Quiet times leave me reflecting

[auberondreaming]

From my perspective it is a pretty quiet time in Macross toys as far as what the next year or two holds.  We have Arcadia releasing premium versions of toys that many of us already have.  We haven't heard much on the SV-51, I assume it is coming within the next two years.  Things seem to be slowing down on the Bandai Delta front, and from a personal perspective my dislike of the show means that I have no interest in any toys beyond the vf-31f and the sv-262 I picked up.  The Hi-Metal R line continues but I have very little interest in collecting a full set of vf-1 valks from it. As cool as the mecha are the Tomahawk seems to be MIA for a while longer; with that and the Phalanx UN mecha will soon be done.  The enemy mecha have been awesome, but beyond a Queadluun-Rau I see that line being done as well.  

Of course this post will slightly devolve into a wish list, but I find my wish list becoming smaller and smaller lately as well.  I would love to see a modern Yf-21.  I would love for Arcadia specifically to tackle a 1/60 vf-2ss.  I would love a modern version of the TV SDF.  All the non canon or non screen time stuff would be neat, but this is my core instant buy list and it's 3 items long.  I can't imagine what kind of improvements a 1/60 vf-1 toy would have to have for me to start a whole new vf-1 collection.  If the next Macross show is good I'll of course get into it, but given the direction the series has taken, not holding my breath.  

For me, in my opinion, at this date in time there is nothing announced that has me lit up or excited.  These lulls in the hype train always make me reflect on where we are in the state of Macross toys, and my focus being primarily on SDFM and Plus, I wonder if everything sans what I mentioned above has already been released.  Perhaps the core of my collection, the things I really love and care about, is near completion for me.  Something to think on anyway.

[Mommar]

I personally don’t understand what the quality of a show has to do with liking a design or not.  I HATE Macross 7 but I own all of the Valks from it minus the Fire Valk because that’s the only design I don’t like.

[Lolicon]

I dunno, I still think we're living in much more interesting times for Macross now than we were from about 1985 to 2001. 

[seti88]

Auberon...dreaming hence this thread? Joking, heheh....

Don't not forget the ticking bomb in the form of the teased DX line at last winters tamashii nations. The 19, 21 and even a vf-1 was shown flying at the end of the DX teaser. 

And the new macross series coming up, I dread to think what would be the new DX releases I need to wrap my budget around the next years....

and don't forget abt calibre wings f-14 tomcats in err...valk colours!

certainly not a dull time for me anyway...

Edited March 8, 2018 by seti88

[no3Ljm]

1 hour ago, Mommar said:

I personally don’t understand what the quality of a show has to do with liking a design or not.  I HATE Macross 7 but I own all of the Valks from it minus the Fire Valk because that’s the only design I don’t like.

^ This.

TBH, for me I really don't need to watch nor need to like a certain series to get a toy. Sometimes I just like a toy for what it has -- a cool design. Now, the only thing that really stops me from getting most what I want is the budget and space. I'm used to be a completionist before but somehow I managed to control that. Now I'm more into I want to have atleast a pair meaning if I bought a certain figure, it really needs something to balance it now. I'm not a big fan of one figure centerpiece. I always need something to balance the other one. Think of it like 'Ying/Yang' concept. Or the never ending battle of 'the good and the bad'. I'm sure you guys know what I mean.

And just so you know, there's a lot of other things out there. It's not just Macross. It just so happen that franchise is not as big nor as famous as the other franchises for it to have a lot of figures and merchandises left and right. I'm pretty sure once this 35th Anniversary hype finished it will be slow for sure. But if you're really focusing only to Macross, then I guess you can start collecting other Macross stuff and not limit yourself to only the figures and planes. There's books, guides, DVDs, Blurays, Music CDs, Cards, Stationaries, etc. And even the Animation Cels. But if you're just for the figures and planes, only thing we can do is just wish and wait, wish and wait, and wish and wait.

Anyways, just sharing my 2 cents and 10mins of my time composing this.

 

[enphily]

Quiet times? O_o my wallet screaming and crying, and i don't know where i can find money for all what i want  

[Slave IV]

Haha yeah..I'm pretty much the opposite of the OP. This is the first time I've ever had the resources to know what's coming out beforehand, have the sources to easily (kind of) purchase them and have the finances to do so. Because of this, I'm buying more Macross than I ever did and frankly, I wish they would slow a lot more so I can take a break.

Right now, I'm most looking forward to HMR Destroids, Enemy Mecha and accessories like stands, effects parts/dioramas to go with the figures. 

[Mommar]

48 minutes ago, Slave IV said:

This is the first time I've ever had the resources to know what's coming out beforehand, have the sources to easily (kind of) purchase them and have the finances to do so.

Excellent!

[Scyla]

I think we can expect a lot of toys from Bandai further on. Think about a RErenewal VF-25 with ratchets and a matte finish. Or a DX Macross Elysion. 

Arcadia is just a too small company to release new molds every other month. I would love to see a VF-5000/VF-14 or better a VF-9/VF-3000. The license should not be that hard to get but I'm not sure that there is enough interest from the general collector market. 

I would also die for a 1/60 VF-2SS from either Bandai or Arcadia. To me the HMR VF-2SS was a testbed for Bandai to test what a DX could look like and what to watch out for. 

In general I welcome a slower speed because it allows me to dip my toes into other lines. Like the Kuro Kara Kuri line from FlameToys or the Riobot line from Sentinel.

[jvmacross]

4 hours ago, auberondreaming said:

I can't imagine what kind of improvements a 1/60 vf-1 toy would have to have for me to start a whole new vf-1 collection. 

Some Macross DX VF-1 collectors have stuggled with this very line of thinking for at least 3-4 times since the original 1/55 back in 1983.....most have just come to their senses and realized that something better will always come at some point in the future......

We are a little past due for a DX VF-1 update.......use your "quiet time" to decide to either get out of the Macross collecting game or start saving money for what is surely to come.....

Edited March 8, 2018 by jvmacross

[Lorindor]

6 hours ago, auberondreaming said:

From my perspective it is a pretty quiet time in Macross toys as far as what the next year or two holds.  We have Arcadia releasing premium versions of toys that many of us already have.  We haven't heard much on the SV-51, I assume it is coming within the next two years.  Things seem to be slowing down on the Bandai Delta front, and from a personal perspective my dislike of the show means that I have no interest in any toys beyond the vf-31f and the sv-262 I picked up.  The Hi-Metal R line continues but I have very little interest in collecting a full set of vf-1 valks from it. As cool as the mecha are the Tomahawk seems to be MIA for a while longer; with that and the Phalanx UN mecha will soon be done.  The enemy mecha have been awesome, but beyond a Queadluun-Rau I see that line being done as well. 

Yeah, I agree with almost all these statements. It's a bit of a breather for my wallet right now (at least until the Premium SDF-1 is released). I was thinking about buying Arad's VF-31 just because I found his armor pretty cool, but since I forgot about the preorder time and will probably have to pay premium prices now, I'm hesitating.

Personally, a TV SDF-1 and a VF-5000 is on the top of my wish list right now, but I will probably have to wait forever for that.

[kajnrig]

2 hours ago, jvmacross said:

We are a little past due for a DX VF-1 update.......use your "quiet time" to decide to either get out of the Macross collecting game or start saving money for what is surely to come.....

I'm pretty sure I've asked this before and it's been answered before, but the Arcadia VF-1 is just a re-release of the Yamato VF-1 V2, right?

[jvmacross]

1 hour ago, kajnrig said:

I'm pretty sure I've asked this before and it's been answered before, but the Arcadia VF-1 is just a re-release of the Yamato VF-1 V2, right?

yes....with all the final "tweaks" last made under the Yamato brand....

[brouken]

IMHO, its nice to have quiet times. It allows me to assess where I am right now and think long term about what I really want to do in the future. That being said, I'd say that the pacing of releases in so far as Macross Toys are concerned is pretty good right now.

With the exception of the VF-2SS I'm not into HMR (yet?) and am only in the market for the 1/60 Arcadia and Bandai releases.

Though I'm not a fan of Delta as much as Frontier, I still made the decision to complete the DX releases of Delta Platoon, along with their super (and now armored) packs. I'm reasonably sure that Bandai will release all of the Delta Valks so I'm covered in that front.

From the Arcadia front, I've got the Premium SDF-1 DYRL coming up next month. That's a significant chunk of change so I'm in no hurry for any immediate releases from them at this time. I was considering getting the recently released M&M's but decided that I'm staying the DYRL route and skip the TV releases for now. I am looking forward to the Ivanov SV-51, but that seems a ways off still. I am hoping that Arcadia will do a re-release of all the DYRL valks (i.e. the rest of the skull squadron, the Elintseeker and the Super Ostrich) since I missed out on those. I doubt they'll release them so close together, but again that's good for me because it'll give my wallet time to recover in-between releases. After all, Arcadia's valks have significantly gone up in price compared to when they were first released by Yamato. Apart from that, I'm good in the Arcadia front.

I'm looking forward to the eventual blu-ray release of the Passionate Walkure Movie and the new Macross series, the latter of which will no doubt come with a slew of new toy releases. I'm actually more excited for the new mecha designs than the new story. All things considered, I think its a great time for me to be a Macross fan. 

 

Edited March 9, 2018 by brouken

[auberondreaming]

Reading a lot of negativity here, or at least perceiving it.  You can go ahead and disregard the original post, thank you.

[seti88]

Hope you don't disregard your post, you wrote it for a reason. If you aren't excited by the next releases, that's perfectly fine.

No one macross fan or valk is the same! Else we will just end up with the same valk in different colors.

Oh wait. 

 

[spacemanoeuvres]

@auberondreaming I enjoyed your post. It’s always nice to hear a different point of view. I think most folks here are on the other side of the spectrum. 

I found delta disappointing but the valk designs are excellent and the DX figures are one of the best VF toys to date. 

I am actually looking forward to a break in toy releases; between Arcadia, DX, and HMR I am tapped out and I haven’t even picked up everything that’s being released!

There are definitely things that I want that are just too much money or too difficult to acquire and it’s not fun passing on those. The hobby is definitely getting more expensive which is discouraging at times. 

Edited March 9, 2018 by spacemanoeuvres
a word

[TrickyCustomer]

I've have only owned two valks till very recently. Yamato was "it" from my experience. I had the 1/72 1st release vf-11b which broke not long after i bought it. That put my off buying more till 2007 when they released the "almighty"SV-51 gamma. That thing was amazing. Sold it, regretted it, bought another. Being new to the forums and being around other liked minded folk (you good/crazy people) has definitely shown me there is so much available these days. Bandai, Arcadia and evolution toys.......ahem has so much to offer it's crazy. Personally i'm panicking and buying everything i missed out on over the years. I'll happily have quiet times! The new Arcadia SV-51 has my name on it and i'm crazy enough to buy the premium too. I live and hope for the day someone makes Feff's Gigamesh power armor in 1/60 with all the detail and cool features that mech has. It deserves to be made IMO. It would look boss next to the evo toys vf-2ss. If i ever bought one....

[yuletak]

On 3/8/2018 at 10:40 AM, Slave IV said:

Haha yeah..I'm pretty much the opposite of the OP. This is the first time I've ever had the resources to know what's coming out beforehand, have the sources to easily (kind of) purchase them and have the finances to do so. Because of this, I'm buying more Macross than I ever did and frankly, I wish they would slow a lot more so I can take a break.

Right now, I'm most looking forward to HMR Destroids, Enemy Mecha and accessories like stands, effects parts/dioramas to go with the figures. 

I'm with you.  I'm late to the Macross game.  Been spending most of my funds on Transformers instead.  I actually hope I can get some reissues from Arcadia in the near future (like the Roy & Hikaru Strike versions) at a reasonable cost vs the ~$300 for Hikaru from Japan and $235 for Roy.  I was lucky to pick up the Millia from NY for 21.5k yen shipped (until they dropped it an additional 3k yen!).

[wmkjr]

15 hours ago, auberondreaming said:

Reading a lot of negativity here, or at least perceiving it.  You can go ahead and disregard the original post, thank you.

Don't need to disregard your original post. Your point of view is valid. Since you said your focus was mainly SDFM and Plus, the lack of any new toy release announcements (besides HMR) for either series would make me feel like I'm almost done with my collecting. 

[borgified]

I'm more in parallel with @spacemanoeuvres as I don't like Delta as a series however I do like the valks .

For myself, I rather have a break in between Macross releases (started in September/October of last year) as I'm thinning out/refocusing my TF collection that I acquired for over six years since I moved back into YVR from YYZ (still got to sort out the ones that I have in storage). I might get another 1/6th figure sometime later on this year has I still have a Hot Toys AVP (v.1) Scar Pred that I got in YYZ.

As for Macross stuff wise: I've got the what I want in regards to the HMR line up: VF-1S Roy (DYRL), VF-1J with the GBP, VF-2ss (Silvie) and VE-1. For the valks itself: Arcadia VF-1S Roy (DRYL), Yamato SV-51 (Nora), Bandai VF-171EX Alto (have the armoured parts for it as well) and the one of the 1/48 valks (got the Fast/Strike Parts on the way). Thinking about getting the 31s or 31a (with the armoured parts), SV-262 (Keith/Roid) with the Lil'Draken add-on, and the Arcadia SV-51 Nora [it all depends on my budget].

Besides that, I've been collecting 3 comic book series only: Marvel Old Man Logan (current run), Marvel Spider Gwen and Dark Horse: Usagi Yojimbo Saga (all in TPB versions) and will get certain crossovers titles if it interests me.  

[Knightdramon]

It's only natural to get in this state from time to time, especially between releases. If any negativity on this thread upsets you, just ignore it

I find Macross a very niche market when it comes to transforming robots, as the series and high-end merch are almost never synchronised. And even so, it's usually in the flavour of 2-3 mecha and many colour variations between them. 

I've amassed and sold a Macross collection...3 times now? I started with some 1/48s, got some 0s [way back], the black yf19...sold all that, then got into it again with more 0s, v2 1:60ies, vf19s, multiple sv51s, a vf17, macross quarter and more bandai that I can't remember. 

I only have 3 VF figures now, with a 4th one coming in at the end of the month. I enjoy it as it is...it's not one of those series where you will have a ton of options, but you can have enough to keep you entertained and build an awesome living room collection. 

My transformers collection is multiple times larger but I question the need for so many figures and frequently have clear outs to reduce the size.

Re-thinks and re-purposes are only natural. In an ideal world, I'd have about 10 figures all in and that would be all. If you need to take a step back and re-think, that is a natural progression in the life of a collector. 

[SpaceCowboy]

I'm okay with it slowing down a bit.  I also hated delta.  So far, it is the only Macross I have yet to finish.  I'm about half-way through.  But there are so few characters I have a remote liking it is difficult to stomach.  I hated Macross 7 as well, but I made it through all 50 some odd episodes of that.

The Valks from delta, on the other hand, are pretty awesome.  For me, all the macross jets get put into what I call my "head-canon".  This story mixes in machines from Robotech too, and then also has elements that aren't from either Macross or Robotech (like time travel, space bounty hunting (aka cowboy Bebop), etc).  The delta valks are the newest in this ongoing storyline that are sort of X-Wingish type valks.  I transform them so that the tips form a bit of an X instead of the more traditional transformation.

But yeah, it's okay to have a bit of a slow time.  I'm hoping with Harmony Gold losing the Macross license in a few years that we can get a bit of a Macross renaissance, as hopefully a competent company takes over the rights and distributes it properly to the US. 

[seti88]

2 hours ago, SpaceCowboy said:

The delta valks are the newest in this ongoing storyline that are sort of X-Wingish type valks.  I transform them so that the tips form a bit of an X instead of the more traditional transformation.

But yeah, it's okay to have a bit of a slow time.  I'm hoping with Harmony Gold losing the Macross license in a few years that we can get a bit of a Macross renaissance, as hopefully a competent company takes over the rights and distributes it properly to the US. 

now that you mentioned star wars, the 31 valks with their wingtip down and in high speed chases had a tie fighter kinda vibe to em  

esp messer's high speed maneuver avoiding the draken's missile barrage when first shown...
The only reason m liking any downtime is giving a breather to the wallet, but with what bandai teased in their TN events, we seem to be undergoing a renaissance of sorts now...

[hachi]

Macross toy releases slowing down is an advantage for me. I get relief since I'm not only into Macross, I'm also into other anime like Gundam Wing, Blame!, Ghost in the Shell, etc. Not only that, I also collect graphic novels, art books, etc. I can't afford everything so I have to pass on stuff I could have bought if I had the funds. Right now the Philippine peso is taking a beating in the exchange rates which makes me more cautious on what I buy. I try my best not to overspend and have something left for emergency funds (though if it gets big enough it turns into travel funds lol). That said I take joy in the buying part because it's like a reward for my work. Currently I'm pondering my next steps to a higher paying job or getting side income. This hobby has taken me out of my complacency and I like that.

[erizai]

Thank god, they slow down... lol

my pocket need a rest.... peace