Mr March

Aoshima Aliens Cheyenne Dropship, no contest

So, this fella is merging a Matchbox Veritech with a GI Joe Jet to create a more sleek and properly proportioned transformable Valkyrie? Interesting, but why not just purchase a Yamato 1/48 scale Valkyrie (like the picture he has posted)...or is the point of the project to create a fighter to fit GI Joe sized action figures?

With all these books, comics, animated series and the imminent television series, Star Wars is rapidly approaching Star Trek/Gundam/Stargate levels of overexposure and flat out lameness. Every story is repeated dozens of times over and every new incarnation is just variation on the same old theme. This franchise should take a break...now, before it is forced to bow out due to poor sales/ratings.

I expect nothing less You're also being timed and graded, so chop, chop!

I think it speaks very highly of the community members that they want a more diverse "general discussions" forum. I've often pondered what thoughts my fellow members may have on a number of interesting topics, typically music and literature. The fact that I even care means I enjoy the community here and value the opinions of many members. However, it's clear the MW staff do not want MW to become a a heavy traffic zone with more discussions not directly relating to Macross. This is certainly their right and given the narrow focus of the website in general, I see no reason why a forum for much broader discussion should exist. MacrossWorld is designed for more specialized discussion of Macross and the franchise aspects, not to satisfy the need to chat. I probably don't need to mention cost at this point. Perhaps some more accurate terminology is required for the definition of the forum but beyond that I don't think much has to change.

Now that was something I never expected to hear reading this thread. I hope everything goes well for you. Keep your head down!

Quite interesting. Plenty of the reviews discuss the nature of the artwork itself and the social/ideological/cultural interpretations of the pieces, though I'm a bit hazy on what the actual book covers. There are many aspects of japanese culture worth a look, but I'd like to know more specifics on this particular book.

You know I'd have NEVER EVER given Claudia a thought, but your very right her personality is exetremely attractive. But then again I'm attracted to confident women who know what inner strength is and how not to be male when showing it. 391908[/snapback] Well let's be honest, how many males watch anime for average looking women with intelligence and wit who might be compatible with them? Nearly all anime is about T&A when it comes to females, even when they are fully developed, lead characters. Sadly, most of the great looking women in anime are the kind I would never date seriously. High maintenance isn't my thing

That can be tough, since the average electronics consumer is not electronics savy. They see two players that can both play their new Terminator 2 Special Edition DVD and they go for the cheaper one cause they can't tell the difference. I suppose a little bit of this would also have to do with our society and consumer mindset. Instant gratification is a sad reality that affects a wide range of buying behaviour. Rarely are buyers thinking far ahead.

Because I think that, in some ways, the issue is less the quality of the device (the higher quality units are the ones with the problems) and more like another case of companies so anxious to protect themselves from piracy that they down right screw their customers. Slightly OT, I'm still pissed that HD-DVD and Blu-Ray will down-res your movies if you use a component video connection. 391670[/snapback] Fair enough, though I can't really think of any solution other than to buy a new DVD player...and buy a cheap one. I agree that the copyright holders for films and music are paranoid and causing more damage to the consumer market and media compatibility. While there will always be end users/consumers abusing the system and illegally downloading ALL the films/tv/music they want, the current copyright crisis is really just a misunderstanding on behalf of copyright holders. These companies saw everything internet as a threat, rather than treating it as a message from consumers (which I beleive, more than anything, is the truth of the matter). So many computer users saw the internet as an ideal media delivery system. They no longer wanted to buy their music and movies on discs, prefering the convenience of file transfer (this was also an enviromental issue for some). In the beginning, the only way to support file transfer was to use it, however illegal it may have been. Unfortunately, so many of the multinational companies that own the rights to these entertainment products are stuck in "conquer-the-world, brand-everything-with-our-logo" mode that they interpreted this new market demand as an attack upon their property rights. "Wow, what a remarkable opportunity this new method of distribution will present" is what they should have said, if North America was still a properly functioning captialist system. As a result, it has taken a very, VERY long time for consumers to enjoy online distribution. Even now, music is still slow to catch on (even with the popularity of iTunes and such) and Hollywood studios are still opposing easy online distribution for films. I suppose this incident shows us all the state of our society (little bit of a soapbox I'm saddened by the HD/Blu Ray situation. I can see very little good coming of it. I'm afraid the inability of these companies to agree on a single format will mean the majority of the consumer base will simply avoid confusion by avoiding both formats, leading to another 5-10 years before the next format can make an effective market pitch to the public.

A guilty pleasure to be sure

But why should we have to? I had the same 19" TV, and hand-me-down from my parents, for something like 15 years. It didn't stop playing TV shows. In fact, I still own the TV, but it hasn't been hooked up for the last four years because I've had two better TVs since. But we're expected to buy new DVD players every five years to keep up with the latest security encryptions? Piracy protection is becoming more and more of an excuse for extortion. 391583[/snapback] Okay when did this become an anti-corporate, state-of-the-consumer-base rant? I'm offering a low cost solution to NERV's problem, nothing more. Why don't lawnmowers last 20 years anymore? Why has my parent's refrigerator purchased in 1990 failed to outlast the first fridge they had for 30 years? Why are new cars falling apart after a decade? I'm afraid high turnover is a fact of diminishing returns for the consumer, a problem you can thank for being born a lucky member of the first generation in your society to be worse off than the one before. Grievances aside, if you want to avoid high DVD electronics turnover, I can recommend your PC/Mac. Most computer drives last 5-10 years if properly maintained.

As much as I hate to congratulate Microcrap for anything, the X-Box 360 gamepad I purchased for my PC is one finely tuned gaming controller. I use it for all three emulators, MAME, ZSNES, and Gens32 Surreal. Works beautifully!

Mostly, I've been told it has to do with DVD hardware and software differences between models over many years. More specifically, the hardware used to read discs and the manner in which DVDs are encoded. Up until just recently, I owned a Toshiba DVD player which I purchased back in 1999 for $250. The unit was reliable for 99% of all DVDs I rented/purchased. However, every once in a while, a dirt/scratch free DVD that was known to work well in any other DVD player would not function on my player. One such disc was the Dune Miniseries and another was Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers Extended Edition (that's right, just the middle film, not the other two). When Lord of the Rings failed to function, that was the nail in the coffin of my Toshiba Since purchasing my new Sony DVD player last year, I've run almost my half my collection of DVDs (about 250 discs in total) including roughly 200 rented DVDs. Nothing has failed to run. I'd recommend getting a new player. After 7 years, it really was time for a new one. You're now at 5 years with yours, which is fairly old in the digital world. New players are so cheap it's almost a crime. I purchased my current Sony for under $80; it runs quieter, faster, and smoother than my old Toshiba.

Like we wouldn't Damn Jay, this model is really something. The detail is very impressive in this new update.

Hard to imagine members of a Macross message board unfamiliar with Claudia. Hell, how could ANY anime fan be unaware of Faye? Ask and ye shall receive... Claudia in action, having fun, and looking a bit flustered Faye looking good on a beach, one of only two things she's good for...*evil grin*

I vote a big YES!

I have to say, nearly every anime female lacks one important aspect I've always admired in the opposite sex: an actual physical existence Okay, okay, assuming that an anime female actually existed as a real human woman I can meet in the real world, most female characters in anime do lack my prefered trait: a good sense of humor! If she can't laugh at my jokes, any chance of a relationship (or at least making them laugh so I can get laid) is nil. Claudia from SDF Macross seems to be the only attractive woman with a well adjusted personality and a killer sense of humor (VERY important). She'd be a lot of fun and can actually pull her own weight (I prefer a woman with a decent job). Being a shallow male, simply choosing between female anime characters as objects of sexual desire (here's something for your psychologist to reference in his Psychotherapy textbook), Faye from Cowboy Bebop would be my choice

Fork or Spoon!

So many great villains to choose from, and so many reasons Jack Torrence (The Shining, 1980) - "HERE'S JOHNNY!" Joker (Batman, 1989) - "Jack is dead, my friend. You can call me Joker...and as you can see, I'm a lot happier" Col. Nathan R. Jessep (A Few Good Men, 1992) - "YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH!" Don Vito Corleone (The Godfather, 1972) - "I'll make him an offer he can't refuse" Colonel Walter E. Kurtz (Apocalypse Now, 1979) - "The horror...the horror..." Darth Vader (Star Wars, 1977) - "I find your lack of faith disturbing" Roy Batty (Blade Runner, 1982) - "Quite an experience to live in fear, isn't it? That's what it is to be a slave" Hans Gruber (Die Hard, 1988) - "Who said we were terrorists?" Commodus (Gladiator, 2000) - "AM I NOT MERCIFUL?!" 006, Alec Trevelyan (Goldeneye, 1995) - "Oh, please, James, put it away. It's insulting to think I haven't anticipated your every move" Frank (Once Upon A Time In The West, 1968) - "People scare better when they're dying" Neil McCauley (Heat, 1995) - "I do what I do best, take scores. You do what you do best, try to stop guys like me" Belloq (Raiders Of The Lost Ark, 1981) - "So once again, Jones, what was briefly yours is now mine" Lestat (Interview With The Vampire, 1994) - "Evil is a point of view. God kills indiscriminately, and so shall we" Dark Lord Sauron (Lord of the Rings, 2001-2003) - "Ash nazg durbatulûk, ash nazg gimbatul, ash nazg thrakatulûk agh burzum-ishi krimpatul" Humungus (The Road Warrior, 1981) - "I am gravely disappointed. Again you have made me unleash my dogs of war" Agent Smith (The Matrix, 1999) - "Tell me, Mr. Anderson, what good is a phone call...if you're unable to speak?" Norman Bates (Psycho, 1960) - "She just goes a little mad sometimes. We all go a little mad sometimes. Haven't you?" John Doe (Se7en, 1995) - "It's more comfortable for you to label me as insane" T-800 (The Terminator, 1984) - "I'll be back" Keyser Soze (The Usual Suspects, 1995) - "The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist" Gordon Gekko (Wall Street, 1987) - "Greed is good" Magneto (X-Men, 2000) - "You see, I think what you're really afraid of is me. Me and my kind" Brick Topp (Snatch, 2000) - "No thanks Turkish...I'm sweet enough"

Subjecting myself to House of the Dead right now (relax, it's a free rental), I could vouch for this film being improved by more tentacles

Omg, LOL :)

Oh dear... While I adore the concept of mecha - by mecha I mean the "big, giant robot" definition - it will forever remain a cursed genre plagued by horrible anime stories. IMO, there are so very few quality mecha shows that I best leave my opinion of bad mecha anime as it is, lest I produce an extensive list invoking the wrath of many an NGE or Gundam fan I will take your advice and stay far away from Srungle, which will be easy since this is the first time I've ever heard of it

Hear, hear!

My personal philosophy requires I lament the untimely death of any human, but I must say it's more tragic this trend of rapper shootings continues. Not to say that music artists dying is anything new, but it's sad that they've gone from suicides in Rock music to shootings in Rap music.