Mr March

While I agree that it's a silly pop song, rest assured it will never be a Britney Spears cd. She's already responsible for the death of human taste

The anime industry, at least in North America, seems to be undergoing a change. I'm not surprised to see some of the companies reacting to the demand and shift from anime to manga. Especially with the major book store chains getting into manga, it was obvious that the market would become saturated much faster than the anime market did. Bad news for ADV fans.

They're gonna have to work real hard to impress me. Alien Vs. Predator 2 was a solid game with a killer engine and the best game balance since Starcraft. I doubt they'll be able to duplicate a lot of the what made the three races so much fun to play in AVP2. Naturally this game seems to be about the Predators and I hope it's good. Being a big X-Box fan, I could certainly go for a fourth killer app before the console is finished it's run. However, I have my doubts about this game being any good. Like so many of the big gaming franchises, most of the games are crap and only the few rare jems actually prove to be of any worth.

So, is this Ultimate Visual Guide going to be a compliation of all the Visual Dictionaries? Or will this Ultimate Visual Guide be totally different?

The trailer looks amazing. Much more complete and exciting than all those teasers and tv spots. I especially like the way the trailer conveys the sense of doom in this third and final episode of the Star Wars prequels. It really seems to show the viewer how bad everything is becoming for the Republic and the characters. It appears Ian McDiarmid's Palpatine enjoys a very large role in this next picture, no doubt a necessity of the story. But it's also somewhat interesting to note the parallel of the Palpatine character in Episode III and Episode VI. The big space battle that was promised appears more and more amazing with each glimpse. Thanks for posting the link!

There is no way in hell I'm going to pay to see this movie. I refuse! I don't care if all my friends are going out on the same night and we haven't seen each other for a month and there's some hot chick that they want to set me up with again...I will not go sam-I-am! Jeremy Irons, my gawd man what were you thinking?

HAHAHHAAHAHAHAHAHAHHAAA!

Can anyone post some pictures from the book when you finally get it? I'd like to see what kind of stuff is included.

"You are not your fricking protoculture!"

Now all we need is a decent DVD release of all the films with those posters for the sleeves

This is great! It's everything I'd hoped it would be. THe detail is amazing and really gives the ship a grand sense of scale. I can't wait for some huge space scene pictures of this ship. ANy plans to make some big tiffs of this fella. Always hate the compression loss of jpgs.

That's a great low-res, low-poly model! It would make a fantastic model for a game. Or maybe a mod? Making a good model in low poly is an art. It's difficult to know where to use what polys you have and when not to use up unecessary detail. You've done a fine balance. Good job!

I've always enjoyed the Star Wars posters. Especially the Special Edition posters for the original Trilogy and all the official prequel posters. The themes really work for me and they always convey to the viewer the grand epic scale of the Star Wars films. This final poster doesn't disappoint.

Any female who tells you that The Matrix is "cool" needs to be dumped immediately. Chances are she is either 15, or has an IQ under 80. Or both. ... Or she is some goth chick and likes any movie that uses almost no light, regardless of true quality of the story. Well... I see the men are handling this quite nicely. The Matrix is so passe it's not even funny. (I like dit but no it's not exactly "popular" thanks to Revolutions) You guys all crack me up. Wow, now the quote "old fossil" is really given new meaning with your trend timeline Jemstone. Now that's comedy

Any female who tells you that The Matrix is "cool" needs to be dumped immediately. Chances are she is either 15, or has an IQ under 80. Or both. Last one was 29, her IQ was 145 and her name is Elaine... *please tell me someone will get this reference*

Apparently not if Gainax has seen fit to make a rather sub-par sequel to the series which seems to be doing rather well in Japan right now. And it goes right over his head... I know, let's have a spelling contest

Gunbuster is irrelevant.

The public is fickle my friend and the only thing that matters to the majority of the population is what's big "NOW". I always like to put it in perspective of female opinion, since most of the girls I date always seem to have a greater grasp of trends than myself. They tell me The Matrix and Lord of the Rings were cool. They also tell me Star Wars silly and Star Trek is for losers. I'm not saying I agree at all, that's just how the fairer sex that I hang with views their pop culture. Unfortunately, they know more the reality of current culture than I do. I may disagree with the quality of what's popular, but my ex's and the 32 million other people I live with tell me they know better. Such is life. Now if we look back 20 years ago, Star Wars would have been cool (70's show anyone?) and Star Trek... Well, okay, Trek was never cool and was always geeky Back to my point, when one's finger is on the pulse of popular culture, it's not beating Star Wars. At one time it did, but no longer. When I say no one cares about Star Wars, it's a relative statement. No one talks or cares about Star Wars in my social circles, except me. They all discuss Buffy, Lord of the Rings, Matrix, and what not. Sure Star Wars is still around and making money, but its not on top anymore and no one really cares to talk about it. Hell, Trek was still around and making money five years ago and we all know how that turned out Star Wars has two things going for it in terms of box office appeal; It enjoys a strong nostalgia base (one of the largest for a film fandom) and the reality that Star Wars is a mass appeal popcorn blockbuster. Because Star Wars has never tried to be anything more than what it is, it can get away with cheese, poor dialogue, and homogenization more than comparable film (such as the philosophically angled Matrix films or the period grounded Rings). Praise is placed upon films like Lord of the Rings or Titanic (I swear to god). Nothing but bad press is given to Star Wars. Regardless of whether or not it's deserved, that's popular culture for ya. Take what you can from that, if you even care to face it

nice list... except for the Oshii GITS... I prefer the series... lol Hahaha. Anytime you want a debate, I'm you're huckleberry

I know you well Duke, trust me. Regardless, everyone is on this "contribute something constructive" kick lately, so I have to put something half-assed reasonable now every time I post

Damn, where to begin? Without knowing a little more about what kind of film/anime you enjoy, it's very hard to recommend titles. I can simply list what I beleive are the modern classics of science fiction on film and hope you'll give them a try. 2001: A Space Odessey (Stanley Kubrick, 1969) A Clockwork Orange (Stanley Kubrick, 1971) Akira (Katsuhiro Otomo, 1988) Andromeda Strain, The (Robert Wise, 1971) Alien (Ridley Scott, 1979) Aliens (James Cameron, 1986) Blade Runner (Ridley Scott, 1982) Close Encounters of the Third Kind (Steven Spielberg, 1977) Ghost in the Shell (Mamoru Oshii, 1995) Mad Max (George Miller, 1979) Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind (Hayao Miyazaki, 1984) The Road Warrior; Mad Max 2 (George Miller, 1982) Terminator (James Cameron, 1984) Terminator 2 Judgement Day (James Cameron, 1991) I think you also might want to try these other films/series: Babylon 5 (Joe Micheal Straczynski, Five Seasons 1994-1998) Back to the Future (Robert Zemeckis, 1985) Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Ang Lee, 2000) Minority Report (Steven Spielberg, 2002) Predator (John McTeirnan, 1987)

Hmmm, maybe because someone still thinks Trek is popular? In all fairness, I don't think it should be Star Wars regardless of the relative popularity of either Trek or Wars on MacrossWorld (I agree that Star Wars is far more popular here at MW however). Simply put, neither franchise is as popular as it once was and really, no one cares about Trek or Wars anymore. Popular film culture is all Matrix and Lord of the Rings, regardless of how I may feel. It should really read (I am by no means a fan of any of the franchises I'm about to list; in fact I dislike them all) from Evangelion/Dragonball to Buffy/Angel/Stargate SG-1. These are easily the more popular examples of topics and represent current popular culture; by that I mean the last 5-10 years.

No, Mr March, you're not a en evil "female" that hurt his Trekkie pride like an insecure and sexist fool he is. He saves the venom and "psychosis" rants for strong women (of color in my case). Don't believe so? See if Togo was referred to as "psycho" and he's been just as adamant as I am. I'm used to his sad type. They don't like to be "beaten" by girls and therefor always go for the standard "insanity/bitchy/c*nt" attack. Then again he actually bothered to read your post adequately before replying and throwing out labels. Hmmm, I'm going to forego comment simply to avoid stirring up the thread. It's cooling down so nicely now I will say this, I know when the avalanche starts. My ex-girlfriend taught me something about temper, so I'm gonna go for some hottub time

The degree of individual fan appreciation is really irrelevant in my mind, though I certainly accept any Trek fan at their word when they scale their own fandom. As I said, I dislike the show/fandom on numerous levels, so I bash Trek with impunity Support the franchise if you wish and certainly make every effort to save it, should your level of fan appreciation warrant such action. I think the franchise is worthless and deserves to die; as a result, I'll defend my desire to declare it so. Now to your regularly scheduled thread now in progress...

Absolutely gorgeous work! This is one of the best customs I've seen. I like how you kept the amount of damage low and did some patch jobs. The result is definitely believable. I also like the burns behind each blast point that trail along the hull of the Valkyrie. A very nice touch.