sidearmsalpha

Man, this is a somewhat funny story, IMHO, and OT, but oh well. I remember when TF's came out, my brother and I walked about 5 miles to the nearest Mervyn's to buy a TF. We had saved at least 10 bucks each or so, so we were looking forward to buying one each. When we got there, all they had were Gobots. Man, I was so disappointed! But, since we had walked that far, we each bought a lousy Gobot. I remember I got that one that turns into a bulldozer. It had such a simple transformation. That was the only Gobot I ever bought.

I remember picking up Jetfire at a comic shop in '85 for about $35 after taxes. I picked up the Robotech SD VF-1S at a TRU for retail in '85. And the large Gakken Mospeada Cyclone for $16 at the Berryessa Flea Market in San Jose. I still have the Jetfire and Cyclone, but they are pretty trashed. The SD was trashed and disappeared. I was 12 or so when I got all this stuff. I do remember seeing plenty of the large Alpha's at the flea market, but at that time, I didn't have much of an allowance or even a paper route to buy them. Man, I wish I knew about Newtype in SF back in the mid to late eighties, too. Talking to Jeffrey, the owner, a few years ago, he told me and a friend that he used to have stacks of the Bandai Fast Pack Valks!

Hey all, don't know where would be the right place for this, so I thought it best to ask it hear. I picked up the Microman 2003 figures and hope to get the 2004 figures. Anyway, they are so poseable and come with different hands. I want to put them in cool poses without them falling over, but their feet can't handle standing in extreme poses without a base under them. Other than glueing their feet down on something, does anyone know where I can find the rectangular bases with the pegs that I have seen for GI Joe figures? I would imagine that the holes on the Micromans' feet might work with these. If not, some tweaking would probably work to make the pegs bigger or smaller as needed. Still, is there a site or place that still carries the ones for Joe or Star Wars figures?

I second that emotion! Other than the Binaltechs and Masterpiece, TF's are still too blocky, have lame-looking joints, and those god-awful fists-with-holes-for-weapons that I hate!

That grin on Demolisher just sucks. I've never been down with robot toys having really expressive humanlike mouths, noses, and eyes. It's visors and face plates for me a la Macross.

Still sucks that even TF's today still have those fixed hands with the holes in them, but I guess most kids wouldn't care about poseable hands anyway. I still like the RID Ultra Magnus better, especially when combined with the RID Prime.

For the gunpod strap ripping, I did that once, and held the ripped end over a low flame of an oven range, and the heat from the flame melted the ripped end and the hole together. I just trimmed the end up a bit and made a new hole with a small nail to thread the ring through. It beats cutting the end off since the strap isn't very long as it is.

Wish I had the display room to put the Gorem and Deathpion reissues I picked up. These are definitely the coolest of the older Zoids, IMHO. By the way, is the Deathpion molded in a different color than the original? I can't tell since I haven't opened the box for the reissue yet.

Hey Sam, I forgot to ask. What figure did you base the Psylocke on? Angel

Man, that Psylocke figure kicks ass! Toybiz has yet to do a figure that will do her justice. Even the statues aren't quite this good!

At first, I was appalled by the Turn A Gundam, but it doesn't seem too bad now. I wouldn't mind picking up the diecast toy.

Well, I've always preferred the blue VF-1S color scheme. Man, it's too bad Hikaru's color wasn't blue.

I would definitely pick one up! I was hoping Yamato would. I picked up an extra VF-1S Hikaru and VF-1A Max just to make a VF-1S Max. Saves me the trouble.

Graham's logic was that it would be too much to resculpt the VF into a 2 seater and there were not enough variations for it to be profitable. But yet we have a Q-Rau and possibly a monster... But, the same could be said of the 1/60 2-seaters, and they did those anyway, right?

YYYYYYYYEEEEEEEESSSSSSS!!!!!!!! I'M NOT ALONE!!!!! Man, sometimes it's tough justifying why I collect stuff to my girl and family, but I can't help it. The stuff is just so damn cool! As long as Yamato keeps pumping out Valks, I'll never stop. Geez ... I don't even want to think about ever having to sell or get rid of my games, comics, and toys!

Ok, thanks, 柿崎速雄! I see what you mean now. Man, they need to make it darker and thicker with black. That sucks! Oh well. I guess that's one thing I'll need to fix.

Thanks for the review, but can you be more clear about the heat shield? What do you mean that it has a "ugly, blur panel line on it"?

Hey, where did this image come from? Is Dreamwave putting out a More Than Meets The Eye book on the War Within characters?

This thread is why I love Macross so much. Kawamori-san just stuck with jet planes (my favorite vehicles) and really thought about how an F-14 could transform and still look like a cool robot. Something which translated into a cool toy even with the chunky monkeys. It seems with the G1 TF's, the designers were like, "Let's start out with the vehicle, and just try to get something that resembles a robot out of this thing." I'm glad that Takatoku, and later Bandai, didn't go cheap on designing the toys. Sure, they aren't lineart perfect transforming toys, but they got pretty close, and the toys still kicked ass! And now we have Yamato taking the designs further!

He realised only much later (when they brought him back) that he can't die. Same goes for Hot Rod. These two jokers... The Movie was a HUGE waste of time and it wouldn't be made if it weren't for this stoopidity. So why did the remaining cast who were killed off in the movie stay dead That's simple. They were all, in one way or another, discovered by Prime to be useless and most of all stoopid - They all don't deserve to be revived . Take Wheeljack for example... I mean come on, real dinosaurs maybe pea-brained, but robot dinosaurs can be smart with adequate hardware and programming - and yet he made the Dinobots stoopid. Tell me what does an astute leader do with a subordinate like Wheeljack and the comrades who helped him build the Dinobots? Yeah, that ALWAYS bugged me about the Dinobots. Just because they transformed into dinosaurs, didn't mean they had to be as dim-witted, too!

Man, this article is freakin' hilarious! This guy makes some funny as hell points!

I'd like to see a Hi Nu Gundam or a V2 Assault/Buster Gundam.

I guess I'm fortunate to have a gf that doesn't mind what I'm into as long as I'm not foregoing a car payment or rent to pay for my hobbies. She digs the games that we can play together, like the puzzle games, with Super Puzzle Fighter 2 Turbo being our favorite. She's into Betty Boop stuff and Barbies, and I don't have a problem with that. In fact, some of the Betty Boop things I got her are pretty damn cool!

The FIX stuff has more detail, accessories, and more paint applications than the MSIA figures. That applies to any of the FIX figures. I really like the Sentinel figures from the FIX line because the designs are just awesome! With regards to the Deep Striker and the FIX version of the Zetaplus, you can get these instead of investing in expensive resin kits that you still have to completely assemble and paint. As far as I know, there aren't any plastic Deep Striker kits, and the 1/100 MG Zetaplus doesn't come with all the accessories that the FIX version comes with. While the FIX line is great in that they are basically pre-painted kits that require some to alot of assembly, and they are pumping out figures that were previously only available as resin kits or drawings, they do have their flaws, as many here who collect them, can attest to. First, the parts aren't always molded well. Some parts can have extra plastic (flash) that was not removed. Or the parts are missing plastic, too, like they were cut wrong with an Exacto knife. Secondly, the paint apps (and this is probably the worst flaw) aren't as good as they could be. Some areas are oversprayed or overpainted. Still, you have to consider that these things are mass-produced, and as much as we would like, I'm sure the workers painting and assembling them just can't put as much time into them to get them just right. From a distance, they look really great. From a few inches away, you can see flaws. This is a problem with alot, if not most, mass-produced toys though. Heck, there's threads dedicated to all the QC problems with the 1/48 Valkyries, and we all know how much those babies cost. Third, it seems that the FIX figures are made of a plastic that is softer than the MSIA figures. Some parts might be bent or somewhat warped. I'm not knocking the FIX line, but it does have its flaws. With the larger ones, I can't justify paying full retail for them knowing that there's something I'm not going to be happy with. There are so many parts and areas that are painted on these, alot of little mistakes are made here and there. I wait til I can get a deal on them on eBay or when the e-tailers sell them at a reasonable price. The same goes for other figures and statues that I buy. They sure look really nice in ads, the box, or in pics where the prototypes are being shown, but you have to consider that those protos have been meticulously molded, assembled, and painted to sell the product to retailers.

Yeah, the FIX line should focus more on Sentinel stuff. Just got both 0017's! Simply gorgeous! Still, an Assault/Buster Gundam would be awesome! I've always wanted to combine the two 1/100 kits, but a FIX toy would be so much better! Can't wait for those Astrays either. Best thing out of Seed, IMO.