AcroRay

Well, this has certainly been a productive MACROSS year for you, no matter what!

No arguments there from me! (Although didn't Beagle disband? Or they let their Mospeada team go? So much of this sort of work is done by contractor firms.) Nice! Be sure to not let the little missiles look too small. That may be a challenge, I think.

Their Beta Fighters received excellent reviews, as did their Chogokin-style Voltron/GoLion set (deluxe and plastic editions) & their GoLion vinyls. Their Masterpiece Cyclone/Ride Armor is almost universally regarded as an amazing piece of mecha toy product. The Super-posable Valkyrie/Veritech line got solid reviews, and excellent reviews for their Mospeada Legioss/Alpha Super-posables. They also have had a wide range of other products not related to Macross or Mospeada that have done well, so they've proven themselves as an excellent specialty toy company, in spite of the relatively niche interest area this particular forums' members are concerned with. Oh, and the vinyl Regults seem to be selling very well and are regarded favorably... in Japan as well.

I think there was some debate on just what that would be. Someone might have come up with the answer on the thread about Yamato's 1/60 Regult announcement. The lack of consistency in the animation of the show makes it somewhat challenging. Yamato is supposedly including one of their armored Zentraedi soldiers with their 1/60 kit, and the wide range of physical sizes of Zentraedi soldiers seen in the show only adds to the confusion. Toynami standard Regult 1/100 scale is 7 & a half inches tall to the top of the hull in its typical (pictured above) standing position, not including the cannons. The Heavy Artillery Regult is a full 9 & a half inches tall to the top of the missile launchers.

If Toynami's "near universally reviled", why should they bother to listen?

I'd say 'near universally reviled' is a bit of a stretch. But, true, just about all of their product fills market areas that most other Macross manufacturers won't fill - particularly in regard to certain scales and price ranges. At the size, price point and quality, their Super Posable line combined and their vinyl Regults are great products. I also haven't had any problems with the 1/100 Variables I have that bug me, especially at the price point. (If a shoulder on a 20 buck toy pops loose from a cracked poly-cap, I'm not gonna cry. If it cost me $250 after postage and the shoulder crumbled to pieces, then I'd probably feel pretty negative about the experience.) Toynami's sofubi format line just rocks. I'm amazed we're getting anything like this considering the downturn in the economy. Buy 'em, and maybe we'll get our Glaugs and Eagers & other stuff.

Nice! Will it have a DYRL box as well, or will it be released in a different format?

Oh, Excellent! Thanks for the news, Maiden! (And an bona-fide MACROSS item for the naysayers! ) Is this an actual painted sample, or a Photoshop mockup? Now I just have to find someone who can pick one up for me...

Good reporting, Jason! Please share more, you lucky guy! (P.S. - I got the poster file, thanks!)

Purple reminds me of old kits from Aurora and Pyro! (...showing my age...)

Very nice! Thanks for the photos!

Oh, that sucks. A scale that tiny reminds me more of the small metal kits of the FSS mecha back in the 80s than it does an actual 'action figure'. FSS: Never a property to cater to the unwashed masses, eh?

Congrats on adding the Vexar to your collection! It's a great artifact of a significant - if occasionally misguided - period of our otaku youths!

Would anyone be willing to pick up some MUV LUV ALTERNATIVE stuff for me at the MangaGamers booth? Age' will actually be guests of MangaGamers, and will be bringing exclusive Volks store stuff. Hoping for a legit English release of Muv Luv Alternative Chronicles games and media someday... http://mangagamer.wordpress.com/2010/06/06/anime-expo-2010/

It's signed in the lower left corner. Anyone translate? Maiden?

I think the proportions on these look much better than Yamato's v1 or 2 1/60s. In fact, the Yammie v1 1/60 I've got reminds me of the Imai kit, built-up with some diecast added in the legs.

Gawd, I wish I could go.

Vexar is an 80s love for me as well - my second Valkyrie kit ever. (The first was the Orbot kit - VF-1D.) I did a lot of research in what few color Macross Valk references I had to get their 'proper' colorways and decal placements. I was really proud of doing that! Interestingly, and ol friend gave me a collection of his original Robotech kits from the 80s a couple of weeks back - all boxed and most only minimally started. Vexar only has one leg partially assembled, and only the foot is painted. (Got a Trigon/Drifand Dal, too, with only one painted cockpit part! W00t!) I've been looking to re-acquire one for a while now, I'm really looking forward to building it, since my 80s ones are long gone. Don't forget, the kit has been re-issued by Bandai, and is available at Hobbylink Japan for probably what the Robotech edition commonly goes for, and Revell went their own way with painting and decal instructions. (It's surprising how close Vexar is to the Macross original, compared to what they did with the rest of the pre-TV Robotech line.)

I totally love the Wave vintage-style box! But for the price I think I'd rather just have the vintage kit. I don't like Wave's price and proportions, either. Maybe they think that with the vintage style box, people will buy it mistaking it for a vintage kit since it's price at what the old ones are now selling for.

It was also released in Revell's ROBOTECH line as "Vexar". Personally, I really like the kit. It reminds me a great deal of the V1 Yamato Valk toys as far as proportions and details are concerned. HLJ still has it in stock for about $25 USD, with a good selection of pics: http://www.hlj.com/product/BAN953433 Missiles with the pylons in snug poly-caps (lots of poly-caps and metal bits in this kit), and plenty of clear parts, including lights, mono-eye and cockpit. The cockpit is also well detailed. As Daisuke said, though, it is a challenge to build. But it's cast in white, so if you're not into filling and repainting, you could build it a bit more easily just using the cast color and detail painting. Also as mentioned, you have to remove the cockpit and replace it with one containing a closed blast-shield and leg-posts. It doesn't mount the gun-pod in figher mode. But it does retract the hands propely, and it is very nicely articulated. (I was just given a vintage Robotech version by a friend, and I'm really looking forward to building it as a replacement for the one I had in the 80s.)

Saw it at the local drive-in last night! It's a mecha otaku's wet dream! WAR MACHINE totally rocked. I could have watched him and tin head duke it out with the Hammer-Droids for a whole additional 30 minutes.

Nice! I noticed you went for anime-style, and didn't do any panel line work. I'm still really tempted to light the eye on one of these!

My heavy missile type arrived today, bringing a huge smile to my face. With those two massive missile pods on top, the thing really has some serious presence on the shelf. And lineart accurate. Sweet! The missile pods have a lot of panel detail on them, which really calls out for some panel line or detail painting, much more than the previous edition did. It reminds me of the 'anime style' buildup examples on the instructions of the 80s Macross plastic kits, with simple bright paint. But it will say "Paint Me!" to a lot of collectors, IMO. Really nice fictional history on the back of the box, too. Many nods to classic Macross, as well as serving their Harmony Gold licensor. Obviously branded by necessity, but born from the original source. Good work, Toynami! I can't wait for the next piece in the line!

Close enough:

If they're representative of a typical human. If it's a Microman figure, for example, then the 3 3/4" figure is actually 1/1 scale. The Matchbox Zentraedi figure I shot with the Toynami Regult is actually the "Micronized Zentraedi" figure, so technically he would be 1/18. But I don't recall any Micronized Zentran troops with scaled-down body armor in the show, so I used him as a 1/100 scale figure. He scales well with the 1/100 Valk toys - much better than the vintage 1/100 Imai "Armored Space Suit" Kamjin plamodel, which is about the same size as John Moscato's 1/72 Kamjin kit. So, it's "Macross Scale"...