Yamato’s GN-U Dou Macross VF-1J

Yamato has a line of smaller scale but more highly articulated robot action figures called “GN-U Dou”, “GN-U” meaning “brave band of warriors” and “Dou” meaning “movement”.  Whereas Kaiyodo’s Revoltech line of highly articulated robots are designed with ball joints, Yamato’s GN-U Dou robots have hinge joints held together with a metal pin:

Kaiyodo's Revoltech ball joint

Yamato's hinge joints, held together with a metal pin

These pictures are close-ups of the elbow joints from the Kaiyodo Revoltech VF-1J and the Yamato GN-U Dou VF-1J.

Revoltech VF-1J on the left, Yamato GN-U Dou VF-1J on the right

In my opinion, the proportional sizes of parts on the Yamato look better than those of the Revoltech.  The Revoltech’s parts look a little squished.  In the picture above, notice that the Revoltech VF-1J has a smooth texture and pudgy parts from what looks like a thick coat of paint.  I wonder if this thick coat of paint or PVC is what causes the Revoltech to have a nasty odor?  In contrast, the Yamato VF-1J has no odor.

The Revoltech is slightly shorter than the Yamato in overall height.  In addition, the Revoltech’s gunpod also looks a little short, whereas the Yamato’s gunpod looks slightly long.

Gunpod comparison

The backpack is another comparison point.

Revoltech VF-1J on left, Yamato VF-1J on the right. The Revoltech's backpack looks too squarish.

Finally, let’s put these two VF-1J’s next to the Yamato 1/60 Macross VF-1J with Super Parts.

Left to right: Revoltech VF-1J, Yamato 1/60 VF-1J, Yamato GN-U Dou VF-1J

In closing, although the Revoltech VF-1J comes with Super parts, its proportions and odor make it, in my opinion, less desirable than the Yamato GN-U Dou VF-1J.  What do you think?

Kaiyodo’s Revoltech Regult, VF-1S, VF-1J

Kaiyodo’s Revoltech line of toys features highly articulated joints.  Today, let’s have a look at their Zentraedi Battle Pod, aka “Regult”, the VF-1S, and the VF-1J.

Kaiyodo's Revoltech Regult, VF-1S, and VF-1J

These toys are well painted, and are made of a very soft plastic.  I think they’re made of PVC’s, and boy, do they smell!!

Here’s a close-up of the Regult:

Here’s a close-up of the VF-1S (Roy Fokker’s paint scheme).  Note that the toy has the Super and Strike parts!

Because these toys are highly articulated, you can strike some very dynamic poses, which you can’t do with the Yamato toys!

Here’s a close-up of the VF-1J, which has the paint scheme of Rick Hunter’s VF-1J from the Robotech/Macross TV series.  It also has super parts, but no strike cannon:

These toys are about half the height of the Yamato 1/60 valkyries, so if that’s too small for you, I don’t recommend getting them.  Also, if you want to minimize the smell of the PVC plastic, you’ll need to get an enclosed display case.

In my opinion, the Yamato 1/60 toys are much better; they’re bigger, are made of stiffer plastic, and they don’t smell!