Bandai Valkyrie reissues

[legios]

Those who are fond of the old 1/55th scale Valkyrie mold might be pleased to know that Bandai are doing another round of reissues - as well as a couple of new versions that haven't been done before in this mold. (I'm surprised that they didn't get these out last year for the 25th anniversay to be honest, but they may be wanting to ride the wave of publicity for the new series, and if so I can't blame them).

First out the gate will be:-

VF-1J "Hikaru" (with the twin head-lasers) and the VF-1S "Roy Fokker" (with the Quad Laser head:-

www.toysdaily.com/discuz/thread-63674-1-1.html

Sadly both of these will be "vanilla", and won't be packaged with the boosters, fuel tanks and missile launchers for "super" configuration.

However, on their heels will come a VF-1A Super "Hikaru" type (with the single laser head):-

www.hlj.com/hlj_gallery2/v/shizuoka08/scifi/IMG_0284.jpg.html

as well as (and I can't find a picture of this anywhere at the moment ) a VF-1A "Max Jenius" type (with the blue rather than red trim-stripe).

I thought I was over the 1/55ths but the 1A Hikaru or the 1A Max type looks quite tempting. Hasn't been done with that mold before as far as I know, and I do have a nostalgic soft-spot for these molds

Karl

[The Doctor]

VF-1J looks nice but boooooo for it being a vanilla release!

-Ralph

[legios]

The -1J is rather nice. I have a battered old Takatoku version that is rather the worse for wear (nose landing gear snapped off halfway down). Seriously considering getting a nice shiny new Bandai version to supplement it.

It is a shame that they are doing the -1J and -1S without the Super parts. I do wonder if they are aiming them at the general nostalgia market, with the -1A's being intended more for the collector end - allowing them to bear the slightly higher price point and the Super parts.

If they are going to the trouble to do new releases maybe we will get lucky and they will re-release the Strike -1S, with the dual beam-cannon.

Karl

[Deleted]

I don't know anything about the Valkyrie toys but what I do know is that they look good. There is also a chance they may turn up in a Forbidden Planet store at some time.

[legios]

May 26, 2008 18:40:56 GMT @zudobug said:

I don't know anything about the Valkyrie toys but what I do know is that they look good. There is also a chance they may turn up in a Forbidden Planet store at some time.

The old 1/55ths are less sophisticated, less accurate and less well-sculpted than modern Valkyrie toys but I do have a soft spot for their chunky solidness.

There is a chance they may show up in import stores - the twentieth anniversary release did show up in FP in London and Edinburgh that I know off. The fact that Toynami is going to be reboxing them for a release to the American market might actually improve the odds of them showing up. (Fortunately Toynami are strictly acting as a distributor on that deal - they are well away from the actual production.). I wouldn't necessarily hold my breath for them to show up though I suspect that if I get them it will be as imports.

Karl

[The Doctor]

And at a heavily marked-up price, no doubt.

-Ralph

[legios]

May 26, 2008 19:23:58 GMT The Doctor said:

And at a heavily marked-up price, no doubt.

-Ralph

I would expect that they will be marked up significantly if they show up in FP. Pretty much everything else is.

Karl

[dyrl]

I think I'm strange for not wanting these.

I love G1 chunky goodness in my Transformers, but I just can't get over how bad and mismatched these look when compared to Yamato.

I know - these are reissues of a mold that dates back almost 30 years - so comparing them to Yamato is unfair.

But I just don't find myself extremely excited at the prospect of owning any of these.

The one Bandai Valky I would like to own is the VF-1S Hikaru version with super and strike parts.

If they release that, I will treat is as a Jetfire re-release and buy it, as I would like to have a G1 Jetfire.

But as Macross product; I just think there are too many other more desirable things out there... besides - I have about 7 1/48s scale VF-1s, so I think that for the price of these 1/55s, what with the new 1/60 coming out... this would just be overkill and pointless.

VFTF1