Summary: A busy year for Scorched Earth Toys
2008 was an exciting year for Macross and Mospeada collectors. So, since I’m sure I’ll find myself looking back on this year and wishing I had an accurate record of when things came out, here’s a break down as much for myself as all of you-
Yamato was not very prolific in the early part of 2008. We got a couple repaints of the SV-51 toy (which will some day make it to this website) but it wasn’t until the 1/60 YF-21 came out (after a couple delays) that things really got rolling. After the phenomenal 21 toy we got the Gnu line of Mac+ valks which didn’t quite get the same ecstatic response. By the way, here in early 2009 the upgraded Gnu Mac+ valks with super parts have just gone on preorder over at Overdrive (VF-11, YF-19, and YF-21). If you just want to upgrade your existing Gnu, that’s an option too (11,19,21). While those Gnus were fun, the second version of the 1/60 VF-1 was amazing. Watch out for the first release of the Focker Strike 1S, they have issues with durability at the shoulder. Yamato followed those amazing original series mecha with the oft over-looked Destroid line. Talk about a year to be proud of, all three of Yamato’s deluxe toys ($50+) scored in the 40s. Yamato also introduced the world to their new Weathering Editions with a 1/48 VF-1S Focker and 1/60 Tomahawk.
CMs made a big splash for the first time in the Mospeada toy franchise. They built up plenty of hype/debate in 2007 and in early 2008 they started delivering products. Their first effort was the Legioss/Tread combo pack which sold at a ludicrous price point but felt like a good old school toy to the collector’s hands. They followed up their very line art imperfect Legioss/Tread offering with an amazingly detailed 1/18 Ride Armor figure that proved far too small for the complication of its design. Stig/Ley releases featured brittle windscreens and lacked the tightness of fit necessary for something so small. Fans hungry for new Ride Armors scooped them up… but many sold them promptly in favor of the more user-friendly Mega House option that was released a short while later. Undeterred, CMs finished the year out by releasing both Yellow and Fuke’s armors and a stand alone Dark Legioss. For you diehard collectors, CMs also released two unknown soldier variants and the Yellow/Ley/Stig toys in chrome/metallic variants, all are limited editions with no greater than 300 pieces made (only 100 of the Ley-type unkown soldier).
Mega House was another newcomer to the Mospeada market. Their first offerings were 1/15 Stig and Ray armors. While I wasn’t a huge fan of the parts-forming mess that I frequently found on my hands, nor the toy’s penchant for falling apart, many people found them to be a better option to the tiny/fiddly and ultimately frustrating CMs ride armors. Mega House made a deal with Toynami who had originally indicated they would Americanize the packaging and release them in the US but instead decided to simply release the toy outside of Japan with a Toynami sticker covering Mega House’s emblem on the box (and English language instructions). Mega House let a lot of people down by not including stickers in their original releases, it was an odd decision to say the least. A Yellow variant was released before year end but there still haven’t even been prototypes of Houquet’s armor shown. Collectors may recall that there was also a Dark/Stealth VR-52F sold at some events.
Toynami emerged from a long slumber to get back into both the Macross and Mospeada markets. Their first offering was the 1/100 Super Parts which I found to be fragile and poorly designed. Later Toynami released their Maia Shadow Chronicles MPC Alpha and Masterpiece Beta toys. The Maia piece is a travesty- I’ll have a post on that up shortly. The Beta was a truly revolutionary step forward for the company and delivered a better effort than the CMs toy released much earlier in the year. Unfortunately for Toynami, a delay of the Beagle Ride Armor kept 2008 from being a really strong performance.
Back in Macross, Bandai helped fund Macross Frontier which made most Robotech fans watch Shadow Chronicles a second time and wonder where things had gone so terribly wrong. Frontier was amazing and it made people want toys of their new favorite mecha and Bandai delivered just in time to make my 2008 cut-off. The VF-25 DX toys are the chunky toys of a new generation with a very solid feel at the expense of accurately representing the line art. The toy has some faults but people who buy it often express that they’re happier with the toy than they anticipated. It sold out pretty quickly but a reissue shouldn’t be too far off now.
Kaiyodo kept up their Macross love this year with Revoltech YF19, YF21, and Regult toys. Where’s the VF-11B Kaiyodo? The toys are all cheap, come with a ton of extras, and are really fun to pose. For the Macross fan’s cube a Revoltech makes the perfect decoration.
There it is, 2008 in a nutshell. Let me know if you see any mistakes. Later next week I’ll probably do a post highlighting the very best toys that were released.