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Scyla

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  1. Scyla
    For me all those Transformers leaks are pretty boring. I probably will buy a Gamer Edition Skywarp but what I really want is Armada Nemesis Prime. I'm slightly interested in the 86 Galvatron but the Kingdom mold was pretty disappointing.
  2. Scyla
    Looks good. It is a shame that the regular releases of Noble Team only comes with machine guns (I assume) and all the extra weapons. Given how cost prohibitive it is to buy and ship these small items via D4Toys I can’t justify going for those.
  3. Scyla
    @M'Kyuun while I hear the sentiment quite often that Transformers fans are not interested because the figures don’t "convert" do me the question is what you are getting from Transformers as an experience. For me it is all about the clever engineering and the Flame Toys figures have plenty of that, sometimes even more than official Transformers figures. Plus they are more easily accessible because you just need to engage in the articulation. If you enjoy the puzzle aspect of the toys and the tactile feel of morphing one shape into another these are clearly not for you. Plus it is much more feasible to buy a couple of retail Transformers than one of the Flame Toys offerings. I'm confused why some variation of "it doesn’t transform" is the first reflex many Transformers fans have. I think every fan should own one of these just to see how other interpretations feel in hand and what kind of presence they have. And clearly you can only amass so many transforming Transformers toys until you can’t mess with them in a regular basis. However, with my Kuro Kara Kuro display I can enjoy them looking nicely every day. @mikeszekely yeah, they even went so fare putting SG Megatron in the signature Strike Freedom pose. If it helps, you don’t need to display him like that, the wings and the backpack guns can form two fusion cannons that are part of his original design. I find it so funny that this Megatron looks so much like a Gundam to me but no one ever complained he "looks like a Gundam". I assume it’s because everything is Gundam with the exception of the face so people get easily distracted in their criticism of the design by that.
  4. Scyla
    During the recent Winter Wonderfest Flame Toys showed of some upcoming releases for their Kuro Kara Kuri line of high-end action figures (sadly no Cyclonus). Starscream (the first toy of him that I will be buying): Ultra Magnus (hope he fits in my display case): And Strike Freedom Megatron (I mean SG Megatron): More images over at TFW: https://news.tfw2005.com/2024/02/11/flame-toys-kuro-kara-kuri-ultra-magnus-starscream-color-prototypes-images-504037
  5. Scyla
    Sorta, kinda… … at least I know now that I didn’t miss an important announcement with regards to the release date.
  6. Scyla
    Does anyone here know the exact release date of the Metal Build Kampfer? I was looking at the Tamashii Nations page but couldn’t find one. I missed the preorder and I’m trying to secure one on release day.
  7. Scyla
    Got my VF-19 Kai yesterday and the different shades of read is stark, even in hand. And it is not just the shoulder swivels but also the die cast spine and the brackets for the Sound Booster that are the same different shade of red. Plus the red plastic has a lot of tiny, yet visible scratches: disappointing. Being a Macross 7 and Fire Bomber fan I am happy to have a representation of both but I feel like my honeymoon with the older Yamato/Arcadia molds is over. Also I think I would prefer the toy with yellow highlights instead of gold. Since I had my first VF-19S in hand and thought it was the best thing since sliced bread my collection - and collecting preferences- have changed quite a bit. All the Metal Builds, Kuro Kara Kuri Transformers and Sentinel toys have tainted my expectation of what I enjoy quite a bit. Luckily the newer Arcadia toys seem to be more in line of what I enjoy.
  8. Scyla
    I will never complain that a video game series that is all about different beams and missiles and suits (all visible on screen) doesn’t get any effect packs or repaints from GSC. I would lose my mind over a Plasma Beam or Super Missile accessory. [edit:] I'm in for the TotK Link and Zelda. Even if I greatly disliked the game but BotW figures seem to be an impossibility (dare I say BotW Champions?).
  9. Scyla
    I have to give it to Square Enix. Unlike Bandai they manage to release the whole team: BringArts FF7 Vincent Valentine (11/24 ¥12000: https://www.anime-export.com/index.php?product=76770) BringArts FF7 Cait Sith (02/25 ¥12000: https://www.anime-export.com/index.php?product=76769) BringArts FF7 Cid Highwind (01/25 ¥12000: https://www.anime-export.com/index.php?product=76768) BringArts FF7 Yuffie Kisaragi (10/24 ¥12000: https://www.anime-export.com/index.php?product=76767)
  10. Scyla
    I might have preordered this one. Now I have to get the Lion Knights's Castle at some point this year.
  11. Scyla
    To me an Optimus Prime is THE ideal toy for a 40th anniversary. However, the problem is that there are not that many Optimus Primes that fit the Haslab formula: regular Primes can easily sell at retail (see Earthrise and Studio Series). The only other Primes are Energon, Cybertron and Prime. The Prime one can easily be done at retail and Energon and Cybertron are part 2 and 3 of a trilogy so not as significant for the franchise as RiD Optimus Prime is. Also how fancy do you make an Optimus Prime Haslab toy: too fancy and it approaches MP-44 not fancy enough and you wasted the Haslab potential. You could argue that Power Master Optimus would fit better because it is G1 but I think the RiD one is the more important piece for the Transformers line in general. Plus, if an MPG Ginrai is coming out you don’t want the same toy offered through Haslab and the MP line. So if you want to do a Prime for the 40th anniversary RiD Optimus Prime is the only choice. And besides Masterpiece it is the only place it could exist. PS: maybe I talked myself into supporting the Haslab one?
  12. Scyla
    Ohh I'm interested in the black repaints of both. If God Ginrai is going to be a good figure I might even buy him in his regular colors. Power/God Masters are probably the toys I have the most vivid memories off when I was a child. I remember seeing Power Master Optimus Prime with the Power Master in his little window at a local toy store but of course I wasn’t able to get it. On the Haslab front I'm surprised about some of the negative feedback the toy is getting. I think it is great figure to celebrate the 40th anniversary with. He is the Optimus Prime when Transformers was coming back from Beast Wars and doing vehicles again. I think you would have trouble selling Ultra Magnus at retail and maybe even Prime since he is not in his traditional blue pants, red shirt colors. Also since that they didn’t have to take the sound box into account you probably get a more refined and playable figure out of it, even if the toy doesn’t look so different from the front. This is praise for the original toy and not a downside of the Haslab one.
  13. Scyla
    While I'm all over black and teal Optimi repaints I quite like the red with orange chest stripe of on Super Fire Convoy so I would go with the original. I don’t have any black red and gold transforming trucks. To me the shade of gold (sometimes brown) is not appealing to me. Shame because I'd love to have a First Edition Optimus but the Dark Guard version is not for me.
  14. Scyla
    I think the Haslab God Fire Convoy set is a $250 apology letter from Takara for those who bought the subpar Super God Fire Convoy reissue a couple of years ago. I think it the set looks stellar and is a good update to the original. The problem is that the closer the toys are to the show model (culminating in the UT toys) the less derivation from the original you get with a new iteration. Especially now, were "toon-accurate" is the prime directive . I think the Haslab version changes enough to value a purchase if you are a fan of RiD. If the combined mode is sturdy and playable I think the toy is worthwhile even if you have the original. For myself I think I'll wait till FansToys will eventually get to it.
  15. Scyla
    I'm probably in for a Super/God Ginrai. However, the MPG line was a big letdown for me so far so I hope they do better. On the other hand the competition with Power Baser and the KFC one is not too stiff. But I feel like with the current direction of the MP line I won't be getting a nicely proportioned figure anyway (you know, with actual feet instead of vaguely defined blobs).
  16. Scyla
    Meanwhile the "critically acclaimed" Rebel Moon gets a set of SHF figures. I think there have been a couple of props of the Fremen shivs and such.
  17. Scyla
    Hacchaka's review for the MB Providence is up: https://hacchaka.net/archives/52104992.html He beefy:
  18. Scyla
    My guess is still on Devastator. What I really want is a G1 Overlord or God Ginrai (maybe as a two pack).
  19. Scyla
    Just watched today's video of TJOmega and he concluded that the next HasLab will be Omega Prime (the combination of Fire Convoy ans Ultra Magnus from Car Robots/RiD) given some of Hasbro’s hints. So I had to post it here for @mikeszekely.
  20. Scyla

    Arcadia VF-5000G

    Scyla replied to daBlah!'s topic in Toys

    I appreciate your thoughts. To my knowledge Macross is also niche in Japan (with exception of Frontier and Walkuere during their heyday) compared to other anime franchises. So it makes sense that the Valkyries are not produced in masses and they tend to be rare. I was more thinking about a photo someone postet on MWF during the height of the Renewal preorder madness were they showed a stack of the newest Renewal VF-25 on day of release (might have been a Yodabashi Kamera in Tokyo). It probably also depends were in Japan you try to buy one but I don’t live in Japan so all I can do is guess.
  21. Scyla
    Don’t worry I also thought the tray with the Super Parts and the extra wing pair came with this release and was confused when someone here mentioned that the wings are removable. I thought to myself: how bizarre!
  22. Scyla
    I still got a lot of enjoyment out of it. I have still vivid memories about some of the visor-less less, be it from old Lego catalogs (if I remember there was a period where visor-less and visor sets overlapped) or from seeing adds in older issues of comic books. I just would have preferred a different scope but I digress. I agree that even if we document a lot with the help of the Internet, so much valuable information is lost, at least for special interest groups like us. Maybe this is the reason why so many of us try to curate a personal collection because we know no one else will (I mean how many people in the world are interested in the history of Cliffjumper toys).
  23. Scyla
    @M'Kyuun I got my copy of the Lego Space book and while it contains a whole lot I'm not interested in and doesn’t contain everything I wanted (I really hope the author gives us a second volume) it is nice to have some documentation and clear images of my favorite Lego Space set: 6781 SP-Striker (maybe my favorite Lego set ever). My childhood copy of the toy has seen better days and is currently in storage so it is nice to look at the lovely pictures: much nostalgia
  24. Scyla

    Arcadia VF-5000G

    Scyla replied to daBlah!'s topic in Toys

    I think the issue is the scale of operation you are dealing with and some other commenters have already eluded to that. I assume the way Arcadia plans their production is totally different to what Bandai is doing. When Arcadia has decided on a new release they will open orders first and than see how many preorders they can collect from the wholesalers and individual customers. With that number in hand, they will go to an independent factory and book a production slot for as many units they want to produce. Hopefully the timing works out, otherwise the product is delayed (happens fairly often). I would imagine that Bandai doesn’t operate on a batch by batch basis the way that Arcadia does. Because they have so many different lines and IPs they would allocate far in advance the production slot for a given item. Of course they will do a market analysis to get an estimate how much they want to produce. However, after the numbers are set this won’t change anymore. After that they will give the retailers the numbers how much units they can expect which is then sold off at preorder day. Bandai just has to plan their production differently than Arcadia since they are a gigantic company. And they have different processes in place and are not that agile compared to small operation like Arcadia. Bandai's releases are usually never delayed which is an indicator to me that they planned their production lines in advance. Sure they have made to order items for their TWE releases but they also seem to have a predefined upper limit on how much they can produce. To my understanding is that in Japan these items are not a scarce as we believe they are and you are able to go to a store and pick one up. So it is not like Bandai is super off with their estimates (there are notable exceptions like the Metal Build EVA-01 but that got a reissue fairly quickly). Also big retailers like BBTS also don’t sell out quickly so I feel like Bandai thinks their production numbers are good especially since you don’t want to have big warehouses full of stock binding money. It is just that smaller stores focusing on exporting those toys from Japan can’t get enough stock either from Bandai directly or from their middle men. The only thing odd about it are shops like Amazon Japan and AmiAmi ( to my knowledge the biggest specialty goods store in Japan). But here it could be the case of customers with a foreign IP address seeing other (more limited) listings compared to customers from Japan directly. Which has been the primary market for Macross items for a long time now.
  25. Scyla
    Nice Arcee build @tekering. That reminds me that I have to build my own copy of the kit. I really wished Flame Toys would release some female Transformers in their Kuro Kara Kuri line (IDW Firestar maybe?). The better materials would make the more fragile designs sturdier and it would look nice on my display having not just buff robots fighting each other.
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