AcroRay

Same here on those details.... I'm just hoping for a Fokker Strike, 1J GBP set, and the TV Max & Milla Supers - basically the ones I wanted years ago but couldn't get. The others would be nice, but I want to build that core collection first.

Don't forget re-tooling costs, and possibly another block of steel and the setups to run it. That could up your costs a little. The DYRL Super 1A editions aren't anything more than a repaint of an existing product. (No complaint there, though) I'm sort of hoping they'll tool up the missiles and surprise us by including them in the upcoming Super 1A editions. But I don't have any basis to think that'll actually happen! You know, honestly I'd always found the DYRL 1As to be a rather ugly colorway and probably wouldn't normally be all that keen to add one to my collection, but all this banter on the subject has just about convinced me to pick up one of 'em - if I can budget it in! (Probably the Max.) Now to decide on a domestic vendor...

...A validation I've been waiting for since I bought my first Macross toys & kits back in '83, then watched what little trickled in to the US with names like ROBOTECH, CONVERTORS, JETFIRE, or CLASH OF THE BIONOIDS written on it.

Hear that, Harmony Gold? You've been wasting your time, just like those Toynami, Tamashi & Bandai dolts. Don't you know Macross is too good to be touched by gaijin hands? Thanks for adding your voice to the efforts to kill Macross for the rest of us, VFTF1.

Only if they've got the nerf missile launchers, too!

Toynami asking literally a couple of extra bucks (to cover import fees, tariffs and freight, humn?) is nothing compared to how Diamond has been raping our wallets on Revoltech toys and nearly every other item they import - when in some cases Diamond has literally doubled the import price over the Japanese MSRP.

I have to admit I'm just astounded at the paranoia here. It simply amazing. Like Bandai doesn't know how to do business with a foreign company like they've been doing for years, and like Takara and Tomy before them. Ooohhh, Toynami is soooooo evil. Everyone b1tch3s & cries that they can't get genuine Japanese Macross toys from a toy company outside of Japan. Now it'll be rolling right out of Bandai's factories, into Bandai packaging and showing up stateside with nothing but a distro sticker on the box. Finally! After decades. But Toynami touched it! Now its got cooties! Parts will fall off! It'll make my other Valks cry! I'm soooo worried! The molds, the molds! The lies, the lies! Oh, no! Yamato save us! Gimme a break. This is just ridiculous and embarrassing. The armchair conspiracy theories and fanjaculations are laughable. Sure, just pay more and have 'em shipped from Japan so you can keep it all out of Toynami's evil hands. Help prove to Bandai that the Tamashi division is a waste of their time and that no one in the west wants to buy their stupid toys. Call the warehouse & tell 'em Tamashi said to stop refurbishing that other tooling, we lost the North American & UK markets. Gah...

Sign me up for a Glaug and a Tomahawk down the road - especially if they're available in a clear color. They're a little small for me - especially since I don't wargame anymore, but I think your work is exceptional in terms of both detail and all the insight you've demonstrated in your arrangement of the individual components... Not to overlook the fact that you're taking all the effort and expense to make them in the first place!

You should do it... I hear the Toynami sticker will yellow the Valk's plastic and may even cause it to burst into flame!

...and actual MACROSS toys. With a license and everything. Don't forget that, Rog!

Yay! D4mn glad to hear that news! I'm pretty enamored with the 1/100 Millia I got a year or so ago (looks really great with some panel-line detail added with a Gundam pen), and have been really holding myself back from buying more 'till the Super/Strike/GBP sets come out. They'll look great in my restored 1/100 Imai Factory when its done, and I'm looking forward to adding the MacII Valk buildup along side them.

Nope, that's the Imai model kit (non-variable type) that I built back in high school ('85 or so). http://www.flickr.com/photos/7988711@N02/2255760675/ I've been in this hobby a while!

Established Japanese companies have a had a long history of not doing business with newcomers, no matter how much money they might have to offer. Its part of their business culture. Often, a company will have to 'prove' itself before a Japanese business like Bandai will work with them. My suspicion is that Toynami has simply 'proven' themselves as a reliable potential partner with a strong business record and catalog of successful products. (Much as that may chafe some of Toynami's critics. ) Toynami is probably simply ordering quantities of Valks from Bandai, getting in on the initial production runs and helping to defray Bandai's costs with their purchase. Repackaging them probably isn't a worthwhile endeavor anyway. The majority of the toy's potential buyers would be perfectly accepting of Japanese/Engrish-language packaging graphics.

Having worked in the toy industry a bit, I would not be surprised. They wear, collapse, rust, become obsolete. You might be surprised, however, to know just how much gets greedily stored up for decades waiting for a buyer with deep enough pockets. I've seen tools from the 50s & 60s ready for use, snapped up at auction or left setting in storage. (BTW: Ask Toynami about a couple of Rhesarus' products...)

I'd like to see some verifiable assurance that the original tooling for the Elint or Ostrich have been scrapped, thank you. Regardless, it isn't that difficult to re-tool something from a vintage production example, or even a CAD model of it. Bandai's skill at tooling up plastic toy and hobby items is legendary. The only limitation is the $30-$40,000 it might cost to make the new tooling and the minimum expense for the production run (tampos for markings, packaging, marketing) to turn a profit - if profit is even an issue... I'd suggest that the chances of seeing those rarer Valk variants reissued is more dependent on what sort of value Bandai places on the toys relative to the Macross "brand management" they seem to be flexing their muscle over recently. If they feel that releasing the GPB set, Ostrich, Strike and Elint variants is worthwhile to establish their market share against their smaller competitors' (Yamato, Hasegawa, even Toynami) products then they'll do it. Even if they lose a little money in the process. Its nothing for Bandai to release 20 thousand or so Strike Valkyries and lose money over it, if they wind-up in the hands of 20 thousand collectors who would have otherwise spent the purchasing power on Yamato's version.

Chances are that's a photo of a sample of the previous edition. People shouldn't get too concerned about little details or colors until good, reliable photography of actual production samples is widely seen.

Very interesting, very positive news! Having a wider potential market outside of Japan makes it a little more likely that Bandai will roll-out other classic 1/55 Valk variants we've been wishing for - at least as far as the Strike is concerned, I think. Remember, George Sohn was a 80s mecha toy collector back with Taka's Valks were the king of the skies. It must be a real personal joy for him for Toynami to be able to release these for the US. You go, George! I do hope they have some sort of box unique to the US market - even if it says Robotech.

I do as well - more than the unarmored version. The unarmored fighter looks nice, but the battroid is too thin for my taste - and Battroid form is more interesting to me. If I was primarily interested in just a nice looking fighter, I'd just get a YUKIKAZE kit... Unless you load it up with that VF-25 armor!

Yes, it does. The box art is as beautiful as ever, as well. Giant robots and pretty girls - everything a fanboy needs!

Heh-heh... I think the fact that Basara isn't wearing his glasses says something. Glasses are more likely to get in the way than shoes...

Thanks for posting that pic. That's the reference I've been using since the 1980s. Of course, the show didn't keep on-spec with sizes itself all the time. There was a great deal of variance in size among individual Zentraedi characters' designs as well. Within the context of the show, they were probably also assigned duties based in part on their physical size as well - with some more or less appropriate in stature to squeeze into Tactical Pods and fighters, larger soldiers as ship-board troops and marines, etc. So the Zentraedi we saw directly exposed to Battroids and Destroids in the show might have been physically taller examples of the Zentraedi population, larger individuals typically assigned as infantry or marines (even during the reconstruction period).

My Glaugs and Q-Rau came in the mail from HLJ yesterday. They're the same as the 90s re-releases, as far as I can tell - same box-art, instructions, etc. They just have a little 25th anniversary sticker on the face of the box. The box print is also super-duper glossy - much like Hasegawa's boxes... The Q-Rau is a brighter, more toy-like green than the Imai one I had back in the 80s. I wish Bandai had tweeked the tooling and made bottom surfaces for the open undersides of the Glaug's 'toes'. Apart from that, however, they're still beautiful kits. The decals are still water-slide type, unlike what Nichimo did with their kit decals. I'm happy to have them! Especially at the price, since I don't have my 80s ones anymore. The VF2XX I ordered hasn't shown up yet, but if the trend is the same I expect it'll be virtually identical to its original issue as well. Thanks, Bandai, from at least one old-school fan with a limited pocketbook! Nothing special with these editions, sure - but these are classic, workhorse kits that'll come in really handy for modelers, and the reissue prices are great. ADDITIONAL: My MacII Valk arrived today. Seems to be identical to the previous 1992 version, with both paper and waterslide decals, transparent green canopy parts, large poster/instruction sheet (yay!)

That's too bad, really - both for Ken and for the whole community. Transrepro was an exceptional and - perhaps best of all - a very accessible service. I hope someone with equal skill and tenacity can pick up the reigns at some future point.

Are you sure? They've had new product pop up within the last year or so, including several things for the Transformers Binaltech/Alternators line.

If you have a BIG LOTS or similar store near you there might be some Gundam or Super-Robot knockoffs that you can salvage for Square Hands (movie style). Another possible option for Round Hands (TV style) might be some of the recent crop of US-market MEGA MAN figures, which I've also seen in various scales at Big Lots stores.