What was the first Macross toy(s) that started your collection?

[rarra92]

Actually started in mmmm 84 ~ 85, (I was 9 years old) after coming to visit the states (I lived in Peru), I was crazy about the Robotech TV show.... so when I came here the first thing I saw in Toys R Us, was a Matchbox Veritech, bought it instantly. When I got to the hotel..... surprise surprise.... the piece of crap didn't transform , boy what a bummer.... Next time I came to Toys R Us.... I saw the Transformers Jet Fire..... bought it instantly, and I was hooked.

I knew the Takatoku brand existed because I got a Orguss and Nickick for Xmas. And to my surprise came with a little booklet with pictures of the Macross Toys (and a battrain or something like that). My mom got me the Orguss and Nickick, because she knew I loved robots, specially Japanese robots (several friends had them in school). She bought them in this little store that imported Japanese stuff. I never knew if they had the Macross toys, but if they did, they had to be very expensive.

So, while here in the states saw a Takatoku VF-1s, going for 700$ on ebay. It was way too much for me, but kept looking checking ebay any now and then. After a couple of years saw the Yamatos, and read about the 1/48s, and saw the pictures also of the FP. Too Cool... but then forgot about them.

Then one day shopping in gamestop for the robotech dvds, they told me if i wanted to reserve the MPC VF-1J, which I did, bought and thought it was the coolest. Then I bought the MPC VF-1S. Then while trying to find the Toynami FP in ebay, I came again face to face to the Yamato 1/48, I thought, I will buy a VF-1S, and the FP; because I couldn't find the Toynami FPs. After I got them in the mail, I was blown away about how cool it was. After that discovered Macross World...

And after that I was hooked to everything Macross; and Yamato. I already have 3 (VF-1j VF-1S & Stealth) with 2 FP (1 Stealth), 1 GBP, and have on preorder the Shin Kudo, and YF-19 (w/ FP).

[Roy's Blues]

Yamato Macross Plus 1/72 YF-19 2nd edition.

I still have it, and the entire 1/72 Macross Plus series.

It really kick started my toy collection and my wallet has been screaming ever since.

[sidearmsalpha]

My first Jetfire back when they first came out. But the first issue of the Comico Robotech series was my first exposure to Macross/Robotech. I still remember that day I went to Comics and Fantasies on Vine St. and Willow St. in San Jose back when I was a kid. I was on my way out when I saw the cover of the book at the bottom of a turnstile rack. I remember when the first episode of Robotech aired and lying down in front of the tv watching the action unfold with that 1st issue in front of me. Good stuff!

I didn't get my very first "Macross" toy that started my collection until after I saw Macross Plus and that was the Bandai 1/65 Fire Valkyrie around '95. I knew nothing of Macross 7, so I had assumed it was the YF-19 from M+ because it looked similar on the front of the box from the black and white image in the ad from the toy magazine it was advertised in. I think the place I mail-ordered it from was Super Collector. I don't know if they're still around or not, but they were ripoffs. I think I paid $100 for it at the time. I even bought a copy of SDF Macross for the Super Famicom for $150 back then from these jerks. This was before the internet and eBay, of course. They made the rounds at conventions. My friend and I even went half on this home-made video they were selling at one of the cons in Oakland that basically showed off someone's extensive collection of vintage Takatoku and Bandai Valkyries. The video showed all the toys outside and inside the boxes while Macross music played in the background. Anyone know what I'm talking about and whose collection it was? I still have the video.

[Warmaker]

My first Macross toy was a cheap knockoff Blue / White VF-1J from waayyy back in the day. It transformed into all 3 modes, but really, it wasn't a full transformation. It was cheap, but I enjoyed it since it was the ONLY Robotech thing I could find and get as a kid.

I liked it until my friend got a CF VF-1A, a bonafide, fully transformable, die-cast toy from Japan. It wasn't a big 1/55 Tak, but I can't remember the maker. The quality I recall was quite nice, even the packaging, similar to 1/55 Tak packaging at the time. He got it from his Mom who stopped by Japantown in San Francisco on the way back from work (she was really one of the nicest ladies I have met in life, even now).

The next Macross toy I had was a 1/55 Tak. Strike Valkyrie VF-1S, patterned Red / Black / White for Hikaru's -1S of DYRL?. My Late Dad got it for me as a Birthday present when he took me over to Japantown. the toy wasn't cheap, as I can recall from his apprehension (hindsight). At the time, I haven't seen DYRL, and I was wondering why it wasn't Yellow / Black / White for Roy. Still, it was bada** with all the Strike Valk parts. My friends with their TF Jetfires were dismayed by the bad*** that was a Strike Valkyrie. The killer blow would have been a Roy -1S, but oh well.

I recall the Matchbox Robotech Toy commericals, and I was thankful that my Dad got me the Real Deal Japanese stuff.

That would be the last Macross toy I would get until a few years ago when I stumbled upon MW, and learned of the "True Path of SDF:Macross & DYRL?."

[daisuki]

that was vf1a knockoff which included in his backpack a cut pencil and has a pencil instead of weapon and a shield in rubber.

I know many years laters that it was inspired of macross.

I started my collection with many jetfires but my really first macross toy were yamato1/72 yf21 and vf11(received both at the same time)

[Alain]

that was vf1a knockoff which included in his backpack a cut pencil and has a pencil instead of weapon and a shield in rubber.

I know many years laters that it was inspired of macross.

I started my collection with many jetfires but my really first macross toy were yamato1/72 yf21 and vf11(received both at the same time)

hmmmm....interesting, owned a couple of those by 1980's...was realy impressed by them, as a kid, thats the closest thing to macross...you still have those with you? love to see some pics

[obakesan]

My first real Macross toy was a Takatoku Super VF-1S Valkyrie which I got in '89. At the time, I never actually saw the real Macross, instead being introduced to it via Robotech (no stone throwing please ) and thought at the time it was a cool toy. I didn't even realise it was made by Takatoku until discovering these forums and website. Sadly it was sold in a big job lot auction for something like a few bucks CDN. The inhumanity of it, g thanks ma....

Unfortuneatly though, the front wheel well broke where the plastic held the metal landing gear in place. The force of clicking the button to open the landing gear eventually stressted the plastic housing and it broke. Hmm, I wonder where it is now after all this time, floating out in the world somewhere.

ahh memories, nothing more than.....

Cheers,

[Kelsain]

My first was a Convertors version of the Macross itself. It was about 4" long, molded in kind of a metallic blue w/black painted diecast metal. I had not idea what it was, I think I got it at Walgreens or Woolworth's or something. I picked up a few Valk models at Stanton Hobby (Chicago), but had no idea they were related in any way. I remember painting my VF-1S testors gloss black with a silver canopy and some very poorly rendered flames.

A year or 2 later, the awesome '85 series of TF's came out, and my brother got Jetfire w/ the Macross kite on the wing. A little later, I got mine, sans kite. It later met an unfortunate fate on our jungle gym. (Oddly enough, I had convertors toys of Whirl (<-) and Roadmaster, which were released along w/ Jetfire the same year) Shortly afterward, Robotech aired and it all started to make sense. Except for the Dougram, Orguss and other toy lines that got distributed under the Robotech name... Then I saw "Clash of the Bionoids" and got all kinds of confused.

Edited April 6, 2007 by Kelsain

[penachoy]

My first macross toy...

1985 Bandai Hi-Metal 1/55 Strike Valkyrie VF-1S Hikaru Type.

I got it as a gift. Next day I stacked up un used

cement blocks mounted that bad boy in the middle. Walked back

10 steps and screamed ATTTTTACCCCK! Started throwing

rocks at it...seeing the cement blocks disintegrate and pieces

of the valk fall apart my young kid mind was going insane...thought it was cool!. Now I find out how much they cost...and then again..it was one cool moment growing up. Anyways..I guess super glue wont help putting the thing back to mint condition.

[daisuki]

hmmmm....interesting, owned a couple of those by 1980's...was realy impressed by them, as a kid, thats the closest thing to macross...you still have those with you? love to see some pics

yep i have stil this one.

it's a blue vf1a.

but the transformation cinematic of this adaptation has a little bit suffered.

will send pics asap (I am in moving for the moment, all my valks are prisonners of paperboards.)

[MACROSS25]

man.... I started in 87 , 88 , in PERU , everybody was crasy about the show !!! ROBOTECH , i had a cousin that was very fortunate , he had the 1/144 vf-1s valkyrie , the orguss/nikick , and a bunch of star wars figures and vehicles. i was full of envy! anyways , when i came to the states , i bought my first toy in ebay , which was a bandai/sdf-1 , with no box , but in excellent condition , and the rest is history , i now have a bunch of toys , aprox. 30 robots , cousin : 0

[Jin_Kune_Do]

The only "Veritech" i had was JetFire. And nby the time i was in my 20s...well lets just say he has been many dogfights. Everything on him was sloppy, due to the massive transformations he has undergone true the years hehe..and lots of stuff was broken, because when i was a kid i just to replay the scene where Rick in his veritech was fighting Bretai lol!

Well i lost interest in Macross since i never saw any new toys. So the passion just died out. Then i stumbled into MacrossWorld, lurked around for a few years right when it started. Then one day i came back to look for ol time sake...and saw that Yamato made the 1/48 series....when i got my first DYRL Hikary and Roy....well ive been a Valkaholic every since.

- Jin

[Alain]

yep i have stil this one.

it's a blue vf1a.

but the transformation cinematic of this adaptation has a little bit suffered.

will send pics asap (I am in moving for the moment, all my valks are prisonners of paperboards.)

thanks, those are the first toys that made me wonder why the skull and crossbones are present, which as a kid, made me think that those battroids were definetly a killer. the first time I saw the difference in 1A and 1J heads aside from the movies.

[myk]

Takatoku VF-1S, and I still got it...

[whongtk]

I first came upon Macross with the bandai 1/55 back in 85/86... but it was too expensive, so my dad got me the AMAI? plastic kit of the VF-1D and 1S

Only until 3 yrs ago did i started collecting the yamato 1/60 vf-1s, then the 1/48, 1/60 MacZero...

[UN_MARINE]

i started out with those cheap takatoku vf-1's & sdf-1's. they died

then *gasp* i hit a G.I. Joe phase... tragic...

after that mess, it was pretty much a Macross hunt for the majority of my high school life

eventually Yamato came along & the rest is history

[maxi]

I have started my collection with a 15º annyversary 1/100 Super VF-1D (actualy that one is the only one I have )

at the time I´ve disassembled it to make a cast model so I can do the "regular" VF-1D. I´ll put some pictures on the model section.

[FlyingPika]

Hmmm, i remembered watching "robotech", and my bro would tell me stories of his friends cool transforming toys (i was about 5yrs old at that time). Fast forward to macross plus, and i was hooked. I drooled over pamphlet pics about M+ toys from a new company called yamato. lol i stared at those pics soooooo much, but in the end never got them because i waited for the fast pack versions!! I even made my own webpages with pics of them! And the only one i own is a VF-19A. Which was my first internet buy ever. I remember i put it casually next to the computer, and my bro walked in and saw it and was like OMWWWWWWWWw!!!

But now i have a few 1/48's a some of the smaller scale yamatos.

[ghostryder]

Joons 1/55 VF-1J that I traded a busted thundercracker and wheeljack for - 1985

1/55 Strike Valkyrie w/ Jetfire armor - 1986

1/48 Roy - 2005

Edited April 8, 2007 by ghostryder

[1/1 LowViz Lurker]

Models in the 80s, (never got to buy jetfire) nothing for the 90s, (grew out of it) and then now fast forward to around 2k3 (the new robotech dvd boxes I saw in a game store reminding me of my childhood and making want to find toys of the mecha) and I stumble upon MW for more info about the various toys for macross/robotech that have been around.

At first I went to Robotech.com to see what they had, was about to get a toynami vf-1 as they looked pretty nice in pics, but then decided on yamato macross toys after doing a bit of toy research and seeing such positive reviews for it as well as seeing pics of other things on the net. (mac plus 1/72 toys which made me pee my pants)

The pics in graham's reviews made me decide to skip the 1/60 vf-1 range since these use detachable parts which I wasn't a fan of. Ever since then I have been a big 1/48 vf-1 fanboy.

Things I love about it:

-joints that feel stiff and click

-upgrade to all the things in the show and movie (FAST pack and GBP very well done)

-good in all modes

-details (especially the cockpit)

-poseable

-light (not a fan of paintchipping)

-the heads look just right

-transformation is quite complex and heatshield is transformable

-parts click together firmly. (unlike a certain banpresto toy whose backpack keep flopping down)

My first yamato vf-1 was the low visibility ver1. I thought to myself: It's a model kit in toy form. If this is the only one I get I will be grateful.

Later I find out various places to get other vf-1 and end up being addicted to the collecting aspect. Normally I would ignore toys (I don't collect transformaers except for the alternators) but out of my passion for the mecha in macross I just had to have these new yamatos.

What's in store for the future? Maybe if someone can top yamato I will end up selling these to get that version. But overall I think vf-1 is overdone for now. It needs a little break. But for noob's sake I hope yamato reissue all the stuff others might have missed. It's an iconic mecha to anyone who watched RT or macross and as a kid was pissed at how hard it was to find a toy of the valkyrie.

Today you can here people whine and complain abut yamato QC but we sure have come a long way since the bad old days when you had to scavenge for the toys. Hopefully what has happened for macross with the yamatos will eventually happen for mospeada and people get a detailed updated toy worthy enough to stand up to the model kit in anime accuracy and proportions.

Because these are collector grade toys though, I do pay attention to quality. If you pay the high price, it should reflect in the toys durability and not just how good it looks. (which is why I manage to resist buying the MPC Toynami alphas and always look for reviews before jumping in. Floppy limbs, being easy to break, paintchipping, the threat of parts wearing out over time just from normal use etc are all things to consider. I should be able to hold onto a toy for years without worrying I will eventually snap something just from handling or transforming it, or it having stress in certain areas that it explodes in time)

Now having said all that: I never feel scared with the transformer alternators. It's a shame collector grade stuff has to be "scary". Please toy companies: think of "durability" as much as the quality of the sculpt and details. Start easy and work your way to hard. Don't sacrifice durability if it means making it look a little bit nicer or making it feel heavier. No point spending large amounts of money on a toy that you can't even transform or touch because the materials are too weak.

Edited April 10, 2007 by 1/1 LowViz Lurker

[Mog]

Back in the Day: One of those somewhat small Convertors knockoffs back in the 80's (a Fast Packed VF-1S, if memory serves me right).

Recently (as in maybe three years ago ): Bandai Re-Issue 1/55 VF-1S (no FP's, though).

Edited April 11, 2007 by Mog

[Darkon]

For me, it was the Bandai HCM VF-1S: http://www.macrossworld.com/macross/toys/h...f1shikfront.jpg

Back in school I started watching Robotech with my friends in the morning (actually, I'd record it on the VCR but I couldn't wait and would get up early to watch it live). Then we found the Bandai Macross HCM at the local comic shop...pretty expensive for us students. I passed on buying one at the time and regretted it for the next 15 years or so until I finally found one at Comic Con (at a greatly inflated price). But I bought it anyway and was thrilled to capture that part of my youth...who says you can't go back ;-)

The timing was perfect because this was just about the same time that the big revival of Robotech/Macross in the US was starting. Then Yamato came out with the 1/48 series and since then I've been trying to pick up at least one of each new 1/48 that's come out .

It's also been great finding sites like MW that have helped me go beyond Robotech and into the world of Macross...where it really began.

[striderhiryu]

for me it started around 09/10/01 when i ordered the vf-19a since i had pass on the original yf-19 for some long'forgotten reason. after that i went into models and then returned to the toys with the fp vf-11b and finally the 1/60 yf-19. still i remember the old days from toycom...

[JEXPRIME]

Mine was a VF-1A 1/55. $300 hard earned dollars... now they give em away....

[bigkid24]

Didn't have any as a kid so the toy that got me on the road to recapturing my childhood was a Joons red white and blue VF-1J back in 97 or 98. Then soon after I got the 1990 VF-1S Bandai reissue.

[vmaxtyper]

Mine was the MPC VF-1S. It met its doom in the hands of my dog Jack

[Retracting Head Ter Ter]

Macrossworld caused it.

I stumbled upon Macrossworld. Saw the promo pics of the 1/48 Vf-1A about 3 months before release. Got hooked. Bought the damn thing the moment I saw it on the shelves.

[jenius]

Mine was the MPC VF-1S. It met its doom in the hands of my dog Jack

OMG, your dog has hands??? What are you doing talking about toys, your dog is the real story here!

I had a Jetfire when I was little, then got a Max MPC VF-1J the moment I graduated college. My initial impression was a total let down and then someone told me about Yamato's 1/60s which seemed even worse to me. Eventually I scored some really random great buys off eBay and then found a local collector with a HUGE Takatoku Macross and Gakken Mospeada collection and the rest is history. Several thousands of dollars later I'm really beginning to wonder what the hell I was thinking.

Edited April 16, 2007 by jenius

[RT junkie]

It was either the old Revell Orbot/Axoid kits (if anyone remembers those) that I remember begging my mother to buying a few of on sale at the now defunct Zayre's department stores. I recently found one while moving with the $2.99 price tag still on it. Or, it was the old miniature die cast Matchbox destroids that were on clearance at Kay B Toys, again begging mommy for.

After Robotech went off the air in the mid-80's , that was pretty much the end for me, until I got Battlecry for my XBox, then discovered Ebay, then MW, then Neova, ToyWave, BullsEye Toys, the Valkyrie exchange , and a handful of others who had Yamatos, BanDai's, MPC's, Hasegawas......that I have been signing over my paycheck to ever since trying to find that little piece of childhood happiness

[DARKWIND]

As a child:

It was my best friend's Jetfire, I think I played with it more than he did.

But I never got one of my own.

Robotech was on TV, but none of my friend's really watched it they were excited about GI Joe.

As a teen:

The videos were all I had and watched.

But then I got lucky and found a Robotech Gakken 1/35 Green Alpha.

I know, not a Macross toy but after watching all that anime and doing some research I figured there might be more.

After High School:

I joined the Navy, shipped out to Japan and for the next 11 years I smuggled so many toys out to the states that I should have 3x's the goods I do now.

But you senior MW members know I sold at cost to share the wealth, not for profit.

Now:

I'm out of the Navy but still collecting like a man on a mission.

[Totoro242]

Not including Robotech or Convertors, my first toy was a Bandai 1/55 VF-1A DYRL Hikaru Valkyrie I picked up for $30 at local hobby store that was selling Twentieth Century Imports old stock of toys and models

[areaseven]

My first Macross toy was a VF-1S Valkyrie (Roboticjet bootleg) back in 1984. As far as original Macross toys go, my first one was the 1/72 YF-19.

[mechaninac]

Macrossworld caused it.

I stumbled upon Macrossworld. Saw the promo pics of the 1/48 Vf-1A about 3 months before release. Got hooked. Bought the damn thing the moment I saw it on the shelves.

Yep. I blame MacrossWorld too. Finding this site made me aware of this small new company that was going to be producing 1/72 M-Plus collector's toys... you may have heard of them, but the name escapes me . Anyhoo, after getting the YF-21 and VF-11B it's been down hill ever since, slipping and sliding into financial ruin .

[Vermillion21]

My first Macross toy was a Takatoku 1/55 VF-1S that I got as a gift back in '84.

A little over a year ago I got addicted again with the purchase of a 1/48 Yamato Vf-1S Hikaru ....