Deadzone

I always see people use the term LOL. I thought it meant Lots of Love, but then it does not make sense how some people are using it.

Also, what does it mean when people write "BUMP"?

I was wondering, does anybody know the approxiamate scale of the unicron toy. I imagine it would have to be something like 1/10,000,000 or some ridiculous number like that.

I know a lot of die hard Harlock fans hated this Harmony Gold version of Captain Harlock, but it was the Captain Harlock I grew up on. I think the great thing about it was mainly the voice acting and the music. Yeah, the kids were annoying, but Harlock was done well. The problem is I have never seen the show televised outside of the bay area. Now I can't find anybody who has old episodes. If somebody recorded the thing or has copies of it I would greatly appreciate that person contacting me. Yes, I would be willing to pay money to get my hands on the old Carl Macek rendition of Harlock.

On a side note, did they every make a model of the Arcadia shown in this version? I have seen other models of the arcadia that are similar but not the same. Essentially, the front is not pointed, but has these two large exhaust valves or something in the front.

I think the non transformable one looks pretty good. See, this is why I wish yamato would do something about the nose cones to the valkyries. They just look too big to me in robot mode. I actually like the proportions on this thing better than the yamato 1/48. It's nosecone isn't hanging around the knees. Of course, then it wouldn't look good in fighter mode. I wish they could just split the difference.

Thanks for the help,

I decided to use the primer as the paint because the Tamiya white really sucks. I mean, I spray the thing through my airbrush and it comes out either too thin or dries before hitting the surface. This surprised me since Tamiya usually makes really good paint. I have only had this problem with the white.

Primer does absorb liquids a lot faster. The clear coat I put on looks really uneven right now because some parts got completely absorbed while other parts has a shine. I think a second or third coat should solve this problem.

People in the tranformers forums actually like unicron that way. Go figure. I think the thing looks like unicron's hiddeous brother. Something went wrong in the pregnancy and that's what you come out looking like.

I was wondering what would be the problems of using a primer as the paint if the primer is already the color you want. For example, I just primed a VF-1A with white. I started painting over some parts with a Tamiya white, but the parts look virtually identical. The only difference is the gloss which I can put on later using Future. Is there a need to repaint a model white if the primer is already white. I wanted to know if anybody has tried just using the primer as the base coat and the paint. Thanks.

I always thought this was the coolest invid mecha of them all. However, I have yet to see a toy or model or anything of it done. I was wondering if any company made it or if somebody has built a custom design of it. I believe the mecha is called Invid Pincer Command Unit. Below is a picture.

That looks great! I hope to be able to do that to my unicron. Unfortunately, I'm terrible at things like soddering. What a drag.

My friend thought Cabin fever looked interesting. From the commercials, I thought it looked like a piece of crap. Oh well... BTW never listen to what the commercials say in terms of critical praise. Sometimes a critic can bash a film saying "It's a terrible film with no redeeming value except the special effects. The special effects were spectacular." All the commercial uses is "...the special effects were spectacular." Also, the critics that they do use are often deadbeats just trying to get some noteriety. Some hick boy in a god forsaken town thought this movie was great because it has been the only movie he has seen in twenty years. Who cares. Of course, a lot of the big name critics are whoring themselves now too. Fat and stupid comes to mind.

If I sound angry, it's because I am tired of listening to how every film is great, every movie is a masterpiece. Bull! I work too hard for my money to spend $9.00 on a mediocre film. Give me the Godfather or One flew over the Cuckoo's nest. Yeah, I'll pay $9.00 for that, but not for the garbage they have been feeding us for the last several years. It's like a scam of milking you out of your money. Movie companies make bad pictures. Critics tell you they are great. You go and watch. If you think the movie is bad, there is something wrong with YOU. You're too picky. You're a snob. I just want to beat those people into the ground.

Sometimes it blows to be passionate about certain things.

Silverbolt was the whimpy one. "I don't like to fly high. It's so scarry!" Give me a break. Couldn't they come up with a better character flaw than that!

I watched the RE movie. I though it was overall a bad film. Yeah, I can see why guys would like it. Hot chicks kicking the crap out of zombie dogs, zombies, and evil monsters. However, it did not embody the essence of the video game at all. The video game was creepy and had this isolationist feel about it. A lone man or woman trapped in a spooky mansion trying to figure out what happened. The movie made it more into a cartoony, kung-fu, gun fighting flick. The director or cinematographer sucked all the atmosphere out of it which made the original game so fun. (BTW, dipping actors in flour does not constitute good zombie make up. What the hell was that!)

Here's the problem with having the same people do Silent Hill. I really liked the story to Silent Hill. It also did a great job at setting mood and creating an extreme isolationist feel. In fact, I didn't like the game all that much in terms of playing it. The controls were very clumsy, the monsters were not very interesting, and there was not enough of them. However, for some reason, I still like the game as a whole. This goes back to the mood and atmosphere of the game. So, if the people turn Silent Hill into a cartoony, kung-fu, gun fighting flick... throw everything that was good about the game out the window. It will suck period. I wish a guy like David Fincher would take on the project. The story is actually better than most Hollywood movies out there right now, and imagine a silent Hill film that looked like Seven. That I would pay to see.

If you check out Arafat209 feedbacks on ebay, the record seems to be pretty good until the last month. He got hit with three negatives by three respected sellers. In fact, I think one of the sellers only has one negative feedback in the last 6 months and the negative was given by none other than Arafat209. All three sellers out weigh Arafat209 in positive feedbacks by a large margin. Either there's a conspiracy against Arafat209 or somebody is turning bad really fast.

On a better note, I completed a transaction with Phatslappy a couple of weeks ago. He sold me two VF-1S bandai reissues and a VF-1A head for $55.00. He then proceeded to throw in a Alpha gun pod and knee cap I needed for free. When he found out I wanted to make a VF-1D custom, he threw in a free heatshield too! I can't say enough good things about this seller. If only more people were like that, we wouldn't need the straighshooter and blacklist. However, I'm glad we have a way of keeping tabs on these guys. Kudos again to Phatslappy!

But that's only my opinion!

When comparing various toys, one must look at the price tag too. A Mercedes is head and shoulders better than a toyota camry. However, the price tag may put the Benz out of reach for many consumers.

So how does this apply to the Macross toy line debate? Well, the 1/48 is the most detailed out of them all but runs around $100.00. Personally, I like the Chunky Monkeys for my buck. They average around $40.00 each and were always my favorites in terms of proportions and materials used. (really like the shiny ABS plastic with diecast joints). The MPC's are worth it if you find one in a garage sale for $10.00 or happen to come by a free one walking on the street. Of course, I would probably take that one, sell it on ebay and buy more Bandais.

I remember someone bashing the transformers forums when people there were singing praises about energon prime. I'm beginning to agree with him. Apparently, most of the people there like the new black version of Unicron. In fact, some of them thought it was better than the Armada version. They talk about it as a must have! I think a black version of Unicron can be cool, but the initial pictures I've seen look kind of stupid. Maybe it will look better up close. I don't know.... seems like there is no accounting for taste anymore.

Let's make Rainbow brite Unicron. He will have all the wonderful colors of the rainbow and appeal to kids everywhere.

For some reason when I go to the fantofan.com site, it gives me a bunch of gibberish. I can't seem to watch the movie, and I have a cable modem. Any suggestions?

Also, I saw a picture of the new black Unicron coming out. Apparently, links aren't allowed to it because of prototype issues. Personally, I think it looks pretty lame. I wish they would just release a movie version. It would save me the trouble of having to repaint the damn thing.

Thanks for all the praise guys. Always nice to know that someone appreciates the work I put into this thing.

For those of you who are wondering how long this took, this was my first custom EVER! So, I had a lot of trial and error. Must have repainted some parts three times because of mistakes. Anybody without painting experience, do yourself a favor. Buy Tamiya model paints and skip the Createx. I used Tamiya orange, aluminum, light grey, and yellow for the colors. The orange you see on his chest is actually a mix between the orange, light grey, and yellow.

Tamiya is excellent because it is strong enough to take light wet sanding for certain colors. If you mess up with aluminum though, forget it. Got to start over. It seems like the aluminum has metallic flakes mixed in with a dark grey. During sanding, the metallic flakes usually come off first leaving the ugly grey behind and an uneven surface. I tried several times to repair certain spots only having to redo almost the entire piece again. Tamiya is easily removed with windex and a lot of Q-tips.

I tried painting with createx for the waist and chest areas. Unfortunately, I ended up having to redo the chest area with Tamiya because the createx was so fragile when it came to apply clear coats and doing fixes. The createx clear coat I used also was very fragile and will cloud when exposed to excessive water. To this day, I am still wary of touching painted parts with sweat on my hands. The Future floor wax coat I used on other areas seemed to be stronger. However, don't use Future on Createx paint. I think it strips the paint a little. Tamiya on the other hand is pretty solid.

I worked on this thing for three weekends straight and on and off during the week. The next one I do will probably be easier and faster now that I know all the pitfalls (Avoid Createx at all costs!) that is, if I do another one.

Note: Createx is probably fine for the experienced modeller, but I can't stand the stuff.

I thought of painting the ring orange but thought, "That's too much work!" Actually, the rings are too thick for painting orange. I think they would stand out too much. In the movie, they were toothpick thin which was fine. On the toy, they look like giant tree trunks. Also, the paint would probably chip off too easily due to the amount of movement and handling needed to be done with the rings.

Here is a picture of robot mode. There still is the problem of the crack in unicron's chest. I didn't want to glue it shut and put putty all around it because I kind of like the chest missle. Yeah, it's cheesy but I always surprise my friends by shooting it at them. He is a bit silvery due to me trying to cover up all that ugly purple. Still, I think it turned out a lot better than the Armada version.

You know what would work as a display stand??

One of the three legged acrylic jobbies that SITHLORD sells from time to time.

Nice Custom!. Too bad that the toy in planet mode doesn't really look like the movie, I don't remember Unicron having the big flat portions on the bottom.

Ehh... close enough.

Whoops:

And one more for the road:

Here's some more:

I already know there is a Unicron thread, but I was hoping this could be a new one based on people customizing Unicron. I spent too many damn hours on this thing for it to get burried in some thread nobody looks at anymore.

When Unicron first came out, I said two things to myself. The first was go out and buy that thing. The second was repaint that thing. I liked the toy itself, but the color scheme was terrible in my opinion. Robot mode was okay, but planet mode really bit hard. So, I decided to paint it more like the movie. This is my first custom ever, and I think it turned out alright. Some paint chipped off during tranformation (even though I used primer and clear coat) > so I still have to touch up the robot mode. At first I thought, who in their right mind would want to buy a display stand to show off the uglier planet mode. Now, I'm tempted to buy a stand for mine. Check it out: