Dio

I was gung-ho for the Uranos bots initially, but the interest kind of waned after seeing the painted versions of all the figures. I've since diverted my hype over to the upcoming Stunticons/Menasor, which has a really cool look and are based on one of my favorite IDW designs. My only fear is that they might end up a little smallish.

I doubt anything "final" will happen to Ahsoka this season, or probably ever. She's kind of the new hero introduced in the CG series, we've seen glimpses of her future self that indicate she'll move on to greater things (possibly in DIsney theatrical sequels? ), and with introducing the fairly obvious "real" villain in this last episode, they're setting up for the truth to be revealed. So far, the only arc this season that I've liked has been the Darth Maul crime syndicate arc. This current arc seems to not be as well written, like they're trying to draw out a relatively simple plot, but maybe the finale will set some really good context. I think most folks will agree with me that the droid arc seemed like pointless, un-entertaining filler (with maybe a couple funny moments). Slightly off-topic, but soes it seem to anyone else like they've really turned up the "whip" factor with the lightsaber effects? Watching this latest fight scene, the sabers reminded me more of Zero from the Megaman X series.

Speaking of... that translated character relationship chart that was posted on the front page is awesome, would it be possible to locate those kind of resources in an index of some sort, so we don't have to parse dozens of pages of forum threads to find them?

There's still a few issues for me on the Vita, particularly viewing posted photos, but most everything else works like a charm.

... ... Mardook?

After much dancing around, finally took the plunge and preordered this from CDJapan. I was able to play thru all of VF-X2 with no issue (both endings, with a little help from gamefaqs), so I hope I'll be able to make enough sense of this iteration to get an enjoyable experience. On the plus side, no need to mod-chip my console for this one!

Awesome duel with an excellent ending, not just in terms of choreography but how it's driving the character and story development. I love the way the writers give these events context and gravity, and not just flair and flashy effects.

Yeah it's the oddest thing, my v1 VF-25G has none of the cracking, just the 25S. Careful disassembly, removal of a pin and some automotive-grade superglue seem to have done the trick and Ozma's back on his stylish metal feet in the Detolf now. I sanded down some of the interference points that were causing stuff to bind up and crack during motion (like Mechtech said there were some very questionable design decisions in this toy), and it's a little smoother now to transform. Hopefully my 171 and VB-6 won't have any similar issues...

Adding photos. You can see there's 3 locations along each side where cracks have started, and at the end of the left-hand swing bar the ring actually broke out completely (the piece is sitting next to it).

Long story short, my VF-25 Ozma (v1) is crumbling like gingerbread. Particular areas like the upper swing bar hinges and the little bridge pieces that go over the shoulders are breaking out around the pivot points, and where the cracks aren't already present there's definitely stress marks. It seems to be a pretty pervasive issue across the toy, and I'm confident that it wasn't overstressed by rough handling. Is it a lost cause to try supergluing these back together? Am I better off casting replacements instead, or looking for a junker to swap them out of? Before anyone says anything, replacing it with a renewal is not even a remote possibility

Slightly naive question, but would it be very tough for some of the Shapeways gurus around here to design conversion parts for the V1 valks to make them more like the Renewals? You're really only talking a couple parts for the hips, maybe something more involved for the shoulders but certainly not impossible.

1. VF-17D, because in the right hands (Gamlin) it can out-fly even more advanced aircraft. Plus, it has the beam can of death in its leg. 2. YF-19, for the forward-swept wing design and innovative systems like the wrap-around visibility in the cockpit. 3. VF-171, too bad only Diamond Leader can unleash its potential. I would have loved to see him with EX upgrades. Ranked below the 17 due to the more feminine, derivative design that seems considerably more fragile.

So I added a second mod today, based off of an old cinema trick. If you get some clear monofilament fishing line (I had 10lb test lying around but 8lb would probably be thinner) and tie two loops around the shelves, you can use them to suspend a valk in the "bay" and effectively double the Detolf's capacity with supports that are nearly invisible to the naked eye. In this photo, I set up the loops around the upper shelves, and suspended the YF-19 and VF-11C using two simple loops each (one is a little visible around the 11C's cockpit, but disappears in different lighting/angles). Creative placement around each Valkyrie allows you to adjust the positioning for some pretty attractive poses, and I'm sure there's a whole host of other things that can be done with a little creativity.

True, but it's a safe assumption that Sheryl is only 25% Mayan, since Mao obviously left the village to join the 117th research fleet. A hereditary immunity would definitely be reduced in that case, unless for two generations they married only within their own culture. V-type bacteria don't seem to multiply within humans or migrate between host bodies (Alto & Sheryl, cough cough), either, so it would seem reasonable that immunity is not hereditary and occurs as a result of exposure. In-series, the only known method to contract the bacteria and develop immunity/symbiosis unassisted is to be exposed during gestation (like with Ranka), a point during physical development where the immune system is not yet active. Mayan villagers were pretty isolationist, and would probably all meet this criteria, but later generations could easily not be exposed since the AFOS is gone and/or the people left the island (which was also napalmed). Perhaps the bacteria isn't so much the problem as the human body's response to it, if existing immune systems try to attack? Ai-kun was pretty friendly since nobody tried to hurt him, but being hit by Alto's paper airplane provoked him. Same behavior on a multi-cellular scale

I say retire the SDF-1, that will keep a more uniform scale level between the pieces on display since you're replacing it with a VF-4. I'd also recommend taking the Quarter out of there for the same reason. That leaves you with two 1/60ths and another two "of similar scale" bots, with the Hercules bots and the MP Prime. Also, if you turn everything to vehicle modes, they will coordinate more nicely. Assuming your coworkers aren't familiar with Macross/TFs, explaining the crazy sci-fi booster jet on top of the blazing red forward-swept wing fighter will be enough without having a couple of spacey aircraft carriers smaller in size than the construction equipment.

This sort of goes against the humorous/poking fun spirit of the thread, but I didn't want to dredge up years-old threads to discuss new things that it brought to mind Oddly enough, this winter break gave me and the wife some time to watch Frontier again, and it really brought a lot of clarity when she was asking me to explain some of the things in it. Just before we get to "Legend of Zero," we watched Macross Zero so she'd know what the in-series movie episode is about (literally finished watching it about half an hour ago), and it was a real eye-opener. Keep in mind, this is the first time I've watched it in years, but I was previously of the mind that it was just a kooky nature/magic themed Macross OVA that wasn't really a high point for the franchise. Frontier, sort of like Metal Gear Solid 4, has managed to wrap the prequel up much more nicely for me, and got the gears spinning in my thinking cap. I'm sure it has been discussed to death already, but I got to thinking about the AFOS being basically a synthetic Vajra queen, and how it might have also been engineered with its own sort of V-type bacteria/virus/nanotech/magic cooties which would have crept into the Mayan civilization's DNA (and perhaps even their ecosystem) like how Ranka was infected in Frontier. Sara's interface with the AFOS looked creepily similar to how Grace plugged into the Vajra queen, as well. Brera finding the artifact on the Vajra homeworld also seems a bit more meaningful, but less as a hint of things to come and more of a "yep, we were here studying these things." I still can't find what AFOS stands for, however.

Guilty as charged... I got the G2 set from Amazon, and it just didn't look right to me as-is, so I bought a retail Onslaught and Blast-Off to help offset the weird coloring. I call him G1.6 Bruticus now. I'm leaning toward buying the rest of the "standard" set now, however, so the Decepticon logos match up. The regular retail version also seems like it got to focus more on detail paint apps due to not splashing purple camo print all over everything. The G2 set seems like knock-off quality plastic, and the QC is terrible. My Swindle's head pivot pin (for his transformation) actually got driven in at an angle, and I had to drill/punch it back out to get his head to align properly during transformation. Previously, it was like he was trying to look down at his elbow when the head tipped forward. Fortunately, I picked up some very small drill bits and punches for just such an occasion.

Here's something I caught while driving thru a rural north Texas town this morning... I just had to turn around so my wife could snap a photo to share with y'all

Ordered the VF-19Kai + Sound Booster last night, got order confirmation... hope the rest of the process continues without a hitch.

Been following this a little bit in the past couple days, and I had one burning question before I preorder... I know region-locking on Blu-Ray is much friendlier than it used to be, but will this work on a USA slim PS3? Edit: I know this sounds like a repeat question, but I'm more concerned about the "slim" PS3 compatibility than the region-locking. The slims aren't nearly as friendly as the originals used to be (no PS2 backward compatibility, no Linux, etc)

My review of Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword: A little late to the discussion here, but figured I'd chime in on Skyward Sword, having just completed it. I was actually quite surprised at the depth and level of intensity present, particularly as the game gets closer to its epic finale (and I do say epic!). Not only did Nintendo make a solid Zelda game, but they made a prequel which establishes some context for the entire franchise (particularly the origins of certain characters and artifacts) and also enriches it with some new content, possibilities for further exploration, etc. While the graphics may have taken on a more artistic style than Twilight Princess, the game has a very serious tone that is on par with the best of the previous games, and I would say I enjoyed it as much as Ocarina of Time. The puzzles are all creative and offer some decent challenges - I consider myself very adept at these styles of games, and there were a couple spots where figuring things out took me a while, but felt all the more sweet once I got past them. I was also able to 100% the game pickups (heart containers, items, etc) and never once did it feel like I was stepping out of the main story to complete an unrelated side quest (which has been more jarring in past games). The optional extras are paced well such that they become available in times and places where the main story intersects, and can be taken in bite-sized pieces that add up to a larger narrative by the end. My one complaint is that the main antagonist whom you fight in the game (Ghirahim) doesn't really come off as a believable villain, because he's... well, a little kooky. Every hero needs a villain, and the hero's actions don't seem nearly as heroic when the villain doesn't provide him with physical, mental, and moral adversity to overcome (okay, rant over). Similar to Zant in Twilight Princess, he has a threatening appearance at first, but then proceeds to go more the route of a badly-scripted clown who throws tantrums and doesn't pose a threat to the hero. To be fair, all of my "insane bad guy" critiques end up being compared to Kefka from FFVI, but in that context he falls a little short for me. Also like Zant, the big reveal near the end of the game does provide context for his behavior and is much less of a jarring shift since he pretty much states who he's really working for throughout the entire game, but I never did get the same feeling of him being a viable, threatening villain with a constant presence like with Ganondorf in Ocarina of Time. I could go on, but I'm sure most folks stopped reading 3 paragraphs ago I highly recommend this game if you own a Wii, as it's a very fitting book-end for the tail end of the system's life, and will provide you with a solid experience. I clocked in at just over 50 hours to complete it, and probably could have shaved that down to 40 without side quests, but the bulk of that time is taken up by story progression. There's not a lot of tedious backtracking or fetch quests, and every item gets used to its fullest extent in solving puzzles that are clever and original (especially the ones involving Time Shift stones).

Finally found MP Rodimus today, and I have to say he's better than I expected. Even the targetmaster has character, and the articulation on the main figure allows for a lot of creative poses. I chose this display for him, and have titled it "You Big Bozo." Does using the little packaging ties count as a kitbash, since they're technically an accessory too?

I'm digging the production values on this show, the music is extremely well done and sets the moods for scenes perfectly. I'm also digging the Xenogears parallels, it helps to explain how the mish-mash of technology and magic can be there in the story. I love Mumm-Ra having a tank of his own, especially with the sarcophagus gimmick. I would totally go for some of these toys if I allowed myself to collect things that don't transform

I must be in the minority then... but I'm 100% going for the MakeToy version. Price point is a big factor, but I also want something to be in scale with my other two FP-enhanced combiners. The Hercules is impressive and I may one day be swayed if I find a good price, but after seeing reviews on Exgraver I'm a little concerned about the partsforming aspect. MakeToy appears to get around that by having the separate parts serve an accessory function in other modes, the same way FP Bruticus's combiner parts do. Is there any information out about the MakeToy version aside from the Botcon photo and the original news articles? It seems like it's farther along in the design-release cycle than TFC Hercules is, but I'm not finding much info or preorders.

TFPrime Optimus Prime says it's available on HasbroToyShop, if you're looking to get one. The others won't be available until probably the 4th quarter of this year at the earliest.