MacrossMania

I was surprised how cool it is. Picked it up at a local grocery store.

You and me both. Definitely need to get that other one, and passed up plenty of chances to do it. Prices have me regretting that decision, but I feel like that's the same old song from every collector out there. But here's something you might appreciate. Don't know if it's worth much, but satisfies my immediate urges "toy crack" style.

Cool. Some recent acquisitions of mine. Obviously not remakes, originals but getting very pricey these days. I found these at reasonable prices, at least relative to the crazy auction house prices. Don't often see Joes on here, but they're getting hot. Makes me regret not getting them earlier, but you can't have everything.

That's an amazing find. Looks brand spankin' new. Where did you pick it up?

Hopefully it's nothing serious. A blip on the radar.

Love Reaction figures. I have most of the Dark Crystal line, but admire many others. Just can't make it the focus of my collection, but if I could, I'd be like that kid in Toy with Richard Pryor. Filthy rich and stuffing every corner of his daddy's mansion with toys galore, including every one of the Reaction figures.

All the more disappointing. If they had been so tireless in perfecting the fit and tolerances, then why not the finish? Again, I suspect it has something to do with the supply chain problems post pandemic, as well as Bandai's apparent shift to digital entertainment (where presumably the focus on toy production will wane over time, but let's just hope that's a Grimm's fairytale that never comes true). It is sad that with something so well built, they could not have put in the little extra bit of effort to make a beautiful finish. Alas, it is not to be. But here's to hoping that a DX VF-0D comes out with that careful (obsessive) attention to detail that they're so famous for.

Not sure. HMR line has always been a rehearsal for DX Chogokins in my mind, so it's odd that they didn't plan a more comprehensive figure. Especially if they're using it as a dry run for something better. But hey, all of this is speculation. What does concern me is the SDF-1 (wooden looking), and some of the other mecha prototypes in the HMR line. The diecast doesn't seem to be coming through on those either. Not all related to the VF-0D. But I'm repeating myself...

I took a look at this in the packaging and was immediately struck by how cheap-looking it was. Something you'd expect from a Hasbro knockoff, or even Hasbro, but definitely not Bandai. Then again, as Lolicon pointed out, there's been a tendency to spotlight the mecha in the HMR series, and neglect the valkyries. I strongly agree, but this latest entry has me seriously wondering about the health of the company going forward after the pandemic. You really have to wonder with supply chain shortages worldwide whether companies haven't been forced to cut corners in terms of the materials they are using. I took a look at some recent press releases announcing a change in their five-year midterm plan that was initially announced in April 2018, but was recently changed this year, including a change in mission statement (always concerning). See https://www.bandainamco.co.jp/cgi-bin/releases/index.cgi/en/press/6089?entry_id=5507. See also https://www.bandainamco.co.jp/files/5_E4B8ADE69C9FE8A888E794BB_E.pdf. Nothing immediately jumps out at me, although I did notice a much stronger focus on digital entertainment, and less of a focus on hardcopy toys. The mission change was also primarily driven by COVID-19. Again, makes you wonder if this isn't part of an overall strategy pivot away from toys into the digital domain, where perhaps the quality of toymaking will be sacrificed as less resources are devoted to it. This is pure speculation, however. Only time will tell. And the analysis above suggests that their plans on steadily rolling back materials in HMR releases has been going on for some time. It would be interesting if this same analysis could be done with all the future releases that Bandai Naamco suddenly flooded the market with this past week. It's too early to tell from product shots alone, but the materials don't seem up to snuff on those either. The SDF-1 is especially concerning to me. Again, it's a prototype, but the plastic seems cheap, off, like it was carved out of wood or something, and the panel lining is almost non-existent. The detailing also seems to be missing. I don't recall this ever happening with the DX Chogokins. Those prototypes really popped, and perfectly summed up the line. Again, we'll see.

Magnificent display.

Listen, I'm perfectly happy for you and your acquisition and I've always greatly admired the early iterations of Yamata - even the 1/60 scales, which I view as the modern precursor to the 1/48, themselves the precursor of the modern valkryie as we it today - but god, the yellowing on this guy is just terrible. Makes me cringe just looking at it. Are they all that way? Is this just something that we have to live with now? I thought modern collectors were immune to this sort of thing. Instead I imagine us holed up with the rest of the vintage community biting our nails against the frosty, wintry cold of unforgiving time as it slowly devours our most cherished treasures.

Awesome!

I'll be honest, I've actually bought more this year than previous years, but I'm also a vintage collector and a lot of those have come up recently at great prices, which is not surprising given the state of the economy.

Curious to see what all of you think of the pandemic and its impact on toy collecting. Definitely not soliciting your political opinions on the pandemic generally, so please keep that to yourself. What I am interested in is how you think the impact on manufacturing and supply lines will/has impact[ed] toy collecting in general. At first I was thinking that the general renaissance in toy-making we've enjoyed over the last decade or two would slow to a trickle, and the toys of yore would become gems in our collection as they would no longer be producing them anymore, at least anywhere near the rate we were seeing before the pandemic started. I think you definitely see this with the much higher end toys like Metal Structure (RX-93 discontinued, prices now through the roof), and you also begin to question whether some of the lower end toy lines like Hi-Metal R would be affected. A series of planned releases never materialized (I'm thinking of the Destroids that were never completed). Even the YF-21 was never released this year. But then Bandai is notorious for teasers that never materialize (1/35 YF-1 anyone?), so I'm guessing that some of these never came to fruition this year is just "part of the game." The thing is though that there were so many at once that just disappeared (the YF-21 is a particularly glaring omission considering its presence in the DX 1/60 line), but then again the 1/48 still seems to be going strong with the VF-1S, the flagship of the franchise, and the soon-to-be-released 1/48 VF-1D early next year. All in all, I was initially impressed with the idea that toy manufacturing would suddenly come to a standstill and we would be left with our collections, as it were Mad-Max style, drifting in the desert wind and clinging to our hopes. In such a posture, it is easy to imagine the value of these once prevalent items skyrocketing (like the Metal Structure), but after some thought, I'm not so sure. We may just end up seeing a temporary hiccup, with production once again resuming unabated. The other thought that occurred to me is that the toy renaissance is like any other - it builds on a steady stream of accumulated knowledge that, much like the 1/60 line of valkyries by Bandai, improves year over year. If production is halted for a time, or even stopped altogether and resumed years later, it seems that that institutional knowledge could be lost to the deserts of time. Although I think that's a bit more fanciful. Something like that would take decades to lose (although perhaps a trick or two could be lost on the factory room floor).

Well I hope this didn't kill the thread (it's gone distinctly silent since this was posted). It was an interesting discussion and I thought I'd add my two cents because it's usually a dissenting voice, so I thought I'd flavor the conversation a little. Wasn't expecting this response though. Unsolicited recrimination is always a bit of a shock to the system, especially in a group like this with so much gregarious, fraternal feeling among its members. Big words, I know, but you can handle them.

Sorry I know opinions are boring on here, but the reissue YF-29 is like Apocalypse Now Redux, Godfather recut, resized and overdone. Stars Wars refurbished in the Hollywood CGI laboratories when the puppets were good enough. I'm sorry to say this but the original is frankly a masterpiece, and all this bumbling about with resized, reshaped and ultimately overdone "modular"-looking sculpt-work detracts from the stunning form and design of the original. It was the seamless transition of the lines, the sheer beauty and line work. Truly a sight to behold. This one doesn't hold a candle to the original. I am prone to raining on people's parades (and not to detract from the thrill of the hunt as a collector), but it needs to be said. Behold the original!

I mean holy crap! I have a small sampling of every shelf here. This basically contains a who's who of modern toy collecting. I could only wish I had this much. That said, I'm eminently satisfied with my small sampling, given what it is. But wow, this is just a great collection. An obvious devotion to the craft. Well done.

Your poses are excellent and I couldn't match them. But I have to say that there's a major assist here from Bandai. It always amazes me that they seem to capture the spirit of respective anime franchises more than any other toy company. Truly amazing. Hats off to you both.

scary indeed

This website is the 12 step program. Hi, my name is... and I'm an addict. It's how every meeting begins here at Macross Anonymous.

Why he's the reigning king in the valkyrie wars.

Well, this getting to be an expensive hobby...

Now I do. (formerly of the belief that this was just another would-be victim awaiting his fate, looking askance at his doppelganger with a profound sense of uneasiness and despair)

Ok, did nobody comment about the skeleton just hanging out in the background? Did I miss something? LOL. I mean, I know some of us are out of the closet when it comes to our deepest, darkest collecting secrets, but this is a bit much.

LOL This is basically the kind of collector I want to be, I just don't have the stamina to do it. I can't put in enough time to organize, design and display my collection in a way that automatically bestows admiration and jealousy in the eyes of an admirer as they lovingly pass through (le sigh). Nope. Can't do it and don't care. What I do instead is gorge myself on the best of the lot when I have the money to spend, obsess over the crap I don't have money to spend on, and pine over the one(s) that got away. I've literally lost lives (or perhaps, future wives) over this. LOL. But hey, it's all good. And this is basically the collector I am (absent the lack of nostalgia and the display part). I think I buy the vintage toys for the nostalgia bit (but also the amazing variety of characters they had - which matters when it comes to nostalgia, and also when it comes to the older cartoons when they actually had characters and storylines that were more appealing; now, it's another story). And I buy for the swank design and engineering for the modern "toys." To be perfectly honest with you, I think we're witnessing a large-scale paralysis in the ability of our modern storytellers to come up with anything new. Most of all in Hollywood, but I think it's affecting the traditional robot craze in Japanese anime. When was the last time you saw an Evangalion, or Voltron, or Optimus Prime. So the characters definitely matter more to me when it comes to the vintage toys, but not so much the modern ones. I can pass on six different versions of a VF-31, whose characters bear only a passing resemblance to the Roy Fockers and Rick Hunters of old. But doing the same for Sunstreaker, Sideswipe and Red Alert is a different story (if I had the money!).