eriku

Finding an accurate kimono would be a bitch, but I was thinking in terms of making one. I think making the kimono (there are other 1/6 scale kimonos I could use as a base) would be easier than making her head, since I have zero sculpting or painting abilities. :| And that Akira set looks wicked cool.

Got my Alto today and I'll echo the praise on this figure. Excellent sculpt and paint, excellent articulation, and the perfect array of extras. I love the 'valk' hand, and I've wanted a Macross pilot figure with an extra hand like that since the first time I watched M+. Ragarding the fragile ankles, they don't seem particularly fragile to me. Maybe if you grab them and twist them the wrong way or something, but they certainly seem adequate for normal posing and for holding up the figure. I also can't see the metal leg armor wearing out the hip joints. It's just not that heavy. It's heavy enough to add a little weight for more stability, which is most likely what the intention was. Overall, kudos to Bandai for doing an excellent job on this toy. I probably wouldn't buy the other characters in this format (for $$ and shelf space reasons), but I'd definitely like a Sheryl and Ranka in this scale.

To answer my own question, a post yesterday on the Triad forum by a Triad guy says that final production pieces of the the Champloo figures are on their way to them and will be shipping out to customers soon. He said "end of this month max", which I'm assuming he means end of October since today is the end of this month. Now I'm considering making a custom Fuu to go along with Mugen & Jin. The body & kimono should be easy but I'm not sure about the head. Maybe I'll see if there are any Fuu statues that are roughly 1/6 scale.

Your previous post contained "F'n lame trolls". You were part of the problem. As for the poll, I was excited by the prospect at first but I'm convinced it wont make a lick of difference as far as what Yamato does. Nor should it.

Please don't bring political themes into this thread.

I like that birdie.

Does anyone know what's going on with Triad's Champloo figures? I thought they'd be out by now. I tried digging through Triad's forum for some info but I didn't find any.

Sorry, but that pic has the opposite effect for me. Now I'm having a hard time deciding which looks worse in fighter mode, the VF-4 or the VF-2SS.

They keep making VF-1 toys because people keep buying them. I see nothing wrong with that. As for this Revoltech version, I'd like to see some good pics of it before commenting. I may get one out of curiosity, but I'm much more interested in the Revoltech Booska.

I dunno, that new Dirge looks pretty wretched to me. The entire cockpit/nosecone on one arm, the flipper feet, the back end of the plane hanging off his back...all that wrapped up in one of the most nauseating color schemes I've ever seen on a TF...just not my thing. Jet mode looks good though (aside from the colors).

Got payment request last week and they shipped Alto on Friday.

Whatever you say.

Bleah, all this Kicker talk is a major buzz-kill.

Heh, winner of the poll I meant. I think the poll results will be a curiosity to Yamato, but I doubt they'll base their actions very heavily upon it.

Ahhhh....I get it now. The "Hi Metal" name was brought back to help sugar-coat the higher price. I'm still getting one, especially after seeing the pic in the post above this one and the even better pic in the post below!

The term "sore winner" comes to mind.

Does he happen to wear the same visor they made LeVar Burton wear when he was on TNG?

Egads....it looks like something went seriously wrong and it got stuck halfway through the transformation!

Bandai's DX VF-25 Alto is actually my favorite display piece. It's also usually the first valk I grab when I want one to transform and play with. Worth every penny. My prevailing gripe is the loose groin lock, but apparently it's not a problem on all of them.

I agree completely, yet I also disagree entirely.

All I can think of when I look at this incarnation of Astro Boy is the chain of Big Boy restaurants. Or Lard Lad. But I suppose that's appropriate with this Americanized version. Poor Tezuka. First Kimba gets pillaged and uncredited for The Lion King and now Mighty Atom gets a Sams Club makeover.

I've never been able to find a term for the VF-2SS, but I think you just nailed it! The valks I like are the ones that look good to me in both modes. VF-0D looks good in fighter mode, but battroid looks weird with the delta wings. VF-4 looks good in fighter mode, but battroid looks like a mechanical engineering accident. VF-19 does look good in both modes, but the upcoming 1/100 and pre-existing YF-19 put this on the bottom of my list. VF-2SS looks like vaginal discharge all around, though slightly less so in battroid mode. VF-17 looks great in both fighter and battroid modes, so was an easy pick for me. Now, had the VF-5000 been on the poll, I would have been hard pressed to pick between that and the 17.

Simple way around that: Randomly hide one to lower the count. After a week or two, put it back on the shelf. Repeat. Do it enough times and she'll lose faith in her ability to keep track and then you're good to go!

The ankles were stuck on mine as well but luckily I was able to work them free and they didn't break. I was concerned they would because the plastic is so thin. I wonder if this movie and toy line will be popular enough for NECA to do all 9. Hopefully they can. At the very least, sometimes NECA does smaller 3" versions of their figures, so maybe they could do a 3" scale box set that has 1 through 9.

Cool, I didn't even notice that the first time I read through the bio on the back. Did you open your figures? Just curious what you think. I really like the 9 figure. The detail is fantastic. It would have been nice to have some cut joints at the shoulders to help give the bendy arms more life, but oh well. What I would love to see is Hot Toys make some 9 figures. I envision them having internal skeletons, real burlap, real metal zippers, light-up eyes, articulated fingers....*droool*