GBP-1S Armor

Today I will be reviewing the Macross GBP-1S armor, made by Takatoku. The sample for today’s review was provided graciously by our friend Robert Chisholm over at Red Star Robot. Please check out his store that specializes in vintage Japanese toys. If he doesn’t have what you are looking for, just shoot him an email and he will be glad to try and help track an item down for you.

Let’s start off with the box. Takatoku’s Macross toys are one of my favorite vintage toys because of their very distinctive, textured window box style packaging. Its my personal opinion that this style of packaging is timeless and should be considered a benchmark of how a toy should be packaged. You have all the key elements, beautiful character illustrations, clear markings, and a window that lets you see exactly what you are getting. Now that’s just the outside, the quality continues within! A nice crisp white Styrofoam tray and a clear set of instructions plus a nearly endless sticker sheet (not shown). Who could ask for anything more?

Takatoku’s GBP-1S armor is comprised of some very sturdy, quality plastic. Heck, it must be quality stuff when you consider that it’s been around since 1982. The armor features opening shoulder hatches and chest hatches that expose its impressive arsenal of weaponry. The armor is easily affixes to any 1/55 scale Valkyrie with a satisfying click. In the pictures below I will be showing the armor donned by Lt. Hikaru Ichijo’s (Rick Hunter for you Robotech fans) VF-1J. I chose the VF-1J for two reasons. One being that it is the only Valkyrie that I ever saw wearing the armor and the second is that my version of the VF-1J doesn’t include the heat shield so I keep it in the armor so that I don’t have to look at the exposed cockpit canopy when in Battroid mode.

As you can see, the armor looks great from all angles. It really succeeds at giving the VF-1J some intimidating bulk

Hatches open and bombs away! I like the hatch opening feature. I only wish that the chest missiles where red like the shoulder-mounted missiles. I also would have liked to see the leg hatches open to reveal missiles. But I guess if I wanted a more accurate version I should have picked up a Yamato’s GBP-1S that falls apart when you look at it the wrong way…LOL. Takatoku definitely takes the prize for their versions sturdiness.

Considering that this toy is 25+ years old and its bulky design. I feel it still allows this VF-1J Valkyrie some decent poseability. I know its nothing compared to the modern Yamato versions. However you must admit, it is not without its own charm.

GBP-1S Gerwalk? why not? I always wanted to see if this mode could be achieved and I guess it sorta can be done somewhat. It looks like its wearing hockey goalie shin pads.

One of the truly great features about this toy is its compatibility. Whether you have a 1/55 VF-1J, 1S, 1A, original Takatoku, Bandai re-issue, or the random bootleg. The armor with fit and look great! Just check out these last five photos and you will see what I mean.

Wrapping things up, If you own any of the 1/55 Takatoku original or Bandai re-issue valks, do yourself a favor and track this vintage GBP-1S armor set down. It truly is a great toy and really adds to the look and feel of the 1/55 Valkyrie. Bandai has never re-issued this toy and I don’t see it happening anytime soon. With this in mind, expect to pay between $100-$200 USD for a decent boxed example.