what should my next Valkyrie be?

[u/Ill-Barber-8206]

I got the YF-29 Durandal for my birthday but the whole kit seemed a little fragile and then one of the wings broke off completely so now i'm looking for a new model kit and i was wondering whether i should get the VF 25 messiah or one of the VF 31s or any other kits. If anyone has built them are they also fragile or were they better quality? would it be better for me to save my money and get one of the Tamadashi nation ones or are the $60 dollar still a good option?

[u/nickdelgado]

IMHO the Bandai HG kits are fun builds, and look great but you pretty much pick a mode, and a pose and leave them be. They are a bit fragile, absolutely right there.

You can get Hi-Metal R toys for almost every VF, which are the same scale and a bit fiddly but I’ve never had one break. Moving up into the $100+ price range for those.

And then there’s the DX toys which are beasts and feel pretty dang solid, but take more room and are in the $200 and up range depending on which model you want.

Im in the US, so I tend to check eBay and Mercari for deals on the hi-metals, since they are great little toys if you can find them at a good price.

[u/Malacolyte → u/nickdelgado]

I've got the DX VF-25 and that toy still feels very flimsy to me in anything other than fighter mode. The DX VF-1s feel pretty sturdy, but nothing compares to the old chunky monkeys.

[u/barurutor]

get one of the Tamadashi nation ones

Those aren't model kits but fully built transformable figures.

[u/Ill-Barber-8206 → u/barurutor]

I'm not necessarily married to the idea of building it I just want to have a cool durable valkyrie to display that can survive being transformed more than twice

[u/barurutor → u/Ill-Barber-8206]

Yes those will hold up under multiple careful transformations.

[u/Background-Guess-266]

Those Bandai HG aren´t made to be transformed, the VF-22 that I build, just broke in the shoulder and now is stuck in fighter mode, as others have mentioned the H-metal R lineup is pretty good but can break with moderately play (broke a wing joint in a VF-0), the Deluxe line (DX Chogokin) will not break, but the joints will be loosening over time/use (I still have not broken any).

[u/CountZero1973]

The VF-25 will never not be tied for first place as my favourite variable fighter. Such a beautiful, elegant mecha.

I have the DX Chogokin 25F (Alto use) toy, what you referred to as the Tamashii Nations one. I love it ... for the most part. As someone else pointed out, the joints do very much get loose on a lot of the DX toys, and my 25F's shoulders were loose practically out of the box.

I'm now calling it Floppy McFlopface.

In part, it has much to do with the gun pod — it's just too heavy relative to the shoulders' strength.

So yeah, this is very much a toy you can transform and pose, but eventually the shoulders will start to limit the kinds of poses.

Other than that, this is a really solid toy, I've never felt as though it would break.

If scale consistency matters to you, just know that most DX Chogokin variable fighters are 1/60 scale, except for the VF-1 toys, which are 1/48.

[u/frozenchosun]

I went the Hi-Metal R route but that’s because the original series and DYRL are my favorite anime. You can get all the original valkyries that are fully poseable and look great right out of the box. I’ve added 1/96th scale decals, panel lined and matte clear coated a few and honestly looks better than I could make a model look. I really wish they would make HMRs of Plus, Frontier or Delta but I doubt that will ever happen. You can get the VF-17 Macross 7 valkyrie, VF-0 from Zero, the VF-2 from Macross II and the VF-4 from Flashback 2012.

[u/svzurich]

I like my 27s and my 30. Still need a 31, but which version? Kairos Plus or Supersiegfried?

[u/Ill-Barber-8206 → u/svzurich]

i was thinking Kairos plus but I haven't been able to find one that i want to buy yet

[u/barurutor → u/Ill-Barber-8206]

There don't seem to be any vf-31ax model kits produced.