All Activity

Super Mario Galaxy and Galaxy 2 hit for the Switch/Switch 2 tomorrow. Anyone hear if the Switch version of Galaxy is different/better enough to warrant purchasing the whole collection if I already have the 3D All Stars collection? Or should I save some cash and just get Galaxy 2?

I'm not going to judge the MPG line based on a repaint of a decade-plus old MP... I mean, with the old MP line dead where else does it go? And with SS86 and Missing Link Soundwaves hitting in 2026 I don't blame Takara packing Soundwave into every line while he's fresh on people's minds. I will, however, judge MPG based on their original molds. Granted, so far the only one I've picked up was Super Ginrai, and he was rather underwhelming. He was, in my opinion, a premium price for a toy that could have been in Generations if they dumped some of the accessories and chrome, and he suffered from a number of tolerance issues (the Super head liked to pop loose, the truck panels on the legs wouldn't stay tabbed in, too much wiggle in between ratchet clicks, etc). But these days you haven't really Ginrai-ed until you God Ginrai, so now I also picked up MPG Godbomber. My first impressions aren't too bad. He's a lighter figure, but you kind of expect that on a figure with a largely hollow torso who breaks down into components that have to be supported by another toy's joints. His joint tolerances seem better, too, and whether that's actually from Takara paying more attention and tightening him up or simply because the joints don't have to work as hard to support the weight, who can say. The colors are pretty on-point (his pelvis could maybe stand to be a little darker). Cartoon accuracy does seem to be a little less pressing in MPG than the original MP line, though. His proportions are definitely a bit more heroic, with more of a tapered waist, higher wings, and massive forearms that put the fins closer to his shoulders than his elbows. But perhaps the oddest choice is how is shoulder cannon sits. There's a black part with a 5mm port attached to the top of his torso. The instructions would have you fold it back, then the 5mm peg on the cannon is on an elaborate hinge system to angle the peg so it's pointing forward, allowing it to plug into the black piece. There's even a support piece that folds out from the front of the cannon to help brace it. But the thing is, there's a 5mm port on to the top of his back you could use without all the extra hinges on the cannon or the black part on his torso. I guess that segues into accessories. Well, you've got the aforementioned cannon, which is the only thing I think Godbomber really needs. The missile can be removed, but it's not spring-loaded or anything. Takara also gives you some more of the blast effect parts that came with Super Ginrai, little unarticulated slugs for the Headmaster Juniors, a trailer adapter, two stand adapters, and a big ol' sword because of that one time in that one episode. At first I thought Godbomber's head might be a ball joint, because he can't look down much but he's got fantastic upward tilt and good sideways tilt in addition to swiveling, but closer inspection reveals a rivet swivel and separate hinges for sideways and upward tilt. His shoulders swivel on a ratchet and they ratchet nearly 90 degrees laterally; make sure you're using the actual shoulder joint and not the transformation joint. He's also got some butterfly hinges that bring his shoulders foreward 90 degrees. He's got bicep swivels above his elbows, which bend just under 90 degrees, then another swivel below the elbow. His wrists swivel, and his hands can bend backward. His thumbs have a hinge at the base for pinching. His other fingers are pinned at the base and mid-knuckle, with the index fingers being separate from the other fingers. His waist can swivel 45 degrees to the left or right, but that's good enough for most poses. His hip skirts move so his hips can ratchet about 90 degrees forward, just under 90 degrees laterally, and about 45 degrees backward. His thighs swivel, and his knees ratchet a little more than 90 degrees. No toe tilts, but his ankles pivot nearly 90 degrees on ratchets. If you mount his shoulder cannon the official way, it can tilt down a bit or back so that it's straight up in the air, though you'll likely need to fold the support back in and you'll expose another handle if you bend it back too far. If you just plugged it into the port on his back it can't tilt down, but it can still tilt up about 45 degrees. The blast effects can plug into the guns on his forearms, as well as the blue details on the left side of his chest. Godbomber can also hold the sword by plugging a tab on the handle into a slot on fingers. His hands are too small to really close around the handle, though. The transformation for Godbomber's not bad! They didn't totally try to avoid partsforming like the Legends toy (which left it with needlessly complicated hinges to move the chest without disconnecting it, but they also didn't design him to totally come apart then get pieced back together like the G1 toy. Instead, the front of his torso splits from the back half, taking his arms, head, and wings with it. The crotch opens, allowing his hips to slide forward, then his legs come up and over his crotch and tab together. Some flaps fold out of his back, and the unpainted, unchromed gray bits fold and tuck down so that tabs on them are pointing toward what will become the back of the vehicle. Meanwhile, on the other part, the head folds in, the wings move out of the way, and the shoulders drop. Things need to turn so that inside of the shoulder joint is now facing outside and the arms can swing and tab together. Joints in the wings tuck into the spaces his shoulder joints were occupying, then they fold upward. This bit uses some tabs to plug into his shins on the other part, then panels swing out from the sides of his legs to fill in the sides of the vehicle, tabbing into his bumper and the unpainted gray flaps. The fins on the arms can tilt inward, giving you the clearance to plug the cannon into the black part. For this mode, the cannon's peg is folded up so it goes straight down into the black part, but it seems like now would have been a better time to use those hinges to position the cannon so that the fins wouldn't have been in the way in the first place. Aside from having to tilt the fins in to give the cannon room, I don't have any complaints about Godbomber's alt mode. The mechanical detail on the inside of the shoulder joint is cartoon accurate, and a blue panel rotates up from the leg panels to help fill in the area around Godbomber's hands. The proportions are about what you'd expect, and the whole thing holds together pretty solidly once everything is tabbed together right. Godbomber's wings can fold down, and the boosters on them can rotate 180 degrees. This allows you to plug the effect parts into them for a flying trailer mode. Alt mode is also where most of the other accessories we haven't talked about come into play. For example, the front opens to reveal and nicely-painted interior. The Headmaster Junior slugs can sit inside, but here's where things get weird. There are little slots at the bottom of the brown-painted seats, and tabs on the bases of the Juniors. The tabs are on their front sides, so they can plug into the slots in the seats but they're facing backward. Another alt mode accessory is the trailer adapter. See, Godbomber's bumper but has a bit that flips out with a peg on the underside. But there isn't clearance under Godbomber for Ginrai's legs, so you can plug the adapter into the trailer port on Ginrai and it adds a new port behind his feet, so he can tow Godbomber. I'd expect that most people who bought Godbomber bought MPG Super Ginrai, not MP non-Super Ginrai, though. Super Ginrai's trailer already has a port that can fold out from the rear, allowing Godbomer to attach without any adapter needed. Of course, most people who bought Godbomber weren't doing it for the double trailer, they were doing it to form God Ginrai. Sadly, this is where things kind of fall apart for me. First, Godbomber needs to be disassembled, because this time he's back to totally partsforming. In fact, my first complaint is that there are actually more parts than before. See, you remember how I was just saying that Godbomber's forearms seemed to big? Well, you have to open them up, and flip around Godbomber's hands to reveal another set of slightly larger hands. Bigger forearms and bigger hands make God Ginrai's arms look a little small, so red parts are removed from inside Godbomber's waist to peg into his Ginrai's shoudlers, making them also look bigger... from some angles. From other angles now they're horribly hollow, and to add insult to injury they don't stay pegged in particularly well. The forearms don't fare much better, eschewing the Combiner Wars-style sliding connector on Godbomber for a 5mm peg into Ginrai's forearms. Which brings me to my second big complaint, one of Godbomber's forearms was misassembled. It had no bearing on Godbomber's robot or alt modes, but the flap with the peg was installed backward, so I had to take part the arm (five screws) and turn it around before I was able to connect it to Ginrai at all. Godbomber's legs side off his hips, again, Combiner Wars-style. The toe folds out, the thigh folds in, and the red detail on Godbomber's shins have to fold out, spin 180, and fold back in the reveal the connectors for Ginrai's feet. The front of Godbomber's torso splits again, so the pelvis detatches, which seems kind of unnecessary since it reattaches to the same part, just by folding the hips back, lifting the hip skirts, and plugging the skirts into Godbomber's waist. That whole contraption will fit, loosely, onto Ginrai's back, with tabs on the trailer hitch plugging into slots under Godbomber's neck to help secure it into place. Finally, Godbomber's back and butt slide over Ginrai's cab and tab into two places on each side... IF you have Ginrai's cab seated exactly right. If it's off even a little Godbomber won't fit over properly and can't tab into place. Aside from the new fists (which are articulated exactly the same as the smaller Godbomber fists), all of God Ginrai's joints are the same as his Super Ginrai ones and he has the same articulation as before. The cannon plugs into ports where the top sides of the trailer folded up onto his back, using the same folded-in configuration as Godbomber's alt mode. You can also fold out a handle from the cannon and have God Ginrai hold it in his hands using a slots that plug into the fingers, just like the sword (which, despite being held in larger hands, is still too big to really close the fingers around). And he does look pretty good... assuming you can keep him together. Again, I had the head popping up from the cab, the shoulder armor popping off, and the truck panels not staying folded against his legs. Plus, there are joints that extend Ginrai's shoulders to outward a bit for God Ginrai mode that help make him look proportional with all the extra kibble, but using those joints made his shoulders kind of droopy. On it's own, I kind of like MPG Godbomber. I think it's one of the better Godbomber toys around, with decent articulation and all-around solid robot and alt modes. But again, most people want Godbomer to complete God Ginrai. Putting together God Ginrai was frustrating, and keeping him together is nearly as frustrating. To be fair, a lot of the issues are still issues with Super Ginrai; poor tolerances, and the need to have little Ginrai's knees bend just right to line up his legs just so to seat him properly in Super mode. But some of it is still on Godbomber. He commands a premium price because he comes with accessories I don't actually want or need, plus a few things like the hinges in his cannon mount and the fact that you have to open is over-sized forearms to fold in his hands and fold out slightly larger hands when one pair of hands for both Godbomber and God Ginrai would have sufficed are over-engineered in ways that do nothing except inflate the parts count and price. I think, if for some reason Godbomber is like your favorite character and you really want a good toy of him and don't care about Ginrai or combinations, then yeah, MPG Godbomber is probably the best Godbomber toy ever released. Go pick one up! But I don't otherwise recommend him... as an accessory for Ginrai he's just ok, but the real issue is that Super Ginrai isn't good enough to recommend in the first place. Which, I suppose, is a really long-winded way of saying I agree with @lechuck— MPG does feel subpar.

Well, honestly, the pic with the leg bent forward along with the white leg within also bent forward elucidated the 'how' of the thing. My question remains how far can it bend? Can it go full 90 degrees relative to the waist, does the pic indicate the limit of movement, or is it somewhere in between? I'm not getting the figure, but my general curiosity beggars an answer. To that end, if anyone here gets ML Magnus, I hope you'll share your thoughts and perhaps a pic or two showing off the engineering. For my part, I thought this G1 toy a particularly challenging one to imbue with the ML treatment; I remain impressed at the execution and the Takara designers' ingenuity.

Careful using amz.jp to preorder this DX VF-17S. They do their new charge-now/pay-now policy on it instead. It happened to me last night and I canceled it right away. Not sure if its general amz.jp preorder-policy now or just randomized items, as I didn't get charge-now/pay-now when I PO ML-Ultra Magnus a month or so ago.

Yeah, I'm in no rush to receive anything at this point. If the sites don't mind holding my stuff, I'm happy to let them do so until the shipping options open up again.

UPDATE: TFWiki confirmed in their entry for ML Ultra Magnus that the knees bend forward: This pic shows the lower leg on the cab bent forward (sadly, not the forward bend on the knee itself, but I think we can see on it that it would require that): Link: https://tfwiki.net/wiki/Ultra_Magnus_(G1)/toys#Missing_Link

38982 total from Amazon Japan with shipping and import charges. I'll just wait it out with HLJ and their unlimited PW.

Monthly Magex Rogue update: delayed till November…

I think that would be a great addition. I am unfamiliar with this specific product but I have a few Mr color crystal colors that add a really nice effect. I think I have a nice blue one that may elevate this build a little. Lots of beetle carapaces have that jewel like shimmer. Good call. I guess I’m now leaning towards a more high gloss for the armor parts and flat for the joints, nooks and crannies. Thanks so much for the suggestion. 👍 This is what the blue crystal color looks like over dark lacquer paint. This is from Wave co. FFS kit

Thinking about your project here (how bug-like it looks), have you considered an iridescent top coat on it? I saw this online and wanted to know your thoughts: https://www.walmart.com/ip/Pouring-Masters-Professional-Acrylic-Pearlescent-Mixing-Effects-Medium-8-oz-Bottle-Create-Pearl-Iridescent-Metallic-Effects-Improve-Flow-Consistency/2340932760?classType=REGULAR&adsRedirect=true It says it can be used as a topcoat to add an iridescent effect to paint (clear, just iridescent). I thought that maybe it would help it look more alien, but you might not want to go that route. Just a suggestion.

Hi, recently I've been inspired by @PixelatedShinobi with his translation of the Macross Frontier novels to try to do the same with Macross The Ride. However, I haven’t been able to find a digital version anywhere. Looked at Book Walker were the rest of the novels are and nothing, perhaps because the story was published by Dengeki Hobby. I also searched in Japanese and also nothing, I know the visual guides were scanned but not the novels themselves. I know it was compiled in two volumes but if I can get my hands on a digital release It would be more practical. Does anyone know where I could find the novels? I really enjoyed Ukyō Kodachi’s writing style on Gubaba’s translation of the first Delta volume and honestly I want more. Hope you gys can help me out.

Biblical horror movie?

$116 USD , "Buy it Now"

Huh, looks 2100 Yen more expensive from Amazon vs HLJ but I'm sure there are shipping considerations that might even it all out.... though let's not talk about shipping and hope things get better!

This is the Frankenstein that I’m looking forward to. Odd that there seems to be a few upcoming including a weird Bonnie and Clyde version

I hated the first one, but I’m curious to see how the kid survives without insulin

Just placed my order from HLJ too. This is the first valkyrie order I have done in over a year. I am quite excited... I love the VF-17 design.... much more so than the Fire Valkyrie (I really hate the Fire Valkyrie's lips in particular). Now if only they would release a transformable Battle 7, along with a City 7 for it to dock to. Update: I just placed an Amazon Japan order.... I think it is slightly cheaper there. Now I will go cancel my HLJ order....

First layers of brushes painting lacquers are down and looking rough. Going to do another thin layer all around then it’s time for clean up, some panel lines “I guess I’ll call them that”, flat top coat and weathering etc… been super busy lately so its taking forever to get this done.

Of Man and Monster

To help show the boys and gals in the back, you could get a two or three tier shelf organizer.

Huh, seems you're right. The specs sheet even reflect that, with the 17 being shorter (length and height) and lighter than the 171. It certainly doesn't look like the smaller craft, though, and it being classed as a heavy fighter/bomber whereas the 171 is a general purpose fighter doesn't help, either. Well, not THAT drastic a difference, but certainly to my eyes the 171 looks pretty clearly downsized from the 17. I suppose I just inferred wrongly from the lore that "downgrade" and "cost effective" both meant smaller... because again, and I hate to emphasize it, but the 171 looks slimmer and smaller than the 17. Either way, I still don't like the decision. I agree that I'd be more amenable to it being a "VF-171 Diamond Force colors" or whatever instead. Also, apparently the head sculpt is significantly inaccurate anyway? The top of the head retains a glaring pointed detail carried over from the 171 when all the 17S artwork is very obviously not so.

Done and done. This is the 31A straight out of Delta Scramble with the official textures, I haven't touched anything up on it. It's a bit lighter than the Navy colors, which makes the panel lines stand out and hides the decals a bit. Also interesting is that the shadow on the backside of the tail fin is textured on, not cast by the lights in the model space.

we all survived zentradi bombardment since we are posting here... so where did you end up in our current year. 2025: Megaroad-13 colonizes planet Varauta 2027: Windermereans first encountered humans upon the Megaroad-04's discovery of their planet. Diplomatic relations were established on terms which some Windermereans strongly resented. 2030: (September) new Macross class transports or New Macross-class are launched. 2031: the 21st colonial expedition, Macross Galaxy, launched from planet Eden. Macross Galaxy fleet is also said to have been composed of "9th Large-scale emigration fleet, the 51st Super-Long-Distance colonization fleet and the 21st New Macross Class Emigration Fleet". Lead ship: Macross Galaxy aka Macross 21

Anyone interested in a new VF-0D Premium finish valk? Selling my mine, just scroll down to see the photos!

I am displaying my DX VF-1s in multiple ModuSpace monos, so the footprint is fairly large per shelf. I use the larger arms based on the type of pose that I want, of course it is up to the individual. Here is an example of the large arm on the ArchiPro Stand and this is not near the limit of the stand. MB