jenius

Interesting notes from this picture: 1) The action figure can "hunch" at the waist (lean forward or back) 2) The arms move independant of the shoulder armor so it seems possible that, while the Cyclone's shoulders won't move more than a slight pitch, you still may be able to have the arms posed out-stretched. 3) Is it an optical illusion or does the head seem someone leaned back ever-so-slightly in this pic? If it is then that would bode well... if it's just my exhausted eyes playing tricks on me then the wait continues. Pic 26 is more from above and it definitely looks like there's room for a joint there to make the head lean back. 4) That helmet definitely doesn't come off of the head... what are the odds they'll include un-helmeted heads that we can swap out??

Seems $79.99 is a pretty good bet at this point.

No neck joint would be an utter shame... I'm not going to write it off as not existing until we see a final version though.

Amenbo seems to be sold out (of a preorder?) and HLJ seems to have them listed for April now.

I don't tend to buy any toys at MSRP but I think if they marked their MPC line down $20 that'd make the people who did spend that much a lot more satisfied than they are with the $79.99 price point. I think the average Alpha I purchased cost me $55 shipped. As I said, I felt the $39.99 price was perfect... but I wouldn't dream they'd ever release the new toys at that price point.

That RT.com $39.99 special on the Alphas was perfect. If these toys had MSRPs of $59.99 I think we'd all be a lot happier with them. Same goes for Yamato, as the prices skyrocket so do the expectations.

Well it certainly seems like suicide by plunge from window is the most likely scenario.

Yes, if you're not shipping to your home address (they suggest you send everything to work... which I'm pretty sure is because they get the same B2B discount i do) then they make you jump through a ton of hoops to get what you ordered. Seriously, this store may have good prices but so far I've found them entirely lame in every other respect. I do appreciate their occasional emails letting me know they're still not shipping me my goods and all though. If there's a chance it will eventually come in then I guess I'll just keep waiting and not cancel yet.

I've been wondering about the out of stock bit too. I bought it from a company who later told me it was out of stock and has since sent me several emails that they get more stock weekly and my order will eventually ship. This strikes me as odd since the item is undoubtedly out of production... I should probably demand my refund some time soon.

Can anyone provide a pic of a 1/12 Ride Armor kit next to a MPC Alpha? The pic on RT.com says the Ride Armor is exactly the same size as an alpha in battloid.

You should look and see if your screw covers are all there. I can all but guarantee at least one is missing.

Just a note, I seriously doubt the 1/100 scale is dead. Toynami probably just knows the people who buy their 1/100s are also among the people who buy their MPCs and they don't want to compete with themselves for people's money. Rather than making you decide if you want more 1/100s or an MPC they're only going to give you one option. I would guess that Toynami will resurrect the 1/100 line between any future MPC releases.

I think you got a little Robotech in your Macross there. Do you mean the last Protoculture colony?

Design is HUGE and CAD/CAM have been utilized very well by Yamato. I'm hoping Toynami is learning. With the VF-1 MPC they gave it all the quirks a 1/65 toy should have... but then they upped it to 1/55 and didn't add anything to it... in fact they seemingly took most the diecast out of it to facilitate the change. If the MPC VF-1 were built in 1/65 scale (and obviously similiarly down-sized in price) I think it could have been fun. Instead it's a big fugly duckling without any of the neat engineering Yamato had the foresight to include in its 1/48 (and 1/60 to some extent) offerings. Then Toynami decided to make the Alpha and keep it 1/55 scale which is another mistake in scale (unless they really do make a Beta). 1/55 could definitely work for an Alpha... but not one that's going to be doing all the ins-and-outs that the Toynami design requires. To simply slap on diecast for diecast's sake instead of using metal as reinforcing pieces was just the straw that broke the camel's back. Toynami should know by now they have slop in their manufacturing so they can't make designs that require no slack to work effectively. The Alpha is definitely more ambitious than the VF-1 but it still doesn't show that really "reaching for the starts" attitude a "masterpiece" should. How about swivel joints at the knees, poseable feet (why do manufacturers pay little attention to something as important as the feet??), and some decent hip joints? Again, had a bigger scale been chosen all of those things could have been a reality (and they ought to be on the beta!) and a little slop in the tolerances could have been afforded to still allow the toy to function properly. The Cyclone is a complex design and I'm hoping that while it may resemble a 1/12 kit it actually is 1/8 scale like the old Gakken. With that kind of size they could make it strong and good-looking. I also hope they've realized that diecast is nice but not in gratuitous amounts where it will potentially weaken joints. Hopefully they've also figured out that friction joints in areas where a lot of friction will occur are not good ideas. I'm cautiously optimistic... At least I know if I break it right away they'll replace it for me.

LOL... just when people start breathing sighs of relief Scream Man brings the cold hard rain of reality to their parades. The one toy I have with any significant yellowing is my SuperOstrich. So sad but fortunately it's minimal and only in a couple spots. Who knew that those little windows in the boxes could be so damaging...

Jeebus, the next time I hear about a Bay Area bank bein' robbed I know I'm gonna check & see if Fortress_Maximus has been on the forums lately...

You're arguing semantics and people are defending semantics. It doesn't seem like any one is debating whether or not the Alpha is or isn't quality. Sounds universal that everyone was let down by it.

I read both versions of that as well a while back.

Exactly... I'll be one of those fools too... and I'll be posting a big review I'm sure. As to the whole "quality control" seems like an argument over people's definitions more than the toys. There's no argument they have problems. Are they design problems? Are they problems when the toy was being built? Are they problems with the choices of materials? What do we call the different problems? Manufacture problems? Quality problems? Design problems? The Alpha has problems everywhere. The design of the locking mechanisms is imperfect because it doesn't allow any room for the inevitable manufacture problems, the manufacture problems may be related to the choice of materials, etc. Basically, trying to pinpoint the problem and put a label on it is an effort in futility. That all said, when you do win the lottery and get a really cool Alpha it does pay off. I've bought a ton of Alphas and the few I have the seem to have been built just right are beautiful display pieces. Sure, they could be better in lots of ways still but had they all worked out as well as the best examples out there then I imagine the fan reaction would have been MUCH better. There are lots of ways for Toynami to screw up the Cyclone but if they don't it could be really wonderful. I have my own theories but I'm trying to stay really open-minded here.

Well, I'm no Toynami lover but I do own many and not a single one is yellowed. I have treated all my toys the same and only one shows yellowing... a 1/60 VF-1A CF TRU (only on two landing gear doors though). I've seen a 1/48 go for sale with "slight yellowing" but I believe it had been used in a store display so it would be under the worst conditions (constant light) possible. Leave any toy in the sun or under light constantly and it will yellow

Given the current sentiment of the board: "I'll never buy a Yamato first run product again" "Everything costs too much" "These companies are intentionally going out of their way to screw us" "Every piece on my toy breaks" It should be anything but surprising to see negativity immediately upon the discussion of any new toy. I think it's healthy though, set your hopes real low and maybe your expectations will be surpassed.

Vince & Reinhardt actually wear "pantaloons" instead of tights.

I tried to say that and i said "Broccoli"

So Valkyrie is to transformable fighter as Kleenex is to tissue (that's a nod for those of you who remember taking your SATs)

This was in a thread here once upon a time. I remember gawking over it before.