jenius Posted June 16, 2005 Posted June 16, 2005 I love my Gakkens but the Toynami is prettier... Quote
Lynx7725 Posted June 16, 2005 Posted June 16, 2005 How does the Destabilizer gun (or whatever) fit on the top in fighter modeThere appears to be a hole on the reverse section of the crotch now where a piece of the destabilizer can fit into the back of the jet. Ewweh, no (printable) comments there. The MPC has two major flaws:I just can't get over that "broken back" look The sad thing about the Alpha is it's not a very sharp looker in fighter mode no matter what. That being said, you can really minimalize how bad the arched back looks by transforming this thing properly (pain in the butt). If you manage that you'll also be able to put all the landing gears down with clearance for the chest. After that, there still is a bit of an illusion of an arch but you can only notice it from a dead side shot and it's not that noticeable... Aye, I have the red Alpha, and it is possible to transform everything just right so that it looks... unbrokenback. Pretty much what jenius says, everything's got to go in just right to make it good. Frankly, I prefer the Alpha in Guardian/ Diver mode. The feet are really built for the mode and it shows. Come to think of it, all MPC to date seems to look best in Guardian... Quote
Totoro242 Posted June 16, 2005 Posted June 16, 2005 The key to fitting the arms is in how you fold the hands. When you buy the MPC Alpha the hands are in a correct position and the arm fits together. I struggled with this for weeks until I pulled out a freah MPC Alpha and took a look at the hands. Maybe someone could take a picture of the folded hands on a new toy? Quote
Uxi Posted June 16, 2005 Posted June 16, 2005 I picked up my Shadow last night from Frank & Sons for $70. Not bad at all. I also have the green one (two in fact), as well, and think these things are pretty good toys. They kinda suck to transform due to all the collapsing areas (the chest is the hardest to get right IMO, followed closely by getting the tops of the legs into the pegs). The winglet /canards on the cockpit sides seem dangerous to me, too (though not as much as the 1/48 backpack hinge). As far as the Shadow, seems sturdy and I like the hands/claws. I transformed it a couple times last night after getting home. The Destabilizer gun thingy seems too low in fighter mode but the peg goes in nicely. Everything is nice and tight. At first I didn't think stickers would be right and then I saw the colors and am pretty sure I'm gonna do it now. Toynami sure beats Yamato in the sticker category, though they don't touch that guy on here who does the customs (if only his were pre-cut, i'd have loads of them). Now bring on the Beta/Tread! Quote
myk Posted June 17, 2005 Posted June 17, 2005 Thank you ALL, especially Mr. Jenius with his detailed tips and photos to boot. I love my '35 Gakkens also, but I am mesmerized with the notion of having greater detail, not to mention a Legioss for the first time in the form of the 'Shadow. I now feel much better about my purchase at Kevin's, I just hope that I happen to get the 'Shadow with a minimal amount of birth defects. Whoever listed those pics, posted on the previous page of this thread, in the ebay auction should be put on trial-the way they portrayed the 'Shadow was absoloutely hideous. Pictures and smiles of your new Shadows people! Smiles everyone! Quote
Uxi Posted June 17, 2005 Posted June 17, 2005 Put stickers on my Shadow today. No pics (yet). Definitely great "low-viz" type stickers that don't distract from the "stealth" of the toy... and (as with my greens), much improve the quality. Toynami's retarded for taking "plain" pics, much less putting those on the box and what not. Quote
GreenGuy42 Posted June 17, 2005 Posted June 17, 2005 Put stickers on my Shadow today. No pics (yet). Definitely great "low-viz" type stickers that don't distract from the "stealth" of the toy... and (as with my greens), much improve the quality. Toynami's retarded for taking "plain" pics, much less putting those on the box and what not. That's really good news. God willing, I'll have my new job tomorrow, and I'll pick up this one, a Monster, and a Wheeljack alternator off Ebay (can't find the damn thing here, or back in Gainesville.) I'm tempted to pick up Rook's Alpha. How's quality on that one? Quote
gilermo Posted June 17, 2005 Posted June 17, 2005 I sold my 3 alpha's for $80. I never want to see those things ever again.. one by one they just broke on me!! I am a big mospeada fan, but toynami really sr#@%&ed this one up big time.. All you guys who were negative from the start... I'M SORRY I DOUBTED YOU!! I'm done with TOYNAMI, only buying BANDAI, YAMATO and GAKKEN from now on!! Quote
myk Posted June 18, 2005 Posted June 18, 2005 (edited) To begin with, thank you Kevin at Valkyrie Exchange for sending to me the 'Shadow in under a week; his excellent service is the type that is seldomly encountered but always remembered by his customers. Well, I must admit that I can only give my initial impressions of this toy. I have to say that one must remove the toy from its packaging and properly set it up-the pictures of the 'Shadow that were posted on this thread from the Ebay auction make the toy appear far worse than it actually is and almost convinced me to cancel my order. I agree with those of you who state that the unit itself is rather complicated, with a countless multitude of little joints and locking components that MUST be perfectly aligned to achieve "somewhat" of a cohesive fit. Ultimately though, even with spending a considerable amount of time trying to get everything to balance out, I could not make the Fighter mode's arms close completely and lie straight on the back of the legs as it should-even Jenius' excellent photos of his 'Bartley Alpha show that. There is a noticeable gap between the "upper arm" and "forearm" on the fighter-I hope I can work this out. I did manage to "massage" out the broken back appearance much like Jenius' Bartley Alpha, but I have really high expectations and I can still tell it's there. I frown on the fact that the main wings are not completely level and flush at the point where they bend in half. It almost looks like there are two sets of main wings on each side, one lower in front leading to a higher one in the back. The landing gear is.....odd looking but serves their purpose. I am not bothered by the difficulty of prying the wheels out of their resting areas, as this is something that I learned to deal with during the early days of Yamato's '60 series. Question though: couldn't they have made the landing gear just a little bit longer? Unless you squeeze and push the body just right, the 'Shadow will sit on it's rear wheels and the Cyclone storage compartment instead of the front wheels. Maybe they could have made the storage space smaller? From what I can tell it could probably be half it's current height and still not affect anything. Missile bays! I love the hidden missile bays on this thing. A total of 64 in all? I have to applaud the attempt at detail. The weight-pick this thing up and their is definite heft to it. I am now comparing it with one of my Bandai '55s and I believe it's heavier! I am assuming that means a significant amount of die cast, and I am hoping that it has been well placed throughout the unit. The paint is somewhat lackluster though. I suppose that the stealth scheme would negate the use of a glossy or otherwise more brilliant finish, but I just feel that even a flat, darker black color or much darker blue would have worked better. Is the current blue correct to the line art? I don't know that either but it's really dull looking. I like the gun! The EU-XX (?) is a unique looking gun pod that collapses and opens by pressing on either the clip or the scope/sight. I couldn't really get my gunpod to securely seat itself on the fighter, though. As I said these are only my initial observations of the toy, and I haven't even tried the transformations and other modes yet. I will venture the idea however, that if Toynami had increased their quality control standards, so as to have avoided situations where people had parts literally falling off of their Alphas as they manipulated them, they would have had a better product than the coveted '60 series from Yamato. Summarily, I am currently satisfied with the 'Shadow Alpha and look forward to the other modes and the transformation process... Gilermo, it does concern me that your Alphas ultimately broke on you-what became broken? Much like the Yamato line, I'm sure that the Alphas need to be handled very gently to ensure proper fit and alignment, not to mention prevention of breakage... Chunky Monkey, anyone? Edited June 18, 2005 by myk Quote
Uxi Posted June 18, 2005 Posted June 18, 2005 Hint on keeping the arms together for fighter mode: 1) make sure the hands are folded in right and not obstructing the collapse 2) collapse the arm BEFORE securing the peg 3) Make sure the legs are collapse OVER the tab towards the front of the fighter (one for each leg) 4) you can cant the intake/shoulder area slightly down to help the connection. Not quite lineart acurate but then the Alpha/Legioss is one of the most anime-magical mecha I can think of. I think the winglet/canard things are a bit too short length-wise. When clipped in to their tab they're nice and tab but aggravate the arched back. If you slide the cockpit back towards its mounting but don't secure the winglets, I've noticed it looks better... solution? The recast specilalists might be able to do something... i'd also wish we could screw these little winglets into place instead of relying on the glue, as well, but that's neither here nor there... Quote
Mechafan Posted June 18, 2005 Posted June 18, 2005 I have mine now. It has a lose right arm and the rest I can live with. Now time for some Betas to hook up to these. Quote
SDFcommander Posted June 19, 2005 Posted June 19, 2005 (edited) Wow, it's been a while since I posted, but I thought this was a special since I just got my Shadow Alpha from Twin Moons. Here are some quick shots of my stickered up and panel lined Shadow Alpha I really like the "low vis" sticker shhet Toynami incuded. Why they don't put pics of a stickered Shadow, I don't know The black panel lining also works well with the darker color scheme. Anyways, no major problems here. I did notice that my cock pit is a little cloudy at the base from some glue residue but it is not so bad. Edited June 19, 2005 by SDFcommander Quote
Pat S Posted June 19, 2005 Posted June 19, 2005 That looks awesome! Pics of the other modes STAT! Quote
GreenGuy42 Posted June 19, 2005 Posted June 19, 2005 You know, that first bloody paycheck cannot arrive soon enough. About the only complaint I hate: The "No Step" stickers on the wing... Honestly, it's not Toynami's fault (Result of having pre-cut stickers,) but man, it just looks weird. If I feel so apt, I might pick up a set of water slide decals, if someone makes a set for the Shadow. That'll look nice. Quote
Jawjaw Posted June 19, 2005 Posted June 19, 2005 Nice work on that Shadow - it looks great. The stickers really do help make it look better. It might be the camera angles, but it looks pretty good in fighter mode as well. Quote
GreenGuy42 Posted June 19, 2005 Posted June 19, 2005 Nice work on that Shadow - it looks great. The stickers really do help make it look better. It might be the camera angles, but it looks pretty good in fighter mode as well. I don't see any evidence of sagging, either. Quote
SDFcommander Posted June 19, 2005 Posted June 19, 2005 (edited) I just finished putting some detail on robot mode, namely on the claws, arms and some placement of extra stickers. The claws looked to plain and looked like they laked any sort of articulation. Now at lease they look like they are more poesable. I even found a good use for a sticker to cover the sensor pod mount for other Alphas. Why Toynami did not fill this in or made it so the gun pod could fit, I don't know. Also, the extra stickers on the gun pod really turned out pretty good. I don't see any evidence of sagging, either. Sad to say I did have some sagging. When I tried to take the sagging out of fighter mode, the arms would separate. I didn't want to force anything. Maybe after time I will find something not sliding into place. The joints are pretty stiff. Infact, there is actually some friction at the shoulders which makes it possible for both arms to be raised!! A cool little detail that Toynami added is that they finally painted the inside of the are boosters black. I do this on all my Alphas, but it was nice they included this on the Shadow. I wish this was true on my Scott. One arm is loose, the gun arm , but the other is OK and my Red Alpha has two good arms too. I also found that the wings stayed in place in the back of robot mode better than my red Alpha. All in all, not too bad. Here's one just for fun. Edited June 20, 2005 by SDFcommander Quote
eugimon Posted June 20, 2005 Posted June 20, 2005 I was thinking about getting the shadow... those pics do look pretty nice. but I just can't justify the price.. here's hoping it comes down to something reasonable. Quote
Pat S Posted June 22, 2005 Posted June 22, 2005 More pics here... http://www.mrtwo.net/mr2modproject/toys/mo...alphas/pics.htm Quote
Hiriyu Posted June 22, 2005 Posted June 22, 2005 Nice pics guys, thanks. Just got mine today but haven't had time to screw with it yet . #1457 looks like a good one so far. Will post some pics later. Quote
SDFcommander Posted June 22, 2005 Posted June 22, 2005 Pat S, Great pics man! Very nice job on those stickers. That is one decked out Shadow It's a one robot squad I always thought of the Shadows as the Navy Seals of the RDF and your picture proves it Quote
Pat S Posted June 22, 2005 Posted June 22, 2005 (edited) Heheh He's carrying guns he can't fire. CLAW HANDS, NO TRIGGER FINGERS! Anyways, the Shadow has been my favorite so far. The Loz Viz stickers really set it off well. And it's a Low Viz scheme that has a basis in the show unlike the Yamato Low Viz. I like how the Scope on the gun can be raised or lowered, and is the same paint as the main sensor eye. The only thing I don't like is the gun is missing a part on one side. I think it's because they didn't have much room to work with, plus that peg hole for the gun is off to one side as well. Edited June 22, 2005 by Pat S Quote
Mechafan Posted June 22, 2005 Posted June 22, 2005 More pics here...http://www.mrtwo.net/mr2modproject/toys/mo...alphas/pics.htm Nice pictures. Quote
Pat S Posted June 23, 2005 Posted June 23, 2005 I learned to not have an all white background from these pictures. It dulls everything else out. Maybe my camera has a setting to fix this, but I don't know what it is. Instead of stupid symbols on the camera, they should say what they mean. Jeez! Quote
promethuem5 Posted June 23, 2005 Posted June 23, 2005 The Macro function is almsot always a flower symbol.... Quote
wolfx Posted July 13, 2005 Posted July 13, 2005 Much has happened...and the world went on without MW. Oh well...already old new but here it is! Quote
Lynx7725 Posted July 13, 2005 Posted July 13, 2005 Much has happened...and the world went on without MW. Oh well...already old new but here it is! 309960[/snapback] Very nice! Think they will come colour-matched? (Shadow Beta?) Quote
CoryHolmes Posted July 13, 2005 Posted July 13, 2005 Holy crap, that's HUGE! It takes something like that to make you appreciate just how bulky the Beta Fighter really is. I hope they're able to finesse the link-up and get it so the wings on the Alpha are closer to the misslepods on the Beta. Quote
LtStick Posted July 13, 2005 Posted July 13, 2005 It might be old news but that is still a huge piece. It will be nice to see the final production piece. Quote
zeo-mare Posted July 13, 2005 Posted July 13, 2005 Bout time, i am definetly picking this up. chris Quote
JELEINEN Posted July 13, 2005 Posted July 13, 2005 Now I'll have to get a Legioss. Any word on the Mospeada branded ones? Quote
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