Southpaw Samurai

I always thought it was the trademark on the actual names, which is why we've seen 'Autobot Jazz' in re-releases and old G.I.Joes with additions to their names as well like 'Sgt. Stalker' and 'Agent Scarlett'.

Can't just use generic names (or non-generic car designs) willy-nilly like in the 80's anymore...

So unless there is an issue with Mazda wanting to avoid the 'Jazz' name, we could very well see an 'Autobot Jazz' alternator.

I may have to pick up the BT versions, though...just to ensure getting a red one. While I definitely prefer the white for Jazz/Meister, I'm thinking a red one with a custom sculpted head would make a really nice Cliffjumper.

I'll admit it's really cheap looking (just mold it all in black with no paint apps), but maybe I'm just a big fan of black, but I kinda dig it.

Tell me it doesn't scream out for the Playboy Bunny painted on its tail fins instead of the Jolly Roger?

To wolframbane's credit, the MiG-28 'Foolish' (love the name) does appear as more than just the Aggressors and somehow their pretend planes look identical to the actual 'real' 28's that Maverick and co. engage in live action, so it's safe to assume that the MiG-28 isn't exactly like an F-5E. If I remember correctly, they also mention that the 28's are faster than the Tomcats...definitely not F-5s, unless I'm totally off on the Tiger's abilities compared to the 'cats.

But, as TWDC says, it's highly doubtful that the creators of Top Gun put anymore effort into the history/backstory/design of the MiG-28 short of saying 'So, what's a MiG number not in use yet? 27? No? How about 28?'. There's a very evident level of dedication in the movie and it's barely a cursory one. That said, there may be a fan site out there with some info, but given that it wasn't even modified from an F-5 aside from paint, there's probably little interest. That would, of course, could make you a pioneer in coming up with whatever you want. You could become the sole expert on the MiG-28 and have a page that any kid who ever looks up a MiG-28 for info after watching Top Gun could find first and perhaps even be lead to believe it actually exists.

I'd say a quick backstory is that it was based on stolen plans (maybe a prototype model?) for the F-5 which only really provided airframe design and only hinted at interior pieces and performance. The Soviets were lead to believe it was to be a super fighter (similar to NATO and the MiG-25) and hence tried to create a similar model using an almost identical body (stereotypical...perfect for Top Gun). Their final result was an aircraft that in many ways was superior to the Tiger, but hardly as cost effective. Just how a MiG got an even numbered designation that most likely was already a duplicate in the Su-28 may be an entire novel in and of itself.

I'd say stop giving wolframbane crap over this. The only difference about wondering over the details of a fictional aircraft in Top Gun and ones from Macross or some other sci-fi is the amount of effort put into the said aircraft by the original creators (in the case of the Top Gun makers, is at a level slightly less than the manufacturing plants for Toynami).

What about the size of the Alpha? Dont you think its too small therefore its more fragile. You know? Cuz I think I know but does what I think really matter? Toynami can you hear me?!?!

Well, Felix covers that in effect by saying they tried to do too much. A larger size would've allowed for less fragility with all the little goodies they wanted to throw in, but, as has been said, it would've made it off scale from the previous MPCs (if that's really a concern), plus it would make the potential Beta simply HUGE. As much as I would've loved a 1:48 Alpha, the Beta would've suddenly been approaching the size of the BBi 1:18 fighters.

Now...a transformable 1:18 Alpha with a pilot who could pull out and actually ride/wear the Cyclone.... Done right (which means, as sad as I am to admit it, not done by Toynami), I'd be willing to part with a hefty chunk of change for that....who needs a Beta at that point...especially since the Alpha itself would eat up a shelf to itself.

Will try to post some more posed Alpha pictures this weekend...there's this sad little part of me that wants to play with it until it becomes as loose or something breaks like so many people have experienced with their just out of the box versions.

A very easy quiz for G1 fans...I'll admit not knowing for sure that a few of the names weren't more modern Transformer names, but I pretty much went on a 'if it's not a G1 name, it's a drug' and got a perfect score.

It would've been a lot more difficult if they went with the more obscure characters from the comics and cartoon who actually have names that sound like drugs...

Well, Alpha #3130 has arrived in pretty good condition so far. It's transformed from fighter to battloid, back to fighter and again battloid so far with no major mishaps. I will admit I was gentler with it than I was with my first 1/48 VF-1A.

No excessive looseness yet, although I can easily imagine this getting loose from use quicker than just about any other transforming toy I have. The lack of rachetting on the arms is noticeable...they aren't floppy on me, but you have to over extend the angle you want and let it settle back down. Is the toy itself worth the $65 I paid for it? Not really, although if everyone was guaranteed the quality would be at least as good as mine, I'd easily say $50 wouldn't be too bad a price.

Strangely enough, I'm not a dark panel line fan, but SDFCommander's Alpha almost makes me think it would be perfect. So now I have to think about it before I go ahead with the stickering....

Anyway, here's a pic of the lil'guy thinking he can share a shelf with one of the Yamato masterpieces.

At least a half decade if not close to ten years ago there was a 12" 'Hicks' action figure that came bundled with an Alien figure. It used the G.I.Joe hall of fame body with its pathetic articulation and it looked nothing like Cpl.Hicks, but despite the lack of detail, the armor, weapon, and tracker weren't that bad. I wound up picking the set up in the bargain bin a few years back and had transferred the marine items to a more poseable figure...still haven't gotten around to finish that customization (one of those 'one of these days' projects). It's no where near the accuracy and details of the model, but it might be what you're looking for if you want a poseable, customized figure. I don't know what the two pack goes for these days, though...although on ebay they seems to be going for not much more than I picked up my set for.

Here's an image from one of the auctions...this guy already made some modifications, like the microphone and strap for the motion detector. Just don't pay much attention to the near worthless GIJoe arms...

Somewhere I have a set of photos of Tomcats with the same 'cottonball' or ring behind them...even a video of the effect at low altitude (as pointed out by someone else, probably sub-sonic). If I can track down the original sources, I'll link them. For some reason, it just looks cooler with an F-14...then again, an F-14 gathering dust on some beatup strip is cooler looking than almost any Hornet image, in my opinion.

From the sound of it, I have to hand it to Toynami for their care in attempting to achieve perfect realism...

...it sounds like in the end we'll as many good condition MPC Alphas as there were fighters that survived the Mars Base invasion of Earth.

Speaking of which, I have a question for diehard Mospeada fans. Does the numerical designation of the stickers for the MPC correspond to Scott/Stick's original lost fighter or the one he and the gang used later on? I know the animation never was detailed enough to show it, but was curious if there was any indication in art books or anything.

Sort of disappointed there isn't more keyboard controls. It's a little difficult to come out of warp, get your shields up, and fire a first volley torpedo with a laptop touchpad.

I'm just glad it saves your prestige...I'd barely be able to afford repairs (much less look forward to eventually getting the Sovereign class) if everytime you died you had to start from zero. Have learned to do hit and runs with the Runabout though, so it's getting easier.

The sheer blasphemy of the notion of turning a Valkyrie in a Seeker aside, I actually considered that myself given the amount of 1/60's I have and a desire to see my BT/Alt. Autobots fight someone aside from recolored clones of themselves. The color scheme actually isn't horrible (I have a hastily done line art image I did in Starscream colors I'll have to dig out). It'll probably be best with a super-vf1 so you can use the FAST pack thrusters to sort of (since they sit behind the head, not to its direct sides) imitate the intakes standing taller than their heads and the arm armor could be modified so you could pull out the Seeker's long arm weapons in robot mode. Granted, the chest would be flatter than the almost feminine look of the Seekers, but it'd be no different than the changes in the BT/Alts.

While the 1/48 would be a little closer in scale transformed-mode-wise, it would make the Seekers practically Prime sized in robot mode (which I suppose would make them a little scarier)... my guinea pig was going to be a 1/60 just because of the cost to chance-my-crappy-skills will wreck it ratio. Besides, with the FAST packs remove any chance it's supposed to be an earth fighter anyway, so size wouldn't matter.

I completely agree, though, that it'll never happen on a professional level and I'd much rather see a new design based on either an F-15, F-22, or Flanker.

Y'know, it would figure that the moderate to practically happy reviews here would convince me to order one and as soon as I do all the negative reviews come out of the woodwork. At least I didn't pay full price for it.

I'm hoping some of the negativity is from random bad ones and just the general anti-Toynami sentiment here (I personally thought the MPC wasn't a bad toy...nowhere NEAR the quality of the Yamato Valks and not worth a third of the asking price, if that...but a decent toy. It helped that my VF-1J MPC didn't have floppy legs (I'm half thinking it's either poor magnet placing on some or simply user error, since I DO have floppy legs if I don't transform it correctly) or much in the way of bad painting...still, it's about the only Valkyrie I have that sits in its box). As long as my Alpha doesn't start to break up like it had a very rough landing on its tiny gears, I should be happy enough. I don't care about the paint because I'll probably touch it up anyway (I don't like the look of a clean Alpha/Legioss...for some reason I like them looking a little rugged and dirty). The loose arms are going to be something to work at, though...

I'll agree, though, that it's amazing that that you can get some really great quality out of plastic 'knock-offs' in the Alternators and pay less than a third of the price. Of course, one must remember that at least half the price of the MPC must be going into its packaging. ...a feature I could do without since I always display the toys I appreciate outside of the box anyway...

I was actually going to ramble on over this, but decided the smiley says enough. I don't understand this 'Bendis is god' stuff. Don't dislike his work, but maybe I just haven't read enough or for long enough to appreciate whatever magic it is that fans love and Marvel feels is worthy of allowing him to write any book he wants and do whatever he wants.

Marvel should just turn its M upside down and call themselves Wolvie Comics. And isn't Spider-Man a liability in a globe/galaxy hopping role if he's the sort to worry about whether he fed his goldfish that morning? The one nice thing about this Marvel Universe under Bendis implosion is that you won't need crossover epics since every comic will feature the same five characters. Okay...I promised not to ramble, so 'nuff said.

Sadly, all I remember about the tv series was that it had Predator's Poncho, Richard Chaves, in it...which was cool enough for me at the time. I loved the original movie as a kid, but haven't seen it in at least a decade and a half.

I'm not going to immediately jump on the bandwagon of "why remake a classic? It's gonna suck!" despite the fact that this could very well become (actually, with 98% certainty) become a Tom Cruise vehicle. Don't have high hopes, but won't brand it without further evidence.

I do believe, however, that stories should only be retold if one can tell it better for whatever reason or one has a particular take or spin one wants to present (Spielburg has the potential to be doing one or the other, or both, hence why I won't immediately bash it). Remaking for the sake of just making money off an already popular concept without leaving a personal mark on the tale is wrong.

The Associated Press

Preceded by "Alien vs. Predator" video games, the movie drew a largely male audience, most younger than 25. To broaden its appeal, 20th Century Fox brought the movie in at a PG-13 rating, though the previous four "Alien" films and two "Predator" flicks had hard R ratings for violence.

"I don't think it's a cop-out at all," said Bruce Snyder, the studio's head of distribution. "This is based on a video game that did have a bit of a younger audience. There's a lot of action and violence, but most of it is creature to creature rather than creature to people."

This should piss you guys off just a bit at the end of the article....

When I first read this article a day or so ago, I did get a kick out of how the concept apparently only goes back as far as the video game.

It does explain a lot of the problems with the movie and the inconsistencies with the older movies as well as the choice in director.

But even in the AvP games it took awhile for Aliens to develop. You face-hugged, then went to a cutscene that indicated some amount of time and then were a chest burster for awhile before becoming a full fledged adult.

You know you've done a diservice to the original material when non-fans like a female friend of mine who went to see it with her boyfriend commented about 'didn't it used to take longer for the Aliens to mature?' and she's maybe seen Alien once and Aliens twice....hardly a super-critical fan boy.

Takara certainly missed the boat with keeping Tracks yellow since the yellow and black would've made a perfect Decepticon color scheme. Instead of releasing alternate Meister colors like most people are predicting, they should've done the white one as Meister/Jazz and the red one as Cliffjumper or yet one more Stunticon. As much as I'm not too interested in the Decepticon Binaltechs/Alternators, you'd have better luck getting me to buy one of each if they were different characters. As it stands, I'm going white only with Meister and hope for a blue Tracks (or the Alternator).

Grimlock does look better each time I see him, although I've still not sure about the different color mouthplate...

Well the prize for their contests is a sculpture of the winning entry in a size no larger than 10"x8"x8". Whether that's the maximum size they can do or not is another question. They say it's valued up to $200, so you can at least safely assume that such a size would cost around that amount. Depending on what I was planning on making, I don't know if I could live with the texture (and definitely wouldn't have the skill to sand it down smoother if I had detailing), but it could be very cool to have some physical representations (and/or 'inaction' figures) of characters I've drawn or written (now to polish up my 3d modeling skills...really haven't done much since I went crazy in the early Rhino beta days).

Definitely cheaper than the place that does head sculps for 12" figures, plus you still get the joy of painting it yourself (which was my favorite part of the model building stage).

I can't wait! Does that mean American muscle (since they ARE dinosaurs and such) for the Dinobots?

I suggested such earlier in this thread (actually suggested they'd be old style, 'who cares about anything but pure power' muscle cars, not newer versions) and agree it would be very fitting for them, both in terms of age and mentality. I doubt we'll see all the Dinobots, though. Outside of Grimlock (who had a Boba Fett like fan base) the Dinobots were fairly forgettable two dimensional characters (heck, the movie couldn't even bother keeping track of which ones were around when). Snarl, Slag, Sludge, and Swoop were basically all moron clones who distinguishing factor was the rising pitch of their voice. Besides, I wonder which car manufacturers will allow their vehicles to be called Sludge and (in particular) Slag.

While I concur that Ironhide should be something large and brawny, he'd make a pretty cool muscle car too and it would fit the 'age' thing (heck, as much as people hate the post-movie Transformers, you could then repaint Ironhide's muscle car into the pale blue they actually did paint cars in back then and call him Kup and have the two old timers).

That Tango 600 DOES look like Cliffjumper after he tried sneaking between Optimus and Ultra Magnus during rush hour, although I have to agree that the only Autobot I'd even consider for that would be Wheelie.

That would be perfect for Windcharger.

I'd have to agree. Not only a good likeness, but Dodge would probably love having the name in there, as you've alluded to.

They should even keep the old minibot transformation so his head would be as wide as the chests of the other Autobots (okay, I'm joking about that, although very serious about the name choice if it were ever to be used. I do think it fits him well.).

Talk about treading softly...I didn't realize Grimlock's feet were the seats. Wouldn't imagine Grimlock being the most quiety stepper around. Could you imagine sitting in him after he's walked around?

"Me Grimlock need feet re-upholstered!"

The use of the seats (as opposed to trying to hide them) does give credence to the supposed Mini design, though.

I have to agree with Eugimon. Not only does his legs look like he's wearing a hakama, but I think they fit with the large legs of the old Dinobot designs. I'm definitely digging the design, although I'm hoping he keeps his old style faceplate face, though.

Caught this off fanfilms.com. Not bad. Definitely has the same 'professional' feel as Dead End had. Still think I prefer Grayson, but that may just be because I'm not much of a Superman fan. Grayson (until the Justice League cameos) felt like it WAS a trailer for a movie that actually had some meat to it. While World's Finest definitely has a story (as opposed to Dead End's empty visual feast), it still feels too much like a mash of imagery...heck, it appears like a good chunk of the entire Lois/Clark relationship would take place in this film if it was the whole movie.

Still, I would rather pay either creator $8 to watch their under <10 minute shorts than pay the same money to WB to watch 90 minutes of Catwoman or Jack Black's Green Lantern...

I'd be willing to pay the price if it included William Daniels locked in the trunk connected to the car's speakers so I could have actual conversations with K.I.T.T. as I drove it to the gas station to fill it up and then bring it back home before I'm empty again.

actually, I think grimlock is a good fit.... muscle cars are never looked as having much finese... it's all brawn right? fits grimlocks personality pretty well, I think... though, I suppose a big truck would do just as well.

I agree. I have no problem with Grimlock being a car as long as he's a brute force looking car (although I would've preferred more of the car-orientated G1 Autobots first). Nothing overly sleek. Would've preferred a truck or pickup ("Me Grimlock Ram-tough!" ...maybe a repaint of whatever they make Trailbreaker?), but a Mustang works...although the Dinobots should've all been old school muscle cars....would've been more fitting for their style and they would've been auto-dinosaurs of a sort....although Sludge and Slag would be odd, almost disturbing names for cars...

Never understood Grimlock's popularity short of robots+dinosaurs. I hated both the cartoon and comic versions of him. Liked the toy, though. When I played with him as a kid, he was very independent minded and not necessarily the brightest bulb, but he wasn't seven bits short of a byte and always causing trouble.

I loved Predaking as a kid. Big, heavy, metal, and he was all about swords and mean animals. What more can a growing boy needs? He was the perfect anti-Dinobot solution.

Nowadays, though, I look at Predaking and he almost looks like a big gorilla that rampaged through an animal puppet show and then got a big orange bucket stuck to his head. Still, I suppose he does still look more menacing than most of the anorexic gesalts...