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M'Kyuun

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  1. M'Kyuun
    Nice case, Kuma. First time I've seen Uni-Metal Prime; looks like they took some design cues from MP-10. Nice.
  2. M'Kyuun
    In the USAF, we have an Egress backshop that specializes in maintenance, removal, and installation of ejection seats at the field level. Crew chiefs often assist in the removal and installation, but it is a dangerous bit of business. I've seen pics of the aftermath of an occupied seat having ejected inside a hangar, and it's unpleasant. The ACES II is designed to propel the rider approximately 300 feet straight up very rapidly, so there's an enormous amount of thrust being generated by those rocket motors. I've sat in them numerous times, having limited work experience on the F-15, and about three years on the B-1 Lancer, and the first thing you want to do is make sure the safety pin is installed to prevent any unwanted trips. The fact that the ejection sequence seems to have failed, going by comments (I didn't read the article), is a huge red flag. If the pilot was able to land the plane due to his seat not firing, it's good that the plane was salvaged, but the larger issue is that a critical crew safety system failed. Had it been a real emergency, the pilot would have been lost. We can always build another plane.
  3. M'Kyuun
    Same boat; concerning transforming toys, characterization means little to me if the toy is cool. Bayformers Jetfire had a double dose of bad. The Action Toys version pretty much shares the same transformation, albeit with a few changes to allow for the improved articulation. besides size, the other main difference between the Machine Robo toys and Transformers was that, in general, more of the alt modes were used to form the robots without hidden arms and such. Gobots wasn't the best show, but I liked how the transformations mirrored the actual toy transformations, unlike Transformers that usually fudged them. Yep. That's why Kawamori's designs work, in most cases. Some of his transformations can be a little dodgy, but overall, he designs his mecha with an eye to engineering that could realistically work, at least in a toy. I think Takara do a fantastic job with ground vehicles, everything from motorcycles to big trucks. Jets seem to be their Achilles heel, for whatever reason. Kawamori designed the original Seeker mold for Diaclone, which is why I think it managed a modicum of accuracy in jet mode, and continues to be one of their best jet designs. I often wonder why they take so much care with preserving the alt modes of cars, but jet alt modes nearly always fall to concessions for the bot modes- a very unequal balance of priority. I'd love to see an interview with them addressing that dichotomy.
  4. M'Kyuun
    Last night was the season finale of LEGOmasters, and it was a good cap to an enjoyable season. The three finalist teams of Marc & Boone, Tyler & Amy, and Sam & Jessica are given 24 hours to build whatever they want, and the winning model will be showcased at LEGOLand New York. In LEGO news, LEGO has announced the next UCS set, and it will be the A-Wing Fighter. I know there are probably a lot of folks cheering this, but the A-Wing never really stood out to me as particularly interesting, as far as ship designs go. I'm still holding out hope for a UCS AT-AT, an ETA-2 Interceptor, or a redo of the Imperial Lambda Shuttle. Two things of note concerning the A-Wing are a new cockpit canopy piece, and four 6x6 dishes in trans-yellow, which will make Classic Space builders happy- we'll take anything in trans-yellow, especially if it can be used as a canopy or window of some sort. Those things will likely sell out quickly on Bricklink.
  5. M'Kyuun
    Growing up in the 80's, Mr. Dennehey seemed to show up in everything. He was a big guy who, as everyone has noted, made his presence known regardless of the nature of the particular character he was portraying. His is another great loss to cinema. RIP, good sir.
  6. M'Kyuun
    Likewise. I've seen handles in different forms, like the black and yellow pull cords on either side of the head or between the knees, and and as a pull-up handle on the seat, but never a push-button or toggle switch. You definitely don't want to be stretching your arm out to the instrument panel to activate an ejection sequence, as you're likely to severely damage or lose it as you rocket out of the plane.
  7. M'Kyuun
    Holy cow, Mike, you know how to compose an argument. I feel like I'm sparring with a lawyer. I'm not sure I can conjure up a more persuasive argument to support my view, so I'll leave it be. I still believe it's possible to get a decent Bayformer Starscream from a reasonably accurate F-22, but until such a time as some third party comes along and does it, b/c we all know HasTak never will, it's all conjecture on my part. I'd like to see Unique Toys give it a go, as they've done some impressive work thus far, and among the third parties, I think they've demonstrated the chops. Or perhaps Wei Jiang. Sad situation, that. Both the characterization and the toy. Thus far the best transforming SR-71 toy I've seen is the Action Toys Machine Robo Blackbird. It's not proportionally accurate, but overall, it integrates the robot much better than pretty much any other version I've seen, and the resulting SR-71 is passable. And it's a fun little toy to boot.
  8. M'Kyuun
    Definitely hints of the original GitS Movie opening in there. I like the robot hands reaching for the robo-eagle; it's a nice not-so-subtle metaphor. Looking much more forward to WW third season than I am to the new GitS show, even with the original Japanese creators on board. Based on the trailers, it just seems too kiddified for my liking.
  9. M'Kyuun
    I've been aware of those Lego-like 'studs' on the standing stones for years, but it's still neat to see it recognized so analogously in the article. Honestly, I'm surprised it hasn't been pointed out before, as the basic LEGO brick design has been around since 1949, based on the British Kiddicraft bricks from the mid-40s, invented by Hilary Fisher Page. Perhaps Page got his inspiration from Stonehenge. The design was borrowed and later bought by LEGO in Denmark, and now this article brings it full circle.
  10. M'Kyuun
    Mike, I respectfully disagree; the F-22 is a rather large and very boxy fighter, which ameliorates the ability to hide robot parts, especially with some well done panel-fu. The F-15 is also a boxy jet, and we've gotten a number of decent seeker designs, mostly from third parties, but still, it's been done. The 22 is larger than the F-15, which is itself a large jet. I think where the issue lies is that, where it concerns Bayformers, from the beginning, the transformations were accomplished not as a matter of practical mechanical design, but by CG artists taking bits of alt mode willy-nilly and assembling them hodge-podge into a 'cool-looking' robot without concern as to how such arrangements make any logical mechanical sense. For an entity trying to make a working three-dimensional translation of such designs is challenging from the onset b/c they inherently, by design, make no sense. Ergo, the need for faux parts, either bot or alt mode; fudging the transformations to try to make some sort of visual sense from one form to the other; using panels in a variety of ways to facilitate the transformation; and making deliberate choices to prioritize one mode over the other. Takara has a pretty good track record for making reasonably convincing ground vehicles of all shapes and sizes, but not so much with aircraft, specifically fighters, and I think that's a deliberate choice on their part. Kawamori's valks prove that a sleek fighter can turn into a nice looking robot. Takara, for whatever reason, just don't seem to be bothered to try. Contrarily, they've done an admirable job with any number of rotorcraft alt modes: RotF Blazemaster, Incinerator, Voyager and SS Blackout, Bumblebee Movie Dropkick, and to a lesser degree, DotM Skyhammer, to name the best ones that come to mind. Why can they fit all that bot into a reasonably realistic and accurate heli mode but not a jet? IMHO, they've been making poor TF jets since the eighties, they seem to sell regardless, so why change or improve? There's no incentive to try so long as people accept the lazy engineering and continue buying these things without meaningful protest or critique.
  11. M'Kyuun
    All I want from them this year is the YF-21. Hopefully Bandai's engineers are teleworking and working all the bugs out of the design to get the best balance possible between battroid and fighter, although if they have to make concessions, I hope they favor the battroid mode. For those that want the ultimate fighter, and piss on the battroid, Yamato already made your dream come true.
  12. M'Kyuun
    I figured I'd give Aquarion a watch, since it was created by Kawamori, with some interesting mecha designs. The metaphysical pseudo-philosophy is piled on extra thick and kinda dilutes my enjoyment of the show. Moreover, the main characters are from different backgrounds with a bit of class prejudice thrown in to artificially create friction between people who need to be mentally bonded in order to make their individual flying machines transform and merge to become one of three different robot configurations depending on who takes the lead. Said friction is maintained despite the fact that the characters in question have put aside their differences and worked together flawlessly in some eps to defeat the enemy of that particualr ep. It just feels like that friction is being dragged out to me. Throw in some pseudo Greek god mythology, heavy reincarnation themes, the uber-wise commander trope, a weird sister fixated on her brother thing, a fair bit of fan service, including the orgasmic bonding experience everytime the robots merge, the telekinetic girl trope, etc, etc, and it's an ok watch. It's pretty, and the CG for the various mecha looks good. All the metaphilosophy mumbo-jumbo gets a little stale , esp when a lesson is taught and then that same situation crops up as the dilemma of the episode thus forcing the intrepid pilots to overcome their personal differences and recognize an application for said lesson to defeat the enemy. That's just about every episode- very formulaic. I'm about 10 eps in, and I think I'll finish it out, but the formulaic nature of it, along with the slathering of pseudo-philosophy, dampens it a bit for me.
  13. M'Kyuun
    Although similar, having done some comparisons to the leader class toy, the MPM appears to be a new mold that's not even as good as the old leader class. Two things that stood out to me were the light grey bar looking structure on the bottom behind the nose gear, which doesn't appear on the leader class fig, and the side transformation structures on the leader class were much more streamlined; that section behind the intake on the MPM looks gappy and the hinged structures are noticeably different. But the end result is no different; it's yet another subpar transforming jet from HasTak. I don't collect MPM, so it's not a big deal to me, but for those who do, it kinda sucks to get another crappy rendition where the F-22 alt mode has heavy concessions.
  14. M'Kyuun
    If Hasbro saw some of these commercials, I can see why they got excited about the potential of the Diaclone figures that became Transfomers.- stop motion makes these things seem much more dynamic than they actually are without resorting to special effects aside from flying them on wires. The car robot ones are great for selling the disguise element. The Dinobot ones are cool, too. Enjoyed the heck out of these, even if some were very repetitive. That 'Di-a Crone'song gets stuck in your head. I wish Hasbro had done something like this, rather than having kids do the transformations.
  15. M'Kyuun
    Ugh, the mention of Power Rangers dampens my enthusiasm appreciably; I was never a fan of that schlock. I might give it a watch if it plays on a free pay-per-view weekend, but I won't go actively seeking it out. Funny how Japanese live-action sci-fi almost always seems to be presented as kiddie fare compared to a lot of more mature anime. I'm guessing that's a cultural bias, similar to American sci-fi in the 50's-60's.
  16. M'Kyuun
    Kind of a mix of Robot Jox and Pacific Rim. Mutants, cyborgs, big robots, kaiju- all ingredients for a fun watch.
  17. M'Kyuun
    The blue 1/48 Sentinel Riobots Legioss is already starting to sell out on various sites, so I took the plunge and PO'd a copy from TFSource. HLJ, which has an order stop in place, has it for about $20 less than most of the popular US sites, but I figured I'd make up the difference in shipping, which will be free through TFS. Anyway, I hope it's as high quality as the rest of their products appear to be. It looks good, and, at the very least, is sure to be made of sterner stuff than my old Toynami, with its plethora of issues. I've never watched Mospeada, and feel no compunction to do so, but ever since I picked up the "Leader One" model by Monogram back in the 80's, I've had a soft spot for the design, even if it's a bit chunky and somewhat unrefined compared to Kawamori's more realistic valks. I love its battroid mode- it's just a cool looking anime mech that happens to turn into a decent sci-fi jet.
  18. M'Kyuun
    I wish they'd put Super Megs' bicep bits with that outward facing 5mm peg on TR Galvatron. It would have helped the articulation of the right arm greatly. I have to say, Megatron's colors look good on that mold, as everything from the waist down, the shoulders, and the forearms are shared. I like the bot mode, but neither of the alts really grab me. It would have been nice if they'd found a way to hide the tank treads in jet mode- they look weird perched on the back of the jet. Ah, HasTak- you guys and jet modes. Kawamori needs to hold a masterclass for those guys.
  19. M'Kyuun
    Yeah, I don't think Sam and Jessica are bad builders, per se, but they lack the polish that both Boone and Marc and Tyler and Amy both bring to the table consistently with nearly every project. My money's still on Tyler and Amy. They've been the most consistent team throughout, with last night's ep being their first time in the bottom, and their build was really good. Anyway, looking forward to the finale. I'll be cheering for Team Clites.
  20. M'Kyuun
    Just watched last night's LEGOMasters. The subject was Star Wars this week, starting off with a droid build for the first half, and a scene build for the second.
  21. M'Kyuun
    Well, having read any number of Kuma's reviews and posts of their other figs, my impression is that they do a great job on non-transforming figures, but since this does transform, I'm a bit leery to plunk down $240ish for this thing without some certainty that it's well made. Already, I can see the main gear doors nearly touch the ground, which isn't ideal. However, it looks really good from every other angle and in all three modes, gear doors notwithstanding. Very tempting.
  22. M'Kyuun
    Honestly, having owned the original Galvatron toy, whose inconsistencies between toy and toon were vast, I thought the TR version was fairly well done. It's not without its flaws: the right arm can barely move due to the enormity of the cannon and its single peg hole on the bicep where it renders the elbow nigh pointless( another peg hole on the side, or an additional rotation joint here, would have ameliorated the pose-ability quite a bit, methinks); the shoulder pauldron also needs to be rotated almost 90 degrees (pointing straight up, which looks odd) in order to rotate the right arm at the shoulder with the cannon attached; unlike the G1 toy whose orange cannon barrel separated from the arm mount, the TR version's cannon and mount are one piece, but the mount is hinged at the center allowing the back half to fold 180 degrees, and it just looks odd hanging out under the orange barrel in space cannon mode; there's an orange canopy on the lower handle, a concession for the additional space jet mode that Takara added in there. Personally, I like the space jet mode, but YMMV. There are dark grey panels which fill out the inner lower legs in bot mode, but they hinge out 180 degrees and stick out past the legs in space cannon mode- it just looks tacky. And finally, as Tekering said above, the flimsy partial flip-up helmet piece, and headmaster gimmicks suck. I would rather they'd just given him a solid flip out head, and eschewed the headmaster gimmick for this fig, but it does make sense for the jet mode. Overall, though, for a retail figure to which they added an additional mode, the concessions aren't too bad; it looks enough like Galvatron in bot and space cannon modes to suit me. When I look at him in his space cannon mode, I can almost hear him say, "Here's a hint!"
  23. M'Kyuun
    For years, I've been wanting a good version of the Legioss to replace my crappy Toynami, and this version by Sentinel looks beautiful. Looking through their portfolio, I recognize a number of figs from Kuma's photos, so my assumption is that this will be high quality. Opinions?
  24. M'Kyuun
    This AFOL prefers sets built to minifig scale, and though I like minifigs and all the variety of decos and accessories we've gotten with them over the years, I'm not a die-hard minifig fan akin to the folks who become deeply entrenched in customization. I'm not an army builder, either. My preference for LEGO, if a new mold is concerned, is for elements that will expand the utility of System building. In particular, as a mecha builder, I'm always craving new joints that improve upon the capabilities of what's already available. But beyond that, as large as the current palette is, there's always room for more wedge shapes, rounded bricks/plates, etc. Moreover, there are a lot of parts that have yet to be made in common colors, and that's always a point of frustration with LEGO. My friend Luke, also an AFOL, and I agree that every non-color-locked part should be made in red, yellow, blue, black, white, light grey, and dark grey as a bare minimum, and if LEGO doesn't want to put them in sets, then make them available either on Pick-a-Brick or create their own store on Bricklink to provide that option to LEGO fans. It'd make a lot of people happy, methinks. Coming back to the minifig, as a fan of articulation, I find the minifig to be a bit of an anachronism; it's adorable and fun, but also very limited by today's standards in terms of articulation, and I wish LEGO would make a midi-fig that shares the head and basic torso shape, but has fully articulated shoulders, elbows, hips, knees, and possibly ankles, and stands about 2-2.5 inches tall, with more natural proportions than the minifig. It's something I've been wanting for years, but I imagine I'm in the minority, as the minifig has become sacrosanct among LEGO fans, and the company itself. But having bought a few of the MegaBloks Collector series sets, the figs they put in those are fantastic, as they're just a hair taller than the minifig, but other than ankles, fully articulated, including waist rotation. Those guys are a blast to pose, and it just makes the ache for something better than the minifig greater.
  25. M'Kyuun
    Looks like a lot of accessory parts-forming, a la Siege Shockwave, to accomplish his alts. His design is not really to my taste, but I am curious what it's from.
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