The YF-19 Excalivor is from the anime series Macross Plus. In the anime it is a prototype variable fighter being tested for the AVF (Advanced Variable Fighter) project, piloted by Isamu Daison. The YF-19 is also the competition for the other variable fighter in the program known as the YF-21 Omega One.

This figure in is part of Yamato's 1/60 scale Macross line of transformable action figures. It is capable of transforming in to all three standard modes of fighter, gerwalk, and battroid. This particular release of the YF-19 is has a special paint scheme in honor of the 25th anniversary of the Macross franchise. The normal colors featured in the anime are a white base with black and red trim. The anniversary scheme it not featured in the anime, but I got it instead of the anime accurate colors because I liked the black and gold color scheme. This particular version of the YF-19 also features a small 1/60 Isamu figure to place in the cockpit, which is colored in a black and orange colored schemed flight suit as apposed to the standard white, blue, and yellow flight suit featured in the anime. It looks rather funny out side of the cockpit due to the color choice, but once in the seat it actually doesn't look as bad and sort of goes with the scheme of the Valkyrie in general.

Fighter mode would probably have to be my favorite mode for this particular Valkyrie. The forward swept wing configuration simply looks really sleek on this fighter. In this mode, all the parts hold quite nicely together and are very stable. The figure doesn't really have any parts on it that flop around if you shake it a bit in this mode. As with basically any other Yamato Macross figure, the landing gear are pretty easy to fold into the closed position, while taking them out is another story. The front gear is typically really easy to take back out. The rear landing gear on the other had is a lot harder. A tip for bringing them out with relative ease is to unwind a paper clip and making a little hook tool. With this you can hook it around the gear section that connects to the wheel. The only other minor quark I have with the fighter mode is that the nose tip can be loose at times, but that is easily resolved if so long as one remembers to align the tiny tab that is on the canopy section to the nose. Only other minor annoyance I have with fighter mode is that the wings can't be swept back for high-speed flight mode, but that is a minor detail I can over looks.

Gerwalk mode, also known as guardian mode, is relatively simple to get to and over all doesn't look bad. Though I will admit, it's probably one of the more awkward gerwalk modes of any veritech in the Macross universe. This is mostly to do with the fact that basically most of the upper torso has to be swung over the wing assembly. And simply rest on top of the rest of the mecha. An annoyance with this is that this entire upper assembly doesn't have any locking mechanism that can hold it firmly in place. It does fine if the figure is simply on display in the mode, but I would not recommend flying it around the room trying to do a roll of any kind. The figure in this mode is relatively possible, but does have some constraints to the wing location, but that can't be helped since that is how the mecha is due to its design. Most veritechs are limited in some way or another due to the wings, so that is not really a complaint, but simply how things are. Along with that it also is able to stand in gerwalk mode with a good amount of stability. It holds pretty balanced and doesn't give the impression that it is simply going to fall over if it doesn't get a flight stand.

All right, time for Battroid mode. This mode can be a bit tedious the first few times it is attempted. When transforming in to this mode, it should be kept in mine that it should be done with care. There are points in the transformation that have a lot of parts moving or having to be left hanging in the process. Once transformed, it stands quite nicely, though it would be nice if it could hold the gun a tad better. The due to the hand and gun deign, it can't hold the gun exactly level with the arm, though I would only call that a minor annoyance. The shield on the other hand is quite nice and simply fits to the arm by a peg, which holds quite nicely. The shield is nice and sturdy and doesn't feel like it will easily snap out of random. The over all figure in the mode is decently pose able, but is limited in some areas simply because of its over all design, which can't be helped. One thing is the lack of a waist joint, which can limit some dynamic poses. Aside from the inevitable movement limitations that are imposed from the design, the articulation is quite nice. For example, the knee joins have a good range of motion and in this more the entire arm assembly over all has quite good articulation as well. The head is fairly articulate as well and features a little surprise of sorts. The heads armor cover can green visor can be removed to reveal some internal details, which is kind of a nice little extra. There is one main downer for me on this mode though. One is that the panel that holds the bottom of the nose section up while in the torso has nothing really to clip into to, which makes it quite floppy and very finicky.

My final thought on this is that this is a very nice Valkyrie that is built quite well and personally I think look great. Sure there are some kinks, but they are relatively minor and easy to over look or to simply keep in mind of when transforming into each mode. Fighter mode holds together the beast and simply looks very nice. Gerwalk mode looks good from certain angles, but can look funny in some. Along with that, the minor annoyance that it has with the upper torso, but over all I like the Gerwalk mode a good deal. Battroid mode for the YF-19 has always been my favorite out of all variable fighters. I just wish that the torso panels were able to lock in place. Aside from that it looks good when you can get the panels to do what they are supposed to do. When it comes to this figure, battroid mode has the largest faults of all the modes, but is still nice to look at. In the end I'm very pleased with this veritech and if I had to give it a rating out of 10 I'd have give it a 7.75.