Zor Prime / Seifriet Weibe

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.

One of the easiest figures to obtain for the RDF series is Zor Prime or known in the original Southern Cross series as Seifriet Weibe. An important character in both series, it was a good subject choice for Matchbox to produce but the results less than desirable.

Typical of most all Matchbox RDF figures Zor’s bad posture hunchback appearance seems to be the most rememberable feature of this figure. The figure simply cannot stand up straight or even stand at all, something I believe stems from the small torso and a defective metal leg hook that holds the figure together.

Replicating Zor’s long hair in 1:18 figures was a decent attempt for the time, even Hasbro only attempted it for the first time in 1984 with their Baroness figure. Unfortunately, the figure’s odd face sculpt does not have an anime style face, which is my biggest complaint of the entire line but you cannot fault them for getting his purple hair color correct!

Some of the positives was the choice of using his Zor combat uniform for the figure, the vibrant colors really pops and lends to the art design of the Southern Cross TV series. The weapon sculpt is excellent although I cannot remember if this style of gun was scaled down for human use but it still looks cool. Another missed opportunity was producing Zor with his Southern Cross armor, which would have been a great addition to the line.

Not necessary the greatest figure ever made but an inexpensive and easy purchase for the Robotech/Southern Cross collection.

©2010 Article and Pictures by Leonardo Flores and CollectionDX