jenius

It's a utopian society. PS - yes i know you're a woman, yes I'm just being funny. It's a trend in the rest of the animation world (and the real world of movies too) so why fight it... let's just all enjoy the supple ride.

Sweet, does this mean Scott isn't going to get along with Jack Baker? That's what it looks like.... but I'm not sure who's who with all the redesigns. I love the future.... women are going to have sweet tits and wear outfits that prove it all day every day. YES! I think that black guy prays to Crom.

Can you tell I'm home sick this weekend by the number of my posts?? I doubt they'll hold off that long on releasing the next 5000 Rooks and Lancers. For the record, I just *think* toynami releases them in 5,000 chunks, I may be wrong. Anyway, the third round of releases, the final 10K-15K will almost certainly not be released until the Beta (unless the Beta is never going to come out). Here's how I think things will happen: 1) Toynami ships #s 5,000-10,000 of the Rook, then Lancer, then Shadow MPCs throughout the course of this year. 2) Toward the end of the year Toynami makes a definitive statement about the MPC Beta coming out to help drive sales of the currently on the market Alphas. 3) Toynami releases the Beta MPC (fingers-crossed) first or second quarter of next year. 4) Toynami has an interesting option at this point. It can hold off on releasing Alphas 10k-15k and repackage them as a Gift Set with the Beta of the same number. Either that or it can trickle out the remaining alphas in between releases of the Betas. Alright, I'm no betting man but that's kind of how I see things panning out. I saw one website that I believe had Lancer's green Alpha on pre-order which leads me to believe that someone at Toynami must have acknowledged that more Alphas will be available at some point this year. Now, do you guys think Toynami should make fewer than 15K Betas? I'm wondering if they wouldn't be smarter limiting it to 10K.

Glad it helps. A note on sells, when I found my red one was broken I took a look to see if I could find an online retailer trying to get rid of them. Pretty much everywhere is sold out and the rest have put them back up to MSRP. That means the first 5000 have pretty much all sold for every make. I know the second 5000 Scotts have already shipped so, while these things may not be selling great they are still selling. Also, if you wait the next 5000 Rooks and Lancers ought to be flooding the market and driving prices down again.... but who knows when. Now it's time for: FUN WITH COMPARISONS!!!!

Here's a quick review I threw together for the Toynami Alpha: The Pros: 1) Most poseable transforming Alpha toy to date. 2) Diecast, there was a Gakken Diecast toy (and it's cool) but the MPC has nearly as much diecast and transforms into all three mode. 3) The sculpt is beautiful and the best representation yet (better, in my opinion, then the Imai models they are modeled after). 4) Detail. Very nice panel lines in what seem to be appropriate areas. There are also a good amount of details painted on rather than decals. 5) Speaking of decals, it's my understanding the decals that come with these things are great. 6) Extras. Removable gun clip, tiny cyclone, rubber wheels, and lots and lots of missile bays that actually open. 7) Not that I care, but the box and packaging is standard Toynami goodness. The Cons: 1) Fragility. Refer to the attached image 1- Red circle - the hands are super poseable and detailed but they are made of a rubber type compound. There is a metal pin toward the end of the palm that is used to attach the four fingers to the palm. This pin is seated in a tiny portion of rubber. If you open the hands and close them enough, or insert the gun and then twist the gun or something like that, the rubber wears enough for the pin to unseat and the four fingers fall right off the hand. Yellow circle - the arm attaches to the legs in fighter mode via a peg. At the factory this peg is inserted into the leg for shipping. It is not unheard of for the toy to arrive with this peg then broken off of the arm and stuck in the leg. Green circle - this one irritates me the most since I just found out one of mine was broken here (and I've transformed it twice and put it on my shelf). As you can see, the entire arm has to extend to reveal the white portions (bicep region). In order to extend the arm you must tug down on the forearm. There is a thin plastic rod that attaches the middle white section of the arm to both the lower and upper portions. If this rod breaks from your tugging the arm falls right off at the bicep or forearm. WHY WAS THIS NOT METAL? Anyway, I think the problem might be even worse. Unless someone plays with my toys and broke this thing I think that, if the toy wasn't manufactured right, then adhesive applied to either end of the rod could cause the rod to be straining while the toy sits on your shelf in fighter mode. So, if the arm was slightly twisted when the adhesive was applied, and you have it sitting straight in fighter mode, the rod will be constantly trying to return to the twisted position even though the rest of the arm is seated via pegs into the leg. Eventually the rod just snaps and six months later when you pick it up the arm just falls right off. 2) Build quality - too many of these things are a little screwed up straight out of the box. I have a red one where the head constantly wants to pop down in fighter mode. I have several with cocked heads (see attached image 2). Sometimes the missile flaps aren't quite seated properly or are warped. Sometimes the paint has minor smudges (I think they improved this over the VF-1 series though). 3) Either the transformation is too complicated for a toy this small or the build tolerances are too sloppy. This thing can really fight you during transformation. It's not even so much a learning curve thing... sometimes things just take an excess amount of patience. 4) Friction joint in the shoulders. The arms are heavy because Toynami put diecast in the forearm. Throw the big ol' gun in the hand and now the arm is very heavy. After a few transformations and arm movements it's very possible for your Alpha to never be able to lift it's arm and point the gun forward again. 5) The whole toy is glued together. Even areas that have screws also have portions that are glued. If it breaks there is no repairing it. Customizing it would be very very hard. 6) the shoulder mount needs to be removed for full transformation. The Gakken 1/35 didn't have to do that (but the Gakken 1/55 didn't even have a shoulder mount). 7) the landing gears. Sometimes they come crooked but I consider that part of 2. The real problem is that they are a milimeter longer than the mid section of the plane. Many people complain there Alpha lays on its chest with its landing gears off the ground. Usually, when that's said, it's because the toy is transformed improperly (it's friggin' hard). Still, even when you do it right there's no room under the chest at all (see image 3). Mentionables - Many people complained about the arched back in fighter mode. As I just mentioned, often this is because the toy was transformed wrong. However, even when it's done right the vehicle still looks slightly arched upward... but the only time you get that affect is when you stare at it directly from its side. The verdict - My verdict for the MPC alpha is the same as it was for the MPC VF-1. I give it a 7 of 10 (I give the Yammy 1/48 a 9.5/10). It really pisses me off too because I'm a HUGE Legioss fan and this toy has so much potential that it just doesn't live up to because of the overall fragility. What do I recommend? If you can find it for half price to as much as $60, buy it. KEEP THE RECEIPT. When you get it home, treat it like a model you just built. If something is stuck be forceful but always be patient. If something seems like it's fighting you, come here and ask for tips (i check the forums pretty often). This thing does look BEAUTIFUL if you just successfully get it into a pose and leave it alone. I'm gonna tack on some more pics as examples - PS - I want a Beta so I do hope these continue to sell so maybe I'm a bit biased but I think this has been a pretty open review. For the record, I have owned 13 Alpha MPCs and have broken 3 (blue one's hand, shadow's shoulder, and I might be to blame for my red one's arm but I have no idea how), have received 1 broken in the box (red's arm tab), and have received two I felt were of inferior quality (crooked landing gear, miscolored part, that sort of thing).

Nice! Congratulations. Man, $450 can buy you all sorts of loot... Here's to hoping you even get a little more later!

I'm not a fan of the RPGs for anything other than toilet reading material but I seem to recall the idea that the wreck was probably booby-trapped and it would just fold somewhere... chill for a decade or whatever, then fold somewhere else. The hopes were that it would eventually find itself somewhere where it would be investigated and the investigators could then be enslaved. Who knows though, that could all just be some crazy conclusion I drew.

Hey Shin, I currently have a few of my Alpha MPCs out for an impromptu "how-to" photo shoot. When I make that thread I'll have lots of details on the Alpha and its strength and weaknesses and photographic examples. I think you, and anyone else on the fence about getting one, should be able to make a better decision after you see that. In the meantime, i think the Alphas are on par with the VF-1s. The sculpt is far better (the VF-1 sculpt was iffy in my opinion... and yes, that means i think the HCMs had iffy sculpts as well) but whereas the VF-1 could have used a little more engineering (as we see in Yamato's 1/48) the Alpha is way over-engineered and could have benefited from being much simpler. More to come -

Which flaw do you guys think hindered this toy the most: A) Hand design/materials are too fragile B) Head is very often crooked on neck C) Transformation is too complicated with imperfect tolerances D) Friction joints (especially shoulders) E) Forearm missile trays are off center F) Fighter often seems to have an arched back preventing the landing gears from touching the ground. G) Critical joints are made of plastic while areas that see no stress are made of diecast (to be fair, this is true of just about every diecast toy... I think because of paint-chipping issues). I'm of the opinion that if the Alpha was a better toy many more would have been sold. I've seen quite a few people say "I wanted one but the reviews were so bad I couldn't bring myself to get it." Personally, I think they can be had for cheap enough where if I wanted one the reviews wouldn't have kept me from purchasing just one and making the decision on my own but maybe I'm not on as tight a budget as others. Honestly, I think Toynami's heart was totally in the right place. Had everything been executed perfectly this toy would be unstoppably cool. Tons of diecast, tons of detail, tons of potential... I still have hope for Toynami. After all, Yamato started with the 1/60 valks and then created the magnificent 1/48s. We should be so lucky if Toynami followed in a similar vein.

Bothered eh? Is that like the type of person who knows Howard Stern is on the radio and thinks he should be pulled off the air even though they have never heard his show or know what station it's on? If it bothers you, ignore it. It's not like the title of the thread was misleading. That all being said, search functions are nice but at this point the 0S thread is enormous and this guy probably doesn't know the sellers who have their own threads. No harm, no foul.

An alpha joke machine would be brilliant! I know i'd buy 'em. The morphers are fun and all but a bigger better version would definitely be welcomed.

I am 100% with Exo on that one. Robotech/Macross, Robotech/MOSPEADA, I could really care what name they put on the box these days. When I bash the 1/60 or the MPC it's not because I'm showing brand bias... believe me, I own LOTS of both, I just am unimpressed by both. The screw-caps on the 1/60s was just the final straw though. They look great in fighter mode but then you transform it to battloid, lose three screw caps, and end up with a gangly battloid with a squished head, giant leg sockets, and a pimp lean. Don't even get me started on the 1/60 GERWALK mode (with the ingenious leg twisting mechanism that is rendered useless by any armor attachments). Wait, I'm only 90% with Exo, I have such a hard-on for the Mac+ valks that I ignore the toys' flaws entirely. This might be borderline hypocritical... but since there's only one option I feel okay about that

LOL! Man, that ain't right. Seriously though, both these videos kinda scared me. The first one... because I was expecting it to be funny and then I became afraid the big angry man might actually fornicate with the grill or something just so he could drop the F word more. The second video, my knowing nothing about Mao of nine or any of that, seemed immediately frightening. It was kind of like a cute Goro at first that mutated into the sun or a sunflower. That's when I first started feeling the clear attempt at brainwashing and immediately closed the window.

See, that's kinda what I'm saying though. Maybe we'll get similar "throw-offs" for all the characters. In the end we'll get the last character's "throw-off" and that'll be it for the show. Then the viewer will get to decide "Hmm, which throw-off do I find the most plausible?" It's just a theory for how they can maintain this show as just a serious mind-f*ck rather than actually concluding it or developing it in an at all linear fashion.

Okay, so the ending was confirmation that this whole thing is just Hurley's psychotic delusion? I mean seriously, Dave says "Everything is related to people in the ward" and then we hear Libby saying "No, I'm not" only to realize at the end that she is??? That seriously could have been the series finale right there. Hurley is crazy and catatonic, the end. I think that may be the direction the show is going. We're going to get a series finale for each of the characters stretched out between episodes that disprove the other series finales. In the end it will be a kind of "choose your own ending." Is this just Hurley's whacked out dream or one of the other 16 (??) possible endings?

4/17 is the latest word (always subject to change) and $160ish seems about right for price after shipping. As always, someone correct me if i'm wrong.

Ebay value of MPCs at the moment: Rick = $110-$200 Ben = $20 Roy = $70-$90 Max = $70-$90 Miriya = $20-$35 Jack = $60-$75 Rick Armor = $30-$40 (this was reissued and price was $20 for the longest time.. looks like it's climbing) Max Armor = $110-$200 (someone just bought a Max w/Armor for $275) Miriya Amor = $75-$150 Note - Max and Roy's prices seem to be rising... not very quickly mind you. PS - the Yamato 1/60s are WORSE and valued less than Toynami MPCs. Removeable parts, screw covers that pop off constantly, paint that chips, and plenty of QC problems. The Yamato 1/48 is the only valk we should be discussing here.

It happens in the second episode (I think). You seemed to be flipping Shin and Edgar around a abit in your posts though. Shin is the pilot, Edgar is his "backseat." When Shin is on the island he protects Mao when a 0A crashes near him. He gets up and runs into the GERWALK mode, highly damaged 0A, turns it around and starts shooting at Nora. Nora comes down and straddles him, ready to deliver the death blow, when the 0S lands hard beside her forcing her to retreat rapidly. Then Shin is brought aboard the carrier to train in the 0D.

Uh, we're comparing the VF-0S to the 0D. Roy kicks major arse in his 0S and has the viewer's attention in a big way. Shin falls down a lot and has his 0D blown to bits when he's at the helm of it. The argument about "is the 0D a trainer" is moot. It IS, without question, the vehicle Shin is TRAINED in. True, he might only upgrade to a 0A because his 0D gets ruined but that doesn't make me wrong. He is TRAINED in a 0D, he kicks butt in a 0A, and Roy claims ownage in his 0S. The 0S is the EASY logical first choice. Add that to the fact that Roy has a huge cult following and many people found Shin less likeable and voila, we all get a 0S. Also, you mentioned airtime, which vehicle wins there, the 0S or the 0D? Again, the 0S. Now, questions of retooling aside, if the decision for Yamato was the 0A or the 0D I could definitely see the 0D being the winner based on everything you've said. First on screen, more airtime, that sort of thing. Edit - Pointless technicality, Shin pilots a 0A before a 0D... for about half a second before Nora plays with him and Roy chases her off. Totally pointless fact, not bringing that up for anything other than as a fun fact. Obviously it wasn't "his" plane. More pointlessness... Hikaru's first valk piloted is the 1D but there isn't nearly as much clamor for that. Again, pointless, 'cause it's not "his." Still, if you posted a poll now that said "What do you want more, Hikaru's 1J or 1D the 1D would definitely win.... because we all already have his 1J.

Okay, so is your argument that Macross Zero is just written poorly? Is your argument that Shin wasn't being trained in a VF-OD? I'm confused. I'm pretty sure, it has been a while since I watched it, but isn't the 0D primarily used to train people in the show? I think we get to see Shin pilot one underwater and then get blown up running away with Mao's treasure but that's it. So, I ask again, if you're a toy company and this OVA exists, do you make the plane that was used to train people or one of the planes that was used to kick butt? I still think the logical sense is the butt-kicking plane. Sure, there might be websites somewhere that tout how super-awesome the 0D actually is but I think most the viewers will remember it as the plane that Shin learns how to pilot a variable fighter. That's my argument and I'm sticking to it (unless I'm forgetting a really cool VF-OD fight scene... which is entirely possible but I still think the 0A and 0S are the true glory-hounds). For me, while I do love the 0D and hope they make one, it's a no brainer that you go with the planes that fought over the planes that trained.

Don't get me wrong, I understand where everyone is coming from, but doesn't Shin's entire new squad go out and train in the 0D? Or were they mixed with 0Ds and 0As? I understand the point of there not being any trainers present (other than Roy) and that, like the 1D, it could be used as a non-training vehicle, but if we limit it to the confines of the show, it would appear that the 0D is like a 0A with training wheels. The real point is, if you were gonna make a toy, and you had a choice between the plane the guy trained in or the plane the guy kicked butt in, wouldn't you go for the butt-kicking plane first?

That is pure awesomeness.

What about Macross 0.5? A series that leads us through the end of the Anti-unification war and into the events of SWI? Actually I think the series is ready for something more diabolical... especially if we're going to aim it more at adults. I'd be for a series that involved a colony mission running into a long lost colony of Protoculture. Someone that seemed to befriend to the colony-mission only to attempt to turn on them later. That sort of thing. Give us a hero who turns out to be evil and kills off one of the other characters the viewers have grown to love. You can throw in an idol singer too... have the evil guy fall in love with a human one and have that be his demise or somethin'. Eh, I'll stop before I start writing some fanfic. PS - If BW was planning anything... wouldn't we have heard something by now?

IIRC, it was used as the plane to train Shin, then he got his very own VF-0A. Maybe I'm not recalling correctly though.

No way, it's all about the 1S. First of all, I could give two shakes about Shin. Do I have a nifty Shin display? No. Do I have a nifty Roy display? Yes, two that are over-flowing so this is the perfect excuse to start a third one. Will I buy a 1A and a 1D? Absolutely! The 1S was the smart move though, as mentioned previously, people are just clamoring because the 1S was already mentioned. Doesn't make much sense to me to try to start a series of toys off with the trainer vehicle... I think that's a cool way to appeal to the diehards after the fighters are out.