The Background Robot's Conundrum

I'm putting this post on my blog for posterity. It's probably easier to reference this than tell people to listen to the matching Veef Show. I will also update this post with new information as it becomes available.

ahem~

I feel I can speak with some certainty with regards to Macross that the reason there is no large modern 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.

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 handled 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.

To western fans, the sheer exposure of some of these background robots through all the bastardized products that came from Macrossploitation lead to a overexposure of these machines in the world of merchandising. One should remember that a lot of those Matchbox Destroids and Zentradi robots also suffered from little popularity, and much like the blasphemous properties that pushed them so heavily, really only appealed to the nerds. As time wore on and the nerds started up their own toy companies, the prospect of producing background machines past the heyday of their originating property seemed viable. In practice, however, even the specifically targeted buyers seemed to have less interest in these characters than the ever present VF-1 Valkyrie variants.

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-5,1 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, and 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