I have a set that are looking for a new home - just sayin'...

 

For those complaining about the LEGO Ideas Grand Piano, keep in mind this is a FUNCTIONAL piano with what looks quite a high partcount just from what's visible, with likely a lot of mechanisms inside.
Yes LEGO is more expensive now than it was a few decades back but putting aside the licensed lines, and increases in plastic prices, not to mention certain political things which shall not be named resulting in increases in UK LEGO prices, sets also on average have many more pieces in them and are more complex than they were even 10 years ago. Much like how Transformers are far more complex today than the Transformers of the same time period or earlier.
And this isn't even getting in to changes in exchange rates and stuff for money.
Also Ideas sets are often more expensive as they tend towards being the LEGO version of Masterpiece figures with a lot of detail and/or complex functionality and simply SIZE.
Sorry if I come across a little ranty here, just needed to get that off my chest   carry on  

 

cheers mate but they would be way out of my league right now. one of the future perhaps

 

So, Double Dealer...

I love his look, all the great accessories and launcher mode is just mint. The faction and Powermaster options are pretty cool too.

But Jesus wept, everything about the alt modes centres around his legs and they're shit.

Changing him into vulture mode took an indecent amount of time because of the godawful ratchets in his legs (check out the video reviews). Everything has to be in a very particular position just to build the back of the vulture, and it all reminds me of friggin Apeface...

Trying to get everything lined up without undoing the other side, trying not to break the wings or something while desperately manhandling the thing like some sleazy politician, and then watching the fucking mushroom peg pop out... That takes some fixing!

And that reminds me, this figure is covered in points that will break first go if you get frustrated but definitely over time if you really like to change modes. Relatively large flat tabs hold the legs together, the arms, the missile in place etc.

Plus there's a lot of QC issues on mine and others. Warped grey shoulder section, said mushroom pegs, his head scraping as it's housed, a leg that flopped backwards on package removal. He actually feels uber cheap in places.

Vulture mode itself is just ok. While you can move the wings brilliantly, there's not much posing to be had with the legs and that's kinda crucial when you've got a curio like this! It's definitely the weakest mode, even if I like how daft it looks!

The launcher mode is fantastic once you've scraped the skin off your hands sorting those bastard legs to make up the front of it. It just looks cool and I'm looking forward to placing it in Decepticon city.

Know what? If this figure wasn't so dependant on the worst set of legs this side of a pub drag night, he'd be great. He's bulky in a good way, looks menacing, has the best accessories in a long time, can help fill or create a new shelf... But everything about the legs is hateful and crucial to the alt modes.

Bit of a problem for a Transformer, isn't it? As I said earlier, maybe wait for a sale if you absolutely must get him. You'll have few problems in robot mode but transforming him is anything but fun.

Straight up, part of the problem might be I was really looking forward to him. So I hope knowing about the potential pitfalls helps someone!

 

Love it! Your photos are continuing to improve too.

That is spectacularly adorable.

Thanks guys! The job sounds great but I think it’s not the right decision to move in the end. Cest la vie and as you say Andy, nice to feel appreciated as it were.

Tie fighter was immense! I’ve a soft spot for 90s Star Wars. Am really wanting to re read the Timothy zahn trilogy at the mo.

Really like that clone/seeker shot.

 

this video came out by the head of rooster teeth or something. clearly some promotional work before the series drops. but looks like he's a genuine fan of the franchise which is nice to know, even if for some of the descriptions he's clearly reading off a script (to be fair, the ones he was reading off of a script are the ones i have no interest in ever watching, except maybe beast machines)

That's actually a pretty cool looking Target Master, the colour is nice

I really like the Threezero aesthetic but not a huge fan of that siege mould.

ngl I've been thinkin about you over these past few average performances

 

That is a cool moon wallpaper in those pics you attached there  

 

lol fixed now, idk what happened, was trying to paste some text and ended up pasting some pictures. not well versed in how these forums work yet! i can attach the full wallpaper if you're interested tho

 

Six modes, six balls.

 

From what I've seen in the video they put up over at Brothers Brick, sadly I don't think it's actually functional - the app will have 5 songs you can 'play along with' (that I suspect won't register which key you press, just that you've pressed one), and then the 'self playing mode' won't actually have the keys corresponding the notes being played. I get it's super pretty (and HUGE, arguably too much so) but with Nintendo Labo I made a piano out of cardboard which actually worked with the help of a single Joycon.

 

God, are the leg issues like Apeface’s back or are they worse? If they’re roughly the same level of faff then I’d be fine with it, but worse would make me seriously reconsider my trip to Smyths tomorrow.

 

Can't beat a bit of Blessed, he posted a video on his Facebook page about a week ago where he talked about meeting the future Muhammad Ali at BBC Television Centre in the early 60's. The room must have barely been able to contain the charisma!

Excellent suggestion with the minifigures!  

@Avon,
Congrats on the job!

 

Yes please!   And welcome to the forum! Leave your wallet by the door xD

Huh, what I read said functional but I guess that could just be in the same way a technic car might have functional pistons that move like the real thing but don't actually make up part of an ACTUAL engine?
That said, I've not looked into it in depth as it's not of interest to me personally  

 

Yep, I still have a fair amount of the little ships but poor storage choices on my part has led to several 'battle damaged' TIE fighters.  Used to have a bunch of play sets too, though I only kept that Death Star one seen in the photo as it holds special nostalgic value due to being the first one I got.

Mouldy Crow could transform into Katarn and the Ebon Hawk into Revan... ah, we can but dream. It's a shame that third parties would understandably never try to make their own versions of Star Wars Transformers.

Those were great books. I re-read a bunch of the old X-Wing novels not too long ago and thought they held up pretty well too.

 

I was looking for parts on Shapeways and found this....



MP Soundwave upgrade kit (rear end edition) by megawillbot on Shapeways

....!

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Tra-WFC-Earthrise-Earthmode-Pack/dp/B07ZPL7DXZ

love the uncertainty here! Prowl & Ironhide available to order from co.uk, but out of stock... Do you go with this one and cancel .com? or stick with .com as presumably more of a sure thing?

 

I ordered from that listing weeks ago when it popped up in the news forum so I'll let you all know if it actually turns up but it's not due till November regardless. :/

 

The
I found the legs quite easy for vehicle. Pushing the knee joints up from underneath seemed to help get everything in the right position. The missile annoys me more with its short pegs being not quite suitable for purpose to attach in carrier mode.

 

It's the super collection pvc figure of liokaiser

 

DAT ASS.

*ahem*

Uuuh. Too much to catch up on, I really need to check in here more often.

@Skywarp SCS, @Risk, RE: Kung Fu films

The problem I have (all IMO obviously) is the older generation Kung Fu film 'feels' choreography is very stiff. When the Lucky Stars worked together in the 80's their movie style developed and eclipsed their solo older stuff so much that I can't really watch it any more. It's weird, because Bruce Lee changed fight choreography for the better in the 70's, and for some inexplicable reason it took the rest of the industry almost a decade to catch up.

Uuuh, I forget who was talking about them, Star Wars Transformers.

Yeah, I loved these! I sold a whole bunch of Crossovers though, so sadly a lot of them were on the chopping block. I suspect the lush alt modes and questionable robot modes were a twofold problem.

i) Lucasfilm have very tight licencesor approval rights, for example Episode 1 toys were meant to be much more articulated, but Lucasfilm pooh poohed the lack of paint apps. So the figures went back to 5 poa and the budget went on paint instead. Lucasfilm probbaly insisted on tight Alt modes (the part Star Wars is know for) and didn't give a rats ass about the robot modes.

ii) I think (and this is pure speculation) that the SWTF design team was not the Team 1 design team. I think there was speculation at the time (2005) that the Designers were all ex Galoob employees, and they were involved with the project because of their prior asasociation with Micro Machine Star Wars?

Anyway they had experience with the vehicles sure, but not so much on transforming robots. Hence the early SWTF's having really ropey robot modes. It's actually quite interesting, as you can see the learning curve as the line goes on. Now this is from what I remember (having sold off a bunch of them) but the earlier SWTF's have solid alt mode undersides. And by that I mean, there's not much visable robot kibble under there. But as the line goes on suddenly one of the designers has an epiphany, 'If we don't show them, Lucasfilm don't give a shit about the underside' and from wave 5 (specificially Saesee Tiin) visible robot mode kibble becomes more of a thing, which of course means better robot modes. Aside from the Ep2 Jedi Starfighter the Commander Cody/Turbo tank have better robot modes.

Pure speculation on my part though, obviously.

@Loosecannon, Micromachine TF's? I'd be all over that. But I think Hasbro won't be doing them for a while, Jada Toys (I think?) are doing those Nano cars scale TF's. I suspect as part fo the License agreement no one else is allowed to make similarly scaled TF's. But I suppose these would do as Micro Machines? When I see any I'll be trying them out anyway.



Anyway, personal news? Not much I'm afraid. Aside from the recent Scorponok no new robots, and really the last 'frivolous' thing I bought was a fletching jig... for making arrows. What happened was I shot the vane off one of my arrows, and rather then getting a shop to fix it, it was suggested to me by another club member that I should just get a jig and do it myself. The jig came with a bunch of spare vanes, so I might actully experiment making some wooden arrows out of B&Q bits of dowl... I mean, why not eh?

My wife and kids have gone off to visit my wifes parents for the last week, which was novel for a few days (peace at last!) but now I'm bored out of my skull. My time recently is basically sat here trying to finish my stupid dissertation (and I say stupid because it feels like I'm just talking a load of bollocks) and Archery in the evenings 3 times a week to alleviate the boredom.

Shooting outdoors i) as it is the outdoor season and ii) not allowed to shoot indoors yet anyway is a new experience. Indoors shoots are over 20yds (night on 18m) and outdoor distances can obviously go further. Shot for the first time over 30m, which I got the hang of pretty quickly (to the surprise of a few veteran members) so now I've moved up to 50m. Only 2 sessions at 50 and the first time was really good, but the second was all over the place.

Well, that's a lie, it was all over to the right. Consistantly, I mean check out this little group. This was 1 arrow straight after the other both aiming for the centre of the target. Shame taking out legs doesn't worth points eh?



But this is actually a good thing because it means a consistant error (which can be ironed out) and the other shooters identified what I was doing wrong and just before the end of the session that error was gone. Next session is this evening where I will test out my refletched arrow (red 3, yes that's right, all my arrows have individual numbers and colours. Red 1-4, green 1-4 and blue 1-4... seems ultra nerdy but it's a great training aid. Shoot in order so you can identify which arrow went where and analyse your technique better) and see if I can totally iron out the shooting error from before. Anyway it's all new again, new (relatively) long rod and new limbs that I've only really had shot a few times since Lockdown started.

Sorry, I digress. Robots eh?

Oh and before I forget, congrats on the job offer @Avon, hope the big decision comes easy to you man.