Yamato 1/100 Monster

[do not disturb]

well heres another review from your friendly neighborhood haterist.

lets get started with the box. classic cheapo yamato box as usual...nothing to write home about. one thing that bothered me more than anything else is how they wrote "koning monster" in script making it look ultra cheesey. the stickers are crappy as always, way to go yamato! they give you an entire sticker sheet but only give you placements for 3 stickers that they could've tampo printed on to make our lives easier. yeah, whatevs, i don't put stickers on my toys so i don't care but why bother printing all those stickers if you're not going to bother showing people where to put them.

the instructions make no sense so don't bother looking as they provided absolutely no help whatsoever. you'll be better off looking at the pictures on the box and using common sense before tunring to the make shift instructions they made.

now to the toy.....

obvious its a variable bomber that TF's into 3 modes which i think is wicked cool. i mean, why bother making a regular monster that just sits there when you can have a monster that does it all. its big as i expected and pretty well constructed overall with the exception of a gap here and there. like with any other toy, it has its weak points, namely a few clip-type pieces and some pegs here and there that showed signs of stress straight out the box....yeah i ain't too happy about it either. its nothing major(yet) but i don't play with my toys nor do i TF'ed them often so i haven't run into any problems as of yet(knock on wood). again, this is more of a collector piece than a toy, so the more you play, the more wear and tear you cause there by increasing the likelihood of breaking something, then coming here to whine about it.

the toy is made of ABS plastic which makes it more durable plus they used colored molded pieces so you don't have to worry about paint chips...me likey. the diecast content is minimal at best, mostly just pins and screws. if you love diecast, this really isn't the toy for you.

bomber mode:

it comes packaged in BM and it ain't the prettiest either. probably my least favortie since it looks like a giant triangle made of plastic with some makeshift wings. there are absolutely no gimmicks, no missiles, pods, nadda....not even landing gear. yeah thats weak but this is yamato "the king of the halfasses" we're talking about here, what did you expect? i'd love to talk more about this mode but i only had it in BM for about 10 seconds before it hurt my eyes.

gerwalk mode: gerwalk now but destroid before it became variable soooo....

my favorite mode(for obvious reasons) and probably the most popular i'd imagine since this is what we all know and love. it has these "supposed" points of articulation but none of them does jack. poseability is minimal, it can take a step forward but thats about it. oh, and you can spread it legs...yippie! GM looks great but the arms on mine are a bit on the floppy side and i honestly can't understand why yamato chose to construct the arms this way? its doomed to get loose over time and not a long time either...this is probably my biggest gripe with the toy. but to be fair, theres no other toy out there to compare it to so they did a decent job.

battroid mode:

i was really surprised how cool and imposing it looks in this mode. one thing that upset me is you have to an entire balancing act to get it to stand and you can forget about it being poseable...it just isn't. they did a fairly good job on the sculpt and nothing major looks out of proportion but again, there isn't much out there to compare it to so its hard for me to judge it. the hands are kind of dinky(hooray for chicken hands) and can't hold much of anything. i think a gunpod(perhaps a bazooka) would've been neat addition but its not canon and yamato isn't known for all the extras they throw in. overall i think its cool but i can't see me displaying it in this mode too long since i have to worry about it falling over with the slightiest breeze.

in closing:

overall, i give this toy a 7 out of 10 and thats me being generous solely based on its uniqueness...is that a word?

while i think its a really cool "display" piece, i don't think it makes a really great toy...yes theres a difference. the lack of poseability in each of the modes, the lack of details(panel lines and such), and the lack of gimmicks/extras is what killed it for me. yeah i knew all this before buying it but hey, its not like i'm bitchin about something i don't own. i don't regret the purchase because i do think its a one of a kind, but i do regret the price i paid as its clearly not worth the $150+ i paid for it. this is definitely not a toy i would buy multiples of unless i got a really good deal, even then i don't know if i'd buy another? if you're a compleist, well then you got no choice, if you want something to display, its pretty cool, if you want something to play with, then this is not the toy for you.

if anyone would like to add to this, please feel free to do so. i'll be posting pics and scans of the box and such in the next few days so please be patient. if you want more info on this check the 38 page thread in the toy section.

[promethuem5]

Id like to add that with a sheet of Takatoys 1/48 stickers after dolling up a 1/48 w/ FPs can STILL be sued to make the VB-6 look real pretty. I did.