I suspect this is inevitable. Wouldn’t be surprised if it goes full on anime style with the rounded corners and bigger limbs. With the shortcut transformation it would be easy to still maintain an accurate and realistic fuselage for gerwalk and fighter modes.
Hobby Japan unboxing article for the HG YF-19 kit. They say parts are easy to swap for transformation but stay attached well. They also say that the kit is easy to assemble so it doesn’t feel like a transformable kit(I guess compared to Bandai’s previous transformable Macross kits): 発売直前！思いっきり遊べる「HG 1/100 YF-19」を組んでみた！【マクロス】 – Hobby JAPAN Web
All good things to hear about the kit. I hope the stickers done better than the previous Macross kits. Getting to those to stay on anything but a perfectly flat surface was a nightmare.
Didn't know about this Macross thread before... quick peek brought back good memories of when I was deep into Macross collecting. Eventually got too expensive for me to keep up with though, but I still love the franchise and designs.
From the looks of the bare plastic, the majority of everything that gets markings has borders that will be easy for painting. That's definitely what my agenda is. The only decal I'll be using is the UN Spacy emblem, and I still have some spares from my old Toynami VF-1 Masterpiece collection. Otherwise, they're the only waterslide decals I'll be using. Meanwhile, let the review spamming continue! Schizophonic9, a site I visit frequently for unpainted Gunpla straight builds has his full breakdown two parter online. Part 1 best Battroid glorious goodness! HG YF-19 レビューその１ Part 2 Gerwalk greatness and pretty bird fighter mode! HG YF-19 レビューその２ Pretty extensive demonstrations of everything about this kit, steps of transformation, range of motion, and every reason I throw my wallet at my tablet screen but the valkryie doesn't appear on my desk for some reason. This isn't so much doing everything better than what they did when designing the Macross 7 series of transforming valkryies, but applying more of what they'd perfected in 1:144 HG Zeta Gundam part-swap transformations, with extra features. He confirms the waterslide decals were released at the same time as the valkyrie too. The one thing that stands out for me with S9 reviews is where to watch out for nub marks. That way I know what to expect and how best to approach these with nippers and x-acto blades.
HobbyJapan just posted pics that are also in their newest issues for the HI METAL R VF-1J Armored Valkyrie Revival Version: 【HI-METAL R】VF-1J アーマードバルキリー（一条輝機）がリバイバルVer.でリリース決定!! リバイバルならではのアップデートポイントを中心に解説します！ – Hobby JAPAN Web HG YF-19 out of box build: Oh I wouldn’t use them from the Toynami MPCs, they’re actually semi-transparent so anything underneath will definitely show through. Sculpt and build-wise, they definitely did do better here than on their Macross 7 transforming kits. From the elbow joints to the way the intakes stick out outside of the LERXs in fighter/gerwalk mode, which always looked weird to me.
It was a thought, didn't say it was a good one. Options are out there, just need the right sized ones for what I'd use them for.
Just putting this out there, having seen the official video from Takara, MP Skyfire is more than just a wink to the original VF-1S. I wonder if the cross promotion announced last year has anything to do with this.
The Cross Promotions have not only been announced but have been available for pre-order for some time. For Bandai it's a SoC Zoid and for Tomy it's Tomica Gundam ships/vehicles.
Yeah I know, although I haven't seen the preorders. I'm just saying Skyfire had to be discussed as well. Maybe just Takara showing Bandai the prototypes and asking if it was ok.
It looks pretty good even without the stickers. I wish Bandai had painted the canopy frame. I’ve tried painting canopies before and it never looks nice, even when I tape it. I’m generally terrible with painting of any kind.
Hobby Japan suggested using some of the stickers for the frame but that to me would still stick out since it’s rounded. If I get it, I might just mask it and carefully attempt to paint it. Battroid mode looks fine without paint/stickers/decals but gerwalk/fighter need them to me.
Yeah it’s hard to imagine stickers looking good for the canopy. I should watch some painting tutorials, I really need to improve my skills (or lack thereof).
not sure if already posted, but here: https://twitter.com/simsim5479/status/1619231709089894400?cxt=HHwWgMDQ1aGq1fgsAAAA
Hmmm...since the kit does indeed seem to have sculpted lines where the paint apps would go, I might just have to give it the royal treatment and actually paint it. Shite...it's been years since I've done that. The HiMR VF-1J and GPB looks great. I was happy with having just the DX version, but it would be nice to have a version I'm not so worried about fiddling with.
Looking at the YF-19 I dont know if Im a old grumpy collector, but I prefer my Valks to be more realistic looking and not going too Animeistic. Its like the whole toon TF look now. Quick change yet simple. Its like too simple. I think that is why I love the DX YF-19. It looks like a actually test aircraft with all the tempos.
