Harmony Gold USA, the company that gave us a host of crappy live-action and animated productions, has been systematically using the site of its flagship product (Robotech) http://www.robotech.com (which shall henceforth be mentioned as RT.com for short) to falsely advertise a horrendously sub-par product of one of its affiliates (Toynami) and misinform unsuspecting customers to swindle them of their hard-earned cash.
The product in question is the "Master Piece Collection 'Veritech'" 1/55 scale toy by Toynami, henceforth referred to as "MPC" for short. This toy was advertised as the most accurate representation of the VF-1 Valkyrie (also known as 'Veritech' in the poor countries that only saw Robotech, instead of the original series that were hacked into creating it - Super Dimension Fortress Macross, Super Dimension Cavalry Southern Cross and Genesis Pit Climber M.O.S.P.E.A.D.A.). Toynami and Harmony Gold (and the same goes for the pathetic sell-out ToyFare magazine) stated in their press releases (http://www.robotech.com/news/viewarticle.php? Id=80 and http://www.robotech.com/news/viewarticle.php? Id=58) a host of great features.
Delay after delay after delay ad nauseam. When the prototypes were unveiled, many people were disappointed and posted their disappointment at RT.com's forums (http://www.robotech.com/community/forum/) and especially in the "Robotech Stuff" forum. Their points of criticism regarded the sculpt's accuracy, the quality of the plastic, the shape of the pilot figures (one looks like he's wearing a dress, the other one looks is shown holding the throttle with his RIGHT hand - everyone knows that fighter planes have the throttle on the LEFT side of the cockpit - while he's MASTURBATING with his left hand. Bravo, Toynami! And Bravo, ToyFare for licking Harmony Gold's ass!). Also, the addition of the LED in the head was criticised as a cheesy gimmick which compromised poseability.
Of course, RT.com's forum administrator, Steve Yun, immediately removed ALL criticism (which, of course, NEVER reached Toynami - so all chance of a better product through customer input was lost) and banned the users.
Now, the MPC is out. It's ridiculously overpriced at $80 (while NO TOY EXPERT ESTIMATES IT AT MORE THAN $30) and more than 70% of the people who waited and waited and waited for Toynami to produce it were grossly disappointed. Now, Steve Yun has started AGAIN to delete their comments, as the 2nd Volume of MPCs is on preorders and suckers need to be pulled in.
Furthermore, HG has repeatedly blocked the importation of OFFICIAL Macross toys and models licensed by the original company, Big West in the USA, Canada and other parts of the world. Namely, they have blocked ALL Yamato-made transformable toys (1/60 VF-1 Valkyries, 1/60 VF-11B Thunderbolts from Macross Plus, a license HG doesn't even own, the YF-21 and YF-19) as well as the Hasegawa 1/72 Valkyrie model kits.
And all this, while the courts in Japan are about to invalidate the sale of international Macross distribution rights by Tatsunoko (Big West's partner in making Macross) to Harmony Gold.
So, in a nutshell, Harmony Gold rips people off.
Konstantinos
Chania, Othe
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