sidearmsalpha

Not repainting the Isamu figure to match the YF-19 scheme is so lazy. Not a big fan of the -19. The regular one will do it for me unless these go on clearance at some insane price.

I think Yamato is a good company for the most part. I haven't had a total dud Valkyrie or Macross product yet. The worst being a broken leg flap on a 1/72 YF-19. Oh wait...I take that back. The 1/72 VF-11B that had both legs break at the hips was the worst. I bought 2 of those. Since I didn't open the other one, I sold it on eBay. I don't understand how Yamato didn't catch that before going into production. Those legs broke off effortlessly. I guess the material had probably weakened and it was too late for Yamato to do anything about it. Still, it sucks that there's no way for them to compensate collectors outside of Japan for damaged goods. They no doubt have to work on their QC issues on many of their products. I bought a Morrigan statue they put out a few years ago that was molded inproperly. She was molded in a sitting position where her butt was flush against the base and one of her hands was supposed to be the support, but because the flat part of her butt and hand were not level with each other, the statue would lean back. I had to position a cloth under it to keep it balanced. How lame. I sold in on eBay last year and took a hit on my cost for it. I don't buy statues from them anymore unless they are PVC figures that are in the $50-$60 range. I have to say the Tandem Twin and Creators' Labo figures have been great for the most part. The only Yamato Valk I had yellow on me so far is the 1/60 V.1 VF-1A Hikaru, but that one was molded in very white plastic, so it had it coming, I guess. Still have it, but it's got a set of GBP armor on it. I hope Yamato continues with the Macross line long enough to see alot of never-before-produced stuff. Of all the anime shows I have seen, I still think the Macross animes have the coolest mecha. I fell in love with Macross the first time I saw Robotech as a kid, and I have been a fan ever since. I applaud Yamato for having progressed with the license and trying to make the mecha as line-accurate as possible in most respects. I do think that they really need to expand the line beyond mecha or give us enemy mecha and ships as well as some character figures. I think with the success they've had so far, they can be more risky. I don't see why they can't test the waters first by putting out some GN-U figures on some of these to see what the collector reaction would be.

Nice to see what alot of you guys look like. Man, Agent ONE, nice dome! We'll have to compare shapes when you see mine. I almost thought you were that Bay Area radio personality, No Name.

Far Out Toys...man, I remember that place. The guy that ran that shop would attend the local toy shows at the Santa Clara Fairgrounds. My friend, fellow MW member vf2ss, bought his first 1/48 VF-1S Roy at his shop. We went to Nikaku about 2 months ago, and I was underwhelmed. That place hasn't changed much since we started going there regularly in the mid-90s. It was like going to Kimono My House after eBay and online import sites took off. It's hard to believe that I have NEVER seen a Yamato Macross toy at Nikaku. Most of the model kits are ancient. They don't seem to be concerned at all with getting with the times. I hope to make it this time around. Been dealing with some personal stuff involving an ex-girlfriend that's really been taking its toll on me.

The sting of what you're saying wouldn't be so bad if we never got to see that Fuke prototype. That's what is so unfair about it all. It would have been great if they could have started with the 2 most wanted Ride Armors, then go back and do the Stick and Rey versions, but I guess like most other time companies, you start off with your most principal characters first. It's always a letdown when toy companies show off cool stuff they have coming down the pipeline only to cancel the line before releasing that stuff. I remember when I was looking forward to the Takara Beast Wars Neo Unicron after seeing the prototype, but that never made it to market.

Looks like the 1/48 to me. The legs look like they are from the 1/48, and the airbrake seems to look like it opens. That one retractable hook on the back of the plane looks like the one from the 1/48, too.

Amazing! There's no denying you truly are a master at your craft. I hope I can commission you to do something as nice someday. Just out of curiousity, Kurt, have you ever considered taking a hiatus from the custom work? Not that I would want you to, but even a guy like you probably needs a break from this every now and then, right?

I can't see how Yamato can justify charging that much for an existing variant that costs much less without the weathering. Just because they added some weathering to it, they want more than $100 more?! Seems like it doesn't take much paint or skill to do it. Has anyone noticed if the weathering on any one of these weathered versions is consistent with another one of the same type? For example, are ALL the Ver. 2 Weathered VF-1J Hikarus all weathered in the same areas? Or is it random?

This is good news. I was hoping one movie would at least put to shame all the lackluster summer blockbusters, and this looks to be it. I hope to catch it sometime before it circulates out of theaters.

Just saw it. Meh. I don't like how they dicked around with the origins of the characters, especially Snake Eyes' and Storm Shadow's, and having the other characters that closely related was pretty lame, too. Sienna Miller was hot, Lame. Somebody please kill Marlon Wayans already. I'm tired of pretentious token characters just for the sake of comic relief.

I'm going to be selling a 1/55 Elintseeker here soon in the For Sale forum. It's mint, complete with everything and the stickers are unused. The only caveat is the box which has noticeable wear, but is still in displayable condition. I would give it a 5 or 6 out of 10, but as I said, the Elint looks new. I'm hoping I can get $575 for it which includes shipping within the continental US and insurance. I'll take pics of it this weekend and probably list it on Sunday or Monday. I also have a loose and mostly complete 1/55 Super O that I'm considering selling, too, so that may be up along with some other stuff I need to cut loose.

This is awesome! I really wish they had included the side covers and neck piece with all the Valkyries. I hope one of you guys can recast these parts. I don't want to buy multiple sets of the armor just for for these extra parts.

Since Michael Bay will most likely be involved in another sequel, I will definitely wait for reviews next time. I really enjoyed the first movie, but this one sinks to an all-new low with the level of toilet humor, ass shots, dog/bot humping, hip-hop sounding bots, T-X seductresses, roboballs, etc. I wasn't expecting this, and the trailers didn't reveal any of this. I honestly thought I was going to like it more than the first since the promise of more Autobots/Decepticons and more action scenes looked like a given hit for me. I've watched Pearl Harbor, The Island, and the first TF movie, and those were good. If Michael Bay had anything to do with actually requesting any of the things mentioned above, then I blame him for them. But who's to say the studio execs and producers didn't demand to have stuff like this so that it would be funnier?! Regardless of whose fault it was, I won't buy into the hype next time without checking here first. As myk stated, you can still tell a compelling story without resorting to downgrading the humor like this, but then again, stuff like this sells, but I'm not going to settle for it. Hopefully, someday, the franchise will end up in the proper hands and be done with more integrity as was finally done with Batman.

Yeah, no kidding. These days, I know I'm going to get a subpar story going in, so for what I'm paying I want to be blown away by incredible visuals and awesome fight scenes most of the time I'm watching, not inappropriate toilet humor and weak teenage drama. If I want to see that, I'll pay to see The Hangover or Hannah Montana and know that that is what I'm going to get. The only great fight scene was the one in the forest where Optimus showed just how awesome a fighter he can be (ignore Sam's stupid attempt at fleeing, of course, but then again, Optimus was keeping him from getting killed). The rest were hard to follow or unbelievably stupid until Optimus showed up (any scene with Sam and Mikaela outrunning huge robots has got to be stupid). I think we are getting to the point where actors in a movie like this need to get paid alot less and more of the budget that isn't already spent on effects and CG should be.

Yeah, what was up with that?! You get Frank Welker to voice Soundwave, but they wanted him to sound like Dr. Claw instead?! Hell, they should have made him do his Scooby Doo voice to get some more laughs.

Yeah, I could see those two hittin' up the clubs on Cybertron. I really doubt that their personalities were as unexpected to demonstrate that Autobots come in diverse personalities. Honestly, is this what kids consider cool nowadays?! Man, I guess I really am old.

True, but the protoforms weren't newborn offspring as the hatchlings seem to be. The protoforms had already existed as Transformers before.

I'd go see Public Enemies instead. I thought the first TF movie was not great, but still good. I admit the arrival of the Autobots scene gave me goosebumps. I was hoping this would be alot better, but turned out worse. I even showed up an hour early for it. Waste of time.

Watched it yesterday. Watching this movie reinforced my opinion even more of how much I really hate the very alien-like designs of all the Decepticons and alot of the Autobots and how exagerrated their heads are, especially the twins, who had the lamest robot heads. Before I watched it, I was expecting to watch it more than once, but now, there's no point in watching it again.

I like both, but damn, could the GN-U's use a little more detail. And I'm just speaking for the Macross Plus ones at this point, but it's looking as if the VF-1's are going to be lacking, too. And then, of course, is the lack of inclusion of armor parts with all the figures, which looks like is going to be yet another downside for the VF-1's. From what I've seen on eBay of the Macross Plus ones, you can get the actual figures for less than the armor parts!

Ha! I thought I was the only crazy one with this many VF-2SS kits.

I've got my collection set up in a similar fashion on open wooden shelves, and I'm to the point where I'm just gonna pack everything up until I can get some proper display cases with glass doors. I'm tired of the dust everything accumulates within weeks. It's a pain having to move everything to wipe the shelves then dusting everything off and putting it all back.

That's what I'm talking about! I could see Toynami doing these for Macross and Mospeada. They wouldn't need to transform, so it wouldn't be a difficult task to make them since they would just need to have them designed around the lineart. Well, we can only hope that it happens in our lifetimes.

So, we never really see Marcus die, right? Wouldn't it have been possible to keep him alive somehow without his heart and just give him an artificial heart?