Scyla

I wonder if there will be a preorder rush like on the DX Chogokin toys. I really want a full Walkure band squad to pose in front of my Delta Valkyries.

What they really should have done make the area with the skull emblems on the Fast Packs a replaceable and include 5 different inlays: 4 for the Skull Squadron and one generic one.

All that Terraegis talk makes me want to talk about mine. While I still think that Sphinx is the pinnacle of the Ocular Max line Terraegis is a lot better than my Backdraft. He has almost no quality control issues. Everything is painted sharp and it has the extra detail (like 4wd prints and delicious 80s color blobs) Backdraft was lacking. The only qc issues besides the mismatch in paint for the A-pillar and the hull for the truck bed is a bit of overspray on the silver paint apps on his lower legs. While the paint (that is suppose to be black) looks out of place on the stuff that it is painted with I would love to see it applied to the details on the shoulders, the legs and the head crest to give the toy more depth. The real issues I have with the toy (he is a fantastic Trailbreaker) lie more in the design than in the build quality. This is a 180 degree turn from Backdraft where most of the issues on mine stem from the factory that built the toy. Before all the vile stuff I will say about the design first the stuff I like about it (don't worry it is not that bad ^_^): The base of the transformation follow some very logic, easy to understand ideas. It is rounded off with nice attention of detail like the possibility to have a slimmer chest with the collapsing hood (something I wish MP Lambor had) and the retracting wheels that form a solid upper torso. The way the lower legs become solid chunks of robot out of all that parts is a great trick. He also has all the articulation you need with more than 90 degree bend on the arms and a in concept double jointed knee. He also includes an ab crunch for looking down on those pesky humans. The use of die-cast is again nicely done. I think here they learned the lesson from Sphinx and only put the metal where it is beneficial to the structural integrity of the toy. He feels hefty and significant. He comes also with a fair share of accessories. Among them an alternative head that is inspired by the toy design which really stands out. Enough praise onward to criticism (from top to bottom): I don't like that many of the accessories are needed to be parts formed on and off the toy during transformation. This goes for the shield generator, the shoulder cannon and the gun arm. To make things worse none of the accessories can be stored in alt mode. I understand that this can be tricky to achieve but Backdraft handle his accessories very well. Minor nitpick. The head is on a floating platform that doesn't lock into place. The joint is tight (not like on MP Roadrage) so it stays in place. However there is the possibility that it will get lose over time. The design of the elbows is not my cup of tea. They are similar in their design to the ones on MP Primal. I'm not sure why they where designed in that way since they collapse into the forearms and don't need to bend for transformation I don't see why you couldn't design a proper elbow joint. Small criticism for the hands since they don't make convincing fists and don't lock into place when you extend them for robot mode. Onward to the lower abdomen. The section around the waist joint looks hollow since there is a place where you can clearly see that the upper and lower body is only connected by the thin spine. I wish it would collapse further to close the gap. I'm also not a fan of the hip joint. Terraegis implements the MP Grimlock hip design that, in my opinion, just don't look right when you have the toy in a dynamic pose. Lastly the knee and lower legs. While I think that the transformation for the legs is nifty the small pieces that secure the knees just doesn't seem to end up in a position without a gap. They always look like they are bent at an angle. And while they work (kinda, sorta) this is not pleasing for the eyes. The way the lower legs transform they end up with a large part of the side car panel on the back which prohibits the knee joint from a deeper bend. The toy would have benefited from an additional panel that would free up the movement for the knees. This might have lead to an instability in alt-mode (he locks together quite solidly) so I can understand why they didn't do it. Another nitpick here: I wished the read wheels and the panels I talked to would lock into place. Now they are just dangling around. If your not careful during transformation you could pop them off from their rotation point. This happens on mine a couple of times during the first transformation. Word of advice they should swing into position freely. If they don't want to move into position something is blocking them like the feet. Also the post they are attached to are rather small and made of plastic so they might break if you are not careful. Tough on my copy they just popped of the posts without leaving stress marks. These not be big issues but in the end they sum up in a way where I think the toy is not as good as it could be. Before I had the toy in hand my biggest design gripe was the gap on the tailboard that become the feet. I couldn't understand why they where design in that way. The designer of Terraegis mentioned on the TFW board that this decision was made so that Terraegis had more rounded feet. While I can understand that I think it was the wrong decision and I would rather have a tailboard without it. Nevertheless I'm satisfied with my purchase and I would recommend him especially if you don't care about all the issues I've listed here. He is a fun toy and I prefer him over the big mess of nope that is Speedbump. He is also a clear improvement over Backdraft build-wise so with the next release of the Ocular Max line we should be back to Sphinx levels if the trend continues which is a good thing. While I was weary of the ups and downs of the quality of the line I now look forward to the next releases. For Hoist however I will wait for FansToys offering or the official Masterpiece release (if it happens). While I think Ocular Max put a lot of effort into distinguishing the two characters from one another I rather have a Hoist with a totally different engineering approach.

I would totally buy the premium finish version but I already have the three first VF-1 releases from Arcadia. I would rather have Super Strike Pack addon-sets and the rest of the Skull Squadron than try to find a way to sell my VF-1 collection and start all over again with a release that might be a singularity. So I'm interested but not buying.

Do the missile warheads look pinkish?

I actually need a Max and Kakizaki DYRL in the new Arcadia white to finish off my Skull Squadron. I guess I'm out of luck on the Kakizaki one since even the Max is wishful thinking from my side at this point.

I watched jenius review of the VF-31J with some of the comments I'm really surprised that people don't like the knee cap landing gears on the Siegfried. They are probably all aviation enthusiasts that need to have a specific design of landing gear to be satisfied. To me the rear landing gear doors are an eyesore on many Valkyries. Especially on the Yamcadia VF-1 it is not aesthetically pleasing to me with the panels not aligning correctly. So I welcome to new style on the Siegfried.

As with the Roy I'm not interested in the Hikaru one since I have the first Arcadia release of the VF-1S (sadly no Super Strike Parts). Lets hope a VF-1S Max bundle is next.

I've got two new toys earlier this week: MMCs Titanika and Ocular Max' Terraegis. First Titanika. I adore this toy. He is everything I would want out of a toy line for adults with transforming robots. She is chunky, heavy (without any die-cast), solidly build with good articulation and has excellent paint apps. There are two major issues (and one small one) with the toy. I agree with most of the criticism that her shoulders/backpack could improve more engineering so that the arms can move freely. However since the shoulders are on big ball joints that act as a butterfly joint and the pauldrons can swivel you can get her in many poses even if she seems quite limited at first. The second part is the panel assembly that fold up on her waist and they cover the robot thighs in alt mode. In tandem with the massive backpack and the way they are design they often get in the way for posing her legs in a dynamic way or utilizing her (incredibly tight) waist joint. With a better thought out backpack you could easily fold them away into it. For all the criticism the backpack gets from me I think it looks fantastic and fits the character well. They remind me of two gigantic turbines/power units that fuel this gigantic engine of destruction. I also have a minor quibble with her forearms. I wish she had a swivel before the elbow joint similar to the Metal Build Strike Freedom or Destiny Gundam. Because of the massive forearm armor I have trouble using her double jointed elbow to full effect. As a minor nitpick I would wish for another connection to secure the grenade launchers on a second point on the weapons and as a bumper so that they stay aligned. With just one peg connection that can be knocked out of alignment pretty easy. As a summary she is leaps and bounds ahead of MMC Jaegertron who was made in a different factory I believe. Looks stunning in both modes (all six wheels are in contact with a flat surface), has the though plastic we came to expect from MMC (no stress marks at all) and on my copy everything locks in place and the joints have the right tolerance with a tendency of being too tight. I want to bring forward a few points where Titanika excels. The wheels are made of a rubberized plastic. They are not as soft as regular rubber (i.e. the wheels on MP-10) rather they have the a similar texture of the soft plastic Hasbro uses for the small edges on their toys like the spires on the AoE Dinobots. This plastic gives the toy a premium haptic feel and she rolls smoothly. The paint applications are also well done. This includes the number of paint apps as well as the different color tones used. I also think the wrecking bowl hands are a great touch. Not only to they act as melee weapons in bot mode but look also like a weapon on alt mode. Think of mines that can be used Rock & Roll Racing style to shake off pursuers. I noticed I've wrote a bunch of stuff about Titanika so I will give Terraegis his own post. I also got a new camera for Christmas so I think I should take some pictures that go along with my ramblings.

I think the next one will be Arad if they follow the releases of the model kits. I was also wondering if Arad, Mirage and Chuck will be more widely available. Especially Arad since he never did anything in the show other than eating jellyfish.

The MakeToys Striker Noir is up for preorder. Apparently it comes with a weapon accessory kit. He looks stunning. I hope they do a repaint of Rioter Despotron as a Dark Megatron to get rid of the gray plastic.

I have a favor to ask from the people who got their VF-31J already. Could you please tell me if it is possible to lower the beam gun-pod in Fighter-Mode so that it looks like it is shooting in flight? If so, would it be possible to make a picture of it?

I think Despotron cleans up much nicer so he will be the Megatron on my shelf. However I'm a sucker for well engineered toys so I will give MP Megatron a shot.I wish they would announce a repaint for him before the releases so I could put him as a different character on my shelf. Here is an image of Despotrons back (courtesy of Kumastyle http://kumastyledesigns.com/mt-despotron-review/):

Here is a better view of MP Megatrons backside: I think the backside of the shoulders and the forearms look flimsy as hell. I'm still very interested in how he transforms and if the transformation is fiddly. I hope we get more preview images of the Megatron before release. March and April gonna be an expensive month with this, the two DX Delta Valkyries, and the MB F91 coming all out in spring.

It seems I got one from amiami.... waiting for the confirmation mail...

Downbeat looks good. Not sure about the swirly plastic on his feet and shins. I think I would prefer a Jazz toy with a Martini deco like what Takara did with Masterpiece Wheeljack.

The way I understand it it is a way to double the display space by removing one side of the Detolf cabinet. Here is a guide how to do it with some pictures (courtesy of TigerBlade over at TFW2005): http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/threads/dual-detolf-mod.1041700/

I saw the movie on opening weekend and I'm not a fan. I will probably see it a second time to see if my opinion changes. I think one of the reasons why I don't like this movie is because I don't like prequels. You see when you do a prequel..

I preordered the Super Parts today from NY. Hopefully I can score a preorder for the VF-31F. After all the high praise for the VF-31J I have to have the whole Delta Squadron. Luckily the preorder window was open several times during the preorder period for the J so I hope for the same with the F. Sadly I think the fact that the VF-31 seems to be a stellar toy might not help with the availability of prerorder slots. *yay* First post on the new shiny boards.

Payed at HLJ. I wonder If I have anything on preorder that will go to my private warehouse in the next 60 days. Looking at the images from the review I'm not particularly fond of the frosted canopy but I'll live.

Thank you for all the effort Shawn! I really appreciate this place for discussion, news and magnificent pictures. Hope the transition to the new service provider goes smoothly. Be back soon MW.

Love the Super Parts. Need to order them as soon as Christmas is over. Especially the logo on the leg armor. I don't know why but I'm a sucker for small details like that no matter how out of place they might look (yay for Metal Build Gundams). In these pictures the micro missiles look better than on the YF-29 but I'm sure they are not as nicely detailed as on the VF-25 Armor Parts. Speaking of that I'm still bummed out that the Super Parts for the VF-171 and VF-27 don't have opening missile bays.

I totally am. How did you know?

I've watched the video and I'm kinda scared about the "broken" part. Do they mean if you don't extend the rear fuselage back when transforming it to Battroid-Mode you will break the intake looking plastic piece? Other than that I'm totally in love with the VF-31 design. Especially the paint layout and colors of Delta Squadron.

I got the regular release. One because I'd like to keep the look of the boxes consistent (at least for the Gundam 00 suits) and I really dig the asymmetrical look of the Avalanche Exia with the GN Sword on the one side and the GN Blades on the other. I also wasn't sure what to do with the extra shield and besides the clamp to attach the second sets of blades I already have those items with the regular Exia. Plus I like to display my figures standing in a regular pose with their weapons sheathed/holstered. So no need for the extra parts.