Continuing on this thread of reveals is what I think one of the best things to come out of the High Grade line recently. Making Macross kits more accessible is especially important now that it now has a wider reach thanks to a certain company loosening its tight grip on the international rights of the franchise. Following up the HG YF-19 as the second kit in this new 1/100 scale Macross series is HG YF-29 Durandal Valkyrie from Macross Frontier: Sayonara no Tsubasa.
Like all valkyries in this franchise, the Durandal Valkyrie is a triple changer between Fighter, Battroid, and Gerwalk modes — and this new Shortcut Change feature these kits have makes the transformation simpler without the need to disassemble the entire thing (looking at you HG Zeta Gundam and derivatives). If you want all three modes at the same time, you can always get three copies of this kit, but I just love the approach they are doing with these.
One of the banes of any transformation is the impact it would have on articulation. And again, another thing I really like about the Shortcut Change feature is that it doesn’t hamper articulation. As demonstrated here, the shoulders are telescopic to allow range, and the torso assembly has three axes of movement integrated to all those dynamic poses. Multiple missile hatches also open with sculpted missiles inside for more display options. And while it can’t do an Itano Circus, at least it will look it’s about to.
Other features of this kit include polarized molding on the canopy, which should give it different reflections depending on how light hits it, as well as multiple replacement manipulators and landing gear parts. It also comes with a runner-less display stand for aerial poses.
And of course, being a Macross kit, it will come with these new PET film stickers which would look better, especially with those large color applications. That said, I will recommend getting the decal sheets instead.
Yeah, I will also get this kit. And while I still have the HG YF-19 in the backlog, I’m very much looking forward to building it, thanks to the refreshing build experience it will have compared to typical Gundam kits. Again, I do hope we get more kits in this line, and that’s coming from a guy who’s not the biggest Macross fan.
HG 1/100 YF-29 Durandal Valkyrie
August 2023 / ¥4,000
Order via HobbyLink Japan
