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M'Kyuun

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Everything posted by M'Kyuun

  1. That's what I would do- get the more camera accurate boxset, and one retail for the toon colors and call it done for Refraktor. In my case, my anticipation for these guys won out, as I wasn't sure if the boxset was going to come to fruition or remain rumor, even though I would have preferred the boxset. So, I'm likely going to end up with two sets, but the differences between them are great enough that I'm not concerned. Spending $130 on them kinda hurts, though. Between the new LEGO City Space sets, other LEGO, plus a number of Transformers, plus my backing of a certain planet munching menace, I've spent more than my fair share on toys this month. But, having been in the TF game long enough, Hasbro's distribution, while better than it was just a year ago, is still shaky. Pulse seems to be doing a much, much better job of keeping product available than the old Hasbro online shop, which is fantastic. They've become my go-to for Siege stuff. All that said, I want to get my preorders in for some of the new figs, especially anything voyager or bigger, as they seem to be harder to find around here, not to mention the exclusive stuff. It's the collector's conundrum- buy now and be poor, or wait for positive funds only to discover the thing is sold out... forever. Edit: Despite my bellyaching about the costs, I PO'd the Refraktor boxset (b/c after 30+ years of wishing, there's just no way I can pass it up) and Apeface. As much as I really, really want a G1 Astrotrain update, the pics I've seen of his shuttle mode don't give me the good feels. I'll wait for reviews, and hopefully, his little launchpad converts into the rest of his cargo bay doors and OMS pods, as the back half looks like shite as is. Either that, or some third party will make a filler, although they shouldn't need to if the thing was designed well to begin with. I think I'm going to pass on the G1 cassette set; these ones don't seem as well done as some of the others. I'm hoping MMC will get around to making full sized versions of all of them, or that some of these 3P companies doing the legends sized figs will tackle them, as they seem to have the mettle to make them well. FT's cassettes for their upcoming Soundwave are looking quite promising, too. I hope they release them separately. Edit2 I was looking through the recap of events at SDCC, and curiously, the Hasbro reps had intended to transform Unicron before the crowd, but then demurred, doing it out of sight before presenting him in planet mode. That doesn't exactly build confidence in the product, and I don't know if Hasbro gave a reason. It's a resin proto, and the majority of the fanbase knows that resin isn't nearly as hardy as molded ABS. If the thing was fragile, or the joints less tight than optimal, they could have said as much, and I think the crowd would have been understanding when things get floppy. If they think we'll be upset b/c it's 90% shellformation- guess what, Hasbro, we already figured that out. So I'm curious what the real reason is for backing out; I think transforming him on video would have raised interest, especially if all those shell parts unfurl and snap together smoothly. Juggling a 19 lb jigsaw puzzle like this seems daunting, so it'd be cool to see the 'experts' putting it through the paces. Doing it live only speaks to the confidence they have in the thing. Maybe they need a YouTube reviewer or someone from Takara to do it for them.
  2. Got my copies of New Age Harry(Prowl) and Max(Cosmos) today. Really pleased with both. I think NA captured the look of Cosmos a little better than MS, although I think MS' version probably has better articulation, and eschews the buttflap that New Age's sports. The hips on my copy rub a bit on the bottom of the torso when rotating the thighs more than 10 degrees or so fore and aft, and the shoulders are very limited, as they're attached to a small ball peg that doesn't extend very far from the body. The elbows are ball joints which provide both 90 degrees of elbow bend and side to side swivel. The knees have 90 degrees of bend, and the feet, due to transformation can bend down, and the ankles have a little bit of tilt. The transformation is surprisingly complex for such a small figure, but not difficult. I dig it, although clearance is pretty close quarters due to the size of this guy. It also comes with a three-part stand that forms a cone that resembles a clear beam funneling down from the spaceship. I love it- it just makes for some great presentation. All that's missing is a little dude getting beamed up. Or a cow! Harry's an adorable little guy, and will probably be my travel companion from here on out. He's just a little bigger than a Hot Wheels car, but packs a lot of articulation and presence into a very small package. He features just about all the articulation of MP Prowl, minus rotating wrists and opening hands, plus a pelvic joint that can act as an ab crunch. The paint is ample, including, I believe, the Datsun emblem on the hood, and the police shields on the doors. Unfortunately, he doesn't have the police chevron detail on his shoulders, or 'Police' on his doors, or the 'Highway Patrol' on his feet. Moreover, while his shoulder missiles are picked out in silver paint, his gun is molded in a brownish grey plastic which could have used a coat of that silver to make it closer to the original chrome. I'm sure Toyhax will have all this and more covered eventually. As a toy, especially at legends scale, this thing is just amazing for how well it captures both bot and car modes, as well as imparting an extraordinary range of articulation in a figure this size. If this is a standard in the current third party legends lines, I can certainly understand the allure. It doesn't hurt that they take up little space, either. Anyway, these are my first figures from New Age, and I'm really pleased with them. I got Magic Square's Huffer earlier this year, and for its size, it's also a remarkably articulate and toon accurate figure. One thing of interest: New Age went cheap, retconning (read: stealing) the old G1 box art for both Prowl and Cosmos, simplifying them both a little to better resemble their figures' decos. It's one thing to make figures that just so happen to resemble those of a well known transforming line,- at least the toy design is their own, somewhat. But blatantly stealing boxart and putting it on your product- cajones grandes. With China cracking down on IP theft, I hope New Age doesn't become a victim of their own 'cost savings methodology', as they're making a good product, if these two are any standard, and they could avoid an easy C&D just by putting product photography on the box instead of instantly recognizable 80's boxart. Just my $.02.
  3. I'm curious if Mike Psiaki worked on this. he's an AFOL cum LEGO Designer with an impressive resume' of models both personal and professional. He designed the F40 Ferrari, VW Beetle, the DB5 Aston Martin, and the Mustang Model sets, as well as the Blue Power Jet set which is a beautiful set itself with a lot of realistic features. It's probably the closest we'll get to a modern fighter in LEGO. Anyway, seeing the Harley , and hearing about its features, makes me appreciate the artistry and craft that go into these Model sets. I remember being wow-ed by the old model series back in the 90's, and these new sets feel very much like an evolution of that line. Very cool.
  4. Eh, it's space sci-fi- I'll see it. Plus, quite a cast.
  5. Honestly, for 10 more bucks more than you'd pay for the purple retail guys, I'd pony up to get the boxset in original toy colors if I was only getting one set of Refraktors to make the camera. Not only is the coloration more realistic for the camera mode, but it also has the wraparound panel and the flashcube to give it a nice finish in alt. If I'd known that this was coming for certain and this soon, I'd have skipped buying the three retails (prob would have bought one just for the different color) and gotten this set to make the camera. Alas, I've been spending a lot this month between Transformers and LEGO, so I need to chill a little. But they keep on rolling out new stuff...it's a never-ending conundrum in the life of a toy collector. Man, I want to like the new Astrotrain, as I've been waiting for them to finally make a G1 styled version of it, but this thing's shuttle mode looks incomplete, and I'm not crazy about the way the wheel panels stick out so far away from the rest of the train body. I daresay, the G1 toy looked much better in both alts, and that's not a good trend. I like the bot mode, but there were definitely a lot of concessions made to the alts with this figure. I'll likely cave, but again, I can't help but wish at least one third party would start making figs in CHUG scale. I foresee a third party add-on to fill in the aft cargo bay/OMS pod section. Apeface and Spinister (what a fantastically apropos name) are pretty much bought. On the fence for these guys. I love G1 cassettes, but I liked the American release colors better. Too, I'd rather they packaged the two dino cassettes with a third dino cassette instead of Rumble. I'm hoping all the dino cassettes will eventually get rereleased, as I've never owned any of them, and this will be a great opportunity to get them at non-evil-bay prices.
  6. So, along with Unicron, Hasbro's rolling out more upcoming Siege goodies, including a G1 toy accurate Refraktor set. I just recently bought three retail Refraktors , and now that this is revealed, I kinda want it too, as the changes are enough to make it a separate set of figs, and it reminds me of the G1 set, which I have. I'm curious to see if this will be available on Pulse. Part of me, however, wishes they'd led with this set instead of putting the individual bots on sale. The upside is that in the cartoon, there seemed to be endless clones of the middle guy with the green chest doing all the heavy labor, so my initial set of identical figs isn't exactly wasted. There's also a black recolor of Siege Soundwave, and a Bluestreak (Silver) coming, along with Mirage.
  7. Hmm, well maybe I was Nostradamus in a former life. Truthfully, I thought SDCC already happened, so I made my statement in ignorance. Anyway, I'm glad it's getting some exposure. I was reading down through the comments on TFW2005. As usual, opinions are all over the place, but many are focused on the price or the fact that he's a ginormous shellformer. In truth, I wish more of the bot had been integrated into the transformation; I've been looking at the legs to see if they open up to help form some of the planet, but there are so many plates stacked against the outside and calf areas of his lower legs that it's nigh impossible to tell. I'm not a big shellformer fan, either, but this is one case where I'll make an exception, as it's the most practical approach. It is what it is. I also wish that they'd done his abs in a clear red plastic to mirror the film. It would have been a nice touch, especially for the asking price. Like most, I could go on and on with my ideal wish list for this figure, but I'm also a pragmatist, and what it does offer is a large relatively accurate version of Unicron the likes of which we will probably not see again. The price is steep, but I was willing to pay it for something unique, cool, rare, and likely unrepeated, at least at this scale, for a long time. I will confess, however, that I'd be tickled if there is in fact a voice chip in this thing with some of his lines. I'm not a big fan of electronics in toys, but I still love hearing Jeff Bennett's excellent Robert Stack impression coming from my Animated Ultra Magnus, and to hear this thing say, "Megatron….I have summoned you here for a purpose", or "For a time, I considered sparing your wretched little planet Cybertron, but now.. you shall witness...its dismemberment!" would be really cool.
  8. Evil intent is the one commodity of which humanity will never be exhausted. Somehow too, whether it be a murder, or something like this that claims many lives, it's always good people or good institutions that somehow fall prey. My heart goes out to these people and this company, and I hope the company makes a strong comeback. As for the perpetrator, there's no fitting punishment to make up for all the loss he's caused; sometimes, it's unfortunate that we can only die once.
  9. One of the coolest transforming scenes ever. Suffice to say, I doubt his toy will have so much transformation as panelformation, but at least it looks like they got a close approximation with the arms. Exorbitantly priced potential exclusive figures aside, Hasbro showed some new Siege stuff at SDCC. In particular, I was looking forward to the more G1 inspired Astrotrain, but these pics have me thinking otherwise. He only looks half complete in his shuttle mode, unless that base folds to become the rest of his cargo bay doors. If so, I wish they would have shown it, as that just looks inexcusably foul. It's stuff like this that make me wish there was at least one third party making Generations scaled figs. Some competition in this arena might make Has/Tak step up their game. The design dichotomy in this line frustrates me- some figs are nigh perfect, and then there's stuff like this. I'm digging the little cassettes, though. Spinister is going to look odd when you pick his heli mode up and there's another complete upside down canopy section on its belly. Odd design choice, although I get it for bot symmetry. The original toy's canopy split in half to form the legs, so this was an interesting design choice that I believe will allow him to accommodate a headmaster fig. Actually two, if both legs are identical. Apeface is looking pretty good, although they don't have his robo-ape mode on display. Query: who are the two blue truck dudes in the foreground with Astrotrain? There's something very familiar about them, but just vaguely.
  10. Yeah, I think the planet part is around 19" diameter, with the energy rings taking it to 30". It's a pretty impressive piece. I hope it gets made, but they're just shy of 1200 backers on the third day of the campaign. I'm thinking folks are put off by the price tag- not many people have $600 laying around to buy a toy, even if it is a 'dream toy'. I still think they should promote it better. Do a video detailing transformation, or at least stages of the transformation, and show off any other features to get fans excited. It looks cool, and they're doing a pretty good job with coloration, but if you want to move a transforming robot, the transformation is a big part of the selling point. Also, if there are electronics with Orson Welles doing some of his more notable lines, show that off too. Personally, I'd like to see a nice stop motion transformation, but I'd be content to see a Takara designer doing it. Thinking about it, Hasbro should have debuted this thing at SDCC, and maybe put it on the Transformers convention circuit to try and drum up support. It's one thing to see it on a screen, but if fans could see it in front of them, being demoed, or in a big glass case they can walk around , it'd make a stronger impact.
  11. Yeah, I'm guessing these large products are indeed dream toys even for the designers, who , I'd imagine are fans, at least in part. So to work on something like this, make it workable for mass market, i.e., meeting safety standards, etc, is probably quite rewarding to the design team. Prior to crowdfunding, I'm guessing the design teams had to launch a promotional campaign to convince the execs that it was marketable. History has shown that many of these big projects generally don't sell well, unfortunately. So, I think the crowdfunding platform works well as a measuring stick to gauge interest, and the willingness of the fanbase to shell out a higher sum for 'dream toys'. So far, I think they're doing ok; as of right now, only on the morning of the second day, they have 1030 backers, with 46 days to go to hit 8000. I think they'll make it. I hope so. Edit: I figured what the hell. So I'm in for $627 after tax. Number 1033. I'm already measuring space for a potential shelf just for this guy (he's as tall as three of my normal CHUG shelves). I hope I have a reason to install it after August 31st. Gotta say, I'm getting just a little excited at the prospect.
  12. I hadn't thought of it in that light, but as someone with no marketing background, it makes sense to me. Personally, the crowdfunding aspect doesn't bother me; in fact, I think it's a perfect venue for this sort of product. It gives the manufacturer a much clearer sense of demand without, as you said, taking the risk on mass production only to see the product languish on shelves. Too, Unicron is a big toy, and many folks simply don't have the room for him (I don't either, but I'll find a way ), so that's another factor of risk. Anyway, I'm edging ever closer to paying my money down on this guy, as I doubt we'll ever have another opportunity to have an official large scale Unicron toy done this well. And as I mentioned, I have no idea where I'm going to display this guy- I'm nigh out of room as it is. But it's just too cool to pass up.
  13. Funny you say that; I was wondering to myself how long it would take for some third party to either knock this off, or make something better. I'm generally not interested in oversized figs; I tend to be ok with the scales of most official stuff, especially the last few lines of Generations where scale seems to be of greater import than in the past, which is a nice change. A proper sized Unicron compared to the current Siege line would still be about as big as my house, which is just a touch unreasonable, not to mention difficult to display. Joking aside, this is one figure that an oversized version would actually be reasonable, if one has the room to display it. But I imagine trying to handle something bigger than the current model would also prove challenging. It's already 19 lbs- a pretty heavy toy, especially when a lot of folding/unfolding and other mechanical manipulations are involved, and that's to say nothing of the strength of joints required. There comes a point where the ratchets would be difficult to rotate due to the requisite tolerancing. However getting back to improving the figure; looking at the official, while it's impressive, it does seem like it's going to be by and large a panel-former, as it looks like at least half of the planet surface breaks up into smaller panels which fold up rather noticeably behind and to the sides of the lower legs. I would have hoped that more of the robot bits, as there's a lot of robot there, would unfold and form at least half of the planet surface. I don't think so, though. I'm guessing the bot goes basically goes into something akin to the fetal position, and then those panels on the legs unfurl to become the surface. I'm reminded of Unique Toys Challenger and all the inside out origami they pulled off, and that's the sort of engineering I'd love to see brought to bear on a figure this size. The Unicron transformation scene is one of my favorite bits of animation, and I'd love to see at least the basics of that sequence replicated in a toy. Nope, fully spherical. Unicron's Planet backside. Unicron's Planet profile If you look at the backside, you can make out the arms interlocking. That's actually close to the film transformation, along with the hands retracting into the forearms. With all the panel formation, it's difficult to discern how the legs fold up, though. I really hope they eventually post a transformation, or at least a partial transformation, vid, just to give some idea how it all comes together. I feel the hook setting in.
  14. This is shaping up to be the Unicron toy I've always wanted, but holy crap that price! Before I plunk down $600, I want to see a full transformation video with all the bells and whistles. I don't think I'm asking too much as a potential consumer. I never thought they'd make a toy like this. I have the lackluster Armada Unicron, which has been the best Movie toy incarnation thus far, with a couple slightly updated rereleases over the last decade or so. And now this. Still, I can see $300, $350 tops for something like this, but the asking is pretty crazy and feels more like fleecing than receiving a premium toy. Still I'd be lying if I said I wasn't interested or tempted.
  15. I recall that as well, but I think it was only an issue with American and some European car companies. I don't think they had issues with domestic car companies, as transforming robots were already part of Japanese culture, and they better understood the necessities involved in turning a car into a robot. But, y'know, Transformers have been part of the American fabric for three decades now, so unless you've been living in total isolation, basic knowledge tells you that various parts of the car split, open, and otherwise fold and reshape to affect the transformation. It seems odd to me that at least somebody at Jeep isn't a TF fan, or at least aware of some of the mechanical necessities involved. A small square panel in the hood allowing the head to rotate is a pretty small concession, IMHO. This kinda reminds me of the head transformation for CHUG Prowl and Silverstreak, where the head was spring-loaded to flip into position, resulting in a head that floated on the hood and sat too high and looked awkward, unnatural, and let's be honest, ugly. I remember either Hasbro or Takara, not sure which, being proud of the head reveal on this figure. After getting Prowl, I wondered why.
  16. If true, that's a pretty ridiculous requirement. Obviously, none of the Jeep people are TF fans or they'd know that robot heads popping out of hoods is pretty standard practice. Man, if I ran a car company and I was approached to have a high end Transformer made of one of my cars, I'd be ecstatic- no demands other than it be recognizable. It's kinda like when Weird Al approaches you to make a parody of your song. You know you've made something special, worthy of the attention.
  17. As far as upcoming MPs, I'm in the opposite camp, as I have no plans to get V3, Hound, or the new Bee. After reviews, however, I may consider Hound- I want to see how secure that neck armature is and how well it snugs to the hood. If it ends up gappy, then no. I still wonder why that went that direction with the design when both FT and Maketoys were able to integrate the head normally under the bonnet, Anyway, I'm quite happy with MP Bee V1, Gundog, and MS01, as all three look good to me across the board. As far as Blackarachnia goes, I'm a little disappointed in her spider mode, but honestly, considering that her bot mode is the priority, I guess it turned out about as well as can be expected given what they have to work with. Moreover, a LOT of license was taken with her and Tarantulas from the toy design to the toon design. Her bot mode looks amazing, though, so I'll no doubt be getting her despite my initial reservations. I have the rest, so I may as well. I'll echo JBO's wish that the add-ons with Siege Shockwave could attach to the 'bridge' to make a more proper handgrip. It would have been a nice bit of double utility, much like Refraktor's guns and shields. Anyway, that bot mode looks so good- I may just cave and get him after all. I'm such a sucker for this stuff. As for Soundwave, I totally dislike that alt mode they cooked up for him. I hope he gets a second release later in the series with a proper dedicated cassette recorder mode. I hope they make the mini-cassettes life sized again instead of these half-assed micro-microcassettes. This is one instance in the line where the original 80's toys were superior. Shameful, Hasbro.
  18. I really wish they'd given him his space gun alt mode. That spaceship mode is craptastic, and I'm not a fan of the voyager fig with a bunch of add-ons at leader price shenanigans, either. The Siege line was kinda made for these figs with Cybertronian alts, and IMHO, it's a lost opportunity. For what it's worth, I think they nailed the bot mode, though. But that spaceship... I'm aware you can flip his ship mode over and he's kinda close to his G1 gun mode, but it's more of a fudge than a dedicated and purposely designed alt mode. But then, I suppose they would have had to make his barrel orange. Our gun laws boggle the mind sometimes.
  19. But we have money! And shelves! Money and shelves for Macross merch!
  20. Even so, with all the legal limitations they'd be working under, it'd be Robotech in name only so far as the Macross part of it goes. I don't know what if any limitations they have regarding Mospeada or Southern Cross. I suppose they could use the Legioss in lieu of the VF-1, but that'd be weird. Anyway, I think they'd make a movie that no one save the most die hard RT fans would like, and it'd essentially tank and leave them in irrevocable debt. In light of this argument, I think they should go for it!
  21. So, I took a trip to my local Wally today only to discover they'd restocked their Siege deluxes, including two new guys, Brunt and Red Alert, both of whom came home with me. Brunt is my first weaponizer (not sure what Hasbro's actual name is for these guys that separate into weapons), as despite his partsformery nature, both tank and bot modes look pretty decent. I took a few pics of my recent additions- I forgot to put Springer in there, as he's currently standing guard on my printer in the mancave. I also wanted to add a pic of the arm configuration for Refraktor going to camera mode. Sorry it turned out blurry- I was struggling to get the camera to focus. Prior to placing the arms like this, the waist must be rotated 180, and then likewise each leg at the thigh rotation joint. Extend the landing gears 90 degrees, fold the elbows as seen, and then carefully work them into the hollow area in the legs until the legs are bent 90 degrees at the knee. There's a bit of a gap on top where a bit of the shoulders can be seen. Once all three figures are configured, the waist pegs will connect to the 5 mm ports near the knees of the adjoining bot, and there's a C-shaped half peg on the ankle that plugs into the adjoining bot's shoulder joint hole. Hope my little tutorial helps. Again, sorry so blurry. Kuma, I'm not.
  22. Much like Tatsunoko, I'm sure there's no love lost between BW and HG. I hope BW never buckles to them- they seem to be on good enough financial footing to continue flying the f#ck you flag, and I hope they continue to do so into perpetuity. Nothing good comes from rewarding bad behavior. I still wonder how this company is able to get away with this kind of shady activity. At the very least, it seems an infringement of monopoly law, and worst, it's basically holding a license in limbo for the purpose of predatory litigation. Seems to me that there would be corporate laws to deal with that situation, especially when it's a third party IP. From what I understand, they have some shady real estate dealings as well. Why are they not under investigation? If the Feds had been putting the whammy on Harmony Gold, thus ridding the planet of an insidious evil instead of chasing down potential Russian colluders, the world would be that much closer to utopia. I was so hoping Tatsunoko would deny HG the license, and then BW, Bandai, whoever, would swoop in and drop an enormous steaming legal turd on them, thus crushing the parasitic f#cks asunder. It's a very disappointing turn of events. If only BW and Tastsu could learn to play nice, the West and most of Europe might have a chance of finally enjoying the entirety of Macross without resorting to Asian e-tailers for pretty much everything.
  23. I watched this last night- two hours of cheesy tongue-in-cheek humor as these guys all talk smack and, the Hoff aside, look for their rides to race each other. I wondered why they had Face drive the van, too, as he had a corvette in the show, at least in an episode. B.A. owned the van, but I guess they wanted it b/c it's iconic, and yeah, I'm thinking Mr. T couldn't or didn't want to do it, so they got Starbuck instead. I'm fine with it. The show was actually better than I thought it'd be, as I think they let these guys ad lib b/c some of the sh!t they say, especially Hoff, is pretty damned funny. They also got the original voice actor for KITT, but his voice has changed a little over the years. Still, he was giving sh!t to Hasselhoff throughout the show. Some of the tech that the Hoff looked at/drove was really cool in its own right. The aquatic vehicle he drove in one scene can reach speeds of 60 MPH on the surface, 25 MPH under water, and can 'leap' twenty feet out of the water, which he did. Pretty cool. For older guys, they're all still in really good shape. I also found out that Eric Estrada was a no kidding deputy sheriff in VA from '09-'16, when he became a reserve officer in Idaho, a position he still holds. Admirable. I confess I Googled them all as I was curious about their ages, and I happened to see police officer listed as one of Estrada's careers. Anyway, they raced each other three times at the end of the show (I'm thinking coordinated stunt drivers with interwoven shots of the actors talking smack throughout), but it was cute. They had Catherine Bach in her Jeep Wrangler show up to hold the starting flag for the races. Still looks good for her age. They also had a scene apropos of nothing with Morgan Fairchild in a McClaren. Even at 69, she still looks pretty good and is brassy as ever. Her car was beautiful. Anyway, if you're a child of the 80's, I'd recommend giving it a watch. It's cool to see these guys poking fun at each other and themselves, and along with the iconic vehicles, Hasselhoff travels around and showcases state of the art vehicles that were inspired by KITT. At the end of the show, Hasselhoff says he wants to challenge other supercars of the 80's and gets a call from the operator of a certain time machine. I hope it happens.
  24. Always sad to lose the people who've entertained us in tv and film, and somehow sadder when they spent their careers making us laugh. RIP, Rip. I gotta say, it's hard to feel sad after watching Emma deliver her 'paraphrased' sentiments.
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