Godmars, the new Valks, or OP Earth Mode were the tops for here, so it was hard to decide. All of them are remakes in some form, all based on classic designs, all with long-reaching appeal.

I don't know the GodMars, but it's appealing in a combining robot-way which has a pre-Super Sentai feel.
OP is a classic design, and the Animated ver. is so close to his onscreen counterpart that it's hard to turn away from.

But, I gotta go with the Valkyrie just because- even though I don't have one yet- it feels like the ultimate expression of that mecha. It just pulls at me more than the other two above do. Yes, I know that the VF-1 Valks have been done to death, but my patience has paid off, and Yamato delivered big. It is, finally, what I would consider worthy of standing side-by-side with my Takatoku 1/55 VF-1S Super, and still be called a "toy".
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CollectionDX Staff

I guess it shows how far and wide Macross still reaches that the 20th iteration of the same thing we've been buying all these years still commands a large following.

I'm thinking Godmars biggest weakness is the lack of any real identity since no TV show made it this way (Mighty Orbots doesn't count). Most people only know him from the old Godaikin line.

Either way it's good to see them battling it out, it looks like there really isn't a 3rd contender at this point. Unless a write-in campaign is started for the Takara Scopedog Turbo Custom.

I agree. All who voted for that should be ashamed of themselves! Even if you didn't buy them, there were much better options than that. Anyway, for the finale, I think I gotta go with the Falcon.

"This must be settled the way nature intended....with a vicious, bloody fight!"
Onyx Blackman
Principal, Flatpoint High

Well it's only because it won the best vinyl category, which even still is weak since I think the Patlabor vinyls were the best.

Agreed. That's definitely something we've talked about stepping up. There are plenty of new releases on the designer side of things that I'd like to cover more in the coming year. And Nekrodave and JoshB have been doing a great job of covering more mainstream vinyls. Hopefully, we'll be seeing more vinyl coverage in '09!

--
Sanjeev

I have to agree with you Rob. I too voted for the Falcon, I own it and love it. I do however wish the Toynami Beta made it to the finals. It's definitely my pick for editors choice award.

-Dan
CollectionDX LLC
Vice President/Co-Owner
"the other fat bearded guy at CDX"

When did this become a Star Wars site?

C'mon Duke,
CollectionDX is a "toy" site first and foremost. Regardless of it being a Star Wars toy, the Falcon is a toy right? See what I am getting at?

-Dan
CollectionDX LLC
Vice President/Co-Owner
"the other fat bearded guy at CDX"

10% is still too close to call at this point so I wouldn't count out a last-minute turnout of votes.

While I've stated my position on the matter, I'll play Devil's advocate for Yamato here.

They used what they learned making the last few iterations of the Valks and other toys to finally nail what many consider the true successor to the TT design. Combine that with a price point and quality level that allows folks that passed on the previous releases to take the plunge and finally get a valk (some for the very first time). That does deserve some amount of respect and recognition.

I, for example, have really always just wanted "a better 1/55 Takatoku". The 1/60 Yamato looks like it fits right in there, and I think I'll get one when the tax refund rolls in.

were going to make 3-4 versions of the same veritech (ex. VF-1J, Focker VF-1S). So what happens to the people who bought the first version or even the second version. Wouldn't that tick them off? Your lucky you didn't buy one of the early ones but what about the others who did? They would feel cheated because like I said before no one predicted they were going to "milk" the line for better versions.

I bought just about every iteration of the VF-1 since the TT in 1983, so I don't feel cheated that they made yet another version. I think by now it's expected that any company that gets the Macross License will "milk" the line since every company has done exactly that.

"While I've stated my position on the matter, I'll play Devil's advocate for Yamato here.

They used what they learned making the last few iterations of the Valks and other toys to finally nail what many consider the true successor to the TT design. Combine that with a price point and quality level that allows folks that passed on the previous releases to take the plunge and finally get a valk (some for the very first time). That does deserve some amount of respect and recognition."

Sigh....Oh Duke, what a very odious thing to do. You're telling people what they've already read and heard. You've insulted the intelligence of every person who had bought yamato's stuff before hand. Christ...are you for real?

Another thing, you really need to quit hiding the company's dirty diapers. We can smell that stench miles away from your closet . Yamato didn't ask you to be babysitter, did they?
They've acknowledged their mistakes and made an effort to rectify the valks in their own right. That being said, the end product speaks for itself. That shows an honorable mention worthy for this competition.

You playing that kind of game....not so honorable...not so brave...not so healthy...not so clean in my book.

-R78

I'm not sure what you're implying.

I've bought many products from Yamato, only one of which suffered from poor quality (1st Garland). The few original 1/60 valks I bought were good for the time and while not Kanzen Henkei, they reminded me of the old 1/72 variable kits I had so I liked them. The Q Rau was probably the biggest letdown but it was the only Q Rau toy ever so that counted for something.

The 1/48 line was superb, I own 3 of them with some armor kits and never had the slightest issue with them. I felt the price was in line with what you were getting, a high-end toy with a price on par with a PG Gundam kit of the same size.

The new 1/60 line is great, costs less, and is a great melding of the size/quality of the two previous lines. Plus it looks like it will be the line that finally gets folks some long-overdue versions that previously were only possible with customizing.

I'm no Graham of Macross World in terms of putting them on a pedestal. The first 1/60 line got too expensive near the end. The way they handled the 1/48 line in terms of what got made was bizarre, the number of low viz and stealth releases and the time it took to make them instead of things like a Max TV or 1D was infuriating. The Q Rau was overpriced. I never bought any of the Plus or Zero stuff since I don't care for their design/story.

I'm just pleased to see them doing with Macross what I've wanted them (or anybody in fact) to do: make the versions of Valks most of us have been wanting since the TT days and do some of the Destroids and possibly some enemy stuff. So far that is what we are seeing in this line (no regults yet) and it's admirable to see them do it.

If it was Bandai or CM's, or even Toynami I'd be just as happy with them. So if my comments on Yamato finally getting to what I've been wanting someone to do seems like I'm hiding their "dirty diapers", I fail to see how I'm going about that.

Feel free to air out the hamper and explain just what Yamato did to you that was so wrong. Did they force you you to buy Valks over and over? Are their toys on par with Toynami in terms of bad QC? I own just as many Toynami MP toys as I do Yamato and none of them are shoddy or suffer from poor QC. So maybe I just got lucky 15 times in a row.

I've heard the later Plus and Zero toys were more prone to QC issues, and combined with their $200+ prices made folks upset (with good reason). But since I never owned or handled those toys I can't comment on them with any validity. I speak from personal experience, not rhetoric or hearsay from message boards. So far I've seen one bad toy from them out of the dozen or so I own, so the whole idea of them being money-hungry and putting out crap just seems like sour grapes from folks that can't afford what they release, or people who happened to get a faulty item and feels the need to go to every avenue and scream Yamato sucks until it becomes a common misconception.

One of the things that is lacking with the system we use is the poll module. I would love for the ability to post images and links with each poll option, as well as some descriptive text below the title.

Unfortunately, the system we use to run CDX is getting kind of old, and people don't develop much for it anymore. When we upgrade sometime in 09, we should have more options available to us.

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CollectionDX Admin

Thanks, Josh, for the information

I've seen about 3 polls on various blogs or
websites related to voting for the top toys
of 2008 and none of them had photos. One did
include links. So I'm not focused on
collectiondx as much as the poor support from
programmers who can develop the neat bells
and whistles that make the internet so
interesting.

When you upgrade be sure to back up all
your data and don't solely rely on whoever
you hire to keep your data safe. I remember
when Threadless.com did an upgrade years ago
and so many people's blogs/comments vanished
never to be seen again.

Well Dan that's just the problem for me. I don't own the toy and I'm not really interested in it.

For the time being, it's too huge for me to own in my room.

Second of all it's complacent. I get eventually bored of playing a big flying saucer like that. I rather build the thing from scratch than buy something that's already built.

Third, It's not a battle fortress transformer. It's an oversized model of a Corellian starhopper. If it were the Battlestar Macross SDF-1 or G1 Fortress Maximus or G1 Omega Supreme or even a G1 Metroplex that size and transformable. Yeah, I would resolute my huge issue to buy anyone of those things. That right there is my money's worth.

-R78

You're absolutely right Dan,

The MF is a phenomenal playset, and it's surprising that it's neck of the poll is shorter than the Revoltech GG by a margin.

BTW, that's pretty creative that you've hung the MF on your office ceiling. If only you got an ovesized Star Destroyer toy to hang on there with a half-sized MF.... Dude, that galaxy won't be that far away from work.

-R78