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Chronocidal

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  1. Chronocidal
    Actually, I'm not worried about any of the other voices, just because I've seen some insanely good voice talent out there. If they aim for people who can imitate the classic sound, they'll get it. I'm sure if they needed, they could probably get a good Bill Melendez impersonator too, but being able to use his original voicework is too perfect to pass up.
  2. Chronocidal
    Heh, just reading this reminded me, I had planned to try designing a replacement lower triangle once my 3d printer was up again. Good thing I ordered a spool of black ABS. I intend to base it off of the Yamato VF-17 design, and just have a simple flap that folds down under the chest. It'll kinda just hang there in battroid mode, but it shouldn't be too visible. Anyway, I'm probably remembering more thigh swivel problems than I actually have (funny how bandai valks lend them to that kind of thinking ). In the 171's case though, I'm pretty sure it has something to do with that screwball kneejoint. Honestly, half of the reason I don't transform mine is specifically because those joints never work reliably going back to fighter mode, and I'm worried I'm going to shear the entire leg off trying to rotate it.
  3. Chronocidal
    Ok.. can't say I'm not skeptical, but the fact that they're drawing 2-dimensional motion lines (in 3D no less) over the top of 3-dimensional animation has me very intrigued. It looks like they've rendered the characters, and then gone back to draw in all the faces and gestures after the fact. Plus, sourcing the original soundtrack and character voices will probably sell me quickly on it. I just hope they can keep to the classic story styling, and keep in mind how Schulz may have wanted things done with his characters. I grew up with the original Halloween/Thanksgiving/Christmas specials, and the more recent productions with the characters have gotten further and further off the mark set by those.
  4. Chronocidal
    I want to say that every single one of my Bandai valks has this problem actually. Given the generic problems of looseness on pretty much every one of them, I'd think Bandai just has no concept of how to design a joint that can stay functional. Both of my 171s have this problem, and if I recall correctly, tightening the screws didn't help at all, because the looseness is from shoddy friction inserts that don't fit well, and are mounted in such a way that tightening the screws doesn't actually press them against the joints more tightly. All tightening the screws does is overstress the pieces. It's because the entire joint is sandwiched in that stupid locking joint to keep the legs from twisting while extended (heaven forbid anyone would actually want to use that joint for better posability or something). I can't say for certain exactly how loose my 171s have gotten by now, because after one or two transformations, I gave up and decided to keep them in fighter mode forever to keep them from disintegrating.
  5. Chronocidal
    If you strip all the ludicrous markings off, and paint it like an actual aircraft, yes. Clearly, they were quite worried about maintenance crews, pilots, wingmen, even enemies, forgetting just which particular plane they were fighting.
  6. Chronocidal
    Actually.. if it means the mechanism works the way the old Kenner mold did, I can get behind that. The FX wing mechanism was terrible. All around just sounds like an even bigger version to have fun customizing, and maybe closer to true scale with the figures.
  7. Chronocidal
    Thing is, there's really no reason to have a transforming one of those. The Monster kind of gets a pass because it's more like mobile artillery, but if your mission is to drop bombs from an altitude that negates the need for close combat capabilities, you really don't need to be landing and punching things. Now, granted.. they've never bothered to apply that logic to the existing transforming capital ships (which I still think is ridiculous, but hey, rule of cool), so that's not to say Kawamori wouldn't come up with something like that. But if you consider the payload regular valks can carry at this point, you're talking something more along the lines of a missile boat, and all that does is insure that all of your big missiles are concentrated in one spot, so they're easier to hit. Plus, I don't think anyone would bother with traditional guided bombs in combat once you have the ability to beamspam everything from a tank to an entire city in a matter of seconds, from orbit.
  8. Chronocidal
    Not so much this, as Bandai's generic middle finger to people who care about all things aircraft. It's like they've turned refusing to conform to standard practices into their own misguided trademark. They seem to cling to inaccuracies as if they have an incurable obsession with nostalgia, even at the cost of quality and accuracy...which, I wonder if it's literally the case.. nostalgia for the old Takatoku-style bare gear vs accurate aircraft detailing? They probably researched the impact of such things on sales. Yamato/Arcadia tend to have plenty good looking gear, even if they aren't specifically accurate (the only ones that actually follow the true retraction method are the VF-11 and YF-21/VF-22, they're all supposed to rotate 90 degrees into the bay). They still manage to transform. Honestly, if Bandai would take the time to paint them instead of leaving them bare metal, it would help immensely. The goofy metallic just looks incredibly cheap.
  9. Chronocidal
    Well, to start with, you may be better off waiting for the Alto reissue, and using those as the base, for a few reasons. First off, the less painting you have to do the better. While they weren't technically white aircraft, the scheme Cypher's plane was based on is one of the prototype F-15s, which was a nice gloss white. Pixy's later plane in the game was also white. Unless you were planning on painting them both gray from the start, in which case it won't really matter. As far as having something durable though, being able to start with a pure white aircraft and leave it the base color would avoid all the frustration of scratching over time. Plus, not having to paint the entire thing would save you a lot of time and effort, since you could just focus on removing the Alto markings, and adding the AC ones. Anyway, as far as disassembling them, I haven't gotten much experience with the renewals, but if they're anything like the VF-27, be very careful about keeping left and right parts seperated, and taking pictures of exactly how they go together as you take them apart. The VF-27 uses a bunch of parts that can be mixed and matched, and it's very easy to assemble things the wrong way, rendering the valk completely unable to transform at all.
  10. Chronocidal
    Actually, I'd love to get one just to use the canopy on another valk, since it's the only one in molded in that particular shade. But I'm not going to do that unless I see it drop to insanely low prices. And really.. I don't ever want it to reach those prices, because it'll mean Arcadia is having issues with selling it, and I'd rather not start down that path again.
  11. Chronocidal
    Oh, I know, I just find it funny that it's like they're trying to cover up their ineptitude at making flat wings by making the wing packs droop on purpose to counter it. They've gotten better over time (my VF-25A has pretty much perfectly molded wings), but most of my VF-25s still have the flappy problem. Really though, if they bend them down that far? I don't think I'm going to feel comfortable displaying them. At least the armor packs latch onto the wing gloves, and the wings aren't even inside those, but these look like they'd wind up forcing the wings to remain bent completely opposite their natural shape. (Unless I'm mistaken at how they attach, and the wings don't go into the tornado packs either. I've never looked that closely at them.)
  12. Chronocidal
    They'd definitely be cheaper, but you might have to do a lot more work to get a Figma into that shape, since they're usually modeled with a lot more clothing that you'd have to remove, and you might not get a useable body underneath. Figmas in simple bodysuits are pretty hard to find. Those Votoms figures are pretty much ready made to convert into Meltrans, since there's really nothing significant to change. Too bad no one thought of this when they came out, because they were about the same price as Figmas.
  13. Chronocidal
    Maybe that's their solution for the way most of the VF-25 releases have the wings bent upwards? But yeah.. that really does not look good.
  14. Chronocidal
    True, I'm going off of release amounts, and not converting currencies. I just remember getting the early VF-19 releases for about $250, and the YF-19 I've been seeing for $260-$280 depending on the shop. The shift in exchange rate since the Fire Valk came out has really helped prices for us.
  15. Chronocidal
    I'd still take a Toynami 1/100 over 99% of the existing aircraft transformers. It's not a matter of production value, it's a matter of design standpoint, and personal preference. Valks are aircraft. They just happen to be able to turn into robots. The priority is looking like a functional aircraft, so that's what they're better at. Since I'm in this for the aircraft, it's also what I focus on. Transformers may be fine toys, but they're usually pretty freaking ugly as aircraft, no matter how much they cost. And you have to admit, even at the masterpiece level, all Starscream gets for landing gear is donuts pasted onto a flip-out panel. Do they function? Sort of. It's just a matter of priorities, and where the production companies want to spend their money for development. They're really not worth trying to compare, unless you like arguing about things like how baseball is more fun than basketball, and the like. It's pretty much the same level of topic. Anyway, I do miss the old prices Yamato had years ago, but unfortunately it wasn't enough to keep them afloat. The production costs for higher quality keep climbing, and Arcadia can't throw their weight around like Bandai to get things done (even Bandai seems to be terrible about that, considering how many tries it took to get the VF-25s right). Now, the future will be interesting.. Arcadia's current prices are higher than Yamato's were for the VF-1, but the YF-19 is roughly on-par for what the VF-19 series cost. If the VF-1s are overpriced, we may see them drop over time again once Arcadia gets solidly on their feet. If not? Then it's what the company needs to charge to break even, and I can live with that.
  16. Chronocidal
    Actually, the VF-0D is the same overall length, nose included. It's just that components are shifted around similar to the way the VT-1 is, and the canopy is a little closer to the nosecone than on the A or S. They might have to push the heatshield closer to the cockpit to make it longer. If the intake fins are molded in one piece with them, I don't think I'm too concerned about their strength. They obviously won't take any kind of drop well, but they'll probably be fine as long as you don't leave pressure on them. If you keep the gunpod loaded, it might keep them from even touching on a flat surface.
  17. Chronocidal
    Yeah..I can't argue that there are some nice car transformers... but, where aircraft are concerned, valks are aircraft that turn into robots, while transformers tend to be something like a kid robot on halloween who pastes cardboard airplane parts all over his body, and tries to pass himself off as something that could potentially fly.
  18. Chronocidal
    Well, technically there are ways to fudge double sided plates, but it takes more space than a single plate would. That giant B-wing is a great example, because it's actually built double sided. The entire main wing is a sandwich of two opposite halves, with all the studs facing outward, and plugged into the main assembly with some connecting rods and pins. The wing itself is held together by something I wish they had had long ago.. essentially a 2x2 plate with a 90-degree bend in the middle. We've long had plates that are like two 2x2s or a 1x2 attached to a bent down 2x2.. but these little things are amazing. They're only slightly too tall to completely press the two halves of the wing together.
  19. Chronocidal
    Given how many times I seem to see creations that require an astounding amount of 1x3 or 2x3 pieces to form a design with a single row of studs down the middle, I wouldn't mind more odd-numbered pieces. They'd become extremely useful in a lot of situations.
  20. Chronocidal
    To be fair though, the Bandai 1/72 transforming VF-1 is a bit skinnier than the Yamato/Arcadia design in some ways. I know some bits feel mostly the same, but the arms are definitely tiny compared to the Yamcadias, and the lower legs feel skinnier as well (this even despite the collapsing panel on the inner side that should allow the arms to be bigger).
  21. Chronocidal
    Did, but it's a preorder, so it's shipping now. I'm mostly looking forward to the soundtrack (which I'm disappointed 13-3 didn't come with).
  22. Chronocidal
    Hey, they're back to the old retail Yamato price! Well, thereabouts anyway.. maybe that was a sale price? But I remember picking up most of my VF-1s for around $80. I know they started at 9800 yen, but I don't recall what the exchange rate was at the time.
  23. Chronocidal
    Once you do hard mode, those weapons don't even come close to the max upgrades for some weapons. The crossover weapons you get from FFXIV for opening the walkways between areas max out around 3200 in either magic or strength. The trick is just farming the hard mode upgrade materials. Even after one run of new game + though, you should be plenty equipped to finish everything on easy, maybe normal too. Anyway, as far as Titanfall goes, that's hilarious. Now I'm curious if we'll see a bunch of machinimas based on the game where everyone runs around doing nothing.
  24. Chronocidal
    Well, if you have Paypal setup to use your bank account directly, or possibly if you have a balance on your Paypal account, it'll get paid straight out of that.
  25. Chronocidal
    THAT I would be all over. That custom red 1/72 VF-25S was absolutely gorgeous.
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