Yamato VF-1A

A Yamato figure of the VF-1A in fighter mode, a predominantly tan fighter jet with white accents and missiles attached to the underside of the wings

Another image of the VF-1A in fighter mode

Yet another photo of the VF-1A in fighter mode

The VF-1A in gerwalk mode - effectively a midway transformed mode where the legs and arms are deployed but the rest of the jet remains untransformed. The gun pod (the standard firearm for gerwalk and battroid mode) is being wielded.

Another photo of the VF-1A in gerwalk mode

The VF-1A in battroid (robot) mode. Just like in fighter mode, the VF-1A is predominantly tan with white accents - namely the upper arms and legs. The battroid's head has a singular green 'eye' with a single antenna on top. It is wielding its gun pod in both hands.

The VF-1A in battroid mode, with the gunpod attached to the arm

The VF-1A in battroid mode, photo taken from below and looking up in an attempt to make it look imposing

Okay, so let's start with the positives here: I think the deco on the VF-1A is absolutely gorgeous. You might look at it and think 'but it's just tan and white, that's kinda bland' but that's the point! The VF-1A was the mass produced version of the VF-1 Valkyrie. This is not one of the flashy special Valks our heroes were piloting - this is the one piloted by just regular pilots in the UN Spacy that they had numerous ones. And I think the whole design nails that perfectly, absolutely gorgeous mass produced colors.

Another positive is that the figure has some good heft to it because of the use of diecast metal. The majority of the legs (minus the tan piece where it connects to the hips and the feet) is metal and that gives both a nice solid weight to the figure in all modes and also means the figure has a really good solid base to stand on. It's kinda funny, actually, it feels like the legs are loose because of the metal but once you put the figure down? Nah, that's a good use of metal.

Well that's enough positives let's talk the negatives and really the biggest negative: this toy is not perfect transformation. If you're not a Macross fan and are wondering what the Hell 'perfect transformation' means: it means the figure is fully transformable without any parts that you need to remove/put on (minus things like the gun pod).

Some non-perfect transformation stuff I can ignore like the antenna in gerwalk mode is a separate piece and you have to swap out the cockpit for the heatshield in battroid mode. I'm not bothered by that, this is a toy from...2001-2002, I believe.

But what I can't ignore is the fact that you have to completely deattach the legs when transforming it. Seriously. There's no way around it, either. It's also kinda hilarious because I talked about the heft of the toy - yeah when you deattach the legs you realize that quite literally all of the weight was the legs. The rest of the figure is mostly plastic and is pretty light lol.

I'd say it's a shame but it's not like it makes me hate the toy (and yes it is a toy), it's just wow Yamato you really couldn't figure out how to get the legs to transform without partsforming?

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