eriku

Just do what I do and take such crappy photos that nobody wants to steal them.

Maybe I'll warm up to it eventually after seeing more, but for now the only word that comes to mind is "barfarino", and since I don't even know what that word means I'll just keep it to myself.

Got Terradive and Darkmount today. I really like both of them, although the orange on Terradive is kind of hard on the eyes. Other than that he's got an interesting looking jet mode without too much of a mess on the underside (it's still a mess, but it's not a big hulking mass of robot). Terradive has a crazy amount of little moving parts for a deluxe but the transformation is unique and not too complicated. Darkmount is my favorite Generations figure so far and I can't think of a single complaint with him. Looks awesome in both modes, tight joints, relatively simple transformation that manages to still be kind of clever, pickaxe of doom and the blue/red/copper color scheme looks gorgeous. Bonus points for being covered in Triforce pieces.

Mine should be here next week. I'm almost more excited for this than I am for the Monster!

AmiAmi will list it soon I'm sure. I predict their preorder price to be around 14,000Yen. With the exchange rate being so crappy right now I'm hesitant to preorder from a Japanese site. Even at 14000 Yen once you add in EMS (a toy this size will be between 4000 and 5000 yen) and factor in the exchange rate it comes out to around $220. It's $199.99 at BBTS and shipping would be, I'd guess, around $10. It's rare for an import to actually be cheaper through BBTS, but there it is. The long and the short of it is that regardless of where we buy this thing from we're going to be playing in the $200 neighborhood. Seems like a lot, but ten years of buying Macross toys has made my wallet fairly resistant to this kind of abuse. :|

If anyone is looking to fill in some holes in your Animated collection, Marshalls & TJ Maxx stores have been stocking Skywarp and Shockwave. The Marshalls closest to me had a dozen of them. They're 12.99 each. They also have Human Alliance Bumblebee, Sideswipe, Barricade and Mudflap for 19.99. I didn't see Barricade or Mudflap but they've been spotted by others. I never bought Shockwave and Skywarp the first time around, but I couldn't pass them up at deluxe prices. Shockwave is pure love and I feel like a dolt for passing on him all this time. I thought he would be boring but there's so many things to fiddle with (in a good way!) going between the four modes that he's really a lot of fun. Skywarp I was leery of. I had the Starscream of this sculpt and promptly ditched it because it was such a POS (wonky auto-transform mechanism, fingers falling off, legs popping off). I didn't like his color scheme either. Skywarp luckily doesn't suffer from any of those things. The auto-transform seems to work much smoother, the fingers and legs are tight, and the color scheme is as lovely as any black & purple Skywarp toy. Glad I picked this one up as it made me appreciate the sculpt a lot more than I previously did. Shame they never got around to doing Thundercracker.

Got my mail-away rocket-firing "vintage" Boba Fett today. While it's cool to finally have a rocket-firing vintage Fett, I think the most interesting aspect is that it looks to me like they either did a lot of work on the mold or made a completely new sculpt that closely mirrors the original. The new one is slightly larger, a lot of the details are noticeably different (check out the hexagon in the center of his breastplate and the chain mail on his shoulders). Hasbro probably should have taken a little more care mailing these out though. It comes in a box so small (the dimensions are just big enough to squeeze the card into) that you are virtually guaranteed to get a damaged card. Mine was obviously forcefully crammed into the box because two inches of one of the top corners was bent over and mangled. I personally don't care (the package is already in the recycle bin) but it'll suck for people who want to display this MOC.

One more thing to add to your list, eh? Sorry to hear that though. No paint has scraped off mine yet. *cyber knock on cyber wood*

Ugh...I hate translucent/transparent toys so I'll wait for some other release of Wingblade.

shameless plug: I'm selling my Grace version. http://www.macrossworld.com/mwf/index.php?showtopic=33751

Mmmmmm...nice big savory pics. The Nirvash from this line is a wonderful toy, so hopefully this will follow in its footsteps.

Yeah, the very first wave of what was then known as Vintage On The Card (2004) was the Episode 4 wave. It included a Tatooine Luke (with removable tunic and interesting articulation), Leia and I think Han Solo, Chewbacca and a Stormtrooper. There may have been others but my memory is a bit foggy. I only bought the Luke figure, which is a little short but remains my favorite Tatooine Luke. That was followed by a wave of Empire and a wave of Jedi in 2005 or 2006. The current figures you see are essentially a continuation of those waves of figures, although I'm not sure why they seem to be skipping Episode 4 this time around. I haven't seen any mention of a Phantom Menace wave, either.

Same for The Nightmare Before Christmas. Did abysmally at the theaters, but as soon as it hit home video it quickly began to snowball into the monolithic property it is today.

That was exactly the first thought that came to my mind the first time I used one of these a couple of years ago. I was kind of hoping it would make a loud and unpleasant buzzing sound if I touched the edges.

It's one of those "had to be there" things. It was quite funny at the time.

I can't say weather or not the pilot is supposed to be removable, but mine comes out quite easily. It's probably supposed to be glued to the seat.

I really want that Bumblebee (the current deluxe has always kind of bugged me) but I have no love for that paint job. Maybe I could try to think of him as Gold Bug.

Yeah, it's out. I think it's the same figure from the Evolutions set, isn't it? I sent away for my rocket Fett a couple of weeks ago. Not sure when they're shipping, but Hasbro cashed my check three days after I sent it.

Mr. Snowman pilot says, "You don't like me? WHHHAAAAAAA!!!!!"

Screw it, I'm going to call it Gertroid mode.

Here's a question that I should probably know the answer to: what is technically the "correct" term for the middle-mode of the Konig - Gerwalk or Destroid? Or are both acceptable? I've always used both terms. Destroid seems appropriate because that's what it looks like, but gerwalk seems equally appropriate since it's a flying mech.

That's too bad about the QC on the Hasbro Grimmy. I don't recall there being any widespread issues on the Takara version (mine is perfect) so I wonder what happened between then and now. Different factory perhaps?

Got Animated Rodimus today. He immediately displaced Classics Rodimus as my favorite toy of the character. Vehicle mode is small and sleek with everything pegging together snugly, something I could never say for Classics Rodimus with his side panels that like to come out of place. G1 Hot Rod was always a favorite of mine because of how ridiculous his car looks, and the Animated toy carries on that legacy wonderfully. Rodimus is molded in classic Hot Rod red, bright orange and clear blue windows. It would have been great if the pipes and engine were chromed, but I never expected them to be. I dont think even the Japanese version is chromed, which I find rather odd considering Takara releases rarely slouch on the chrome. Transformation, though relatively simple, is fun and everything pegs together and stays in place beautifully. Almost all of the car ends up above his waist and makes him look a little top-heavy, but it works for the Animated style and I love how he looks. Even though hes got a bulky looking top, he still manages to remain slim and sleek without any large bits of car hanging off him (except for the spoiler of course). Articulation is as you would expect from an Animated toy, meaning generous and useful. Ball shoulders, ball/swivel elbows, ball and swivel wrists, ball hips, swivel knees, ball ankles and a neck that has an excellent range due to being a ball socket on top of a swiveling panel. I always love it when my robots can look up and down, especially when they have so many tiny and jumbo friends to stand next to. Thigh swivels would be useful of course, but the way the pipes fold up on his thighs dont allow them. Im very happy with this guy overall, but I do have to nitpicks/complaints. The first is that I dont care for the gold plastic his spoiler is cast in. Not because of ZOMG GOLD PLASTIC SYNDROMEZ NOOO!! But because the color doesnt pop enough. Everything on Roddy is so bright and firey and his spoiler, his main piece of flair, should be too. If it were yellow it would complement the yellow headlights and really tie the overall look together. Since the look is obviously so deeply based on G1, why not go all the way with the spoiler? In any case, its a minor nitpick and Ill happily live with it. The other nitpick is that, like the first batch of Animated Arcee, the plastic has a glossy finish. I have nothing against glossy plastic, but one of the things that sets the Animated figures apart is that almost all of them have a Yamato-like matte finish to the plastic. Hasbro made a running change to Arcee and later batches came with a matte finish , so perhaps Roddy will get the same treatment. If he does, Ill happily buy another one. If not, Ill live. Its not that the glossy looks bad, it actually looks quite good, but it doesnt fit with the rest of the Animated figures as well as I'd like. Luckily Roddy is filled with so much of The Touch and The Power that he can transcend these small problems.

Nice Fraggle.