Mog

Anyone get some work done on your various projects this holiday weekend? Any updates/pics?

I saw the Sarlacc UBP at an actual Target. It's got the skiff and the venus flytrap sarlacc. For figures, it's got the following: * Boba Fett (I think it looked like a fully articulated one); * Jedi Luke (the Saga/Jabba's palace one with the bicep-cut elbows....but with a pasty, white as snow face and skin-tone. ); * Han post-carbon freeze; * Lando in disguise; * One of those "frowny-faced" skiff guards. What kinda sucked was that those skiff guard staffs looked kinda bent outta shape.

Dude, I'm still waiting to see a Wave 11 case that actually has Airborne in it!

Until I get the payment request from Kevin, I ain't waking my Mog avy from his years-long hibernation.

But see, in space, no one can hear you scream (as your childhood is raped or as Access Panel 8472 in Jeffries Tube 15B blows up in your face)!

The problem has never really been the fanbase. If anything, they needed to wrestle control of the franchise away from Rick Berman and his cronies. Both Voyager and Enterprise had some really solid premises and foundations to build upon. The problem is that the stories very rarely tapped into that potential and wound up often being rehashes of earlier Trek stories and episodes. Too often, I felt that the writers and creative forces behind these last two Star Trek series were focusing more on standard plots and premises, rather than focusing on the characters themselves. I can't place blame for the demise of the franchise on its fanbase, when it was the previous stewards of the franchise holding the proverbial smoking gun. As for the reboot, I understand why it was done. I'm not a big fan of it or the timing of the reboot, but I can understand why folks felt it needed to be done.

Yup, that Voltar is a custom. Saw someone do a wickedly good Voltar in IG colors on another board, and it inspired me to attempt a custom of my own. One minor thing to note between the IG's in the comic packs vs. the IG's in the TRU 3-pack. It's kinda hard to tell without comparing them side-by-side. But the comic pack IG is molded in solid black, while the 3-pack IG is molded in a slightly more greyish black. Again, it's almost impossible to tell the difference. They both look black, but the IG's from the TRU 3-pack are just a shade lighter than the comic pack ones. P.S.--My laptop (which I bought way back in 2001) finally gave out on me. After reformatting it once (and losing 300+ songs), living with a battery that lasts less than 5 minutes the past few years, and futzing just this year with a moody screen that gets "flickering lines" if I close then reopen it, I finally ran into a problem even I couldn't work around: the hard drive (or whatever spins/reads it) finally crashed and burned. Thankfully, I can mooch off my wife's laptop every now and then. But if you don't see me around much for the next few days/weeks, this is why.

You might want to sand down some of those parts that connect and interlock before you start painting. It should help to cut down on some of the paint chips later on and make reassembling a little bit easier.

Booya! The angle may not be the best, but you can tell that the thighs are no longer ridiculously out of proportion. Also, that thing about being able to remove the helmet "with relatively ease"? I was wrong; I gotta handle the thing with kid gloves in order to wiggle it off Mutt's head. Anyways, here's the modified Mutt: The Iron Grenadiers felt it was time to have an intervention for Junkyard.......a NEUTERING intervention!

Yeah, just picked up a Mutt and Junkyard at Kohl's tonight too. Still getting a kick out of the rather accurate mold for Junkyard......Poor pooch must've gotten "cut" after humping one too many Joes' legs. Wasn't very fond of Mutt's child-bearing thighs or the crappy way his muzzle/mask never stays in place. So, I replaced his legs and lower torso with the 3-pack Duke's legs and lower torso. The Duke parts don't match exactly with the green on Mutt's shirt. But with the vest covering the torso, it works well enough. It now looks like Mutt is wearing a dark green shirt and lighter green pair of pants. With the mask, I wanted to get it closer to Mutt's face and have it stop rotating down to his neck. So, out came the trusty knife and superglue. I reduced the thickness of the mask straps, pushed the mask closer to his face, and superglued the mask in place onto the helmet. The good thing about this mod is that I can still remove the helmet (with its superglued/attached mask) with relative ease. Once I paint a few details onto the new legs, I'll have a much better looking and more improved Mutt.

Has Toynami ever been on time with their MPC releases? It'd be cool if they get a Christmas time release. But I'm still betting on 2009.

The problem with the poll is that there's at least two scenes where Isamu and Guld really go after each in Plus (three or four if you wanna count the testing montage and the time when Guld lays the smackdown on Isamu's VF-11). But pretty much, any dogfight scene in Plus is a solid choice for #1.

If you don't mind customizing, you can probably make your own from the ones currently out. Also, it depends on which version of ROTJ Luke you want. Do you prefer Jedi Luke during the Jabba scenes or Jedi Luke's get-up during the final duel (aka DSII Luke)? If you want a close approximation to DSII Luke, you should probably buy the current Legacy collection Luke (the sandstorm version). I'd personally swap out the head for something more neutral and less windswept (the one from the Luke & Mara Jade comic pack is pretty solid). For the Jedi-Robed Luke, last year's Jedi Luke with the bone accessory would probably work. You'll have to force/glue his robes down onto his shoulders to get rid of the "bath-robe" look and make it look more accurate. Some folks don't like either figure because the elbow and knee joints are too blubous. But I don't mind them too much. Plus, I'm a fan of the additional articulation on these particular figures. To throw in an additional curveball, Hasbro announced they'll finally be making a DSII Luke........in 2009. EDIT: Holy mother of Mog, Black Valkyrie!!! I don't think you have enough Lego Clone Troopers!

Forget the canned bread, where's my Macross Canned Corned Beef! Heck, they should just make the holy trinity of canned meat products: spam, corned beef, and Vienna sausages. It'd be a veritable SMS (Spam, Meat (imitation), and Sausages) squad!

When I heard this on the radio yesterday, I literally laughed and applauded at the same time. Yes the original is a cheesy cult classic. But c'mon!! It's Sam MuthaF'n' Jackson playing Sho Nuff!! YES THEY DESERVE TO DIE, AND I HOPE THEY BURN IN HELL!! NOW WHEN I SAY, "WHO'S THE MASTER?", YOU SAY... "SHO NUFF!!"

Surprised you haven't seen the hundreds of posts and pics about these stands all over the board. They're called FlexiDisplay stands, and you can preorder them here: Linky. You may also want to see if anyone's selling them in the For Sale section here, but I doubt there's too many second-hand sellers of these right now. Understand, there's a bunch of master customizers here on the board that can run circles around me. Hell, I'm nowhere near their league. Also, this was my first full-on/complete repaint of a Macross fighter and my first serious attempt at spray-painting a toy. But there's enough tips, tricks, and advice posted here on the board to get a person steered in the right direction, should they decide to do a custom.

^^Actually, I'm talking about Malak's wrinkly cueball head. I kinda wish it was smooth, like the video game's rendition. As for Revan having a cueball noggin, it's no big deal to me since I usually have him with this hood up.

Anyone have any luck finding the latest senior ranking officer 3-packs at a brick-and-mortar TRU? Couldn't find the blasted things yesterday or today.

A bunch of folks here on the board have recommended and commented on these in the past. They're basically those 0.1 and 005 pens/liners. The two I've used in the past are Pigma Micron pens and Copic Multi Liner pens. You usually can stick with basic black for panel-lining. But I've found the grey ink version of these pens to be quite useful in panel-lining white or light grey portions of a Valk/mecha. The grey ink gives a slightly subtle, less pronounced panel-line. One thing to note though: you should always trace your panel-line at an angle with these pens. You never want to trace it straight down (perpendicular to the surface you're tracing on), or else you risk permanently damaging and rendering useless the pen and its tip. I've found these pens (and the spray paint and the ink jet sticker printing sheets) at a nearby arts supply store. I don't believe they ship internationally, but here's their website: Linky.

@ Kicker: ....I think you need some more YF-19's......

Thanks for the compliments everyone! One thing I forgot to note is that there is a light panel-lining on the fast packs and on the hands, courtesy of those micron pens.

Where's "Empty Wallet"? Actually I'm starting to slow down the collection. So unless someone wows me with a large-scale SDF-1 or a.........HEY!! WHERE'S THE ENEMY MECHS!!! Back on topic, yeah, a large-scale SDF-1 would be a fitting capstone/centerpiece to my Macross collection.

Yeah, I consider myself a Trek fan. But even I wasn't all that hyped about this latest movie. To use a farming analogy, they should have left the Star Trek ground alone a lot longer and let it recover some nutrients. They failed to meet the potential in Voyager. They brought out Enterprise (the prequel series) too soon. Hell, they even screwed up the whole "Odd Number Movie = Bad, Even Number Movie = Good" pattern. Oh well, I still have my DS9 DVD's, and I'm sure I can catch an ep. of TOS and TNG when I'm jonesing for some good Trek.

I'm sorry to hear about Ootis' passing. But I'm glad to hear he was there to cheer you up during your time of need. Man's best friend indeed.

Actually 1/48 Roy is totally f'ng with GBP Hik' in the pic. Just to clarify what the hell's going on in the portrait (starting from the back): * The customs are about to throw down over who gets to hold the ace of spades. * The VF-1J M&M's are about to start "macking" (Sorry, wasn't trying to make 'em dance again.). And Ruskii, wouldn't you be pointing your--ahem--head lasers at uber-babe Millia, if she was all up in your arms? * 1/48 Roy is actually flicking down one of GBP Hik's head lasers (all while looking away). * Along with the "Why the hell did one of my head lasers just plop down?" look, Hik is also scratching his ass (kinda hard to see with the YF-19 blocking part of the arm). * The M+ boys are actually acting all buddy-buddy (All while getting ready to pop a cap in each other's head). * Q-Rau Millia's laughing like a little schoolgirl at what she's doing, * while DYRL Max has his own painful WTF?!!!! moment. And with all this mayhem happening, Grampa 1/55 Roy sits on the edge of the platform, bowing his head in shame and embarrassment. Someone get him a Yoshinol.....STAT!!!!