Meeshak
Maladroid

The Maladroids' newest weapon. Small, swift and able to travel on the Earth surface. Cute appearance belies their vicious nature.

Having used ~4" Mark versions of the Macross Valkyrie figures in the Maladroid range as brothers Zardok (standard version) and Zark (with the full booster kit), Select managed to get hold of the licence to the Super-Deformed versions too, and simply released them as other Maladroids. These were sub-named Mini Motorized Maladroids. So this is just the SD version of the Hikaru VF-1J - four colour schemes were released in all, the others being the Roy Fokker Special (as Mooriah), the Max Type (as Turak) and the Miria Type (as Volcan).

Meeshak, incidentally, appears to be an old biblical name, and thus pretty random for a transforming robot toy. But then, Meeshak's pretty random anyway...

Modifications extend to removing the Macross stickers from the wings - otherwise the deco is the same, right down to the 'VF-1' stickers on the shins. Even the rifle was included (though the one for this example has long gone - the thing would have been about an eighth of an inch long).

It's a cute little thing with a friction motor, but it just feels weird pretending it's part of a different line, considering the design remains so iconic. Unlike the larger Maladroids, the plastic quality is pretty good, with only the thin, screw-mounted wings being particularly fragile.

It's difficult enough to imagine such a prominent robot from another line as a well-known character, but the super-deformed nature doesn't help. The rotund robot isn't even especially cute...

With thanks to Denyer for the figure! =)