LePoseur

Absolutely awesome. I haven't laughed out loud to a online video in a while. Go thing I saw this today and not while I was at work. Thanks man.

Short-fuse is who you are looking for.

001, since he was Skull leader at that point.

As much as it would be nice to see, I don't really have any high hopes about seeing subs on and official R2 release any time soon. With the exception of Ghibli's DVD and a pitiful handful of others (like Patlabor III) the only time I've see English subs on a R2 release here is when their was a preexisting R1 source that they could pull it from. Then it's just extra content without the work. In fact, I'd imagine their overseas licensing agreements stipulate the reciprocal usage in Japan as part of the deal. Still hoping though.

I have a lot of respect for Larry Hama and the stories he managed to tell. I mean, can you imagine trying to beat out a coherent comic plot when Hasbro keeps forcing you to drop in new characters, vehicles and crap practically every issue? While the story arcs did weird out from time to time I still can't believe he kept things as rooted as he did for as long as he did. Remember Chuckles? Man, I'd like to have seen Hama's face when they said he had to write that Hawaiian-shirt wearing dolt into the team, much less Starforce. Plus, while I don't think he had any say in the whole initial "Let's add a ninja to the Cobras," to see how things could have turned out you need to look no further than the TV series to see how lame Storm Shadow could have been. Bah, chalk me up as another who hates the TV. It even poisoned my kid mind against Duke cause everybody knew that Scarlet was Snake-eye's woman. Yeah, the comic up until Serpentor where awesome.

Man, I know I'm in the minority, but I hated the Zhan books as well. I never even finished the second one. There were just too many times I felt like it wasn't "Star Wars." I know that's hard to explain, but I just couldn't imagine them being filmed; Luke disassembling his hand to use the electronics to escape, tying lightsabers to vines and swinging them with the force, or even recovering Luke's lightsaber from Cloud City... yeah right. Actually, the only Star Wars book that I've read and really liked was the Episode III adaption by Stover. I liked it so much in fact that it ruined the movie for me. If Episode III would have been filmed exactly like that book it would have rivaled the original for second place on my list. (as it is Revenge is fourth after the OT) Sorry for the negativity. Bah humbug! Get off my lawn, you stupid kids!

There must have been a lot of this going around, as I entertained the same thoughts while Star Wars still occupied my thoughts in the early 80's. At the very least I assumed that Yoda and Palpatine had reached the level where they didn't need to carry a personal weapon since if confronted by someone with one they could be expected to disarm them without effort, and in the case of old Palpy at least turn it against the owner. Of course that could have been from watching too many martial arts exploitation films on TV at the same age. But I was definitely down with the division between the knights of the order and the masters. While it didn't rape my childhood at all, I just was a bit disappointed that my childhood spun adventures in Star Wars land seemed to hold together better for me (of course there's a bias though ) than the story George finally settled on. Oh well though, that's life.

As for the rape comment I figured I should have spelled it out more, but I like the more direct impact. Of course the level of a crime like the theft of some toy prop is not comparable to that of rape. That should be a no-brainer My point was that the act of blaming the victim of these two crimes is similar. Hope that clears things up. Unless of course you're saying we should only blame the victim for misdemeanors. If so then, well wow... I guess. But to me it just sounds like a "If he wasn't there I wouldn't have hit him" cop out. No matter how unprotected something is does not give anyone the "right" to steal it. Sadly I believe most of America no longer thinks so. Yeah, I know, I know, it's a rough place out in the "real" world. Well, you deserve what you accept I guess.

I'm probably just getting too old, but the whole prevailing attitude in America (as well as my own when I was younger) about if they leave something out it's their fault for having it stolen really gets my goat. It's been something that's been on my mind a lot especially as I'm planning to move back to the US after a long time in Japan. You know, when I first moved here I thought I was so street smart looking at cars with neon-lit Pioneer speakers on display in the back windows of cars thinking, "Naive little kids, try that in America and they'll be gone in one night." But now, I'm 180 degrees the opposite. People should be expected to keep their hands off sh!t that doesn't belong to them, in fact any decently raised human being wouldn't even consider it. Blaming the victim of the theft is like blaming the victim of rape. They both had it coming I guess… Anyhow, I wish Master Replicas the best of luck in getting it back.

Plus, remember that if you're looking for Macross in the karaoke book, that you need to be under the ã¡ã‚‡ã† section of the anime section, as it's 超時空è¦å¡žãƒžã‚¯ãƒ­ã‚¹ and not just マクロス. Otherwise you'll just get stuck with Macross II songs.

Is it just me or was there a serious downgrade in appearance in between the prototypes and the newest pictures? I might have bought the prototypes, but not the ones they are pushing now. Oh well, more money saved.

Don't hold your breath. Before April it was February. And I'd wager before that it was Christmas 2006. Still... it's getting closer. Hope it'll be worth it, but then again, I'm not holding my breath for that either.

How true Mr. March, how true. I've been lurking in this topic for a while, especially as I still drag out the old Enemy Unknown beast once and a while to play through it again (much like Wasteland or the Zelda on the NES), but I wanted to add this... Brief X-com history: I literally almost flunk out of college due to the first game, which, after coming back from Japan, my cousin mails to me without note or explanation. I had seen it in the stores, but the box was so uninteresting, and I was already content with my Civilization, X-wing, Pirates Gold triforce, that I didn't need a new game. But X-com knocked my socks off and came just a hairs berth away from unseating Wasteland as my all time favorite game. Finish the mars mission, got off the expulsion list and awaited a sequel. Terror from the Deep comes out, spiffy new CD format allows for "wows" during the opening movie (graphics we laugh at no though) and then ... TFTD pisses me off. Blatant rip-off is so appropriate. Hmm, lets see, change the color pallet, replace the art work and go. So, let me get this straight, my guys are underwater, WALKING across the ocean floor to travel?!? I shoot holes in the side of ships and the water stays outside?!? Agh! Although some things were fun, the oil rig missions were fun, there was an awesome gun for sniping if I recall correctly. Nothing like sneaking up to the top level (5th level?) of an oil rig and raining death down on anything that moves. But the game still pissed me off. Apocalypse was a different game altogether. After all these years no one seems able to recapture that original X-com magic. Sad, but I guess that's why it's a classic. Anyhow, back to lurk mode.

While Nine inch Nails does trend towards metal sometimes, it's always be more of an industrial band. This release especially more so than some of the ones before. So if you are looking for a old school heavy metal headbanging album, I think you might be disappointed. Having said that however, I think it's an awesome album. Easily the best album for me from Trent since Pretty Hate Machine. (I'd have Broken at #2 if we're counting all releases) BTW, Graham, if you are looking for a more heavy, close to metal sound, Broken might be the place to start.

A little bit off the "Who's the 100" thread, but having just finished my Hi-Nu this Friday, I can't help but be a little disappointed. The Nu and the Hi-Nu are two of my all time favorite MS's, but I really felt some things were lacking. The Funnels are the source of my main frustration now, as their connection-point to the body is weak and they fall off with the slightest movement (I'll have to put pegs in there to help them stay on I guess). The clear plastic mounts for them are too weak to support the weight as well. So if you do mount them in flight on the stand, they'll last for about a day so so before the start to droop, and after 48 hours I have two that are almost touching the ground. Again, no big problem, as I can get sturdier replacements, but still, I really feel like why should I have to. The big problem though was the kit was just not that much fun to build. Maybe it's because I was just in a bad funk, or, more likely, it has to do with it coming right after I built the Mk II ver 2. Now that was a fun kit! Looking back at how the old Mk. II was built, I was in constant amazement at how much it had improved. I didn't feel that at all with the Hi-Nu. Don't get me wrong, there are improvements over the regular Nu, but it just didn't do it. In a way, I really wish they would have made the PG Nu first, as all the MG kit ver 2.0's that have come after the PG have had significant improvements over the original MG. *sigh* just venting I guess, as I would by it again anyhow. Still... Hope you guys feel different.

It has to be the English dub version of the LD, as the original Japanese one didn't have it. I have the disc at home, but I'm at work now so you'll have to wait. Sorry. As for the DVD's, the Japanese box didn't have it. Maybe the upcoming reduced price one will (though I doubt it) (Btw, there's no dialogue for it, just music, so if you're looking to make a Robotech the Movie DVD You'll need audio from somewhere.) More info to come. OK, luckily Doryu2025 posted the picture from the DVD box set (wow, never knew some people got this... guess that's why used sucks...) so that might be the better way to go. The LD cover looks a bit different, as it uses this albums cover art (http://www.donkey.co.jp/ld/ph/rec_megazon23lp.jpg) for it's cover. Hopes that helps and sorry for the delay. After I got home and started making dinner I forgot all about it until just now.

Exactaly! The fanboy in me chalks this up as one big missed opportunity, something akin to Alien 3... well maybe not that bad. If they had wanted to do it right it would have been totally reanimated. Not just for the pretty pictures though, for the sake of the plot. While they did a decent job jumping through hoops to connect the edited parts of the story together, none of that would have been necessary if they had used 100% fresh animation. And man, there were some forehead smackers in there, although nothing jumps to memory right now (and there's no way I want to watch back through them to find one) but places where the characters pull complete 180's or just suddenly spout off something that seems so stupid because it's missing the background from the TV show that made it work for me the first time. Don't get me wrong, I love Zeta but there's just too much in all those episodes to distill down to three movies without a major story overhaul. Without that you get the semi-garbled mess that we got. Some characters should have been merged, or even deleted, and the story flow should have been streamlined for a more theatrical feel - as it is now I feel like it's a story about people just moving between places and fighting as they go. Titan characters seem to get introduced along the way and then get offed at the next encounter. I mean, those of us who knew the story going in seemed to be ok, but I can't imagine this being comprehensible to a new viewer, at least at the depth I'd like them to feel for it. In the third movie especially, once everyone started dying at the end I kept feeling like, "man, I know I should feel something, but..." it just didn't have any of the resonance of what the TV version did. Then again maybe I'm just pissed that Camille didn't lose it.

Yup they are out, just got mine today. unfortunately the right leg on mine has a bit of plastic deformity right around the landing gear flap. Not bad enought to exchange it, but just enough to not have that mint out of the box feeling. Don't worry though, I'd bet I'm the only one. As for the skulls, I can't really tell if they are crooked or not, as I've had ones like Max where everyone says it's crooked but I thought mine looked fine, this time however, I did feel like there was something different about them. Ha, watch eveyone get him and say they are finally straight again! maybe I just have crooked eyes. Anyhow, beyond that, not much to report. Standard 1A, nothing extra beyond the normal, green is good, box art looks good, like the Angel Birds and 0S did. That is all I guess...

Funny. I always got the impression from SDF Macross that the UN government was just as bad, if not worse, than in Mac7. I mean, at least in Mac7 they were far enough away to not really be a bother most of the time. Contrast that with the constant problems the Macross had in dealing with the UN government on Earth, who seemed to be made of of either overconfident idiots or warmongers. For what it's worth, I've always felt a heavy anti-military streak throughout all of the series. Anyhow, carry on.

Hayao, sorry to hear about the bad batch. I just got mine the other day, and while the leg magnets were fine, I had the loose right shoulder as well. In fact the poly cap thingy came off in my hand as I was transforming it for the first time. The good news is, if anyone gets a problem like mine, don't panic, it's a pretty easy fix. Just one screw to take the shoulder armor off, then two more on the joint, replace the polycap-like rubbery thing and good as new... well, actually better than new in this case.

I don't think Twin Moons can really price match without losing their shirt, as what I imagine they are selling pre-orders on is the Japanese version which is set to retail at 14999 yen in Japan (roughly $150) versus what RT.com is selling, which is the US domestic release. BTW the RT.com version is not much of a bargin as I recall the US MSRP to be $99 anyhow. So there should be some retailer who will under cut that, don't you think? For myself, I'm just stuck between ordering here in Japan and paying the extra money to get it right away versus saving the extra money, having it shipped to my parents in America and just picking it up next year when I visit. Hmmm.... decisions decisions...

I've been watching it from the beginning and have warmed up to it quite a bit. I loved the comic strip (it was my desk calander for years) but alas, haven't read it in a while since losing my Ucomics subscription. When I saw the first episode I was kind of dissapointed. The jokes seemed single layered and it wasn't as scathing as I remember the comic being. I also had a problem adjusting to hearing the voices they had, as in my head Huey always spoke like Chuck D. Then again, it would be stranger to have an elementry school kid with an adult's voice, so what do I know... Having said that, I think I've either adjusted, or the show is beginning to find it's stride. Ever since the Xbox-killer episode, I've thought it's been really good. Not a laugh a minute mind you, but then again it seems like that's not the kind of show he's aiming for anyways. In a side story, one of the guys who works with me used to be in study hall with McGruder in high school and was telling me all these stories about him when he saw my desk comics. So I showed him the show, and he was like, "Damn, Huey is totally him." Not a surprise really, but kind of fun to see Toby's reaction, as he was really proud of him.

Speaking of Six's Baltar surviving the blast. I saw another thread where someone was postulating out loud that in that scene, perhaps the real Baltar wasn't really there at all and it was (the first of?) Six's phantom Baltar. Leaving her dead and the real Baltar already off to the field with the survivors we find him in later. For now I'm not going to worry about it, but the "Fight Club" style image of it was kind of neat I thought.

No need to panic, it just means that Hasbro will be shipping the Battlestar ships in the same assortment as the Star Wars ones. I guess there'll also be Stargate toys in the mix as well.

I'd say it's a little of both. On one hand, it's a way to show how the Cylons are evolving (similar to the Inbits in Mospeada), but on the other, I think a lot of it has to due with the writers not wanted to box themselves into a corner that makes them have to think of a way to get the Colonials out by the skin of their teeth every episode. Then again, it could just be that they don't know good tactics from a hole in the wall.