M.Lover Maaie

Review by chachipower

It's very rare that a review I do really tugs on the strings of my nostalgia. It can be the most insignificant thing or it could actually be something really cool. In my case it was something really cool. You see, I was the kid who had the Vehicle Voltron, while everyone had the Lion Force Voltron. I was the kid with the strange Dunbine figure while everyone had an Optimus Prime. I was full of strange unknown robots called Xabungle, Valkyries, Daitarn 3, Orguss and many more silly names. I didn't mind because I knew these unknown toys were gems for sure. Even though I just assumed they were just silly made up robots. Most came in boxes I couldn't understand from a far away place. Most were made of metal. I was always drawn to the metal toys, it was like a requirement for the toy to be cool. Best of all, I knew my friends were secretly jealous.

Today I wanna show you one of those strange toys that played a key role in making me the robot collecting freak I am. One day, we went to a little local mall. I remember it being like a little trinket store that sold wallets, luggage, hats and other small items. Right smack in the center was a tall glass display case full of a bunch of weird toys apparently no one wanted. Being the good boy I was, I made sure to scan for something with a low price to lessen the chances of having my mom say "no!". I spotted a small box covered in absolutely glorious artwork. It looked like a jet with robot arms. "Awesome" I thought. Then I saw the price. $8. Not bad, I can swing that. I remember not having to put up a fight for it. On the ride home I stared at the box and imagined all the fun I would have with it. I remember thinking how fantastic it looked on the box. It was so darn detailed.

Then I got home. I took it out. It had all the familiar stuff that all my other toys had. "Chinese" writing, Styrofoam, tiny accessories. But it looked nothing like the weathered one on the box. I felt cheated. I quickly forgot to stay upset and proceeded to enjoy the living crap out of this toy. I played so much with this thing and imagined the craziest scenarios with it. I also remember chewing on the hands of the pilot. Later on I would make a failed attempt at weathering the M.Lover.

So as I grew up, I started noticing girls and the toys were quickly hidden away. After messing with tons of hot girls for a few years and then getting bored of the BS, I needed to keep occupied so I started to collect again. One day I came across my old battered M.Lover. I missed it and I hated seeing it in its horribly weathered condition. I had to find another. If I only knew the hell I would be getting myself into.

For sure I knew, they would cost more than a $8. First one I got cost me about $130 (or more?) and that was purely because I hadn't seen one in like forever so I became part of a bidding war. I won. Upon receiving it, I opened it and proceeded to add the accessories, I was pleasantly surprised at how coo...HOLY BEARD OF ZEUS IT BROKE INTO MANY UNGLUEABLE SHARDS OF GREY PLASTIC!! I was so shocked and upset. Apparently time was not good to the plastics. This started an obsession with finding a perfect specimen which is a lot harder than I thought it would be as this was a curse with these toys. A few purchases of broken M.Lovers later, I came across this unbroken, unused beauty. At a much better price than all the other broken ones. At last, here comes the review. To keep the chance of heart failure low, I used a broken M.Lover for the strenuous posing activities, while the intact one was used for the pretty out-of-the-box shots.

Here is the M.Lover Maaie which is from the show SUPER DIMENSIONAL CENTURY ORGUSS which is supposedly an indirect sequel to Super Dimensional Fortress Macross. It never quite achieved the same level of popularity though. This ship and another were later redesigned and rebuilt as Orguss. It comes in a smallish window type Takatoku box with some amazing artwork.

If this box art looks good to you now, imagine being a robot obsessed kid in the 80's. It was "fresh". Yeah I lived in New York City so that was the cool word.

I really thought the toy would look like this.

As a kid, I was not aware that these were meant to be detailed since they were designed as completed model kits. That explains why my pilot looked nothing like the one on the box. I guess being able to read Japanese would have helped.

One of the pleasures of handling a Takatoku box is the textured feel of the box. It gives it a classy feel. As if they meant for the box to be cherished.

The toy itself slept safely and comfortably within the confines of it's Styrofoam tray away from the clutches of this 36 year old. Now it hides in terror of being posed and destroyed. I may have even heard a slight "nooooo!" while opening.

The first thing I pulled out was the stand which is a nice clear brown with chrome stamping.

Then I pulled out a little baggy full of cool colorful stuff they call paper.

I failed miserably at opening the baggie without mutilating it. Sad, lo-res files will have to do.

It even comes with a sticker sheet to make it look more "real". Takatoku increases the play value of this toy by making you have to cut out these micro stickers and frustratingly apply them.

Once carefully, and I do mean carefully removed, you can place it on the stand, wipe the sweat off your forehead if it is still in one piece. These figures have notoriously weak shoulders. And antenna. And hands. And..oh hell everything. It is quite nice otherwise. just like how I remember it to be when I first played with it a long ass time ago.

I love this view.

I also like the rear boosters. Looks like a very powerful machine.

The M.Lover has a beautiful alternate mode. I bet you can pick up a lot of Super Dimensional-chicks with this...and I do mean literally pick them up-with the M.Lover's hands because there is only one seat. It doesn't so much as transform as it does adjust position. The arms simply swing out ("simply" is a bad choice of word here) the arms and attach your choice of either semi-open hands or semi-closed hands. For my heart's sake, I loosened the screws on the shoulder and used my broken M.Lover to take the following shots. Just pretend this one has the antennas and the review won't suck as much.

The set comes with a total of four hands. Two semi-open hands and two semi-closed hands. They look a lot lighter than they are in this picture due to lighting.

These are also fragile. More so the tabs than the actual hands. So be careful pushing them into the wrists. In fact, just loosen the two forearm halves to lessen the stress on the tabs like I did and to lessen the chances of having to Kung-Fu yourself to death if you break it. This one here has a broken tab, yes I broke it and yes I Bruce Lee'd myself for a few minutes.

You'll also want to be careful with the wrists themselves because the evil gray plastic is used there too. This however, I did not break. Somewhere out there is the collector who has also beat himself to a pulp for doing this... and then sold it to me. Sort of a way to pass down the curse. Awesome of him not to note this in the description before I skipped paying my car insurance to buy this. Even more awesome of me for not noticing this when I inspected the figure for the first time.

With the arms extended, it looks really nice from the back too.

With the arms out, you will notice the similarities of the arms and shoulders of the M.Lover with the Orguss.

The M.Lover also features a super sweet cockpit. Of all the plastics, the hatch plastic seems to always survive intact on these toys even though it's thin and hinged. The hatch swings up to reveal a small interior with Maaie in a provocative position. This however is normal when it comes to piloting an M.Lover. Butts up everyone!

I was going to show Maaie by herself in her pilot position, but it looked quite inappropriate. Then again, there is nothing appropriate about holding a woman with robot-arms upside-down while in a provocative position.

Although this is not the most heavily armed M.Lover, it does have a Beam Gatling Gun on top that pivots up.

So now we get to see the size of this thing compared to other 1/60 scale figures and the obligatory CDX Pheyden. Please note that I'm old and my brain tends to make mistakes. This explains why there is a 1/40 scale Orguss Orgroid in the background. So consider it a bonus. Also shown is a real 1/60 scale Yamato Valkyrie.

Shown is the broken M.Lover as the unbroken one is already stored away.

I would have used the unbroken one in the comparison pic, but it was already carefully packed back into his styrofoam. Is this picture below overkill? No. Not until I shrink-wrap the Styrofoam, place it in the box, then cello-wrap the box and then wrap it in industrial-grade bubble-wrap. Then I'll still lie awake at night wondering if that was enough to keep it from breaking.

Here is just a small sampling of the M.Lovers I own. The two in the back are the yellow Lieea M.Lover. You get one chance to guess how many of these are broken. If you said three, go have a cupcake.

It was a fun hell to do this review, but also a huge relief to have completed it without further breakage. I need a drink.