February Hauls!

[BWprowl]

Love Hina Omnibus 1-5: Got these over the past couple weeks through my brother's Diamond hookup. Been eyeing them for some time, and at half-price, of course I'm gonna go for it. The original Tokyopop versions of Love Hina were a fine release for what we wanted in the day, but they're still riddled with typos and layout issues, and the translation awkwardly switches gears about halfway through as they realize some choices they made were obscuring important plot points. This new version from Kodansha smooths everything out, bringing it more in line with the standard for these works they established with Negima. Also gives me a good excuse to re-read through the whole series, and it's interesting to go through it and get something new out of it after all this time. Holy crap, Love Hina is over 15 years old at this point!

Also downloaded the Last Round update for Dead or Alive 5, plus the new DLC characters (Honoka and freaky cyborg Raidou) and a few costumes I'd been eyeing (I needed that adorable witch outfit for Marie Rose). With all the new that's been added since Ultimate (especially story-important characters like Phase 4) I was kinda hoping we'd get new story content to flesh them out, but they're likely holding onto that for DOA6 (which, unfortunately for me, will likely be current-gen consoles only). I like this last note that 5's ending on though. They really ballooned the cast and features into its own defined thing, and it'll keep me entertained continually for some time (least of all because I have a DOA5LR fight stick coming in the mail now too). Love this game.

[andersonh1]

I've been watching for a good price on the Green Lantern omnibus volume 1 and finally ordered a copy. This isn't the Geoff Johns GL omni (since I own most of those issues anyway), but the Silver Age GL omnibus. I already have volume 2 which I've held off reading until I got volume 1 so I could read the stories in order. Most of this should still technically be in continuity, even for the New 52 Green Lantern series, since GL has changed the least with the reboot.

Volume 2 ends with GL issue 45 from 1966, so between the two books there are about six and a half years of early Hal Jordan stories. These huge omnibus volumes have become my favorite format for collecting comic book series. I love having so many issues in a single volume.

[Shockwave]

CW Motormaster, Blackjack and Huffer. Reviews to come later. First impressions: Blackjack is definitely intended as the chestpiece to the Prime/Motormaster merge form. So far, he's the only Legends scale figure with holes in the right place to be able to peg into the merge form chest gap. Also, first thoughts on Menasor are that I'm not impressed. I've merged him with Drag Strip and the other three Aerialbots and I can't imagine that swapping the remaining limbs is going to have any impact on my complaints. The main one is the damn ratchet joints in the hips. They just don't lock at the right places to remain sturdy for any decent poses. The legs either wind up too far apart and it just flops over or they're too close together and the legs are virtually crossed. Both Motormaster and Prime effectively fail my "Mortal Kombat" test, which makes them the first TFs in a long while to do so. Even Huffer passes that one. I get why they are on ratchet joints, but those joints either need more locking points or just different ones.

[BWprowl]

Also, first thoughts on Menasor are that I'm not impressed. I've merged him with Drag Strip and the other three Aerialbots and I can't imagine that swapping the remaining limbs is going to have any impact on my complaints. The main one is the damn ratchet joints in the hips. They just don't lock at the right places to remain sturdy for any decent poses. The legs either wind up too far apart and it just flops over or they're too close together and the legs are virtually crossed. Both Motormaster and Prime effectively fail my "Mortal Kombat" test, which makes them the first TFs in a long while to do so. Even Huffer passes that one. I get why they are on ratchet joints, but those joints either need more locking points or just different ones.

I think you might be doing Menasor's hips wrong. You aren't supposed to use the default Motormaster arrangement, every pic I've seen, like the official ones, has them set up with the thighs rotated 90 degrees and the lower legs bent down, with Motormaster's feet out to the sides. Looks like he can stand straight like that, at least in the pictures.

Mine are scheduled to arrive tomorrow, at any rate, so I'll be interested to check it out then.

[Shockwave]

Also, first thoughts on Menasor are that I'm not impressed. I've merged him with Drag Strip and the other three Aerialbots and I can't imagine that swapping the remaining limbs is going to have any impact on my complaints. The main one is the damn ratchet joints in the hips. They just don't lock at the right places to remain sturdy for any decent poses. The legs either wind up too far apart and it just flops over or they're too close together and the legs are virtually crossed. Both Motormaster and Prime effectively fail my "Mortal Kombat" test, which makes them the first TFs in a long while to do so. Even Huffer passes that one. I get why they are on ratchet joints, but those joints either need more locking points or just different ones.

I think you might be doing Menasor's hips wrong. You aren't supposed to use the default Motormaster arrangement, every pic I've seen, like the official ones, has them set up with the thighs rotated 90 degrees and the lower legs bent down, with Motormaster's feet out to the sides. Looks like he can stand straight like that, at least in the pictures.

Mine are scheduled to arrive tomorrow, at any rate, so I'll be interested to check it out then.

Yeah that definitely is how I have them. But, mine wind up splayed out instead of nice and straight like that. And it happens on both Prime and Motormaster. I'm going to continue taking pics tonight and hopefully get them all loaded so you guys can see what I'm talking about.

On a side note, my case with BBTS is finally resolved and they are actually sending me a replacement set of Drag strip, Firefly and Skydive. I got these on HTS for $50 shipped so I'll offer the extra three to anyone here for that price. PM me if interested.

EDIT: I fiddled around with MM last night and... the ratchets are still off. I can get the legs to look like they do in the pictures, but only if the panels that lock the upper and lower legs together aren't actually locked in place. The side effect of that is that without those locked, Menasor is no longer stable and will fall over, unless he's in a static standing straight up, unposed. Any sort of posing with the legs and he falls over. So, I can either have a sturdy Menasor but with legs way out to the side, or I can have an unsteady Menasor that is just standing there doing nothing. I genuinely suspect that the ratchets are being misassembled because I also found that the spoiler pieces on the top of my Motormaster in alt mode were two left side pieces so I had to take them off in order for him to look normal. It's a small piece that needs replacing and I don't think I care enough to do so.

[JediTricks]

Star Wars Rebels AT-DP Driver - 5POA figure for $6, what has this world come to? Anyway, this guy is unique to the show, kind of an AT-ST driver with a weird face mask. The sculpting is pretty good, it could pass for a non-animated figure if you squint. The paint is ok except that the torso is 50/50 in colors and they used the darker color for the plastic, leaving the light color as paint which is not a good idea because the paint has to be thicker and often chips or smears (mine has light incidents of both). Decent enough.

Star Wars Rebels Imperial Troop Transport - "assemble it yourself, schmucks", aside from the 30 or so tiny stickers, it's not a bad experience despite being woefully hollow. Hollow like nothing's ever been in this line, but there's space inside for 3 and outside for 6 more, the top turret turns and shoots missiles (but doesn't elevate), the nose has a pair of hinged guns.

[BWprowl]

My new-wave Combiner Wars stuff came in from BBTS yesterday: Silverbolt, Motormaster, Blackjack, and some orange truck guy. Don't know if I got a better batch than Shockwizzle (sounds like his had clear QC issues), but my BoaterBastard works just fine. The leg-ratchets are spaced a bit too far apart, yes, but he can stand straight just fine, with more dynamic poses working just fine as well. I've taken him for a 'test-drive' in Menasor mode using the limbs I already have, and that one works great for me as well. Legs are spaced well enough to stand well without looking odd, he can pull off action poses okay. Arm sections are a bit unstable, and Blackjack as a chestplate falls out a bit too easily, but overall makes me excited to get the remaining Stunties and complete the 'proper' Dennis the Menasor. MM on his own is cool too. Love his weapons (SwordGunSword!), silly box-head, sweet colors, he *feels* huge (definitely comes across as beefier than Silverbolt, though 'Bolt feels more solid), neat transformation (I like how the arms work) and a kickass truck mode. Really cool toy. Silverbolt's fun himself. His Robot Mode is pretty great on its own, the gun doesn't seem nearly as too-huge for him in-person as I thought it might. Transformation is...a Silverbolt transformation, and jet mode does that job well enough, I guess. Transformation to torso mode is terrific, love some of the stuff they did there (the little panel that flips up from the abdomen, and the way the chest section comes together, really neat stuff). Not totally crazy about some of the full-Superion aesthetics, notably his seemingly over-long and skinny upper legs (on account of them being Silverbolt's arms), look kinda odd, and make him feel somewhat unstable when posing him, though he stands fine, mostly. And of course, it's good that both him and Menasor end up suitably fuckhuge in combined mode.

Blackjack, for a guy I basically bought just to be a chestplate, is surprisingly fun as a toy. Transformation actually has a bit of flair to it for a Legends guy, and the resulting robot mode is a shockingly posable little dude with personality, and a sweet color scheme (glad they went with this Micromaster homage rather than painting him up as the Runabout he's clearly sculpted to be). His fan/ax weapon is a little silly, but overall he's just such a fun fiddly dude that he was totally worth buying as the accessory he otherwise is (and hey, he compliments Motormaster well besides). He's been the hardest of this batch for me to put down.

The orange truck guy is, like, orange, and a truck, and, uh, seriously, why does anybody even like any of the Mini-Bots?

[BWprowl]

RAcaseal Yellowboze Ver. APSY – The things I end up impulse-pre-ordering on AmiAmi. Saw this go up when I was browsing my favorite weeaboo toys shop, and I’ve never played any Phantasy Star, but I thought it looked super-cool, so I threw down a pre-order for it. I’m no stranger to Gunpla, and glancing at the instructions looks like this won’t be too much more complicated (might try to paint some of the more major details though). Should be fun.

Q-Transformers Prowl – Threw this in the box with the RAcaseal because if I’m paying express overseas shipping I might as well get more than one thing. Cute lil’ G1 Prowl, based on that short anime based on a new game based on a terrible old game that’s happening in Japan right now. Others of these look cool, particularly the WRX Bluestreak that’s coming out, but these things sell out like mad, I’m amazed Prowl was still available when I clicked on him (he’s backordered now).

Microsoft Surface Pro 3 + Type Cover – Tax Return, what what?! Been wanting one of these things for some time, least of all because my current laptop is a bit old by current standards and comes down with cases of the herpy-derpys occasionally. Not a huge fan of Windows 8, but using it at work has gotten me used to it, at least, and I love the portability/carry-around-itude of this thing. Gonna try not to overload it with anime/TV downloads, can leave my old laptop and portable hard-drives for that storage. Definitely gonna have to get some key games for this thing though (I got a bunch of stuff from Humble Bundle that I never even downloaded before), and maybe get a USB splitter so I can do the fightan games thing with friends when I’ve got this out around them. Sadly, they did not have any of the hot pink type covers available, so I had to settle for a purple one. Still super-nice so far though.

[138 Scourge]

I really wasn't intending to pick up CW Prime. I have enough Primes and that one looked really odd in pictures and just who needed it? And then I went and saw the thing in person and thought realized that it's oddness kind of worked for it. I have a lot of Primes, but not one that looked like that.

Anyway yes I wound up with CW Prime and I regret nothing. I'm sure I'll end up with an interesting array of limbs to put together with this dude eventually. In the meantime he's a really cool take on Optimus with a keen truck mode and some fun guns.

[Shockwave]

Replacement order for the three limb bots came in yesterday. So I now have two copies each of Skydive, Drag Strip and Firefly. Which actually worked out well because my first copy of Skydive had the nose section separate. The peg that holds the screw in place broke so the nose separated. Also, Drag Stip's sword was bent near the end and the new one isn't.