QuinJester

I"m surprised a CA + accelerator combo doesn't work on it. That stuff will glue ANYTHING. Maybe a two-part epoxy, drilling a small brass pin into the broken pin area to hold it in place?

I for one think Soundwave may be one of the best Deluxe TFs I've had in a long, long while. It avoids just about every no-no a carformer can have in alt mode; four wheels touch the ground and roll at all times, no blank painted windows, totally solid, and if you turn it over you aren't staring at a robot. In bot mode, it's proportions are... different... definitely, but fairly evocative of his G1 brick self. His paint apps are nicely done, he's got loads of little details (like the equalizers that show through the clear plastic on the chest), and looks absolutely awesome rocking out with his guitar. Forget turning Lazorbeak into bird form. The Guitar is where it's at. Oh, and his transformation is really creative. I <3 new transformations. He's more complex than most of the Animated line Voyagers in that respect (Grimlock, Bulkhead, Optimus, definitely starscream). His one (minor) pitfall, is that his knees are a little loose out of the package. It can be easily fixed with some nail polish/varnish, and isn't even that much of an issue unfixed for me right now, as I have him arching his back, rocking out, without falling over. Plus he has articulated ankles, which is a huge win and difficult to find in ANY transformer, let alone a deluxe. The tacky paint is a valid concern, and I'm wondering how much a coat of sealant will fix it. It's not as super-rubby on mine as it's been reported on others, but it's still a bit offputting feeling the tackiness there when you grip the roof/back of the figure.

I don't think it's ever been questioned that the MH Ride Armors would have the shoulder missiles, I think their first posted pictures had those displayed. It's the CM's versions that are in question, which that picture is not of, unfortunately.

Sure thing. Quick and dirty photos incoming. No Gerwalk pics, since I didn't feel like permanently modifying either the holders or the base to join with each other (and the flippy floppy gerwalk chest doesn't leave me with many options of places to stick the stand). All photos are with the stock action base connectors. Because I stuck the base practically to the top of the battroid mode, it hangs a little low, but again if one was willing to do either some cutting or glueing and use the proper YF-19 stand attachments, you could attach it higher. Still. As you can see, no problems or worries with weight or anything, and the action bases are a lot less intrusive than the massive Yamato launch stands or YF-21/SV-51 stands.

Yeah, I picked up a white Action Base 1 that was on sale at BBTS a while back; it's currently holding up my YF-19 quite sturdily.

There are two kinds of action bases, the one posted there and another which is larger and designed for larger 1/100 kits. Those will easily support a Valk's weight AND can extend their support arm to about a foot in length. http://www.hlj.com/product/BAN948216 Seeing that flexidisplays are up for order, I may have to get myself a couple of those, too, though.

Need larger image.... fnnnrrrrr

Awesome. Anyone know what that guy in the bottom left corner is? He looks a lot like a mecha from Mecha Armor Dragonar, but not quite...

Very likely... the chest would be masked and painted on, the arrows would be pad printed, which wouldn't use the same paint/ink.

Hopefully an adaptable joint of some kind so I can make a SRW centaur when I'm bored and/or drunk. ... why, what were YOU thinking of?

That's so not a final model. It's not even the most recent test version; the hips are solid - no hinges for gerwalk or for the swiveling hip guns, which were all in place on more recently seen pictures.

Someone who gets their hands on the toy needs to torque that packpack piece and see if it's at all fragile, because it looks like the 1/60 has a BP8 too.

13th Warrior. I liked that movie.

Kind of AvP meets Beowulf. Actually it looks pretty neat.

The Mako in the PC version drives with all the grace and control of an intoxicated ballerina with an inner ear condition. I hope to god that it isn't improved over the X360 version, because that would mean that the 360 Mako was a true nightmare to drive. The Mako is the only thing holding me back from playing the game more, really.

The second HE showed up, I knew things were going to get awesome

Silverbolt looks absolutely awful to me. His jet mode has a robot bolted onto the bottom of it. The robot has a jet bolted onto its back. Moviescream had some major funky undercarriage, but at least in robot mode it all came together into a pretty solid robot design that used all of its parts and had a fun transformation. So far, the only Universe design to tickle my fancy has been Onslaught. On the whole I"m fairly disappointed with the lineup they're bringing on. Powerglide looks like he'd have a creative transformation at the very least, but his bot mode is absolutely atrocious. And again, this is coming from someone who likes movie starscream...

Accusatory statements and possibilities like that are exactly why companies do not accept submissions like designs from outside, and why most will pointedly say "Do not send us your ideas. We will destroy them without looking at them." on any kind of customer feedback forms. The possibility of someone saying "hey, that was my design!", regardless of whether it actually was or not, necessitates a legal shield of non-interaction. So if you have a precious hand made valkyrie that you want a company to make, don't send it to them if its your only copy ;P. It's liable to end up in the bin.

Interesting. So it's JUST Getter 1, no 2 and 3. That would explain the lower price, definitely. But without the possibility of swapping parts, the SOC Getters just don't have the same charm.

All of the Animated leader figs so far have just seemed so... dull. The designs look great at the smaller scales, but once they scale up, the big smooth expanses of plastic just look .... meh. It's all well and good, I suppose. I've been spending too much money on other stuff and can use even the slightest opportunity to not spend money

You know, as I was looking at those pics I had my Nora on my computer desk and that part of the body on the SV-51 turns into the groin, so my brain just sort of spaced Of course, now my crotch comment has no basis in reality so I just look like some sort of pervy mecha ogler. Oh well. If the shoe fits... As for fast packs and armor, I'm still torn over how I'm going to get these. For now I have the bog standard versions on pre-order. If armored/FP versions show up with release dates I'll probably drop one of my preorders and get the advanced version for one of the two. I'm still hoping that the fast packs, since they've been consistently shown with the protos from the beginning, will be included with the base units.

That sculpted detail on the VF-25's crotch looks hawt. /admires the crotch. As for the hands, we've seen a bunch of different hands, from fists to blade-fist hands, to gun and knife holding hands. I'm sure Bandai in typical fashion will include a plethora of appropriate hands for the 25. I wont even mind if there isn't a poseable one in there; poseable hands have a nasty tendency to have difficulty holding things, anyway.

Probably more a case of an artist never being satisfied with his work and revising it at every opportunity. I just want to know what the story with the fast packs/armored packs for these toys will be.

I'm quite aware of that. The wing sags. Period, paragraph, the end.