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CollectionDX Episode 17 - Happy New Year!

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6 comments posted
Josh likes a smooth ventral

Josh likes a smooth ventral side.

You guys should do a fanart contest.

I knew Josh was going to pick the Fire Valkyrie.

I am psychic and could see it was missing from the display case.

VF5SS's picture
Posted by VF5SS on 6 January, 2012 - 19:11
I actually talked about the

I actually talked about the "why no villain toys" in a Veef Show one time. I don't remember which one :x

I feel I can speak with some certainty with regards to Macross as the reason there is no Regult is because it's not seen as being terribly important or even iconic. Yeah it's kind of a neat walking egg design but even in Japan those are common. It never had any specific character tied to it and was effectively only created for the big reveal (in the second episode) that hey we've got space giants. Later in the show it was supplanted with arguably cooler and more traditional humanoid power suits like the Queadluun Rau that Milia uses, which is great because it's tied to a specific character. When it came time to do Macross Do You Remember Love, the Regult was relegated to a cameo where it gets blowed up real good.

Now even back in the day, any toy or model kit that wasn't a Valkyrie always seemed to stick around much longer on the shelves. Part of this is similar to what happens with American toys since because the heroes pilot Valkyries, the buying audience wants more Valkyries. Even to fans such as myself, the Destroids and Zentradi machines are not really interesting in and of themselves, but more as accessories to the Valkyries.

I never handle the Revoltech Regult but I did notice that despite being fairly cheap, it wasn't a big mover and stuck around until it was cleared out from online retailers.

When push came to shove, our patron saints at Yamato, attempted to make a Queadluun Rau toy. Since their main line was developing in 1/60 scale, the Queadluun Rau was built accordingly which lead into the biggest problem: the bad guys in Macross are well, giant. Even the Regult towers over the humble VF-1. They did the Queadluun Rau from DYRL because it was part of a memorable scene from the movie. Due to various factors, it was kind of expensive. In the end, a non-transforming toy in the Macross line was seen as not worth it no matter how cheap it got.

Moreover, when it came time to do the Destroids they sold poorly. This is despite the near universal praise of Yamato's Destroid toys for their quality. People say that they cost as much as a VF-1 and decided that without a transformation gimmick they weren't worth it. Being essentially cannon fodder, the Destroids don't generate a lot of love except from them heathen Battletech fans. Yamato themselves were clearing out Destroids at greatly reduced prices.

Now you can argue if those toys are worth their MSRP, but I firmly believe given the number of possible variants and other factors like assembly and parts count that even a basic Destroid Tomahawk can work out to be 9800 yen brand new. We may not like it but there is more to toys than just complexity.

Valkyries are not immune to this either as both 1/60 scale VF-11 toys were poor sellers even though again, they received near universal praise. This is because both were third tier designs in both Macross Plus and Macross 7. They made sure to give the main characters unique and recognizable designs, which is an extension of the multiple custom paint jobs from the original series.

Similarly the trio of VF-22S toys didn't generate a lot of interest at launch and are now at perpetual clearance at major retailers. This is all in spite of their ties to main characters. I still love them though. There's also weird instances of bad guy Valkyries like the Sv-51s from Macross Zero. A lot of people loved DD's gray Sv-51 but not many wanted Nora's maroon and gold machine. The tan mass-production type Sv-51 was also a slow mover and had some of the deepest discounts.

Finally as we arrive at the prospect of a 1/60 scale Regult to go with the VF-1 Valkyries, everything is stacked against it.

*It's gigantic compared to a VF-1 when rendered in the same scale.

*Has very few variations even with the different missile packs. Remember there's at least 20 VF-1 Valkyries that are all tied to characters that they could make instead.

*It has no important characters tied to it at all and is a generic bad guy in the end.

*It doesn't transform and even with full gimmicks, doesn't do much.

So in the end, Yamato decided to cater to the people they could confirm would buy their Regult kit by making it an exclusive to their web shop. HobbyLink Japan later picked up some stock from Yamato and even then it was a slow mover.

This isn't a situation that is completely unique to Macross. Votoms for example has had lots of trouble marketing anything that isn't a Scopedog and even in the context of the series the Scopedog is both the main character's machine and the first enemy he encounters.

Now the only series that is seemingly immune to this is Gundam as it basically invented the practice of multiple recurring bad guys and supporting good guys that get turned into merchandise. The big difference is that Gundam treated the introduction of every bad guy as an event. The iconic Zaku was tied to the Slender Denim Gene trio and later the pretty in pink Char Aznable had his own special Zaku. So after the Zaku made an impression on the viewers, it became a regular bad guy. Likewise the Gouf was closely tied to the character of Ranba Ral and was a major antagonist before it became a background bad guy. They more or less repeated this with each successive Zeon Mobile Suit. I know all this because I read those chapters in Gundam Sousei.

Eventually Gundam grew to the point where it could support hundreds of different robots in various forms of merchandise.

So in the end, all the shows that borrowed and copied from Gundam never remembered the subtle genius of how it managed to introduce and market bad guys.

But what do I know, I just write essays on Valkyries for fun :x

VF5SS's picture
Posted by VF5SS on 6 January, 2012 - 21:20
Veef Show

"I actually talked about the "why no villain toys" in a Veef Show one time. I don't remember which one :x "

It was Episode 1.

Diakron's picture
Posted by Diakron on 7 January, 2012 - 00:24
VEEF SHOW NEEDS A LINK...

.... ON COLLECTION DX FRONT PAGE.... I think Veef said he wasn't sure or whatnot when he was chillin
with Josh in a recent episode. I don't hangout at Macross World or whatnot, I hang out here -- you do valkyrie
reviews here --- so have a link to your show here!

"Destroids don't generate a lot of love except from them heathen Battletech fans" - Veef

I laughed my ass off at that comment, "those heathen Battletech fans" lol

Seriously licensing is an issue for Macross, since Robotech licensing rules in the west --- but
why don't Yamato take pre-orders to make sure their Regults sell, and if people in the U.S or Canada
order its seen as an import right? And if seen as an import, then they're not breaking any licensing rules right?

Since the regult doesn't transform, they can include a Zentradi Giant in a Zentradi Uniform and a Regult with glowing ports like its red eye is movable like say a "hot toys" movable pupil.

blade-edge's picture
Posted by blade-edge on 10 January, 2012 - 04:17
Yamato did take pre-orders on

Yamato did take pre-orders on the Regult via their agreement with HobbyLink Japan to carry them for us heathen gaijin.

Still didn't catch on.

VF5SS's picture
Posted by VF5SS on 10 January, 2012 - 09:39
Sweet! I won something.

Sweet! I won something. Thanks guys !
Now that I have been doing reviews for the site, I think my response would have been a bit different. Contributing to the site helps me appreciate my collection a bit more. I sometimes don't take the time to properly take in the coolness of each figure that I buy, so reviewing the toys let me revisit them and rediscover what makes the tick.

Also, the Saint Cloth Myth line is going to consist of all the 12 gold saints and the 5 bronze saints in their version 2 armors.

SentaiSeiya's picture
Posted by SentaiSeiya on 10 January, 2012 - 16:29