RavenHawk

I have the two-pack of Crash Hog and Dumpyard pre-ordered from BBTS and am really looking forward to it.

Great review!

FYI, this is the only piece of concept art I remember seeing for Wreck Gar (from Floro Dery, who I believe did the bulk of the movie concept art).

3 hours ago, eggy99 said:

Can we say the same for Robotech.com?

I will admit that I've ordered a few things directly from them over the years (i.e. when they were on clearance). Their shipping rates are excessive, and the items aren't packed very professionally. That said, one time when I had an issue with a product and emailed them to let them know, Steve emailed me back apologizing and send out a replacement within a day.

I think he might be the only employee there.

23 hours ago, anime52k8 said:

So apparently this is a thing that Flame toys is doing... and it's a model kit... and it's an illustration by BAN!...

 

I want it

I don't get the love for Wingblade (I might be misremembering her name). It sort of felt like one of those "Hey everybody, here's the next hot character that you all love. Take our word for it." I guess the design appeals to other people, just not me (beyond reminding me of how cool I thought Thrust's jet mode when I first saw it as a kid).

Wasn't this character a contest winner at IDW or something along those lines?

4 hours ago, no3Ljm said:

You meant, none of your collectibles would survive, right?  

 

I posted in another thread a couple weeks ago how shocked I was getting in some recent actual "toys", and not being worried about breaking them. I've gotten so used to collectibles or toys that are 30+ years old.

5 hours ago, Masked Aviator said:

I hope so if my wallet allows me to do that! Every bike in two modes !

I got to of each from the original release, precisely to a) keep one in each mode, and b) to do my part to keep the line going and hopefully get a full set.

I just wish that when they did re-releases they added in some new accessories or something. Actually, I take that back. If they did, I wouldn't be able to hold back and I'd get two each of the new ones too. As it stands, I can't justify getting the new releases just for the minor improvements (and my bank account is probably happier for it).

33 minutes ago, jenius said:

At this size, YES! Especially if Sentinel goes with a reinterpretation of the Legioss. I couldn't definitely enjoy having KC feed my classic itch while Sentinel gives me a modern take.

Big yes to that!

I kind of wouldn't mind seeing them take a stab at the Alpha/Legioss at this scale.

29 minutes ago, jenius said:

Not a toy I like but that's at least a good price. I'm guessing Arcadia will wait until Mid-Feb's Winter Wonderfest to start outlining their 2019 sales schedule. 

For around half of what it was going for with a number of retailers when it was first released (and around $100 less than what the cheaper retailers were offering it for then), I decided to pull the trigger.

Really, the biggest factor was my concern that we might never get an Arcadia E=X, and I'd be regretting having passed this up down the road.

So many of my collecting choices are motivated by my continued regret for having passed up the Studio HalfEye Maneuver Blade...

Just rewatched the series of MZ23 movies... which led to the craving for new toys/display pieces to fill up those Megazone shelves in my display cases.

Went online, saw that there were no updates on new products from Arcadia since the images of the full color Proto Garland a couple months back.

That means that we will probably be getting the Proto Garland not before mid 2019... hopefully the Hargun, but not before mid 2020 (I'd guess)... and who knows when for the E=X, if ever.

Look what you made me do, Arcadia!

10 hours ago, no3Ljm said:

I'm also digging the redesigned Ride Armors by Aramaki. The only thing I didn't like is how farther they designed the foot rest.

 

 

I have mixed feelings on it. I get why they did it, design-wise and Aramaki-redesign-wise. It also makes for a decent look with the figure on it. However, from a motorcycling point of view, it doesn't make sense considering the terrain these bikes would be designed to be able to ride on.

Overall, I am extremely happy with these toys, and am really glad that they exist. I intend on grabbing every one they put out, including any variants they might do later to capitalize on their molds. That said, from a minor gripe approach, I think the bikes should be a bit bigger relative to the figures, and that might also have helped with foot peg placement.

One thing to keep in mind with MAAS toys is that (at least with one of their designers, but possibly all) their designers design the look and transformation of the toy, but then leave it to the factory to make sure it works with this like how parts tab in together, etc. So, depending on the specific factory, there could be a wide range of quality of the final product.

My hopes for the Houquet figure (besides the obvious, you know, that we actually get one) are reinforced by seeing the old Beagle prototype again: I hope that we get something genuinely new.

I know that a lot of folks want to see a lot of the classic MOSPEADA design but, to me, this Sentinel line is something unique. If they want to do a classic looking line later, awesome, please do! But, for this current line, I like the reimagined look and I'd love them to go as far as they can (within what they can afford, having to reuse molds) towards a very new and updated look. Preferably more to it than just some of the new line's parts from the first figures, and the rest is old/classic Houquet.

2 minutes ago, jenius said:

I wish the realities of manufacturing toys would allow a company like this to do a small batch run of a less popular paint scheme to work out all the kinks. That way, the first VF-1 paint scheme would always be something like an Alaska Base or Hayao or something, only the super diehards would buy it and give feedback, and then the Fokker or Hunter could follow a few months later with all the tweaks employed.

Maybe Arcadia could have done that, releasing their MZ23 kickstarter stuff first, and then putting in the corrections to their main line.

(I just noticed that their character figure for the kickstarter seems to just be a repaint of their GFP line of figures... which also haven't come out yet)

4 minutes ago, Mommar said:

Why wouldn’t the joints translate to 3D?

Weren't there model kits of the Bioroid in the '80s (the Matchbox one later doesn't count, since it was so far off from the lineart)?

This was posted a long time ago on this site:

Found this while doing a quick search. Gotta love the hover bike.

http://www.zormaster.com/southerncrossmodels.html

2 hours ago, Mazinger said:

Anyone know who they are?  I don't recall hearing about MAAS Toys before.

Update: Found their site, seems like they have product in the wild.  Any of you guys have one of their pieces? If so can you comment on cost, quality, etc?
https://maastoys.com/news/

I have two of the Mayhem Mekanics/Unrustable Bastards (Spector General and Otomo), and those were "produced" by MAAS Toys (according to the box).

Very very high quality, though I don't know if they use the same factories for every one of their product lines. I think they may switch, since I think I heard that that line was a different manufacturer than some of their previous stuff (I may be wrong though).

5 minutes ago, M'Kyuun said:

For those interested in Magic Square's take on MP Optimus, they've posted a stop-motion short: https://tformers.com/magic-square-not-optimus-prime-stop-motion-animation-is-a-masterpiece/34541/news.html

I wish toy companies here in the West should advertise their figures like this- so much more dynamic and life-like than seeing a kid 'flying' the figure through the air or putting (often slamming) the figure down on the ground in a single pose.

Saw this further down that same page:

https://tformers.com/iron-warrior-color-optimus-prime-new-megatron-ultra-magnus-wfc-prime-jet-prime-brawl-reveals/34532/news.html

First I heard about it. Love me some Transformers Prime. I think it was seriously underrated.

On 12/14/2018 at 11:14 AM, no3Ljm said:

And after their Macross Saga line, wish they continue doing it for the New Generation characters such as Scott, Rand, Rook, and Yellow.

This would make me a happy camper.

On 12/13/2018 at 2:33 AM, Xigfrid said:

I was browsing Shoji Kawamori design work book and was stunned by teh similarities with the mecha design sketches made for Eureka anime:

Those are some very cool designs, though I don't really see the vehicle mode similarities all that strongly. The robot mode though, absolutely.

I'm in the process of re-watching this, in anticipation of the second half hitting NetFlix next week.

Again, the Eternity comics days don't look so bad anymore...

22 hours ago, Einherjar said:

So anyway, congratulations Nova’s mom, you are the latest token shoutout to Southern Cross since that new animation from Love Live Alive.  Hope you get more development beyond being name dropped as Nova’s mom as this comic’s storyline continues to spiral out of control.

Wait a minute.  That means Nova’s future dad will take HER last name.

Or she's married... or divorced or widowed but kept the last name... or... meh, just don't care...

56 minutes ago, Seto Kaiba said:

Aren't these pros, though?  Guys from Titan's regular staff.

 

I have no idea. I'm really not familiar with Titan, but I assumed that they weren't big enough to have a regular artistic staff, but just contracted out this work to whoever was cheap enough (read: amateurs wanting to break into the field).

8 minutes ago, Seto Kaiba said:

Titan is phoning this in so hard that it's come clear around from "not funny" to "actually pretty funny".

To be clear:

I think Titan is phoning it in in general.

I think Furman is phoning in the scripts.

I think the artists are trying, but are decidedly at the level where other publishers would have said "Thanks for sending in your samples. Keep practicing, and send us in your new portfolio in a couple years. Good luck!"

1 minute ago, jenius said:

That echoes what I heard back from Sentinel, they tried to adjust the tolerances on the ball joints to make them a little more snug, specifically mentioning the neck and foot flaps but also "other parts" which is probably the shoulder armors.  It also sounds like we'll get to see a Legioss 2.0 at the next Wonderfest if all goes well...

Sadly, I already have 2 of each of the original release, so I'll just have to enjoy the improved design on Yellow and Houquet.

4 hours ago, Old_Nash said:

Peserphone Satori. Mother of Nova Satori.

I have many issues with this series. Many.

This, however, honestly doesn't bother me. Part of the charm of Robotech to me as a kid was the generational aspect. Yes, in reality they shoehorned all that stuff in to try to make three unrelated series fit together as one. However, me watching the show, and later reading the comics and books, as a kid, was enjoying this grander scale of different characters over many years and how they related to each other. Hearing about Admiral Hunter in a future generation, and thinking back to when he was kind of a young nobody at the beginning of the series was fun. So, I'm trying not to view this too too much through my jaded old man eyes.

All of that said, I have no issue with them creating a new character (I assume she's new) to put in a theoretically fun little Easter egg to connect things to future generations.

Ok, now I'm going to go back to being my jaded and cynical self.

1 hour ago, Brofessor said:

Spoiler Alerts for Issues 7 to 12 ending September 2018.

In Issue 7 on pages 6 to 7, Dr. Lang reports a rupture in space time to Captain Lisa Hayes.  I'm not sure if the rupture is inside the SDF-1, in Pluto space, or in Mars space as related to research and development at Mars Base.  Mars Base took technology from Zor's Battlefortress and was using it to cloak ships.  This rupture is increasing in size.  On pages 10 to 11, Lisa tells Roy she knows the secrets he and Captain Gloval knew.  On page 13 Khyron seems to reference the Robotech Masters and Grel receives a transmission from the SDF-1.

In Issue 8 on page 23, T. R. Edwards is in custody inside the SDF-1.  On page 24 Claudia watches security footage from a vending machine drone which shows Roy murdering Captain Gloval.

In Issue 9, Brian Wood is no longer credited as a writer.  On page 10 the Invid are seen in Breetai's flashback.  On page 11 Breetai references the Masters with an antagonistic attitude toward them similar to Khyron's reference in Issue 7.  In Issue 9 and onwards, Dolza seems to be a hologram.  In the re-imagined story arc of Vermillion squad's capture and escape, they do not seem to fold to Dolza and back to our solar system.  Instead, Dolza simply skypes them.

In Issue 10 on page 24, Dr. Lang sends a probe into the space time rupture and it seems to show a wormhole to the Invid Regess as she detects the probe in her near space.

In Issue 11 on page 13, Dr. Lang seems to detect the protoplasmic nature of the Invid while being monitored by Lazlo Zand who seems to have foreknowledge of the Invid already.  On pages 19 to 20, Breetai confides in the captive micronians he believes their assertions of ignorance of protoculture.  He asks for their help in defeating the Invid.  Dolza and Azonia must assume the micronians are hiding something.

In Issue 12 on page 24, a clone of Roy or alternate timeline Roy or evil doppelganger Roy seems to kill/stun good Roy.

Stay tuned.

Brofessor, I'm not sure what you're doing here. Are you just pointing out things that you thought were interesting in these issues? It's not really summarizing them, not really pointing out inconsistencies... No offense or criticism intended, just like to know how to frame what you are choosing to comment on.

8 hours ago, jenius said:

I'm really curious to see if Fewture is going to deliver a Garland. The design will be almost 4 years old when it comes to market!

And to date, we just have the one batch of pics of it, and they look handpainted to me.