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Post by dchan on Jun 27, 2020 13:07:20 GMT -5
Put the Command Wolf Repackage together. Pretty nice small sized kit! Overall, good poseability with lots of alternate parts options. I chose to go with the orange tinted canopy instead of the darker ones. A couple observations: -One of the better mid-torso joints. A small but decent range of motion, sturdy, not too inhibited by tube or pipe constructions.
-The gold toed feet are a single piece. -Good motion on the shoulders, hips, and knees, but the wrist/ankle joints don't have too much backward motion. As in, the extension motion works pretty well (think a waiter holding a plate), but flexion is more limited. So I found that to hamper the more dynamic running or crouching poses it could do.
These round ports on the legs can be removed for the extra parts to swap in. They are a little loose, but makes swapping easy, and that's a simple adjustment if it bothers you. Like the orange-canopy weapon, the railgun also has an opening cockpit for a second pilot (included) to ride in.
One thing I was disappointed by: the jaw only opens this far. The motion stops right at that darker blue piece at the bottom of the head.
Here's one of my favorite parts though. The neck pieces hinge and shift in a pretty natural way, giving the head a good range of motion that looks pretty natural too.
Another feature I liked: The core is easily accessible! No need to disassemble anything-- a flap just hinges down and the Zoids core slides out. Overall, I'm pleasantly surprised. For the second ever Zoids HMM I had somewhat low expectations, but it's a solid build that I found notably less fiddly than others. Plus, all the alternate parts seem great for customs.
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Post by Snowflake on Jun 28, 2020 15:18:57 GMT -5
Very nice. once again though HMM's extra-long feet bug me
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Post by Maethius on Jun 29, 2020 12:11:22 GMT -5
This was one of the nice early kits, but I feel that they would have made changes in the design later on that would have improved it. Overall the kit is really striking, but the transition between the head and the neck always felt like they modeled off of a pulled apart toy kit and never really designed a solution that looked elegant. Pretty kit, though.
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Post by dchan on Jun 30, 2020 9:00:18 GMT -5
Snowflake totally agree. I haven't been able to see any of the feline/canine HMMs the same way since you pointed that out. Maethius that area does create a strange silhouette. At first I wasn't sure if I had assembled it wrong or something, because it almost seems like some inner frame type mechanism is supposed to bridge that gap!
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Post by dchan on Sept 13, 2020 19:07:00 GMT -5
Got the (Monthly Graphics) Orudios snap fitted, the second Grade Up Zoid I've put together... and Imgur began working again. It's great! Also pretty big. With the tail and wings fully extended, it measures over 15" or 38 cm long and over 10" or 25 cm tall, but for a more accurate measurement the shoulder sits at about 5" or 13 cm height. Was a little surprised to find there's no clear parts at all, just the chrome runner which includes the eyes. The mouth can open and close manually on a hinge, but to me it looks a little clunky opened.
It has a two switches actually, one to run or stop the motor, and another to toggle between "walk only" and "everything moves" mode, which means the head moves, the wings flap and extend, and the lance weapons expand out and contract in. Kind of like a selectable Blast mode in today's terms.
The other thing I wanted to mention is there are no spare or extra option parts left over which is always a bit of a mental relief. Thanks for looking!
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Post by Snowflake on Sept 14, 2020 14:24:21 GMT -5
Always loved Orudios. Proportions aren't perfect, but they're great, and it's a lot less wonky than a lot of the grade-ups. It is strange how GUs had opaque eyes, but the chrome looks good. Just a tip: be super careful with the tail. It's obvious that if it had been made today, it would have had a removable C-clip, but instead it has a permanent rod-through-hole holding it on, through brittle red plastic. It'll snap if you give it any side-to-side pressure. Thankfully mine broke in a way that made it fit snugly right back in and become the removable piece it should have been all along!
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Post by Maethius on Sept 14, 2020 15:53:11 GMT -5
Orudios is a kit I still hope, one day, gets an HMM kit, along with its counterpart, Gungyalado. Beautiful kit, and a one of a kind design.
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Post by dchan on Sept 15, 2020 23:55:23 GMT -5
Thanks for the tail warning Snowflake, I will be extra cautious. Maethius, HMM Orudios vs Gungy would be incredible. Dream picks for sure.
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Post by SkyKnight on Oct 5, 2020 22:53:33 GMT -5
Would definitely like to see how TT would bring the Power-Up Zoids from the late 1980's to the 2020's!
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Post by dchan on Oct 15, 2020 19:49:58 GMT -5
Snap fit the Lightning Saix recently.
I've never built a Saix, Takara or Koto, before, so my first impression of its look in hand is "very cool but wow it does not look like a cheetah" haha. The head is great and passably catlike, but the proportions, the limbs especially, read much more as generic quadruped "beast" to me. Mostly this is due to the stocky legs and HUGE feet. Speaking of which, like the Takara one I realized the HMM has a gimmick where the claws can "retract" by rotating into the foot area. It also comes with alternate splayed out claws which I didn't use for these photos.
Forelegs extended, hind legs retracted.
But on its own merits, it comes together pretty well I have to say. Even the soft hose parts in the neck and under the torso work great and have decent ranges of motion, without any fear of falling out of position or getting pinched or anything else.
The tail has 3 joints, a ball joint at the base and two hinges along the length. Those back fins as shown also articulated up and down.
In fact I have to say this is probably the smoothest construction of any HMM Zoid I've done so far. There were virtually no issues... except the very last step. This could just be my kit or maybe I'm just bad at this part, but man I had a frustratingly and surprisingly hard time attaching the limbs to the body. For me that sections were really tightly fitting and you sort of have to grab the whole Zoid and squeeze the crap out of which was scary. All in all though, a great kit of a compact Zoid.
One more addition this time. Also got the Zero Gryzis assembled recently! Love this chunky robo-Godzilla-King Gojulas thing.
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Post by Leon35 on Oct 17, 2020 8:44:58 GMT -5
I know I talked about this to death, but your review just vrought back a really painful memory for me (also, extremely happy your Saix turned out great) So when I had finished my build for the Saix, I was trying to push the legs into the sockets. THAT was when it all went to hell. The PC scoket on the front right leg actually bent under the pressure of me trying to force in the leg. After, anytime I put the leg in, it would just fall right out because of the flap of plastic preventing it from sitting in the socket. I just wish I could enjoy my Lighning Saix like everyone else Side note: attatching the gun and keeping the legs on was always hard. I wonder if I had the common sense to attatch the gun first, THEN the legs. Or maybe I was so bad at attatching the legs the gun would come out...
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Post by dchan on Oct 17, 2020 11:23:59 GMT -5
That's a shame man. Maybe you could cannibalize extra PC parts from other kits? Probably a long shot to find an exact fit though. Mine actually isn't fully unscathed either (left back leg had some issues attaching too!) but at least it can function okay. Super weird how that one last hurdle is inexplicably problematic.
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Post by Snowflake on Oct 17, 2020 13:56:35 GMT -5
I do love that they put retractable claws on, and ONLY on, the zoid based on the ONE cat that doesn't have them
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Post by dchan on Dec 7, 2020 15:08:16 GMT -5
HMM Wild Liger!
I have to say... I love this kit. Had moderate expectations but honestly this is far and away the smoothest build and most functional HMM Zoid I've had. Not without issues or nitpicks, but it's just nice to look at an assembled kit without having flashbacks of frustrating construction.
Darth Escargot already did an excellent and very thorough review in his thread here, so please check that out! I'll try to avoid redundancy, but it is the same kit so some overlap may be inevitable. To start off, the bone (frame) mode: This thing is wicked. It would be great to pick up a second Liger just to use the frame as a custom base, but it's not exactly a cheap kit. Unlike the Saix, the legs attach easily and securely to the body. And unlike the Shield Liger, the shoulders and hips are not over designed but instead work great. There is a strange quirk though that the front limbs' sockets have poly caps while the hind limbs are just ABS.
The main gimmick is the eyes. They rotate on y-axes to look in different directions. Turned all the way around, there's a a peg hole for the Wild Blast effect part. It seems like the entire head was designed around the necessity of the effect part being a) huge and b) able to plug securely onto the head. To that end, they've made the entire head armor easily removable, though the "mane" pieces do have to each be removed first. It is a little tedious, but to me it works well enough, since the parts fit with appropriate tightness so you're not worried about destroying it or that things are falling off constantly. Not a perfect gimmick, but to me they pulled off what I think is a pretty tricky problem to solve.
In a nutshell, why do I like this kit so much? Because it can do this:
I really feel this is the first instance of all the HMMs I've built where I can recreate the poses shown in the promo photos without cheating, gluing, or having a meltdown. Everything stays on, the bigger joints are appropriately sturdy, and the overall movement is great. I don't mind at all that the pistons are decorative, since in nearly all the others it ended up being more trouble than it's worth in my experience. I don't even like ligers particularly much, but if this is any indication of how the Wild kits are going to be, I am really looking forward to the tiger, raptor, and Death Rex.
A couple last notes: I know I put the feet on reversed. I found that the side with the cap allows more ankle motion, so for me I prefer having the slightly greater range of articulation over it being correct, plus I don't think it looks particularly bad this way: -the Arashi figure is a very good minifigure for the size. It's so well-painted I almost wish it came in bare plastic just to lower the sticker price.
-I keep stabbing myself on the silver ribs whenever I pick it up Thanks for reading!
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Post by Snowflake on Dec 9, 2020 16:36:54 GMT -5
Dainty li'l kitty
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