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Scyla

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  1. Scyla
    So I bought the set at an Amazon sale for ~$50 and having built it I can somehow see how the penny pinchers at Lego came to the conclusion that it should be $80. The Sarlacc pit is massive. Build out of plenty of 2x4, 2x2 and 2x6 bricks. Something you don’t see often outside of Minecraft sets. The decision to have just 2/3rds of the pit for tue sake of a gimmick I strongly disagree with. It doesn’t look right outside of specific angles used for product photography. For some reason the maw is also a oblong shape and not round (probably to save on pieces). The skiff has some nice details in the controls and the wings. But I think I like the previous one from 2017 better (75174). The Minifigs are just ok. I bought the set to have the Skiff Guard Lando, Jedi Knight Luke with the robes and a representation of Nien Nunb and they are all fairly well done. Don‘t care about Chewie and Han since they are the same from the previous set but I understand why they are included. Boba Fett is in his ESB outfit and no cape so into storage it goes. In general I would loved if they include three or four additional Skiff guards.
  2. Scyla
    Saw that too. My understanding is that Player 2 M. Bison is a BBTS exclusive celebrating their 25th store anniversary.
  3. Scyla
    Electronic instructions are the worst (at least the ones I tried). I can’t build in front of my computer and on the smartphone the screen goes always dark and there is not enough screen space to look at it comfortable. Also building LEGO is a outlet not to interact with computer so I don’t know why Lego would encourage people to spend more time with their smart device.
  4. Scyla
    Hacchaka‘s review of the Metal Build Dynames Saga: https://hacchaka.net/archives/52113163.html
  5. Scyla
    I always wonder where the designer of these Guile toys (Jada and SHF) are getting the camo pattern for his pants from. In my mind the pants are mainly the color of Guile‘s shirt with some splotches of beige and dark green paint. I think Storm Collectibles did it the best so far but also not a 100% correc
  6. Scyla
    I will wait for deep discounts both on the Sail Barge and the new Desert Skiff.
  7. Scyla
    They come with the 2025 $80 add-on set to the Sail Barge (on shelves now):
  8. Scyla
    I‘m on board. Great to see the Hut Slayer Leia figure making a return. Still need to figure out were to put it since I added a UCS Super Star Destroyer to my display earlier this year. Do we know the dimensions of the barge? [edit:] Apparently the Sail Barge will be 77cm (approximately 2‘6“) long.
  9. Scyla
    I think the gold standard for the VF-1 is the Bandai perfect transformation 1/72 scale model kit! It has an accurate leg delivery mechanism and innovative articulation design. Something that even the 1/48th scale DX Chogokin VF-1 couldn‘t pull off. To the design talk I would like to add that Valkyries are first and foremost fighter jets while the Battroid-mode is the secondary (or even tertiary) mode. Even in the fiction the Battroid-mode is not the true self of the vessel I feel. Plus, it is not a living being rather a functional machine. So to me it makes sense if it doesn’t have human like articulation. It needs to hold and manipulate its Gunpod (and rescue idols) and point the legs in directions to maneuver appropriately. Historically, transforming versions always put more emphasis on the Fighter-Mode. If the toy designers differentiate from that approach (like the recent DX YF-21) it is usually a big kerfuffle among the fan base. Valkyries have canonical transformation schemes built in which Kawamori took great care into designing, so toy engineers can’t differentiate too much from this scheme. The comparison between Transformers where the primary mode is the robot mode (i.e an alien life form) is not really apt. That said, I do wish the Valkyrie manufacturers would come up with a way to engineer more (i.e. 90 degrees) outward hip movement without violating the design principles. On the other side Transformers could do so much better than a box on the underside of the jet. Legacy Deeadwing (with all its flaws) shows that it is even possible on a mass market budget. The best Transformers jet ever to me is FT Maverick, especially being a Concorde. What drags the toy down is the wrong nosecone design and the weird conformable fuel tanks on the upper side of the wing roots. Both mishaps have nothing to do with the robot transformation itself and could have easily been avoided. Honorable mentions: Prime First Edition Starscream and Titan‘s Return Triggerhappy.
  10. Scyla
    Nice review @mikeszekely interesting reading your thoughts about a toy originally released 2008-ish. Yes, they really felt super high-quality back in the day (I think I got my first copy around 2017-ish) bin ut the world moved on with merciless speed. Regarding the toy itself, I have no idea who this is for. I assume it is exclusively for Transformers fans, so why not go all the way and remove the Jolly Rodgers and U.N.SPACY logos and lean hard into the G1 Jetfire toy. I think you had one chance to release this before Hasbro‘s lawyers shot your operation down so go all the way. I can’t imagine that this will make a Transformers fan happy as a "Masterpiece" G1 toy Jetfire, once the initial endorphin rush is gone.
  11. Scyla
    Even if I‘m not interested in Studio Series 86 Devastator I was looking forward to the reveal and how the second Combiner after Menasor was going to turn out. The repaints wave really is underwhelming.
  12. Scyla
    So I was really looking forward to the PS5 Pro announcement both replacing my old PS4 Pro and my ancient gaming PC (the phone I‘m typing this post with is probably magnitudes better than my PC) But damn, what a letdown. $700/€800, no disc drive, same old ginormous, ugly box. I would have been ok with the price if it came with a disc drive and had a slimmer design (similar to the PS4 to PS4 Pro). I think I would rather buy a new gaming PC instead of this. Disappointing: https://www.tomshardware.com/video-games/console-gaming/ps5-pro-confirmed-new-playstation-will-cost-dollar69999-on-november-5-with-larger-gpu-and-pssr-upscaling
  13. Scyla
    If you plan to open them I would be interested to hear how they are quality wise compared to other Marvel Legends (especially build quality). I‘m looking for a Sentinel for my MvC2 collection but couldn’t find one I like.
  14. Scyla
    Preorder for MPG-14S at Anime Export (¥35800 pay now): https://www.anime-export.com/index.php?product=83592
  15. Scyla
    Well, at least it seems to have the VF-19 canards, so that would indicate that the nosecone section will resemble the source material. But it will be for sure a robot tucked to the underside of a VF-19 shaped fighter jet. And it won’t be the Kai or Basara but rather Blaster or Soundwave cosplaying as VF-19 if the Godzilla crossovers are any indication.
  16. Scyla
    That is true but given that the Godzilla homages use rather recent molds I would say CW is not likely. Given how little retooling is going on with Godzilla Megatron and Kiryu Optimus I don’t think we will see a complete new mold. Maybe it is a retool of Maverick (the Top Gun collab) but with the torso 180 degrees rotated around. That would explain the slender silhouette.
  17. Scyla
    I still believe this is a re-shell of Legacy Needlenose. Given the nosecone and forward fuselage that seems to be hanging behind his back: The Needlenose’s robot makes almost no use of alt-mode parts. Kingdom Cyclonus hides the nosecone in his chest. What gets interpreted as bat ears are probably the head lasers and head fin of the VF-19 Kai head. The two bumps behind the shoulders of the silhouette are probably the shoulder pads of the original VF-19 resting on top of the engines. Looking at the alt mode with the legs just hanging below the fuselage you could easily re-shell them to resemble the ones on the VF-19. Also the feet on Needlenose already look like they could be thrusters (not like the ones on the VF-19, more in line with the SV-262). The biggest problem I see is how to give the VF-19 head fin enough room in the chest cavity and how to remold the chest into something that looks like the mono boop of the VF-19 but also provide enough clearance so the jet lies flat on the ground. I guess the latter might not be that big of a problem given the robot mode is already a big derivation from the source material and BigWest/Kawamori probably made sure that at least the Fighter-Mode looks proper (although the VF-19 Kai has the most prolific Battroid-Mode in all of Macross). I wonder were the wings go. From the screenshot above it looks like the main wings could be on the legs while the tailfins fold onto the back.
  18. Scyla
    While I have little faith that Takara can surpass the Yamato one (haven’t shipped my HMR one yet), I think a Soundwave VF-19 is a great idea. It looks like the nosecone (with canards) is folded onto the back with the tailfins on the legs and the wings nowhere to be found. So it probably won’t look anything like a VF-19 but the color scheme. Maybe it‘s a re-shell of Needlenose?
  19. Scyla
    Metal Build Dragon Scale - Marishiten -Pure Elements Guren available for preorder at Anime Export (pay now ¥42800): https://www.anime-export.com/index.php?product=82821 [edit:] sold out
  20. Scyla
    I understand that people are dissatisfied that this is a remold of another 00 suite instead of a completely new toy but I‘m just glad it is not another Strike, Exia/Astraea or Astray Red Frame. This looks good, and I‘m glad we are getting the Full Saber variant. Do we know what is meant by labeling this as an Event Exclusive? Is it for an upcoming Tamashii Nations exhibit?
  21. Scyla
    I really wished they would ban questions like: "will you do character X". I can’t remember when there was extracted usefulness information out of it. Of course every character is a possible release in the future. And it takes away slots for useful questions like what is the decision process for the Commander Class releases, or why there was no remolding on Cyberverse Tarn.
  22. Scyla
    It was not just the missing paint on MP-49 (and MP-44 was fully painted) but also the quality of the black plastic (feels terribly cheap) and the plastic choices for the teal inlays on his waist. Basically the toy feels like a bad knockoff of MP-44. That‘s what I meant with a missing baseline for the Masterpiece line. Some releases are fully painted, others are not. Some are devoid of details, the next release is not. Some sacrifice everything for cartoon accuracy others just give up midway. Some have all the articulation you would need and then some, while others miss basic joints. The other "high end" lines I collect (Metal Build, Kuro Kara Kuri, DX Chogokin) usually center around a certain set of aspects that all their releases fulfill. Certain releases have spikes in both directions from the baseline but they are not as extreme as the ones in the Masterpiece line. I understand that it is more difficult for a converting toyline to keep it consistent but I have the feeling that Takara has no idea how to do that or that they even care. You say that Studio Series 86 Optimus has no MP DNA in it but what is the MP DNA that all Masterpiece releases have in common? There is none. My expectation as a collector for a high priced collector focused toy line is that they keep their releases consistent with the president the manufacturer set with the first releases. If you want to change the DNA of the line just do a new one. Takara had the chance with MPG but three releases in (Raiden, Super Ginrai and black Ironhide) it is already a hodgepodge of different aesthetics and design approaches. Maybe I am the weird one and an atypical collector but I love to collect unified sets of finite things. Both because to keep me sane and not to overspend and because it soothes my need for whatever went wrong with me as a child (for example I hate it when season 5 of a physical media release suddenly has a different box style). Thanks for the links to the press releases. I‘ve read it more like T-Spark can use characters from Transformers/Zoids/Diaclone for T-Spark but it makes sense to include them. Time will tell what it is going to be.
  23. Scyla
    I‘m so happy that Jada is doing the Mega Man Robot Masters. I hope they sell well (I‘m on board). I hope they do Skull Man and Pharaoh Man too.
  24. Scyla
    I don’t know. I own a lot of Masterpiece toys and they frequently populate the bottom of my least favorite toys list in my collection. MP-24 Star Saber is probably the worst toy I own. Other notable toys are MP-48+ Dark Amber Leoprime, MP-49 Black Convoy or MP-11 Lambor. They are so bad that I stopped buying Masterpiece toys after Raiden (another contender) altogether. The main line Hasbro toys are at least cheaper and mostly more fun to play with. There is a good chance that Studio Series 86 Optimus turns out better than MP-44. If I didn’t collect MP I probably be much happier with collecting the main line. As a bonus you actually get the characters you want. Takara just can’t deliver a consistent baseline on their collector Transformers line. And I find it funny that the MP line is not part of the new T-Spark branding that ought to be the equivalent to Tamashii Nations.
  25. Scyla
    In my opinion what people want is well written, well produced, well thought out, well acted movies/tv-shows. If they don’t get that, they start nagging about minuscule little details because the overarching story is bollocks. I don’t know what the reception of ESB was (besides people trowing a fit about Darth Vaders revelation) but I don’t assume that they nagged about how Luke had a chance of possibly defeating Darth Vader because we see him training with Yoda for five minutes on screen. To me this is what Disney doesn’t understand, that the baseline of your project needs to be good (or they understand it and can’t deliver) otherwise people won’t like it. Especially with a franchise that is now contaminated for the next decade. If they want to get out of that quagmire that they produced and earn money (and fandom goodwill) Disney needs to produce quality content. Then they can sprinkle whatever amount of Star Wars nostalgia they deem adequate on top (or their woke agenda if you believe in such stuff ).
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