blacklotus

This, or how about that Super Klan that's been shown and then mysteriously disappeared?!

Super Klan Klang available for pre-order today from your favourite webshops:

http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10119516

http://www.amiami.jp/shop/?set=english&vgForm=ProductInfo&sku=FIG-MOE-1917&template=default/product/e_display.html

Taken from amiami:

Complete Pre-painted Figure

Non-scale (appx. 1/72)

Details Sculpted by Mohio

Production Support by Uplark

Color by Tc

Gearing up for the release of the next Macross F movie, Sayonara Tsubasa, comes Clan Clang depicted wearing Mikhael’s Super Pack from Episode 21 of the series! Clan’s Zentradi bodylines have been reproduced in all of their destructive beauty, and the Super Pack itself is removeable. The largest entry yet in the Excellent Model series, this is the definitive Clan figure that fans have been waiting for!

That's an extremely interesting observation.

I've had a similar thought regarding mecha games and their relationship to mecha toys while playing MAF/MUF.

It struck me one day while playing MUF, that games like MAF/MUF are not just mecha games, but in effect give us virtual toys of our favorite mecha, but at a far lower cost in terms of both money and storage space.

In MUF for example, we can have nearly every single VF from every Macross anime, that we can fly, fight with, view from different angles, customize the color schemes etc., in a far more realistic manner than simply holding the physical toy in our hand and zooming it around.

At 196 hours on MAF and currently 224 hours on MUF, I'm spending far more time with these virtual Valks than I have been with my physical toys and I have noticed my desire to buy new toys does seem to be reduced, (although to be fair there may be other contributing factors to this as well).

Something to think about though.

Graham

I agree totally. My hobby buying habits changed significantly since I have my first PC (IBM-XT clone). In the 80s, I used to buy lots of plastic kits (Air-fix, Tamiya, Hasegawa) and D&D pen and pencil modules and rulebooks. All that changed when I have my first PC. The moment F-16/X-wing/Tie fighter/racing simulators, PC-RPGs games are available on the PC, I saved hundreds of dollars a year on my hobbies.

Besides, it's more "realistic" and fun seeing things get blown up on screen vs pretending to zoom 2 model planes pass each other physically or on board games with tokens.

Regarding the YF-23 speed. I work with one of the FLight Test Engineers assigned to the YF-23 program, and he has given me access to some impressive stuff regarding that beauty. I related about a video on here before, which we are trying to get him to bring over to a digital format from VHS, and it shows the YF-23 with the more powerful engines at mil power easily pulling away from an F-15 at full burn. The video is great as the F-15 pilot realizes that there is no way in hades he can catch the YF-23 he starts doing rolls around its contrail saying, "I've always wanted to do this." SO yes the YF-23 really did out accelerate everything else out there, as for the top speed all I could get from him was wink and nudge.

So, the YF-23 out-accelerating the the "after-burnered" F15 easily is like the real counterpart of the scene in Macross Plus where the YF-21 basically did the same thing to the VF11-B during the test flight scene with the missiles.

Thanks guys for this thread and the info here. Pilots are a rare breed imo. And test pilots are the rarest of the rare. I mean, one is facing death everytime one flies in a test prototype. I'm actually surprised there are sane people that volunteers for this job, especially since one isn't getting a multi-million dollar paycheck for it.

p.s. My Singapore President gets paid US$2 million annually just for rubberstamping stupid money losing policies of the govt. and shaking hands with babies.

p.p.s. We voted for them both (the president and govt). <FACEPALM>

oh well, bad timing, anniversary is coming up soon. I'm sure it'll make it into more sales sooner or later.

I think this clearance sale (from many webshops for other items I might add) is to do with the peculiar Japanese tax system. Companies that cannot clear their last year's inventory have to pay a tax on these unsold items. The rationale is to prevent wastage.

That's why there's usually plenty of clearance sales during the Feb/Mar period from Japanese producers.

Got this as a gift last week. Not bad for a Banpresto figure.

Agree. My QB Leina (Reina) banpresto figure (also in a 2 piece swimsuit) just came in. Not bad for a 1100yen figure.

I agree with Focker sempai...the face is just OFF for some reason.

The eyes are too big, and the nose isn't sculpted properly.

Compare the mass-produced items with the prototype:

Mass-produced: http://ngeekhiong.blogspot.com/2010/03/ban...-macross-f.html

Prototype: http://ngeekhiong.blogspot.com/2010/01/ich...ss-f-false.html

I'm trying to look at the Ranka figure, but... my god, the fruit drop tin. I don't think I could own that without nearly bursting into tears everytime I saw it in my house. That film gets to me like no other. So sad.

Grave of the Fireflies, right? Yup. One of the most, if not most heartbreaking story I've ever heard, read or watched. God, my eyes are already watering slightly now...

Thanks for all these anecdotal stories about the health hazards related to airbrush usage.

I too used to airbrush alot during my teen years. Nowadays, in my late 30s, I only use normal brushes because the fumes from airbrushing gives me a bad headache, even though I use a full face 3M filter, airbrushed just outside my apartment in the stairway lobby, and only stick to acrylic paints (Tamiya). Yeah, the new completed work doesn't look as great as my old airbrushed ones, but I would like to be around to see my daughter graduate.

nice, glad I waited for the repaint

Same sentiments here. Patience does pay off sometime.

Wow, everything here in this thread is amazing, but.....

>___> <___<

....does it make me sound like a perv to admit I'd love that "Sheryl Nome Red Bikini" kit?

.___> <__<

Nope. It just means you're a regular, hot, blooded male.

Unless you're a woman. Then, it's even cooler. Nothing beats Lesbians in the coolness factor in my book.

My top 3 favourite famous lezzies: K.D Lang (Kathy Lang; love her songs and her beautiful voice), Ellen Degeneres, Portia De Rossi (Amanda Rogers aka Mrs Degeneres).

DAMN YOU!!! I HATE YOU!!!

Jokes aside, you're right. I actually didn't noticed this TomaFROG until you point out about how the 2 MGs look like eyes of Kermit.

Anyway, you just saved me $100. I was going to pre-order this until your comment.

Also, this is an KIT, NOT a completed toy. Kinda expensive for a kit. I got my 1/100 Volks KOGs kits for Y3,000 each. And those KOGs are much bigger in real size.

I recently got the Galient Wave figure and I have to say its the best collectable I've ever owned / seen. I will post pics of it soon.

So I was nervous this was going to be a must have - its not. Phew (for my wallet).

First - I do love the green visor, excellent. And the whole thing looks very high quality --

But I've always thought the Tomahawk can look "froggy" if not done right. You have to place the emphasis on the green visor being the EYES like Skull-1, and de-emphasize the top 2 machine guns. If the top guns are too pronounced they become the eyes visually, and the visor becomes a big frog mouth. Below is a pic from the anime where you don't even see the 'eye' guns and it looks much better.

Well WAVE - we have a walking frog IMO. The Yamato does a slightly better job here. If I have the extra funds though, your Galient has won me over and I will buy it if at all possible.

PS - What is this feature here of it closing from the bottom? I like the protecting-the-pilot idea but he really becomes Kermit then. I did see this little scope go up in the line art but do not know its function. what about a working fog light?

Not liking, the sculpt looks a bit too chunky and busty to be Sheyrl IMO.

Graham

It's an OverDard sculpt. Big boobs, wide hips and tiny heads are his signature design.

I'm not complaining. I just treat it as an re-interpretation of Sheryl by another artist. OverDard also sculpt lots of other popular female characters like Chun Li and Mai Shiranui before.

Although, I can sort of buy the idea of SMS thinking "well what happens if we are attacked one day and our Meltran members are not able to get to their Q-Rea"? and then asking LAI to jury-rig a way for full size Meltran to use the VF-25's Super Packs in an emergancy.

It's a stretch, I know but wackier ideas have been tried in war.

Graham

You mean like sticky bombs?

The chesticles seem very Yujin for sure.

Looks like an OverDard sculpt. The face and chest looks very familar, and almost identical to my collection of OverDard's figures. OverDard's known for his massive chest figures.

Yujin did produce his g-kit works for general sales before. But Yujin's quality sucks. I'm glad Daiki took over the release of his works recently.

I just want Yamato to use the DYRL design and paint it green.

You want a re-color version?

But I'm surprised that Yamato hasn't done their green TV re-color for this piece. I guess the fact that it didn't sell well was a factor.

As a current owner of 2 red Q-raus and 1 blue Max-rau, I don't think I will buy another green re-color version unless it's a new sculpt.

My vote for the BEST Sci-fi movie has got to be:

Barbarella - Queen of the Galaxy (1968), for the simple reason that is has JANE FONDA (before her fitness-crazy and peace crusade-crazy days), a woman, as the lead character.

Also, what's a sci-fi movie without these spacy, futuristic costumes below:

http://images.google.com.sg/images?hl=en&a...ved=0CDEQsAQwBg

And furthermore, just look at the TAGlines used for this movie:

Who seduces an angel? Who strips in space? Who conveys love by hand? Who gives up the pill? Who takes sex to outer space? Who's the girl of the 21st century? Who nearly dies of pleasure?

See Barbarella do her thing!

The space age adventuress whose sex-ploits are among the most bizarre ever seen.

Who can save the universe?

Can one honestly say the above isn't the BEST sci-fi movie ever?

And in a distant 2nd place, my vote for the next-best Sci-fi movie would be: Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)

Whoa! Thanks for the photo. Now it's a definite multi-piece buy for me now.

What we need is a metal band! YEEEEAH!

What's wrong with Lady Gaga? Personally, I like her tunes and her stage presence. It's been a while since someone like Madonna comes along.. Then again, I like Lambert as a performer. What do I know?

I don't mind having a bluegrass idol next.

Rad... am I the only guy here that wants a poseable Klan to pose around my yammie(and i guess eventually bandai) 1/60's? And Britai.

I want both. Unfortunately, most poseable figures/figurines has very bad quality joints and look bad. Definitely NOT LEGO quality. So far, all the poseable ones I bought (Volks, MaxFactory, Kaiyodo, Yamato) have poor quality loose joints (and are not racheted). Robot poseable figures looks great. But not their humanoid counterparts.

Megahouse's next Queen's Blade (Rebellion) figure Vengt is a premium poseable figure selling at 8000yen (before discounts). I do hope the joint quality is much better. So far, the figure looks alright (the joints are hidden/follow the form of the actual character)

http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10108889

From Wonder Fest. Still searching for better photos.

Awesome. Thanks. Definite pre-order for me. Probably multiple copies too.

That's part of what makes the Aoshima so frustrating. You might get a good one, you might get a cruddy yet acceptable one, and you might get an unholy abomination like the one pictured above. Seems to be an equal chance of getting any of those. -__-

Yikes! I didn't know Aoshima has such lousy QC. Thanks for the warning. If I didn't know in advance, I would have thought that poor quality toy is a bootleg rather than the official release.

I myself bought the Aoshima Alpha Fighter model kits. So I can assemble and paint the parts properly myself. Also, it's much cheaper at 4800yen each as compared to 9800yen each for the toy.

More or less. If there is any conceivable way they can argue that the issue isn't their fault, whether it's misuse, neglect, or accidental damage on the owner's part, or "normal wear and tear," manufacturers will do everything in their power not to pay.

Yup. I learnt this expensive lesson years ago. Nowadays, I don't go for cutting edge/bleeding edge stuff. I just get electronics that's 1 generation or 2 generations back that's on sale. My point is as long as it does what I need it to do, there's no point paying a premium to beta test for these s-hole manufacturers/companies.

p.s. Still running Year 2003 PC with winXP sp3 on a AMD-754 chip with a ati Radeon 9800pro 420watt power supply. The only "new" thing in this PC is a 2TB drive I upgraded last month. Other than that, everything works fine - 1080p video viewing, surfing, light 3D gaming, heavy GoG.com gaming (still playing old games like MtG and MoO2)

p.p.s. No virus hit since 2003. The only time I got a virus hit was when I just upgraded from win98se to winXP because it's more secure.

Jokes indeed.

Best part about this one? It was the gundam from Sweden.

Sailor Venus mecha!!!

That figure looks fantastic! I hope that if this is a real pvc figure, it doesn't need those supports in the back. Well either way, I'd buy it! Cmon let it be a Alpha x Omega...

edit: Okay just saw Ngee Khong. It says the Klan Klan is a Megahouse. It also has a picture of a Red captain outfit version of Alpha x Omega Sheryl and alternate color N.A. Sheryl.

ARGH!!! So the alternate color N.A. Sheryl will be like the alternate color N.A. Ranka:

1) "correct, real" hair color (pink and green) vs blond for the regular releases

2) "Hobby Japan Magazine Mail-in Exclusive only. sigh...

Oh well, money saved from getting the Mag Ex can be spent on the Armored Macro Klan.

p.s. At least the red "Last Frontier" captain outfit won't be an Exclusive. Gawd...more money to be spent on MF figures...

finally got my MQ this morning. it was at the post office since last week, but for some reason the postman didn't bother leaving any notice or perhaps they didn't even try to deliver. fortunately i had a tracking number and was able to get them to deliver it. used to think singapore post was uber efficient but this is now the second time this has happened.

anyway, it's a nice toy. very pleased the color is nowhere near as light as i feared, even in daylight. under room lighting the colors are nicely subdued, even the greens on the flight deck. still, if a darker recolor comes out, i'll pick up another one to keep in cruiser mode.

no bent deck guns or antennas. only the little vajra's cannon was slightly deformed but that's forgivable. the shoulders are very tight; definitely not for the weak-willed. in contrast, the hip/leg joints are just the right tightness; easy to pose but stiff enough to hold the pose despite the weight of the legs, even if dangling from the stand. wish it was the same for the alto ex-gear.

opening up the gun was tricky at first. i thought it was unnecessarily tight but then realized that i was actually holding down the gun parts that i was trying to open. suggest to hold the gun at the very back end and opening it shouldn't be a problem.

the macross attack gimmick was cool too, as were the articulated hands. i'm wondering though why i got 2 sets of articulated hands. i imagine one set should've been fixed posed.

definitely glad i didn't cancel this pre-order.

Just want to say "Hi" to a fellow toy collector residing in Singapore.

Anyway, the notice may have been picked up by passers-by or swept away by the cleaning lady. I know I missed a few "Missed Delivery" notices some time ago. Luckily, I always checked online for my shipping and since most times I shipped via EMS, I have a tracking number (and insurance cover, just in case.).

Glad to see a great Macross Robot toy for once, without any serious/major defect. I might just picked this up once my finances are in better shape.