Bobby

^Yeah, bike's kinda small... I'd like a 7G T-shirt! This is perhaps the World's Smallest Garland with full transformation capability!

I think Lexus

This is quite a feat to gaze upon by modeler Oscar Ramos who made both a GoLion and Dairugger XV...out of cardboard...at 2 ft tall...and they transform! Having transformed the DX versions of both I can especially appreciate all the sliding panels and his engineering ideas where he developed some new takes not found on the DX versions (for ex. Dairugger's forearms can be turned outward and still have normal elbow bend while still featuring 3 helicopter tail fins) GoLion Dairugger He took some cues from the Miracle version (Space Probers (#7 & 8 transformation), and the flipping roofs for the All Terrain Space Vehicles (#14 & 15) transformations, but perhaps most notably his method did not leave huge gap holes in the back of the arms and feet vehicles. (note: on the second video the sound is cut due to a rights issue...your speakers are fine)

That would make him a... "USER"

More Christmas lights

Woah, Kuma...that's pretty inventive! I just tried it! So the legs are connected correctly and the red and blue are telescoping but in order to do this pose you have to push the envelope of how the hip joints are set up to achieve this position. The front and side plates of the waist armor are the only ones on either ball or swivel joints to be able to move out of the way for dynamic leg poses forwards and sideways. However, since the rear plate is fixed, you can't push the leg in a backwards direction. BUT (and here's the clever inventive part) if you swivel/rotate the internal hip joint a full 180 degrees it causes the connection point to become lower (i.e. poking out of the waist armor as seen in the pic) thus allowing a much greater range of motion (in this case backwards) so the hips can now be pushed forward and up a bit to achieve this killer heroic pose. Great pic!

Yes, noticed that too on the Arcadia Garland. And I regret to inform you that the answer to your question sadly is a solid yes. But perhaps for a slightly different reason than usual though...it's not that they're cheap joints...it's the weight. And for that reason, you could argue that they aren't the right (or best) joints for handling this weight (perhaps an engineering shortcoming afterall). The die cast in the arms is heavy, but also fairly balanced as-is for posing to where the shoulders can reliably handle poses with the arms extended straight out to the side. But add the gun and it's like it tipped the scales and became too much in certain extended poses if that makes sense. And likewise, the sheer amount of die cast in the upper-body/cowl makes for quite the top heavy load right at the hips resulting in this same drawback. This indeed is pretty disappointing for the price...but at least like you were able to revive the Arcadia Garland's shoulders, the floor polish injected at the affected areas notably improved these issues rather well in my opinion. But not completely, cause gravity.

Sorry to hear RH, but good to hear from you and hope things improve over the holidays! -- To keep things balanced, Amazon.co.jp had 1 poster recently give it 3/5 star review. He mainly stated that he had been waiting for this release since it was announced. He commented/complained about the box and that even though it seemed well protected, the corners on his box sleeve were damaged a bit. He mentioned how the arms have to be attached in order transform into slave move and when transforming to bike mode, the manual recommends the arms be removed to prevent paint /chipping peeling and to save it for last (I personally don't think this is necessary and it seems like more trouble than it's worth as it might weaken the tightness of that ball joint to continuously be popping it in and out). He commented on how the proportions appear the same as the prototype and its looks are done in a very brave/heroic style. And that there is a lot of alloy used in the upper body, and the lower body is also heavy. He also said that while each one may vary from the next, his has some issues when trying to pose it with the gun from loose joints. He wraps up by stating that while the figure overall moves/posesd well the waist is giving him issues, that the set comes with 2 stands, that the instructions are very detailed and you can visit Art Storm's Youtube channel if you get stuck. And lastly, that it's difficult to compare to other Garlands because of the size and price, but closes with if you like Arcadia's Garland you'll probably like this since Fewtures EX alloy is highly detailed and very impressive. -- So the more I handle it, I have to agree with the waist and shoulders observation becoming/being an issue. The shoulders are great for regular poses but not quite strong enough for holding up the gun...and the Garland is so top heavy that if you don't balance it just right it will fall over at the hips (especially backwards) which is rather unfortunate due to weight. As I mentioned in an earlier post, some future floor wax totally remedied these weakness, however the balancing part is still an issue cause gravity defying liquid doesn't come in a bottle yet Many of you already know all this so here's what I did and as you know the key is precision and that can easily be achieved with a Monoject 412 [LINK] [LINK] via a tiny drop of Future Floor Finish (now called Pledge Revive It Floor Gloss) [LINK] which goes a long way. To sturdy up the shoulders to easily handle the gun and not droop as the Amazon reviewer noted was just one tiny squirt in the front, work it in by rotating the arm and then again in the back and work the joint. In about 30 min and you'll notice quite a difference and no problems holding the gun! To sturdy up the waist (the forward/backward direction as the turning part is fine) you can easily add a drop on each side of the large hinge (both front and back) and work it in... Once you let it seep in the crack it will move halfway around the joint automatically by capillary action and do the other side for the other half. Any excess you can dab away with a q-tip so it won't leave a shiny spot... And again due to the upper body weight I did the hips which also really helped firm it up...front and back, both sides, a little-dab-a-doo-ya... And lastly another spot to prevent it from leaning too far forward and strengthening dynamic poses when on its tip-toes was adding some to the joint for the front half of the foot. If you look behind the ball of the foot in the arch area you'll see where you can squirt a tiny bit and then work it in... Once done you cannot see the wax at all and I've done this for many years without any ill effects on any figures (no rust, residue, marks, etc.). I don't know if this has ever happened to you, but I've had a nice figure fall off the shelf and break-a-leg, literally...and in an effort to not let that happen again this solution really gives a lot of peace of mind when posing the more expensive figures on the top shelf! A couple more closing thoughts... i. Disappointment in the sculpted hands. They look great, fit very well during transformation, but on a premium figure like this I would have liked the option of a set w/poseable fingers (Yamato's had 1 joint at least and Arcadia's had 2 joints per finger). ii. Is there such a thing as too much weight? You might think that with this guy because at this price, you wouldn't think you should have to do any 'joint strenghtening' and for ex. SOC Lion Voltron is as heavy as all get out and has no trouble standing up whatsoever. So this issue ends up being an engineering flaw/shortcoming for the Garland that many may find to be pretty disappointing.

OHHHH...I've been eye-balling this, can't wait to see your pics!

Thanks, I missed that...did Sentinel's Stick and Ray have similar/same issues?

Nice! I'm curious, is your comment a jab at how previous versions of Blowsperior by other manufacturers had arrived broken, or an issue with this manufacturer?

Ohhhh...no prob, you did get my hopes up! So that's actually a painted screw cover that'll be on all copies. Since the cowling is diecast they needed a centralized, sturdy location between the two halves to securely fasten them together, but also forward enough to provide clearance for transformation...and (unfortunately) that's where the access hole ended up. When you start to fiddle with it and look under the cowling you'll see the chassis-like cross bar go straight through from side-to-side. You'll also see that the rear hatch, arms, thighs, lower legs, and a few other places have painted screw covers on them as well. Most of them are symmetrical and really well done (looks like panel lines, hatches, gas lid, etc.) and imo really isn't that noticeable.

I have a feeling you won't regret it Oh...good point, I retracted it and it looks a lot better! Did Arcadia say they were thinking about making the blue Garland?!?!?! Wow...that would be really cool! You're right about their R-Jetan, it looks GREAT but the transformation... is like you described. Seeing more and more company's attempting complex transformations is very refreshing. With so many recent attempts by numerous companies to do this but ended up being rather disappointing (i.e. Freeing E=X), it's made me realize just how great a company Yamato was and their products in their time. That price at NY is really good...especially considering they offer so many less expensive shipping options

"Operator 7-G, please respond!"

Hahaha...sure anytime yeah, the manual's like a little book which is quite the contrast to the "unfoldable poster" instruction sheet we sometimes see Lol...I actually thought about that when swinging the bars around and wishing they were made out of metal,... sadly they are not and we'd all feel better if they were I like the sculpt as well...it is just so sharp and aerodynamic. The sleep proportions and overall wedgieness in bike mode kinda reminds me of the blue Garland from the PS3 game...(pics pulled from Ravenhawks earlier posts...btw...where's he been?) The sculpt also reminds me of the cover of the Manuever Book... But for bike mode perhaps the Arcadia looks the most like the Maneuver Book version... It's close...you can see in bike mode they're about identical (Arcadia, Fewture, Yamato)... but in slave mode The "Fewture's" the Winner! Speaking of box size and the inordinate amount for shipping, the presentation and boxing for this product as a whole was disappointing. It seems like the "printing" portion for this project might have been rushed. While not unusual to still be using the prototype for the pics in the booklet (for ex. screw-covers are missing in the shots), the image quality for the box cover, the cover of the booklet and sections inside showcasing the product are just way sub-par. The levels and exposures are quite off and it reminds me of the image quality you often see on KO boxes ... this should not be for a product of this caliber. On a positive note, you can tell that the folks at Fewture understand presentation is king so when you slide off the huge box sleeve, and remove the box top, to reveal solid black folding panels, which uncover a nice spread of accessories, surrounding the Garland in a halo fashion etc. you experience some nice foresight in their concept, however, their execution is a whole 'nother story ... the design and layout and image quality are just quite amateurish (on the box and booklet) which is not an accurate reflection for what's inside and diminishes its sales presentation potential. With that said, I'm obviously VERY glad that this neglect only happened here and not with the Garland's design/engineering! For starters, there is a very clever hinge located at the base of the Bahamut engine and the hip/pelvis area which allows the Garland to rotate at the hips for turning poses (something previous versions have not been capable of). In addition it has 3 ratchets so it can lean forward or backward a click for hunching over or arching backwards. So yes, there are ratchet joints and pose-ability is quite good and there are some Obari-esque moments. Some of the joints even have additional hinge movement AFTER the ratchet click (like at the elbows) for further pose-ablity. It's a mixed bag when judging it overall though, for example, the head moves up and down amazingly for great looking up/flying poses, but it can barely turn left and right; and the elbows and shoulders have so much pose-ablity, but knees are really limited on their full bending range. Perhaps the most noticeable thing is it suffers from the same problem that Toynami's Ultimate Voltron EX and Transformers Generations Titan Class Metroplex (2' tall) suffered from...being too top heavy due to upper body bulk resulting in major balancing acts/issues for posing . If the leg ratchets are at their limits for some extreme poses, the sheer weight of the Garland's upper body will make it collapse cause the leverage becomes too great. It's kind of a trade off, because it's due to this weight that it feels so good in your hands! But on a flightpose for example, you'll have a great time! Another observation is some joints have screws holding it together which may mean (I dare say) that if the joint ever gets too loose, you can maybe give it a slight turn with a phillips?! After additional transformations this thing is really tricky, specifically 3 areas: the rear hatch, the shoulders, and the front cowling (but everything else is really wonderful) and here's a couple more "Watch-Out" spots... • DO NOT attempt to lift the front half windshield glass to insert the head during transformation from slave-to-bike like you would on Yamato's, Arcadia's, or Aoshima's 1/24 version as it does not open nor is it supposed to. Another unique aspect of Fewture's method for transformation. • DO NOT attempt to lift the back hatch when the seat is in place when going from bike-to-slave mode. You may think you can but you have to move some things around before you can open the hatch. Speaking of the shoulders there is a hook that is used on both sides that looks more like it came out of a lego set than on something like this and I would have preferred a simple swivel out tab with a hole in it because it appears kinda dainty and afterthought-ish but the effectiveness for holding the arms/front wheel suspension in place in bike mode is definitely appreciated! Ok, that's enough ... all in all I gotta say that I'm really lovin' this thing and it just wreaks of quality all over, in looks, design, engineering, etc. so if you're a Megazone fan I think it's a must!

Well I thought we could wait a few more months at this point So when you open the big box there's a nice sticker that says "DO NOT OPEN" on the middle box that has another box in it... Just kidding (but not about the sticker) so quick first impressions (gonna leave the actual reviewing up to the reviewers): - for starters...this is NO froppy mess! (in bike mode it does not snap undone like in video poster earlier), however, in slave mode he's kinda top heavy but nothing a little future floor wax can't remedy - you can fully transform it without removing the arms! Yah! - it is a very unique and ingenious transformation that has lots of little gimmicks you can appreciate (where things fold up is pretty cool) - impressive to hold (feels heavy at 20.8oz compared to Arcadia's 11.5oz) and so much detail (ex. mesh vents, Bahamut stamped engine, moving shift pedals, Garland logos) - at first it's pretty confusing...make that very confusing. everything is such tight clearance you have a bunch of "oh man am I gonna break this thing" moments - since some assembly's required upon opening it is not advised to try anything without the manual, there are A LOT of cautions, sharp edges, and non-intuitive rotation (for ex. where you think the legs attach on the sides in bike mode is not what you think, but it also makes sure that the Freeing E=X failure collapse will never happen) - make sure to PAY ATTENTION to anytime in the manual there is a yellow circle with a "!" in it!!! (already having paint chips near the tail lights due to how tight the clearance on the rear hatch is - was it worth the wait? well that of course lies in the eye of the beholder but for me since placing the order in 5/2016, I would say unmistakably a resounding YES!!!

Ohhhh...so that's why shipping for Fewture's Garland cost as much as a SOC?! (the tiles are 12"x12" )

The addition of GX-88 forms....Voltron-mania!

Yeah, Fewture's done this in the past...their EX R-Jettan box was huge (larger than Yamato's 1/24 Patlabor box) even though it's half the size. I was thinking the exact same thing and how much my view had changed. Great observation...hope so too!

+1 on USAGUNDAMSTORE as well. In addition to their superb packaging and coupons, they're a family run business and will go out of there way to serve the customer.

Hangar came in yesterday...my kinda Christmas lights!

While waiting for my GX-88!!!

While awaiting the arrival of SOC GX-88, made a lego Voltron (≈10") that's between the 1/300 model kit and the Miracle MA-01.