FASA, I think, was absorbed by Microsoft, which is why "MechCommander II" has their logo in it. FASA is now more of a trademark and department name synonymous with Battletech, kinda like Touchstone Pictures is with The Walt Disney Company, or Relic Entertainment (Homeworld saga, Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War series) with THQ.
Or am I way off...?
------------------------------
CollectionDX Staff
Well, then the Pacific Northwest, is the best of both those worlds. Not too hot (lest you're east of the Cascade Mtns.), not too cold (repeat:), and humidity is no problem.
I'll tell ya, though- the rubber bands on my first Lego Bionicle sets from 2001 all broke down by the following spring... and they wouldn't replace them. Why they rotted so easily, I don't understanmd since most of them had no tensile strength being applied while sitting on the shelves.
And as for age, note I said "CDX founders", not "anime collecting old-timers" or some-such.
------------------------------
CollectionDX Staff
It's funny that you chose this subject for the ST episode. I was just in a Books-A-Million today in central Florida, and they had a starter set and Technical Manual for "Classic BattleTech." I searched for a FASA logo, but none could be found, so I assume they no longer have the rights. Instead, it said W.K. Games or something similar. That brought back memories.
I had the Third Edition I believe as a kid in the 80s. Good stuff. I had no one to play with, so I used to make my little sisters play with me, then I would kick their asses because they didn't even know what was going on.
My favorite part of BattleTech was getting the mech books and looking at the giant robot pictures and reading their histories. I could spend hours doing that, along with using the rules to design my own mechs and drawing pictures with friends of our designs. Seriously, one of my favorites things from childhood.
I doubt it. CM's knew going in that the Tread is the draw of this set. It's been a holy grail of toys for decades. If they made them separate they'd be stuck with a load of Legioss. What would they be priced, $160 each? The combo is always cheaper, otherwise what's the point.
Design choices were limited by adherence to line art and/or costs. We'll never know the reasons but it is obvious they just gave up at some point and figured it's just going to be on a shelf anyway so it doesn't matter that it just rests on the stand. You can't please everyone and for every guy that keeps it in a case there's one that "swooshes" it around like he's 8 again.
Remember that Hasbro's $20 figure is mass-produced in the hundreds of thousands, made of crappy plastic and shipped via slow boat from China. It's like comparing a Ferrari to a Hyundai. And believe me Ferraris aren't without flaws considering their cost.
I made the argument before that the price is largely due to the limited run, QC, and expensive materials. I'd estimate that no more than 10,000 of these were produced and I wouldn't be surprised if it was much less.
Up until now, POM plastic in toys has been used in some key joint areas where even metal was too fragile. (Yamato Valkyries two main hinges are POM) This appears to be made almost entirely of POM. I've seen many a comment how crappy the plastic looks, "like model kit plastic". It's deceiving since POM is strong like metal but still looks like styrene. I'd guess the materials are a large part of the cost, it's just that most assume it's the same ABS that everything else is made of so the price seems way too high.
I know most people don't follow plastics and their use in manufacture, so it's a hard sell for CM's to try to educate people about some new plastic being the reason it's so costly. Maybe they should try to do what Popy did in the 70's with "Chogokin Super Alloy", aka zinc. Maybe that's what "Brave Gokin EX" is. A commercial of it being thrown against a wall and the house falling down or something.
Could it be cheaper? Yes. I'm sure CM's knew that interest was high so they inflated the price a bit. But I bet the unit cost for CM's is around $160-$200. I've seen these wholesale for no less than $200, so that says something about their costs if you remember your economics.
Just to add, the Iota (green one) is available through CM's directly. You can go through a broker like celga or something to get it, and the Zeta (red one) is being sold normally after all.
My guess is you're going to see many of these for sale on auction from disillusioned buyers, so either cash in on someone else's misfortune or wait and laugh at us saps when it goes on clearance at HLJ for 70% off like the Ingram.
And rather envious as well. All yous CDX founders are all together over on the East Coast and are all buddy-buddy, and then there's just little-ole me over here on the West all by me onesome-self. I don't really like that. No.
------------------------------
CollectionDX Staff
Glad you liked the podcast! If you want GOOD kaiju films, I would definitely go with the original Gojira (not Godzilla: King of the Monsters), Godzilla vs. Mothra, maybe Monster Zero, and for more recent fare, as we mentioned, the 90's Gamera trilogy is great. The old school Gamera films are horrendous, and Destroy All Monsters is fun but it's mostly like "holy crap, so many monsters!"
The actual court case between Harmony Gold and FASA is online. The only really hazy thing is just what FASA bought. Some company called American International Imports or something like that. As far as I can tell, that company had acquired the Nichimo 1/200 scale Macross kits and some box art. If you look at all of the artwork in the old Battletech books is just traced artwork except made to look blocky and shitty. Some of the Nichimo kits were released under the Battletech line of models which is pretty rare.
I'm not really sure why FASA decided to spend the money getting these designs rather than make their own. Of course the funny thing is that most of their early original designs were either some kind of VF-1 Valkyrie ripoff (Panther and the Victor Battlemech) or a Destroid like design or just plan shit. See the Vulcan or the Charger. As far as the Un-Seen designs go, they actually released a book called Project Phoenix which reintroduced all of the contested designs with new artwork. The new versions are just ok. If anything it's weird that they didn't attempt to make them look like they fit the 3025 era artwork.
As far as Battletech's popularity, it was pretty much the thing back in the 80's and 90's. I can imagine that when they tried to part it over to Japan it was quickly swept under the rug by the fifty other hex based robot games, most of which were based on popular franchises like Macross, Dougram, Gundam, and even Megazone 23.
Great podcast as usual.
I've been wanting to break into the giant monster movie scene for a while now. But I've not had much luck, seeing how my first movie was Gamera VS Guiron with my friends like 2 years ago.
And yeah, I wouldn't mind hearing more of Josh on the podcast too.
The s****y combination aspect sort of reminds me of that Getter Robo set where you actually transform and combine the planes. The sad (for toy collectors,at least) fact is that because this is anime,none of this s**t had to actually work in real life. That's going to result in a questionable combination for the toys,no matter how you design it. Still,it wouldn't have been THAT hard to put a couple more pegs in there. It's sad when Hasbro's $19.99 Transformers you can buy at the local Kmart work better than a THREE HUNDRED DOLLAR "collector figure".
Thank you Josh for your wonderful reviews! You have saved me $300. I understand for those love this bot that this is still a small price for nostalgia but $300 will buy me some vintage gokin or multiple SOCs. I will wait and see what the Toynami looks like but if it is anything like my Legioss I will pass.
Now I would be interested if CM would release them separately depending on the price. But not as a set.
I pre-ordered mine back in November, before Toyfair and the Toynami reveal. Owning a few Toynami pieces and following the "progress" of their Beta for years, I made the decision that I was sticking with this for the Tread. This was also when the US Dollar was around 118 yen. Unfortunately the place I ordered from doesn't take that into account and went with the current yen at the time of shipping, 98 yen, ouch.
It's got issues, it's over-priced, but given the alternatives it's the only choice available for the foreseeable future. I gave up waiting on Toynami, and their QC issues are worse than ever if you've been following the Aoshima Legioss debacle. I've got my Toynami one pre-ordered for what it's worth, but if you've been wanting a Tread/Beta toy since 1984, buying this is almost a reflex action, and I think CM's knew that going in.
CM's has made me angry and ecstatic at the same time with this. I don't know how I feel about that, but now I'm very concerned what they are planning with my favorite toy of all time, the Mugen Calibur from Dorvack. They are making one this year and the price is still unknown. Will it be $200? Will I buy it anyway? Will it have odd design choices? Who knows.
I totally pre-ordered this thing as soon as I heard about it. The initial Godzilla was perhaps my favorite release of 2007 and Ghidorah looks like it'll rock, too. I just hope the colors of the base match up better than it does in that picture.
"This must be settled the way nature intended....with a vicious, bloody fight!"
Onyx Blackman
Principal, Flatpoint High
"While buying this toy soothed me, it did not calm the other kids down. On the way home I bought them a puppy.
That shut them up."
Greatest ending review line, ever.
FASA, I think, was absorbed by Microsoft, which is why "MechCommander II" has their logo in it. FASA is now more of a trademark and department name synonymous with Battletech, kinda like Touchstone Pictures is with The Walt Disney Company, or Relic Entertainment (Homeworld saga, Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War series) with THQ.
Or am I way off...?
------------------------------
CollectionDX Staff
Well, then the Pacific Northwest, is the best of both those worlds. Not too hot (lest you're east of the Cascade Mtns.), not too cold (repeat:), and humidity is no problem.
I'll tell ya, though- the rubber bands on my first Lego Bionicle sets from 2001 all broke down by the following spring... and they wouldn't replace them. Why they rotted so easily, I don't understanmd since most of them had no tensile strength being applied while sitting on the shelves.
And as for age, note I said "CDX founders", not "anime collecting old-timers" or some-such.
------------------------------
CollectionDX Staff
Thats not necessarily true. The TFs in the Revoltech line have never had many accessories, while many new figures still have many.
Oh snap
It's funny that you chose this subject for the ST episode. I was just in a Books-A-Million today in central Florida, and they had a starter set and Technical Manual for "Classic BattleTech." I searched for a FASA logo, but none could be found, so I assume they no longer have the rights. Instead, it said W.K. Games or something similar. That brought back memories.
I had the Third Edition I believe as a kid in the 80s. Good stuff. I had no one to play with, so I used to make my little sisters play with me, then I would kick their asses because they didn't even know what was going on.
My favorite part of BattleTech was getting the mech books and looking at the giant robot pictures and reading their histories. I could spend hours doing that, along with using the rules to design my own mechs and drawing pictures with friends of our designs. Seriously, one of my favorites things from childhood.
I doubt it. CM's knew going in that the Tread is the draw of this set. It's been a holy grail of toys for decades. If they made them separate they'd be stuck with a load of Legioss. What would they be priced, $160 each? The combo is always cheaper, otherwise what's the point.
Design choices were limited by adherence to line art and/or costs. We'll never know the reasons but it is obvious they just gave up at some point and figured it's just going to be on a shelf anyway so it doesn't matter that it just rests on the stand. You can't please everyone and for every guy that keeps it in a case there's one that "swooshes" it around like he's 8 again.
Remember that Hasbro's $20 figure is mass-produced in the hundreds of thousands, made of crappy plastic and shipped via slow boat from China. It's like comparing a Ferrari to a Hyundai. And believe me Ferraris aren't without flaws considering their cost.
I made the argument before that the price is largely due to the limited run, QC, and expensive materials. I'd estimate that no more than 10,000 of these were produced and I wouldn't be surprised if it was much less.
Up until now, POM plastic in toys has been used in some key joint areas where even metal was too fragile. (Yamato Valkyries two main hinges are POM) This appears to be made almost entirely of POM. I've seen many a comment how crappy the plastic looks, "like model kit plastic". It's deceiving since POM is strong like metal but still looks like styrene. I'd guess the materials are a large part of the cost, it's just that most assume it's the same ABS that everything else is made of so the price seems way too high.
I know most people don't follow plastics and their use in manufacture, so it's a hard sell for CM's to try to educate people about some new plastic being the reason it's so costly. Maybe they should try to do what Popy did in the 70's with "Chogokin Super Alloy", aka zinc. Maybe that's what "Brave Gokin EX" is. A commercial of it being thrown against a wall and the house falling down or something.
Could it be cheaper? Yes. I'm sure CM's knew that interest was high so they inflated the price a bit. But I bet the unit cost for CM's is around $160-$200. I've seen these wholesale for no less than $200, so that says something about their costs if you remember your economics.
Just to add, the Iota (green one) is available through CM's directly. You can go through a broker like celga or something to get it, and the Zeta (red one) is being sold normally after all.
My guess is you're going to see many of these for sale on auction from disillusioned buyers, so either cash in on someone else's misfortune or wait and laugh at us saps when it goes on clearance at HLJ for 70% off like the Ingram.
Your review was entertaining and informative at the same time. I appreciate the insight and historical perspective that you bring to these things.
I'm here in So Cal, and I've been doing this here since the days of Pony Toy-Go-Round.
Besides, humidity and snow will slowly destroy their toys, the dry heat of the desert preserves ours like the pyramids.
Ya know what? I am jealous! Yes.
And rather envious as well. All yous CDX founders are all together over on the East Coast and are all buddy-buddy, and then there's just little-ole me over here on the West all by me onesome-self. I don't really like that. No.
------------------------------
CollectionDX Staff
Glad you liked the podcast! If you want GOOD kaiju films, I would definitely go with the original Gojira (not Godzilla: King of the Monsters), Godzilla vs. Mothra, maybe Monster Zero, and for more recent fare, as we mentioned, the 90's Gamera trilogy is great. The old school Gamera films are horrendous, and Destroy All Monsters is fun but it's mostly like "holy crap, so many monsters!"
-Jeremy
O.o!
Whoa-! I gotta look into that. What's your take on it?
------------------------------
CollectionDX Staff
Mmm! I agree completely!
------------------------------
CollectionDX Staff
The actual court case between Harmony Gold and FASA is online. The only really hazy thing is just what FASA bought. Some company called American International Imports or something like that. As far as I can tell, that company had acquired the Nichimo 1/200 scale Macross kits and some box art. If you look at all of the artwork in the old Battletech books is just traced artwork except made to look blocky and shitty. Some of the Nichimo kits were released under the Battletech line of models which is pretty rare.
I'm not really sure why FASA decided to spend the money getting these designs rather than make their own. Of course the funny thing is that most of their early original designs were either some kind of VF-1 Valkyrie ripoff (Panther and the Victor Battlemech) or a Destroid like design or just plan shit. See the Vulcan or the Charger. As far as the Un-Seen designs go, they actually released a book called Project Phoenix which reintroduced all of the contested designs with new artwork. The new versions are just ok. If anything it's weird that they didn't attempt to make them look like they fit the 3025 era artwork.
As far as Battletech's popularity, it was pretty much the thing back in the 80's and 90's. I can imagine that when they tried to part it over to Japan it was quickly swept under the rug by the fifty other hex based robot games, most of which were based on popular franchises like Macross, Dougram, Gundam, and even Megazone 23.
-Andrew
Great podcast as usual.
I've been wanting to break into the giant monster movie scene for a while now. But I've not had much luck, seeing how my first movie was Gamera VS Guiron with my friends like 2 years ago.
And yeah, I wouldn't mind hearing more of Josh on the podcast too.
The s****y combination aspect sort of reminds me of that Getter Robo set where you actually transform and combine the planes. The sad (for toy collectors,at least) fact is that because this is anime,none of this s**t had to actually work in real life. That's going to result in a questionable combination for the toys,no matter how you design it. Still,it wouldn't have been THAT hard to put a couple more pegs in there. It's sad when Hasbro's $19.99 Transformers you can buy at the local Kmart work better than a THREE HUNDRED DOLLAR "collector figure".
You sir are a fool. Rick Hunter's theme wins every time.... damn Macross snob.
___________________
CollectionDX Writer
The Mospeada theme is the only song worth dancing to anyway.
Thank you Josh for your wonderful reviews! You have saved me $300. I understand for those love this bot that this is still a small price for nostalgia but $300 will buy me some vintage gokin or multiple SOCs. I will wait and see what the Toynami looks like but if it is anything like my Legioss I will pass.
Now I would be interested if CM would release them separately depending on the price. But not as a set.
I pre-ordered mine back in November, before Toyfair and the Toynami reveal. Owning a few Toynami pieces and following the "progress" of their Beta for years, I made the decision that I was sticking with this for the Tread. This was also when the US Dollar was around 118 yen. Unfortunately the place I ordered from doesn't take that into account and went with the current yen at the time of shipping, 98 yen, ouch.
It's got issues, it's over-priced, but given the alternatives it's the only choice available for the foreseeable future. I gave up waiting on Toynami, and their QC issues are worse than ever if you've been following the Aoshima Legioss debacle. I've got my Toynami one pre-ordered for what it's worth, but if you've been wanting a Tread/Beta toy since 1984, buying this is almost a reflex action, and I think CM's knew that going in.
CM's has made me angry and ecstatic at the same time with this. I don't know how I feel about that, but now I'm very concerned what they are planning with my favorite toy of all time, the Mugen Calibur from Dorvack. They are making one this year and the price is still unknown. Will it be $200? Will I buy it anyway? Will it have odd design choices? Who knows.
I totally pre-ordered this thing as soon as I heard about it. The initial Godzilla was perhaps my favorite release of 2007 and Ghidorah looks like it'll rock, too. I just hope the colors of the base match up better than it does in that picture.
"This must be settled the way nature intended....with a vicious, bloody fight!"
Onyx Blackman
Principal, Flatpoint High
Wow, I thought I had some ugly toys! That thing is awful...
"This must be settled the way nature intended....with a vicious, bloody fight!"
Onyx Blackman
Principal, Flatpoint High
Ok, you asked for it...! .....but you knew it was coming anyway, right...? ;)
"This must be settled the way nature intended....with a vicious, bloody fight!"
Onyx Blackman
Principal, Flatpoint High
If you ask me,it just needs a couple more black dots.