by the fans for the fans

One thing to consider as well is how much money Toynami lost with the Alphas. With all the issues people had, coupled with the Maia's getting a second release only to have problems again led many to return them so Toynami was left with toys they couldn't sell and a bad rep to boot. The Betas were great HOWEVER they were expensive and only came in the Scott blue as far I know.

On top of that, the other lines they have seem much less expensive and of simpler design.

It seems, as is the case with the Zetraedi battlepods, that they are going for a less expensive item that will sell well. With Battlepods, there are so few enemy mechs that they sell out to both RT and MAcross fans. Compared to Veritechs/Valkyries they are easy to sell whereas Valk/Veritechs are flooded. There are so many variations/scales already.

Richardmvela wrote:

One thing to consider as well is how much money Toynami lost with the Alphas. With all the issues people had, coupled with the Maia's getting a second release only to have problems again led many to return them so Toynami was left with toys they couldn't sell and a bad rep to boot. The Betas were great HOWEVER they were expensive and only came in the Scott blue as far I know.

On top of that, the other lines they have seem much less expensive and of simpler design.

It seems, as is the case with the Zetraedi battlepods, that they are going for a less expensive item that will sell well. With Battlepods, there are so few enemy mechs that they sell out to both RT and MAcross fans. Compared to Veritechs/Valkyries they are easy to sell whereas Valk/Veritechs are flooded. There are so many variations/scales already.

They should have either been making (less expensive) toys all along or at the same time as the collectable masterpieces, and there should have been better quality control.
There are a number of veritechs and other mecha that either have rarely or never been marketed, even the toys that were made by Matchbox/Irwin/Playmates haven't been produced in about fifteen years. There's the Orguss Valk, Spartas, Logan, AGAC, YF-4 in fighter mode, Zent tri-fighter, the 5 destroids, like 5 or 6 Bioroids and hovercraft, 10 ASC robots, the condor (both models), the conbat, and like a dozen Invid and their variants. Plus they could make the Zent cyclops and Bioroid landing craft along with miniatures of the capital ships from all three sagas. That's not even taking into account variants and new mecha from the comics, books, and games, or the mecha that's been done to death.
If Toynami can't handle making RT toys then maybe they should consider giving up the toy license to a company that can. Take Voltron and Thundercats for example, they are both getting new and a classic toy lines.

rtsurfer wrote:

Richardmvela wrote:

One thing to consider as well is how much money Toynami lost with the Alphas. With all the issues people had, coupled with the Maia's getting a second release only to have problems again led many to return them so Toynami was left with toys they couldn't sell and a bad rep to boot. The Betas were great HOWEVER they were expensive and only came in the Scott blue as far I know.

On top of that, the other lines they have seem much less expensive and of simpler design.

It seems, as is the case with the Zetraedi battlepods, that they are going for a less expensive item that will sell well. With Battlepods, there are so few enemy mechs that they sell out to both RT and MAcross fans. Compared to Veritechs/Valkyries they are easy to sell whereas Valk/Veritechs are flooded. There are so many variations/scales already.

They should have either been making (less expensive) toys all along or at the same time as the collectable masterpieces, and there should have been better quality control.
There are a number of veritechs and other mecha that either have rarely or never been marketed, even the toys that were made by Matchbox/Irwin/Playmates haven't been produced in about fifteen years. There's the Orguss Valk, Spartas, Logan, AGAC, YF-4 in fighter mode, Zent tri-fighter, the 5 destroids, like 5 or 6 Bioroids and hovercraft, 10 ASC robots, the condor (both models), the conbat, and like a dozen Invid and their variants. Plus they could make the Zent cyclops and Bioroid landing craft along with miniatures of the capital ships from all three sagas. That's not even taking into account variants and new mecha from the comics, books, and games, or the mecha that's been done to death.
If Toynami can't handle making RT toys then maybe they should consider giving up the toy license to a company that can. Take Voltron and Thundercats for example, they are both getting new and a classic toy lines.

I think I or some other naysayer had brought this up to McKeever a year or so ago since we were all displeased with Toynami's products and lack of product in general. I believe he had said HG was pleased with how they were managing the line as the toys were "selling well" in a difficult economy which is why they weren't flooding the market. Still, I gotta point out that if the Masterpieces sold so well, why didn't any of them actually complete their "limited" production runs? Most of the volumes only had about 2/3 of the run produced. Still, Toynami's business strategy follows the same philosophy of HG: show the same prototypes every year but attach a different release date every year as well; just string the fans along with promises something is on its way - still waiting for the next Battlepod variant which was supposed to be released in January 2011. At least they saved us a lot of money

One of the smarter things to do would be to either re-introduce the non transforming superposeables at a smaller size to save costs, or to go the transformers route for "simplified" cheaper transforming mecha.

Richardmvela wrote:

One of the smarter things to do would be to either re-introduce the non transforming superposeables at a smaller size to save costs, or to go the transformers route for "simplified" cheaper transforming mecha.

If Toynami actually decides to invest in Robotech and not just Macross, I think the reboot would have to concentrate on transforming mecha which would have to have good quality, if not tons of detail. Exceptions could exist like the Conbat but then I'd expect more detail. I wouldn't imagine super poseables to be very popular as each company that's tried to do it for Macross hasn't seen much demand. Still, it could work for mecha that don't transform like Battlepods, Invid, or certain Southern Cross mecha. If everything could be to scale, I'm curious if the line would succeed as I'd love it even though The Masters and TNG toys would be way smaller than The Macross Saga.

IMO, Toynami may have missed their big chance. This will probably be the 80's revival Christmas in the big retail stores, and a Robotech toy line won't be there to represent.

The Betas were great HOWEVER they were expensive and only came in the Scott blue as far I know.

There are 3 Betas and 3 Treads in blue, green, and red. They're still expensive but I believe some online stores are now selling them for almost 1/2 price.

Thanks for the clarification RTsurfer, as I have only ever seen the Blue. Then again I don't visit HG's online store.

Richardmvela wrote:

Thanks for the clarification RTsurfer, as I have only ever seen the Blue. Then again I don't visit HG's online store.

You mean the land of "Sold Out?"

Haha, this is true. Also their prices seem to be higher than what I can find from reasonable online outlets so I have no real reason to go there.

Yup, you can get some really good deals online from some very reputable online stores. The Beta is definitely quality as I just opened up my Masterpiece Alphas and my blue Beta. Even though my Rook Alpha is broken it works as a great display piece in Battloid and all 3 Alpha Battloids look great with the Beta behind them.