I noticed I haven’t done a top 5/10/wishlist kinda thing in a while. No doubt a victim of my own success lately, toys have just been sooo damn good. So, I figured what the hell. Let’s talk about one of the absolutely most jaw-dropping lines we’ve seen in the last couple years, and what kinda stuff I would gladly knock out a wall to make space for in my collection.
With Transformers obviously a major priority for the company right now, I opted to choose from outside that universe. Mostly because I think they’ve got those covered. Obviously I am stoked for Soundwave, and would love to see how they would tackle a character like say Grimlock (bot, dino, one of each????), that can of course be a list for another time. And as far as lists go, I suspect that one is pretty universal.
So for these 5, in no particular order, I’m just thinking Mega Action style- if they can house a figure, all the better, but not a requirement- and the 18″ (or more) size. For me personally, I have found this size to be just about perfect to dwarf your 1/18 or 1/12 figures but maintain a level of playability. Some of the mechs I’m going to mention have big figures or model kits already, and some of those are awesome, but it’s that mix of Mega Action quality, articulation and price I’m daydreaming about here. There is one property in particular I didn’t touch on, though. We’ll get to that later.
Image from earthmanprime.deviantart.com
Honorable Mention/ Disqualifier: Power Rangers (Sentai Zyuranger) Classic MegaZord, Voltron, etc.
Well, wanting to pick one of these gestalt mechs was murder. I put Voltron and the Dragonzord on my list seperately a few times, but since all these types are basically city-bots, even a massive 18″ figure isn’t really doing them justice. Really, though- who didn’t see that Imaginext MegaZord playset at the store and almost walk out with it? A little articulation and I know I would have. Other than the scale, the other detriment would be that it probably wouldn’t be able to break down into smaller mechs. I think a case can be made for them anyway- guys like Big O or Iron Giant to go with NECA’s Pacific Rim line? oh hells yeah. But overall, as cool as they would be, I think the big big mechs might be too much compromise for a lot of folks, which makes them less complimentary to the existing Transformers. So, all that said…
5. Armored Votoms Scopedog
This is really EXACTLY the first thing I thought of when I saw MAS01 Optimus. The size, the build… I had wanted to buy one of these beautiful bastards for years. But with each year passed, the prices just get more and more like a Glock . And like that damn square plastic peashooter, I know it would work. I’d just hate myself making payments on it. Unlike the Glock though, parts will probably fall off. And I dont know that I can handle that on $500 worth of figure. Since 18″ is damn near even to the 1/12 figures and model kits, if we could sneak a cockpit in there, it would be amazing. But I’d buy it without, no reservations.
4. Titanfall Atlas
Armored Votoms isn’t really a pop culture staple these days, I understand that. But Titanfall was able to claim the coveted crown of “little game that could” by showing up, kicking ass, and challenging the big dogs. Like thr Votom Scopedog, there are some beautiful 1/12 versions by ThreeZero, and they are equally as expensive. I like the Atlas mech because it has a nice utilitarian quality to it. I almost bought the McFarlane one just because. But one from this line would let me replay that April Fools DLC trailer out in my living room to my heart’s content. Like I said before, a working canopy would be amazing, but not expected– since you would basically need to build or supply your own driver, and that driver would likely come from a different company all together. That’s something I’d gladly do, but it would be an odd expectation on both sides.
3. Mobile Police Patlabor “Labor”
A personal favorite of mine. The Patlabor OVA was one of the first anime I had ever seen, during those wild early to mid 90s days when you could occasionally find series like this on VHS at a video store. The Labors themselves are similar in size to the previous mechs, but man there has to be some points for style. The look drew me in, coming off as a mix of Gundam and Prowl.
Bandai actually recently put out some pre-built kits for Patlabor that were around a foot tall. I might yet cave on those. But for wishlist sake, I would definitely take a bigger, possibly even more poseable one.
2. Battletech Timberwolf
While the last 3 have at least some options for a big mech figure, Battletech/Mechwarrior has not always been so fortunate in the toy realm. The Timberwolf is in a lot of ways the precursor and archtype to what we associate with a Western mech, and it’s egg-shaped pod canopy, bird legs and no-nonsense cannon arms, it has a simple brutal quality that I have loved ever since I saw the tabletop game manuals in the 1980s.
- Gundam F90
As with any list though, if I have to choose just one, it has to be this one. As any fan of Gundam will quickly tell you, Gundam doesn’t play well with other robots, because most are either double the size of the Transformers, or half the size of the city-bots. But that doesn’t change how cool it would be to get one in this style and size. Friend of the Fwoosh Dan over at Toy Galaxy (@toygalaxy) recently recieved a beautiful custom RX-78 from a fan, I believe from a 1/144 kit. And every time I see it, I contemplate the build. My only issue with that is, I would want to play with it, and that would mean all kinds of hell for a big model kit. Now scale is still a bit of a problem here, otherwise the RX-78 would be just fine by me, So I feel like the F90 is less of a stretch for scale sticklers while still giving us a great looking classic Mobile Suit.
No? Okay, fine. Macross/Robotech Valkyrie and we’ll call it even.
Someday, maybe we can talk about how cool it would be to get an Exo-Squad or Macross line in something like this epic scale. Even better, someday mahbe we’ll see it. But unlike the 5 I chose above, I don’t know that I could be as satisfied without the pilots. And really, that’s a list all it’s own. I know somebody was slamming their keyboard over the lack of those two properties.
Whew! That was a tough damn list. I might have skipped your favorite though, and the truth is- I totally did it on purpose. Laters!