Yamato's Fragile?

[GobotFool]

Okay, I've owned several yamatos myself, VF-1S, VF-1A and J Hikaru's, and a VF-0, ect. I've only had the 11 and garland break on me. Yet I hear people always talk about how they break the backpack or some other random part. Am I just really lucky? Are other people just not handling them right? I mean Yamatos may not be as sturdy as an MP prime, but I've never felt the need to handle them that carefully for fear of breakage.

[Ginrai]

Man, I'm still really unhappy about the Garland. BAD YAMATO.

[promethuem5]

I've never had any real problems either... my VF-0A shoulder cracked, but that is apparently more of a factory defect, and my 1/48 Roy 1S hip socket broke out of the box because of anohter factory issue, but I play wity my toys and handle them plenty and have never had a problem. Well, actually, that;s not true... I broke my 1/72 YF-19 hip because I was pressing way too hard at the wrong angle, but that took alot of force and I wasn't paying attention... but no BP8s or anything for me...

[Macross73]

So far i havent had a problem with any of them. even the VF-0A and VF-0S havent given me any trouble

although, having loosened the screws may have helped. I removed the Pitot tube, due to fear of loosing it

somehwere. Of the rest none have a broken a BP-8 or anything else.

[MasterOfPuppets]

For me the problem with the BP8 was caused by what I think is an easily overlooked step in the instructions. When I got my first Yamato 1/48 I transformed it fine. Then I tried putting the FAST packs on and the BP8 kept flopping down. So I tried pushing the BP8 more thinking it would make it tighter. Such a stupid mistake and I felt so bad. But after discovering MacrossWorld I was glad to see I wasn't the only one who broke their BP8. Even though I learned to push the backplate in all the way now, it always scares me that something might happen when I remove the FAST packs off of my 1S because of the wobbling. I always have to tried to hold the center still while wiggling the boosters out.

The VF-0 shoulders just seems like it can't handle a lot of stress. Mine cracked due to overtightening of the top screw when reassembling the arm after putting a top coat on the ball joint. I've been hearing quite a few members saying theirs broke upon recieving 0As.

Other than the VF-0 and VF-1 I don't have enough Yamato's to say my opinion on fragility. I wouldn't say their super fragile. It's just certain parts on each figure that have their flaws.

[Roy Focker]

Good glad someone started this topic.

As an ower of merger 6 yamatos I have no major problems. Still waitng for my YF-19 to arrive. Now I have had chipped paint, the legs on my small scale VF-1s keep falling out but those problems happened after a good amount of time and use. I even have a first edition VF-11 and no breaks yet.

Legitmate breaks aside I think most people here knick pick too much over everything. You guys notice mistakes so small that I'll look unless you some of point them out and then bitched about it.

[jenius]

Legitmate breaks aside I think most people here knick pick too much over everything. You guys notice mistakes so small that I'll look unless you some of point them out and then battyed about it.

Yes, clearly it is our fault and not Yamatos.

[mister_e]

I have 14 1/48 VF-1's and 1 1/60 YF-19 and so far I have not had anything break (touch wood). I have had the occasional weird QC issue, but nothing that broke the toy. Looking forward to picking up a VF-0 soon, but I must admit that I've been a bit hesitant due to the all of the broken shoulder reports.

[Beware of Blast]

I have...

2pcs 1/48 VF1 with hairline cracks at the hip/intake connector part

2pcs 1/48 VF1 with loose wings

1pc 1/72 YF21 with cracked shoulder sliders

1pc 1/72 VF11B broken at both hips

1pc 1/60 VF0S w/ light stressmarks signs on the grey shoulder joints. it's chestplate jiggles like Noriko Takaya.

1pc 1/60 YF19 w/ crooked gunpod, loose gerwalk feet and a chest plat that doesn't lock into place like the 1/48 VF1s...

All have been gently transformed and posed periodically.

Maybe some of you don't buy other toys like the transforming SOCs, Takara Transformers or some good 1/6 scale figures, but I do. And I compare their build quality to the Yamato stuff. My kudos goes to Yamato for their great CAD effort and sculpts. They suck at build quality and finishing.

I seem to get this message that they trying to sell their customers half-arse products and profitting royally while doing it. There is no feel good factor or pride of ownership the way I use to feel when they first started out. To me, their crowning achievement is the 1/48 VF 1 (but that too didn't exactly made me like it instantly) everything else they made after that went downhill.

And yes, it IS Yamato's fault.

[physioguy]

whoops

Edited January 16, 2007 by physioguy

[Scream Man]

ive owned alot of Yamatos. and I have only had 3 types break:

Garland broken twice. the first one, and its replacment.

oa: broken tail spikes, both arms shattered in diff spots

os: first had pins fall out of the shoulder joints, and a crack developed in left shoulder.

otherwise ive done fine., I STILL have a 1/72 with FPs thats in good shape. 6 1/48,s, a bunch of the 1/60s, all the Mac plus stuff....all of it was fine.

[physioguy]

I have:

2 x VF-1J 1/48

2 x VF-1S 1/48

GBP armor

Strike Parts set

2 x VF-0A (stress marks on one elbow)

2 x VF-0S

2 x YF -19

and I sold my 9 1/60 VF-1 valks (which only had some diecast paint wear)

and no breaks yet. If something felt too stressed, I would see if there were screws to loosen and vice versa. I know some people will always be unlucky enough to recieve the occassional quality control problem from the factory, but on the whole we should remember that Yamatos are expensive because of the complex design (nothing transforms like them, trying to be true to anime line art which depicts sleek fighters and tough battroids). Yamatos fall somewhere between Takara transforming toys and perfect grade gundam models, and that is absolutely fine by me.

Yamatos will always be somewhat delicate. I mean could you imagine if you took your masterpiece Convoy and smashed him into your YF-19 with full force. I have no doubt which one would come up unscathed.

[eugimon]

only issue I've had with my yammies are my VF-0s and their busted shoulders

my garland might have bum shoulders but I'm afraid to look.

[Roy Focker]

Then how come some of us don't end with serious problems?

Lets say not all yamato are duds but some are. Then wouldn't everyone with more than one yamato have a greater chance of getting a dud? Are some of us just more lucker than other or something?

[Scream Man]

Up till this year id had a good run. I may love the zeros, but they have had their issues!

The garland was just a problem form the start. I dont know anyone who has transferred theirs who hasnt had the shoulde rbreak

[eugimon]

Up till this year id had a good run. I may love the zeros, but they have had their issues!

The garland was just a problem form the start. I dont know anyone who has transferred theirs who hasnt had the shoulde rbreak

mine haven't broken... yet. but that didn't stop me from asking yamato to send me new shoulders.

[jenius]

In the retail biz they have a theory, for every 10 customers, if 9 have great experiences and 1 has a bad experience you're lucky if the 9 happy people tell 1 person but it's a given that that 1 unhappy person is going to tell many people. Hobby industries have it a bit better because we're doing/buying things we enjoy and we enjoy talking about them so our happy experiences are far more likely to be broadcast than our happy trips to the grocery store. The downside is we're also a little bit more passionate about what we buy so we will scrutinize it more. Yes, sometimes the flaws are small and barely worth noticing (I still don't get why the screws on the 0S display stand attachment piece face forward instead of back) but a shoulder snapping on a Garland or a VF-0 is certainly worthy of a fair amount of griping.

The next big factor is price. Naturally everyone expects more when they pay more. That's why you hear comments like "This toy would be great at half the price." Why? At half the price we expect a lot less. So, Yamato charges $200 for a YF-19? What does that do to people's expectations? A paint-chip or a floppy wing becomes a big deal because you just paid a premium to get a toy that doesn't have paint chips or floppy wings.

All this is compounded by a sense of powerlessness. Look how many members are now paying through the teeth for BBTS' return policy because that's how little they trust Yamato. They have to. If I buy a Yamato toy from Joe's House O' Import and it's flawed I'm stuck. Yamato isn't gonna take my letter written from half a world away in English very seriously. So, now we get a toy that's flawed and we can't complain to the manufacturer, what do we do? We complain to all of you.

Are they really that bad? Obviously that's completely subjective. If you've got money to burn and never handle your valks then no, Yamato is great. If you give your Yammies a good thrashing and are on a budget then they leave a lot to be desired. Personally, I had one BP8 go (I'm thinking it was because that little fin in the back needed to be depressed and I still had it protruding while trying to clasp the backpack), I've received a VF-1J 1/60 with a crooked head laser, I don't know that any of my 1/60 VF-1 toys still have all their screw covers in (I'm pretty sure Yamato only used positive thoughts to keep them in place at the factory), and my brand new 0S has a stress mark on the shoulder after one transformation into battroid. Considering Toynami is the only other company whose products I collect though (other than vintage) I would say Yamato isn't doing too bad. It's really too bad about the VF-0 line... I'm now really on the fence about the Shin 0A and that was a given until the "we didn't know there was a problem" line from Graham's interview.

[eugimon]

in the case of the garland, it's probably the opposite ratio... 9 out of 10 got bum shoulders.

yes yes, I admit it, the garland is a POS.

sob sob.

[Beware of Blast]

in the case of the garland, it's probably the opposite ratio... 9 out of 10 got bum shoulders.

yes yes, I admit it, the garland is a POS.

sob sob.

Actually, if we just raise our standards a little and not blame ourselves on how we handled the valks everytime something breaks, everyone of Yamato's products have been POS.

Maybe it's just me... I just can't stand my toys breaking or showing signs that it's about to break anymore I touch it. I don't see myself short changing my vendor or my vendor short changing Yamato for the products... so why should we be subjected to this sorta crap everytime?

[eugimon]

meh. my 1/48s are fine. fine despite falling off of desks and monitors in full fast pack splendor. They've also survived handling by people who had no idea how to transform them.

I agree that yamato's are hit or miss and lately, more miss than hit but the 1/48 has proven itself in terms of quality and durability, imo.

just for comparison, my MP Convoy has more problems than my 1/48s

[Wicked Ace]

My YF-19 has endured a couple of nasty crashes, falling at least 4 feet from the ground -- through no fault of my own (just for the record). The -19 seems pretty solid.

[Graham]

I've owned a fair amount of Yamatos over the years, probably close to 100 in all scales, although I've sold a lot, so my currrent total is about 50.

Given the complexity of the designs and the number of parts involved, I'd say that overall the durability, fit and finish of Yamato toys is pretty good.

I currently have about 22 x 1/48 VF-1 (I used to have close to 30) and the only problem I've had is a single BP8 breakage on my very first VF-1A Hijkaru, which was 100% my fault.

I've owned many 1/60 VF-1 although only have a few remaining, but never had a breakage on any of them.

I've had 6 or 7 VF-11B FAST Pack, and never had a problem. I used to have a dozen non-FP VF-11B and only had 2 hip breakages.

Probably owned about 15 x 1/72 YF-19/VF-19A and only had one Tab-B and 1 hip breakage.

The new 1/60 YF-19 seems pretty sturdy so far.

The VF-0 is apart fom the shoulders, which is either a material flaw or a design flaw (TBC) a pretty sturdy toy overall.

My 3 x Q-Rau are all fine.

My 2 x Konig Monster are both fine except some stress marks in one of them.

My 1/72 YF-21 are all fine. I have 5 remaining.

It's a given that the more articulation, small parts and features you put on a toy, the more fragile and less durable it's going to be.

The only Yamato product that has really disappointed me was the Garland. I had no problems with the shoulders, but the metal bars connecting the front wheels snapped on both of mine.

Graham

[doodler7]

I'm curious how often you guys take your 1/48s out of the boxes, and how often you guys transform the figures. You can't do it too often and you cannot handle them like hasbros transformers.

Personally I like to display one valkyrie for every two to three weeks to get to appreciate each one of them.

The only breakage I've experienced was with the back BP8 on my first 1/48 VF-1S Roy...while transforming from battroid to gerwalk with fastpacks on the back.

So far I think the 1/48s are pretty durable. I'm planning to get 1/12 Votoms...so we'll see how well those are made...and a 1/60 valkyrie to go along with the new 1/60 fighters.

You just gotta handle them with care.

[isamu_dyson]

I have :

7 x 1/60 VF-1 <<= No prob

2 x 1/48 VF-1 <<= No prob

3 x 1/72 valks (1 x YF-19 2nd ed, 1 x YF-21 & 1 x VF-11b) <<= No prob

1 x VF-0s <<= shoulder have brake but have been repaired easely

1 x 1/60 YF-19 <<= No prob

1 x 1/12 garland <<= Shoulder have brake in 3, it haven't been repaired yet.

[Retracting Head Ter Ter]

Have about 6 1/48s. Only opened 1 so far! Waiting for new place before I break em all out.

No breakage on that _one_. But had the famous 1/48 hip socket rubber ring problem.

Have 1 1/60 VF-0. No problems so far. I have been real gentle with it though.

[kensei]

I've only broken one hip block so far. It wasn't entirely my fault though, as Yamato did insert the rubber polycap before the paint dried. Thus it stuck and jammed the leg. Me not knowing any better, forced it. I put a warning topic up, and it's an easy preventative situation.

[Dante74]

I have:

3 1/48's

1 GBP

1 Fast packs set

2 VF-0's

No breakages, no stress marks, nothing.

Althought I should add that I don't play with any of them and have only transformed each of them once or twice.

Edited January 16, 2007 by Dante74

[eugimon]

I'm curious how often you guys take your 1/48s out of the boxes, and how often you guys transform the figures. You can't do it too often and you cannot handle them like hasbros transformers.

Personally I like to display one valkyrie for every two to three weeks to get to appreciate each one of them.

The only breakage I've experienced was with the back BP8 on my first 1/48 VF-1S Roy...while transforming from battroid to gerwalk with fastpacks on the back.

So far I think the 1/48s are pretty durable. I'm planning to get 1/12 Votoms...so we'll see how well those are made...and a 1/60 valkyrie to go along with the new 1/60 fighters.

You just gotta handle them with care.

I usually have a few valks out and I'm constantly fiddling with them. And no, you can't handle them like a transformer, but this is not a sign of their fragility. MostTransformers are designed for 8 year olds and yamatos are designed for adults. Treat them accordingly and you won't have a problem.

BTW, I'm sure if my MP convoy fell from 4 ft in any mode, I would have all sorts of bits and pieces snapped off or at least some nightmare paint chips. I've had 1/48s survive that fall with no problems. No cracks, no busted BP8s, no snapped off wings.

[HoveringCheesecake]

I usually have a few valks out and I'm constantly fiddling with them. And no, you can't handle them like a transformer, but this is not a sign of their fragility. MostTransformers are designed for 8 year olds and yamatos are designed for adults. Treat them accordingly and you won't have a problem.

BTW, I'm sure if my MP convoy fell from 4 ft in any mode, I would have all sorts of bits and pieces snapped off or at least some nightmare paint chips. I've had 1/48s survive that fall with no problems. No cracks, no busted BP8s, no snapped off wings.

If MP Convoy fell it would tear a hole in the floor and/or chip the cement in the basement.

[kanedaestes]

Except for one issue i had with mhy VF-1s Hikaru i can safely say that i haven't had a lot of problems or issues with mine. I one a good amount of stuff too. The few issues i have had i can honestly say were my fault for being a beast of a man. I am not the most delicate of people, but for as rough as i have been at times my yammies come through over and over again for the most part. Then again i don't have a VF-0 yet and i was never a big fan of whatever show the Garland comes from, the name escapes me right now for reason.

[do not disturb]

i wouldn't say they're fragile but you do have to handle them with some care. out of all the yamato toys i've owned(and i owned/own a lot of them), i've only had 2 ever break on me.

first time it was the BP8 on a 1/48 and it was totally my fault. i was on the couch TFing it and dropped it like a moron. it was only 1 foot drop but it fell perfectly in a way that the BP8 just snapped.

second time is the shoulder on my VF-0A which is totally not my fault. i've probably TF'ed it a total of 3 times and the shoulder is on the verge of breaking, thats not cool.

[Awacs]

I'm curious how often you guys take your 1/48s out of the boxes, and how often you guys transform the figures. You can't do it too often and you cannot handle them like hasbros transformers.

My 1/48th's are always out of the box, seeing as I throw the box away once I get them home from the ParcelForce depot. They live on display on my living rooms shelves. As to how often do they get transformed, that is a matter of whim really. Usually once a month or so when I decide to rotate the display a bit.

I've only once had a Yamato Macross product break on me - that was one of the locks for the securing the leg of my 1/60th -1S. Just went without warning when it was in Gerwalk mode - leg fell off and the -1S skidded slightly across the box-sill on the window before coming to a stop. Never had anything break on any of my other Yamato Valks at all. My 1/60th GBP's "Pelvis" section is a bit loose but not "broken" as such - it's just an annoyance and easily and almost invisibly fixed with a bit of sticky tape.

Karl

[LurkerX]

I own:

11 - Vf-1 1/48s - none of them has broken on me.

6 - 1/72 Macross Plus – a YF-19 broke its “tab†during transformation & I got frustrated with one of its tail fins and broke it off in an attempt to keep the damn thing up in fighter mode.

1 – Monster – transformed it once and incurred some stress marks

2 - VF-0 - They seem fine

1 – Garland - It seems fine as well.

1- Q Rau – fine as well

So I’ve almost had no Yamato break on me. However, I don’t really fiddle with my toys I transform them to my favorite mode and leave them on display in that mode for months sometimes years. I’ve never transformed my YF-21, YF-21 w/fp VF-11B w/fp for fear of breakage.

To answer your question, yes I think Yamatos are a bit fragile stronger than a model but more fragile than your average toy.

If you take the approach that Yamies are actually “glorified models†then you should be fine.

If you take the approach the Yamies are actually “expensive toys†to be played with in that manner, you may be a bit disappointed.

On a side note:

My three year old got a hold of my 1/48 Max DYRL, at that time it was in fighter mode, he flung it across the carpeted room [to simulate flight] hitting the wall and then the carpeted floor. Miraculously it incurred no damage. Fluke? Divine intervention? ….. I’ll never know…

[Awacs]

My three year old got a hold of my 1/48 Max DYRL, at that time it was in fighter mode, he flung it across the carpeted room [to simulate flight] hitting the wall and then the carpeted floor. Miraculously it incurred no damage. Fluke? Divine intervention? ….. I’ll never know…

But surely that is the Max Jenius effect? Never had a f(l)ight he hasn't walked away from.... :-)

Karl

[promethuem5]

Oooh, I forgot that I did finally snap one of the over-stressed pegs off my Koenig Monster, but it's not ahuge deal, and easily fixable.

And doodler, the 1/12 Scopedog is built like a tank... you couldn't break it if you tried.