mikeszekely

Hmm, I just checked mine, and I don't have that problem. Both his shoulders were flush, and I had to turn his arms and act like I was transforming him to get them to pop out. As long as we're discussing Animated Megs, FYI, the barrel on his Fusion Cannon rotates. If you turn the barrel 180 degrees, he'll be more toon accurate.

It was. David's been trying to figure out the exact color blue for awhile. And yeah, the QA for Transformers in general is a little down. Almost all of the Animated toys have some issue (although, to be fair, some of those issues are design flaws, like Lockdown's hands). And of the new Universe toys, my Sunstreaker, Galvatron, Powerglide, and Silverbolt are fine, but Prowl had a sloppy paint job and paint that fingerprints/is sticky/rubs off on the translucent plastic, and Onslaught's paneling on his left leg doesn't peg in right and his shield won't stay pegged on in either mode.

That's Pathfinder. EDIT: Ah, Valk Hunter beat me to it. I didn't have Pathfinder, but I had the black/red/silver car next to her. If I'm not mistaken, that's Super Gobot Psycho. He was one of my favorite Super Gobots, not for any special attachment to the character, but because back in the 80's that car looked super sleek and futuristic. Well, I've had time to open Galvatron and play with him, and having done that, I can fully sympathize with everyone who wished Galvy was a Voyager or Ultra. Pros: -It's Galvatron. -A mostly purple one, at that. -Spot-on head sculpt. -Interesting Transformation for a tankformer... the top of the tank is the right arm, and the left is folded underneath. -Not much in the way of obvious robot parts in alt-mode. -Has little feet that seem to serve no purpose save potentially giving him a second alt mode similar to G1 Galvatron's alt mode. -Nicely detailed. -Mostly poseable, even without much in the of ball joints. Cons: -Not a Voyager with awesome ratcheting joints. -Lacks symmetry... aside from the fact that he's got a chunk of tank for one arm. The tank part his gray, and half his right forearm is purple. His shoulder and upper left arm are purple, though, and his left forearm is gray. -Safety Orange plastic parts. They clash in every way imaginable with his mostly gray and purple body. There was no reason to use safety orange... it's not like he had in in G1. -Some tank kibble on his back diminishes his awesomeness, although the kibble can sort of be folded up in a way that looks like an attack mode (mediocre pics later, if requested, and if I can find my stupid camera). -Limited poseability in his right arm. -Joints a little lose around his hips. Galvatron may not be perfect, but he's the first Galvatron that wasn't a Megatron repaint since the original (unless you count the fact that Energon Megatron was always Galvatron in Japan), and aside from a repaint of his G1 toy that I'm not even sure was sold outside Japan, the first purple Galvatron. We might not be getting the Galvatron we've always dreamed of, but we're getting a pretty solid G1 homage. Ultimately, there are worse ways to spend $10.

So a couple of days ago, a Kohl's sent some advertisement out in the mail with a coupon for $10 off a purchase of $10 or more. We don't shop at Kohl's often, because it's a little out of the way, but I went there with the wife today. She didn't find anything she liked (Kohl's stuff on clearance is more than Target's stuff and regular price), but lo and behold, I found a Universe Galvatron (no Acid Storms, though)! I've yet to see him anywhere else around me (two Targets, a TRU, and a Wal-Mart). Kohl's naturally charges a ridiculous $12.99 for Deluxe TFs, but with the coupon, that meant that I got my Galvy for $3.

Ah, Agent One. I've missed your unique flavor of humor. Boards haven't been the same without you, so welcome back. Getting back on topic, since AiA left the game, I've been in Lunar's camp. Yeah, they're usually the last of the early crowd, but I think they're worth the wait, and I prefer .avi files anyway, since I burn my files to discs. That way, I can watch in on my computer, my home theater computer, my 360, my PS3, or either of my DVD players, without any re-encoding or messing with soft subs.

Sold my Harmony for Xbox 360 today and picked up a Harmony One. I've said before and I'll say again, if you've got more than three devices (maybe not counting the PS3), you owe it to yourself to pick up a Harmony. And while there's nothing wrong with the cheaper Harmony remotes, The One is pure joy. Recharging cradle, gorgeous touch screen, storage for three more devices (vs. my old one), and a Favorite Channels option add to the already fantastic functionality and customizability of my old Harmony.

You know, for as basic as Silverbolt's transformation is, and for as much robot kibble is on his alt mode and/or plane kibble on his back in bot mode, I really like him a lot too. As for them looking sorta downward, maybe it's because they're so much bigger than the rest of the figures? EDIT: Doesn't help Silverbolt, but Onslaught's view can be leveled a bit. Push his legs back, then pull his lower legs forward at the knees so he stands with his pelvis thrust forward a bit. His torso will be angled a bit. I put his arms rotated slightly forward and angled to his torso so that they're perpendicular to the ground. It's one of the least action-y poses I have a Transformer standing in, but so perfectly bad-ass that it suits him. Kinda like, he's not in action yet, but when he does the crap will hit the fans for the Autobots on that shelf.

I might actually fire up my Wii sooner than I thought. I was at Toys R' Us hunting for Classics/Universe Galvatron and Onslaught, when I happend to check out the Clearance bin in the 'R Zone. I snagged Zack & Wiki for about $8.

I swung by Target last night. They've had the space on the shelf for Universe Ultra figures for like three weeks now, but they have it stocked with the Cybertron repaint Voyagers. I went to Best Buy to pick up a Harmony One remote (best remote EVER), and since Toys R' Us is right next to it, I of course stopped in. I finally got Onslaught, although no Galvatrons yet. Onslaught has instantly become my favorite Ultra. Transformation's good, poseability is good, and he's got enough nods to his G1 cartoon self while being fresh (unlike Powerglide, who looks like Powerglide's head on another Transformer's body). I only have two complaints: 1.) The peg that holds the front part of his leg-flap in place keeps popping out, but only on his left one. I have a feeling that problem might be unique to mine. 2.) His riot shield doesn't stay in place at all in either mode. In bot mode, it's way too lose to stay pegged onto his arm. It alt mode, the opposite problem. It won't stay pegged on because it keeps popping right back out. I consider this to be sort of a minor complaint. The only reason he'd have a shield is if it was a necessary part of his alt mode, which it's not. In fact, the shield covers a lot of detail, like a spotlight, molded onto the roof. All-in-all, if you're into Classics/Universe, Onslaught is a must. Even with his flaws, he's one of the best Decepticon figures to date.

Is it wrong that I want a song for Megaman 2 now? Strangely, this video reminds me of the song...

Actually, while Nintendo-published, the next Wii game I'm really looking forward to is technically a Tecmo game. Fatal Frame: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse The original offered some top-notch chills (enough to make me buy the sequels, even though I've been too scared to play them). The Wiimote controls should be good for camera aiming.

Huh? The Wii? ...oh, yeah, that white box that I haven't played since Mario Kart. Oh well, I'm sure I'll get back to it when the next Mario/Zelda/Metroid/insert-first-party-game-here comes out.

I think the movie looks kinda dumb, but I gotta see it just for Robert Downey Jr.

I felt that way with the second one, because the ghosts were a little more generic, but the first one? Every time I thought I was getting used to it, they'd throw a creepier ghost at me. Like the one with the eyes gouged out, that was wailing about how it hurt. And most especially the boss one that you fought on the bridge, the way she crawled on the ground at you just when you thought you'd beat her. Silent Hill had a more unnerving story, but didn't have the same tension. It was really like, "Crap crap crap! I need a weapon. Okay, I found a plank," followed by splattering monsters with said plank.

If we're going to talk about scary games, Fatal Frame. 'Nuff said.

Or the Emo kids.

Yeah, and the previous art director made some really good points about how the game has a variety of areas, and you don't want them all to look the same, or the game gets boring (*cough cough original Halo cough*). I'm fine with the art direction. The game will stand on it's gameplay, anyway.

I've thought that I'm only interested in new molds, no repaints. But I already intend to break that rule for Unicron. It's a shame you didn't get Blades, as I'm somewhat curious about the mold. I was tossing around the idea of getting the Springer/Ratbat set at Target when it hits, as Ratbat is one of my favorite Decepticons.

I'm not going to pretend that Universe/Classics is perfect or anything. The Ultra line feels like Hasbro's milking me for an extra fiver, some toys would have been better at a smaller size class (Silverbolt) and others seem like they'd have been better as Voyagers (Grimlock, Galvatron). But it's far and away my favorite line. It's giving me just what I want... better-articulated modern takes on the classic characters I grew up with. I mean, the Animated figures have been great. It's really impressive how Hasbro's managed to get toys that capture both the bot mode and alt mode with the stylistic elements of Animated. And Animated is probably the best of the Transformers cartoons. But Animated is still the cartoon I just started watching this year, and G1 Transformers were a HUGE part of my childhood (the only toy/cartoon franchise that even came close to competing for my time, imagination, and my parents' money was TMNT). I'm skipping a lot of the Animated toys from here on out to have more money to dump on Classics/Universe.

Lucky. I hit my local TRU today too. No Galvatron. I did snag Universe Silverbolt and Universe Powerglide. Still no Onslaught (even though Target's had a spot for him for over a week), who I really wanted. Powerglide and Silverbolt both are kind of a mixed bag. Powerglide had his head, and the wings fold against his body the way they should, otherwise he looks like a different robot. Totally different transformation leaves him very top-heavy (although his back kibble isn't as bad in person), and I seriously don't know why Hasbro decided to go with a mostly off-white color scheme for a mostly-red character. It might be worth waiting for the Henkei version. Ultra also seems kinda large for such a tiny G1 character. As for Silverbolt, he's very much a homage to his original G1 self. On the plus side, that means a bot who looks like a much more poseable version of his G1 cartoon rendition, but it also means that, like the original toy, he's either a plane with a robot on its belly or a robot with a plane on his back. Transformation is ridiculously simple, but despite the robot underneath, I love his alt mode. I just really wish he was a Deluxe. Owning two Ultras now, I have to repeat my earlier statement that Ultra is Voyager with irritating electronics and an extra $5 tacked on the price ($6 at TRU). Yeah, they are both taller than Jetfire, but they're close in size to Animated Voyager Megatron.

Just Japan. Namco-Bandai hasn't even released any of the Gundam Battle games in the States yet, and Macross games never make it over here.

I've used buildings for cover in the Gundam games plenty. But they collapse if they get hit too much.

Can't say I could possibly disagree more. The Gundam Battle series games are great, and I'm excited to play a game that'd be a Macross version of the same. It's very difficult to make a game that can cater to all three modes, especially when you can change on the fly. And a glorified flight-sim doesn't do Macross justice.

Watching the trailer really has me thinking this is a Macross version of the Gundam Battle series. Which is a very good thing

Okay, I'm really starting to hate the fact that I live in backwater redneck part of PA. Everyone's finding Universe Ultras now, and some people are even finding Galvatron (and, I guess, Acid Storm). I hit Target, Wal-Mart, and Toys R' Us this evening, and didn't turn up squat. I mean, everyone's got the first wave Universe Deluxes now, and Target has Jazz and Soundwave now (I guess at some point they might have had Snarlag, too, but not today). Toys R' Us can't even claim that. Target and Toys R' Us both had shelf space marked for Universe Ultras (so I know that, like the Deluxes, Toys R' Us is charging a buck more), but Target had that space marked for a few days now, since I was there maybe Friday or Saturday last week. Ultimately, I did pick up Animated Jazz. I did it primarily because he might just be my favorite character on Animated, not out of any particular love for the toy. In fact, I don't get what everyone loves about him so much. He is pretty poseable, but he seems like a pretty average car former to me. Flip out the legs, pop out the arms, pull the front down to his chest, and you're done. Look underneath, and his robot face is showing as blatantly as animated Deluxe Bumblebee's. After transforming him, I thought he looked a little off. Then I got out my black paint marker and painted the rest of his collar. Much better. I'm tempted to paint the inside edges of his door panels on his arms, as well as around his headlights, but my paint marker's tip isn't fine enough.