Cutting straight to the chase, this is the best Macross model kit on the market. You might think of the removal of a proper transformation as a downgrade, but rather it's a very smart choice by Bandai. Every previous variable fighter model with a proper transformation has suffered from extreme fragility and relied on metal parts or costed an arm and a leg ($90 in some recent cases). Additionally, most of the models on the market are from Hasegawa and therefore basically conventional airplane models without color, snap fit, or features, and are also molded in worse quality plastic. Additionally, none can convert and cost upwards of $30 in each form, so if you want all three modes of the VF-1 for instance you're probably going to have to spend at least $100 on the kits alone (excluding glue, paint, decal softener which you very much need). I quite sincerely despise my VF-1 battroid model, and he has been relegated to the bin of shame for constantly falling apart and being a general disappointment. Even if you just want a converting action figure, the cheapest ones are $60 and even smaller than this kit, so if you want one that'll actually look good you'd have to buy one of the Hi-Metal figures by trading in your firstborn child (Newtype does have good discounts on them though). While the YF-19 is a bit small for a 1/100 model (which is accurate to the design and Macross in general), it has very high quality and good color separation, with all of the grays being molded unlike almost every Hasegawa kit, and the canopy does actually have a nice tint to it like in the pictures. The battroid mode needs almost no stickers to be color-accurate, with most of the color correction being for the black stripes on the wings, the intakes, and of course the little markings and logos. If you build it straight the plane mode looks a little... plain but it still looks very nice and could be easily rationalized as a mass-production version. It also does come with swappable landing gear, which is very nice. The reason why it's probably so expensive for what it is is because of Harmony Gold, which holds the distribution rights for the franchise in the west.(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harmony_Gold_USA#Legal_issues_regarding_Macross_copyright). Fortunately, this flagship model was enough of a success that we're at least getting two more in the line, both variants of the YF-29 (Alto Saotome's standard type and Max Jenius's Super pack) which should be coming out in the next few months. Overall, what you see is what you get, which immediately makes it better than almost every other one on the market. If you want something a bit bigger and cheaper that doesn't transform and is of decent quality, I'd recommend the Hasegawa VF-0 battroid, which does have some molded gray and holds together decently well (If you REALLY want a VF-1, get the Max Factory model, it's not snapfit but has that style of guiding connections). PS/Fun Fact: In the English dub, Isamu Dyson - the pilot of this unit - was voiced by Bryan Cranston (I just thought that was cool)

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Paying MG price for this HG is definitely not what i would like from this, I think it would be more fitting of RG pricing especially with the color correcting stickers but its a fun build with a good result nonetheless.

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Going into building this i was expecting it to be about on the level of the HG super robot wars bandai kits considering the price similarity, and i would say that's pretty spot on. When i saw the sticker sheet on the previews for this kit i was expecting it to all be molded in one color with the stickers for the other colors but to my surprise there is actually quite a bit of nice parts layering for the other colors. The main things i think that are going to be the deciding factors on getting this kit are the price, and the fact that the transformation has a little bit of parts for parts forming. I understand why though, having a full 3 stage true transformation would've had an unstable build. If those points don't bother you go for it, at the end of the day it's still a pretty nice HG.

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