[Snakeeyesisposh]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ozymandias13

At this point I fear the reason for Uhura's absence might lie in the racism against black folks I hear is prevalent in China.

The likely real reason is the 2009 Star Trek
Female body is incredibly low priority for Hiya.
1st move it can be used One or two characters right?


2nd most likely reason is her likeness rights since 2009
has skyrocketed since playing MCU Gamora.

[Ozymandias13]

AKSHULLY, now that I've properly dis-assembled Kirk to get a look at his innards I'm thinking they're having difficulty adapting this rig to Ms Saldana's much thinner frame, skirt overlay or not.



I had recommended pulling the Treks apart at the ball waist; but now I see they're engineered such that pulling the head and arms out then sliding the tunic up and off is the best way to get the belt onto the shirt.

[jabalong]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ozymandias13

AKSHULLY, now that I've properly dis-assembled Kirk to get a look at his innards I'm thinking they're having difficulty adapting this rig to Ms Saldana's much thinner frame, skirt overlay or not.

I had recommended pulling the Treks apart at the ball waist; but now I see they're engineered such that pulling the head and arms out then sliding the tunic up and off is the best way to get the belt onto the shirt.

Very interesting. Hiya had explained this funny business, but it's nice to actually see it. I like the figures, but I don't get why they couldn't just have a regular abdomen and torso parts under the shirt.

If all the Hiya figures shown so far have this construction, that does seem like an added hurdle to tackling Uhura. I wonder what the planned construction is on Keenzer.

I'm more interested in the neck though. Does the combo head/neck pull out? How does it connect to that little partially painted white piece that's still there? Do you have any ambitions to try replace the neck with something with a ball joint that could lend itself to head swaps?

[Ozymandias13]

That neck nubbin is the bottom of Pine Kirk's head, with a double-barbell neck piece much like the wrists have. I've cut Pine off to bash in the Mego TMP Shatner head (and am doing the same for Bones, Spock, and be-mustachioed Scotty) but hadn't added him at the time of teh pic. After shaving out the 'crater' of the neck socket on the bottom of the neck the barbell gives a really nice range of expressive motion.

[Ozymandias13]

Dr M'Benga using an MTF head and hands:

[jabalong]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ozymandias13

Dr M'Benga using an MTF head and hands:

Looks great! This is the first Hiya Star Trek custom I've seen.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ozymandias13

That neck nubbin is the bottom of Pine Kirk's head, with a double-barbell neck piece much like the wrists have. I've cut Pine off to bash in the Mego TMP Shatner head (and am doing the same for Bones, Spock, and be-mustachioed Scotty) but hadn't added him at the time of teh pic. After shaving out the 'crater' of the neck socket on the bottom of the neck the barbell gives a really nice range of expressive motion.

Ah, so you cut the Hiya head from the neck. Then you dig a hole out of the neck to fit a barbell to add another head.

What about with the hands. Do those little hand nubbin balls pull out of the arm or do you have to cut them off and dig out a hole for hand pegs from other lines to slide in?

[Ozymandias13]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jabalong

Looks great! This is the first Hiya Star Trek custom I've seen.

Gracias, mate.

Quote:

Ah, so you cut the Hiya head from the neck. Then you dig a hole out of the neck to fit a barbell to add another head.

Negatory. The Hiya neck joint is retained, with the Hiya head cut off the Hiya neck at the jaw/hair line. I didn't cut clean across, but shaved down the face, ears, back of head such there was an exposed-plastic cylinder projecting up from the flesh-painted Hiya neck. I trimmed that cylinder to match the outer 'crater' of the MTF Ajani head's neck socket, and glued it solid with just a bit of mis-match to the seam at his rear right hair line. Thankfully this character's dark skin and hair hide the flaw well.

Quote:

What about with the hands. Do those little hand nubbin balls pull out of the arm or do you have to cut them off and dig out a hole for hand pegs from other lines to slide in?

Yeah, I pulled the Hiya hands and wrist barbells out entirely. I'm not a fan of the system much at all and prefer to swap out MTF hands on all my Hiya figures when possible. The longer MTF wrist peg does require the Hiya forearm to be drilled out to fit.

[Itchweed]

So I was able to pick up the Kirk figure extremely cheap. I must say I am somewhat disappointed. The likeness to the actor is no where near the initial pics, which is ok by me....but the belt was a pain to get on correctly, the paint on the skin looks ghostly, and the regular cost of one of these figures doesn't seem to me to be worth it. I hope they get to the original series, and I hope they are a touch better in the quality department.

[Ozymandias13]

On the one hand, I'm ecstatic to have some 18th Trek figures that aren't the nadir of dogshit for the artform.

On the other hand, I'm crestfallen it's the shitty reboot movie versions of them (despite the pretty excellent casting for the roles the movies themselves are near-unwatchable crap) and then they all came out paler than Colm Meaney after a 6mo Antarctic expedition.

So yeah, for out-of-the-package play they're a bit underwhelming. For jumpstarting customs of the most-neglected gigantic-ass license in 18th scale they're a god-send.

Anyway, here's Lt Christine Chapel, Starfleet Medical Corp from my comboverse. I think I'm building up to a cross-time tale where all the crews are interacting for an extended time.

[jabalong]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Itchweed

So I was able to pick up the Kirk figure extremely cheap. I must say I am somewhat disappointed. The likeness to the actor is no where near the initial pics, which is ok by me....but the belt was a pain to get on correctly, the paint on the skin looks ghostly, and the regular cost of one of these figures doesn't seem to me to be worth it. I hope they get to the original series, and I hope they are a touch better in the quality department.

These are pretty much the main knocks on the figures in reviews.

The likeness issue, to my end, is an avoidable own-goal by Hiya. They just set unrealistic expectations with their ultra-photo-realistic prototypes. If they had just managed expectations, the end result are fine. Not great, but fine.

What I did is slid the belt up from the legs to sit right against/below the shirt line. It sits snuggly, albeit a little low. But I'm a wear things low on my hips kind of guy anyway. I can't abide a belt over an untucked shirt.

The skin tones are pale, no doubt. But that's not so atypical with the China toymakers. It's on par with Planet Green Valley and some JoyToy. I'm okay with a range of skin tones. And the faces pop a little on a crowded shelf.