VF-1J Valkyrie TV Ver.

You have to give serious credit to Kaiyodo for even attempting this. While the nuts and bolts of the perfect transformation Valkyrie and its variants were substantially in place with Takatoku’s 1:55 toys, this hasn’t stopped other companies from the pursuit of the “perfect” PT Valk. Kaiyodo’s diminutive figure isn’t perfect by any means, but it’s impressive nonetheless. The VF-1J comes in the deluxe oversized Revo window box.

Accessories are typical Valk fair: a few sets of (essential, in this case) variant hands, gunpod, cockpit shield. Also included are a standard Revo stand and a couple of hooks to retrieve the troublesome wrist pins.

Fighter

The fighter mode is fun and attractive. The proportions are excellent. While the overall figure suffers from fiddliness, the Fighter mode is tight. The engineering tolerances are surprisingly precise. (note: the stand is inadequate for displaying the Fighter. I had to add a counterweight)

If you just scaled this up, it would be a joke, but the size is forgiving. Just knowing what the figure is capable of makes the Fighter as successful as any of its larger cousins.

There’s a fitting included to attach the gunpod. You have to disassemble the pod and replace the barrel and stock onto a peg which fits b/t the arms.

The paint apps are sharp but a little weak, and some of the red paint is already coming off of mine after a few transformations.

Gerwalk

I’ve never been enamored with Gerwalk mode. It seems like an afterthought to me, and very few toys have executed the mode well enough to change my mind. Having said that, by Valk standards, it’s good – appropriately dynamic. Posing is an absolute nightmare, though. Just getting it to stand up was a process. The stand would really help, but I can’t figure out how to connect it.

The hands you see are not the PT hands. The figure comes with laughably pathetic widdle nubs for hands.

Switching them out is necessary, but not easy. The wrist joint is so floppy, and the peg so over-sized that popping on the new hand made me want to throw the damned thing at the wall.

Battloid

Transitioning to Battloid, you can see the underlying logic of the Revo transformation. Who would’ve thought the Revoltech joint could be so versatile?

Transformation is your ordinary configuration. I like the simple solution to the always vexing hip problem. This plate might look distracting on a 1:60 toy, but here it works.

Some of the connector pegs, made of PVC, aren’t up to the task without some clear nail polish to strengthen the connections. Oh, by the way, the wings are awful. They fall off constantly. They have distracting notches in them to avoid the joints. You will have to replace them over and over and over. The back pack is problematic, too. Kaiyodo’s Battloid is the first PT with swagger. Revoltech excels at injecting bold anime attitude into its sculpts, and the Valk is no exception.

The Chest connection is canted slightly, which livens up the Battloid’s stance.

This is, above all, a posing figure. I found the posing too loose and floppy for my tastes, though. You can get some good poses, but I didn’t have any fun doing it, what with it tipping over constantly, pieces falling off, and so forth.

The stand makes things easier, but the valk doesn’t have the satisfying stability of most other Revo releases. It may be asking too much with the complexity of the toy, but the actual figure is a disappointing plaything.

I’m of two minds. Most of my interaction with the toy left me frustrated, but I so like the idea and the boldness of the figure that I don’t really care about the reality of it. The fun is mostly in the fact that it exists, and that it mostly works.

It’s a boy!