Graham

The Takara 1/48 line is going to have a complete resculpt starting from the upcoming Buglarydog release in May. From studying the pictures in last months hobby mags, it seems the changes to the new sculpt include the following: - 1) A slightly bulkier (wider) body. 2) Much more molded-on detail, such as panel lines and rivets, especially on the legs. 3) Gone are the hollow biceps. The upper arm is now completely solid and has a slight taper towards the bottom, near the elbow. 4) The small front chest hatch now opens. 5) Possibly some die-cast in the feet (not sure about this). 6) Improved attachment method for the waist gatling gun. The left side chest vent is removeable and provides an extra attachment point for the gattling gun (gattling comes molded with the the chest vent). 7) Recessed muzzles on the GAT-22 rifle. There are probably other changes, but that's all I can remember off the top of my head. The Buglary dog will I think also come with a spare set of standard lower legs, so you can coonvert it into a Standard Scopedog. I'm pretty excited about this. I just hope Takara decide to start prioviding painted pilots. Graham

Anyone publically admitting to liking stuff like Pokemon, Naruto, Yu-Gi-Oh etc on these forums, is going to get a good ribbing. Unless of course you can provide proof of age to show you are 10 or under. You have been warned! Graham

Actually, I never really liked the books as Robert Ludlum knew squat about firearms and his books were riddled with technical accuracies. One howler has always stuck in my mind, when he describes: "the distinctive curved magazine of the Uzi". Sorry, Uzi's have straight magazines. If you are going to write about something, at least do some reasearch, don't just pull the info out of your ass! Graham

Although the actors were all obviously in pretty good shape, when I watched the movie I thought the six packs looked like they were painted on. Graham

Perhaps the question should be changed to "why would anyone over 10 want Pokemon?" Graham

I'm a bit disappointed in the RX-79G HCM-Pro, which is a shame as I was so looking forward to this figure. On the positive side, it has loads of Tampo printed markings on the arms, legs, backpack and even some on the weapons. On the negative side, it's extremely small and articulation is pretty basic for an HCM-Pro. Maybe I've been spoilt by the fantastic articulation on the CCA HCM-Pro toys though. Also, the grips on the 100mm rifle and bazooka are far too long and they extend out a long way from the bottom of the fist, it looks really ugly. The stored beam saber hilts are also a joke, being only about a third of the length and diameter of the powered up saber hilts. My RX-79G also was missing one of the spare magazines that clips to the side skirt armor. Graham

From what I understand, no 11, 19 or 21. All new stuff. Graham

The Zeta-3 is actually pretty nice looking, better than the original TV Zeta color scheme IMO. The Perfect Gundam on the other hand is one of the ugliest mecha in the Gundam universe IMO. I can't help but laugh everytime I see it. Just my 0.2 cents. Graham

I do actually like the following Gundam anime: 08th Mobile Suit Team, 0080 War In The Pocket & Chars Counter Attack, but that's all. I really can't stand the rest of the Gundam anime whether it's UC, AU, CE as I find the mecha designs boring and the characters for the most part whiney and annoying. There's also too much suspension of belief involved for me to keep on buying the same "annoying teenage kid with no training somehow gets control of top secret advanced mecha prototype" again and again and again. The only Mobile Suit designs I like enough to buy toys of (and then only if they are good toys (no MSiA, EMSiA or GFF PVC crap please) are: - 1) Sazabi. 2) RX-93 Nu Gundam. 3) Gera Doga. 4) Kampher. 5) RX-79G 6) Gouf Custom. 7) S-Gundam & variants (EX-S, S-Booster, Deep Striker). Z-Plus. Graham

I don't know. It's still sitting in the box at home. I haven't taken it out yet. Graham

Edited topic title. Graham

I saw them in a shop here in HK yesterday and picked up one box at random. I ended up with Hikaru's TV VF-1J. Haven't taken it out of the plastic inner tray yet. Overall it looks pretty good, except the seam on one of the legs seemed to be coming apart. Should be easy to fix though. Comes with parts allowing you to display it either wheels up or wheels down. I'll try to snap some pics at the weekend. Graham

The HCM-Pro #38, the RX-79G Ground Type Gundam is just out here in Hong Kong. I just picked one up during my lunch break for HK$178 (US$22.82). That's an expensive price, as it's a just released 'hot' item. I'm sure the price will come down to around HK$120 (US$15.38) to HK$135 (US$17.30)in a week or two. Once the price comes down, I'll probably pick up 2 more, as this is my favorite Gundam. It looks fantastic, with loads of Tampo printed markings. The sculpt looks extremely accurate to the lineart as well. I haven't taken it out of the box yet to check articulation and the tightness of the joints as I'm still at work. My only negative comment is that it's much smaller than I expected, but then I only have some of the Char's Counter Attack HCM-Pro figures for comparisson, and they are huge mecha, so I guess their size has spoilt me. More comments tomorrow after I've had a chance to handle it. Crappy phone cam pic of the box on my desk at work below. Graham

Never heard any NIN before, at least I don't think I have. My metal tastes are somewhat more old school, e.g. Iron Maiden, Dio, WASP, Black Sabbath, early Metallica and early Megadeath. The buzz on this Year Zero seems pretty positive, so I'm wondering if I should give it a try. I like stuff about post apocalyptic and distopian futures, so maybe I should try it? Graham

Isn't a Dark Jedi just a Sith on a waiting list? Graham

Isn't it the job of a commander to lead, not act as squad gunner or heavy weapons specialist? Graham

Yeah, don't expect any major news for quite a while. It's still in the very early stages of development. Graham

FYI, the Votoms graphic novel "Supreme Survivor" that is in PDF format on the CPM bonus disc is a graphic novelisation of "Roots of Ambition" OVA, plus a novel called "The First Red Shoulder", plus the first epsiode of the TV series. I'm still reading through it, but so far It's pretty well done. Graham

Toynami..........cough....30% diecast content in VF-1 MPC....cough! Keep promises, yeah right! Graham

It's in the volume two (red cover) of this two book TIA books. Graham

I spoke with Yamato a few days ago and they said the replacement VF-0A POM arm parts should be available some time in May. I'll post more firm data as soon as I know. Graham

Yamato definitely has an edge on internal mechanical detail, but overall external sculpt is a close tie I'd say. Graham

Prometheum 5 has first refusal, as he did ask first. I do want to sell the stuff as a whole set rather than breaking it down piecemeal. Graham

PM Sent. Graham

I think the helmet looks great. It's got a nice sci-fi anime look to it. Graham