Graham

Eh, I don't see anything in the item descripion that mentions Wookies? Graham

I quite enjoyed AvP Extinction on the PS2, but yes it is limited and has little replay value once you have completed the campaigns for the 3 species. Graham

Well, the chronology section of the Macross Compendium shows Isamu's last assignment before being assigned to Eden as follows: - October 22 2039 Isamu Alva Dyson assigned to Outer Space Special Science Force. Graham

Finally, an update from the Macross Compendium, that shows the Miyatake Design works book is coming in March Kazutaka Miyatake Macross & Orguss Design Works 宮武一貴 マクロス&オーガス デザインワークス Design art collection A4 size ISBN: 4896016297 Movic 2005 March, end of (scheduled) Y3000 Y3150 (tax included Oh well, 4 years late is better than not at all! Graham

Actually, I enjoyed RE2 as we got to see Milla Jovovich's nipples near the end of the movie . Graham

I haven't watched the second disc yet, so I'm not sure what the extras are and I can't check until I go home. Probably the usual poo though....making of feature, deleated scenes etc. Actually, I never really care for extras. I just went to amazon to check what the extra are and I'm suprised the DVD is not being relesed in the US until Jan 25 and in the UK until March 2005! The official 2 disc DVD was released here in HK a week ago already. Graham

OK, so I'm very late to the party, but I finally got around to watching AvP on DVD over the weekend. And wadda you know, I actually enjoyed it. I certainly liked it a lot more than Alien 3 & 4. A bit more gore would have been nice and the far-too-quick Alien gestation period bugged me a bit, but overall, it was a good fun popcorn flick and certainly a lot more enjoyable than many of last summers action movie releases. Graham

I'm hoping they do make a GQ Zaku Warrior. I'd buy one of each color at least. Graham

My theory is that when the dead reanimate, then whatever force brings them back also stops decomposition or at least slows it down to a greatly reduced rate, i.e. so instead of completely decomposing in say a year (or however long it normally takes a body to decompose), it instead takes many years. Also, in regards to shuffling vs running zombies, I've always thought that the slow gait of traditional 'Romero' style Zombies is not caused purely by rigor mortis or decaying muscles, but is instead a result of the brain's neural pathways being messed up when the corpse reanimates as a Zombie. This means that the Zombie doesn't have as much control over their body as a normal living person, hence the slow movement. Perhaps like a young child or somebody recovering from a serious illness, the Zombie has to relearn how to use it's body to it's full capability. This could tie in with what we have been hearning about evolved Zombies in Land of the Dead and also 'Bub' in Day of the Dead. Graham

The Destiny MSiA are actually pretty detailed. I'm very happy with mine so far. My favorites so far are the Force/Sword/Blast Impulse and the Blaze & Slash Zaku Phantoms. The Savior, Gaia, Abyss and Chaos are also pretty good as well. Yzak's big double bladed axe can't exactly fold, but the haft (handle) is made of two parts consisting of a long and a short section. You can remove the long section to make the axe shorter for storing it on the rear skirt armor of the Zaku. The spike on the end of the axe does fold. The two beam blades are removeable and the two beam emitter parts are hinged, so that they fold down into a more compact form. Graham

Hmm....looks like it has the same beam rifle as the Impulse. Graham

s_i_t_h_l_o_r_d you are sick, sick, sick, sick I tell you Im official jealous now. Nice photos by the way. Graham

I'd buy a bootleg, but there's no way I'd pay US$700 for an original one of these. US$100 would be my maximum. I just wish somebody would make a VF-17D/S Plush. Graham

Have to be next week, all my Strike MSiA are at work. For now, here's a quick pic of Yzak's Slash Zaku Phantom. I did take some quick pics of the Freedom & Blaze Zaku Phantom, but they came out a bit blurry and as it's getting close to 11pm here, I'm not taking anymore pics for tonight .

Ok, here's a larger scan of the text. Graham

And here's some other Destiny figures, this time by by Bandai. The figs at the top half of the page should be out any day now. The figs at the bottom of the page are due for release in March and appear to have a voice chip in the base. Graham

I'll definitely be picking up the Megahouse Lunamaria figure. Graham

And Lunamaria's younger sister, bridge bunny Meyrin. Graham

Next up psycho chick Stellar. Graham

Oh well, even though Panon has beaten me to it, I'll still post the Hobby Japan pics. First up everybodies favorite female Zaft pilot Lunamaria. Graham

MSiA Freedom Gundam Mini Review Articulation: Fairly good articulation. Ver.2 knees and elbows. Upper-arm rotation point. Head can rotate about 45 degrees side to side and also is capable of some small back & forth movement. 360 degree waist rotation. Ankle articulation pretty good and the toy can keep it's feet fairly flat on the ground even with the legs spread. Front and rear skirt armor is not articulated, but as it is made of very soft PVC, it will bend up if you want to do a kneeling pose. Good articulation of the back wings with solid tight hinges, reinforced with thick metal pins so that the wings will hold their pose when open. Accessories: Comes with 2 x Beam Sabers with removeable blades, 1 x double joined Beam Saber hilt (think Darth Maul), 1 x beam rifle, 1 x shield, 6 x hands (2 x closed fists, 2 x gun hands, 2 x Beam saber hands). Finish, Construction & Sculpt: Pretty good paint job, with a bit of overspray in some areas, nothing major though. Toy is constructed of all PVC, except for the POM elbow & knee joints and the main wing hinges. Sculpt seems pretty accurate, although I'm no expert on the Freedom. Beam Saber blades are ABS, so no sagging, limp noodle blades here. Flaws: The only problem with this toy so far is that the left skirt armor does not hold the beam saber hilt securely at all. In fact the hilt falls out with just the gentlest of touch. The right skirt armor holds the beam saber hilt fine. The problem as I see it is that the two halves of the right skirt armor were not glued together tightly enough at the factory, leaving the channel that holds the hilt slightly oversize . Conclusion: I'm pretty happy with this toy. It's a nice looking sculpt, reasonably well articulated (although not as articulated as the Zaku Phantoms or the Impulse). The back wings/guns are well done and can hold their pose in either the full weapons mode, with the back and hip guns pointing forward or the mode with wings fully open. The hip rail guns also open and close without problem. Overall, I'd give this figure a 7.5/10. Graham

MSiA Blaze & Slash Zaku Phantoms Mini Review Articulation: Overall very good articulation. Ver.2 knees and elbows. Mid-bicep rotation point. Head can rotate 360 degrees and also is capable of some back & forth and side to side movement. Excellent waist articulation. Full 360 degree waist rotation, plus can tilt back & forth and side to side as well. Ankle articulation is fairly limited though as the armor gets in the way. All waist armor segments can be raised to horizontal so kneeling pose is not a problem. Accessories: Comes with 2 x arm shields, 1 x beam rifle, with detachable disc-shape power pack, 4 x spare beam rifle power packs for attaching to inside of arm shields, 1 x back mounted double beam gattling pack (Slash only), 1 x beam axe with removeable beam blade, 1 x large beam axe consisting of double bladed axe head w/removeable beam blades, haft section and end spike (Slash only), 6 x hands (2 fists, 2 gun hands, 2 axe hands), 1 x large thruster back pack with opening missile pods (Blaze only). Finish, Construction & Sculpt: These figures are mostly molded in the correct color PVC, so there is not a great deal of painted areas. The paint job on the painted parts is normal to good for MSiA. Construction of these toys is pretty much all PVC, except for the POM knee and elbow joints. No hard plastic used for the weapons, except for the haft of the Slash's double-bladed beam axe. Sculpt seems accurate to the lineart and anime, although I do think the haed sits a bit too high on the neck joint. Flaws: No major obvious flaws so far. Nothing really loose and no parts falling off except for the beam rifle power pack which doesn't attach to the rifle very securely. I'll probably glue it on. My only other minor complaint is that the missile pod hatches on the Blaze's back pack do not open far enough. Conclusion: With good articulation, no obvious flaws, a decent selection of weapons and a nice looking sculpt, I'd give these figures a 9/10.

OK, just got back from my little shopping expedition. Went to my regular shop that I buy Gundam toys from and gasp..........on first glance, none of the new January MSiAs are on display. So I rumage through the shelves and 1 row back manage to find a single Slash Zaku Phantom (Yzak's blue one) for HK$99 (US$12.70). It seems that the shop only received a few pieces of the new MSiA yesterday and they sold out very quickly. So, being somewhat disheartened at not finding the Freedom MSiA I walk to a nearby shopping mall that has about half a dozen small toy shops. First shop I visit also has a single Slash Zaku Phantom only, but selling cheaper for HK$79 (US$10.12). Gah, knew I should have shopped around! Next two shops, nothing. Next shop........yes! I spot the Freedom MSiA, but it is the last one and the shopkeeper wants HK$178 (US$22.80) for it. Hmm.....this is an extremely high price for an MSiA. So, do I do the sensible thing and wait until next week, when more stock will probably come in and I can get it for a cheaper price, or do I buy it now? Heh, heh, what do you think? Let no man accuse me of being sensible . Of course I bought it . Final shop, luck is with me again. They have the Blaze Zaku Phantom (Rey's white one) selling for HK$79 (US$10.12), which I buy. They are all sitting in front of me now in their boxes. I'm just going to break them out and I'll write a quick report after I've had a chance to play with them. Graham

Regular uniform with that oh so lovely, oh so short miniskirt . Graham

Hasegawa could easily relase three versions of the VF-11 to get more use out of the molds, Mac Plus VF-11B, Mac 7 VF-11C and VF-X2 version. I'd probably buy a couple at least. Graham