Mospeada

[Tober]

11 hours ago, Seto Kaiba said:

If there's more recent news anywhere, it'll be on Tatsunoko's webpage for it... though it's inaccessible outside Japan and apparently to my VPN as well.

Cool, thanks for that! Usually, if anything significant happens it will get relayed on Twitter, Facebook etc.

[Arthurius]

So can these Riobot cycles actually transform back and forth without issues? 

I wouldnt be getting two, and although i might not have cared as much to transform the previous riders into armored mode, i do very much love the look of the armored mode for Houquet.  I would probably still very much just like the bike and figure itself though.

[Snake Eyes]

Okay... so I have put in a preorder at BBTS and at ami ami. (im sure I can cancel one of those when the time comes)
just not sure which would be cheaper...

So I have till April to get the scratch together to afford it 😢 lets hope I can by then otherwise will have to cancel both

Anyone know what shipping might be from Japan (HLJ) to South Africa??

last time I bought a mospeada from Big Bad Toystore... took way longer but was far cheaper.

 

Edited November 10, 2021 by Snake Eyes

[Mog]

1 hour ago, Arthurius said:

So can these Riobot cycles actually transform back and forth without issues? 

I wouldnt be getting two, and although i might not have cared as much to transform the previous riders into armored mode, i do very much love the look of the armored mode for Houquet.  I would probably still very much just like the bike and figure itself though.

Short answer:  Yes, but there are things to be cautious about.

Some parts do have a tendency to pop off.  But most are ball-and-socket joints, so it’s just a matter of popping them back into place.

Getting the hip armor to separate from the bike (or pushed back into the bike) can be a scary moment, but there’s a tip probably about 100 to 200 pages back in this thread about how to properly do it.

And unfortunately, there have been multiple reported incidents, where the joint that connects the rib plating(?) (best way I can describe it) has cracked or broke.  Thankfully haven’t had it happen to any of mine yet, but it is another area to be careful with.

[levzloi]

1 hour ago, Arthurius said:

So can these Riobot cycles actually transform back and forth without issues? 

I wouldnt be getting two, and although i might not have cared as much to transform the previous riders into armored mode, i do very much love the look of the armored mode for Houquet.  I would probably still very much just like the bike and figure itself though.

 

5 minutes ago, Mog said:

Short answer:  Yes, but there are things to be cautious about.

Some parts do have a tendency to pop off.  But most are ball-and-socket joints, so it’s just a matter of popping them back into place.

Getting the hip armor to separate from the bike (or pushed back into the bike) can be a scary moment, but there’s a tip probably about 100 to 200 pages back in this thread about how to properly do it.

And unfortunately, there have been multiple reported incidents, where the joint that connects the rib plating(?) (best way I can describe it) has cracked or broke.  Thankfully haven’t had it happen to any of mine yet, but it is another area to be careful with.

What he said.  The engineering on these things is amazing, truly incredible.  However that means there is lots that can go wrong.  I'd personally decide which mode and pose you want to display it in, and then pose it and leave it.  Constant transforming back and forth is just asking for component failure. 

[RavenHawk]

2 minutes ago, levzloi said:

What he said.  The engineering on these things is amazing, truly incredible.  However that means there is lots that can go wrong.  I'd personally decide which mode and pose you want to display it in, and then pose it and leave it.  Constant transforming back and forth is just asking for component failure. 

Agreed! If you can swing getting two of each, you'll be happier keeping one in each mode. They're engineered really nicely, and gorgeous to look at (they very much fit my personal tastes, style-wise), but these are similar to Arcadia products, in that there is solid engineering, they're decently entertaining to transform, but they're not "toys" and WILL have some weak spot break eventually.

 

My one hope for the new Toynami 1/28th ride armors (having a brain lapse and forgetting the actual manufacturer) is that they're designed more to be toys, where you can absentmindedly transform them repeatedly and not worry about anything breaking. I wish Yamato had tackled these like they did the Motoslaves.

[Mog]

WithOUT the armor, you can pose the figure like crazy.

But with the ride armor on, it does limit some of the “poseability,” just because of the how the armor attaches at certain points.

Even with these limitations though, they’re rock solid with no floppy joints anywhere.  And it’s fairly easy to mimic the poses Sentinel did for their promo shots.

[jenius]

22 minutes ago, RavenHawk said:

My one hope for the new Toynami 1/28th ride armors (having a brain lapse and forgetting the actual manufacturer) is that they're designed more to be toys, where you can absentmindedly transform them repeatedly and not worry about anything breaking. I wish Yamato had tackled these like they did the Motoslaves.

They're B25 Ride Armors. I suspect you just pop the toy apart with a couple hinges and sliding parts and reapply to the figure. So a bit more old school and less prone to breaking (hopefully). They take a lot of cues from the Mega House toys.

[RavenHawk]

2 minutes ago, jenius said:

They're B25 Ride Armors. I suspect you just pop the toy apart with a couple hinges and sliding parts and reapply to the figure. So a bit more old school and less prone to breaking (hopefully). They take a lot of cues from the Mega House toys.

Thank you. I was completely blanking on the company.

Sadly, I actually disliked the Megahouse ones. It's funny with partsforming... I actively disliked it with MegaHouse, but others where this is like 1 piece of partforming don't bother me so much.

[Arthurius]

1 hour ago, Mog said:

Short answer:  Yes, but there are things to be cautious about.

Some parts do have a tendency to pop off.  But most are ball-and-socket joints, so it’s just a matter of popping them back into place.

Getting the hip armor to separate from the bike (or pushed back into the bike) can be a scary moment, but there’s a tip probably about 100 to 200 pages back in this thread about how to properly do it.

And unfortunately, there have been multiple reported incidents, where the joint that connects the rib plating(?) (best way I can describe it) has cracked or broke.  Thankfully haven’t had it happen to any of mine yet, but it is another area to be careful with.

 

1 hour ago, levzloi said:

 

What he said.  The engineering on these things is amazing, truly incredible.  However that means there is lots that can go wrong.  I'd personally decide which mode and pose you want to display it in, and then pose it and leave it.  Constant transforming back and forth is just asking for component failure. 

 

Thanks guys.

So normally i dont transform "much" (well, this not much can be considered ALOT by many).  Just in the beginning, i will usually want to do 2 - 3 transformation, then leave it, and maybe transform once every 6 to 12 months (sometimes longer). 

I never had the Arcadia Macross toys, only the Yamato versions, and i was fine with the 1/48th VF-1, 1/60th VF-0 (v1) / yf-19 / vf19 / yf21 molds, generally anyways.  I have also been fine with all my 1/100 bandai VF-1 HMR, though honestly, they havent been transformed much at all...  I have transformed my FT toys about 3 - 4 times when getting them, then every few months.  The only Riobot figure i currently own is the Iron Giant, which is fantastic, but no transformation. 

It is just that the choice on acquiring this figure means alot of sacrifice on my end, can only do one, and hoping to do some transformation every few months, but if i cant, i cant, will have to decide which mode i prefer, and it would be rider mode (would have been for the other characters anyways), but it is just that both modes soooo awesome looking in pictures, and cant decide.

Edited November 10, 2021 by Arthurius

[no3Ljm]

3 hours ago, Arthurius said:

So can these Riobot cycles actually transform back and forth without issues? 

I wouldnt be getting two, and although i might not have cared as much to transform the previous riders into armored mode, i do very much love the look of the armored mode for Houquet.  I would probably still very much just like the bike and figure itself though.

Better bookmark @jenius review and transformation video guide below.   

http://anymoon.com/blog/?p=10794

 

[sqidd]

1 hour ago, levzloi said:

The engineering on these things is amazing, truly incredible.  However that means there is lots that can go wrong.  

[Mog]

How ‘bout if we say the DESIGN of these Ride Armors (and the Legiosses) is pretty ingenious (except for the potential breakage with that one joint)?

Given how complex the Ride Armor can be, Sentinel pulled off a pretty good rendition.  And other than CM’s smaller/prone to breakage versions, Sentinel will the first one to give us the whole core Ride Armor crew.

Add in the slick design work they did to give us a compact Legioss fighter mode that also DOESN’T flop in any mode, and Sentinel has built up some goodwill.

. . . Just keep the production Houquet closer to red than that neon pink! 🤪🧐

[sqidd]

19 minutes ago, Mog said:

How ‘bout if we say the DESIGN of these Ride Armors (and the Legiosses) is pretty ingenious (except for the potential breakage with that one joint)?

Given how complex the Ride Armor can be, Sentinel pulled off a pretty good rendition.  And other than CM’s smaller/prone to breakage versions, Sentinel will the first one to give us the whole core Ride Armor crew.

Add in the slick design work they did to give us a compact Legioss fighter mode that also DOESN’T flop in any mode, and Sentinel has built up some goodwill.

. . . Just keep the production Houquet closer to red than that neon pink! 🤪🧐

I consider materials choices to be part of the design. The Ride Armors look great. And they pull off a slick transformation. But, they're WAY too fragile (and not at just that one joint). To me that is an engineering failure. 

And they're wildly over priced if you use something like a DX VF-1 as a benchmark.

The only reason most people are so tolerant is that they're dying for MOSPEADA toys. If there was any competition from Bandai or even a Third Party manufacturer like Moshow no one would be buying Sentinel stuff. 

I'm guilty of setting myself. I have all of the Sentinel Legiosses. I sold off my Ride Armors though and bought examples from Beagle/Toynami.

[Mog]

Considering the Beagle was priced at around $200 over 10 years ago, it’s kinda hard to compare Macross prices to Mospeada prices.  Macross is kinda niche already, but Mospeada is an even more niche brand.

I also shudder to think what kind of pre-order hell we’d have to endure if Bandai were producing these.

Mospeada’s definitely been kinda snake-bitten on the toy side of things too:

* Gakken:  solid 80’s toys.  But some holes in their offerings and only that super rare Tread/Beta.

* Toynami:  Gave us the Dark Legioss and large-scale Beta.  But all Alphas have tons of flaws/razor thin tolerances, have unnecessary/unneeded die cast, and get horribly floppy.

* Beagle:  great ride armors.  But cloth flakes off on Stick.  And they went out of business before they could go into production on their Houquet/Bartley, and we never saw what they could do for Yellow/Blowsuperior.

* CM’s:  probably the most complete set of Mospeada items available of any manufacturer.  But their Legioss and Tread have some annoying flaws (especially for their price), and there have been reported breakages on their smaller ride armors.

* Megahouse:  released three of the ride armors, but never got to Houquet.

* Evolution Toys:  released larger scale Legiosses.  But lots of folks pointed out how they look nice but are a floppy mess that needs things to lock better in place.

Given this sordid history, it’s a minor miracle that we’re this close to getting the main ride armor crew in a larger scale AND that same manufacturer has made some good Legiosses (and hopefully, Treads 😬) to go along with them.

Make no mistake:  I have criticized Sentinel for certain choices.  But I’m happy overall with what I’ve gotten so far from them.

[no3Ljm]

Despite of its engineering flaw on some parts, I will give all the praises that Sentinel's deserves if they produce all the original Ride Armor designs after Bartley's. I don't mind paying the same again for the original design. 

 

[sqidd]

6 minutes ago, Mog said:

Considering the Beagle was priced at around $200 over 10 years ago, it’s kinda hard to compare Macross prices to Mospeada prices.  Macross is kinda niche already, but Mospeada is an even more niche brand.

A fair point and neither of us could point at something solid to make a definitive argument.

That said, I'd pay $400 for a Bandai DX Beagle size Ride armor without a second thought.

7 minutes ago, Mog said:

Given this sordid history, it’s a minor miracle that we’re this close to getting the main ride armor crew in a larger scale AND that same manufacturer has made some good Legiosses (and hopefully, Treads 😬) to go along with them.

No argument here. For a niche  subject matter it's amazing there are toys at all really. And "on the whole" Sentinel has been doing the best job so far.

7 minutes ago, Mog said:

Make no mistake:  I have criticized Sentinel for certain choices.  But I’m happy overall with what I’ve gotten so far from them.

I'm not a Sentinel fan in general. I've also had some of their Super Robot stuff and ended up selling all of them. IMO they're over priced and too small.

[Glasswave]

12 hours ago, RavenHawk said:

Agreed! If you can swing getting two of each, you'll be happier keeping one in each mode. They're engineered really nicely, and gorgeous to look at (they very much fit my personal tastes, style-wise), but these are similar to Arcadia products, in that there is solid engineering, they're decently entertaining to transform, but they're not "toys" and WILL have some weak spot break eventually.

 

My one hope for the new Toynami 1/28th ride armors (having a brain lapse and forgetting the actual manufacturer) is that they're designed more to be toys, where you can absentmindedly transform them repeatedly and not worry about anything breaking. I wish Yamato had tackled these like they did the Motoslaves.

Oh man a Yamato Ride-Armor series would have been truly legendary..Those 1/15 Moto-Slaves are 80's anime GOLD imho

*On a side note: I believe that T-Rex was a designer at Yamato before working with Beagle.

[MKT]

On the B2Five ride armors, I watched a FB video not too long ago where the designer was introducing the toys, transforming it on-screen with some discussion on their design philosophy. The designer is from Hong Kong, & is actually the same guy behind the recent & very excellent Pose+ Baikanfu.

Some takeaways:

1. It is not perfect transformation, yet nowhere near the huge partsformer of Megahouse's. Only the front forks are removed from bike to armor mode and stored aside. This is for practical purposes at this scale for the transformation & posing in armor mode, plus to avoid overengineering & complexity like CM's.

2. The designer intended this to be a desktop toy, to be fiddled frequently, quickly transformed back and forth & easily posed with the included stand. From the video, the transformation process is pretty straightforward, & the pre-production sample he was using to demonstrate the transformation look to have pretty good tolerances (unlike the CM's, those were quite a nightmare to transform). 

3. The stand has peg holes all around it to plug in all the accessories - extra hands, head / helmet, weapons etc. Once everything in on the stand, the entire toy can be moved just with one palm. No need to look for a separate parts bin.

4. If sales of the initial 3 armors are good, Houquet should be offered up next. So, this could be another line where we might have the complete 4.

 

I was quite lukewarm on the B2Fives before this, but the video made me very interested in PO-ing them. I just can't find the link now, will post it up when I come across it again.

Edit: Found it  https://fb.watch/9cmGSJIIGY/

 

 

Edited November 11, 2021 by MKT

[no3Ljm]

59 minutes ago, Glasswave said:

Oh man a Yamato Ride-Armor series would have been truly legendary..Those 1/15 Moto-Slaves are 80's anime GOLD imho

*On a side note: I believe that T-Rex was a designer at Yamato before working with Beagle.

From what I remember T-Rex is a separate design company that does work for other companies such as Bandai, Yamato, Beagle, etc.

 

[RavenHawk]

7 hours ago, MKT said:

On the B2Five ride armors, I watched a FB video not too long ago where the designer was introducing the toys, transforming it on-screen with some discussion on their design philosophy. The designer is from Hong Kong, & is actually the same guy behind the recent & very excellent Pose+ Baikanfu.

Some takeaways:

1. It is not perfect transformation, yet nowhere near the huge partsformer of Megahouse's. Only the front forks are removed from bike to armor mode and stored aside. This is for practical purposes at this scale for the transformation & posing in armor mode, plus to avoid overengineering & complexity like CM's.

2. The designer intended this to be a desktop toy, to be fiddled frequently, quickly transformed back and forth & easily posed with the included stand. From the video, the transformation process is pretty straightforward, & the pre-production sample he was using to demonstrate the transformation look to have pretty good tolerances (unlike the CM's, those were quite a nightmare to transform). 

3. The stand has peg holes all around it to plug in all the accessories - extra hands, head / helmet, weapons etc. Once everything in on the stand, the entire toy can be moved just with one palm. No need to look for a separate parts bin.

4. If sales of the initial 3 armors are good, Houquet should be offered up next. So, this could be another line where we might have the complete 4.

 

I was quite lukewarm on the B2Fives before this, but the video made me very interested in PO-ing them. I just can't find the link now, will post it up when I come across it again.

Edit: Found it  https://fb.watch/9cmGSJIIGY/

 

 

Thank you for posting this. I hadn't seen any of this before.

 

Does anyone know if there is any confirmation that the Toynami accessories are different (i.e. less included) than the B2Five ones? I seem to remember Japanese listings including accessories that were not explicitly shown in the BBTS pre-order, but may be misremembering.

[jenius]

Those B2Fives do look much better than a simple MegaHouse rehash.

[Arthurius]

Question on the Riobot cyclones.   Are they fully painted, and is the quality of the paint in terms of staying on the figure fantastic?  Also, is there any bits of die cast in them?

I have the Riobot Iron Giant, and paint quality / built / die cast are really good.  And when joints get loose, i apply Fix Loose Joints, and gets tight again.  Wondering how the Cyclones are.

I would like other companies trying out.   I am thinking something along the scales of Megahouse or Riobot, but maybe without the paint and detachable parts like the 1/100 Bandai HMR line for comparison (ie like the Megahouse), to lower the price, and make material stronger / less prone to breakage.  Perfect transformation is not necessary for me .

Edited November 11, 2021 by Arthurius

[sjoebarry]

1 minute ago, Arthurius said:

Question on the Riobot cyclones.   Are they fully painted, and is the quality of the paint in terms of staying on the figure fantastic?  Also, is there any bits of die cast in them?

I have the Riobot Iron Giant, and paint quality / built / die cast are really good.  And when joints get loose, i apply Fix Loose Joints, and gets tight again.  Wondering how the Cyclones are.

I would like other 3rd parties trying out, but it is such a niche that i dont know how worth it is would be.    I am thinking something along the scales of Megahouse or Riobot, but maybe without the paint and detachable parts like the 1/100 Bandai HMR line for comparison, to lower the price, and for the small scale, i am personally ok with not perfect transformation as long as it looks fantastic in both modes, ie look as good scale wise as Riobot, but dont have to be perfect transformation and dont have to be fully painted, if it saves on cost and makes figure more durable / less prone to breakage, and easier to transform.

http://anymoon.com/blog/?p=10794

[sumyumgoy]

CDJapan is currently offering a 1,111 off 10,000 JPY coupon good until 11/12.

https://www.cdjapan.co.jp/campaign/coupon/2021_1111

Brings down the cost of Bartley just a little bit more. 

Also, Amazon Japan lowered their price a bit as well.

https://www.amazon.co.jp/-/en/gp/product/B09KN2YXJ5/ref=ppx_od_dt_b_asin_title_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It's now 19,566 JPY (instead of 22,000) but my original order actually went all the way down to 18,735 JPY before shipping.

 

[teckno viking]

10 hours ago, MKT said:

On the B2Five ride armors, I watched a FB video not too long ago where the designer was introducing the toys, transforming it on-screen with some discussion on their design philosophy. The designer is from Hong Kong, & is actually the same guy behind the recent & very excellent Pose+ Baikanfu.

Some takeaways:

1. It is not perfect transformation, yet nowhere near the huge partsformer of Megahouse's. Only the front forks are removed from bike to armor mode and stored aside. This is for practical purposes at this scale for the transformation & posing in armor mode, plus to avoid overengineering & complexity like CM's.

2. The designer intended this to be a desktop toy, to be fiddled frequently, quickly transformed back and forth & easily posed with the included stand. From the video, the transformation process is pretty straightforward, & the pre-production sample he was using to demonstrate the transformation look to have pretty good tolerances (unlike the CM's, those were quite a nightmare to transform). 

3. The stand has peg holes all around it to plug in all the accessories - extra hands, head / helmet, weapons etc. Once everything in on the stand, the entire toy can be moved just with one palm. No need to look for a separate parts bin.

4. If sales of the initial 3 armors are good, Houquet should be offered up next. So, this could be another line where we might have the complete 4.

 

I was quite lukewarm on the B2Fives before this, but the video made me very interested in PO-ing them. I just can't find the link now, will post it up when I come across it again.

Edit: Found it  https://fb.watch/9cmGSJIIGY/

 

 

I just wish they had gone 1/18th with this line.  

I won't be buying as really Do NOT need to start a New scale HAHA

[sqidd]

3 hours ago, sumyumgoy said:

Also, Amazon Japan lowered their price a bit as well.

https://www.amazon.co.jp/-/en/gp/product/B09KN2YXJ5/ref=ppx_od_dt_b_asin_title_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It's now 19,566 JPY (instead of 22,000) but my original order actually went all the way down to 18,735 JPY before shipping.

 

I know I have a toy problem when I don't like the Sentinel Ride Armors (which I don't have) as much as the Beagles (which I have three of)..............but I still have to fight with myself not to smash that PO button!

[Big s]

6 hours ago, RavenHawk said:

Thank you for posting this. I hadn't seen any of this before.

 

Does anyone know if there is any confirmation that the Toynami accessories are different (i.e. less included) than the B2Five ones? I seem to remember Japanese listings including accessories that were not explicitly shown in the BBTS pre-order, but may be misremembering.

I think that was brought up just a few pages back. The American pictures didn’t seem to show the hand options shown in the Japanese pictures and maybe there was some questions I had over the weapon accessories. I don’t think I found a definite answer though. I have the Japanese ones on preorder as a precaution in case the American ones are lacking in option parts.

[F360]

6 hours ago, sumyumgoy said:

CDJapan is currently offering a 1,111 off 10,000 JPY coupon good until 11/12.

https://www.cdjapan.co.jp/campaign/coupon/2021_1111

Brings down the cost of Bartley just a little bit more. 

Also, Amazon Japan lowered their price a bit as well.

https://www.amazon.co.jp/-/en/gp/product/B09KN2YXJ5/ref=ppx_od_dt_b_asin_title_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It's now 19,566 JPY (instead of 22,000) but my original order actually went all the way down to 18,735 JPY before shipping.

 

yeah, that extra 1111 yen off from CDJapan does make it very temping to get a second one. But...

•  
• Cancellation and modifications to an order are NOT possible after the application of a coupon.
• The promotion is limited to one coupon per customer.
• Points will not be accumulated for the discounted portion of your order after redeeming a coupon.

 

So If I add this to a new order, I probably wont be able to combine it with my exciting order to save on shipping..  they might not let me cancel this order either.. 

 

[sumyumgoy]

5 hours ago, sqidd said:

I know I have a toy problem when I don't like the Sentinel Ride Armors (which I don't have) as much as the Beagles (which I have three of)..............but I still have to fight with myself not to smash that PO button!

I know the feeling...gotta scratch that itch lol.

2 hours ago, F360 said:

*snip*

So If I add this to a new order, I probably wont be able to combine it with my exciting order to save on shipping..  they might not let me cancel this order either.. 

 

Good catch!  Yea, it's kind of hard to tell if you can combine it.

[Masked Aviator]

Sentinel still uses plastic to connect the two metal parts. I'm afraid the cracking issue will persist. I wonder why they don't switch the material to metal. 

Edited November 12, 2021 by Masked Aviator

[Snake Eyes]

wonder what it would take to custom engineer a part like that in metal...
 

 

[Masked Aviator]

23 minutes ago, Snake Eyes said:

wonder what it would take to custom engineer a part like that in metal...
 

 

That "plastic ring" cannot be dismantled. Unless someone customs a part that could hold the two metal parts together and install it in place.

[jenius]

They are aware that it was an issue so maybe sentinel had implemented some sort of fix. 

[captain america]

2 hours ago, Masked Aviator said:

Sentinel still uses plastic to connect the two metal parts. I'm afraid the cracking issue will persist. I wonder why they don't switch the material to metal. 

 

 

Or just a different type of plastic, which wouldn't necessitate new tooling and can just as readily solve the issue.