mechaninac

Another iconic classic sci-fi design that is more than worth a mention, and has appeared in several media and iterations since its debut is Forbidden Planet's most memorable supporting actor, and coolest automaton to ever come out of Hollywood, the unique and unequalled Robby the Robot.

Honorable mention to the classic B9 from Lost in Space

All the hardware in Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey.  The designs are distilled perfection for "realistic" near future (now, laughably optimistic given that the story depicts fictional events 1/4 century in our past) technology, some of which has become reality while others remain in the realm of attainable fantasy.  They are all so iconic that they inspired miniature work and film making for decades to come until the (unfortunate?) advent of CGI.

Still too much moolah for what it is.  Personally waiting until it hits the $115-120ish range before pulling the trigger on this.  If it never happens, I'll just make do with my Yamato 1/60... fomo has always taken a very distant spot compared to roi in my book.

28 minutes ago, Roy Focker said:

I'm sorry but all this is just AI slop.

It makes for some pretty screen grabs and looks good in short clips, but it is just slop. There are cuts every few second because the technology isn't there for a longer takes. Resulting in bad edit. Actors look and sound the part, but performances are robotic. These hacks are capitalizing off of fan nostalgia more than Disney is. Using AI to give fans what they wanted to see back in 1990 with the original actors. It is nice to see a young Luke Skywalker again but that's the only good these things going for them.

Remember when fan films were actually real films.

 

The quality isn't there, yet; however, consider just how much the technology has improved in such a short period of time and extrapolate how much better they will become in 2, 5, 10 years.  This IS the democratization of entertainment production, where fans with modest resources, technical know-how and authentic passion for the material will supplant any of the intentional slop that studios, regardless of the amount of money they throw at a project, decide to plop on the troughs of their ever-dwindling audiences... Disney, et al, are in trouble due to their own arrogance and disdain for the IPs they manage and the legacy fans thereof.

Besides, good intentions and passion aside, the vast majority of real fan films have always been very low quality and cringe beyond description, which make the rare good ones shine like precious jewels.

11 minutes ago, Thom said:

Sounds like everyone behind the scenes need to go back to school.

That's where they "learned" to write and produce such dreck...

8 hours ago, PointBlankSniper said:

Would be funny if bandai kneejerked to the backlash and sales numbers and decided to make changes, but only on the 17D, because its too late to mess with the 17S. So the two look vastly different lol 🤡

Bandai's goal is to amortize as much of the VF-171 tooling as possible, which is why their VF-17 looks lanky instead of beefy as it should, so I absolutely doubt they will make any changes at all to address any of the criticisms levied on their rendition, be it for the upcoming S variant or a future D version; although, it would be funny if they did.

Just consider Bandai's contemporary interpretation as a design reimagining/retcon instead of an honest attempt -- like their original chunky or Yamato's -- at a faithful representation.

Hobby Search https://www.1999.co.jp/eng/11282596

50 minutes ago, TangledThorns said:

Watched the original TRON on D+ last night and for the first time it felt dated and kinda lost my nostalgia for it too. I think ARES is to blame for that loss of nostalgia.  

What modern Disney does to all IPs under its umbrella has that effect on all the OG stuff.  I, for one, find it extremely hard (more like impossible) to watch the original and prequal Star Wars trilogies precisely because of the extreme bad taste the sequel travesty has left in its wake; same goes for Marvel... not even the good stuff predating the Rat is any fun to watch anymore.  It's a real shame that in their arrogance they broke the chain of good will, wonder and nostalgia that built those franchises into the juggernauts they once were.

4 hours ago, treatment said:

As of this posting,  it seems this DX Fire Valk is being heavily discounted to even lower than 22k-yen by 3rd-party sellers at amzn.jp, but only if you are a jp resident:

 

As such and as of this posting time, amz-jp is selling it for 26.644y plus shipping-fees:

https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B0F62BC2MB

 

here's the breakdown if I wanted to import it...

Around US$257 at current exchange-rate shipped.  

I'm still not pulling the trigger on this DX Kai even at that shipped pricing, tho...

 

 

 

If it were a Blazer VF-19S/F, then a strong maybe, but a Kai... hard pass.

TRON - ARES... it's Tronin' time.

ARES is also an anagram for a much more appropriate word descriptor where this movie is concerned.

2 hours ago, enphily said:

another teaser

Know what?...  I don't hate it but I don't like it enough to buy one.

The Rotten Rat getting its filthy mittens on Anime, more than likely to bestow its now-infamous brand of "tender loving care" upon it like they did with Star Wars and Marvel and Willow and Indiana Jones and many more, fills me with dread for this most-Japanese art form and story telling.

By no means is this immediate distrust uniquely relegated to Disney; every American studio has had a terrible track record on this front, be it animation or live action:  For every Alita or One Piece, there are dozens of examples of complete (on many levels) failures.

5 minutes ago, TangledThorns said:

But why?

Some easy money... lord knows, most new movies aren't cutting it in paying the bills.

1 hour ago, pengbuzz said:

Avatar: Cold Hard Cash.

Given Current Hollywood, that is pretty much the only franchise/IP that is making good on that goal... 

1 hour ago, sh9000 said:

Battlestar Galactica.

 

I haven't been into anything of this sort, other than the rare automotive diecast, in years but this has my undivided interest, so much so that I can taste it. 🤤

The one thing that gives me pause is the sticker price on that glorious Viper...

8 hours ago, m0n5t3r said:

HMR Reactive Armor is the only thing left I want from MacZero... Maybe an Ivanov too. 

Octos and Cheyenne would be very nice too...

Major pipedream; we all know those will NEVER happen; heck, we're still waiting for the Tomahawk and Phalanx from OG Macross to see the light of day.  

I'd call it a cash grab if, given the gag in the original, that wasn't the entire self-aware point... 

36 minutes ago, Big s said:

Unfortunately that’s what they usually do

Since there are no examples of their not having F'd up or severely diminished IPs/studios they've acquired, some immediately, others after a few outings, and even their own legacy stuff (Snow White being their latest abomination) gets plundered, I'd posit that it's much closer to always than usually. 

Disney is a content singularity.  It consumes everything it can in order to grow and, in the process, shreds everything it eats into unrecognizable particles.

55 minutes ago, Thom said:

Not in hand yet. but can this be considered a toy..?

The best kind... one that can MAKE toys. 

52 minutes ago, mikeszekely said:

Ghost Rider.

The first one was... okay(?).  The sequel... I refuse to formally acknowledge its existence.

Cautiously intrigued and assiduously withholding any opinion or judgement until it either impresses or disappoints...

Came in looking for updates -- I'd settle for rumors and minor crumbs -- on the VF-5000 Star Mirage and I'm leaving disappointed...  

2 hours ago, TangledThorns said:

On that note its pretty sad the fans are creating more Star Wars content than Disney is, lol.

Not only more -- number of dedicated fans vs "professionals" working for the Mouse makes it a given -- but superior in almost every single way except polish.