Excalibur MK-VI

ExoSquad/Robotech

ExoSquad Robotech Line, 1995

　

The Excalibur, known as the Tomahawk (or the Archer for the Battletech fans out there), is a little-seen non-transformable mecha in the Robotech franchise. While it saw very little attention from the Robotech toyline in the mid-80s, it was resurrected when Playmates optioned the designs to expand their Exo-Squad line.

Background

Within Robotech, the Excalibur is part of a mecha series known as the Destroids. They’re giant mecha with tremendous firepower, but without the ability to transform like their more famous and more recognizable brethren, the Veritech fighters. Destroids play a pretty small role n the Robotech animated series, usually making only token appearances that last for a few seconds at best. Nevertheless, their fandom grew by leaps and bounds with the release of the Robotech RPG by Palladium books. Since then, many an anime and mecha fan have wanted to have more than just the flimsy imported Japanese models to play with.

It’s not entirely clear how or why Robotech and Exo-Squad crossed paths. As none of the Destroids (or anything involving Robotech) appear in the Exo-Squad show, there’s no narrative explanation for how they are related. Going off of the general premises, the two stories take place in different universes with different timelines and different technologies. The only real explanation of how the Robotech toys ended up being produced with the Exo-Squad logo is, quite simply, Playmates wanted to release more figures. The fans are generally pretty okay with this because the end result was that we got some cool Destroids to play with.

　

Appearance – 2 out of 5

The Excalibur, like the other Destroids in the collection, is pretty unremarkable. A total of four colors was used to paint the figure and in places were great detail was required, the paintjob falls a bit short upon inspection. There isn’t a whole lot of texture to the figure, but there’s enough to do the job. Where the figure does stand out is that this is a picture-perfect representation of the mecha shown in the show, the RPG, and in the occasional comic book.

Construction – 2 out of 5

The Excalibur is just this shy of being cheap. The plastic is relatively sturdy, but not too weighty. The joints are very simple, while rivets and seams in the plastic are quite obvious if you look. The joints do not have uniform strength, which is frustrating because that means one arm may stay in position while the other will fall unless held up.

Movement – 3 out of 5

It’s a little tricky to score this figure’s movement. On the one hand, the joints have pretty simple and limited ranges of motion. On the other hand, so did the mecha that the figure represents. With the exception of the missing knee joints, this toy is capable of no movement that the inspiration itself was not. And while the lack of knee joints would be a big deal, the inclusion of toe joints pretty much off-sets it.

Extras – 1 out of 5

There is nothing extra to this toy. No guns light up, no missiles fire, nothing. The closest thing to an extra is the missile pods that open to reveal tooth-like missiles that cannot fire or be removed (these opening missile pods are a feature shared with only one other Destroid figure in the line). This is incredibly disappointing because the Robotech universe is replete with little additions that could be thrown in. The usual things like missiles and light-up guns aside, there’s always miniature vehicles like planes or tanks. While it might be somewhat sacrilegious to some to suggest crossing over into the realm of Battletech (which "borrowed" many mecha designs from Robotech), an option might be to have interchangeable weaponry and armaments.

Packaging – 2 out of 5

The packaging for this toy was absolutely nothing remarkable. The figure was covered with plastic and that’s it. The backboard of the packaging was not unique to each figure and offered only the most basic of explanation of the story of Robotech, Exo-Squad, or how they were connected. The only thing that saved the packaging from being completely uninspired was the color scheme (unique to toy packaging at the time) and the fact that the figure was protected from damage.

　

Overall – 2 out of 5

It seems a shame to give this toy such a low grade because it is a lot of fun to play with. Part of that may be the Robotech fan in me talking, but part of it is the simple pleasure of having an honest-to-goodness mecha toy released to US audiences. This isn’t a vehicle for a figure to ride in, it isn’t a sentient robot character, it’s a mech. And part of me is overjoyed just to see that kind of presence on the toy shelves. But at the end of the day, the Excalibur property is simply too rich to deserve such a second-rate figure. There’s too much that could have been done with this figure that wasn’t. Which is a real shame.