Bobby

Thanks, I missed that...did Sentinel's Stick and Ray have similar/same issues?

Nice! I'm curious, is your comment a jab at how previous versions of Blowsperior by other manufacturers had arrived broken, or an issue with this manufacturer?

Ohhhh...no prob, you did get my hopes up! So that's actually a painted screw cover that'll be on all copies. Since the cowling is diecast they needed a centralized, sturdy location between the two halves to securely fasten them together, but also forward enough to provide clearance for transformation...and (unfortunately) that's where the access hole ended up. When you start to fiddle with it and look under the cowling you'll see the chassis-like cross bar go straight through from side-to-side. You'll also see that the rear hatch, arms, thighs, lower legs, and a few other places have painted screw covers on them as well. Most of them are symmetrical and really well done (looks like panel lines, hatches, gas lid, etc.) and imo really isn't that noticeable.

I have a feeling you won't regret it Oh...good point, I retracted it and it looks a lot better! Did Arcadia say they were thinking about making the blue Garland?!?!?! Wow...that would be really cool! You're right about their R-Jetan, it looks GREAT but the transformation... is like you described. Seeing more and more company's attempting complex transformations is very refreshing. With so many recent attempts by numerous companies to do this but ended up being rather disappointing (i.e. Freeing E=X), it's made me realize just how great a company Yamato was and their products in their time. That price at NY is really good...especially considering they offer so many less expensive shipping options

"Operator 7-G, please respond!"

Hahaha...sure anytime yeah, the manual's like a little book which is quite the contrast to the "unfoldable poster" instruction sheet we sometimes see Lol...I actually thought about that when swinging the bars around and wishing they were made out of metal,... sadly they are not and we'd all feel better if they were I like the sculpt as well...it is just so sharp and aerodynamic. The sleep proportions and overall wedgieness in bike mode kinda reminds me of the blue Garland from the PS3 game...(pics pulled from Ravenhawks earlier posts...btw...where's he been?) The sculpt also reminds me of the cover of the Manuever Book... But for bike mode perhaps the Arcadia looks the most like the Maneuver Book version... It's close...you can see in bike mode they're about identical (Arcadia, Fewture, Yamato)... but in slave mode The "Fewture's" the Winner! Speaking of box size and the inordinate amount for shipping, the presentation and boxing for this product as a whole was disappointing. It seems like the "printing" portion for this project might have been rushed. While not unusual to still be using the prototype for the pics in the booklet (for ex. screw-covers are missing in the shots), the image quality for the box cover, the cover of the booklet and sections inside showcasing the product are just way sub-par. The levels and exposures are quite off and it reminds me of the image quality you often see on KO boxes ... this should not be for a product of this caliber. On a positive note, you can tell that the folks at Fewture understand presentation is king so when you slide off the huge box sleeve, and remove the box top, to reveal solid black folding panels, which uncover a nice spread of accessories, surrounding the Garland in a halo fashion etc. you experience some nice foresight in their concept, however, their execution is a whole 'nother story ... the design and layout and image quality are just quite amateurish (on the box and booklet) which is not an accurate reflection for what's inside and diminishes its sales presentation potential. With that said, I'm obviously VERY glad that this neglect only happened here and not with the Garland's design/engineering! For starters, there is a very clever hinge located at the base of the Bahamut engine and the hip/pelvis area which allows the Garland to rotate at the hips for turning poses (something previous versions have not been capable of). In addition it has 3 ratchets so it can lean forward or backward a click for hunching over or arching backwards. So yes, there are ratchet joints and pose-ability is quite good and there are some Obari-esque moments. Some of the joints even have additional hinge movement AFTER the ratchet click (like at the elbows) for further pose-ablity. It's a mixed bag when judging it overall though, for example, the head moves up and down amazingly for great looking up/flying poses, but it can barely turn left and right; and the elbows and shoulders have so much pose-ablity, but knees are really limited on their full bending range. Perhaps the most noticeable thing is it suffers from the same problem that Toynami's Ultimate Voltron EX and Transformers Generations Titan Class Metroplex (2' tall) suffered from...being too top heavy due to upper body bulk resulting in major balancing acts/issues for posing . If the leg ratchets are at their limits for some extreme poses, the sheer weight of the Garland's upper body will make it collapse cause the leverage becomes too great. It's kind of a trade off, because it's due to this weight that it feels so good in your hands! But on a flightpose for example, you'll have a great time! Another observation is some joints have screws holding it together which may mean (I dare say) that if the joint ever gets too loose, you can maybe give it a slight turn with a phillips?! After additional transformations this thing is really tricky, specifically 3 areas: the rear hatch, the shoulders, and the front cowling (but everything else is really wonderful) and here's a couple more "Watch-Out" spots... • DO NOT attempt to lift the front half windshield glass to insert the head during transformation from slave-to-bike like you would on Yamato's, Arcadia's, or Aoshima's 1/24 version as it does not open nor is it supposed to. Another unique aspect of Fewture's method for transformation. • DO NOT attempt to lift the back hatch when the seat is in place when going from bike-to-slave mode. You may think you can but you have to move some things around before you can open the hatch. Speaking of the shoulders there is a hook that is used on both sides that looks more like it came out of a lego set than on something like this and I would have preferred a simple swivel out tab with a hole in it because it appears kinda dainty and afterthought-ish but the effectiveness for holding the arms/front wheel suspension in place in bike mode is definitely appreciated! Ok, that's enough ... all in all I gotta say that I'm really lovin' this thing and it just wreaks of quality all over, in looks, design, engineering, etc. so if you're a Megazone fan I think it's a must!

Well I thought we could wait a few more months at this point So when you open the big box there's a nice sticker that says "DO NOT OPEN" on the middle box that has another box in it... Just kidding (but not about the sticker) so quick first impressions (gonna leave the actual reviewing up to the reviewers): - for starters...this is NO froppy mess! (in bike mode it does not snap undone like in video poster earlier), however, in slave mode he's kinda top heavy but nothing a little future floor wax can't remedy - you can fully transform it without removing the arms! Yah! - it is a very unique and ingenious transformation that has lots of little gimmicks you can appreciate (where things fold up is pretty cool) - impressive to hold (feels heavy at 20.8oz compared to Arcadia's 11.5oz) and so much detail (ex. mesh vents, Bahamut stamped engine, moving shift pedals, Garland logos) - at first it's pretty confusing...make that very confusing. everything is such tight clearance you have a bunch of "oh man am I gonna break this thing" moments - since some assembly's required upon opening it is not advised to try anything without the manual, there are A LOT of cautions, sharp edges, and non-intuitive rotation (for ex. where you think the legs attach on the sides in bike mode is not what you think, but it also makes sure that the Freeing E=X failure collapse will never happen) - make sure to PAY ATTENTION to anytime in the manual there is a yellow circle with a "!" in it!!! (already having paint chips near the tail lights due to how tight the clearance on the rear hatch is - was it worth the wait? well that of course lies in the eye of the beholder but for me since placing the order in 5/2016, I would say unmistakably a resounding YES!!!

Ohhhh...so that's why shipping for Fewture's Garland cost as much as a SOC?! (the tiles are 12"x12" )

The addition of GX-88 forms....Voltron-mania!

Yeah, Fewture's done this in the past...their EX R-Jettan box was huge (larger than Yamato's 1/24 Patlabor box) even though it's half the size. I was thinking the exact same thing and how much my view had changed. Great observation...hope so too!

+1 on USAGUNDAMSTORE as well. In addition to their superb packaging and coupons, they're a family run business and will go out of there way to serve the customer.

Hangar came in yesterday...my kinda Christmas lights!

While waiting for my GX-88!!!

While awaiting the arrival of SOC GX-88, made a lego Voltron (≈10") that's between the 1/300 model kit and the Miracle MA-01.

Buyee just announced a change in policy... purchasing fees are now just ¥300 instead of 5% of the product amount as of today. They must have realized people were migrating to other proxies because of all the fees. But Buyee is still going to charge additional fees for package consolidation, their different 'guarantee plans', etc. This makes them a little less expensive to use, but not cheaper than others (ZenMarket, From Japan, etc.) still.

Thanks! As far as software it's photoshop and for settings I mainly mess with the image adjustment tools and just eyeball it... That's how I did these with an MG F-91 I made. The key is lighting, lighting, and more lighting (studies)...if that's not right (like shadows, hues and highlights) it will look more and more hacked together and less and less natural.

Joining in on the fun!

VF-2SS hands down for me too! Not shown: Evo - 2 Fairy's, 2 Nex's, 2 more Sylvie's HMR - 2 Nex's, 3 Sylvie's, 1 VF-XS (custom) 1/300 - 1 Clear Fighter by Shapeways 1/100 Bandai - 3 Special 25th Anniversary Edition Kits (2008)

Form feet and legs! Form arms and torso! And two HG 1/144 Astaroth 019 kits combine together to form Voltr...I mean Astaroth White Version! for comparison it shoulda looked like...

Spotted a S.N.R.I. F-91 Test Type at the Æ facility over the weekend Couple shots from inside the hangar, sorry so small had to sneak my phone

An inexpensive aliexpress "Gundam" lego kit (called Mobile Warrior) that I built/modded to match my custom 1/60 Impulse Gundam that I painted to match Sword Impulse colors.

COOL! Please upload another pic or two if and when you display it!

Well, I did think capillary action sounded so "basement level biology lab" instead of "hobby man-cave" lingo... How 'bout... panel-streaking panoodling seam-surfing panellary action pan-hesion copaneling panelicking

Great! Yeah, so like I said you'll have to cut it in half right down the original seam line where they glued it in the first place. There aren't any solvents that you can safely use that won't either ruin the paint or even worse start dissolving the plastic like acetone will totally do. When I needed to fix the automatic door locks on my wife's car that totally stopped working with the remote, the door actuators themselves were listed at $65ea. I decided to have a look and took them out of the door and the actuators were self-contained molded plastic units that had been glued together (no screws) full of gears and control arms all powered by a single little electric motor just like you'd see in a toy car. After patiently cutting the whole thing in half along the original seam line with a fresh blade, I was able to remove the burnt out motor and plop in $2 motors acquired at (then) Radioshack, glue, clamp back together...and they've work flawlessly. Now was all that effort worth saving $60 per door? That's for each individual to decide but as for me...it just meant more valk money

^ looking good! R-Jetan Metallic Version showed up today and honestly was not expecting the box to be so big (VF-1J DX for scale)! Being a Fewture release I was thinking maybe a small shoebox for this guy, but a 16" x 15" x 6" box! Seems a little overkill for a figure looking to be about 8"...no wonder shipping was up there!