Drad

I think we can all agree that he is indeed an @$$hole, but ya can't tell me you guys don't miss his wonderfully garbled, grammar-wrecked, CAPPED, and punctuation-devoid posts. It was funny to hear him dig himself into ever deeper holes as he tried to defend himself and his Vintage Valkyrie Tree. Doesn't mean I wanna see him back here, though. The guy deserves to get his b@lls caught in the rear axle of a passing bus.

Kind of how you are making Culverin feel inferior right now huh? Answering his question was very noble of you, but you don't want to scare newbies off. I've heard time and time again about why some people don't hang out here and ask questions because of the "attitude" they get. If the mods what to "yell at him or make him inferior" like you say, let them. That's their job, not yours. Bravo. Well said, bruddah. Well said.

Dude, your employees are merciless. I prefer Ungay Jay. Seriously, I bet they come up with a new name for you like every six weeks or so, probably. Sounds like a fun place to work. Back on topic.. so far the results of the poll are looking pretty poor for Toynami.

Time to see what we can see... Provide details, positives and negatives, etc. if you want. Thanks. EDIT: This poll assumes that you handle your Alpha reasonably and in a way that would not typically cause damage. The "exploded" option covers anything from massive breakage/damage to just plain bad or unsatisfactory for any number of reasons. There ya go, Evil Jeebus. Just for you.

Sheesh. They can't even get the NUMBERS right. This gets better and better.

STAY AWAY FROM ARAFAT209. PERIOD. I can hear the post storm coming now, heh...

I have my Alpha standing by the monitor here in Battloid mode.. and it does look pretty nice, I must say. The right arm supports the gunpod just fine as long as the elbow is flexed completely.. kind of a 'shooting from the hip' pose. Not bad at all.

Has anyone's Alpha not had a floppy right arm yet? The tiny washer fell out of the right arm on mine, but so far it doesn't seem to have made a difference because the arm was floppy in the frst place. Just curious.

Kinda makes me wonder if Toynami won't turn around and say, "If you knew beforehand, why'd you buy it? No one forced you."

....... Gee. That's just.. gahh. They missed something as glaring as the toy's face being half gone? Legendary quality control, indeed. I hope you can get yours fixed, replaced, or flat-out refunded. That sucks.

FURTHER IMPRESSIONS OF THE ALPHA ----------------------------------------------- I've spent more time with it by now, and I thought I'd share my findings. I hope you'll find them helpful. * I'm really digging the way everything locks together securely in Fighter mode, once I figured out how to do that. Nothing loose or flopping around. Very, very nice. A few flaws in the sculpt (upward-sloping nosecone and dragging chest) but overall still the best-looking transformable Alpha toy to date. I haven't yet tried Guardian. Battloid mode is good too, except for the right elbow being floppy unless I flex the joint completely. Also, I prefer to angle the chest intakes a bit downward in this mode, so the wings don't connect to the fuselage in the back. My personal preference, which I can live with. I'm very satisfied with the way this toy looks, overall. * The Alpha really looks and feels solid in my hands. Especially in Fighter mode. I can't stress enough how much better it looks when you've connected everything properly. In case you haven't managed that yet, it's pretty simple. Once it's in Fighter mode, apply gentle but firm pressure to both the forward and rear sections of the toy, pushing them toward the center section. Hold the sides of the legs and place your finger between the thrusters/feet, pushing the combined leg section as far forward as possible. The white hexagonal calf sections should be right up against the blue backplate between the arms/upper thrusters. Next, while still holding the rear section firmly, gently grasp the fuselage with your fingers, with your thumb resting on the canopy and your curled index finger under the head beneath the fuselage. The nosecone should be cradled in your fingers and touching your palm.. then apply backward pressure toward the center of the toy, the section immediately behind the back of the canopy. Barring any mechanical problems that would prevent this, the securing pegs on the rear undersides of the arms/upper thrusters should be directly above the peg slots on the white hexagonal sections of the legs. You should be able to close the arms completely, sealing any previously annoying gaps, and then finally click the pegs underneath the arms firmly into the slots on the legs. Again, this is assuming that your Alpha is mechanically sound and has no issues that would prevent you from completing these steps to secure the Fighter mode of your toy. Once you do, however.. it looks really nice. Great job on this aspect. Truly. Thanks for reading. These observations apply only to my own Alpha, but I hope that they work for you as well. As always, be careful. If you're able to make these steps work, I think you'll appreciate the results. Have fun.

I did it. I took the plunge and bought an Alpha. I hesitate as I write this review because with the obviously wild variations in QC and workmanship from unit to unit, my experiences with the one I got would not necessarily be the same for someone else. There's just not enough consistency in the quality of these toys. Some are good, others are just okay. Others are utter crap that fall apart right out of the box. A completely fair and unbiased review from me would do very little, if anything, to help any of you decide whether or not this toy is worth buying.. unfortunately. I really wanted my review to be helpful to you guys, but I can only comment on the one I have. It's my hope that the rest of you are as lucky as I was. The one I got is good. The only problems are a floppy right elbow joint that won't stay in place unless it's fully flexed, a small scratch on the right foot that ends up being obscured anyway, and very tiny stress marks near the right forearm missile bay doors. I don't plan on opening those anyway. The paint is good, I don't notice any glue residue. Everything except the feet fit together perfectly in fighter mode. Sealing all the other gaps in fighter mode and putting all the pegs in place causes the inner workings of the legs to flare the toes outward just a little, meaning that they won't stay entirely closed as in the lineart if you're intent on keeping the rest of the fighter solidly secured. A minor engineering flaw, really. Is it worth the $80? Not really. $40-$50 at the most, perhaps.. more in line with other diecast/plastic toys around the same size. It's definitely not in the same league in any aspect as similarly-sized chogokin toys and therefore it shouldn't command a comparable price. It does have the best sculpt of any Alpha toy thus far, and when I eventually figured out how to get everything to fit properly on it, I found that it does look a lot more attractive and leaves me feeling better about my purchase. It looks and feels solid and the flaws on mine were relatively minor. The MPC Alpha is definitely a step up from the nightmarish first series of MPC Veritechs, I will give it that. In the end however, its wildly inconsistent workmanship, design/engineering problems and total lack of quality control prevent this toy from being a true masterpiece or even what I would call an excellent toy. My conclusion is that the MPC Alpha is a good toy (if you're lucky enough to get a good one), but not a great one.. certainly not worth $80. A lower price would've made it more attractive. It's a good effort by by Toynami that tries to begin to erase the horrible memories of the Macross Saga MPC Veritechs, but the best intentions mean nothing when execution sucks. Toynami did a few things well with this release, but also made many of the same mistakes that make us dread buying their products. Again, it's a good toy if you can get a good one and it gets better when you've learned how to get it to work properly. Unfortunately there's just no way to be sure that you're not going to get a lemon. Ask your retailer to open the box; inspect these before you buy them, by all means. $80 is a lot of money and I think we as customers deserve to know what we're getting before we drop that cash. If you're unable to inspect the toy before you buy it, then it's really a game of Russian roulette, thanks to Toynami's legendary quality control. Having said that.. Good luck, all of you. The Alpha can be a satisfying purchase.. and I hope that you get a good one. I've tried to provide a fair and unbiased review that'll help make your decision easier. FINAL SCORES (Toynami VFA-6H Alpha #01119/15,000) ------------------------- SCULPT/DESIGN: 8 - Although slightly flawed, easily the BEST-looking Alpha ever! PAINT: 9 - Nearly perfect, very few problems on mine.. looks good. DURABILITY: 4 - Frail hinges. Better plastic badly needed. Diecast present, but not used to full potential. ENGINEERING: 5 - For every positive, there's a negative.. and they prevented this toy from being excellent. ------------------------- OVERALL: 6.5 OUT OF 10 - Definitely better than the Macross Saga MPCs (which admittedly isn't saying much), Toynami has learned lessons and even improved in some areas but continues to make the same mistakes in others. Good, but not great. Hardcore New Generation fans may add another point to the overall score as this is truly a very nice-looking Alpha toy, even if it is the only one. Toynami is improving.. slowly. Positives include an excellent sculpt with sharp details, very good hands that actually hold onto the gunpod, diecast in the legs for balance and heft and a good system this time around (no more magnets!) for securing all the parts in Fighter mode. Material and engineering issues still need to be addressed. Quality control remains utterly non-existent, and if this doesn't change very quickly, it's doubtful that any fans will be around to appreciate Toynami's future offerings even if they were to become outstanding. Consumer faith needs something to believe in. Fast.

Any tips beyond the obvious (being gentle) when trying to open the sensor bay door?

The final word on Busch beer. This'll probably get locked, but I just had to share this. Enjoy.

How about a custom box with Shawn, Graham and DYRL Minmay in concert together (and Jeffrey too)?

I just confirmed this, over at Hobby Search. It does indeed appear that these two 1/48 Valkyries are being re-released. Let's hope for the other versions too.

Don't forget... Paul makes some kick-ass custom boxes. Credit for the custom box idea goes out to a few of our very own members (you know who you are)!

The feet are a little too big. The chest drags in fighter mode. Those are the two things I don't like about the Alpha. However, I feel that these two shortcomings are quite forgivable. Overall the Toynami Alpha looks excellent in all modes, and compared to the first line of Masterpiece Collection toys, this thing is a definite hit.. outta the park. I like the old Gakken Legioss toys because I grew up with them, but these Toynami Alphas are better. I can deal with smaller, because they're better in almost every other way. It isn't perfect, but this goes a long way toward erasing the memory of the unfulfilled promises made by the first series of the Toynami Masterpiece Collection. Right on.

And what's this for.. a game?

Eternal D: WE WANTS DA HANDS!!

I was thinking about that but figured HG would try and drop the hammer on them. I bet either Takatoys or Anasazi37 would still be cool with printing custom stickers. You know, under-the-table. Heh.

Quick... someone ask Takatoys and Anasazi37 to make some custom stickers for these!!

PG? Oh, sh_t...

Just like everyone else, I've been waiting for this crossover for a long, long time. It might suck. Then again, maybe it won't. Before I comment on this thing, I'd like to see it first. But even then.. my only expectation will be to be entertained. It's a sci-fi/action movie. Not fine art. I wanna see monsters blowing sh_t up. I want boom, bang, slash, raarrgh. All that. I want to be entertained. And I think I will be. That's all I can ask.

Kind of expensive, you say? Yeah.. maybe. Think about this, though. Some people paid $360 at retail when this set first came out. The "special" preorder price was $250. I finally got my set for $180 about a year ago, which I thought was a pretty good deal. Now, the 3-disc boxed sets can be had for as low as $45 each, if you do a little digging. Do yourself a favor and check out sites like deepdiscountdvd.com, overstock.com, bestprices.com, half.com and others.. I think you'll find that the effort is worth it. Generally, though.. the 3-disc boxed sets price hovers around $50-$60 these days. Not a bad price at all for a beautifully-restored classic like SDF Macross. The AnimEigo set features a completely restored video transfer, stereo sound (the original was mono), outstanding subtitles, liner notes and hidden extras. To put it simply, it's the best rendition of SDF Macross available. The price has dropped considerably since it was first released a few years ago. A near-$200 drop sounds good to me. Still too expensive? Okay. I realize that we all have different budgets. What one person considers a lot of money may be relative pocket change to another. Before you make your final decision though, remember this.. you get what you pay for. There are a few bootlegged sets out there to choose from, but don't expect them to provide you with everything that you're expecting for the money you're willing to put down. The video won't be as good as the AnimEigo set, the sound may have some issues, you won't get the liner notes, and the extras may or may not be there. And if you want to avoid "crappy subs," don't hold your breath.. especially with HK bootlegs. In the end, the choice is yours. Just be sure that your expectations are in line with what you're willing to pay.