M'Kyuun

I would take that YF-21 as-is, as I was never too plussed about the Yamato with it's disparate proportions in battroid. The Bandai is far better balanced, and I can excuse the little bit of belly bulge in fighter, as it's still pretty sleek, while doing a good job of hiding far better proportioned legs. Anyway, definitely anxious for news on this guy. Been waiting a long time for a 'definitive' YF-21, and I think this'll do the job, for my tastes, anyway. I'm a battroid guy, so I want a good looking well-proportioned B-mode.

I'm glad they used the ER Sideswipe mold instead of of one of the lackluster CW molds. Like everyone else, I question the use of a clear windscreen when it's completely obscured by structure underneath. Like Sideswipe and Red Alert, a dark tint would serve to help the aesthetics a lot. This really begs for a nice painted silver finish, but I have a feeling, in usual Hasbro style, they're going to go the cheapest route possible and mold it in some flat silver plastic that doesn't do it any favors. I'm pleasantly surprised that they gave it working gull wing doors (a step in the right direction towards remolding this into Omnibot Downshift!), and equally so with the folding wheels. They didn't have to do either, so I appreciate the extra effort. Even if there's no appreciable interior, the gull wing doors are iconic to the Delorean, and it's nice to see them included in the design. I'm hoping to snag a copy once it goes PO on Pulse. So, July's finally here. It's the month that any number of figs are supposed to release/rerelease (really excited to get ER Prime), but I'm wondering if the resurgence in Covid is going to further delay these releases. I know I've been saving a lot of money over the past couple of months, as my usual money pit, LEGO, hasn't really enthralled me with the first half of 2020 releases, although there are a number of sets due in August that are looking more promising. On the TF and other toy front, the vast majority is in PO status, and like many, I'm playing the waiting game, watching my email for payment/shipping notices that never seem to come. I've been looking longingly at the Sentinel Legioss that just released, and which I have PO'd with TFSource, but probably won't get until next month. I keep checking my local Targets for the Seeker two-pack, but the refrain is always the same: sold out. At the very least, I wish you could order/PO it through Target instead of this store pickup only option. It's a situation that greatly benefits scalpers over fans who just want a copy for themselves, and it's deeply frustrating. I fear it'll be the same when they release the Wingspan/Pounce Clone set, which I also want, as I missed out on all the clone releases back during the TR timeframe. I'm happy to see them rereleased, but it's bittersweet given the exclusivity.

Watching Mospeada for the first time. I finished Ep 11 last night, and will likely watch a few eps today. Very much a product of the 80's, and I'm enjoying it for what it is. I'm probably one of the few Americans who didn't see Robotech growing up, and when I did make an effort to watch it back in '03 or so (I was TDY in England, and I rented it from the BX), I quit watching after a couple eps of Southern Cross, another anime I've never seen. I remember feeling a bit disappointed in the flying bricks they rode around on after watching the Macross portion of RT. Seemed like a serious step down in the mechanical design department, and I just couldn't watch anymore. Had they tacked on Mospeada right after Macross, I probably would have kept watching, if only to see the Legioss in action.

That AC-130 is an impressive build, but a little too exorbitant for my wallet. That DS9 is also very impressive. I wonder if he has a steel frame in there to support the weight, as LEGO itself tends to buckle. Anyway, kudos to the builder. Those curves are difficult to pull off, and he did it very smoothly. Looks great.

I have little use for most of that stuff, but Roller is a nice addition. Then again, he should have come with Prime from the get-go. I've already paid for a blue kit from Nonnef when I finally get my ER Prime. And why not if it's a good and relatively simple solution that improves a figure? I wonder if there were attempts made to make a transformation work and they just couldn't get it, or if they just said 'F-it' from the beginning. My money's on the latter. At least the figure, if promos are any indication, looks nice. I'm not as forgiving, as we've seen any number of deluxe figures from Titans Return, PotP, and Siege that had really sound engineering and clever transformations, not to mention some of the amazing plastic origami they've done over the last decade or so with the Movieverse toys, Prime, and Animated. I don't doubt Takara's ability to make a decent transforming figure, but I question their willingness to try when the transformation is a bit challenging. That said, MMC have already solved the difficult part for them. I also wonder how much of Hasbro's input has affected the WFC lines; two very different philosophies towards toy design at play, and I could see Hasbro going the shellformer route as opposed to going over budget to give her an actual transformation. I've got ER Arcee PO'd as well, but I doubt she'll supplant T30 Arcee in my collection. The transformation means more to me than a nicer looking Arcee action figure. I also have a secret hope that a third party will come up with a better solution towards giving her a more involved transformation.

Tried watching their vid, but after mispronouncing Legioss, Mospeada, and Gakken, and then not knowing what intakes are called, I kinda lost patience. To my thinking, if you're going to put yourself out there and do a review, at least do your homework. The one takeaway I got from the vid before I quit watching was the one fellow talking about breaking the moving hip joint lock on his. It's the first I've heard of anyone breaking it, so when I finally get mine, I'll be more careful with that part of the transformation.

I concede that the proportions of ER Arcee are better, but at the cost of her transformation. The T30's legs formed her back fenders and part of the sides of her car mode, while her chest formed the center front of the car. The concession for her transformation is a set of linkages to allow her thighs to spread out, and unfortunately it gives her 'birthing hips'. But at least she can transform. If you misplace the the 2/3 car shell from ER Arcee, then only the front portion of her car mode, of which it appears that none of her bot mode is involved, will be possible. She's 1/3 shellformer, and 2/3 partsformer. As someone on Reddit posted, I don't know why they didn't take a cue from MMC's design philosophy, collapsing the rear fender shells over the front to form her pods. Azalea is about as close to perfect as you're going to get in a transforming Arcee, IMHO. ER Arcee is essentially a nice action figure with a convertible hoody and a snap on car shell. In my eyes, a serious step backwards in a toyline where the transformation gimmick is at the forefront of its existence and its namesake.

I'm about 5 eps into the original right now, and they definitely use a gas combustion engine sound effect for the Ride Armors, although I agree with Squidd's assessment that an electric motor sound effect would have been more apropos, especially since the engine sound is replaced with other sound effects when being worn. If a gas engine provides power, it should sound like it regardless of mode. But yeah, science fiction. Thus far, they haven't really explained the nature of HBT, so I don't know what sort of power source it is- liquid fuel? solid fuel? chemical reagents? nuclear? batteries? It's a Mcguffin thus far, and the center of Ep 5's plot, coincidentally. They use it for both Legioss and Ride Armor, as they show them installing it. Despite there being a dearth of electric motorcycles in the 80's, as battery tech was still pretty inefficient, I don't think that would have played any part in depicting a sci-fi bike. They could have used any sound effect they liked for the motorcycle mode, and I think they chose a gas motor sound purposely just for sheer cool factor. The Japanese love their motorcycles, and an electronic sound probably didn't resonate as well as the good ole revving of a gas engine. For those without Prime, you can watch it at thewatchcartoononline.tv Lots of stuff on there, including a lot of 80's cartoons and a ton of anime, and it's relatively up to date, although they're a bit behind on the new GitS 2045. Netflix prob C&Ded them.

Amidst all the Legioss talk, I thought I'd give Mospeada a watch, having never seen it, either in its original form or its RT bastardization. I'm about 5 eps in, and it's pure 80's fun. Super cheesy music (Motorcycle Freak made me LOL) The Inbit fire a lot, but never hit what they're aiming for (must've gone to Stormtrooper Academy), most of the time, Stig is more effectual in the Ride Armor than in the Legioss when engaging the enemy, the usual male-female tropes are in play, and I think it's funny how they're in North America, but everyone speaks Japanese. It's certainly a bit of a guilty pleasure, but I'm enjoying it for what it is. I've got a bit of a wait for my Legioss, having ordered it through TFSource, which makes me wonder if that might give Sentinel time to address some of the issues that've been arising among the already released toys. I doubt it, but it'd be nice. TBH, I'd be happy to wait for fixes.

It vexes me still when I see good engineering applied to any number of figs in Earthrise, and then the absolute lack of effort applied to Arcee, who should have been an upgrade to the Generations figure. Even Cyberverse Arcee appears to have an integrated transformation, and that line is generally less complex than the mainline. I know opinions differ on the question of parts-forming, but in my mind, a huge part of the evolution of the mainline is eschewing it totally; to resort to it is a step backwards, and stands in contrast to the point of these toys, with a few acceptable concessions (interchangeable fixed pose hands, interchangeable faces, removable weapons/accessories). But in all cases, IMHO, the entirety of the core bot should be able to transition to alt mode without removing anything. Honestly, if I had my druthers, part of the engineering evolution to the mainline would be total integration of the weapons, or at minimum, internal storage in alt mode. I hate pegging a giant gun or missile launcher on top or on the side of a realistic looking vehicle mode. It's tacky, and with 30+ years to improve engineering, should be another of those anachronisms that plagued older toys, and that we look upon with good-humored disdain. Alas, it doesn't seem like the weapon storage situation is improving anytime soon, and if anything, the tendency towards reverting to parts-forming when they can't be bothered to work out a proper transformation mechanic is, I fear, becoming a norm. Now that that's off my chest, I kinda dig Cyberverse Arcee- she even appears to have ankle tilts. Thunderhowl is interesting, too. A bit simple, but that's par for Cyberverse.

Nope, except the whale, which comes with a mini-Jojo (gorilla). It's a bummer that they don't make pilot figs. I guess the Diaclone figs fit in some of them (the crab comes to mind, and possibly the Landbreaker ). I thought about getting a pack, but those things are ridiculously overpriced for what you get. So, my BeastBox/MegaBox figs will remain sentient until a cheaper pilot alternative comes along. I wish 52Toys would make pilot figs for the BB/MB figs that accommodate them, as well as a Ripley fig for their Powerloader, but thus far they've shown no inclination towards doing so.

I recently discovered this line, and subsequently bought a number of them, including the Alien Queen and the Alien. Out of the line, the Alien Queen is the most complex, having a more involved transformation, a lot of detail and moving parts, and pretty good overall articulation. Definitely a fun little representation. I've got the Powerloader, which sadly doesn't come with a Ripley fig to operate it, and the Landbreaker PO'd. There's a pretty good thread on TFW2005 for these. Scroll down to see some proto pics. I'm down for all of them, but those mantids are especially awesome.

Very cool. I knew there were RC VF-1s out there, but this is the first I've seen this video. You can see the elation on the designer's face when it flies. Priceless. I'm glad he kept the shape of the exhausts (feet) in lieu of more standardized round exhausts. I wonder if the exhausts pivot for thrust vectoring? Cool feat of engineering, nonetheless. There must be some small bit of satisfaction for Kawamori, as well. Concerning the Legioss's wings, I think, for the size of the fuselage, they look adequate. I think of some delta winged aircraft that have less wing and still fly. I think the issues hindering the Legioss are the many uneven areas on the lower fuselage, and the arms on top. Both are huge sources of drag that spoil the aerodynamics, which necessitates a greater source of thrust, sustained, to enable velocities conducive to flight. I think low speed flight would be extremely challenging, as well as both take off and landing. Pitch and yaw maneuvering would also prove difficult given the size of the stabs. They might be effective at very high speeds, where less deflection is necessary, but at low speeds, IMHO, they're too small to be truly effective. As a disclaimer, I'm not an engineer, so my opinion is just that, seasoned with 20 years experience working on and around military aircraft. I'd be interested to hear the thoughts of an aeronautical engineer, though, or better yet, see them build a practical RC model and put it through its paces. I think getting it into the air and keeping it aloft would take a lot of thrust to overcome all the non-aerodynamic characteristics of the fuselage/arms, and that the flight controls would prove inadequate. The Legioss sure is pretty, though. I'm willing to suspend my disbelief for the sake of enjoying the thought of her sailing through blue skies.

Anything will fly with enough thrust pushing it. Consider the Russian VVA-14. The Legioss is a very small fighter, probably close in size to an F-16, with two main engines, and two, I'm assuming, rocket motors in the arms for additional thrust. My assumption is based on the fact that there are exhausts, but no intakes, hence the need for internal chemical reaction. The arms certainly break up the aerodynamics of the upper fuselage, but again, ostensibly with four engines providing thrust and a decent amount of wing surface for lift, I think it could fly. I'd be interested to see someone build an RC plane, to see how it actually flies. I looked for it on Youtube, but no luck. Maybe it doesn't, and that's why.

Glad I'm not the only one who thought so. Looks like a very 80's approach to drawing TFs- basic bot body, shape it somewhat like the alt, then tack on the nacelles. Lazy and uninvolved. But, honestly, I have zero interest in a TF-Star Trek crossover, so my feelings aren't really hurt if it never come to fruition. I approached M7 with an open mind. I've been reading the criticisms for years, so perhaps my expectations were so low that it actually surprised me by being better than I thought it'd be. Granted, Basara's a bit of a douche, and the VF-19 is wasted on him, and Sound Force is lame, but I liked the interplay between Milia and Max, and I liked the rest of the characters in Fire Bomber. It took me about twenty or so eps before I started to come around to thinking Basara's ok. The bad guys were rather bland. Sivil was an interesting character, but she spent most of the series in a coma. I think the biggest detractor is that it lacked the gravitas of SDFM and Plus. The threat from the Protodeviln just didn't seem that great. Frontier made up for it by having a more complex arch-story, more maturity in the writing and in the various relationships, serious threats both internal and external, with meaningful fatalities, and a plethora of nods to all the prior Macross series. Oh, and much better music. I could listen to Megumi Nakajima sing the phone book; I'd happily turn the pages for her. I think Frontier and Plus stand out for the music; little wonder, with Yoko Kanno at the helm. Listening to M+ soundtrack even as I type this. Twenty-five years on, and it's still amazing (except Mad Dog). But yeah, it definitely took a downturn with Delta. The VF-31 and SV-262 are cool, though. As long as Kawamori's working on the series, cool transforming jets are the one reliable constant. Wish he'd drop by Takara's offices more often. They need his help.