Robotech’s Golden Boy Returns
Toynami, 2001
Transformable mecha have long been known for their poor transitions from show to toy. It’s often extremely hard to capture all the wonder and awesomeness that a mech in a show displays in a tangible little plastic man. The issues range from the technology to make a hardy enough material that will endure play while still being light enough to cheaply produce. You’ve also got the issue of joint mechanics, figuring out how to replicate the transformation sequence in a believable manner and, oh yeah, it’d be nice if it actually looked like the character itself.
One solution that some toy companies pursued was to simply do away with the transformable feature. If you focused on one form rather than combining both, then you could focus on a single toy (a human-shaped figure for example) and employ every trick in the book to make that toy frickin’ awesome. Such as what Toynami did with their 2001 outing into the Robotech universe.
Background
Toynami remains a relative newcomer to the toy scene. Most people know of it’s (relative) meteoric rise to indie stardom in the wake of the dot com revolution in the 90s and early 2000s. A lot of toy companies cropped up during that time because, with the advent of Internet marketing, they could market worldwide without having to get shelf space in brick-and-mortar toy stores. This meant they could avail themselves of a wider consumer base while at the same appealing to niche markets.
The Robotech fandom is one such niche market. While Robotech may be one of the more famous shows from the 80s anime invasion, it still has mostly faded from the cultural consciousness (unlike Transformers, GI Joe, or Voltron). But there are still die-hard Robotech fans out there and they clamber for solid Robotech toys so hey can recreate the action from the show about earth’s invasion by giant aliens. And so, in the first years of the new millennium, companies like Toynami delivered the answer to so many fanboy prayers.
Appearance – 4 out of 5
Dynamic poses are often a bit difficult to strike for many action figures, but especially so for mecha toys. But one of the benefits of this figure is that pretty much every pose is dynamic. There’s almost no way it can’t not look awesome, like it’s in the middle of some high-risk action shot. This is partially due to the wide stance of the legs, but whatever. The toy looks awesome.
Construction – 3 out of 5
This figure balances some really great features with some really disappointing ones. The toy is, overall, made from some pretty good plastic. The individual limbs and body have some nice weight to them, but still feel light. The problem is the joints don’t feel particularly sturdy and it seems like it’s only a matter of time before playing with the toy wears them out. Also, the same complaint I had with the Alpha toy from a few months back is here with the hands. The toy comes with a variety of hands, all of which have to be yanked out of the joint. A broken hand that can no longer be traded out are all but inevitable.
Movement – 4 out of 5
The Veritech has a lot of linear joints that add to up to a whole lot of movement. In fact, the only problem this toy has joint-wise is that the hip joints are linear but with the wide stance, it makes some poses (especially less dramatic poses) inaccessible. It should be noted – and commended – that the feet, knee, and hip joints all work very well together despite the hips being at such an odd angle. That being said, having waist and neck joints, and shoulder/arm/elbow joints that petty much guarantee unlimited arm movement, this toy is a lot of fun to pose again and again.
Extras – 2 out of 5
Again, like the Alpha review from earlier, this toy comes with a series of hands and a single gunpod. There’re are no additional elements such as missiles or the famous battloid armor from the series (or even the Super Veritech equipment). This lack of materials is disappointing because of all the possibilities the Robotech universe offers.
Packaging – 2 out of 5
The packaging for this toy was pretty unremarkable. It was pleasantly vivid in its overall color, but there was absolutely no explanation as to what the ship was, who Rick Hunter was, what Robotech was about, anything.
Overall – 3 out of 5
This toy is very firmly a Three. It wouldn’t have taken much to push this over into the Four range, but in the same vein, it wouldn’t have taken much to knock it down to a Two. It could easily have gone either way. As it is, this is a pretty fun toy that is clearly aimed at fans and collectors and will be a solid addition to their collections. Just don’t plan on it being the centerpiece.
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