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M'Kyuun

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  1. M'Kyuun
    I got my VF-25G today, from Nippon-Yasan for $206. I'm not going to complain about the price, since I missed the first two releases. I wanted a 25S, but now that I have the 25G in hand, I 'm pretty pleased. It looks simply awesome posed with that sniper rifle. In fighter it looks great from all angles. In battroid, it looks great from the front, but a little awkward viewing it in side profile, since the cockpit can be seen clearly and the back panel "hovers" over it. The joints are all tight and it holds the gun brilliantly with the poseable hands. Overall, it's a beautiful figure. Has anyone heard anything about a release for the Super Packs for the 25G?
  2. M'Kyuun
    I concur 100% per movie. I can't even meet you halfway here. I'm not above lowbrow humor (Family Guy makes me laugh), but these movies aren't funny at all. They make me groan with every attempt. Just absolutely terrible. The designs are ok for something other than Transformers. If you didn't know these were Transformers, you probably wouldn't identify them as such at a first glance. Moreover, they're skeletal frames with car parts sectioned and diced and placed willy-nilly over the frame. They don't transform as much as they morph through animation magic. I'd like to see designs where the parts are logically placed and attached so that both the toy and the on screen incarnation are extremely close in appearance and transformation. Just like the valks. Or Alternators. I'm not saying that the proportions need be blocky or slavish to the G1 aesthetic, but there was much lost in translation from CG character to practical toy because in reality, none of those things would transform worth a damn. And if they somehow did, there'd be so many seams that the things would look like big 3d puzzles barely holding together for all the miniscule pieces. For that reason, and b/c I think they're kinda ugly, I don't subscribe to Bay's Transformer aesthetic for a live action movie where realism is to be portrayed. With all those little shifting parts, one would merely have to throw a baseball at them and watch them shatter.
  3. M'Kyuun
    Usually I'm in the same situation; find one at this store, another at that. However, there were one of each of all the FOC Combaticons at my local Walmart last week. While I'm not overly crazy about them, I struggled with my impulse to scoop them up right there and then, having never owned a complete combiner set in over 20 years of collecting. The $15 price tag per fig grounded me, and I left the store empty-handed. If these things were still selling at $10 a piece, I most likely would have bought them all.
  4. M'Kyuun
    Jenius, you make a good argument concerning the marketing motivations between the two companies. Additionally, I personally doubt that Bandai counts on demand from the West, or even cares about it, as much as Yamato do. Bandai has the luxury of having numerous successful long running lines, whereas Yamato took a gamble on a niche market. Yamato has a far greater stake in the success and popularity of Macross, and after all these years, I would expect that they recognize there's a large consumership for their products outside of Japan, and that they have to factor us in, even if it is an indirect consumership in the US (Thanks HG, you guys are swell). I'm just glad that Yamato have continued to step up their game, despite the fact that they really had no competition for years. They could have produced mediocre toys, which we would probably have accepted, and complained about incessantly. Kinda like we do with their high end toys, but I digress. From a marketing standpoint, they could have made a living from just-good-enough Macross toys, since no one else was making them. One need look no further than Hasbro to see success selling alot of just-good-enough and down-right-shi77y toys. The TFW2005 crowd salivate over nearly every offering, and those are mass produced over a longer shelf life, mostly. The toys, not the TFW2005 crowd, although I wonder... So, I applaud Yamato for pushing themselves. Their passion is in evidence with every new release. I'm not sure that Bandai has that level of commitment towards its Macross product line; I may have to adjust my thinking when my VF-25g renewal shows up in a day or two. The real treat, and what I'm downright giddy about, is getting two VF-4's and a VF-17 with Fast Packs at the end of the month, so it's going to be a Macross-rich Christmas for me this year. To the folks at Yamato and Bandai, domo arigato gozaimasu. <gracious bow>
  5. M'Kyuun
    I'd rather be reasonable than snarky, even if snarkiness is a bit cathartic. After 20 years of being perpetually pissed off and stressed out in the military, I retired all that angst last year. If I die of a heart attack in the near future, it'll be due to all the alfredo sauce I make rather than forgetting some piece of pertinent aircraft data for the Col's 1400 maintenance meeting. As far as Transformers 4 goes, despite Bay's involvement, he may, and that's an infinitely huge MAY, make a different kind of Transformers movie that even I might like. Hell, there were a few moments of Transformers 3 that I thought were ok, although on the whole I still found it unappealing. Since Orci and Kurtzman are writing and producing TF: Prime, I'm guessing that there is/are new writer(s) for the new movie, as well as a new cast and direction. If this one eschews Bay's juvenile humor and takes on a more serious tone, I think I'd cotton to it, at least moreso than the previous three. As far as the aesthetic, well I guess we're stuck with it until some other director comes along and reimagines it all. Regardless, I don't think we'll see toys of the caliber we've had from the next couple of movies since the trend is for smaller, simpler designs. I've always been in it for the toys more than the lore, anyways, so it's a bittersweet development: I'll miss those complex toys, but my wallet will get a breather, especially since LEGO, my other addiction, has become quite pricey as well, and they make so many great sets.
  6. M'Kyuun
    I like both YF-19 and VF-19; both are beautiful designs. I favor the YF-19's colors and back story over the more garish M7 valks and their space-singing peacenick pilot. Macross Plus was my introduction to the Macross Universe. I joined the Air Force in '90 when the competition between the YF-22 and the awesome YF-23 was coming to a close, so Plus really hit a high note for me. In '95 or '96, I saw an advert in a Japanese hobby magazine for what would become Yamato's 1/72 YF-19, and I thought it was beautiful. Still have mine in the blue color scheme, still in excellent condition. I don't find it as beautiful anymore.
  7. M'Kyuun
    On the contrary, I'm not against Hasbro's producing merchandise for any of the current incarnations. Despite my dislike for the live action movie aesthetic, it made Takara and Hasbro rethink the way they made their toys, and as a result, we reaped the benefit of having some of the most complex Transformer toys that will probably ever be made. I own alot of them. I have a number of Prime toys, and FOC Prime, which I like alot. I'd like to see a continuation of G1 classics as well, mostly b/c I prefer that aesthetic over Bay's designs and the WFC/FOC designs. I'd also love to see more Animated toys, my second favorite toyline. I don't like Bay's TF movies. Beyond the designs, I'd hoped that a director with a lifelong passion for the subject matter would craft a movie at least on par with the '86 animated movie. Instead, we got Bay. Like many, I was very excited for a live action movie, and like alot of folks, I was deeply disappointed with what we got. The TF: Prime tv show is everything and more than what we should have got in a live action movie. This aging nerd can't help notice that G1 influence is prevalent in all these new incarnations, and those elements drawn from G1 are often spotlighted. If it's not relevent, then why not reinvent the franchise from the ground up. I think something about those old shows remains relevent, enjoyable, inspiring, and those things continue to resonate, otherwise it would have faded into obscurity 20+ years ago.
  8. M'Kyuun
    Before the whole tragedy that has been Bay's Transformers and its unholy spawn, I had held out hope that James cameron would want to direct Transformers. Unfortunately, all he's interested in now are tall gangly blue people with big yellow eyes to the exclusion of all else. cameron was always my dream director for TF, even back when a live action film was still a dream. My hope now is that the next installments are even more terrible than the last 3, thus disenfranchising even those die-hard Bay fans. Sadly, they are many, as evidenced by reading comments over at TFW2005. The real tragedy here is that Hasbro has latched on to Bay's movie designs with gusto, and unless another director with a completely different aesthetic in mind steps up, we're going to be stuck with them for a long time. I wish Hasbro had continued with Classics, but they've been replaced with the WFC/FOC designs, which I'm not crazy about, except for the new Prime. Anyway, the overpriced MP line is becoming the only toy refuge for G1 fans. I'm very thankful for the many toys we did get, but I think they pulled the plug too soon.
  9. M'Kyuun

    DX VF-25G

    M'Kyuun replied to zulu's topic in Toys

    That's why I went ahead and committed. Mine shipped and is currently in Osaka ready to cross the pond. I'm hoping it'll be in my eager little hands by Wednesday, since I sprung for EMS 3-4 day shipping.
  10. M'Kyuun
    I like the morality issue...he has to make choices whether to use his abilities or do nothing to blend in. I'm not a comics reader nor a Smallville watcher, but I've never seen a movie or cartoon adaptation of the character that focused on that side of his morality. That makes him, and the movie by extension, much more interesting than if this was just another Superman vs movie to showcase his powers. With the apparent focus being on Clark's internal struggles and choices to balance blending in and doing the right thing, I hope Zod is also invested with some depth of character beyond his hatred for Jor-El and desire for vengeance. I like Zach Snyder's movies, the way he sees things, so I'm pretty sure I'm going to like this take on the character.
  11. M'Kyuun
    I thought I'd add my voice to those lamenting the drop in quality of Hasbro/Takara TFs over the past year or two. I've picked up a few Prime figs, and it's not just in plastic volume they're lacking, but the transformations have been greatly simplified, and even their likenesses (Knockout) are questionable. Add to this Deluxes shrunk in size proportional to the hike in price. I'm interested in MP Sideswipe, but then I look at Binaltech Meister (Jazz), who's everpresent on my desk, and the drop in overall quality of even current premium official figures becomes all too apparent. It definitely dampens my enthusiasm for collecting, especially now when they're finally giving G1 the MP treatment, for which I had extraordinarily high hopes based on previous MP and Binaltech lines. That said, I'll definitely get Soundwave and all his cassettes, which are still some of my all-time favorite characters. Love how they redid the cassettes especially. The one Autobot I've hoped and dreamed to see given MP treatment is Prowl. If they make him, I hope they are as slavish to his original box art in bot mode as possible. He was my first Transformer toy, and that sweet box art sang to me. I was a supremely disappointed 13 yr old as I transformed him to his brickish bot mode. Classics Prowl was ok, but too many liberties were taken in his "re-imagining". And so, I have really high expectations of a MP Prowl toy, and I'm sure it'll fall a bit short, but I'm still holding out hope that they'll get pretty close, plastic tires and hollow limbs notwithstanding.
  12. M'Kyuun

    DX VF-25G

    M'Kyuun replied to zulu's topic in Toys

    To anyone who's ordered from NY, are they generally slow about processing orders? Ordered my 25G 2 days ago and it still says "processing order". Just wondering. I'm pretty stoked to finally be getting a renewal, and 2 days for processing seems both excessive and abhorrent to my impatient, childlike mind.
  13. M'Kyuun

    DX VF-25G

    M'Kyuun replied to zulu's topic in Toys

    I ordered mine from NY for $206 on sale, with EMS shipping. This'll be my first renewal since I've missed the window of opportunity on previous releases. That said, the color on this thing really pops, and it looks gorgeous in all the pics I've seen, sniper rifle notwithstanding. I initially wanted Ozma's, but I'm glad I got this one instead. Is there a projected date for super packs?
  14. M'Kyuun
    I'm inclined to think of it as material failure as well. I don't play with my valks, they are lightly handled, and generally I stick them in a pose I like and that's how they stay until i get a bug up my arse to transform it or just mess with it a bit. My 19 has been holding the same pose now for months without being handled. Although, the right upper arm was also starting to crack (hairline; I put some glue over that as well to prevent it from getting worse). I may casually interrogate my spousal unit today after work to see if my 19 took a spill at some point and she put it back so I wouldn't be the wiser. She may deny, but the damage is synonymous with trauma. This is the sort of stuff that makes or breaks a 10 year marriage. Kidding aside, if it is material deficiency, which I suspect is the reason for my sorrowful predicament, it makes me wonder. I have toys from the 80's which have been seriously handled and are still together, and none of them cost in excess of $200. I just remembered, I already had to do a repair on my YF-19's other shoulder when the top part of the arm where it hinges onto the shoulder just cracked one day. Fortunately, it was an easier repair and afterwards, that joint was a little tighter and it could hold a pose. I'm going to keep my griping to a minimum, as I've read about the problems other members have had with many of their valks, crumbling shoulders, etc. This is the only Yamato valk out of about 12 that I've had any serious issue. I still have a fondness for this toy; however, in light of the awesomeness of the VF-19, improvements overall would be welcome on a whole new toy. I doubt Yamato wonders whether it would sell, and I'm sure they're well aware of the criticisms and shortfalls of the current 1/60 YF-19. I'm betting we'll a see new improved version within the next couple years.
  15. M'Kyuun
    The right right shoulder of my 1/60 YF-19 dissolved into 4 tiny pieces and his right arm fell off this morning as I was dusting. I barely touched it with the duster and the arm skewed wierdly. I nudged it with my finger to move it back, and the whole arm fell off. Half of the tube in the upper arm through which the screw passes broke in half, and the shoulder literally went to pieces. Trying to repair, but my hopes that it'll hold together are slim. So, yeah, bring on the updated YF-19 with better QC, materials, and all flaws of the original fixed.
  16. M'Kyuun
    Looks like the normal poseable hands won't fit in the arms, so they have those smaller fixed pose hands. I wonder if those ventral leg covers stay off in battroid. It's beautiful; can't wait to get mine.
  17. M'Kyuun
    Did you receive any acknowledgement of your cancelation request? I emailed twice to cancel; never heard anything back. I also ordered one through HLJ. I may end up with two of these things. While my toy jones will be utterly fulfilled, my wife may not find it amusing. To add insult, I also ordered the VF-17D with Packs, so December's gonna be a bittersweet month. I've been zooming in on those knees to see if I can see even the teensiest of twist, to no avail. I was thinking the metal piece that sits directly under the plastic thigh pieces might have a swivel, but I can't see any evidence of it in the pics. I was hoping they'd surprise us and show the shoulder pod rotating back for more arm poseability, but I've given up on it. Too bad, as it would've been the icing on an already remarkable cake.
  18. M'Kyuun
    Black is beautiful on this bird. Love to see it with dark red trim.
  19. M'Kyuun
    With every new pic, I'm all the happier I pre-ordered. Still wish the shoulders swiveled, but I'll get over it.
  20. M'Kyuun
    I'd like to see them make the Variable Glaug. Whoever said Dorvack, I'll second. I missed out on the previous Calibur toys, and I'd love to see Yamato's take on both Mugen's Calibur and Oberon's Gazzette. As far as obscure Macross designs go, I'd love to see the BG-5C Fatman, from the Macross Designworks, realized. I'd be happy to have it at a smaller scale as long as the engineering was still on par with Yamato's current designs. Smaller would, I hope, mean less taxing on the wallet.
  21. M'Kyuun
    It's a Transformer named Highbrow. It's a decent figure, although placement of the fists is wonky to accommodate the spinning propeller gimmick. Lots of good details like panel lines, rivets, retractable landing gear, etc. The bot's helmet rotates down to make it look like an old bomber helmet with goggles. Looking at this and then at my shrunken simplistic Prime toys makes me sad for the direction TF toys are headed.
  22. M'Kyuun
    VF-4 looks better with every new pic. I still wonder if the shoulders will rotate, as they've not been shown to do so. I hope, but it won't dissuade me if they don't. As for the long slit far back on the lower fuselage, the forward ventral stabilizer will slide through it in battroid, so I doubt that it'll accommodate a weapon. I know opinions vary, but strapping a gunpod under the fuselage, or hanging ordnance off the wings, would sully the smooth clean look of this valk. That all of it's weapons are inclusive and unobtrusive add to the beauty of the fighter, and are convenient to the battroid. It's a testament to Kawamori's forward thinking, as all of today's fighters/UCAVs are designed with incorporated, conformal, and internalized weapon systems in meeting stealth requirements. Stealth technology, i.e. the F-117, wasn't revealed until 1988; Flashback 2012 came out in '87.
  23. M'Kyuun
    One is all I'll be able to afford, provided I don't miss the boat when it becomes available. I love the valk's design, and so far it looks like Yamato is crafting a great toy.
  24. M'Kyuun
    Seconded. I buy transforming toys for their own sake, regardless of story, character, or background. If the design is cool, I want it. And while I do wish they could use the FB2012 scheme, I'm fine if they release it with the current scheme. Close enough...
  25. M'Kyuun
    I added my vote. Really, really hope that this is easier to get than Bandai's blink-and-you-miss-it renewal VF-25 line. Being a valkyrie collector has definitely become a bittersweet hobby, esp when the desire and finances are available, but the valks themselves are elusive. I hope the demand for this is significant to the point that it will receive, if not a standard release like their previous valks, at least a second wider release. Moreso, I hope the demand for this makes them see potential for mass release, multiple repaints, and a tidy profit, i.e. incentive. Dreaming aloud, but I hope it comes to fruition.
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