Hi all. First post.
I've done a little bit of legwork and am aware the Elint/Strike have specimens with TF Jetfire armor. And these have been explained in this and other threads as the result of surplus Jetfire armor being paired with Macross Valks which I inferred (correct me if wrong) were manufactured specifically to facilitate the sell off of the surplus armor. Packed and sold at discount to retailers (possibly) in the mid 1990s.
Also this is a variants thread, so I felt this is the perfect place to ask...
So, I was wondering if anyone here was aware of these Jetfire figures that turned up at Mandarake around 2018? I purchased two between 2018 and 2019 (pictured side by side), and there are multiple specimens photographed in store (from twitter) as well as from other web auctions. If I recall one or both jet modes were auctioned on YAJ. The Japanese よいこのおもちゃ translates to 'good children's toy' and is kind of a catch all generic package labelling for budget toys.
https://twitter.com/starscream_d22/status/1031505281765625856
https://twitter.com/giantrobo/status/1027038578101051392
For the specimens I have:
Both missing Autobot stickers on nosecone
Both are rubsign
Both are dated Bandai 1984 stamp
The legs however look to belong to the undated Bandai version, missing the outer thigh detail, missing sprue marks on the front thigh, missing wraparound panel lines on the diecast portion of lower leg
Both have the stenciled rudder paint as per dated Bandai versions
For others:
Some have Autobot stickers
Some have poorly placed stickers
Some have the fullbleed rudder paint seen on undated Bandai/Matsu figures
My conclusion was that these were likely QC failed figures, which were either failed whole, or assembled from failed parts, after the end of the production run, which explains the parts mixing within figures as well as the variant mixing within this packaging variant. They were sold out the back door to KS for distribution to those corner stores that sold cheap toys and candy. Not good enough for Hasbro but too distinctly Hasbro IP to be shoe-horned into Macross products domestically (unlike the red armor), so they ended up as a separate grey-market item.
Now, I have no idea how many of these existed, and not sure whether they were sold mid 80s, or aligned to the stock liquidation that may have occurred mid 90s à la Pony Go Round. The question on my mind - are these figures perhaps the originally intended owners of all that surplus red armor?
