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Scyla

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  1. Scyla
    Got my VF-19 Kai yesterday and the different shades of read is stark, even in hand. And it is not just the shoulder swivels but also the die cast spine and the brackets for the Sound Booster that are the same different shade of red. Plus the red plastic has a lot of tiny, yet visible scratches: disappointing. Being a Macross 7 and Fire Bomber fan I am happy to have a representation of both but I feel like my honeymoon with the older Yamato/Arcadia molds is over. Also I think I would prefer the toy with yellow highlights instead of gold. Since I had my first VF-19S in hand and thought it was the best thing since sliced bread my collection - and collecting preferences- have changed quite a bit. All the Metal Builds, Kuro Kara Kuri Transformers and Sentinel toys have tainted my expectation of what I enjoy quite a bit. Luckily the newer Arcadia toys seem to be more in line of what I enjoy.
  2. Scyla
    I will never complain that a video game series that is all about different beams and missiles and suits (all visible on screen) doesn’t get any effect packs or repaints from GSC. I would lose my mind over a Plasma Beam or Super Missile accessory. [edit:] I'm in for the TotK Link and Zelda. Even if I greatly disliked the game but BotW figures seem to be an impossibility (dare I say BotW Champions?).
  3. Scyla
    I have to give it to Square Enix. Unlike Bandai they manage to release the whole team: BringArts FF7 Vincent Valentine (11/24 ¥12000: https://www.anime-export.com/index.php?product=76770) BringArts FF7 Cait Sith (02/25 ¥12000: https://www.anime-export.com/index.php?product=76769) BringArts FF7 Cid Highwind (01/25 ¥12000: https://www.anime-export.com/index.php?product=76768) BringArts FF7 Yuffie Kisaragi (10/24 ¥12000: https://www.anime-export.com/index.php?product=76767)
  4. Scyla
    I might have preordered this one. Now I have to get the Lion Knights's Castle at some point this year.
  5. Scyla
    To me an Optimus Prime is THE ideal toy for a 40th anniversary. However, the problem is that there are not that many Optimus Primes that fit the Haslab formula: regular Primes can easily sell at retail (see Earthrise and Studio Series). The only other Primes are Energon, Cybertron and Prime. The Prime one can easily be done at retail and Energon and Cybertron are part 2 and 3 of a trilogy so not as significant for the franchise as RiD Optimus Prime is. Also how fancy do you make an Optimus Prime Haslab toy: too fancy and it approaches MP-44 not fancy enough and you wasted the Haslab potential. You could argue that Power Master Optimus would fit better because it is G1 but I think the RiD one is the more important piece for the Transformers line in general. Plus, if an MPG Ginrai is coming out you don’t want the same toy offered through Haslab and the MP line. So if you want to do a Prime for the 40th anniversary RiD Optimus Prime is the only choice. And besides Masterpiece it is the only place it could exist. PS: maybe I talked myself into supporting the Haslab one?
  6. Scyla
    Ohh I'm interested in the black repaints of both. If God Ginrai is going to be a good figure I might even buy him in his regular colors. Power/God Masters are probably the toys I have the most vivid memories off when I was a child. I remember seeing Power Master Optimus Prime with the Power Master in his little window at a local toy store but of course I wasn’t able to get it. On the Haslab front I'm surprised about some of the negative feedback the toy is getting. I think it is great figure to celebrate the 40th anniversary with. He is the Optimus Prime when Transformers was coming back from Beast Wars and doing vehicles again. I think you would have trouble selling Ultra Magnus at retail and maybe even Prime since he is not in his traditional blue pants, red shirt colors. Also since that they didn’t have to take the sound box into account you probably get a more refined and playable figure out of it, even if the toy doesn’t look so different from the front. This is praise for the original toy and not a downside of the Haslab one.
  7. Scyla
    While I'm all over black and teal Optimi repaints I quite like the red with orange chest stripe of on Super Fire Convoy so I would go with the original. I don’t have any black red and gold transforming trucks. To me the shade of gold (sometimes brown) is not appealing to me. Shame because I'd love to have a First Edition Optimus but the Dark Guard version is not for me.
  8. Scyla
    I think the Haslab God Fire Convoy set is a $250 apology letter from Takara for those who bought the subpar Super God Fire Convoy reissue a couple of years ago. I think it the set looks stellar and is a good update to the original. The problem is that the closer the toys are to the show model (culminating in the UT toys) the less derivation from the original you get with a new iteration. Especially now, were "toon-accurate" is the prime directive . I think the Haslab version changes enough to value a purchase if you are a fan of RiD. If the combined mode is sturdy and playable I think the toy is worthwhile even if you have the original. For myself I think I'll wait till FansToys will eventually get to it.
  9. Scyla
    I'm probably in for a Super/God Ginrai. However, the MPG line was a big letdown for me so far so I hope they do better. On the other hand the competition with Power Baser and the KFC one is not too stiff. But I feel like with the current direction of the MP line I won't be getting a nicely proportioned figure anyway (you know, with actual feet instead of vaguely defined blobs).
  10. Scyla
    Meanwhile the "critically acclaimed" Rebel Moon gets a set of SHF figures. I think there have been a couple of props of the Fremen shivs and such.
  11. Scyla
    Hacchaka's review for the MB Providence is up: https://hacchaka.net/archives/52104992.html He beefy:
  12. Scyla
    My guess is still on Devastator. What I really want is a G1 Overlord or God Ginrai (maybe as a two pack).
  13. Scyla
    Just watched today's video of TJOmega and he concluded that the next HasLab will be Omega Prime (the combination of Fire Convoy ans Ultra Magnus from Car Robots/RiD) given some of Hasbro’s hints. So I had to post it here for @mikeszekely.
  14. Scyla

    Arcadia VF-5000G

    Scyla replied to daBlah!'s topic in Toys

    I appreciate your thoughts. To my knowledge Macross is also niche in Japan (with exception of Frontier and Walkuere during their heyday) compared to other anime franchises. So it makes sense that the Valkyries are not produced in masses and they tend to be rare. I was more thinking about a photo someone postet on MWF during the height of the Renewal preorder madness were they showed a stack of the newest Renewal VF-25 on day of release (might have been a Yodabashi Kamera in Tokyo). It probably also depends were in Japan you try to buy one but I don’t live in Japan so all I can do is guess.
  15. Scyla
    Don’t worry I also thought the tray with the Super Parts and the extra wing pair came with this release and was confused when someone here mentioned that the wings are removable. I thought to myself: how bizarre!
  16. Scyla
    I still got a lot of enjoyment out of it. I have still vivid memories about some of the visor-less less, be it from old Lego catalogs (if I remember there was a period where visor-less and visor sets overlapped) or from seeing adds in older issues of comic books. I just would have preferred a different scope but I digress. I agree that even if we document a lot with the help of the Internet, so much valuable information is lost, at least for special interest groups like us. Maybe this is the reason why so many of us try to curate a personal collection because we know no one else will (I mean how many people in the world are interested in the history of Cliffjumper toys).
  17. Scyla
    @M'Kyuun I got my copy of the Lego Space book and while it contains a whole lot I'm not interested in and doesn’t contain everything I wanted (I really hope the author gives us a second volume) it is nice to have some documentation and clear images of my favorite Lego Space set: 6781 SP-Striker (maybe my favorite Lego set ever). My childhood copy of the toy has seen better days and is currently in storage so it is nice to look at the lovely pictures: much nostalgia
  18. Scyla

    Arcadia VF-5000G

    Scyla replied to daBlah!'s topic in Toys

    I think the issue is the scale of operation you are dealing with and some other commenters have already eluded to that. I assume the way Arcadia plans their production is totally different to what Bandai is doing. When Arcadia has decided on a new release they will open orders first and than see how many preorders they can collect from the wholesalers and individual customers. With that number in hand, they will go to an independent factory and book a production slot for as many units they want to produce. Hopefully the timing works out, otherwise the product is delayed (happens fairly often). I would imagine that Bandai doesn’t operate on a batch by batch basis the way that Arcadia does. Because they have so many different lines and IPs they would allocate far in advance the production slot for a given item. Of course they will do a market analysis to get an estimate how much they want to produce. However, after the numbers are set this won’t change anymore. After that they will give the retailers the numbers how much units they can expect which is then sold off at preorder day. Bandai just has to plan their production differently than Arcadia since they are a gigantic company. And they have different processes in place and are not that agile compared to small operation like Arcadia. Bandai's releases are usually never delayed which is an indicator to me that they planned their production lines in advance. Sure they have made to order items for their TWE releases but they also seem to have a predefined upper limit on how much they can produce. To my understanding is that in Japan these items are not a scarce as we believe they are and you are able to go to a store and pick one up. So it is not like Bandai is super off with their estimates (there are notable exceptions like the Metal Build EVA-01 but that got a reissue fairly quickly). Also big retailers like BBTS also don’t sell out quickly so I feel like Bandai thinks their production numbers are good especially since you don’t want to have big warehouses full of stock binding money. It is just that smaller stores focusing on exporting those toys from Japan can’t get enough stock either from Bandai directly or from their middle men. The only thing odd about it are shops like Amazon Japan and AmiAmi ( to my knowledge the biggest specialty goods store in Japan). But here it could be the case of customers with a foreign IP address seeing other (more limited) listings compared to customers from Japan directly. Which has been the primary market for Macross items for a long time now.
  19. Scyla
    Nice Arcee build @tekering. That reminds me that I have to build my own copy of the kit. I really wished Flame Toys would release some female Transformers in their Kuro Kara Kuri line (IDW Firestar maybe?). The better materials would make the more fragile designs sturdier and it would look nice on my display having not just buff robots fighting each other.
  20. Scyla
    New round of preorders for the Sword and Launcher Striker. Release date 07/24. Sword Striker (¥12800): https://www.anime-export.com/index.php?product=76025 Launcher Striker (¥12800): https://www.anime-export.com/index.php?product=76024
  21. Scyla
    Thank you for looking up and sharing the game models @mikeszekely. This line looks like an absolute winner. I would love to get the Starscream mold as Skywarp (love the Animated look) and a Nemesis Prime repaint. Seems unlikely but one can hope.
  22. Scyla
    Given that the ab extension is colored to match the standard Kaen colors I could imagine that MPG-07 will be a standalone release to celebrate the Dr. Yellow train. Given that the other Diaclone trains are mostly not real trains and/or would require extensive remolds I don’t know if Takara will release a full set of Trainbots in alternative, diaclone colors. Anyhow, I got a few Transformers I bought last year that were sitting in a warehouse until now. Here is the good, the bad and the ugly: The good: Nemesis Leo Prime. I really enjoyed this figure. So much so that he is probably my favorite Transformer I bought in 2023. I also got the MP version that is a terrible toy and several magnitudes worse compared to this mainline toy. Sure the lion legs as arm kibble will never not be awkward but he has such a nice transformation besides that. Love how the robot chest panels get inverted and fold into the chest and how the spike on the shoulder spike becomes the lion's tail. And the alt mode is an awesome and realistic toy lion. The bad: MPG Seizan. He is a remold of Suiken with a different train shell and a new head. Out of the box he is not as loose and flimsy as the other arm bot and I like the head sculpt with the faceplate. In the past I often said that these are awesome trains but I'll stop giving Takara credit for that since out of the 5 Trainbots I have none can roll on their set of tracks. I know model scale trains can be super expensive but if you are a train collector I would rather go that route. Terrible, parts forming, kibble ridden, robot mode. An unimaginative shellformer with a terrible arm mode: the Trainbots are the worst toys I bought in a long while and the arms are worse than the rest. The ugly: FoC Gamer Edition Cliffjumper. This toy is just awkward: awkward proportions with his missing lower abdomen, awkward tolerances with his backpack constantly popping off when you want to transform him to his awkward transformation were nothing really comes together. I especially question the decision
  23. Scyla
    Kapow Toys (a UK based collector shop) has it for £280 ($360/€325) but this includes already the 20% EU sales tax: https://www.kapowtoys.co.uk/product/macross-plus-dx-chogokin-yf-21-guld-goa-bowman-machine.html
  24. Scyla
    Rule of Cool? I'm sure there is a scientific explanation for it but my first guess would be because it is a cool looking and fun and engaging gimmick.
  25. Scyla
    I'm usually checking these boards on the weekends but I notices much less traffic (i.e. new posts) on Saturday and especially Sunday. So if you want more impact I would say the Monday to Friday is the way to go. I would say it fixes some of the issues. I’m a bit frustrated that it doesn’t seem to be included with regular Kaen which will be released next month since the toy is already a heavy parts former so why not go all the way. However, this whole set is already a huge disappointment for me, so I don’t think this will do much for my enjoyment of the set anyway. Maybe a 3rd party company will give MPG Raiden a new skeleton (like New Age Devastator for example) that will fix more issues once Kaen is released but we will see. [edit:] The real question is: why doesn’t Kaen form more of Raiden's torso anyway, instead of consisting of 95% hip kibble?
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