M'Kyuun

Yesterday and today the new Batman Vs Superman and The Batman Batmobile sets arrived, respectively, at my door and I just got done building both of them this evening. I didn't get the Batman and Robin Batmobile set (yet) as I'm not really a fan of its design, or the movie for that matter, but I may cave and grab it if I see it in the wild as I like Batmobiles and I may just use it as a parts set. Anyway, of the two I got, I'm by far a greater fan of the BvS Batmobile, but I think the "B" team worked on it and the The Batman car got the "A" team. The BvS Batmobile's split canopy is absent in this new model, which is a step down from the 2016 set which featured specially designed canopy parts to replicate that functionality of the film car. Surely they could have resurrected those molds, but they didn't. The 2016 set was very much geared at kids, and although the build is much simpler than the new set, it's still a good capture IMHO. It's a shame they didn't try a little harder to replicate the front wheel armor, and this new model simply carries over the same solution for the rear wheel armor after ten years and a ton of new parts. Disappointing. Here they are. I'll start with the BvS car. It has much better side sculpting to capture the contours of the film car. They used a complex motorcycle fork piece to replicate the front wheel armor to so-so effect. At least it's there. I'm no too crazy about the flags as front tire armor, but I guess it was a simple solution. The dark grey color scheme of the new model matches the film car, though, so that's a nice improvement. I really like this Batmobile design, and I wish more effort had been put into this set. Like the BvS Batmobile, this isn't LEGO's first go with The Batman movie design. The original set came out in '22 with the premier of the film. It was also a simpler set than the new take, but still a good capture, IMHO. It was also a good parts set, but I digress. My major gripe with this Batmobile is that it lacks any characteristics whatsoever that signify it as a Batmobile and IMHO, it would be more at home in a Fast and Furious film, as it's essentially a heavily modified Dodge Charger. However, if you've ever built a Speed Champions 8-wide set in the last couple of years, then you'll feel right at home with this set, which employs some slightly advanced techniques to really capture the shape and details of the car, quite beautifully I must say. Between the two sets, this one enjoyed the larger parts count, a more fulfilling build experience, and the more refined end product. I wish it had been the other way around, but it wasn't. Both figs look great with crisp, nicely detailed prints. I was more focused on the cars and didn't take any close-ups of the figs. The Batman fig features dual molded legs to capture his black boots, and the BvS Batman has a nice armor piece (not sure if it's new). Both have soft-goods capes, which allow them to accommodate sitting the figs in their respective rides without crinkling like the old stiff capes. Both cowls are dual-molded with the eyes molded white, a preferable solution over LEGO's original cowl design. Oddly, neither fig comes with any accessories, not even the ubiquitous batarang. The engine and hood detailing are sublime on the Batman Batmobile, with trans-red bricks under those ingots on the hood to represent the light effects of the movie car. Sorry I didn't capture that detail well with these photos. It's a great year thus far for LEGO Batman fans, as we're already served three Batmobiles from three different movies with very different aesthetics. I hope there are more in the pipeline, specifically the Arkham Knight Batmobile, a design LEGO has yet to do and one that's number one on my want list. With the new LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight video game releasing in May, encompassing the whole of Batman history in various media, I'm vehemently hoping the Arkham Knight Batmobile will be announced. Guess we'll see.

Surprising, the wings are configured differently than the green one, although in soldier, they both appeared to share the same wing assemblies. I like this better, however I'm content with my Omega PO for now.

Just read your interests under your avatar and you're far more ardent than I am. Everyone has their "thing", though, and at least yours is fairly well-served betweeen anime, Transformers, and other independent toylines. I like transforming motorbikes, but I'm choosy- they don't all spark my fancy, and some I just feel meh about and chock them up as another interesting take. The Mospeada Ride Armor never interested me one bit, so I'm an outlier regarding that design. I'm feeling about the same for the Tri-Charger- it's just not grabbing me, although it's filed away in the recesses of grey matter as a thing that exists. I felt the same way about Bayformers Arcee and the other female Autobots who became bikes- those designs were absolutely atrocious, just god awful. TFP Arcee and TFA Prowl, though, just prime. I'm curious, too. Before they prematurely ended their Machine Robo line (still wish they'd released Supercar Robo, aka Turbo, for whom they had a prototype right out of the gate), they were reportedly working on a Triple Jim figure. If they are affiliated with Pose+, then that Triple Jim that Pose+ had on display may be the one Action Toys intended to release but never did. I'd have much rather had TJ over Tough Trailer who I passed on. As to the Pose+ guys detailing their thoughts behind design decisions, I love that sort of BTS exposition, even if your personal opinions differ from choices they made. At least you understand the reasoning behind the decisions. LEGO has been doing it for many years now, Hasbro has jumped on the bandwagon with their fanstreams, and I watched the Pose+ vid on their upcoming Legioss, which was informative. It would indeed be cool if Bandai would do the same. They've got a lot of 'splaining to do over the YF-21.

TBF, my parents weren't into sci-fi at all (I'm the oddity in the entire family, even extended), and we made few trips out of town. My mom didn't drive, so we were reliant on my dad to take us anywhere, and as recreational interests go, he and my mom were both far more into country-related stuff like county fairs. Can't tell you how many tractor-pulls, cows, pigs, chickens, goats, etc of all breeds and variants I saw as a kid. So, my access to stuff was extremely limited, and of course, there was no internet. There may have been more anime related stuff around, but I had neither the knowledge of nor access to it. Contrarily, my buddy's dad was into sci-fi and it was always a treat to go to his house b/c he was an only child and they bought him all sorts of toys from a range of sci-fi. I was jelly. Makes sense that the most anime-related toys in the 80s were found near ports and military installations. Unfortunately, we have no major military installations in PA. I only know of the AF Guard unit at the Pittsburgh airport. I did come across a vintage toy store in Pittsburgh where I picked up a G1 Jetfire complete with original box and a G1 Steeljaw. I don't recall any other anime related toys, but back then in the early 00s, my knowledge of anime wasn't as broad. I would've definitely known Macross or Mospeada stuff (or at least recognized a Legioss on sight), but I don't recall seeing any. As to tv, I think the cable company and the package you chose determined a lot of what you'd see. My future wife lived only an hour north, but she and her brother watched Voltron regularly. I never saw it at any point growing up. Too, one of my closest friends who lived about a five-minute drive from me got Galaxy Rangers clear as a bell on his tv, but I had to arrange rabbit ears on my little B&W tv to get a staticky and barely discernable signal to watch it. So, I think the service had a great deal to do with the programming. We were never well-off, so I think we likely had minimal service. Still, I got to see Transformers, GI Joe, MASK, Thundercats, not to mention all the cartoons on Saturdays (Mighty Orbots, Pole Position, Bionic Six, just to name a few) with clarity, so I still carry a fondness for those days. I feel sad that today's kids don't have that experience. Then again, they have the internet with the glut of availability that it offers, so feeling less sad for them. 😄

I envy you guys that Macross and Mospeada stuff was existing within your sphere of availability. I grew up in a podunk town in north, slightly-west of central PA where there was very little of either, not much in the way of anime inspired stuff to speak of. We did have Transformers in relative abundance, though. I remember well-stocked shelves in the dept stores in the larger towns around ours. Our little five-and-dime carried them, too, but not in any kind of abundance, although my grandparents did buy G1 Ratchet for me there. In terms of Mospeada, one of several of our large dept stores the next town over carried the Monogram Gobots models, which were actually the Legioss (Leader-1) and the Ride Armor (Cy-Kill). I knew they weren't actually Gobots, as I was familiar with those toys, but that Legioss struck a chord and I bought it. That kit blew my mind- it had articulation far beyond anything I'd experienced thus far with any Transformers toy, its transformation was complex and brilliantly executed, and the thing just bristled with details all over, even fully retractable landing gear with real rubber tires. It was a masterpiece and I did a hasty and poor job of assembling it, having had very little experience building models up until that time. Unfortunately, the pegs that held the legs on were only plastic (should've been die-cast to better handle the various stresses) and one of them snapped off. To add insult to injury, my puppy somehow got ahold of the thing and chewed on the nose. I was really bummed about the whole situation, as for years, that model was the single most amazing transforming robot toy I'd ever owned- nothing compared for a long time. This was probably around '85 or so for reference. I never saw Robotech as a kid- it never aired on any of our channels, and if it did, I never caught it or I'd likely have been hooked like so many other Westerners. So Mospeada was unknown to me. That old Legioss model was my only brush with it, and it was at least a decade or more before I learned of its actual origin. When Toynami released their Masterpiece Legioss toys, I bought the Scott Bernard Alpha, so happy to finally have a good-looking transformable toy to replace that old model. But, over time, mine suffered the same egregious issues that plagued that toyline and today it just stands in battroid on my desk, with too many issues to really transform safely anymore. In that context, Sentinel's Eta was a godsend- just a masterwork of engineering, and I bought the Eta straightaway. It's the only Sentinel Legioss I own, and its being first edition, it suffers from the overly tight shoulders and loose ankles, alas. Still a gorgeous toy, though, and I love it. It blew my mind when it was announced, but now the Pose+ seems to take all the advances of the sentinel toy, taking engineering to 11 with all the opening panels, upscaling, ratchets throughout, a Gundam-esque forward access to the cockpit, and the promise of easier handling than the Sentinel. I'm stoked for it. And then Toyrise busted out their new Legioss line, with the express promise of playablity at the forefront, and some interesting innovations on the design. I'm in for the Omega. It's been a long road from famine to feast with Mospeada Legioss toys, but I'm glad it's happening and that I've enough disposable income to indulge a little in it. I only wish I had more space for it all. Regarding the black, white, and red "drone" Legioss, I don't mind the color scheme or the pilot-less drone idea, but the big ugly back cannons are doing nothing for me, nor do I like the too-skinny forward swept wings with huge, weird beavertails at the trailing edges. Had they made the wings wider and nixed that beavertail altogether, I think it would've made for a more attractive fighter. In that case, I'd probably have gone for the green one, as I like that color scheme, too, plus the AWACs radome. I just couldn't abide those crappy wings. That said, I'll echo the sentiments for a proper black and grey "low-vis" or stealth look. Too, @danth makes a poignant observation regarding the gear and their dubious ability to support the toy without serious sagging and chest scraping in fighter mode. That should be an early engineering concern with the Legioss due to its design, especially with those hip joints at midships where a bit of sag should be anticipated and remedied. For now, I'm content with my single order of their Omega. I hope it's a fun toy, but for actual quality in design, I'm looking at my Sentinel Eta and, hopefully, the Pose+ to give an overall quality experience in-hand. Gobots Model Kits by Monogram

Lovely little ship- those angles are great, like an extrapolation of the Horton Bros' and Jack Northrop's flying wings. This itself would make for a splendid set, just saying. I'd be in for a couple copies. I'm a big Space fan, too, but I'm waiting for the fervor to die down, or for a double points period, or a visit to my local LEGO Store, whichever comes first. I don't have anywhere to display it, and this is definitely a display piece. I read a review saying that the head doesn't rotate, which would be fair if indeed there was some sort of hidden rocket buried within. However, the review made no mention of said hidden rocket, so it really beggars the question of why they'd leave such an easily accomplished bit of simple articulation out of the build. It's also a bummer that they used two 2x2 slopes with modern computer graphics instead of resurrecting the old CS computer graphics, a move that surely would've made a lot of Space fans giddy. Lastly, and the biggest black eye, they didn't include a proper astrofig. This would've been the perfect opportunity to officially give us the coveted light bley astrofig without resorting to piecing one together from disparate sources. The light bley fig would've been an apropos compliment to the large blue fig, recalling the old blue and grey ships. Just seems a huge missed opportunity to give Space fans an extra bit of Classic Space goodness.

I'm not as crazy about the Kai as other VF-19 variants either, mostly due to the red and yellow color scheme. The face is an odd design choice, but I can live with it. Back when Yamato released all their VF-19 toy, I went in on the blue and yellow Blazer. I would've preferred the blue and white one, but I don't remember why I didn't get it instead. Anyway, I passed on their Kai, although I thought, and still think, the mold was gorgeous. Fast forward to present, I went in on the HMR Kai as it just seemed like a good take, the smaller scale and lower price appealing, and my desire to own a decent modern toy of it greater than my old bias. No regrets; it's well done, looks beautiful across modes, is easy to handle, and it scratches the itch to own the hero valk from M7. I hope they eventually give us a proper VF-17 and not a downscaled version of their craptastic 1/60 VF-171 retool. Honestly, in my limited experience, the HMR line is so well executed, I have to wonder why the offerings in the line are so few and the variety of valk designs so sparse. They should be milking it for all it's worth, cranking out as many designs as possible with all the recolors and variants thereof for max profitability while giving the fans maximum Macross mecha love for their collections.

Ordered my copy of Hound; should arrive in a few days.

Unfortunately, no third parties that I'm aware of are really doing main line styled G1 figures. Romulus was a one-off by Newage, and while I think it's a really good figure and I laud them for making it, b/c Has/Tak decided to increase the scale of SS86 OP, Romulus earned more than its fair share of criticism, which I felt was unfair, and likely put Newage, and likely Magic Square in turn, off to continuing making figs to fit Legacy. I'd love to see any number of legends scaled figs upscaled, but after Romulus, I suspect all bets are off and neither company is going to feel that the effort is worth the potential blowback. This fandom eats its own and f##ks itself out of potential opportunities. There are expectations and then there are dreams; I think this qualifies as the latter. 😄 They'd have to make a new size class for that- like grand piano crate scale! edit: Was thinking about this, and since Titan is a moon of Jupiter, the largest size class could be "Jovian"class.

TBF, triple changers are more difficult to design. There has to be some built-in forgiveness for a degree of concessions. However, when we have toys like Fans Toys Thomas, which is IMHO the peak G1 Astrotrain toy to date, or something much simpler but as equally well-accomplished as Mech Fans Toys' Iron Sky, two very different toys at opposing scales that both do exceptional credit to the character, one wonders that Takara, the guys that invented the original Astrotrain, not to mention brilliantly realizing the idea of taking realistic vehicles and turning them into robots, couldn't 40+ years later do much, much better than this when a third party legends TF maker already created an ideal toy years ago. Takara wouldn't have had to copy MFT's toy exactly, although MFT wouldn't have much legal recourse if they did, but if they chose to make something very similar while adding their own slight touches, we'd all be the better for it as fans and collectors.

I think a lot of fans miss the days when Takara independently released their own versions of main line toys with better paint apps, more accurate accessories, and sometimes even slight retoolings to bring the figures closer to toy or toon accuracy. Hasbro's move to "unify" the brand, essentially asserting more control over it and wresting some of Takara's, was purely self-serving, as they knew they were losing money to Takara b/c fans wanted better versions of the toys and were willing to both pay more for them and endure longer waits for shipping. It simply assured they could continue their practice of shrinking budgets and thus quality of the toys without competition from their partner company who actually designed the things and without whom there'd be no toys. It was dick move and a slap in Takara's face if you ask me, but at least they're finding work-arounds and doing their own independent stuff, which is, of course gaining attention and increased profits for Takara. Good for them. This clinched it for me and I went ahead and canxed my PO. It's just not a good take. I was going to skip it initially, anyway, but as G1 Astrotrain is my only official toy, I thought I'd give this thing a chance in-hand. I didn't like the Siege toy for all of its alt mode compromises (the bot mode, like Blitzwing's, looked great), and this one has far too many compromises to both its bot and shuttle modes. I wish, like Shockwave, they'd just done some serious retooling of the Siege toy to address its glaring deficiencies. I'd have happily paid $60 for that. Heck, if they'd upgraded it to commander to account for all the retooling and accessories, especially his toy accurate gun, I'd have paid it for an Astrotrain with good-looking alts and a great looking bot mode. Not sure why the designer felt the need to reinvent the wheel with the transformation; it was unnecessary and, well, the results speak for themselves. YMMV, but I decided to speak with my wallet, or in this case a judicious refund. I'll wait for better and hopefully better comes. Really, really wish some third or fourth party would do an upscaled KO version of MFT's Iron Sky to fit with Legacy. Likewise their Blitzwing and Octane. I'm happy with Legacy Sandstorm and SS86 Springer, who is definitely one of, if not the best, triple changers they've ever released, along with T30 Springer.

Yeah, that'd be great. They're probably afraid of Bandai's lawyers. Given the decades of Harmony Gold's questionable shenanigans, Big West don't seem to be as litigious. It'd be great if more legit companies sought a Macross license: Sentinel, Pose+, LEGO (personal wishlist), Moderoid, Toyrise, just off the top of my head. I'd love to see the day when Macross overtakes Gundam, but, yeah, I'm dreaming. That'd be my ideal reality, though- every retail store stocked to the gills with tons of Macross toys form numerous manufacturers spanning the roster from obscure mecha like the M7 variable Police Vehicle, the Octos, the Variable Glaug to perennial favorites like the VF-1 (eat it HG!), the VF-25, and the YF/VF-19. Hopefully the next Macross installment whips up some popularity for the brand globally with some decent advertising and press to interest the uninitiated as well as old timers. A strong surge of popularity might induce other companies to take a gamble on the license, and further HG's journey into obscurity in the process. There's still a sizeable roster of Macross mecha that has never received a model or toy and I'd love to see that list get shorter.

Hey @m0n5t3r, I appreciate the validation regarding Classics Hound. Peach of a figure, he is! Also agree with your Newage Hound callout. I have him, too, and he's done so very well. The only thing I don't like between Magic Square's and Newage's Hound figures is how low the shoulders sit on both. That's actually accurate to both toy and toon, but it's a detail I'd rather they fudge on to have the shoulders sit higher, i.e. more "anatomically correctly". Expanding on your reasoning, the vast majority of the lead third party legends makers are thrashing official toys in virtually every category - aesthetics, articulation, complexity, detail, paint, accessories. They're on the pricey side for their sizes, but with Hasbro's price creep over the past year or two, the bang you get for your buck investing in legends scale grows ever more impactful. Additionally, at the smaller scale, you can fit more on a shelf, which is great if your display space is dwindling, as mine is. That said, I enjoy collecting Hasbro's main line, and I wouldn't balk if 3P legends makers started upscaling some of their figures, especially those that Takara/Hasbro totally whiffed on, to CHUGL scale as an alternative option. An upscaled MFT Iron Sky would make so much money for them right now in light of the lackluster SS86 Astrotrain figure. In fact, they could upscale all of their triple changers and just watch the money flow in.

Agree- they've got the VF/YF transformation down, so I could see a YF-19, still one of the most popular Macross valks, selling like hotcakes in the HMR line. I fear they'd probably just downscale their flawed 1/60 YF-21 for the HMR line without fixing any of the fans' criticisms, despite the fact that its smaller size would be a boon. At the very least, integrate the backpack connection. A VF-11 would be welcome, too. I think Yamato was the last company to make a transforming toy of it, and that was circa 2010-11. It's well overdue a new toy, and the HMR scale offers just about everything that the 1/60 scaled toys do, minus integrated landing gear for some inexplicable reason, at a lower cost and at a more space-friendly size. I'd love to have an Sv-51 in the HMR line, too. I have the old Yammie, but the joints are a bit loose and wobbly so I don't mess with it. At HMR scale, it'd be a little more playable, methinks. We need some obscure designs in HMR as well: the VF-9, the VF-14, the VF-5000, the Variable Glaug, just to name a few.

The Siege toy released in 2018 and the Earthrise retool released in 2024, although that version could only be acquired in a Target exclusive boxset. This is a single rerelease of that figure under the SS86 banner, and the most recent release of a G1 Hound in the main line. It's far more toy accurate than toon, which is my personal druthers. I'm not fan of toon 'accuracy' given the inconsistencies with that particular medium. I have yet to receive my SS86 hound, but having the Siege toy, he's not at all a bad fig just to mess about with. and the retooling brings him closer to his G1 look than the Siege version. Too, this release has his proper G1 toy pistol, in addition to his shoulder cannon, so that's a plus. FWIW, my favorite main line Hound is still the 2008 Classics figure, although it's not at all toon accurate and has any number of liberties taken in its design. Nonetheless, I think he's brilliant and he remains one of my all-time favorite TF figures. Regarding T-Spark Lio Convoy compared to the Kingdom/Legacy fig, I'm likely in the extreme minority for preferring, by a far, far margin, the realistic lion face in lieu of the derpy anime face. The only issue I had with the Legacy face were the golden zombie eyes. Why they didn't spare just a little more paint for those, IDK. Would've made a huge improvement, IMHO. I prefer the paint apps and retools of the weapons on the T-Spark as opposed to Hasbro's cost-cutting. 😒 Anyway, whilst I have no familiarity with the Japanese Transformers toons, and thus with Lio Convoy himself, I found the kingdom fig intriguing enough to pick up and, in-hand, I thought he was a solid and well-executed figure overall. I know a lot of fans were unhappy with the realistic lion face, so it's great that T-Spark delivered a more anime accurate version. Hopefully, everyone that wants a copy can get it.