M'Kyuun

I've thought about getting the Countach, too. Like most of the icons sets, it's done beautifully. I can easily recommend the Shelby Cobra- great build experience and gorgeous model. Every success with your Enterprise mods. I like Star Trek, and Next Generation is my favorite of the various series (TBF, I've not seen any of the new shows on streamers, although I wouldn't mind seeing Picard at some point); however, I have no interest in getting the set. I've never really been a fan of ST ship designs (except the Klingon Bird of Prey- I like that one), and besides, I've nowhere to display the thing if i did get it, and it's definitely a display piece. That's also why my 2nd UCS Millennium Falcon remains unbuilt in its box years after I bought it- nowhere to put it when I'm done. Nowhere to comfortably build it, for that matter.

I never took issue with the original Hot Rod's coloring, but then, I'm not stuck on the toon-centric thinking that many fans embrace. The OG toy is good enough for me. If anyone needs a copy of SS86 Hound, I have one unopened. PM me.

I'm in the fortunate position that I'm financially able to afford these toys, although $500 is pretty steep and bears some consideration before I commit. However, space to put new acquisitions has become the bane of my existence. Between a rather voluminous LEGO collection (2-3000 sets), a respectable Transformers collection (I estimate 3-400 toys), around 30 Macross toys, and an assortment of other toys that I've accumulated over the years, not to mention all of their boxes intact, much of my available space has dwindled. My wife generally doesn't care what I buy; she knows that I'm financially responsible and the bills are always priority and paid. The dwindling space for stuff and her lack of a personal space to call her own is her general complaint, which is totally fair. Eventually, I want to build an outbuilding in my back yard to use as both storage and studio; my backyard isn't huge, but it could accommodate a 20x40 building nicely. Unfortunately, I live within a small town that limits outbuilding size to no more than 50% of your available backyard, which is crap IMHO. It's my land, I'm paying for it, I don't use my backyard for anything (my dog uses it to do his business, and I mow it occasionally) and I should be able to use as much of it for whatever purpose I deem necessary so long as I'm not endangering anyone else (fire codes and such). I'd love to just put a big building back there using all that space to put all my crap, but I'm going to have to compromise so I'm hoping I can go vertical with it instead of horizontal. I just need to find a good contractor to build it for me as I'm no carpenter. I was going to buy a Sentinel Tread, but fearing what this administration might do to my VA disability, I passed. There's since been more clarity, so for now I'm safe. Consequently, I've been once again indulging in my hobbies, which are pretty much what I live for. That Sentinel Tread still appeals to me, although I remain far more enamored with the Legioss. I just love transforming jets if they're done well, and although Kawamori's realistic valks are peak, there's something alluring about the Legioss' design that has always struck a chord. It's just a cool sci-fi design with more than a smidge of believability. That said, given my druthers, with space at a premium and given the choice, I'd prefer to have more Legioss toys in lieu of a Tread. If I get my building, though, oh there will be a Tread in my future! 😄

I'll third, especially when the much smaller Legioss sets you back $500+, and yet, if their Legioss is a good judge of what's to come with their Tread, it stands to be the pinnacle of that design in a toy. That said, I'm still trying to figure out where I'm going to put my Pose+ Legioss, big chunky thing that it is, let alone a Tread that will dwarf it. Too, not sure I want to spend around a grand for it, either. If I get a Tread eventually, it'll most likely be a Sentinel version to go with my Eta.

Initially, I figured this referenced the standard Eta, Iota, and Zeta versions, but yeah, it'd be cool if these initial. more imaginative, Legioss relaseses got Treads to match. I've yet to own a Tread, and with an Omega on PO, I may just have to indulge in one for it if the design isn't too far out there. Regarding the feet, I'm wondering if the heels and toes line up if you configure the heels for soldier, but splay the toe out as seen in diver mode. Best option if so. I'm just not at all crazy about the weirdly high arches of the feet as they've been depicted in most of the promo shots. If I have to keep them in diver config while in soldier mode, so be it. Shame they didn't go just that little extra in the design process to allow for clearance for the toe to move forward a tad more like the Sentinel or the Toynami, both of which did it beautifully, especially the Sentinel. That small additional arc of motion makes a big difference IMHO. Hard to believe the Toyrise figs are smaller than the already small Sentinel figs. I'm getting the sense that these will feel comparable to a voyager/leader class Transformers figs in-hand, which isn't a bad thing, especially if they have that level of sturdiness and playability. It also keeps them space-friendly for the space-impaired, like me.

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.