Robotech Toy Ad

[nightmareB4macross]

Robotech Ad on Ebay.

I just came across this ad and immediately was drawn to the GERWALK in the picture. IIRC, wasn't the Fighter the only version available? Was there ever a configurations (mode) of this sold?

In the description there is mention of another 65 episodes that were to be released after the original 85 episodes. Which was the next series to be attached to the Robotech trainwreck.?

I do realize this has nothing to do with Macross, but I figured, if someone else sees this. They too might be interested as well.

Edited September 1, 2010 by nightmareB4macross

[Rabidweezil]

I believe the legs folded down for the VTOL mode. But I don't remember it having a Gerwalk mode with arms.

Interesting....

[TheLoneWolf]

It looks like that's a prototype, because the actual production toy didn't transform at all, not even a VTOL mode. Someone here took apart the production toy and you could see that it was sculpted with a transformation sequence in mind, but for some reason Matchbox decided to mold all the would-be joints as single pieces of plastic.

If this toy did end up transforming, it would've been hilarious as the battloid's proportions would've been absolutely horrid.

[kanedaestes]

While that is true about the proportions, back then it wouldn't have mattered if I were able to actually put a rick hunter figure it in. Just saying.

[Dynaman]

I had a veritech fighter that did a full transform back then, I don't think it was a Macross model (I got it in a Toys R us or some such place). I don't remember the nose of the toy being so stubby though, so it must have been something different.

[TheLoneWolf]

You're probably thinking of Bandai's Joke Machines.

[nightmareB4macross]

very useful information about the GERWALK.

But, what about the additional episodes????

[jenius]

Thats gotta be an allusion to Robotech II before the whole Yen crash thing and Matchbox backing out and ending production

[terry the lone wolf]

very useful information about the GERWALK.

But, what about the additional episodes????

Robotech II: The Sentinels were the additional episodes.

[eugimon]

they probably meant to write "minutes" and typed "episodes" by mistake.

[Jasonc]

That was about the time they were trying to promote the Sentinels. That's the additional 65 episodes. I had that giant veritech, and the legs did move, but there weren't any arms that moved.

[TheLoneWolf]

I had that giant veritech, and the legs did move, but there weren't any arms that moved.

Are you sure about the legs? Because they're supposed to be one solid piece of plastic.

edit: I've seen some people who've managed to get the legs to swing forward, but I thought they had to mod the "swingbar" first.

Edited September 1, 2010 by TheLoneWolf

[Keith]

That's what he was saying. The general toy mold "looks" like it was designed with transformation in mind. But the final production toys wound up having no movable joints, with the transformation idea being scrapped.

[Rabidweezil]

I could have sworn that it had VTOL mode, but I never owned one. I'm going off my memory and it's a good chance my brain is just making sh*t up again.

[Zor Primus]

I could have sworn that it had VTOL mode, but I never owned one. I'm going off my memory and it's a good chance my brain is just making sh*t up again.

The SD version of the Valk did transform into Battroid and Fighter, with a little effort you could get it into Gerwalk...I painted my Skyfire with Skull colors and played with it instead...the only cool Matchbox toy for me back then was the SDF-1.

[vlenhoff]

I did own this valk, and no, it didn't transform. The backpack did fold the rudders and it had only the boosters to attach. Nothing else moved, it was indeed a stiff piece of plastic. This was the lamest valk ever. The only good thing was the proportionally challenged "Rick" figure (gijoe sized)did fit into the cockpit. I always wanted to take it apart and somehow make it transform, but then I lost interest. That is some dishonest piece of advertising

Thank God for yamato and bandai

Edited September 3, 2010 by vlenhoff

[j_wong00]

I did own this valk, and no, it didn't transform. The backpack did fold the rudders and it had only the boosters to attach. Nothing else moved, it was indeed a stiff piece of plastic. This was the lamest valk ever. The only good thing was the proportionally challenged "Rick" figure (gijoe sized)did fit into the cockpit. I always wanted to take it apart and somehow make it transform, but then I lost interest. That is some dishonest piece of advertising

Thank God for yamato and bandai

To this day I believe (or rather I'd like to believe) that they originally wanted to make a trasnforming version of the toy (especially since they managed to make one of the hovertank...), but had to abandon that plan when they rushed it to market; of course I have nothing to back that up...

[terry the lone wolf]

To this day I believe (or rather I'd like to believe) that they originally wanted to make a trasnforming version of the toy (especially since they managed to make one of the hovertank...), but had to abandon that plan when they rushed it to market; of course I have nothing to back that up...

I think this was all due to Hasbro/Takara leasing the mold of the VF-1 for Jetfire from Japan. HG wasn't allowed to make their own toy because that toy was already on the market. Though Hasbro couldn't animate it or even publish it in the comic book media because RT was on the air and being published by Comico. That's why the robot Skyfire looked so radically different from the toy. There was a commercial for Jetfire that retained the VF-1 look but I think that was due to the advertising of the toy.

[TheLoneWolf]

While I can't find an official explanation as to why Matchbox scrapped the transformation process, I have a theory as to what happened.

In 1984, Matsushiro applied for a design patent (D287037, now expired) on the 1/55 VF-1 toy, including its transformation process. One year later, Matchbox starts production on their own tranforming VF-1 toy. Since Harmony Gold/Matchbox legally acquired the merchandising rights for VF-1 toys from Tatsunoko Production, this trumps the first part of Matsushiro's (now owned by Bandai) patent since Matsushiro never owned the original VF-1 design nor its merchandising rights in the first place. However, some of the toy's transformation mechanisms (ie: swingbar, et al) are still protected by the patent since those are original Matsushiro creations. As we can see from that advertisement, the Matchbox VF-1 prototype blatently copied the Matsushiro swingbar, and probably some other patented transformation mechanisms. Matchbox becomes aware of Matsushiro's patent and must decide whether they should 1) compensate Matsushiro/Bandai for use of the patent, 2) spend time and money challenging the Matsushiro/Bandai patent through the USPTO, 3) go back to the drawing board and design their own unique transformation, or 4) scrap the transformation process and make a quick buck off a VF-1 fighter mode-only toy.

Ironically, Bandai would later join Matchbox in releasing Robotech toys, such as the SDF-1 and Joke Machines.

[VT 1010]

I remember on one of the Robotech DVD sets they had a presentation video of the Matchbox line. In it, the VF-1 is demonstrated to have both fighter and GERWALK modes. That still has to be one of the ugliest valk toys I've seen. If only Yamato made one in either 1/18th scale or a version that could accommodate 3 3/4" figures, then my inner nine-year-old would truly be happy.

[TheLoneWolf]

Good catch! I have that DVD, but could never bring myself to watch that presentation because most of the Matchbox toys were so awful.

So now we have confirmation that it was supposed to transform between fighter and guardian modes, but not battloid...thankfully!

[derex3592]

BAH! I don't care what anybody says--I WANT a Yamato 1:48 (or 1:60) HoverTank!!!

[Wanzerfan]

I remember back in around 93-94 Playmates came out with a line of Robotech toys under the Exo-Squad line. I just checked a pic and it doesn't transform, unlike I thought it would (the reason for the link is I didn't want to steal the bandwidth by posting a direct pic here). The thing looks like a remold of the classic Matchbox mold.

[VT 1010]

I had (and may still have) the Exo Squad rerelease by Playmates. Unfortunately, I can assure you it can't transform either as it's the exact same mold.

Of course a talented and industrious individual could probably customize it to create some sort of transformation ability. Considering how ugly it is, however, the only way to make it even visually comparable to a chunky monkey (let alone the lineart) is to basically replace every part--well, I'm sure you can use the same screws.

At least the Matchbox Glaug doesn't look that bad. Even the Regult looks half-decent compared to the VF-1. Nonetheless, I always wanted one when I was little and was so excited when I finally got one.

[Legioss]

I don't have the DVD anymore, I sold them years ago, but didn't the guy in the video say that right now the prototype only had the arms and legs come out, but they were working on the battloid mode? I seem to remember him saying that.

Edited September 7, 2010 by Legioss

[Apollo Leader]

Robotech Ad on Ebay.

I just came across this ad and immediately was drawn to the GERWALK in the picture. IIRC, wasn't the Fighter the only version available? Was there ever a configurations (mode) of this sold?

In the description there is mention of another 65 episodes that were to be released after the original 85 episodes. Which was the next series to be attached to the Robotech trainwreck.?

I do realize this has nothing to do with Macross, but I figured, if someone else sees this. They too might be interested as well.

Good find! This subject on the large Matchbox VF-1 and its intended transformation has come up a number of times before and this is photographic proof. Besides the concerns of conflicting with Takatoku/Matsushiro/Bandai's 1/55th VF-1/Jetfire design, someone probably also realized the futility of a transforming VF-1 toy that only transformed to its mid transformation stage. Not to mention it would have looked pretty darn ugly as a battroid/battloid.

[AcroRay]

A friend of mine who has one disassembled it and compared it to the classic 1/55 Valk toys, and found that it appeared rather likely that Matchbox reverse-engineered their "Veritech" from 1/55 samples, because the Matchbox item has a number of features and details unique to the 1/55 toy that probably wouldn't have occurred had Matchbox been working from line-art references instead. Note that in the advertisement the legs look VERY similar to 1/55 legs, but larger (with the landing gear simplified), and the gunpod that includes the added scope/trigger found on the 1/55's gunpod.

He also noted that might explain the 1J head with 1S guns - that the designers probably accidentally mixed-up the dis-assembled parts when they were mocking up the head.

Most-likely, Matchbox simple found the fully-transformable toy to be too expensive to manufacture, or was behind schedule in developing it and decided to just go with the fighter-plane version instead. They already had numerous actual 'robots' in the line already - what's one less... especially if you don't actually understand the significance of the robot or the context it appears in within the property?

[Ginrai]

If you watch the Robotech DVD extras there's a (super boring) Toyfair 198...5? 6? presentation where they show the big Matchbox Veritech transforming into GERWALK mode. I disassembled one and found the mechanisms for the arms swinging out and the legs swinging out are intact. If you put a piece of plastic over the inside back plate the arm swinging out works great. Problem is there's no hand, nor back of the arm, and of course, while the legs swing out, the joints are missing so it can't do gerwalk properly.

And yeah, this was definitely copied off of the Takatoku/Matsushiro Valkyrie since as Ray mentions, there are a number of features ONLY on the 1/55 toy and not on newer toys or in the recent line art that are copied. Not just the scope on the gunpod, but the shape and location of the swing bars, the shape of the shoulders, et cetera.

Also note that the working shoulder mechanism is NOT present in the Exo-Squad reissues. Guess they simplified it later on. I forget if the Harmony Gold branded Chinese release has the shoulder mechanisms or not. I will have to check.

[Keith]

I Officially designate t he non-scale Matchbox Veritech the "Chunky Donkey" or "Fat Ass."

[j_wong00]

I Officially designate t he non-scale Matchbox Veritech the "Chunky Donkey" or "Fat Ass."

Second.

[Shaorin]

yeah, the 1995 "EXO SQUAD/ROBOTECH" re-release of that godawful "Guppy Valkyrie"

was my first ever VF-1 toy. i actually modified it to do an "approximation"

of a full transformation. i hacked the legs apart at the intake joint

and reattached them with large cotter pins, and separated the "pseudo-arms"

and their shoulder joints, and removed the hands from my hover tank and placed them

on the pseudo-arms. for a time, i had a make believe transformable veritech that could "transform"

into GERWALK. later, i took to the main fuselage, and approximated a folding torso

with wire joints, and a movable chest plate. i could not figure out how to make the

head shift to BATTROID, so i cut a pair of slots to remove it from FIGHTER position,

and slide it's neck claw pegs into the slots i made, making an actual BATTROID head.

so in sum, i had made myself this Frankenstein monster of a veritech that could change from

a rickety, guppy-nosed FIGHTER mode, to a rickety, beer-bellied BATTROID that, while even more wooden

than the original TAKATOKU/BANDAI 1/55, was also a floppy mess the REQUIRED hand support

to remain in one piece in any of it's forms. once set down, especially in BATTROID,

it would instantly collapse into the pile of junk that it truly was. it was laughable, in in fact...

anyway, THANK GOD those days are over...

Edited September 8, 2010 by Shaorin

[Jasonc]

The Matchbox set did come with a VHS tape of two episodes of Robotech that were basically spliced footage of the series. Luckily, the copy I had was put in a big tupperware storage box for years and years, and when opened, still looked pretty good. A good friend of mine did a quick color restore of it, and put it on DVD. It's quite funny, and is like 2 lost episodes.

[Wanzerfan]

Ah hell, the link I provided gave a freaking 403 Forbidden error. Sorry guys, I should've checked the link before I posted it.

[Shaorin]

Ah hell, the link I provided gave a freaking 403 Forbidden error. Sorry guys, I should've checked the link before I posted it.

any chance that you can provide an alternate source for that?

[Wanzerfan]

Let's try this one. Click on the exo_robo-veritech_crop link to get the pic. It seems that the link I originaly posted was linked to a different website than the one I was originaly at.