Luclin999

Have you considered collecting piles of broken plastic? Because that is what Yamato Valks seem to deteriorate into after a few years. Seriously though.. Paying hundreds of dollars for what amounts to pre-assembled model kits that all seem destined to have one or more pieces of bad plastic in them is just ridiculous.

Well my latest acquisitions have arrived.. I finally have a Takatoku VF-1J Max.. A little loose in the sway bar but otherwise in very nice condition for a nearly thirty year old toy. He'll make a great addition to the 1/55th Squadron. As will this guy... A Takatoku VF-1J with GBP. (bought for $120 shipped ) The figure is in fair condition at best with considerable yellowing on several surfaces but it is an original Takatoku and still works very well for a figure to display the armor on. As for the GBP... You can see the original owner of the toy decided to do some custom weathering/blast marks to the armor pack so it is definitely not "minty fresh" but the armor is complete and after testing on a small section in the back it looks like most of the "customizing" can be washed off. However, I will probably leave it as it is for the time being just to see how I like the current look over time.

I've had my 1/48th VF-1A on display untouched for years (only transformed once to put it into battroid mode for display) and last year I went to move it on the shelf and noticed a large crack in the leg coming off of the connector pin. That was the last straw for me with Yamato. I am -not- spending hundreds of dollars on these things just so that they can deteriorate like that in five years or less while just sitting on display (in a quiet corner, undisturbed away from sunlight or any UV source). After that, my money has gone into collecting the vintage 1/55th toys. At least they don't just start falling apart over time.

1/48 = 3 1/55 = 18 (3 Takatoku, 11 Bandai, 4 Joons) 1/60 = 3 (v 1.0) 1/60 = 2 (v 2.0) 1/3000 = 1 (Matchbox SDF-1)

And that right there is one of the reasons that I stopped collecting Yamato Valks last year and went back to my first love, the Takatoku/Bandai 1/55th scale series. My first Yamato 1/48th scale figure has now cracked at the hip connector and my second 1/60th ended up with the dreaded shoulder issues. I just can't deal with the idea that I am paying $100-200 for a brand new figure that has those kind of QC issues and overall just feels too fragile. Frankly, the Yamato valks feel more like pre-assembled model kits to me while the Takatoku/Bandai Valkyries were definitely built to be actual toys and as such were built to last.

I think that Ray is right. I know that my Strike doesn't have them either.

Congratulations! I just bought a Takatoku in GBP Armor and a blue Takatoku Max tonight too. Hopefully I will have them in hand by this time next week.

$1400?? Ouch! I paid $300 for this one including shipping.

My latest acquisition and now favorite piece in the collection.

Frankly there are things that I like about both the 1/48th and 1/60th scale series. However, keep in mind that I still have far more 1/55th scale VFs than I do Yamato valks.

I think after reading that I'll be having nightmares tonight... (goes to lock up all of the white out and magic markers in the house....)

Today is a good day... I finally got a Strike Valkyrie. I've been wanting one of these for years and now it is mine. Figure and armor are near mint. Box is a bit rough but complete with instructions, untouched sticker sheet, Minmai figure, heat shield and wing missiles all still in bag, Gun with clip and all ammunition still on sprue and it even has the Bandai Hi-metal mail-away stat card.

Sorry for the poor quality, the Joons I took this picture from is actually in shrinkwrap.

Those Origin of Valkyrie pieces also show up regularly on Ebay for a fair bit less(even with shipping charges) than what Yesasia is asking for them as well.

The plastic Joons used is a bit lower in quality than the Bandai pieces but not so terrible that it won't hold together when being transformed. There are really no diecast parts on the Joons figures. The only metal on them is the sway bar, landing gear and various screws. Also, the molds for these were clearly cast off of disassembled Takatoku/Bandai figures and as such there is a small loss of detail present in the figures as well as a slight variance in the sizes of the individual parts versus a genuine Valkyrie. For example, the Jetfire armor on my Joons VF-1J fits reasonably well but the backpack assembly is just a bit too tight on the Joons figure and as such doesn't allow the tail of the valk to sit completely flush against the back of the toy in Batroid mode (as it can on Jetfire). One other thing to note is that the quality of the Joons' valks dropped off a bit towards the end of their run. My early released Red and Blue Valks are a bit better constructed overall than my "clown" VF-1J that they produced just before closing up shop. Overall if I were to rate my Joons for quality on a 1 - 10 scale, with 10 being a minty fresh vintage Bandai and 1 being the all plastic junk KOs that can be found at times on blister cards in dollar stores I'd rate my Red and Blue VF-1Js at 7.5 and my red/white/blue "clown" VF-1J at a 6.9.

As I recall, "Space Gandam" was just another of the styles of packaging that Joons produced during that run. I think different packaging was supplied by them to different distribution channels probably based upon what company was placing the order for the figures.

I bought a couple of those. I customized one of them into a VF-1S Max type just for kicks.

My Red Miriya Super is actually a red Joons VF-1J that I paired up with a set of Jetfire's armor that does not have the Transformers/autobot symbols applied to it. The armor works very well on that figure. One of these days I'll probably pick up another set of Jetfire armor to go on my Bandai Miriya as well.

Skull Leader both in and out of package. Takatoku/Bandai figures (plus Jetfire!) 1/55th scale Knock-offs Takatoku in plane mode.

I have just one (out of box) Takatoku VF-1J in my collection of Chunkies. A problem I need to address as the Takatoku/Bandai 1/55th line has always been my sentimental favorite series as seen by my collection... 1 VF-1J Takatoku (Hikaru) 1 VF-1J Bandai (Hikaru) 1 VF-1J Bandai (Miria) 1 VF-1A Bandai (Production) 2 VF-1S Bandai (Roy) 1 VF-1S Bandai Strike (Hikaru) 1 VF-1S Bandai Super (Hikaru) 1 VF-1A Bandai Super (Max) 1 VF-1J Joons (Max) 1 VF-1J Joons (Miria) 1 VF-1J Joons (Hikaru) 1 VF-1J Joons (Clown-bot) ...and five Bandai Jetfire figures scattered here and there.

So I am not the only one then who thinks that this looks like a gift shop circa 1985? Nice collection though.

I just stumbled across this while looking at Treasure Island's site... A VF-1A stuck into a Joon's VF-1J box. Based upon the piece of leg armor jammed into the box I would say that it's a re-packaged figure however the odd canopy (with "VF-1A" on it) and crooked sticker placement make me think that it -is- a KO figure of some sort.. Any idea who actually manufactured the valk?

I was going to suggest the same thing. Except that I would either add a slightly darker base coat and a top coat of what you have there or at least a second coat of the paint you are already using to darken the shade slightly before "sealing" it with the clear coat.

Well my 1/60th VF-1S Max arrived from the HLJ sale today. It's my first Ver. 2 Valkyrie and I have to say that it does beat the hell out of the Ver. 1 figures in just about every way possible (except that the V. 1's have more Die cast parts). Took me a while to figure out the transformation but it's now sitting on my shelf in Battroid mode next to a Ver. 1 VF-1A and a Takatoku Valk. Based upon the size differences between the three it almost seems like the Ver. 1's were closer to 1/65th scale than 1/60th. Also, I am happy to report that the shoulder pins on my new VF-1S Max are nice and smooth. A very nice toy, especially at a sale price.

Yeah, you really need a 5-6" figure minimum if you want to pass it off as a Zentran in a 1/60 scale display.