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M'Kyuun

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  1. M'Kyuun
    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.
  2. M'Kyuun
    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.
  3. M'Kyuun
    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.
  4. M'Kyuun

    Hi-Metal R

    M'Kyuun replied to joppewo's topic in Toys

    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.
  5. M'Kyuun
    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.
  6. M'Kyuun

    Hi-Metal R

    M'Kyuun replied to joppewo's topic in Toys

    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.
  7. M'Kyuun
    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.
  8. M'Kyuun
    I don't have any Pose+ products yet, but I have their Eta Legioss preordered and I can't wait to get that chunky thing in my mitts. From what I saw in their preview vid, it looks like they took all the lessons they could from Sentinel, and then tried to further improve on that already excellent toy by enlarging it, endowing it with far more ratcheting joints, adding all the opening panels and such, all the while increasing the playability/ease of handling. I hope they succeeded in that last regard, as the Sentinel can feel a little fragile and fiddly, especially monkeying with the hip positions. Too, mine is a first issue toy, so I have the super stiff shoulders that will barely raise to 90 degrees forward. I also ordered a Toyrise Omega, so one way or the other, I'm gonna have me a good-lookin' and playable Legioss toy this year. I'm not at all familiar with Zilliion or the Tri-Charger, so this thread kinda caught me by pleasant surprise, as I tend to dig on transformable motorcycles, which is ironic as I couldn't care less about motorcycles in general. I was curious whether this was another Aramaki design, but the Zillion Wiki gives mechanical design credit to a Studio "Ammonite", for whom I could find no info. Whether or not he had a hand in its design, I find Aramaki's Garland and Motoslave to be far more refined and better-looking designs than the Tri-Charger, which doesn't really hide the fact that it's a folded-up robot trying to masquerade as a bike. That said, I agree completely with your observation that Pose+ really knows how to adapt a human figure to a machine. I'd love to see them take a stab at the Motoslave, hopefully improving on the old Yamato, which itself still stands as the best, if only, toy of that design. Like the Legioss, I've long been enamored with the Motoslave, and I only ever managed to grab Yamato's Linna and her green Motoslave. I could use a proper Priss and her ride. I'm thinking Pose+ could execute a really good Garland as well, although I'm quite pleased with my Arcadia Proto-Garland. However, where Arcadia chintzed and only put half of Shogo in the Slave mode, I'm thinking Pose+ could figure out a way to put the entire fig in there and still have it transform around him, which would be awesome. Harkening back to some of those convention pics, Pose+ is making Triple Jim from Machine Robo, which interests me. I believe Action Toys had a prototype for him a few years back, but it never made it to production as they kinda closed shop on their MR stuff, more's the pity. By and large, I liked what they were doing with the license, and I have nearly all their MR figs. I wish they could have expanded the roster to the entire 600 series, as there were plenty of characters to choose from and I really wanted them to do as many of the aircraft figs as possible, especially Harrier Robo (Gobots' Royal-T). At least we got Blackbird Robo (snoop) and Eagle Robo (Leader-1). Anyway, Triple Jim seems an odd character to lead with, especially if they intend to do more Machine Robo figures, but I remain curious as to how he'll turn out. AFAIK, Triple Jim hasn't had a toy since Bandai's in 1986, which was pretty good for the time, albeit quite limited in articulation, especially below the waist, as most transforming toys of that era were. He's definitely due a proper update and the Pose+ is looking promising.
  9. M'Kyuun
    Way ahead of ya, watched Fall last night, and yeah, it was good. Excellent cinematography really makes you feel the height at times. Guess the tower doesn't actually exist, but it sure looked real in the fim. SFX are best when they don't look like SFX. That said, ya have to wonder how many similar towers exist around the world and whether something like this has occurred.
  10. M'Kyuun
    Yeah, kinda feels like the writers were like, "what's the coolest stuff in action movies ever?!!!" And then, with their low budget and mediocre skills, they made this. 😄 I have zero recollection of this film having ever been advertised, nor do I recall ever coming across it at old VHS rentals back in the day. Pretty obscure I'm guessing.
  11. M'Kyuun
    OMG, the 80s cheese! Thought that was Denise Crosby. Saw her in person at a convention here in Spokane years ago. She seemed very grounded and genuinely nice, relating anecdotes from her life and career. Her grandfather, Bing, was a notable alumnus here at Gonzaga University, and she talked about him a bit as well. Been meaning to watch Woman of the Hour and Fall popped up on the movie list recently. Gonna have to watch them. Saw Predator : Badlands the other night. Kinda prefer Prey or something more like Killer of Killers. I thought Prey was awesome, my second favorite Predator film next to the original. Predator 2 is third runner up.
  12. M'Kyuun
    Like others here, my only concern is whether or not they're making Macross toys. With Arcadia silent these days, it'd be nice to have another company competing with Bandai in the Macross market. Edit: I reconsider: If they were to make Dorvack or Beetras toys, with modern complexity and articulation, that would be cool. New anime to follow would also be cool.
  13. M'Kyuun
    The speed at which this disease overtakes its victims is frightening. It makes Dr. Hawking's comparatively long life with the disease all that more curious and amazing. I wasn't aware of Eric's work, as I only watched a handful of eps of Grey's Anatomy when it first premiered. I had to Google him as his name wasn't familiar to me. Nevertheless, at 54, this strikes close to home for me as well. Dane's commitment to his craft in the face of his suffering and deterioration are commendable. He's lost to us, his family, friends, and fans, far too soon. RIP
  14. M'Kyuun
    This topic devolved quickly....🤣
  15. M'Kyuun
    Indeed he did. I'm quite frank about my vehement dislike of the Bay films; I think they're utterly irredeemable as entertainment, let alone Transformers media. However, there are those who like them, quite a few I've gathered, which led to their making bundles of money for Hasbro, who in turn, funneled some of that cash back into toys. The overcomplex, illogical, mechanically unfeasible, and shardy look of the Bay-bots forced Takara to push the boundaries of their engineering skills resulting in some of the most complex toys we've ever seen from the company. Moreover, those funds helped pay for excellent shows like Prime and Animated, each of which explored unorthodox aesthetics which informed the toys, which also benefitted from Takara's stretching their engineering skills for Bayformers toys. Additionally, as you said, it drew new generations of kids into the Transformers fandom and the results are manifest in the still thriving franchise we have today. For that, Mr. Bay deserves thanks. I just hope Hasbro reconsiders letting him direct another film, as I doubt it'll end as well as they're anticipating. I think they should focus on doing quality animation. Quality. It's a terrible shame that Transformers One did so poorly at the box office; I hope it'll redeem itself on streaming. It was a good Transformers film, light years better than all of Bay's movies put together.
  16. M'Kyuun
    Ah, elucidation most appreciated. I wasn't sure what size/price class these were in, and forgive me, but I likely didn't read your review of the core-class Dinobots, as I've no interest in core-class. Either way, these aren't for me, but as you say, it's cool of Takara/Hasbro to retool these guys into Monstructor, combining gimmick and all, for those to whom they appeal.
  17. M'Kyuun
    Sheesh! These look like cheap toys you'd get out of one of those coin-operated dispensers where the little toys come in plastic bubbles. Can't believe these are part of AotP line. Fortunately, I've no interest, so money saved. Lots of vitriol and criticism toward SS86 Astrotrain, much of it earned, alas. As more pics of it surface (especially screenshots of Hasbro's stop-motion video) showing it from different angles, I fear I must agree with a great deal of the criticism. I'm coming around to wishing they'd done a heavy retool of the Siege toy to address its most glaring deficiencies instead of producing this figure. SS86 Astrotrain is simply not a good capture in virtually any context. Train mode is his only redemption, and only just.
  18. M'Kyuun
    Well, we can argue the impracticalities all day. 😄 No denials here. But, to my very core, I have always loved the idea of robots, especially bi- or multi-pedal ones, and most especially, those that transform from one form into another. A real-life valkyrie would likely inspire an aneurism of pure joy in my brain were it to manifest for real. For me, that would be the pinnacle of technology- nothing else would summit that advance except perhaps cybernetics at the GitS level. I'd love to see either-or come to fruition in my lifetime, but I'm dubious of both. I definitely don't trust Elon Musk's Neuralink, mostly due to my distrust of Elon Musk and his motives. If this was happening at MIT or some other high-level institution of learning and science, I'd be less apprehensive. However, even if Neuralink proves moderately successful, we're still in the embryonic stages of that technology. We're still a loooong way from GitS level cybernetics, although folks like Tilly Lockey and her incredible cybernetic arms developed by Open Bionics are advancing the technology in impressive ways. Ms. Lockey strikes me as a rather impressive young woman; she's conquered what for most would be a debilitating condition and with incredible optimism, grit, and technology, has emerged as a positive and capable influence for amputees and those born with congenital lack of or disfigured limbs. I think it's no hyperbole to say she'll be a leading figure in the advancement and co-opting of bionics as we've only known it in sci-fi.
  19. M'Kyuun
    Well, a lot of what makes sci-fi fun is indeed its speculative nature. In other words, the concepts proposed are cool, but often have a dark bent to them, especially in the hands of unethical corporations or politicians who'll take even the most benign technology and find a way to twist it for gain at the expense of society's welfare. In a fictional setting, that's great fun. However, when those technologies emerge for real, caution and apprehension are necessary lest we find ourselves collectively in a quagmire. I think a lot of these corporate execs and politicians feel like they're above it all, as if their wealth can insulate and protect them, and in the short term, it likely can. But they're human, too, they have families, and we all live on this ball of rock with no other options. Eventually, the consequences will reach them or their successors, and that's reality. One need only consider the proliferation of micro-plastics in nearly every body of water on the planet or climate change (I don't believe for a second that thousands of scientists got together to create a phenomenon on false pretenses. There may be a bad egg here or there among them, but I'm inclined to believe that most scientists are diligent in their methods, well-meaning and honest in their ethics, and are evidence driven. They're curious by nature, guided by the scientific method, and interested in putting forth the data as they make discoveries. OTOH, a bellicose wealthy politician with no scientific background nor interest therein, but only an interest in furthering profits for fossil fuel companies, with a long history of prevarication and convictions for fraud inspires no confidence whatsoever).
  20. M'Kyuun
    Man, sci-fi is becoming science reality way too soon. In a way, I'm excited to see it, but OTOH, there's an element of fear that the price of ignoring countless tales of rogue A.I. and robot uprisings may be dire consequences for humanity if these advances continue to progress. Perhaps that's all the dystopian sci-fi that's coloring my perceptions, but maybe it's better to err on the side of caution. I'd love to see bipedal battle mecha become a reality, though. Totally impractical compared to wheeled and treaded vehicles, but just so unbelievably cool!
  21. M'Kyuun
    That is a historically poignant observation. For nigh everything that man has invented, if it could be weaponized, it was or has been. It's not for nothing that we regard a great deal of science fiction as prescient warnings- it oft speaks more about the mind of man than the technologies involved.
  22. M'Kyuun
    Both impressive and just a little unsettling. Imagine those things connected to an advanced AI. At that point, you're not far from a Terminator-like potential. I do have to wonder if the robots are acting under programming, or if they're being motion controlled by haptics or some other remote technology.
  23. M'Kyuun
    For some reason unknown to me, neither Robotech nor Voltron played on any of our stations. Granted, this was the 80s, channels were quite limited, and the channels you got depended on the cable company you bought your cable subscription through. I know my friend got channels we didn't, as that was how I was able to see Galaxy Rangers clearly and in color. I had a small B&W tv in my room, as I recall, and I had to meticulously arrange my 'rabbit ears' just to get a grainy staticky signal to watch it. Needless to say, not all cable packages were equal, not then, certainly not now. My wife watched Voltron, and she grew up about an hour north of me, so again, cable varied. While I watched a few eps of RT when I was stationed in FL in the early to mid 90s, I caught it midstream and never got into it. I ended up renting it from the Shoppette at Mildenhall, England in the early 00s to assail both boredom and morbid curiosity, as by that point, I'd already become a die-hard Macross fan via Macross Plus in the 90s, fully aware of Harmony Gold's shady shenanigans and editing to the original SDF:M for the RT series. At that point, I believe I had yet to see the original SDF:M, so I got through the entirety of that part of RT and enjoyed it for what it was. Once I moved on to the Southern Cross portion, it completely lost me, as the blocky transforming conveyances seemed like such a step backwards from the gorgeous VF-1 that I immediately lost interest and never finished it. Moreover, I never moved into RT's Mospeada portion. I've since watched the original Mospeada and enjoyed it. I also eventually bought ADV's dubbed version of SDF:M, with Mari Iijima reprising the role of Minmay, and I enjoyed seeing the OG series as intended by its creators, English dub notwithstanding. Circumstances being what they were, had I seen RT as a kid, I very likely would have become a fast fan of it, of the SDF:M portion, anyway. having now seen both versions, I'm glad I own the original take; I don't own RT at all and never will. I continue to hope for HG's demise and the freeing of Macross in its entirety. I still have memories of seeing Jetfire both on shelves at the store and once at a neighbor's. house. They were rough kids and chances are their Jetfire didn't survive long intact. He was, however, still in one piece and functional when I got to see him, and yeah, he was f##king glorious. Alas, I never had him as a kid. I did, however, find a well-preserved copy, still with his box, insert, accessories, at a used toy shop in Pittsburgh back in the early 00s. Still have him tucked away in storage. I also bought a brand new 1/55 VF-1, "J" series I believe, which has also been tucked away. So, I've a couple of the old "Chunky Monkey" valks. Cool old toys. I definitely hope Takara will do a Missing Link version of Jetfire, although they may have to make some sort of deal with Bandai to do so. And, of course, b/c of HG, no US e-tailers will be able to sell it. Grrrr! As to the toon, the first season is my go-to. It's the only season I own or have seen in its entirety and it pretty much informs my love and good feelings towards the Sunbow cartoon. Second season drifted too far from the more focused and mature overarching narrative of the first season, added silly characters, and just became so frivolous that I lost interest. I didn't get to see the Movie in the theatre, so it was probably a year or so after that I saw it at a friend's house on VHS. I remember not being too impressed with a lot of the silliness in the film (nothing's changed in that regard), nor how easily so many beloved characters were so easily dispatched. I continue to cling to my first season characters as the core of my G1 fandom, with a smattering of S2, 3 and Movie characters thrown in for good measure. Sometimes a cool design stands on its own merits regardless of lore or characterization, and for me, it has always been about the robots, first and foremost, although many of those S1 characters remain near and dear.
  24. M'Kyuun
    Funny how in some scenes he's drawn with his shuttle tail hanging off of his back, which is contrary to his toy, and then in other scenes, no tail. Character montages like this really put a spotlight on how inconsistent and poorly executed the old toon was. For my part, I started losing interest in the toon in second season, and had completely stopped watching by third, so many of those eps are unknown to me. One thing this does show, however, is how much this new Astrotrain does not look anything like his animation model, which honestly, I'm fine with. I'd rather he was more toy-centric, but they didn't even manage that well. I think he fails to capture either look in any satisfactory way. Admittedly, I POed him out of a feeling that he's better, IMHO, than the Classics and Siege Astrotrain toys and is likely to be the best main line version we get for some time. He's not what I wanted, hoped for, or expected, but since there are no other CHUG+ scaled options (damn it third parties, seize the opportunity!), I reluctantly parted with my $60. I hope he's a fun toy at the very least, as he's winning no prizes for accuracy.
  25. M'Kyuun

    Hi-Metal R

    M'Kyuun replied to joppewo's topic in Toys

    If done well-the caveat- I'd most definitely be down for an SV-51, one of my favorite valks. I wish they'd also do a VF-14, a VF-5000, a Variable Glaug, and a VF-9 Cutlass, just to name a few.
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