Cache

Apparently someone was listening... http://www.hlj.com/product/YMT00195 http://www.hlj.com/product/YMT00196 edit: apologies. didn't see similar was posted to the middle of this thread.

moving/removing the machine guns seems like the simplest change to get rid of the "eyes."

there were actually several different lawsuits filed and FASA lost on the Macross licensing issue. i posted as much as i knew about it all a while back: http://www.macrossworld.com/mwf/index.php?...mp;#entry637450 it's a big mess and i don't believe that there were any true winners. Playmates stopped production of at least one E-frame and FASA dropped all out-of-house artwork. not all of the artwork dropped was a part of the lawsuits. some was properly licensed. they dropped it in order to protect themselves from future lawsuits. the companies involved beat each other sensless with their respective attorneys. it ended with an out of court settlement, the details of which we will never know.

they work very well for my needs. i use the Fiskars flush cutters for soft metal (miniatures) and sometimes plastics. they cannot cut hard metals though, that's where the diagonal cutters come into play. i ruined my first pair of flush cutters trying to cut a piece of piano wire.

http://brianscache.com/builds/tools.html Scroll down a bit to Sprue and Wire Cutters. I found both at my local Walmart. The Fiskars (orange handle) cut flush on one side and are ideal (IMO) for cutting parts from a sprue. The PM (black handle) are regular diagonal/wire cutters. I don't remember the exact price but I don't believe I spent more than $10 each.

early bird special is up at HLJ also... http://www.hlj.com/product/YMT00144

http://www.fightingpirannhagraphics.com House Marik: Regulan Hussars (old) the image is modified somewhat. when some of the old BattleTech artists were drawing Warhammers, they copied the Macross markings as well. i don't expect those decals to be large enough but the sample image may be what you need to make your own.

very close. it actually made it into my shoe and somehow i couldn't feel it when i was walking around. found it an hour later when i was desperate enough to actually search there. almost had an ugly accident with it earlier too. i was holding it by the legs and closing a missile door when the back torso popped off. that might have sucked if i was over a hard floor. i wish there was a better lock to hold it together.

got mine today and i'm liking it so far. it came with a pilot, technician, and an escape artist though. i was putting it back into the box and one tech fell out onto the floor. i've looked for half an hour now and i still can't find it. it's not messy in here... that sucker took a good bounce and i didn't see which way it went.

thanks! no wonder i didn't see that when i looked this morning... it's in the 'completed models' category instead of 'action figures' or 'toys' like the others.

my opinion changed after seeing those close-ups. if the weathered version is any more expensive than the standard, i'll just airbrush gray splotches along the edges of the standard on my own. it looks good enough but that style of weathering just isn't worth anything more to me. burns, gouges, and chipped paint would.

how many of each type do you think you will need? (sorry if i missed it in a previous post.)

wow, i didn't think it possible but those photos actually made me think twice about my current pre-order. i may just have to re-work my budget for the winter. i'm not familiar with how Yamato works, is the release of a weathered version an indication that they are seeing significant interest in the destroids? or is it just their standard procedure?

doesn't appear so. as MechTech said above, the details are different. the upper torsos of the Dark Horse minis are split so they can be fit over/around the lower torso piece to allow for torso articulation.

he said it was likely, but i will tend to agree with him. doesn't much matter to me either way, mine is eventually getting a BattleTech paint scheme.

wasn't that the general idea of the destroids? common parts to cut development/production time? the legs and lower torso of the Tomahawk, Defender, and Phalanx should be (nearly) identical. it's the upper torso that is very different.

found this link in a post from a couple months back. looks like they're interchangeable. http://hk.myblog.yahoo.com/iam-cybergundam/article?mid=9393

enlarged ammo bins

as promised...

i used the wrong terminology there. they are court documents (judgements), not transcripts. i also made a mistake in my initial post. the court did rule in favor of Harmony Gold on the Macross designs issue. you can read through the documents at your leisure and come to your own conclusions if you wish: FASA sues Playmates, 1 of 3 [1994 DEC]: http://alex.kaempen.org/fasa_v._playmates.html FASA sues Playmates, 2 of 3 [1995 JUN]: http://alex.kaempen.org/fasa_v._playmates2.html FASA sues Playmates, 3 of 3 [1996 JAN]: http://alex.kaempen.org/fasa_v._Playmates3.html You will find the list of disputed toys in #3 above. I believe the picture I have scanned from the Playmates toy catalog mentioned in that document. HG sues FASA, Nail in the "Unseen" coffin: http://alex.kaempen.org/harmony_gold_v._fasa.html Whoops! You weren't supposed to get those documents: http://alex.kaempen.org/harmony_gold_v._fasa2.html

Does the RS:PPU version mention the FASA employee who took BattleTech designs to Harmony Gold/Playmates in order to obtain a deal to market toy plastic 'Mechs? Does it mention said employee signed legal waivers he had no authority to sign? Does it mention how Harmony Gold/Playmates accidentally forwarded copies company documents to FASA and the legal battle over them? I have RS:PPU and have read the account printed there. It is an interesting account but it was not written by the people involved in the lawsuit saga. I don't know more than the people involved, nor do the current BattleTech developers and writers. To my knowledge, none of those people involved in the lawsuit are involved in BattleTech anymore... haven't been for quite some time. However, I am willing and able to provide much more public information than the current powers that be. I have been following this issue for over 10 years and have seen the court transcripts as well as the original rec.games.mecha announcements from the FASA heads at the time of said lawsuit. I use those facts for the basis of my telling, not the newly sanitized overview in RS:PPU. Take my account for what you will. I am confident that the information I have provided is more accurate than the RS:PPU version. (Would any company admit to a legal mistake or oversight in an official product? That would be suicide.)

i'll try to post a picture of the MadCat clone when i get home. i'd have to pour through the court documents to get the names of the others, and i don't have time for that.

it's a little small but it'll work in a pinch.

yes. i believe hers was mainly a red hourglass on the abdomen. the rest of the company had the Black Widow symbol on various locations.

not correct. FASA received a license from TCI (Twentieth Century Imports) to sell the various small scale Macross, Dougram, and Crusher Joe kits as BattleTech kits. this is similar to how Revell marketed larger kits from various series as Robotech Defenders. whether or not that was a proper license for how much they integrated the designs will never be determined--see below. the real problem actually came from the Japanese side of the Pacific. up until a few years ago the issue of which Japanese company owns the Macross licencse was never cleared up. heck, it still may not be, i haven't checked into it lately. several companies were selling licences and all claimed to be the rightful owners. there were several court actions filed by both FASA and Harmony Gold/Playmates over various issues related to using Macross and BattleTech-original 'Mech designs. to my knowledge the court never decided the issue--both parties agreed to an out of court settlement in order to end the financial drain the lawsuits had become. (one court document showed Harmony Gold requesting that FASA pay their $5 million+ in legal fees. the judge said no. you can bet FASA spent nearly the same amount though.) since it is a private settlement we will never know all of the details. all we do know is that FASA dropped all out-of-house designs and now WizKids has continued that policy. Harmony Gold/Playmates also ceased production of a set of disputed designs--those greatly (and not-so-greatly) resembling original BattleTech designs, including the Mad Cat.