After 1/48 Millia Super VF-1J...

[Shin Densetsu Kai 7.0]

well a conversion kit with multiple swap armors would be real nice. that way they have one box with a skeleton and 3 armor sets for 3 different destroids, THEN when the monster comes out, bam tyou get all 4 destroids from the original series!

PLus being that the japanese and many of our board members like customizing, perhaps they can make a limited edition bone white conversion kit set, unpainted metal skeleton and white armor parts! for customizing!

[JsARCLIGHT]

Yikes. I might be stepping on a landmine here but this is my take on the situation:

The 1/48's are boss and all but aren't they starting to wear out their welcome in Japan, the market of origin? To me, it would appear that Yamato's move to 1/100 scale and more plastic for the new Macross 0 toys may be their anticipation of the Japanese market. If you think about it, Yamato has released Macross toys at ramping price points and scales. They started small and sort of cheap (as far as Japanese toys go) and have worked their way up to large and, let's face it, borderline crazy expensive. I mean, $180 for just one of the Max/Milia pair? I think Yamato realized they are sizing and scaling themselves out of a greater market share Macross wise and have decided that the future might be small and cheap. Smaller and Cheaper means fans can buy more toys for less money. More toys for less money means they can produce more variations and unique molds without a substantial investment of time and capital. All this to me points to the death of the larger scale toys and the birth of a smaller scale army.

Either that or the Macross Zero line is yet again another in Yamato's magical "pick a scale with the dartboard" marketing plan.

... And not to fan flames here but to a degree Ali Sama's logic may be correct. Look what happened with Star Wars. They released all the old school new school toys years before the new movies to build up a nice head of steam on the market. Then when the new movies came out they released the new toys into the grubby hands of the collectors and children alike. After the movie came out and frankly sucked it sank under the media blitz. Yamato can also be accused of the same thing. They struck when the iron was hot with the Macross Plus toys and then the fervor they created started a lust for the "old" toys so they came out with those. It has all sort of been building to this new plateu with the new OVA. If Yamato seriously intended to persue other variations on the Macross license I would think they would have done it sooner rather than later. I would have expected to see the non-VF-1 valks everyone is still clammoring for released before the 1/48s. The 1/48s are basically just a rehash of what has come before, just bigger. No real "line innovation". Yamato seems to be a company that plays it's cards close to it's chest and refuses to take many risks. I don't blame them, Macross is not an insant gold cash cow like Gundam where you can crap in a box, write Premium Grande Mocha Grade on the side and sell a gabillion. The future of Yamato Macross seems to teeter on the current release in some levels, they "test the waters" a lot and then make tracks when their stuff sells. So far it seems the fans have supported every move they have made with nothing really "bombing" or not taking off. The new 1/100 Macross Zero stuff seems to be yet another "test". I bet if it bombs you will see a downturn in macross the likes of which might kill the toy line off from Yamato. But we don't really know for sure until it happens... much like war things happen fast and sometimes without you really knowing what is going on. Yamato has clammed up tight and we get no real info or direction from them anymore... every move they make is like blind chess. We only see the piece when it hits the table whereas before we had a window to their mind and could get feelers for what was happening.

I have no doubt that with continued high sales Macross will continue to be released and re-released for a while more but one good freeze to the orange crop could kill the harvest outright. Reading a lot of the recent posts it seems not many people are buying the latest 1/48 offerings as they did the previous ones, insisting instead to wait for "what may come". Sitting on your wallets waiting for some phantom toy may kill the line.

All this is just my opinion and not meant to be taken as fact. <- asbestos underwear for the flames.

[Agent ONE]

I think Ali is saying we are closer to the end of Macross production than the begining... All things end.  Think about it, nobody is makin EXO Squad stuff anymore, no one is makin MASK stuff anyomre, nobody is makin Ducktails stuff anymore... See what I mean?

Hmmm... I must have missed out on all those Ducktales and MASK sequels, movies and OVAs.

...

Well, eventually Macross will stop having sequels...

And Ducktales DID have a sequel... I think in only included Launchpad and Gizmoduck... And maybe Donald, but I am not sure. I didn't watch it. I only liked Scrooge.

[Shin Densetsu Kai 7.0]

i think they are just using a smaller scale to give something everyone can afford while making a bigger perfect variable later like everyone assumes.

with the 1/48 it wsold well but yes its pricey. with the 1/60 i costed lss but still pricey. with the 1/100 not too pricey. with the bigger peerfect variables, nice and pricey. kind of mirrors the 1/60 and 1/48 with the exeption of the 1/100 being cheaper by more.

[Godzilla]

Hey JsARCLIGHT, for the record, I am doing my part in buying the 1/48 valks. But then again I am only 1 guy.

[JsARCLIGHT]

I buy everything SDF: Macross that comes out. I'm not keen on what I'm seeing with the Zero toys and the other lines but hey, they appear to be what the masses want. Like I said, we shall see what happens when the original show's toys vanish from the shelves. Will everyone be like me and stop buying or will they buy more? Time will tell.

[Mechamaniac]

Hey JsARCLIGHT, for the record, I am doing my part in buying the 1/48 valks. But then again I am only 1 guy.

Dude, you're doing your part, and my part, and his part, and her part....

[calvin]

a buddy of mine told me today that yamato and toycom are the same company in a round about way?(he works for tru-japan/sp in the buyers department)also he said that out of all the products they make(yamato/toycom)that 1/48,1/60 macross toys carry all the other products for the entire company , meaning R&d, cad and production costs. he then went on to say that he wouldn't be surprized if yamato kept this line open for the long haul! I'm sure your wondering"what the hell is calvin saying?" well I just think that people in the "know" have alot of the same thoughts we have on yamato(when will the mighty cash cow will stop?) and they are banking on quarterly sales because of trends in these company's and as my freind says "well it's my ass if I'm wrong!!" they are under alot of pressure to bring the hot domestic and international toys in for bottom line results, the bottom line is money, yen/dollor it's all money. when the profit goes yamato/macross will go unless they(yamato) can find the new cash cow?

*edit: he also noted that yamato has become tight liped with most of the buyers in recent months? security is up....why?

[sidearmsalpha]

I think that if Yamato ever goes under like Takatoku, someone else will step up to the plate later to make Macross toys, only they'll be better. They'll feature stuff like self-transforming or realistic lights and sounds (a gunpod with that buzzsaw sound would be awesome!). They'll make the 1/48's look like some of you look down on the 1/55 chunky-monkeys today.

Macross will always be back in some way or another, IMHO. Look at how Bandai keeps bringing back all the super robots by way of the SOC line or gashapon stuff. And then there's all the older Gundam stuff that most Japanese kids today probably don't care about. Like the RX-78. They keep coming out with newer toys of this old Gundam robot all the time. I guess Bandai realizes that alot of older collectors want to see better toys of these older robots. It's also getting harder for Japanese (and US toy companies) to reinvent the wheel. They keep bringing back older properties with newer makeovers or applying new toy technology to them. Take He-Man and the G1 Transformers as another example. I'm sure that if these lines were to die out today, we'd see them again in the future looking better than ever.

[Blaine23]

I think that if Yamato ever goes under like Takatoku, someone else will step up to the plate later to make Macross toys, only they'll be better. They'll feature stuff like self-transforming or realistic lights and sounds (a gunpod with that buzzsaw sound would be awesome!). They'll make the 1/48's look like some of you look down on the 1/55 chunky-monkeys today.

Macross will always be back in some way or another, IMHO. Look at how Bandai keeps bringing back all the super robots by way of the SOC line or gashapon stuff. And then there's all the older Gundam stuff that most Japanese kids today probably don't care about. Like the RX-78. They keep coming out with newer toys of this old Gundam robot all the time. I guess Bandai realizes that alot of older collectors want to see better toys of these older robots. It's also getting harder for Japanese (and US toy companies) to reinvent the wheel. They keep bringing back older properties with newer makeovers or applying new toy technology to them. Take He-Man and the G1 Transformers as another example. I'm sure that if these lines were to die out today, we'd see them again in the future looking better than ever.

As someone who sat around waiting for new Macross products from 1991 to 2001 - and getting none, nothing, except bad Joon's bootlegs and $1000 price tags on old Bandai's and Taka's - I have to tell you that you're probably looking at this through rose-colored glasses.

I've seen a ton of speculation here... but I haven't seen much proof that Yamato is

A. Scaling back their Macross releases.

B. Not making enough money on Macross.

We don't know what the next (or any) 1/48 will be, but I've yet to see them sell at clearance prices like the 1/60's or have extremely small production runs. I'd say we don't know much about their future plans because Yamato is just being more tight-lipped about all that, for various reasons.

They definitely seem to be making a move toward selling the VF-0S at a size and scale that is more affordable... but they're much more likely to sell that toy to a "new, young fan" of the current OVA. Perhaps they realized that the "long-timers" who can afford high priced, big items will buy 1/48's and Monsters and Q-Raus will buy them. Now they're simply looking to get a wider market for their toys on a show that is actually current, not 20 years old.

Again, I think it's a bit too soon to run around with a sign that says "The End is Nigh!"

And AgentONE knows far too much about DuckTales for a guy that bashes M7 for being fruity.

[bandit29]

a buddy of mine told me today that yamato and toycom are the same company in a round about way?(he works for tru-japan/sp in the buyers department)also he said that out of all the products they make(yamato/toycom)that 1/48,1/60 macross toys carry all the other products for the entire company , meaning R&d, cad and production costs. he then went on to say that he wouldn't be surprized if yamato kept this line open for the long haul! I'm sure your wondering"what the hell is calvin saying?" well I just think that people in the "know" have alot of the same thoughts we have on yamato(when will the mighty cash cow will stop?) and they are banking on quarterly sales because of trends in these company's and as my freind says "well it's my ass if I'm wrong!!" they are under alot of pressure to bring the hot domestic and international toys in for bottom line results, the bottom line is money, yen/dollor it's all money. when the profit goes yamato/macross will go unless they(yamato) can find the new cash cow?

*edit: he also noted that yamato has become tight liped with most of the buyers in recent months? security is up....why?

Ya Toycom is the American branch of Yamato. On each of their websites, they both have links to each others websites. Most of Yamato's toys released here just have a Toycom sticker slapped on them and about 1/2 or 2/3 the price of the Japanese release. I'm addicted to Berserk action and minifigures lol

[Hurin]

ok. you seem to still not undrestand. Macross franchise is now alive and well.

ocne zero is done they will have done most if not all of the mehca in macross. If they keep makign rerealses they are just devaluing previouse releases.

This is from a while back, but I haven't seen anyone address this. . .

Why would Yamato care about "devaluing" previous releases?!? They made their money on the previous releases when they sold them at wholesale to the retailers. I doubt they give a rat's @ss about how much we pay at retail.

As for the rest of this "argument". . . normally I like seeing people quote each other and respond. . . but it helps when you make sense.

H

[KingNor]

i dunno.. i think its a bit silly to try and predict these things...

for one, companies like yamato.. or any toy company, can sometimes just do bizzare stuff like flat out end production and go in a completely new direction.

i'd like to see a 1/48 vf-1d and a CF before the line ends (i love the nameless valks much more than the character valks)

i'd really like to see destroids in 1/48 but i've got my doubts.

honestly, with my two custom bootleg 1/55s and my low viz 1/48 standing proud over a tiny squadron of banprestos, i consider my valk collection complete

destroids would be cool, bad guys would be cool, vf-19 would rock (from mac+)

considering i know alot of anime fans who have no idea what a Valkyrie is (its that thing from robotech right?) i just don't know how much longer yamato will be making these things. i think we get a pretty biased view on the mainstream-ness of macross by visiting these boards. i'd say its still pretty cult-classic-ish

just my $0.2

[Ali Sama]

ok. you seem to still not undrestand.  Macross franchise is now alive and well.

ocne zero is done they will have done most if not all of the  mehca in macross. If they keep makign rerealses they are just devaluing previouse releases.

This is from a while back, but I haven't seen anyone address this. . .

Why would Yamato care about "devaluing" previous releases?!? They made their money on the previous releases when they sold them at wholesale to the retailers. I doubt they give a rat's @ss about how much we pay at retail.

As for the rest of this "argument". . . normally I like seeing people quote each other and respond. . . but it helps when you make sense.

H

if they make more. prices go down. who would buy a 1/48 at 120-140 if thier a dime a dozen.

[Hurin]

if they make more. prices go down. who would buy a 1/48 at 120-140 if thier a dime a dozen.

Uh. . . I don't recall the price dropping for the 1/48 1A Hikaru after the 1A Max was released. Nor the 1S Hikaru after the 1J Hikaru was released. . . and on and on. . .

Releasing a different valk has not had any effect on the price of previously released valks.

Indeed, even the release of identical valks has not affected the price of their predecessors. . . as the re-release of the 1S Roy and the 1A Hikaru has amply demonstrated.

I don't know where you're getting these assertions. But you better start backing them up with some logic or evidence. . . otherwise, they're just assertions. And counter-intuitive ones at that.

You seem to be getting your basic rules of economics mixed up.

Best Regards,

H

[soze]

ok. you seem to still not undrestand.  Macross franchise is now alive and well.

ocne zero is done they will have done most if not all of the  mehca in macross. If they keep makign rerealses they are just devaluing previouse releases.

This is from a while back, but I haven't seen anyone address this. . .

Why would Yamato care about "devaluing" previous releases?!? They made their money on the previous releases when they sold them at wholesale to the retailers. I doubt they give a rat's @ss about how much we pay at retail.

As for the rest of this "argument". . . normally I like seeing people quote each other and respond. . . but it helps when you make sense.

H

if they make more. prices go down. who would buy a 1/48 at 120-140 if thier a dime a dozen.

Well it's actually only around $80-90 if you live in HK. Prices are higher in the states because of the overseas sellers adding their % profit, and shipping costs. We, in the states are only seeing $100 + prices because of this fact. Of course if Toycom was allowed to sell these in the states, we would have pretty much prices as low as overseas.

The fact is that these are made for the "Asia area market", so the retail price point is around $80-90, not the $100+ we pay here. Yamato must feel that $80-90 MSRP price point is reasonable over there. Of course they make their money from the wholesalers/distributors like Hurin said, and the retail price is up to the retailers.

Edited May 5, 2004 by soze

[Agent ONE]

...

And AgentONE knows far too much about DuckTales for a guy that bashes M7 for being fruity.

Ducktales was a kids show... meaning it was for kids, so when I WAS a kid I was into it.

I've outgrown it now, but at least the show wasn't sissy... It wasn't teaching kids to lose their grasp on the realities of war or greed especially... Life lessons were learned in that show and the tough Mo-fo's servived.

M7 is a kids show that teaches kids how to lose their grasp on reality, embrace the weakness and standing against authority just for the sake of standing against authority.

[Ali Sama]

if they make more. prices go down. who would buy a 1/48 at 120-140 if thier  a dime a dozen.

Uh. . . I don't recall the price dropping for the 1/48 1A Hikaru after the 1A Max was released. Nor the 1S Hikaru after the 1J Hikaru was released. . . and on and on. . .

Releasing a different valk has not had any effect on the price of previously released valks.

Indeed, even the release of identical valks has not affected the price of their predecessors. . . as the re-release of the 1S Roy and the 1A Hikaru has amply demonstrated.

I don't know where you're getting these assertions. But you better start backing them up with some logic or evidence. . . otherwise, they're just assertions. And counter-intuitive ones at that.

You seem to be getting your basic rules of economics mixed up.

Best Regards,

H

what. you mean supply vs demand?

easy.

1/48s came out. peopel sold their 1/60s to buy 1/48s. 1/60 supply skyrocketed nwo their in bargin bins.

easy enough.

Ali

[Ali Sama]

...

And AgentONE knows far too much about DuckTales for a guy that bashes M7 for being fruity. 

Ducktales was a kids show... meaning it was for kids, so when I WAS a kid I was into it.

I've outgrown it now, but at least the show wasn't sissy... It wasn't teaching kids to lose their grasp on the realities of war or greed especially... Life lessons were learned in that show and the tough Mo-fo's servived.

M7 is a kids show that teaches kids how to lose their grasp on reality, embrace the weakness and standing against authority just for the sake of standing against authority.

duck tales was an awosme show. did you watch tail spin?

[Agent ONE]

...

And AgentONE knows far too much about DuckTales for a guy that bashes M7 for being fruity. 

Ducktales was a kids show... meaning it was for kids, so when I WAS a kid I was into it.

I've outgrown it now, but at least the show wasn't sissy... It wasn't teaching kids to lose their grasp on the realities of war or greed especially... Life lessons were learned in that show and the tough Mo-fo's servived.

M7 is a kids show that teaches kids how to lose their grasp on reality, embrace the weakness and standing against authority just for the sake of standing against authority.

duck tales was an awosme show. did you watch tail spin?

A few episides, but I was a little too old then... Did it have any character connection to Ducktales? I could have sworn Launchpad was in one of the episodes I saw.

[Ali Sama]

...

And AgentONE knows far too much about DuckTales for a guy that bashes M7 for being fruity. 

Ducktales was a kids show... meaning it was for kids, so when I WAS a kid I was into it.

I've outgrown it now, but at least the show wasn't sissy... It wasn't teaching kids to lose their grasp on the realities of war or greed especially... Life lessons were learned in that show and the tough Mo-fo's servived.

M7 is a kids show that teaches kids how to lose their grasp on reality, embrace the weakness and standing against authority just for the sake of standing against authority.

duck tales was an awosme show. did you watch tail spin?

A few episides, but I was a little too old then... Did it have any character connection to Ducktales? I could have sworn Launchpad was in one of the episodes I saw.

no that was darkwing duck

[Anubis]

If I had as much money as Scrooge McDuck I'd build a bin and swim in the cash too.

There would also be two Destroid Monsters and some of those Robot dogs from Mission to Mars guarding the door.

I still want my CF 1/48. Maybe an LE Angel Birds.

Edited May 5, 2004 by Anubis

[RichterX]

Tailspin wasn't the one with Baloo or what ever his name is, the bear from the Jungle Book?

[Anubis]

Tailspin wasn't the one with Baloo or what ever his name is, the bear from the Jungle Book?

Yep, along with many other characters from Jungle Book. Sheer Khan in a business suit like Lex Luthor, stuff like that.

Edited May 5, 2004 by Anubis

[Blaine23]

...

And AgentONE knows far too much about DuckTales for a guy that bashes M7 for being fruity. 

Ducktales was a kids show... meaning it was for kids, so when I WAS a kid I was into it.

I've outgrown it now, but at least the show wasn't sissy... It wasn't teaching kids to lose their grasp on the realities of war or greed especially... Life lessons were learned in that show and the tough Mo-fo's servived.

M7 is a kids show that teaches kids how to lose their grasp on reality, embrace the weakness and standing against authority just for the sake of standing against authority.

It's about ducks wearing short pants. That's all I'm saying.

Besides, I was just razzin' ya.

According to a one minute Google search, your favorite duck show debuted in 1988. I was 14 by then, so to me, it's a baby's show - for little brothers and sisters. For all I know Duck Tales was the most important work of fiction since Citizen Kane - I was already too into guitars to even think about watching kiddie crap like that.

I'm sure the underlying message of Duck Tales was quite masculine.

[Ali Sama]

Tailspin wasn't the one with Baloo or what ever his name is, the bear from the Jungle Book?

Yep, along with many other characters from Jungle Book. Sheer Khan in a business suit like Lex Luthor, stuff like that.

it had godo story imho.

[RichterX]

So what does Donald Duck have to do with Millia's VF-1J?

Well my brother says that Capt. Global uses a very much donald duck style of hat... that is in his opinion.

Or is it that the TV valks when their hands are closed look like a Disney character's fist...

Edited May 5, 2004 by RichterX

[Hurin]

what. you mean supply vs demand?

easy.

1/48s came out. peopel sold their 1/60s to buy 1/48s. 1/60 supply  skyrocketed nwo their in  bargin bins.

easy enough.

Ali

You've got some pretty circular logic going here. The 1/60s are the prior line. . . so I must say again: Yamato does not care about the price of a VF-1 line they are no longer producing. . .

It's not "easy enough" to just say "supply vs demand" and consider your argument made.

Yamato will always endeavor to manage the supply to meet the demand while maintaining a decent profit margin. So to say that they won't release any further Macross toys because that would decrease the value of toys they've already sold and have no intent to re-releasing is just nonsense.

Also, I'd take issue with your basic assumption that "1/60 supply skyrocketed" and "nwo their in barin bins (sic)." It's more accurate to say that demand plummetted due to competition from the 1/48s (which itself is debatable). But Yamato did not take a hit from this since the vast majority of 1/60 releases were already completed when the 1/48 line arrived. The only 1/60s they released after the 1/48 were "specialty" toys such as the two-seaters and the Q-Rau which we are unlikely to see in 1/48 scale. So 1/60 "supply skyrocketed" insofar as second-hand 1/60s became more plentiful. But, again, Yamato doesn't care. They had already made their money on the 1/60. They couldn't care less about how many people put their own collection up for a loss now that they've run the course of their 1/60 line.

It's nonsense to say that releasing more Macross toys will somehow affect the value of a toy line that Yamato has already released. The only way this would happen is if Yamato were foolish enough to release a toy line that would directly compete with another one of its lines. . . and continue to produce them simultaneously. Which is not the case.

An example would be a new line of 1:32 valkyries. Obviously, those would compete with the 1:48 line and Yamato would be foolish to release them simultaneously if it weren't careful to manage its production levels carefully. But, it could possibly be done if demand for each was guaged carefully.

Not quite as simple as just: "supply vs demand."

BTW, I wouldn't have even felt compelled to post in this thread if you had managed to post your opinions and conjecture with any semblance of humility. Just remember, it's quite possible that you're talking out of your @ss.

H

Edited May 5, 2004 by Hurin

[Ali Sama]

what. you mean supply vs demand?

easy.

1/48s came out. peopel sold their 1/60s to buy 1/48s. 1/60 supply  skyrocketed nwo their in  bargin bins.

easy enough.

Ali

You've got some pretty circular logic going here. The 1/60s are the prior line. . . so I must say again: Yamato does not care about the price of a VF-1 line they are no longer producing. . .

It's not "easy enough" to just say "supply vs demand" and consider your argument made.

Yamato will always endeavor to manage the supply to meet the demand while maintaining a decent profit margin. So to say that they won't release any further Macross toys because that would decrease the value of toys they've already sold and have no intent to re-releasing is just nonsense.

Also, I'd take issue with your basic assumption that "1/60 supply skyrocketed" and "nwo their in barin bins (sic)." It's more accurate to say that demand plummetted due to competition from the 1/48s (which itself is debatable). But Yamato did not take a hit from this since the vast majority of 1/60 releases were already completed when the 1/48 line arrived. The only 1/60s they released after the 1/48 were "specialty" toys such as the two-seaters and the Q-Rau which we are unlikely to see in 1/48 scale. So 1/60 "supply skyrocketed" insofar as second-hand 1/60s became more plentiful. But, again, Yamato doesn't care. They had already made their money on the 1/60. They couldn't care less about how many people put their own collection up for a loss now that they've run the course of their 1/60 line.

It's nonsense to say that releasing more Macross toys will somehow affect the value of a toy line that Yamato has already released. The only way this would happen is if Yamato were foolish enough to release a toy line that would directly compete with another one of its lines. . . and continue to produce them simultaneously. Which is not the case.

An example would be a new line of 1:32 valkyries. Obviously, those would compete with the 1:48 line and Yamato would be foolish to release them simultaneously if it weren't careful to manage its production levels carefully. But, it could possibly be done if demand for each was guaged carefully.

Not quite as simple as just: "supply vs demand."

BTW, I wouldn't have even felt compelled to post in this thread if you had managed to post your opinions and conjecture with any semblance of humility. Just remember, it's quite possible that you're talking out of your @ss.

H

no i meant that if they jsut keep releasing more and more 1/48's it will overflood the market adn drive prices down. how many varients can you get on a vf1 before the start rerealsing htem over and over. 1/48;s are in the bargin bin in japan.

[Hurin]

no i meant that if they jsut keep releasing more and more 1/48's it will overflood the market adn drive prices down. how many varients can you get on a vf1 before the start rerealsing htem over and over. 1/48;s are in the bargin bin in japan.

Well, okay. . . but now you're making even less sense. . .

How can Yamato releasing more 1/48s lower their profits on valkyries that they have already sold to retailers?

As long as Yamato is careful to scale their releases according to demand, and release re-paints and designs that are in demand, they will do just fine indefinitely. Judging the profitability of a toy based upon its stock levels one or two years after its intial release is foolhardy at best. Especially when toy store stock levels so far after release have no bearing on Yamato's bottom line.

But it seems like you're sorta jumping between points of views here based on convenience rather than intellectual consitency. You were talking about 1/60 vs 1/48s. Now you seem to want to say that you were referring only to the 1/48s.

Best Regards,

H

[Neova]

I need to chime in here since I actually sell Valkyries. Bottom line: Hurin is right.

Fact 1) Yamato made their money when they sold their products to wholesalers, distributors and dealers!

Fact 2) Retail and street prices does not affect Yamato (see fact 1)

Fact 3) Yamato can control supply and demand through production runs. I have not seen dealer pricing drop significantly with each 1/48 Valkyrie release. There is always a first run at x amount and if market demands more, a second run of Y is made to fulfill it (re-issues). There is no GLUT of Macross items here. In fact, all Yamato Macross products before Hikaru's Super VF-1J is thinning out. I'm having a hard time sourcing older Yamato products for customers since they are not made anymore.

Fact 4) All of the price fluctuations in HK (don't know about USA) are due to HK business practices - it is not unusual for HK shops to make 5 or less USD profit on any product, even if the product is selling for 100 USD, and dumping / speculating by customers looking to eat some loss to move on or play it like the stock market for chase / collectable products.

I'm sure it affects the global marketplace for CUSTOMERS somewhat but Yamato is not affected. They made their money since they've managed their production and market projections carefully. Whether paid customers dump or speculate on their products, Yamato will not lose or see any profits gained or loss in the open market.

In HK, no toy trend last more than 6 months as there are always newer items coming out. Yamato is smart to have a refresh product every six or so months otherwise Macross would have died already or have a huge glut (EG Bandai Macross products except for Gashapons) which would provide cheap but no foreseeable products from that manufacturer.

Also, I see Yamato as THE Macross torch bearer right now. If it were not for Yamato (and Bandai before they bailed), those Gashapons and figures would have no market. Instead, we are seeing Gashapons of Macross items being absorbed, speculated and jacked up in pricing over the sea of DBZ, Ultraman, and the BIG ASS Gundam market.

A lot of old Macross items are being sold faster than 6 months ago. Old Arii / Imai 1/144 - 1/ 200 model kits (gashapons) and old Macross toys are swept up by other collectors and many ebay sellers. The old Macross product market is actually healthy (business wise) but bad for consumers looking for cheap older stuff.

Yamato is (hopefully) also releasing new 1/100 value Macross Zero / VFX products to ride the coat tails of the OVA and hopefully they can attract new fresh customers and inject more fans into the franchise. From then on, if the market can bear it, why won't bigger and better things come out from them? Building market share is key in a business and value is key for the masses. Us Macross Hardcores would still be here waiting for those perfect 1/48 destroids and enemy mechs and coffee table monsters.

Thank God for Yamato and their fateful service to Macross fans and restoring the franchise as a contender in the toy market with both value, enthusiast and premium product lines. We, Macross fans, never had it so good since the last flood of toys worldwide through the Robotech license back in the good old days.

BTW: Valkyries are not as cheap in HK as everyone thinks. Its still a grip for legit dealers (me and Toy-Wave being two of them) and the only cheap stuff I've seen came from "unofficial" sources which you can find out about through a search in this forum. You can see Yamato take a phat loss there along with legit dealers.

Macross is MORE of a premium market item than Gundam here and surpassed in normal street price by those premium SOG items. Nobody sells at SUGGESTED RETAIL in HK which is ~ 148 USD for a normal Valkyrie. We've already slashed prices compared to Japan. It’s just the shipping cost which is an evil necessity.

Edited May 6, 2004 by Neova

[Shin Densetsu Kai 7.0]

neova that was VERY informative. thanks for typing that up! Very insightful on how the sales of yamato are!

[Godzilla]

Thanks Noeva for that insightful piece you written. It also keeps my mind at ease on Macross stuff.

As for the coffee Table size Monster, we can only wish and hope...