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M'Kyuun

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  1. M'Kyuun
    Totally agree. I think it's one of the best-executed triple changers I've seen. I haven't been too interested in the other MR figs by this company, as I have Action Toys' versions, which I like better, but Triple Jim may warrant a purchase. Hopefully we'll get some in-hand preview vids to get some idea about the transformation and quality of the fig.
  2. M'Kyuun
    Nice review, Mike. Anticipating my copy's arrival; I'm also hoping they can make a good Wheeljack. I liked your musing here: "It was an oddity of that first episode of the G1 cartoon that all the characters on Cybertron looked exactly like would when they woke up on Earth with their new Earth alt-modes. I'm not sure if the animators thought our young brains were too mushy to figure out that they were the same characters if they changed the obvious car parts on the robots. Or, more likely, they didn't have the time budget to invest in whipping up new Cybertronian robot-mode character models, so they just made a few sci-fi-ish looking vehicles with no thought for how they'd transform, figuring it's just a short scene in one episode that everyone would forget about after the cast got their established Earth modes. It's not like nearly 40 years later someone would try to actually make toys with the regular robot character models that actually transformed into those one-off Cybertronian alt modes, right?" I doubt anyone at the time foresaw the popularity of this franchise when it was beginning or the amount of scrutiny, by adult eyes no less, that the Sunbow toon would receive beyond a few years' time, and certainly not 40+ years' time. Animators should keep that in mind; your work may live on longer and in greater view than you expect, so do it well.
  3. M'Kyuun
    Horizon: Zero Dawn was my introduction to Lance Reddick, and then recently his performance as Albert Wesker in Netflix's Resident Evil series. His performances in both made me an instant fan. For family, friends, and fans alike, I think we're all agreed that Lance is lost to us far too soon.
  4. M'Kyuun
    LEGO Star Wars: The Mandalorian 75361 Spider Tank, due out in Aug '23. As a mecha fan, a Star Wars fan, and a fan of Masamune Shirow's various arthropod-inspired mecha designs, this thing hits all my sweet spots at once. I've long lamented the omission of an official LM-432 Crab Droid set. Said droid was first seen in The Revenge of the Sith and made appearances in several Clone Wars episodes, and has yet to receive a set. This Spider Tank will likely have to suffice, but suffice it does. One could easily craft a custom Major Motoko Kusanagi fig and it would not look the least out of place with this model. Preorders are already available in the LEGO Shop, and I've got mine. Also of note in this set is the new Dark Saber blade for the Mandalorian, which seems to be the main draw for a number of bloggers, calling this set the "$50 Dark Saber set". While it's cool that LEGO made a new blade element for that purpose, I honestly couldn't have cared less if there were minifigs included: I'm all about that sweet mecha. Alas, while I'm on the topic of minifigs, there's a new improved Bo Katan fig included as well. The new hairpiece captures Katee Sackhoff's appearance better than the previous minifig, IMHO. In other LEGO news, LEGO has recently revealed a number of upcoming Indiana Jones sets covering scenes from the original three films. Among the original leaked pics of sets, A Temple of Doom set has since been held back from release with no indication whether or not it'll be released in the future.
  5. M'Kyuun
    That's well done.
  6. M'Kyuun
    Likewise, with a few exceptions. But with space at a premium, and the engineering and aesthetics rivaling or exceeding that of many of the official MP figs, a legends scale collection would have been preferable over the long run. Alas, I don't think anyone, especially me, back in the early days of legends scale ever thought they'd reach the state of sophistication and polish that they have, primarily because of Magic Square and New Age. That bit of competition, too, ensures that they continue to innovate and bring interesting figs to market. Too, in almost every case, there's one company's version that I prefer over the other's, so having that choice is fantastic. I tried avoiding collecting legends, but in spite of my reluctance, I've amassed a tidy little collection of them from various companies including the aforementioned MS, NA, as well as Iron Factory and MFT's Blitzwing. Some of these characters are so well-realized that I just want to have them for how good they are. Fortunately, I've never been a completionist, and I have self-control sufficient to still limit what I buy otherwise there'd be no room in my house left and I'd need an intervention and an ebay account to pare down. That said, I preordered New Age's Powerglide yesterday and I just had MP Skyfire delivered today, so maybe the problem's worse than I thought. 😇
  7. M'Kyuun
    As with the Bay films, it's best to divorce all G1 association with the characters in the live-action films, as the respective directors are going to do whatever they feel like doing with them. I'm glad Travis Knight gave us the opening scene in the Bumblebee Movie, as that's the closest the characters have been depicted to their G1 selves since the beginning of the live-action films. I wish they'd been like that from the beginning, but alas, no. If RotB is any indication of the look of future films, adherence to G1 is going to continue to be of little consequence as the directors continue to follow Bay's pattern. As such, my interest is nil, and the toys will continue to suffer from the impracticality of the CG designs. 🙁
  8. M'Kyuun
    Yeah, he is, and poor FoC Prime, cool toy that he is, is tiny by comparison. Too, Bee was a bit fidgety to transform, as I recall; he's on my shelves somewhere but I haven't messed with him in quite some time. Anyway, I think I'm gonna pass on these three and hope for some FoC love, at least a new voyager scaled Prime. Looking at vids of the 2010 WfC Prime, in some ways it hewed closer to the game, and had a rather intricate transformation. Looking at the new fig, a lot of the complexity of the upper torso and arms is simplified with what looks like the majority of the truck's front end sitting upside down on his back to beef up the overall silhouette of his chest from the front and likely forming an awkward looking backpack. I think the new toy's robot mode has some nicer overall proportions, at least from the front. I wish his back tires were larger to fill the wells better, and a bit rounder looking on the outside edges. The '10 toy does both and makes the truck look better for it. For reasons that aren't apparent, they buried his shin vents in boxy looking enclosures that aren't accurate to the game art or the '10 toy, which did it better. The toy's a mixed bag, improving some things over the '10 toy, but taking a step backwards in others. IMHO, if you have the original, you likely already have the superior toy between them, but if not and the WfC design appeals, this will be a good fig to fill that void.
  9. M'Kyuun
    Can't say I'm really feeling any of these. I never cared for the WfC version of Prime (Love the FoC version though), and I have the Generations WfC Bumblebee fig, which I like better than this new version. I think the torso and leg designs and proportions look better. The new fig has more screen accurate arms, but that's about the only improvement I see over the original toy. Still, It's a nice surprise that they're going back and redoing these figs, esp for folks who missed out on the original toys. Personally, I hope they do FoC, and make a proper voyager scaled Prime. I do have to say, though, although I'm not fond of the WfC Prime design, that new fig looks amazing.
  10. M'Kyuun
    Scalewise across the board, I think Has/Tak have been doing a pretty fair job. The Seekers, if we're considering their alt modes, should probably be leader scale, as the F-15 is a large jet, certainly much larger than the average car. But of course, that would make their bot modes out of scale, so choices. The extraordinary amount of mass shifting and variable scaling in the old toon left a lasting and not-so-practical influence on the toys over the years and I think they're doing their best to try to find a good balance. It's not an enviable position to be in, especially with so fickle, opinionated, and vocal a fandom and the ubiquitousness of social media upon which unruly fans oft unleash their umbrage. There's just no way to please everybody, or meet every individual's personal leanings on this or that aspect while adhering to their own standards of safety, design, budget, etc. Trust me, there are plenty of things I'd like to see or see changed too, but I have a greater appreciation for the obstacles the designers face thanks to their sharing a lot of behind-the-scenes info on Instagram. I tend to reign in my criticism a bit more now, and honestly, I try to be positive anyway, as I'm just glad that Transformers are still popular and we're finally getting the G1 toy updates in the main line that I've been dreaming about for decades.
  11. M'Kyuun
    Man, I was all-in until you mentioned arm guns; I'm a fan of bots with hands to hold a weapon, not have the arm be the weapon. JK, about the all-in part, not the arm weapon part. The latter's true. This set doesn't really appeal to me at all. However, I'm rue to be down on a toy simply b/c it doesn't meet my personal preferences, which are likely a little more sophisticated than your average 8-12 year old's. There are likely adults out there who have fond memories of these toys, just as many G1ers have fond memories of the G1 toys, despite their limitations. I try to keep the 'toy' aspect in mind when judging these things and hope that somewhere, there's a kid, or a big kid in many of our instances, who adores these things warts and all. So, Chefatron already has Legacy Armada Prime in hand. Legacy Evolution Commander Class Armada Optimus Prime In-Hand Images & Video - COMPARED! (tformers.com) I'm not a fan of the entire UT, so my interest is very low. However, I know this is a highly anticipated toy for many, and judging by Chefatron's comparison shots to earlier toys, this one looks to be the best version yet, as it should be at the commander class budget, and by virtue of being a new release. Granted it doesn't auto-transform like one of the previous versions, a pretty neat feature even if it rendered the combined mode's legs immobile, but it does offer a fairly clean combined mode with a sizeable backpack, but otherwise no kibble to interfere in posing, which IMHO, is the best you can ask with this sort of fig. I hope Legacy Armada Prime fulfils the longing of many a fan, and just turns out to be a really good toy.
  12. M'Kyuun
    Guilty. I should have given more consideration to the whole of Transformers contemporary to Go! before making my statement. Too, in retrospect, standards are still across a range, as the mainline stuff definitely seems to receive more budget and consideration than those toy lines that are targeted at younger audiences. I shouldn't have generalized.
  13. M'Kyuun
    Ignorant to the majority of Japanese TF lore, shows, and in this case, toys, I appreciate your reviewing these guys. I'll concede they seem a bit dated by current standards, but as older toys go, they at least seem to have decent articulation. I even kinda like Jinbu's design, although it is a bit cluttered towards the tail in jet mode. If Hasbro in the spirit of Legacy all-inclusionism were to homage these toys, I think your suggested figs would be pretty close to the mark, eschewing, of course, the combination feature. I have to say though, as obscure as these toys are on Western shores, I'd be three shades of pissed if they got toys before the Omnibots who've been primed, no pun intended, for updates for nigh 40 years.
  14. M'Kyuun
    Love the design, hate the colors. Hoping this thing is issue-free, and they follow it up with the lovely 'B' series. Been some time since we had a new valk design to add to the display, and this one was high on the list, along with the Variable Glaug, VF-9 , and the VF-14. Oh yeah, and an improved YF-21 w/ good overall battroid proportions.
  15. M'Kyuun
    Kinda reminds me of the SB10/10 Starwing from Macross Plus , with a little Quinjet thrown in there. Really nice looking design. 😍
  16. M'Kyuun
    Looks like they're taking a similar design direction with the legs as Has/Tak leader Slag's. Not crazy about the ultra-toon smoothness, though, but that's the popular direction. Can't wait til it's not.
  17. M'Kyuun
    Very good, glad we both got our copies. I hope Target doesn't pull their PO cancellation shenanigans again. I missed out on Thrust precisely for that reason. grrrr
  18. M'Kyuun
    Thanks for those links, Mike. I managed to get Origins Jazz through Target, as Pulse was already sold out (only 49 minutes after your post). These damnable exclusives and their extremely short stock on Pulse are absolute BS. I'm not feeling the benefit of my membership when these things go up for PO and I have no awareness until an hour later and the bloody things are already sold out. Anyway, you're a godsend. Thanks, Mike.
  19. M'Kyuun
    If the alt mode was some sort of praying mantis, I could buy that, but as any sort of relatable gun, it fails absolutely. Add to that the nauseatingly Bayformery Frenzy-ish look of it, and all interest recedes to nothingness. I so vehemently wish they'd put everything Bay in the rearview mirror and all but ostracize it like they've done with Animated, which was magnitudes better than any single one of the atrocious and unsalvageable travesties that are the Michael Bay live action films. I very much like Kingdom Airazor, and although I initially thought this was just a retooll/repaint of that mold, the fact that she's a new mold that follows the same transformation schema as the Kingdom toy doesn't bother me a bit. I think, too, the concessions are a little more apparent in bird mode, but not so egregious as to deter my overall positive opinion. However, I wasn't planning on getting this fig, since I already have Kingdom Airazor and Terrorsaur which fulfill my need for this particular mold. I was, however, considering picking up the deluxe RotB mold where her legs form a fair part of the wings and the arms form the bird's legs, just for some variation. That said, I think the Kingdom design's bird mode, and thus this deluxe Airazor's alt mode, offers far more in terms of articulation. Thanks for the review, Mike.
  20. M'Kyuun
    This fig hasn't appealed to me since it was first revealed, and your review only cements my opinion. Honestly, I'm not really finding too many of these RotB figs all that appealing. Money and space saved, but it's rare that so much of a line fails to appeal to me. As of now, the only figs I plan on picking up are the deluxe Airazor and SS Mirage. Honestly, I'd prefer this Mirage custom.
  21. M'Kyuun

    Arcadia VF-5000G

    M'Kyuun replied to daBlah!'s topic in Toys

    QFT. Kawamori's a phenomenal artist, but sometimes his color choices leave somewhat to be desired. I'm also holding out for the B variant, so I hope this gaudy teal & yellow version sells like hotcakes, if they indeed release it. I hope they do; we need more Macross valk variety on the shelf. The VF-1 and YF-19 are great, but there are yet a number of designs that need toy treatment, and this is definitely one of the nicest ones.
  22. M'Kyuun
    😄👍 I have to say, the choice of treads for the trailer is a bit odd; IRL, they'd limit the speed and bog you down on highways, not to mention tear up roads. But from a rule-of-cool perspective, pretty neat. Wish these actually rolled, but too much to ask for with these severely budget-limited retail toys. I'm glad to see the trailer hitch moved back a bit farther on the legs allowing for more clearance for the trailer to rotate. They put it too close to the cab on ER Prime for no good reason that I can perceive. Looking at this, it makes me wonder how they're going to approach commander class Ultra Magnus: all-in-one or separate robot with parts-forming armor? While AIO is generally my preference, I'm still satisfied w/ my CW UM and it wouldn't bother me if they decided to go the G1 toy route of a separate bot w/ armor. Either way, I just hope it's worlds better than the unpalatable Siege and Kingdom figs. 🤮
  23. M'Kyuun
    Hasbro has you covered @mikeszekely 😁 True to the original, looks like he'll combine w/ his trailer for a full armored version. Armada's not my favorite take, but I think they did a pretty good job with him from my limited experience with the original. You have a far more acute eye for the details, so you're more apt to pick out any discrepancies. regardless, I hope this satisfyingly fills a hole in your Prime collection.
  24. M'Kyuun
    I appreciate the post and hope you're enjoying him. I think Takara did a pretty good job with him as well, and having watched a few video reviews, I think the transformation is excellent- straightforward and uncluttered by a lot of small folding panels, sliders, etc that we see in a lot of Transformer figs today. Granted those things can help make for better bot or vehicle modes, but sometimes simpler is nice. Alas, I already have MMC's Terraegis, and I'm quite satisfied with their take on the character. That said, had this come out earlier before all the other 3P options, I wouldn't have hesitated to get a copy. My only nitpicks are the blue windows on his sides (I wonder why they didn't engineer it so that the doors remain outward-facing in bot mode? It would have improved that side profile). The other thing I don't care for is how his belly sticks out at an angle instead of flush as the original toy did and most other versions I've seen. Those niggles aside, he's a good take. This looks ok; there are always going to be inconsistencies between the complex CG models and the toys. Two thoughts: this opens the door for MP Jazz, and two, why couldn't they make SS86 Jazz's car mode this clean?
  25. M'Kyuun
    That's a pretty creative way to use the oversized head of a super-deformed bot to achieve a decent transformation without removing the head all together, as is usually the case. Not really grabbing me personally, but I appreciate the thought that went into it. I think Big Firebird did it better with their Magic Henshin line; not only did they have better bike modes, but they also combined. Granted, they weren't super-deformed with giant heads, but still in the realm of kawaii. So, I recently added Magic Square's Ken (Ironhide) to my reluctantly ever-growing menagerie of legends scaled figures, and while the transformation does have a slightly fiddly nature to it, once accomplished a couple of times, it's relatively straightforward once you have in mind where everything needs to go, especially compressing so much of the van into his torso. There's a way to go about it, and once you've got it, it goes along well. Once you've got the conversion process sorted, you can get down to admiring the fig purely for what it brings to the table: IMHO, it's the most accurate transformable representation of G1 toon Ironhide yet made by any company. Add to that articulation on the high range of modern standards, and you've got a pretty impressive toy at a rather diminutive scale. It's toys like this that make me vehemently wish these legends makers would consider upscaling their figs to both CHUG and MP scales, as they outshine virtually everything else including official figs. I took some comparison shots to illuminate the differences in design and sculpt. L-R: MS Ken, Hasbro's SS86 Ironhide, and Takara's MP-27 Ironhide Apologies, as I forgot to fold down the little silver bit below MP Ironhide's bumper. Too, my MP Ironhide is equipped with an upgrade which removes his door panels from his hips and uses them to fill in his torso. Of the three, the MP is the least well-executed, and while it's not a bad toy in-hand, IMO, aesthetically it's bested increasingly left by its neighbors. I'd love to have Magic Square's fig upscaled to MP size, as it it's so incredibly well executed. And to be clear, I'm not a fan of the ultra-slavish toon design direction; I like my bots to have details and textures, but since Floro Dery conjured up his toon bot mode, giving him and his mold partner Ratchet more filled out bodies apart from their G1 toys, I find it easier to forgive the plain smooth limbs on toys of these characters. Going forward, IMHO, Ken is now the Ironhide toy to better. That comparison was the impetus for this post. I find it ironic that the appearance gets better as the figs get smaller, as the opposite was true only a decade or so ago. Here they are in their van modes, and they all accomplish the Nissan Cherry-Vannette mode pretty faithfully, albeit by different transformation schemes. of course, The SS86 version is a little compromised by the obnoxiously large hinges marring his otherwise smooth hull. I really wish they'd used double hinges to allow them to sit flush in vehicle mode, but they didn't, more's the pity. The other features missing from the stock version are the painted black square representing a sunroof and his trademark yellow stripes running the lengths of his sides. Too, the stock version's bumper area was over sprayed with silver, covering a portion that should have been red. I painted both the bumper area and his stripes on my copy. For whatever reason, both the MP and Ken have half of the back window painted red, but in all other respects both Ken and the MP, especially the MP, which of course is licensed, hew very closely to the real vehicle. Ken, due to his heavy reliance on numerous folding panels to fill out his van form, has greater breakup on close inspection, especially the windows, which are all painted. However, at such a small scale, it still presents well, and is certainly recognizable. He even has rubber tires, a highly desirable feature that both Hasbro and Takara abandoned years ago to the chagrin of many a fan including yours truly. I continue to be impressed by what these legends Transformers toy makers are cranking out, as they're outdoing, in many respects, their larger competition. I also picked up Ryu, magic Square's take on Ratchet, which was on sale on TF Safari. having handled ken, I have no regrets adding that fig to my legends collection. I didn't take pics (there are numerous reviews of these guys on YT for a more in-depth look), but both Ken and Ryu (gotta love the Streetfighter references) come with a plethora of accessories allowing you to reenact many scenes from the G1 toon as well as giving these figs a host of expressive poses and expressions. Although many take issue with the plastics they use, as for a toy experience, Magic Square delivers in spades.
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