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M'Kyuun

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  1. M'Kyuun
    No worries, Mike. Just returning the favor. Cheers, and good luck!
  2. M'Kyuun
    Target. Specifically, South Hill Target, Spokane, WA. Granted we're a few states away, but from scanning the TF forums, it seems like Target is the retailer most likely to have them right now. I've been to another Target in my area, albeit one that sees more traffic, and they had nothing for Siege. Today I figured I'd try South Hill and got lucky. I live 5 min from a Super Walmart, but have yet to see any Siege stuff there. They did, however, have several copies of SS Dropkick earlier this week, so I grabbed one. In related news, I believe it was on the Seibertron forums someone was saying they heard from an employee that Target was purposely keeping the Siege stuff off their online store site to encourage buying in-store. Grain of salt, but it does seem that Target is your best bet for Siege right now. If you can't find them there, let me know which ones you want and I can go see if they still have any tomorrow. I didn't really take a close look at how many they had of each, but I do know they had a couple copies of Cog, another Skytread, and I think at least one more Hound. Prob another Sideswipe, but I just grabbed the outermost copy of him, and snapped up the other two without taking inventory of the rest. I did see a couple Cogs, though (the only one I didn't want.) They didn't have any voyagers, at least that I could see, and I reconned the area a little. Anyway, let me know. Edit: Almost forgot, they had several of the Siege Micromasters as well- Race Car Patrol, Battle Patrol, Lionizer, and Air Strike Patrol. They may have had more, but that's all I remember.
  3. M'Kyuun
    Ooh, that Sentinel Legioss is looking gaptastic. Any pics/links to battroid? I just looked at Evolution's Iota version on HLJ, and it looks nice. Pretty expensive, though. May have to look at a review or two.
  4. M'Kyuun
    LOL! That's great! Convoy Kawamori- toransufomu!!! So, I had reason to do my happy dance after a fruitful toy hunt today, scoring WFC Siege Sideswipe, Hound, and Skytread. I very nearly missed them, as they had the deluxes pegged in a small low area behind a non-Transformers endcap with a restocking cart parked in front of it. I looked at the regular area, and to their credit, they had a several pegs of PotP figs, both deluxe and smaller, and two pegs of the Siege minis, but nothing larger. So I went off to look at some other stuff, but returned, as I usually do, to the TF isle for one last scan, and I just happened to see them. Cue happy dance. Unfortunately, I didn't see any larger class figs anywhere, and honestly, the only other figs I may pick up are Soundwave and Shockwave. So, extricated from their plastic prisons, all three are pretty nice figs. All three have nice tight joints throughout, feature what has become standard articulation plus ankle tilts, with knees and elbows capable of 90 degree or better. I notice more joints, both articulation and transformation, are steel pinned, which is nice, including the hips on all three. One exception is a swing bar on Hound's legs that links the front fender to the rear for transformation is steel pinned on one side but just snaps over two nubs on the other, and on one side of mine it pops off those nubs very easily no matter how gingerly I try to untab that front fender, which tabs in pretty securely. It goes back together easily, but I think another steel pin was warranted. Hound's arms kinda just hang out under his vehicle mode, too; had they made the hood area just a tad bigger, there likely would have been enough room for them to fold in there out of sight, not to mention give his jeep mode better ground clearance, as there are only a few mm of clearance between the arms and the ground. Lazy engineering. One final niggle is that Hound's cockpit area is open on the top and sides, yet has no cockpit detail. I still like the figure, as it brings a different look, but in every way, Classics Hound is still the figure to beat. Sideswipe fares better in his car mode, although I had a devil of a time trying to get his legs to fold down flush in car mode. I finally managed it, massaging one side then the other until they both moved into position, but I still have no idea what they were hung up on. Alas, once in place, it makes for a lovely space-car with obvious shades of Lamborghini. I'll mention that the plastic used for Sideswipe's arms and thighs is a cream color, rather than stark white. Doesn't bother me, but some folks take issue with color differences. As always, mileage varies. Anyway, in his bot mode, this thing screams G1 Sideswipe, and that's enough for me, as the Classics toy left somewhat to be desired, especially the legs. One niggle: Sideswipe technically comes with two weapons; however, it's his shoulder cannon (black) and the pointy bit of his shoulder cannon (red), which can separate, but neither really looks right as his hand weapon. What's odd about this situation is that Hound comes with his G1-esque shoulder cannon (minus the pointy bit), his decidedly not-G1-esque rifle, and an additional ammo drum which can attach to said rifle or to the shoulder cannon (although it looks weird), and yet they shortchanged Sideswipe a traditional weapon. Anyway, on to Skytread, who as most of you know is a Duocon, comprised of two vehicles that transform into the upper and lower halves of a robot. I would have greatly preferred they'd given each individual bot modes like Battletrap, who's a marvelous little figure for all the engineering brought to bear, but they went traditional with him, which I guess is ok. Disappointing, but ok. Anyway, both halves have simple straightforward transformations, with decent alts. The tank half fares better than the jet, whose arms form the rather sizeable undercarriage, which has become pretty standard for TF jets. Unfortunately, the tank's main gun, one of the figure's two rifles, tabs into a hole attached to one half of the bot legs, and remains stationary. It would have been nice had they put an ounce more of engineering into it to at least give it that extra bit of functionality, but they didn't. And it would have been spectacular had they designed it so the whole turret rotated, but now I'm just going cra-cra. My final mention will be the battle damage, which seems to be a devisive feature for many a fan. On Skytread, there are only trace amounts splattered along the sideboards above the treads, painted in the same silver, which makes it look like overspray. Had they used a different color, like brown, I think it would have looked better. No BD on the jet, which otherwise has nice sharp paint apps on my copy. Moving on to Hound, there's no BD visible in jeep mode, as it's limited to the inside areas of his lower legs, painted in a gunmetal wash (it looks darker and not as shiny as the BD on Skytread). Hound is molded in a dark green, so the BD is difficult to see unless in really strong light. Sideswipe has the most BD, painted in the same gunmetally silver wash on the entirety of his shins and waist, both molded in black, which really make it stand out. Personally, I think the BD apps are done judiciously and look fine. It doesn't effect the vehicle modes for Sideswipe, Hound, or the jet half of Skytread, which IMHO was good thinking on Has/Tak's part. For those who don't like it, Q-tips, alcohol and a little patience stand between you and happiness. Before I sign off, I'll tender my apologies for not posting pics, as I figure there are plenty of in-hand pics and video reviews to be found out there on the interwebs. Plus, I'm lazy. Anyway, I've been anticipating these figs for some time, and I was really pleased to find them today, and thought I'd share some initial impressions. Best wishes to my fellow toy-hunters, and curses be upon ye scalping bastards who sully the hobby for the rest of us! Cheers.
  5. M'Kyuun
    So I'm way out of the loop: besides Evolution Toy, is anyone else, preferably of better repute, making a transforming Legioss toy? My old Toynami is nice to look at, but I daren't play with it lest something break or crumble. But I love the aesthetics of it, and would love a more durable toy borrowing the same visual aesthetic. If the ET turns out better than their VF-2 toys, and from what I've read, that wasn't a high benchmark, I'd consider it, but at this point something with Bandai quality would be wonderful. Dreams aside, Kitz Concept look like the most reasonable option if they make a Legioss down the road. Their VF-1 looks nice, and I have one of their SD VF-1 figures, which is a neat little figure. Anyway, I just popped in here just out of curiosity and saw Legioss mentioned, so I thought I'd ask about it. While I have no interest in the Ride Armor, best wishes to everyone who buys a copy that it turns out to be a nice, fairly durable, and fun toy.
  6. M'Kyuun
    Oops- I thought it was a fembot character. Sorry. @Mechapilot77- I like Whirl, too. I thought it a pretty good update, although I, too, would have preferred the straight legs of the original over the IDW interpretation. Until yesterday, I hadn't touched this figure in a couple of years, so it was nice to take it down and refamiliarize. I distinctly remember being very pleased with it at the time it was revealed, hoping that we'd get a Roadbuster that was this similar to its original toy. Alas, it wasn't to be, although the Roadbuster we got was still a decent figure. But I really wanted an updated Calibur, and ended up sating my desire with the SD version by Art Storm, which I picked up on sale. Cute little figure, although it's a bit loose in the joints. I like Dropkick's toy ( you can get a little more articulation out of the shoulders by turning the arms out 90 degrees), and as I mentioned, I believe this is the first accurate depiction of an AH-1 we've ever gotten in any Transformers line, so I was intrigued from the first pics. The transformation has a nice complexity to it, and every bit of the bot, save the head, is involved in the transformation, which is fantastic. Recommended.
  7. M'Kyuun
    That CNN pic is too funny. And too true. So I finally came across Studio Series Dropkick yesterday and wasted no time securing a copy. This is the first SS figure I own (I've been tempted more than once by Blackout, but I just can't get past those terrible hands-why Takara, why?!!!), and I was a bit surprised by how tiny she is- she's deluxe scale, but one of the smallest deluxe figures I've ever owned (I own hundreds). Anyway, at $20, the price feels a little steep. Anyway, thought I'd post some comparison shots with various figs through the ages: So in the first pic, I have her with 2007 deluxe Bumblebee( then Camaro concept), Classics Mirage, Classics Thrust, Generations Arcee, and Generations Windcharger (the only legends class figure). Bear in mind, deluxes were about $10 in '07. Arcee is about $17, and Windcharger is now $10. The second pic is with '07 Bee- quite a jarring size difference, especially when considering that she turns into an AH-1 Cobra helicopter compared to his Camaro. In the third pic, I thought I'd change up and compare her to two ladies from Animated, both deluxes as well. The last three pics show her with the only other Transformer character that I own that reasonably resembles the AH-1, Whirl. Of course, Whirl is a voyager class figure, so the size comparison is more of a curiosity than realistic. However, I do wish they'd made Dropkick in the voyager scale, but my understanding is that she was made to scale with SS Blackout, and that the entire line is supposed to be scaled to each other. Unfortunately, I can't make a comparison. Generally, I'm not really that plussed about scale unless it's really obvious; in this case, it was to me. Dropkick feels more like a legends class figure in hand. Size notwithstanding, I think she's a great little figure, with an interesting transformation utilizing her limbs very well to form the fuselage and tail of her helicopter mode. One wonders why the same engineering can't be brought to bear with jet planes, but I digress. One downside is that her main rotor, at least on my copy, is stiff and does not rotate freely, which I think was done purposely to keep it in a relatively fixed position in bot mode. I'd think they could find a more elegant solution to allow for both, but it is what it is. Anyway, I've had my eye on this figure since pics first appeared, and I was quite pleased to finally have a reasonably accurate AH-1 Transformer. Other than the Bayformer styled head, there's very little about her that looks Bayformery, and I rather like the bot mode they achieved. As for articulation, it's rather limited in the shoulders, despite being on a ball peg. The shape of the shoulder and the mounting position of the ball joint favor the transformation, but hinder lateral shoulder movement- up and down is fine, though, although the heli intake covers, which are on ball joints, need to be positioned so as not to interfere. She has bicep swivels which allow for 360 deg. No wrist or waist swivel due to transformation. Her thighs are mounted on ball pegs which ratchet at the crotch for transformation and terminate in a ball joint at the thigh. As a result, her legs are mounted wider than her body allowing her a splendid range of motion. You could buy several and put them in a line doing Vegas showgirl high kicks. She has thigh swivels and knees which could go 180 degrees if not for the heli kibble attached to the lower legs. No foot articulation, although the feet are situated at slight angles to favor a mild A-stance to accommodate the aforementioned heli kibble, primarily the little winglets. Her head is on a ball joint, can spin 360, with very minimal up and down. Of particular note is the use of nearly every point of articulation of this figure in the transformation sequence, which I really dig from an engineering perspective. For weapons, she comes with two winglet mounted rocket pods from which Gatling cannons flip out to become hand held weapons in bot mode. One of mine is so tight I've yet to get it to flip out, so I have her carry it as a rocket launcher. It adds a little variety to her small loadout. As far as I can ascertain, she has no other external ports to mount weapons in bot mode- just her hands. I've mentioned kibble, and she has no small share, although the arm kibble, comprised of folded sections of helicopter tail boom, stabilizer and tail rotor, is situated on the outside of the arms and doesn't really impede movement. The lower leg kibble is comprised of the landing skids and the winglets, of which the latter take up a bit of real estate between the ankles. It's a shame they couldn't have had it fold a little more compact, but that's part and parcel to such a small figure. I'd love a voyager scale of her, with a little more engineering brought to bear to clean up her bot mode a little. Alas, she's actually intended to be a triple changer, with an additional car mode, so I'm glad the focus for this particular alt was the helicopter, as she has no indication of car parts anywhere. I imagine if a larger scale version is attempted, the triple changing aspect may be part of that figure, but for me, this version does the job. Hope this is informative to you guys. Cheers.
  8. M'Kyuun

    BANDAI DX YF-19!!

    M'Kyuun replied to seti88's topic in Toys

    Coming from a military aviation background, that's so counter to my experience. I like white painted gear, as it gives me that sense of realism over bare metal. Even the grey gears of Russian and Chinese would be painted, as the gear are one of the highest corrosion areas on the aircraft, not to mention they get absolutely filthy between carbon from the brakes, rubber from the tires, and all the dirt and dust accumulated from landings. I find it odd that Bandai imparts high end touches to other areas of their valk toys, and then just leaves the gears bare. Yamato, and now Arcadia win favor points from me in that area. Anyway, you like what you like, but it seems odd to me.
  9. M'Kyuun
    Ok, so Coolsville was basically Zeta Toys' Jazzy being sold though Toy World. The two companies had a falling out, and Zeta retained the design, ergo no more Coolsville. However, if you check under Zeta Toys on any of the various retailers (I know Chosen Prime and TFSource have it listed), they show the white version, Jazzy, backordered/up for preorder. Hopefully it'll reissue within the next couple of months, but as with a lot of these 3P toys, don't hold your breath. The one positive to the situation is that Jazzy commands a lower price than Coolsville for the same figure. As for Toyhax/Reprolabels, I'll venture to say that their labels will be applied right over the tampo markings. I spent some time looking at their sticker set for Jazzy/Coolsville, and it does not come with labels to cover all the misspelled tampos, which I found uncharacteristic, but it is what it is. I have no experience removing tampo, but there are plenty of folks here, and probably vids on YouTube on the subject, to advise you should you take that course. As for me, if/when Jazzy is finally released, I don't think the tampos will bother me. I have Ocular Max's Sphinx, and they did the same with some of the name brands on him. Not a dealbreaker at all.
  10. M'Kyuun
    Personally, I like articulation, and as a kid in the 80's buying the odd figure here and there (I have G1 Jazz, btw- he's sitting in front of me on my desk, in fact), I found them severely lacking, always looking for figures with better articulation, even if it only meant a little bit of fore and aft movement of the hips, like G1 Sludge. Fast forward to today, I would never even consider picking up one of those old bricks to satisfy a void in my collection. As you mentioned, each of the four current MP scaled Jazz figures has its pros and cons, so it really comes down to preference, or just a willingness to hold out for an official version, which hinges on Takara's being able to secure a license from Porsche, who have been reluctant due to their 'no war robots' stance. So, the wait may be a long one for an official Jazz. Moreover, if you like all the livery and such, due to Takara's slavish devotion to toon accurate portrayals in bot mode, an official toy, should it come to pass in the near future, will likely be rather plain. To that end, Maketoys' Downbeat is closest to what I imagine an official Jazz will look like. To answer your question of announcements, often new MP figs are revealed at big fan events, like Wonderfest, the Tokyo Toy Show, etc, generally in Japan. There are any number of Transformer fan sites that report these disclosures, and usually someone on the boards here will link that news (over in the licensed Transformers thread). News of new MPs usually spreads quickly. As for any kind of heads up prior to official announcements, we wish. Part of the excitement surrounding these large venues is the anticipation of an announcement of a new MP figure, esp first season G1 figs. If Jazzy/Coolsville is your final choice, but you don't care for the misspelled livery, you can try these guys: https://toyhax.com/mp-scale/2413-labels-for-tw-coolsville.html Jazzy is my own choice for MP Jazz; I don't think the misspelled stuff will bother me too much, but if it does I'll prob get some decals to fix it. I've bought from them before, and they make some nice decals, although they often include decals that very closely represent the cheesier looking 80's toy decals as well, which I personally don't think fit the MP aesthetic. YMMV. @JetJockey, I wish you luck with your choice, and encourage you to look around the internet for reviews, pics, and vids of these figures to form a good picture of what each toy offers, both good and bad. Often, it's the smallest of niggles that sways the vote, so it's good to do the research. Good luck!
  11. M'Kyuun
    That's a neat figure. The scorpion mode looks cool, too. Gives me a serious Zoids vibe, only better since it transforms. Anything is better if it transforms. I tell my wife I'd pay more attention to her if she transformed; after 16 years of marriage, she just acknowledges it and moves along.
  12. M'Kyuun
    No, but I can live with it, as mine will spend little time in truck mode. Now if you're a truck enthusiast, I can see where it might bug you. I like planes, so it bugs me to no end when Takara takes all these shortcuts with bot parts hanging out or just straps a little plane fuselage to an obvious robot underneath. I'm not sure if the original Convoy was based on a real cab, or just a stylized one, but I'd venture to say that every iteration since, except the Bayformers, has been stylized. Concerning the Jazz options, I prefer the more toy faithful versions, so Downbeat was out of the running for me. I have Zeta's Jazzy PO'd (he's been out of stock for months now, but several US retailers show him backordered) as it's quite faithful to the look of the G1 toy except for the purposely misspelled livery and the absence of his front wheels over the shoulders. His doors can be positioned out to the sides to replicate the 'wings' look of the G1 toy, or folded down behind his back for the toon look. One other issue with Jazzy is that it was advertised with blue paint on the hip skirts, but it did not come with those paint apps. It was identical to the Toyworld version, Coolsville. (Zeta designed the toy and was marketing it through ToyWorld, as I understand it. They had a falling out, and the design reverted back to Zeta's ownership) Anyway, Zeta has been contacted by previous reviewers, and I hope the next batch will include the blue paint. Not holding my breath, though. As for Hova, it also favors the G1 toy. I recently watched a transformation vid, and the legs look like they have a bit of complexity to them, utilizing a couple sliders. One noticeable difference between it and the other two 3P Jazz figures, not to mention the G1 toy, is the above-ankle position of the back fenders. They just don't look right to me, but YMMV. Speaking to the clipping issues with the shoulders, the clip mechanism may be a compromise to allow the front wheels to be positioned either under the chest or above the shoulders for a G1 toy inspired look. I can't recall if the guy in the vid had issues here, but I believe he was able to get the arms to clip into place in both configurations and still demonstrate the arm articulation. A couple pluses it has over Jazzy are that the flap behind the head can be rotated out of view, and the forearms are closed, albeit by black covers that look out of place (may have been a pre-prod model in the vid, so that may get fixed). Anyway, I thought I'd add my observations to Mike's to help you make a decision, @JetJockey.
  13. M'Kyuun
    This. MP-10 is already a good design with few compromises. Incorporate the fixes you mentioned while upgrading his articulation, and it would be nigh perfect. I'm dismayed that the third parties in question are following Takara's toon accuracy trend, especially in regards to coloration. Prime looks much better with silver legs, and has been portrayed as such in just about every iteration since the G1 cartoon, which only colored them white to represent the chrome of the toy. Same goes for the leg vents, as I mentioned earlier- they've been silver in just about every iteration for the past several decades, only now to be plain old blue to match the simplistic cartoon art direction.
  14. M'Kyuun
    I think Magic Square is the way I'm gonna go. The only real negatives I see are the ridiculously large hitch section (but then again, he'll spend less than 1% of his existence in truck mode) and his weirdly shaped gun. (looks weird to me, anyway) Neither are dealbreakers, as the overall bot looks really good, and having watched a transformation vid last night, looks like a fun update to MP-10 on the shelf. Incidentally, the truck's grill simply rotates 180 degrees and becomes the bot's abs, which hasn't been seen on a Prime fig in some time. I kinda dig that. One detail, or lack thereof of all three, that bugs the ever livin' sh!t out of me is the lack of silver on his leg vents. That's become an iconic part of Prime's look and it irritates me that it's omitted on all of these. I do, however, love that MS's version has the leg vents in 3D detail, instead of just being flat rectangles like the Takara and TE. I love those kinds of details, so I'll be glad when the slavish toon accuracy trend wears off. I know, it'll probably be awhile.
  15. M'Kyuun
    Can't pilot a valk forever- all those g-forces take their toll. Wonder if he's still with Misa, or found him a new girl at Farmer's Only?
  16. M'Kyuun
    Well, MP-10 is still a good option to fill that void, if you can find one at a decent price. It cleans up well in both modes, has good articulation, and lovely shelf presence. V3's strengths are superb articulation, better proportioned arms, and hide-away back wheels for better looking legs. Otherwise it's gappy, sports a Mt Everest worthy backpack, shellforms its cab, and comes in at a hefty tag . The extras are a mixed bag- some love all that stuff, esp the specific episode centric extras, plus a big trailer that really does nothing and generally ends up in the closet. YMMV. Generally speaking, all I want is the figure in question and its traditional weapons, be they toy, toon, or both. I will make exceptions, such as Ratchet's various tools, Sideswipe's pile drivers, Jazz['s arm winch (I've loved that from the get go and feel it's a part of the character), etc. I'm also a G1 toon centric fan, predominantly first season and the '86 movie. I loved the premise of the first season and felt, even at 13, that the show lost something in terms of maturity and subsequently became increasingly silly and dumbed down from second season on, not to say that everything in the first season was perfect, but I thought the overall tone was more serious, and there was more continuity throughout.
  17. M'Kyuun
    I believe V3's tail-lights are on the heels, although traditionally, they should be on the toes. But, toon accuracy. Not a price retraction; many overseas retailers offer a lower preorder price for a particular period before the release date. As for the backpack, the cab of the truck is formed by folding panels which cover Prime's upper torso so that more detail can be added to the truck mode while maintaining the flat, undetailed toon accurate look of the bot mode. Essentially, he's what we refer to as a shell-former.
  18. M'Kyuun
    Guess the initial rumor was true, then. Wow, just crazy to price it so high, as it puts it out of reach of many a collector, and that's sad. To those who end up getting it, I hope this thing is on a whole other level of ...everything. I'm thinking the KO of this is going to sell like lobster in Maine. I may even have to step into the muddy water of KOs if the design appeals to me after reviews and the KO itself is in a much more realistic price point. For now, though, I'm even more certain that my next MP scaled Prime will be unlicensed.
  19. M'Kyuun
    Concerning Seige, I'm looking for Sideswipe, Hound, Ironhide, Skytread, and perhaps Soundwave, just b/c he has little Cybertronian cassettes. His space barge mode does nothing for me, though. As for Prime and Megs, the bot modes are great for both, and Megs' tank mode is decent, save for the obvious robot feet hanging off the back, but Prime's Cybertronian truck mode leaves somewhat to be desired. I'm pretty sure the line will switch to Earth modes at some point, and hopefully they can pull off as good if not a better looking Prime when they do. I'd be all over those minibots (the vehicle ones) if they had better articulation (how hard would it have been to give them all little ball jointed elbows?), as I've always liked minibots (got a ton of them stashed away somewhere around here from years ago). Anyway, few of the Cybertronian modes appeal to me in this wave, although I think they're knocking the G1 bot modes out of the park, so I'm content to wait for Earth alt versions, cherrypicking the ones that appeal from this line. I do, however, wish they'd produced a nice streamlined tetrajet seeker mold, as that would have been a nice addition to the collection. Alas, it's the typical bot with a plane on its back. A great opportunity to give us a unique figure with a cool complex transformation squandered.
  20. M'Kyuun
    At this time, the price is still a rumor, albeit a realistic one considering two per retailer package. Given the recent pricing trend on larger MP figures, $225ish USD is common and not unexpected. I'll likely not get it, as I'm not a fan of the shellforming aspect, although I'll hold final judgement until I see a review or two. I'm a fan of Takara's engineering, in most cases, so I'm definitely curious to see the transformation, articulation, and other engineering cues brought to bear. Even if I end up going with an unlicensed Prime, I may, for the first time, consider a KO of this figure if the engineering is on point. Changing topics, I'm curious if anyone has seen the Seige figures at retail, as I believe yesterday was the street date. I was at the nearby Wally yesterday morning, and not a single Seige toy to be seen- just some wave 4 PotP deluxes and legends class figs. Gonna have to check Target; they seem to keep TF figures better stocked than anyone in my area.
  21. M'Kyuun
    http://news.tfw2005.com/2018/11/27/rumor-possible-price-and-release-date-of-masterpiece-mp-44-convoy-optimus-prime-version-3-377446 The rumor mill for price and release date for MP-44 Convoy (MP OP V3) appeared on the TF boards. August release at 50000 yen (abt $440 USD). Just rumor at this point, but thought I'd share it anyway.
  22. M'Kyuun
    I recently watched parts one and two of the anime, but I have no connection to the manga, so I'm curious if that's where the arena bit from the trailer is coming. The anime, with good reason, seems a bit dated, and the dialog left a little to be desired (watched the ADV dub) at times. However, the core idea is cool, and perhaps they drew more on the manga roots than the anime. Guess we'll see. If this proves successful, I'd be down with a live-action adaptation of Megazone 23. I recently watched the anime in its entirety for the first time, and I thought it was something that would translate well to a movie or a series. That said, the Garland almost felt like a shoehorned plot device at times, especially in pt 3 where they use Garland simulators for controlling the network, if only to have a transforming mech in there. Overall, I liked the story arc and the changes in Shogo's character in each part, which I think would be interesting to explore in a series. And though I critique it, I love transforming mecha, and I think the Garland is a cool design, so by all means, keep it in there. I'm guessing MZ23 was the inspiration for Alex Proya's Dark City, minus the transforming motorcycle.
  23. M'Kyuun
    Doubt we'll see any such declaration from the sitting president, but yes, it would be good to see us continue manned missions, starting with the moon. I think it's high on NASA's to-do list, as their long-term plans include using it as a staging ground for further-reaching space projects down the line, so some sort of manned facility is desirable. Well deserved Congrats! to the JPL Team and their international partners in making the InSight Lander's journey a successful one. It landed around noon (PST) today, and will take a few weeks of prep before setting its instruments on the surface to begin both seismic and internal soil thermal measurements for a year. Kudos, too, to JPL for a successful test of their twin Mars Cube One (MarCO) Cubesats, which were deployed prior to InSight's touchdown to act as telemetry relays back to Earth. Some really impressive accomplishments by a lot of very smart and dedicated people around the world to further our collective knowledge of space ops and Mars.
  24. M'Kyuun
    IMHO, both TE and MS have put forward respectable figures, both of which appeal to me over the Takara due to straightforward transformation rather than shell-forming. Takara have kinda dug that hole for themselves, insofar as realistic vehicle parts with too much detail are going to have be somehow muted to preserve the overly-plain bot modes to satisfy their toon likenesses. That's not for me. Moving on, I like the truck modes of TE and MS over V3, as well, so it comes down to which third party Optimus looks the most Optimus to my eye, and the Magic Square edges out TE in bot mode, mostly due to the look of the hip skirts. It's a small thing, but how many of us choose one thing over another over a niggle or two? The one point you made in which I will agree completely is that, like the V3 design or not, Takara is going to involve some very complex and interesting engineering in this figure. Looking forward to reviews just to see all those "tricks and whatnot". Always enjoy your showcasing those Iron Factory figures, Kuma. They look like a lot of fun to mess with, and your photos are always top-notch. Cheers!
  25. M'Kyuun
    Thanks, Kuma. Guess hinges are better than sliders (as they look like they telescope). Hope those hinges are tight. Edit: New pics of both Magic Square's and Transform Element's MP scaled Optimus Prime figures are up on TFW2005. For my money, Magic Square's is looking to be my next MP OP toy. There's also a short vid showing off its articulation - pretty impressive looking so far.
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