I remember watching ROBOTECH (all three seasons) and Mospeada on terrestrial TV when I was a kid. It was my introduction to Super Dimension Fortress Macross but I only found out that Macross was a franchise by itself when I was in college. Browsing through a certain DVD shop (pirated DVDs, no doubt) introduced me to Do You Remember Love and Macross Plus. But I never did got around to buying Macross-related collectibles until I was working in my first job.

Back then, XL-Shop (and still is) and Play-Asia were the go-to places to get collectible toys, and over the years I managed to snag two Revoltech Kaiyodo action figures. These were super-poseable (but not transformable) figures of the VF-1S and the VF-1J in Battloid mode, and more importantly aside from looking really cool, they didn’t costing my wallet a lot.

It was in my second job that I found out about Macross Frontier, and that series stands as my favourite in the Macross franchise. The scene whether the VF-25S transforms for the first time (piloted by Ozma Lee) in the first episode was purposely done in slo-mo and shown a second time from a different angle as a gesture of ultimate fan-service. It was a trip to Hong Kong in 2011 that netted me a VF100’s VF-25G Messiah (Mikhail Blanc Custom).

I was still a noob back then and while I knew Bandai had model kits, I didn’t know about the different toy lines such as VF-Hi Metal/Hi-Metal R and DX Chogokin. The latter is considered the super premium toy line from Bandai for Macross, and they have the price tag to reflect that. By the time I found out about DX Chogokin Macross, buying even one was out of the question, considering that we had a lot of medical fees to pay for my first born, at least for the first 8 years.

My first DX Chogokin was an opportunistic purchase. The movie Macross Delta: Zettai Live!!!!!! was released in 2021, and by 2022, two DX Chogokin toys were released, one for the VF-31AX Kairos Plus (in Mirage Farina Jenius’ livery) and the YF-29 Durandal (in Maximilian Jenius’ livery). While the VF-31AX Kairos Plus is considered the hero Variable Fighter in the movie, the YF-29 was previously also seen in Macross Frontier: The Wings of Goodbye, hence it was being sold for cheaper online. I got mine in January 2023.

My second DX Chogokin was the VF-25F Super Messiah Valkyrie (Alto Saotome Custom) Revival Version which came with Super Parts (boosters, armor and missiles). This was the hero unit in the Macross Frontier TV series. For some strange reason, one Taiwanese online store was offering it at a really low price, so it was money down for a unit in June 2023.

The latest addition to my collection came in by hand just recently, and it’s the YF-19 Excalibur (Isamu Alva Dyson Use) from Macross Plus. I bought this while we were in Hong Kong in August 2024, having found somewhat cheaper than what I can find in Malaysia. It was at a store in Wan Chai’s Toy Street, and the shopkeeper was a chatty fellow and kept talking about Max and Miriya (from the original Super Dimension Fortress Macross and in Macross 7) in Cantonese, while I already mentioned that my Cantonese is useless outside of conversing with close family and friends.

Having broken my foot prior to the trip, my wife lugged the YF-19 through Wan Chai and a really busy Causeway Bay, all the way back to our hotel in Tsuen Wan.

Here are all three of them at home, each with their own transparent acrylic display box. I’m still looking out for a VF-171EX Armored Nightmare Plus Ex (Alto Saotome use) or a VF-31AX or the upcoming VF-31J, but a key factor in the purchase decision by price. Once you go with a DX Chogokin Macross figurine, you wouldn’t want to indulge in other toy lines for the same franchise as they can feel subpar. So if you are looking to start a collection, be on the look out for bargains.