jenius

You know what's sad? I went to post Part 1 of my review last night but I'm currently locked out of my own website! If I can get back in I will post it tonight if I'm not too drunk after softball

Watch another six episodes... the Legioss is constantly changing in appearance (thank you Anime Friend!). There will be spots where it looks all angular and needle-nosed and then other scenes were it appears more bulbous. The battle scenes are especially problematic.

Yes, the little tab on the gun should fit in the little slot opposite where the VTOL thruster would be if the Shadow had one. It's not the best fit in the world and it gets really tricky because if you have to apply pressure you might just push the area it's supposed to fit in downward instead of getting the gun to stick.

I had a hard time having the stand cooperate in that mode.

Interesting, that could be it.

I'm at work now and trying to think up what my review for this toy will be like. I remember seeing a bunch of blue and white plastic pieces on a sprue... what were those for?

Seein how simple the CMs toy is and how not-overwhelmingly-large it is has me wondering what Toynami must be smoking if they think there version should retail for $150. I do think we'll see less problems with it than their MPC Alpha. If the MPC Alpha is a 10 on a scale of complexity the Beta is a 5. If they go the smart route and include two connecting booms they won't have to worry too much about complexity there either.

LOL, I was looking for advice from someone who actually had one. I see now that you have to swap out the magazine for the extra piece that comes with it. That's a let down, the Aoshima just slides the clip in but I guess this way it fits nice and snug.

Does anyone's gun fit in the center missile pod? Mine doesn't even look close?

I have a couple issues with the Legioss transformation. The linkage involved with the head and nose of the plane is cumbersome. The second issue is getting the legs both in exactly the same spots... which I think is made a lot worse by the fact that the legs don't look right even when they are in the right spot.

Glad you guys like it, but I see I forgot to open up the missile bays on the legs . Cain, you're going to need to come up with a custom stand if you want to keep the toy looking like this. I also stole a gun from an MPC

Well I'll certainly mention Gakken's old 1/72 Tread but I don't own one so it won't be much of a comparison. Maybe now that this thing is out I'll finally be able to find one without breaking the bank! EDIT - also, bad news, you won't be able to display your CMs like that pic unless someone makes a custom stand. I had to use the CM's stand to hold up the Tread, a Mega House stand to hold up one of the front feet, and about a 5" prop to hold up the connecting arm where it connected to the Legioss.

I actually think that's the opposite of what happened here. CMs strayed so far from lineart by thinning everything out that they shot themselves in the foot when it came to cockpit space. It looks like they solved this problem by just making figures that fit the cockpit... whatever scale those figures may be. For example, the CMs and the Toynami Legioss toys are both 1/48 scale but the Toynami is far more faithful to the line art and comes with a 1/48 figure at the controls and the CMs does not.

Yes, if you're at all a scale for proportions or scale pass on the CMs. The pilots for the Legioss and the Tread are clearly two different sizes. The Legioss appears to be at 1/48 scale but it's piloted by a 1/60 scale figure and I don't have a ruler handy but the Tread looks like it's 1/60 scale piloted by a 1/72 figure. EDIT - I posted this in the Mospeada lineart thread but it's just as appropriate here:

I think I came pretty close although it's not perfect:

Why not just do two different connecting pieces? It seems to be the most logical choice. It seems like CMs meant for the connecting arm to do more but for the life of me I can't get it to be any better than "kinda lame" in everything I try to do with it.

I can't tell what you did with the link-up Eyesonme, how's it different? Did you try having your tlead up and your legioss in soldier mode? I'm having the worst time getting it all to balance and I'm not sure if I'm not just doing something wrong. EDIT - looks like it's time for you to update your sig.

That's the answer I was hoping for, thanks! PS - while hunting for it I saw someone (I think it was you Gubaba) asked why the VF-4 would be in a Robotech reference site. Just in case no one answered, the VF-4 exists in Robotech as the YF-4 because Rick, like Hikaru, plays with a model of it while in his apartment. If memory serves, Robotech lore states the YF-4 never made it into full production and the VF-1 was replaced by the VFA-6 Alpha (amongst all other sorts of mechs)

Wow, haven't checked in on Macross F in forever because I thought we were in official hiatus mode. I read the first post, checked a sub site, but I didn't see an English subbed version of the *real* first episode of MacF. Did I just miss it?

Yeah, swapping hands should be a real piece of cake. They just pop onto little balls.

Oh yeah, that is definitely a sneaky pic... there's no real connection in effect other than gravity (I just splayed out the MPC's feet a bit and sat it down on top of the Tread). Honestly, it looks much better from all angles than I would have suspected... but still obviously not right.

Here's a fun pic I did while working on my review.

SDK, I think you're doing the right thing. A little note though, the CMs hands feel a bit rubbery also although not nearly as bad and they have a bunch less points of articulation in the hand so that should help them stay sturdy. The CMs shoulders also don't ratchet but they feel much stiffer over all and the arms are lighter. The great thing about the CMs, you'll think it has no diecast for the most part but during transformation you'll find the metal... exactly where metal ought to be. Toynami seemed to just look for whatever parts could most easily be made of metal instead of considering what that would mean for stress on the rest of the toy.

Don't be discouraged yet, Robotech.com always sells the MPCs at MSRP and then, when you check eBay a month or two later you can usually find them at deep discounts. It might be the same with these.

"When in Rome, do as the Romans do." I never knew anime toy collecting was a physical sport in some places.