Scyla

I've voted for BGC figmas in the latest survey done by Max Factory so if this is real I'm all in. The OMG and Utena figmas are also really tempting but I don't hold my breath until I see a physical prototype and/or an active preorder.

I welcome this announcement since I don't have any of the old ones from Yamato. I only wish that the SV-51 had different head turrets so I could have some variety between the Nora and Ivanov custom. Oh well I could buy one for Battroid- and one for Fighter-Mode. Makes enough sense to me.

Images for the Lego display from Toy Fair 2017: http://news.toyark.com/2017/02/18/toy-fair-2017-lego-collection-display-240542 Sadly now images for new Star Wars sets yet. I hope the reveal a new Lego X-Wing from Rogue One that would go well with the new Y-Wing and A-Wing from this year as well as the new B-Wing from a few years ago.

It makes me sad and anxious that there is no release date announced for Shredder and no images of additional figures in the TMNT line. Where is Bebop, Rocksteady, Krang, the Foot Clan, Slash, Metalhead.....

It would be totally awesome if Arcadia releases Milias VF-1J from Macross 7. Love the black trim.

More Trypticon images: http://news.tfw2005.com/2017/02/17/generations-trypticon-full-reveal-333577

I'm not a super fan of some of the SFV redesigns so I will probably only go for the ones that look somewhat similar to their Super Street Fighter II and Street Fighter IV counterparts... ..and Ken and Juri because I played both of them somewhat extensively.

I'm so in on the Seven Sword... No release date? No info on the MB Quan[T].

Yay my PW deadline is the 15th. That means I can ship the armor set with my current HLJ stack.

In my opinion the Voyager and Leader class toys of the TR line are marred by the paper thin plastic they are using for their molds. TR Galvatron feels like he has the density of a soap bottle. With the smaller deluxe figures you don't feel the lack of mass that much. But I agree the TR line shines with most of the Deluxe toys. I'd love to get my hands on more of those.

I think the legs also have a build in auto explode mechanism when rotating them 90 degrees from and to Fighter-Mode because the there is something wrong with the mechanism. I think jenius and Chronocidal had this issue. There where also some reports on breakage on the two swing bars that connect the cockpit area to the hind fuselage. It truly is a CF version.

I've been watching this review of the new ToyWorld Coneheads. It is really amazing how much better they are compared to the MP-11 mold. I'm not sold on ToyWorlds hip joint (same goes for their Primorion) but now I really wish they would release a Skywarp version of the mold. Of course they are not perfect but the MP Seeker mold really shows its age.

In retrospect I think the VF-171 mold is my favorite from all the Frontier DX Valkyries (barring the durability issues of the cannon fodder).

Topspin looks to be a stunning Transformer. Really wish there where some news about the next Takara releases of the line:

More reviews from Paik4Life and Chachipower:

I was able to order a Black Series Darth Revan: http://www.bigbadtoystore.com/bbts/product.aspx?product=HAS25274&mode=retail

Yay ordered one of each... That was pretty easy. Bandai take note for the DX releases.

Skullface reviews Maketoys Downbeat: My ramblings about the toy:

Quick question: where is the preorder for Takara Legends Triggerhappy? I'd love the toy but there seems to be no preorders for any new toys on HLJ.... when is the next event in Japan when they announce new releases?

I'd love to have a second season of Delta.

Now here is a tread for you. Skullface reviews the GCreations Ultra Maximus. I'm really intrigued by the complexity of the toy. So I might bite if they release it in Nemesis Prime colors. However with all the stress marks showing on Skullfaces copy I fear that they will also be on other versions if they don't improve the mold. And stress marks will look horrible on black plastic compared to red.

Maybe the gray plate on the arm shields can be replaced with ones that have mounting points for the reaction weapons... ...they where mounted on the center portion of the shield right? Honestly I can't remember.

I think I need to rephrase my word. I like clever engineering. So every time a robot does something cool like extending joints or an transformation that shows lateral thinking I'm hyped. Nifty tricks where a simple solution (like a swivel) would also provide a similar outcome but not as good make me want to get a toy. If toy manufacturers go the extra mile to make something good great I'm on board. Good examples here would be the Truforce Megaman X action figures which combine everything I love about toys for collectors (if it could transform into a hover bike it would be even cooler). I agree that there are limitations when it comes to the actual design. Either because of lineart restrictions or because it is not feasible because it would compromise the whole toy. This is especially true for toys that transform in some kind or another. SoC Voltron looks like a good toy a clear improvement over any Voltron toy that came before it but for the asking price I want be wowed by it. I want that Bandai goes the extra mile. This happens not very often but when it does I'm in love (need to get the other Truforce colorways). [edit:] I watch a lot of toy reviews and I'm always surprised how ungentle some reviews handle their toys.I would be far to scared to break something or scratch the paint to be that rough while handling them. (Not to speak of my cotton gloves that I use when I "play" with my MB Gundams *cough* ^_^)

Bobby Skullface also did a review on the SoC Voltron. He missed the spot where you can lock the shoulder blocks of the Black Lion but otherwise I agree with his criticism that the range of motion is fairly limited given Bandais asking price:

I've got MMCs Kultur (IDW Tarn) and he is pretty good sometimes even great: The toy does some things really well. He looks the part. In robot-mode he is spot on to the IDW character he homages and I think that alt-mode is a close enough approximation. I wish the designer for Kultur had found a way to include the tank thread covers into the toy but less is more I guess (more on that later). Like Titanika he has all the attributes that make the Reformatted line my favorite Transformers toy line. Sturdy and dense plastic, spot on paint applications, great articulated and tight joints (you name it he's got it) and playability that really captures the spirit of an adult oriented toy and not a finicky display piece. He is much fun to play with. For example he has four missiles in his toe that can be removed as well as a missile compartment on the backpack. Macross missile spam galore. The face under the (removable) mask is painted in a very dark color. Probably so you can see the red eyes shine through the viewing slot (think of Batmans eye makeup) which is a nice touch. The face sculpt is a good enough representation of the character that became Tarn in my opinion. Quality control-wise my copy is almost perfect. He has a nasty paint chip on the white paint on his forearm and I hope I can get an replacement piece from PSX where I ordered him from. He had a tiny splotch of paint on his gun mount that was easily removed. Regarding paint I have some remarks. I would have loved it if MMC painted the inside of his fusion cannons with that lovely Energon pink to give poses where he points them into the faces of his victims more impact. He also has some molded rectangular details (painted gold) on his feet where the factory painted a triangle on the top of the rectangle also in gold which is a strange decision in my eyes (it also looks weird and out of place). Maybe they found out that the detail should look this way but where too far the pipeline to change the molding. So why is the toy not great if he has so many intriguing parts to him. Well this comes down to the other aspect he shares with Titanika. He is under-engineered. In my opinion to an even more degree than Titanika. Where with Titanika you had the shoulders and the back kibble that inhibited articulation Kultur has many more spots where I think a more clever engineering approach would have made the toy great. Maybe even the best release in the Reformatted line (which is to me Spartan/Commotus). Let's start from top to bottom. The first issue are the shoulder threads. You basically fold them in half for transformation but the outer pieces don't peg onto the inner ones. This means that you always knock them out of alignment while posing him. A nitpick for sure but it is annoying. Secondly there is the lower arm section where the elbow meets the tank thread shoulders. While they are line art accurate I feel that it would have benefited the toy if you could slide the lower arms a tad outward. Not much, maybe 4-5 mm. This would make the figure look more natural and would have freed up the range of motion of the arms. This brings me to my biggest issue with the toy the fusion cannons. Similar to to Titanikas shoulders they really impede the movement of the arms but unlike Titanika you can't really bring them out of the way properly for many poses. If they put more moving parts into the cannons so that the could slide forward, that the weapon mount could sit more snug on the forearm or that the elbow joint could extend to give the cannons more room would had helped a lot. Even making the whole gun turret a tad smaller would have given the arms more freedom to move without sacrificing the look in alt-mode. The same issue is present on the lower legs. The threads just fold to the back of the legs and sit there which limits the double-jointed knee to a 90 degree bend. Again if they put some more thoughts into the design they might have found an way to transform them either to the inside of the lower leg to hide them or to fold them closer to the back of the leg with the possibility to slide them downwards for certain poses it would benefited the toy a great deal. I would have been ok with the hind thread being thinner compared to the front ones if that meant more range of motion in the knees. Now they just sit there floating behind the leg which is also not aesthetically pleasing. Somehow I get the feeling that MMC looked at the design and thought it was good enough and stopped. Luckily the design and fit and finish is strong enough soften the blow a ton unlike other recent toys (looking at you Jaegertron) I do still recommend the toy since he has so many great qualities but depending on how you feel about the negatives I brought up you might have a different opinion about him. And despite the negatives he is a ton of fun, plays well, looks stunning together with the the other members of the DJD on the shelfs and he IS Tarm in my opinion. (I really need to figure out how to make better pictures) [edit:] Two things I've forgot to include in the initial post. They are more general observation on the direction of the Reformatted line than specific points for Kultur. First it is really sad to see that MMC opted not to use the boxes with the flip top and the magnet clasp. Supposedly it was not uses because Kultur and Titanika where packaged in alt-mode but I still think it would give the toys a more stellar presentation. The packaging always gave the reformatted line an extra premium feel. Secondly the Reformatted design language shifted also into a more simple and streamlined look similar to the Takara Masterpiece line. Thus you find many areas on the toy that is lacking details where they might have been some sculpting on previous releases. Areas like the elbow joint for example. This is not a bad thing just an observation that the Reformatted line will be focusing on the comic look.