Convotron wrote:chuckdawg1999 wrote:I was told Yamato went out of business.
The last Macross series I heard of was Frontiers and that the toys were crap at first before Bandai did second runs. I also heard that the main Valk from that series was one of the last releases in the SOC line before it went on hiatus.
I have not bought a Macross item since the 1/100 Super/Strike VF-1S which is the best version of the VF-1S in that scale.
Yes, Yamato is no more. As I understand it, Arcadia is made up of a significant portion of ex-Yamato employees. Arcadia has bought up some of the molds and designs that were Yamato's and they are now moving forward with producing high end toys of Macross designs.
The 1/60 version 2 VF-1J in 30th anniversary deco was released several weeks ago by Arcadia. I believe next up in November is the VF-1S in Roy Fokker deco, Do You Remember Love, aka movie version. The VF-1S in Hikaru's deco is due in December.
Then in April 2014, Arcadia is releasing what is essentially a version 2 of the YF-19 from Macross Plus. Included are the Fast Pack parts. It is quite hefty in price at over 30000 yen/$300.
As far as Bandai's Macross Frontier DX Chogokin toys, yes, the first versions of the VF-25 Valkyries were very poor in design. Thankfully, the version 2, aka Renewal versions are far superior and are worthy of any Macross fan's collection. The VF-25A Mass Production version, aka Cannon Fodder version, toy is the latest DX Chogokin VF to be released.
In December, the DX Chogokin YF-29 Durandal VF is being released again but this time in a Isamu Dyson deco. It would be expensive but I can imagine an impressive Macross Plus themed display with both the DX YF-29 Isamu ver. and Arcadia's upcoming YF-19 side by side.
I have quite a few 1/48 scale Valkries as well as the larger sized YF-19 and YF-29. I never touched the YF-29 because I heard it was fragile. The only 1/60 scale figures I have are a Max VF-1J that has the removable legs and the 25th VF-1S Strike that was just a scaled down 1/48. I know Yamato was constantly tweaking their molds to make them better but What I have is solid enough for me since I don't display them.