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Well, she did leave him with her cousin, which was a responsible thing to do.

My family still has the original changeables toys in a bucket somewhere, my brother and sister and I essentially filled an old 5 gallon laundry detergent bucket with them as kids.

I just don’t like drunken mopey animal neglecting Supergirl.

I was expecting total cringe, and even though there’s definitely some odd moments in the trailer, it’s definitely not as bad as I thought it would be. And surprisingly it seems they got more stuff right than wrong here so far. Looks like a major step above the old movie at the very least. Throw on the dc movies as well. Just not excited for any of those projects yet. Maybe if good reviews pop up I might check em out, but as is I’m definitely more interested for He Man at this point.

Could try a softer solution of alcohol. The 70 something percent usually doesn’t do much to set paints. I usually don’t see a reaction until almost 90 percent mixtures

Thanks @Big s, I have tried just adding water to it and it doesn't do much. When you first get it, the particles of clay are so fine that its like super thin paint, but over time (like several years) those particles seem to clump into bigger particles that don't flow as nicely as it was brand new. The best thing about it is that its water, totally non-reactive to anything beneath it. If I add alcohol to it, it would make the solution reactive to some things beneath it, losing its best quality. I always knew the surface prep was key, the better the prep, the better the paint job - but like a child who doesn't like to brush his teeth (even though you know better) 😛 I always skimp on surface prep because it's part of sanding which I hate and never have enough time for. Now that the Entertainment Industry is in the dumpster, I have a bit more time, and having a nice well engineered kit that just falls together means I can spend the time I usually take fixing and detailing to spending some time on the black undercoat for a Alclad Metallic finish. I've always interpreted the Cosmo Zero greys in the anime as a chromed silver and wanted to try to replicate that. I actually sanded down the gloss Mr. Color black with 6000-8000-10000 sanding sponge which I hardly ever do unless I'm trying to remove a canopy seam. Boy was that worth it! I haven't ever gotten such a chromed effect from all my years using Alclad Metalizers before, I could almost see myself in it! I broke down the parts to get some different shades like Stainless, Magnesium and Steel as well. Now I just have to have enough patience to not touch it for a while to let everything cure.

I don’t know if that’s a positive review or negative, but sorta trying to be nice. It’s hilarious either way

Not 100% but I think that since it’s supposed to be water soluble, maybe just add some water and mix. Could also try a glob and some alcohol outside the bottle to see what happens. I wouldn’t just experiment with adding straight to the bottle until you experiment a little. Honestly, I’ve never used the stuff since no one seems to carry it or it just gets sold out fast.

I like transforming toys, but these and Hasbro's Bot-Bots do little for me. I dig the idea, but the execution is underwhelming. These got me to thinking, though, I remember getting a transforming locket sort of toy for my sister when we were kids. I couldn't remember the name of the line by rote, but some Google-Fu did the trick. They were called Sweet Secrets by Hasbro. I got the bird for her, likely b/c it was unique amongst the rest and had more of a Transformers quality to it. Not sure what she ever did with it or if she even remembers it now. These came out in '84, so I'm thinking Hasbro was trying to apply the popularity of one transforming theme for boys to a girls' line.

What bothers me here is that Starfleet has a "war college". I thought they were peaceful explorers? Seriously though: they could have named it "strategic college", or "planning" something or another. "War"? Erm, not something the Federations starts...

Ah… that is bad. Cancer sucks. Wishing you all the best and a fast and successful recovery. 😢

Okie-dokie, we got a new episode... "Vitus Reflex". Also in Academy relevant news, apparently Kurtzman is personally directing the season two finale (since this series got renewed before it ever aired in Paramount's usual "set huge piles of money on fire and hope it finds an audience" approach. The episode opens on Cadet Reymi recording a personal message for his parents after about three weeks of classes at the Starfleet Academy San Francisco campus. It seems that his parents hold him to absurdly high standards? Apparently they made him promise to be last to sleep and first to wake up? Seems like he's being set up to be Well Done Son guy. I am, I must admit, obscurely pleased that the old tradition persists... light-up props that absolutely DO NOT need to light up in order to be "futuristic". Cadet Reymi's workout earbuds and jump rope have bright green LED illumination. Kinda gross that he's cracking raw quail eggs into his post-workout creatine tho. It is bizarrely disappointing in retrospect that they didn't make the Academy's actual gymnasium look more futuristic. It looks like a completely ordinary school gymnasium right out of the 1990s. The banners are fun though... the War College sports teams are the fighting Mugatos. Apparently the Starfleet Academy mascot is the Lapling, an endangered species known for being harmless. OK, so apparently all of this is in favor of doing a sports episode centered around the rivalry between Starfleet Academy and the Federation War College? Not gonna lie that does not feel like a great starting point for an episode given how forced the whole thing feels. It's less actual "rival schools" and more Dodgeball: a True Underdog Story level banter. It's trying really hard to be funny and it's not really sticking the landing. Colbert as the computer voice Dean of Students really was not a wise decision since he seems to exist solely to dispense mildly cringeworthy dad jokes... and even the characters in-series are starting to notice. Captain Ake asks if the voiceover for what's apparently a Starfleet Academy promotional video (that looks like it was cut together in 20 minutes) is "too stupid". (Colbert's only role seems to be to interject with what's supposed to be funny dialog anytime the writers think the series has gone too long without someone saying some funny line... it's pretty insipid.) OK, real talk time for a second. Did Quentin Tarantino script this? Because the amount of time spent getting Holly Hunter's bare feet into frame is beyond the point where I can write it off as accidental. We're into "probably someone's fetish" territory. (A point I feel is supported by the fact that the conversation veers into a literal discussion of fetishes shortly thereafter.) There's a shot where the cadets are discussing the prank war in what I guess is supposed to be a botany lab, but the room has an obviously green-screened background that looks less like a botany lab and more like a video game subway tunnel from about 15 years ago? Finally Caleb says something that makes me like him. He doesn't want to engage with the tribalist attitude surrounding the prank war or team sports. Sadly, the series undermines that and some earlier respect shown to Kraag when his decision to abstain was respected by depicting the rest of the cadet class as braindead idiots who are too clumsy, too busy flirting, or so dumb they're literally attempting to eat the potting soil. I really feel badly for Kerrice Brooks because the character she's playing WILL draw a lot of criticism for being a very unkind depiction of autism that's closer to a cognitive deficit. Apparently Calica is a game-ified combat simulation "sport" that is essentially a Serious Business version of laser tag. Enough so that a direct comparison is drawn by SAM. Apparently the War College has actual working security with restricted access. Kelrec even takes a shot at Ake for the swiss cheese security at the Academy. (Thok was not kidding about Kelrec's obsession with tea bordering on a fetish.) As soon as I wrote that, the showrunner started channeling the spirit of Quentin Tarantino again with Holly Hunter needing to get her bare feet in frame. Someone on this show has a foot fetish. It's really REALLY blatant. Apparently they didn't have enough of a budget to redress the gymnasium or construct a proper set for the Calica field, so the Calica match is taking place inside the Academy's atrium which has been relit in red and blue. So Lura and Reno are a thing? Weird relationship dynamic, but whatever. It honestly makes more sense than the Dax/Worf one with the free spirit and stick in the mud. This is two extremely cantankerous women with sharp tongues. Talk about a pairing with Statler and Waldorf energy. The Unspoken Plan Guarantee isn't being invoked here, so something will go off the rails. The first actual laugh the series got out of me was how exaggeratedly casual the cadets look watching the absolute havoc unfold at the War College across the quad. Captain Ake's office has a bunch of model starships scattered about including a refit Excelsior-class (Enterprise-B-type), Oberth-class, NX-class, Defiant-class, Intrepid-class, Galaxy-class, and one or two others too small to identify properly. AND AGAIN WITH THE FEET. I need an old priest and a young priest. We need to cast the ghost of Tarantino out of this series! Creepy and intrusive foot fetish aside, this series appears to be slowly improving. Holly Hunter's character is still an eyesore and the writers are still treating the academy more like a Buffy the Vampire Slayer-era high school than the incredibly exclusive university or post-graduate education it's supposed to be, and its humor is way too contemporary to not feel immediately dated, but graduating from offensively bad to indifference-inducingly mediocre is a hell of an improvement. If they ditch the dad jokes and maybe start treating these 20-something year old cadets like adults instead of braindead children who need to be told not to eat dirt it could actually be... dare I say... good.

That FR-13S one looks like a transforming happy meal toy I had as a kid. Fry Force or something.

It's totally stable to stand on its own. Maybe not in super one-legged dynamic kicking poses, but the static standing and reverse kneeling for entry its totally stable. My main complaint is all the separate little switches to turn all the lights on and off are a pain, but otherwise a great toy.

While I'm not a model building expert-far from it-, I think it'd be cool if Moderoid would or could get the Macross license and go hog wild on all of Kawamori's pantheon of transforming mecha, even the variable police craft from M7 or the Octos from M0.

Boy I love those little Yamato kits, they're such fun to build. I'm terrible about finishing them though, I actually really just enjoy building them and rebuilding them like Lego kits, since they go together and come apart again so cleanly. Eventually I'll have to just glue them permanently and paint them though, once the tabs wear down. I do like the oversized boxes though.. I think I've got about a dozen in a single box. If only they came in 1/48...

Hey @derex3592, I noticed you use Flory too, its the best - however do you find that after a little while, it settles into little tiny particles and no matter how much you shake, it seems to be a solution of sludge with particles in it and doesn't flow as well as when you first get it? Is there a way to revive old Flory (really only left in the bottle for a couple of years)? It's expensive to ship it across the pond every few years so now I'm trying the Tamiya panel liner stuff, but its enamel so I have to be much more careful what my paint underneath will be. I just wished Flory stuff stayed viscous. I'm starting something new to scratch that Straight-Out-Of-Box itch that my previous J-20S weren't able to do 😛 Man, Japanese plastic is such a pleasure!

I used needle nose pliers to gently push those tabs down into their slots and only then was I able to get them to engage as they should with, what I would assume, especially after seeing the ease at which it was accomplished in a couple transformation vids, undo force. I haven't untabbed them yet to see how they'll re-engage, but as I generally display my bots in bot mode, I feel no immediate compunction to try. As it is, the torso is locked solid and I can pose it however I wish without the worry of it coming undone and going all PEZ dispenser on me. I'd recommend the pliers approach to get your copy's torso to lock as well. Of course, despite all the other plentiful die-cast in this thing (it's a frickin' brick in your hand), those panels with the L-tabs are just plastic (go figure) so exercise care. I haven't tried the toothpick trick, but I'll keep that in mind. I used my fingers and managed to get them to seat somewhat in the palms so they're not just hanging in there loosely, but y'know, with all the other clever stuff they pulled off, would it have hurt to put those shields around the grips on hinges so they could swing out allowing unhindered access to the hands for leverage? SMH I can't speak to XTB's stuff to any great extent, but first issue Eligos was my second XTB toy (after Apollyon) so that should tell you something. 😄 Gawd that thing is a PITA to transform, and like so many other Eligos owners, the tabs on the piece that go around the cockpit broke on mine the first time after I tried to disengage it to go back to bot mode. I still like the look of Eligos, but I've no burning desire to ever transform him again. That said, I was a little dismayed that XTB was the only game in town doing Omnibots, but I bit the bullet out of pure desperation and FOMO. I think they're nice-looking toys, but they're still XTB with PITA transformation stuff (needlessly, IMHO), weird design decisions, etc. However, the car modes are gorgeous, beautifully painted and detailed, as well as all the G1 sticker details in the bot modes. On their faces, they're beautiful toys- they just have their finnicky bits to contend with. FWIW, I think their Constructicons have all looked amazing thus far. I'm not buying them, but I do think, out of all the current contenders, I like theirs the best, and that's saying something b/c MMC's got skin in the game, all-in-one, no less which is my fancy, and I think I still prefer the overall look of XTB's. Too, their Long Haul, to wit, is the ONLY Long Haul toy ever to have a proper dumping bed. You'd think by now that would be a standard feature for the character, but no. That seems like such an easy thing to design, especially given all the crazy clever origami these companies manage otherwise. Go figure. Anyway, I'm glad to finally have some updated Omnibots, and overall, I'm pretty happy with how they look and handle, Fioravanti's (Overdrive's) awful leg transformation notwithstanding. That said, I'd love to see some other leading contenders, including legends makers and Tak/Has, jump eagerly on that bandwagon. More Omnibots FTW!!!!

holy crap, I rather want those mcdonald transformers....it's been forever since they did this.

So this one is out now... and it seems like I was right that audiences were going to be asking for Refunds for Silent Hill. Critics are absolutely MURDERING it. It's currently rocking a 15% critic score and 30% audience score on RT. I'm gonna go see it Monday night to see how bad bad really is.

Iced in today, tomorrow and possibly Monday down here in North Texas, so we're going full steam ahead down here on dropping down a gazzilion little as yet unpainted parts on the Texas deck! Also panel lining up the BUFF with some Flory's Black wash...

Yeah. Best to do your own ripping. MakeMkv's site and forum should have some detailed instructions. That said, you will enncounter at least two issues: availability of UHD drives for your Mac. Last I checked, the specific UHD drives recommended by MakeMkv forums are currently out of stock at amzon. Maybe try newegg or microcenter, instead. 4K/HDR software-player. Not sure if your Mac plays 4K/HDR content natively, but DO NOT USE VLC PLAYER FOR 4K/HDR rips like DYRL-4K. It will be fugly washed-out by default. VLC is only good for regular DVD and Blu-Ray rips. Try to use MPV (https://mpv.io/) or whatever Mac-recommended UHD/HDR app-player instead: Here's a comparo: Hope this helps you out.

Waiting for the VF-1A CF, if they are gonna produce it.

I have more interest in it, than Doomsday and any upcoming Disney Wars projects. The main reason I am gonna watch it cuz of Evil Lyn and Skeletor,