Robotech Master / Dess
One of the few highpoints in Matchbox’s Robotech Defense Force line of action figures and accessories are that some of the products were the only toys ever released from Super Dimension Cavalry Southern Cross, which made up the Robotech Masters portion of Robotech.
The Southern Cross series was abruptly cut short in Japan due to low ratings resulting in only a few model kits being released and no toys ever being manufactured. I much admired the feel, ensemble cast and art design of Southern Cross and when Matchbox released Southern Cross items I quickly picked them up.
Although more Southern Cross items were needed for the market, Matchbox’s representation of The Robotech Masters, known as Dess, Deri and Demi in the original series, is one of the all-time worse representations of a character ever injected into plastic and sold to kids and one of the most legendary peg warmer ever. In fact, I am sure if you went into a Kaybee Toy & Hobby or Playco Toys store today you can most likely still find these figures marked down from $2.95 to 10 for 1 cent.
First off The Robotech Masters as a figure is not much to work from to begin with, as the character comes down to just being an old man in a robe. But there are details about the character that could have made an impressive figure, most notably the Elizabethan robe itself which could have been a dynamic sculpt and I am sure today somebody like Revoltech could make a very reasonable impressive figure.
Unfortunately, this was 1986 and the Matchbox that manufactured these figures were nowhere near their former glory of the 1960’s and were simply a grind-house manufacturing poor toys under the Matchbox brand name.
The Robotech Master figure that came out in 1986 was less Southern Cross and more David Lynch’s The Elephant Man. I am sure if you airbrushed the robe black it was pass as The Elephant Man and would actually be a better figure!
My biggest complaint for all the Robotech Defense Force figures is the ill proportions of the figures themselves and Dess is perhaps the worst example of all the figures. The way it is proportioned it looks like the figure is smaller than the rest of the line but when compared to the other figures it actually scaled with them. The way it is proportioned, it appears to be a midget and nowhere represents the regal appearance as shown in Southern Cross.
Today it is still the most easily obtainable Matchbox Robotech Defense Force figure, as it could still be picked up sealed on the card for under $10.00 dollars on eBay. In Matchbox logic I suggest that the marketing team at Matchbox watched the Robotech Masters portion of Robotech and said. “ There are three of them so we should produce three times as many figures as the others!” And in 2010 they are still trying to unload the overstock of Dess on us.
©2010 article and pictures by Leonardo Flores & CollectionDX