RVF-25 Luca Messiah Custom

I’m not going to go over the pros and cons of the Messiah Valkyrie again, we all know its a mixed bag. Good fighter mode, good battroid mode, absolutely horrible gerwalk mode.

The RVF-25 Messiah Valkyrie Luca Custom is a special-use valkyrie used in the series Macross Frontier. Luca Angelloni is a meek, bookish member of the S.M.S. Skull Squadron who pilots the special Reconnaissance Version Messiah Valkyrie.

The toy is essentially the same as the other Macross F DX Chogokin toys, with some paint and mold changes. Each of the Skull Squadron members have a custom VF-25, different from the mass production version. You can get your RVF-25 Messiah Valkyrie at Anime-Export.com

Luca’s RVF-25 features a unique head sculpt as well as a large radar dish on the back. Like the Michael Custom, Luca’s valkyrie comes with super armor parts and a custom display stand.

In fighter mode, the main fighter is tight and looks great.

Adding on the super parts makes for a frustrating experience. Most of the armor parts fit ok, specifically the leg and chest armor, but the armor that covers the intakes falls off at the drop of a hat.

As far as gerwalk mode goes, its absolutely fu*kin terrible. Without the armor its a mess, add in the armor you just want to smash it with a hammer. Nothing stays on at all, and the armor on the back and wings just makes the whole rear sag. The stand is supposed to make it displayable, but fails miserably. I was too kind about it in my Ozma review – but after handling a few of these it really becomes apparent.

But lets not dwell on the misery of gerwalk form.

Battroid mode is really nice, much better than Gerwalk, but still you end up with too many armor pieces that don’t fit well. Expect a waterfall of parts when trying to transform it. Best not to bother with them and just wait till you have the whole thing transformed.

The real weak point again is the armor over the hips, or the intake manifolds. There just isn’t enough plastic on the clips to give them a secure connection.

There are some pluses to the armor though. I like the shoulder armor that has concealed missile pods, I like the leg and chest armor, and I like the big boosters. You can still have the radar dish attached on the back in this mode as well, but it dislodges easily.

The figure also comes with all the armaments of the other valks – the large gun, the two blades, and several interchangeable hands.

The stand that the figure comes with has a few issues. The main point of connection to the stand in fighter and gerwalk mode is a black tab that fits under the nose. Under the bottom of the nose is a tab that pulls out to connect to the waist in battroid mode. The black tip of the stand fits into the hole left by this piece when it is flipped out. This anchors the nose, but the rest of the toy simply “rests” on the rear plate. This would not be a bad idea if it were not for the fact that the front part can easily separate from the rest of the stand, causing the valk to come crashing to the floor. In battroid mode there is a separate stand part that attaches under the waist, but the figure stands fine without it.

So yeah, lots of complaints. So why did I get it? Well, I needed something to display my Tamashii Web Exclusive Ghost and Weapons Set. That review is coming up next.

And let’s be fair, the toy is not terrible, it just has one terrible mode. Most Macross collectors will likely just display it in one mode anyway, and it DOES look really good in fighter and battroid mode.

Should you want to get one for your collection, you can get one at Anime-Export.com