Macross' latest Valkyrie transforming jet will be the next giant robot to get Bandai's DX Chogokin treatment.
As reported by Crunchyroll, Bandai's DX Chogokin line is a collection of mecha figures specifically targeted at the high-end collectors market. While expensive, figures in the line usually offer a higher level of detail and build quality that other giant robot figures or stock model kits. The new VF-31AX Kairos Plus figure continues that tradition: with an asking price of 23,000 yen (about $200 USD,) it's not cheap, but it comes loaded with a variety of accessories including alternate hands, multiple gun pods, a decorative display stand, and a knife for close-quarters combat. Like the previous DX Chogokin Macross figures, the VF-31AX can fully transform between the robot's jet fighter, Gerwalk, and Battroid modes. The Valkyrie stands at about 8 inches tall in its robot mode and also comes with a miniature figure of the ace pilot and Macross Delta's best girl, Mirage Farina Jenius. The Mirage figure can be placed inside of the cockpit.
The VF-31AX made its debut in the latest Macross movie, Macross Delta: Zettai Live!!!!!!, which was released in Japan earlier this month. The movie tells an original story that sees the Walkure sound unit, and the Delta Flight pilots who are assigned to protect them, come up against a new threat and a competing new band. The movie also features the return of Max Jenius, Mirage's grandfather and a key character from the original Super Dimension Fortress Macross, which was originally released in 1982. Max was last seen in the 1994 sequel series, Macross 7. Zettai Live!!!!!! was screened alongside The Labyrinth of Time, a new short that continued the story of one of the previous Macross series, 2008's Macross Frontier. The short featured new music from composer Yoko Kanno.
Kanno also worked on 1995's Macross Plus, which will be re-released to American theaters on Dec. 14 as a one-night Fathom Event. Macross Plus was the debut directorial work by Shinichiro Watanabe, who would later go on to direct the acclaimed 1998 anime series Cowboy Bebop, which Kanno also penned the soundtrack for. Macross Plus' theatrical release will mark the first release of material from the franchise in the United States in over a decade; previously, a long-standing legal battle between the Japanese rights holders to the Macross franchise and Harmony Gold, the owners of the Robotech series, prevented the release of Macross or any of its numerous sequels outside of Japan. The legal battle was finally settled in May.
Source: Crunchyroll