Catching on the second go-round.

When I was a younger evilbuddha, around HS, Robotech was the big anime. Well, "anime" wasn't what it was known as, but it sure was one kick-ass cartoon. Anime, as it is now identified, was dubbed a short time later. A blend of action like I'd never seen before, with animated dogfights with airplanes, piloted by humans, transforming to robots, defending the earth in an all out war against attacking gargantuan aliens. Whew, say that three times fast. Unlike the American cartoons of the time, which were silly fodder to sell toys, Robotech, had a great deal more depth to it. Human struggles with war and alien lack of emotion and their eventual growth, I'd never seen the like in cartoons. Was this really for kids? I'd asked my younger self.

But who am I kidding? I loved the Mecha, the technical aspect of the show, the transforming airplanes and the big, armed-to-the-teeth robots, with guns a blazing and rockets glaring. It is probably because of Robotech, that my fondness for robots was firmly grounded. Sure, it started with Shogun Warriors (more to come on this) but this was where my obsession took hold.

Robotech, for all it's depth and storytelling, still pandered to the masses to buy their licensed products, toys and the like. While limited in the US, merchandise was plentiful and varied in China, Japan, essentially, the Far East and abroad, where Robotech, originally dubbed "Macross" was huge. All the products, you'd find in the states was imported therefore carried a significant price tag, mucho coin.

Younger evilbuddha was not very financially well-to-do. In other words, I scrimped and saved but to no avail. They were littered around Chinatown and on every opportunity I was there, I'd tried to steer my parents to Wah-Kue, a toy store on Mott Street. I had hopes that seeing my despair and anguish, they would choose to put me out of my misery by captitulating and buying them for me. However, the parentals were impossible to convince or connive into purchasing the prohibitively priced trinkets.

One such item, a holy grail of Robotech/Macross toys was the monstrous 1/55 scale Takatoku Armored Valkyrie GBP-1S.



It was the penultimate Robotech/Macross toy to me, woefully out of my reach at $75. I don't think I even asked for it, for not only would I have been resoundly rejected, I would be chastised and probably slapped upside the head for such a stupid thought.

Even now, this original escapes me at an even more prohibitive price of $800-1400 for one in C9+ (Box and Toy) pristine condition.

I left my childhood years without the Armored Valkyrie.

Of course, if you've been reading my blog, you'd know I hadn't left my childhood behind.

Always chasing a part of me that hadn't been completed, I'd only recently went hog wild acquiring items as an avid collector.

Yamato had released a 1/60 scale version of the GBP-1S.



Smaller and complete, a worthy acquisition, but it didn't quite measure to the enormity of the the 1/55 scale Takatoku. And NO, I'm not even entertaining the thought of acquiring an original.

But recent pictures I'd seen from various collector sites, taken at toy shows made me hopeful again.

Say hello to the 1/48 scale Yamato Macross VF-1J Valkyrie (recently acquired) w/ (soon to be available) GBP-1S Armor. Fucking SWEET!



Here's to having a childhood dream fulfilled.