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Jaustin89

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Everything posted by Jaustin89

  1. Jaustin89
    Am I correct that the only thing left in the Alternative Strike line that we know of is the Lohengrin Launcher pack or did they announce/tease anything I missed? While it'd be a bit of a departure for the line I'm really hoping we get a Metal Build Skygrasper that works with all the striker packs.
  2. Jaustin89
    I completely forgot abot this till I got the note from Nin-Nin Game saying they upgraded shiping for me yesterday (~19 hours from Osaka to Boston accounting for time zones; FedEx is nuts). As a nice bonus there's no insane engineering decisions or articulation issues on this one; it also looks like it's not just a repaint of the Exia mold, there's some parts that are the same but even simple things I would've expected to be reused like the avalance attachment points on the legs weren't.
  3. Jaustin89
    Got home and got the Freedom opened and posed; I really hate having to criticize two releases in a row but the Freedom 2.0 is the worst experience I've had with an official Metal Build. The flight unit attachment is finicky and prone to popping loose and the shield connection is just garbage that falls out when looked at funny and doesn't even have the range of motion to allow the hand grip to be used simultaniously unless the arm is completely straight. Fortunately it looks amazing; especially with the other two Strike linage suits, and the stand adaptor helps keep the flight unit in place so on balance I'd say I like it but it's definately the low bar for Bandai as far as I've seen. I don't think I'm going to mess with the pose on this one for a long while and just leave it on the shelf as-is.
  4. Jaustin89
    Haven't technically gotten it yet since I'm at work but DHL delivered mine a couple hours ago. Unfortunately anything sent via EMS is a still a no-go since Japan Post still won't even accept US bound items yet.
  5. Jaustin89
    I'm honestly not entirely sure who the underdog is there. The AI's going to be somewhat more predictable and less adaptable to changes but it'll have much better reaction times and if they're properly simulating an AI fighter will be able to maneuver significantly tighter than the manned fighter since the airframe G limits are well above human limits.
  6. Jaustin89
    The Gerbera Tetra arrived today; I have to say I'm vaugely dissapointed in it. It looks great (my lights are yellowish so the picture doesn't remotely capture the color acurately), does everything it was advertised to, has some cool features, and comes in at ~12" tall and ~2-3lbs but everything about it feels slightly off in a way I can't really describe. The plastic is weirdly light; lighter even than the plastic in the few model kits I've picked up. The range of motion is odd with some joint like the knees being able to bend ~170 degrees but the bicep rotation being unable to turn inward and some other weird limitations on the arm movements. And you can forget whaterver range of motion does exist for the arms if you leave the shoulder thrusters in place; add the shield or the skirts that attach to the thrusters and that arm is basically stuck pointing straight down at it's side. I also didn't receive the upgrade kit that was supposed to come with it. I'm honestly not sure what I'm going to do about that; on the one hand I paid for it and I didn't get it, but on the other getting it is just going to make me more dissapointed at not being able to really do anything with it and isn't woth the probable hassle of dealing with customer service over. Overall it's not bad per say I just can't really find anything unabiguosly positive to say about it which is not a thing you want in something that cost a couple hundred dollars. This is all super subjective especially since I can't really explain even in my own head why it's dissapointing so I'm sure some people are going to be perfectly happy with it but something about it just doesn't work for me.
  7. Jaustin89
    The whole system looked to be tied into the intake/bleed air lines with 4 vents around each engine. At a guess the system will have two operating modes; one where the heat sink stores thermal energy from the engines and the bleed air is mixed into the exhaust stream to further reduce IR signature, and another where the heatsink exchanges into the bleed air lines to cool off. It's probably going to have a fairly noticable impact on performance due to the inherent weight of any heat sink materials (heat storage is directly tied to mass). But if that system, RAM, and shape based deflection are all combined you can get an airframe stealthy enough to not really need as much preformance.
  8. Jaustin89
    No extra payment needed so far; I did pre-order and pay for it a month or so ago so they may well have rolled the higher shipping cost into the base cost by the time I ordered.
  9. Jaustin89
    Nope; I'm in the US. The whole thing seems kind of strange with everything else indicating that they're not in stock yet. All I can say for certain is that they generated a tracking number associated with that order; it doesn't seem to have even gotten to the carrier yet so it's entirely possible it's some kind of glitch in their system.
  10. Jaustin89
    Got a shipping notice from ShowZ for my fully paid VT Gerbera Tetra + options set. No payment request on my second or the LED kit and everything on the site still shows as pre-order so I'm not entirely sure what's going on with it but I figured some people here might want to know there's some sign of life on these.
  11. Jaustin89
    It's certainly not the primary cause but there's probably some degree of effect from the pandemic as well. I know the set I ordered with NY still hasn't shipped; I'm sure there are others in the same boat and plenty that decided to get a second copy from someone that will ship now rather than wait. That's going to both reduce the effective supply and drive up demand on the ones that are currently available.
  12. Jaustin89
    It's actually not a coincidence. The feed from the drone ships is relayed by satelite; a multiton rocket landing on the ship rocks it enough to kick the dish out of alignment and interrupt the signal.
  13. Jaustin89
    It does have physical controls for critical operations. To list the ones that I'm aware of there's the ejection lever to trigger the LES in the bottom center of the control panel, an array of 10-20 buttons to either side along the lower section of the panel that I haven't heard specific functions of, and a keypad built into the armrests of either command seat with com and, I believe, thruster controls. The touch screens are to replace the ~10,000 buttons and switches you see in something like the shuttle that control non-critical systems. In addition everything I've seen from the actual astronaut's trained on the system (who also had significant input on it's design) has been very positive. While it's possible they're just saying that for appearances sake personally I'm going to assume that if they're comfortable test flying this thing they're reasonably confident in the systems in place for them to control the spacecraft and have enough knowledge to know what they need.
  14. Jaustin89
    The first of my High Maneuver Test Packs for the Gundam Astrea came in; a couple Astreas and the extra parts give you some pretty cool options for display. My only "complaint" is that they don't give you anywhere near enough of the jointed connectors; I pooled the ones included in all 3 of my Astreas with the ones from the test pack and was still looking for more.
  15. Jaustin89
    There's physical buttons beneath the screens for critical operations; that said launches are largely automated and the crew shouldn't need to do anything outside of an emergency.
  16. Jaustin89
    My current keyboard is a Steel Series Apex Pro; definately not a chichlet style key but If you're big hangup with mechanical keys is the actuation point the Apex Pro uses optomechanical switches that you can adjust the actuation point of on a per key basis in the customization software. I've only had it for a few months and haven't really done much customization but I've had no issues. I think I actually find the keystrokes better than the MX Cherry Reds in my old logitech keyboard.
  17. Jaustin89
    Those figures or kits? I'd love to get some Break Blade representation in my collection but getting model kits up to my standards for display is more work than I have the patience to do.
  18. Jaustin89
    That's probably about as close to my dream airshow routine (Angels vs. T-Birds; opposed formation takeoff, mock dogfight, massed joint formation) as we'll ever see.
  19. Jaustin89
    I haven't been looking for that one specifically but I've had some good luck with otherwise out of stock third party figures on AliExpress. You just have to keep an eye on the rating of the seller and your shipping options at the moment aren't great. You either pay an extra $50-100 for UPS/FedEx/DHL (if they're available from that seller) or wait upwards of a month for it to go anywhere with or EMS (I've got a third party wings of light that's been sitting at Shanghai airport for 3 weeks so far).
  20. Jaustin89
    I just checked my preorders page and it looks like I'd only put down the deposit so I'll let it sit for now since it's all of $6 between the figure and the option parts set. There's also a button to cancel the pre-order for store credit but I think I'll hold out till we get more info (not sure if Metal Club Xing Ying is 100% the same group as the Metal Club group that got raided or if they're a sister group or something)
  21. Jaustin89
    Especially since their Avalanche Exia was about to release; now I'm going to need to pick one up at Bandai after market prices (~$700 last I checked). On that note does anyone know how Show Z handles pre orders where the company can no longer fulfill them? Do they automatically cancel and refund or do I need to open a support ticket?
  22. Jaustin89
    Looks like the repairs on the Mosho Quant are holding up and everything is lined up close enough the only loss was the LED gimmick. Still frustrating but I wouldn't necessarily say to avoid buying one; just that if you get one and the dummy head is't coming off easily just start cutting the head rather than forcing it off.
  23. Jaustin89
    I got a MetalGear Models 00 Raiser XN Trans-Am and a Mosho Metal Build Pro 00 Quant in today. Overall quality on both is close to Bandai but most joint tolerances are much too tight. For the limbs that's probably a good thing but for stuff like the Quant's head where you have to pop the dummy head off to put the actual head on it'd greatly benefit from having the ball joint for the head not being more secure than the "fixed" joint between the neck and body. I ended up breaking the LED wiring, having to cut open the dummy head, and force the joint out from the top (destroying the LED itself in the process). It's currently sitting on my workbench letting the superglue cure; hopefully the head stays on more or less straight and I don't re-decapitate it once I try and get the backpack on and pose it. Overall I'd say the 00 Raiser XN was worth the $180 I spent on it I unfortunately can't say the same for the Quant. I'll try and remember to post some pictures tomorrow; the site's not letting me upload anything at the moment.
  24. Jaustin89
    The 3rd bracket prototype finally showed up. I'm going to have to do another since I forgot to leave space in the interface with the first arm joint (it seats but in a raised position an wouldn't be able to move much); but I think I'll consider this good progress and proof that the idea will work. Edit: photos won't upload for some reason but I got the backpack shell cut and the bracket installed and was able to mount it on the figure. Edit2: still can't upload images here but I uploaded to Imgur to bypass the issue.
  25. Jaustin89
    I'm looking to get the general opinions on the various 3rd party manufacturers before I pick up some of these. I think I've seen some posts that Metal Club is on par or slightly better quality than the official Metal Builds; are there any others that are comparable quality? Any manufacturers to stay away from? I think the 3 that make the most KOs I'm interested in are Metal Club, Metal Kingdom, and Muscle Bear; if anyone can give me a general assessment of their quality compared to Bandai's I'd appreciate it.
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