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M'Kyuun

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  1. M'Kyuun
    Breathing a huge sigh of relief that nothing I was interested in was shown/ for sale today as I was out on an obligation until 1:30 PST and I would have missed the POs on Pulse. I only caught about 8 minutes of the stream, and the coins and music stuff were pretty yawn-worthy. For those wishing for a TMNT crossover, hopefully this scratches the itch. From an objective POV, the bot is a little kibbly, but I get that they're trying to represent samurai-style armor with the vehicle bits. The approach is interesting, including the heads and weapons for all four Turtles, especially if you're only buying one copy. Buying four copies will set you back, but if you're a die-hard TMNT fan, perhaps it's worth it to you. For my money, if I were interested in TMNT, I'd be more inclined to go with 52Toys Turtles, which simply convert into cubes but have cleaner, more accurate Turtle forms, with Donnie and Leo and Raph and Mikey able to connect in cube modes to form the Party Wagon. Different tactic, similar result, although Party Wallop's Party Wagon is much better looking. Hopefully, SS86 Swoop and perhaps Windcharger will get leaked soon. Getting ever closer to having a complete First Season roster of really good quality figs. I passed on him when he was a Target exclusive, and I'll likely pass on him now, but I have to say Ecto 1 is definitely one of the best realized crossover figs- just really well done in both modes.
  2. M'Kyuun
    Thanks, man. I got mine through BBTS. I could have waited for my local Wally to get him and spare myself the markup and shipping, but my FOMO is strong. I do have to say that the situation has improved dramatically over the last few years so far as finding TFs in the store, and I likely could have waited to find it in the store without much worry. Old habits, however. Thanks Mike. I went ahead and got one with BBTS.
  3. M'Kyuun
    I just got home from my appointment, and of course Gears is sold out already. I did get Silverbolt and Sandstorm though, so there's that. I'll get Gears elsewhere. Since I'll miss next week's fanstream, I kinda hope it is the TMNT crossover, as I have no interest in the Turtles and I won't miss yet another PO window for stuff I want. Cowabunga, dudes!
  4. M'Kyuun
    Yep. I'll likely still be at my appointment or making my way home. I have little hope I'll get home before Pulse is sold out on the figs I want, especially Gears.
  5. M'Kyuun
    I hope they don't go up right after the stream, as I'll be at an appointment, and once again, I'll miss my opportunity to get my POs on Pulse. Between myself and my mother-in-law, our appointments unfortunately fell on Thursdays for the last three weeks of March. ☹️ This morning I'll likely get to see the full stream, but I need to leave for my appointment in about 20 minutes, and if POs go up right after, my chances of getting my desired POs on Pulse are nil.
  6. M'Kyuun
    Origins Wheeljack is already sold out. I didn't know it was going up for PO today, and I was up at 0630 PST, as I have an appointment this morning. but I keep missing all these POs on Pulse which negates the only positive of membership, namely free shipping on everything. Anyway, I got my PO on Target's site. I have several Targets in my area, but I rarely go, and usually any 'hot' item is long gone by the time I get there, so it's better to just endure the $5 shipping cost to ensure I at least get a copy. Good luck to anyone else looking for this fig.
  7. M'Kyuun
    Unfortunately, between my mother-in-law and myself, I'm going to be at appointments right when these streams are happening every Thursday this month. I definitely want to be there, if not for the fan streams, then for the POs on Pulse, most especially for Swoop and the commander OP. Gotta make that membership fee pay for itself! I'm excited to finally finish off the Dinobot team, and as excellent as I think ER prime is, I'm intrigued to see how this commander class fig turns out. If they go too toon slavish, though, it's not going to fit with the rest of Generations/SS86, so I hope the bot mode has some nice surface detail, as well as judicial use of mechanical details.
  8. M'Kyuun
    I hadn't seen or heard anything about a B:TAS Batmobile, but I was hoping for it with the announcement of the lovely Gotham cityscape. $59 is a lot considering last year's '89 Batmobile came in at $48 with 438 pcs with two minifigs. I'm guessing the Animated Series Batmobile is going to be substantially longer than the Keaton-mobile, which itself is a relatively long car model at minifig scale. Ever since LEGO acquired the Batman license in 2006, my two grails have been the '89 Batmobile and the Animated Series version. LEGO has exceeded my expectations for the '89 with the awesome UCS model, a nice minifig scaled GWP set, last year's stand-alone Batmobile set, and the Batcave Shadowbox. Seeing them now leaning into The Animated Series warms my heart and ignites my hope for some great vehicle sets, especially that iconic Batmobile. I wouldn't mind them going further into Batman Beyond, giving us a Terry McGuiness Batman, Batmobile, and an old Bruce Wayne minifig. They've already done sets from the Nolan films, Reeve's Batman, and Snyder's Justice League. They even did a low key Batmobile set from Beware the Batman, a far too short-lived animated series from 2013. I wonder if they'll make sets from the Schumacher films, The Batman animated series (which also had a nice Batmobile design), or Batman: Brave and the Bold, which had a Batmobile that transformed into a mech. That last one would be awesome.
  9. M'Kyuun
    Really wish this had been the original release, as the plastic color choices and paint apps are better all-around and Eject looks so much better in opaque plastics. Eject is IMHO the best of the cassette bots in this scale- full basic articulation and they even managed to use 5mm peg holes to simulate his cassette reels. All he's missing are his G1 toy's weapons, and as big as Blaster is, it's a shame they didn't just utilize the hollow areas in his legs to store them. I don't plan on POing him, but if I happen to run across him at Target, I'll probably grab a copy.
  10. M'Kyuun
    Wow, exceptional paint job, so crisp! Agree with you about the mold- it works, but I still prefer the look and transformation of Classics Hound over this version. I didn't buy Detritis, but if its tolerances are similar to the Siege version, untabbing the legs from the hood of the jeep mode requires the use of a prying tool (I use a LEGO brick separator). That tolerance is way too tight. Happy to pass on the info. Beyond Optimus, I'm not sure what models Joe has been involved with, but he certainly has the acumen to bring some creativity to whatever projects he works on.
  11. M'Kyuun
    I'm also onboard with rereleasing figs, especially those that were once exclusives or just hard to find. Additionally, I have no issue with Earth jeep mode Hound being a part of this multipack; it's the fact that he didn't receive a regular Legacy or SS86 release that rankles. I figure he'll get an eventual release, although it may be a year or so down the road, at which point there may be an even better mold out.
  12. M'Kyuun
    I wouldn't doubt it. Brick Clicker is a reliable source for upcoming sets. Moreover, OP was done pretty well within the limitations of a retail LEGO set. That he can even transform is an amazing feature as Hasbro seldom allows other licensees to make their TF products transformable, keeping the salient feature to themselves. G1 Bee makes sense as LEGO has had dealings with Volkswagen for years, the simplicity of the G1 toy works well, as it did for OP, and Bee remains one of the most popular characters. It's pretty much a no-brainer from LEGO's POV. Too, Joe Kyde, former Hasbro TF designer and now LEGO designer, who designed LEGO OP will likely work on this Bee set as well. Kinda cool to have a designer with one foot in each world.
  13. M'Kyuun
    Hey, thanks for the info, Mike. I don't remember that 4-pack at all, so my interest must have been pretty low. Honestly, the only reason my interest in Ransack was piqued is due to Chop Shop and Barrage, but with all the retooling done to make them more closely resemble the original toys, a simple repaint of Kickback just doesn't quite measure up. If they were to give him a completely new body similar in appearance to the original, reuse the Ransack head, Kickback's legs and arms, then I think it would work better. I doubt they'll do it, but they've gone back and redone figs before, so never say never. Well, TBF, Hasbro have indicated that size classes are more price points now as it pertains to budget. That said, YMMV if the budget/ asking price/final toy was worth it. IMHO, many times, yes. I'm an aviation fan, and in about 98% of cases, Has/Tak's aircraft alts are inaccurate, disproportional (generally, undersized forward fuselages), lazy (robot arms just tacked on the sides of the plane), lacking full landing gear, with said gear rarely retractable (usually just the nose), lacking opening canopies or detailed cockpits (a lesser gripe-relatively speaking, few car bots have any car interior to speak of, and I'm fine with it). Dreadwing/Skyquake has a bulky but well-done jet mode where the arms are hidden Macross-style between the legs and form the lower surface of the jet. His tricycle landing gear all retract, although the wheels, as usual, are just molded into the struts- pretty much gone are the days when they put rolling wheels on retail Transformers planes, more's the pity. Again, he's bulkier than most jets, but I love the integration of his shoulder pauldrons in jet mode. He carries his weapon, again borrowing a page from Macross, on his centerline. One complaint is that the main gear aren't sufficiently long enough to provide adequate clearance for the gun in that position. Transformation of this fig spawned a great deal of discussion on the TFW2005 boards. I modded my Skyquake, which still doesn't lock together as solidly as I'd like, but my copy of Dreadwing I left unmodded and it works fine and seems to be a little tighter/less fiddly. I think it's a neat transformation schema, but tolerances and internal locking mechanisms could have been better for a more consistently solid figure. That said, I love the bot mode as much as the fighter mode. For me, it ranks as one of the best jetformers they've done. Too, I agree about the heels- some sort of folding heel or putting the exhaust nozzles on an off-center rotation peg to allow it to rotate back would have helped stability in bot mode. Overall, though, my opinion of this fig remains highly positive.
  14. M'Kyuun
    I had to take my mother-in-law to an appointment, so I missed the PO window on Pulse. I got Chop Shop & Barrage on Amazon- same price as Pulse, only I don't get the free shipping. They appear to be some good retools; the base toy is obviously still Shrapnel, but there's enough retooling in the torso and heads, and even insect leg details that they channel the OG toys pretty well. As @mikeszekelypointed out, Ransack is a far lazier effort, and the final fig lacks the insect abdomen that formed the OG bot's lower torso. They could have retooled Kickback's body to give it more of a likeness, but they didn't. Maybe there'll be an upgrade kit that does so. Speaking of which, if Ransack went up for, PO, I totally missed it. He's a bit underwhelming, esp next to Chop Shop and Barrage, but I'm hoping, if and when I'm able to PO him, that hypothetical torso upgrade kit will become a reality, and the three of them will look purdy darn good along with their G1 counterparts. Disregard; he was part of a Target Buzzworthy repaint four-pack. No interest in the other three box-mates. Maybe they'll release Ransack as a solo character in a couple of years. Or better, maybe they'll do a proper retool- I doubt it, but I can hope. I completely forgot about Venom, the cicada dude. I can see them doing a major retool of Kickback to make his legs form the abdomen. Really, though, he just needs his own mold.
  15. M'Kyuun

    Arcadia VF-5000G

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

    It's niche primarily because Harmony Gold held the Macross trademark hostage in most of the world for three decades while doing little with it and preventing the rest of the Macross series from proliferating and becoming popular. I was really hoping that would change when Big West struck their agreement with Harmony Gold allowing Big West to market everything Macross except SDFM, but from what I've seen, they've done very little to promote Macross since. Getting Macross onto streamers would have opened it up to a new huge audience and they could have subsequently pushed all sorts of merch, but for whatever reason, they didn't. The only positive for us collectors is that the valks can now be purchased through domestic vendors, a far better situation than the old midnight madness. As to the Bandai vs Arcadia argument, I think both produce pretty good toys, although neither they, nor Yamato who preceded Arcadia, were free of duds. However there's an argument to be made that Arcadia, and Yamato before them, operated from a place of passion, and I think that shows in the toys they've made. But with such a dearth of companies making Macross stuff, I'm glad that a juggernaut like Bandai, with plenty of resources, is making them, although it's not lost on most of us that in some cases, like the upcoming DX YF-21, some design decisions seem poor or not as well-considered as they could have been given their acumen and level of resources. But, we Macross fans live in a nigh constant state of famine for want of merch, so perhaps a little good and a little mediocre is better than none at all. End of the day, you decide with your wallet.
  16. M'Kyuun
    Barrage and Chopshop actually aren't half bad retools/repaints. Better than I thought they'd be.
  17. M'Kyuun
    I understand that Hasbro likes to cater to its retail partners by doing exclusives, and that's fine. Well, actually exclusives suck, but for the sake of argument, it's fine. That's business. However, they're not quite living up to their motto of, "Where fans come first" in pulling these kinds of shenanigans. Hasbro knows fans want all the G1 bots in just regular color schemes, clear windows, etc to complement each other, so it's a bit of a middle finger to put a featured First Season bot who remains popular in an expensive multi-pack full of repaints. It certainly rankles with this fan. If I had an iota of talent and an airbrush, I'd just buy a copy of Detritus and give him a Hound paint job. Alas, I have no skills, so I'm at the mercy of Hasbro's weird and frustrating marketing decisions. 😒
  18. M'Kyuun
    I wouldn't mind having the Earth-alt Hound, but I already have the rest of the included bots in arguably better liveries, and I just don't have the room or the inclination to buy copies of them just to get the one fig I actually want. Hopefully at some future point, Hasbro will finally release just this version of Hound in some form or fashion. Until such time, the excellent Universe Hound remains my G1 Hound placeholder in my CHUG collection.
  19. M'Kyuun
    Heh, heh, I never have that issue. My wife and I maintain separate accounts, although we each have access to the other's and neither of us really ever checks on the other's. Too, we have no credit cards; we pay for everything from our checking accounts, and we're both careful to never overextend. Well, honestly, my wife spends little of what she makes, as she covers the groceries and I cover everything else, not to mention I'm the one with multiple expensive hobbies. My wife's main gripe when I buy something new concerns where I'm going to put the new acquisition, to which I reply, "I'll find someplace", to which I usually get some sort of dubious, "Mmm-hmm". Finding said 'someplace' is becoming increasingly more difficult; I've pretty much filled our house with my toys. I didn't go in on the Missing Link Prime, and I'll likely skip most of the line. If they do Megatron, or Prowl, though, I'm down for either. I'll find someplace to put them. 😉
  20. M'Kyuun
    Funny you mention that; my next door neighbor's girlfriend is a HUGE cat person (I believe they have 6 cats) and she had bought Stray, but couldn't bear to play it b/c she got too emotional every time her cat character died. So, she gave the game to me and I played it through to the end once. Admittedly, I missed a bunch of stuff on my first playthrough and will likely play it again to see if I can beat it more completely. But, the game itself was fun, a little challenging in a few spots, but I enjoyed it. Edit: I forgot to mention, I played it on the PS4; I don't yet own a PS5, but eventually. I want to play Jedi: Survivor and the new Armored Core. I have Horizon: Forbidden West for PS4, but I'd probably get it for the PS5 for the DLC.
  21. M'Kyuun
    Ramen certainly has a passion for M.A.S.K. that's evident in their designs. I'm not sure Hasbro would have this much investment, although I have to say their G.I. Joe Classified line is pretty amazing. If they did a M.A.S.K. line at that level, methinks they'd be some pretty sweet toys. With the potential for a new show, I guess we'll have to wait and see what they serve up in terms of toys. Although I didn't have any M.A.S.K. stuff as a kid, the whole transforming gimmick and premise of the show endeared it more to me than G.I. Joe, whose toys were amazing, but the show, like most in the 80s, was purdy darned cheesy. Alas, I have neither the space nor the funds to add yet another toyline to my collections, but I do certainly love what Ramen is doing. I'd definitely love to see M.A.S.K. make a comeback, especially if the show has some really good writing and high production values.
  22. M'Kyuun
    I'd rather they collabed with Takara to make their 1/48 VF-1 in Jetfire livery. However, given the popularity of the vintage G1 figs and the Missing Link approach to imbuing them with modern articulation, I can understand the desire for a fully articulated Chunky Monkey. If Bandai did agree to it, though, it would only be available through Asian stores; Harmony Gold would be all over it if any attempt was made to sell them in US stores. So wish their Macross license hadn't been renewed.
  23. M'Kyuun
    Yeah, the gross scale incompatibilities between bot modes, alt modes, and alt mode-relativity to real world scales are some of the most lamentable occurrences of G1 that continue to carry over to modern day toy interpretations. As you say, it's bad enough that the jets are underscaled, but Blast-Off's shuttle is ludicrously so, not to mention a poor alt choice in a group of military vehicles. Alas, it's all history now with naught to be done but accept it, if grudgingly. Speaking personally, Bruticus is my favorite combiner with Devy coming in second, and I really want a new version to be done well. Given the nature of the Combaticons' alt modes, they really should all be voyagers with a commander class Onslaught to form the body and provide the partsforming bits for Bruticus. Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to be the case if Swindle, a leg bot, is only a deluxe. I still keep my CW Bruticus combined on the shelf and I have a feeling he's going to dwarf this new version, if not in height, then in bulk. Deluxe limbs worked for Menasor b/c the limbs are cars, and that fits scale wise. It doesn't fit with military vehicles or aircraft. It's a bit awkward-looking when scales are so poorly matched. I haven't bought any of MMC's combiners, but believe me when I say I was HUGELY tempted to go in on their Bruticus, my favorite combiner team. However, with dwindling space and a spendy tag, I reluctantly passed on them. But I watched reviews and such, and yeah, I think they did a really great job with it. I'd love it if Hasbro was that committed, but I do think that level of engineering is beyond the scope of mass retail, and after taking major losses last year, the level of complexity is only going to decrease as they try to recoup. I'd be happy if they approached each of the combiners as a Haslab; they're guaranteed to get their funding before committing to production, the production values are higher, and the level of engineering complexity greater than what's possible at retail. Making the torso bots commander class for the upcoming combiners makes sense, as it accounts for the larger figure and the necessary partsforming bits required to form the gestalt. They've already established a working pattern of deluxe limb bots and a commander class torso, so I don't understand why people think they'd deviate from it. Scale, of course, is shot to hell, but Hasbro gives no credence to scale. As to Swindle, they've been making the distinction between lines with the characters, so I'm sure he would have been delineated as Animated. Moreover, he was a side character from a couple eps, so I think it'd make more sense to release characters like Lugnut, Blitzwing, Starscream, and Megatron who had a far greater presence in the series. As to Bruticus, I also hope Hasbro, and by Hasbro I mean Takara (who actually do the engineering heavy-lifting for Transformers) figures out how to use the limb bots as actual limbs instead of continuing to rely on the frame w/ tack-on bots approach. You, my friend, are far more informed than I concerning the extent of the franchise. It seemed to me like they were really branching with 2025, but after this litany of potential characters/lines, several I've never heard of, I humbly admit my ignorance. It just shows the extraordinary potential of this franchise to keep Hasbro in business producing toys from across a wide swath of continuities for years to come even after G1 is completely exhausted. However, as long as us 80s kids are still kicking and willing to part with our money for these fiddly bits of ABS, they'll continue to mine the deep well of G1 nostalgia.
  24. M'Kyuun
    Disappointing that the Aerialbot limb bots will be deluxe scaled, as that makes for some very small jets compared to car bots. Like the ER Seekers, they should at least be voyager scaled, which itself is underscaled relative to car bots. Scale aside, I've never had much enthusiasm for Aerialbots as, due to the blocky nature of the OG toys and subsequent animation models, the jets lose any sleekness that they should possess and end up being cubes with wings. Unfortunately, this same tendency has been mirrored not only by Has/Tak, but also most third parties. As an aviation fan, Superion, the combiner that should be most appealing generally lacks any appeal for how egregiously inaccurate and compromised the jet modes turn out. Maybe they'll be better executed this time, but scale is already questionable, and given precedents, I have my doubts. As to how Superion and Bruticus will be realized, I have a feeling they'll attempt the robot-frame-with-bots-tacked-on approach since it worked for Menasor. Admittedly, it made for a more stable combiner than the previous CW gestalts, but lost is the true combining factor where the limb bots actually form the limbs; instead, they're reduced to accoutrement. I wish they'd take an MMC approach, but that level of complexity and involved engineering is well beyond the scope of mass retail toys, and well, beyond Hasbro's care factor. I could see Takara making a more involved combiner, but with Hasbro pushing their version of toys for all markets, the good old days of Takara's improved toys are all but gone, a loss for fans. Pertaining to the 2025 lineup, there's not much there of interest for me. The G1 stuff is winding down, with most of the roster having received toys already and the outliers continue to be realized. I hope the Omnibots get the honor of toys eventually too- I was hoping they'd get them, or start to, in 2025 after Evan's having mentioned them in a stream awhile back, but the wait goes on. The fact that a Hasbro toy designer wants toys of them continues to give me hope. I'm actually a little disappointed that more of the Rescue Bots didn't get the Generations update; I thought Chase turned out well, better than I would have expected, and there are a number of RBs, especially ones with aircraft alts, that I'd like to see realized. It's odd that a line for which I've only ever had the most peripheral of interest suddenly elicits so much interest, but if Chase is the sign of things to come, I welcome it. However, for fans of the comics, UT, and RID, I hope the upcoming toys are well done and welcome additions to their collections. It's such a sprawling franchise with such a rich history in toons, comics, and various toylines, and I firmly hope that fans of all stripes will eventually get the toys for which they've pined; transitioning from Legacy to Prime, it seems Hasbro is committed to digging deep, to borrow a phrase, to bring characters from all corners into fans' hands as toys. From an official toy POV, it continues to be a great time to be a Transformers fan.
  25. M'Kyuun
    Agree with you concerning Long Haul. It would be my druthers if they could do what MMC's doing with their combiners, but I'm a realist, and I just don't see Hasbro/Takara getting that technical, especially at voyager scale. It's going to be a partsformer; the question is, is it just going to have a pelvis and thigh bits and arm/hands like Toyworld's Constructor, or are they going to go the Menasor route with a skeletal gestalt that the Constructicons just snap onto? I'd prefer the former solution. And like Mike, I hope the individual Constructicons are far better realized in their bot modes with all the articulation we've come to expect from the Studio Series and Legacy lines. Man, I want to be excited by an SS86 Megatron, but I just know his alt is going to be anything except the pistol he should be, and that erodes a lot of my enthusiasm. It's a shame, really, that Megs didn't start out as a tank from the beginning; it's an altogether fitting alt for his character and there never would have been an issue so far as legislation is concerned; however, he was based on a real-world pistol and for a die-hard like me, that's what I want him to change into. Of course, there's no way Hasbro could have foreseen how the regulations on toy weapons would change within the span of a decade or they might have chosen a different toy to use as the leader of the Decepticons. Alas, we can fall into fun conjecture on that point all day, but the reality remains that Microchange MC-12 Gun Robo Walther P-38 was chosen, and the rest is ludicrous mass-shifting history. FYI Sec 4 of the Federal Energy Management Improvement Act of 1988 essentially makes it illegal to manufacture or import a realistic looking firearm unless said item has some form of marking indicating approval by the Sec of Commerce 15 U.S.C. I wonder if that approval marking comes with a fee and that constitutes the major detractor for Hasbro?
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