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M'Kyuun

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  1. M'Kyuun
    Cool; I was rooting for Bell and their tiltrotor technology. It's a sleeker, lovelier, and I daresay more futuristic looking design. Can't wait to see one of these at an airshow- in about seven years. I can wait.
  2. M'Kyuun
    So true. Heck, she was still attractive into her golden years- she aged well. I don't know if she had some help with that or not, but regardless, she was a pretty lady. I don't recall seeing much of her work, honestly, but I do remember her originating the character of Lt. Saavik in Wrath of Khan. Alas, another notable entertainer lost to us. RIP Ms. Alley
  3. M'Kyuun
    I'll confess I didn't recognize his name, but after following the link, I recognize the impact he had on me as a kid growing up in the 70s and 80s watching Sesame Street. Some of those old songs still play in my head from time to time, a lovely nostalgic feeling. I have never had the chance to thank him or any of the folks who worked on children's tv shows during my childhood, but come what may in the afterlife, I hope I'm afforded that opportunity. Til then, RIP Mr. McGrath- you've earned it, sir.
  4. M'Kyuun
    So, the pilot couldn't just turn off the engine after touching ground? Cut fuel? Throttle down? Real heroes, these guys. Glad none of the folks just driving along were affected.
  5. M'Kyuun
    Don't forget the B-1B Lancer, which is still operational.
  6. M'Kyuun
    TBH, I find this new bomber a bit underwhelming. I was hoping they'd trot out something sleek, stealthy, and very, very fast, not a downsized B-2 2.0. Perhaps it's just me, but the idea of a plane that can evade most ground defenses by virtue of velocity and acceleration is much more frightening than another subsonic Batwing. Too, as the tech continues to progress, I wouldn't even consider creating manned aircraft going forward; from a psychological POV, it's frightening, there are no crews in need of rescue in case bailout becomes necessary or they become captured, much more internal space can be utilized for sensors or weaponry, flight characteristics are unfettered from human limitations, the plane itself can be a bomb if necessary, the design itself isn't limited by human needs. IMHO, so far as combat aircraft are concerned, unmanned should be the only option.
  7. M'Kyuun
    USAF unveils B-21 Raider stealth bomber.
  8. M'Kyuun
    Not a bad design at all. Too bad they didn't collapse the passenger cabin to lay even with the hood, as his legs would have looked streamlined instead of wielding massive cankles. But as a new mold, and certainly a unique look for our favorite Cybertronian leader-cum-toy-dispersing-saint, he's pretty cool. I think Hasbro's reuse of this mold for a future Hero Optimus is a foregone conclusion; it's merely a matter of time. And of course, it'll likely be an exclusive- probably Walmart. 😛 I jest, but it'll probably happen.😏 I passed on this guy, a decision I'll likely come to regret. For now, and likely always, I'll enjoy him vicariously. Thanks for the review, Mike, and Happy Holidays!
  9. M'Kyuun
    Knight definitely brought some much-needed heart and soul into the franchise, as well as crafting a coherent and enjoyable story around Charlie's and Bee's friendship. I wish he'd had total freedom to change the look of the film, too. granted, he did streamline the characters in that beginning shot to bring them much closer to a G1 aesthetic while not oversimplifying them to the point of Sunbow. For my money, they're still a little too much bayformer, but the difference was striking nonetheless and quite honestly, I'd have been happy if Bay had gone with that as the look throughout his films rather than the churned, shredded, and randomly strewn metal bits look he ultimately adopted. However, I think Dropkick, Shatter, and Blitzwing all carry over the Bayformer aesthetic. Moreover, the choice of alt modes for Dropkick and Shatter were ill-considered considering the vast difference in scale and shape of the alt modes; they simply shouldn't have been depicted as triple-changers; there needs to be some logic in how these things mechanically transition, and unfortunately, CG animation can magically make anything turn into anything else regardless of how illogical said transition is. It's why I think the toys should have come first, and the movie designs based off of them following a prescribed and logical methodology for transformation. Too, that means no arms magically appearing out of the trunk if the arms fold up under the hood for transformation. I absolutely detest the license they take with having bot bits come out of anywhere on the vehicle mode for story's sake. I also hate that the car modes are unaffected by the bot- legs and such need to go somewhere, so it would have been nice to see some inner car space compromised by bot bits, just like the toys. I don't think G1 is being marketed to young kids as much as the 40-50 year old kids. We're the ones that Mark and Evan are addressing with all their BTS posts on Instagram, who keep Transformers fan conventions going, who are buying the vast majority of 3P products, esp G1 related stuff. Hasbro knows who they're pandering to, and they know we've got a hell of a lot more disposable income to buy stuff like Unicron, Star Saber, Deathsaurus, all the Gen Selects stuff, and yep, even the retail G1 stuff. We old-timers are the core audience for it and the primary market- we have nostalgia driving us, and a lot more money to spend on it than your average 8-year old. Nothing will convince me otherwise. I'm a big part of that market, as my many boxes and shelves full of these things will attest.
  10. M'Kyuun
    I always wondered why the Thunderhawk's wheels didn't fold flat against the bottom of the car for flight mode. Seems like the standard mechanical application for wheeled vehicles that either fly or go underwater, and I've always loved the look of it. The lack of such a mechanism was always my primary turn-off to the Thunderhawk. Looking through the pics, I think Ramen are doing a brilliant job in updating these old toys. Kenner was ahead of their time with the original toyline, really neat stuff. So far as the Great White goes, I completely sympathize with Ace's explanation of the challenges of trying to make those hood fins work. This is a pretty challenging vehicle to design so far as carrying over all the transformational elements seen in the toon, and I think they're doing a remarkable job. There's definitely some passion behind these toys. While I'm not a partsformer fan, in this instance, in order to preserve the aesthetics of the car, I think his add-on fins were probably the best method requiring the least amount of sacrifice to the other mechanisms. I appreciate the BTS video: I wish more toy companies would do stuff like this, especially in highly technical toys like Transformers and M.A.S.K. where so much thought and precision needs to go into the design to make everything functional and durable through many transitions.
  11. M'Kyuun
    Except, with some minor aesthetic differences held over from Knight's Bumblebee Movie, the look and feel of this film is still thoroughly influenced by Bay. The transformations are still the same nonsensical shredding and illogical rearranging of car parts willy-nilly on the bot's body, the transformation sound effects are the same, the feel of it is still the same. The only hope of any goodness, as was the case with Bumblebee, is that the director actually has a personal connection to Transformers, and so too the scriptwriters, so at least the characters are depicted well enough to be familiar and likeable. Neither was the case with any of Bay's films b/c Bay didn't know squat about Transformers- zero connection to it, and it showed. Travis Knight is a fan, and it came through, even if he had to work around all the Bay-centric stuff. I'm thinking the same will be true for RotB- Hasbro and Paramount seem absolutely reluctant to depart from the visual language established in Bay's films, so to put their individual stamps on their films, any follow-on directors need to concentrate on character and telling a coherent story with a bit of heart thrown in for good measure.
  12. M'Kyuun
    NP, I'm here for ya. I'd be right fine with their releasing the original toys, although, as I mentioned, I'd want the voyager scaled Prime as intended and not the deluxe (which supposedly ill-fitted with the Wingblade armor, unsurprisingly). Wingblade's ok (wasn't the biggest fan of it back in 2010, and still kinda meh about it); Blackout is the one that got away and the one I really want to see rereleased. I'd wish for a modern toy with updated articulation, but I fear they're just going to G1-ize everything, and that totally misses the point of what made these toys so unique and cool. Likewise the Prime cartoon toys. Updated toys with improved articulation- bring it on! Updated toys that strip them of their stylistic aesthetics in lieu of blockier G1 aesthetics, why? and please, no.
  13. M'Kyuun
    Ah, Studio Series '86. I probably should have done some research before posting, but I didn't. I appreciate the clarification, and I'm happy for the figs we're getting. Still some glaring omissions though, Hasbro. Cranky old Gears needs some love too. Seems funny that they're revisiting WfC/FoC designs, but I guess everything falls under the Legacy umbrella at this point. For the sake of those fans who weren't able to get the toys back when the games came out, good. I have a few of them, but honestly, most of the designs just didn't grab me. I thought the game mechanics were amazing, though, and should have become the standard going forward, spawning numerous games in the same vein. I'd love a G1 game with those mechanics, especially if they let you play through stuff like the Sherman Dam fight between Megatron and Prime. Choosing your faction and playing from either side would be fantastic as well, but I digress. I still love my little FoC Prime figure and wouldn't mind a new voyager scaled version with improved articulation/details. Love the look of that Prime design. The WfC game design, not so much, although I get the sense that that is the preferred design amongst fans. Are you talking about Wingblade Prime, or another figure? Wingblade was released, but only in the Japanese market. Oddly, Hasbro planned on releasing the armor pack, but with a deluxe version of Prime instead of the voyager for which it was designed and released by Takara. Anyway, it would be fantastic if Hasbro would release that (w/ the proper voyager fig), Blackout, and some of the other non-stateside Animated releases, as well as surprise us with an Omega Supreme (an original mold to capture the Animated character's look and transformation and NOT a crappy retool of The Ark figure).
  14. M'Kyuun
    I'm interested in the Animated Prime, but I'm fearful that they're going to G1-ify it like the Prime stuff, and for all intents and purposes, Bulkhead, who had far more in common with the Animated version than Prime. I still love my Animated toy collection, and would love to see some gaps filled, and some reissues of figs like Blackout. Any new Animated toys I'd like to see mirroring the toon look; if they can do it ad nauseum for G1, they can do it for Animated which had a very definitive style to it. Still, short of improving the articulation, this is still the toy to beat 😍. I'd be excited for Sandstorm, but after they botched Blitzwing and Astrotrain so badly, I have low expectations. Likewise for any triple-changers going forward. Springer's the only decent one they've done recently. I'll likely get Silverbolt. I didn't care for the Fuzors and I don't believe I bought any of them back in the day. However, I love the character and the romantic thing he has with Blackarachnia, so I think I'd be down for a modern interpretation. I have no recollection whatsoever of Tigerhawk despite being a Beast Wars fan. Looked him up, still no recollection. The OG toy looked kinda cool though. I'll wait and see what the new toy looks like before I commit. I'm guessing Cyber is short for Cybertron, as they're mining a lot of past continuities, and Cyberverse is their younger kids' line with its own style of toys. I'm thinking this: Kinda surprised neither leader Swoop nor Snarl were in that list. Notable omissions include deluxe Windcharger, Gears, Brawn, Powerglide, Earth Jeep Hound, core class Ravage, Laserbeak, Steeljaw, and Ramhorn, deluxe Omnibots, Seaspray and Beachcomber, just to name a few. Def want them to finish the first season minibots before moving on to obscure characters like Tigerhawk. Too, they need to redesign Mirage- the Seige fig and its slightly retooled ER toy just aren't right. I want something that's similar to the G1 transformation, where the front of his car mode becomes his chest, his arms the sides of the car, and his legs the back of the car with his spoiler becoming his feet.
  15. M'Kyuun
    😄 How did I miss this back in October? Anyway, QFT. You and I are eye to eye. I despise the stupid pacifier face they gave Bee. Too, his ridiculous inability to speak. And yeah, he was treated more like a pet in the Bee Movie than the millions-of-years-old skilled spy and combatant that he is, and that he's shown to be at the beginning of the film. I'm way beyond weary of the whole Bayformer feel and aesthetic that they continue to perpetuate in the live action films. I wish someone at Hasbro and Paramount had the chutzpah to go a different direction and leave Bay and his influence in the all-too forgettable past. I'm not saying full-bore G1. What I want to see are designs that work practically, similar to how the Binaltech/Alternators worked. Accordingly, I want to see folded legs or whatnot taking up backseat space- completely practical vehicle modes based upon working models that actually transform without a ton of CG magic and shredding of car parts into millions of weird and twisted shapes that make no sense mechanically. I love ILM, but FFS, I wish they'd found a practical solution to depicting transformations. Alternators should have been the basis, and Hasbro should have insisted on it. Anthony Ramos is a former military electronics expert. Ah, the tired cliche of main protagonist being or having been military with either elite hacking skills or some other sort of high-end skill that will no doubt come into play during some contrived situation. At least Charlie and Sam were regular kids with no paramilitary backgrounds with elite skills. It just gets old. Perhaps I'm just jaded b/c I'm retired military, but I'm hardly elite at anything except bitching about Hollywood's perpetuation of military stereotypes. RotB definitely treads familiar ground just by the look and feel of the trailer- too much Michael Bay influence for this TF fan. Mirage's transformation smacks of Jazz's from the '07 film, and I almost expected him to break into a Moonwalk as Anthony Ramos walks ahead without looking back. Cool guys used to not look back at explosions; now they don't look back at transforming bots doing spinning flourishes. From head-on, Mirage's (should have been Jazz, but whatever. Since Jazz died in the 07 film I guess they had to make him someone else) bot mode gives little indication that he turns into a car. 😒 Regarding the scale of the beasts, I'm divided: it makes sense in context of the bot modes, but not of the alt modes, which renders their taking of beast modes as disguise moot. To me, in the original Beast Wars cartoon, the scaling down of the bots so that the alt modes fit scale with the real creatures they were emulating made more sense. YMMV. In the wake of my overly negative tone, let me leave on a positive note: I really dig that Cheetor transformation scene. Pretty cool.
  16. M'Kyuun
    I'm likely in the minority, but I always preferred Christine's lovely voice over that of Stevie's. Incidentally, both have contralto singing voices, but the distinction between each is readily apparent and that difference gave Fleetwood Mac an interesting variety in their sound from song to song. To this day, though, I tend to prefer those on which Christine sang lead. Beyond my preferences, Christine was part of that generation coming up in the 70s and 80s when stuff was crazy, and her band is well-known for its often-tumultuous internal dynamics. Needless to say, like most rock stars of her time, she led a storied life and leaves behind a musical legacy that will long endure. Thanks for the songs, Christine. RIP
  17. M'Kyuun
    That is indeed an odd feature, for lack of a better word, of Bandai's DX line. In truth, Arcadia outclasses them on a lot of those small but meaningful details. I do love Bandai's penchant for tampo, but they go a bit overboard with it. I wish Arcadia would do more tampo, especially when the prices are in the $300 range. As a bare minimum, the intake markings, Macross kites, and nose and tail numbers should be tampoed. Part of me thinks it'd be a good thing if Bandai was to buy Arcadia and give them autonomy to continue doing their Macross products. Imagine what they could do with Bandai's resources. Too, the toys would come down in price (hopefully). Not sure Bandai would be willing to let Arcadia do things their way, though, so I guess it's better that they remain separate and a competitor in the Macross transforming toy market.
  18. M'Kyuun
    Like you, I have MS-01 as my primary MP Prime; MP-10 is tucked away behind my MP Beast Wars figs, but fairly easily accessible if I feel the need. I really like the details and beefier proportions of MS-01 over the slender and 'toon accurate' Primes by Takara and TE. And too, the transformation is smart, eschews the need for faux parts, provides a decent truck mode and an excellent looking bot mode. I bought their recent Light of Victory legends figure upon which MS-02 was based, and I have to say I was initially thinking of grabbing up a copy of that too, especially after seeing its articulation. However, I don't like the toon accuracy direction of flattening his leg louvres, omitting the cab stripe, the square headlights, or the longer face mask (for my money, MS-01 has a perfect head sculpt). My hope is that they'll release a toy-based version with all of MS-01's details. That would pretty much be the definitive Optimus Prime toy IMHO.
  19. M'Kyuun
    Sorry, man. I believe you can submit ideas for pieces to WEBricks. As for Mega Bloks, that 2x2 is one of their parts, but AFAIK, there's no secondary marketplace for MB sets or parts. I wish there was, as they make a whole host of neat and interesting parts that LEGO doesn't. For the non-purist LEGO builder, something like that would be a boon so far as the options it would offer. Heck, I'd be tempted myself. LEGO, to their credit, have been making good strides over the last 5-6 years for the number of SNOT bricks they've produced, but we could certainly do with full plate brackets, this minus that half plate, any number of inverted plates with clips and such, inverted cheese slopes, etc ad nauseum. And of course, a whole menu of plates with both studs and anti-studs top and bottom would add all new dimensions and options to the intrepid builder faced with the current frustrating limitations.
  20. M'Kyuun
    I think that's the best looking Bubbleship MOC I've seen. What a beautiful design. I'd love to see this as an Ideas set. In response to your query 1x2 Double panel #gds1581 Gobricks (webrick.com) I don't believe they make a 2x2; the pic I posted I believe is Mega Bloks, and unfortunately, AFAIK, there's no database analogous to Bricklink for MB parts. I wish there was, though, as they make a lot of useful parts that LEGO doesn't but should. Since their acquisition by Mattel, their quality improved notably as well.
  21. M'Kyuun
    Not feeling any compulsion to dive into these new figs, as they really don't do much beyond the Action Toys figs I already have. I liked AT's style, for the most part. I was hoping they'd release Supercar (Turbo) but AFAIK, they never did despite having a fully painted demo model. I was also hoping they'd get around to making Harrier Robo, but I guess that'll never happen now. 😢
  22. M'Kyuun
    That's my take as well; I'm too purist to make the leap of mixing authentic LEGO with offbrand, even when the offbrands make parts like which would be beyond immensely useful. I recently discovered a site called WEBrick which acts as a coordinated hub for sourcing LEGO-compatible third-party bricks, and some of the options they offer are very tempting, especially when they can provide a piece in a color that LEGO doesn't make or stuff like the plate I pictured, as well as other custom pieces that many of us wish LEGO would produce. It's one of those subjective choices- to mix or not to mix. 😁 I'm aware of lots of folks who'll buy non-LEGO weapons and armor for their minifigs but would balk at the very notion of ever mixing a Mega Bloks piece into one of their builds, regardless of its utility and omission from LEGO's own palette. I've come close myself, as I have a couple MB 1x2 plates with studs top & bottom, and the temptation to use them is great. But the purist in me keeps winning the internal dialog. Maybe someday, but not yet.
  23. M'Kyuun
    Yeah, the more I look at it, the more I see those flaws, and with Yammie's nigh perfect fighter mode as a tangible benchmark, you'd think they'd want to replicate that while improving their take on the battroid. Appearently, no. Zoomed in on the hand holding the gun, and it looks like the hand extends weirdly from the arm. maybe for clearance.? IDK, but it looks awkward. It's a mixed bag- they made the legs look better, but as @Chronocidal is apt to point out, their fighter mode took a number of hits not related to making the legs more proportional for battroid. Too, the backpack section is really thick compared to the Yammie. Yamato came up with a novel way of shrinking the nose length a bit for b-mode, and one wonders why they wouldn't attempt the same, although in truth, that bothers me far less than others. The forearms are too small and too short, the aft arm guns protrude erroneously in fighter, the vertical stabs sit about an inch too far forward in respect to the exhaust section, and the hands are a little on the small side. I do like the battroid, though. I like the foreshortened belly plates, one of my least favorite design choices for this Valk. It's about the only Valk design I can think of that's essentially a shellformer, as generally the legs either form the entirety of the powerplant or somehow coalesce into the fuselage in a meaningful way, or both in the case of the VF-4 and the Variable Glaug. The YF-21 is an oddity in that the legs serve no function to the fighter mode except as cargo, which required a lot of mass-shifting animation magic to squeeze them into a too-small area for fighter, and then balloon up for battroid. It's one of Kawamori's crappiest designs from that POV, if only to try and project the look of the Queadluun-Rau onto the battroid. That's fine, but I wish, like the majority of his other variable fighter designs, he'd used the legs as the powerplant, even if they were partially concealed by panels to cover their curvy shape. I've looked at the line art many times and wished he'd done something different and more practical with the design that would make creating a three-dimensional model or toy much more translatable. It simply relies far too much on animation magic to affect the proportions which does toy makers no favors.
  24. M'Kyuun
    Perhaps my high praise was premature. As I said, some time has passed since my last Bayformers acquisition. I'm not counting the Bumblebee Movie figs even though they still follow the Bay aesthetic. My memories are of rather complex figures with lots of moving parts and paint apps that tended to be less spare than current figs. Alas, inflation and tighter budgets. Anyway, it was against that standard that I measured, perhaps erroneously, the sum of Generations against TLK Hot Rod which impressed me for its clever and complex transformation. I assumed it was representative of regular Studio Series as a whole, but I'm given to understand that he may be a bit of a standout in some respects, but not all. He does make liberal use of ball joints, and he could have benefitted from better clearances, especially between his leg kibble and lower legs. I do think still that he has a higher parts count than the majority of Generations figs, as there are quite a few moving bits on this guy, especially for the size. As Mike pointed out, he's a rather small and light deluxe which made the number of moving bits involved in his transformation surprising, and quite pleasant for their clever double use in the case of the bit of his hood that fills in most of his waist section. I remain impressed with it and add my recommendation along with Mike's. I'm not a Bayformers fan (though my toy collection would say otherwise), but sometimes a toy is worth owning on its own merits apart from its source and that's how I feel about Hot Rod- neat looking bot that turns into a beautiful car via a pleasantly complex transformation schema.
  25. M'Kyuun
    Sorry to hear about the loose joint situation. Hopefully your copy was a one-off and not endemic. I never liked Transmetal Megatron; it didn't appeal to me in the 90s and still doesn't, so I won't be adding this guy to my collection. I just got my copy of Inferno yesterday, and I love him- so much character in that toy! I'm so glad they gave him a hinged jaw for that extra bit of maniacal expression. 😍 "For the royalty!" indeed. I do wish, however, that they'd put some additional ratcheting hinges in the ant legs on the arms to allow them to fold or be moved out of the way better. In addition to Inferno, I received my copy of TLK Hot Rod, and though I seldom pick up a Bayformer fig these days, it looked pretty good to me. Having not handled a Bayformer in some time, the extent of its complexity in comparison to the typical Generations/ WfC stuff was surprising and reminiscent of the toys from the mid aughts when the first few films came out. The other thing that struck me was the parts count on this toy as opposed to the typical deluxe Generations figure- many more moving parts, a licensed alt mode, better engineering and complexity, a decent amount of paint apps---why the hell don't Generations toys receive the same from their budgets? I realize this is Studio Series, but the SS86 figs don't even seem to enjoy this level of engineering or detail. Ironhide, just to pick on a recent release, suffers from huge hinges which interrupt the smooth lines of his van mode, and he doesn't even have his traditional yellow stripe, although the panel lines depict it. To my thinking, had Ironhide been a part of the regular Studio Series, he would have had a smooth sided van with the stripe utilizing more double hinges and other such contrivances to better realize his alt mode without compromise. Def a double standard when it comes to these lines, and unfortunately, the Generations stuff seems to be on the lower end despite the fact that G1 continues to drive the franchise more than any other continuity.
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