ComicKaze
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Posts posted by ComicKaze
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for some odd reasons the gaps show up in the re-issue and later vintage seeker jet toys. I can only attribute it to crappy atention to molding.
Yeah, I sanded and filed them down as best I could so they would sit flush with the body.
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[i originally posted this at Allspark but I was hoping some MWers would know how I could take off the factory applied decals - what are these called actually?]
So off I went to a family dinner thinking that it would be mundane when lo and behold, my aunt who lives in Asia brought me Starscream! (And yes, it was 2003, not 1984). Because I was unhappy with a lot of it, I made it into a custom with some paint and some parts so Starscream would actually look more like his G1 cartoon counterpart.

What do you think? Can you spot the differences?
I would like to ask something about the Megatron that comes with the toy. It also includes a modified Prime fist so he can hold Megatron (this doesn't matter for us as the North American TRU reissue uses the modified Prime fist). The strange thing is that there is a wierd blue clip on the side of the grip and I can't figure out what it's supposed to clip onto. It looks gharish and out of place. You can see it in the fighter-mode pic aways down. What is it for? Also, the box shows that I can connect the gun to the bottom of the fighter but it's in a wierd way - connected via the scope. The instructions simply have a reproduction of this picture and there isn't anything that shows me how to connect Megs to the bottom of Scream (hehe).

How do I do this?
So, back to my story...
I was actually quite excited because this was my first actual Japanese G1 Reissue Collection toy. All my others had been TRU Commemoratives and I had missed out on Starscream because he had a limited run in Canada. At first I was really happy then I noticed some things that were wrong.

First I noticed that it was the odd version that doesn't include the TF DVD.
That's okay, I can live without 3min of TF CG.
But then I looked at the actual toy colors and stickers! Noooo Takara! Bad!

Yes, the Megatron gun is cool and that is the clip I was talking about but first things firsts. The Decepticon Logos are backwards and crooked! Takara decided to use factory applied decals for the Decepticon logos and trim on the wings and stabilizers. Unfortuantely, they are in the wrong direction and look very silly. THe point of the Decepticon chin usually faces forward and makes Starscream looks faster like when he's diving at Springer & Arcee in the movie. Now it looks like his two halfs are flying in opposite directions. Compare it with the decal on his nose. In all the TF we've ever seen, these decals are also facing in the same direction as the wing. This leads to more problems later on in robot mode because then they really are upside down when you transform and stand Starscream up.

See, here the original toy and they are in the right direction. Compare it to my custom where the logos are upside-down in robot mode (I want to change this but I don't know how to remove them) and in opposite direction in fighter mode. Like all the pics on the package, they are a wierd mix of the G1, the first-run reissue, and the collection version. See the fighter has the double-angled stripes but the robot has the solid red stripe.
Also! They altered the stripes on the wing so it's no-longer the classic large red stripe that Starscream has but angled white&red stripes more like the ones on Skywarp. Finally, the blue parts have been changed from navy blue to a light blue and the canopy is orange with silver stripes. Perhaps these changes were made so he would look more like his cartoon version but he's also a darker grey so he looks less like the animated SS which is close to white. These changes inevitibly made me turn in into a cartoon custom instead of displaying it as a classic G1 toy for nostalgia.
Here are scanned pictures from it and the original toy as well as both first-run reissues from Takara and Hasbro. You can see that they have user applied Decepticon logos, the red wing-stripe, and darker blue. This is always how I saw SS in the catalogue and always how I wanted him. Yes, cheesy but nostalgic.


From Ben's:


So now HOW DO I REMOVE THOSE FACTORY DECALS? Thankfully, Starscream still comes with a sheet of his normal stickers which has foil Decepticon logos but I have to take the ones off his wings first. Does anybody have any ideas? I'm not going to sand them off because that would damage the wings. Maybe some kind of paint thinner or something? An eraser? Brake fluid? Has anybody done this before? Any clues? Maybe I should buy a cheap TF:Universe toy and experiment with ways to get their factory decals off without damaging the plastic.
This is still a great toy, and I'm glad I have it. I never realized how cool the boolet inserts that are in the Japanese collection series are. There are like 10 pages and a fold-out seekers poster from Dreamwave as well as other things. I'm also glad I have the Japanese version as the missiles fire very hard and aren't modified for child safety. I guess Japanese kids are smarter. Make sure when you buy it that you check if it has the DVD or not if that's important to you. There is a big sticker on the front that tells you. As my only other Seeker toy as a kid was a 2nd-hand Thrust that I eventually sold, I'm loving ol'Screamer clutching Meg's handle in his fist (hehe). It took some work to make him look decent though. His normal foil stickers seem out of place and make him look a little cheesy. And as with all Seekers, it's a little annoying having so many parts that must be changed or replaced when transforming. Does anyboy know why there is a gap between the wing and the fuselage? I filed it down a bit so it would be more flush but it just seems like a strange design like this whole toy. Another strange thing is that his weapons have a slot to slide into the side of the arm but it doesn't fit and they sit out a bit.
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Yes VFX, that is an awesome hand-painted job. I've always loved that particular model and it's nice to know who it's builder is.
I have 3 VF-2SS's here but I'm too afraid to touch them. I paid over $80 for one of them when I was naive and HLJ didn't have reissues in stock.
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Sou na... masaka???
Say it ain't so! Say it ain't so! This series just keeps getting better and better!
Just like the allegory of it's final episode...
IT'S TOO YOUNG TO DIE!!!
Truely, in the upper echelon of anime, Fumoffu has been my favorite of the past 5 years.
Time to buy the manga?
And hey, the A-Team rip-off theme is back for a moment right at the end.
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How do you aim on X-Box?
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I HATE remastered 80s animes and cartoons. The fact is that the original art isn't that good to begin with most of the time. And the original sounds are mono and have very low-fidelity also.
All they ever do with these "enhancements" is raise the contrast so it's gharish, then sweep over all the frames with a smart-blur filter or some other filter to remove noise - this often means loss of detail or oversimplies colors, and then for sound they make some totally fake 5.1 with extra effects and misplaced sound and then it's all a horrible mess.
Let me tell you, I hate Rhino's TF DVDs because they are so hard to watch and listen to with all these wierd shabangs and whoosh-whishes in the background. It sounds like somebody was playing around in the kitchen when they "re-mastered" TF.
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Why are you guys so excited over having #7 vs #8? I have #8, you are making me jealous with your enthusiam.
Granted, Solberg has more future in WRC while Makinnen is old news. Plus Hasbro's Alternator will only be #8 so I guess you guys have more of an exclusive with extra piggy decals on your mirrors.
I'm just disappointed that this line is definetely going to be very American friendly/American oriented because most of the cars announced are all North American versions. We have a Viper, Corvette, and I read a Jeep is next (not neccessarily hound), but the Streak repaint which may be a street STi. I was just hoping for a Mitsu Lan Evo

And believe me, Prime is huge compared to this guy. Remember, Prime is the cab of a truck and that's huge compared to a sedan. I've seen comparison pics where Smokescreen is only 2/3rds Prime's height.
BTW, here's a pic showing that all the doors/hood/trunk can be opened just like a diecast 1:24.

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Man, this thread looks like it is extremely popular. I think some denizens are making a silent push for new MW content


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Whoo boy...
in Toys
Wow, must really suck living in a socialist - oriented country doesn't it guys? They tax the hell out of you poor bastids. They tax us plenty in the US too but at least they don't bend us over on imports as well.Are there still customs taxes from the US to Canada after NAFTA?
NAFTA doesn't help the little guy.
And there are still taxes and import duties on everything. Especially now when the United States are increasingly becoming defensive and isolationist, Bush has (illegally) raised tariffs on everything from lumber to steel and the WTO has had to intervene on many occasions to protect the economies of foreign countries who depend on trade with the US.
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Speaking of MP Prime...here's what I said on another forum:
This head sculpt is just totally not doing it for me. I've never liked it from the beginning and now these extreme high-quality close-ups are making me depressed.
The beak of his "cap" is virtually missing, it's just a curved band around his head. His ear antenna are virtually flat, without his "headset" pieces. The faceshield and eyes just feel very alien for some reason. His eyes are just not "Prime".
There's something I can't quite put my finger on but it is really bugging me. It just feels like this Prime is "unfriendly".

I think maybe it's because the mask is removable so it's sticking out too far as well as being too large, kind of creepy especially when you know what's underneath. The eyes are also the wrong shape. But I think the biggest problem are the sides are square enough and they don't have the "cap/visor" shape (Metal Force Prime, Action Master Prime - and virtually all the cartoon versions) and instead went with the "flat-band" across the forehead (MP Prime, Original Prime LaserRod/Scourge). All these years it's been the cartoon Prime that I've liked and this just feels wrong...skeletal. I also don't like the vent in his crest recessed.
Anyway, I bought a 1/48 so Prime is out the equation for me at the moment. There are too many things I don't like about it (hydraulics, patches of grey on the legs, battle damage that looks like a 5-year old took charcoal to Prime, likely short stacks, his back, grey gun, etc.).
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I was bored.

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"The page you are attempting to access has been removed because it violated Angelfire's Term of Service."

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Their posted on Angelfire so that isn't a good thing. Probably blocked - exceeded bandwidth. I'd love to see these. Hopefully he can attach them to his MacrossWorld posts.
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man down!!!
in Toys
Any ideas of how to reinforce this area before the problem shows up?
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Gerwalk - because it's the best of both worlds and you can brandish the most weapons. Kinda-like an animal puffing itself up to look bigger to predators.
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Whoo boy...
in Toys
Marking as gift doesn't cut it anymore.
I think they've caught on to me.
Either I'm charity or a rockstar with lotsa adoring fans with all the "gifts" I'm receiving. My experience is that if they open it, and they see a price tag or a receipt or an invoice, they will charge you for it, and charge you for their time (plus all applicable taxes and duties to the full extent of the law).
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Whoo boy...
in Toys
Yeah, that's the US price.
And you get dinged by everything from customs that is worth over $20. I think the charge for something $200 US (~$275 CAD) is around 30 bucks. It happened to me with jewelry (not for me!
) and some videogames.I even asked the guy to write $20 on the customs sticker but nooooo...Canada customs was nosy and they open the package and read the actual paypal invoice which said $280 on it so they charged me full price + GST + handling.
I hate it when you get things in the mail and it has that yellow "Canada Customs" tape all over it. It really reminds me of police tape because it's more or less the scene of the crime. Whenever they open packages, there's a chance they can lose things and they definetely lost the parts for a Transformers Hound I bought a few years back. I hate shipping across the border too. I lost $150 of toys (boxed Prowl and boxed Computron) back in the day because of the mail too. Tracking no-longer works once it reaches the border. It got to the border and after that, I had no idea where the package went. I just know it just never showed up at my door and Canada Post wouldn't reimburse me because of some loophole in their legal documents.
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Macross II is vastly inferior to Macross 7, stop being an ass!
As for the music, if someone hasn't made it through the last half hour yet, then they obviously haven't heard that travesty of a dub song. If you're watching the DVD, then switch the the Japanese track ASAP, & save yourself the pain of listening to anymore of that craptacular dub.
We all know how I feel about Macross II, so I won't go too far into rehashing. Suffice it to say its problems lay much deeper than that ugly mess they call the Metal Siren.

So Keith, if the music of Macross II is so bad, how do you reconcile its use in Macross 7, the series you worship?
And for the record, when I first watched Macross II, it brought me to tears momentarily because of the epic destruction that was happening in the end. It was amazing to watch Earth's defenses fight back (even though they totally sucked - but the new Destroids are very cool) and I was totally expecting some mystical supernatural thing for the SDF-1 to do. I realized Macross II just WASN'T Macross so I gave up my prejudices and watched it for what it was. I had just finished reading up on some Norse mythology and with them calling the Macross the Aluice or whatever, I was getting excited at what the series might pull. Then the completely blow the thing up and that just knocked me over (yes I was so excited I was standing up watching it). It's not perfect but hey, I'll take it over crap like Gundam Wing anyday.

One fun trick to do with Macross 2, if you have the DVD, put it on English dub AND English sub at the same time and see how much the langauge differs. It has a hilarious sort of effect.
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Whoo boy...
in Toys
I just spent about $200 preordering a Hikaru 1S and the fastpacks. It's going to be my first 1/48.
Does $135 for a Hikaru and $59 + tax for the fastpacks sound like a good price? I know they are cheaper at TMP anime but I'd rather try to avoid customs fees for shipping them across the border (I'm in Canada).
I hope I'm spending my money wisely. It's this or Masterpiece Prime but the Valk won out.
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Graham was incredibly kind to me, mailing me a replacement tail pack for my 1/60 a year ago.
A wonderful fellow.
Same with Shawn who personally alerted me to a GBP-1S armor auction when I needed a part.
But I wouldn't want to encourage all of you to ask him for parts, or to abuse his kindness. He just can't supply them so easily. I have a suspicion he may have raided one of his own Valks and for that I am very very indebted to him.
Thanks you guys!
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Latest 1/48
in Toys
This is great news for me...who all along loved the VF-1S but wanted a Hikaru version because arguably this was the version that was the "hero" in DYRL, that we get the awesome shots of flying through Boldolza's base and finally perforating his fish-bowl.
And this one will have all the features and upgrades that we've seen throughout the 1/48 line (such as the tabs inside the nosecone) as well so there's no worries about missing features.
I've always thought the 1S had a much meaner/darker streak in red too. Also, my old DYRL kits from the 80s were also of the red 1S.
So for those that have been holding out on the 1/48s, this is great news because this can be their first and formost version. For those that have all the other variations, of course you can pass on it as it's nothing but another clone.
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I just heard song that seemed to be pretty recent on the radio.
It was sung by a girl with a female chorus and a slight hip-hop beat but it was really nice. The chorus started off with something like: "I remember the days" or "I remember days gone by" (I can't recall).
The kicker is that it was made with the melody of Spandau Ballet's "True" from 1983. Instead of "I know this much is true", it was replaced it: "I remember the days" or "I remember days gone by".
I really would like to find this song or the artist. She has a really nice voice. Reminded me of Vanessa Carlton at first.
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Hi, I'm back. Since the new forums switched over I really didn't get around to registering but I need some help finding a member from the old board that I sent Jetfire leg clips to for recasting.
I'd very much like my clips back (and the extra recasts he promised me) but I can't seem to find his member name or our correspondance on the old board.
Does anybody know how I can contact a member named flash or flash002? I tried the search function on the old boards but I might have a few letters off in his name.
Thanks.
Smallest Transformers Wave 2
in Anime or Science Fiction
Posted
They only released the combiner sets.
www.tfkenkon.com