M'Kyuun

1 hour ago, 26662 said:

Love everything!  The LEGOs are a perfect addition.  I could not be more jealous.  We're in Nashville where home prices are ridiculous.  I can't wait for the market to correct (God willing!) and move into a place that allows for a 2nd home office.  TY for sharing!

Thanks! This pic pretty much encapsulates my three major passions: LEGO, Transformers, and Macross.  Like you, I'm feeling the burden of lack of space- LEGO occupies a goodly chunk of space throughout my house which is only about 1600 sq feet, and I'm considering building an addition as I'm pretty much priced out of buying a bigger home here due to skyrocketing real estate prices. LEGO is booming, the sets are just getting better, and I've got about another 30 or so years of collecting before I check out, so I need some room for expansion and just to build and store my MOCs, as well as my other assorted toys.

1 hour ago, Chronocidal said:

Don't mind me, just geeking out over the classic space sets I see nestled between the transformers.  

I was always sad I never actually got any sets with the classic inverted Triforce logo.  

I have more than are pictured, but a number of them are in storage as I simply don't have the room to display them all, especially the base/station sets. There are some Blacktron sets up there, but they're hard to see b/c, well, BLACKtron. 😁

More shots of my chaotic mancave:

1 hour ago, 26662 said:

Alright, Imma need to see your desk collection.  I'm 75% travel for work and don't have a home office, unfortunately (house is 1000 sq. ft. and we're living on top of each other as it is).  I'd kill for space enough to display some fidget-fighters.  ...next house?

4 hours ago, Shawn said:

The original Yamato designers took the Studio Half Eye YF-21 and upscaled it, making toy minded tweaks along the way.

https://macrossworld.com/macross/toys/_toys_she_vs_yamato.htm

You have to be in the mindset of the early 2000s...we had NOTHING for toys except for 1/55 reissues, and tons of expensive Resin kits.

Yamato was a blessing pumping fresh blood into Macross and re-ignited the fandom.

Don't be too terribly hard on the old designs, just look on them with eyes and a mindset 20 years in the past. 

 

Because I'm old and remember, I also try to maintain perspective. Prior to Yamato, there was nothing mass market, save for the occasional rerelease of the 1/55 VF-1 or the crappy Toynami toys. The evolution in design from their original 1/72 toys to their 1/60 toys was night and day- hard to believe they came from the same company, so stark were the improvements across the board. I think that was the point where a lot of us started to finally feel spoiled- for better or worse, Yamato was upping their game with each successive release, concentrating on aesthetics and line art accuracy, aircraft realism, complexity, articulation (although their ball joint placements oft left somewhat to be desired), and delivering high end toys of valks that many of us wished for but never imagined we'd get. It was an exciting time to be a Macross fan. I still maintain a small collection of 1/60 Yamato/Arcadia valks on my desk where I get to enjoy them every day. (VF-19S Emerald Force color; VF-17, VF-4 original release, Arcadia YF-19, original Sv-51, VF-11, original VF-0, and Max's VF-1A w/ Super & Strike Parts) Bandai's Worldwide Anniversary Ver. VF-25 is the outlier on my desk, but I love the VF-25, so there you go.

8 minutes ago, YFMATO-21 said:

Exactly. Being able to follow the line art is like icing on the cake. But if the cake itself sucks, who cares about the icing? (cake = a nice looking battroid, fighter, gerwalk) Besides which, I'm suggesting that the position of the legs (bent into the nacelle space) would be only for the fighter mode - in other words, it would be hidden by the belly panels anyway, so technically it would still look like the line art. Then, for delimiter, you'd remove the legs completely, and you could have a sliding panel or folding doors (similar to the front landing gear folding panels) to cover up the hollowed out nacelle space. So you could actually get delimiter to look like the line art as well. The only line art breaking would be the knowledge that the legs weren't tucked away according to the line art rules during fighter.

Couldn't have stated it more succinctly. I think this is the best solution to preserve all three modes in a fully transformable YF-21 toy while maintaining the aesthetics with minimal concessions. To me, the final product and how it looks through the three modes matters more than the methodology of arriving at those modes. When the line art is drawn in a realistic logical fashion without compromise, then follow it; but in the case of the YF-21 and any other number of Kawamori's works, realism and logic give way to artistic license and visual impression over actual feasibility or functionality. In such a case, the toy/model maker should be free to exercise license of their own to make the best looking and functional toy free of the constraints and fudgings of the line art/animation. 

15 hours ago, shazam said:

 

I'm not really a big fan of cel-shading, but I certainly appreciate the artistry of it, especially when done well. LEK's work always impresses; it's difficult to tell that's an actual toy standing there and not a 2D render, a testament and a compliment to LEK's skill. Amazing.

4 hours ago, Radioguy said:

That makes him interesting enough (for me) that I would buy the MP if TT did a mass produced cel-shaded one.

All I have is the Siege, and that was because of the unbeatable Zaavi deal awhile back. Skyfire, and the design impetus behind him, never made him desirable to me compared with using the same money to buy him for another valk instead.

I like the toon's Skyfire design because it's not the VF-1, which was ubiquitous in the 80s, from official to KO toys. It was everywhere. Granted, Jetfire's toy was the VF-1, which I found confusing after watching "Fire in the Sky" for the first time, as the artists, perhaps even Floro Dery himself, did a pretty extensive redesign that, aside from being a jet with a large red jet pack, shares virtually no visual similarity to the VF-1. I pined for a Skyfire toy for years until I finally got Fans Toys Phoenix. I was pretty excited for Hasbro's Generations Jetfire, as he at least shared some similarity to Skyfire's bot mode, and I figured that was probably the closest we were ever going to get to a proper Skyfire in the Hasbro mainline. When Siege Jefire was announced, I was over the moon, and the toy didn't disappoint- about as good as one could hope for in a mass retail figure. When MP Skyfire was announced, well, it was a no-brainer purchase. While I think I still prefer FT's Phoenix, the MP is a pretty fine figure, and I'm happy to have him. I'm also glad that he was marketed under his proper namesake, the only official Skyfire fig that I'm aware of. The Siege toy may be called Jetfire on the box, but he's Skyfire to me, too.

1 hour ago, Mog said:

Trying to find logic in Bandai’s YF-21 design is an exercise in futility.

It seems as if they just thought “thicker legs” and then stopped at doing anything else.

Again the 1/60 Yamato had some innovative design ideas to look good in all three modes.

For a hypothetical ultimate version of the -21, to get a skinny fighter mode profile AND thick legs, you’d have to come up with a way to collapse the leg width in fighter mode (and expand/thicken for Gerwalk/Battroid) and possibly hollow out the nacelles for some extra storage space.

This. Although it runs counter to Kawamori's line art, which employs copious animation magic to fit the legs, from a toy manufacturer's perspective, the most logical course is to use what space the design allows for, and I think Bandai did well by using the nacelles to that effect. The only other option would be to make the bulbous sides of the lower legs be separate panels that somehow hinge into some other part of the leg bay, a tall order given how cramped said space is. I think orienting the legs straight ahead and placing them in widened nacelles is the best compromise for this design. Kawamori did toymakers no favors, thus necessitating some creative solutions to achieve balance in aesthetics and functionality. Following the line art, I realize, is what most of us die-hards want, but with some of his questionable designs, it becomes necessary to say "F" the line art and go with what works.

Modular Space Station 60433 | City | Buy online at the Official LEGO® Shop US

Finished building this today. It was a fun, if somewhat repetitive, set to put together, but the final result is a large station with plenty of play built in. It's done very well, and the only change I would have made is to have the pods arranged so that they themselves form a ring with internal access from pod to pod. However, I think that was a bit beyond the scope of what the designers wanted to do, and the singular interchangeable pods in this and a couple other sets in the line lend themselves to extensive modularity, which is admittedly far more fun. I love the clear delineation of roles based on color coding of the astrofigs' helmets and backpacks; the og red, white, black, blue, and yellow astrofigs were similarly delineated, at least in the minds of the designers if not so overtly indicated in the sets themselves. While not a new idea in Space themes (Galaxy Squad did it well in 2013), I appreciate the way it has been done in the 2024 sets, with the orangish-yellow maintenance/construction figs sporting a helmet with similar shaping to construction or mining hard hats, blue pilot figs sporting a non-opening but spacious visor, and the green scientists sporting an opening visor (which is helpful for making quick visorless observations without doffing the helmet, in pressurized areas, of course). The various backpack accoutrement is similarly role-specific, especially the mechanical arms on the fig that comes with the Space Construction Mech. Notable in these sets is the lack of any implied conflict; it's a welcome return to exploration and science-based play that so characterized the Classic Space era. That said, the use of minifig heads for the aliens included in some of the sets lend themselves, in my dark sci-fi loving grey cells, to "The Thing"-like parasitic possession of the human astrofigs. Whether that ever crossed the designers' minds, I don't know, but it sure crossed mine. I digress. I have the majority of the 2024 City Space sets, excluding the polybag and the 4+ Spaceship and Asteroid Discovery, and I saved the largest, Space Base and Rocket Launchpad, for last. Given my very positive impressions from the previous sets, I'm looking forward to building it too. I lament I don't have the space, pun coincidental, to display all these sets as a collective; they beggar to be played with, and I'd love to have them on a table where I can just interact with them on a whim. Alas, not right now, but hopefully I'll remedy that in the next couple of years. I also feel compelled to build a large vehicle akin to the excellent M:Tron Mega-Core Magnetizer in the theme's color scheme that, as is my wont, transforms into a mech. I'm adding it to the shortlist of projects I hope to accomplish this year.

In other LEGO news, goat lovers rejoice! As has been their habit over the last few years, LEGO is once again releasing a more robust successor to an older set, this time the 2009 Medieval Market Village gets a hearty update via the Icons 10332 Medieval Town Square, which also combines aspects of another 2011 set, the Mill Village Raid which came with a single and highly sought after goat, the only occurrence of that animal element until 2024's CMF line featured a Goatherd w/ goat. The upcoming Town Square comes with a goat, newly molded in grey, which will likely make this an irresistible purchase for goat fans and collectors of rare LEGO elements. I still have the Medieval Market Village on display, still a remarkable set, and this update looks amazing. I'll likely skip it due to lack of space, but my hat's off to LEGO for doing such a great job. To those for whom this appeals enough to drop $230 for it, I envy you greatly and I hope you enjoy it immensely!

14 hours ago, Raikkonen said:

The DX v2 after the renewal will be the one to look forward to. 🤣

Oh man, I hope not. I avoided that whole mess with the ver. 1 of the VF-25, which looked terrible to me. I went in on this YF-21, and I hope it's not the same scenario. It's a lot of ducats to drop on a purposely poorly-done first pass. 

6 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

Although it was my favorite cartoon, my dad was laid off for a period so and we didn't really have a lot of money for the toys.  Aside from Sideswipe, the Insecticons, and a handful of (mostly 2nd season) minibots most of my childhood toys were from the 86 movie and on.  As such, I did have Powermaster Optimus as a kid, and I fondly remember it as the first actual Optimus Prime toy I owned (although I'd pretend Ultra Magnus' cab was Optimus Prime's ghost, who had to come back because Rodimus Prime couldn't hack it as the Autobots' leader.

Something I'll mention as unlikely but an intriguing possibility is that, as an MPG figure and not a standard MP, God Ginrai could be smaller than traditional MP scale, much like the trainbots.  I certainly won't complain if MPG Ginrai winds up scaling with Legacy.

I'm almost tempted to go back and see if Legacy Armada Op got some flack when he was first revealed.  While some fans are overjoyed to get a new figure of an old favorite (nearly 75% backed after just a week), the fact is that the toys from RiD and the Unicron Trilogy were much closer to the animation to begin with than G1.  A lot of people are looking at the Haslab Omega Prime and saying, "it doesn't look that much better, so why buy a new one?"  Improved articulation, sturdier joints, and a more refined combination are kind of intangible at this point.  Something I don't understand are the complaints that it's a Haslab instead of retail.  I guess that some people might be in a country where the Haslab isn't available, but for the rest I don't see the difference between buying through a Haslab or buying at retail- either you have the money and want to buy it or you don't.

There's also a very vocal subset of G1 fans who seem to think that nothing after 1990 is worth doing.  As much as I love Fire Convoy and as happy as I was to see the return of trucks instead of monkeys, in the subsequent years RiD 2001 is like the red-headed stepchild of the brand, a one-off sandwiched between the Beast Era and the Unicron Trilogy.  So I do kind of get why Omega Prime might not be the best ambassador of 40 years of Transformers... but we're getting a Studio 86 G1 Optimus this year already.

Personally, my only real complaint about the Haslab is that I'd have liked the core Optimus bot to have scaled better with the numerous other Optimus Primes that have turned up since Siege; scale to me is more important that a gimmick of having Ultra Magnus being able to carry Deluxe cars.

Oh, and speaking of Omega Prime, I'll be ready with a comparison when it comes in.  Because look what I found...

Ok, sure, it's a Costco reissue during the Cybertron toyline, and the gold on Prime's chest was painted black on this release... but it was still sealed in the box!  I'll find a gold chest junker on ebay and to swap parts with.

Wow, great find, Mike. Congrats!

6 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

Legacy Leader-class Sandstorm.

Sandstorm is looking pretty good, with a far better balance between the alts than either Astrotrain or Blitzwing, both of which I hope to receive much-improved toys in the SS86 line. 

 

3 minutes ago, Big s said:

Recently Hasbro has become more of an overall entertainment company with seemingly higher interests in films and games. They’ve been outsourcing a lot of their toy brands to other companies lately 

Honestly, I think they'd be further ahead to put Ramen Toys under contract with full licensing and let them do the hard work of development. Take a page from the Japanese approach: make the best toy possible and assign pricing accordingly instead of placing each product under a severely limited budget resulting in toys with subsequent limitations as we often see with Transformers. Promote it as a 'craft toy' line and see how it does. Of course, the prices would be higher, but if the quality and designs of the toys are this well executed, it's worth it, I suspect, to collectors and fans, especially considering what we Transformers fans pay for third party toys.

18 hours ago, Mog said:

If someone were to improve upon the 1/60 Yammy, they could easily update the elbow articulation without much fuss. 

They would need to figure out a way to make the joints for the hips and the hip-guards stronger.

In order to keep the skinny fighter profile, someone would have to figure out a way to have the legs expand width-wise for Gerwalk/battroid and collapse for fighter mode.  Might have to do some panel-folding to allow the legs to be "thickened."  Also possibly hollow out the bellyplates and underside of the backpack a bit to make a little extra room too.

The tabs on the bellyplates can also be a bit of pain to lock into place for fighter mode.  But the guns can be held on the bellyplates without swapping the actual guns out, and there's a minor cheat to keep the guns held on the FP's.

Lastly a spring and strut could be added to keep the rear landing gears from collapsing when rolling the fighter backwards (at least the landing gear were already painted white before ).

So, there are fixes and improvements that can be made.  But for a 15+ old design, the 1/60 Yammy still holds up well in all three modes.

Yes to all your suggestions. I'd be happy with just better proportioned legs and stronger hip joints, but far be it from me to hinder any attempts at improving articulation throughout and even adding more so long as the joints are strong and well-toleranced. I'm firmly in the camp that would love to see Arcadia apply said fixes to the Yamato design. It would likely require less tooling to accomplish, and they'd still sell it at north of $300 ensuring they made a healthy profit. And we would buy it, many among us buying multiple copies. Seems a sure-fire win for Arcadia if they chose to retrofit the Yammie. Win for us the fans, too.

Interesting news indeed. Considering Hasbro is a toy company first, one can only assume there are toys in the pipeline, although I'm dubious that they'll come close to what Ramen Toys are doing.

I get the feeling that this is going to be one of those divisive toys that inspires conversation for years to come. Usually once POs come and go, the chatter kinda dies off as we wait, only to pick back up when toys start arriving and folks are anxious to get their views and reviews out there. I think the long absence of a new YF-21, especially since Bandai's releases of the VF-19 Advance and their YF-19 (I have the former) left a bit of a void for want of Isamu's nemesis along with the prospect of better battroid proportions. YMMV concerning that regard (I prefer the thicker legs, but that backpack and its distance from the figure's back have me concerned about stability and durability over time). I hope it turns out to be a good toy overall, but right out the gate, I don't think it's as refined as many of us would have hoped. Yamato created a toy that continues to be hard to beat with the exception of its too-skinny legs and wobbly hip joints, but in all other respects, a nigh perfect transforming toy of a very difficult valk to realize. I'd be interested to see them take a second crack, especially if they can solve the skinny leg problem.

On 2/4/2024 at 6:48 PM, shazam said:

 

I have the first largely undecoed version of Jive (Thank you Toyhax for remedying the toony plainness), but I would have waited for this version had I known it was coming, as applying stickers isn't my idea of fun. I also have Zeta's Jazzy (originally marketed as Toyworld's Coolsville before the two companies parted ways), which is a rather unsung MP scaled 3P Jazz which came out around the time that Maketoys released their very popular Downbeat. I preferred the Zeta version for its more G1 toy-inspired look in bot mode. Neither toy is perfect, especially when it comes to the transformations, but once accomplished, both present well, IMHO, in both modes. TBH, I wasn't familiar with the TR-01, so this vid was enlightening in that respect. It's amazing how many options we've had over the years, and hopefully Takara will eventually take their crack, although, admittedly, I haven't really been all that impressed with the majority of toon-slavish designs they've been putting out over the last few years. Skids was my last official MP purchase, and my only gripe with him is that I wish he'd come with swappable shins to recreate his 'windowed shins' look from his og box art.

2 hours ago, no3Ljm said:

Fixed for yah.  

But to answer the question, for me, yes it might. But I still like the decisions Yamato made when in comes to design for not deviating too much from the source in spite of having skinny legs. 

The skinny legs were the only detractor, especially if you're a battroid guy like me. In all other respects, it was about as perfect as a fully transformable YF-21 can be.

On 1/29/2024 at 1:49 AM, electric indigo said:

Ok so in finally watched "The Creator" on D+. I was aware of it slightly lacking in writing, but it turned out the writing was actually insultingly bad and all the pretty pictures couldn't make up for it, and the droning Zimmer soundscape finished it off for me. I feel bad about all the talented concept artists involved in this film.

My recommendation is to just get the artbook and have a nice movie playing in your head.

Kinda my impression as well. Based on the trailers, I was excited for this film, but it fell flat in dialog, a bit contradictory regarding the androids, the plot more simplistic than implied, the main character just lacked charm or anything memorable or likeable, really.  The bond between him and the girl was there b/c it was scripted and not because any real relationship was forged. In the end, I felt the visuals were striking but wasted on the script. Quite disappointing.

3 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

The discourse around Omega Prime has been... interesting.  There are people arguing that it won't make its goal simply because it's not G1 (and yet, in less than 8 hours it's already nearly at 4000 backers).  There are some people arguing that it's a bad deal they bought the original RiD Optimus for $30 25 years ago (nevermind that it's roughly two Commanders and a Deluxe for less money than the Takara reissue of the originals a few years back).  There are a few mad that it's not two or three regular retail releases, because somehow they can afford it that way but a Haslab is less obtainable?  And there are a few who somehow think Hasbro "failed" because "its the same as the original"... as long as you ignore the improved proportions, better articulation, improved stability, and the efforts to hide Magnus' bits in combined mode better.

There's also the argument that Omega Prime doesn't really represent 40 years of the brand... but really, what does?  I think this was the main argument for Primus, but it kind of breaks down when you start to ask, "which Primus?"  Not Sunbow, Primus had nothing to do with the G1 cartoon.  Marvel comics?  Don Figueroa's Dreamwave design?  Probably the best-known Primus design is the one from Cybertron, which isn't any more G1 than RiD.  On that note, something G1 certainly represents something 40 years old, but as I'm fond of pointing out the people who were kids when stuff like RiD and the Unicron Trilogy are around the same age as us geewunners when lines like Alernators and Classics were hitting the shelves, and Transformers might mean something else to them.  Ultimately, RiD definitely seem like an odd choice, as it's arguably one of the less popular Transformers shows, but I do think it represents an important point in Transformers history, the first time bringing a Japanese show over, the show that brought back the Autobots and Decepticons, the show that brought back Optimus as a truck.  And, really, if there's one name that's synonymous with 40 years of Transformers it's definitely "Optimus Prime."

Frankly, I'm pretty happy with this Haslab.  As I said, Fire Convoy is my favorite non-G1 Prime, with a design that's just Optimus enough to be recognizable but blasted with even more Japanese super robot energy than any of the UT Primes or Go Exprime.  A modern version of him has been one of my most-wanted figures since I started collecting.  I'd say my only complaint is that he's looking like he's going to be a bit out-of-scale with the other WfC/Legacy Optimus Primes.

I missed all the corrective posts on the stream time, but as I'm not an RiD fan, I didn't mind watching it an hour later. Regardless of my bias, as a fan who can totally empathize with a strong yearning for a character to get a toy or a much-needed, much-wanted update, I'm happy for my fellow fans, especially a certain TF fan and reviewer close to home, that these characters are getting improved figs.

1 hour ago, David Hingtgen said:

Is my stance unique?   Huge fan of the original---but this is basically that toy again.  I legit thought the renders were the original toy for a while.  Hinge-for-hinge, post-for-post, tab-for-tab, identical transformation/engineering.  It's the same toy, 10% bigger, and a few small issues taken care of.  But it's really not "better" or "new".   Certainly not "20 years to think about it" level of improvemements/redesign.   Why does Magnus still having a gapingly hollow chest in bot mode?  Same huge holes at the same angles.  (honestly it actually looks WORSE from some angles) 

I wanted a BETTER Omega Prime.  Make UM a bit less hollow, not QUITE so ridiculously-proportioned etc.   For all their gushing about Prime's Super Mode having better proportions, they sure ignored the one that needed it more...

It's---exactly the choice I wanted, but executed horrifically.  It's, the toy I already had, with a few slight changes, but very expensive.  To still have almost all the flaws I was hoping would be fixed...

 

Sorry the new Omega Prime doesn't fulfill what you wanted from an update. I have no dog in this particular race, but the HasLab looked pretty good to me. That said, I haven't handled my Fire Convoy fig since he was new and never had Magnus, so my recollection is myopic and incomplete. Although I bought a number of the toys (I was one of those happy to see TFs return to car & plane alts), I found the RiD and later UT designs to be, um, well, kinda crappy and the toon didn't appeal to me at all. For the disenchanted, I lament once again the reluctance of third parties to touch CHUG scale, as it's times like this that an alternative would be a welcome option.

5 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

I never had the original toy (to my deep regret), but I had the opposite feeling on the design. I was really into anime at the time, and RiD not only returned Transformers to transforming vehicles instead of animals it replaced the dodgy '90s CGI with gorgeous anime designs. RiD Optimus remains my absolute favorite Optimus after G1.

...Except he kinda is G1. See, RiD isn't part of the Unicron Trilogy. And while we in the West kind of accept it as it's own thing, in Japan it was intended to be another part of G1.

After seeing a little of the UT, I lost all interest in the Japanese Transformers continuity. Despite being a mecha fan, I'm not really into the super robot aesthetic and they just went off on their own tangents with the stories.  I love the simple, straightforward storytelling of the first season of the Sunbow show and that is pretty much the end-all, be-all of G1 Transformers for me. I didn't care for second season onward. The '86 Movie was ok- some good parts, but more that wasn't.

If I ever stumble across my RiD toys, especially Optimus, I'll let you know. Chances are, he's still in his box in like-new condition.

6 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

Tomorrow at 11:00am EST.

Thanks, Mike!

12 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

From Robots in Disguise 2001.  You have Optimus Prime (Fire Convoy in Japan)...

...who combines with his trailer for a super mode (Super Fire Convoy).

But later in the series the cast is joined by Ultra Magnus (God Magnus), Optimus' brother who in this continuity is actually mad that Optimus got the Matrix instead of him.

Despite their rivalry, though, not only does Magnus keep aiding the Autobots he actually combines with Optimus to form Omega Prime (God Fire Convoy)

 

They sure did love their super robot combining gimmick back in the day. I actually have RID Fire Convoy; he's been tucked away in storage for many a year now. Like most of the UT toys, he just never made much of an impression on me. I'd rather have Devastator or Animated Omega Supreme. Remind me, when is the Haslab announcement?

On 1/26/2024 at 12:52 PM, mikeszekely said:

Months ago one of the team said something in a steam about the next HasLab being "an Omega Level event." Omega Prime has been one of the more popular guesses on that board, but it's just a guess, and not the only one. Animated Omega Supreme and Primus are also oft-cited potential candidates. I have my doubts about all three- with this year being the 40th anniversary of the brand I'm feeling like a popular G1 character better represents that anniversary, especially if it's an ’84 release.  Either way, I don't want to get too excited. I'm getting very limited on space, and I decided that Tidal Wave is likely the last Titan or bigger I'll buy. If it's Omega Supreme or Primus I'm out. If it is Omega Prime, though, I'll bust my wallet out so fast it'll make a sonic boom when it opens.

I also hope they do something from '84 G1 to mark the 40th. It's apropos. However, I have no idea who Omega Prime is, but if they do an Animated Omega Supreme, my Paypal will make a somewhat stealthier sonic boom. 😜  I'm so out of space it's ridiculous, but I'll still find somewhere to stash a TFA Omega Supreme.😍 So long overdue a toy.

On 1/24/2024 at 2:02 PM, mikeszekely said:

I wonder what will represent 40 years of Transformers better than the previously-leaked SS86 Commander-Class Optimus Prime? Does a HasLab allow Hasbro to use the adult collector angle to skirt the regulations that have prevented them from doing a gun Megatron?

Off the top of my head, aside from somehow working up a gun Megatron, I'd be down for for a better Powermaster Optimus/God Ginrai, Star Convoy, RiD 2001 Optimus/Fire Convoy, Energon Optimus/Grand Convoy, and... well, that might be it.  Can't really think of anything bigger than Commander that would require more than a Commander budget that I'd be interested.  Maybe another combiner, but even then, I think Studio Series Bayverse Devastator and Legacy Menasor have shown that you can absolutely do them as individual bots at retail with a Gen Selects box set later.  And I don't have the space for anything huge like Unicron.

I'd be totally down with supporting a CHUG scaled Megatron as a HasLab project if they felt that was their only avenue in which to produce him faithfully to G1. That said, I'm surprised that Takara-Tomy, unfettered by our restrictions on toy guns, haven't produced their own for the Asian market, which would be great for US fans, too. I was also thinking they might be looking to HasLab Devastator, although, as you said, they've already proven a combiner can be done at retail. However, if they want to go the serious partsformer route, like Toyworld and any number of other third parties, with large portions like the crotch and thighs being partsforming chunks, HasLab may be the better platform to really include everything the designers want to have in there. As bonuses, they could include the chip rectifier machine from S1 Ep 14 "Heavy Metal War", and Grapple's solar energy tower from S2 Ep 12 "The Master Builder". I was hoping they'd do the Constructicons as voyager class figs in the SS86 line, but given the heavy partsforming nature of Devastator, at least a few of those figs would have to be upscaled to leader or commander to fit all those parts in. It might just be easier to do the whole thing as a HasLab, where you get the whole team together in one package along w/ all the partsforming bits along with any fully-funded bonuses. Getting it funded is a no-brainer, considering Devy's popularity. And, it's apropos to the 40-year anniversary given that the Constructicons were introduced in S1 in the aforementioned Ep 14. Somehow, I thought they were introed much earlier in S1, but nope- third from the last ep.

Like everyone else, I'm curious. Given the anniversary, I really want it to be something from G1, preferably first season where it all began. Devastator just makes sense. Guess we'll see.

8 hours ago, Scyla said:

I still got a lot of enjoyment out of it. I have still vivid memories about some of the visor-less less, be it from old Lego catalogs (if I remember there was a period where visor-less and visor sets overlapped) or from seeing adds in older issues of comic books. 
I just would have preferred a different scope but I digress.

I agree that even if we document a lot with the help of the Internet, so much valuable information is lost, at least for special interest groups like us.

Maybe this is the reason why so many of us try to curate a personal collection because we know no one else will (I mean how many people in the world are interested in the history of Cliffjumper toys).

Visored and visor-less figs did overlap, especially in 1987 when the final wave of visorless sets released along with Futuron and Blacktron, and likely spent several years on the shelves together, as sets generally enjoyed a longer shelf life at that time. LEGO's yearly production was but a fraction then of what it is today, and sets remained available for longer periods. It's a point that long haunts me with regret as I didn't pick up nearly as many sets as I wish I had, especially in the 90s when I had enough disposable income as a young Airman to splurge on a nice set from time to time. I was pretty frugal back then, though, and let a lot of opportunities slip by to my eternal regret.

So far as collecting, different strokes; our own @mikeszekely, along with collecting Transformers toys across the board, specifically collects Optimus Prime figs. Some folks love the Seekers or different versions of Soundwave. Collecting runs the gamut, and the collectors have their reasons for collecting broadly, as I do, or specifically collecting this character or that. I have a preference for G1 Prowl, and I have a few versions of him in my collection, although I don't take it to the extreme that other collectors do. Regardless, it's a hobby and if it's harmless and brings joy to the collector, more power to them I say. At least those toys are loved. I have likely a couple thousand LEGO sets in my collection at this point across many themes stretching all the way back to those '79 Classic Space sets. I never had a Dark Age, as I collected continually, although minimally at times, since I was about 6 or 7 years old. I'm 52 now, and I'll never give up LEGO as a hobby. It's an intrinsic part of who I am, as is my love of transforming robots, and mecha in general. I'm just happy to be living in an era where both are very popular and abundantly available. As our interior space diminishes with each acquisition, however, my wife is less than enthused, and admittedly, it's becoming a point of frustration for me too. Alas, it's every collector's conundrum: running out of space.

3 hours ago, Scyla said:

@M'Kyuun I got my copy of the Lego Space book and while it contains a whole lot I'm not interested in and doesn’t contain everything I wanted (I really hope the author gives us a second volume) it is nice to have some documentation and clear images of my favorite Lego Space set: 6781 SP-Striker (maybe my favorite Lego set ever).

My childhood copy of the toy has seen better days and is currently in storage so it is nice to look at the lovely pictures: much nostalgia

I'm glad you got some small measure of enjoyment from the book. Having grown up with Classic Space from the beginning, its impact, and thus enjoyment, is far greater for me. The nostalgia factor is certainly a huge part of that, as my collection was rather small as a kid, and though I've managed to pick up a few sets over the years, there are still many I don't own and would eventually like to find, or re-find, to add to my collection. To have a consolidated collection of nice clear photos of all those sets along with background, of which I vehemently wish there was far more than what was provided, makes for a valuable resource and just an enjoyable perusable to have at hand. I very much wish more in-depth interviews, and just more interviews period, had been conducted with Jens Nygaard Knudsen while he was with us. We see so much stuff written about guys like Steve Jobs, but here's the guy who was absolutely central to LEGO's success from the 70s onward creating and influencing major themes, inventing parts, the minifig itself, and numerous innovations and improvements through the several decades he worked at LEGO. It's not hyperbole to say LEGO is the most successful toy company in the world today in no small part due to his contributions. And yet, there seems to be so little info about him, especially in his own words, and that frustrates and saddens me. I digress.

I complain, but honestly I'm glad this book exists. I hope it's received well enough to inspire a second volume covering the rest of the Space themes from '92 to the present City Space sets, which are leaning hard into that sense of exploration that so characterized the original '70s & 80s sets. If it happens, I'm down for a copy.

For whatever reason, I never saw Robotech (nor Voltron) on tv as a kid; almost certainly, the Macross Saga portion would have captivated me. I was TDY in England in the early 00s and the BX (Air Force's version of a convenience store) had the entire RT series to rent. I still hadn't seen the og SDF:M at this point, so I went in with tempered expectations having known all the vitriol it received from Macross fans. I managed to finish the Macross portion and got a couple eps into the Southern Cross portion, but SC was losing me with its lackluster mecha and story. Let's face it, Kawamori's VF-1 set a pretty high bar and SC seemed a serious downgrade despite its supposed existence in the future relative to the Macross portion. At that point, I quit, so I didn't see the majority of the SC portion or any of the Mospeada portion.

I ended up buying the ADV Macross Saga DVD set, so I've at least seen the og show as it was intended. The voice work, including Mari Iijima reprising her role as Miss Macross herself, Lynn Minmay, was decent. I've also seen Mospeada , which I enjoyed. While I'm sure Robotech would have had an incredible impact on me as a kid, I'm thankful that I didn't see it until later in life, and that I have seen the original shows, which IMHO, are superior to the edited versions that were cludged together to make RT. That is, except for Super Dimension Calvary Southern Cross, which I've not seen and honestly have no interest in seeing- the mecha designs are less than inspiring, and that erodes the appeal for me. Yeah, I'm a mecha snob.

Flame Toys' Arcee is a nice-looking kit, but it's inability to transform removes the very thing that gives the franchise its appeal to me. I won't be giving up my Azalea, who remains, IMHO, the best transforming Arcee figure in existence. If Hasbro ends up doing a better version of Arcee to make up for the terrible Earthrise fig and the just ok SS86 fig, I hope they take major design cues from Azalea. 

Sounds like Hasbro is tapping into their Gobots repertoire a bit. Shame they can't make a limited contract with Bandai to actually use the og designs. Takara have worked with Bandai in the past on Zoids and Gundam, so in the very limited context of recreating Gobots based on the Machine Robo toys, I wonder if they'd have an objection? I'd like to see that collaboration.

I was hoping the upcoming leader Soundwave would be a completely new mold, hopefully returning to the og micro-cassette scale of G1 with updated and improved cassettes, but disappointingly, I guess not. Netflix Soundwave is ok, but there's definitely room for improvement, and I was pinning my hopes on the rumored leader toy. Hopes dashed.