djdood

Vermillion Platoon, together at-last.

It's been so long, I had forgotten they teased the scout pod. sigh.

Sorry to see this. That truly sucks.

The two Destroid Defenders I ordered have arrived, so I guess I better get to work modeling up the Tomahawk and Phalanx torsos and arms.

If Bandai did the Tomahawk and the Phalanx as a two-pack, I'd be in for that at any remotely reasonable price (and I paid quite a bit to get my artillery battlepods, because - worth it).

Oh, me too. I'd much rather buy them from Bandai. I've been very pleased with all the HMR so far. But... I think COVID and changes in the market have made it unlikely to happen and it's time for me to pivot to other solutions.

My intention is to use the two Defenders I ordered (which should be arriving from Japan, next week) to donate their legs and hips. I'll then start work on 3D modeling Tomahawk and Phalanx upper-halves (and unique "plant ons" for the legs) with the goal of eventually 3D printing and/or scratchbuilding the parts. It will take a considerable amount of time as I would like to have at least some of the articulation and pose-holding the Bandai figures would have had and that's harder to pull off without factory production tolerances. Still, having the legs already pre-made will save me a ton of effort. The "wasted" torsos and gun arms of the two Defenders will get turned into a SDF-1 "defense gun" diorama display (I recall some shots of Defender torsos and gun arms either mounted directly to the deck or with the destroids standing in "fox holes" where the legs were concealed). I do hate the idea of disassembling perfectly good figures, but my life-long desire for an "all in the same(ish) scale display of the tv show and DYRL Macross mecha" wins out.

Since I'm pretty sure COVID and whatnot have killed off Bandai's interest in pursuing the Hi-Metal R Macross line any further, I pulled the trigger and ordered a pair of destroid Defenders, so I'll have them on-hand to kitbash myself a Tomahawk and Phalanx to complete my display.

Since there's lots of Monster pictures getting posted, here's mine. I love that it's so close to scale with the other Hi-Metal R figures - it absolutely looms over them, as it should. The Monster was the one that got me off the fence and buying this line - I'd always wanted a shelf of all the classic Macross tv and DYRL figures, in-scale with each other. Once I'd seen that Bandai had done the Monster, and not only had done it but had done it *right*, I figured they'd follow through and do a complete line. If they eventually get the Tomahawk and Phalanx (and maybe the Scout Battlepod) out, I'll finally have the display I've wanted since the late 80s.

I'm already toying with what it would take to model up and 3D print my own upper bodies to kitbash a Tomahawk and Phalanx from a pair of Defenders, if I have to. With COVID and the hit to discretionary spending for so many people, I worry that Bandai might just quietly end the line. Hope not. I'd rather get the real deal. Those two destroids and the scout battlepod and my collection would be as complete as I'd ever hoped and I'd be a happy lifelong fan.