Passing the torch

[Graham]

As many of us have kids, I just thought I'd ask, how many of you are encouraging your kids to get into Macross? And how many of you let your kids play with your Macross toys?

My nearly 5 year old son really likes my VF toys and I have given him several of my old Bandai Macross 7 toys and Bandai Chunky 1/55 reissues.

He keeps asking to play with my Yammies and newer VF-25 DX toys, but that is a big no-no.

He was playing with the old Bandai toys tonight, so I just had to take a pic, which I thought I'd share here.

A chip off the old block. It brought a tear to my eye to see him enjoying his Valks so much.

Graham

[izzyfcuk]

i let my kid play with my bandai reissues, no problem there, but keep off the vintage.

Ultimately, macross is our era's anime.........he may or may not like it, or go overly crazy about it.

it's his choice to make, just like his choice of career etc

of course when he grows up and appreciates it, i'll gladly hand over my vintage to him.........

As long as he doesn't sell it off to earn some quick buck for pocked money........

[sharky]

I have a little girl who just turned 6. As most girls she doesn't seem interested in action figures and mecha toys right off the back unless there is some interest in the story. She likes watching Sci-Fi like Star Wars, Star Trek, and Transformers Animated, so she likes playing with those toys as much as any of her dolls or art activities.

She's not into Macross, yet. It's not becuase of a lack of interest. It's really due to the fact that I have not let her watch it. She wouldn't have the patience to follow my subtitled Animego DVDs very well. My English dubbed ADV versions have some cuss words IIRC. Sigh, I think the only way for her to get into it at an early age is to let her watch Robotech. Or perhaps I can find a Chinese dubbed version which I'm sure is probably kid friendly with the language. My only other dilemma is to perhaps fast forward through the shower scene, but she's a girl so perhaps it's no big deal. So, as soon as I start getting her into the show I'm sure she will have an interest in my toy collection.

I will probably give her some chunky monkeys at first. I imagine one day I'll pass on more stuff to her as she gets older and is not going to break anything. I really would like to pass on all of my collection one day. I'm sure as she gets older she may be more interested in my various figures, dolls, and statue type of collectibles. It's hard to tell with girls though. She may lose interest as she becomes a teen, or she may really like it more and more. Or maybe she would be into cosplay more. Years from now, perhaps she will have kids of her own. Then the grand kids will have the coolest grandpa with the neat toy collection.

Edited April 15, 2009 by sharky

[Ghost Train]

Thank goodness I don't have any kids... it would pose a difficult dilemma for me .

[VFTF1]

My step-daughter is 12 and mainly into horses - albeit real horses. She is an expert horseback rider and I've started to learn how to ride with her giving me lessons. Very fun and exciting horseback riding is.

In terms of toys, she likes stuffed animals. I got her a MIB Beast Wars Neo Mach Kick (who is a horse) and generally lean towards getting her Beast Wars stuff in terms of Transforming robots, since she loves animals so much. She is not really into dolls. She's got a bunch of old dolls, and lots of old plastic farm animals - but they mainly sit in bags.

She actually is not all that into models, figures and what not. Her "pleasant vice" is video games. She spends hours playing SIMS and other games on her computer and generally is way into games (I'm totally not).

In terms of Macross, she has watched a couple of episodes of SDFM TV with me and rather enjoyed it; though she wasn't too clear on what was going on. She's also grooved to Nekki Bassara on M7.

But is she way into Macross? No. She knows I like it and therefore takes a passing interest in it - she could recognize the characters. She realizes that there are airplanes in it which turn into robots.

I don't see any other kids coming my way on the horizon - so I think my collection is going to stay with me

Pete

[ff95gj]

It would be sweet to play toys together with my kid (which I don't have any yet).

I've seen fathers and sons browsing the toys section in a department store, not that the father is bring the son to buy, but they are discussing and shopping together. And that warms my heart.

It is a good thing to have the same interest with your kids, I suppose. Your kid thinks "My old man is so cool! He knows everything about Macross (or whatever toy interests he shares with you)!

[spiderman]

My daughter is 2 and really likes airplanes. So I let her play with a broken VF-11 (yup the old hip problem). She sees the others in the case but she knows she isn't allowed to touch them.

I haven't even thought about showing her Macross. I know she would like the music but other than that I don't think she would care one way or the other. As I am looking into selling my collection, I am not worried about passing it along.

[MilSpex]

If I had kids I wouldn`t post their pics on the internet. Or just to be on the safe side I`d obscure their face. Thats just me tho.

[Agent-GHQ]

Yeah, like there's sexual predators all over the interwebs! Your boy looks mixed?? I thought you're caucasian?

Anyways, I don't have a kid. Not that I know of anyways. And I probably wouldn't want the little shiets playing with my toys. Not until they are old enough to handle with care. After all, these are an expensive hobby ya know!

[MacrossMan]

My son a has boatload of Transformers. He also has some Toynami 1/100 figures. His first "Macross" toy was one of the first figures I purchased which was a Joon knock-off. He's since demolished it. But now that he sees how I care of my Yamato stuff he tries to "collect" his stuff by displaying them in some cubes in my display. He's getting better at caring for his stuff and keeping up with the pieces. I am considering getting him his first v2 1/60 Valk for Christmas this year. These are so rock solid that I let him play with mine periodically. I don't have to encourage him though. He's already into Macross.

Edited April 15, 2009 by MacrossMan

[macross1979]

One day...when children will be involved in my daily life. It WILL be...MACROSSSSSSUUUUU!!! Share the wealth of our pasts with our future.

[Swampy19]

My stepkids love Macross Frontier im tryign to get them more into other Macross stuff . My toys are mostly in my stepsons room and since he is 13 he respects the fact that they cant be played with too much , im tryign to get us some models so we can build them together and maybe sum get sum RPG goign at soem point . He also loves Aquarion and Gurren Lagan se we bond over watchign it

[Knight26]

My boys watch Macross every once in a while and I let them play with my Mac-7 toys, unfortunately the Mac7 toys did not survive, now I am just trying to find an inexpensive robust VF toy for them to play with

[miriya]

My son loves macross mecha. He has not watched macross yet because his mom will not let me show it to him yet but he will before too long. . .

He has his own Bandai Macross 7 VF-19 Kai valk that MW member RF-26AAC gave to him. He plays with that all the time. Then he has a bandai reissue VF-1J that I painted red for him. I have also let him play with the Yamato Quedluun Rau, which he loves but I had to take it away because he got a little too violent with it.

[eugimon]

I let my three year old play with my yammies:

haha, no just kidding. He likes Macross and the planes but he's far more interested in Thomas right now.

[Totoro242]

My 5 year old was marginally interested in Robotech when I played it for him, but when I started watching Macross 7, he was enthralled. I'm not sure what it is, maybe all the music, but he would sit with me and faithfully watch 2 episodes every night.

I gave him sold old junked out Convertors Valkyries and 1/144 Destroid toys, but they hardly get any notice from him.

The one thing I have been passing on to him is the collecting bug. We collect Thomas Trackmaster toys, Mattel die-cast Cars toys, Avatar The Last Airbender action figures, Hot Wheels Speed Racer movie cars, and most recently Star Wars Clone Wars figures and accessories. According to my wife we go a bit overboard trying to complete these collections and so I'm trying to convince him to sell his Cars toys to finance his Clone Wars collecting

[MacrossMan]

My son loves macross mecha. He has not watched macross yet because his mom will not let me show it to him yet but he will before too long. . .

He has his own Bandai Macross 7 VF-19 Kai valk that MW member RF-26AAC gave to him. He plays with that all the time. Then he has a bandai reissue VF-1J that I painted red for him. I have also let him play with the Yamato Quedluun Rau, which he loves but I had to take it away because he got a little too violent with it.

Cool, cool pics of your son miriya. Thanks for sharing. He's looks inquisitive and elated to be playing with those Valks!

[CrusherJoe]

I gave my old Bandai 1/100 hikaru VF-1A to my son. It is vintage, but not really that nice, I lost the gunpod, and his enjoyment is far more valuable to me than the toy.

However, the 1/48 Roy with the FAST packs? Um...no. Stays on shelf. A very HIGH shelf.

[ntsan]

Macross 7 toys is probably the most kiddy friendly, chunky come in close second.

[Cyclone Trooper]

I didn't exactly LET my 3-year-old twins play with my Valkyries, but they did get ahold of my 1/60 VE-1 Elintseeker from the den. Let's just say that it suffered quite a bit of battle damage in the process...

The side antennae on the Fast Packs are snapped off, the radar dish is missing and both pilots apparently ejected because they've been MIA ever since. So I've vowed to get the V2 Elintseeker and NEVER let them near it! lol

[miriya]

I love this picture of your son. He looks stoked to be playing with the toy while watching macross at the same time!

Amazing how gentle he is with your YF-21. He must know how important it is to you. Very sweet.

Cool, cool pics of your son miriya. Thanks for sharing. He's looks inquisitive and elated to be playing with those Valks!

Thanks MacrossMan. He really is. The magic in the eyes of our children is the magic that is still in our hearts, regardless however much covered up with adult responsibility.

Thanks Graham for starting this thread and also posting that sweet picture of your son.

[NSJ23]

My daughters favorite is the 1/60 YF-21 just for looks. she only likes them in fighter mode lol. I'm going to let her take a 1/55 to share day at her school sometime this month. besides that she is not interested enough to want her own. at least nit yet.

[MacrossMan]

I let my three year old play with my yammies:

haha, no just kidding. He likes Macross and the planes but he's far more interested in Thomas right now.

eugmon! Are you smoking the ganjah mon??? No way in the world would I let a 3 year old handle the mighty 1/60 YF-21! Surely you posted this pic for shock value. He really doesn't handle your Valks does he? My son is 7 years old and I AM still on the fence with letting him handle my Valks. Other than the 1/60 v2's, all others he can only LOOK AT.

Edited April 15, 2009 by MacrossMan

[eugimon]

eugmon! Are you smoking the ganjah mon??? No way in the world would I let a 3 year old handle the mighty 1/60 YF-21! Surely you posted this pic for shock value. He really doesn't handle your Valks does he? My son is 7 years old and I still on the fence with letting him handle my Valks. Other than the v2's, all others he can only LOOK AT.

Yeah, I actually do... When they're locked in fighter mode... without FAST packs, my kid has handled the 1/60 yf-21 and the various vf-1 incarnations. I keep the yf-19 away from him because I'm afraid he'll swing the wings forward and cause some damage.

He's pretty gentle with them and mostly just pretends they're flying and makes "woosh!" noises.

[MacrossMan]

Yeah, I actually do... When they're locked in fighter mode... without FAST packs, my kid has handled the 1/60 yf-21 and the various vf-1 incarnations. I keep the yf-19 away from him because I'm afraid he'll swing the wings forward and cause some damage.

He's pretty gentle with them and mostly just pretends they're flying and makes "woosh!" noises.

Wow! That's pretty damn cool. If he's that good with handling them at 3, you'll be doubling your Yamato budget by the time he's 5.

[big F]

I guess that some of us could say our kids are into it to allow us to buy more Macross stuff. You can get it by the other half just by saying its for junior.

Although $100 for a macross toy for your kid to bury in the sand pit and play in the bath may be too much. Best stick to the boot legs and cheaper things.

Edited April 15, 2009 by big F

[SchizophrenicMC]

I don't have kids, and honestly, probably won't for at least 10 years. (I'm only 15, you know).

However, I'm gonna try to get my kids, if I ever have any, into Macross and Gundam and all things anime, really. Eventually, I probably will pass on my Yammies and Bandai and such. And even before then, I'll likely go for bootlegs and such to give him/her to nurture their interest.

If I have a son, I'm naming him Bruno Global Mitchell. (The men in my family alternate middle names. It goes 'b' at the beginning, like mine (Brendon), then the next generation has b in the middle. (My father's is Delbert, and his father is Bentensons, and his father is Heber)

I think it would also be awesome if he became career navy... Captain Bruno Global (Mitchell)

[Cent]

Don't you see, Schiz, you ARE the kid in this scenario and you should think about how toys were passed down to you from your father as you grew up.

[SchizophrenicMC]

Don't you see, Schiz, you ARE the kid in this scenario and you should think about how toys were passed down to you from your father as you grew up.

Too bad he never did...

[Agent-GHQ]

If your father was an 80's kid that grew up watching Macross and playing with the 1/55, he must have had you when he was like 14 yrs old?

[AcroRay]

My girls both enjoy Macross. 7 year old Anya likes singing along with Frontier. Older sis Rachael (11) loves the Robotech dub and Frontier. Neither of them much like the mecha, although Rachael appreciates the Bandai Valks, Takatoku Paros and the Yamato Q-Rau and Konig in our living room.

If anything, they'd probably prefer dolls of Ranka, Sheryl, Minmei and Mylene. I know Rachael wants a chibi-Klan, and maybe an Alto figure. She'd probably like the big Banpresto Klan figure.

So they love Macross, and like the female characters most of all. When asked to do a little talent thing for Girl Scouts a couple of weeks ago, Rachael took along the MacF vocal collection CD I made for her, and sang along to What 'Bout My Star (Fulmo Mall street live ver.). She has Asperger's Syndrome, so getting up and doing something like that is an achievement for her. Ranka and Sheryl are inspiring characters for Rachael.

Edited April 16, 2009 by AcroRay

[Cent]

It didn't HAVE to be macross, I was just saying his collectibles in general.

[m0n5t3r]

Too bad he never did...

... do i sense some bitterness???

[geepogi]

my 3 year old son likes my yamatos and gundams.

good thing he's currently into ben10 and power rangers.

he knows that the valks are "daddy's toys" but i let him

touch them and hold them a little bit whenever i take

them out of the detolf. but i have to constantly keep

an eye on him. we bought him a small animated

starscream before and he proceeded to remove

all the arms and feet, just keeping the body with

the wings intact. i guess he wants it to look like a

"proper" plane.

[ultimateone]

My wife and I are trying for a kid now. I joke with her that regardless if we have a boy or a girl, they will be watching Macross with daddy on my days off. (12 hour shift work, 182 days off a year )