DarrinG

OK - I've seen enough. It's way cool . . . (took this pick in my cube and added the background)

Dude - a cat knocking around a Beagle? Not good. Just got my Cyclone today. Will get more reaction out soon (to the none of you anxiously awaiting my comments) but the first things I noticed: • Still do not like the Scott illustration on the outside, if that is indeed supposed to be Scott / Stick • The book-style box already had scuffs and wear right out of the box, & not sure why they had to put a label on the back instead of printing those notes right on the box (must have been last minute edits) • Was not sure about the Toynami head sculpt at first but it quickly grew on me. from the 1,000 pics of the Beagle head that I've seen I like this a little better. • Liked the look of the cloth but it made me nervous the whole time I did my initial posing tests - it makes fragile creaks and sounds just to let you know it will tear at any second! • Picked up the bike -- S M I L E -- wow, just wow. The windscreen flopped around, but wow. More later . . .

If we live long enough to see a RTLA Movie: • The designs will be updated but we'll all be able to recognize what they are. • We'll love some of the updates and be disappointed with others. Depends on the person. Reading this post its easy to tell who'll hate everything. • I see why Jenius says to start with the Mospeada portion, but he's all caught up in the legal issues. Let's dream a little dream instead: (take a deep breath, ease down the negativity for 5 minutes - even though much of it is warranted through the failures of so many that held your precious dreams and so massively crushed and botched things up in the past for you) A. They start with Macross and get it perfect. PERFECT. Skull-1 is the coolest Skull-1 we could ever imagine, updated design based on some of the later Macross series VFs and some sheer Hollywood talent. Tobey M turns out to be the fan we can trust. We're so stoked we pee ourselves. B. They change the name from Robotech to something else so we're not embarrassed to urge our co-workers on at the water cooler to go see it. And sadly for some, no transforming SDF, at least not into a robot with boat arms. Maybe the main parts do move around so they can fire the main guns, but into something else cool - something updated just as well as the previously mentioned Skull-1. We all love it and agree they did the right thing. Means different toys anyway - right? C. The first movie is massively successful worldwide, we each see it 5x. There's so many new toys and models we can hardly track them all. They're understandably scared to go into the Masters plot line with Dana for the second film. But hey - they're not constrained by the animation and can finally do the gap fillers we've always dreamed about . . . D. SDF-3 rolls through the screen, we get to see all our favorite Macross heroes run into the Invid while out searching for the "Masters" as the second movie opens. Meanwhile back on earth, ATAC and TASC and the rest are awesomely cast and are all piloting DESTROIDS, VFs and old Zentradi mechs when the Masters arrive! As they should have been. We love the new characters and get to see Tomahawk and Monster squads do battle like the first movie didn't get to show. Angelo Dante is definitely a Monster Captain. E. We all say -"Now if the Bioroids were like that in the Southern Cross I would have been a HUGE fan" - The Bioroids make the Zentraedi look like playground bullys and the earth quickly must develop new mechs just to keep from total destruction. "This is nothing like the Southern Cross I feared" we shout! We're so relieved they didn't mess it up we pee ourselves again. F. The hovertanks are rolled out o do battle with the Masters (perfectly updated, closed cockpits of course, we finally get our Toynami MPC line based on these updated designs). We all (almost) universally agree on MW posts that they're just as cool as the Skull-1 and SDF Hollywood updates. No other SC mecha are even shown - Horaah! But the individual body armor of the 15th Squadron turns out to be very cool and a logical step towards the protective suits that eventually bare the Mospeada ride-armor designs. G. The Mospeada story line sells itself for the 3rd film, just like Jenius stated earlier in this post. But our Macross heroes simultaneously fight the Invid Regent across the distant galaxy so we get our fix of all the characters we love. --Someone want to take it from here, I'm beat . . .

My rule has been only items from the original Macross or Mospeada TV series. No DYRL, no Zero, Plus etc, etc. So unless Yamato comes out with a green TV version Q-Rau I will not be getting one. But even avoiding Megahouse and CMs altogether, there's has been so much that's still come out that fits in my guidelines! I can point to 300 things I've passed up but the several I'm getting seem to all be pricey choices. So I sold $1,000 worth of stuff on eBay to finance some of the new VF-1 v.2s, Destroids, Cyclones and Beta Fighters.

I would NOT buy an Invid Overlord and I'm buying most all the cool stuff that's coming out right now. Just sold 2 Jack Archer MPCs because, as we're discussing, times are tough and I can no longer afford to scarf up or keep things that are not from the original series. I will also not be getting a Maia Shadow fighter no matter how its improved, and probably nothing else from the SC. Would however get all 3 Gosu versions if they were done fairly well, removable pilot or not. But as it was said earlier, I might be in the minority wanting these mechs and companies are afraid of taking the chance on bad guys. But these can be displayed with the 4 Alphas I already have and spent big bucks on so I would get them in a second. _____ !! Speaking of in the minority - on the Devastator Cyclone - again, this was never in the original series. I would rather have Lunk's jeep in the $39.99 range to go with my eventual $1,000 in ride-armors than one more $200 plus piece that doesn't fit with the rest. If it was part of an Appendix Pack that would be more than fine though.

I TOTALLY agree. I overwhelmingly prefer the Toynami Alpha/Beta more military colors. If it is CMs we'll need to dull the Inbit commanders down with weathering kits I guess. Just make them whoever you are - I will buy all 3, shiny or not . . .

There's not really a problem for Toynami Alpha owners if CMs does the Invid mechs, just as long as they do them in the scale of their 1/48 Legioss - not their 1/18 ride armors. And if they're starting with the commander model I'm pretty sure it would be the 1/48 . . .

Hmv mosp artbook For some reason I think this site looks iffy. Has someone else here pre-ordered through them? I may wait to see the new Mospeada book pop up somewhere else. ------------ There's still the rumor that someone is going to make the Invid/Inbit Commander in the 1/55 1/48 scale (humanoid pilot). That makes the most sense since they can come out with at least 3 color versions from the same mold. And I'm all for that since it will need to be fairly profitable if we ever hope to see more in the future. Another good reason is it can have a real removable pilot. The other lesser crabs were only piloted by blobs of green jelly and what fun is that to play with? Don't answer that. Jenius might have some inside news that he's not divulging yet. I bet its CMs.

Episode 20 was a standout for me too. The man betrayed by his friends with the kick-butt missile sidecar. That would sure come in handy in traffic jams. He seeks revenge only when its raining. Does anyone have a good source to order the new Mospeada Book? I saw one link but it was all in Japanese.

There's constant tension in my cube . . . .

"You people make me sick. Well I'm not the only one fighting the Invid, there are others who aren't ready to roll over and play dead for them you got that!" (or something) Remember how I felt in Jr. High, thinking; this is soooo cool.

Oh - and robotech.com is finally shipping my pre-ordered cyclone . . .

Cool take on the end of episode 8. I actually never assumed they wiped out the town but it would only make sense since it was full of soldiers. The following episode should have had Rey (rand) say something like "And oh yeah - that town we were just vacationing in - wiped out, totally blown away" - and Stick sneering with some comment about how they wouldn't have been much help to him anyway. Great Moment: End of episode #2 where they're led to the 'other island'. When they spring the trap and we really get to see the ride armor in action, busting through buildings and the crabs tracking our heroes down. Then the disgust for the people that surround them, how they don't care anymore. Stick's (scott's) speech at the end was great. Really made you feel like the main characters are all alone in their mission.

Anyway - about Mospeada News . . .

As I read down I was laughing about the rafts then I saw jenius beat me to it. I'm not sure Noah's Ark could float a Beta. Episode 8 with Wolf has always been a standout for me. Great dialog, character development and GREAT combat action/animation. Always liked 15 too where they're trapped in the underground subway. When I watch the range of human emotions and reactions in this episode (and a few others like episode 10 where they find their beta) I realize there has been no animated show to rival this since it aired (in the US anyway). The New York episode mecha action is some of my favorite but the Flash Dance - Yellow choreography number makes me cringe . . .

Have heard nothing yet from Robotech.com - I preordered the cyclone and red beta. I did finally see the combined art for the Beta MPCs of Rand, Annie, Lunk and Marlene and actually liked it. Don't care for the pic of Scott on the cyclone. They have stolen the nose and mouth from some type of rabbit or sheep or something. Looks anything but fierce.

The Scout might be too big for Appendix 1, so I'll just take one of these guys . . .

For the Cyclone Appendix 1; One armored Invid Scout, 2 headless Scott/Rand helmets, 2 sets of saddlebags, a fake campfire to scale with an led light inside like the one in the visor of the MPC VF-1s. For Appendix 2; Lunk and Annie figures, Lancer and Rook's helmets and saddlebags, the machine gun Annie unloads in episode 2 and the big gun Lunk gets in episode 7. (sorry I used RB names here) Oh - and neck plugs for any figures released with a big holes in their gizzard's . . .

One thing to explain myself further. If I had bought the Beagle version and there was a RB Scott label on there I would be just as frustrated. Maybe I'm a perfectionist or something but if you're going to incur $20/$30 of the total cost on a RB Scott book-style box, maybe you should consider the stand label too. Guess I need to be in these meeting rooms to really understand. How the neck screw hole in a $250 toy is OK, or the 'masterpiece beta' can be made without the often shown top missile bays. Glad for these after so many years, just confused about some of the obscure details hard fought for while other obvious ones sometimes left out.

Why the heck did Toynami not switch out the darn Mospeada stand label? Ugh. This seems incredibly easy to do. I guess they might say price was a factor, and I realize theirs is lower, but I would have paid the extra 2 bucks for a Robotech Scott label. And while they're at it $10 more for a neck plug and $20 more for better cloth would have been good too. Maybe I'm in the minority and others here will be glad the kept the cost as low as possible. . .

With no word from Toynami do you think there's any chance they've decided to upgrade something before shipping the Cyclones? I can't imagine they could time or money wise, but it sure would add to their improving reputation if they decided to swap out the cloth for something better. I personally would love to wait a few months if they had the guts to do it.

Speaking of the brown shade, I don't really like it. I like the color in the screen caps better, especially the one with the 1A in the background.

Ahhh - the fighter that was invented so Stick can shoot his own guys without remorse! Very cool. Wish the nose was not so long. Hangs waaay down there in soldier mode.

I'm in for 1/60 pods and glaugs for sure. I posted somewhere else that they NEED to have removable and posable pilots, but I'm wondering if that will make it too expensive and also very hard to make the scale accurate. I mean, how tall would the enemy pilot have to stand to be realistic with the 1/60 v.2 line? That's going to be one big pod to accommodate that guy. If the dead pilot clutching the foot of the 1D looks like a pipsqueak we'll all still be complaining we don't have the 'real thing yet', and 'can't wait til they REALLY do a pod' etc, etc . . .

Looks AWESOME! Do you think the Gundam Marker would work just as well over the weathering version? That's an incredible effect. And how much to make me a hanger just like that one?