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M'Kyuun

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  1. M'Kyuun
    I'll add to that and say IMHO, Magic Square generally has the more toon accurate sculpts. Their Megatron is the best example- just a gorgeous little figure. Incidentally, I have both NA's and MS' Megatrons standing side by side on my desk, so the differences are readily apparent. That doesn't mean they're perfect: comparing their recent takes on Cliffjumper and Bumblebee, both took different approaches, and personally, I think New Age did a far better job of capturing the Choro-Q appearance of the G1 toys in their car modes, while managing a decent take on the toonish bot modes. Magic Square's car modes look off a bit, but it's enough to sway me towards the New Age if I indeed order any. The New Age bot modes' chest sculpts are broken up, as they're apparently part of the transformation, and I've seen a number of complaints against that, The MS figs' chests are solid, so they look better from that POV. Of course it's all subjective, and I'm glad they took different approaches- more options are better. I also personally thought NA did a better job overall with their Seekers. Speaking of legends figs we'd like to have upscaled- those little Seeker figs so outclass the crappy Earthrise figs that I wish someone would do upscaled KOs of them to fit CHUG scale. I wouldn't say end of the world. If I gave the impression that I was upset in my earlier post, then I gave a mistaken impression, and I tender my sincere apology. On the contrary, I'm glad @Convectuoso showcased New Age's Harry in a couple of posts- I love the fig, and it's nice to share someone else's joy. I also think @tekering had a valid point when he pointed out the lack of identification of the fig in Convectuoso's post, which he has since fixed. So it's a positive all the way around. I think a lot of us, when we post something, get lost in the excitement and forget that not everyone here follows all things Transformers all the time. I completely understand it and I'm sure I'm guilty of it somewhere along the line. That said, I don't think it's offensive or asking too much of each other to identify what we're posting so that others , if said post captures their interest, can more easily do their own research. It's a courtesy, and one I try to adhere to and encourage others to as well. @technoblue I hope you get some restful sleep, Sir.
  2. M'Kyuun
    I recognized 'Harry' b/c I have him, but yeah, I hate it when folks post pics of stuff without clarification. FWIW, I concur wholeheartedly with Convectuoso's assessment: he's a great little fig, and as a huge fan of Prowl's design, a very satisfying figure for its size. Thus far, aside from IGear's Huffer and Cosmos, I've only bought a handful of legends figs from Magic Square and New Age, although I PO'd a few upcoming Iron Factory figs, so I'll be broadening my collection with those later this year. As for reviewers, Kuma's a good source, as he's pretty deep into Iron Factory, and he collects other legends as well. Scale does seem to be all over the place from company to company, which makes mixing and matching a PITA. Since my collection is so small, I don't really care, but for someone who's heavily invested in a legends collection, it's a nuisance. I'm primarily a CHUG collector, and I personally wish that either A) a third party would take the risk and make CHUG scale stuff, or B) upscale some of these legends figs to CHUG scale, whatever class that may entail. It'd be great to have another option when something like ER Astrotrain comes along and there's a legends fig out there that's better. Too, G1 Megatron, as we'll never again see a Megatron toy that turns into a gun in the US, and third party could provide that. I think there's definitely a market for upscaled figs, but I think fear of litigation or police raids are keeping most of these companies in their legends or MP scaled comfort zones, with no-one even attempting to infringe on Hasbro's main line. Sad for us, the collectors.
  3. M'Kyuun
    It would be satisfying, wouldn't it? But yeah, at this point, it's the first positive step in decades towards getting Macross availability here in the West beyond Robotech, so it's a victory. Like everyone here, I hope BW, Bandai, and Arcadia take advantage of the situation to expand the property in the West beyond its rather niche existing market. With Transformers still riding a wave of popularity and little in the way of competition, it'd be nice to see Macross become as well known as Naruto or Pokemon. I doubt that'll happen, but it would be great to see it become much wider known and liked by a wider audience, fueling the desire for toys and models. We can only hope.
  4. M'Kyuun
    I finished bag 13 tonight, just prior to assembling the cargo bay doors. I intend to apply the dreaded stickers, and I'd rather put those on when I'm rested and have good daylight. So far, it's been a fun build. I built the Hubble, and parts of that were reminiscent of some of the techniques used on the Saturn V. It looks nice with all that silver cladding. Those slopes are going to be worth a fortune on Bricklink. Overall, I don't mind the functional features, although I'll echo the observation that the elevon mounts (I haven't built the actual surfaces yet) if leveled out, are both slightly raised, as if giving a nose pitch upward command. I imagine the weight of the surfaces will help bring them closer to level, but I doubt they'll be perfectly level due to the use of the steering control rods used to effect the motion. It's a concession, and one I understand due to the confined space in which the designer, Milan, had to work. I'm actually impressed that he incorporated a functional speedbrake, as just making the rudder work would have been simpler to pull off. The slider for the gear is a pretty neat idea. It seems to work smoothly on mine, but then again, mine's only about half built at this time, and building up the nose may add some stressors that cause it to stick as well. We'll see tomorrow. So far, I'm happy with the model as-is, but I can totally get behind making mods to correct those things that are inaccurate or just bug you. More power to you if you can make a more satisfying model. It's certainly part of the charm and challenge of working with LEGO.
  5. M'Kyuun
    That's what I got out of it, too. Instead of eradicating Harmony Gold from the Macross landscape, Big West made concessions to them, which gives them ownership still of SDFM in the western hemisphere. It's not the landmark sweeping victory I was hoping for. I want to see Harmony Gold's influence on the franchise utterly wiped out; it's the least they deserve for their shady shenanigans over the last few decades. I am happy at the prospect of all the other Macross series, and hopefully toys (re-releases or otherwise) making it to American shores without interference or legal challenges. With the possibility of a new YF-21 in development at Bandai, the prospect of it's availability here without resorting to the usual midnight madness is somewhat comforting, albeit cautiously so. But overall, this is good news, certainly news I never really ever expected to see, so there's a measure of positivity to be had. I'll be far more enthused when I start seeing the various Macross series on Blu-Ray at my local store, and valk toys and models showing up at B&N, Comic stores, and all the American e-tailers. The day I come home from a store with a new valk is the day I'll know the nightmare is finally over.
  6. M'Kyuun
    Very good figs, both. If you forgot the pancakes and milk, you should be forgiven. I wish the entirety of the line was done at least as well as these two figs. So today's Pulse event, which was essentially a little primer for Premium members before tomorrow's main event was mostly geared towards Marvel fans. They showed off the Haslab Sentinel, which looks pretty cool. If I was a Marvel collector, especially X-Men, I'd be down for one. They had Taboo from Black-Eyed Peas as a special guest. Not only is he a bonified toy collector and geek, but he's been writing for a few titles at Marvel, and he talked about how much toys and pop culture had influenced his life and his art. Wrapping up the event was a quick concert by the Cybertronic Spree.Gotta admit, I was grinning ear to ear through the whole set. I hope we get more tomorrow. There really wasn't much branching from Marvel today. Tomorrow, all the brands will be covered, and I hope they talk about the development of The Ark, as I'm curious about the decisions, good and bad, behind it. Hopefully they'll do some reveals as well. I'm hoping for Slag, personally, and any other Dinobots they choose to grace us with under the current Kingdom and SS86 lines.
  7. M'Kyuun
    Shipping's a funny thing. For example, I'm expecting a package from Pulse that shipped just this past Saturday, originally scheduled to be here tomorrow, but bumped out to Monday. I ordered the new Discovery Space Shuttle LEGO set on Sunday, and it's showing out for delivery today. Both are coming by FedEX. The TFs are coming from PA, and the LEGO set shipped from IL, so although the LEGO set originated a little closer to WA state, it's not such a great distance that one would expect four additional days of travel for the TFs be required. FYI, according to tracking, the TFs in question are currently in Oregon, so they may still show up tomorrow or Saturday. Anyway, I'm sorry to hear that you specifically paid extra to get it there quicker, only to have to wait anyway. It shouldn't happen, but it does. I wonder if anyone here has stuff potentially on the Ever Given, which was infamously stuck in the Suez for about a week. Talk about an unscheduled delay. Edit: Pulse premium event is about to start
  8. M'Kyuun
    It's a shame that Hasbro has strong-armed the reigns of Transformers from Takara; if Takara was still allowed to do their own versions of these toys, their version of the Ark would likely have been far better. I prefer the Japanese design philosophy of designing the best toy possible, and then assigning a value, rather than working backwards from a fixed budget and settling with whatever's been cobbled together. I was so looking forward to this guy; he was going to be my first titan class toy, but the more I see that Ark mode, the more put off of it I am. Guess that's $150 saved, but honestly, the disappointment hurts more than the expenditure. Commenting on Ractonite, there's a part of me that wants to love these things; dinosaurs are cool, and a transforming dinosaur skeleton should hit that sweet spot, but for some reason, these just aren't doing anything for me. I will say that both Ractonite and Paleotrex look good in their dino skeleton modes, and I appreciate the amount of articulation they have. The bot modes, however, just aren't very good. Admittedly, turning the skeleton of anything into a robot is a pretty tall order, as there's not really a lot to work with, so I guess they did the best they could. I'm not at all a fan of yanking them apart and using their bits to forge weapons and such- it's too much of a contrast to see a 'high tech' robot bearing what looks like stone aged weapons. Not even a svelte bot like Huffer can make it look good. If Hasbro wants to do dinosaurs, there are four more Dinobots begging for updates to stand alongside Grimlock, and I think I speak on behalf of the majority of TF fans when I say that's what we really want. @mikeszekely If you've got your Huffer review ready to go, go ahead and post it, man. I'm not due to have my copy til Monday. If I see the review posted, I'll just skip over it until I have mine. I deeply appreciate the courtesy, but don't hold back on my account. The world needs more Huffer.
  9. M'Kyuun
    Concerning the Ark, the problem with the gaping holes could have been addressed with a couple hinged clamshell panels, but as it is, even with a third party add-on, the shaping is going to be difficult to capture accurately. I think I'd rather prefer entirely new legs that offer the fifth engine and proper sides that match the original design, which would be a costly add-on. Looking at it anew today, I just have to wonder incredulously how the designers looked at this and called it good as a final product.
  10. M'Kyuun
    I'm on the fence for the Ark. I like the bot mode a lot, but since the Ark is the star of the show, if you will, I'm pretty disappointed with the lazy and inaccurate design, not to mention the big gaping holes on either side. Guess my question about whether or not it has the center exhaust bell got answered. I suppose I should have known better than to raise my expectations. I am digging Kingdom BW Scorponok, though, and thus far, he's my only guaranteed buy for now, unless they throw MP Skids in there, too. Even with that we're getting boned, as the Diaclone colored version comes with more accessories for the same price. Why couldn't they put the same stuff in both? grrrr Anyway, Hasbro's sending out emails for folks to reserve a 'spot at the party' for tomorrow's pre-Fest event on Pulse. I don't recall their doing that for PulseCon, and this sounds like it's going to be a similar event. Anyway, just thought I'd tell folks planning to get in on it to check their email so they can confirm their reservations.
  11. M'Kyuun
    FWIW, I'm gonna attempt the stickers on this one, as I usually do on these more 'deluxe' sets. As I said above, I'm not at all looking forward to placing those chrome stickers in the doors- what a PITA. I wish they'd just print all the requisite parts in these larger specialty sets. That's one feather I'll give Mega Bloks- they print everything, and it makes the building experience so much smoother and enjoyable. Once you've made your mods, you'll have to share some pics, man. I know that you know your way around the brick, so it'll be interesting to see the fruits of your tweaking.
  12. M'Kyuun
    The aft section is most definitely supposed to share the same tapered appearance as the front of the ship. I wonder if there are going to be a couple partsforming bits to replicate that shape to cover the knee holes? They didn't quite execute the recessed sections in the middle very well either. I wonder what they did with the fifth center engine bell? It's a shame when the official toy has so many instantly recognizable flaws, and you're thinking in the back of your mind if (insert third party of choice) had done this, it'd be far more accurate. It's especially gulling when they can tailor the bot mode however they need to to ensure that the Ark mode is nigh on perfect. Gah!
  13. M'Kyuun
    Interesting, but not in the most propitious manner for the customer. At the very least, if they can't simply get you a replacement wheel, they could give you a complete Inferno (I'd even request they open the box to make sure), even if it means waiting for new stock. Personally, I'd rather wait and have the toy I want than, as you said, possibly end up with a copy of a fig I already have. Kinda defeats the point of collecting/trying to assemble the full roster of characters. I guess you can't expect everyone at Hasbro to be toy nerds; I appreciate that the designers seem to be in touch with the franchise and the collecting mindset, but it's probably not a requisite for customer support. Anyway, at least you get to do a return, and hopefully a store near you has it, or you can try and score a copy through Pulse, or one of the e-tailers. To their credit, Pulse does seem to restock, although you have to keep an eye on it for when they do. So, usually I complain about the lack of TF toys in my area, specifically Walmart, but yesterday after I got my first Covid shot, I decided to pay a visit to the nearby Wally (where I used to work, as it happens), and I was pleasantly surprised to find the retro-HeadMasters (Skullcruncher, Highbrow, & Weirdwolf), as well as the ER Prime three pack, and, IIRC, a few of the SS86 figs. Since I already have all the TR Headmaster deluxes, I passed, although I was tempted to get another Weirdwolf since mine cracked a little at the hinge behind his wolf head. Anyway, today, I went to the usually stark and depressingly empty TF aisle of my local Wally to find the newest batch of Netflix recolored deluxes hanging on the pegs, as well as two ER Arcees. they also had three copies of Deep Cover sitting on the overstock shelf, for some odd reason, as there was an a completely empty peg for Gen deluxes. I put the copy of DC that I took down on a peg, so hopefully some kid walks away happy. My copy's in the mail so I left all three. Anyway, I didn't bother picking up any of the Netflix figs, although I was tempted to get the rusty Cybertronian Datsun fig, simply b/c I like the mold and he's another variant. But I didn't didn't grab any of them. My shelves are overcrowded as it is, with still more Kingdom figs coming, so I'm trying to be a little choosier. Anyway, just wanted to let folks know in case they were looking for one of these. Not bad; I like it, and will probably get it. But for Primus' sake, why the hell can't they figure out a way to put some covers over those huge gaping holes where the knees are visible? Jeez. The Teletraan I bot is cool. Hopefully he can fit in the Ark's chest/flightdeck. The tummy section reminds me of the Iron Giant; I like it. I'm liking that Ark bot mode, but part of me still wants this:
  14. M'Kyuun
    Those pegs were longer and tighter on Grapple, which caused stress breakage for any number of folks. Hasbro listened and made those pegs shorter and not as tight fitting on Inferno. I noticed it immediately when I transformed mine for the first time. Kudos to Hasbro/Takara for making the change. The silver headbox wings bug me more than any of the other silver stuff. They and the side hoses should have been traditionally white, and yeah, the stabilizers should have been silver, and functional- c'mon Hasbro, is it too much to ask to put a little slider mechanism in there for realism? Nitpicks aside, Grapple/Inferno is one of the better molds in the line, and I'm glad they turned out as well as they did. Also agree with the lost opportunity of not putting a 5mm peg hole at the end of Inferno's ladder for his arm spout accessory. As is, there's no where to store the thing in his truck mode that doesn't look stupid, so I just stick it in the hollow areas of his heels in truck mode. Not the best, but at least it stays with the vehicle, and it's one time when I'm glad for a hollow area. @Negotiator Aw, that sucks man. Hopefully, Hasbro will come through for ya. Keep us updated, as I've not had any major missing bits like that except a missing prop on TR Seaspray that I just wrote off, so I've never had need of their service. But I'm curious to see how they respond.
  15. M'Kyuun
    I read the comment before scrolling down to the pic, opining to myself that I didn't think it was that bad. Then I scrolled. I will say in advance that I'm not looking forward to those 'terrible' stickers in the cargo bay. I am, however, curious to see the new cargo bay door parts. My delivery date bumped out a day, so now it's due Friday instead of tomorrow. Ah well, something to look forward to regardless.
  16. M'Kyuun
    Good review, Mike, but nope, not my Magnus. Way too many concessions, and in truth, it's ugly and non-functional in truck mode. To my mind, they simply retooled a flawed toy, and many of those flaws carried over. I remain hopeful for a Magnus utilizing a white ER Prime as the core, with hopefully a well designed trailer that can rotate independently of the cab and be utilized as a proper car carrier. That would be excellent, and with any luck the Hasbro designers can convince the bean counters.
  17. M'Kyuun
    Mine's due to arrive on Thursday. Looking forward to it.
  18. M'Kyuun
    Yep, I think so, too. Upscaled to voyager, I think they would have been able to fix some of his issues. I like my TR Galvatron, though, although I have the same complaints as every one else. But it was nice to have an official Galvatron that turns into his space cannon, and considering that they were under a design constraint to develop him as a triple changer, as @mikeszekely mentioned above in his review, I don't think he turned out half bad. I have the original toy, so comparing that to the animation model, and then doing the same with TR, the TR comes much closer to what we saw on screen, even with all his compromises. I don't even mind his weird jet mode. Thus far, from the various pics we've seen of the upcoming Galvatron fig, I'm not really sold on the proportions. As Mike observed, he looks like he has the upper body of one figure, and the the lower body of a smaller figure, and the whole looks unbalanced. I'm also not really caring for his cannon mode, so that's knocks on both modes that are putting me off to it. He's definitely one that I'll wait to see some reviews before buying. Other than the crappy headmaster gimmick and mask, TR Galvatron appeals to me more across the board than this new fig. I PO'd Deep Cover as well, and though I didn't receive a separate shipping notice, a quick check on Pulse shows that he's packed with Huffer and Airazor, whose tracking has bumped out from this Friday to next Monday. Not sure why it's taking so much time, but the package still may show up this week. Wouldn't be the first time FedEx's tracking was off. Anyway, it'll be a trifecta of goodness when it finally arrives.
  19. M'Kyuun
    Ah, ok. I thought perhaps you guys were getting them from some external source that I wasn't aware of, like from a LEGO Store. I've seen those vouchers on the VIP site, but I have yet to use them. I have a ton of VIP points, as I rarely ever use them, but keep building them up. I guess I'm waiting for that one potential humongous set that's upwards of a grand that I can't do without (A UCS AT-AT, perchance). Lacking room in a seemingly ever shrinking house, I've been slowing way down on large LEGO purchases. The last big one I bought was the new Ninjago City, as I wanted a companion for the Ninjago Movie Ninjago City, each of which is one of the most brilliant and fun sets I've ever built, and they look absolutely amazing. I wish they'd do a Space themed set like that, with assorted modules, repair bays, landing strips, mecha suits, little ships....oh what potential bliss it could be!
  20. M'Kyuun
    I thought for sure you had your copy of Airazor; sorry to hear you've been having trouble finding her. Mine should be shipping from Pulse any day- just waiting for the email. I expect I'll have her in hand by next weekend if she ships within the next two days. Well, her and Huffer. Anyway, I found some pics on the net for comparison. I canceled my Magnus order- the combined bot mode looks good, but the core cab bot is so-so, and I don't like the truck mode at all. I suspect at some point the folks at Hasbro who wanted to make ER Prime the core will push the idea into fruition. I hope so, even if they have to do the Rodimus approach and make him a commander class. Swung by my local Wally today, and all they had for Transformers were a handful of Cyberverse Bumblebees. No Generations figs at all, as usual. In this collector's eyes, Pulse is one of the best things Hasbro has done in recent years. In lieu of heartfelt thanks, I send them money. It all works out in the end.
  21. M'Kyuun
    I'm kidding, Mike. If you have your review ready to go, go ahead and post it. I can just skip over it until I've got my copy in hand. But I am curious to hear your thoughts on it. This is BW Airazor: Comparing with pics of the Kingdom version, the feather detail is more heavily sculpted and realistic overall, but the transformation is very similar, except instead of concealing her robot head inside the falcon head (which makes sense, really), her bot head now tucks into her abdomen. The bot mode captures the look of her toon likeness much more accurately, down to the arm rockets she wielded. Unfortunately, Hasbro made no attempt whatsoever to hide them in beast mode, and the result is a falcon with JATO rockets. All things considered, I think she's a good update, and having never owned the original, I'm looking forward to this new incarnation. Kingdom Airazor pics sourced from The Allspark
  22. M'Kyuun
    The freebies in question were the Easter Bunny's Carrot House and the Space Rocket Ride I wasn't even aware of the latter set, but I'll gladly take it. It appears to have a kinetic action feature, so that's cool. Where in the world do you guys get vouchers for LEGO? I've been collecting for over forty years, have bought untold thousands of dollars of LEGO, have been part of the VIP program from inception, and I can't recall having ever had a coupon, voucher, or otherwise. I'm curious how you come about them. Oh, and congrats to those among us who managed to get the set. Honestly, I'd rather get my set early for the freebies, as the set itself will become more widely available in a month or so after the initial fervor dies down. I wish said freebies had more to do with the main set, like the smaller '89 Batmobile that came with the large set, but free is free, and I'll happily take what they offer. It's disappointing that the rumored tie-in VIP set didn't materialize- they'll end up putting it for a brief period at like 3 AM and naught but the scalpers will get it.
  23. M'Kyuun
    Man, don't spoil Huffer for me. I've been waiting 37 years for Hasbro to make a proper G1 Huffer in the mainline, and from pics I've seen, it looks pretty darn good. There are reviews up already by the usual suspects, and I've been avoiding them assiduously, as I want to enjoy this fig with fresh eyes. I'm not even sure what it is I like so much about his design, b/c his personality wasn't the greatest, but I've liked it since the old G1 days, and I'm happy that they upscaled him to a small deluxe size, and that he can pull ER Prime's trailer. I keep hoping that all the G1 minibots will eventually get the same treatment, regardless of branding. I've seen a vid review or two of Airazor, and my impression is that they did a really good job on her. The original toy was pretty decent, especially for the time, and the Kingdom toy is a lovely update. It's definitely better than Dinobot, who turned out to be rather disappointing after owning Kingdom Megatron. It didn't help that my copy had a bum ankle with zero friction- just flopped about freely right outta the box. A dab of Gorilla glue made it better- still not as tight as I'd like, but at least it'll bear weight in a pose. I like the solutions they came up with for his transformation, but his Raptor mode suffers from obvious bot bits, Palmolive hands (80s kids know what I'm referring to), odd proportions, and lack of hip articulation. The dino mouth on my copy doesn't seem to want to open as far as what I've seen in online pics, so I'm not sure if that's operator error on my part, or just the way my copy was put together. Anyway, of the Kingdom BW figs, I think his is the worst beast mode thus far for all the compromises. I was really hoping they'd knock this one out of the park- sadly, no.
  24. M'Kyuun
    Well, I managed to score a copy of the Shuttle Discovery set, and two freebies. The site is slow, and it took a number of refreshes to finally get it. And, yeah, whatever tie-in set they have planned for VIP isn't showing up yet. I hope they do eventually get it, and that it's not another extremely limited set like the Batpod. LEGO's not dumb, although I think they like to play dumb when they say they underestimate the popularity of certain sets on launch day. Any sort of space homage is going to sell well especially larger scale sets like this that commemorate historical events, and certainly so for the Shuttle, which leaves behind an extraordinary legacy in man's journey to explore, study, and utilize space. All space tech is cool, but there's a beauty and romanticism about the Shuttle that resonates and captures the imagination beyond the appeal of rockets and capsules, at least to me.
  25. M'Kyuun
    Pulse has been pretty timely about getting figs out. I've received any number of emails from them saying that stock came in early and my stuff was shipping. I got Inferno the week before last, and Dinobot came last week. This morning, I got emails saying Kingdom Huffer and Airazor shipped, so I'll likely have them in hand early next week. As for the Netflix stuff, my Walmart barely stocks anything Generations, Netflix or otherwise, and and when they do stock, it's not a lot. I never saw any of the Headmaster stuff in my store. It's sad. I know that Pulse is selling some of the retailer exclusive stuff, and hopefully items like the Wally exclusive Headmasters will be available on there in the future, as brick and mortar, at least in my area, offers a very slim chance of getting these toys. I miss the old days when these things were well stocked and readily available. Heck, they used to be well stocked in my store back in the mid 2000s, but something happened over the last five or six years to detrimentally effect their stock. IMHO, the adult market for toys has had a negative overall effect: we're the impetus behind keeping a lot of nostalgia driven toys alive, but it's also the adult market that's created a thriving landscape for scalpers to take advantage. It'd make for an interesting case study to garner some imperial data.
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