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I'm guessing nobody cares either way because it's such a terrible looking toy no matter which way the wings are placed. Man, I hope the longevity/success of the transforming Titanium figures doesn't hinge on these icky little things.

The stealth isn't too bad, but it's not interesting enough to make me even consider getting it. The camo valk is pretty much the worst looking valk deco I've seen yet, barring any customs of course (that pink re-deco Red Comet did of a Banpresto comes to mind). And a chrome launch arm? Whaaaaa? I didn't think Yamato was into the "chromed variant" BS that so many other toy companies subscribe to. Oh well, I can't let something like a couple crummy Yamato repaints get me down when there is something as yummy as the Motoko and Tachi on the horizen!

Almost looks like Convoy can tilt forward at the waist. While I think the truck mode is unquestionably lacking, I really dig the bot mode, trailer, articulation, accessories and overall tiny size of the thing.

While the SW TFs just plain look nasty to me, and are an assault on everything I consider to be intelligent and thoughtful mech design, the primary reason I hate them so much is that I see them as a missed opportunity. For years I thought certain SW vehicles would make some nice looking bots. I always thought it was something that would never happen, but wished it would. Well, like they say, be careful what you wish for... If these had spent a little more time in planning and had been made as SW vehicles that turn into TF characters, they would have been a winner for both TF and SW fans. But instead they give us a Tyderium shuttle with the wings hanging in a very inefficient manner and Palpys head resting on the shoulders. Booo.

*sigh* just make it stop.

Hunh?! Where'd you see that? The Mirage looks great, and yes, the knees are compleatly miss transformed, look at some earlier release photos and you'll see how they should be. 369464[/snapback] Here's a link to TFW2005's Titanium gallery that showcases Prime and Megs. http://tfw2005.net/gallery/v/Toyfair-2006-...rmers/Titanium/ I think the final will most likely have a better paint job, but this is what Prime looks like so far:

Oooohh...a War Within Optimus Prime? And it's fully transformable?? And it's die-cast??? !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Not diggin the solid color canopy, but if I see the 1S in a store I'll have to nab it. I like the small size and the fact that breaking it wont be an issue because it's so cheap.

"10 points of articulation" ? There's obviously more than that. Anyway, good to hear it's getting a US release. I'm curious to see the Shogo figure.

By the way folks, HMC comes out on DVD March 7th. Also being released that day are Whisper of the Heart and, FINALLY, My Neighbor Totoro. And that I think brings the US up to date on Ghibli DVDs. Now we just need a special edition non-Manga release of Castle of Cagliostro, Miyazaki's first film (non-Ghibli however).

I'm guessing Michael Bay has the rights and will destroy the master copies so his Transformers movie will be the only one available. I also hear aluminum foil helmets keep the government from stealing your thoughts.

Finally Prime can kneel like in a noble fasion. Oddly enough I don't mean that sarcastically.

That's too funny. A few months ago I remember making a JOKE about a SW TF that was Han and Chewie merging to form the falcon. It was funny as a joke, it's disgusting in real life.

I already hate Rumble. But I'm one of those bot fans who likes normal arms/hands and hates any variation from that. Any TF that has a big laser for an arm or some other big piece of kibble really turns me off. Something like Cybertron Thundercracker is a complete mistake in my book. I can accept Rumble's pile-drivers as an add-on, or as an alternate transformation, but not as a permanant feature. And on top of that, the front and rear halves of a car make for truly terrible and just downright silly pile-drivers. I would expect this from a mainline TF, but it's unacceptable for a Bin/Alt.

I don't give a tinker's cuss about "collectibility". The true value of these things is how cool they are and the pleasure they bring people. The more the merrier. The fact they can still sell for over $100 means there's still plenty of people out there that want one (or more). The day online stores have a hard time getting rid of their stock is when Yamato should lay off the reissues.

The questionable cab mode isn't going to deter me from getting this figure, but I do agree that's it's the least attractive of all the versions of G1 Prime. The line art by Kawamori-san looked good enough, I wonder why it couldn't translate better to real life.

Mine is the same way. The most noticable scuff is on the lion's head/chest, which is really noticable, but I'll consider it "battle damage". It has the sprue marks, too. I would have gladly waited another month or so for this if it would have resulted with a more refined toy. Oh well, at least nothing is broken and at least the poor QC isn't anywhere near as bad as a Toynami toy (in my experience).

Wow, that's some good stuff coming out. On a related note, I finally got my Exkizer and had some time to play with it. It's a pretty impressive toy in conception but I feel the quailty control was not what it could have been. There's nothing too aweful, but a lot of the paint details just aren't very sharp and some of the plastic feels a bit cheap. On the positive side, the transformation is tricky without being too difficult, and the articulation is really nice. The amount of accessories is incredible, although I doubt I'll take most of them out of the package. I really like the size of this toy. It's one of those rare toys that is small but manages to look big, if that makes sense.

Unfortunately it is looking like there will be no Binaltech version. I believe it was last week or the week before that Takara/Tomy/Tomykara/Takatomy/Tamokotara cancelled their regular and black Ginrai releases. Wether or not this is set in stone remains to be seen. The real bugger here is that truck toys apparently don't sell well in Japan, which is why this mold was originally made as Prime. Now Takymoraka seems to be backing out of the deal anyway, leaving the toy too far along in production to be anything but Prime. Personally I think it looks OK, and I can accept it as Prime. I'm still looking more forward to the THS G1 Prime.

Hmm. Live-action hentai. Weird. Weirder still is the fact that people keep trying to adapt anime to live action, even though only about 5% of the current translations are any good. I guess name-recognition alone still goes a long way with the otaku crowd.

Thanks, Kev, for helping me and so many other fans build up our fleets. I even added to my Transformer ranks through your store. Whenever a new Macross toy was released VE was the first place that would pop into my mind. Almost as if buying a Macross toy from somewhere else was unthinkable. I'll miss your store, but I'm happy you would rather devote the time and energy to your family, which seems to be a rare quality in people these days. Cheers!

Well, after reading more on this I don't feel as bad as before. It sounds like ToyBiz is still going to control the selection of characters, the designs and sculpting, and Hasbro's end will be the marketing, production, QC and all that. Still, I can't help but wonder if Hasbro will take control of all of those aspects within a year or so. They'll probably realise that ToyBiz's current way of doing things isn't "cost-effective" enough. Come on, if Hasbro was really into killer sculpts and mad articulation, their own figures wouldn't be the stanky butt that they are. Still worried I guess.

Great, I can't wait for the day when the only toy companies left in America are Hasbro and Mattell, and then they'll merge to form Allied Toy. Toy Biz has been great for Marvel, Hasbro must have really offered Marvel a lot of money.

Yeah, it's been reported for two years now that VW turned their noses up at the idea of a Transformer because they thought their cars turning into robots would associate them with war or violence. I guess their still trying to live down the whole WWII thing.. Anyway, it's a damn shame because the designs for Bumblebee & Cliffjumper looked really fantastic. Probably would have been my favorite Bin/Alts so far.

Wow, horrible sense of fasion (Weakest Link shirt).