Mog

I'm actually more interested in getting Lift Ticket than the vehicle he comes with (some of his parts look very promising for a custom I wanna do). If I somehow miraculously come across a Ghost Hawk (just barely saw a Firebat today for the first time), I'd be willing to part with it (sans Lift Ticket). As for Wave 11, I love the Eels, but I absolutely hate how criminally short their breathing tubes are. You can't really turn the dude's head with the helmet on. Also, I had to paint his feet black; the grey feet just didn't look right on the black fins. Zartan's definitely a cool addition, but I had to use his upper arms and upper legs for a far greater purpose. Pilot Scarlett is alright, but part of me wishes they sculpted her hair in a ponytail like the card art. I'd comment on Airborne, but none of the damn stores near me seem to have him.

Shoot, if they're gonna completely re-do Malak (which I'm guessing they won't), here's what I'd like to see: * Make the bastard taller. The guy's supposed to be this intimidating presence. * Get rid of the wrinkled head. I know it's supposed to make him look more "Sith-y." But seriously, Malak would look much more bad-ass with a smooth cueball head. * Make the jawpiece smaller, or just get rid of the removeable feature altogether. The last one was way, way too bulky-looking. If we can see a neck, then the jawpiece will be the right size. * Soft-goods HALF cape. Look at the video game for reference. That cape of ol' Malak ain't a full one. * Soft-goods back tabbards. Completely missing on the original figure. And soft-goods wouldn't muck up the articulation too much. * Super articulation. On another topic, anyone know whether the Build-A-Droid HK-47 will have reasonable articulation? Or should I just anticipate neck-shoulder-hip articulation only?

Unless one of our members in Asia already has their hands on it, I wouldn't expect a review just yet. As I've said earlier, I haven't even seen a payment request come through for my preorder. Based on their track records, I'd rather trust Kevin on the release date than HG or Toynami. And if Kevin isn't firing off a payment request, I ain't expecting a Beta within the next week or so. Hell, I think a release before year-end is still a bit optimistic. In any case, I think everyone should calm the hell down about asking for a review. What's another month or two, when we've been waiting for this thing for YEARS?

Somebody ring? I've also got a pic of this modified Luke doing the classic ROTJ pose on Jabba's barge. It's too bad my old laptop crashed though; I used to have some other pics of this sucker sporting a big ol' Jedi cloak. .......I should really try to snap some "replacement" pics of my toy collections this weekend.

Not sure if you folks saw this yet: www.youwillknowthetruth.com. Where's Roslin in the most recent clue?

Another sign you've been watching too much Macross? --You use Isamu-style hand gestures to figure out how to pose your fighter toys. --If you have to get into a brown-and-white car, tram, plane, or train, you curl up into a fetal position. --You hear the phrase "chunky-monkey," and you don't automatically think of ice cream.

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.