nightmareB4macross

Official product.

The story of Pony Go Round (SF,CA) and Robot Store (NY). I have seen this also occurring at Kimono My House (LA,CA).

Anyone know what happened to this project? The level of detail and execution are incredible. thesauce, where are you? PM sent.

Thank you for doing this. More pictures are greatly appreciated.

That’s were Jetfire gets tricky. 1985 was the official date of release but as we’ve seen it could be late 1984. Here’s a fun fact for you guys. If you have a mint Jetfire you can actually tell when it was produced not by date stamp but numerical order. Remove the front landing gear screw and check under the seat. Each seat has a unique call out. The sequence begins with it being BLANK. Then 1, 2, and then (IIRC) 3. The blank versions are the Takatoku versions. Look here and tell me what you see. Start with Grey. Also the color of the canopies and the painted frame are another indicator.

They are the same from your promotional material but look at Bandai’s lowered price not much but they figured they can sell more in volume than per unit.

In the Popy Best Catalogue

Post pictures, kind sir.

I am sure if you take apart a JM you will find something that will link it to Takatoku. As an example, did you know that Joons Valkyries have zero stamping on the backplate? But if you take apart the backpack, inside you will read “Made in Korea” in raised lettering. It’s worth a try exploring what could potentially be a solid nail in the coffin.

It could be that there were excess boxes made with the Takatoku texture. There seems to be overflow of odds and ends.

This is only the beginning. The history of the bootlegs themselves has even more twists and turns.

There is also this that pertains and leads to who was actually manufacturing...Matsushiro. They were probably in the midst of working with Bandai and Hasbro at the same time. Both VT-1 and VE-1 share these detailed characteristics which are actually on the Marsushiro Jetfire. I’ll look for a copy which has both the Matsushiro stamp and these details later. Additionally, the blunt note of the VT-1, VE-1, and (1st) Jetfire are share the same design of the blunt nose. If you think back to what Bandai said about retooling they actually went and made a pointy nose. Prior to 1990 everything else was possibly outsourced to Matsushiro for manufacuring.

So here is what I found while peeling away a stickers from a couple of each variant. VE-1 and VT-1 are exactly the same. Left sticker - Copyright w/ Japanese text. Underneath is the Bandai Logo in square form Right sticker - “Bandai 1985 Made in Japan”. Underneath the sticker it is stamped “Bandai 1984 Made in Japan” As for the VF-1A Hikaru DYRL this one is a little strange. Also noticed something new. Left sticker - Bandai 1984 Japan. Underneath it just says “Bandai”. Right sticker - Valkyrie VF-1 with Copyright and Japanese text. Underneath is a sticker with Valkyrie VF-1S with Copyright and Japanese text. Underneath both stickers is the stamp Tokyo Japan. Oddly enough both my examples have these two stickers on them. I believe these were left over from the original First Bandai manufactured VF-1S Strike Valkyrie which for some odd reason had stickers applied and when reused the second sticker “Valkyrie VF-1...” was used. Now for the VF-1S Strike Valkyrie There are two versions the one with the black stickers affixed to backplate are TT. As for the TT version it comes with the textured box just as the Takatoku I tended. Left is Takatoku, right is later released Bandai. BTW - The DYRL VF-1A Hikaru box is also texture exactly like the original Takatokus. Lastly, he boxes for both the VE-1 and VT-1 are NOT textured. Plain old slick packaging, just like the second release VF-1S Strike Valkyries with Bandai stamping and stickers.

He used to bring these to the MWCon for display. Check the previous page on this thread. I posted a link.

Are you referring to XSToys?

Per Graham, 1990 Bandai 1/55 VF-1A & VF-1J Heads Bandai was at least considering making all 3 versions of the 1/55 Valkyrie when they did the 1990 re-tooling. As you can see these were also new interpretations of the old Takatoku head designs.

I see your point, but it would only mean they retooled the inner back plate. I will have to recheck my figures are there are forensic clues that lead to the Takatoku molds. I’ll have to check and get back to you. But there is an immediate clue and that the arm Armour as when mated to the forearms.

Do you have a link? Or better yet pictures?

It think it might be later when they had to retool degraded molds and apply safety features which killed the look of the 1990 VF-1S Super.

More info regarding Bandai and the probabilities for the 1/55. Pics of prototype heads are inside There was also a thread about Harmony Gold/Toynami/(IIRC)ToyCom collaboration to rerelease, license, and market all new 1//55s with new head sculpts (Not MPC) in the US. But did not bold well and the project was scrapped. I’ll look for thread and pictures. For now this is all I have.

Just came across these. Not mine, but if you need them here they are on Shapeways. https://www.shapeways.com/shops/iscustom 1/48 BP-8 and 1/55 VF-1D Conversion Kit

Spotting a TT Strike Valkyrie is pretty easy. Just press on the sticker and a TT Diamond will appear. I’ll pull up the sticker later to show the branding as this photo was the only one I had on my phone.

I do one day hope to compile an extensive chronology and genealogy of the VF-1J. I continue to find some really interesting tidbits about the mold. If you’re interested I can always share pics as I am doing here with most of what has been collected thus far. The information is a bit de shoveled but for the most part it exists here. As far as VE-1, VT-1, and VF-1A Hi-Metals I have multiples so I can check to be sure that there are or are not any TT stamps underneath.

Takatoku on left. Takatoku unofficial/official on right. Even the texture on the box is very unique to the unofficial/official version.

That’s awesome. Glad it was helpful. But I’m digging deeper into where and what came after the demise of Takatoku/Matsushiro and how the molds were used to produce some very interesting official/unofficial TT VF-1Js. The boxed VF-1J in the bottom center of the picture has a TT brand on it but it also has stickers where all the tampo should be. Plus the stickers that came with it are very odd. The finish is very close to being a Takatoku, but the swirl patterns and final fit clearly tell a different story. Forgot to mention: On your 1/55 review you forgot to mention that Bandai actually sold TT VF-1S Strike Valkyries that had a Bandai sticker over the TT Diamond.