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M'Kyuun

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  1. M'Kyuun
    Great review, Kuma. I have the regular colored version PO'd, as I've been impressed with the MMC/OM stuff I've bought, and from comparisons with Rouge, who is really the only other good contender for MP Arcee, this seemed a less aggravating choice while still checking the boxes, if you will. One thing I noticed from watching various reviews on this is that the lower calves are jointed; does that play a part in transformation? It didn't look like it to me, but I'm not handling it, either. Just wanted to ask someone in the know. Anyway, this looks like another solid piece from MMC/OM. Some nice engineering brought to bear, especially those hips and legs, which are probably one of the stickier points to Arcee's design without giving her some serious birthing hips in bot mode. Looking forward to getting mine when she releases.
  2. M'Kyuun
    I'm not crazy about the overall aesthetic of the SDF-1, how it looks on the outside as a ship. The concept of its having full blown cities inside of it is just fascinating, especially when one considers that it needs to transform, and all that infrastructure needs to somehow be preserved through that process. The engineer wannabe in me delights in the challenges presented. So, that element of the Macross was always very cool.
  3. M'Kyuun
    I wish Arcadia would secure licenses to make some of the valks that have never been made in toy form- VF-5000, VF-14, VF-9 to start with. There's untapped potential there, and I'd love some 1/60 toys of these things. However, given the price difference between Bandai and Arcadia, more and more I lean towards Bandai. Before Bandai does anything else, I hope they produce the YF-21. I know Mr. K would like to do the YF-21 too, but it doesn't look too likely now with Bandai encroaching on the Plus license. As for the SDF-1, I'm likely in a minority of one here, but I never cared for the design. I much prefer the Macross Quarter's design from Frontier- much prettier ship IMHO. But, I get why folks like the SDF-1- like Derex 3592 said, the show was named after that ship, and it has remained a component of every successive series thus far, as it should. The design just doesn't really speak to me. The valk designs are what brought me in and keep me coming back.
  4. M'Kyuun
    I saw it a couple weekends ago, and I liked it as well. For those who get motion sickness, this may not be your cup of tea, as there are a couple of spinning scenes where you experience it from inside the craft, and the soundtrack is pretty loud in these scenes to ratchet up the intensity. The one scene takes place in LEO, so there shouldn't have been any sound, but Hollywood. However, the larger scope of the film centers on Armstrong, and takes you through some personal struggles as well as the obstacles he faced on his journey from test pilot to astronaut. Armstrong was an emotionally closed fellow, and Gosling does a good job conveying that aspect of Armstrong's personality. Foy did an excellent job as Janet, Armstrong's first wife, who was with him all through his years at NASA, and who had to be the emotional bedrock for them both and their two children. Tough lady. Anyway, the movie made me want to delve deeper, and I've been reading the eponymous biography upon which the movie was based. There are a lot of pedantic facts and figures that seem a bit extemporaneous, but Armstrong had no interest in his fame or notoriety, and was very quick to point out the contributions of others, and it was his request that many of those facts and figures be included. Think of Armstrong as the anti-Shatner, except he actually went into space. Armstrong was an engineer, as is his biographer, so the book has a tendency to read like a textbook more than a biography at times. I've also picked up Gene Cernan's autobiography, suitably titled, "The Last Man on the Moon". I've only read snippets of his book, but he gives a pretty candid view of what being an astronaut was about, from extra-marital affairs by some of the astronauts, to pooping in zero-G. Of the two books, I think Cernan's will be a far more personable view of the program, showing every side, and providing answers to a lot of questions many of us have about the more intimate details of space travel.
  5. M'Kyuun
    No problem. Not everything is for everyone. As for my own bias, although I like transforming mecha, in Transformers, I 'm not a big fan of the more "super robot" looking designs, like Star Saber or Super Ginrai (or God Ginrai, for that matter), although I must confess to owning Takara's CW Ginrai. So, I go against my bias sometimes. I don't care for the overall Bayverse aesthetic, but I think that Weijiang Blackout is pretty sweet, and I'd be remiss if I didn't mention owning probably a hundred or so Bayformer toys released over the years, and I intend to get Studio Series Dropkick once I find it. I suppose I'm fickle like that. I have little to no remorse over the vast majority of my ABS treasure trove, and I can only hope the same for everyone else. What good is a hobby that you no longer take joy in? For us TF fans, and Macross fans as well, there's never been a more fruitful era to collect higher end toys of the characters and designs we like across the spectrum of themes and lines, from G1 to Japanese Transformers to IDW, and so on, and I'm happy for anyone who finally gets that dream toy they've been waiting for. Cheers!
  6. M'Kyuun
    Agree on both points; this is what I wish Studio Series Blackout had been. Granted, Takara are pumping out MPM versions of most of the characters, so I wouldn't rule out a superior MP version just yet. But, for the record, Weijiang knocked it out of the park. As Kuma put it, it's gorgeous. That's great! Seriously though, so as not to offend, I have no familiarity with Star Saber beyond simply knowing it exists, so when those Flame Toy pics were shown, and to be clear, I think FT do a beautiful job on their figures (Drift is just a thing of beauty), the aesthetic screamed Gundam to me and I commented honestly from a position of ignorance as to who was being represented. To those who like Star Saber, I'm glad you're getting a premium figure, and I apologize if my offhand Gundam comparison caused offense. I won't apologize, however, for having a sense of humor and finding Slaginpit's joke pretty darned funny. Here's where we diverge in our opinions; I actually prefer the more modern Gundam designs, especially Barbatos, which is actually a pretty clean design. I've never cared for the RX-78, as it's a little boring to my eye. I'm not sure which Gundam is pictured, but I dig it and all the hardware it's sporting- it just looks cool to me. Classic designs like the F-91, the Delta Plus, the Zeta Gundam, the Methuss, the Sazabi, and many more are still cool to me as well. I like stuff that transforms, so most of the Gundams with a waverider mode strike my fancy. Anyway, we like what we like, and the world is all the more interesting for our differences as much as our similarities. No offense intended to anyone; just sharing my opinion.
  7. M'Kyuun
    https://www.idisplayit.co.uk The price I quoted was wrong; it's 144BP, so closer to $300USD before shipping. Looks like a good product, though. Here's a review: https://brickset.com/article/31089/review-pure-display-case-for-the-millennium-falcon
  8. M'Kyuun
    The writing seems a bit simplistic, judging by the few snippets of dialog, but they're getting closer to the mark so far as the visuals emulating anime/manga. I'm thinking the plot is going to be simple, with lots of tedious explanatory dialog for the uninitiated (kinda like all these shows on History, Travel, Discovery etc where they use ground penetrating radar, and they have to give explanatory exposition every single time- drives me crazy), a weird sappy love story, and lots of goreless violence. Still gonna see it, though.
  9. M'Kyuun
    I was thinking the same thing- it doesn't even look like a Transformer to me, but definitely rocking the Gundam aesthetic. Not my cup of java, but to each his own.
  10. M'Kyuun
    LEGO recently won a court case against Lepin to basically C&D production of all sets based on official LEGO products, so you may or may not be able to get those other Lepin sets now. The suit was won in Chinese court, so the Chinese govt is taking action to prevent knockoffs by Lepin and likely other companies who produce LEGO clones. Anyway, glad the Lepin set went together alright. I've had the LEGO UCS MF since July, but I have no space to build or display it right now, so I'm biding my time. Eventually I'll get to it. There's a British company that makes set-specific display cases, and the one they make for the Falcon is about $200 USD, IIRC. I may have to spring for one once I get the set put together.
  11. M'Kyuun
    PO'd PS-04 Azalea. Still think Rouge has the upper hand aesthetically, but this seems like a better toy, and it still gets a lot right. I'm scratching my head over the telescoping look of the shins; if it was actually part of the transformation, ok, but it's not and they could have been sculpted with a smoother look. Alas, not a dealbreaker, nor is the sparcity of her cockpit, although I think they could have tried just a little harder to clean it up. Unless she just turns out to be a lot of fun to transform, she's going to spend 99% of her time in bot mode anyway, so I'll just stop griping. I also ordered Ater Beta- that car mode is just awesome to my eyes; unlike most of my TFs, he'll probably spend more time in car mode, as I just love the look of it so much.
  12. M'Kyuun
    It's enough when you can put one 1/60 VF-1 next to a MP Seeker, but matching all three color for color is just showing off! Cool pic. They scale pretty closely, which is a little ironic to me, as the VF-1 was inspired by the F-14, which is larger than the F-15, and yet the VF-1 is quite a bit smaller by comparison. I'm guessing the VF-0 is much closer in size to the F-15.
  13. M'Kyuun
    Not many of us get to touch so many lives, or leave such a lasting legacy of creativity and hope. Mr. Lee had the stuff of heroes, and he'll be missed.
  14. M'Kyuun
    "I've still got the greatest enthusiasm and confidence in the mission, and I want to help you." "Stop, Dave." "Will you stop, Dave?" "Stop, Dave" "I'm afraid." Definitely one of the best and most iconic voice acting jobs in cinematic history. RIP, Mr. Rain.
  15. M'Kyuun
    That Wei Jiang version has a lot more going on than the old deluxe, and probably still more than the upcoming Studio Series, as nice as it looks. I'm not into Bayformers so much anymore, but I will say that this is one of the more interesting and unique designs to come out of the Movieverse. It's some cool engineering to get such a large and wide bot out of a narrow vehicle. I dig all the panel origami to form his shoulder armor.
  16. M'Kyuun
    Oh lordy, I'm trying to ignore that right out of existence! But, yeah, you're right. So, to clarify, I want something totally divorced from what's come before, but still retains enough of the classic look of Transformers to be recognized as such (and no shardy bots!). I don't mind if they change the look, as I enjoyed Animated very much, but keep it aimed for the 10 and up crowd. Did I cover all the bases?
  17. M'Kyuun
    Makes me happy, too. I'd like to have a nice compliment of very G1 Generations figs, at least first season. The Prime Wars Triligy lines provided nearly all of the minibots, so a number of boxes already checked for me. However I'd still like a new Huffer that actually looks like Huffer, and a decent Cliffjumper. And more cassettes- always more cassettes. After they finish with this series, though, and they get all the G1 stuff done, I want them to do something completely new, completely divorced of anything that has already been done. All new characters with their own stories. The only thing I hope is that it's set on Earth, or if not, at least the alt modes are relatable, similar to how Animated was done.
  18. M'Kyuun
    It's been years since I last transformed Classics Prime, so in keeping with the topic, I felt compelled to reacquaint myself before posting. IMHO, it still stands as a pretty nice take on the character, albeit a little panel-formery. Still, it looks good in both modes, has good articulation, and both of his weapons transform along with the figure. Even if the smokestack gun does look a little odd (it would have looked much better for both modes had they made it round instead of square), it and the wind vane all come together to make a nice more streamlined cabover truck. I like it. I don't handle my toys all that often, so my copy still has tight joints all around, the smokestack pegs in firmly, and in both modes, everything is solid. It's a fun transformer toy, and shouldn't they all be. Jumping ahead, Siege Prime gives me hope for a pretty definitive G1 homage in the Generations line when they produce Earth alt modes for them. As I said, I see this line becoming the poor man's MP. Beast Wars was a shock for most of us TF fans, especially those of us who grew up with G1, and there was a lot of resistance and invective hurled at it. I was skeptical, and it took me awhile to really appreciate it. Moreover, I was in the military at the time, and went on any number of TDYs, and thus relied heavily on my VCR (yep, I'm old) to try and keep me caught up on the show. I often missed episodes, and so the story from my POV was a bit patchy. Years later, I bought the DVD sets nd was able to watch the show in its entirety, and I gained a newfound appreciation for it- it was such a well written, well voiced show that the alt modes didn't matter as much. They embraced the it in the story and in the writing to good effect, and it has since become one of my, and my wife's, favorite iterations of Transformers.
  19. M'Kyuun
    Nice review, as always, Mike. I think they nailed the look of it in both modes, but if I were in the market, UT's would get my vote simply for the ability to swivel the trailer, which IMO, every modern take should do, as the unitary design of the G1 toy was more a matter of toy design limitations in the 80's. Moving on to Quietus, I'm looking forward to your review, as I'm curious to see how it stacks up to Xtransbot's Eligos, whose aesthetics are the bees' knees, but whose transformation I find to be a PITA. And speaking of Fans Toys, they're making a MP scaled set of Stunticons, and pics are up of their Motormater, and IMHO, it looks nigh perfect. http://news.tfw2005.com/2018/11/03/fans-toys-ft-31a-roadking-masterpiece-scaled-motormaster-prototype-375793 Ever since the 80's, I've been intrigued with tractor-trailer designs where they remained connected for transformation, and MM's transformation was always unique in how the cab forms the feet. I'll be looking forward to reviews of this guy just to see how the engineering pans out. Scrutinizing the pics, it looks like the cab feet are a cheat, which is a little disappointing, but getting the cab and trailer to transform into a cohesive bot is still a pretty good feat.
  20. M'Kyuun
    Me too, although it still looks pretty good. If they eventually do a VE-1 Elint Seeker, I'm down for one. Love the crisp paint and panel lining. I hope they eventually do a Legioss. I have the Toynami Legioss, and I love the sculpt, but due to its myriad deficiencies, it's a terrible toy. I think these guys could make one that looks as good, if not better, with superior engineering and materials so that it could be transformed and manipulated without fear of crumbling.
  21. M'Kyuun
    +1 for Classics Prime's folding smokestack gun; it's one of the best examples of incorporating the weapon into alt mode. After 30+ years, obscured or incorporated weapon storage in alt modes should be a forgone conclusion, but unfortunately it isn't. And yeah, Classics Prime's wind vane gun was doofy and indeed remains a backpack on mine to this day. Points for creativity, though- at least it did something. Siege Prime looks like he suffers from external gun storage syndrome, too; I wish they'd have found a way to sandwich it between his legs or under his cab. Not much of a disguise when you've got a big gun attached to your roof or fender. Speaking of gun size ( ever bemusing Freudian topic), I hadn't really noticed Siege Prime's, as my focus is almost always on the figure itself, and I just register the basic shape, especially if it's an iconic G1 weapon. Although I prefer guns to melee weapons in my robot toys, guns, real or imaginary, generally don't interest me. That said, I had to take another look, and yeah, I guess it does look small in the picture, but I also consider the angle at which the pic is taken in bot mode. In his truck mode, it looks properly large proportionally, to my eye, anyway. However, if one owns PoTP Prime, they can always steal his gun (it's almost as long as a deluxe is tall). A little overcompensation, but if it makes you feel Prime-ier. Shrug If, and when, this line does make Earth landfall a few waves down the road, I wonder if they'll make the trailer for Prime; as useless as I generally find Prime's trailer to be, a toy as G1 as this has promise to be would feel incomplete to me without it. With all the figures breaking up into armor parts for the other figures in Siege, I could definitely see that being an option for the trailer, or its becoming an exo-suit for Prime, which would be a much cooler use of the trailer than a towable repair station.
  22. M'Kyuun
    I don't play the game, but after watching the shorts, this would make for a really cool tv series. Gotta agree with your sentiment that a Macross series like this would be great.
  23. M'Kyuun
    Gotta agree with Balt on a number of things he noted, that this is the best mainline Prime we've gotten in a long time (Classics was decent, but this figure has superior aesthetics and articulation) and that there's definitely a noticeable improvement in the overall quality and most notably, complexity, which is a welcome change, especially when compared to the mostly simple designs from Combiner Wars. While I'm not a fan of the battle damage paint, either, the paintwork itself is the best I've seen on a figure in some time. I plan on picking a few of the Siege figures up (probably not this Prime, though), but my sights are set on the Earth mode alt versions of these toys that will most likely follow. I'm glad to see the investment Hasbro has in this line, and I hope it does well.
  24. M'Kyuun
    I 'd like him to go with my Prowl, but what you said. Too much other new stuff I want in lieu of a recolor, even a nice recolor of a well-made figure. Plus Christmas is coming, and three of my family members have December birthdays, so my toy spending takes a backseat.
  25. M'Kyuun
    Apologies for any offense. The folks at Seibertron.com said he was Chinese, and I assumed they knew better than I.
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