M'Kyuun
-
Posts
4631 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Events
Gallery
Everything posted by M'Kyuun
-
The Transformers Thread (licensed) Next
M'Kyuun replied to mikeszekely's topic in Anime or Science Fiction
Well, to be fair, the original toys shared the same mold except for different heads, so it's understandable for folks to make that deduction. I agree, they're different animals, and tigers are much larger than cheetahs, but from TakaTomy's POV, I'm thinking they'll likely reuse the Cheetor mold. I'm curious to see how it turns out; the Generations toy from a few years back didn't look that good to me, so I never got it. It seems odd to me that Megatron isn't the second MP BW figure. I expected them to make the two leaders and call it good. So now I wonder how many of the BW characters are going to get the MP treatment? -
Wow-beautiful. If they keep making models like that, Bandai are going to start pooping themselves.
-
Bandai Gobots/Machine Robo Series Toy Thread
M'Kyuun replied to David Hingtgen's topic in Anime or Science Fiction
Makes sense. Still, part of me wishes. -
Bandai Gobots/Machine Robo Series Toy Thread
M'Kyuun replied to David Hingtgen's topic in Anime or Science Fiction
I've been shopping around the various online stores to see if anyone is carrying these for less than $46 (Eagle and Battle Robo) or $41 (Bike and Drill Robo), and so far, nope. HLJ doesn't have them at all, and I had hopes that they'd carry them for less. I'd like to get Eagle and Bike (such creative names in this series ), but I'm afraid once I put in an order, then HLJ or someone else will have them for less and I'll have to go through the sometimes sticky process of cancelling my initial preorder. What really makes me hesitate is the thought that Hasbro will strike some kind of deal with Bandai to license and sell these under the Gobots name, at about half the current going rate. I doubt it'll happen, but stranger things have. I'd be really happy if they did, though. There are quite a few pics of these guys out there now, and honestly, $41, let alone $46, is too much for what amounts to a deluxe sized figure. They're neat, but not $46 neat, and certainly no where near MP TF quality, plus that kind of price gouging leaves a bad taste and makes me not want to reward their greed. -
Battroid is my new wallpaper. Thanks Saburo!
-
Totally agree; if they make it separate from AoS, then what was the point of introducing them in the show? Then again, not many folks are probably aware of the Inhumans, so the producers are going to want to do some kind of origin story, and with more well known actors. Just keep Chloe Bennett.
-
The Transformers Thread (licensed) Next
M'Kyuun replied to mikeszekely's topic in Anime or Science Fiction
I'm in a slightly different camp than the rest of you, as I enjoy the first season in its entirety. The ep where they go to Mexico and Megatron is tapping the core energy was, IMHO, the worst out of that whole season. But on the whole, I think it maintained a consistent tone, it introduced a lot of side characters like the Insecticons, Dinobots, and Constructicons, and Skyfire, and there a few notable eps with a more mature/serious tone. Come second season, all bets were off, and in the producers' efforts to introduce new characters/toys and meet syndication criteria, the writers were given a lot of license to pretty much do whatever they wanted. The show devolved into absolute tripe at that point, at least to me. I still enjoy watching the first season; that and the '86 movie are all I own of G1. Post movie eps were so incredibly terrible- I absolutely hate what they did with Galvatron's character, both the writing and Frank Welker's voice for him. I guess they couldn't find anyone to do a decent Leonard Nimoy impression. Technoblue- your observation concerning no-death, hell, no-blood policies always raised an eyebrow with me when I watched those shows. I was about 12 when those shows started airing consistently. Having watched Speed Racer and Battle of the Planets as a wee lad, American shows were lame comparatively. I remember being shocked when Serpentor speared Duke and there was actually blood in that scene (GI Joe the Movie, I believe). Initially, I guess the producers were going to kill him off, but decided against it for some reason. Prob because of all the backlash they got when they killed off Prime in the movie. But as it relates to the toys, I'm in agreement that TT are becoming too slavish to the animation models, and the MP toys are becoming less and less detailed as a result. And it certainly becomes evident when 3rd parties are stepping up and producing their own much more detailed versions, albeit at a steeper price point. While I like having the official toys, if I had more cash flow, I'd probably double dip on some characters with 3P releases. I think the official toys will hold their value longer, though. -
I'm sorry to hear that you had breakage, Easnoddy. It always hurts when a toy breaks. I speak from experience. To fairly compare the Yammie to the Bandai, one must first recognize that Yamato had nothing but lineart, and pehaps some direction by Kawamori, to base their design upon, and that making the Konig was a gamble, both in terms of making such a large transforming toy work, and also in the fact that it is neither a typical 'hero' vehicle nor a sleek pretty fighter. They were pioneering, and for the time it was produced, I think it was a decent toy, perfect by no means (few things are), but an honest attempt to make a unique non-valkyrie mech. Mine still stands tall on my desk, a little dusty, but still imposing. The Bandai version benefits from having had the Yamato to study, and about six years of advances in toy design and technology, not to mention a more streamlined design in Frontier. It is, in nearly every way, superior in fit and finish to the Yamato. The only design feature I favor on the Yammie over Bandai are the feet: Yamato's follows the lineart, whereas Bandai deviated from the lineart to make for a more stable battroid. I wish they'd followed the lineart as well, as the battroid's profile and height are affected by the change. But, I can't argue that it's a pretty solid figure and still looks great in all three modes.
-
The Transformers Thread (licensed) Next
M'Kyuun replied to mikeszekely's topic in Anime or Science Fiction
Hah..yeah right. I doubt that will ever come to fruition, and the recent Leader Class Jetfire will likely be the closest we ever get to a Skyfire fig. A custom painted 1/48 Yamato VF-1S is your best bet for a MP style Jetfire. So the Inferno rumor proved true, with Grapple to follow shortly, no doubt. While I'll likely get one of the two, I'm meh about this mold. Jazz and Hound are two glaring omissions in this line. I guess they're going for characters whose mold was reused in order to recoup costs. -
So true. Regarding the legs, it's a shellformer, with those huge belly plates to cover them. I never cared for that aspect, and I'd think a designer of his caliber would have integrated them better. Alas, as you mentioned, anime magic is used liberally to make the forward fuselage shrink and the legs to grow to make a more proportionally appealing looking battroid. The difficulty of actually realizing it in plastic is evident in Yamato's toy. Favor the fighter, you get disproportionately skinny legs. I like the -21's battroid, as it appears in the lineart, too, and I hope Bandai will eventually take a crack at it. A general perusal of Kawamori's Macross Design Works reveals what Kajnrig and David H. say is true; he starts with a fighter design and works out the battroid from there. I personally like what he did with the -262. What he did with the legs makes sense, both to fit the shape of the plane, and to keep the powerplants in the legs. There are likely other ways that the arms could have been designed, but his final solution is interesting and unique. It bears a similarity to the VF-9 due to the single rotating bar, but the transformation for the arms is completely different. As for the head, the only other valks in which the nosecone becomes the head are the Fz-109, VF-14 (and variants), and one could argue, the VA-3. Prior to the battroid revelation, I fully expected the upper torso to mirror the YF-21; I'm glad he went a different route. I respectfully disagree that it lacks personality; the commander head sets it apart, and the overall 'knight' motif is carried out well. The only thing it's missing is a sword, although, I'm glad he gave it that big retractable gun instead. I don't think melee weapons fit the sort of high speed combat in which these things are designed to engage. Personally, I get a VF-17 vibe from the battroid, esp from the group shot at the end of ep 4.
-
Looking forward to it.
-
If you mean the -31, then I completely agree. The -262 looks lovely for what it is, but I've never cared for the Saab 35 design, so it's personal bias. I didn't get a copy of the YF-30, so I'm definitely down for at least one of these, preferably the F. (love those colors and the back art). I just hope the final DX has slightly wider forearms with a slight taper to the wrist, per the lineart we've seen. The 2x4 arms on the model just detract from an otherwise nice looking battroid. Anyway, I hope the forearms are fixed, and I can snag an F and an E model.
-
I think that panel slides back to cover the neck joint in fighter. At first I thought there might be an opening there as well, but it makes more sense for transformation. It also makes the head a little more visually interesting. As for the shield, while your suggestion is a feasible option, it defeats the point of its being part of the transformation. Bandai's been doing this for a long time; given that the shield is very notable for its painted design, to interrupt that design with obstructive hinges seems lazy. My only thought contrariwise is that other less obstructive hinge ideas were tried, but none had the requisite strength necessary to keep those two halves of the stab together in fighter. Thus, it became a necessary sacrifice to the design.
-
After taking a second look, I'm noticing a number of major differences from the delta wing Sv-262 indicating a different transformation. Honestly, it has a Frontier look, but I can also see some potential Sv-51 possibilities there, too. Anyway my first impression was that it was basically the -262 with different wings, but I see that I was wrong. So, I think we're getting a third new valk design. With all the Zentraedi hardware we were treated to in the first episode, it gives me hope that the Variable Glaug will make an appearance, too, prompting Bandai to give us yet another DX from Delta. I'd love to see them flying alongside the VF-31s against the Sv-262s.
-
The Transformers Thread (licensed) Next
M'Kyuun replied to mikeszekely's topic in Anime or Science Fiction
Very nice haul. Hope you enjoy! I'm curious why Hasbro changed Weirdwolf's name-- couldn't get the trademark, I assume. Anyway, while the color scheme doesn't enthrall me, his Zoid-like appearance in wolf mode has my attention. His bot mode is decent, too, so he'll likely end up on my shelf once he's released. -
Not sure what to make of that. With a long nose, the battroid's head will either look like he's wearing a dunce cap, or like Pinocchio after a fib marathon. With those small wings, it's more reminiscent of the Lockheed F-104. Aside from the head and wing profile, I doubt the battroid would change much, but the fighter looks like a completely different aircraft.
-
@No3ljm- Highly likely to stabilize the wing support structure in GERWALK in the absence of the legs. I've been working out the arm transformation: the shoulder pauldrons meet where that little dip occurs at the forward base of the vertical stab. The right arm straightens into the pauldron and is contoured to blend with it smoothly, while the right hand either retracts or just stows under the bit of fuselage aft of the canopy. The left bicep likewise bends up so that the upper forearm contour blends with the pauldron; the lower half of the left forearm bends 180 deg to lie against the upper half, and the vertical stab closes and rotates 180 deg. When the legs are in fighter position, the feet cover the split/rotation joint in the left forearm. It's a neat design, and I like it all the more when nearly every body part of the battroid forms a critical part of the fighter, rather than being stowed away out of sight.
-
The backplate, including those two lower panels, are going to form the fighter's 'belly', similar to the YF-19. I imagine the panels in question will wrap around the legs to help lock them and present a smooth ventral surface in fighter.
-
"Great" is subjective; I'll posit that it's a fun watch, but the movie is so mired in cheese that said 'greatness' is a little far-reaching. As a prior military guy, I cringe deeply every time I see those lunkheads do their goofy salute to Kurt Russell. I think the movie has a very cool premise, and still has a beauty that resonates, but the dialog and terrible portrayal of military lessens it, IMHO. Everybody's tastes are different, though, thank the maker, and I wouldn't have it any other way. It'd be a truly boring world if I was in charge of entertaining, so I applaud the creativity in even the most egregiously insufferable media, as it's better than I can achieve. Stargate aside, I still see the -262's head resembling the commando droid over Anubis, although the visual isn't lost on me. Moreover, Anubis is just an evocative character, a Guardian of the Dead, with that stoic jackal's visage. Of the various incarnations in the Egyptian pantheon, he's by far my favorite. It's amazing we've gone all this time without so much as a fuzzy image, and now this watershed of images. Thanks to all the providers for links and such. Beautiful design. Seti88, I also noticed the complete obscurance of the cockpit in battroid, a design that I wholeheartedly embrace. I think what I really like is that, without knowing that this transforms into a jet, wings notwithstanding, it doesn't really look like a transforming mech so much as an ornate mech like you'd see in Gundam, Aldnoah Zero, Five Star Stories, etc. I hope the final DX turns out to be a solid release, and that I manage to score at least an Hs and one of the space popes. The more I see it, the more the Hs head appeals to me. The double hinge placement in the shield is a real head-scatcher in an otherwise lovely sculpt. Like David H. said, a single centered hinge, or even a piano hinge throughout , would have been less obtrusive than those offsets. Concerning the metallic apparatus on the back panel, I forget who posted back to me, but I agree that that is most likely the gun mount. I look forward to more pics showing the gun actually attached there in battroid for some over-shoulder shots. Pretty excited about this guy. Def worth the wait, IMO.
-
The Transformers Thread (licensed) Next
M'Kyuun replied to mikeszekely's topic in Anime or Science Fiction
Well, both Arcee and Hound were rumored, I believe, with the now commom silhouette pics teased on TFW2005. I take all these rumors with a bowling ball sized chunk of salt at this point. Moreover, before they start making MP toys of lesser characters, I want them to make more of the first season figs that continue to resonate and appear in nearly every incarnation of the franchise. Jazz is certainly on that list, as well as Hound, Mirage, Cliffjumper, Brawn, just to name a few. Why they did Tracks before any of these guys is beyond me. I would welcome a MP of Arcee, though; her CHUG fig is well done, but I'd hope a MP version would incorporate more of her car into the robot mode...she's very kibble-y. -
Or pure black with dark red trim. Yum. Not sure what you see wrong with the knees, Treatment. They're quite beefy, but otherwise look fine to me. I'm curious about the metallic looking apparatus on its back...gun attachment arm for fighter, or a locking mechanism? Wish they'd integrated that a little better; on an otherwise svelte valk, it's a sore thumb. edit: There was something familiar about that head that I couldn't place. Looking at it again just now, it occurred to me- the commando droid from Star Wars.https://images.search.yahoo.com/images/view;_ylt=AwrTcXV.xCRXWhkA2FounIlQ;_ylu=X3oDMTIzdnF0amltBHNlYwNzcgRzbGsDaW1nBG9pZAM3YTFhNTYyNTNmMWNmODA4Yzk1ZTMxMWQ5MDJkMzZkOARncG9zAzE2BGl0A2Jpbmc-?.origin=&back=https%3A%2F%2Fimages.search.yahoo.com%2Fyhs%2Fsearch%3Fp%3Dcommando%2Bdroid%26n%3D60%26ei%3DUTF-8%26fr%3Dyhs-mozilla-004%26fr2%3Dsb-top-images.search.yahoo.com%26hsimp%3Dyhs-004%26hspart%3Dmozilla%26tab%3Dorganic%26ri%3D16&w=405&h=314&imgurl=img1.wikia.nocookie.net%2F__cb20120117230325%2Ftheclonewiki%2Fimages%2F8%2F8e%2F4.14_Commando_Droids.jpg&rurl=http%3A%2F%2Fclonewars.wikia.com%2Fwiki%2FBX-Series_Droid_Commando&size=15.1KB&name=The+%3Cb%3ECommando%3C%2Fb%3E+%3Cb%3EDroids%3C%2Fb%3E+notice+Ahsoka+and+Lux+escaping.&p=commando+droid&oid=7a1a56253f1cf808c95e311d902d36d8&fr2=sb-top-images.search.yahoo.com&fr=yhs-mozilla-004&tt=The+%3Cb%3ECommando%3C%2Fb%3E+%3Cb%3EDroids%3C%2Fb%3E+notice+Ahsoka+and+Lux+escaping.&b=0∋=160&no=16&ts=&tab=organic&sigr=11o6jmcrr&sigb=15etkd2ns&sigi=12stm57vu&sigt=1214riosd&sign=1214riosd&.crumb=N0Fvdm/tGah&fr=yhs-mozilla-004&fr2=sb-top-images.search.yahoo.com&hsimp=yhs-004&hspart=mozilla
-
Love it. I like both head designs, but the nosecone face has an otherworldly look that I like. On the production model, I hope they put a highly reflective material behind transparent red eye pieces to give them a proper glow effect. It's a sharp look in the anime that will look equally cool on the toy. Thanks to Tochiro for tweeting that pic, and to seti88 for posting the link.
-
The Transformers Thread (licensed) Next
M'Kyuun replied to mikeszekely's topic in Anime or Science Fiction
With all these G1 toys being redone, I'd like to see redos of the Omnibots, Camshaft, Overdrive, and Downshift (the only one I own). Still want a proper CHUG Reflector, too. For a character who appeared so much throughout the first season, the Reflector figs have gotten little official love. Still have mine from the 80's. I'm surprised there's another Megatron fig coming so close to the CW release, esp since he looks like he also turns into a tank. Given my druthers, I'll stick with the leader class with real rolling treads. His legs look like ass, but otherwise he's a decent fig, and a realistic looking tank. An all-in-one voyager Prime is an interesting fig, though. I can understand it with Powermaster Prime, but on a voyager OP, it's an interesting design choice. Admittedly, the first time I saw a commercial for Transformers, I thought OP was a combo of his cab and trailer; I was a little disappointed to find out he wasn't, but just a little. Gobots Road Ranger, who I sadly never owned, was always interesting to me, too, for including the trailer in his transformation. So, along with MP and CW UM, and TR PM Prime, I'm quite pleased to see so many tractor-trailer all-inclusive TFs suddenly being produced, and being done rather well, to boot. The upcoming -masters toys are hit-and-miss for me. Some appeal, some don't. I wasn't into any of the various masters toys in the 80's, but some of those figs updated have their appeal. I received my MP ratchet yesterday, and like Ironhide, I find him a pretty solid rendering overall. I too, wish they'd found a different placement for the hip panels, and I wish he had onboard storage for some of his smaller weapons/tools. And, stickers. I ended up clipping the little red squares off of his standard crosses to give him his iconic look. Why, I wonder, did Takara, who are so hell-bent on animation accuracy, include those when they have never, to my knowledge, ever been present on any incarnation of the character? Anyway, a few minutes and a good pair of shears made all the difference. -
They're too busy giving alms to their Tommy Yune shrines while hugging their VF-1 plushies to notice new valks. Such is cult life. Now that the cat's out of the proverbial bag, I hope pics of Bandai's DX in battroid start showing up. They must have some serious NDAs at Bandai to have kept this thing from leaking.
-
The battroid does appear to be narrow, since the chest is only a smidge wider than the crotch. Despite my hopes that this would be a really chunky battroid, from what I can parse from those tiny pics, and the transformation vid, I'm good with it as-is. I think the shoulders give adequate width to the upper torso. As with the human body, a thinner frame is more lithe, giving way for greater poseability. I've often wondered what an Eva Unit would look like if Kawamori redisigned it to transform, while striving to maintain the Eva's thin-ness. I'm happy that Kawamori was true to his word concerning a new method of transformation; even if it does borrow elements from previous designs, the amalgamation of those mechanics into a single valk make it unique. I think the intakes closing to form the chest is the most unique design feature...I didn't anticipate that at all, citing a more YF-21 design. I'm quite pleased to have been wrong.