GabrielV

2 hours ago, jvmacross said:

just what everyone was asking for? 

Even though they're not for me, I can understand various super deformed chibi versions of stuff like joke machines and nendoroids.

I can see the appeal to a certain kind of collector of something like the Reaction figures.  I can maybe even see the interest in the Toynami action figures or even straight re-releases of the old Matchbox figures.

I can not see who would be interested in these vinyl figures.  If someone is, then explain it to me.

They don't look like the source characters.  They don't evoke the source characters.  They look like they're sourced from the kind of art you might see in a bootleg NES on a chip Wii rip off system.

The invid in that big portal shot, the flying ones, they don't look like revamps of the Scout or even the Trooper.   They look kinda like a certain type of Paranoid mecha from Gall Force: Eternal Story.  

Well, except for the cover at the top, I actually like the art.  The Invid look badass.  Dana's new face and hairstyle is a welcome change too.

I'm not following the story, but it looks like they've completely abandoned telling a warped version of Macross Saga, and have instead decided to go all Robotech multiverse timey whimey stuff.  

Hadn't been checking in lately, and didn't even know about the 1/48 Movie Hikaru PO.  That's the 1/48 I'd be interested in.

Oh well, I'm a bit overextended right now anyway.  Probably good I missed it.

23 minutes ago, Sanity is Optional said:

BBTS just sent me an email advertising these:

YECH

 

Why is Dudley Do Right in a Macross flight suit?

What has Gloval been smoking in his pipe?

Edit:

I thought these were a joke.  I just went to BBTS to check, and holy spit!  They're real.  These are real promo pics.  Toynami is actually using these as real promo pics.

I honestly had no idea that one on the far left was supposed to be Ben.  All of them look like someone's first kitbash.  Glovals eyes aren't even on right, and the paint application isn't even "in the lines"

And they're like... "Yeah, this is good enough to show to potential customers."

3 hours ago, brouken said:

I'm still debating whether I'll get it, given that the differences from the SOC 2199 Yamato are very slight, apart from the turrets being remote controlled and the expanded sound and music samples. Maybe I'll bite when the price gets lower in the secondary market.

One thing that didn't occur to me to mention: the 2202 version has more panel molding as well as the lines being a bit more pronounced.  This is one of those minor things I was referring to when saying the 2199 version looks sleeker while the 2202 version seems more chunky.  I guess the panel lines make it look more heavily armored.

30 minutes ago, sumyumgoy said:

Thanks for the write-up @GabrielV!  I missed out on the earlier releases so was curious as well.

I purchased through AmiAmi and the ship was about $300.  Five years ago, my 2199 version was about $200 from the same shop.

I hadn't pre-ordered the 2202 version of the ship.  Initially, I was going to skip it.  My 2199 version was fulfilling my childhood need for the Argo/Yamato quite nicely.  The reason why I decided to order the 2202 version of the ship once released was the lure of that new remote.  

Was the remote worth it?  ...  It's definitely not as cool as I initially thought.  To tell the truth, I think the 2199 version had a better sound selection.  I guess it boils down to how much the motorized turrets mean to the purchaser.  They're pretty cool.  Are they worth the 50% price hike? ...  I lean towards "no."  I think the ship is a bit overpriced.  Then again, I've paid similar and higher amounts for Valkyries with no electronics, so take that with a big ol dash of salt.  

To be perfectly fair, a good chunk of this is me not doing my research.  Had I done my research I probably could have heard all the sound clips online and seen exactly what the new remote provided.  I didn't, and that part is all on me.

Also, a chunk of the disappointment comes from this being my second Yamato.  The first one was a childhood dream come true.  It was a toy I had waited 34 years to own.  This 2202 version can't compete with that, no matter what.  Had the 2202 version come first and the 2199 version been my second, with the same prices, my disappointment would likely be reversed.

Is the 2202 version going to replace my 2199 version in it's position of honor in the holy trinity of Gatchaman Phoenix, Space Battleship Yamato, and Macross SDF-1?  No.  I'm very fond of that 2199 version.  The idea of the 2202 version taking that spot away wasn't even something I had thought about.  Is the 2202 version going to go into the box and into the closet?  No.  It's still cool.  I just need to find it a regular spot.

20 hours ago, Lolicon said:

I'm interested in hearing what you think about it. I already have the 2199 version and wasn't sure this one was different/better enough to warrant another purchase.

Well, I know you didn't ask me, but mine just arrived minutes ago, and I want to geek out over it a little.  I only had enough time to take it out of the box and marvel at it briefly.  I haven't even assembled it.  The very first thing I can tell you is that it's much lighter than the 2199 version.

I was expecting the control console to be nearly as big as the stand.  In fact, I was freaking out because I couldn't see the control console anywhere in the package when I opened it.  I finally realized that it's a tiny thing and was tucked under the bow of the ship.

This time around the Cosmo Zero catapults are pre-installed.  The turrets are still separate, requiring them to be snapped on the ship.

And for some reason they seem to have put the ship power switch underneath the battery cover.  I guess they did this to improve the external accuracy and not have an unsightly switch visible.  However, I'm worried it means that I'll need to remove the battery cover, turn the switch on, and replace the battery cover every time I want to use the cool new sounds and control console.  Then I'll have to do it again to turn the toy off.  Maybe the control console will be able to turn the ship on and off?

The top of the Yamato is much darker.  It's more of a dark bluish grey than the lighter grey of the 2199 model.

The wings seem to be installed via the same kind of mechanism as the 2199 version.  This time they're painted red on top.

The hangar bay door was much easier to get open than my 2199 version.

My first blush response is that this version of the ship seems a bit more like the classic Yamato than the 2199 release.  The 2199 release seems a bit sleeker.  This version has that blunt, bulbous, chunky look to it of the older animated version.  But when pointing at things that are truly different, I can only say the WMG barrel is subtly reshaped and the engine flares out a little more.  The 2202 version feels a little wider, but when I compared them directly I really didn't see a size difference.

I'm looking forward to plugging the turrets in, installing the batteries, and playing with the new control console tonight!

---

Edit:  OK, got it assembled and played with it a bit.

I missed that the anchors are still separate pieces, just like the 2199 version.  Also, the power switch isn't under the battery cover, it's under the port side blister next to the third bridge.  Still, I'd prefer they had just left the power switch where it was on the 2199 version, rather than put it under a pop off cover.

Turning the ship on makes the traditional bridge power up noise.  Turning on the remote while the ship is on results in the standard power up noise as well as a sound sequence of the Yamato launching. And every one of the sound clips has Kodai speaking (except for one, which has Yuki speaking).  Now, this is one of those things that it's a mixed feeling thing.  Personally, I'd rather just have a button that plays the shock cannon sound effect without Kodai giving the order to fire them.  On the other hand, I do prefer the WMG has the voice sample with it.  On the plus side, once the voice clip plays and the sound effect plays, if you press the button again within a short time it will just play the sound effect portion.

The WMG no longer requires holding down the button forever.  Just tap it and enjoy the show.  The music clips require holding a shift key and then hitting one of the main sound effect buttons.  The music clips now loop instead of just ending, and are cancelled by tapping the shift button.

There are two knobs for rotating the turrets.  This works as you'd expect, and is kind of neat to mess with while banging the shock cannon firing sound button.  It's a little hard to get them lined up though, because there's a bit of a delay from twisting the knob to response.

Of course, what sucks is they STILL USED DAMN IR FOR THE REMOTE!  So you have to point it at the port side observation deck.  Luckily the sensitivity has a wider arc than the 2199 remote, but it's still absolutely ridiculous for a toy this expensive to have such a cheap remote mechanism.  On the other hand, I guess I should be happy they didn't make it a smartphone app.

I haven't bothered taking any of the fighters out of the baggies.  I think for this one I'm going to leave the support craft in the box.  I did install the wings, but I'm not sure if I'll leave them on or not.  I'm thinking my 2199 one will remain wings deployed and the 2202 one will be in space cruising mode.

It has the opening hangar bay, the opening ramp from the third bridge, and the little switch to pop up the stack missiles.  There's no longer any option to open up the side and look at the fighter carousel.

The differences are very slight.  Other than the differences in the remote, you really have to look at them to see what's different.  It's stuff like the 2199 version having green tinted bridge windows while the 2202 version has blue tinted windows.  There are a couple of more AA guns aft of the tower.  The bow of the ship is slightly thicker and rounder.

I think it's a case of 6 of one and half a dozen of another. 

On 3/18/2019 at 1:19 PM, jenius said:

On the hips, extending them is probably good, but it's rotating them, even when not extended, from GERWALK position to battroid where I had both mine fall off. If you can rotate them then I don't think the extension mechanism will be a problem.

On mine, everything seemed rock solid until I used the hip extension.  I transformed it back and forth several times with no issues also rotating it on the ball joint.  Then I watched a video showing the hips could be extended for better stances when posing.  I tried it and the leg immediately popped off.

 

Oh no, not another Doom movie!

...

Wait, this one is actually based on the game? I reserve my horror.

The trailer is blocked for me right now, but when I saw the thread title I just automatically thought this was a new Marvel movie about Doctor Doom.

I'm not a fan of the Doom video game franchise, so a movie based on that didn't even occur to me.

Even as oversaturated as superhero/Marvel movies are, I think I'd rather see a Doctor Doom movie.

I have Attack on the SDF-1.  And this is embarrassing, because I normally kind of dig complicated games (I like Star Fleet Battles, after all) but Attack on the SDF-1's rules made my eyes glaze over while trying to read them.  I don't really think it's that complicated, just very dryly and possibly poorly written.  

I also have Robotech: Force of Arms.  I didn't really like it.  It's a case of it's not my thing.  I was expecting a card battle game with a lot of back and forth play.  Instead I got something where each player plays all their cards (most of them in secret) and then you see the results at the end of the game.  But it was only 12 or 13 bucks, so whatever.  The cards were nice, though, so I'll give them another shot with Invid Invasion.

I'm interested in the RPGs.  I'll probably end up picking up both.  However, I am worried about the SMG version, as I've read their using the McKinney novels as primary reference material (and I imagine the Savage Worlds version will be the same or very similar fluff as well).  I'm not a fan of the McKinney novels at all, or anything introduced in them.  I had hoped Robotech fandom was done with them since they had been decanonized in the early 00s.

I'm too late to look anime smart.

The first one is definitely Metal Skin Panic M.A.D.O.X. 01.  I've been watching that one over and over again for a long time.  It's one of my favorites.

Seto Kaiba is probably right about the second one being Gall Force II: Destruction.  It's been a while since I watched it, and I don't recall the scene in question, but it definitely sounds like something from that OAV.  Did the fighter pilot have to fly through a force screen which seemed to cause her injury on the way to drop the missiles?

I like Kevin Long's Robotech RPG artwork.

1 hour ago, onnasake said:

What's the closest Transformers equivalent to fighter mode?

Roughly Deluxe size

10 minutes ago, Seto Kaiba said:

Is that what that is?  I thought they drew a mouth like a へ and accidentally gave her a fish mouth.

I was thinking the same thing.  I initially saw a frowny stern expression.  Now I see a mustache and I can't see it as a ^ anymore.

On 11/17/2018 at 6:38 PM, tekering said:

Actually, the art has very much improved... except on the cover.  

This reminds me of Heavy Metal, the movie as well as some of the stories in the magazine as it existed in the early 90s.

I like Heavy Metal.  The movie is a fun watch.  Some of the stories from the magazine have been fairly cool.  But in this case saying the art above reminds me of Heavy Metal is not a compliment.

Lisa (I guess it's supposed to be Lisa)...  I'm almost certain I've seen an issue of Heavy Metal with some lady all dommed up with that exact expression and a hat portrayed exactly that way.

Breetai (once again, assuming it's supposed to be Breetai) looks exactly like one of the characters in the Taarna section of the Heavy Metal movie.  I think he was borrowed from one of the thugs who attack Taarna in the bar.

Is that supposed to be Rick in the center?  I'm wildly guessing here, because I'm just assuming that since it's Robotech and it's a multiple character piece that one of the characters would be Rick?  Once again, I'm absolutely sure I've seen that exact face somewhere in a Heavy Metal magazine sometime during the 90s.

I can't even venture anything about the Zentraedi character to the left of Heavy Metal Breetai.  I have no idea who that's supposed to be.

The other day I saw a YouTube video about the notoriously inbred Habsburg family.  Roy looks like a few of the paintings of that family.

24 minutes ago, jvmacross said:

Nexx has a completely different helmet...or was this helmet specific to when he flew the Metal Siren?  

That one was specific to the Metal Siren.  When piloting his VF-2 (whether Valkyrie II or Icarus) he had a "beak" helmet in blue like Sylvie's.

1 hour ago, no3Ljm said:

Then why Bandai marketed it as 'Nexx Gilbert' unit only then? Even the promo pic is shown with a different painted pilot figure. They should've added '/Hibiki' on the unit's name and put an extra Nexx figure.

It's still Nexx's fighter.  Hibiki is just borrowing it.  Nexx is with it in spirit.  

16 hours ago, easnoddy said:

One pilot figure...that's Hibiki???

Of course it is.  Don't you remember that part in Macross II where Hibiki hopped in his blue VF-2SS SAP and fought in a battle scene worthy of Max Jenius himself?  It's in episode 7 of the OAV.

I got my payment request from AmiAmi this morning.

I'd kinda like to get another Evolution Toy VF-2, but funds are tied up.

I forgot all about this.  I'm a bit surprised the PO madness was so extreme this time. 

On 10/24/2018 at 7:01 PM, Kuma Style said:

The full review and gallery for PerfectEffect's PE-DX09 Mega Doragon is up! http://kumastyledesigns.com/perfecteffect-mega-doragon-review/

I've had mine for a few days, and I have to say that I'm shocked at the generally negative reviews the figure is getting.  I'm incredibly happy with mine.  The biggest problem is the two transformation steps regarding the arms forming the chest and neck when going from robot to dragon.  It's not as awful as trying to get a VF-19 Advance back into jet mode from robot, but it's still pretty bad.

Fantastic pictures, though.

It's hard to tell, but in the one image on the review site where you show the dragon standing up with its breastplate showing, did you have a gap between the breastplate and abdomen plate too?  I've transformed mine a few times, but I always end up with a slight gap between those two plates, as the peg there doesn't snap them together and merely serves as a guidepiece. 

2 hours ago, jvmacross said:

PO for VF-4....

November 1st 4pm JST

Wee hours of a workday for me.  This one's not that important to me.  If it's still available for PO on AmiAmi when I wake up, then I may bite.

If not, then I still have my Arcadia VF-4G.

1 hour ago, arbit said:

Cool. I was worried they had given up.

I wonder what uniforms they will have. Really surprised with the choice for the first Minmay dress. 

Which would you have chosen?

Speaking for myself, when I think of Minmay nowadays, I think of her in outfits from DYRL.  Of course, that's not Robotech, so back to the TV series.

And... there's not much iconic there.  Minmei's wardrobe is rather plain in the TV series.

There's the chinese dress.  It's a fair choice, but she's only shown in it a very limited amount.

There's the "Stage Fright" outfit, the white dress with the ruffles.  That's probably the concert outfit she wears the most in the series.  

I'd kind of like to see her in the blue dress she wears for her concerts later in the series.  It's in the episode Broken Heart.  It gets a good amount of screen time, but it doesn't really represent Minmei at her zenith nor do I imagine it's how most viewers remember her.

There's the dress she wears at the beginning of the series.  She's in it for multiple episodes, and it's what she wears for the iconic falling rescue scene.  The problem is that it's not Singer Minmei.  It's a solid alternate second run figure, but I'd think purchasers would prefer Singing Idol Minmei as a primary figure.

Everything else has pretty minor screen time.  There's the yellow minidress she wears for the second half of We Will Win.  She's shown in the school uniform with the skirt, tie, and blazer a bit.  Most of the rest of the time she wears various colors of skirts and sweater looking things.  I guess there's the pink dress she is in the picture with Rick.

To me it seems like the dress she wears for the first half of her We Will Win number is one of the better ones they could pick.  It's a major Minmei moment.  Plus, it also pays homage to the old Matchbox figure.  It's just that unlike Rick or Lisa, Minmei doesn't have a "standard uniform" for the series.

7 hours ago, onnasake said:

I am absolutely thrilled to report that my story seems to have a happy ending.

 

Very happy to see this update.  Enjoy your YF-19!

14 hours ago, borgified said:

I'm not @Saburowith his outstanding pics, however I managed to open and took pics of these lovely ladies from Frontier..

Note that I bought two of the same colours and used the Tamashii Stage Act 5 stands.

Edit: Didn't upload the pics on the first post.

These two particular songstress figures are the also the ones that grace my valk shelf.  I've had the Ranka for years now, but only recently acquired the Sheryl.

I just wasn't a fan of the blue variant Sheryl figure of this type.  I just couldn't see it going with either variant of the Ranka.

As for the Ranka, I like both the variant colors, but the red one is just so much more vibrant and just fits with the default Sheryl so well.  Plus, the red variant lacks the winky eye, which I think somewhat mars the default color variant.

I just have them on their default stands.  Amazingly, Ranka hasn't ever started to lean.  

I wish there was a red costume variant like that for the Dollfie Dream.

44 minutes ago, Lord_Of_Tetris said:

It's official. I'm dumb. I've had the toy for YEARS and never knew about that. Thanks!

Don't feel bad.  It was only in the recent YF-19 thread that I realized that during transformation to battloid the legs were supposed to be rotated upward and locked a bit higher up before folding back down.  I had seen those little depressor tabs there at the hips and wondered what they were for.