joke-machine

check import-anime.com They have reviews of almost all the HK boots out there.

Early 2002, right when Bandai first released the VF-1J re-issue. Seems like alot longer though. Soo many changes in the community.

I would highly recomend both of those RPG series to you. I am into part three of HAck and it is great. Like Skull LEader says it's the storyline more than the actual gameplay that keeps it fresh. The actual gameplay gets stagnant real quick and is often very repetitive with open field, dungeon, boss, open field, dungeon, boss, etc.... But the stroy line makes it worth continuing. That and the weapons trading aspect, which I just love personally. Xenosaga is absolutely UBER FANTASTIC. I was sceptical that they could do anything quite as good as Xenogears but I was wrong. Unbelieveably cool story line. Great character development and one of the coolest wacked out villans ever. Hopefully they will be releasing another in the series real soon (anyone know when?) Edit: Did some searching, Episode two for Xenosaga isn't due out in the US till February of 2005

From what I have been seeing lately the more common Joke Machines (IE the Max. Millia, and Roy) are dropping dramtically in price. I have seen a few loose ones go for around $20. IMO for a Bandai Vf-1S with box and all accessories (assuming minty) I think you could still expect to get at least $75 for it. (although I would be surprised if it broke the $100 mark).

On TV I have been seeing previews for the upcoming movie Hellboy. It really has peaked my interest. Watching it, and after reading the information I could find of the internet, I was left with a couple of questions maybe the sages here could answer. First off, anyone know anything about the movie? It looks so cool, and yet I can't seem to find really any info out there about it beyond a few brief bios of the movie. Second, from what I have found, this is based on a comic book. Anyone read it, any good? Here is the Bio off of Apples page (which has the trailer as well) Hellboy webpage "Born in the flames of hell and brought to Earth to perpetrate evil, Hellboy was rescued from sinister forces by the benevolent Professor Broom, who raised him to be a hero. In Dr. Broom's secret Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense (B.P.R.D.), Hellboy creates an unlikely family consisting of the telepathic "Mer-Man" Abe Sapien and "Pyrokenetic" Liz Sherman, the woman he loves who can control fire. Hidden from the very society that they protect, they stand as the key line of defense against an evil madman who seeks to reclaim Hellboy to the dark side and use his powers to destroy mankind."

They are called WST (or Worlds Smallest Transformers) I have most of the whole set of the wave one figures. Very cool, its amazing they could egineer them to transform. No diecast at all (except for screws). VERY cool toys if you are a TF fan. If not, well you might not see the value in such a small figure. On Ebay you can get Sideswipe and Bumbelbee for around $2 each, Starscream, Optimus Prime, and Soundwave should go for $8-10 each, and the chases (Optimus trailer, Skywarp, Cliffjumper) should put you back $20-30 each. You can also find people selling the non-chase set of 5 for around $25 or so.

Yah dude, the design grows on you. I thought it was ugly too at first, and that made me not watch it for a long time. But it really makes more sense when you see the show(yes... Big O likes to punch stuff) and he's really got a shitload of gadgets. I was the exact same way. When I first saw the series I was like, wow thats fugly. It has slowly grown on me as a design (probably due more to the coolness of the story) and now I can even say I actually like it.

Its your basic super heros piloting super rbots that combine into a giant Robot to save the earth anime. Think Voltron-esque. I saw the series a few years back and, well how to put this nicely, was less than impressed overall. Great toy you have there, crappy anime.

I have two entire shelves dedicated to everything I can get my hands on (okay let me re-phrase that, everything I can afford) that is A: Mecha and B:Chibi. I can't get enough of the deformed style, its just soo darn cool looking. I've got SD Gundam, Bandai Joke Machines, Robocrap Morphers, Gapashon Evas, and soo much more. I do love the Transformer Choro Q's. I Have Rodimus Prime, grey Megatron, O Prime, but I'm not too thrilled with the automobile Choro Q (they aren't mecha after all .

The Yelow one os the Wal Mart exclusive Landfill combiner set. Exact same figure as the RID Lnadfill, just yellow. Very well built, a great combiner. Well worth the $15 retail it went for at Walmart. THe other is a KO of Devastator, Very cheap quality, very thin crappy plastic. NOt recomended unless you want to gingerly put it together into Dev. then gingerly put in on a shelf, and hope that no one sneezes in your house. Otherwise it'll fall apart and potentially smash into many little pieces. If you are really interested in a Devastator check around Ebay, deals can be had. Especially look at the G2 Yellow version, which is the same quality as the G1 version, totally legitimate, and can usually be had for around $20 for a set of all 6.

That googly eye just absolutely makes the kit perfect! Very cool mod indeed. Its like the best of inventions, so simple, yet so ingenious.

I Absolutely love the Machine Robo recue stuff. BUt then again, I love all things gestalt they are soo much fun. I picked up one set so far (set #7, the orange submarines) and I LOVE THEM. They look great even by themselves, and the whole mega combination aspect is amazing. I only wish they were a little more readly available here in the US.

That is soo cool! So did you just cut the legs so they are shorter, and basically used the rest of the kit stock?

Firstoff I would like to apologize if I sounded sour earlier. It was not my intention, and I apologize if I came off that way. For those who are concerned, here are the steps I am proposing to alleviate any fears of misconduct. (Note I am going to do this regardless of whether I get anydonations or not). I plan to make a website accounting for each and every donation. On this page will also be links to each and every ebay auction (so you can see it is really being sold), and a scan of the check going to the shelter for the total amount (which can easily be verified by simply adding the total amounts of the end of auctions). Southcross-- The charity tax ID number is 34-1249342 , the charitys full name is The Battered Women's Shelter of Summit and Medina Counties. F360- If you are interested in sending money, I suggest you send it directly to them at the shelter (not through me). I have the email of the contact person at the shelter you could have if you are interested- PM me for the email if you want it I really want to emphisize one point above all here. This is all voluntary. I don't want to sound pushy, or for people to think I am being so. Any help would be greatly appreciated, but is not expected. If people do not feel comfortable sending toys, please by all means, do not.

Well if you guys don't want to trust a fellow member, thats your choice. I understand where you are coming from. There are too many jerks ruining it for the legimate people out there. It is your choice in the end. But realize that I am not a thief. I am honestly kind of offended that so many of you sem to be attacking my credibility. I've been a member of these forums for almost two years, and thought that I had a good standing here as a respected member. If it ends up with just me and my toys, so be it. That is what I started out to do, and I will be happy with just that. I just thought maybe the community would like to do something nice for a worthwhile charity.

The other day I was really thinking about how I don't do enough charitable work, and that I really needed to do some soon. Well as it so happens, I was also in the process of taking pictures to put up some transformers up on ebay to sell. The lightbulb went off in my head and I decided to do a charity toy auction sale to benefit a local charity. The charity I chose is the Battered Womens Shelter of Summit and Medina Counties. I chose the shelter becuase a dear friend of mine works there, and I have first hand seen the horrible nature of abuse. It shouldn't have to happen to anyone. Then I started also thinking that maybe I could expand the auctions from just my own transformers and Macross toys that I am going to put up, to include donations from the community to help out. So here's what I came up with. I am asking for donations of any and all transformers, Macross toys, or any other collectable merchandise. Any item you have and would be willing to donate is fine. I will do all the leg work of listing the auctions and such, and will pay all the listing fees and end of auction fees. 100% of all the profit will go to the Battered Women's Shelter of Summit and Medina Counties. I will not personally keep even one cent. This is totally voluntary, and any help would be much appreciated. If you are interested in donating anything, please PM me and I will give you the details on where to send it to. I am looking at satarting the auctions in two weeks (February teh 28th).

Don't know if this has been posted before or not, but I ran across this today when searching for some toy figures. For those of us who live stateside, or anywhere else non-Japan this is really hella cool. The site is a picture reference of going through aisle by aisle a Japanese TRU store, of course focusing on the boys toys. There are Macross valks, Gundam figures and models, Transformers, Ultraman figs, Godzilla figs, and soooooooooo much more that is just simply mouth watering. Those of you that live in Japan or have an opportunity to shop there are soo lucky. Japanese TRU Pictoral review

Unless Hasbro changed their mind they already stated that ALL the alternators were going to be cars. Hate to burst your bubble folks, but no jets, no tanks, no camcorders, or anything other than cars. Some of you have asked then how can they have decepticon altinators then? Well what about the stunticons, and what about them constantly throwing common names onto new vehicles (how many versions of Megatron are there, he's been a crocodile, a dragon, a gun, several versions of a tank, a car (G2), etc...)? Soundwave was also a car mold in G2. My thoughts are that they are going to stay true to what they stated in keeping with all cars, but just give some of the cars decepticon names and appropriate color schemes.

A classic indeed. I love it.

Man was that quick. VF-19 was the quickest and will be the new owner soon--

HI-- I just got my Anime Newtype and they have a nice full size poster inside from Five Star Stories. It shows a huge gold/yellow mech with a pretty girl in front of it (white dress with a red cross in the dress). As I am not a fan yet and have no extra wallspace, I am not palnning to keep it. Whoever wants it and PM's me first can have it for free. I would rather give it away to one of you that could appreciate it than throw it away or in the corner pile. --Adam

This will probably be an easy one. In Excel Saga they parady the Power Rangers in several episodes. What attack weapon does Sumiyoshi use (the fat one that cannot speak out loud), and for bonus points what is the phrase he calls out when performing an attack with it.

Finally one I know, I just saw this flick a couple of weeks ago. They interviewed the aged actress Chioko (sp?) about her career as a movie star, her life, and her eternal searching for the artist who is the love of her life.

A couple I would recomend-- Perfect Blue: Super trippy mind games, pretty dark story. Neon Genesis Evangelion: Another intense plot driven action anime, one of the best ones ever made. Ninja Scroll: Fun action without too deep a plot. Doomed Megopolis: Another great horror/action flick with a real dark element that makes it messed up in sooo many ways.

Get it on Mike and Spikes sick and twisted animation festival. Its a compilation of some of the best short films you can see anywhere (and likely can't see anywhere else) You can find them just about anywhere (ebay, yahoo, amazon) DVD's sometimes can be pricey to find, but soo worth it. I can't say enough good things about the absolute sickness of mike and spike.