Revoltech Valkyrie VF-J1. Interesting, but flawed.

The two main toylines I seem drawn to appears to be Revoltech and Transformers.  So what could be better than the two combined?  Keeping them separate, that’s what.

OK, so this Valkyrie is based on the Macross (Robotech) version and the main reason I got it was due to it being used as Jetfire in the G1 transformers toyline.  Sure, they changed some paint applications and added Autobot insignias but Jetfire was a Valkyrie, even to having the booster pack.  So here was my opportunity to have a nice transforming Jetfire toy (sans Booster pack).  I bought this with something else and it was on special so I thought, ‘what the hey, why not?’  I now know why it was on special.

One important thing that makes a good Transformer is that it must fit together well.  Nothing annoys me more than a toy that has bits that just float around the general area of where they should be, a recent example of this would be the Revenge of the Fallen Insecticon toy.  Sadly, this Revoltech is floppy and kind of annoying in all modes.  It has 3, a jet, the Gerwalk (half robot, half jet) and the robot mode.

Jet Mode looks nice, it is probably the most solid of all the modes but that isn't really saying much.  There is a plate behind the cockpit which always folds down just a fraction too far, ruining the run of the back of the plane,  the rest is fairly well secured into other parts.  I have a real problem with one section of this guy, and that would be the blasted wings!  They aren’t secured and have a tendency to drop off at the slightest touch, it is most frustrating,  Even when you just want to fan them out a bit ‘POP’ off it comes. Grrr.  The plane mode looks good and seems in a good scale.

Gerwalk mode is on the way to robot mode, the legs flip down and the arms swing out.  The cartoon makes this mode look really cool and the game I have on PS2 is very cool with this as well, but that i a different story as it is just a well made game.  Back to the toy though.  The gerwalk mode has bad balance issues and looks best when propped up on the stand, somehow..  I find the legs and arms a bit too loose and again those blasted wings dropping off all the damn time.  Oh and the piece that holds the rear fins doesn’t sit flush on the back of the robot and has nothing to secure it, so it will float all over the place.

The pegs on the forearms are most annoying.

Really though Gerwalk mode is a step on the way to robot mode.  The robot mode is OK. The chest clips down fairly well and it looks like a good representation of the figure (from Macross).  Sadly though, the legs and arms are fairly floppy and despite the abundant use of Revo joints for most places, the legs lack movement due to some kibbley bits.

Paint apps are well applied and it does looks the part.  If you look at the photos, you will see some pegs sticking out the top of it’s forearms, these are meant to fold away for robot mode, but are needed for jet mode.  As I found out the first time, the pegs are extremely hard to get out once in, even when using the supplied hooks.  The hands that are used for jet mode need to taken off and replaced with proper robot hands, and they are clipped on well, but the piece they connect to can fold down (for the fore-arm pegs) and with no resistance, the application of hands to arms is a tedious affair.

That word seems to summarise this figure up quite well really.  Tedious.  I can understand why they wanted to give this a shot in Revoltech  universe, an attempt at something different, but it isn’t very good.  Floppy modes, and frustrating bits for transforming just manage to take all the fun out of using this figure.  Oh, and the stand doesn’t have a good way of holding the jet mode either, I can only find a way of holding it from the nose, which means there is too much weight on the back.  No obvious ways have popped out at me, and although there could be some hidden tricky way to do it, to be honest, this toy manages to get up my nose and annoy me every time I give it a play.


Piccaroos.

Comparison to the hands that are needed for Jet mode and a robot mode hand above.

Tricky Jet balancing trick below.

Collection of hands on the left and the hooks for the pegs on the right.  I think it’s strange they supply these hooks, instead of trying to work out a better way.