drifand

I'm waiting most impatiently for the LE P2 set to arrive in Singapore. Stupid thing is... the standard remastered edition is already on the shelves! P2 is probbably my favorite Oshii film, even over GITS and Innocence - that's because it involves characters I care about and shows them in more dramatic and serious light. The subtle revelations of Goto's feelings and Nagumo's past are my favorite moments in the film... the boat ride under the bridges while the snow fell all around is pure cinematic poetry.

Thanks for the pix and damage report, Graham... This is one Yamato toy that I STILL want to own. At least I'll have a Rev. B to look forward to now.

Yeah, it's a scratch-built Garland. That's quite an investment of time and effort!

The 1/18 Scopedog is a really good deluxe TOY as compared to the 1/12, which is more of a deluxe display model. The 1/18 has less intricate detail (e.g. no opening covers for mechanicals like the 1/12), but feels arguably more sturdy, and is surprising poseable: It will easily hold its AT rifle arm-outstretched while maintaining a backwards-leaning pose. The microman pilot is a mixed bag - love the options but hate the flimsy feel. BTW, the sold-separately Chirico comes with additional weapons like a bazooka and landmine - great for use as additonal ground troops. In the cockpit, the figure is a tight fit, luckily the front access panel flips up so you can manipulate the pilot's feet into place. Some owners feel the pilot's hands collide with the top of the hatch when it is closed... I haven't had that problem myself. My only real beef is that the dome-head falls off too easily during play. I also wish the antennae were made of more pliable PVC/plastic. Other notes: the side panels on the torso can be removed, as can the magazines on the side skirt armor... meaning that optional parts for a Red Shoulder Custom are definitely planned for. Question is: will the parts be sold separately or will they only be available as a bundled RSC exclusive. Looking at Takara's stunt with the upcoming Masterpiece Convoy WITH TRAILER set... I guess it's more likely to be the latter case. Check out this thread on Toybox DX for more comments: http://toyboxst.inwards.com/phorum/read.php?1,144106,145926 edit for "1/18" scale

About the 'blah' Storyboards - I have actually gone thru about 2/3 of it and there are definitely some gems for the Patlabor fan, like planned-for scenes that were cut out, and Oshii's little comments about how a scene should be played, etc. The cut-scenes are pretty illuminating, especially the subtle political manipulations by Cap. Goto to outmanoever his boss, Chief Fukushima (so as to take concrete action on the Ark)... and the Chief's bitter resentment at being put on the spot (if evidence of foul-play by E. Hoba was not forthcoming by the time the typhoon was over).

I just got my LE P1 set as well, my Sn is 06250/10000. Really excellent remastering - I HATED the Manga release with a vengence... it had bloody encoding errors during the opening titles/Helldiver vs X10 sequence! I do wish Bandai would rethink the packing for the discs, though. The clear plastic attachments hot-glued onto the glossy book-style case are very brittle! Every time I open/shut the case, the plastic creaks... there are already cracks in the raised edges and disc-clip. I think the BEST overall R1 Patlabor release so far is that for the 3-disc WXIII P3 set. Really solid mastering for picture and sound, kick-ass menus and tons of extra content (not just the Minipato disc!). Now, If only the Honneamise edition of P2 is as good, I'd be swooning. :-)

Pat, that's the ONE Orguss toy I've yet to track down for my collection... at a sane price, that is! Congrats! I love the way the stickers have been applied so thoroughly with enthusiasm. :-)

Solscud, that one is merely a real AGED 1/40 Orguss Orgroid - the version with the brown canopy and lens. It has yellowed a lot more visibly than my same-age 1/40 Nikick!!! In fact, I have a 1/40 Orgroid II kit standing by to convert the beat up toy into a custom 'brownie'. Only thing is, I don't think my scratch building skills are really up to the task... so it's on the backburner for now :-)

Orguss mecha are still my first love. I think I like them so much because as I grew up in the 80s, I came across a ton of really fantastic SF illustrations for paperbacks by artists like Chris Foss, Chris Moore... and the BEST (IMO), Peter Elson. See here for a small gallery of his works. "PE" as he signs off on his paintings managed to inspire with strange organic shapes and strongly evocative graphics and alien lettering. When I saw my first Orguss toys, MAN! It was like see a part of Elson's art come to life! Simply out of this world.

JOTUN for teh WIN!!!

If you only get one book, it has to be Syd Myd's OBLAGON - Expert use of color, perspectives and dimension to depict believeable techno-futurist moods and scenarios. Also consider JOURNEYMAN, a retrospective of Chris Moore's superb SF and fantasy renderings.

Maybe for the colorblind? (kidding!)

Guilty pleasures? Then I nominate 'Wild Things'! Neve Campbell, Denise Richards + lots of water!!!

Hi Chris, No. No problems with paint application - just the ankle brace not fitted flush against the inner diecast wall. This obstructed the foot/cockpit from rotating into place and I had to trim off the buldging plastic with a hobby knife. Looks like the QC really isn't too good on this release, even though the toy itself was well thought out.

Overall quality and finishing is good but not excellent. Mine had a bit of factory-fitting problem around the left ankle. Good design and poseability for a old school combiner. It looks great next to the CM's Corp GGG!

It was just on a shelf, but the wing was pointed away from the sun. But then who knows maybe I turned it out of sunlight after it yellowed. Maybe I should see if I can find someone with spare parts, new wing please 354572[/snapback] Have you considered the 'whitening toothpaste' trick? It works.

Toys dammit! The titanium cast "New Material" Turn-A was freaking gorgeous right up until the cheap iron rivets for the shoulder plates rusted and cracked the joint. Still love the toy... Would have been amazing to have a non-PVC DX toy of the Mobile Flat.

Man, April 2006 couldn't get here any faster! I've had nothing but crap luck with the officia Mangle stuff. Anyone else had trouble on the P1 movie? Mine showed digital noise/corruption during the opening titles.... Couldn't bring myself to buy the P2 disc after that, and have been getting by with my old VCD edition. Maybe the TV and OVA could revert back from CPM as well?

DX Change Robo is one of less common super sentai toys out there, but you can probably still get it easier and cheaper than say, a DX Live Robo. I paid about HK$1000 (~130USD) for mine, C-9 complete, back in '99. You might also want to consider tracking down the mothership carrier for it: POPY 'BIG SCALE' Shuttlebase... the elevating platform for the helicopter is neat! Here's a rather old pic of my super sentai 'hangar' with 3 of the robots & motherships: Change Robo & Shuttlebase, Flash King & Star Condor, Live Robo & Machine Buffalo (last of the great sentai motherships).

The 1/48 Actic Gear toys are pretty amazing for what they cram in at that miniscule size... - Opening visor and cockpit, removable pilot - Rotatable scopes, full articulation - Slide-out 'turn picks' and arm-punch - 'Down-form' that integrates the various backpacks properly, better than the 20-yo 1/24 toys, etc Minuses... the individual armor bots are a bit fiddly and the tiny piece of plastic 'wireframe' that has to be cut from the sprues and attached to the right knee is very easy to break, IF you didn't figure out to slide down the lower calves before attempting to do so. Also, no spare posing hands, ie. only closed fists and molded-on-weapon fists. A couple of pix of my current AG kennel in my office:

Thanks! Glad to see another Orguss fan around here :-) I've had the original 1/40 Nikick and Orgroid since the 80s, and the rest were slowly added to the collection over the years, some by my brother through friends in Japan, some thru eBay (before it really became evilBay). I find the designs for Orguss more interesting and refreshingly out-of-this-world than just about any other realistic mecha series. Best of all, the toys by Takatoku had a very balanced number of opposing mecha. In fact, the 'bad' Terrans had more walkers than the 'good' Emaan had flyers. I always wondered why TT never did the Zentraedi justice with DX'd toys.

Drifand, do you have any idea where one could find a command Gundam? That thing is awesome but I can't find any kind of listing on HLJ, defunct or otherwise. edit: All I could find on yahoo japan is 2 x boxed Knight Gundams, one for 23'000 and one for 5'000. Is it worth 5k yen? Further edit: I found some more & cheaper to boot. The ZZ one looks like loads of fun but was misisng parts so I've asked celga to bid for a boxed and complete samurai armour MkII starting at 1'500yen. I saw, Knight Gundam, MKII, Zeta and ZZ, couldn't find one of those command ones though. 347875[/snapback] Well, these all-plastic DX toys were made in the 90s afterall, so they are indeed "R@RE!1" on eBay or anywhere else. The original line-up was the DX Mk-II and DX Zeta when Z-Gundam was showing on TV. DX ZZ was added soon after. Then in the early 90s (I think), the 3 toys were re-issued under the Musha Gundamcloth series, whereby the 3 toys were re-molded with notches on the bodies and limbs to accept some 'fantasy' samurai armor. The line was then expanded to include 2 new DX toys, the Knight Gundam (MS based on Mk-III), and the Command Gundam (an original design). Of the lot, the Command was easily the most impressive and appealing to real-type MS enthusiasts, so it's no wonder it 'Commands' a pretty high price. I've seen it fetch 200~250+ USD in the past. It helps to see it in person to decide if it's worth it to you... As for the Knight Gundam, don't be put off by the fantasy theme, because I think it's really cool to have the first/only toy of the Gundam Mk-III! Here's mine with SOME of the armor on... FWIW, Noel (Blackaces) used to have a couple of sets of DX Mushas in his shop before he ceased operations in Singapore (AFAIK). Do try to contact him if you're ready to splurge... or maybe another member 'Save Robotech', who is currently in Japan and has offered his buying services to anyone here willing to take a chance.

Yeah, but those were a bit disappointing. Not really toys but more like oversized 'gaming pieces'. At 1/24 scale, hardcore RPG'ers must have thought the makers were bonkers. Seems to have died a quiet death...

The 1/60 design still beats the 1/48 for better overall proportions, ESPECIALLY for battroid. I never could get over the 48's skeletal hands... I do agree that the diecast content in the 1/60 is overrated (flaking paint isn't cool when you didn't plan for it!) - it just needs to be in the right places, maybe as a ballast block in the lower legs etc. Judicious use of precision plastic molding would add heaps of details. As for a perfect transformation? Not necessary to me if it jeopardizes the proportions like in the 1/48. Integrated heatshield is doable (many custom examples), but the best improvement it could have is a proper, durable and functioning locking mechanism in the fuselage for the hip joints. And a to-scale 1S head that doesn't suck.

That took some coljones! Very gutsy, like a cross over with the MSV Full Armor Gundam. :-)