Graham

Cool, I knew it was only a matter of time. Graham

From my experience with real sword fighting, including Foil and Sabre fencing many years ago and more recently Philippine stick fighting (Arnis) and medieval European swordsmanship, I've found that occasionally a begginer or untrained person can be more dangerous than a trained and experienced fighter due to their unpredictability. When two trained fighters fight, especially when using the same style and weapon type, each one has a good knowledge of the set attacks that the other will be using and will respond with a specific set parry and counterattack. However, a beginner will sometimes do a completly unexpected move not included in the normal repertoire of attacks which will just sail straight through the guard of the defender. I've had that happen to me more than once when facing newbs, which is why it pays to learn multiple styles and weapon types to increase your flexibility of response. Graham

Best anime series I've watched recently (within the last 3 months) would be GITS SAC 2nd GIG and Planetes (sp?). Most overated series IMO was Samurai Champloo. I know many people here liked it, but I found it just average. I've been watching more live series recently than anime. Just finished both old and new Battlestar Galactica TV series and soon to start rewatching Babylon 5 seasons 4 & 5. Graham

That's they way I'd see it. Graham

It's just a common term for an over-sized book with large pictures that is commonly placed in a living room or a sitting room to entertain guests. It's not a novel. . . it's a picture-heavy book meant to simply give you something to look at (with some light reading). Ya mean it's not like a big book with holes in the corners so you can screw in legs and turn it into a makeshift coffee table? Shucks I've been under that misapprehension for years! Graham

A bribe usually does the trick. I'll accept payment in either cash, women or beer Graham

I've always prefered realism in RPGs, especially in combat, as long as it doesn't slow the gameplay down to unacceptable levels. This is the main reason why back when I was RPGing in the mid-80s to early 90s I prefered the Runequest rules over D&D as they have features like hit locations, armour which absorbs damage and the ability to parry (block) attacks. Graham

I think Scott is a good director most of the time and occasionally subject to flashes of brilliance, when he becomes a great director. As mentioned above, he has had his fair share of flops as well as successes. Personally, there are only 4 of his movies that I like enough to buy the DVD or watch them more than once, these being: - 1) Blade Runner. 2) Alien. 3) The Duellists. 4) Blackhawk Down. Although his swords n' sandals epic Gladiator was pretty good, despite a very dodgy CGI Rome, I didn't like it enough to go out and buy the DVD. I haven't seen Heaven & Earth yet and don't intend to see it at the cinema, although I may rent it later. Although I don't normally put too much faith in reviews, I've been hearing a lot of negative feedback that this movie is far too politically correct. Graham

There are many different hobby shows in Japan each year, the most common ones being the Summer & Winter Wonder Fests, Tokyo Toy Show, Shizuoka Hobby Show & C3 (Cultural Convention of Characters). The next hobby show on the calender is the 44th annual Shizuoka Hobby Show, which takes place on 12th-15th May (14th & 15th are open to the public). IIRC, the 1/48 Low Vis was originally sold (or announced) by Yamato at the Shizuoka Hobby show. Graham

That's not entierly true. Hobby Base Retppu did a 1/72 VF-11B battroid. B-Club released 1/100 scale (IIRC) YF-19 & YF-21 battroids. And TECT released 1 1/144 scale YF-19 battroid. Graham

They are spare magazines for the gunpod. In the opening fight scene in ep # 1 of the mac Plus OVA, where the VF-11B squadron is fighting the renegade powered armor, you can see Isamu ejects the spent magazine from his gunpod and then attaches a new magazine from the shield. Graham

Is it the one where Harvey Keitel(sp?) is a Napoleonic officer hell bent on killing Keith Carradine? If so, I remember it being pretty good. Yep, that's the one. Graham

Cool I suppose, but I'd still prefer a VF-0S/D or a resculpted YF-19. I've never been a big fan of the brown cannon-fodder VF-1A. I'll probably still end up buying 2 though . Bear in mind that the pics on HLJ might not be representative of the final version. Hopefully, Yamato might still sculpt a TV style head. Graham

I can't believe it, am I the only one here that has watched his first movie 'The Duellists'? Nobody else seen it and think it's a good movie? Graham

December! I wonder why they are releasing it so late, esopecially as the UK series 1 DVD set has been out for a few months already. The UK set is pretty good, but minimal extras, which doesn't bother me as I rarely watch extras anyway. Graham

Ah...AC, one of my long held pet peeves. Armor should resist/absorb damage, NOT make you more difficult to hit. Graham

Haven't played an RPG in about 10 years. Used to play a lot of Runequest, which I found to be the most realistic and easy to use system. Also enjoyed Traveller, Cthulhu and the old Games Workshop Dredd. I absolutely hated the rules system of D&D and AD&D, very unrealistic combat rules too many modifiers and I thought the level system was unrealistic. Same applies to D20 as well. Very clumsy systems IMO. Graham

But that only makes 3 What about the other 9? Come on, explain yourself or no Valks for you! Graham

You are missing 'The Duellists', his first movie from 1977. Great movie as well. Graham

There's always 3 other pilots called 'Iphi', 'Cain' & 'Paulus' aiding you in battle (except for the Galactica gun turret levels) and you can have up to 3 wingmen as well, that you can give simple instructions to. Graham

Got to where I can get past the ice chunks, take out the overhaul and some of the Raiders, but then the Maruders show up and destroy the Galactica before I can waste them all. Does having wingmen make a big difference in how easy it is to get through the levels? My 3 wingmen died off really early, so I'm just wondering if I should completely restart the game from scratch and make more effort to keep them alive. Graham

I bought all the Arii 15th Aniversery mecha when they were first released. Yes, they were very disappointing, but remember, that was back in the dark old days, when we were starved for any new Macross merchandise. I finally threw all of them out a few years ago though. Pics of mine are on the main site. The battroid pis were taken before I had a digital camera, I just put the figures onto the scanner.....LOL, that's why the dark background. Graham

Had this game preordered for ages. Should be arriving soon. Graham

Why? Apart from having a core fighter (sorry, core splendor), it doesn't seem any more complex than most other Mobile Suits. In fact it's a great deal simpler than many MS like the Ex-S or Zeta/Z-Plus for example. I can't see why it would be any more difficult to design or build than other MG or PG kits. Both the MG and PG RX-78 and GP-01 have Core Fighters. Even in it's three seperate components, there's nothing really special going on with Impulse. For the lower section, all the legs do is bend at the kness and the front and rear foot halves close up. Nothing mind-bogglingly complex there. For the top section, all the arms need to is raise above the head and bend at the elbow IIRC. Graham

Anybody got any tips for destroying the ice chunks in level 8? Can't seem to destroy them quickly enough to stop them from destroying the Galactica. Graham