tekering

Too bad Steve Whitmire turned out to be such a jerk... I'd gotten used to his Kermit. Matt Vogel just doesn't sound right for the part. I wonder if Disney considered asking Seth MacFarlane to dub Kermit's lines...?

So, BBTS can't import Macross merchandise because of Harmony Gold's license, but Mospeada merchandise is allowed...? That has been my experience as well. That has been my experience as well.

I concur.

Well, that was a well-established anime trope by 1982... Virtually every ship in Space Battleship Yamato and Mobile Suit Gundam featured large bridge windows -- Mobile Suits frequently took advantage of that vulnerability, in fact -- so we could hardly expect Tatsunoko to do otherwise with their latest space opera... ...particularly after the influence of Star Wars on science-fiction as a whole. However, when the Starship Enterprise was deliberately redesigned for J.J. Abrams' 2009 film with a bridge window instead of a viewscreen (ignoring four decades of established Star Trek canon), the result was unjustifiably stupid. It all comes down to suspension of disbelief, I suppose.

It hasn't been normal for months, and so far it just looks like you got lucky. When Japan Post starts accepting international packages from the general public again, only then will EMS be back to "normal."

38 years of merchandise reflects the exact same thing. Roy's 1S and Hikaru's 1S are the hero mech, Max's 1S is as rarely seen as its brief appearance in the film, and... that's it. No other 1S models were ever depicted onscreen, so no other 1S merchandise was produced (except for deliberately non-canon anniversary schemes and such). While years of Robotech material had suggested otherwise, perhaps Roy's TV Valkyrie was always intended to represent a one-off custom, the VF-1Special.

Damn. It's a neat-looking ship, too... or would be, if it were intact. Hope your retailer helps you out with that.

I once knew an Irish pastor who used to flog himself until he bled... I guess there are masochists in Argentina, too.

The CM's? Are you kidding? I've got mad love for Mospeada, but there's no way in hell I'd be buying that abomination. Gakken? Sure, I hung onto all three of 'em. Toynami? Yeah, still got 'em, and the Betas. Evolution Toy? Absolutely, they're great-looking Armo-Soldiers. CMs? GTFO.

The sides will experience a little rubbing, but -- since they're only visible mid-transformation anyway -- it's hardly worth mentioning. If you study the instruction booklet and know what you're doing (instead of trying to follow the lousy YouTube videos that have been posted thus far), you shouldn't have any trouble. No, I can't get it to budge past a certain point... and from my experience with Bandai DX Valkyries, I know enough not to force an uncooperative joint.

Same as the other modes: it's not perfect, but it's the best we could possibly hope for in a transforming toy. No visible stress marks, but that should be expected with this quality of plastic; it's a Sentinel toy, not an Evolution Toy.

Like any responsible parent, I was patient but firm with my Sentinel Legioss: "If you don't stop popping off that winglet, I'm gonna drive a pin through it!" Alas, my warnings went unheeded, and the problem persisted... ...so I made good on my threat. Problem solved. Oh, I'd highly recommend it. The proportions, tampography, and clean paint work make it a highly-satisfying display piece in all three modes, and the transformation gets a lot easier once you know what you're doing.

Yes, they're Chinese pirates, who re-engineer molds from other companies and often make oversized knock-offs. It's IP theft (often from other third-party manufacturers), but it's quality work.

Here's the indent that keeps the shoulders from swinging forward... It takes some force, but you can pry up that shoulder panel to get the arms further forward. The shoulder range of movement? I don't dare force it any further than it wants to go, so a quarter-turn up is all I dare try.

Well, that's hardly unique to the Sentinel... ...but yes, they're very nice. Yes, but only if you pry up the plastic enough to slip the metal sliders underneath. There's an indent in the diecast part that acts as a stopper, but you can bypass it to swing the arms further forward if desired.

Wow, even the Retro-Future sticker book? That's a helluva lot of product!

Yeah, despite how well the Imai missile pod addition helps lock everything in place for Armo-Fighter, it's not canon and never will be. Crap like that stays in the box, thank you very much. Between my extensive collection of unpunched carded Star Wars figures (that I have no intention of opening) and third-party Masterpiece Transformers (that I have no intention of transforming), most of my toys are strictly for display. I still consider them toys... if only to honor their design intentions.

Just the Daedalus, I'm afraid... Work has kept me busy this month. I'm pleased with this color scheme, so I'll apply it to the Matchbox as well.

Schumacher was a competent director, and could turn a good script (with the right cast) into a great film. '80s grit, more like. May the Lost Boys sequels be forever forgotten.

If you've got any of Sentinel's Mospeada ride-armor, you know what to expect here. Lots of little metal parts interacting with plastic parts, and parts start popping off as soon as you touch it... This winglet immediately popped off mine, and continues to do so EVERY time I touch it. I'm considering actually drilling a hole through it and mounting a pin in there, so it won't keep falling off. There are some nerve-wracking moments, that's for sure... Squeezing the clear plastic canopy with painted frame through that diecast-metal assembly is really difficult, and no fun at all. It's even worse than the DX Chogokin YF-19 in that respect. You can see how the plastic nubs on either side of the cockpit module get mashed up really quickly. Basically, you're getting the same thing TakaraTomy (and comparable third-party products) provide with their latest Transformers Masterpiece line: a figure that looks proportionally-accurate in each mode, but re-invents the wheel in order to get it there. I almost wish some "fourth-party" Chinese company like (Wei Jiang) would produce an oversized knock-off, 'cause it's really over-engineered for such a small figure. Well, yes and no. It falls apart at the slightest touch, yes... ...but breakage is an unlikely result, since the parts just pop back together. It also makes the individual pieces easier to paint, and will probably fit together better after a few coats are applied, actually. I've got commissioned work that has to take priority, but I can't wait to paint all these guys in matching armor... ...and I'm really happy the pilot figure is a consistent 1:48 scale, 'cause he fits right in with all the resin and 3D-printed fan-produced merchandise available. However... In trying to follow the bogus official stats, Sentinel ended up with a totally-inconsistent Legioss scale. See the Evolution Toys Legioss is considerably larger -- a more legitimate 1:48 scale -- yet their pack-in figures are closer to 1:60. Sentinel errs in the opposite direction, with a Legioss about 1:60 and a 1:48 figure! Compare the similarly-sized Toynami Alpha, and you can see how absurdly different the pilot scales are... Sentinel's pilot BARELY fits into his cockpit. If this figure is supposed to be an average-sized soldier, like Stig or Ray, there's no way a tall guy like Yellow would be able to fly a Legioss...! Well, they're really difficult to extract. Don't even attempt it, without appropriate tools. They've got actual rubber tires, though! Both are robust and very-well articulated. They're likely to loosen up over time, of course, but this is not a figure you'll want to play with much. It's the most insanely posable Legioss ever, of course, but it's such a nightmare to transform that you're likely to just keep it on the shelf in a pretty pose, and avoid touching it as much as possible. Especially if you want to display it with a Toynami Beta/Aoshima Tread... Since it's pretty much identical in size to the Toynami/Aoshima toys, it works just as well... but it's even more precarious. My Toynami Alpha and Beta fit together a little better, since there's enough space to fold the Beta cockpit between the Alpha's legs there... The Sentinel's a little tighter, though, meaning the arms gets forced apart a little. Plus, the royal blue on the Sentinel doesn't match the slate bluish-grey on the Toynami toys (but would probably match the Aoshima paint pretty closely). I'm sure jenius will provide a proper comparison. In the meantime: I expect to see a flood of Toynami "Masterpiece" Alphas on the secondary market soon.

Well, it's more of a swing than a slide... as is typical of Legioss toys. That's a thin hinge you don't want to put stress on, especially the shearing force required to rotate the arms at the shoulder: I recommend stabilizing that joint with a pair of plyers so it doesn't get twisted the wrong way when rotating the arm. You'll likely scratch up the paint on the joint, but paint scratches are preferably to a broken shoulder joint, right? Even so, this is as high as I managed to get the gun arm; about a quarter-turn was the best I was able to achieve.

Okay, no more of this "living vicariously" shtt. Riobot Legioss in da house!

Exactly my reaction to the film. In fact, I couldn't stop at the GT40 Mk.II... I had to have one of those sexy Ferrari 330 P3s, too! A kind of "Max & Miriya," if you will... Expensive toys, but well worth it.

I imagine NECA hates exclusives as well... but if they can't sell the whole toy line at retail, I'd rather they offer exclusives as sales incentives, instead of simply cancelling production of figures (or vehicles) that otherwise wouldn't be viable. Sometimes exclusives are the only way a toy gets made... ...and sometimes releasing multiple paint variants is the only way a toy gets made. If a single version won't sell enough to justify the cost of production, releasing "onscreen color" and "studio color" variants has a greater chance of satisfying picky fans with particular tastes (like us), and will entice the obsessive fans to buy multiples of the same toy (like us).