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I'll post some better pics in the morning, just a quick shot with the turrets mounted on. @SteveTheFish I'm honestly not sure where these originated from, besides being long out of production, MW member @Thom hooked me up with these. Rarely, but they do pop up on eBay from time to time, like 4 months ago someone had a listing, but I missed out. Curious about your Kakizaki VF-1A, any reason you're using 013 instead of 012 for his Valk?

If I may ask again, where did you buy these? Is "Admiralty Model Works" another one of those "We only sell on Facebook" entities? I did a search on Google and DuckDuckGo but only saw links to Scalemates.com.

Finally actually tried out new PC tonight. Seems ok so far, but gonna take forever to figure out fan curves. Out of the box it runs the radiator too much and is too sensitive (1 degree up from idle ramps them up a ton) and basically just idles the rear exhaust... Also, forgot how INSANE Edge is to start with, with constantly advertising "features". Have identified all main components except the PSU----seems to be pretty generic and likely the cheapest component. Non-modular, so it's a huge mess when you start digging and I don't feel like undoing the surprisingly good job of cable management the factory did, until I have to. Biggest surprise---everyone said they used WD green SSD's in these, but mine is a "T-Force G50". A quick google shows that to be surprisingly decent?

Yeah. The gist from written articles on Engadget and Tom's Hardware are saying pretty much the same thing as well- you can get an Air if you need more power, but for most people who are doing almost everything in a browser it's powerful enough and built better than almost anything else at that price. I found this part of Engadget's review especially amusing... Like, imagine that, the one thing Macs aren't known to be good at doesn't work too good on the cheapest laptop Apple's ever made. EDIT: I ordered a Citrus one at Best Buy, but it won't be available until the end of the month. I'll sell my M1 Air to a buddy who's current Mac is the second-to-last Intel Mac Mini, recoup some of that cost back.

I'll probably get this on sale or the next gen that prob will have 12gb of ram for the same cost using the a19 chip in the future.

Magnets sound cool. Clear stand connection is okay too, esp. for long term display. I've been fooling around with the Dana figs and I just have to say, casual Dana's thigh gap is something else .

MKBHD seems to agree with you.

Selling your 1/55 collection for quick cash....would be interesting to know how much of the final offer was for the Macross/Robotech stuff...maybe 20%?

Pre-ordered. Despite feeling like I prefer the movie version in regards to the leg packs. Maybe now is the time for Miria/Max versions? I keep hoping. What are the best bets for further releases in this mould series? Movie -1A with decals in red/blue/green? Movie VF-1S Roy? Or -1J in Miria/Max colors?

Waiting for HLJ to confirm they got one for me. Stock status on the item page shows it as still pending. At least it hasn't switched to backorder.

Oh Lord of Macross!! Thank you for answering my prayers from years ago

I agree. Yeah. I really see the Neo as a replacement for the M1 Air. The performance is in that space. Again, I see the Neo as a device for schools wanting to move away from Chromebooks and cheap Windows laptops and punching above its price point. Kids' computer (high schoolers, teenagers), non-engineering/non-science college majors, older parents/grandparents or anyone who just needs a laptop that does web, email, video, documents, homework, taxes, everyday computing...this laptop fulfills that need at a $500-price point. It's perfect for that class. If you need more performance but still want portability, the Air is where I would start. For most people, corporate/enterprise customers, I would point them at the Air. I've used an Air for a while now and the Air is my go-to for that space if you want a Mac laptop. I would not recommend anything lower than an Air for enterprise if they want a Mac. You get more mileage at this price point for those customers. What about a refurbished M4 Air? Still at this level but you don't want to pay for new. A Neo would be a step down at this level and the M4 Air is *used*. If they need more than an Air, then were entering the realm of the gaming laptops, higher-end laptops, MB Pros, desktops, higher-end computing.

I keep hoping they'll re-mold the X-wing from scratch, it's insane how bad the quality is compared with most of the other fighters now. At least it looks like they finally painted the canopy the rest of the way.

Don’t forget to take full advantage of that subscription and add Hundreds of Beavers to the watchlist

I’d take him for free. I’d put him on a shelf and tell him he’s “a lil special” everyday. Might even give him a lil pat on the head

Eh... I don't think he's wrong, but I think the way he's framing it is a bit different. I think he and I agree that the MacBook Neo is not automatically the best choice for everyone. Gamers are going to need something with a real GPU. Professionals will need something with more RAM and/or a faster CPU, maybe more storage. I think where he and I are disagreeing is that he's suggesting that you should spend more, arguing that you can get a faster CPU and more RAM with a refurbished MacBook Air. And, yeah, I see you can get an Apple certified refurb for around $760, that'll net you an M4 and 16GB of RAM. But that $160 jump from $600 to $760 is about a 27% increase in price (or more, if you get the education discount on a new one like he suggests), and you're not even getting a brand new computer in that scenario. And it's a slippery slope, too... I mean, why not another $140 and get a brand new M4 MacBook Air? Heck, then I might as well drop another $200 and get the latest and greatest with an M5 MacBook Air. The thing is, do you really need that much? I mean, if you know you need more power than the Neo chances are you (or your organization) were already budgeting for a more expensive laptop. But for the majority of people who are just going to surf the net, watch Netflix, maybe work on a school paper or FaceTime with Grandma? The Air is overkill. The only counterargument that guy offered to that was, "well, it's only got 8GB of RAM and it'll feel slow in five years." Maybe? Maybe you buy a new $600 Neo then with better specs and still come out ahead of a six year old M4 Air (since the current Neo does beat the 6yo M1 air)? Or maybe it still won't matter that much... I'm thing this on an M1 Air, and even with 8GB of RAM it's still way snappier than the Ryzen 3400G PC with Windows 11 even after I upgraded that one to 16GB of RAM. Ultimately, I think comparing the MacBook Neo to the MacBook Air isn't right for most people. I think the right move is comparing the MacBook Neo to other laptops in the same $500-$600 price range, where Apple's build quality, better hardware/software optimization, and less Windows 11-style enshittification are making it look like a clear winner. Bottom line, for me I use my MacBook exclusively as a secondary device, almost entirely in a browser, when I value something thinner and lighter but still possessing a physical keyboard. If I need more power I'll use my desktop or my G14. And for me, the Neo is actually an upgrade with a better screen and a faster CPU than my current M1 Air... the RAM, hard drive, ports, and lack of MagSafe all seem to be the same, I'm really only losing the backlight on the keyboard. Too bad the only local store that sells Apple computers seems pre-sold out.

Clever solution, will be interested to see how you implement it.

retro...

Vinyl collectors are a whole different beast from toy collectors, believe me.

Seems like I sure do write a lot about Constructicons. I suppose I have no one but myself to blame. After all, I decided that I'm the one that decided to get Mecha Invasion and DreamStar Toys because they're interesting interpretations, but MMC for my G1 Constructicons. And then, despite deciding to go with MMC, I still have a copy of X-Transbots's Ground Bite (Scrapper). And now here I am with X-Transbot's Gravedigger, their take on Scavenger. Initial impression... dang, that looks good. For better or worse, yes, XTB is chasing that same ultra-Sunbow look that seems to be the preferred style these days, so there isn't a lot of surface detail, and what details we are getting like the vents at the top of his torso and the little squares on the silver torso bit are present on the animation model. But, especially after just playing with the Studio Series Scavenger toy, I find myself really appreciating Gravedigger's excellent proportions, the mirror finish on the silver parts and the subtle finish on the green plastic that sits somewhere between MMC's "this is obviously a plastic toy" and Fans Toys' "we covered this in metallic paint to look more premium even though the result looks more like a sports car's sheen than a construction vehicle." Gravedigger does have a bit of a backpack, but in a way it's almost refreshing to see that he does. The backpack, with the cab at the bottom corner and the shovel dangling down, is cartoon accurate in a way that the Studio Series toy's collapsed shovel, cab-on-shoulder, mostly backpack-less design simply isn't. Now, I don't have any issue with cleaning up backpacks on characters that traditionally have backpacks when you're doing a more reimagined version of the character, but if cartoon accuracy is your goal then you should, in fact, be cartoon accurate. On the other end of the spectrum, though, when a character does have a little backpack, like Optimus Prime, a lot of companies are tempted to stuff a bunch of kibble in it and exaggerate it, like MP-44. So what I really appreciate here is not simply that Gravedigger has a cartoon-accurate backpack, the backpack is neatly done and more more or less than it needs to be. MMC's the company doing an all-built-in Devastator, XTB's cool with partsforming. So, in addition to a cartoon-accurate gun for Gravedigger, you get a weird chunk of green stuff that'll be necessary for arm mode, a big ol' chunk of Devastator arm, and Devastator's gun. You also get an alternate head for Gravedigger, a replacement back of the head for Ground Bite, and the expected trumpet. I'm not totally sure what's the thinking with the alternate Gravedigger head, as I think the stock head is a lot more cartoon accurate. If you do want to switch them the head has a peg on it. The stock head pops off, leaving a hole behind, that the other head can plug into. But what's the deal with the parts for Ground Bite? It's my understanding that, in combined mode, Ground Bite's head was prone to scratching. So I guess that the replacement has a flap on a hinge that moves the scratch-prone area out of the line of fire. Ground Bite's head pop's off like Gravedigger's, just that the peg is on the body and the head has the port. Then you can use a spudger to pry the halves of his head apart and swap the stock parts for the new ones. Moving back to Gravedigger, his articulation is quite good. His head is on a hinged swivel that can look down a bit and up about 45 degrees. His shoulders swivel and can move laterally slightly over 90 degrees. His biceps swivel, and his double-jointed elbows bend 180 degrees. His wrists swivel, and they can fold back into a "stop!" pose. His thumbs have a hinge that moves the thumb across the palm with two other hinges for bending the thumb's knuckle's. His fingers have hinges at the base with one additional knuckle hinge- the index finger is separate so it can point, but the other three fingers are molded together. His waist swivels, though at about 45 degrees his backpack will get in the way. Fortunately he has 90 degrees of ab crunch that helps get the backpack out of the way. His front hip skirts are hinged so his hips can ratchet 90 degrees forward, but the rear is fixed so his hips only get about 45 degrees backward. They also fall a little shy of 90 degrees laterally, but unless you planned on posing him doing a Van Damme split I think there's enough range for most poses. His thighs swivel, and his double-jointed knees ratchet a little short of 180 degrees. His feet can tilt up and down, and his ankles pivot about 90 degrees. Gravedigger's pistol has a tab on it that fits into a slot on either palm. His trumpet, however, is only designed to fit in his right hand. XTB's attention to detail comes through on the trumpet, though, as it's designed to sit in his palm with the fingers curled over the keys the way you'd hold a real trumpet, and not simply clutching the bottom of the loop. Gravedigger's transformation is different than I expected, but not actual difficult when you know what you're doing. Instead of just folding his arms up to combine with the backpack, you're expanding and spinning them around to fill in the space under his backpack. Just be mindful of some clearances... if you find yourself trying to bend parts around other parts, there's probably way to move the waist or the backpack to give yourself more clearance. For a good bit of the transformation you'll kind of have some stuff flopping around, but once everything is in place the result is nice and solid. Is it cartoon accurate, though? I think kind of, in the sense that the rear sticks out further than the treads, the cab's in the right place, he's got the two bumps that remind me of a Lego brick on the other side, and the little smokestack on the back. That said, the animation model has the G1 toy's elbow joint sticking off the front, and Gravedigger is missing that. Due to how he transforms, there's just a purple panel there that, admittedly, looks kind of out-of-place. XTB also includes some diecast moving piston parts on the shovel to give it a bit more realistic detail, but I'm not mad about that. The joints allow the shovel to curl up about yea high, or stretch out about yea far in front of him. Sadly, due to how he transforms, Gravedigger's top does NOT rotate, so he can only dig what's in front of his treads. He rolls, though. The side of the cab opens, technically for transformation as I'd imagine that panel is a bit bigger than the actual door would be. Despite that, there is a little molded seat in there. There doesn't seem to be a way to store his gun in this mode, though, despite a good amount of space under the vehicle. I don't think it's intentional, but you can kind of hook the shovel between the scope and the rest of the gun and hang it from the shovel. For arm mode, we need the big green bit we haven't talked about yet. Basically, you extend the circular joint in the middle, then it tucks into the underside, locking in place around Gravedigger's feet. I suppose, if you don't mind the partsforming, you could leave the joint retracted and use it in vehicle mode, too; it adds the G1 joint detail I was just complaining was missing from the alt mode. It seems that circular joint is going to be part of the shoulder joint and the connection between Gravedigger and whatever they call their Hook. As for the rest of the arm, it plugs into the green combined part quite securely and looks to have plenty of articulation that we can discuss more if/when we get to combined mode. But there is one more thing about the combiner arm I found interesting... the inside is hollow, because otherwise it'd be a much heavier, more expensive piece of plastic. But XTB seems to have found some utility there, as one side is actually a hinged flap, revealing a little storage compartment inside. Forgive me for overselling this, but Gravedigger might be the single best figure X-Transbots has ever released. There doesn't seem to be any major QC issues, and none of the little annoyances that you sometimes run into transforming their figures. The robot mode is honestly excellent. This shouldn't come as a total surprise; while I liked MMC's Scrapper and though it delivers the best total package, I did still give Ground Bite an edge for robot mode alone. Everything I liked about Ground Bite's alt mode is carried over in Gravedigger, but frankly I think Gravedigger has a better transformation and a better alt mode, even if the alt mode isn't totally accurate. It's really hard to say which set of six combining figures you should buy based on two figures each, only one of which has been done by both companies, but I can say this much: I personally would still lean toward MMC for solid, playable figures that work in all three modes, but XTB is absolutely nailing the robot modes. If there's something about the MMC Constructions that's just not jiving with you (I've heard complaints like not looking premium enough, robots are too big, combined mode will be too small, bot mode proportions aren't right, etc), then XTB is definitely my second choice. These guys are good enough that I don't mind double-dipping on Devastator and buying both sets.

Can anyone explain what is up with this figure I found on Mandarake? The HMR FATTY is clear but a vinyl figure with zero articulation and 0 features going for 5000 yen more then the HMR is, for me unexplainable!? I wouldn't even want the figure for free! 🤔

I loved those tiny turrets (didn't know you could use those on the OG Battlestar as well) - here's them on my NuBattlestar;

Coming soon from Hammond Collection.

Preorders go up on 3/12.