Rick Hunter / Hikaru Ichijo

Oh Matchbox! You had a great opportunity to make some cool looking GI Joe / Star Wars type action figures and you dropped the ball completely.

I remember when I first saw these Matchbox’s figures. My dad and I were shopping at the K-Mart that used to be in Montclair, CA on Central Ave but has since been torn down. Is was roughly 1986-1987 and going to K-Mart always netted some good anime VHS bargain cassettes such as Tekkaman The Space Knight and Voltron. There always seemed to be something anime-related stocked at this store.

K-Mart must have just put the Robotech figures on the pegs as there was a small crowd of kids around them, me being one of them. I first thought it was the greatest toys ever. Finally some toys from one the best cartoon known to man. I thought the card artwork was a little soft and obviously traced from other artwork but it was something I was used to being a collector of the badly drawn Comico Robotech Comics at the time.

It was an exciting moment. Looking on the back of the card and seeing what figures were going to be released in the first series and most importantly imagining what figures were going to be released in the second series. What members of the 15th Squadron were going to be made? Will Annie and Lancer be in the next series? What about the bridge bunnies and Captain Gloval? “This was going to be a good start” so I thought.

My Dad bought me three figures that day. This Rick Hunter figure pictured in this review, Rand and, lucky enough, the very rare Black Miriya. I still own all three figures to this day. (Thanks Dad!)

Only 22 Matchbox Robotech Defense Force figures were released and no second series of figures were ever developed or released. Rick Hunter was figure number “1” most likely due to his iconic position in Robotech.

Rick Hunter carded figure comes with: 1x Rick Hunter, 1X Sub Machine Gun, 1x Helmet.

As you can see by the figure it was well played with and it exposes the many issues these Robotech figures had.

I have always liked the accessories with these Robotech figures and one of the few things well researched in the line. I like the sculpt of the iconic Macross helmet in 1:18 scale although the paint application was not the best. The gun accessory that comes with the figure is well picked, as it was only shown for a few seconds in Macross. But sadly the gun peg did not fit in the hand of the figure and broken thumbs seem to be common with this and many of the other Robotech figures.

But it quickly goes downhill after this. The figure’s body proportions are off and Rick Hunter looks like he has birthing hips with long ape arms. The face sculpt has no anime appeal to it which is also one of the worst features of the line. I was thinking why I painted so many of my Robotech figures. It was when I did my first Robotech figure review when a CDX reader reminded me about how the paint used to easily flake off the figure. So the painted patchwork was necessary as the figures paint flaked off quickly with normal play.

Although this figure is as a bad as it is, there is some appeal to it in that out of proportion 70’s soft vinyl, cheap vending toy kind of way. This is an action figure of iconic Hikaru Ichijo from Macross in his famous white and red flight suit. The helmet and gun are a nice touch and it is just cool that there is a figure of such an important anime character regardless of how bad the figure was.

If you were going to purchase just one of these ill-conceived Matchbox Robotech figures and you are a Macross fan, this is the one to buy just as filler for your Macross toy collection. The bad and good of this figure is all in the matter of how you want to look at it.

©2010 Article and pictures by Leonardo Flores & CollectionDX.