drifand

There is a RUMOR from a dealer in Singapore that Bandai may sell GODMARZ separately before releasing a complete set. I don't see the advantage profit-wise...

Saw the trailer (preview?) when I watched Balls of Fury. Don't much care for Olyphant one way or another BUT I was absolutely thrilled to see what appeared to be live action 'Jin-Roh' troopers in a firefight! Looks like it'll be at least a good afternoon matinee, regardless of the amount of blood spilled on screen.

Actually, I never commented on the quality of Irongear's plastics beacuse they didn't bother me much... the person with issues was 'Amuro' on TBDX. The plastics are only a 'problem' because they cannot fully support the weight of the Landship if you want to 'fly' the toy in one hand. (Don't do it!) Diecast is found on Irongear's - Lower leg rear-halves. (Front half is plastic) - Knee joints. (detented) - Thighs, front & rear halves. (painted white) - Hip joints & hip assembly (under curved plastic sides) - Torso hinge connector (bare metal) - Chest, front & rear halves. (plastic hangar door, side & intake details) - Elbow joints. (bare metal)

From experience, i find it next to impossible voting for any series that's 'too recent', especially in film or TV. Thus, most of my favourites tend to come from at least 5 to 10 years' vintage. I know for sure I have enjoyed the titles below multiple times over the years. :-) Literary SF 1. Iain M. Banks' 'Culture' series 2. Frank Herbert's 'Dune' epic 3. Philip K. Dick's 'Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said' TV /Movie SF 1. Blade Runner 2. Gattaca 3. eXistenZ Manga SF 1. Yukito Kishiro's 'GUNNM: Battle Angel Alita' 2. Otomo's 'AKIRA' 3. Shirow Masamune's 'APPLESEED' Anime SF 1. Patlabor The Movie 2 2. Macross PLUS 3. Laputa: Castle in the Sky

Just completed a comparison review of SOC Irongear versus the original Clover Henkei DX... check it out: http://toyboxdx.com/brog/?p=577

Agood friend warned me not to get started on WoT... he was completely addicted and felt RJ was just 'spinning the wheels' after book 5. Still... a sad loss.

IIRC from previous posts, there are no other 'official' guides to the markings on the KM except for the 'eyes' and the Macross 'kite' insignia. The artwork I have of the KM from the VFX2 book is also 'clean'... so it's all up to you. :-)

It IS iconic, but for the wrong things.

I would SO like to finish my review of the Griffon but my work load has simply gobbled up all my free time. It's an excellent toy and I dare say it's even better than the Ingram because of the superlative leg design. The cockpit detail is really nice and the way everything just slides open so smoothly is pure mecha joy. Biggest wish? That the eyes had some kind of 'light pipe' so that it would appear lit-up when there's an overhead light source. I'm definitely getting the Aqua-Unit as well just so that I can customise the head with this feature.

The auction is not even for a vintage Takatoku-made Orguss toy. It's for one of the recently released PVC 'Palm Action' figures by Megahouse. It's a puny toy (they don't call it 'Palm Action' for nuthin') Not really worth $37USD.

I was going to vote Battlefield Earth as the worst, BUT it was actually so bad I had a good time laughing. Who can forget the incredible ability of semi-cavemen to learn how to fly Harrier jets in a week? lol That's got to score SOME points for entertainment. I think Tim Burton's remake of Planet of the Apes is much worse than BE. Mark Whalberg ignoring a half naked chick for a Michael Jackson-lookalike ape is... unforgettable.

Well, obviously it was picked for the same reasons as G-Gundam: The sheer number of toy and merchandising possibilities! 13+ Riders to choose from! Multi-Forms!! Vehicles too!!! (Surplus) Toys already made and ready to ship!!!!

Nothing like real dedication and QUALITY construction to light a fire in any Macross fan's heart. It's great to have this thread back on track!

Quite right! One look at the way the arms are produced tells you A LOT about the people who made it. Knowing how heavy the arm launchers are, even a novice would tell you the joints need to be: A) detented; B) made of tough materials - like metal - to withstand the stresses in such a small area. What do we get? Smooth, no-friction plastic joints that flop around right OOB. THAT'S how much YAMATO cares about a 'job well done'. We're lucky if 'good enough' is really good enough. I only bought the KM because I love the audacious design that made a field artillery piece independantly air-mobile. Since then, I only relented for the 0S and got YAMATOED. Silly me.

Simple... release a gold-trim 'realistic' version, then if demand warrants it, re-release in 'anime accurate' colors. Profit!

"Rotate floppy joints, HAL." But seriously, the only decent way to pose the arms is to rotate the joints until some (or most) are perpendicular to gravity. i.e. More wrestling required.

So there we have it: YAMATO were not aware of a 'well known phenomenon' before producing a complex transforming toy that relied on over-optimistic CAD tolerances. No further questions.

What? And miss out on an opportunity to sell offer you a nicer aftermarket figure?

OK, here's a cold, hard alternate take on the actual text accompanying the AV-0 'scoop': It may really be more of an ACTION FIGURE than a true Brave Gokin. It will use more plastic and PVC, but may still be in the same scale as the current line-up. Methinks it's an attempt to make a more affordable continuation for the Patlabor toys – a mid-range series between the expensive all-diecast figures, and the 'quite expensive' but no-features sofubi series. Makes sense when the rest of the line-up can't really be sold as premium repaints. I hope the eventual product will meet or exceed the finishing for the current CM's Votoms series... My guess is the pricing will be in the 7-8000 yen range. As an aside, I was measuring my two sofubi labors for entry into my Filemaker database. I think the actual scale is closer to 1/46... not 1/48 as I believed earlier: HL-96 Tyrant 2000 Actual Height: 8.20m | Toy Height: 18cm Scale: 1/45.56 KV-98 Pickel-Kun Actual Height: 10.56m | Toy Height: 23cm Scale: 1/45.91 AV-98 Ingram (with head tilted down for max. antenna height) Actual Height: 8.02m | Toy Height: 17.3cm Scale: 1/46.35 The initial problem with determining the Ingram's height was due to the number of ways the head could be positioned, resulting in the antennae topping off at different heights.

First gen 1/72 YF-19 was the original self-destructing Yamato valkyrie. The infamous 'tab-B' on the fuselage neck joint came under too much pressure in fighter mode and would snap off leaving you with a battroid-only toy. They re-designed the tab-B for the 2nd version but also swapped plastic shoulders for the metal ones because of feedback that the paint scrapping off. Other improvements include changing the way the tail fins pivot (for better clearance in B-mode). Edit: Come to think of it... So much has changed; so little has changed.

Or they could put the whole lot on one Blue Ray

Let's just say if it DOES happen (in either 1st or FP release), we shouldn't be surprised, m'kay? 'Great' way to boost sales.

Chirico + Hoodie Fashion. Cool!

Your links are for the 2 up-coming soft-vinyl figures of the ASUKA MPL-96 / SSL-96... which are definitely limited-pose items. The AV-0 shown in the bottom right is the article's 'scoop'... the very start of the mag's coverage of this item. Note also that it is the production model 'Peacemaker' as seen in the TV/OVA series, not the more sinister looking prototype AVX-0 'Type Zero' of the first movie. While the header mentions 'ACTION FIGURE...', the sculpt looks to have a fuctional gun storage compartment under the left chest, and the Stun Stick accessory next to the extended 'slasher hand' looks pretty much identical to the current one for the Ingram. So I would say that it isn't just a Revoltech prototype that managed to sneak onto a feature article about CM's Corp's Patlabor toys :-) OTOH, I do hope the 'slasher hand' gimmick is fully enclosed in the forearm and not just a swap-out piece like on the Revoltech 'Zero', but regardless, it'll be a must-have on my list. I'm already curious if CM's will put out a movie Zero as well: Head, shoulders, forearms, waist, leg, feet AND shield are all subtly different from the Peacemaker; there are almost no shared parts except maybe for the shape of the chest and the internal skeleton!

As much as I loathe the 1/48s, the 1J will probably have better play value. My SOC Gunbuster, while excellent and all that, is basically a statue. It's not a toy you will transform very often after the 'honeymoon period' compared to the VF-1. Just my 2 cents. :-)