Banpresto's Perfect Transformation Strike Valkyrie VF-1S Roy Focker's Unit Part 2

Original design
After the introduction yesterday, this posting will be focus on the option parts that come with Banpresto's Perfect Transformation Strike Valkyrie VF-1S Roy Focker's Unit and more images of the figure in Battroid mode to examine its details. ^^


All the accessories and option parts included for this prize item.


The list and volume is reduced after the FAST pack parts are taken out of the picture. ^^;


The cockpit canopy part meant exclusively for the Battroid mode as mentioned in the previous posting.


To attach the canopy cover onto the figure, the chest armor has to be slid upward first. The tab at the bottom of the cover can then be slid into a small gap between the canopy and the nose.
As the said small tab is the only appendage connecting between the components, the canopy cover doesn't stay on the chest very securely. ^^;


Interestingly, the instruction sheet shows no emphasis for the canopy part at all (left and center images). The figure's image on the back of the box (right image) does show it though.


The 3-barrel gun pod.
Retracted by default, the stock can be pulled outward to show the weapon in expanded form.



The large "U.N. SPACY" marking on the body is the most outstanding piece of detail on the gun pod.


The gun pod is about 6.5cm in length.


Two hand units included: one open-type right hand to hold the gun pod and a left spread palm for posing.


The thumbs on both hands, and especially so on the spread palm is ridiculously long. ^^;


Attached the gun pod onto the open-type right palm.


Ball-type socket for the wrist joint.


Swapped the option hand unit with the weapon attached onto the right wrist.


The default pair of closed fists.


True to the product name of "Perfect Transformation Strike Valkyrie VF-1S/J/A" as shown in the previous posting, two option heads of J-Type and A-Type variants of VF-1 are included.



Since Roy Focker only piloted the S-Type unit, these two option heads can be considered as completely original designs for this figure. ^^ They are meant for Hikaru Ichijo's unit I suppose, but the markings' color on the two parts have been changed accordingly to match Roy Focker's specifications. ^^


The beam cannons can swivel around on the sides of J-Type's head.



Connected via a ball-type joint, the single beam cannon can swivel around on top of A-Type's head as well.


The head unit on the figure can be detached, revealing a fairly large ball-type joint used for the neck. ^^



With J-Type's head swapped onto the neck joint.



With A-Type's head swapped onto the neck joint.
The two option head units are pretty unique considering their non-existence in the mecha setting of Macross. ^^ While they seem like they are included for convenience - since they were made and included for Hikaru Ichijo's unit, then "might as well" for this variation, XD I do appreciate them, especially with the changes made to their markings to suit Roy Focker's color scheme. I still prefer the original S-Type head unit to go along with Roy Focker's color scheme on VF-1 though. ^^ The design is just too classic and iconic to accommodate any variation made to it, not to mention the the difficulty in swapping between the head units due to the stiff neck joint and the figure's transformation design for the neck area (to be covered more in the articulation section). ^^;

More images of this prize item in Battroid mode:














Closeups on the details:






[Head]





[Body]






[Back]










[Arms and Gunpod]










[Legs]
Fragile, flimsy are the two adjectives I thought of right away to describe this figure when I was adjusting it for just the plain standing pose shown above. ^^; From the many images, you can observe the hollowness of the neck area, the super-thin shoulder and hip joints, and the canopy cover that is loosely connected to the chest area, so there's no way to expect it to be as firm as the non-transformable Revoltech version. ^^; More details about the structural design will be shown in the next few postings about the figure's transformation design, so there are plenty of opportunities to study the flimsiness of the figure. ^^;

On the other hand, in terms of the overall look, the design of this figure is actually very good. ^^ The immediate design feature that interests me about it is the broad chest. ^^ It sounds simple, especially when the chest is basically just the front section of the fighter folded downward during transformation - the most iconic Macross transformation design, ^^ but it does give Valkyrie a muscular, powerful look. ^^ With that said, I definitely prefer this design over the slimmed down proportion as seen on the Revoltech version. The thin arms (due to its transformation design again) are perhaps another contributing factor to that look that I favor. ^^

The detail treatment on the figure is pretty well done as well, considering its transformation gimmick, as well as its age. ^^; All the iconic yellow and black stripes on the figure are printed accurately, and there are tons of molded line details on the wings and legs, even though the molded color of the parts make them hard to see. I feel like panel-lining the whole figure to make the details more visible, but I have the impression that such action might make it seems dirty instead. ^^; The molded color seems to be light yellowish white, but I'm not sure if that's indeed the setting, or perhaps the color has degraded after all these years. ^^; Looking at the figure's image on the back of the box, that might just be the unfortunate truth. ^^;

The two configurations of the Gerwalk mode will be up next. ^^