magicsp00n

I'm also a game developer. (plug: my latest game came out last week - try it out!) So far I haven't been caught in the rolling waves of layoffs, but I'm definitely feeling the pinch. I took a job transfer just as the housing market cratered and was unable to sell my house. I'm now a reluctant absentee landlord.

A few months ago I decided to implement a new policy for my collection that I call the Perpetual Robot Fund. Basically, I've decided that money for collecting can't come out of pocket, so if I want to get a new toy I have to sell something to fund it. It's working out really well. It encourages me to clean out the closet and put some of my old stuff in the hands of somebody else who wants it more, and it keeps the funds flowing so I can pick up the new items I really care about. I also don't have to feel bad about buying a big ticket item, since that money comes right out of the collection anyway.

I've been surprised at how much stuff I had sitting around that I didn't care about. Toys, games, books, CDs, all can be converted into cash for new stuff.

I got the VF-0 arms I requested today. The whole process took me... oh, maybe a month and a half from my initial request.

I can't remember the ending but I remember reading that he doesn't die. He gives up on life and then a ship defolds and rescues him. To affirm this line of thought the makers of the Invid Invasion game included the graffiti "Jack Archer Lives" somewhere.

I work with somebody who was a designer on Battlecry and Invasion and asked him what the final fate of Jack Archer was supposed to be. Evidently Invasion was originally intended to be a "Saving Private Ryan" sort of story, where your goal was to locate and rescue Jack from the clutches of the Invid. Hence the grafitti in the game. In production the game script was changed to remove the Jack component, but the artwork stayed in.

I asked how it was Jack ended up back on Earth after the end of Battlecry, and he shrugged and said "Zentraedi sympathizers".

This isn't Harmony Gold canon, mind you. Just what the game developers were thinking as they were making it.

I had every MPC veritech at some point, and I'll say that the YF-1R was the best of the bunch. I acutally thought the colors worked for the toy, and the head sculpt seemed the best and most solid of the set. Of course, there's no line art to compare the head sculpt to, like there is on the others, but the lasers are thicker and it just seems sturdier. I personally don't really like non-canon valks, but if you do, then there you go.

But "best of the Toynami MPCs" isn't necessarily very good. I've sold all of mine off for a reason. They're real hard to love. For the same price as the YF-1R, you can probably pick up a 1/48 Yamato these days.

Just a quick bump to say there's an hour left on the auction. Time for bidding!

Hey guys, I've put my 1/48 Cannon Fodder Valk up on ebay. I know lots of the 1/48 are on sale at HLJ and whatnot, but the CF looks to be sold out pretty much everywhere. It's a really nice valkyrie, and in excellent shape. I think it's been transformed only once and has lived in the box for most of the time I've had it. I'm just trying to clear some space and free up some funds due to work cutbacks. I'd love to see it go to a MWer, so take a look and make a bid!

1/48 CF on ebay

I think the GBP-1S on a VF-1J is just one of those iconic toys that everybody should have. And the bigger the better, so I think the 1/48 scale won't be beat by any future releases.

It's crazy how much the prices on the GBP sets have come down now.

Yes, I can definitely see some humor there. You'd think they'd at least go for dual badging. The back of the cert probably has Beagle plastered all over it though. It's similar to the MPC Beta. Toynami is lapping up the credit there, and getting it, but it seems that really Aoshima deserves most the kudos.

On another note, here's something to consider. Toynami apparently agreed to purchase 3000 of the Beagle (with minor changes) to sell outside of Japan. The Beagle still retails for $280. Imagine what the Beagle would have cost if they didn't have some cost splitting with (and revenue from) Toynami. I think it's quite possible that without the Toynami connection the Beagle would have been dumbed down from what it is now or cost an even more ridiculous amount.

Yeah, I can't see that I'm finding anything to be hating on Toynami for here. Even after reading the certificate, they're just talking up the toy. Who knows what the deal was with Beagle? There's a lot involved in these business deals that the consumers don't get told about. I think it's likely that Toynami bankrolled a fair bit of the operation; there's a lot of cases like this in other industries where the product wouldn't have come out without a distributor jumping on board. It happens with independent movies all the time, some big distributor will buy a film and stick their name all over it and the small studio will be thrilled about it because their film couldn't have been made otherwise. Videogames: both Rock Band and Guitar Hero were created by Harmonix, but Activision and EA, the publishers, sure contributed a lot by providing funding and getting the product out on store shelves. Activision and EA are within reason to talk about "their" games being big successes.

Just because a Toynami employee didn't come up with the CAD designs doesn't necessarily mean Toynami wasn't a big contributor to getting the Beagle product acutally produced.

So who wants to bet that five years from now somebody will be paying $500 for a SUPER RARE RECALLED MAIA SHADOW FIGHTER on ebay?

I haven't yet gotten any 1/60s, so I would get a TV version Roy if it came out. If I already had the DYRL version, I'm not sure...

Wowow, I'm just seeing this thread. TV Max 1A, right on! Those photos look really good. Is there any release date, other than "2009"?

I think the first was Starblazers when I was 5 or 6, but I know I watched a lot of Battle of the Planets around the same time. (Does BoTP really count?)

I also liked to watch Macron 1, which I didn't learn until many, many years later was GoShogun.

On a related note, I can't get my blue Alpha attached to the beta without having to split the legs apart a few degrees (just part the locking tab) and this causes the Alpha to tilt up and yaw to the left a smidgen. Am I missing something?

On mine, I had to separatate the foot thrusters further apart than the diagram shows in the instruction manual, but the legs are still connected to each other. Are you lowering the cockpit on the Beta? The text on the instructions doesn't include that step, but the picture indicates it, and your Alpha won't connect properly otherwise.

Well, I took the plunge and my Toynami Beta arrived today. For the curious, the Alpha/Beta fighter linkup definitely does not fit in a Detolf case. The Beta by itself in fighter mode might if you turn it diagonally.

So, who is concerned enough to contact their congressman?

That much is obvious. What I'm getting at is that there is clearly demand for the blue MPC Alpha right now and if Toynami has the right to produce more of them then it would be silly for them not to make more toys.

We've seen them do this previously, with the VF-1S MPC. The initial run was quite a bit less than 15,000. A couple of years later they released another batch (much to the dismay of ebay sellers everywhere). I wouldn't be surprised to learn that more blue alphas are on the way.

If I remember correctly, the first 5,000 of the blue alpha are supposed to be easily distinguishable by having a lighter blue color on the intakes. But I honestly don't know if I've seen one with a number above 5,000.

Everybody knows that the toynami red/green/shadow alphas are still available on Robotech.com, right? It's just the blue that's sold out.

From other posts here, it looks like they can't help with lost parts, only replacing defective / broken parts. Hobby Link Japan is often able to sell individual parts (I got some 1/48 parts from them for a custom). Try sending an email to parts@hlj.com and tell them what you need.

I lost the pitot tube for my VF-0S. I'm not looking for a spare. I just need a replacement part. Would overdrive help me with this?

Dave

I expect somebody around here will be offering recasts of that Japanese head once the toys are out, depending on exactly how it attaches to the neck.

Which brings me to a question... I've seen a few photos of transformation, but does anybody know if you need to pop the head off to transform the Beagle, like you do on the MH and old IMAI kits?

After seeing both heads, I am really torn now as to which of the 1/10 Ridearmors I want. I definitely prefer the head of the Beagle, but I have a sinking feeling that it's going to cost me a lot more to get my hands on it. Any advice here? I am trying to keep my budget as close to $200 as I possibly can...

Thanks. What is chameleon? WHere do I find it?

http://www.chameleonproductsonline.com/

A local hobby shop may carry it, but I just ordered directly from the website.

Good job... ... But you should remove the black lines on the sides of the cockpit because they do not exist on the VF-1A "Max TV"...

Ah, I hadn't noticed that. Nice catch, thanks.

Thanks for the responses, guys. Answers:

BTW what type of paint did you use & how will you do the panel lines?

The blue is Krylon Fusion Patriot Blue. The bits of red (like on the shoulders) is Krylon Fusion Red Pepper.

The eye was painted silver, then airbrushed with Tamiya Transparent Green, with a coat of Future for a little more shine. It's prettier in person than in the photos.

I don't plan on doing any panel lining; I'm going for more of a standard Yamato look with this one (which is why I stripped the old paint rather than paint over), and since the toys don't come panel-lined, this one won't be either.

CHow did you get the paint off of the chestplate?

Stripping the paint was a pain... I tried pretty much everything suggested on these forums: Pine-Sol, Brasso, brake fluid, Chameleon... I think soaking it in Chameleon overnight works the best to loosen up the paint, then using a wooden toothpick to get the gunk out of the panel lines without marring the plastic.

Yuck, that thing isnt more cartoony, its just fugly. I am disappointed in this scuplt. What were they thinking? Look how big the mouth is. I seems to me that the Beagle version has more Asian features and the Toynami version is supposed to look more European/American?

There is a significant difference there, but I actually prefer the Toynami version. The bigger features seem more expressive. Plus, the source material is a cartoon, so I'm not sure that I'm concerned with a deep level of realism.

Well, I'm pretty much convinced that I'll be getting the Beta. In preparation, I pulled my blue Alpha out of the closet where it's been for over a year. I pulled it out of the box and started to transform it before the old fear hit me... dang, am I going to break this thing this time? I think it's going to have to just stay in fighter mode pretty much forever. I can't take the stress of transformation.

Hey guys. I started this Max custom awhile back when I was absolutely positive that Yamato wasn't putting out any more 1/48 valks. That was about two weeks before they announced the limited TV Max 1A, of course. I took a break for awhile, so I'm just now getting around to finishing it off. I've done some models and scratchbuilding before, but this is my first whack at customizing a Yamato valk. Big thanks to everybody who has posted pointers and pictures of their work, for giving me confidence to try it out.

The one new thing I tried was to do a custom TV-style head. I cut off the big movie-style eyepiece and fabricated a TV-style lens. I know the back of the heads are a little different between the movie and TV versions, but to me it's close enough not to bother with.

I've got a couple little details to add still, and the pilot, but here it is. Any feedback is appreciated.

Yeah, what a tease!

Actually, the page seems to show up in Firefox, but not IE.

no can see!

I have to admit, I wasn't planning on getting the Toynami Beta, but after seeing the positive reviews I'm really re-thinking it. The only question is, which color to go with? (The answer for me is not "all of them!")