RavenHawk

The 1/48 Bioroid and Lana are model kits not toys. No toys were produced officially. The bad bootlegged Lana is hideous and not really mentionable.

Well, there was the Matchbox Logan, though it transformed to "guardian" mode (or whatever it was called in Southern Cross) but not into a box, er, I mean tank.

Beast Wars 2 Starscream ( http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Starscream_%28BWII%29 ) and BB ( http://tfwiki.net/wiki/BB ).

I'm pretty sure they were thinking of these two guys when they made the G2 toy.

Very likely, since the US version of the toy of those guys was also named Dreadwing in G1, and Darkwing in Super God Masterforce (I'm referring to the two jets that combine into one, not the jet and the tank).

Actually, the only sympathy I have for this mold comes from my love of Beast Wars II, where the bomber was BB and the little jet was Starscream and they were a very cool dynamic duo.

As for the G2 characters - well - what can I say? Yeah - making Darkwing and Dreadwind turn into that was a nifty idea and a nice rebuild. As a toy, this was one of the better Transformers; very poseable, multi-transformation. The weapons were too bulky for my liking and the colors are a bit garrish (but that's G2 for you).

All in all a nice piece of work - though like I said - if/when I get these guys, it will be as the Beast Wars II set. In fact, I really prefer how Beast Wars II used the G2 line to how it was initially used in G2. The poseable figures from the G2 line fit better alongside the balljointed beast warriors than they do alongside the G1 retreads used in G2. Also, I prefer the colors and characterizations given to them in Beast Wars II - including Megastorm....

Soo...umm...why isn't this in the Transformers superthread?

Pete

Do you have any links to the Beast Wars II bomber and little jet you're referring to? I'm not familiar with them, and haven't managed to find anything on them.

You're not referring to Transtech, right?

As for the Transformers superthread... this seemed a better spot for the thread, as far as getting actual live feedback from people (especially fellow MOSPEADA fans).

am i missing something? I fail to see a connection of this toy to mospeada. Cuz its blue?

Because at the time there was no likelihood of seeing a Legioss/Tread toy, and the bomber and fighter connecting together, then transforming into a small robot (fighter) and a big bulky weapons-laden robot (bomber) reminded me of it, hit a soft spot I have for MOSPEADA, and seemed the closest thing I was ever likely to get my hands on.

I'm neither asleep or working (hooray!) I rember owning that back in the day, it was probably the best B2 bomber that turned into a tank ever made.

I know, it's up against some stiff competition for that title.

I liked it because:

a) It reminded me of MOSPEADA

b) It made sense to me as a gimmick. Most fighters have such short ranges, fly it to the combat site on the bombers fuel tanks, then separate when it is needed. Plus, the bomber can bomb the location, then transform to a tank to secure the area, with the fighter patrolling. Ok, maybe doesn't make much sense from a Transformers point of view, but from a more human-based one...

There was a thread a while back, if I remember correctly, with some prototype images for the toy of the Blassreiter Paladin. Has anyone heard any updates on this item?

Thanks.

Either everyone is asleep or *shudder* working, or I'm the only one who had any love for this toy, even though it was mostly from a MOSPEADA point of view.

Anybody else remember this Transformer?

I bought this off of eBay back in 2000 or 2001, figuring it was the closest I was ever going to see to an Alpha/Beta / Legioss/Tread toy.

Fighter and bomber are combined into one big plane to get to the combat site, then split into a fighter and a tank, then transform into a smallish robot and a bulky robot with lots of weapons.

In the early 1980s, kids were trampling each other to get Gundam kits. After that, the only enduring survivors of the subsequent mecha apocalypse were the shows with the designs kids found the coolest, the ones that truly upheld the mecha aesthetic.

Exhibit A:

http://www.robotech.com/infopedia/mecha/viewmecha.php?id=4

What makes the Valkyrie a cool mecha? First of all, it looks like something that was manufactured. Unlike a super robot's design, which is more of an assemblage of basic shapes to convey strength, this looks like something that humans actually built. There are vents and running lights all over it as well as those trademark "circle-slash" things. (I know that there's supposed to be some sort of function for these, like the rungs on a Scopedog, but I don't remember what it is.)

Exhibit B:

http://www.robotech.com/infopedia/mecha/viewmecha.php?id=19

What makes the Legioss cool? Again, it has a strong manufactured flavor, thanks to ingredients like the triangular details at the knees and shoulders, the little recessed squares in the knees, hips, and shoulders (which are supposed to be sub-cameras), and those big intake vents on the chest. The "ammo box" styling it has gives it an even stronger militaristic feel than the Valkyrie. This is what mecha is all about.

Exhibit C:

http://www.robotech.com/infopedia/mecha/viewmecha.php?id=44

What's different here? First of all, there are lots of curves in the design, many smooth, undetailed surfaces, and it's awfully short on greeblies aside from those circles on the knees. It's somewhat reminiscent of something you'd make with origami. It also seems somewhat muscular, looking a little bit like a man in a suit. There's a lot going on with the first two designs that this one just doesn't have, and the same can be said for the rest of the Southern Cross mecha.

Some of this will seem subjective, and every person's concept of beauty (whether it's in a woman's face or a robot design) is always going to vary, but I do believe that if the Southern Cross designs had more of what other shows' robots did, and robot design counted for a lot in those days, then its legacy would have endured, and we'd be getting some sort of merchandise for it now.

Japanese companies are making toys from MOSPEADA, Galient, Orguss, Megazone 23, even Dorvack fer crissakes, but nothing from Southern Cross. The robots were the main selling points of these shows, and I think the black hole left by this show says a lot.

And I realize that there are reasons for the show being an "interesting failure" as Ginrai put it. The show started as a completely different concept (science fiction sengoku story), had the giant robots grafted onto it much later on, and the creators had to deal with this juggling act in a matter of weeks, coordinating everything with their sponsors and licensees, so it was almost destined to fall short of the mark.

I've never watched more than a handful episodes of Gundam, so I can't speak to its popularity, but one interesting thing that Shinji Aramaki once mentioned in an interview is that one of the big deals with Macross was that it had robots that turned into planes, somewhat like taking a design for a plane, and then figuring out how to make it transform into a robot. Previous to this, much of anime had robots first, and then tried to figure out how to make it transform into something, resulting in vehicles which didn't really look like much of anything. Aramaki tried to learn from this for his designs for MOSPEADA.

It you look at the three examples offered up by Roger above, maybe there's something to this. The Macross fighters look like fighters. The MOSPEADA fighters look like futuristic fighter. The Southern Cross tank looks like... a box.

That's kind of odd because Southern Cross always had some of my favourite mecha and I just love the armour designs. Very cool.

It's really all about taste. As much as I thoroughly loved Robotech as a kid, and drooled over the Macross Saga part of Robotech, I just could never get into Southern Cross, no matter how I tried (with the exception of the helicopter, which always, to my personal aesthetic, seemed very cool but misplaced in that show).

MOSPEADA/New Generation, however, is what really stuck with me over the years.

Everyone's taste is different.

I can't understand how some people don't like MOSPEADA, you loved Southern Cross... but I think you are in the minority, with not enough fans to support it then or probably now.

Here are some notes I made about unproduced MOSPEADA and Southern Cross model kits after digging through the Imai material:

MOSPEADA with armored sidecar? Really? Wonder if it's like the unproduced Bubblegum Crisis motoslave with sidecar.

This is the first I've heard of this. Roger, have you come across any mention of this anywhere else?

Ooh there are lots. There was a Legioss Tread combo toy never released seen in one magazine scan (scale unknown, transformability unknown), there were all the "Dark" variants that never got produced, there was the 1/72 Tread which only saw a release by Lansay in France but was planned for all color variants in Japan, there were diecast figures planned in 1/20 scale for houquet and Yellow (in both bike and armor modes), and I'm probably missing a few....

Ok, so different toys based on designs that we've seen, nothing that was unproduced like things that didn't make it into the anime, or from a possible sequel, had it been more successful?

I know Southern Cross had a TON of designs that never saw the light of day, at least not on the show.

Zero toys released in Japan for Southern Cross. There is one super crappy Chinese bootleg of the Lana model kit, but you are better off buying Dana on a vacuum cleaner.

Many hardcore fans here in the states will tell you the reason the show didn't do well in the ratings was a poor timeslot. Mospeada also suffered from a bad timeslot, but the fan following was large enough that a follow-up OVA was made.

Mospeada also had broader merchandising support in the form of models and toys which helped the show as far as sponsorship. These toys and models began development before the show aired. SC had no toy sponsor and my guess is that it has to do with the industry at the time. Takatoku was headed towards bankruptcy while trying to push their Orguss and Dorvack lines and develope a new Macross line for the upcoming movie. Gakken's Mospeada line was also not fairing well in Japan as evidenced by so many unreleased toys from its line (they have more unreleased toys that actually releases). So you had a stalwart toy company considered a pillar of the robot toy industry and you had a publishing company (Gakken) who was fairly new in the field of making toys, both companies facing major financial probelms due to sponsorship of mecha anime shows. It seems logical then that no company would want to touch SC.

Honestly, Mospeada's revival in Japan followed Toynami's niche success line of Robotech The New Generation toys. Had they not first proved that Legioss toys were still viable, I doubt you would see anything released in Japan. Look at Revoltech. a large company like Kaiyado doesnt even have plans yet for a Legioss or Sparta figure and they'll release mecha from just about any show! Given this logic, I think that when Toynami developes SC mecha toys first here in the states, then you might see some toy companies pick it up in Japan. I know for a fact that Toynami is considering SC toys right now, so keep your fingers crossed.

I have the soundtrack CD somewhere packed away, but I'm sure there are some locations on the internet that have it for download. Someone else may have it there.

sorry to take this off on a slight tangent, but which unreleased MOSPEADA toys are you referring to?

I'm going to get the Toynami MOSPEADA, and hope someone is selling a ki or something with a Beagle head later.

I've wanted this too long, despite the cost. Now, looking at just how many details there are in the CMs and Megahouse ones, it's clear to me that this more expensive design is the only one that I will be close to happy with.

I hope...

ROFLAO the Stick heads (Beagle and Toynami) are a bloody laugh. lol, i was leaning towards Beagle and then looked at it's

impression and i'm like WTF indeed, Toynami wins... kinda..

Or does Tommy Yune win, because many of us will once again be spending money on one of his "interpretations" of Robotech?

If I remember correctly it is orders@angolz.com. The transaction page probably just timed out, once you email them, they will probably email a link to a page where you can resume the transaction.

I have ordered from them before, my order via EMS was shipped on the 24th and I received my package on the 30th. I don't have any complaints. Their sales are great, they have the red CMS Legioss/Tread set for $110, and Yamato's 1/60 VF-0A Shin type w/Ghost for $105.

Cool, thanks.

There's a circular black sticker on the top left of the Metallic Version you can see in the compairison photo.

Thanks.

How can you tell from the outside of the box if it is the metallic version?

I ordered from them 2 nights back, then went to pay by paypal, and the page got screwed up somehow.

Now it says my status is "checked out" but paypal doesn't show the payments, and I can't find anything on the Angolz page on how to contact them.

That works.

Thanks!

Definitely some similarities.

No one has any screen caps, or no one cares?

The trick to getting the MPC's arms to fully collapse and close is this: Fold in the hands last.

Collapse the forearm completely, so that the locating tabs at the top of the forearm engage into their corresponding slots in the shoulders. The forearms should then fit pretty tightly to the shoulder. Once the forearm is secured then (and only then) should you attempt to flip the hands into their storage bays. You have to get the fingers positioned just so, so that they will permit the arm covers to close fully. If you don't have the hands folded correctly, you won't be able to get the arm covers closed.

All discussion of shoddy materials aside, I think that the leading precursor to broken hands on the MPCs is overstressing caused by the internals of the arms basically crunching the folded hands as in a vice when the arms are collapsed with the hands stored.

Ray's advice up top on getting the legs and torso to extend and collapse fully is spot on. When compressing the legs for fighter mode, you'll know they are compressed enough when the locating tab on the bottom of the arm matches it's mating notch on the lower leg. It should be able to snap in without pulling the upper and lower arms apart.

HTH.

I'll give it a shot tomorrow. Thanks.

I got my Beta last week and I'm very happy with it but like many others, had a few minor issues. I've learned a little tweaking to items can improve how much I like them.

For anyone having problems with the support bar that holds the Alpha being loose when you slide it into the Beta, I found out scotch tape can help. Here's what you do:

Put the bar into the Beta and determine exactly where on the bar is covered by the hole entrance. Take a little scotch tape and wrap it 1 length around that part. It won't take much. Now you can put the the tape all the way on the end of the bar but it’s a tighter fit on the arm that's near the mouth of the hole. A little trial and error will get it perfect. Do this and slide the bar back into the Beta and you'll find it creates a tension that holds it in place and makes it nice and snug. I have not had any problems since. And because the arm itself is in the hole, its hidden and you can't see the scotch tape.

The other thing I did (temporarily) was to wrap a little plastic around the head of the Beta cockpit for when I have the Alpha and Beta connected in fighter mode. I took a litte bit of the plastic from the bag that held the manual and wrapped it around the cockpit head. I cut it and made a sheath out of it so I can slide it on and off. This way, when I dock the Alpha in fighter mode to the Beta, it doesn't scratch the yellow on the cockpit. The plastic is hidden since the cockpit is folded down between the Alpha's legs. Now its my intention to find a more permanent solution for that and find a way to cover up the yellow for when the Beta is in battloid mode but for the time being, it will due.

Thanks. I was actually planning on trying the exact same thing with the scotch tape, but you beat me to the punch. I'll give it a try.

Her personal bike in the first episode is red, as seen in the opening montage when she's polishing it and then later when she gets a hamburger and runs into Leon. The blue bike she steals from a guy after wrecking the car with the boomer in it.

You're right. My mistake.

Ok, so I'm taking about the blue bike she steals from a guy...