Mog

"C'mon Honey. Our child needs an in-scale, fully articulated, panel-lined, and weathered 1/60 destroid.......Oh! The extra one? Well, our child needs to learn to share and play with others. And I'm willing to make that sacrifice and spend time teaching our child that lesson!"

Happy New Year's from the Eastern Pacific time zone!! Yeah, so I'm practically five hours (and ONE SECOND ) late. Cut me some slack! It's gonna be hard for 2009 to top all the great things that happened to me in 2008, both on the toy and personal fronts: * More cool GI Joe figures were released; * I got more opportunities to refine my toy painting and customizing skills; * I made a custom GI Joe Motor Viper; * The YF-21 was released and came complete with FP's and a nice clear stand; * I was finally able to make my idea for a custom YF-21 become a reality; * The long-awaited Beta was released right before year-end (allowing me to finally retire my Beta avatar and bring back the Mog avatar). And more important than all of that, I lucked out in the best way possible: I married a beautiful woman who loves me and is cool with my somewhat crazy toy collections. I'm sure 2009 will have its share of joys too: another Blue Beta to be purchased, some Airborne figures to be finally found, one or a few more customized action figures to be made, and maybe some KOTOR figures to be finally released (if Hasbro was smart ). So, I'm looking forward to what awaits in 2009. But I will always look back at 2008 with a lot of thanks and fond memories.

They're just your average peel-and-stick variety. If you mean the custom Mars Base ones on the wing, those are also peel-and-stick too.

One thing that hasn't been mentioned yet is that the stickers that come with the Beta are pretty high quality and top notch. Compared to Toynami's earlier MPC releases, the Beta's stickers are a vast improvement. They're also much better than most Yamato stock stickers and have practically none of that ugly haze. The "NO STEP's" in particular are big and clear. Of course if you're still looking for something to criticize, Toynami definitely should have made the Mars Base stickers for the wings BIGGER. .....But yeah, I rectified that problem quick (and added some light panel-lining to boot!) :

For you "sick freaks" out there , there is a way to link the Alpha and the Beta in double-battloid mode. It's a little bit of a cheat, but you'll get the idea from the following post (as well as some embarassment for even thinking of doing a double-battloid!!): Post Linky. Enjoy! EDIT: Regarding the two Stig/Scott heads, I'd have to see how the Beagle head looks with the helmet on before I make a final judgement. But I'd lean more towards the Beagle head. Not a fan of the blue hair, and I kinda prefer my Stig/Scott with a more brooding/angry face.

(Apologies to chowyunskinny for "borrowing" his signature): FULL-ON ROBOT CHUBBY!!!!

Yeah, I noticed some similar cracks/stress marks in the same spot with one of my -21's. I think regular wear-and-tear from transformations and taking the legs off for limit-break mode definitely make that particular area very susceptible to stress marks and cracks.

<Takes a swig of his martini> Finally picked up the Beta (Thanks Kevin!), and got to take the Mog avvie out of hibernation!!! Definitely loving that beautiful click-clickity-click-click of rachet joints! Yeah, the gaps between the legs/boosters and the missile rack are pretty noticeable in bomber mode. And a swivel torso joint would have been very nice additional articulation point. But I think I was more bugged by the gaps between the legs/hips and the center booster/connecting boom assembly. I'm almost certain it was a design compromise to allow the Alpha's feet/boosters to slip inbetween the Beta in fighter combo mode. But in solo bomber mode, those underside hip gaps muck up the beauty of the solo Beta, especially when you look at it head-on. Make no mistake though, I'm loving this Beta!!!! I'm gonna have fun posing this pooch in action (and comedic) shots! And after so many years, the ugly gap, the damning omission, the constant reminder in the following pics will finally, FINALLY be filled :

Can we see how your FP'ed YF-19 looks in battroid?

Here's a pic of the most recent addition to my SW collection: Cool figure, but would have been much better if they gave Grievous ball-jointed hips or ball jointed knees. As promised ruskii, here's a pic of that custom Luke sporting a cloak. It's basically just a Darth Vader cloak, so there's no hood in the back. Lastly, this is just a "stylish" pose pic of two brothers going down different paths:

No biggie. I'll just chalk it up to the weekend hangover you probably had.

I'm sure some folks have heard me harp on these points before, but let me just point out the issues I have with the CM's that are clearly evident in that comparison pic: 1) The yellow missile rack in the back is protruding up and out. It should pivot down and lower a hell of a lot more in fighter mode. 2) A significant chunk of the tailfins are still sticking out on the Legioss. The tailfins are supposed to be hidden in fighter combo mode. 3) The fighter combo still looks split-level and not flush. It looked that way in the early prototype pics. It still looked that way when the black prototype pics were shown. And the final product still had the noticeable split. The only time the CM's fighter combo looked anything close to flush was when someone on this board created a modified connecting boom. Look, I'm not knocking the quality or durability of the CM's. But I do consider the above three items design flaws. At the very least, you have to admit that these are three areas where CM's took "artistic liberties." ------------------------- Regarding Sera's (Sorji's) ride at the end, I coulda swore she was just riding Yellow's (Lancer's) Mospeada while wearing her usual getup.

The pic in Kyp's post was exactly the picture I was talking about earlier. It shows the three main beefs I have with CM's fighter combo.

Nice comparison review, Jenius. That side profile pic you did of the two fighter combos easily points out all the flaws I had with CM's interpretation of the fighter combo. Regarding durability, I won't deny that I've had my share of MPC Alpha duds. And the Alphas definitely have a ridiculous case of floppy arm syndrome and disintegrating hands. But as a minor counterpoint, my blue Alpha has taken a few stage dives over the years (once intentionally, since it was being a bitch to pose ) and has held up surprisingly nicely.

Thanks, but other than painting the reactive missiles' tips, I was too chickensh*t back then to paint much of the Valk. I should mention that the Stealth does have a smattering of red markings (NO STEP's, DANGER's, BEWARE OF BLAST's, etc.), giving it just a hint of the Blackjack's black-with-red-trim scheme. Besides, I loved the Stealth's factory original black-grey-greyish blue combo too much!

Thanks for the review, jenius!! Yeah, that overhead shot really shows the gaps between the legs/boosters and the missile rack. But a least it doesn't stick out or jutt up as much as the CM's missile rack. It's too bad the Beta doesn't have a twisting knee joint either (ala the VF-1 MPC's, the 1/48 Yammies, and the v2 1/60 Yammies). And a twisting torso would've been nice addition as well. Oh well, still looking forward to getting this big bad bastard Beta. EDIT: Regarding the tilt-down cockpit, I can live with it. As dumb as it sounds, I actually like the fully functional cockpit, complete with pilot and stuff. Plus, I like how it looks in bomber mode. Would've been nice with transparent yellow windows though. But again, I can live with the cockpit compromises.

Thanks, but actually the wall is more of a beige/khaki color. If anything, I probably washed out a little bit of the color ever so slightly.

^^To chowyunskinny: Nah, it's just some random Eight, who happens to be a Cylon Pilot.

The Wave High SDF-1 is about 24 cm tall. But that's with the main guns pointing up. So, expect it to be pretty small. Not sure how fragile or durable it is, but here's a link to its thread: Link. The reviews are probably gonna be in the latter half of the thread.

Guns out and ready to pounce... That cool little "Remove Before Flight" tag right below the shelf is from the Pacific Aviation Museum, next to Pearl Harbor.

I was about to say: If she tolerates and even supports your toy hobby, then your GF's definitely a keeper. But her sticking by your side during those hard times says more than enough. ...Looking at your list and the pictures in your first post's link, I think you're missing the original blue GBP-1S armor for the 1/48's. Also, I don't think anyone's mentioned the Wave DYRL SDF-1 yet. It's definitely on the small size. But it is transformable, and it is the friggin' Macross afterall.

Welcome to the MW boards. Don't mind us; we're just being silly and over-the-top.