Review #67b: Generations Leader Jetfire
and Macross VF-1S Valkyries (Bandai 1/55 and Yamato 1/60)
part 2: GERWALK Mode
Hello again, folks! Sorry for the bit of a delay since part one of this review. I was under the weather for a little bit, and had zero energy! I'm on the upswing now, though, so shall we press forward!
Now, before we get to the toys, I suppose I should give a refresher on what, exactly, GERWALK mode is. GERWALK (which stands for "Ground Effective Reinforcement of Winged Armament with Locomotive Knee-Joint") mode is, put simply, a mode half-way between a jet and a robot. Think the cockpit, body, and wings of an aircraft, but with the arms and legs of a robot.
The existence of the mode has an interesting history. Apparently, there had been plans for a mech similar to this in the early planning stages of Macross, but the plans for this were dropped in favor of a two-mode (aircraft and robot) variable fighter.
Takatoku was developing their Valkyrie toy concurrently with the development of the show itself. When an early prototype was brought into the animation studio for the folks making the show to take a look at. While fiddling with it in fighter mode, apparently the legs (which, with this toy only being a prototype, were a bit loose) flopped down... and voilà! Inspiration struck, and a third mode for the Valkyrie was born! The reveal of the GERWALK even became the climactic cliffhanger at the end of the first episode of Macross. (Until that moment, the Valkyries had only been seen in Fighter mode. The first episode even had custom opening credits to hide this reveal.)
Well, I suppose that is enough for the history lesson on this cool, almost accidental middle mode of the Valkyrie. So, shall we get onto the toys?
Now, before we get to the toys, I suppose I should give a refresher on what, exactly, GERWALK mode is. GERWALK (which stands for "Ground Effective Reinforcement of Winged Armament with Locomotive Knee-Joint") mode is, put simply, a mode half-way between a jet and a robot. Think the cockpit, body, and wings of an aircraft, but with the arms and legs of a robot.
The existence of the mode has an interesting history. Apparently, there had been plans for a mech similar to this in the early planning stages of Macross, but the plans for this were dropped in favor of a two-mode (aircraft and robot) variable fighter.
Takatoku was developing their Valkyrie toy concurrently with the development of the show itself. When an early prototype was brought into the animation studio for the folks making the show to take a look at. While fiddling with it in fighter mode, apparently the legs (which, with this toy only being a prototype, were a bit loose) flopped down... and voilà! Inspiration struck, and a third mode for the Valkyrie was born! The reveal of the GERWALK even became the climactic cliffhanger at the end of the first episode of Macross. (Until that moment, the Valkyries had only been seen in Fighter mode. The first episode even had custom opening credits to hide this reveal.)
Well, I suppose that is enough for the history lesson on this cool, almost accidental middle mode of the Valkyrie. So, shall we get onto the toys?
Toy #1: Bandai 1/55 VF-1S Valkyrie
Well, here is the original toy (or, at least, a Bandai reissue of it) in GERWALK mode. It is a simple matter of pulling down the legs, folding out the arms, putting back the legs, and then folding them down.
The result is... well, it is a jet with arms and legs! These days, such a half-way mode being advertised as a third mode may seem kind of, well, half-arsed. But at the time, this was something new and revolutionary. And it became an iconic part of what makes a Valkyrie. (It certainly helped that it was featured just as prominently in the show as the other the other two modes.) In fact, over thirty years later, with a plethora of sequel series all introducing new types of Valkyries, every one has included a GERWALK mode. |
So, what is the point of this mode? It was actually handy for quite a few things. Need to do a vertical take-off or landing? Travel in flight low to the ground? Engage in combat while in flight, and get to point your main gun in directions other then straight forward? GERWALK mode is for you! It is also handy for stopping quickly in mid flight (maybe not a great idea for atmospheric flight, but potentially handy in space) by swinging the legs completely forward so that the feet, which contain the main thrusters, aim forward. (Alas... this last one can't be pulled off by this toy, but keep it in mind for later!)
So, how does this toy do at pulling off GERWALK mode? Pretty good, for the 80's. The arms have articulation that is actually not bad even compared to modern toys! The shoulders contain a ratcheting rotational joint that can theoretically swing 360 degrees, although in this mode they are a bit hindered. They still have their full movement, but can bump into the body a bit. There's an additional shoulder joint to allow for raising the arm outwards. Then there is an upper arm swivel, and an elbow that bends about 90 degrees.
The legs have two joints, one towards the top of the leg (although not quite at the hip) that ratchets forwards 90 degrees, and one at the knee that can ratchets backwards 90 degrees and forwards slightly. Since the legs only have joints that move forward or backwards, they will always remain perpendicular to the body. Fine for an 80's toy... but it does give the Valkyrie a rather stiff appearance when compared to the animation, where Valkyries often had wide stances.
Overall, though, for the time when this toy was made, the articulation was outstanding! Especially, for Transformers fans who had the original Jetfire when they were children, when compared to most other G1 Transformers toys.
The Valkyrie has two hands. One is closed fist, the other (the right hand) is a fist with a square shaped hole in it too hold the Valkyrie's gun pod.
So, how does this toy do at pulling off GERWALK mode? Pretty good, for the 80's. The arms have articulation that is actually not bad even compared to modern toys! The shoulders contain a ratcheting rotational joint that can theoretically swing 360 degrees, although in this mode they are a bit hindered. They still have their full movement, but can bump into the body a bit. There's an additional shoulder joint to allow for raising the arm outwards. Then there is an upper arm swivel, and an elbow that bends about 90 degrees.
The legs have two joints, one towards the top of the leg (although not quite at the hip) that ratchets forwards 90 degrees, and one at the knee that can ratchets backwards 90 degrees and forwards slightly. Since the legs only have joints that move forward or backwards, they will always remain perpendicular to the body. Fine for an 80's toy... but it does give the Valkyrie a rather stiff appearance when compared to the animation, where Valkyries often had wide stances.
Overall, though, for the time when this toy was made, the articulation was outstanding! Especially, for Transformers fans who had the original Jetfire when they were children, when compared to most other G1 Transformers toys.
The Valkyrie has two hands. One is closed fist, the other (the right hand) is a fist with a square shaped hole in it too hold the Valkyrie's gun pod.
There is a second way for the Valkyrie to hold its gun, although you need an extra piece to pull it off. Attaching a clip to the arm allows you to then store the gun attached behind the arm. This does emulate the in-show gun storage, but the necessity of the extra piece does make this sloppy. Frankly, for these photos is the first time I've ever used this feature. Heck, I understand most people just end up loosing this piece. I'm actually a wee bit surprised that I still have it!
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Now that this toy's shoulders are visible, I suppose it is worth noting a difference between the Bandai re-issue and original versions of this toy. While the original toys had some painted on detail, there were also of course stickers. With the re-issue, most of what was stickers is now very nicely painted on detail! (This includes all of the various bits of writing visible on the figure.) There are still a few stickers, however. More subtle are the chevrons near the intakes that say, "DANGER INTAKE." But more obviously stickers are the details on the front and back of each shoulder.
Speaking of the shoulders, I should address something there. Apparently, back in the day the ratcheting shoulder joints were quite infamous for eventually breaking. I have a vague memory that this may have even happened to my childhood Jetfire, although I cannot recall for sure. (Or is it a false memory after reading of this happening frequently to others?) The shoulders on my more modern reissue of the toy are obviously still intact. Maybe this is because I play with it a lot less frequently and probably less roughly then I would have played with a childhood toy, but I'd rather believe that Bandai, knowing of the issue, took some measures to fix the joint.
Speaking of the shoulders, I should address something there. Apparently, back in the day the ratcheting shoulder joints were quite infamous for eventually breaking. I have a vague memory that this may have even happened to my childhood Jetfire, although I cannot recall for sure. (Or is it a false memory after reading of this happening frequently to others?) The shoulders on my more modern reissue of the toy are obviously still intact. Maybe this is because I play with it a lot less frequently and probably less roughly then I would have played with a childhood toy, but I'd rather believe that Bandai, knowing of the issue, took some measures to fix the joint.
Well, as before here is a borrowed pic of Jetfire to give you an idea what this figure looks with the Super armor that I unfortunately lack. (It was surprisingly hard to find a good pic of him in armored up GERWALK mode even though this is an officially advertised mode of the toy! Even this one is slightly mis-transformed, with the legs not properly locked into place. Still, thanks to whoever "brr-icy" is for the pic that I swiped from a Google image search!)
Well, that about wraps things up for this version of the toy. So far, it continues to be a pretty good representation of a Macross VF-1 as realized with 80's toy design. Anyway, shall we move onto the next toy and see what this same design looks like implemented with modern engineering? |
Toy #2: Yamato 1/60 VF-1S Valkyre (with Super parts)
Well, the first impression is that yes, it looks a lot more awesome! This is approaching "jumped right off the screen" levels of looking good. For one thing, the sculpt continues to be a lot smoother. For another. it has much better articulation allowing for more screen accurate poses.
We'll start with the legs, as that is where any improvements most help this mode. There is a joint towards the top of the leg that, just like on the 1/55 version, bends forward 90 degrees. Right above the knees are swivel joint. These joints have covers that hide them when not in use, which smoothly side open when needed. The upper leg swivels allow for a great, anime-accurate wide legged stance for GERWALK mode. The knees extend a bit to allow them to bend forward more then they normally would, also important for dynamic GERWALK posing. The ankles also extend further then would be needed for robot mode, again to give them a wider range of motion for GERWALK mode. They bend forward and backwards, and also can wiggle a bit side-to-side. |
Moving up to the arms, the shoulders are on ball joints. The outer covering of the shoulder can be moved around a bit to facilitate some poses. The shoulders do bump into the wings a lot in GERWALK mode, alas. It doesn't make posing impossible, and you should still be able to pull off any poses you want. But it can be annoying. There are upper arm swivels and very nice double jointed elbows. Hands can rotate at the wrists... but that is because they are attached by pegs, and they are removable with a few optional choices to replace them with more show accurate hands.
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The stock hands (the top pair in the above photo) fit inside the wrists during transformation, and are perfectly adequate hands for people who hate having to deal with extra parts. They even feature some nice articulation with a bending wrist, a joint in the thumb, a joint in the index finger, and a joint for the rest of the fingers. These hands do, however, look more like the hands of VF-1 Valkyries as presented in the cinematic retelling of Macross. In the original TV series they had fatter, more rounded hands, which is where the additional included hands come in. (Versions of this toy specifically based on ones from the film actually omit the extra hands, since the stock ones better fit the film's aesthetic.) These four extra hands are all fixed pose hands. You get a right, gun holding hand. (I suppose it could also be used to point accusingly!) You get an open left hand. Finally, you get two closed fists.
As was hopefully obvious in the photos, I chose to drop the boxed missiles in favor of using four sets of the three-missile clusters. You could still use either kind of missile, but with these ones, you have less of an issue with them bumping into the shoulders.
As was hopefully obvious in the photos, I chose to drop the boxed missiles in favor of using four sets of the three-missile clusters. You could still use either kind of missile, but with these ones, you have less of an issue with them bumping into the shoulders.
Pausing to take a closer look at the gun pod, we can see that even it actually features a small amount of transformation! For when it is not being hand held, the back of the gun collapses forward. Also, the trigger pushes up into the body of the gun, leaving just a bit of the handle exposed.
I fear I forgot to photograph it... but the collapsed gun pod can store behind the arm as seen on the earlier version. And without an extra part this time! I'll be sure to highlight this when looking at the final mode. |
Something you do still need an extra part for, however, is that you can still display your Valkyrie in a "rescue" configuration! (Actually, I suppose technically you need two extra parts if you count the additional cockpit!) You can either have the extra cockpit under the right arm or, if you put the arms away as they would be for fighter mode, under the center of the GERWALK between the legs. I think the between the legs option looks better, and there is a definite advantage to it in GERWALK mode as opposed to fighter mode, where it is impossible to display without a stand. (By the way, get your mind out of the gutter about the GERWALK having a cockpit between its legs!)
Well, that about wraps it up for the unarmored mode. Shall we armor it up and look at a Super GERWALK?
This is a thing of beauty. D'ya hear me? A. Thing. Of. Beauty. I don't think there has ever been a more visually perfect toy representation of a VF-1 Valkyrie in GERWALK mode. (Maybe you can get a nicer one with a model kit? But I ain't that talented!) And adding on the armor pieces amps that perfection up significantly!
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On the subject of stickers: I could have probably discussed this when talking about the Fighter mode, but eh, whatever. I didn't, so you get it now, instead! Anyway, the Valkyrie does come with a sticker sheet, but almost everything you see on it in these photos is painted on detail. The stickers included either replicate this detail (so customizers can add it back on after repainting the figure, perhaps?) or add additional detail that is frankly unnecessary and would just make the figure too busy.
That all being said, there are two stickers that are necessary to complete the look of the armor parts: the large U.N. Spacy "kite" logos on either side of the large boosters. To people only familiar with the TV series this may seem odd, as the same logo is present on this booster pack regardless of what Valkyrie they are attached to. In the film, however, the Valkyries in Skull Squadron instead have their squadron logo here, with a circle background color coordinated to the Valkyrie the booster is attached to. (For example, Hikaru's has a reb background, while Max's has a blue one.) Thus, this piece uses a sticker to make it easier to match up to whichever Valkyrie you wish to use it with.
Shoulders. The shoulders. This is a big issue with some versions of this toy. There is a pin in the shoulder which holds it together. On earlier releases of this toy there was a big problem. Either the pin was too large, or the surrounding plastic was too thin, or maybe both... Either way, Yamato made quite the unintentional homage to the original Takatoku 1/55 toys, and a lot of people ended up with arms that broke off! Sometimes before they even got the toy out of the box! On what was otherwise a damn near perfect VF-1 toy, you could see how this could disappoint people. Fortunately, Yamato eventually fixed this problem. The VF-1S I am reviewing here is one of the safe versions. I do have some others, alas, that are not. And while the arms have yet to completely fall off, there are some rather alarming cracks in the shoulders that have me quite worried. (There seems to be a solution available via a piece someone designed on the 3D printing website Shapeways, someday I shall have to investigate this.)
Anyway, if you are looking to get a Yamato 1/60 Valkyrie, and want to feel secure doing so, the website Anymoon.com has compiled this handy list telling you which are safe and which to avoid. (Any newer releases not on this list I should assume are also safe. Interested in this list? You can find it here. Heck, while I am enjoying sharing my own opinions, I am limiting myself to just the VF-1S Roy Fokker TV Version. Anymoon.com has quite an extensive review covering many other variants as well. I'd recommend checking them out after you finish reading my review here! It is quite a nice review site about mainly Macross toys, although recently they have also been covering some Transformers as well, so maybe as potential competition, I shouldn't be recommending them after all! I kid, of course. It is a great site, check 'em out!
That all being said, there are two stickers that are necessary to complete the look of the armor parts: the large U.N. Spacy "kite" logos on either side of the large boosters. To people only familiar with the TV series this may seem odd, as the same logo is present on this booster pack regardless of what Valkyrie they are attached to. In the film, however, the Valkyries in Skull Squadron instead have their squadron logo here, with a circle background color coordinated to the Valkyrie the booster is attached to. (For example, Hikaru's has a reb background, while Max's has a blue one.) Thus, this piece uses a sticker to make it easier to match up to whichever Valkyrie you wish to use it with.
Shoulders. The shoulders. This is a big issue with some versions of this toy. There is a pin in the shoulder which holds it together. On earlier releases of this toy there was a big problem. Either the pin was too large, or the surrounding plastic was too thin, or maybe both... Either way, Yamato made quite the unintentional homage to the original Takatoku 1/55 toys, and a lot of people ended up with arms that broke off! Sometimes before they even got the toy out of the box! On what was otherwise a damn near perfect VF-1 toy, you could see how this could disappoint people. Fortunately, Yamato eventually fixed this problem. The VF-1S I am reviewing here is one of the safe versions. I do have some others, alas, that are not. And while the arms have yet to completely fall off, there are some rather alarming cracks in the shoulders that have me quite worried. (There seems to be a solution available via a piece someone designed on the 3D printing website Shapeways, someday I shall have to investigate this.)
Anyway, if you are looking to get a Yamato 1/60 Valkyrie, and want to feel secure doing so, the website Anymoon.com has compiled this handy list telling you which are safe and which to avoid. (Any newer releases not on this list I should assume are also safe. Interested in this list? You can find it here. Heck, while I am enjoying sharing my own opinions, I am limiting myself to just the VF-1S Roy Fokker TV Version. Anymoon.com has quite an extensive review covering many other variants as well. I'd recommend checking them out after you finish reading my review here! It is quite a nice review site about mainly Macross toys, although recently they have also been covering some Transformers as well, so maybe as potential competition, I shouldn't be recommending them after all! I kid, of course. It is a great site, check 'em out!
But enough about that, I'm not done with my own review yet! Onward! A few more things to look at with the Yamato Valkyrie.
You may recall me mentioning that one thing a Valkyrie can do is throw its legs completely forward for a fast breaking maneuver. This is a bit difficult to demonstrate without a stand, but to the right you can see my attempt. There is great detail inside the feet, which are the main thrusters' exhausts, detail that holds up very nicely even when the feet are open. Other optional display methods are to kind of just half-make the GERWALK, leaving either the arms or the legs as they'd be for Fighter mode. Again, without a stand, this is a bit hard to show vis-à-vis the legs... but I shall try! Not my favorite option, frankly I'd rather leave the legs out. This was a rarely seen option, anyway. (I think maybe one scene in the film version?) The arms-still-stowed option actually is rather nice, and while still not a regular mode, not nearly as uncommon as the leg option. |
In Fighter mode, I raved about how almost completely invisible any screws or pins that would give it away as a toy were. That isn't quite as true in this mode... But they are still fairly unobtrusive. You might spot a few, but they'll be places such as the inner sides of the arms and legs.
Anyway, that's all for now for this toy. (I seem to be rather enamored of it, eh? Will this continue with the robot / Battroid mode? Stay tuned!) For now, a brief tangent, then on with the review.
Anyway, that's all for now for this toy. (I seem to be rather enamored of it, eh? Will this continue with the robot / Battroid mode? Stay tuned!) For now, a brief tangent, then on with the review.
A Brief Tangent
Did you know that Macross Valkyries can be deadly? Especially to starship captains? Captain Rachel Garrett of the U.S.S. Enterprise, NCC-1701-C found this out the hard way!
Bet she wishes one of her bridge crew hadn't been playing with their toy Valkyre on the bridge before that battle with the Klingons broke out, resulting in one of the wings snapping off and embedding itself in her forehead!
The reality of it is that isn't a wing off of a toy, but off of a Macross Valkyrie model kit. (Although the inset is my Bandai 1/55 Valkyrie's wing for comparison.) As for how this came about, model makers sometimes take bits off of pre-existing models to decorate new ones. Another use of some VF-1 bits was apparently some details on the U.S.S. Stargazer (Picard's old command). And when they needed some shrapnel to show that Captain Garrett was really, really dead, apparently they had a spare Valkyrie wing lying around that they thought might do the job well! Anyway, end of tangent. Shall we finally move on to the actual Transformer now? |
Toy #3: Transformers Generations Leader Class Jetfire
Now, perhaps because I've been influenced by Macross. (Or by the American version, Robotech, which is all I knew of these things as a child.) But I almost can't help but to, when ever I get a Transformer with an aircraft mode, see if I can work out something that resembles a GERWALK mode. (Heck, sometimes I'll try it with non-aircraft Transformers, as well. What, you never saw a truck with arms and legs before?) Anyway, often it doesn't work. But sometimes it does! Generations Lugnut makes a surprisingly good one. Generations Whirl (who I shall likely be reviewing soonish) was, for some reason, actually designed to have one! The 2006 Jetfirre, while not perfect, made for an okay GERWALK. So how about this new Jetfire?
Sadly, no. It does not. This here is my best attempt at making a GERWALK with this toy, and it just doesn't work at all. The legs just cannot bend at quite the right angle, and the toy ends up with its nose pointing too far up. This was true somewhat of the 2006 toy, but it is worse here.
Also, if you look closely at the arms, you may notice an even bigger problem... The arms are on the wrong side! This isn't so bad until, of course, you get to the fists. Then, you have the left fist at the end of this mode's right arm and vice versa. These two problems, especially the arms, make for a GERWALK mode that, alas, just does not work, period. It may look okay from one or two angles (if you ignore the fists) but once you are experiencing it in three dimensions, it (visually speaking) completely falls apart. |
Adding the armor parts does not help at all. Of course, with the arms backwards, attaching the armor there isn't possible anyway. And you may have noticed that the legs have ended up on the wrong side! This makes it so that the attachment points for the armor are on the insides of the legs rather than the outside. Maybe you could squeeze the leg armor in there... but it would look even more terrible. Still, thanks to the fact that there are other options, you can still get everything attached. But, as stated, it doesn't really help since this "mode" is fundamentally flawed to begin with.
Now, I am not the only person who, when they get their hands on a Jetfire, thinks, "This thing needs a GERWALK mode!" I have seen at least one other attempt online, and have replicated it for this next batch of photos. Does this makeshift GERWALK fare any better?
Well, as far as the legs go, I'd say yes! While they still don't come forward quite well enough, they do allow for a more natural looking stance. You can get a bit of a spread legged stance, and they stand the figure in a way that that the body above them sits at a more pleasing angle in relation to the ground. So, a good GERWALK, right? Alas, still no. You may have noticed I said nothing about the arms. They still have all the same very big problems. Also, while again it doesn't look too bad from some angles, I personally really don't like the somewhat detached floating bit of undercarriage you end up with here. I feel it really spoils the lines of this GERWALK's body. |
The legs, while they are much improved in this configuration, are technically now on backwards. On the bright side, unlike the arms where being backwards rather ruins the ability to attach armor to them, in the case of the legs it actually facilitates attaching the armor. If you ignore the arms, and the floaty bit of undercarriage, this actually doesn't look too shabby!
Unfortunately, I cannot ignore these things. Especially the arms, which is a common problem with both of these GERWALK attempts for this toy. Making a good looking GERWALK with this toy is, alas, just not possible.
Does that make it a bad toy? No. It was not designed with having this mode in mind, so I can't hold that against it. That we can even jury-rig one this well could be seen as, "Well, I suppose that's sort of neat." And as for the toy overall, I did quite love the fighter mode! So as long as this holds true for the robot mode as well, when we come to the end this toy will still have my recommendation.
But this middle section is all about the GERWALK mode, and even if I do like the toy overall, I am allowed to lament a great missed opportunity. Yes, this toy was not designed to have a GERWALK mode. But it is a toy that takes heavy inspiraton from the G1 Jetfire toy, a toy that did have such a mode. It is quite a shame that this toy was not designed to have one, too.
Well, that about wraps things up for GERWALK mode. As before, here's a few quick group shots. First, unarmored:
Does that make it a bad toy? No. It was not designed with having this mode in mind, so I can't hold that against it. That we can even jury-rig one this well could be seen as, "Well, I suppose that's sort of neat." And as for the toy overall, I did quite love the fighter mode! So as long as this holds true for the robot mode as well, when we come to the end this toy will still have my recommendation.
But this middle section is all about the GERWALK mode, and even if I do like the toy overall, I am allowed to lament a great missed opportunity. Yes, this toy was not designed to have a GERWALK mode. But it is a toy that takes heavy inspiraton from the G1 Jetfire toy, a toy that did have such a mode. It is quite a shame that this toy was not designed to have one, too.
Well, that about wraps things up for GERWALK mode. As before, here's a few quick group shots. First, unarmored:
And second, armored up with their FAST Packs:
Well, unless I suffer a strange relapse, I should be back soon with the conclusion of this review. See you then!
Part 2 of this review added 22 October 2014 by Yotsuya. Continue on to part 3!