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M'Kyuun

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  1. M'Kyuun
    At the risk of derailing the current anime conversation, I just finished watching Macross 7 and all but the Frontier crossover eps and having only watched once before with an overall low opinion of it, this time around I found myself enjoying it much more. I'm still not crazy about "Planet Dance", which they play ad nauseum throughout, but the vitriol I felt towards it and some of his other songs has tempered with time and age, I suppose. I found that I enjoyed far more of his songs this time around (I even watched the full 2007 live concert with Fukuyama and Kajiura and came away very much impressed- Fukuyamasan can play some mean guitar! Moreover, they did a set of 20 songs and he sang most of them as lead at the same level as he did in his twenties for the show. Bomba!) As for the show itself, some of the "spiritia" stuff and the extent of "song energy's" power was a bit much, but overall, I enjoyed the show. There are some great humorous moments throughout. The usually reticent Veffidas gave me a good hearty laugh at the end of "Which One Do You Love", part of the Encore series of unaired eps. My wife and I think Mylene should stick with Gamlin and Basara should hook up with Emelia, Mylene's older sister. 😁 Anyway, sometimes it's good to rewatch stuff with older eyes and ears; I'm glad I did.
  2. M'Kyuun
    Misery loves company, but in this case that's disheartening news. I've been enjoying Dr. Wu's takes on the cassettes (I hope he eventually moves on to do the staples: Ravage, Rumble, Laserbeak, Steeljaw, Ramhorn, and Ratbat at minimum) and they're generally much better than Hasbro's offerings, Eject being the only real exception. To have the combining mechanism on a combining set be so poorly executed seems a gross oversight, and I just can't believe they didn't fix it before mass production. Alas, they didn't. However, as you said, these guys are obscure, as I think they only came to my attention when Dr Wu announced them. I had to visit the Wiki to learn about the original toys, which rank pretty low by comparison, although G1 Slam Dance couldn't rotate its arms fore and aft either. However, I think the dino modes shine (I know, technically Pteranodons aren't dinosaurs, but for the sake of argument...) and the combined mode, if you can get it to stay together, looks good, too. I don't regret the purchase, but I hope they receive a fair amount of necessary feedback about this and make adjustments on future releases. There's still Dile and Zaur which form Legout to produce, so hopefully, if he decides to do them, they'll be done better. I'm looking forward to his takes on Slugfest and Overkill, whose original toys I don't own. I have the Fanstoys versions, and they're pretty well done, but I'm looking forward to having versions that scale with Hasbro's Legacy scale, as much as I wish they'd go back to making them actual microcasstte scale again. I just want a nice full set of cassettes for Legacy+ that are similar in articulation and craftsmanship, as I have little faith in Takara/Hasbro to deliver (Eject is a surprising entry, so credit where due- I wish the rest were to that standard).
  3. M'Kyuun
    I received these guys yesterday and decided to post a quickie review. Forgive all my LEGO stuff in the background; I'm working on something and just took some quick pics. This is Dr. Wu's Impact Wave, his take on the G1 Autobot cassette combiner, Decibel. here's some art and the OG toy for comparison. The G1 combiner featured very little in the way of articulation and was one of the poorer efforts among the G1 cassettes. I say this as a fan of the cassette bots. It's the only G1 combiner team i don't own, and quite frankly, I don't feel like I'm missing out. Dr. Wu's take is fairly faithful to the artwork, minus his shoulder weapons. For whatever reason, Wu attached those cannons to his upper arms, pointing up no less, instead of sitting on his shoulders pointing forward. It's a weird decision, but the range and amount of articulation packed into this fig earns my forgiveness. the head is on a ball peg which allows it to move fore and aft as well as rotate 360, with full 90 degrees up and about 5 degrees down. The arms are on ball joints and can rotate 360 degrees, the biceps swivel 360, the elbows bend 90 degrees, the wrists rotate 360, the hands can bend inward 90 degrees (for transformation), and the claws on the outsides of the hands can bend 90 degrees outwards. There's no waist swivel, but the legs can rotate fore and aft 90 degrees on ball joints, swivel 360 on mushroom pegs at mid-thigh, the knees bend 90, and the feet can rotate down well past 90 degrees while the toe can rotate, in place of a full ankle rocker, 360 degrees. All four of the individual cassette weapons store on the combined mode: the aforementioned cannons on the arms, and the other set tab into the calves. the feet have molded and painted details reminiscent of the Pteranodon's weapons which were used as feet on the OG toy. Note too that the rivets in the OG toys thighs have also been replicated as molded and painted details. The only issue I have with the combined mode, and perhaps it's just an issue with my copy, is that the two cassettes are only held together by a single tab-slot connection, and the slot is located within a rotating panel on a ball joint to which the arms also mount. On mine, the arm ball joints are tighter than the rotating panels to which they're mounted and without anything else securing them together, and with such small tabs holding them together, mine fall apart far too easily. I'm surprised that Dr. Wu didn't create a more robust method for holding them together, but he didn't. You can see the slot in the blue panel and the tab on the upper torso. Given all the additional real estate to work with, I'm still surprised that there's not another point of connection built into this. It definitely could have used it. The individual cassettes took on the forms of a T-Rex or Allosaurus (Noise) and a Pteranodon (Graphy) respectively. While Wu's take on Graphy, Supersonic, holds pretty true to the G1 toy, albeit with better articulation in the wings, his take on Noise, Explosion, takes a fair bit of license, but IMHO, the result is a far better executed therapod mode with more in common with Grimlock's look than that of the flat and more suggestive shape of the original toy. And much like the combined mode, the weapons are mounted to the legs pointing upwards instead of to the torso pointing forward. Weird, but it is what it is. the range of articulation is great for such a small toy, though. Since his legs form the combiner's arms, all the aforementioned articulation applies. the head can rotate up and down and it can also raise and lower since the bit it attaches to is hinged further down in the torso. Unfortunately, it can't rotate left or right and the jaw doesn't open, which is forgivable on such a small fig. The little arms are on ball joints at the shoulder and feature a bending elbow allowing for about 180 degrees of rotation. The tail is formed of two section- the tip can rotate up and down through about 120 degrees and the larger part, which contains the combiner head, rotates a little over 90 degrees. Overall, pretty impressive for such a tiny fig. Unfortunately, as cassettes, these guys fail miserably, as there's no attempt whatsoever to impart any cassette details. Even a hint of reels would have been nice, but nope. As it is, the cassette alt mode is more suggestion, which is a bummer and something I really miss from the G1 toys which did a much better job of trying to look like microcassttes. However, their wafer modes do fit in kingdom Blaster and Netflix Soundwave, so at least that bit of interplay is possible. This one's a mixed bag: I love the individual bot modes and the combiner mode. However, the weak connection for combined mode is disappointing and makes handling the thing a pain, as it just doesn't want to hold together and I can't believe Dr. Wu didn't come up with something more robust, especially when combination is its major gimmick. Cassette modes are more suggestion than realization, which also sucks for "cassette" bots. Otherwise, I'm pretty happy with these figs.
  4. M'Kyuun
    As a collector of both official and third-party toys, with a focus on mainline, I think your current approach is apropos. For those who only collect Hasbro/Takara but aren't opposed to an upgrade here or there, are just curious, or perhaps simply unaware, showcasing those upgrades in the official thread puts that information where it needs to be for interested parties, as well as for folks like me who buy both official and non. While the upgrade itself may be third party, the intention is the betterment, subjectively, of the toy in question, and when that toy is an official Transformers figure, I think it should be featured in the official thread. Likewise third party stickers/decals, and such. Ultimately, when the intent is to enhance an official toy, it should be showcased in the official thread. My $.02 FWIW.
  5. M'Kyuun
    Wow, that's very high level for papercraft; you'd never know that that is what it's made of as it looks like a plastic model. very impressive and well beyond my ability (I struggle to fold a piece of paper perfectly in half- no matter how much I try to align the corners, the end result is almost always off. Attempting something like Blue Thunder is well beyond my skill level). Anyway, it's nice to see Blue Thunder revisited- still a beauty in my eyes.
  6. M'Kyuun
    I hadn't even given thought to a Powermaster approach, although, knowing Has/Tak, it would have been clunky and would have detracted from rather than enhanced the look of the ship, so I'm glad they didn't take that route. That oversized pod was obviously intended for an occupant, which makes the omission all the more glaring. I'm sure some third party will make a little Grogu to put in there. As big as that pod is, they could probably make his floaty pram as well. Bummer that they didn't sculpt the cockpit to access a small Din Djarin fig as well. Having the Mandalorian's fighter with no Mandalorian seems odd, and no I don't consider the ship in bot form to be the Mandalorian himself, but more like a transforming Batmobile to Batman. Well damn. Wish I'd waited a little longer, too.
  7. M'Kyuun
    My copy of The Mandolorian crossover showed up today, two days earlier than tracking indicated, so yay DHL and USPS! In hand, not too shabby. I love the molded gun holster, which is a feature sadly seldom seen on TF figs. The tail gun is, well, what it is 😄, but I can appreciate the attempt and the use of part of the ship to make a transformable accessory. That's the best kind of weapon storage. Both modes are solid, and yeah, the omission of a little Grogu or a Din Djarin minifig to helm the ship is lamentable. I wish it had double jointed elbows or at least a deeper bend with its single elbow joint, but it's ok as is. I also wish the engine spikes on his shoulders could somehow retract a bit or otherwise swing out of the way, as they're pretty long and due to the crappy Hot Rod/Rodimus-styled shoulder hinges, they can potentially hit his head when raised all the way up and turned outwards. Although it creates a little bit of back kibble, I like how the portions of fuselage form little wings. The little hinged rings that form engine covers over the elbows are a tad unwieldy and unsightly, but ultimately, they make the N-1 mode look better, so it's a reasonable sacrifice to the bot mode. He's still a bit pricey for what you get, but as @mikeszekely pointed out, he comes with no shortage of accessories, except Grogu, and both modes of the main fig are done well. I'm glad I got him, and I have a feeling in the long run, he's going to be one of my favorite crossover figs, as I really love that N-1 design and he has a better bot mode than many of the other crossovers as well, IMHO.
  8. M'Kyuun
    Unfortunately, according to Experten himself on Twitter, the kit isn't available to ship to the US. For 25, 000 yen, I'd have been in for a kit. This is a grail toy. I keep hoping for Arcadia (little chance) or Bandai's HMR line (slightly greater chance) to make a toy of the VG, but thus far, the main makers of Macross toys have shown no interest. At the very least, Experten shows that it can be done, done well, and throws down the gauntlet for the big makers to take notice. I hope it sold out quickly demonstrating a clear desire amongst the fans for this mech.
  9. M'Kyuun
    Ah, I appreciate the clarification! Experten never disappoints with his Macross models. This thing is brilliant.
  10. M'Kyuun
    The omission of Grogu while providing an obvious space for him on the toy is curious and disappointing, especially for those of us who collected the older waves that did come with small pilot figs. I'd rather have had Grogu over the blast effects, personally, as well as an accessible pilot's area and a small Din Djarin. I'm not at all a fan of making the bot modes on these sorts of crossovers look like the characters who operate them. I'd rather they were their own separate characters which would free the designers to be more inventive when crafting the bot modes instead of trying to shoehorn in aesthetics of the pilots. If my old Ford Ranger could transform, I wouldn't want it to look like me. I don't understand that creative direction, but that's probably why I'm not running a multibillion-dollar toy corporation.
  11. M'Kyuun
    I happened to poke around on Pinterest tonight, as I haven't looked around in there for awhile, and I stumbled upon these pics. They were saved by a user calling himself Hal0999, with no other info attached to the pics. I'm a fan of the VG's design, and I made my own a few years back with LEGO. Until now, I believed my LEGO version was the only transformable version of that mech in existence, so imagine my surprise seeing this! It makes me wish Arcadia would make an attempt at the design, or that this was picked up by Bandai or Moderoid for widespread distro. I'd definitely be down for a copy. Anyway, I thought I'd share this here, as it seemed the most apropos place to do so. I take no credit for the model- huge kudos to whoever designed it, as it looks amazing. 😍
  12. M'Kyuun
    @mikeszekely I appreciate your candid take on The Mandalorian crossover fig, and I'm of the same thought of just ditching all the effects stuff, cape, and shield, and just give us the basic fig for voyager price. I bought this guy, too, after having initially passed on it. I watched PVP's vid review, and that was the nudge I needed to commit. I very much enjoy The Mandalorian show, and the N-1 Naboo fighter has long been one of my favorite Star Wars designs, one of the few things I actually like about the Prequels. I bought any number of the old SW crossover figs but I can't recall ever picking up a Naboo fighter, so this seemed a good opportunity. Mine's due to arrive on Thursday, so something to look forward to in a year that thus far holds very little comparatively of interest to me Transformers-wise.
  13. M'Kyuun
    😄 You're not wrong! Y'know, at this point it's the expectation that anything that turns into a jet is going to have a sh!tastic jet mode. They've proven me wrong on a few occasions, but I'd say maybe one in thirty or forty jetformers has a jet mode that's actually decent. In recent memory, the three standouts to me are Skyfire, Maverick, legacy Dreadwing/Skyquake, and Wingtail in the Sonic the Hedgehog crossover set has a really well-done bi-plane mode. I wish it wasn't Sonic, and I wish it was sold separately as I'd be somewhat inclined to pick it up. Hopefully it'll get a retool/repaint. Notably, Dreadwing and Maverick copy transformation elements from Macross. Maverick is probably the closest we'll ever get to a VF-1 again in Transformers (thanks to Harmony Gold, may they burn in Hell for eternity). It's a hugely missed opportunity that they didn't reissue him in the Jetfire color scheme with an approximate VF-1S head sculpt. I think that would have appealed to fans more than Maverick did. As to Liokaiser, I have no interest, so nothing's really lost on my end for the lousy jetformers in the set. I'm glad I popped in here, though, as I was unaware of the new drops. I headed to Hasbro Pulse straightaway and scored a set of Long Haul and Hook as well as snapping up a copy of Legacy Animated Wasp. I sat on the latter, but considering they never sold a version of him that turned into a car back when the show was originally airing, and given my enjoyment of Animated, I relented. After what I thought was a really well-done interpretation of RescueBots' Chase, I was looking forward to Heatwave, but he looks to me like a retool of Legacy Prime Bulkhead, who IMHO, has far more in common with the Animated design than Prime, but whatever. Anyway, disappointed, I passed on Heatwave. No interest in Hearts of Steel or Skybite. Hasbro's just not making much that appeals to me this year, which is good for the wallet and my lack of space. Incidentally, Iron Factory is making their own version of Liokaiser. Here's their take on the green and white plane dude. If I was gonna get a Liokaiser set, guess which one I'd go with.
  14. M'Kyuun
    Your knowledge of this stuff is remarkable and much appreciated. Had to do a bit of searching for the tiltrotor you mentioned (The Macross Mecha Manual let me down😟), but I'm glad you mentioned it. It's a pretty cool design that deserves a toy or a model in its own right. I wonder if this served as inspiration for the Oblivion Bubbleship, as there are some parallels. Really neat design. Might have to do something like it with LEGO, as the idea of variable utilitarian vehicles has caught my fancy over the last decade, Think I'd probably modify that tail section to split and make it a quadruped instead. The Octos, though a military mech, is a really cool but nigh forgotten variable mech from Zero. I realize the valks are the big draw, but stuff like this tiltrotor and the Octos are equally forged of cool, IMHO. Bit of animation magic there with those forearms taking on a much deeper curve than when they're deployed. Still a neat design worthy of some form of plasticization. The Octos:
  15. M'Kyuun
    That, indeed, is cool. I was pleasantly surprised when they showed pics of the Glaug as inspiration for ED-209. They didn't mention it in this documentary, but I've heard it mentioned in other RoboCop BTS vids that the open grill was also meant to be humorous, putting a point of vulnerability right up front on an otherwise tough combat machine. Until I heard that, it never really crossed my mind; it just looked really cool to me, and I guess growing up in the 80s with so many nigh invincible vehicles in shows and movies, it was intentional and probably reinforced. Anyway, it's such a gorgeous design. I have the Neca toys of it and RoboCop on my desk, so they're always there in sight. Just lovely.😍
  16. M'Kyuun
    I'm glad you mentioned this. RoboCop is one of my all-time favorite movies and the documentary was enlightening and enjoyable for the candid takes by many involved as well as adding a whole new level of appreciation for the final film. I remember all the controversy surrounding it's having received an "X" rating for violence, and they go into depth about that and what they ended up trimming and what stayed. They also mention Peter Weller's extracurricular proclivities with the ladies- quite the player back in the day apparently. I've long recognized the film as being far more than the sum of its parts- it was an audacious and unique film that set a precedent that's, IMHO, never been equaled by another film in the genre, and likely never will without blatantly copying it. And for all the horror stories about Paul Verhoeven, it simply would not be the film it is without his vision and instincts, and pretty much everyone agrees with that. And I'll forever be grateful for Phil Tippett and his FX folks who created and animated ED-209, one of the all-time coolest robots in any film, or genre of film including anime, ever.
  17. M'Kyuun
    Agree on all. Additionally, I thought the production introduced some other interesting concepts like the VC-079 Civilian Valkyrie. It only has a GERWALK, like another M2 mecha, the GERWALKroid, as well as a variable fighter for the Marduk Zentradi (full sized). Being an all-hand-drawn series, a lot of the details were iffy at best on a lot of these, not to mention the brevity of their appearances along with other mecha and ships in the series. But, FWIW, it's not a bad series, tells a coherent story, features likable characters and, despite a nearly non-existant love triangle, and a barely there and hamhandedly wedged in relationship between Hibiki and Sylvie at the end, it has the overall feel of a Macross series. Kudos to the designers for pretty much inventing most of the mecha throughout and for implementing the aforementioned innovations. I wish Kawamori had carried forward some of those ideas, especially the idea of more civilian ships with GERWALK and full battroid modes, not really for any practical reason, but just b/c the rule of cool dictates. Credit to Macross Mecha Manual for image links. VC-079 GERWALKroid Marduk Variable Zentradi Fighter
  18. M'Kyuun
    Since the majority of Macross is now on Hulu, I decided to watch Macross II this evening. I own the movie version, and until today, that's all I knew of it. I watched the entire series, and despite the love triangle being more of a suggestion than an actuality, the music and valks were present, and the other mecha designs weren't all that bad either. I know it's a bit of a black sheep among Macross entries, but it felt Macross-y to me, and I enjoyed it. I liked it better than the majority of Macross 7, at any rate. I think Macross Zero will be my next watch; I own a DVD set from years ago, but the subs tend to get worse as it goes along and I'm hoping the ones on the Hulu version are better. Too, my wife hasn't seen most of these, so I'm trying to indoctrinate her. 😁 I also watched Phoenix: Eden 17 tonight. I enjoyed it, but my understanding after reading some reviews is that it departs quite a bit from many of the darker and more profound themes in Osamu Tezuka's original manga. I'm not a manga reader and I was completely ignorant of the significance of both the author and Phoenix, considered his greatest work as well as one of the greatest manga in the history of the genre, but I've gained an appreciation just from what I read on Wikipedia. RIP Tezuka-sensei. Your work lives on.
  19. M'Kyuun
    I was never a MotU fan, but I definitely remember Morris the Cat. Unfortunately, time inexorably marches on and we continue to lose those who made impacts on us through their talented contributions to various media. After doing some reading, apparently Mr. Ervin was quite shy and reclusive; despite coaxing by Skeletor VA Alan Oppenheimer to join him at fan conventions, Mr. Ervin declined and never did attend one. I hope he knew, at least by anecdote, how much his bringing Prince Adam/ He-man to life meant to his many fans. Gone but not forgotten. RIP
  20. M'Kyuun
    All they had to do was make his hands flip out of the arms to give them that extra bit of length. However, seeing as how the forearms are on ball joints, I foresee a definite add-on kit to address that issue. Thing is, though, it's an easy problem to remedy and it should have been fixed by Has/Tak during production.
  21. M'Kyuun
    😄 I don't remember that, but I know he was completely covered in snow and let it fall on Spike in "Fire in the Sky". I always thought it odd that they killed off Skyfire in that ep, although it has one of the more solemn endings where Skyfire sacrifices himself and the Autobots pay tribute. However, they dug him up in the "Fire on the Mountain" episode of season 1, IIRC, thus cheapening his sacrifice. Regardless, I really liked the character and was glad they brought him back.
  22. M'Kyuun
    True, but the first season started out with a slightly more serious tone. Alas, we can't go back in time and tell them to choose different toys for Megatron, Soundwave, Reflector, and the cassettes so that they can avoid all the mass-shifting shenanigans required to keep their bot modes at the larger scales. I often wonder what the show would have been like had they assigned those toys to different characters and kept them at realistic scale in both forms. We'll never know. Anyway, I enjoy the more focused narrative of first season where it's essentially Megs and the Ds looking for ways to either gather resources or gain greater power and advantage. The Autobots, nearly always on the defensive, try and stop the Decepticons while protecting themselves and Earth. The overall tone was more serious, and while there were moments of whim and humor, silliness even, on the whole I found it much more enjoyable than any successive seasons, which only seemed to incorporate far more whimsy and silliness, which didn't, and still doesn't, appeal to me. The '86 Movie , while it had its few serious and shining moments, had its share of silliness. Astrotrain's request to "lighten the load" while in the vacuum and weightlessness of space takes the cake. 🙄 The writers definitely did not anticipate this movie's becoming the icon that has become amongst fans, especially adults who can pick it apart for all of its gaffs and sillier bits. Then again, given the short lifespan of most toy properties, who could have predicted that this one would still be going strong 40 years later?
  23. M'Kyuun
    I concede my point! Just one of the dumber things in the '86 Movie. Dare to be Stupid may have been focused on the Junkions, for good reason, but I think it applies to a number of things in the film. The showdown and quotes from Prime's and Megatron's fight are classic for a reason though, and worthy of having been enshrined in other media.
  24. M'Kyuun
    I agree. Their J-35 is even more impressive since it has a functional internal weapons bay in addition to a beautiful realistic sculpt, properly placed and functional retractable gear, and an opening canopy. It's amazing what some third parties can do with certain material. Touch Toys are definitely well above the competition when it comes to making realistic aircraft that transform. I hope others take inspiration. I'd love to have a set of Aerialbots where the jet modes were on par with this. On a side note, I got the Dreamstar Toys versions of Skydive (F-16) and Slingshot (Harrier), as they did a fairly decent job of capturing the fighter modes. They're not perfect, and not even close to Touch Toys' level, but for transforming jets, they're some of the better ones I've seen. Like Touch toys, they went for a more complex robot design that's far more evocative of Bayformers than G1.
  25. M'Kyuun
    I doubt it, too. The Chinese govt seems rather selective on who they prosecute for IP violations. However, I was reading in the comments on a vid review for Touch Toys' J-35 Carefray and apparently the designer did go to prison for Marvel IP infringement. Best not mess with the Mouse, even in China. As I mentioned, most large aircraft companies are probably unaware of these toys and their far greater concern is keeping their designs and technology out of Soviet and Chinese hands. I'm thinking by now third parties understand exactly how much or how little they need to change a design to avoid legal repercussions. They're able to get away with a lot, but some might implement changes just to be on the safe side.
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