M'Kyuun

Just look at that big block of robot underneath! With over 40 years' experience designing transforming robots, why can't Has/Tak make decent jet Transformers?!!! 1/10 for at least having the arms collapse and form part of the fuselage instead of having them just hang out and tab in to the side like usual. Sorry Mike, I had to. 😄 Such an opening can't be passed up. So, personal opinion of the toy aside, great review as always. I'm likely the most vocal critic concerning Has/Tak's dalliances with robots that turn into aircraft, mainly jets, and their absolute lack of interest or concern in preserving accuracy or realism. They certainly don't get the same care as ground vehicles, as I've yet to see a car or truck bot with its arms just hanging off the sides. As a 20-year veteran in the military aviation field (I worked on aircraft hydraulics and refueling systems in the USAF) and just a general aviation fan, my criticism comes honestly from having worked in that environment for a goodly portion of my life. That more Transformers fans don't take offense at Has/Tak's lackluster jetformers and demand better is surprising and frustrating to me. Surely there are other fans with similar stories to mine or are just aviation enthusiasts who see these little plastic travesties and desire better. Perhaps not and I'm the lone voice whining into the wind of indiscriminate passivity. Whatever the case, little progress seems to touch anything that turns into a jet (with a few good to great exceptions) in the Transformers toy universe. That even goes for third parties in most cases. I digress. I would really love to love these; the Aerialbots is a team that should be near and dear, but even as a kid, I thought the Aerialbots' jet modes were pretty terrible. I might mention that I had a huge poster of the F-16 on my wall and a well-thumbed book called The World's Greatest Interceptor Aircraft complete with cross-section diagrams and full color photos of all the jets, squadron breakdowns, and histories. So, even as a teen, I was invested, and I was even then critical of my favorite toy line's generally terrible depictions of aircraft. All that's changed in the last 40 odd years are my hairline, ie. pretty darn thin on top so I shave it, a single rounded ab, and I'm a little more articulate in my ability to convey my feelings of frustration and disappointment whilst elucidating on a toy's copious flaws. Alas, crappy toys did not lend themselves to improved animation, which only further sullied what little accuracy the toys may have enjoyed, so it's a double whammy against accuracy or realism where jets are concerned. Funny how the badly-skewed car modes in the Sunbow animation aren't generally carried over to the toys, though. Hmmm. Needless to say, I'm a rather harsh critic of "animation accuracy" given the animation's simplistic and often poor quality. However, where jets are concerned, the fault almost always originates with the toys before being amplified by animation. I wonder if there's a parallel universe where Has/Tak takes great care to make excellent jet modes and all the ground vehicle alts look like ass? I'd like to visit.

First, thanks for posting the news, Mike. Much appreciated! Some interesting stuff coming, far more that personally interests me than this year. Def looking forward to Windcharger to finish first season as well as the Combaticons. Powerglide and the Animated stuff interests me as well. I hope the 86 Seekers, Shockwave, Soundwave, and Astrotrain are all new and greatly improved molds; their previous releases left much to be desired. I'm curious about 86 Sunstreaker, as I thought the ER mold was purdy darn good. Kranix wasn't a Cybertronian and didn't transform; however, I'm guessing they're going to try to cook up some sort of transformation for him and it'll likely be highly questionable. 😬 Glad to see TFOne's Airachnid on the list, as I thought she was an interesting character in the film and I hope they give her a decent toy.

I don't hate Carl Macek, nor do I disdain the early days of Harmony Gold when they were just trying to bring anime to Western shores. I view that as a positive, as it was and still is an art form worthy of being shared around the globe. What sours me utterly is their overzealous, questionably ethical, and highly litigious attempts to block original Macross content for decades all the while doing little with the license themselves. Harmony Gold's greed and their steadfast stranglehold on Macross is why I detest them and wish constantly for their utter destruction. They're a contemptable company and they need to be eradicated.

Interesting point, but I doubt anyone at LEGO internally thought anything was amiss given that there's usually a minimum of 18 months spent in development. My guess is the alarm bells rang when they began giving free copies out to reviewers and ambassadors to plug and negative feedback started coming their way before the official announcement at which point they probably hacked together a list of positive talking points to send out to these people to spin some positive PR. Creating a set is a laborious and time-consuming process by community- many eyes and many hands involved in refining and finalizing the product before release. Moreover, creativity is prized at LEGO, and perhaps, even while 10497 was praised for both its faithfulness and innovations culminating in a nigh-perfect update, the changes that Lee made to the design were championed as close but different enough to stand out (in a good way) by the majority thus informing the final product. I assume there were opportunities to skew it closer to the OG set, but that wasn't the intention, at least not until some point during development. The drop feature, for example, is extremely well-executed and I very much like the updated rover. However, both came at the expense of the omittance of the cargo box which removed a major defining component of the OG set and given my druthers, I'd rather have that box, no drop feature, opening back doors, and a smaller vehicle to fit in said box in order to preserve all the original features. That's my subjective opinion, but I doubt I'm alone. The original was asymmetrical even with the cockpit section removed and it had a more interesting sensor array, i.e. more greebles. The sensor array on the update looks more like a train buffer stop. It's so nondescript with little to suggest that it's any sort of array, especially compared to the original's, and it beggars the question of why it wasn't made more detailed to look the part, especially with all the parts available today. Much has been said about the overuse of yellow, and I heartily agree; it's called Blacktron for a reason, and the original sets leaned hard into the predominant use of black. The addition of the energy cells is a bit superfluous, and I could have easily lived without them. In fact they look out of place, especially the light bley bits. I think had they released it under a new name with inspiration taken from the Renegade, it would have found more acceptance as an addition to the fleet. As an update, it falls short, and I hope LEGO takes that feedback to heart. As for the alternate model, which is supposed to be an updated Blacktron Alienator, it utterly fails to capture the original model. This interpretation of the Alienator does so even more egregiously, IMHO, than the Renegade such that I have absolutely no desire to waste my time building it. I still only own one copy of the new Renegade, but I harbor a tinge of interest in cobbling together my own update which skews closer to the original design. If they ever discount the set, I'll likely pick up a second copy. I just don't find it nearly as appealing as 10497, of which I own about five copies, two of which I built into the eponymous Galaxy Explorer and its smaller sister ship, the 487 (924) Space Cruiser, both on display next to the original 497 (928) Galaxy Explorer. I'm sure the next CS update is probably already in the design process; my hope is that they'll take the negative feedback to heart. I'd be happy if they let Mike Psiaki do the bulk of the design work, as judging from his work on the 10497 Galaxy Explorer, his instincts are right-on concerning what makes for a good update. If indeed Futuron is the next theme to be updated (Futuron is mentioned in the Renegade's instruction book in relation to the grey and trans-red energy cells), the most likely ship to be made will be the gorgeous Stardefender 200, one of my all-time favorite LEGO ship designs (it and the awesome Blacktron II Aerial Intruder, which itself looks like an update to the Stardefender 200 design), and if so, I want it to be superbly done. I think Mr. Psiaki would deliver.

I think Jae won Lee was given license to reimagine the set as he saw fit. While it obviously draws from the original, too many things were just a bit off the mark for me, and there are others, like JANG, who took similar issue as you and I did with some of the designer's choices. Ultimately, my biggest gripe is the omission of the center cargo box which housed the vehicle and served as the centerpiece of the original model. I very much like the upgraded vehicle in this set, and the drop function is cool and works well, but the lack of that box, which added an additional element to the modularity of the set, is sorely missed and erodes both the faithfulness and playability of the set.

I've seen your sentiments echoed, and I echo them myself, concerning this set's design. The omission of the removable cargo box in the center, with its humped appearance, is the single biggest failure. Too, the set is renowned for its asymmetry, however, in the interest of being able to swap the engines , cockpit, and lackluster sensor array between the forward and aft positions and have them all be symmetrical, another main design feature is eradicated. there is too much yellow and the gear, while appreciated, could have been realized in such a way where they didn't require large boxy areas to contain them, which also differs from the skeletal look of the original. I'm not sure how this thing passed reviews, as many of the designers working at LEGO are AFOLs, many of whom are into Classic Space. It misses the mark in numerous ways, and I wish they'd tasked Mike Psiaki with its development as well. He is the designer of the excellent 10497 Galaxy Explorer who not only modernized the design while keeping the salient design features, but also added features like a small living quarters/lab area and a sliding airlock granting access to the cargo bay. In every way, 10497 was both homage and update, perfectly executed. The new Renegade, sadly, falls well short of its success.

To his and his fellow producers' credits, every new Macross entry brings something new even while trying to maintain its three core features (love triangles, variable fighters, and the power of song), so to a degree, one can see the attempts to keep it fresh. I thought Delta, with its focus on a band of girl idols, would resonate with younger audiences. I recently watched it with my wife (my second viewing, her first) and I have to say my impression was far more positive this time as opposed to my first viewing back when the show first released. My wife liked it too. It had a lot of likeable characters, especially Hayate and Freyja. While I think some of the 'power of song' stuff is overdone, such tropes are part of the anime landscape, and there's at least a pseudo-scientific explanation (V-type microbes affecting fold energy and fold crystals for amplification) for the super powerful effects of song energy and the varying degrees to which some singers can affect and use it. I'm curious to see what they do in the next installment; I'd love something like Plus or Frontier, a little more serious and mature, but whatever they cook up, I'm sure I'll like it. RT's demise is a foregone conclusion; HG is sustaining it with a little bit of merchandising, much of it lackluster or worse; however, with no new shows or new ideas to reinvigorate it, and with its primary fanbase in its forties and older, it has no staying power or influence. While Macross doesn't seem to be as popular as other more notable anime series, it's still around after 40 years, with yet another installment coming, so that speaks to its longevity and enough popularity to keep it going, hopefully, into the future.

The Barbatos is a pretty elegant design. I'm also partial to the Delta Plus, which has a pretty snazzy looking Waverider mode. OT, MPG Prime appeals to me as an upgrade to MP-10. I never liked the rear wheel bump outs on MP-10's legs, and the arms were disproportionate. This design has far better proportions in bot mode, and I like how they were able to incorporate tandem dual wheels in the rear, an extreme rarity for tractor trailer Transformers. It's a shame they couldn't hide the faux small fuel tank in truck mode, as it looks odd next to the large tank that should actually be there, and the huge chunks at the end of the hitch bed, likely his folded-up feet, look a bit awkward on an otherwise realistic truck mode. I don't mind seeing the wheels on Prime's legs; I'm not a subscriber to the Sunbow aesthetic and I like seeing elements of the vehicle mode inform the bot mode. I have enough Prime figs, especially at MP scale, so I'll likely pass on this, but not without some small measure of regret.

Not only is there a positive future for humanity throughout the ongoing Macross series, attacks by Protodeviln, Vajra, Galaxy, Windermerians and other assorted baddies as well as untold deaths and injuries due to said attacks notwithstanding, but there's also been an inbuilt continuity from the very beginning, Macross II notwithstanding, under Kawamori's overarching vision and creative control. Moreover, with new characters and story arcs introduced with every new series, the overall lore from which the next story can draw is enriched even while the new series is advancing the whole. Robotech by its nature is frozen in time and all efforts by HG to try and expand on it have failed. It's a series on life support, and while Macross will likely find new visionaries to carry it forward after Kawamori, the same can't be said for RT which is only supported by an aging fandom while Macross continues to find new generations of fans every 6-8 years or so.

I love Arcane; it's one of the best animated shows to come along in a long time. Fortiche did a brilliant job animating the show, and I think their talents and efforts would be wasted on anything Robotech related, as it's a nearly dead franchise. Moreover, Macross has continued through tv series and related movies over the decades (with yet another installment being produced, surprisingly, by Sunrise in the near future) utilizing new techniques in animation, progressing the saga with new narratives and characters, hiring both established VAs and singers while scouting out new talent, as well as great composers like Yoko Kanno. What does RT have to offer by comparison? As I said earlier, just let it die, and let the fans find relief from their sorrow in the legitimate, continuing, and far superior Macross series.

Let Robotech die. It served its purpose in the 80s introducing audiences outside of Japan to Macross, Mospeada, and Southern Cross, albeit in a hamhanded way, and in doing so, opened the gate to a slowly growing number of anime being introduced to the West. Its relevancy has long since expired, and with the bulk of the Macross series now available on Hulu through Disney plus, fans can watch legitimate Macross shows and movies as they're properly intended by the original creators, primarily Shoji Kawamori. I didn't watch RT growing up- I guess it just didn't air where I lived- so I harbor no nostalgia for it. That said, having watched the RT version of Macross and the actual SDF:M, I'll take the original any day over HG's heavily edited version.

Likewise, as I'm one of those who not only didn't stray outside of the cartoon, but who hasn't seen the majority of the G1 cartoon beyond S1 and a bit of S2. I've seen the odd ep of S3, but by that point, the toon had strayed so far from the original premise in S1, mired in weirdness, whimsy, and a terrible reinterpretation of Galvatron's character (not to mention I didn't like the voice Welker gave him after having Leonard Nimoy's deeper and sane delivery in the Movie) and I completely lost interest in it. Too, the majority of toys coming out at that point didn't really excite me, either. I was in Okinawa from the latter part of 1990 into 1992, and I fell out of touch with what was going on in Transformers, ironically, during that time. I did, however, see some train Transformers at a local Okinawan hobby store, but I passed on them buying my first Gundam model instead. Again, ironically, it would be nearly another two decades before I actually watched Gundam for the first time despite being well into mecha anime by that time. Anyway, your encyclopedic knowledge of the lore provides much-needed context for those like me who haven't delved very deep into the broader universe of Transformers, and you have my thanks.

😄 I wasn't but if that works for you, you go with it! LOL

I appreciate the review, Mike. I'm not really into these Prime characters, but from a design perspective alone, I kinda dig this one. I generally eschew Cybertronian alt modes, as many in the past were rather lazy or unrelatable, perhaps a little too alien, if that's a justifiable defense for my opinion; however, this actually looks like a plausible design, sharing some nods with JAXA's Toyota-designed lunar vehicle, unlikely coincidental. I didn't PO Prima from Pulse, but if I happen to run across him in the store, I'll likely pick him up.

I highly anticipated this film, as I like Simon Stalenhag's art style. They captured it well in this, as well as the quirkiness that oft shows up in his work. The story was ok, no new ground being tread per se, but still well told and performed by a slew of well-known actors, many of whom give voice to the various robots. Stanley Tucci plays a stereotypical corporate baddie with his usual aplomb. While the movie has its somewhat emotional points, on the whole, it's played with levity and humor. "Fun" is an apropos descriptor. For those who like Stalenhag's style and wish to see it employed in a grittier, darker mode of storytelling, I highly recommend Tales From the Loop on Amazon Prime. I would happily welcome a continuation of this series or more movies and series in the same vein, so well was it written and acted, and with so many well-done nods to the artist's work.

Looking back at the WfC and Legacy G1 releases, Takara, and Hasbro by extension, has managed to maintain a close facsimile, in most cases, of the car/truck alt modes without needing licenses. I'm fine with that, as it's one less expenditure that eats into the toys' budgets and we've still gotten some pretty nice looking G1 character updates with alt modes closely representing real vehicles. That representation never seems to follow with jets, though, and it baffles and frustrates me as to why, with all their talent and collective experience designing transforming toys, they can't figure it out. I get that the G1 toys weren't much better (although many of them had far more accurate alt modes than today's toys) and that the highly simplified Sunbow designs further degraded their depictions, but they somehow still manage to make Sideswipe look like a Countach, Prowl look like a Fairlady Z, Jazz look like a Porche, etc, but all sorts of liberties are taken with jet alt modes that deviate to the detriment of the jet, often egregiously so. There's a notable imbalance there and I wonder why most of the fandom are indifferent to or even eagerly accepting of terribly f-d up jet modes when they would never accept or would be highly critical of far lesser deviations in car or truck alts. It's a weird dichotomy within the fandom and it bugs me to no end. I realize most people aren't as familiar with planes as they are with cars, especially military planes, but I would expect most adult fans to be far more discerning, demanding better accuracy and adherence to general design aesthetics regardless. However, after watching countless video reviews, I'm ever dismayingly impressed upon by the number of fans who know little about planes, despite the internet, effusively praising these horribly realized jet-forming abominations that Takara & Hasbro crank out. I'm all the more appreciative of Macross because aircraft fans have never been well-served in the Transformers universe, at least so far as jets are concerned. They can make a really good helicopter, though.

Easy pass on these new Aerialbots. As someone who's worked on and sat in an F-15, any resemblance to the real thing is pure suggestion. Slingshot isn't winning any favors with me, either. The Harrier is one of my favorite aircraft and AotP Slingshot's alt is again far more suggestion than any attempt to make him look even remotely like the real aircraft. After 40 years, one expects progress and advancement in design, but not at Takara when jets are concerned. 😟

Well, to be fair, they're a business first and foremost and it makes good business sense to secure licenses for popular IPs. Pokemon has endured since 1996 to become a juggernaut, so it's a potentially lucrative move for LEGO. I don't fault them for such decisions as it was another little franchise called Star Wars that helped to keep the company barely afloat in the early 2000s and thank goodness for that. The issue I take is their ever-increasing prices accompanying many of these licensed, and sometimes homegrown, themed sets, especially in light of the vast number of sets they produce in a year now compared to twenty years ago. I welcome the diversity of sets, and I very much welcome their recent acknowledgement of and catering to the adult fandom; all the options are fantastic and they just seem to improve every year. However, while LEGO has always been a relatively expensive toy, some of the prices now are a bit off-putting and I know I'm not the only long-time LEGO collector who's slowed down on purchases due to some of the high price tags on sets, especially smaller sets like the X-Men Jet with 359 pcs going for $84.99 USD. To put the price difference in perspective, in 2014, LEGO released set 76022 X-Men vs the Sentinel which contained their first ever version of the X-Men Jet with 336 pcs, retailing for $49.99. Both are a bit overpriced, but I don't think the additional 23 pieces justify a nigh $35 dollar price hike. Fortunately, I got my copy on sale for about $64, which is still high, but much better than the current MSRP. Obviously, people are still buying LEGO, as The LEGO Group once again turned a tidy profit for 2024, but if pricing continues to increase, it's going to become increasingly prohibitive and, like me, they'll start becoming less impulsive and far more selective and frugal with their LEGO purchases. I love LEGO; it's been a huge part of my life and there are a lot more sets that I'd love to pick up, and probably would have years ago, but both lack of space and higher prices are necessitating my need to make more judicious and reluctant decisions not to buy, alas.

To be fair, you're working with someone else's finicky design with lots of moving parts and no instructions. I'd say you're doing extraordinarily well considering the circumstances. I'm glad you reached out; my Glaug has been boxed up since returning from BrickCon back in early September and it was in need of a few repairs from the trip. Too, I want your experience with yours to be a good one, so if something's not working quite right, I hope to be of some help in remedying the issue. Sounds like you got everything squared, so mission accomplished! Deculture! and play well, my friend! 😄

No worries. the engine armature should be straight and when placing it down into its alcove, that's when you'll do the little slight turn to hook it under the black bar piece sticking out. The friction of the ball joint at the root is what essentially keeps it in position. Here's a top view of the engines stowed. I was hoping you'd be able to see the armatures under there better, but it's difficult to make out. Rear view of GERWALK showing the proper placement of the armatures. as you can see, I didn't quite have the engines aligned. The right engine is in correct alignment, very tight into its alcove. As for the leg armature, it should be in this approximate configuration, nearly touching the top of the battroid's head. Hopefully, this is helpful to you. I wish you every success with your Variable Glaug. Cheers! -M'Kyuun

Are you referring to the ones for the engines? Your engines appear to be a bit high; they should sit nearly flush with the fuselage when stowed in GERWALK. Additionally, I tried to incorporate a mechanism to hold them in place; the left engine (pilot's POV) once positioned should be gently pushed down into the alcove and turned slightly counter-clockwise to "hook" its armature in place. Likewise the right engine, albeit turning the engine clockwise. Admittedly it's not the best system, and mine even fall out of position from time to time, especially in battroid where gravity tends to have its way. Given the engine design, there weren't many options, so my solution was to try to hook those armatures in place instead of the engines themselves. Since I couldn't replicate the line art's prominent lower scoops under the intakes, I took some liberty by using the curved wedges to try to simulate a scoop-like appearance. I further made them grey as opposed to the yellow nacelles to emphasize them as such as well as due to most aircraft intakes remaining unpainted to reduce FOD. It's a departure from the line art, but I still think it was a good compromise and I like how it looks. Likewise my choice to use the 6x4 wedge for a canopy despite its opacity and non-canonical shape. The shape of that piece lent itself so well to the design, giving a very low profile aerodynamic look to the thing that I was rue to replace it with anything else. I'm rambling a bit OT. If I hit the proverbial nail on the head as to your question/concern, I hope this helps. If I didn't answer your query or I completely misconstrued your concern, forgive my obtuseness and please clarify. As always, @Test_Pilot_2, I'm humbly grateful for your interest in my design and I hope to make it effective and enjoyable for you.

This is my latest acquisition, an Ideas set (40786) which can only be obtained through the Insiders' Rewards program for 2250 Insiders points, about a $17.50 USD value along with a purchase. While the submission, pictured below, was substantially larger and more detailed with a far superior rail system, this makes for a nice companion set to the previous GWP Icons set Micro Rocket Launchpad (40712) released in 2024. My opinion on the set is neatly summed up in the Brickset review for which I've included a link for those interested. In short, it's a neat little set but not without its flaws. Still, as a Classic Space fan from the very beginning (1978), I'm happy to see its return even in this diminutive recreation. I won't lie; I wish these were all properly minifig-scaled to go with the rest of my CS collection, but at the creatively repurposed minifig baby scale, these are much more space-friendly, pun originally not intended, but what the heck. 😁 LEGO 40786 Micro Command Centre review | Brickset Original submission:

Interesting news indeed. I've long hoped LEGO would produce their own original line of transforming mecha since the transforming robot craze blew up in the 80s. I still hold out that hope, and stuff like this is a move in the right direction. Of course, they've been doing the actual Transformers for the last few years in the Icons line, with Soundwave reportedly coming this year, but those are models intended more for display rather than play as well as being scaled much too large for minifigs. As transforming mecha are my main focus in building MOCs, I've completed three Macross designs with a number of others in various states of progress in Studio2, and this is a fair effort, although the leg transformation and presentation in plane mode beggar a far more believable solution. However, it's a step in the right direction and I hope more refined models in the same vein follow. Needless to say, as a Ninjago fan and a mecha fan with a focus on transforming bots, this is a pleasantly surprising set in a theme that has a long-running tendency towards offering mecha sets, especially some of the far more anime-inspired sets over the last few years, and I'll be snapping up a copy when it becomes available. I'm not into Mario but my wife is, and I have to say that is an impressive model. It also looks like a really good parts pack. Looks like his mustache is a special piece, something that LEGO generally tries to avoid. Admittedly, it'd be a difficult capture with the current palette and this offered the best-looking solution.

Impressive work indeed! Thanks for sharing. he's able to achieve some impressive articulation with his models, but I noticed he likes to use plates sandwiched into Technic connectors, which works with a caveat: it's inherently unstable and requires the user to press those plates in every time the joint is articulated or it'll just crumble. I don't use joints like that for that reason, although I can't argue with the technique's effectiveness, especially if said model is more display than play. His Chinese dragon is really impressive, especially given its size, the extraordinary levels of articulation built into it, and the actual structure of the thing. The majority of the body's upper surface is comprised of likely thousands of 1x2 round plates connected together to form the rounded skin. My fingers hurt just looking at it- very tedious work that, but the results are astounding. https://www.instagram.com/dera_0503/reel/C8JtiiLJawR/?hl=en

I'm a little tempted by Sideways. I have the Cybertron toy which I thought was one of the better figs of that line, not to mention one of Takara's better aircraft designs. IMHO, it was done so well, it really didn't require much of an update; in the case of the Legacy AotP fig, potential waist swivel and ankle tilts are about the only improvements over the OG toy, and perhaps better hip joints (the OG had ball joints IIRC). If I end up passing on this fig, I'll still be content with my OG toy which has been in storage for many years. FWIW, however, I think HasTak did a pretty good job on this new fig. I dig the look of it in both modes.