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tekering

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Everything posted by tekering

  1. tekering
    My Macross collection is considerable, but nowhere near as extensive as my Star Wars collection. I've had fans from all over Western Japan come to see my Star Wars stuff. That's not an argument. It's a simple matter of fact that Gundam fandom is orders of magnitude larger than Macross fandom, and Star Wars fandom is orders of magnitude larger again. You can't argue merchandising sales, box-office receipts, or convention attendance. Also, all the early merchandise was aimed at kids, a market which Gundam entirely failed to attract in the '70s, and thus there's less nostalgia among adult collectors today. Poor sales of toys like this -- coupled with dangerously low ratings -- nearly killed Gundam outright during its initial broadcast... ...whereas anything with the Star Wars logo was a hit right out of the gate.
  2. tekering
    Wow, that's a sorry excuse for a "Masterpiece," at least in alt. mode (even with your upgrade parts). Every third-party version I've seen does a better job than that. 😒
  3. tekering
    Thunderhawk was such a ubiquitous toy, it can still be found on the secondary market -- mint and complete, I mean -- for less than what Ramen Toy is asking for "Red Gullwing." I'm not sure many collectors would consider it worth the upgrade, given how slavishly Ramen has stuck to the original toy design. 🤔
  4. tekering
    Hikuro refers to Mobile Suit Gundam: Cucuruz Doan's Island, the new film by Yoshikazu Yasuhiko (who also directed The Origin). It makes a few minor changes to UC continuity, introducing Sleggar Law to the White Base crew long before his appearance in the TV series: ...and gives him a previously unseen early-type GM, too. He deploys atop Sayla's Core Booster (replacing the G-Fighter from the TV series). Also new to the scenario are The Southern Cross, an elite squad of Zaku II (High-Mobility type) pilots. Personally, I thought the film was excellent, greatly expanding the scale and scope of the original episode without adversely affecting the larger Gundam story. It's a little slow getting started -- and there are entirely too many crying kids -- but the combat sequences are thrilling, the animation is spectacular, and the orchestral score is a great mix of original series motifs and new themes (including an '80s-style electric guitar riff when Amuro's RX-78 makes its triumphant return). It's been very well-received here in Japan, and I hope its success paves the way for further UC productions.
  5. tekering
    Now, there's an excellent point. The more rare and valuable a Star Wars collectible is perceived to be, the more likely it's actually a knock-off... My KO Luke Stormtrooper is in much better condition than my OG Luke Stormtrooper. 😝 Sure, but arguing the semantics leads to a bigger problem: "rarest" is a superlative, and "item" is singular, yet the OP has posted over two dozen items already. 😅 Something like "The Classic STAR WARS Merchandise Thread" would be a much less contentious title. 👍
  6. tekering
    Oh, it's definitely on my list of "Bayverse figures to completely repaint" (which is admittedly a very long list)... 😅 ...but my success with previous AoE repaints has been encouraging. 😇
  7. tekering
    Like you, I have a bad habit of buying figures I had no intention of purchasing if I unexpectedly find them at retail... 😔 My wife calls it my "shohdoh seigyo mondai" (衝動調節問題), meaning "impulse-control problem." Frankly, I don't know what she's talking about. 😉
  8. tekering
    It is, of course. 😊 Given that figure's been my primary image of the character for -- what, eight years now? -- the Studio Series version looks extremely plain by comparison, lacking color, presence, and individuality. It may be more accurate to the movie design, but... I have no intention of revisiting that film to confirm it. 😝
  9. tekering
    Despite the weakness of your assertion, I'm happy to see you've finally decided to acknowledge another contributor to your thread. 😊 Given there are at least 150 signed photographs of Carrie Fisher on eBay at any given time, they certainly don't fit the criteria you've defined in your title. Rarity is a question of fact, not opinion. 🙄
  10. tekering
    I respectfully disagree... Despite the kibble on his back, I'd argue the original Voyager looks better in both robot and vehicle modes. I certainly won't be replacing mine with the Studio Series version. Thanks (as always) for the review, Mike!
  11. tekering
    It took a decade for Google Translate to adopt deep learning strategies (their so-called "Google Neural Machine Translation" system), and after six years of it, you'd expect some improvement... but no, it's still hopeless with Japanese. My students get results like "They can see fall" and "She swims with badminton" on a daily basis. 🙄 Dude, use DeepL instead. It's way better.
  12. tekering
    The likenesses and character selection has come a long way since the '90s, that's for sure! Mattel is doing great things with the line.
  13. tekering
    Careful, @Big s... Jurassic Park toys can be addictive! 😉
  14. tekering
  15. tekering
    Thanks for the vote of confidence! 😊 I'd imagined that very solution in my head, but I wouldn't know how to go about implementing it... I've completed the rough assembly and worked out the pose I want my "Bug Face" Bioroid to assume on the Biover sled... As always, when I encounter a modelling dilemma without a clear and obvious solution, I put the project aside to work on something else while I await inspiration. It's a very dangerous time, when more tempting projects divert my attention away... and before I've even realized it, years have passed and the original project is all-but-forgotten... 😔 ...and after more than a year of anticipation, there's nothing more distracting than getting a new Moscato Hobby garage kit...! 😬 If I didn't have a commission to finish by the end of the month, I'd have probably forgotten all about the SDF-1 by now. 😔
  16. tekering
    A better title might be "We Can Google It For You Wholesale." 😝 I'm usually an encyclopedia of film titles, but there's the occasional anime that escapes me... including an old hentai title I'd love to track down, but probably shouldn't describe here. 😅
  17. tekering
    The scariest thing about that movie was seeing LeVar Burton's eyes. 😅
  18. tekering
    @Einherjar has posted about it in numerous threads over the years:
  19. tekering
    They're green, yeah. Most definitely. 👍 He's gonna have to try a lot harder. 🙄
  20. tekering
    Be glad you didn't, buddy. 😑 We tend to bash Robotech pretty fiercely 'round these parts, but (apart from "Reba West") the voice cast did a remarkable job, especially given the scripts they were working from. The ADV dub is demonstrably worse in just about every respect (except for, ironically enough, Mari Iijima's Minmei). 😅
  21. tekering
    I'm hung up on the limitations of the human body. Is "Gate" supposed to be some kind of cyborg? Human feet are completely incompatible with that design. 😒
  22. tekering
    Use a hair dryer to heat the figure's legs. Whether it's vinyl, resin or PVC plastic, heat will make the limbs more pliable, and you'll find it easier to reposition the foot enough to peg it securely into the stand.
  23. tekering
    True enough. That $750 Optimus Prime was painfully lame for the same reasons. 😒 Still, if this 70cm SDF-1 was available as a model kit, it would make for a fabulous Attacker mode display with only minor modifications. 😇
  24. tekering
    Welcome, Harbinger! That looks like the RG Restraint/Transport Platform Set from Premium Bandai. RG Evangelion figures are a little taller than the Robot Damashii EVAs, but I think you could make it work... Also, each of the old Sega 00's came with restraint/transport platforms, if you prefer the TV look.
  25. tekering
    Oh, I certainly hope not... 😒 The conning tower sits absurdly high, the VTOL thruster assembly is sagging like grandma's chest, and the main cannon booms appear to be finalizing their divorce. 😑 Say what you will about cruiser mode, it couldn't possibly be worse than this looks. 🙄
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