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M'Kyuun

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  1. M'Kyuun
    Roll out! It's official. Set 10302, 1508 pieces, fully transformable (no partsforming), releases 1 June 2022.
  2. M'Kyuun
    Agree- little too narrow and the eyes are too high- price of using a plate with the eyes printed on the side and a bracket below it, which has that little bit of offset that makes the eyes appear too high above the mask. I'm sure folks will mod it, but from a set perspective, there aren't many alternatives in such a small space. I see people complaining about the neck too, but I'd rather the head was on a ball joint than just a rotational joint. I can accept the gap. Not sure why they couldn't put knees on him, but I'm sure it'll be clear once reviews are cleared to be posted. The cat's out of the bag, so I don't know why LEGO doesn't just put the official pics up on their site/social media and clear all the reviewers. G1 Optimus was a good choice- not too complicated as far as transformation goes, and he presents well in both modes. I noticed that his gas tanks are turned 90 degrees in bot mode, and I wonder if that's some sort of locking mechanism for leg sliders. Again, wait and see. I'm saddened to think, however, that we'll never get a proper G1 Megatron to go with this, unless they just do him as a non-transforming model. That would suck, IMHO, but at least you'd have both leaders in scale for display. Most peeps are gonna keep Prime in bot mode anyway, so it's a good compromise. I'm excited for what this means going forward; are they going to do more like this, or maybe shrink them down to the size of the Speed Champions? I hope Prime isn't a one and done deal- I want a whole collection of brick-built Cybertronians to build, play, and display. Fingers crossed.
  3. M'Kyuun
    Catch-22 with that sort of proposal; On one hand, it was such an excellent game with an engaging wonderful sci-fi story and a very likeable protagonist. OTOH, the scope of the game was so broad, with so much stuff going on that to try and capture it in a film, even a 3-hour film, would boil it down to a rather thin essence of what the game offered in totality. IMHO, I think it would be better served either as a live action series, or an animated series, with at least two guaranteed seasons to tell the story while delving into some of the peripheral side stories, mostly those involving the more important NPC characters, as well as flashbacks to the old world and their actions that led to the current world of all these hostile machines everywhere. I'd love a series like that, but I don't think a film would do it justice.
  4. M'Kyuun
    The only positive I can say about Kingdom Arcee is that her bot proportions were better, especially in the hips. But, she didn't transform so much as hide under her car, so her bot mode was pretty much uncompromised. T30, and now her somewhat improved Doppelganger, SS86 Arcee at least have the distinction of actually transforming, although, TBF, SS86 is more shell-formery than T30 since her thighs will no longer form the rear fenders of her car mode. Hence my preference for T30. I like that her legs are part of the car mode. It reminds me of this art 😍: SS86 would have been greatly improved had they used MMC's technique of overlapping the aft half of the car bits with the front fenders to coalesce them into smaller pods that manage to look more accurate to her G1 toon appearance while greatly reducing the backpack volume. Not sure why Has/Tak didn't do it to make a more definitive Arcee (probably that old nemesis, Budget), but I would have gladly paid a voyager price for a deluxe Arcee fig done as close to perfect as absolutely possible. This is the time and the line to do it, so this is rather disappointing. Maybe a third or fourth party will come up with a new backpack set that does just that to drastically reduce its volume and improve her profile. every little bit helps. Sigh. I will echo your sentiment about Has/Tak's willingness to make improvements to earlier releases; I'm a fan of that move. In Arcee's case, they came close but stopped short of excellent by not shrinking the backpack. But I'm a fan of the additional articulation. TBF, though T30 didn't have all the hollow spots in the legs like SS86. It's the tradeoff these days for improved articulation, and I'm sure third parties will make fillers. I'm also hoping that we'll get new improved Vanette bros with completely new molds that better capture the Earth mode vans w/out all the crappy partsforming. Likewise, a new improved Astrotrain (also a completely new mold with far more attention given to the alt modes, i.e. a complete shuttle and a locomotive where all the wheels are in alignment) and a whole new set of Constructicons, hopefully in voyager scale, would be nice additions to the SS86 line. As to the new Bayverse figs, not much interest. Regarding Trailbreaker, I think TT did good with this fig, all things considered. If I didn't already have Terraegis, I wouldn't give getting him a second thought. But I do, and I like the design aesthetic MMC went for more than the totally-toon look of the MP. I never bought a MP Hoist {my MP collection mostly centers around first season characters and a few 86 Movie figs, w/ a few outliers: Delta Magnus in lieu of UM, and MMC's Ater Beta (Drift's former Decepticon alter-ego Deadlock)}, but if the eventual Hoist repaint/retool looks good to me, and the price remains around $160 or lower, I may go ahead and pick up a copy. Other than Skids, it's been a few years and several releases since my last official MP purchase. Just not a fan of the toon look or some of the convoluted engineering/compromises they've been employing to have a realistic vehicle turn into a toon-centric bot with low detail, as well as compromises like Hound's floating head. Terrible shame that Jeep insisted on keeping the hood intact. In my mind, having a MP level toy made of a company's vehicle is up there with Weird Al wanting to do a parody of your song- let them do what they will b/c it'll turn out better. Both are a badge of honor of sorts, at least to this old 80s nerd.
  5. M'Kyuun
    You're Takara's intended market. Hope Trailbreaker turns out great and he brings you joy. I'm not in the toon-accuracy camp, so the hybrid Skids MP and MMC's Terraegis represent what I want in a MP fig- more toy influence, especially in bot mode, along with as much detail as is possible crammed into both modes, as well as alt mode bits carried over into bot mode, b/c that makes mechanical sense. Clearer pic of SS86 Arcee just popped up on Twitter. Everything's new from just under her chest and down. Looks like they changed her backpack, too, not for the better. If anything, it's even chunkier than before. That's great with stew, but not with a G1 Arcee. Looks like they did away with the mechanism to spread her legs out for car mode. I wish they'd kept that and just let her thighs form the rear fenders. Not heartened at all by this, really. 🤕
  6. M'Kyuun
    Yep, that too. I prefer all the OG toy detail cross over to the MP figs, which is yet another reason why the toon-slavish direction doesn't really work for me.
  7. M'Kyuun
    I'll likely stick with my copy of Terraegis as well. The truck mode dominates the Takara with all that chrome finish and big rubber tires. I like the raised hood/engine detail feature of the Takara, but I like the ability to slim the torso in bot mode more. The legs on the Takara do look better, but I prefer the styling of Terraegis over the toony styling of the Takara. I like it when bits of the vehicle become parts of the bot mode; it makes sense mechanically, and visually reinforces the fact that this turns into that. In main line news, looks like SS86, which I think most fans were hoping would be a marked improvement over the lazy shellforming WfC figure, is going to be a retooled Thrilling 30 figure. Mixed feelings about that. I consider the T30 to be far, far superior to the abysmal WfC fig: she actually transforms, has decent presentation (giant backpack notwithstanding), and decent articulation, although she's missing the ankle tilts, waist and wrist swivels that are characterizing more and more of the Legacy/SS86 figs. That said, I was really hoping they'd start fresh with a completely new and improved mold that perhaps borrowed some ideas from MMC's Azalea so far as producing a fully articulated Arcee w/ minimal backpack whose chest forms the front of her car, thighs form the rear fenders, and shoulder pods form the front fenders. I really didn't want a retool of T30, but if they're not going to invest in creating a new improved fig and just rehash an old one, I'd rather it be the T30. NGL though, I'm disappointed. The other side of that coin is, many of us already own the T30, which we bought for less than what this rehash is going to sell for. Unless they made improvements all around to her articulation, I'm not feeling a need to buy her again. Too, from that pic, the backpack looks no better than the original; at the very least they could at least make an attempt to clean it up. I don't expect a G1 Arcee as clean as her toon model; you just can't squeeze that much plastic down to a couple tiny shoulder pods. But again, MMC did a great job minimalizing all that car body into reasonably sized pods, and it'd be great if Has/Tak took a cue or two from some of these third party designs where it was just simply done well. I'll also throw Dr. Wu's upcoming legends scale Arcee (Amie) in there as a an example of a G1 Arcee done well. If they can pull it off at this scale, why can't Has/Tak at deluxe? I wish Dr. Wu would upscale his design to deluxe- it'd be the better option for my CHUG collection.
  8. M'Kyuun
    I normally don't watch SNL, but if all their skits were written at this level, I'd be a lifetime fan. Such perfect ludicrousness w/ all the over-the-top reaction we see in regular films. This is high art. 😄 As to the Avatar sequel, I never saw the original in 3D either; I was deployed, and somebody brought a DVD of it for us to watch, so my first viewing was on a regular tv. I remember thinking it was an OK sci-fi film, certainly very pretty to look at, but not worth all the hype it had received. Still, I like it, and I'm not averse to revisiting Pandora in a new story.
  9. M'Kyuun
    I'll have to give that one a watch.
  10. M'Kyuun
    That's just gorgeous, and the articulation shames my NECA. If I was better at painting, I'd totally get this, but my crap skills would never do it justice. Really wish the NECA toy had been done this well. It's big, beautiful and presents well, but its articulation is pretty limited, especially the feet. So love the ED-209 design; def one of the all-time coolest robot designs in sci-fi.😍
  11. M'Kyuun
    The usual Cronenberg weirdness.
  12. M'Kyuun
    If you end up just brick building the canopy, it can be forgiven in this instance, barring any official part that works. Regarding the gear, here's how Bandai did it for their Chogokin model; the mains pivot up into the wings, which are relatively thick close to the fuselage. The blue seems darker than the medium blue that LEGO used- closer to standard blue. Comparing them like this, they look like two completely different ships with similar configurations. Again, I imagine that LEGO worked from very early drafts, and over time the design changed a fair bit to what we see in the film. It's still a pretty striking looking ship, but I'd love to have a more accurate version too.
  13. M'Kyuun
    Ah yeah, the lovely Jagd Mirage. 😍 Intersting vid, for sure. I never knew there were so many mecha larger than the Earth. I noticed the discrepancies with the VF-1 and Voltron, too. They were all over the place with accuracy. I was waiting for either the Monster or the Konig Monster in battroid to make an appearance, but sadly no. The scales of some of those things were a bit surprising- they always seem larger in whatever animation they appear. Regardless, that was a fun watch. Thanks!
  14. M'Kyuun
    Wow, man, you're going full-on UCS scale! Your shaping looks good. That mild slope for the intake is a tough capture, esp at the minifig scale, but building larger definitely gives itself over to more options. Your intakes and exhaust are both well done. And yeah, using plates for the fuselage thins down the skin appropriately and allows for more subtle shaping. Tiles would be even better, but unfortunately, LEGO doesn't make many wedge tiles, so you still end up with a lot of studs. I'm guessing you're going to use the UCS A-Wing canopy for this? Seems like the closest thing in terms of shape and size. Whatever you choose, every success! Hoping you'll eventually build it for real and share lots of pics. 😄 So, on the topic of the XL-15, I finally scored a copy yesterday, and built it posthaste. It is indeed a lovely model, and tho I know it's inaccurate, it's still quite lovely. I suppose one could think of it as the first draft before the final design- kinda like the YF-22 before it became the F-22, with all the changes thereof. Honestly, I think I like LEGO's engines over the actual- they're more visually interesting with those differentials, and from the rear, actually look more accurate to the business end of a jet engine. The canopy is the wrong shape, but far be it from me to bad-mouth a new trans-yellow Classic Space-styled canopy. Angus MacLane just made a whole lot of CS fans very happy, including himself. I have another copy of this beauty ordered from LEGO along with all my May 4th stuff, so I'm hoping I'll get up the motivation to try and rework it so as to more accurately represent what the film model looks like. Should prove to be an interesting challenge, especially those intakes. The canted wing solution is simple but brilliant. I'm always amazed at some of the angles possible. Anytime I try something like that, stuff never seems to align. LEGO actually has mathematical alignment specialists who look at designers' models and determine whether or not the angles are legal or putting undue stress on parts, and just to help with alignments in general. Quite the gig if you're really good at geometry and trig with a hands-on love of physical models. I'm not that guy- the math part anyway. Anyway, this set only reaffirms my hope that the rest of the Lightyear ships will eventually end up as sets. Some beautiful designs there, and the best part, they're not friggin' Star Wars.
  15. M'Kyuun
    I was all agog at the LEGO model initially, especially for the sublime shaping, but then I saw the Chogokin which proved all sorts of inaccuracies in the LEGO model. The engines are a cool enigma; not at all accurate to source, but very interesting for the parts usage. The exhaust is in fact a 4-gear differential, which allows for more torque using the existing small beveled gears. Don't get me wrong, I still like the LEGO model, but honestly, I think the film model looks better, and I'm probably going to keep a stock version, and mod the other set to more closely resemble the film model. I'll probably get a third set down the road for parts. It's one of those rare sets where you really can't have enough multiples. As to the inaccuracies, we've seen the same thing among Star Wars ships over the years, and I wonder if the source material LEGO was given early on (they design sets about 1.5 to 2 years ahead of release) was closer to what we got here and the film design underwent changes that the LEGO designers weren't privy to. Anyway, it's such a lovely design, and I hope they eventually do a UCS set that more accurately captures all those great shapes. I also hope there are more System releases of the other ships from Lightyear- some sweet designs as indicated by Mattel's Action Fleet toys.
  16. M'Kyuun
    I was surprised to see this at Wally a couple weeks ago. Not sure how they worked out the licensing, but it was one of those "weird Macross" moments.
  17. M'Kyuun
    I ordered a copy of the XL-15 today along with enough SW stuff to get the Lars kitchen. Initially, I wasn't going to get any SW stuff, but how many more chances will we have to own an Aunt Beru minifig? So I grabbed the Dagobah and Trench Run dioramas and the Dark Trooper Helmet. I was hoping the Mando's N-1 was available, but not yet. Anyway, yesterday I went looking for the XL-15 at a local Target and Wally, to no avail. I managed to find the Zurg set, but that was the only Lightyear set I've seen after looking at three Wallies and a Target since Friday. Lightyear stuff is scarce in these parts. Anyway, I'll likely end up getting another copy, perhaps to mod, or to harvest. I would like to mod it to look more screen accurate, though. I didn't look that hard at some of the other sets you mentioned. I noticed the Crystal King- big centaur-like mech or creature- what's not to like? I did notice they're using the new non-posable leg bits that were developed for the 4+ mech sets as the Crystal King's knees. I vehemently wish they'd made that thing ratchet; it could've been so useful. I don't know why or where LEGO gets the idea that little kids don't like articulation in their toys; I always did. Anyway, the newest spate of Ninjago has some downright impressive looking mechs and vehicle; it stands out as a particularly interesting wave of sets with complex mecha (with knees!) and visually arresting vehicle designs. Not since the stellar Ninjago Movie sets have so many sets in a single wave grabbed my attention. Monkie Kid is pushing boundaries, too. If I didn't know this was an official set, I'd swear it was an elaborate MOC. Downright impressive. And then there's this gem: Admittedly, I have a huge soft spot for Iron Man and his many Armors, so sets like this really appeal. Love that the car is included, and the inclusion of Whiplash is pretty cool. Still waiting for them to reveal Optimus Prime. I have a lot of enthusiasm already built up for it, so I hope it doesn't suck. LEGO and Transformers is THE toy crossover that I've been wishing for since 1984, and I desperately want it to be worth the wait.
  18. M'Kyuun
    Some new summer sets were revealed today, and this one particularly caught my eye. Long time Ninjago fans will immediately recognize that this is a complete departure from the original design. I suspect LEGO Designer Sam Johnson, a huge Gurren Lagann fan, is behind this; he's the designer for Ideas Voltron and this guy from last year's Ninjago releases. There's definitely a similar design language, and both designs feature knees, an extreme rarity among LEGO's larger mecha sets. I hope the same designer was involved in the upcoming, and yet to be revealed, Optimus Prime set. For us space fans, this is coming: There are two additional Missions sets that appear to require one to build along with a story via an app. Not so sure I'm down with sets sans instructions. I don't own a cell phone or a tablet, so trying to build this set will prove a bit challenging. I guess it's a cool way to combine the digital with tactile play, but for a semi-Luddite such as myself, it's not the best. Good thing my wife bought a small laptop- I think it'll come in handy for stuff like this. And just for giggles, because I love LEGO's sense of humor, this is coming: I don't collect Stuntz, but new innovations are always cool, and to that end, this is coming out later this year as well: They're moving right in to Hot Wheels territory with stuff like this, and for all its playability and MOCing potential, I think its cool. Not my cuppa, per se, but lots of fun. Those large trans orange bits are gonna make these expensive, though. That's a lot of plastic in large essentially single-use pieces.
  19. M'Kyuun
    I could have lived with that. Just pop on the Seeker head to complete the look. The VF-1 has aged most graciously. Surprised Kawamori didn't take a similar tack when designing the F-15 Seeker mold for Takara; it's quite different from all his valks, none of which require partsforming and generally present a much cleaner and realistic fighter mode. I wish they'd consulted him for all their fighter aircraft TFs over the years, as Takara only cares if the plane looks good from a top view.
  20. M'Kyuun
    The only good Scourge figure ever released, IMHO. He actually has a realistic alt mode, inspired by Boeing's beautiful X-48 UAV, and as such, it's one of the best aircraft alt modes Has/Tak has ever done for its believability and lack of kibble. While it certainly takes some liberties with bot mode, ultimately, I think they hued pretty close his original look. I love this figure. As a bonus, his weapons all tuck away neatly inside his wings, his plane mode has retractable gear, and his articulation is on par with Legacy, i.e. ankle tilts, waist swivel, and rotating wrists as well as the standard articulation we've been getting for years. I vehemently wish this had been G1 Scourge's original design, but I'm so incredibly happy we got this fig as an alternative. This represents everything that Transformers should be- believable alt mode, integrated weapons storage, excellent articulation, some functionality in alt mode where apropos, integrated transformation where the bot's bits become the vehicle (as opposed to shellforming or wearing the alt mode as a backpack). It's an example par excellence of how every TF with an aircraft alt mode should be designed, without exception, ad infinitum. (Thinking especially of all the egregiously terrible Silverbolts out there who essentially become a giant box with a plane attached to the top, and a bot with a plane on his back instead of integrating the two properly. I know it's faithful to the toon, but the tech and know-how exist to do it better, and we as fans should expect better. I do).
  21. M'Kyuun
    I never thought that hard about it. But now that you point it out, perhaps, being an island continent, Australia was besieged by a far greater plague of kaiju all along its shores necessitating greater Jaeger production numbers. I'm just spitballing, but that could be a hypothetical reason. At any rate, I was more interested in the Sisters subplot and how that ended up resolving. It was a bittersweet ending for Mei, Taylor, and Hayley.
  22. M'Kyuun
    On the space issue, I feel ya: Never enough, and they keep making more stuff. I keep putting up more shelves, but there's only so much wall space. I didn't care for the cartoon after the movie. I hated how they personified Galvatron, and after Leonard Nimoy's gravelly delivery in the film, I didn't care for Frank Welker's higher pitched crazy-voice for the character. It felt way off base. I also didn't like Hot Rod's mopey "I'm not good enough" attitude after his brash self-confident depiction in the film. As such, I only caught an ep here or there, but I just found the thing unwatchable. So, as you said, the personalities of Scourge and the Sweeps for me began and ended with the Movie, which means little to no character for either. Couple that with a crappy alt mode for Scourge, and my interest in the character dissipated. Contrarily, I love the Insecticons; I loved their introduction in First Season ( First Season is the holiest of holy scripture for me concerning Transformers- I love it, and it colors my take on TFs almost completely where G1 is concerned. After First Season, the writing took a downhill slide into whimsy and silliness and lost the more mature tone of S1, all in the name of selling toys and hitting syndication). In that vein, there was a lot of the same stuff in the Movie that I wasn't crazy about, but you know, it's still a fun watch.
  23. M'Kyuun
    Different strokes. I watched S2 last week and enjoyed it. I'm glad they wrapped it up though in the very likely case there's no third season.
  24. M'Kyuun
    Given the option, I would have also preferred the toy deco; it's just more visually interesting, with or without the stickers. I usually don't double dip unless I like the mold or they do something interesting with a repaint/retool. In this case, I think Cyclonus is one of the best molds they've ever produced, and certainly the best Cyclonus figure they've ever produced. I always loved G1 Cyclonus' jet mode- it sings to my soul; the G1 toy's bot mode, not so much. To that end, I have no issues with the toon-styled design for both his bot and jet modes, but seeing the old G1 deco on him evokes that nostalgia. I'm down with having both toon and toy decos. It's just an excellent figure. As for the Sweep, I never cared much for Scourge's weird flying-bar-of-soap-evocative hovercraft alt mode. I wonder that they couldn't have come up with something better. I got Scourge, but I just don't feel the need to have the Sweep repaint. It's not that Scourge didn't turn out well; he did. But that god-awful alt mode just turns me off.
  25. M'Kyuun
    Site's working fine for me, and has been. I type "LEGO" in the website bar and the site pops up immediately without issue. Navigation is just as smooth.
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