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Chronocidal

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  1. Chronocidal
    Pretty awesome, but at the same time, it makes me a little sad the concept design someone had for a gatling gun never came to fruiition. Basically was a hopper-fed triple barrel design that would load, prime, and release a dart each rotation. Not terribly complex either, but the loading mechanism tended to jam a lot. Dunno if anyone here cares that much about the actual mechanics behind the darts themselves, but I made an interesting discovery the other day. Was mixing and matching darts, and noticed that the original clip-style darts won't work in my Strongarm. They've got too much of the tip stub sunk into the foam. Comparing accuracy, yeah, the new darts work quite a bit better in even some of the older guns, because they've got the weight concentrated further toward the front. Still tend to spin out of control a lot, but they're better. Sadly, nothing is actually as accurate as the old style suction-cup tipped ones that the Maverick used, which definitely work fine in the Strongarm as well. I really do miss having suction cups on everything, since you can't do much actual target shooting with the bullet tips.\ There are definitely ways to increase the bullet darts accuracy, but they might make the darts hurt a bit more than they should. Some people make their own out of foam stock, but I've gotten pretty good success just filling the tips of the standard darts with hot glue. Makes them fly incredibly straight compared with how the stock darts spin and twist all over when shot.
  2. Chronocidal
    Villain who throws a temper tantrum, and blows up an alternate universe's planet because he couldn't think straight.. Plot device that can create a black hole that's safe from within visual distance.. the dilithium brewery.. "trans-warp".. bleh. I wouldn't say I didn't enjoy it, but the plot really didn't make a lick of sense. You're talking about a universe where time travel is possible, and you don't use it to save a planet that blows up for some ridiculous reason? That, and Nero was abou 5 fries short of a happy meal the entire time.
  3. Chronocidal
    Actually I really have to wonder about this, because the design philosophies behind the two seem almost completely opposite. Yamato's VF-17 is extremely simple, bulky, and a breeze to transform, but not as sleek, and doesn't lock together in fighter mode as well. On the other hand, the VF-171 is painfully over-complicated, over-engineered, a pain the arse to transform, and actually works worse in battroid than the Yamato, but locks together better in fighter. If it really is the same person designing both, Bandai and Yamato must be sending them entirely different requirements. I mean.. ok, if you compare the hip flap on the Yamato with the little mess of folding panels on the Bandai, and the way the wing hinges work on the two, I don't think I could ever believe anyone suggesting they were designed by the same person.
  4. Chronocidal
    At this point, it's probably worth waiting until release. People are gradually realizing the way the scalping racket works, and deciding not to cave to their ridiculous prices, so come release day, all those preorders the scalpers couldn't sell at 2x retail will probably go back up for sale at the original price. Basically, the scalpers are banking on the high demand for stuff like the Alto and Ozma, and hoping it applies to all of Bandai's releases. In the case of stuff like the Michael, Luca, and VF-171s, it's creating the illusion of high demand, because they're snapping up all the preorders hoping to turn a profit. If no one buys the scalpers' preorders, they just cancel them and you get to pick them up at retail from the original source. So in the end, the only winning move is not to play. On the other hand, there is something to be said for having the peace of mind of a confirmed preorder. With this particular valk though, I think the scalpers are going to be spectacularly disappointed. While the new one is a definite improvement, the original wasn't actually anything I'd call bad to begin with. Combined with being an enemy valk, and the massive starting price compared with the other releases, I don't think this one will be hard to find later on. When you think about pricing though, it makes sense why AmiAmi gets so hammered. With the way they discount preorders, scalpers can sell their orders at or even below retail, and still turn a profit.
  5. Chronocidal
    I've had them make that snap too, and it's annoying, but I imagine it's just from the parts actually aligning to let the rotation happen. One more drop in the bucket of "what nimrod designed this?" really.. Would have been really simple to just make the legs rotate freely, but no, they had to work in some kind of interlock system that keeps them from rotating once you extend the legs a certain amount, and won't let you turn them back until you massage the knee joints into the perfect position to let the mechanism align.
  6. Chronocidal
    I imagine someone might, but in recent times, many shops have been carrying the web exclusives for foreign customers, so there's much less of a demand for them. You still probably get a better shipping rate in bulk, but I imagine some folks don't like the extra wait time to receive an item from a group buy, and since you're actually helping pay for double shipping, it might come out to more than a direct order.
  7. Chronocidal
    You know that in order to offer them cheaper than Yamato, they're going to have to drive down production costs, which usually winds up meaning corners are cut, and quality suffers. I mean, we've had our problems with Yamato in the past, but if you thought that was bad... Producing a good design means nothing if the design is assembled by people who don't know what the acronym QC even means. Plus, you know.. that's all moot if they never even manage to ship the product from whatever bottom dollar factory in China they pick to use. I lost count how many supposed releases were "stuck on a ship" in China for who knows how long.
  8. Chronocidal
    Psh, if Toynami made them they'd never get here anyway.
  9. Chronocidal
    I still think it's ludicrous that they're already selling these before they've even got the molds made.
  10. Chronocidal
    Eh, it's done now, I didn't order two at once, I actually placed two separate orders, so I just cancelled the second.
  11. Chronocidal
    Eh, might as well cancel it myself then. Yeah, I'm just concerned that they'll cancel both. Edit: K, it's cancelled, if anyone wants to camp the site now, one more might pop up for sale shortly.
  12. Chronocidal
    Well crap, ok, I'm emailing them and saying I ordered two on accident then
  13. Chronocidal
    K, to clarify, do what? I tried to order two, so I'm guessing they'll just cancel one, but you're saying they might ban my account if I cancel it myself?
  14. Chronocidal
    Reason I say that is because if I cancel it manually, it might go back into their stock right away. If they cancel it for me sometime in the next few hours, who knows when it'll happen?
  15. Chronocidal
    Can anyone say for sure that HLJ only let them buy one? If so, I can cancel one of mine to attempt to let someone else grab it.
  16. Chronocidal
    Actually, I won't be surprised if HLJ cancels one of my orders. I think it did say I could only get one, but I had time to add a second order on the same account.
  17. Chronocidal
    Yep, the pre-order discount disappears after they sell out.
  18. Chronocidal
    Yep, two order confirmations from HLJ, so I think I'm set and can sleep happily now. Guess tonight was absolutely chock full of surprises. That's the fastest HLJ has ever posted a Bandai valk to the initial pre-order date, they're usually a few days to a few weeks after everyone else.
  19. Chronocidal
    Still no Order Stop for me yet here.
  20. Chronocidal
    Wow, lasting longer than I figured. I was able to order a second one. Will probably sell it here, since I don't need two, but I was really curious if I could add another.
  21. Chronocidal
    OMG HLJ GOGOGO
  22. Chronocidal
    Well personally, I'm really curious. With the way enemy valks tend to sell (not well generally), I'm kind of hoping and wondering if the scalpers are gonna get bitten in the arse by this one. Would be really funny if you start seeing them building up in online shops because no one wants them.
  23. Chronocidal
    See, I wish I'd been watching earlier, the whole surprise attack from NY was odd. I'll probably bite even at some amount of markup (considering it's basically a valk plus a super pack included, which would add another $50 or so to a valk anyway on top of extra shipping), but I'm wondering how long until they add more. I know the last time they added more stock sometime the same night, right after the initial sales burst, but I can't remember how early in the morning it was.
  24. Chronocidal
    Shh, you're sounding like my employer here!
  25. Chronocidal
    Would've been happier if they'd just make the entire line made to order, or at least take orders from the get-go. They seem so afraid to overproduce these, it would make a ton of sense.
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