Toynami recently released their 3rd(the first and second being the Keychains and the Figures) lineup of small Robotech items for sale here in the US. They have dubbed the little guys 'Super Deformed Morphers'.

They toys are Toynami's own designs(as you can see below). They are very similar(closer to Hybrid I think) to the rare Takatoku Paro Mecha valks, and the much larger and more expensive Bandai SD valks from 1983. An interesting feature of the Takatoku and Toynami toys is the inclusion of a pull back motor inside. In fighter mode simply pull it back a few inches and let her go! Weeeeeeeeee!

For fun lets run my own Macross-centric opinions and have a VS contest! Who will win? Who will quiver and hide in shame?

(note-the Toynami and Takatoku both include a small gunpod that fits in either hand not seen in the pictures)

 

 

Fighter Mode-Winner Toynami
From the angled tailfins to the nosecone-Toynami got the fighter mode right on for a Super Deformed valkyrie(erghh..veritech-oops).
The Takatoku is a little too blockish for my tastes. Its also nice to have the toy fully detailed out of the box without having to use up that precious sticker sheet!

Takatoku 3/4 view	Toynami 3/4 view

Takatoku Underside	Toynami Underside

 

 

 

Battroid Mode-Winner Toynami
The Takatoku is preferable in Battroid mode vs it's own fighter mode, but that isn't saying too much. The biggest distractions are the raised head on a pedestal, and the very ugly air intakes on the chest plate. I understand the reasoning for the head pedastal-it covers the large empty areas that are distracting on the Toynami from anyone looking at the toy from above, but its still ugly.

The Toynami upper half is great in Battroid, but I'm not a big fan of the legs. More specifically I think they are hinged much too low and it breaks up the 'egg shape' lines of the toy. Raise them up 1/2 inch and I think they'd be perfect.

Takatoku Front	Toynami Front

 

Side view
I prefer the Takatoku-it appears more solid. The width of the legs and the height of the toy are more balanced.

The Toynami suffers from having chicken legs. Located too far down and a little too skinny from the side. The large gap in the arm area is not bad, unless you look at the toy from above-then it's like looking at the grand canyon.

Takatoku Side	Toynami Side

 

Back view
The Takatoku suffers from Swiss cheese syndrome. Come on -this isn't a 1963 SD Catalina frame.

The Toynami is more balanced and much less wide than the Takatoku-nice dimensions!

Takatoku Back	Toynami Back

 

 

 

 

Box-Winner Takatoku
The art and lettering on the Takatoku box are much more in line with the SD theme the toys carry. The bright school bus orange screams "Notice me!".

Toynami box is clean, but a little boring.

Takatoku Front	Toynami Front

Takatoku Back	Toynami Back

 

Overall-Winner Toynami

The Toynami toy wins! The crowd is silent-the Takatoku crown has fallen.
Apart from the low chicken legs in battroid(my only real gripe) George Sohn's Toynami designed a winner. These toys look wonderful in Fighter mode-especially when you grab all six and put them side by side. They are incredibly inexpensive and a great addition to any Macross(erghh..Robotech) collection.

On a side note-the Toynami toys are popping up on the Yahoo Japan auction site-where they have been fetching between $10 and $20 per toy! Wow-who would think the day would come a Valkyrie would be cheaper outside of Japan?

I grabbed mine from Kevin Lam's Valkyrie Exchange-link below : )

 

Toynami's Homepage is here:

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Here are some pictures of the Toynami(aka Taka killer...LOL!) next to the often confused competition Bandai SD valkyries. The Bandai's are 2-3 times the size and have articulation everywhere. They are also much more expensive.

Bandai 3/4 view	Toynami 3/4 view

Bandai Front	Toynami Front

 

Xabungle impersonator VF-1S