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Graham

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Everything posted by Graham

  1. Graham
    Yamato definitely has an edge on internal mechanical detail, but overall external sculpt is a close tie I'd say. Graham
  2. 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
  3. Graham
    PM Sent. Graham
  4. Graham
    I think the helmet looks great. It's got a nice sci-fi anime look to it. Graham
  5. Graham
    Picked up a Yamato 1/12 Red Shoulder ver.2 Scopedog a few days ago as well as some of the accessory sets and Chirico Cuvie pilot figure. I have to say although I’m normally a big Yamato fan, I’m not terribly impressed with their Scopedog, especially when compared to the sublime Takara 1/18 scale rendition. The problem is the Yamato is just too big and heavy for its own good and even the improved ver.2 joints are not strong enough to allow you to pose the toy in any but the most neutral static poses keeping within the toy’s extremely limited center of gravity. Attempt any sort of dynamic action pose and the toy more often than not wants to topple over, resulting in limbs and other assorted small parts flying off! The balance problem is made even worse if you fit the Parachute sack. Right out of the box I encountered a problem with the right elbow being so loose, it would not support the full-sized GAT-22 rifle at all. On removing the outer armor, I found that one screw was missing from the elbow! After finding a suitable replacement screw, the elbow joint was better, but the elbow ratchet will still not hold a 90 degree pose with the weight of the rifle and will sag one click even when holding the short barrel GAT-22C carbine. Forget even trying the heavy SMAT-38 9 shot box missile launcher, it is just too heavy. I’ve had problems with the arms and legs falling off the toy, especially the arms. As mentioned above they are just too heavy and the joints insufficiently strong. Also, the bicep armor on both the left and right arms and the antenna all constantly fell off. This got so annoying that I have crazy-glued the arms and legs onto their respective shoulder and hip sockets so they are no longer removable and also glued on the bicep armor and antenna in an attempt to make the toy more playable. This means I can no longer completely strip the toy down, but that doesn’t bother me too much. Another minor problem is that the cockpit hatch will not stay open to full extension and will only stay about 60% open. The cockpit hatch is also the least smoothly opening of any Votoms toy I’ve handled. The crappy thumb also kept constantly falling off the gun hand, so this has also been crazy glued on. Means I can’t change weapons, but at least it is not so bloody annoying. In terms of paint job, markings, articulation, tightness of joints, ability to hold dynamic action poses, the Takara 1/18 beats the Yamato 1/12 hands down. The only areas where the Yamato shines are in the Chirico Cuvie pilot figure which is head and shoulders above the crappy Takara Microman version. In a perfect world, Yamato would make a 1/18 scale Chirico to fit in the Takara DMZ. I’m sorry, but the Yamato is just not an enjoyable toy IMO. You are constantly struggling against it to get it to balance and hold a pose and this just takes away the fun factor. I’m probably going to sell off my Yamato Scopedog and accessories and stick with the DMZ line. Graham
  6. Graham
    Peace through superior firepower. Graham
  7. Graham
    Just one look at the pics posted in this thread is enough for me. Not a fan of this sort of anime at all. Graham
  8. Graham
    Heh, that 'Jump In My Car' song is great. Graham
  9. Graham
    Topics merged Graham
  10. Graham
    Just spoke briefy with Yamato and was told the TAF schemes are not going to be made into production toys. Graham
  11. Graham
    Just spoke briefy with Yamato and was told the TAF schemes are not going to be made into production toys. Graham
  12. Graham
    It seems to be a serialization that's been running in Hobby Japan the last few months. Text with some photos and drawings. Yes, Max factory will be releasing their 'big head' 1/35 PVC Scopedog toys in Commando Vorct colors in May or June this year IIRC. I think there is also a garage kit manufacturer releasing some resin conversion parts, possibly for the Takara plamodels? Graham
  13. Graham
    I'm loving the TV series so far. I'm about half way through the Kummen Jungle Wars arc. I recently ordered and recieved the first three R2 OVAs "The Unknown Red Shoulder" 1985, "Battle Of The Heterogeneous Species" 1986, & "Red Shoulder Document, The Root Of Ambition" 1988. I've watched the first two and they are great. I've also just placed an order with CD Japan for the 5-part OVA "The Defrost". Can't wait for the new TV series to start later this year. Chirico is such a great character. It's nice to see a professional soldier as the lead, instead of a whiney, angsty teenage brat, as is common in many mecha shows. After a few days with my DMZ #02 Strikedog, I've found that the shoulder and hip joints, especially the hips are much looser than my DMZ #01 Scopedog, meaning it tends to overbalance fairly easily. I think I'm going to have to take it apart and see if I can tighten up some of the joints. Poseability is also a bit less less on the Strikedog, as the ankles don't have as wide a range of movement as the Scopedog's and you can't really get the feet flat on the floor with the legs spread wide. Still a great looking toy though. Graham
  14. Graham
    I voted for the X-Wing. While Fett's armour looks cool, the guy was a real wuss, getting beaten by a blind man with a stick. Graham
  15. Graham
    It's only been announced as an accessory set so far, complete with a Vanilla Microman figure. Of course, that's not to say that Takara might not later release it together with a Scopedog, but there has been no official announcement either way yet. Graham
  16. Graham
    I Luv Mylene! Graham
  17. Graham
    Anybody have the CM's red & green Calamity Dog toys? Are they decent toys, i.e. do the have good articulation, tight joints, decent paint job and do the parts stay on, or are they a floppy mess with crap paint job and self-destruct if you breath on them? Also, are they made mostly of ABS or dreaded PVC? Graham
  18. Graham
    Not to try to hijack this thread too much, but I'm just curious as to what bitrate you guys use for your MP3 files? After some experimentation I found that 128kbps seems to offer the best balance for me between acceptable audio quality vs file size. Graham
  19. Graham
    On The Bloodsucker I handled, the limbs were very loose, the backpack wouldn't stay on and the magazine kept falling off the rifle. Also, the surface of the figure showed more than the normal amount of PVC lumps, bumps and depressions, i.e. the supposedly flat surfeces weren't as flat as they could have been. Maybe this was just a bad one and others are better, but I wouldn't buy it. Graham
  20. Graham
    Although I haven't had much time to handle it let, my initial impressions of the Takara 1/18 Strikedog (DMZ #02) are very positive. Articulation is good and the joints are nice and tight with very positive ratchets. The detail and paint job is also very good. It seems Takara fixed most of the issues found on DMZ #01. The head turret is now nice and secure, the visor actually stays up when opened and the antennas are of a flexible blue plastic, so there's not so much worry about them breaking (a second set of harder plastic antenna painted silver are also provided). My only complaint is again about the hand design as the fingers are just not secure enough to hold the big Solid Shooter bazooka and the fingers come off within seconds. I've already super-glued them in place. As others have mentioned, the plastic used in the toy feels more like fragile model-kit-grade styrene rather than toy-grade ABS, but so far on my Scopedog (DMZ #01), which I have had for a couple of weeks seems to be holding up fine. Graham
  21. Graham
    No idea if DMZ #03 comes with any stickers, but I agree that it does look really plain with no weathering and no printed markings. I'm definitely going to pass on it. Although I'd like to have a Round Mover and Solid Shooter, I'm not going to buy another Scopedog, especially such a plain looking one, just to get the accessories. C'mon Takara, release more accessory sets! Graham
  22. Graham
    I usually buy from www.allofmp3.com Graham
  23. Graham
    Votoms is not that popular here in HK and only limited stock is imported and tends to sell at inflated prices. Hardly any shops sell Votoms toys. In fact pretty much the only toy store that sells a decent selection of Votoms stuff is Animate. I should know as I recently went on a big toy hunt around Causeway Bay, Wanchai, Mong Kok, Tai Po, Fanling and Taikoo Shing. I must have visited over 30 toy and hobby shops and apart from Animate, only 1 or 2 other shops had any Votoms stuff at all and then usually only 1-2 items. Graham
  24. Graham
    Thanks, I'll check that out. I haven't gotten around to taking a look at the extras on the CPMs DVDs yet. Graham
  25. Graham
    I forget which was my first toy, it was either the Bandai 1/100 DYRL VF-1A Hikaru or the Bandai 1/72 DYRL HCM VF-1S Hikaru back in either 1986 or 1987. I owned several Macross models back in 1983, long before I ever saw any toys. Graham
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