Fort Max

They showed a kit of the Monsoon LFO from Eureka Seven but it didn't get released in the end.

Seconded. Models are nice but I don't have time for them anymore.

You forgot to mention the art behind Daimos for GX-45 which is Daizengar and Aussenseiter, his transforming robot/horse companion from Super Robot Wars Original Generation 2. Not the SRX I was hoping for but very cool all the same. For anyone in the dark on who/what GX-45 is there is some good info/art here: http://srwog.velv.net/og_mecha/daizengar.html http://srwog.velv.net/og_mecha/aussenseiter.html

Cool, the Shizouka one is often quite fruitfull.

I'm well aware that a CGI model can't be used to make a toy straight off, but as you've said it's just the re-engineering from graphics to physical product that needs doing. Which isn't really anything to do with Kawamori, all his astethic related work has been done for them.

Cheers, I found a few on ebay but it's hard work finding one that will ship to the UK and still be a decent price. I found one webstore over here that claimed to have it so I ordered and got an e-mail back ten minutes later saying they didn't have it all. The War Machine figure sounds great, I might have to get that one myself. Thirded, it'd no doubt come with some cool repulsar blasts too. I hope they do a remould into War Machine, with extra weapons mounted under the wings.

Aren't the Valks all full 3d cgi in the show? Would have thought Bandai won't actually need that much input from Kawamori to just make a 3d model into a toy. That is after all, what they do.

A bit off topic but does anyone know if I can still get a Marvel Legends Hulkbuster figure for a good price? I don't collect this line but my mate is infatuated with the Hulkbuster armour and I'd like to get him one for his birthday, if it's still possible to get one. Cheers

I finally got some time to watch all the eps of Frontier that have aired so far and I have to say that Michael seems to have the best looking Valk out of the SMS fleet. Not sure what those spines on his rifle are supposed to do but it certainly looks good.

That sounds, frankly, horrible.

That really made me laugh, thanks.

Well there was that bit in the intro where Louise holds her hand out to Saji and then pulls it away, it's a bit of a stretch but I guess you could call it foreshadowing.

Stane ssaw a sleek suit with no obvious weaponry, a far cry from his hulking monstrousity with massive cannons bolted onto the arms. It's no great surprise that given his "might is right" attitude he thought his suit would be easily superior. That's what I got from it at least. I want to see it again but cinema costs too much for repeat screenings and it'll be months til the dvd hits.

Not to metion the increasing focus on producing high end collectors toys which has become very noticeable.

Ah, that's them, I was trying to remember the name of the company that made the big Ed-209 and Aliens figures. They could really do an amazing job based on what I've seen from them, here's hoping they'll have an early prototype at comic con.

Pity, are there any good well detailed figures worth buying from Hasbro's line up? Yeah, I caught Nick's appearence on the tube as well. Great that they're already bringing in the existence of the Avengers for the planned movie in 2011 but I hope it doesn't faeture in their individual movies too much. Are they doing a new Nick Fury flick to go with the other half dozen or so films they've got planned?

QFT, when I heard about Hasbro's 12" figure with snap on armour I hoped it would be something like that (only plastic, natch) but I doubt it is (haven't actually seen it in the UK yet). I just saw the film last night on bank holiday monday and what a way to end a long weekend of lovely weather. This film blew me away, I can't recall seeing a film this entertaining in the cinema in a long time. Being a tech geek, engineer and an Iron Man fan myself it was almost pornographic. I loved how they updated his pacemaker to something way more hi-tech and then used that as a driving force for the plot, Downey Jr was just fantastic as Stark, he made him so much more interesting and identifiable then any cartoon incarnation I'd seen and there were a lot of genuinely funny and even touching scenes. Seeing him watch a news report then fly off to kick the crap out of the militants involved was just briliant as it's something I've wanted to do myself when watching the news somedays. But what really made this film work for me was the astounding attention to detail, they never cheaped out on any of the armour's mechanical effects and every piece of the suit had relaistic looking coverings and joints. The scene where the automated production arms just seem to hurl the suit onto him in a matter of seconds was simply stunning. As someone who grew up on Thunderbirds and James Bond flicks I was just sitting there with my mouth agape, like I said, it was pure tech geek porn. I really wish Transformers had been half this good. As for problems, yeah Stane did knock out a suit pretty quickly but it was big, crude and it had been built for him by a whole team of his very best engineers. Like the lead guy said, it had all been easy except for the slick new power source needed for it. And yeah, he did seem a little too sufficent with it, but again it was big and simple, probably easier to drive then Tony's suits and when Stane mentioned his improvements he was probably only thinking of strength and weapons, such is his character type. I completely missed the reference to the Mandarin and I didn't even think about sticking around once the credit's deconstruction animation's had finished but those are things I can catch on the dvd when it comes out. As for War Machine, I read that piece from Terence Howard on Superhero hype and thought all the more of him as an actor for not wanting to rush WM into it so he could get a starring role in a spinoff. Gonna be a long wait til May 2010.

Daimos is looking very slick and nicely complex, I'm leaning more and more towards getting this one so by the time it gets released I'll probably be itching for it. :lol

The mock up on display at wonderfest had the packs though so I wouldn't worry there. Bandai can rarely be accused of leaving things out, usually they do the opposite, puttig loads of small parts and accessories in to justify a high price. :lol

There's no way Bandai would miss an obvious gimmick like removable packs, whether they go Yamato's route of having all sorts of internal mechanical detail is probable but not certain. Repaints are practically a given unless the thing absolutely bombs and even then they might be released just to try and re-coup development costs which I imagine must be huge for something like this. As for price, around 20k yen as one other poster said seems most likely, only recentley have their SOC's started exceeding that barrier and those are usually loaded to the gunwhales with gimmicks and all sorts of accessories that appareaed in maybe only one scene.

They're quick, it's gone.

True but the SPEC's are generally smaller then most SOC's (except the Eva's of course) but I don't actually know how big the L-Gaim is yet. Sorry dude, but there's no chance of it coming with the vintage Daimos toy, it's just a seperate picture the blog owner put there, same with the comic cover.

No, it does have a lot of eupiment including guns that connect to it's chest by cables, a big wing pack thing, shield etc. It's called the Heavy Metal L-Gaim, it was designed by Mamourou Nagano who is the mastermind of the five star stories saga/designs and has worked on Zeta Gundam & others as mecha designer. It did have a little foldup hover bike doohicky that fitted inside the head but I dunno if Bandai is going to try and replicate that at this scale.

So Kawamori supervises the bashibashi, that's good to know.

I like the crotch mounted landing pad on the Impulse, lol.