1/55's revisited

[Shawn]

attached are the pics from the live auction
https://page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/t1157557958

it looks like the backpack and tailfins are one shade of orange, and the head/chest another.

but the backpack and tailfins don't LOOK painted, so I was thinking maybe resin cast, but who really knows just a guess

[nightmareB4macross]

Nice custom you found there. Where did you find this?

The head appears to be that of a 1/100 kit.

 

Edited October 22, 2024 by nightmareB4macross

[jvmacross]

1 hour ago, nightmareB4macross said:

Nice custom you found there. Where did you find this?

The head appears to be that of a 1/100 kit.

 

The 1/00 Arii kits are very much in-scale to the 1/100 Takatokus....the only thing that is making me think this is not a 1/100 VF-1D kit head, is I think the seam on the 1/100 Arii head unit is molded into top and bottom halves....this VF-1D head looks like it has not been worked on, like removing the seams or painted....I am not a kit guy but maybe someone can post a pic of the unpainted VF-1D head from one of the ARII 1/100 Battroid kits...I believe it should be molded in the same 'tan' color....maybe from the 1/100 transforming kits?

It is known that Takatoku had a VF-1D planned, but was postponed due to other priorities in their production schedule...then the BK happened....I would not be surprised if mock ups had been created for both the 1/55 and 1/100 lines by Matsushiro....for these toys it probably would have just been a head and 'maybe' different chest piece, but doubtful...they probably would have just went with stickers for the chest piece....so it wouldn't have been a large amount of work for them to roll-out a couple of demo VF-1D's....it is nice to imagine that this is one of those 'mock ups' for the VF-1D....

Not only am I not a kit guy, I also am not much into the KOs...I'm curious, was there a 'Takatoku-based' 1/100 VF-1D KO?  If anyone knows, I would imagine it would be you...lol

 

[nightmareB4macross]

You are correct about the head being reworked, as you can also see the vents on the back of the head have prominent characteristic bubbles from resin casting.

[grogall]

@Shawn Thanks for the pictures! When I first started collecting the 1:55 Takatoku's, I always was looking to get the VF1D. Since some of my 1:55 had a small rollup catalog showing the VF-1D as an upcoming release. So I think this might be an early prototype if it isn't a self made mockup!? It's kind of sad that the VF-1D never got released in 1:55 since it's one of the most prominent Valk's in the first two episodes...

Edited October 22, 2024 by grogall

[Shawn]

My initial thoughts right now is that this is a prototype or anything, just curious on what appears to be a recast tailfin/backpack, which isn't the norm for most customizers who just do repaints. At least in the pictures it doesn't LOOK painted. But it we see bubbles in the back of the head for on the VF-1D head, then perhaps the backpack was recast in resin. Until proven otherwise its assume a good custom, not to start off any rumors.

Unfortunately that Takatoku 1/55 VF-1D was just an example of how you could customize your valkyrie yourself, that one pictured in the ads and catalogs was not representative of a prototype or anything. It was frequently shown with that light blue variant and black variant as well.

[jenius]

I want to believe! That backpack, if painted, looks very well done. If resin, then the color after all these years is fantastic, as is the quality. Are the arm stripe stickers orange or red? 

[jvmacross]

[jenius]

My understanding is that the toys were expensive so they were marketed to adults with the premise they were easily modified like models. Paint it like any Valkyrie from the show!

[Skull Leader]

That 1/100 VF-1D looks legit! If I were sitting on disposable income, I'd totally put in a bid.

I still have plans to build a 1/55 VF-1D of my own... I'd just like a VF-1D head that didn't look like it was designed by a third grader in TinkerCAD. I'm legitimately surprised there isn't a good STL file out there.

[Skull Leader]

Switching gears back to Jetfires for a moment...

Can anyone hip me to exactly when they switched from the white backpack hinge clip to the black one? Were we well into the Bandai releases by that point, or are there some Matsushiros floating around with the black hinge clip? And has anyone ever printed 3d replacements for worn out ones?

Edited October 23, 2024 by Skull Leader
added another question

[strikevalk]

8 hours ago, Skull Leader said:

That 1/100 VF-1D looks legit! If I were sitting on disposable income, I'd totally put in a bid.

I still have plans to build a 1/55 VF-1D of my own... I'd just like a VF-1D head that didn't look like it was designed by a third grader in TinkerCAD. I'm legitimately surprised there isn't a good STL file out there.

lololololololllllllll!!!!  Aint that the truth!

[nightmareB4macross]

On 10/21/2024 at 2:49 PM, Shawn said:

attached are the pics from the live auction
https://page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/t1157557958

it looks like the backpack and tailfins are one shade of orange, and the head/chest another.

but the backpack and tailfins don't LOOK painted, so I was thinking maybe resin cast, but who really knows just a guess

Looks like someone picked up a nice custom with box.

Not me, but someone else.

[jenius]

Shawn, did you get it? I'm so curious about it. As a custom, whoever did this put a lot of work into it. Lots of paint stripped, new paint applied, maybe costom stickers on the forearms, custom backpack and vertical stabilizers, and a custom head. Maybe it had resin guns that didn't make it. Curious though that someone would do all that work and not make the head 'eyes' green. This is like a custom trying to be a prototype VF-1D toy rather than a custom trying to be a VF-1D. 

[Shawn]

Nope it wasn't me, curious if it was a proxy buyer and we might see it in more detail later.

[nightmareB4macross]

Here’s a fun find I had no idea existed. Shared horizon background setting used for both this Takatoku Toys non-scale kit and the 1984 release of Bandai’s VF-1A Hikaru from DYRL.

Pretty cool.

[nightmareB4macross]

Who knew the Origin of Valkyrie armor would fit a Joon’s/Space Gandam/Robotec 1/55.

[nightmareB4macross]

And the 1/55 Reissue Super Valkyrie armor fits a Clover 1/55.

Pretty cool.

[nightmareB4macross]

On 3/27/2023 at 5:21 AM, masarujasu said:

I think there is a little truth to this - yes, the first edition was made from the inventory Takatoku had produced (via Matsushiro) whilst they were slated to produce the DYRL figures. 

"In May 1984, Takatoku filed for bankruptcy. As fate would have it, however, they were about to put the toys of the film "Macross: Do You Remember Love" on the market. After Takatoku's bankruptcy, the valkyrie molds scaled 1/55 were entrusted to the official manufacturer, namely Matsushiro..."

It could be argued this inventory was very much 'Super' stock rather than 'Strike' stock, as the interviews in Figure King and Tamashii Web indicate that the decision to market the Strike, and the naming of the Strike was something that happened under Bandai's tenure. However, it also appears that the early Strikes were painted under Takatoku's watch, so they presumably had knowledge of the DYRL color scheme and designs, and were producing something somewhat new for the toyline to tie-in the movie. In lieu of Bandai's direction and hypothetically, if Takatoku never went bust it might have been called Super something, but who is to know? 

"It should also be remembered that, when we began discussing the distribution of the Hi-Metal version, we discovered that Matsushiro still had a lot of inventory available. So some of the Strike Valkyrie were distributed with Bandai stickers covering the Takatoku writings."

"Super Valkyrie and Armored Valkyrie were made by Mr. Takatokutois, and I thought that they wouldn't want the same thing. In that case, I decided that it would be better to do the movie version of Valkyrie, which was the latest work at the time."

"The name Strike Valkyrie wasn't there from the beginning. But if you change the product name to Super Valkyrie, it will be the same as the previous product. I wanted to make a difference. One more thing, just like the F-14 fighter has a nickname of Tomcat, wouldn't it be nice to have a name for each model of the Valkyrie? There was also an idea. So I consulted with Mr. Kawamori, and what he gave me was "Strike Valkyrie". Mr. Kawamori also named the Super Ostrich and Elint Seeker that were released after that."

From these citations, regarding the claim, I think that:

1 - the early Strikes were made from inventory left behind from Takatoku's bankruptcy

2 - they are not actually leftovers from any released toyline i.e., the Super

However, earlier in this thread @jvmacross said that the early Strikes were repaints of Takatoku Supers. @jvmacross did you mean they were yellow Supers literally repainted over in red, or just repaints in the sense of 'same toy, different deco'?

@nightmareB4macross on page 3 you mentioned a rare white Takatoku VF-1S you had which was red painted over yellow chest. Do you still have this? A clue to this question perhaps?

On other claims, are these the rarest of the rare? I don't think so. Might they be sought after for being 1st gen? Sure.

With regards to eggshell, I do feel that the TT stamped white Valks are a different shade of white. I think the Bandai version are a more brilliant, but 'colder' white. But this is really anecdotal, I'd like to hear other opinions on this claim.

Finally found one after many years of looking.

The Takatoku 1/55 VF-1S Super Valkyries were indeed resprayed to create the Bandai Strike Valkyrie.

[Shawn]

And the back pic is lifted from the 1985 Bandai 1/72 VF-1S Variable kit (Imai Reissue)

[Shawn]

yes-that is the most bleed through/poor paint distribution I've yet seen on the strikes, nice find!

[Skull Leader]

1 hour ago, nightmareB4macross said:

Finally found one after many years of looking.

The Takatoku 1/55 VF-1S Super Valkyries were indeed resprayed to create the Bandai Strike Valkyrie.

I need to get around to photographing mine. Mine has some obvious overspray, but not the underspray that THAT one has!

I wonder how rare those Takatoku Strike valkyries are? Another identifying characteristic is the painted-on black UN Spacy symbol on the wing... the Bandais all had stickers/decals there as I recall. (My other two strikes have the open spot for a decal)

[Skull Leader]

On 11/6/2024 at 4:27 PM, nightmareB4macross said:

Who knew the Origin of Valkyrie armor would fit a Joon’s/Space Gandam/Robotec 1/55.

I don't have an Origin of Valkyrie mold to test this with, but I'm wondering if it wasn't a second-hand mold produced from an original? That would make the armor just a shade bigger than the original versions, which is why it would fit better on the Joons (which does not wear original issue backpack armor well, because it's bigger)

[nightmareB4macross]

2 hours ago, Shawn said:

yes-that is the most bleed through/poor paint distribution I've yet seen on the strikes, nice find!

A better pic so we can see a good comparison of the Bandai-R and Takatoku-L paint application. The yellow is clearly visible.

[nightmareB4macross]

2 hours ago, Shawn said:

And the back pic is lifted from the 1985 Bandai 1/72 VF-1S Variable kit (Imai Reissue)

 

2 hours ago, Shawn said:

And the back pic is lifted from the 1985 Bandai 1/72 VF-1S Variable kit (Imai Reissue)

The craziest part for about all this was that I thought Takatoku only released these model kits.

I had no idea there were more.

[nightmareB4macross]

2 hours ago, Skull Leader said:

I need to get around to photographing mine. Mine has some obvious overspray, but not the underspray that THAT one has!

I wonder how rare those Takatoku Strike valkyries are? Another identifying characteristic is the painted-on black UN Spacy symbol on the wing... the Bandais all had stickers/decals there as I recall. (My other two strikes have the open spot for a decal)

You are correct about the UNSpacy kite markings.

Check the slick curve on the center of the logo. This almost looks hand painted. 🧐

[nightmareB4macross]

2 hours ago, Skull Leader said:

I don't have an Origin of Valkyrie mold to test this with, but I'm wondering if it wasn't a second-hand mold produced from an original? That would make the armor just a shade bigger than the original versions, which is why it would fit better on the Joons (which does not wear original issue backpack armor well, because it's bigger)

From what I understand, since the first tooling PCToys would always feel the molds slightly. Parts from these KO don’t always make a good replacement, even amongst the KOs.

[nightmareB4macross]

Another 1/100 bootleg in white with yellow/black markings. This time in 1J. There are also 1S and 1A (Henkei-esque) in this color combo. 

[Shawn]

Sorry for any confusion-was just trying to say that the vf-1s from that packaging were lifted from the 1985 Bandai(Imai) 1/72 model kit
For the 1985 Release Bandai didn't use the old Imai Takani artwork, they found some new artists, but the kits were the same.
 

[Skull Leader]

Finally got around to photographing my Takatoku Strike Valkyrie. My overspray isn't terrible, but it's noticeable. There was overspray on the tabs where the chest plate slips into the wing cover that I cleaned off... I wish I hadn't done that now.

[RobotoyWorld]

On 1/26/2021 at 5:31 PM, Bub said:

Let me just add this if it has not been mentioned yet.  About the VF-1S Hikaru Strike, some of the antenna on its head are notched.  Go check yours.

I know that this has been touched on previously in this thread and also here, but apart from the one post at the bottom of that thread from someone indicating that they've never seen a Strike Valkyrie with the "straight" or unnotched, Jetfire style antenna there's nothing conclusive.

I recently received a Strike Valkyrie as a very generous Christmas gift and it's in great condition. It appears to the the Takatoku stamped variety with a Bandai sticker on top, has the textured box and everything else checks out except he came with the straight antenna. I then checked with a friend who collects Jetfires and VF1s, and his Strike also has the straight antenna.

Is it still majority opinion that these are unlikely to be factory genuine, and someone's fitted a Jetfire antenna as part of a repair job to both (and the one in the OP here)? Many of the images from that old thread are gone so there's little reference to go on. But I think almost all Strike photos in the 30+ pages of this thread have the more common Macross notched antenna.

Are Jetfire antenna significantly easier to find as spares? I would have thought the VF1 was more prolific, but could be wrong.

For reference here's a pic of mine, and a pic of my friend's. Any insights or help appreciated and apologies if this has been covered and I missed it.

 

 

IMG_0673.HEIC

Edited January 3 by RobotoyWorld

[nightmareB4macross]

12 hours ago, RobotoyWorld said:

I know that this has been touched on previously in this thread and also here, but apart from the one post at the bottom of that thread from someone indicating that they've never seen a Strike Valkyrie with the "straight" or unnotched, Jetfire style antenna there's nothing conclusive.

I recently received a Strike Valkyrie as a very generous Christmas gift and it's in great condition. It appears to the the Takatoku stamped variety with a Bandai sticker on top, has the textured box and everything else checks out except he came with the straight antenna. I then checked with a friend who collects Jetfires and VF1s, and his Strike also has the straight antenna.

Is it still majority opinion that these are unlikely to be factory genuine, and someone's fitted a Jetfire antenna as part of a repair job to both (and the one in the OP here)? Many of the images from that old thread are gone so there's little reference to go on. But I think almost all Strike photos in the 30+ pages of this thread have the more common Macross notched antenna.

Are Jetfire antenna significantly easier to find as spares? I would have thought the VF1 was more prolific, but could be wrong.

For reference here's a pic of mine, and a pic of my friend's. Any insights or help appreciated and apologies if this has been covered and I missed it.

 

 

IMG_0673.HEIC 1008 kB · 0 downloads

What a splendid Christmas gift. This actually a thing where the straight head lasers are on the Takatoku stamp VF. Can you take a picture of the box?

Happy New Year!

 

[RobotoyWorld]

3 hours ago, nightmareB4macross said:

What a splendid Christmas gift. This actually a thing where the straight head lasers are on the Takatoku stamp VF. Can you take a picture of the box?

Happy New Year!

 

Thanks very much for the quick reply. Apologies but I realised when I took it out for the photo that I had mixed this up with my recently acquired VF-1A which is the Bandai sticker variety, and the Strike is a Bandai stamp in the mold and not the Takatoku sticker.

To further complicate things, my friend's Strike is a Takatoku stamp, no Bandai stickers. Although it is quite possible the stickers were just removed.

Sorry about that, as it seemed you'd solved it for me. 

Box shots:

[MacrossFan53578]

This 1/55th VT-1 auction completed on 1/5/2025, ending at a impressive winning amount,

https://page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/b1167402786

[nightmareB4macross]

The VT-1 and VE-1 both have such allure for collectors. Even though a DX is available, buyers are stilling willing to pay top dollar for a nice 1/55.

I don’t think I will ever sell mine. Too much wrapped in nostalgia to even consider it.