jenius

Just be glad you didn't order it from Amenbo.com. They still haven't officially announced they're out of business but their site has been closed for a LONG time. If they're putting up a new Internet store they must be waiting for the time when they can actually deliver the toys through the Internet also.... EDIT - I just got FLOOD CONTROLLED on that last post... interesting.

I'm loving this thread. I'm single again but man, you guys are making me feel like I've been the luckiest guy ever when it came to love. Sure, some of my exs were a bit quirky but damn, never once did I feel like any of them were sucking away my soul! Heck, I've loved some of them MORE than transformable robots ("the hell you say!"). If you find yourself surrounded by terrible girls I suspect you have a terrible approach or simply have no idea how to pick the good from the bad. It's like produce at the store, just because it's for sale there doesn't mean all the pineapples are ripe or the pears aren't bruised. You gotta sort through them and grab the ones worth buying. It's even more of a joke when we start saying that American women are more problematic than women from other countries... that just makes me think someone needs to do more traveling. Women are people, people are universally flawed and difficult to click with or understand but every now and then you'll find yourself greatly rewarded for your efforts. Did I mention the man room? That's still totally the way to go.

Me thinks you are all looking into a bucket and seeing an abyss.

Chowser hit the nail on the head. In fact, I remember hearing a discussion about the complications involved with the cockpit. The cockpit is supposed to fold into the chest cavity. Gakken's 1/72 simulates this by simply folding down (without a chest cavity really being present). The toynami has never, to my knowledge, been shown in a mode where the cockpit would be showing. I heard this was because Toynami was still working on the mechanism in which the cockpit would be able to open as they were very hopeful to be able to include a pilot figure (this may be speculation or rumor that I've overheard though). Remember, the Beta only has a cockpit when flying solo.

What I like to think is that prototypes are purely meant for marketing purposes as far as the public's being able to look at them. They generate stir as people debate how they could be better or what they like about it. Therefore, all the speculation we're engaging in is exactly what the company would hope to have happen. Then, in the meantime, the designers and powers that be within the company really dig at the prototype and determine what they can do to make it better and easy to mass produce. I don't think they're really scouring the Internet for other people's opinions though, I would guess the designers of these toys have a good deal of passion and resources and any nitpicks we're coming up with they've already been over 100 times. They probably do stuff like communicate with the original designer of the mecha and review the very best lineart and stuff like that to see what changes they ought to make. In the end, it may seem like they've responded to Internet criticism but really they just refined their own prototype to meet their own high expectations. Of course, no one is more acutely aware of the compromises that need to be made to make an awesome toy that is also profitable than the people being told to make their dreamwork of engineering simpler and easier to handle.

I think everyone has been pretty clear that it's just the prototype they're picking apart and that we all have higher hopes for the finished product. I see absolutely no harm in viciously ripping every aspect of the prototype apart... that's exactly why prototypes are created. You get the thing in hand, you pour over every detail, you figure out what does and doesn't work, you refine the product. Hopefully, no matter what amount of rape we claim, the people over at CMs are being even more critical of the product.

No way, Toynami has to think a full year at LEAST in advance. I mean, just look at the MPC Cyclone announcement... when do you think you're going to be able to buy those bad boys? 1/100 Fast Packs? Oh they're coming... next year.

I can attest to the fact that Hikaru and Roy have gone into the 13K plus level. That isn't to say hidden inventory won't pop up but those two MPC figures definitely made it the whole way through. Also, the Archer figure had only a 5K run and the two I've handled were both in the 4900 range so I think it's safe to say those were all released. As to the MPC Alphas... I'm more skeptical there. In fact, I'm starting to think the 10K-15K number will be what Aoshima releases. I honestly really doubt it. The production number is unknown and the second editions are all just actual improvements. I *think* first editions tend to be more valuable because later editions feature simplifications in the manufacturing process or improvements for child-safety which typically make the later editions less cool than the first editions. This isn't the case with the Yammy.

One argument against this being a mistransformation though would be the back of the Legioss' legs in Sodlier mode. For some odd reason there's a big chunk missing from the calf area. One reason for this would be if the legs angled outward instead of sliding straight in.

Yeah, that's the obvious answer. I think we should more answer this from the perspective though of someone who may be thinking about ditching the hobby though and wants to know which toys they should hold for a while and then dump later.

Wow... that's bad... still, all of this is based on prototypes (with some sweet paneling) so I'm just hoping these are bits of mistransformation/rough draft. it also looks like the shoulders might have the wrong shape to them and there's definitely some wonkiness with the arms in general. So the Legioss won't look good in any mode other than Armo-Diver?? Let's hope there are many changes still to be made!

A little note on the long nose preventing the soldier from mating to the tread in that mode, it should still be possible since we're talking about a toy with a separate mounting piece. All you would need to do is give it a bucket that attaches to the crotch of the soldier (with slots for the hip connections) and then have the arm back to the tread have no center so the arms go around the nosecone. Theoretically this would be a shorter piece so that the front of the Tread was much closer to the back of the Legioss. The connection would be precarious but it could be made pretty solid if it had a locking mechanism that grabbed the top of the crotch area (you would have to hold the nosecone up, lock the connecting arm into place on the legioss, put the nosecone back down, then connect it to the tread and lock it into the tread.

Are we just talking modern toys? Here's my bet for toys that will either never be reissued or won't be again for a very long time: 1) LowVis 1 2) Stealth "Special Edition" Combo Pack (they would reissue the armor parts or the valk separately going forward I'd think). 3) WHAM SDF-1 1/5000 4) 1/48 Hayao Kakizake 5) 1/48 GBP II (Woodland) 6) 1/48 LVII Hmm, that's it for now. I think we will see re-releases eventually of the CF and Super Hikaru but Knight is right at the moment, the toys he listed are becoming scarce.

Sniffle... I swear that my website exists more and more just so I can lock my toys away in boxes but still visit them without having to dig them out. You should be happy it's your future wife making you put the toys away instead of jobs and frequent moves. I hope some day to have a man room where my toys will be free once again... that's the angle I'd shoot for if I were you.

I ordered that set of 7 too. I'm going for the cheap shipping though so it'll probably be quite some time before I have a detailed review.

nevermind.

If they don't sell it as a package then I imagine each individually would be in the $99 ballpark. I don't think many people in these parts would mind that so much. Worst-case scenario would price them comparatively to Yamato's 1/48s as they'd be similar in size and complexity.

It would be a relatively simple task if only the manufacturers would use a larger scale. 1/32 is admittedly rather large for the Tread (but seriously, how friggin' cool would it be??) but 1/32 is the PERFECT scale for the Legioss. The Legioss is a tiny bird, a bigger toy is needed to deal with all its tiny complications. Also, if they made the Tread in 1/32 they could make some really BEEFY connecting mechanism that could be concealed within the large toy.

Did you guys see the news today? Wii production is supposedly being bumped so high as to eliminate shortages by next month. This news one day following the abrupt retirement of the man who oversaw the introduction of the PS3. It's like a little soap opera.

1/8!

Yep, if I'm not mistaken this is the same ultra customized Gakken 1/8 Ride Armor that has popped up in a few other threads. Absolutely stellar work to take the clunky Ride Armor and spice it up.

That's like the sweetest drawing of anything ever. The Tread in that picture is also in a guardian type mode of sorts with its legs sticking down (IIRC). Friggin' sweetness. There's also some sweet art out there of super-armed Treads.

Image stolen from somewhere. I refuse to believe that picture shows how the Legioss will connect to the Beta. IT's LAUGHABLY bad if that's how they're going to do it. Like, so bad they should just sell them both and not even bother a connection. If this is the best CMs can come up with it explains why Toynami hasn't been able to solve the problem either... but at least their mock-up did a faithful representation. No, I still think the pic in the ad is just telling us that they will connect and isn't showing us how. Well, that's my hope at least. That's another stolen image, it's as close as I could find to approximating the CMs shot from the anime. Edit 2, lest we forget, here's Toynami's effort (LOL, the arched back is actually used to help it look right)

I've had it on every valk I've owned at one point... and have pics to prove it

Mine are being packed away into their boxes and into hibernation. They used to be proudly displayed in cases and they will be again some day but not until i've settled down.