Jump to content

JB0

Members
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    13330

  • Joined

  • Last visited

 Content Type 

Everything posted by JB0

  1. JB0
    Also, my understanding is that legally, a trademark owner can't selectively ignore infringing use. They have to threaten everyone or risk losing the mark. That results in a lot of C&D notices companies don't really care about. In practice, this usually means they ignore fanworks until they get attention in the mainstream press. Below that threshold they can credibly claim they simply didn't know their trademark was being misused. (Also, AM2R was a terrible remake in that it missed the entire point of the original work, but that's neither here nor there. It was leagues better than Samus Returns, though. And I think the DMCA thing was actually a confused lawyer, because a DMCA takedown request is for flat-out piracy, not trademark infringement.)
  2. JB0
    Objectively, it is a far better adult collectible. I just feel like they lost sight of the character. I also feel like just squaring off the tops of the chest vents would help a lot to retain the original character feel without throwing away the entire toy. That said, it is the odd duck in the line, as the rest are all much more conservative redesigns. I still wonder why Eagle-1 got a complete makeover and none of the rest did. I suspect the answer is "DX Bike Robo". Which is to say that smaller, cheaper collectibles didn't sell well and they're trying to port the line to a larger size. Which is admittedly somewhat disappointing.
  3. JB0
    The shoulders are a notable change, but the octagonal chest vents drive me crazy. The angle across the bottom of the torso's alright, the black abdomen I can handle, but the top should be a straight line. And the plates to the side of the head ought to be there, but if the torso was squared across the top, I could ignore that too. (Incidentally, the shoulder expansion looks to be a skippable step, and if I had this toy, I probably would. Similarly, it looks like there's two pieces making an almost-flat V around his neck that could be folded up higher to get closer to the plate-ears look. ) Ah, but Bike Robo's changes were to make him more ANIME accurate. Image search tells me he matches the Revenge of Chronos design fairly closely. (And a lot of detail on Drill Robo's humanoid form is pulled from the anime model as well, but it strikes close enough to the toy to hit nostalgia buttons I didn't even realize I had) At least the anime stayed close to the toys. The characters on the show still RESEMBLE their toys, which isn't a detail that OTHER converting robots cartoon always bothered with. ALL THAT SAID, I will buy a Pathfinder remake in whichever scale it comes in, at whatever price they ask.
  4. JB0
    For the drill? Bleh. My feelings on it vary from part to part. I've looked at Eagle Robo, but I can't sell myself on it. It just doesn't look like Leader-1 to me. It looks like the anime used a design very close to the original toy, so anime accuracy would've gotten a decent Go-Bot. I'm not sure what happened here, but I feel like in "fixing" some of the original toy's deficiencies, they lost the character. He's great from the tips of his new toes to his belt, and then he falls off the truck. I can't see that octagonal torso as Leader-1 any more than an Optimus with no radiator abs.
  5. JB0
    My understanding is Machine Robo's Bike Robo used the axe that came with the smaller toy. The handblasters are pure Go-Bot. Honestly, between the faces, the blaster parts, and the color changes, I get the impression that DX Cy-Kill exists specifically for Go-Bots fans. As far as the non-DX toys goes, I got their Drill Robo/Screwhead back when I picked up Grassor/Slag. And I grin like I'm three again every time I mess with him. The general impression he gives is "the toy your imagination said you owned as a kid". I feel like he's basically an MP Go-Bot, size notwithstanding. The engineering is too clever for its own good at points(much like certain entries in the MP TF line, starting way back at MP-1 Prime), but he is a very good drilltank and robot. The transformation, while more complex due to the panels that fill out the leg backs and tank sides, is still "legs down, toes forward, arms to the side". There's even a cute touch(opinions may vary) where the injection gate on his robot back/drilltank top is placed where a screwhole was on the original toy. The biggest flaw, and one I feel is directly related to the scale, is that there's a trio of fairly visible holes on the tops of his feet. One centered on his ankle balljoint, the other two at the endpoints for a panel that fills out drilltank mode. I suspect they are strain relief for the associated joints, and a larger toy could more readily avoid the holes. (There's similar gaps at other joints, but it only really sticks out for me on the feet) ... Okay, that's actually the second-biggest flaw. The BIGGEST flaw is that his drillhead is gray plastic and not chrome. All the gray plastic on the new version was chrome on the original, but only the drillhead change BOTHERS me. It is still very expensive for the size, and that is really the only fault I can find.
  6. JB0
    The english version of their site states that " A new wing on the right side is new. " I just wanted to highlight that, because it made me smile. In seriousness, my babelfish-to-english skills(combined with comparing to pics of the original) tell me that 1: they redesigned the wing for a better "sword draw" effect. It presents the appearance that the sword is actually sheathed inside the wing instead of just hooked to the back of it. I'm pretty sure they attach a bladeless hilt to the end of the wing for that feature, but it is a key pose, so... parts used exclusively to recreate the pose are understandable. 2: They remolded the head to suck less. Or as the babelfished translation puts it, "The face parts became a new model, more goggles were emphasized, and the three-dimensional feeling increased. " 3: New optional toy-accurate "sigma" belt buckle to swap with the original anime-accurate "jailbars" one. 4: New axe and frisbee weapons. 5: They redesigned the combined chest plate. 5b: The little crystal in the torso bot's chest apparently extends out into the combiner chestplate instead of being duplicated by the chestplate part. A cute touch, albeit pointless. Unchanged, based on the fact that the promo pics aren't highlighting it to the heavens: He still only has about five degrees of knee motion. In conclusion, New wing is new and more goggles were emphasized. To me, it looks like existing owners shouldn't upgrade unless they just HATE the current head. But new purchasers shouldn't be considering the original.
  7. JB0
    I have a soft spot for Monstructor. He was my only G1 combiner, and I was old enough to actually read the bios so I appreciated some of that detail(his guys were my introduction to "G1 bios are crazy"). But he was stupid small, and just not very good. I'm just really not sure I want a new one for the price.
  8. JB0
    As hard as I rag on the Spectrum, I've got nothing bad to say about it aesthetically. He contributed the best part of that system, as well as the other computers he worked on. Rest in peace, good sir.
  9. JB0
    Someone's doing Monstructor? Color me surprised. Not that it is a bad idea, just that it was from a fairly dark time for the franchise and I didn't think anyone was looking for this.
  10. JB0
    Oh, definitely. But before they did it, I would've said it was impossible. Now I can just say it is impossible to look nice doing.
  11. JB0
    On the other hand, they DID do the "perfect transformation" Getter Robo. All three robots and the individual jets in a single toy, with apparently no part-swapping. While it was completely insane, it is an insanity I have to respect.
  12. JB0
    I still really like how Classics Prime looks, so this is pretty awesome to me. The upgrades to the arm shields are sorely appreciated, though not as much as the ability to just hang 'em off his back instead. Be nice if they covered up the spare radiator when used as a backpack, but I guess that's too much to ask. If I recall, Classics Prime was originally designed as a smaller toy, to be sold with trailer. Then they decided to put that part of the budget into a bigger and better robotruck, sold at the same price point without a trailer. So they upscaled him, and then tweaked the design and paint job to be more fitting for the new scale. I think that's why the goofy armshields happened in the first place. It was a sacrifice needed for the smaller version, and was too hard to get rid of it without rebuilding him from scratch.
  13. JB0
    Apparently, Mattel has the exclusive license to make Ferrari toys, so no alien robot Ferraris from Hasbro. This is apparently also why the character's name is different in the movie than in other material(where he's known as Mirage). Ferrari wasn't comfortable with their character bearing a Hasbro toy trademark(more specific than Autobot).
  14. JB0
    They did a movie that opened with ten minutes of new stuff before turning into a two-hour clip episode. It raised SO MANY QUESTIONS in those ten minutes.
  15. JB0
    That actually does help! Thanks. So they're the best kind of toy company?
  16. JB0
    Oh man, Star Driver was awesome.
  17. JB0
    BECAUSE IT IS WEIRD! I think it is the idea of the lighter and more fragile vehicle being used to support the weight of everything.
  18. JB0
    Waitwaitwait... The jets form the legs and the drilltank forms the arms? That's just WEIRD AND UNNATURAL. ... No, seriously. This actually bothers me.
  19. JB0
    Ah. I think I vaguely remember that scene. Thre's large parts of that movie that failed to stick with me in any way at all.
  20. JB0
    Decepticon SUVs? I don't remember this at all. That said, he's just cool. If he were a better class of toy, and Transformers weren't basically impossible to find around here, I'd probably get one. Even though it's a Bayformer.
  21. JB0
    My personal breakover point is "does the console do HD". Though I used to play my 360 on a VGA CRT. The assumption of widescreen ended that.
  22. JB0
    *sigh* Hasbro. Hasbro, Hasbro... listen to me here. You keep making the same mistake, over and over. It is getting old. When you cram robot parts so far into the car cabin that there's feet against the windshield and knees poking out the windows, then FOR GOD'S SAKE PAINT THE WINDOWS!
  23. JB0
    > Harmony Gold was shutting down these fan film projects because they were angry that those fans were making them look incompetent.
  24. JB0
    DRAAAAAAMA!
  25. JB0
    Actually, Sludge's mouth DOES open. It is just REALLY REALLY stiff.
×
×
  • Create New...