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tekering

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Everything posted by tekering

  1. More of Yamato Shogo on Arcadia Garland. Yeah, and the tolerances are perfect. Tight, but no scary squeaking noises. Puts Bandai to shame! Mr. K must be using the best factory in China. Doesn't need 'em. The fingers are tight enough to maintain a good, solid grip... although I imagine they'd eventually loosen up with regular handling. Of course, as with any transformable figure with multiple painted diecast parts, regular handling is not recommended.
  2. That's an understatement. The build quality is fantastic! First of all, this thing's heavy. There's a lot of diecast parts, and almost every surface is painted. Detailing is top-notch, too. Robot mode is where it really shines, though... Spectacular articulation (three joints on every tiny finger!), really solid construction, wonderful heft, and a joy to behold. But here's the really big news, guys: It's definitely not 1:24 scale. Yamato's Garland was 1:15 scale, but the figures were significantly undersized so the pilot could actually be seated in "maneuver-slave" mode. As you can see, Arcadia has similarly underscaled their Shogo figure for the same reason, but here's the thing: it's Shogo that's 1:24 scale, not the Garland. Anime fans like to remind us toy collectors that the Garland was supposed to be the size of large motorcycle, not a convertible sports car: So, since Arcadia's figure is 1:24, the considerably oversized Garland makes it closer to 1:18 scale. Intentionally or not, Arcadia has given us a Garland to scale with Yamato's figures! I've been waiting 30 years to make this display. "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the inaugural Aramaki 5000 Invitational Motorcycle Race!" "Contestants, start your engines!"
  3. It did!? Man, I never even noticed. What an amazing toy it was. As much as I like the modern aesthetics of Sentinel's, I hope their Bartley is a lot closer to the original anime design... especially since neither Beagle, MegaHouse, nor even the vintage 1:12 model kit line included a Bartley.
  4. Wait a minute, guys... I think we've all lost sight of something very important here. Like the Beagle, Sentinel's Riobot has a removable HBT canister: Now, Captain America is working hard to bring us some much-needed accessories, including the ubiquitous Gallant H90 sidearm Beagle saw fit to include: Is our erstwhile Captain not also planning to provide a carrier with additional HBT canisters, as Beagle did? They were kind of a big deal in the anime.
  5. Like jenius, my anticipation for the Arcadia Garland has led me to revisit and photograph some of the Yamato variants. Thanks for the motivation, jenius!
  6. I should hope not! Articulated limbs would look terrible on a figure that small.
  7. I am no longer satisfied with my expensive toys. Lolicon has made my entire Macross collection look plain and unfinished. Oh, and speaking of unfinished, those Battroids need straps for their gunpods.
  8. Flarpen, your "Scar" Gurab is now officially nicknamed "Scarab."
  9. Not necessarily. Figma scales are all over the map. Hell, their Marvel figures aren't even in scale with each other.
  10. Infinity War Black Widow is in the wild... and the likeness is so spot-on, I transplanted one of the additional faces to my Marvel Legends Age of Ultron figure. Thanks to Bandai, I've got two great-looking Scarlett Johansson figures now.
  11. I think you're right on the money there, jenius. That's the look they're emulating. This is the one I'm really excited about. Fewture vinyls are awesome display pieces, and this one looks to be no exception. Proportions look good, and the panel-lined details are fabulous. Dare I hope it scales with CMs 1:18 figures?
  12. Given what FREEing did with their Garland, I think we're better off if it doesn't.
  13. Actually, that's clearly just an early mock-up, and not even capable of transformation. It's much too soon to make any determinations whatsoever. Let's just hope Sentinel doesn't go belly-up before the toys can be produced... Mospeada is cursed like that. Just ask CMs, or Beagle.
  14. I already have Willis, I already have Wheeljack, and I'm perfectly happy with my MP-10 Optimus Prime. I don't see any reason to buy any upcoming Masterpiece releases. Thanks for sharing all the pics, guys!
  15. I'm working from Captain America's practical scale, not the unreliable "official" stats. They're as inconsistent as the toy companies, and just as useless for determining scale. That's a verifiable 1:48 scale, and that's the Evolution Toy pilot. I can't think of a more reliable metric than that!
  16. No, the Evolution Toy is 1:48, so if Sentinel's Riobot is about the size of Toynami's it's closer to 1:60 scale.
  17. This line just gets more and more bizarre.
  18. tekering

    Hi-Metal R

    If they accidentally cancelled any of my items, I'd cut them off!
  19. That's a helluva scoop, jenius! I'm excited we may be getting a new Legioss toy -- and the fighter mode looks excellent -- but the soldier mode is a real disappointment. The head's huge, the hands are tiny, the intakes are squared-off and splayed out at a weird angle, with an awkwardly wide chest and absurdly skinny torso and thighs. Bummer. But hell, bring on the Bartley and Borough Superior!
  20. "Analysis paralysis," that's what it is. The more choices we have, the more difficult it comes to pull the trigger on any individual option... and this constant competition is gonna destroy the 3P market eventually. MMC or XTB? Based on previous experience, I'd have gone with MMC/Ocular Max, but Hellion just doesn't look enough like Cliffjumper to me. Toro has the more accurate chest, shoulders, and overall proportions, and a much better face, I think. Plus, the forearms are clean and simple, not a mess of joints, seams, and compromises. If I may borrow HardReturn's photos to demonstrate: Note he's mistransformed Toro's neck (which should've been rotated 180 degrees so the chin can sit flush with the chest). Hellion looks like a re-use of a different character mold redecoed to look like Cliffjumper -- which is to say, like every Cliffjumper toy we've had since 1984 -- whereas Toro looks just like the Cliffjumper I've always wanted for my Masterpiece collection. Plus, Toro has the realistic alt. mode to match Masterpiece Bumblebee, BadCube's Brawny, and just about every other MP (or 3P) vehicle mode. Ironically, Hellion ends up with a far more G1-accurate alt. mode, despite all the robot mode compromises... but that's not the direction the Masterpiece line has taken with alt. modes thus far. Obviously, to come up with a realistic Porsche 924 Turbo, the vehicle mode had to be much bigger than Hellion's: ...which means much of the car ends up on Toro's back. Frankly, that's a flaw I can live with on an otherwise cartoon-accurate Cliffjumper. Despite the wonky proportions, Hellion cleans up much better in the back, absolutely... but I don't display my figures facing backwards any more than you do. Finally, X-Transbots has come leaps and bounds forward in terms of quality control (which would've been my biggest concern buying an XTB toy), and Ocular Max doesn't have an entirely spotless record in that regard anyway. Toro has the typical tight tolerances I've come to expect from XTB -- and some of the painted red bits on the alt. mode don't perfectly match the red on the molded plastic -- but he's a much higher-quality product than their previous offerings, and easily on par with Ocular Max efforts to date. I never bothered to compare prices -- Macross collectors aren't likely to bat an eye at the cost of a third-party Transformer -- but I imagine the cost difference is negligible. Still, even if Toro were significantly more expensive than Hellion, I'd still recommend him... especially if you like accessories!
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