TheLoneWolf

"Sempai, one day I'll grow up to be just like you!" 505thAirborne, you need to start naming your avatars.

In addition to what jvmacross wrote, note the similar box styles between the vintage Hi-Metal toys and today's Hi-Metal R line. For example, they both feature painted artwork and clear cellophane that partially reveals the toy. I doubt it's a coincidence.

Thanks for the translation, Renato! I can't believe I didn't see this earlier. For some reason, I find production anecdotes incredibly fascinating.

If Bandai's Hi-Metal Regults are truely 1/100 scale, then I'm keeping my Toynami Regults since they'll scale better with the Hi-Metal VF-1's. But I'll still buy at least one Hi-Metal Regult. If the Hi-Metal R line is going to go anywhere, it's going to need all the help that it can get.

Gubaba, thank you so much for this translation! You've provided an invaluable service to us English speaking fans.

Renato, thanks for posting that translation, it was incredibly enlightening! I had no idea how strict Arcadia is with their manufacturers. I doubt that there are many manufacturers out there who have the personnel capable of doing that kind of work within Arcadia's budget. It was also great to hear Mr. K confirm what plagues niche products the most: lower production runs equalling higher MSRP's.

Actually, I think you may on to something. Harmony Gold designated Toynami as its exclusive distributor of all Robotech/Macross toys, but not model kits. If Palladium released fully assembled unpainted miniatures, that might've fallen under Toynami's purview, since that type of product would more resemble a small toy rather than a true model kit. While Palladium could've worked out a distribution agreement with Toynami, that would've been another added expense on top of their licensing agreement with Harmony Gold. So Palladium probably decided to make true model kits in order to avoid Toynami and save money. But their mistake here was making overly ambitious and complex models instead of settling for simple 6 or 7 piece model kits.

Thanks for posting that photo. Wow, it looks like the black paint is already flaking off the metal head lasers. While die-cast metal carries tremendous sentimental value with old-school fans, let this be a reminder that it has little use in modern collectable toys (save for stucturual reinforment). Also, the panel lining looks overdone. I wonder if the shop owner did that himself to make them stand out, or if that's how they came from the factory.

Not only that, but they're also in two different product classes. The Hi-Metals are mid-range toys, whereas Yamato/Arcadia's VF-1's are premium toys. The constant comparisons between the two is a bit insulting to Yamato/Arcadia.

If you're going to use "Macross" and/or "Robotech" in your film's title, then you'd have to contact Harmony Gold for permission to use either as they hold registered trademarks on both of those marks. However, it appears that Harmony Gold has licensed these trademarks exclusively to Sony for live-action use, so they may not be able to grant your request, regardless of your project's merits. If you're going to use mechanical designs, character likenesses, or unique story elements from SDF Macross and/or DYRL, then'd have to contact Big West for permission to use these. If you're going to use mechanical designs, character likenesses, or unique story elements from SDC Southern Cross and/or GC Mospeada, then you'd have to contact Harmony Gold. Though, as stated in the first paragraph above, these rights may have already been signed away for Sony's exclusive use.

Whoah, at $99, Toynami's GBP-1 is more expensive than Bandai's (vastly superior) Hi-Metal GBP-1. Limited edition or not, that's ridiculous.

Hopefully that paint job isn't final. The fast packs are too light and the skull on the heatshield is off center. Other than that, I'm loving the new 1S head scuplt. I also like how they're throwing in a saluting hand. I never had a problem with the wings in battroid mode, but it's nice that they're including optional small wings for those who'd prefer them over the stock wings.

LOL! Apparently the people who preordered through BBTS received an e-mail earlier this month saying that Toynami had cancelled the Alphas. This is really embarassing, even by Toynami's low standards. Barely 4 months after announcing these Alphas, interest was so low that the product's already dead and buried.

Even though this toy has a lot of room for improvement, I have to agree. I think it'll have a low production run from somewhere in the range of 500 to 1000 pieces max, due to a perceived lack of interest. Evolution Toy probably forsaw a very small production run too, hence the high MSRP.

It's hard to tell, but it looks like Bandai might've resculpted the S head. I really hope that's the case because the old S head was an eyesore. At the very least, those are definitely new battroid head lasers that splay out! I'm guessing that those are optional, since moveable lasers at 1/100 scale would be too fragile. I'm also loving the new boxart. But truth be told, I also loved the anime style boxes from the old Hikaru and Roy Hi-Metals.

Hmm, I wonder how well those VF-1's are going to be able to handle the additional weight from the GBP armor. Unlike the Hi-Metals, these VF-1's are made with significantly lower quality plastic.

I hope Bandai would know better than to try to include a Zentradi pilot. Fans would rip the company for including a "dwarf" Zentradi pilot instead of an ordinary one.

The panel lines definitely look deeper, but I remember that they also looked deeper on the VF-0D prototypes too. Maybe Arcadia manually deepens the panel lines on their prototypes since they have to be painted by hand? Speaking of which, does anyone know why Yamato moved onto these microthin panel lines years ago?

I think this preorder madness is largely due to ignorant scalpers, who are speculating that there's going to be a lot of aftermarket demand for the Hi-Metal R GBP. The original Hi-Metal line was met with a lukewarm response and died a year later. Macross hasn't garned many new fans since then, so this sudden renewed interest has me baffled. If we end up seeing lots of GBP's at discounted prices next year, we'll know what happened.

Yawn...wake me up when someone actually signs onto this project. Actually, nevermind. I don't want to become the next Rip Van Winkle. I doubt James Wan, or any high-profile director, will sign onto this movie. Due to Harmony Gold's limited rights over Macross, the movie's script will have probably have to be signed off by an intellectual property attorney, in order to avoid a potential infringement lawsuit from Big West. Any significant changes to the script, direction, or designs would also have to be signed off by an IP attorney for the very same reason. A high-profile director, who is used to having a wide degree of latitude when carrying out their artistic vision, is going to balk when told that the studio's legal department will be looking over their shoulder throughout the process. They didn't work their way to the top, only to put on a pair of manacles afterwards. Especially when there are other projects out there to choose from. I think that it's more likely that a relatively unknown director would be willing to work under these constraints, just to be given a chance to make their big break. Having an unknown director wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing, as we've seen novice directors make huge impacts in the past. I just wouldn't count on a big, flashy director signing onto this movie.

If you had gone back in time and told that to the people who had broken tabs, paint scratches, missing accessories, and loose screws, that would've come off as just as nonsensical as your initial post.

It's a good thing Yamato never believed in that, or else they never would've persevered through the 1/72 YF-19 v1 (which was a debacle, even by the lowly standards of the early 2000's).

The toy gods have must've been hearing my prayers this year, because two things have now occurred that I never would've believed: the return of the Hi-Metal toys and a transforming 1/60 VF-2SS toy. I'm curious to see how Evolution Toy handles the VF-2SS' transformation. The VF-2SS features an unconventional transformation that's better suited for 2D animation than a physical 3D representation. Its designers did toy sculptors no favors when designing this mecha, so I have to tip my hat to Evolution Toy for tackling it anyways. This prototype's sculpt looks pretty good, but the canopy should be more round. And like everyone else said, the landing gears look awfully bland. But I don't think that there's any published line art that shows what the landing gears should look like in the first place. Regardless of its minor warts, this is a day 1 pre-order for me

Haha, good point. They should replace "Coming Soon" with "Roll the Dice." Btw, thanks for posting those pictures.