Toynami Toy Gallery

• SD Veritech Key Chains

• SD Veritech Figures

• SD Veritech Morphers

• Super Veritech Morphers

• SD Alpha Morphers

 In the last few days, the Valkyrie Exchange has learned that a new company, Toynami, based in Sherman Oaks, California will be producing Robotech/Macross licensed merchandise for Harmony Gold.   Included in this production plan are action figures, statues, and most notably, transformable toys!  The owner and president of Toynami is, George Sohn.  Does the name ring a bell?  For many of you, it sure does!  Many of you fan remember George from his days at Toycom in the role of Vice President. 

 George Sohn—The Man, The Myth…

 I’ve worked closely with Toycom for over a year and a half but I never took the opportunity to meet George until this interview.  While making my numerous visits to Toycom, George was always working hard, upstairs in the office while I pressed Auden for Valkyrie news in the warehouse office.  

 As I stepped into the Toynami offices, I was greeted by one of the employees.  I made my introductions and indicated that I was here to see Mr. Sohn.  The gentleman called for George as I nervously waited in the reception area.  While waiting, I had a quick glance around the Toynami office.  I looked around and counted three rooms when the conference room caught my attention.  In the conference room table, I could see some of the prototype toys Toynami was working on.  Seconds later, a slender young gentleman, looking is his mid 20’s at best, walked out and called my name.   I was bewildered!

 George was a very pleasant person, outspoken, and very enthusiastic as he greeted me.  Surprising, I found out George is in this thirties and had three kids!  We went into his office and started chatting away and before long, a good two hours pasted by.   In the time of our meeting, I was able to learn more about him, his company-Toynami, understand the history of the licensing negotiations, and more importantly, his plans and vision for producing Robotech/Macross toys in the next year.  Here’s what I’ve uncovered in this exclusive Valkyrie Exchange Insider News article!

Pre-Toycom and Toycom Days

George has over ten years of work experience in the toy industry.  Before Toycom, he worked as a sales representative for a number of major toy companies including Playmates and Toybiz.  After a few years on the job and building a large customer base, George decided to form his own company and ended his representation for Playmates and Toybiz.  A company in Japan heard about George’s new plans and was very interested in getting into partnerships with him.  That company was Yamato.  George had help Yamato obtain many toys lines through the years such as 21^st Century Toys, Toybiz, Moore Creations and X-Concepts.  As the International Representative, George was very happy to get into business with one of his top international accounts, soon to be his new partner. George had a vision to start this company after realizing that during his many years as sales representative, many cool cartoons never seized the opportunity to produce corresponding toy lines.   His gut feeling was that many of these companies were missing opportunities in the market and that he could do a better job.   Thus in 1997, Yamato and George formed a new company under the name of Toycom.  

As a driving force behind the creation of Toycom, George always had an interest in the Macross Valkyries.   As a die-hard fan, George always wanted to produce his own version of the VF-1 Classic Valkyrie.  In 1998, George and his partner, the CEO of Yamato approached Big West for a license to produce the classic Valkyries.  Of course, Big West was reluctant to give away their prized Macross license, especially to small companies like Yamato and Toycom.  Rather than turning the companies away, Big West offered the Macross Plus license as a “test” project. Big West wanted to see how well the companies would perform in the creation and sale of a robot transformable toy before issuing a license for the classic Valkyries.  If Toycom and Yamato proved to be successful, they were allowed to produce the VF-1 classic Valkyries.    So, Toycom and Yamato planned to produce the YF-19 Alpha One, YF-21 Omega One, and the VF-11B Thunderbolt for release in Japan and the United States.

Both Toycom and Yamato spent most of later part of 1999 and almost half of 2000 creating the Macross Plus Valkyries.   With the degree in difficulty in making these toys, there were numerous delays.  Likewise, George was very protective about releasing a toy under the Toycom brand as he was very emphatic that if he were to put a Valkyrie out under his company, it would have to be the most awesome Valkyrie ever made.  Because of the design/engineering difficulties and George’s determination to create ultimate the Valkyrie, the release date of the Valkyries was delayed numerous times.  By April 2000, Toycom and Yamato had finished prototyping the YF-19, a nearly completed YF-21, and initial prototype model of the VF-11.    Toycom and Yamato debuted the prized specimens at the San Diego Comicon.  With the amount of effort in creating these toys, it was no surprise to see that the dealers and fans hailed at the toys.  After all, it’s been a good 10 years since the last die-cast/plastic transformable Valkyrie toy was produced.  It had appeared that Toycom and Yamato had found their cash cow.   At least that was the first impression…

The Valkyries also caught the attention of Harmony Gold representatives also attending the San Diego show.   Harmony Gold confronted Toycom, claiming that they had owned the rights to the Macross license and that the Valkyries violated the very license they paid good money for in 1985.  Mid through the 2000 year, Harmony Gold served papers to Toycom and asked them to cease and desist the line until the property can be resolved with Big West.  Surprisingly, Harmony Gold had allowed Toycom to display the Valkyries at the San Diego show, where both Harmony Gold and Big West could meet to discuss the issues. This is where the Macross troubles began…

US Licensing of Macross/Robotech: History 101

Now with Harmony Gold and Big West negotiating, Toycom was stuck in the middle, still with the lawsuit. As the owner of Toycom, George was directly named on the suit.  As many of you are aware, Harmony Gold has made their claims to all the rights of Macross outside of Japan.   This included all derivatives spun off from the television series to include the Macross movie, Do You Remember Love?, Macross Plus, and Macross 7.   From research uncovered, it appears that Big West sold a license to Tatsunoko.  In this contract, Big West apparently gave the Tatsunoko the rights to Macross and all its derivatives.   Tatsunoko in turn resold this license to Harmony Gold back in 1984 to produce a new anime, Robotech, over in the United States.   In 1999, Toycom and Yamato purchased their license directly through Big West. George inquired about the Harmony Gold Macross rights and Big West indicated that they owned the rights to the television series, not the Macross movie.  If Toycom were to produce any VF-1 Valkyries, the Valkyries would have to be designed from the Macross movie, and the box would have to be properly labeled “Macross movie, Do You Remember Love” Valkyries.   Haven been assured that there were no legal issues, Toycom and Yamato proceeded with their Valkyrie plans.

Because of the licensing issues over Macross, Toycom was forced to put a hold on the release of the Valkyrie over here in the United States.   Since Harmony Gold had legal precedence to their claims, George agreed not to sell the toys over here in the US until this licensing issue can be resolved.   Thus, the negotiations between Big West and Harmony Gold continued and to this day, no conclusion has been reached.
 

The birth of Toynami 

Yamato still had the legal right to sell the Macross Plus Valkyries in Japan.  Unfortunately, Toycom was unable to sell even one Valkyrie over here in the states.  With the Valkyrie plans not working out at Toycom, George left Toycom to pursue is own company.   Yamato purchased Toycom from George in October 2000.  Both parties were sadden to see their partnership come to an end.  

After a few months rest and gathering his thoughts, George created his own toy company, Toynami.   George still wanted to continue his dream to create his own toys and the VF-1 Valkyrie like he originally planned.  And thus, George approached Harmony Gold for a Robotech license to produce toys.  He figured that Harmony Gold had the proper ownership of the Macross license in the United States and still be able to produce his dream Valkyrie.  George met with Harmony Gold executives and pitched his Robotech toy plans.   Ironically, the company that once sued George would grant him the very license to produce the Valkyrie.
 

Toynami and Robotech 

Toynami signed up as the exclusive licensee for all of Harmony Gold’s Robotech toys in late 2000.  George was very ecstatic over the deal because he realized that the Robotech license would open more opportunities that just the legal right to produce a VF-1 Valkyrie, though it would be known as the VF-1 Veritech.  Furthermore, since Robotech was a compilation of three different anime series, Toynami benefited in the deal as it was able to purchase the rights to produce toys for all three shows.  Thus, Toynami has the rights to produce toys for the Macross television series, the Robotech Masters series (Southern Cross), and the Invid Series (Mospeada). 

George quickly jumped on a number of Robotech projects in late 2000.  As recently announced this past month, Toynami has confirmed three different lines of Robotech products this past week: the SD Veritech keychains, SD Veritech figures, and the transformable, SD Veritech Morphers!  The keychains and figures are made up of PVC plastic and are packaged in blister packing.  The keychains are figures are expected to sell for $3.99 each and will be released in early March 2001. The transformable Morphers Veritechs will stand about 3 inches tall (which is in between the size of the Bandai SD Valkyrie and the original Takatoku style Morphers).   George was quick to mention that the Morphers have the same level of detail as the Bandai SD Valkyries but are slightly smaller!  The Morpher Veritechs/Valkyries are making a debut in April 2001. 

More importantly, Toynami has officially confirmed that they are in the progress of designing and producing the ultimate Valkyrie toy.  In this Masterpiece collection, there are 10 toys planned.  Of the total, five will be Veritechs/Valkyries, three Alpha Fighters, and two other transformable toys (to be announced later) will be produced.   The new transformable toys will be 1/65 in scale (about 8 inches tall), made up of die-cast and high grade plastic.  One key point is that the Robotech Masterpiece toys will be LIMITED in production, with certificates of authenticity, and very nice elaborate artwork packaging!   The first Masterpiece toy is expected to be released in the Summer 2001.   No prices are available yet.  More details will be available in the coming weeks. 

 The future of Toynami

 Toynami has many plans to produce over 40 SKUS of Robotech products in the coming year.  While not all details have been disclosed, the Valkyrie Exchange can assure fans that many good things will be happening in the months ahead of us!

Outside of the Robotech world, Toynami is also currently releasing Tenchi Muyo action figures (April 2001 Release) and Capcom vs. SNK Deformed keychains (March 2001 Release).    

The Future of Yamato/Toycom

Yamato is enjoyed much success with the sale of the YF-19 and YF-21 Valkyries.  As a matter of fact, sales have been even higher than forecasted!  The VF-11B is near completion and is expected to debut in late February or early March.  Moreover, Yamato has confirmed that they are working on the VF-1 Classic Valkyrie prototype that is slated for release in the Fall 2001.  Likewise, Macross/Robotech fans will further celebrate as Yamato has confirmed that Fast Pack versions of the YF-19, YF-21, and VF-11 will be coming in the in as early Fall 2001.

Unfortunately, US fans will have to continue waiting, as licensing negotiations are still ongoing for the US release of the Toycom Valkyries.   Toycom is still unable to distribute any Valkyries until the licensing issues are resolved.
 

What fans can expect in 2001

The year 2001 still may shine signs of prosperity for Macross fans, as the licensing issues may be a step closer to resolution.  There is still a strong possibility that the Macross Plus Valkyries will hit US shores in the near future.  With broad line of Macross Plus Valkyries coming from Yamato, the re-release of the Bandai Macross 7 Valkyries, Macross fandom has never been stronger!  Furthermore, with Yamato/Toycom and Toynami producing competing lines of VF-1 toys, it’s just icing on top of the cake!  Fan should rejoice that all these companies have made the Valkyries/Veritechs back to us (rather than making ridiculous eBAY bids to own a Bandai or Takatoku Valkyrie.)