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M'Kyuun

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  1. M'Kyuun
    Good points and very likely closer to what the writers had in mind for the character. To me, though, Andor comes off as a very self-involved person. However, he's not without feelings; he clearly loves his surrogate mother, Maarva, whose surname he's even taken as his own. He has an affinity for Bix, and for the droid B2EMO. He wants to find his sister and is willing to put himself in considerable danger to that end, so again a demonstration of emotion beyond pure selfishness. But he's not above using people to get what he wants, and all too often the mercenary side of his personality takes precedence over his humanity, as it were. That was my perception; that he's become exceptionally hardened, and little matters beyond saving his own skin and accomplishing his own ends, regardless of who he has to lie to, steal from, injure or kill to accomplish his goal. But, there's no love of the Empire in him, and I think they give him a sense of admiring those who would fight against it, making him an ideal candidate to do the fledgling Rebellion's dirty work, as he hasn't as many scruples as some in the Rebellion. & yeah, Skeen was a POS, but honestly, I wouldn't have batted an eye if Cassian had taken him up on the offer and later blasted him, or maybe had a change of heart and attempted to make amends to Vel. As I said, I think there was a grudging admiration for what Vel's party had been through individually and what they were attempting at grave risk of being captured or killed by the Empire. He def took a shine to Karis, whose death I hope we'll see affecting him as the show continues.
  2. M'Kyuun
    Amazing looking fig. I think I like their take over Magic Square's. I'm probably going to pass on it, but I think they did an amazing job.
  3. M'Kyuun
    I've long thought the Transformers- GI Joe crossover was a no-brainer for Hasbro. That said, this just didn't do it for me when it was announced. I think the HISS should have been its own character, and I thought this was poorly executed upon announcement. It was an easy pass. I'm firmly in the belief that if they do said crossover, the scale should match current CHUG and they can put some minimally articulated slug Joes in there (hips and shoulders so they can stand or sit and raise their arms zombie style) and sit in little cockpits akin to those in Titans Return/PotP. Too, I think the bots should all be unique characters- none of this nonsense of trying to make an established character into a vehicle it was never meant to represent, allowing the designers to use the alt modes to craft the bot modes as needed. Anyway, I appreciate the review, Mike. Regardless of my own hesitancy, I was still a bit curious about this fig. Honestly, I wish it had turned out better, as I still think GI Joe/Transformers would make for a great crossover line. It just beggars a different approach to make it better, methinks.
  4. M'Kyuun
    Enjoying the show so far- def well written, especially dialog, and the acting is on point. Not without its faults, but what is? Andor makes for a good anti-hero- given his lack of hesitation to kill even allies as we see him do in Rogue One, I was surprised that he hesitated so long to shoot the corporate Pre-Mor security dude. He didn't hesitate at all to shoot Skeen, though. That change of heart, or rather the sudden evidence of having one, also seems a bit out of character for the self-involved Andor for whom a take the money and run philosophy seems to be a lifestyle. Alas, chock it up to character development. I guess they want to show him manifesting at least a little humanity so that he's not so unlikeable. Since Andor is set only five years prior to A New Hope, it seems a very short period for the scope and scale we see the Rebellion by that point- so many people, lots of spacecraft (and financing), a well-established leadership core, extraordinary organization, and any number of secret bases. It seems nigh impossible for such a large organization to have been established so fully, and so fully equipped, under the radar of a galaxy-wide Empire so bent on occupation, intelligence, and repression. I enjoy seeing the machinations of Luthen, Mon Mothma (who's being fleshed out nicely as her role expands), Vel & her band, and Andor himself as they are essentially taking the baby steps necessary to establish the far larger and far, far more powerful Rebellion we see in the OT. It just seems to me that five years, at least five Earth years, is an incredibly dubious amount of time in which a fledgling rag-tag Rebellion we see in Andor becomes the sprawling Rebellion we see in New Hope. I would have expected at minimum twenty or more years at least to reach the stage we see in New Hope, but I guess we'll see how it plays out.
  5. M'Kyuun
    Cool. He's a really well-done fig in a line teeming with such. Hope you enjoy him!
  6. M'Kyuun
    Ah ok. Indeed I was thinking of the Prime show, not the Prime rank, title, what-have-you. I was previously aware of both Leo and Big Convoys. I thought they both came from the Japanese BW toons, but I didn't know how many of them there were, or from which each character originated. Now I know. Thanks! I should have figured it out; I know you have a sizeable Prime collection, and it should have clicked, but it didn't. Not too perspicacious of me.
  7. M'Kyuun
    Wait, what? I thought Big Convoy was part of the Japanese Beast Wars along with Leo Prime. Admittedly, I know these things exist, but little knowledge of their continuities. Feel free to school me, as I'm too lazy to look it up. 😊
  8. M'Kyuun
    Well, this 8+ fan's got one POed, and like you, I've never seen the Japanese BW, nor have an interest in seeing it. My interest lies more in having some interesting animal modes to add to my Can-American Beast Wars collection. Since they're going for more realistic animal modes, there's continuity on the shelf regardless of which toon the character originates. That said, I'm much more a fan of the Trans-Metals approach where the animal modes are robotic. That makes more sense to me. Many of the old T-M figs were gorgeous. Took a look at the old Big Convoy toy. Unfortunately, it looks more shellformery than most, and I doubt a modern toy would improve on the approach. Maybe, but my faith in Hasbro is shaky. The prospect of a leader class mammoth is appealing, although honestly, I'd rather have a Trans-Metal take akin to the Dinobots' aesthetic.
  9. M'Kyuun
    Agree with all. I wasn't aware of the making-of vids, but I'll have to give them a watch, as I enjoy that sort of thing, especially when the show itself makes such an impact. There is apparently going to be a second season, although no release date has been announced. IMHO, let them take all the time they need to get it right. The first season was done so well that it will be a challenge to equal or eclipse, but if the same team is working on it, I'm sure it will at least stand up next to first season.
  10. M'Kyuun
    Give them time; they've already done Lio Prime and Star Saber. I think if the Armada stuff sells well in the mainline, that might encourage them to do MP figs of those characters as well. In the interim, third parties have filled some of those gaps, not all-inclusive, but better than nothing. Considering how many 80's properties have gone silent, I'm still very thankful that Transformers is still around and enjoying as robust a toy market as it has and does. Of course, being human, there'll always be something more that we as fans want (Omnibots in the mainline and a titan class Animated Omega Supreme for me), but I'm super thankful that we have what we have. It's been a good run so far, and cheers to many, many more years of Cybertronian goodness!
  11. M'Kyuun
    Fair enough. I've not done any recent reading on the matter, but my understanding has been for years that the two were one and the same, and since apatosaurus was the first name applied to fossils of the long-necked beasties, that was the official name. As with many historical, archaeological, and paleontological, new discoveries are made all the time that change the views of scientists, and this is no doubt another of those instances. I take no issue with either name but use apatosaurus simply due to my previous understanding.
  12. M'Kyuun
    Didn't even know there was a talk today, so the update is much appreciated, Mike. I've been out most of the day taking care of mother-in-law stuff, so I would have missed it regardless. And yeah, I beg to differ on kids being the target and primary buyers of Legacy.😏
  13. M'Kyuun
    Kinda wish I'd known this was coming, as I would have held off on the BDT kit. Alas, it does what I need it to do, I'm not too plussed about the gold paint, and my copy's knees are fine outta the box, and I couldn't care less about the sword. I do like Nonnef's toy-style gun, but I can live without it. TBH, I think the BDT kit looks better in dino mode, as it hangs a bit lower and fills out the lower abdomen better, IMHO. Regardless of which kit you choose, your Sludge's apatosaur mode is going to look much better without the toes dragging the ground.
  14. M'Kyuun
    This. Just like G1, sell them as a two-pack. I wish they would sell all the cassettes as either individual releases or two-packs. But I also wish the engineering was better on them too- the G1 toys are still superior to the crappy WFC/Legacy cassettes. I hope they at least go back and redesign Ravage- the current fig is absolutely awful, especially when you consider both Newage and Magic Square were able to do it better on a much smaller scale. I have the Magic Square cassettes, and those things are tiny. MS' Ravage is the weakest of their cassette modes, but the jaguar mode is fantastic at that scale- def evocative of G1 Ravage, which can't be said of the Hasbro effort. Hasbro Newage Magic Square
  15. M'Kyuun
    I love the Hulkbuster Armor, but LEGO seems to have a hard time nailing it. I bought the previous UCS set, which was a bit disappointing due to its lack of articulation below the waist. Sure, I could mod it, but the point is, with all the joints at their disposal, and moreover, their ability to craft new joints up to the task, I shouldn't have to. It, like this new entry, was targeted at adults, not little kids, so the stability argument loses weight with me. Additionally, like this version, the proportions of the torso and legs seem wrong- the Hulkbuster should have a stubby looking torso due to its girth, and much larger thighs and lower legs, as well as larger arms. Even more than the previous model, this Hulkbuster, which admittedly gets far more of the superficial details correct, is proportionally off. I posted a pic of Hot Toys' Hulkbuster for comparison. I appreciate that this model can accommodate the Iron Man buildable character set released earlier this year, but the tradeoff is a slight lengthening of the torso which seems too tall and too thin to my eye. For the asking price of $549, I expect a nigh perfect replica , especially if it lacks articulation below the waist, which it almost certainly does. Too, while I appreciate that the buildable fig can fit in it, I'd much rather they eschew that feature in lieu of doing all they can to nail the thing as it appeared in the movie, concentrating on proportions since articulation is not much of a consideration. Here's a nice MOC that comes closer to true at the original UCS HB's scale. this one has full articulation to boot.
  16. M'Kyuun
    Y'know, for probably a few cents more, they could have given this dude some ball jointed elbows, which would have given him a pretty impressive range of articulation in a core class fig. It's immensely frustrating when anything in any size class in 2022 still shares the same articulation limitations of toys from 20-30 years ago. Too I'd prefer elbows over those pile drivers. Yeah I get why, but they take up a bit of space on the shelf, and I'm already pretty much out of space as it is. If I get this guy, those drivers will just stay in the box for perpetuity. Hopefully Dr. Wu will eventually get around to doing all the cassettes in this new crappy size class. Still don't understand why they shrunk the cassettes instead of maintaining the real mini-cassette scale like G1 and MP. At least then there was cross-compatibility so if a particular cassette in one line bested his line-mates, one could mix & match to favor the collection of choice. Too, the larger scale gave them a little more room to work in.
  17. M'Kyuun
    I was at my local Wally last night and happened upon this set. I absolutely adore the design of this thing, at least LEGO's take. Hasbro has a version that's a bit...underwhelming. That's often the interesting factor with LEGO sets based on IP based vehicles and such: sometimes they hit a homerun, sometimes they're in the ballpark, and sometimes they're not even in the stadium. I get the sense, Looking at Habro's, that this is ballpark, with a little license (for the better IMHO). I tried to find a movie still or some official image as it appears in the film to no avail, so a comparison with true source is impossible for now. The nature of these things, too, is that LEGO is often given scant early concepts to work from and the designs change, sometimes quite notably, from those concepts, resulting in sets that don't look like their namesake. Alas, the toymaker's dilemma. I'm not going to do a full review- plenty of those on YT. What I am going to do is wax a bit wistful, as this would have been an excellent midrange ship in a Blacktron 3 line. I grew up with Classic Space and beyond, so designs like this always evoke within me a deep longing for LEGO to return to those old themes with, much like the glorious 10497 Galaxy Explorer (2.0), a modern sense of design and use of all the new parts that've come about over the last 30 years. I also want to tip my hat to the designer of this set- fun build, a little repetitive due to the layered wing design, but otherwise fulfilling at the end for the lovely little VTOL craft your efforts yield. Good stuff. The discerning eye will notice garage door slats used as trailing edge details on the wings. Initially I thought they were going to be installed in the opposite direction, effectively giving the model working stabilizers, although in hindsight, positioning three per wing would get a little tedious, even if it did look wicked cool. The photo makes them look like they're glowing, but in fact they and the 6x6 dishes used to fill out the engine ducts are cast in iridescent plastic, albeit in different hues, which responded in glowy fashion to my camera's flash. Nice effect, methinks. The engines are mounted on ball joints, and so can be positioned in any number of configurations, although the current config, per instructions, seizes on the rounded shaping of the leading edges of the wings which create a nice 'pocket' for them to inhabit. It's all very purposeful, complimentary, and dare I say, lovely to behold. The wings themselves are mounted on EXO-Force era 2-axis ratcheting joints, which allow them to pivot back giving them a sublime rake and opening up that pocket for the engines. I initially thought the wing layers would open up X-Wing style, but they're held together at the tips with three droid arms a-piece, making it clear they're intended to stay sandwiched. Regardless, it's LEGO, so one can do with it as he or she pleases. I'm ok with it as designed; I think it's a lovely kit and whether or not you give a lick about Black Panther (I do), if you like LEGO (you probably do if you're reading this thread) and you like cool sci-fi ship designs, I don't think this will disappoint. The price is a little steep: $50 for only 355 parts. Of course, part of that is licensing, some new molds (I believe the three hair molds and the headdress are all new), and some large pieces like the quarter round bits that make up the engine cowling as well as the large plate to which they're attached. It's worth the wait to find it at discount, but I really wanted it, and my wife was kind enough to get it for me. Price notwithstanding, recommended.
  18. M'Kyuun
    Very much enjoyed the first film. There's a huge hole left by Chadwick Boseman who owned the eponymous character (RIP sir, gone too soon), but I'm curious to see how Shiri steps up to inhabit the role. I'm not a comics reader, so I don't know if there has ever been a female Black Panther prior, but given her and T'challa's differing personalities, it should be interesting. The introduction of Prince Namor should be interesting as well- looks like they're borrowing heavily from ancient South American cultures to inform the look of the Sub-Mariner's people. Little odd, but ok.
  19. M'Kyuun
    Odd decisions that generally affect the fandom detrimentally. Personally, I'm not at all familiar with Detritus; I just want my G1 Hound to complete the first season roster. And any other original minibots they want to throw in in deluxe scale, especially Gears, Windcharger, Brawn, and Powerglide.. And all the cassettes. And better triple changers with equally good alt modes as well as good bot modes. And a new far, far improved Devastator where all the Constructicons have full articulation. And for Primus' sake, a better Seeker mold with an actual decent F-15 mode. And Omnibots- C'mon Hasbro- it's been nearly 40 years- give 'em some love please! And..... I think I'm done. Well, the rest of the Dinobots and the Insecticons, but I think we all know they're coming. But between TR, PotP, the WFC series, Legacy, and now Legacy Evolution, they've given me just about every G1 bot, and then some, for my collection. I still think there needs to be a better Mirage- the ER mold sucks (still hanging on to my Classics Mirage- love that fig, too). I honestly wasn't crazy about Siege Hound either, even imagining it with a more earthy alt, but seeing the pic and pulling the Siege toy down for the first time since I bought it, I'm changing my opinion. I think it'll do nicely.
  20. M'Kyuun
    Yep. Long wait- didn't think it was gonna happen, frankly, but Earth-mode Hound looks good. Figures it's going to be an exclusive- way to screw the fans and help the scalpers, Hasbro. Wish they'd put some silver paint on that winch instead of molding it or painting it whitish-grey. Quite the extensive retool, though. Curious to see the Jeep mode to see how close they come to the Mitsubishi J59. The example pic is of a 1986 model, but close enough. Looks like they eschewed the iconic vertical slots in the grill to avoid any possible legal blowback- guess Jeep is pretty sensitive about that. So one strike already. The feet's taking up a huge chunk of the center part of the frame is another hit on OG accuracy, but IIWII- due to transformation, it can't be helped. kinda wish, too, they'd gone with the darker green of the OG toy, but it's actually pretty close in hue with the example pic (not sure how accurate that is, but likely more than coincidence). I've held Classics Hound up for all these years as The Hound toy to beat, at least so far as the main line goes (comparing to other lines seems unfair as both MP and 3P legends would have that old toy beat in nearly every category these days). But as main line deluxes go, Classics Hound is still a pretty amazing fig, one of my all-time faves. However, I think this may be the one that unseats it as 'Best Hound' in my CHUG collection. Worry not though, I'll be keeping the Classics fig on the shelf close at hand- love that fig.
  21. M'Kyuun
    So, a few days have passed since I posted my initial thoughts that only Breakdown appealed to me out of everything shown at PulseCon. I happened to find Breakdown available again on Pulse and POed him. But, having seen someone post about the upcoming Lio Convoy on Twitter, and being a BW fan, my curiosity took me back to Pulse to check out his prod pics, and more and more, I was liking what I was seeing. First, I really dig the more realistic lion face as opposed to the doofy lion face , cartoon accurate though it may be, on the MP toy. I dig the lion alt, and that's just one more nice-looking big cat to add to the menagerie, as it were. Too, Has/Tak loaded a few hidden weapon gimmicks into the fig, which reminds me of the original Kenner BW toys- not a bad thing when implemented right, and I think they did ok here. The lion's articulation looks decent, too- not as good as it should be for a 2022 toy, but decent enough to get some poses. POed him. Next, I took a second look a Tarn, a character with which I have zero familiarity outside of having seen various toy interpretations, mostly 3P, over the years. Honestly, his tank mode just wasn't grabbing me; I've long harbored a general abhorrence of Cybertronian alts, as I generally perceive them as lazy manifestations of a robot in a weird yoga pose, not really concealing the nature of the thing nor appealing as something realistic. Tarn's tank alt isn't nearly as egregious as some Cybertronian alts I've seen. The overlapping redundant treads and odd cowcatcher are a bit much, but overall, the more I looked at it, the more it appealed. But it's the clean, highly articulated bot mode with little in the way of hollow bits that sold me. This is the way, Hasbro. POed. Finally, Hot Shot. I vacillated about this fig the most. Again, I'm not a Unicron Trilogy fan by any stretch of the imagination, although I do remember picking up a few toys from that era, including Hot Shot. Still have that toy in storage. I looked at the pics of this guy for some time, comparing it to the original to see if the big shoulder pads were right (they are), and some other details. Barring the lack of a few painted details, most notably the ring details on his shins, Has/TT got pretty close to the mark. The legs are hollow and look unfinished, but they pretty much nailed the silhouette and salient features of the character. I finally threw up the white flag to Hasbro and POed him. If my wallet had a head, it'd be doing the slow shake at me. I'll throw in an honorable mention for Armada Starscream. I have the OG toy in storage, but it never left much of an impression on me. Fast forward to the Legacy toy, I was initially unimpressed when he was revealed. The design still doesn't really grab me and y'know, it's really, compared to the vast majority of Has/TT's abysmal jet alt modes, not bad at all. Maybe it's the color scheme- IDK. I don't care for the lazy bent arms in full view, either, but admittedly, it's no different than Powerglide, and from the front, they look like additional engines. I watched Prime vs Prime's review and was further impressed by the mechanics and cleanliness of the fig. In the broad scheme, it's a damned good jetformer, and yet something I can't quite put my finger on is keeping me from POing him. I think if they did him in Skywarp's colors, I'd be all over it. Here's hoping that Hasbro, in their usual custom, will release repaints ad nauseum including a certain purple, black and silver variant. That I will have.
  22. M'Kyuun
    We really, really do. So many great designs coming from these companies, especially designs like Magic Square's Doomsday, as we're likely never again to see a true G1 Megatron with his Walther P-38 alt, or Newage's excellent Seeker design. Moreover, the triple changer designs from Mechfanstoys (MFT) are vastly superior to the official releases, and with some upscaling, could likely improve further on those toys' weak areas resulting in some nigh-definitive figs. I guess legends scale remains a safe zone for them, as there's really no comparison between what companies like MFT, Newage or Magic Square are releasing as opposed to Hasbro's lackluster budget-hindered core class, and they can operate in that size class without spurning much ire from Hasbro. Once you get into the deluxe and larger classes, though, then you're treading on the bread & butter of their main line, and that likely just won't do, and 3P knows it. Still, it's fun, and frustrating, to think of the possibilities. As to these new Velocitron releases, I'm not a big fan of the ER Mirage mold (still love my Classics Mirage), and Astrotrain had far too many concessions in both alt modes for my liking. I was really hoping this Astrotrain toy would be their piece de resistance within the line so far as triple-changers go. I concede that they're not easy to pull off, but sheesh, the G1 toy did it better, bot articulation notwithstanding. My expectation is that a 20xx toy is always going to be superior to a nigh 40-year-old toy. Unfortunately, such is not the case with Hasbro/Takara-Tomy. I wonder if they do it on purpose, just to create an opportunity to make a better toy some 5-10 years down the road, as I don't expect to see another G1 Astrotrain toy in the mainline any time soon. In which case- perfect opening for third party to fill that most-wanting void. Hope there's someone here from one or all of those companies lurking.
  23. M'Kyuun
    Every success in finding what you're looking for. If you find something fit to task, feel free to share it with the rest of us dusty brick clickers. Cheers!
  24. M'Kyuun
    Speaking as a fan with a multitude of sets on display all around his house, the short answer is I don't. It's a nigh impossible chore, and living in dusty eastern Washington state, a task made all the more monumental. I do, however, store some sets and minifigs in tupperware-like storage cases that are roughly about 2' x 1' give or take as a way of achieving more vertical storage as well as preventing dust buildup. But that method is certainly not optimal for display. As to what you're describing, I've yet to encounter any proper display solution that is clear but closed. Walmart has recently been selling some clear drawers and boxes (I forget the brand name and my hotel's internet is abysmally slow) which I've been buying to display my Transformers, but I'm not sure that any one the ones I've seen are large enough for the Galaxy Explorer 2.0. However, have a look at Argos' site- they may have something. Wish I could be of more help, as I could also use some better solutions for displaying my LEGO.
  25. M'Kyuun
    Most likely midnight. It's a lovely set- saw one in person here at BrickCon. Good luck getting a copy, Dobber!
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