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M'Kyuun

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  1. M'Kyuun
    NP, I'm here for ya. I'd be right fine with their releasing the original toys, although, as I mentioned, I'd want the voyager scaled Prime as intended and not the deluxe (which supposedly ill-fitted with the Wingblade armor, unsurprisingly). Wingblade's ok (wasn't the biggest fan of it back in 2010, and still kinda meh about it); Blackout is the one that got away and the one I really want to see rereleased. I'd wish for a modern toy with updated articulation, but I fear they're just going to G1-ize everything, and that totally misses the point of what made these toys so unique and cool. Likewise the Prime cartoon toys. Updated toys with improved articulation- bring it on! Updated toys that strip them of their stylistic aesthetics in lieu of blockier G1 aesthetics, why? and please, no.
  2. M'Kyuun
    Ah, Studio Series '86. I probably should have done some research before posting, but I didn't. I appreciate the clarification, and I'm happy for the figs we're getting. Still some glaring omissions though, Hasbro. Cranky old Gears needs some love too. Seems funny that they're revisiting WfC/FoC designs, but I guess everything falls under the Legacy umbrella at this point. For the sake of those fans who weren't able to get the toys back when the games came out, good. I have a few of them, but honestly, most of the designs just didn't grab me. I thought the game mechanics were amazing, though, and should have become the standard going forward, spawning numerous games in the same vein. I'd love a G1 game with those mechanics, especially if they let you play through stuff like the Sherman Dam fight between Megatron and Prime. Choosing your faction and playing from either side would be fantastic as well, but I digress. I still love my little FoC Prime figure and wouldn't mind a new voyager scaled version with improved articulation/details. Love the look of that Prime design. The WfC game design, not so much, although I get the sense that that is the preferred design amongst fans. Are you talking about Wingblade Prime, or another figure? Wingblade was released, but only in the Japanese market. Oddly, Hasbro planned on releasing the armor pack, but with a deluxe version of Prime instead of the voyager for which it was designed and released by Takara. Anyway, it would be fantastic if Hasbro would release that (w/ the proper voyager fig), Blackout, and some of the other non-stateside Animated releases, as well as surprise us with an Omega Supreme (an original mold to capture the Animated character's look and transformation and NOT a crappy retool of The Ark figure).
  3. M'Kyuun
    I'm interested in the Animated Prime, but I'm fearful that they're going to G1-ify it like the Prime stuff, and for all intents and purposes, Bulkhead, who had far more in common with the Animated version than Prime. I still love my Animated toy collection, and would love to see some gaps filled, and some reissues of figs like Blackout. Any new Animated toys I'd like to see mirroring the toon look; if they can do it ad nauseum for G1, they can do it for Animated which had a very definitive style to it. Still, short of improving the articulation, this is still the toy to beat 😍. I'd be excited for Sandstorm, but after they botched Blitzwing and Astrotrain so badly, I have low expectations. Likewise for any triple-changers going forward. Springer's the only decent one they've done recently. I'll likely get Silverbolt. I didn't care for the Fuzors and I don't believe I bought any of them back in the day. However, I love the character and the romantic thing he has with Blackarachnia, so I think I'd be down for a modern interpretation. I have no recollection whatsoever of Tigerhawk despite being a Beast Wars fan. Looked him up, still no recollection. The OG toy looked kinda cool though. I'll wait and see what the new toy looks like before I commit. I'm guessing Cyber is short for Cybertron, as they're mining a lot of past continuities, and Cyberverse is their younger kids' line with its own style of toys. I'm thinking this: Kinda surprised neither leader Swoop nor Snarl were in that list. Notable omissions include deluxe Windcharger, Gears, Brawn, Powerglide, Earth Jeep Hound, core class Ravage, Laserbeak, Steeljaw, and Ramhorn, deluxe Omnibots, Seaspray and Beachcomber, just to name a few. Def want them to finish the first season minibots before moving on to obscure characters like Tigerhawk. Too, they need to redesign Mirage- the Seige fig and its slightly retooled ER toy just aren't right. I want something that's similar to the G1 transformation, where the front of his car mode becomes his chest, his arms the sides of the car, and his legs the back of the car with his spoiler becoming his feet.
  4. M'Kyuun
    😄 How did I miss this back in October? Anyway, QFT. You and I are eye to eye. I despise the stupid pacifier face they gave Bee. Too, his ridiculous inability to speak. And yeah, he was treated more like a pet in the Bee Movie than the millions-of-years-old skilled spy and combatant that he is, and that he's shown to be at the beginning of the film. I'm way beyond weary of the whole Bayformer feel and aesthetic that they continue to perpetuate in the live action films. I wish someone at Hasbro and Paramount had the chutzpah to go a different direction and leave Bay and his influence in the all-too forgettable past. I'm not saying full-bore G1. What I want to see are designs that work practically, similar to how the Binaltech/Alternators worked. Accordingly, I want to see folded legs or whatnot taking up backseat space- completely practical vehicle modes based upon working models that actually transform without a ton of CG magic and shredding of car parts into millions of weird and twisted shapes that make no sense mechanically. I love ILM, but FFS, I wish they'd found a practical solution to depicting transformations. Alternators should have been the basis, and Hasbro should have insisted on it. Anthony Ramos is a former military electronics expert. Ah, the tired cliche of main protagonist being or having been military with either elite hacking skills or some other sort of high-end skill that will no doubt come into play during some contrived situation. At least Charlie and Sam were regular kids with no paramilitary backgrounds with elite skills. It just gets old. Perhaps I'm just jaded b/c I'm retired military, but I'm hardly elite at anything except bitching about Hollywood's perpetuation of military stereotypes. RotB definitely treads familiar ground just by the look and feel of the trailer- too much Michael Bay influence for this TF fan. Mirage's transformation smacks of Jazz's from the '07 film, and I almost expected him to break into a Moonwalk as Anthony Ramos walks ahead without looking back. Cool guys used to not look back at explosions; now they don't look back at transforming bots doing spinning flourishes. From head-on, Mirage's (should have been Jazz, but whatever. Since Jazz died in the 07 film I guess they had to make him someone else) bot mode gives little indication that he turns into a car. 😒 Regarding the scale of the beasts, I'm divided: it makes sense in context of the bot modes, but not of the alt modes, which renders their taking of beast modes as disguise moot. To me, in the original Beast Wars cartoon, the scaling down of the bots so that the alt modes fit scale with the real creatures they were emulating made more sense. YMMV. In the wake of my overly negative tone, let me leave on a positive note: I really dig that Cheetor transformation scene. Pretty cool.
  5. M'Kyuun
    I'm likely in the minority, but I always preferred Christine's lovely voice over that of Stevie's. Incidentally, both have contralto singing voices, but the distinction between each is readily apparent and that difference gave Fleetwood Mac an interesting variety in their sound from song to song. To this day, though, I tend to prefer those on which Christine sang lead. Beyond my preferences, Christine was part of that generation coming up in the 70s and 80s when stuff was crazy, and her band is well-known for its often-tumultuous internal dynamics. Needless to say, like most rock stars of her time, she led a storied life and leaves behind a musical legacy that will long endure. Thanks for the songs, Christine. RIP
  6. M'Kyuun
    That is indeed an odd feature, for lack of a better word, of Bandai's DX line. In truth, Arcadia outclasses them on a lot of those small but meaningful details. I do love Bandai's penchant for tampo, but they go a bit overboard with it. I wish Arcadia would do more tampo, especially when the prices are in the $300 range. As a bare minimum, the intake markings, Macross kites, and nose and tail numbers should be tampoed. Part of me thinks it'd be a good thing if Bandai was to buy Arcadia and give them autonomy to continue doing their Macross products. Imagine what they could do with Bandai's resources. Too, the toys would come down in price (hopefully). Not sure Bandai would be willing to let Arcadia do things their way, though, so I guess it's better that they remain separate and a competitor in the Macross transforming toy market.
  7. M'Kyuun
    Like you, I have MS-01 as my primary MP Prime; MP-10 is tucked away behind my MP Beast Wars figs, but fairly easily accessible if I feel the need. I really like the details and beefier proportions of MS-01 over the slender and 'toon accurate' Primes by Takara and TE. And too, the transformation is smart, eschews the need for faux parts, provides a decent truck mode and an excellent looking bot mode. I bought their recent Light of Victory legends figure upon which MS-02 was based, and I have to say I was initially thinking of grabbing up a copy of that too, especially after seeing its articulation. However, I don't like the toon accuracy direction of flattening his leg louvres, omitting the cab stripe, the square headlights, or the longer face mask (for my money, MS-01 has a perfect head sculpt). My hope is that they'll release a toy-based version with all of MS-01's details. That would pretty much be the definitive Optimus Prime toy IMHO.
  8. M'Kyuun
    Sorry, man. I believe you can submit ideas for pieces to WEBricks. As for Mega Bloks, that 2x2 is one of their parts, but AFAIK, there's no secondary marketplace for MB sets or parts. I wish there was, as they make a whole host of neat and interesting parts that LEGO doesn't. For the non-purist LEGO builder, something like that would be a boon so far as the options it would offer. Heck, I'd be tempted myself. LEGO, to their credit, have been making good strides over the last 5-6 years for the number of SNOT bricks they've produced, but we could certainly do with full plate brackets, this minus that half plate, any number of inverted plates with clips and such, inverted cheese slopes, etc ad nauseum. And of course, a whole menu of plates with both studs and anti-studs top and bottom would add all new dimensions and options to the intrepid builder faced with the current frustrating limitations.
  9. M'Kyuun
    I think that's the best looking Bubbleship MOC I've seen. What a beautiful design. I'd love to see this as an Ideas set. In response to your query 1x2 Double panel #gds1581 Gobricks (webrick.com) I don't believe they make a 2x2; the pic I posted I believe is Mega Bloks, and unfortunately, AFAIK, there's no database analogous to Bricklink for MB parts. I wish there was, though, as they make a lot of useful parts that LEGO doesn't but should. Since their acquisition by Mattel, their quality improved notably as well.
  10. M'Kyuun
    Not feeling any compulsion to dive into these new figs, as they really don't do much beyond the Action Toys figs I already have. I liked AT's style, for the most part. I was hoping they'd release Supercar (Turbo) but AFAIK, they never did despite having a fully painted demo model. I was also hoping they'd get around to making Harrier Robo, but I guess that'll never happen now. 😢
  11. M'Kyuun
    That's my take as well; I'm too purist to make the leap of mixing authentic LEGO with offbrand, even when the offbrands make parts like which would be beyond immensely useful. I recently discovered a site called WEBrick which acts as a coordinated hub for sourcing LEGO-compatible third-party bricks, and some of the options they offer are very tempting, especially when they can provide a piece in a color that LEGO doesn't make or stuff like the plate I pictured, as well as other custom pieces that many of us wish LEGO would produce. It's one of those subjective choices- to mix or not to mix. 😁 I'm aware of lots of folks who'll buy non-LEGO weapons and armor for their minifigs but would balk at the very notion of ever mixing a Mega Bloks piece into one of their builds, regardless of its utility and omission from LEGO's own palette. I've come close myself, as I have a couple MB 1x2 plates with studs top & bottom, and the temptation to use them is great. But the purist in me keeps winning the internal dialog. Maybe someday, but not yet.
  12. M'Kyuun
    Yeah, the more I look at it, the more I see those flaws, and with Yammie's nigh perfect fighter mode as a tangible benchmark, you'd think they'd want to replicate that while improving their take on the battroid. Appearently, no. Zoomed in on the hand holding the gun, and it looks like the hand extends weirdly from the arm. maybe for clearance.? IDK, but it looks awkward. It's a mixed bag- they made the legs look better, but as @Chronocidal is apt to point out, their fighter mode took a number of hits not related to making the legs more proportional for battroid. Too, the backpack section is really thick compared to the Yammie. Yamato came up with a novel way of shrinking the nose length a bit for b-mode, and one wonders why they wouldn't attempt the same, although in truth, that bothers me far less than others. The forearms are too small and too short, the aft arm guns protrude erroneously in fighter, the vertical stabs sit about an inch too far forward in respect to the exhaust section, and the hands are a little on the small side. I do like the battroid, though. I like the foreshortened belly plates, one of my least favorite design choices for this Valk. It's about the only Valk design I can think of that's essentially a shellformer, as generally the legs either form the entirety of the powerplant or somehow coalesce into the fuselage in a meaningful way, or both in the case of the VF-4 and the Variable Glaug. The YF-21 is an oddity in that the legs serve no function to the fighter mode except as cargo, which required a lot of mass-shifting animation magic to squeeze them into a too-small area for fighter, and then balloon up for battroid. It's one of Kawamori's crappiest designs from that POV, if only to try and project the look of the Queadluun-Rau onto the battroid. That's fine, but I wish, like the majority of his other variable fighter designs, he'd used the legs as the powerplant, even if they were partially concealed by panels to cover their curvy shape. I've looked at the line art many times and wished he'd done something different and more practical with the design that would make creating a three-dimensional model or toy much more translatable. It simply relies far too much on animation magic to affect the proportions which does toy makers no favors.
  13. M'Kyuun
    Perhaps my high praise was premature. As I said, some time has passed since my last Bayformers acquisition. I'm not counting the Bumblebee Movie figs even though they still follow the Bay aesthetic. My memories are of rather complex figures with lots of moving parts and paint apps that tended to be less spare than current figs. Alas, inflation and tighter budgets. Anyway, it was against that standard that I measured, perhaps erroneously, the sum of Generations against TLK Hot Rod which impressed me for its clever and complex transformation. I assumed it was representative of regular Studio Series as a whole, but I'm given to understand that he may be a bit of a standout in some respects, but not all. He does make liberal use of ball joints, and he could have benefitted from better clearances, especially between his leg kibble and lower legs. I do think still that he has a higher parts count than the majority of Generations figs, as there are quite a few moving bits on this guy, especially for the size. As Mike pointed out, he's a rather small and light deluxe which made the number of moving bits involved in his transformation surprising, and quite pleasant for their clever double use in the case of the bit of his hood that fills in most of his waist section. I remain impressed with it and add my recommendation along with Mike's. I'm not a Bayformers fan (though my toy collection would say otherwise), but sometimes a toy is worth owning on its own merits apart from its source and that's how I feel about Hot Rod- neat looking bot that turns into a beautiful car via a pleasantly complex transformation schema.
  14. M'Kyuun
    Sorry to hear about the loose joint situation. Hopefully your copy was a one-off and not endemic. I never liked Transmetal Megatron; it didn't appeal to me in the 90s and still doesn't, so I won't be adding this guy to my collection. I just got my copy of Inferno yesterday, and I love him- so much character in that toy! I'm so glad they gave him a hinged jaw for that extra bit of maniacal expression. 😍 "For the royalty!" indeed. I do wish, however, that they'd put some additional ratcheting hinges in the ant legs on the arms to allow them to fold or be moved out of the way better. In addition to Inferno, I received my copy of TLK Hot Rod, and though I seldom pick up a Bayformer fig these days, it looked pretty good to me. Having not handled a Bayformer in some time, the extent of its complexity in comparison to the typical Generations/ WfC stuff was surprising and reminiscent of the toys from the mid aughts when the first few films came out. The other thing that struck me was the parts count on this toy as opposed to the typical deluxe Generations figure- many more moving parts, a licensed alt mode, better engineering and complexity, a decent amount of paint apps---why the hell don't Generations toys receive the same from their budgets? I realize this is Studio Series, but the SS86 figs don't even seem to enjoy this level of engineering or detail. Ironhide, just to pick on a recent release, suffers from huge hinges which interrupt the smooth lines of his van mode, and he doesn't even have his traditional yellow stripe, although the panel lines depict it. To my thinking, had Ironhide been a part of the regular Studio Series, he would have had a smooth sided van with the stripe utilizing more double hinges and other such contrivances to better realize his alt mode without compromise. Def a double standard when it comes to these lines, and unfortunately, the Generations stuff seems to be on the lower end despite the fact that G1 continues to drive the franchise more than any other continuity.
  15. M'Kyuun
    Well, for Yamato, and I'm sure in part for Arcadia, Macross is a passion, and their attention to the minute details has always been part of the appeal of their toys. They weren't always perfect, but there was still a lot of love put into those things. Bandai's passion is Gundam; all other priorities rescinded. 😁 I was pretty securely onboard with getting the Bandai YF-21 if and when it releases, but with the announcement that Arcadia is reworking their YF-21 to fix the leg proportions, I may just wait on that, as the rest of the toy is par excellence.
  16. M'Kyuun
    Some neat mecha in Avatar- not enough for my liking, but then again, is there ever enough mecha? Rhetorical, because no, there isn't. 😄 Loving that Crabsuit. Looking forward to seeing it in action when the film releases.
  17. M'Kyuun
    This guy's coming in a bit bigger than MMC's Stray/Ater Beta, the latter of which I own. I still dig that fig, but I'm really glad now that I passed on their Drift as this fig is looking downright amazing. There's certainly much more complexity to it as well, and I like Asurada-inspired alt mode. I'm really amazed that it looks on par with Flame Toys' beautiful non-transforming figure, and yet it does transform. It's very cool; I just hope, being a first release for this company, that they have their QC under tight control.
  18. M'Kyuun
    Enjoyed the review, Mike. Love this character. My copy's on its way to me, and I'm looking forward to having him in hand, hopefully by week's end. Surprised how big he is next to Tarantulas. For some reason, Tarantulas seems to me like he should have been a voyager as well, but regardless, he turned out really well, too. Glad they're doing these figs. I'm curious if they're going to continue into TM and Beast Machines. Guess we'll see.
  19. M'Kyuun
    Yeah, there's no argument there. Perhaps Arcadia will be able to figure out a way to give it more proportional legs without compromising the jet mode too much, as it's nigh perfect as is. If so, I'd take that over the Bandai.
  20. M'Kyuun
    Homemade Transformers: Animated Scrapper that actually transforms. Phenomenal work. Wish Hasbro would hire this guy to fill in some missing characters from Animated.
  21. M'Kyuun
    Got this guy POed. Just a beautiful fig in either mode. Transformation looks a bit involved but interesting- some neat solutions. The choice of the lovely Asurada GSX from Future GPX Cyber Formula works so well for this character design. I hope the final toy is equally well realized in the QC department. If this is what they can do as an introductory product into the transforming toy scene, and their QC is good, I'm looking forward to future releases.
  22. M'Kyuun
    I'd be curious to see how Arcadia improves on the old design to improve battroid. Almost certainly it would necessitate some concession to the sleekness of the fighter mode, which would turn a lot of people off to it. Moreover, Arcadia's prices these days are pretty hard to swallow. I'm willing to wait and hope Bandai releases this. I would hope they make some improvements before doing so, especially to the benefit of the fighter, but mot at the expense of the battroid. I think the battroid and fghter look good, not perfect, but on those merits, I'll still take a copy. Absolutely, positively no to partsforming. The salient point of both Macross valks and Transformers is the fact that they transform. No partsforming concessions- just better engineering. It's not an impossibility.
  23. M'Kyuun
    I almost like that tank mode. As he is, he's more of a weird armed snowplow. It would have been a far more believable and aesthetically pleasing tank had they put a set of faux treads on that long front end. It's a niggle, but one that keeps me from buying this guy. Details matter. The same basic design dissuaded me from buying Action Toys' Rod Drill, despite my really liking the bot mode. In the case of Skullgrin, adding them wouldn't have affected anything but the aesthetics, but it would have been an improvement to the tank mode, IMHO. Honestly though, the big skull head doesn't do much for me either. It's just an odd fig that doesn't really fit in with the vast majority of Transformers. For those interested in the Earthspark toys, pics of Bee, Megatron, Shockwave, and Twitch have been posted over on TFW2005. I'm down for Twitch; the others are just kinda meh to me. I was pretty excited to know Megs would be a tiltrotor, as I'm a huge fan of that technology, but I'm just not that crazy about the execution of his toon/toy iterations. Bee's backend in car mode is jarringly large compared to the front end; I usually don't mind that, but I think the fact that the intakes are squared (they're his feet and lower legs) instead of matching the taper of the rest of the car gives them a jarring non-homogenic look. I think had they aped the look of the Cyber Formula GSX, or shrunk it just a touch to be more Countach-ish, it would have looked a bit better. YMMV
  24. M'Kyuun
    Your observation is on point. Any number of decisions of late regarding this brand, and apparently others as well, are highly questionable and not so favorable for the fans, despite their motto. I wish they'd take an approach to Transformers in the same manner as Takara- design the best toy you can, within reason, and slap a price tag on it afterwards instead of putting out a subpar product within a budgetary window or trying to make it fit a particular budget when the design calls for more. It's why all these third-party legends figs, which are priced around a leader scale price point, sell so well- the quality is there from sculpt to engineering offering a product, albeit at a smaller scale, that's generally better than official releases. Perhaps they need a shift in philosophy. Makes me wish Takara could operate somewhat independently again, making their own generally superior variants of the toys instead of the unified branding agreement they have, essentially tying Takara's hands. Given that they created the Diaclone toyline from which Transformers was born, it must rankle a bit, although customary politeness keeps them from saying so publicly. Regarding Pointblank, as you said, he's the best looking of the Targetmasters and I'd hoped they'd make a toy of him eventually, although, like you, I'd prefer they'd finished up all the top tier first season characters before moving on to lesser-known ones. I guess by spreading them out they feel they'll maintain the relevancy of the line. Anyway, I'm another disappointed fan what with all the shortcuts made to pointblank due to budgetary limitations. I'd take the more cost-effective ball-jointed forearms over no bicep swivel at all. That and lack of wrist swivels, which by now should be standard, are omissions that constitute a step backward in articulation even among the majority of deluxes. Add to that the inability to include his engine gun, an integral part of the G1 toy, as well as an extremely lackluster weapon dude and one wonders why this wasn't upgraded to a voyager budget to do him justice. Alas, questionable decisions with unfavorable results.
  25. M'Kyuun
    I don't mind their sharing engineering or transformation schemas. The final result here is quite well done. the feet leave somewhat to be desired from an aesthetic POV, but at least they have some poseability and they seem to perform their function of holding the fig up, so take your victories where you may. At the very least, they made his car mode distinct and as close to the real vehicle without licensing as possible, so again, a win. It's more than can be said for poor Breakdown, who shares Wildrider's car mode instead of having his own retooled Countach shell. Penny-pinching at its worst. It's a shame they took that shortcut, as they came really close to creating a reasonably accurate set of Stunticons in the main line. After the license employed in the CW line, for many G1 fans, this set was really shaping up to be nigh perfect. So, I got my SS86 Ironhide yesterday, and man do I like this figure. I wish they could have hidden the leg kibble better, but in the grand scheme, I'm pretty impressed with the transformation they came up with and how well he looks the part in both modes, huge hinges in van mode notwithstanding. I wish he had his yellow stripe and his back cannon, but I'm sure Toyhax and 3P will take care of that. Definitely another standout fig in the SS86 line. Gotta say, I like it better than the MP.
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