mechaninac

One of my favorites is the one with the Regis Mk 5, voiced by Michael Dorn I believe. I love the part when Megas stomps on the "bug" Regis and proceeds to scrape it off his foot on the edge of a building...this show is a riot!

I like the new series. My only nitpick is that the producers decided to abandon, at least so far, the multipart story format spanning two or more episodes, which allowed for much greater story and character development, not to mention higher concept writing, in favor of the rushed single episode stories that, although they work alright some times, often are inadequate in conveying a satisfying series chapter. One thing I've noticed in most of the episodes I've seen thus far, for example, is that the stories start in what would otherwise be the middle of the action with very little to no elaboration given on what events transpired to bring the characters to whatever crises they're currently facing.

I think it is awesome! How can you not like a show that has so many hilarious nods to such classics as Starblazers, G-force and Voltron. Is it on the goofy side? Sure, but so is most Anime...and at least Megas XLR is intentionally goofy. The whole show is meant as a homage/satire of Japanese Giant Robot shows, and in that regard it shines...and it takes place in Jersey, now how funny is that?

Dammit!! Hasegawa, I want a VF-11b!

From your lips to Hasegawa's ears. Unfortunately, Hasegawa is on a Macross Zero kick right now, so a VF-11 is not something we'll be dealt anytime soon...if it's in the cards at all.

Thanks for the links Pat, there's some awesome talent out there.

I love Final Countdown, and even though comparing it to Top Gun in regards to flight operations, and overall Navy "life" is entirely appropriate, the two movies can't realy be compared in terms of story since Top Gun is a chronicle of Miramar's flight school, albeit an incredibly innacurate one, and Final Countdown is, once the Navy trappings are stripped, a time travel sci-fi flic...one of the best ones ever made BTW.

Sounds like the innitial report was nothing but hype. According to my understanding of SETI doctrine regarding potential ET signals, any possible detection has to be confirmed by other radio telescopes to eliminate the chance of equipment glitches at the original detection site. From the two articles it appears that the signal in question showed up a couple of times, but only at Arrecibo. Therefore, until other radio telescopes trained on the exact same patch of sky can replicate the apparent contact, and these too survive a battery of tests to weed out errors, this "news" is pretty much moot.

Keep in mind that extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof.

4. Looks like the landing gears does not help it clear the chest from touching the ground.

I had that same problem at first. However, once you transform the toy back into fighter mode you can do a lot better than the assembly line people did. Just take it slow and try to properly position the hips all the way down their track, and force the nose section and legs down by twisting them against the center section. Try to keep the air intakes from rotating to a flat plane with the center piece (chest/sensor pallet); things will look fine once the whole toy is locked down in fighter mode. Also make sure the rear wheels are properly locked open (right landing gear on mine is specially difficult and takes some force to lock). If you are successful you should get some clearance. After fiddling with mine I was able to get a full millimeter clearance between the lower-most edge of the chest and the ground.

I think that, aside from plastic models, the rights to all Mospeada merchandise, including toys, belong to Harmony Gold at this point. I believe that they have this one locked tight under their Robotech license; thus, any chance that another toy manufacturer such as Yamato or Bandai will produce Mospeada, or Southern Cross, toys is nil. What really gets to me is that HG could have contracted better companies to produce their MPC lines.

While the Alpha I bought is remarkably free of problems, only minor stuff that don't bother me, reading people's experience with this toy and the previous VF-1 line, it's becoming apparent that Toynami has a 25-40% defective rate going out the door...that's inexcusable on an $80.00 collector's item. Harmony Gold is being poorly served by Toynami's apparent disregard for Quality Control...They could have done a lot better.

Here are a few more stinkers (as in rotten fish guts, stinker) that I don't recall being on the list:

Glitter

The Adventures of Pluto Nash

Kull the Conqueror

The Bio-Dome

Starship Troopers

Adventures in the Forbidden Zone

Tank Girl

-Any Rob Schneider movie-

Drum Line

and many others....

valk ARRIVED~! .....with free paint smudge on the left intake....URGH...

thanks KEv

what valk??

Alpha MPC of course... how can a yamato have a paint smudge on its intake...

Ehh...because its a Toynami, not Yamato...

What? No Zoolander?

Looks like John Travolta took Hikaru's Valkyrie for a disco joy ride while he wasn't looking...

I read somewhere that Paramount's a slight bit worried abotu the movie, as with the sex and violence, it's almost a guaranteed NC-17...

Puppet sex, now that's a scary thought.

hehe, yeah it is. I saw it happen in bride of chucky. ugh!!

That's right, Bride of Chucky...damn you. Damn you for making me remember THAT movie. Puppet sex, disturbing...

I remember that...It's amazing what I horid paint job can do to a great, at the time, model kit.

If it were up to me I'd make a modern day Bastille just for Coulter.

So much for believing in free speech, heh? Just like the Nazis, the Fascists, the Marxists, and all the assorted Totalitarians and Dictators, you'd jail anyone with whom you don't agree politically. There is a quick and easy answer to speech with which you don't agree...don't listen, don't buy the book, turn to another page, flip the channel, turn off the radio, avoid blogger sites; it's that simple.

Thank goodness we live in a Republic, where the rule of law, such as it is, reigns, instead of the rule of the mob. Remember, one of the first things Hitler did was to burn "subversive" (non-government sanctioned) books, i.e., cancel free speech.

Back on topic...that movie does look like it could be very funny. You can always expect ripping satire at the expense of insufferable blowhards form the brains behind South Park.

Had a chance to mess around with my Alpha last night and give it a more thorough inspection. First the negatives on my example:

1. What I initially thought was under spray on the left toe was actually glue residue in the engraved detail.

2. Feet do not line up symmetrically when collapsed in fighter mode.

3. The double hinge on the sensor pallet is very flimsy where it pivots on the pallet itself. It's also very floppy.

4. VTOL groin thruster is very loose and can't hold a position.

5. Left and right elbow studs don't engage their corresponding wing slots when folded for Gerwalk or Battroid modes.

6. Use of metal for the arm thrusters (seemed to be metal) was a bad idea as it puts too much weight at the end of the forearms. This exacerbates the loose shoulder problems, specially on the left arm. Also, are ratchets, detents or the concept of friction completely foreign to Toynami?

7. Mid arm rotation is very loose on the left arm as well. See above question.

8. Transforming the thing can be scary in some steps due to the amount of force necessary to move some components.

9. Left wingtip peg does not lock into nose slot.

10. A lot of parts that would benefit from being die cast aren't, and many parts that should be plastic are die cast.

11. Sub par plastic quality. Some parts, like the shoulder missiles doors almost look like they were cast out of polyester resin.

The positive:

1. Awesome looking sculpt, even with the clown feet.

2. Looks good to excellent in all modes.

3. Transformation is fairly easy once you get beyond the "fear of breaking it" factor.

4. Love the hands. Excellent design (Yamato could learn a thing or two here). Though why they made them out of "gummy" material is beyond my ken.

5. My example can hold the gun pod in the right hand with an arm extended pose without problems.

6. Gun pod secures firmly to the under wing mounts.

7. Overall paint quality and application is good, about as good as Yamato's.

8. Love the sticker sheet. Looks nice and thin and has a satisfying flat finish, much better than Yamato's. However, I think I'll wait for a custom set so I can keep these intact.

9. Leg poseability is very good in armo-fighter mode.

10. Feet poseability is excellent.

11. The tiny folded ride-armor is a nice touch, useless, but nice.

12. I like the pilot; it fits very well in the cockpit and is decently painted. This is better than Yamato's 1/60 afterthoughts and 1/72 blobs.

13. All missile hatches open and close properly and look good, with the exception of the forearms' ones.

14. The folding vertical stabilizers that can lean just like the line art are awesome.

15. Telescoping belly with rotating waist...so much better than the IMAI kit.

Final thoughts...for now:

1. I must be one of the lucky ones since all the problems I mentioned were very minor, with the left arm's overall looseness being moderate at its worst.

2. The toy's designers went to town with this thing...very elaborate.

3. The choice of scale is what causes most of the problems and inconsistencies here, I believe. This toy is very ambitious, and although mostly well done, it would have been a much better execution at a larger size. A shame, really, because the Alpha is actually quite good.

4. Don't expect much playability out of the MPC Alpha. This item is more of a static display piece you can transform once in awhile than a toy, due to the two above observations. It's not the sort of thing you should ever hand to a child.

5. Longevity of the MPC Alpha is the major albatross in this whole thing. The toy feels hefty and mostly well put together, but the plastic quality and nature of the beast in this scale makes it seem very fragile. Time will tell.

6. Short of an expertly assembled, customized, and painted IMAI 1/48 Legioss kit, this is by far the best looking rendition of this mecha. In some ways superior to what is even possible with the IMAI.

Conclusion:

1. Is the Alpha a worthless steaming pile of poo? No, at least not the one I have.

2. Is the Alpha a good addition to a transforming robot collection? Yes.

3. Can things be improved/fixed? and will Toynami do it? Yes and no. This IS Toynami, after all.

4. Is the Alpha worth the MSRP? No. $45.00 would be about right. I'm sure prices will dip within a couple of months and than head north again once they become scarcer, so timing will be paramount for anyone who wishes a complete Alpha set for prices more realistic with the toy.

5. Would I get another one? Not at MSRP.

6. Am I sorry I bought it? Not entirely. I feel neither overwhelmed by the toy, as I was with my first 1/48 VF-1, nor do I feel like I've been mugged.

Got mine today, #03163, one day early.

First impressions:

1. nice box...my first MPC, so I'm moderately impressed;

2. feels hefty, about as much as a 1/60...if not more;

3. looks good despite the large feet and the fact that the legs stick out about 3/8" too much.

Upon cursory inspection (can't waste time at work transforming it or anything) I don't see any major painting flaws and no painted shut canopy; sure there is one area of under spray on one of the feet, and some very minor "fuzziness" on the color breaks on the legs, but nothing glaring at this point. The one thing that I noticed immediately, however, were some glue stains (as if the person assembling this thing had glue on their fingers) on the legs, near the feet. I also see the arched back syndrome, and the landing gears are fricking useless.

It seems that this toy will be best displayed in any mode other than as a fighter sitting on the tarmac.

Does everyone else's head sit crooked in fighter mode?

I noticed that too. The head can be easily stowed properly by tucking the "nose" (white box shaped front) into the pocket in the chest piece.

...just a victim of poor QC.

Toynami QC = the customer

It sounds like buying Toynami products is akin to playing with fire...you know you're going to get burned, you just don't know how badly.

Man, you guys are causing my hopes to fade fast, real fast, about this MPC Alpha. Mine should arrive on Thursday, so I will find out for myself just how disappointing this thing may be...instead of breathless anticipation I'm finding myself nursing a numbing dread about receiving my order.

Unlike many here, this will be my first exposure to a Toynami MPC, so I've been spared the grief associated with the VF-1 series, but I was so hoping that they would have improved since then, and given the numerous delays on the release of the Alpha, you'd think that they would have fixed design flaws and pay extra attention to QC. I guess that is just to much to expect from a company associated with Harmony Gold.

Toynami, a little heads up: If this thing fails to impress me at least to a level near to commensurate with the $70.00 I paid for it, then you shall not see another sale to me at anywhere near retail. If the Alpha MPC is only moderately adequate, I'll wait for the inevitable 50%+ discounts that invariably follow all the craptacular stuff produced thus far. And if my first MPC fails to even pass a much reduced expectation test, then you shall never see another penny form me, and, I'm sure, many others. As the old saying goes: "fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me."

Where to start? Different people see different meanings in different things. Your opinions are no more valid than anyone else's. Besides, you seem to think that there is some deep philosophical meaning to a children's show...disturbing to say the least. It's a cartoon! Transformable fighters don't exist, never will! Huge, emotionally retarded aliens don't exist! Get some perspective, will you? Sheesh, how pedantic can one person get over something as meaningless as a this?

It's apparent that you just post flame bait, by making ridiculous assertions, in the hopes that someone will refute it, so that you can come out of your hole and strike.

Your initial assertion that the numbering of the Valkyrie II, as VF-2SS, flying in the face of the existence of other higher numbered ones, being one of the reasons to dismiss Macross II was such a ridiculous assertion. All I did was point out that the shows have nothing to do with each other, thus there is no valid comparison for the mechanical designs. Macross II, and Macross Plus/Macross 7 are concurrent in that they follow their own development form a common point, mutually exclusive in that they have nothing to do with each other once the split occurs, and valid in they own way because they are just different interpretations. Criticism is one thing, but absolutism is intellectually dishonest. In this light, bringing up Macross Plus to bolster your assertions about Macross II is an auspicious argument.

From the very beginning, all I did was offer my opinion, and state it as such; all you've done is try to position your OPINION as superior.

I've come to the conclusion that you're, somehow, emotionally incapable of accepting other people's opinions. You seem hell-bent in proving that you're absolutely right and I'm absolutely wrong; that smacks of childish arrogance or zealotry, or both.

Thus, let me assuage your over bloated, yet fragile, opinion of your own superiority by saying: "Oh great omniscient Keith, you're right (sic.), and all we mere mortals are wrong, unworthy or comprehending your self aggrandizing, fatuous, narcissistic, imperious intellect."

You should hope to never have to swallow that over inflated superiority complex you have as you're liable to end up choking on it. Very few people would come to the rescue on such a pompous ass.

As my motto says: a waste (you) is a terrible thing (for me) to mind.

You bore me.

I'm expecting to receive mine in a few days...can't wait to evaluate this thing for myself. However, I can already tell, from all the observations brought up thus far, that, although a decent toy, it's not worth the MSRP, or anything near it; perhaps $45-ish would be a more reasonable price. I guess I'll have to wait and see what happens with this release, value retention wise, to gage whether or not I should get the other Alphas at full retail.

Like many have stated, I too would welcome a larger (could you imagine an ultra perfect Alpha in 1/24 or 1/18 scale? ) version with better fighter proportions, specially the feet, even though this MPC is, by far, the best sculpted Mospeada Legioss ever created in toy form.

I believe that some of the issues are mostly caused by a packaging problems created by the small size of the toy at the chosen scale. I larger toy would give the designers much more freedom to engineer everything without having to compromise as much as is apparent with this one.

As for a Beta/Tread, I'll believe it when I see it.

Looking at the line art a few pages back the feet appear to be about the right size but the heels look like they're supposed to retract.

Glad you like it . It's far from perfect, best I could do given the available line art, but it does show that Toynami's design team sacrificed the "accuracy/aesthetics" of the Armo-fighter mode in favor to Armo-soldier.

Sergio

And so it begins. I can't wait...

There in lies the major flaw of Macross II. They treated the Zentradi as if they were merely swayed by one song or another. Earth's songs don't work because the Marduk's Zentradi were put under hypnosis to react specifically to an emulator's "siren song," in a specific attack pattern. They could have just as easily replaced music with colored lights, smells, or word commands. It defeatedt he purpose of using music all together. Just as they missed the point of the "Minmay Attack." Minmay wasn't as a distraction to kill indescriminently, her main purpose in the TV series & movie was to win over the Zentradi to Earth's side by awakening their emotions. The "Minmay Attack," was an after tactic used so that thsoe humans & Zentradi that banded together could have a higher rate of survivability.

Take a look at what the Earth fleet did right when they started their "Minmay Attack" in Macross II. They didn't wait to see if it would have an effect, they just jumped right in iwth an attack. They had no interest in "awakening" those Zentradi in the first place. This is as I said one of the major failings of Macross II.

Your very assertions that the music gambit used in Macross II is intended only to increase the survivability of the Earth forces bolsters my argument that that was its intent from the very beginning of the OVA. Again, as I've stated before, the Zentradi under the Marduk are pawns; they're even kept in stasis chambers. I never made any comment about Minmey's music being used for indiscriminate killing in the original series or the movie; however, the fact that her songs were not thus used in that time frame, in no way disqualifies their use to gain tactical advantage in a society 80 years removed that has found itself under repeated attacks from an enemy they know to be adversely, at least at first, affected by music.

The Earth fleet's action is right on the money...when you have your enemy in chaos, you take advantage; there would be plenty of time to convert any survivors after the battle is won. Again, the matter of available time for the music effect's to change from one of sensory shock to one of emotional enlightenment is paramount. The OVA is six episodes long and the story it chronicles spans a much shorter time span than the original series.

The fact that Macross II does not follow the prescribed format of the original is irrelevant inasmuch as they are generations apart.

Macross has never been about "obliterating" anyone. Considering that the Zentradi were mere "tools" in Macross II, and the Marduk didn't need to be "cultured" as they had their own, the proper course would have been for oh I don't know, The U.N. Spacy to make some attempt at contacting them

Macross has its story. Macross II, although based on the original for its structure and antagonists, is an original take on an alternate evolution of that society. Again, it's 80 years later, attitudes change. The fact that it takes that track is rather refreshing, and IMO, perfectly valid.

There's nothing snooty about it, the Macross II desigsn just don't show any significant level of evolution.

Again, your opinion.

The point about Macross Plus is to show just what sort of improvement there "should" have been in Macross II.

Wrong. The point of Macross Plus is to bridge the gap between the original Macross series and FB2012, and Macross 7. It shows the development of two competing VF designs, with a love triangle and psychotic computer diva stories thrown in for good measure. M+ has absolutely nothing to do with M2, or M2 with M+. Comparing mecha from those series is utterly pointless. The fact that you can't wrap your mind around that simple fact is rather amusing.

As I said, you can like Macross II all you want, but that doesn't make it a good sequel. Fact of the matter is that it ignores far more than it follows, and misses many of the points about the series in general.

Once more, it's a matter of personal opinion. Ignoring some of the more insipient (music converts enemies into allies) aspects of the original Macross is one of the good things about Macross II in my opinion.