nhyone

On 3/27/2018 at 4:08 AM, JetJockey said:

This might be a good place for this news. 4K version coming out for the original movie.

Will it be remastered? Isn't there some limitation with the original source that it wasn't even mastered in 1080p properly?

For anime, I wonder if there is any point going above 720p, unless you are trying to preserve the grain.

I might be interested in a 4K Nausicaa -- that is as grainy as the first Blu-ray release but without the red color-cast.

The MMC cassettes are finally in stock on TaoBao and the purple guy (*) is on its way to me now. Despite knowing the price prior, I still got a sticker shock when paying for it: US$57 (excluding shipping) for one smallish figure.

(*) Since no one can agree on his name.

The continuation of the + series shows that there is at least a niche demand for cartoon look.

If a MP and its + version are released together, I'll probably get the + version. But if I have the normal one already, I'll probably not get the + one, especially if it is the same mold.

I have the car bots and so far I'm not interested in the + versions.

It would take something like Meteor to change my mind. 

It is to Intel's benefit to muddy the waters as much as possible.

Meltdown is a pure Intel bug and it is very easily exploitable. A program could sniff memory as if there were no protection at alI. It makes a mockery of Hypervisors. Think cloud computing and servers. They definitely need to patch their systems for a 5-30% performance loss. For consumers? Less need, but it does mean that any website that you visit could theoretically hack you to some degree (e.g. get your password in memory).

Spectre is a general attack against modern CPU design, hence it affects almost all processors. Those not affected are slow-pokes. 

It is much harder and slower to pull off. I won't worry about it.

I prefer his earlier video Star Wars: The Last Jedi: An Unbridled Rage. Gets all the points across in 35 mins (though with too much swearing) instead of 82 mins and this is just part 1!

Everything that can be said about TLJ has been said.

Don't think anyone has posted this yet: Why Disney's 'Last Jedi' Mind Trick Isn't Working in China

10 hours ago, Mommar said:

The scene and setup affects the original in significant and negative ways.

Don't worry, ANH will be changed to fit the new narrative.

Wherever the OT contradicts with the later movies, they are wrong and will be corrected in the upcoming Definitive edition.

For me, I watch the OT the Harmy way.

They haven't thrown enough money at Kawamori...

In the sequel, Hikaru is a pacifist, Max has given up flying, Misa is an ace pilot, Minmay sings off-key and Roy is back. Of course he is!

This is bold and inventive.

Hmm, better not.

11 hours ago, Kanedas Bike said:

In full disclosure this the first YouTube review I've watched, but I thought it was very fair in it's criticism and praise. 

-b.

Chris Stuckmann gave it a A- in his review. Jeremy Jahns copped out and did not give it a rating. Since both released their reviews on 12th Dec, they should have attended the premiere.

MP-39 Sunstreaker is the last MP that I give HasTak a pass.

The car-bots were nice when they were relatively cheap, but at this price, I prefer to go for more iconic characters.

The backpack doesn't help. It is visible once you get past a certain angle, so it's not just viewing the figure from the back (which is rare).

3 hours ago, Kanedas Bike said:

I read an article that talked about how the initial fan reaction for the Empire Strikes Back was mixed as well, although I don't think it was as extreme. Either way I'm really fascinated to see how history treats TFA, TLJ and this new Trilogy as a whole.

No film has a 100% like, so you will definitely find people who dislike ESB. The question is, how many are there? If it were 10%, is that considered a "mixed reaction"?

Rogue One and TFA had much more favourable ratings. Why didn't TLJ? Because they were more conventional? Or had more fan-service? And why the big difference between critic and audience score? Was the film really that good or were the critics bought off?

Pieced together from the reviews I've watched, TLJ still feels very much like ESB, just rearranged. It has all the same elements. Empire is extremely powerful and in charge (doesn't make sense here). They attack a resistance hideout at the start. The resistance tries its best to escape but can't shake the Empire off. A Jedi-newbie goes to look for a Jedi master to be trained. Someone goes to "Cloud city", finds help, is betrayed by said-help and is captured by the Empire. The place gets trashed. The Jedi-newbie interrupts her training (next to none in this film) to save her friends. (The throne room is very RotJ.) There is a ground battle on a white planet. Epic light saber non-fight between a novice and a master (the master is toying with novice.) At the end of the film, it is the resistance's darkest hour.

It works in ESB because it is a very simple story and the scenes flows very smoothly and logically. And it is very held back. It shows you only a glimpse into that world and the Empire's power, letting you imagine the rest.
 

Having said the above, I think the next film will be better. If it draws parallel to RotJ, its main theme will be redemption and there will be a time skip. This will allow Rey to master her skills and the resistance to build up their strength for the final confrontation. But, "it's a trap!"

If you like TLJ, you might want to help by watching it again. Because despite repeat viewings from fanboys, it is floundering. After a pretty good opening weekend (although it still loses to TFA), it is now raking in half of TFA (~$20mil daily vs $40mil).

Yes, there are people who like it, but there are more people who don't.

For reviewers who attended the premiere and did not give a rating, I suspect they are copping out to avoid being a total sellout. The huge difference in critic and audience score (92% vs 52% likes as of now) on Rotten Tomatoes is very telling. Top critics give it a whopping 96%!

If you were young, you might not know the true magic of Star Wars. ANH had a simple story, but it was focused and coherent. The special effects were out-of-this-world and the settings looked real. It was as-if you were in that world. The Empire and the Force were just backdrops. The musical score made it memorable. Speaking of which, I haven't seen anyone mention the score in TLJ?

The original trilogy stood the test of time. They still hold up very well today, except that the special effects are now commonplace and the story is also too simple and too slow for the modern crowd. And not enough humor. And diversity. And gender equality.

13 hours ago, UN Spacy said:

Been looking forward to this review more than the movie. Seems like The Last Jedi is a MESS.

 

 

I skipped everything about TLJ so that I could have an unspoiled HitB of it. RLM reviews are how I watch Star Wars these days. How far Star Wars has fallen for me. 

Nope, won't be watching TLJ.

The MMC tapes feel very expensive for their size. That further limits their appeal.

Plus I already got MP-15 and MP-16.

It wasn't until I saw MMC Frenzy/Rumble that I became interested in Jaguar. At that time, I slapped my head and went, "of course!"

(I always thought the tapes were too small in robot mode, except for the birds.)

I don't see Jaguar at the usual TaoBao stores I go to, so probably I have to wait for him to be reissued.

The condors look a bit off to me. It's not just a scale issue. If they were available individually, I might get one. But both together are just too expensive.

Even for the MMC Frenzy/Rumble, they cost US$76 (500 yuan) each before shipping, so I'll get just one. Somehow, I prefer the purple one and I know him as Frenzy. 

7 hours ago, JB0 said:

But if it turns into something else, I want it to LOOK like it does. If there's clever engineering to make sure all the car/jet/cassette player parts disappear in robot mode, that is a negative to me, as I consider the alt-mode kibble an essential part of a transforming robot.

Some of the recent car bots were a turn off for me due to the "backpack" problem. Yes, the bot looks great, very G1 cartoon -- as long as the back isn't visible.

Sometimes I view it as "cheating" and the toy is sort of a "shell-former".

It has come to a stage that I wish the backpack could be detached for a cleaner bot look. 

Just a few months ago, I was a Masterpiece-only collector, more out of inertia than anything. Something changed after MP-36 and MP-39.

Also, 3P now skirt ever closer to G1 look. It used to be that Masterpiece > 3P in terms of G1 likeness. Now, I can't be sure.

It's ironic that I waited for years for MP-11 (Starscream) to be re-released only for him to be obsoleted by Meteor a few months later. (YMMV)

Now I hope MMC's Ravage and MakeToys Jazz get a re-release one day.

On 11/10/2017 at 5:04 PM, mikeszekely said:

Takara should at least buy BW fans dinner before screwing them that hard.

Seems like a tube of lube would be more useful? 

It's catch-22. Price has to be high due to low volume. But if it's too high, people either skip it or go for the KO...

Not a Beast War fan, so this is an easy skip. But after my experience with MP-36, I will be much more critical and not buy one blindly.

My take on the wooden horse, going for the most simple explanation that is supported by the events in the movie.

On 10/28/2017 at 3:03 PM, mikeszekely said:

If I'm not mistaken, MP-36 hovers somewhere around US $200-$250, yeah?

All I see is how perfect and cartoon accurate MP-36 is. But it is not. Not at >US$200 price tag anyway.

As mentioned many times, its back is a mess. But somehow, it gets a pass. Because it looks good from other angles?

Not so, IMO. MP-36 is too stout. His upper chest is too short and protruded. It's like he is wearing body armour. Bobby Skullface compared MP-36 to a line-art of Megatron taken from a low-angle and said it was accurate. But he is wrong. The proportions are wrong due to perspective and he should know it.

14 hours ago, mechaninac said:

Sooooo... wait until it's out on Bluray so that I can adjust the volume to my tolerance level.

It's only at certain parts. Think they are going for a low booming echo effect. The poor speakers were struggling to keep up.

As someone who doesn't like the first movie -- I'll say it's a flawed masterpiece -- this one works. It does everything right. Except that it is really long and sometimes slow. (Modern films have fast tempo and after you are used to it, you find older movies a drag.)

This film is breaking my longstanding rule not to watch sequels.  (Of course, I watched a couple of reviews to make sure it is of certain quality first.)

I like especially how it does Ghost in the Shell better than Ghost in the Shell. What does it mean to have a soul? That's central to GitS, and only incidental in Blade Runner, but this one does it better.

Not a spoiler: K discovers the answer for himself, as well as his relationship to others.

2 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

Thanks for the kind words!  Indexing would be a good idea... just not sure how to implement it on the boards.  I could maybe move to a blog, but I've not got the photography skills nor the HTML skills to make anything as nice as some of the other blogs out there.

I believe editing is not time-limited on this board, so simply start a new topic and update the first post to link to the individual review posts.

On 10/7/2017 at 11:14 AM, mikeszekely said:

The original G1 toy, the G1 Pretender, and the G1 Action Master all have a black face.  His face isn't silver in the cartoon, either.

That said, I think the glossy dark gray that MT used for Meteor is too dark.

It's not about accuracy. Black / dark faces don't show up well, unless they are very well lit -- to the point of overexposure. Their expressions are just lost. Faces should be light / bright.

2 hours ago, Scyla said:

What really kills this for me is that shipping to Europe will cost the same amount of money than the two books.  

There are two ways about it.

First, if you could find someone in the same vicinity (e.g. city), you could pair up with him. That would bring down the shipping drastically, well, US$45 per person.

Second, look for a shipping forwarder. They have cheaper rates, but it would still be US$30+ (plus the local US$15 shipping).

I was going to use option 2 (there is a relatively cheap shipper to Singapore), and I estimated the shipping to be US$25 (so total of US$40). But then I found someone local who had ordered it, so I asked him to order two sets instead, and he agreed to help me. 

However you slice it, overseas shipping from US is not going to be cheap...

This has not been brought up here, but if you like G1 toys, you might like Transformers G1 Unofficial Photographic Archive Vintage Toys: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1052752228/transformers-g1-unofficial-photographic-archive-vi

8 more days to go. Pricey, though.

15 hours ago, Scyla said:

I have trouble to understand why anyone would champion the cartoon only aesthetic.

Because they look nice? 

HM is very cartoon-like, but he looks fine to me -- he's not too bland. Iron Hide and Inferno are too bland, especially in their lower legs.

Why do they have to use a black face? Should have it in silver.

The toys, especially 3P ones, were often too "busy" with panel lines and detailing. There's a middle ground somewhere. Takara has gone too far into the cartoon aesthetic, but HM does it well, IMO.