Magnus

I LITERALLY LITERALLY got Riobot Stick and Hoquette in like, last week. Dammit. This thing looks like pure sex. Yes I know it's Toynami, but MOSHOW is amazing now, and personally this design appeals to me fiercely. Hopefully it doesn't impact the Riobot prices too much for resale (although my Stick and Yellow already have the cracked struts issue).

God frakking dammit, this stupid thing made me start collecting Classified, after I swore I would stick with the modern 3 3/4. Aargh I don't need another toyline to collect but this is just so damn cool.

I've got to say i've been having some pretty bad luck with my Metal Robot Damashii figures lately. A piece on my Bael broke off the other day, and prior to that, the very fragile plastic hinge on the backpack connector for the Akatsuki funnels also broke off. I'm past the point where I ham-hands stuff now, so I was horrified when both happened. Nothing crazy glue can't fix in both cases, but very disappointing. I'm also noticing that the joints on a lot of my MRD's, particularly the real type Knight Gundams, have become extremely loose over time from nothing but sitting in a detolf.

I'm gutted about episode 9. What an absolute waste.

I'm probably going to get both of these. I had sold off my entire MASK collection when I realized that keeping vintage toys around was just a disaster waiting to happen as they degrade over time. That said, if this is just a nearly straight-up redo of the vintage Thunderhawk, i'm not sure I see the point of it. The Shark as a gap-filler I can understand. To be honest, I kind of wish they had made these in 3 3/4 scale, since i've always wanted to have my Joe's interact with MASK. I get it would have made things a lot more expensive, but it would have been neat.

Darn, I was hoping by this point someomeone would have done some Shapeways magic with it. Thanks for the update!

I know I’m very late to the game on the Riobot Ride Armors, but has anyone figured out a fix for the cracked joints in the Stick/Ray/Yellow bikes, or is it just crazy glue and prayer?

Did you mask off the painted areas or apply hydrogen peroxide all over? If you applied all over, I guess it didn't affect the paint?

Thanks yeah, that's the problem with mine - right leg is fine, left leg won't stay snapped on.

Is anyone else having fitment problems with their 31Ax super parts in fighter mode? I can't get the front air intakes to both stay attached to the body no matter what I do.

gaaaah and i'd *just* bought Arad's set literally a few days ago. Argh.

Welp, some Kiki and a sliver of silicone in the ball joints of each leg socket have seemed to fix things up for my copy. What I found interesting is that when I disassembled the leg, the ball joint looked to be a brass color. Weird. Anyway, my other question is in regards to the head - the neck area doesn't really seem to peg into anything in battroid mode - is that normal for the 25s? The entire setup feels kind of floppy, and the neck doesn't seem to extend as far as the promo images make it seem.

Well, my release has some pretty floppy legs in battloid mode. Even with the extra screws. I guess I need to open them up and see about fixing them somehow. The shoulders aren't too bad, but I get the sense they'll get loose relatively quickly. Also Bandai forgot to paint in the little black circles on the left shoulder of the figure, which seems like a weird qc miss. It makes me question why I bothered waiting for this release instead of just getting a used Renewal version. I will say though that the matte color scheme is very nice. Anyway, if this is supposed to represent a new, world-wide Macross future, it's certainly started off with a wet fart. I mean, they want people to buy more of their products after this right? I'm actually more annoyed about this figure than I am with the 31ax's, because at least those get the basics right, even if some of the tolerances are off.

So halfway through, this series is a bit of a mixed-bag for me. I get everyone's arguments, and I think (as others have pointed out), the script and filming could have used one more pass or so to polish it up. Things like Leia being able to escape the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Obi-Wan so easily, Reva parkouring over half the city to reach a place that was literally only a few minutes away, yet next episode magically teleporting ahead of Leia in the escape tunnel are frustrating. Vader using the Force to levitate Obi-Wan and put out the fire and then seemingly forgetting he was able to do both of those things literally less than 30 seconds later are downright inexcusable. Letting that rebel lady get off a second shot after taking so long from the first one. I really don't understand - who are these people who are scripting these things? Stuff that seems head-slappingly obvious to me somehow got missed by the writers, the director, the actors and the editors? I *know* i'm not a smart guy - i'm average at best, but more and more I walk away from Disney Star Wars feeling like i'm some sort of genius or something for noticing what should be obvious and absolutely fatal flaws in the narrative. Are the creatives in charge really that stupid or just lazy or both? As I type this out I keep thinking of more inconsistencies and it's making me more irritated... All that said, just seeing Ewan and Hayden on screen is a joy. Hearing JEJ's voice coming out of Vader's helmet strong and powerful (not like in Rogue One) is music to my ears. "I am what you made me" makes all the other nonsense I noted above almost worthwhile, and I feel this series actually helps explain why Obi-Wan and Vader had so little to say to each other (or surprise, on Obi-Wan's part at Vader being alive) when they met in the Death Star in ANH - they've already said what needs to be said, gotten things out of their system, and are both clearly there as adversaries with their own personal goals and missions. I can respect that, especially if the final episodes give us a renewed and powerful Obi-Wan and a Vader who get into a slap-down, drag-out fight. Every time this show cuts away from Obiwan and Vader, my interest levels crater. I could give less than a singular frakk about Reva, young Leia, or really anyone else in the series besides those two. This should have been a movie, not a TV series.