Radd

I'd love it if Hasbro released a version with the electronics removed. I've got an iPod that suits my protable music player needs. I just want a nifty new Soundwave toy. On the other hand, I'm holding out hope for an MP Soundwave at some point.

I suspect even at 1/60 scale (though I'd definitely nab a 1/48) Yamato's design techniques have come far enough, in the intervening years since the original Macross Plus toys, that we'd see noticeable improvement from the 1/72 toy.

Heh, I almost got that, but then picking up MP Megatron greatly diminished my desperation for a halfway decent Megatron toy. Still, having seen this package up close, I can say it looks like utter crap. Bad proportions, very cheap looking construction, you can barely tell Prime has windows. I believe in my initial post about it, I stated that the ones I saw had no windows. I now believe the case is that the windows were not tinted as shown on the box and were so clear and thin that I did not even see them through the plastic packaging, so it just looks like Prime has two gaping holes in his chest. Reading reviews on it, it seems Prime had a tendency to fall apart, as well.

Really? Odd that it doesn't work there. I suspect that will be changed in a future update. Just seems like such an odd thing. Just got my Wii back online in time for the update. Amazed at all the great games available through the virtual console now. Also looking forward to a lot of titles I've seen upcoming for the Wii. A bunch later this year, and more early next.

Got a shot of the rear of that more detailed figure in the last two photos? I need a good reference of the back of the flight suit for a special 25th Anniversary project I'm working on.

I don't believe it's a matter of making the toy profitable, so much as making the toy more profitable. Which seems all the cheaper because they don't really need to paint every grey piece to look shiney and metallic, a few key pieces done that way would make a world of difference on the Leader Class Prime toy. I can believe the idea that they didn't do it to avoid paint chipping, except in cases where it's a matter of colour choices, rather than a lack of paint, like this G1 coloured Voyager class Prime's baby blue windows and cheap, bright looking cartoon red. Of course, that may have been done to try and make it look more like the old cartoon, but it doesn't really work and just ends up looking cheap. It just seems to me that Hasbro just tends to make questionable colour choices more often than I'd like. Man, I'm looking forward to nabbing Skywarp, though. Looking good.

So, the red seems to be that cheap looking brighter red, and he has baby blue chest windows. Not that I'm too familiar with the movie-colours Voyager toy, I grabbed the leader class, which would be perfect if not for the cheap looking grey rather than crome in a lot of places that could have really used that extra touch. Hasbro seems to pinch a lot of pennies when it comes to painting toys. I only crit because I care. I'm digging the other two. I might need to start grabbing more movie toys. I'm still holding out hope for a Leader Class Starscream that looks good in fighter.

All payoff and no build up is a very unsatisfying way of going about things. Kinda like playing a videogame with a 'win game' button that takes you straight from the opening scene to the end. I'm rather enjoying the story so far.

This little surprise was recently announced by Capcom for the PS2 and PSP.

Just because! Warning, OLD, but funny. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5uqACYlvvY

Go back and reread the first book, I believe it was. She's one of Hermione's teachers. Throughout the flashbacks it was always shown she disliked the things James did to Snape, but she still rather liked James himself. And really, compared to the group Snape hung around, James' antics were really quite tame.

I loved it. A very satisfying end to what was a surprisingly entertaining series. When the Potter books were first coming out I had no interest at all, expecting something akin to the young teen or books aimed at even younger children I generally despised when I was of the age being targeted. All of the mysteries that had me eagerly awaiting every new volume were wrapped up in a most excellent manner, and most of my favourite side characters got their time in the spotlight. Most of the characters who deserved some form of validation had their shining moment (even Kreacher, and a splendid moment it was). Neville and the sorting hat, wonderful! The casualties really make the end bittersweet, even after all is said and done. Harry was always my least favourite character in the books, though rarely enough that I disliked the story itself, and even he pulled off his role better than I could have hoped. I had high hopes for Snape's role in the story, and those hopes were exceeded in ways I hadn't even considered. I look forward to going back and rereading the series one day knowing how it ends. The revelations from Dumbledor and, especially, Snape put a whole new spin on events that happen earlier. Especially Snape in books 3 and 6. Certain things, such that Snape was helping Potter even when Harry didn't realize it, and that Harry's dad was more than a bit of a bully and a git, were made obvious, but...man, the rest. Brilliant. Petunia's dislike of magic and her disgusted cry of Lily running off with "that boy" is now revealed to mean something entirely different than what we imagined at the time. Sheesh, even the Dursleys are cast in a whole new light. I almost wish the epilogue had described more of the world post-Voldmort. However, the more personal level it engages the reader on is much more satisfying overall. I hear JK Rowling, while done with Potter novels, has mentioned the possibility of an encylopedia, a book like that would be better suited to presenting how the events in the books shape the world afterwards. No complaints. Right up to Harry's march towards certain death, I thought I knew how it was going to end..and it surprised me. It's not often a story manages that. And it didn't do it in a deus ex machina way as I expected the only way it could.

You don't expect Yoko to return with a vengeance within the next couple episodes? Probably 2 or 3 episodes from now, I'm guessing, possibly after any likely Rossiu plots are underway. I suppose being at the forefront of the revolution put characters like the twins in a good place to fall into a cushy post-war government, and Simon being such a non-ruthless leader probably isn't likely to cull the dead weight. I'm guessing that under more peaceful circumstances, they'd be competent enough to manage, if rather inefficiently, but things obviously didn't remain peaceful and Rossiu knew this was coming.

I forget if Phoenix Wright 3 has been mentioned, it's coming in September and I cane hardly wait. Square was showing off an action RPG that was once titled 'This Wonderful World', but will be renamed due to copyright/trademark reasons. I've not been too impressed by Square-Enix in a long time, but this looks good.

Wii apparently has more exclusives in development than either the 360 or the PS3: http://www.gamepro.com/news.cfm?article_id=124629 It was to be expected eventually with these sales. However, I suspect, as the article states, a lot of these "exclusives" will feature lighter gameplay. Games like Wii Sports and such. However, I would imagine a significant number of games aimed at the traditional market as well.

I've still got a first run Focker 1/48, no complaints. The improvements in the subsequent versions seem minor to me. Still, with the FAST pack bundles and whatnot, I'll hold off for the next batch. I mean, I'm going to get the FAST packs anyways, might as well get them with the design improvements that generally come with a 2nd run Yamato toy. I've not once received a Yamato toy with truly bad issues, and I intend to keep it that way if at all possible.

Close. Just saw 17, absolutely loved it. Can't wait for the next episode.

I just can't wait to get word on whether or not improvements have been made to the hinges that were so fragile in Starscream.

So, ja, ordered mine. First Macross toy I've ordered since the VF-0S first came out. My big question is, anyone making some nice quality stickers for these? I'd hate to have to finally resort to Yamato's stickers.

Huh, I wasn't aware of that bit about the Xbox, and ja when one has a sweet entertainment centre like you do, it's only to be expected that they'll want a game console that takes advantage of it. I think we're mostly agreeing, it's just some of the finer points I'm nitpicking on. I don't want to see games with the Wii controls tacked on, but I do want to see more games that take good advantage of it.I liked Zelda's use well enough, but I'm really looking forward to No More Heroes to see how the swordplay is in that. I'm glad you can just plug in a Wavebird for Metal Slug, or the upcoming Smash Bros., but I also agree that if a traditional style game comes out on both systems, the 360 version will be the version to get. I share your concerns about gimmicky Wii games, but I'm hoping we see the console move past that quickly, like the DS has grown out of that early batch of gimmicky touchscreen games that were more like confused demos. I'm just saying that I'm happy the Wii is doing well, I'm also happy with the 360 and I hope both consoles have a successful generation. I wouldn't like to see the Wii floundering in Gamecube territory as far as success, we'd be even less likely than we are now to see a wider breadth of good third party games that make good use of the system.

Ja, a link to those pictures in another forum was posted a while back. Looks good, though it still appears to have the "carbon scoring" down the back, if the photos on the box are any indication. If the back hinge issues are fixed in this, I'll nab it. If not, I'll grab the Takara version.

That's a short term look, though, and that's my major point whenever people say things like that. The Gamecube's biggest problem was a lack of third party support. There are two major reasons for the Gamecube's lack of support. The first is obvious, the PS2 was already selling like hotcakes for a year before it arrived, and continued to sell as well, outpacing the Gamecube before it had a chance. Developers don't want to waste the investment of development time and money on a console with less than a third of the marketplace. They're going to go where the money is. Second, and possibly less obvious, is the fact that for years Nintendo was known for giving developers the hard end of the bargain. They'd burned a lot of bridges and had few "friends" among the market. They had more developers at the beginning because they had been at the top of the market for so long, Capcom didn't promise them Resident Evil exclusives just because they're buddies, and they got out of that deal as soon as they could after it was very obvious that Nintendo just had too small a portion of the market, their time was better spent on Sony's console. Same for everyone, once it was clear that there was no way Nintendo was going to come even close to Sony's market share. Now, Nintendo can't erase the past, but for the second generation in a row they've been trying to bend over backwards for developers, just like Microsoft. Now Nintendo may still have the brand name disadvantage with the "traditional" market, but their name is definitely better among the "mainstream" crowd. Also, they no longer have the problem of only having a small fraction of the market. Wii sales have remained strong, putting Nintendo further and further into the spot developers like to see. Cause. Effect. But, yes, waiting a year would still be the best option to avoid another "Gamecube". If Sony can get PS3 prices down far enough to convince people it's cheap, their good name with the market should boost them up to a better position. If third party games fail to hit the Wii soon enough, the Wii will look less and less desirable with the traditional market, and developers may take notice if their "traditional" games aren't selling so hot. Like I said a year ago, it takes at least a year after all consoles have hit the market to get a good read on where it's going to go.

I'm not going to say don't get a PS3, though the 360 seems the better deal right now unless you already have one or just aren't interested in the games available, but comments like this just seem to warrant a response. Off the top of my head, from Nintendo alone coming before the end this year: Mario Galaxies Metroid Prime 3 Smash Bros. Three A-list "traditional" titles in addition to "mainstream" gaming titles like Wii Fit, Wii Music, et all which seem to have shown broad appeal to traditional gamers as well as the moms and dads and grandparents market Nintendo is wooing. The biggest thing is, though, as I've stated above, as the Wii gets more popular, and continues to sell as well as it has, developers will be giving it more attention. We're already starting to see that, but since the Wii was hardly expected to be as successful as it has been it will likely take developers time to switch gears. Capcom already seems to be throwing decent weight behind the system, EA too, and games like No More Heroes certainly look promising. Word is Konami is taking a closer look at Wii development. If you want to avoid the Gamecube situation all over again, the best advice would to wait until next year to buy anything other than a 360. That, at least, is pretty much guaranteed to get decent support over the next couple years, probably all through the generation so long as the PS3 lags behind. PS3 seems to be in the most danger of becoming this generation's Gamecube, unless it's stock moving price drops convince enough people that $500 is cheap and it can break further into the market by the end of the year.

Gah, probably cost just as much to snag a Takara version if I can find one then. Off to Google I go. *** Oh, right, it's sold out, everywhere. SDCC exclusive it is then. Meh.

I thought the Alternators were selling well? I know all the stores in my area sold out pretty quickly. Seemed to be the case all over. Binaltech, ja, it would have helped Takara's cause if, after switching to plastic rather than diecast, they had dropped the price to match rather than tossing in little character figures to try and add sex appeal. Still, if the Alternators weren't at least selling well, that's a shame. *edit* Just a thought, will we still see Alt Hot Rod? I'd rather grab the Takara version, with the fishing pole and nicer paint scheme, but that's like impossible to find these days.