Graham

Ahem....wrong forum. It ain't a toy and it ain't Macross. Moved to the Other Anime section. Graham

Ewan's chin looks elongated. Prosthetic chin or altered by CG?

As much as I love the 1/48, I'd say if he is not a toy collector and not used to handling and transforming 'collector grade' Japanese mecha toys, then it's probably best to stick with the 1/55 for it's overall durability and ease of transformation. All of us here are familiar with how to handle somewhat delicate Japanese mecha toys so that they wont break, but we forget that non-toy people tend to be somewhat ham-fisted and overly forceful, which is not good for the toy's health. Can we all say 'BP8...snap'! Personally, I'd stay away from the 1/60 as a beginner toy, as the removable legs, troubled gerwalk mode, general floppiness and easily scratched paint job can lead to more frustrations than pleasure. We're pretty much all hardcore fans here, so we learn to live with these deficiencies in light of the toys other charms such as superior sculpt and poseability, but a casual fan may be more disappointed than we would be. The 1/48 is best left to later on if he choses to move down the dark side and get into collecting Macross toys. If he gets it as a newbie, he won't appreciate all the features of the 1/48 as much as he he gets one later when he is more knowledgable. Just my 2 cents. Graham

MSG = Monosodium Glutamate iPod? Graham

During my lunch break today, I took the train to visit the 2004 HK Gundam Expo which opened today at Plaza Hollywood located in the Diamond Hill district. As I've only got an hour for lunch, I wasn't able to stay long (only about 20 minutes), but the expo was much smaller than in previous years and to be honest there wasn't much of interest to see unless you are a really hardcore, diehard Gundam fan. Here's a few comments on what I did/didn't see: - Biggest disappointment, the mini-skirted Gundam cosplay girls were not in attendence yet...Boo Hiss . There was a nice 2m tall statue of the Force Impulse Gundam and also the Blue Astray Second L, complete with big honkin' sword. You could pose with these for taking photos. Unlike previous years, there was not much new upcoming products on display. For model kits they had some of the upcoming Destiny HGUC kits on show along with a nice completed 1/60 scale Force Impulse which is due for release on 18 Dec (I may get this one). Some completed MG Balls were also on display, bigger than I expected and very detailed as well. Toys were even more of a let down. I'd been expecting to see the MMM GQ Force Impulse toy on display and also the MSiAs of Gaia, Chaos & Abyss as all these toys are due out in December, but nada. The only unreleased toy they showed was the HCM Pro Rick Dias due in January.....big yawn! This is really bad compared to the Expo 2 years ago when they had loads of upcoming releases on display. The only show exclusives I noticed was a box set of metallic plated HGUC kits from Zeta, including RX-178 Titans, red Rick Dias, Zeta and Hi-Zack. I didn't get these as I'm not a fan of Zeta mecha. There was also a 1/1 scale RX-78 hand you could sit on and take photos with. I'd read on Gunota Blog that this was actually supposed to be a full Gundam upper torso and head like in the Bandai museum in Japan, but the RX-78 upper body at this expo turned out to be just a painted 2D backdrop...cheapskates! TRU had a big booth at the expo selling Gundam models and toys. Nothing new or interesting that you can't easily buy anywhere else in HK though, besides the aforementioned metallic HGUC expo exclusives. There was also a display of painted Gundam model kits by some of HK's very talented model builders and also some mini-dioramas on display, nothing like last years huge diorama though. There was also a roped off area with kiddies building Gundam models, but I didn't pay much attention to this. There is probably more stuff that I missed, like gashapons and those kiddies card games, but as I mentioned I only had a very short time there before I had to hop on a train back to work. I may go back with a camera tomorrow, but IMO the whole thing was one big snoozefest this year. Graham

Easy solution: - Step 1: Turn down TV volume when watching Zeta Intro. Step 2: Put CD with 'Sign of Zeta' song into Hi Fi and play during intro. Step 3: Intro finishes, turn off Hi Fi and turn up TV sound. That's what I'd do if I bought this DVD set, which I won't though as Zeta makes me fall asleep. I do love the Sign of Zeta song tho . Graham

Actually a girl can be slim and petite (not skinny) and still have nice T&A. Nice in my book means small and firm. If it can fill my hand and no more I'm happy. Big cow-like udders or watermelons on a women are not attractive to me, neither are rear-ends that require a 'Danger Wide Load' sign . Actually, even though Portman is fairly petite, I don't consider her that attractive, but then again Caucasian women just don't turn me on at all, I've dated Asian women exclusively for the last 20 years . Oh and getting back on topic, what were we talking about...........oh yeah right, SW ep III . Graham

Nah, it probably just whines in an annoying angst-ridden way . Graham

Given that everbody but Shuji died in the first one, I guess this new OVA either has to be a prequel or a side story set during the original story. Graham

I watched this earlier this year on the recommendation of a friend. Not the sort of anime I usually watch (no giant robots or tentical sex ), but it was enjoyable enough, if a bit depressing. And just to confirm what Sebastian said, the English subtitles on the HK DVD set are pretty good. Graham

I used to know a guy who's name was Wang. Graham

Does the Strike Gundam really need to be updated though? It's only what 2-3 years old, so performance-wise it shouldn't be that far behind the curve. With a good pilot and the ISWP it should be comparable to all but the most advanced suits. Graham

Some people have mentioned seeing a shimmering around Shin's shield, but I don't remember seeing it (screen caps anybody)? Also, the English translations of the Impulses's specs on sites like MAHQ make no mention of the Impulse's shield having any special ability. Graham

Takatoku Orgoids are fairly easy to find here in HK in the shops that specialise in vintage toys. I can think of 2 or 3 shops that have them. Of course they are not cheap though. I've been thinking of buying one of these for years now, but the reported fragility puts me off. I just wish I'd bought some when I came to HK in 1986 as they were still selling everywhere then for original retail price or less . Graham

I like my electric toothbrush......does that count? Graham

Nah, gimme slender, elfin chicks anyday. I like my women between 95lbs to 110lbs max and between 5' 3" to 5' 7" tall. Monica Belluci or big women in general do nothing for me at all. Small is cute, large ......what for? Graham

As well as the Gun Walker, Kyosho also make a cool R/C sci-fi tank called the Gun Roller. Graham

Nothing says cool like a Daggit! Graham

VF-17D or VF-22S Graham

On the subject of Engrish, there's a small sandwich shop in the Wan Chai district of Hong Kong that has a sign up advertising a 'Tuna with Cum' sandwich. I think and hope that they actually mean Tuna with Cucumber, but their method of shortening the word 'Cucumber' is odd to say the least. Needless to say I will not be trying this particular sandwich just in case the description of the ingredients is accurate . One of these days I'll have to take a photo and submit it to Engrish.com. Graham

That statement is generalizing too much. It's only the best selling genre in the US market. Well, it helps that the US market is the largest market... Not that I really care, but I'm just curious is the North American games market really bigger than the combined Asian, European, UK and South American, i.e. the rest of the world's games market? Anybody in the industry have some figures? Graham

Actually, I'm wondering why no other MS so far has been fitted with a version of the Forbidden Gundam's energy deflection armor as that was very effective against beam weapons. Graham

It would be cool to see some new Orguss toys, but I can't see it happening, unless the great champion of obscure licenses (Yamato) decides to pick up the license. Graham

Anime endings raped my childhood . Graham

Uh, because he's actually a very good pilot? Are you forgetting he fought multiple Gundams to a standstill as well as surviving relatively unscathed against a gunbarrel equipped mobile armour, in what was essentially his first mission? I don't think Shins that good a pilot....yet. While in eps 1-2 he was able to avoid being damaged by the 3 stolen Gundams, I don't think it's really that accurate to say he fought them to a standstill. He was also unable to damage the 3 Gundams at all. Of course he may have been deliberately trying not to damage them so that ZAFT could get them back intact. Athrun an Yzak did much better in their ZAKUs against the 3 stolen Gundams in episode #6. Of couse Athrun and Yzak are far more experienced pilots than Shin, but the ZAKU should also be an inferior machine compared to the Impulse or the 3 stolen Gundams. Graham