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I'm neither for nor against Gundam being "super" or "real". However, there's one salient fact that stands out when compared to Macross: Gundam: hero vehicle is an experimental craft Macross: hero vehicle is one of many hundreds of mass produced vehicles Again, I have nothing against Gundam being "real" (or "super"). It just speaks volumes to me on Kawamori san's mindset and world-building.

I keep wanting to do that with all of the streaming channels...then they bring up something I actually enjoy....the latest was HBO with Welcome to Derry, a show I didn't know I needed.....if they announce a "Welcome to the Overlook Hotel" spinoff, I'll be locked in for another few years...LOL But I am with you on Netflix, after Stranger Things, not sure what they have coming...there was talk of a Stranger Things spin-off, but who knows....I hope the end of the Upside Down setting is over...... I still have The Boys final season with Amazon, the second season of Fallout so far I have not been able to get into lke the first season.......and HBO is starting up with yet another "GoT" series, plus Primal Season 3.....so the weakest at the moment for me seems to be Netflix.....

Hope everyone had a nice holiday. My wife and I don't exchange gifts, since we're fortunate enough to be able to buy most of what we want/need throughout the year whenever we decide we want/need it. So you could say that Santa didn't leave anything for me this year... but Kenneth the FedEx driver did, from Hasbro Pulse. So I got to spend some time on Christmas Eve unwrapping Age of the Primes Voyager-class Brawl. Brawl adheres to Hasbro's current penchant for making toys that skew a bit more toward the animation than they did the past. Right away, that leads to some noticeable improvements over the Combiner Wars version, like silver forearms, improved hip skirts, and a flatter chest with slots that I'll bet are actually for combined mode but do look like the cartoon's greebles, not to mention a gray head with orange eyes and a red mouth. Brawl also adheres to Hasbro's other current penchant for not quite committing fully to the cartoon. There's extra greebles on his crotch, and the vents on his shins are painted. Another slot that I assume is for combined mode breaks up the hexagon on Brawl's abdomen, and he's missing entirely the smoke grenade launchers on his chest... a detail that the Combiner Wars toy did have, even if they weren't painted. Still, I was honestly worried that Brawl could be worse. Menasor's leg bots had those kibble capes, and Superion's had those big ol' feet that sit under the jets. Breakdown and Wildrider shared entirely too many parts between them, and while I think Hasbro was a bit better about remolding the Aerialbots the actual engineering between both arm bots and both leg bots was the same. Hasbro clearly being tight with the budgets. And from this very own set, Vortex was kind of meh. I mean, he looks ok, but the arm kibble drives be a little nuts (more so because, despite not messing with him much, the flap with the stabs is super loose). However, Brawl has an edge here in that he's been bumped up to Voyager (and of the various class sizes, it seems Voyager has had the biggest percent price increase). Hasbro hasn't actually given me a lot to complain about here, short of nitpicking the fact that he's not as faithful to Sunbow as Magic Square in a manner that's 100% in-line with the rest of the post-Siege Generations soft reboot. Brawl comes with a few accessories. First, he's got his 85% cartoon-accurate gun. He's also got a pair of cannons. Brawl's head is on a ball joint- swivel, very slight downward and sideways tilt, slightly better upward tilt. His shoulders swivel and move laterally 90 degrees, plus due to his transformation he's got a bit of forward butterfly, too. His biceps swivel, and his elbows bend 90 degrees. No wrist swivel, sadly, but his waist does swivel. His hips can go about 90 degrees laterally and backward, though you may have to adjust the turret on his back, and a bit more than 90 degrees forward. His thighs swivel, and his knees bend 90 degrees. No downward tilt on his feet, but they can tilt up a little, and his ankles pivot nearly 90 degrees. Brawl can, of course, hold his gun in either hand. The cannons don't have 5mm pegs, though, so he can't hold those in his hands. What you can do is rotate the turret on his back 90 degrees and plug them into the turret, giving him a pair of over-the-shoulder guns. Want more options? There's a 5mm ports on his forearms you can plug his gun into (or other compatible 5mm accessories). And there's slots on the sides of his legs that his cannons can plug into. If you prefer less aggressive storage, Brawl weirdly has both a 5mm port on his back you can plug the gun into as well as a small slot that fits a small tab on the gun. As for the cannons, you can turn them and use different tabs to plug them into the same slots on the bottom of the turret, or you can plug them into the sides of the turret because options. If you weren't convinced that Brawl was benefitting from the extra Voyager budget yet, you will be after transforming him. His arms extend laterally, the little bits of treads on his shoulders open, and flaps on the insides of his forearms open to blend with the backs of his hands, then his shoulders rotate forward 90 degrees. The front of his chest opens so his head can fold down inside, then the entire chest (with the head inside) and shoulders disconnect from his abs and swing up. His waist swivels 180 degrees, and his feet and shins swing up. The bulk of what's left of his lower legs stretch out, sort of like Studio Series Megatron, to form much of his treads. Tab his legs together, then swing just the treads (not the knee joints) around to line up with tabs on Brawl's torso. Use Brawl's butterfly hinges to shift his arms into place, tucking them into his sides just above the treads. Speaking of, close the little treads on his shoulders and they'll tab into the ones that were in his legs. Finally, you can fold his shins over his thighs, collapsing his feet onto the backs of the shins as you do so. The turret is on a double hinge you can use to make sure you have enough clearance. Brawl's alt mode is clearly a baby-poop yellow/green/brown tank; that's probably enough for most people. Of course, I get to point out the visible gap where you can see the back of his head on the front, the gap behind the turret where his shins/feet don't quite cover his butt/hips, the gaps between his shoulder and biceps, and the gaps on the top near the sides where his arms don't totally reach his torso. I also have to point out the missing spotlight and smoke grenade launchers on the turret. Nitpicking a bit, I suppose. After all, the turret does swivel, and the cannon barrel can raise and lower. He rolls on little wheels in his treads. His gun can plug into his turret, and, in a first for an official Brawl since the G1 toy, he's got the cartoon-accurate cannons plugged into the rear of the tank, which can also be raised to nearly 90 degrees. So, I'm not going to sit here and tell you that Brawl is perfect... even on a Voyager budget I don't really expect Hasbro to pull off something like Magic Square did. Despite a number of minor quibbles, though, I feel pretty comfortable saying that Brawl is the best combiner component Hasbro's done in modern times that isn't a Commander-class toy. He's closer to the cartoon with better build quality than Combiner Wars Braw, and he's got better engineering than any of the Stunticons/Aerialbots/Constructicons/Vortex. G1 fans won't want to miss this one.

New link to the product design video on YouTube, this way speech can be translated to English by AI, wich isn't bad.... The video has lots of interesting comments so if you're a fan of the Hi-Metal R series its a must watch!

Getting back into gunpla with an out of the box build to get my feet wet. RG Aile Strike is fun to pose with just a couple of finnicky spots. Gotta love the engineering on this kit.

That’s an interesting change

looks like the wings are forward swept with guns on the end. Looks pretty amazing, just wish these werent close to $150 from domestic USA retailers. Why doesnt Amazon have this? Twich

I got the VF-31C kit for Christmas, I look forward to building it and adding it to my collection of Bandai HG Macross kits! Twich

So, when I receive this from BBTS next year, it will be a lot of "firsts" for me. A VF-31A that I missed out on and a Bandai DX Chogokin with a special stand. I am very excited for this and hope that maybe if sales are good, we can get a Arad custom VF-31A with the back custom art that we saw for all of 10 seconds in the series. Twich

She's One Punch (Wo)Man S1. "These fists are Rated-E for Everyone!"

Thanks for the update!! Very glad I got my name in, this will be amazing!

I'll be glad when this series ends so I can finally cancel my subscription to Netflix, lol.

Is it me, or does it have kind of a Lego vibe going on?

Digging these little details. Color separation via the plastic is not so important to me but having them separate parts makes painting smooth and easy.

Very sorry to hear (I can relate ... was in for 100s of hours 7 yrs ago) ... reading she's got an anticipated discharge is encouraging ... 🙏 for her recovery and you to hang on

FWIW, I enjoyed it clear through to the end. Scarlet is so delightfully free of the usual restraint and timidness of so many other female leads in her genre, and I promise the punching does not stop until the very end.

this a new anime, Sentinels III?

This looks. So. Good. Incredible talent! I wish someone would release the TV version. I prefer it to the DYRL (just more of an emotional connection).

Plamax Twitter/X BTS continues, this time leg detail.

Where's the crossbone vanguard insignia?

Christmas bombed; my wife is still in the hospital and may not be out until after New Years (or even later). She's been in since Dec. 9th. Half the time sitting here crying, the other half just sitting here numb.

Wrapped up Campfire Cooking in Another World with My Absurd Skill Season 2.. not bad. I think the premise might be getting abit long in the tooth, but I would still watch a S3 if they dropped one. And I finally found a title from this last season, that as of at least Ep 4 has me happily coming back for more.. May I Ask For One Final Thing? I am enjoying this series quite abit, its got more action then No Punch Man S3.. just sayin. Hopefully it doesn't crap the bed in the end.. but if it does.. shhhh.. let me enjoy this brief respite from meh.. this Fall 2025 anime season.. 😆

Talk about worldbuilding extraordinaire!

There's areas that can be improved upon (the head turning to the side, a slightly wider A-stance, more knee bend, a thigh or knee swivel joint, and allowing the chest covers to drop just a smidge to not block the bottom row of missiles). But it's such a massive, revolutionary improvement over all previous Tread designs that I gotta agree with your take. This is what 15+ years of design improvements should look like (glares angrily at Bandai).

The Tread is easily my toy of the year!!!