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tekering

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Everything posted by tekering

  1. tekering
    Very clean work, Goodman.
  2. tekering
    Oh dear... has my past finally caught up with me? 😟
  3. tekering
    Well, this is disturbing. Mike's photography is so crystal-clear, I can make out the granular texture and telltale layering of a 3D-printed prototype... ...on a mass-produced factory figure. 😒 Why would steel molds have this layering evident? Exactly what kind of molding process are they using in Vietnam? 🤨
  4. tekering
    So while Mike's gushing on Reactivate, let me introduce my favorite new Arcee figure. 😘 This is Flame Toys' Furai model version, and it's in keeping with their IDW-style modern take on these designs. It's also exactly the same height as the other Furai models, meaning Arcee's definitely not to scale... 😒 ...but if you collect MMC figures, she fits in perfectly with their scale and aesthetic. Being an officially-licensed figure means she's non-transformable, of course... ...but just because she doesn't have a vehicle mode doesn't mean she can't haul ass... 😊 ...or kick ass, for that matter. 😉 Most third-party Arcee figures tend to be retro G1, hyper-sexualized, or hyper-moe... I think this one is a nice blend of all three aspects. As you can see, she's finely articulated... ...and extremely photogenic. 😍 In fact, I've never photographed a figure so much before... ...at least, not from the back. 😅 Being a model kit means she needs to be assembled, but no glue or paint is required... Even that Autobot symbol on her chest comes pre-painted on. And the level of detail is remarkable. Note part E1_1 here, that fits behind the hubcaps: They're brake pads! 😯 Some parts even have metal inserts. It's a really high-quality kit. Of course, there are optional parts you probably won't make use of... ...but they're entirely superfluous. So's her chest piece, incidentally. 😶 She makes Ocular Max's "Azalea" look super old-fashioned... ...but fits right in among MMC's "Reformatted" line. 😎 So what if she never appeared in More Than Meets The Eye?
  5. tekering
    Dragonball featured some significant digital alterations to censor content for North American audiences... Sailor Moon was slightly edited (and at least one character was gender-swapped in the dub)... but neither example compares to Robotech. I mean, forget cuts or name changes; Southern Cross was set on a whole 'nother PLANET! A more accurate comparison would be Battle of the Planets, or the infamous Captain Harlock and the Queen of a Thousand Years.
  6. tekering
    Where's The Marvels? Or No Way Home? 🤨 I realize Agents of SHIELD is a grey zone (despite how hard they tried to work around the Phase Two films), but don't the Venom films (and Morbius) count, at least? Certainly, their inclusion on this timeline would make a helluva lot more sense than including What If... 😒 IGN, your timeline sucks. 🙄
  7. tekering
    The very same.
  8. tekering
    Online pre-orders are your only chance to get DX Chogokins at retail prices. They don't show up in Japanese stores. Not, that is, until they hit the secondary market: So yes, I have to face the preorder madness along with the rest of you... although it's a different kind of crap show for Japanese collectors. Unlike HLJ, Anime Export, and the other specialty shops, most Japanese retailers could care less about collectors. Bandai tells them they can't list a product until after 4pm on a certain date, so they list that product a half-hour later, an hour later, several hours later... and unlike AmiAmi or Nin-Nin, they don't provide any indication of when exactly the preorder will go up. Amazon.jp had their listing up at 4:06, but their stock was superseded by third-party sellers asking ¥12000 above retail (!), making it impossible to access Amazon's own listing in time; I got close, but was cartjacked before checkout. Yodobashi Camera listed at 4:26, BIC Camera hadn't listed until after 5:00, JoshinWeb didn't up up their listing 'til nearly 6:00, and it looks like Edion didn't add the YF-21 to their site until sometime the following morning! The only shops that respected the 4pm schedule were Akiba Sofmap and Bandai's own Tamashii store, and both of those only offer lottery sales, so... practically useless. 😒 I've tried telephone enquiries before, to no avail. Online preorders are the only option I'm aware of. In fact, I remember seeing a sign at the customer service desk at BEST Denki turning away any customers trying to order a Metal Structure Sazabi.
  9. tekering
    On sale? 😟 That seems highly unlikely. 🤨
  10. tekering
    Pretty impressive detail, for 1:144 scale... 😶 Especially the waterslide decals. 😯
  11. tekering
    Great concept, but AI has difficulty understanding perspective and foreground scale. That pic makes your cyclone look as big as an Alpha. 😅
  12. tekering
    I can't believe you guys don't like Keiko... 🥺 I'm becoming a big fan of Mari Yamamoto, thanks to her portrayal of Keiko Miura. 😋
  13. tekering
    Awesome, thank you! 😊
  14. tekering
    The execution's a little sloppy, but the concept is brilliant. He even incorporated the revolver in the leg! 😮
  15. tekering
    Wow! Congratulations on 20 years, Cap'n! I may want another Pinky myself, if only to make a blue-eyed Battler variant. 🤓 You can mount them on brackets attached to the back (as originally intended), or you can simply drill holes in the head and connect them with brass rods (as pictured above).
  16. tekering
    3199? 🤔 Kodai and Yuki look surprisingly good in that trailer, seeing as they're both over a thousand years old. 🙄
  17. tekering
    It's all "Robotech Remastered," I'm afraid. The original mono audio tracks wouldn't sync up with the re-edited episodes anyway. None of the original commercial "bumpers" are included, either. 😒 Worse yet, the new opening sequences created for the "Remastered" DVDs didn't even get recreated in HD, simply upscaled from the DVD source. The openings are therefore of substantially lower quality than the episodes themselves. 🤨
  18. tekering
    So, I was initially excited when Robotech was announced for Blu-ray, because it meant the first time Southern Cross footage would be available in HD. We'd had Macross on Blu-ray for over a decade (and Mospeada for nearly that long), but Southern Cross barely even got a DVD release in Japan... and it was shovelware at best. Of course, as soon as "The Macross Saga" BDs came out, it was clear how little Funimation cared about image quality: I mean, compared to what we'd got in Japan ten years earlier... ...Robotech looked as grainy, high-contrast, oversaturated and blown-out as ever. 😒 Comparisons with Mospeada fared no better. So, with expectations at rock-bottom, I was in no hurry to see "The Robotech Masters" in HD... but my initial curiosity never entirely faded, and I did finally acquire the Blu-rays a few months back. The masters for "Masters" are just as poor quality as the other series, of course, but are they at least better than the DVDs were? As you may be aware, the ADV discs had terrible color timing, giving the whole series a heavy blue tint across the spectrum... Surprisingly, the color timing is a major improvement on Funimation's HD masters, with more accurate blacks and distinct color definition evident in every frame. In fact, there's a whole new magenta tone introduced to the image: It doesn't replace the blue, but rather adds an additional color layer. I thought this difference was profound, and felt compelled to show other Southern Cross fans... ...although I realize very few people will actually care. I mean, they're mastered from the same ancient 16mm prints Tatsunoko provided Harmony Gold four decades ago... ...and still show all the same flaws. If anything, physical damage to the film is even more evident in HD. Still, the improvement is undeniable. I thought it was worth sharing, anyway. 🤓
  19. tekering
    That was very much my intention, thanks. ☺️ We felt a gentle sway here... and I think I saw my Hot Toys Riot Control Stormtrooper shiver a little. 😅 No, I just gently bent the belly plate into a slimmer shape, with panel lines to score where I wanted it to bend and ensure symmetry. I must strongly discourage any cutting or gluing that part. It's got to flex enough to squeeze the sides of the bike frame in robot mode: Given the pressure exerted on that piece, I doubt any glue would handle the stress. Just about any RE/100 or Master Grade MS hands should suffice. 😇
  20. tekering
    Thanks for your attention, gentlemen. Now, if I may indulge you just a little longer... I'm conscious of the anachronism, since the Atelier-Sai figures are based on the hardsuits from the last episode, and the original four moto-slaves were only featured in the first episode... 😐 Nonetheless, I think they complement each other really well. 😎 The robot proportions are still not quite what the line art depicts, but I think I've managed to improve the aesthetics... ...at least, when posed in flight. 😇 Happy New Year, everyone! 🥳
  21. tekering
    So now we come to the more problematic "slave" mode... My first issue was the recessed peg the head sits on, which allows for very limited up-and-down motion and almost nothing side-to-side. I bought these Hobby Base ball-joins to make a new articulated neck piece of my own: This double-jointed neck will allow for a much greater range of motion and allow for more dynamic poses. Furthermore, these flimsy shoulders are held together by nothing but a couple of pistons, and the gaps between them are massive. The line art fills those gaps (and any others) with equally massive cables, so I need to do the same. These ought to suffice... 😊 Yeah, that's more like it. I ensured they wrap around the back as well, and added some thinner cables around the neck, too. I quite like the look. 🤓 They'll have to be removed for transformation, of course, but the Aoshima design requires a lot of partsforming as it is. And thus I'm finished, just in time for New Year's!
  22. tekering
    Despite the missing red and black stripes on Dana's duty uniform, I'd gladly take this prototype over the "tampon mesh" bodysuit they have her in now... 😒 Those Macross stands are a testament to how Southern Cross fandom remains alive outside of Japan. 😅
  23. tekering
    Really? I got the impression Aoshima just upscaled the Yamato design, tweaked the engineering, and called it a day. It has the same "pregnant" aesthetic that bugged me about the toys... which is why I've taken matters into my own hands, cutting and bending parts to more closely match the shapes of the line art. Oh, and speaking of hands: I've modified articulated Gunpla hands to match the more feminine motoslave look, 'cause those Aoshima parts just ain't cuttin' it. 😒 I also replaced the stock kit's rubber hoses with more anime-accurate segmented armoured cables, and added additional cables where they appear in robot mode. Final assembly is already underway. 😊 I'd be done already if it weren't for all the upgrades... 😅
  24. tekering
    Depends on the episode. Everyone's motoslave sports the same cannon in the first OAV. Aoshima called this the "machine canon [sic]." In the third episode, Priss has a new gun to go along with her new motoslave: Sylia wields the same cannon in the fourth OAV. Aoshima refers to this as a "rocket cannon." There's also this cannon Linna's motoslave carries in episode 3: It's not the same cannon from the first OAV, but it's also not Aoshima's "machine gun." I'm not sure this weapon appears in the anime at all, actually, but it came in the variant "special setting" metallic red Aoshima kit I bought back when I started this project. 😅
  25. tekering
    Almost finished painting... 🤓
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