mechaninac

Alright, first picture showing the back end of the toy in fighter mode. Not to carp too much on Toynami's MPC Alpha (both the 1/35 Gakken Legioss and, to a greater extent, Imai's 1/48 kit are guilty of this too) but those legs and feet stick out like sore thumbs in fighter mode.

VF-11B is from Macross Plus and VF-11C is from Macross 7, other than that...

Wow! I'm beginning to be glad I have this thing on pre-order; this toy, dispite it's puny dimensions, appears to be very well thought out and replete with detail, and the color choice looks excellent from the pictures. My only two nitpiks are the chest hanging so low in armo-fighter mode (maybe an inheritance from the IMAI kit) as it appears that it will come very close to dragging the ground, and the huge feet that could be due to the design team trying to achieve an anime "accurate" look in armo-soldier mode. Having the toy in hand will answer any questions about the first issue, but the "clown feet" issue is one that we'll just have to learn to deal with...until someone decides to create a retrofit resin kit for those who are bothered by it.

no politics please. i'm sure bill o'reilly has a personal wbesite we can take discussions like this to.

Point taken. I agree that this is no place for politics, but I did not start it and felt that that puerile, cavalier comment deserved a response in kind.

I'll henceforth step off my soap box.

Shadow technology? What is this, Robotech Vs. Babylon 5?

That's exactly what I was thinking...

HG is just like the Republican Party, they'll say or do ANYTHING to keep their power! I'm with Eugimon, I WILL NOT BUY ANYTHING that has a RT or HG label!!!

And I'm sure HG is just like the Democratic Party...they'll lie, cheat, and steal, and get their legions of mindless myrmidons to go along with it in order to regain the power they squandered and lost. See, your little political gibe works both ways.

As for the size irritating me: sure, I wish it was bigger, but I wouldn't say it 'irritates' me. If I let things like that irritate me, I'd be pissed off constantly.

Agreed. I'd say that it's more disappointing than irritating. Toynami should have gone with 1/48...smaller than the 1/35 but still manageable for a Beta link-up, and bigger than the puny 1/55, and conveniently in scale with the Yamato 1/48 Valks. Oh well, 1/55 will have to do. What is really galling is that they are asking $80 large for this thing, but as has been mentioned countless times before, since they are the only game in town for new Mospeada Legioss toys they can charge whatever the hell they want. I just hope that the final product at least comes close to justifying the price.

Now, THAT's much better!!!

I guess those would be the high moral standards of a soccer hooligan.

A lot of the actual toy size and quality speculations will be solved within 2 weeks to a month's time. I have one on pre-order so I can see for myself and avoid the chance, however improbable, that if I wait I'll miss out on it...after I have that in my hands then I'll decide if continuing to buy the rest of the collection is worth my while. If the Alpha is VERY good, then I'll have to live with $60-$80 retail; if the toy is of passable quality then I'll wait for it to go on sale (I may do that anyway), but if the Apha sucks, then the Blue one will be the first and last for me.

VF-1s and all subsequent variable fighters are composed of unobtanium and bolognium alloys.

...

Not to mention that, unlike the F-14, the VF-1 is a fantasy plane that does not conform to the laws of physics, aerodynamics, metallurgy, or anything else having to do with reality.

Very sad news for F-14 fans everywhere. Somehow, the tomcats had a mystique that is sorely absent in the super hornet. They will be missed.

To create parts made of plastic like the original toy's (ABS, polystyrene, polypropylene, nylon, acrylic, etc.) requires much more than what the average recaster can muster.

To recast a part, you use the original to create a RTV mold and either pour a polyester or epoxy based resin in the mold, or inject the resin with a disposable syringe; those with more elaborate set-ups will employ a pressure chamber to collapse air bubbles or a vacuum chamber to eliminate trapped air altogether. If there are castable resins with more plastic-like resilience I'm not familiar with them.

In order to work with manufacturing grade plastics, you need manufacturing level equipment:

Steel or Aluminum molds must be created with ejector pins to push out finished parts from the mold, cooling lines to keep mold temperatures within optimal range, cams and lifters for intricate detail, etc. All this requires a great deal of engineering and manufacturing. First you'd need to scan the desired part with a 3D scanner, then the mold halves have to be designed around it and everything mentioned above that may be necessary must be included; this would be most often accomplished with some form of 3D engineering software. Once the mold is designed, you have to make it with CNC and other methods. Once you have the molds cut they have to be polished, etched, etc.

Now that you have a finished mold that will probably have cost anywhere from a few thousand dollars to tens of thousands or even over one Hundred Thousand dollars depending on mold complexity, size and material, you will need an injection molding machine that can handle the mold and all its associated equipment, as well as the granulated plastic of your choice (note that the choice of plastic affects the design of the mold due to the physical properties of the material, specially its shrinkage rate); you'll also need a small warehouse to house it all.

There is a growing molding segment called rapid tooling that utilizes RP molds instead of metals. RP molds are usually created through the use of Stereo Lithography. This cuts down on the cost of the mold itself, but everything else is still a factor, and the mold is only good for a few hundred to a couple of thousand parts at most.

Phew! That was a long winded answer that basically says that "recasting" in plastic is not feasible for the person doing small volume stuff.

Here's a fighter vs. fighter competition for you: The ATFs. To this day I still think that the USAF chose the wrong fighter from that competition.

From everything I've read to date the YF-23 had a faster, more efficient supercruise, had a faster top speed with after-burners, was stealthier, and had comparable maneuvering to the YF-22 without having thrust vectoring, and it was, by far, the best looking of the two, and IMO one of the coolest looking jet fighters ever designed. Barring other judging criteria that I'm not privy to, the only thing the YF-22 had going for it was the fact that it was a bit smaller, at least lengthwise, and incorporated thrust vectoring from the get go; this feature could have been engineered into the YF-23 during any subsequent redesign that invariably takes place before the plane goes into full scale production.

While the F-22 raptor is an awesome plane that looks great from some angles and downright ungainly form others, in my estimation, politics had about as much to do with the final decision for its victory over the YF-23 as did the merits of either design.

No love for a 1/48 VF-2SS? 

Hell yes! In my eyes, that is the best looking, coolest, variable fighter ever designed, with or without SAP.

Other things I'd love to see would be (dream mode...ON):

1/60 and 1/48 Destroids

1/60 Glaug

1/60 Battle Pods

1/60 Male Armor

1/60 TV Green Q-Rau

1/60 and 1/48 VF-4s

1/72 and 1/48 VF-5000s

1/72 and 1/48 VF-17s

1/60 and 1/48 VF-0s

1/60 and 1/48 SV-51s

1/72 and 1/48 VF-2JA

1/48 YF-19

1/48 YF-21

1/48 VF-11

SDF-1 DYRL version

etc., etc., etc...

(dream mode...OFF)

Time to update my tally:

1/48 x 4

1/60 VF-1s x 10

1/60 Q-Rau x 1

1/72 x 3

Well, what'ya know?...

Any word on the GBP-1S sans VF-1J?

3.  Shran's appearance was too convenient, and the explanation that he'd been tracking Archer's approach, albeit with trouble, was downright lame.

How is it lame when Shran pretty much been tailing Archer for roughly a season now. Has every here forgoten the epsiode where Shran been ordered to take the weapon prototype after helping Archer capture?

It's lame, in my opinion, because that plot was fully resolved in that episode. The Andorians absconded with the second prototype weapon, which was the entire reason Shran tracked Enterprise in the first place. Archer goes in pursuit after being collected by his crew and sends the overload code to detonate the device and deny the Andorians their deceitfully acquired prize; at the end, someone in Shran's ship, possibly Shran himself, sends Archer the schematics for the weapon...Shran was doing his duty in getting the weapon at the human's expense, but it was clear that he did not like betraying someone he'd come to respect. End of episode, end of plot. There is no logical reason for Shran to track Enterprise after that, not to mention that it took time for them to find the NX-01 in the first place, and at the end of that episode they were limping home under emergency power.

In order to buy Shran's appearance in "Zero Hour" you have to assume that they made it to Andoria, their ship was repaired or they were assigned a new one, and went back to the Expanse without being detected by anyone (Andorians don't have cloaking technology) and found the NX-01 again, were witness to everything that transpired and were aware that Archer had boarded a Xindi ship for the trip to Earth. If Shran had been trailing Enterprise he'd have followed her to Sphere 41 and not Degra's ship as it traveled through a spacial corridor, as it would be doubtful that the Andorians would be aware of that mode of travel, or possibly unable to use it themselves, which would leave them with conventional warp travel that would take too long to let them arrive in the nick of time.

The only way to reconcile Shran's presence is if he never went back to his home world, had the ship repaired in route and, out of some sense of personal honor and atonement, kept a vigil outside the Sol system awaiting the arrival of Enterprise or the Xindi; however, if that were the case, he should have fired on Degra's ship until contacted by Archer.

Bottom line: too convenient.

All that being said, I enjoyed the fact that Shran was the only one to come to Earth's defense. Where were the Vulcans?...being French?

Saw it last night. Overall, it was pretty good, and I enjoyed seeing Shran come to the rescue and Dolan being blown to bloody bits. However, there were a few plot holes you could drive a Galaxy class starship through without scraping the sides:

1. There was only the one space station orbiting Earth. Where was the ship yard, et al?

2. Where were the NX-02 Colombia? The Intrepid? The Challenger? And all the other Starfleet vessels? You'd think that since the first Xindi attack, earth would assign a number of ships on picket duty just in case Enterprise failed in her mission.

3. Shran's appearance was too convenient, and the explanation that he'd been tracking Archer's approach, albeit with trouble, was downright lame. Shran would have no way to know that Archer would be coming on the heels of the Xindi weapon, and in a Xindi ship no less. The Andorians' ability to track human bio-signs through the spatial corridor is just too much BS. If anything, Shran should have fired on Degra's ship until contacted by Archer.

4. The Deflector pulse beam used to disable Sphere 41 smacks of writer laziness. Enterprise exists 100 years before NCC-1701, with a correspondingly inferior level of technology. Even Kirk's Enterprise could only generate a deflection field for safe navigation; it wasn't until TNG's "The Best of Both Worlds" that the Nav deflector was used as a weapon, and even then a number of decks had to be evacuated because of excessive radiation.

5. Hand weapon frequency modulation also hints at the writers having tunnel vision created by what's been done before in other series. If anything, given the level of technology, the phase rifles and pistols would need to be taken back to the armory for their harmonic frequencies to be altered...not have them field adjustable like a TNG hand phaser.

6. Although very cool, what with having P-51s futilely firing .50 cal. slugs at Enterprise's shuttle pod and all, it didn't make any sense at all. If Earth reverted back to the WWII era, and all remnants of Starfleet ceased to exist, then what was the station doing there? And if the station was there, why not the ships? If the effect was more widespread and the future never existed, then why is Enterprise still around? If Earth is still in the 22nd Century, just an altered one, how come technology hasn't progressed beyond 1944-45 level for two centuries? Paradoxes upon paradoxes. Hopefully all will be made clear, if not logical, next season.

PS.: Did anybody else get the feeling that they shot two distinct endings just in case this was the final season? That's the impression I got.

I didn't notice that either until you pointed it out. By the looks of that picture it sure looks like the alpha is going to be a chest dragger; that's inexcusable...did Toynami have multiple engineers working on different parts of the toy who never bothered to check with each other to make sure everything fit and matched the line art? The early 1/60 VF-1s from Yamato dragged the gun pod fin a bit, but this is ridiculous.

I hope this due to the rear gears not being deployed when they took that picture or that it is just a pre-release sample, and that the final product will have that fixed, but judging from their track record I wouldn't hold my breath.

Cyc, thanks for the link. As for the Alpha, other than the large gaps on major assemblies, it looks very nice indeed, and the missiles don't look that much worse than the ones on the Yamato Q-Rau.

Whats your issue with the man?

I have nothing against the man, I even agree with the majority of his views; but as an actor...the plank of wood comment pretty much says it all.

As far as action heroes go, Van Damme is rather mediocre. To me he is just the European version of Steven Segal (the king of "straight to video" flicks), not quite as bad, but not that much better either.