-slave control architecture from FMP!. With some minor differences, but overall the same type of arrangement. I always though it would be better for a VF to operate that way in battroid mode. In which case elite units might be like rated ALOs (Air Liason Officers).

Makes sense. I'm finding new stuff every day. I really liked the VF-19, I just wish the only toy I had of it wasn't the VF Hi-metal. When I get my tax return back, I think I'm going to finally break down and get the Yamato 1/60 YF-19, that I have been wanting for the past 3 years, just so I have a good one. After that I just want n SV-51, and My collection will be well rounded. But that aside. I didn't realize that the Inertia Store Converter was something in universe already. So I'm gonna keep making an arse of myself with questions. Is the EX-gear something that would be incorporated into an AVF design, bringing it up to 2059 spec? if so, what exactly does the EX-gear do? Is it akin to the Master-Slave operating architecture of an Armslave (from Full Metal Panic!)? Or is it something else entirely? I always sort of wondered about that. The Armslave, and EX gear were drastically different concepts of what a Mecha was to me, having come from Battletech to Gundam, and to Macross.

Gotta admit, the only VF-1R I was familiar with was the one that showed up in the Robotech: Battlecry video game. I have seen pictures on the internets, and entries on Sketchley's stats, that show SMS VF-19's. Where and when did those show up? I see some specialized variants but have no idea what they're for, or where they came from. It was my impression that the VF-19 was too expensive to produce (hence going with the VF-171 in frontier), and so it was not done in large numbers (*cough* F-22 *cough* F35 *cough cough*). So where did these come from? Are they dumbed down? The VF-25 surpasses the VF-19 in performance, and I get the feeling that piloting a VF-19 pushes the limits of human ability, hence why the VF-25 has some sort of inertial damper. That's got to be the one thing I don't like about the VF-25, is the Inertial damper system, that feels a little too far from the original concept, not to mention that variable fighters were always supposed to be based on science we actually understood (If a bit impractical).

I just replaced the arms of my VF0 with your replacement parts. Aside from the color being off, and some looseness in the bicep swivel, I have no complaints. Now if only the clamp that holds the leg bar could be replaced, my VF-0 would be full functional again. I can't get my zero to hold the gun pod extended, but then only my VF-1, VF-25, and VF-19(hi metal) will do that. So far I'm satisfied. Good work.