Mog

......When we finally receive THEIR money in our lawsuit settlement!!!!! In all seriousness, I understand and agree with your sentiment, eugimon.

Wasn't there a lot of complaints back in the day about certain parts of the 1/60 GBP falling off if you even looked at 'em funny? Yeah, I'd say go with the 1/48 blue one too. It's iconic and makes Hik's VF-1J look bigger and meaner than all his other Fast/Strike-Packed 1J brothers and sister. Just remember: the first step to recovering from Valkyholism is to admit that you have a problem.

Yep, that video was definitely cheesy. But it was admirably-done, skillfully-made cheese. Kudos to whoever made it.

^^Oh lordy, I never realized it was THAT cheesy!! Awesome link, JsARCLIGHT!

Personally, I'd like them to take a more serious, more "grounded in realty" take on Cobra. (Hell, I'd like at least a third of the movie be about the rise of Cobra and the origins of Cobra Commander.) If I remember the comic books correctly, Cobra was pretty much a home-grown terrorist organization. How would group like this start in the US? Would enough people be so disillusioned by the world, the B.S. spewed by politicians and the nightly news, the ridiculous focus on budgets and mission statements at their jobs, and the crap that passes for entertainment these days that a group like Cobra could actually succeed? Granted they'd have to change Cobra Commander from the shrill beeyotch we all know from the cartoon into a skilled and influential orator (something along the lines of an Abraham Lincoln or an MLK, perhaps?). But if they did this kind of take with the movie, I'd be very intrigued. Of course, this is Hollywood we're talking about here. So most likely, we'll get something that peddles to the lowest common denominator (as bsu so wisely put it). Or even worse, we'll get some way-too-preachy, overly-political piece of crap. Or even worse than that, they'll revamp the 25th Aniversary figures to become more "movie accurate."

My memory's a little hazy, but I'm pretty sure Lady Jaye sported the cap a number of times in the comics. As for the upcoming figure, I don't know what exactly it is about the sculpt and paint apps, but it just doesn't "look" like Lady Jaye to me. I look at the face, and it just doesn't remind me of either the cartoon version, the comic version, or the version depicted on the card art. My first impression was that the eyes didn't look right. Maybe they should be a little bit bigger or a little more exotic-looking (sorta like the card art). Also, I think the lower part of her face is just a tad bit too wide or "puffy." Add to that the slightly-too-large cap, and her face just looks off. This is especially disappointing when you considering how dead-on the new Flint looks by comparison.

Instead of the wing warp, I'd rather see the wings do that fast mode(is that what it's called?), where the wings are slightly bent/folded downward. There's something menacing, almost like a predator ready to pounce, when the 21's going into that pose.

Gotta disagree with you, Vermillion21. Granted, I wouldn't try posing any of these new figures in the old vehicles or any kind of sitting position. But I find the new figures a lot more poseable and realistic than the old-school figures, especially in action scenes. Just look around the Net: there's a bunch of example pics showing off these new figures' wicked poseability. You can even see it in the pic I posted earlier of Storm Shadow and Snake Eyes. I would never have been able to do that pose accurately with the old-school figures. The old fig's simply lack the necessary additional articulation points needed. As for the quality, yeah, some figures have difficulty holding their weapons as solidly as their old-school counterparts. But I wouldn't go so far as to call them knock-offs or cheap quality. Considering the OTHER figures Hasbro's been churning out at this scale for the past few years, I'd say the quality of these latest Joe's is comparable to that of Hasbro's current Star Wars 3-3/4 line. Look, I definitely have my criticisms of this new line (and I have my own personal pet peeves about the next two waves). But it is a worthy successor to the old line, and I'm willing to see what this line churns out later on in the future. To put it in Macross terms, I think of the old-school Joe's as the Takatoku Valks of yesterday: solid as a rock (except when the O-rings start to deteriorate) and ridiculously ahead of their time in terms of articulation, design, and asthetic. The new 25th Aniversary Joes are somewhere between the 1/60 Yammies and 1/48 Yammies: they made some definite improvements over the old-school versions, but they aren't without their own quirks and flaws. I ain't saying the new Joes are damn-near perfect like the 1/48's. But with sculpt improvements, they could definitely get to that level.

I saw most of it on Sci-Fi too. And surprisingly, it wasn't that bad. Granted, there's some over-stylized animation scenes here and there, and some of the characters are a bit cliche. But overall, it was a good story. It's definitely one of the better additions to the Highlander universe in recent years. Gotta agree with you too, Wes: the villian had a cool, calm coldness about him that worked fairly well. Plus, it's a nice change of pace to see the main character almost constantly getting jacked up. BTW, was it just me, or was the actor who played Joe Dawson doing the voice of Doc?

Personally, I'm more interested in seeing the gunpod stowage (in regular fighter mode) and the Fast Packs than the detachable limbs feature. Especially if the detachable feature somehow limits or hinders how poseable the YF-21 can truly be. Just my own personal 2 cents.

VERY NICE PICS, kiririth!! With your close-up look at the thing, were you able to tell what type of joints the Beta has or how the arms will stay locked in place in bomber mode? I know this is Toynami we're talking about here, but I really hope that they can come up with a solid locking mechanism for the cockpit. I really don't want to spend half my posing time trying to keep the damn cockpit closed.

As I've said in the past, I seriously doubt we'll see Toynami's Beta by the end of the year. I mean, has Toynami ever released anything on time? It'd be a minor miracle if we actually see this released by March 2008 at the earliest. I'm hoping it's not vaporware, but it wouldn't surprise me if it turns out that way either.

Here ya go: Link. On the Beta side of things, it's pretty much the same stuff we saw from the AX photos.

Just found pics from SDCC of the future upcoming waves: Link. My first reactions? Good God! Who beat Lady Jaye with the ugly stick!? Beachhead looks cool, but I don't like how they changed his torso ammo pack into a vest. I wish they instead went with a lower torso joint ala Cobra Commander. I ain't digging the "extreme" make-over they gave to Buzzer's chainsaw. Both Stalker and Zartan look promising. But they really should pack Zartan with a bow as an homage to his comic book roots. Are they really trying to make Shipwreck look like Popeye? For this particular figure, I think the criticisms/comparisons to the Star Wars POTF bulked-up look are valid. I was already gonna pass on the second Cobra 5-pack, and this doesn't make me regret my decision. Some of those one-of customs look a heck of lot better than the production releases they'll be releasing later this year. Hopefully, Hasbro will make some design tweaks before rushing these out to production. Otherwise, it looks like I'll have extra display space for Macross, Mospeada, and Star Wars stuff.

AH FRAK!! I thought it said Toynami BETA!! Seriously though, I'll probably be a test dummy for this first release. I haven't gotten any of the Zero birds, so I figure it's my turn to be a first release tester. Aside from the Tread/Beta, the YF-21 is the one release I've been itching for the most. If it comes with FP's, great. If not, well, I can use the time-lag between the first release and the FP release to finalize and firm up some custom scheme ideas I got brewing. Besides, I gotta show some love for the bastard love-child of the Q-Rau and the Valk'!

<singing> Haaaaaaaaal.....le-lu-jah! HAAAAAAAAALL.....LE-LU-JAH!!! </singing> Glad to see this finally and officially confirmed. Of course, they give us the one angle that doesn't give us any clues as to how thin and sleek this bird may or may not be. I really do hope the first release includes the Fast Packs. But it's still gonna be a fun 6 to 8 months, agonizing over every little detail of this release. BTW, is it too early for me to start commissioning folks to make a custom YF-21?

Well, I picked up a couple of the single-carded figures yesterday. And I knew I wasn't gonna be completely satisfied with what came straight out of the packages. So, this Mog did a few modifications. (It helps too that my brother was painting something for his office and had some leftover brown paint.) 1) COBRA OFFICER: Hasbro just supplied the Officer with a white/silver Cobra Trooper gun, most likely to save costs. I understand the cost-cutting/business move by Hasbro, but....... BAH!! What self-respecting Cobra Officer would be caught dead without his trusty AK-47? Basically, I took the AK that came with the original '82 Cobra Officer, painted it black, and added a few touches of brown here and there. 2) FLINT: By now, we all know that Hasbro just re-used Duke's mold in order to make Flint. And some fans have been griping about Flint's lack of gloves. Personally, I don't understand Hasbro's decision, especially since both Flint and the upcoming Shipwreck have similar torso and arm styles (i.e., short-sleeve shirt, gloves, and somewhat open collar). In any case, I took matters into my own hands (sorry for the bad pun): I basically wrapped one of those clear elastic, plastic bands that came with the 5-packs onto each wrist, tried to make the wrapped bands look like the ends of the gloves, and then painted over the hands and bands. Here's another pic with Flint holding his shotgun: Just a few little touches that made all the difference in the world for me!

Yamato didn't used an oversized box?!! What's next? Flawless first releases?!

Yup, the pose in valk1j's post was the one I first thought of when I saw the title of this thread. It was so good; they even showed it as a flashback a few episodes later.

Oh, they're already available at TRU (that's where I found all of the ones I bought). The hard part will be actually finding them. As I said in a thread down in the "Where to Buy Macross, Auctions & Dealers Specials" section, it's a bit of a crapshoot trying to find 'em. And I'm unsure how often or how much these stores are gonna replenish their supply. Some folks have reported finding the figures also at Walmart, but I personally haven't found them there yet. Also, some folks are speculating that Target will eventually have these once they have a "reset" sometime in early August. Yeah, I originally thought Flint's shotgun looked different. But it wasn't until I looked at his original file card (still have 'em after all these years ) that I had positive proof of the change.

^^Personally, I think there's enough room for both versions of the Joe's resident bad-ass. Besides, I really don't associate V2 Snake Eyes as being all ninja'd out. I mean the guy's still packing his trusty uzi in his V2 get-up.

Shhhh, they're working on the YF-21!!

A Macross rip-off? So, where's Macross' version of the Tread? I won't deny that there are similarities between the two shows. But even their two lead characters are radically different. Yes, both have a strong sense of duty. But Hik' has more of the standard "coming of age" story arc, while Stick's arc is more about a man coming to terms with his various losses.

That is one sexy homage, especially in battroid mode! It'd be awesome if you could take some comparison/side-by-side pics of this and the Focker VF-1S before you have to ship it away.

Meh, I'm more intrigued by the action figures than the game itself. Besides, haven't the creators themselves said the theme of the game is "Using the Force kick someone's ass" (or words to that effect)?