Matchbox • Robotech Series

Robotech by Matchbox is the first licensed Robotech toy line, produced by the British-American toy company Matchbox and released in the United States and Canada between 1985 and 1986. Based on the Robotech animated series created by Harmony Gold USA — itself an adaptation of three separate Japanese anime series including Super Dimension Fortress Macross — the line encompasses action figures, fashion dolls, vehicles, playsets, die-cast miniatures, and accessory sets spanning all three Robotech sagas: The Macross Saga, The Robotech Masters, and The New Generation. Notably, due to an existing licensing conflict with Hasbro’s Transformers Jetfire (which used the Takatoku 1/55 Valkyrie mold), Matchbox was unable to produce a transforming Veritech fighter, releasing it instead in a fixed fighter-mode configuration with Super armor. The line was distributed in Canada under the Matchbox/Irwin co-branding. It was later partially reissued by Harmony Gold in 1992 and by Playmates under the Exo-Squad banner in the mid-1990s, using the original Matchbox molds.