Happywell

[sucker4meltrans]

I'm in the US ARMY and i do a job where i sit in a room all day waiting for monitoring programs to go off. I watch a lot a tv while at work. While watching some US gov't propaganda tv spot on the horrible on base monopoly store the PX. The spot was on their toy testing program. One of the toys being tested was something that lookced like a silver and grey chunky monkey. The person narrating the spot called it a galaxy defender. So i did a little googling and i found out this brand called Happywell is using the 1/55 VF-1 and the Bandai VF-17 toys as their own.

Has anyone out there in Macrossworld seen these Happywell abominations before?

p.s. if the things are good enough knock offs cheap source of replacement parts?

[jenius]

I believe the Galaxy Defender was sold at Walmarts... it was pretty common (the VF-1 one) for a while there but I never bought one.

[optimator88]

That is one ugly looking paint scheme.

http://happywell.smeitrade.com/showroom/mo...d=1000001100213

[D_Unit]

I got one of their VF-1 KOs for $10 at a small toy convention a few years back. Their almost an exact copy of the VF-1, except with very horrible colors. They have real diecast parts and could suit someone who can paint.

As for their other "Macross" KOs; they're horrible and nothing... I mean nothing like the real deal (I saw them in a toy store before).

Below is a picture of mine; I try to keep it out of visible sight in my diorama.

Edited March 20, 2009 by D_Unit

[boota]

I'd be happywell too when profitting from ripping off such a sturdy and QC problem free product.

[glane21]

Happywell packaged and sold this toy in the Galaxy Defender line at walmarts some years back. They also packaged and sold it in a line called Soldier Bear Toys, which was distributed to US Military Base stores. That's why you saw it on military tv. Same toy, different boxes.

[big F]

I have one at home. they also did something that was not a million miles away from the Vf17 that Bandai made.

I have both. They come in several different color schemes, and are not that badly built, certainly 100 time better th\n the $5 boots you can get which are cast fromm cheep styrene that are all over eBay. almost as good as the Joons boots although sadly parts are not so interchangable due to the extra griblies they formed on them to make it different. Chuck em into a GBP set and they look good.

If you look at the link you can also see that they are activley making thier own figures now. Along with the jumbo 1/10 and 1/12 scale stuff they are building 1/24.

These are heavily borrowing from the Binaltech/alternator transformers range. several of the transformations are similar and the hands are identical.

But at least unlike HasbroTakara they are building new ones and not just colour changes of existing builds.

[505thAirborne]

I got one of their VF-1 KOs for $10 at a small toy convention a few years back. Their almost an exact copy of the VF-1, except with very horrible colors. They have real diecast parts and could suit someone who can paint.

As for their other "Macross" KOs; they're horrible and nothing... I mean nothing like the real deal (I saw them in a toy store before).

Below is a picture of mine; I try to keep it out of visible sight in my diorama.

Is that a carrier deck I see as yoru diorama?

[Kicker773]

GI Joe U.S.S.

[sharky]

Here's the VF-17 knock-off, but I think the shoulders are different, and the tail in fighter mode is all wrong. But, it actually looks closer to the real stealth fighter than the Macross one ever did.

http://happywell.smeitrade.com/showroom/mo...d=1000001100160

[anime52k8]

Here's the VF-17 knock-off, but I think the shoulders are different, and the tail in fighter mode is all wrong. But, it actually looks closer to the real stealth fighter than the Macross one ever did.

http://happywell.smeitrade.com/showroom/mo...d=1000001100160

can't see sh*t captain...

[sharky]

can't see sh*t captain...

don't know Link works fine for me at work and at my home computer.

[Graham]

The Galaxy defender is not a VF-17 knock off and I wish people wouldnot call it that. It bears no relation to the VF-17 and does not share a single common component.

It is more correct to call it a transforming F-117 toy.

Graham

[anime52k8]

don't know Link works fine for me at work and at my home computer.

ok, now it works. when I tried it earlier all I got was a404 error.

[D_Unit]

GI Joe U.S.S.

Yup.

The Galaxy defender is not a VF-17 knock off and I wish people wouldnot call it that. It bears no relation to the VF-17 and does not share a single common component.

It is more correct to call it a transforming F-117 toy.

Graham

Exactly.

[big F]

Its more like getting a transforming toy and sawing up your model kit in the right places and then glueing the inner workings to it in place of the original ones as has been done somay times on the various TF's fan sites with Binaltechs.

Only in the case of the F-117 they tweaked it and just used the outline idea of the transformation.

[wolfx]

Here's the VF-17 knock-off, but I think the shoulders are different, and the tail in fighter mode is all wrong. But, it actually looks closer to the real stealth fighter than the Macross one ever did.

http://happywell.smeitrade.com/showroom/mo...d=1000001100160

That's some fugly VF-17 KO head.....well at least they had a new mould for it.

[sharky]

The Galaxy defender is not a VF-17 knock off and I wish people wouldnot call it that. It bears no relation to the VF-17 and does not share a single common component.

It is more correct to call it a transforming F-117 toy.

Graham

I can accept that they didn't use any of the same components as the Bandai VF-17, but the legs on that Happywell, look awfully darn close to the Bandai toy. They must have stolen that design and the transformation of the legs from the Macross toy.