David Hingtgen

The D'stance had the shoulder pads totally disappear, fairly ingeniously. Don't know what Yamato is going to do. Their previous version flat-out sucked in that regard----with everyone knowing about the D'stance now we can hope the new Yamato does at least as well with the shoulders/arms in fighter mode. Here's the D'stance:

Posting as a mod: I saw enough bitching in the YF-19 thread, I don't want to read the same arguments over again this time around. Some people will love certain features and aspects of the new YF-21, others will hate the exact same thing. Some people will cite the line art, some will cite the animation, and some will cite a design works concept sketch. People do have a right to disagree over anything and anything, but you may not say they are wrong/flame them for their opinion. There is no "one, true way" that the YF-21 looks FYI, it changes depending on Kawamori and the animator's mood. I personally think the YF-21 looks very nice so far, and that Yamato did a better job than they did on the -19. And since the -21 inherently has adjustable anhedral as part of the transformation, there won't be any arguing about that. PS--no complaining about people complaining about complainer's complaints. Or stuff along those lines. This is an important thread (like any new Yamato toy get), and I'm sure I'm not the only mod who reads it frequently. If something really gets out of hand, we'll deal with it. Or if we don't see it, PM us. Don't go off on another member who's bugging you. (Though personally, I am far more lenient than other mods regarding "peacefully defending yourself from a flamer") PPS---the most-commonly-cited, considered-most-canon VF-11 side-view lineart has the tailfins completely and totally wrong compared to every other reference, I'm just pointing that fact out ahead of time. (unless you want to say that view's correct, and everything else is wrong)

It's all about the factory and QC you have, not where it's made. I actually have 2 slightly different versions of the same model train---one was made in the US, one was made after they switched production to China. Know what? The one made in China is better in almost every way. Much better painting, parts more carefully glued together, etc. I hate to admit it, but the Chinese factory "slave workers" did better than the (presumably) well-paid Americans. And that's not the only time I've seen stuff like that happen.

Eternal Sonata---meh. Liked it ok, but not going to pay 60 bucks and play for 50 hours though. Have other stuff coming. Mass Effect twice through will be all the RPG I need for a while. And then there's Lost Odyssey! Blue Dragon--disappointed. I usually like large parties, but everything took forever. Also, the characters seemed even more generic than usual. Remove the hair from DBZ/Chrono Trigger/Blue Dragon and I dare you to tell any of them apart. And I despise "cute comic relief characters" with annoying voices. And the "moving gauge" got really annoying, as you could very easily get totally screwed. Some attacks/spells have the gauge move so rapidly and RANDOMLY you couldn't even "play it safe"---you could "fail" 4 times in a row and have the entire round wasted with .0001% power attacks and healing by completely missing the entire band by .0001 secons. And damage seemed very random/cheap----I checked, and some characters just kept dying, even with stats the same as everyone else's--they just kept getting hit 20 times in a row, every time you revived them. It just was long and slow. Liked the music. But not the boss music. That sure got annoying after the 450th time you've heard the refrain.

A lot of stuff made in China (especially ANY metal) has lead in it. Basically, they don't clean out the vat/cauldron that they heat the metal in to make diecast, and lead impurities get in. This leads to diecast rot. And/or they use lead as "filler" because it's a really cheap metal. Or the cauldron itself has lead as part of its construction. A lot of companies won't have anything to do with Chinese metal, whether it's a metal part itself or merely made in a mold made of Chinese metal, due to lead impurities getting in. Even small amounts of lead can screw up many alloys. Technically, it may not even be "lead-based paint" that's the problem but actually "paint that's been stored in a lead-contaminated metal container". Lead-based paint is actually awesome stuff, superior coverage and color to anything else--and the ONLY way to get a truly good yellow pigment. It's really only a problem if you eat it. But they still ban it totally in the US. I would so buy lead-based white and yellow paint if I could. (since I don't eat the stuff I paint)

Yeesh, I think all of Live is trying to download it. 2 hours and only got 44%. Will try to get the rest later.

Hey, it could slip another year or two, and still be better than the A380's problems.

Gah, and I just put away my ethernet cable. Will download it later. (I found it was easiest to just buy a 50ft cable and hook it up as needed)

I am interested indeed to hear that. PS--the refub I got is a different serial, different case, different drive. I'm pretty sure MS just has a revolving setup---systems come in, are repaired, then placed in the line to be sent out when someone needs a system fixed. You get the first already-repaired one they grab off the shelf. They'll fix yours later, and give it to someone else.

<<<Irish director to make aircraft carrier film Irish director John Moore is to rewrite and direct 'Airborne', an action movie set onboard an aircraft carrier. Variety reports that the makers of the film have obtained the US Navy's permission for the project but no start date has been scheduled. Moore previously directed the Owen Wilson-starring action film 'Behind Enemy Lines'; his other credits include the remakes of 'The Omen' and 'Flight of the Phoenix'. He is also planning to make a new zombie film based on the comic 'Virulents'. <<<

Hey, that COULD be "1-18-08"...

Try to get Transformers-style military cooperation. Too bad all the F-14's are gone, or we could have Skystrikers.

On all the other transforming toys so far, the forearm works much like tugging down a jacket's cuff and sleeve---to go from battroid to fighter you just slide it down over the wrist and hand, thus moving the tailfin out further from the elbow. And with the foream "no longer there" the remaining part of the arm is much skinnier, and fits into the fuselage sides better.

Ok, just some terminology: The blue part is the nacelle, the red part is the nozzle. As for the 3 moving parts of each nozzle---never found a definitive term AFAIK. I'd suggest petals or paddles, or even "nozzle flap".

You'll most likely get a refurbished one sent back, not yours. The official explanation is that it's quicker, so you can play your games again. It also probably is quicker, who knows how long they have to do diagnostics, repairs, etc. Don't send in your HDD. Or your face plate. Strip it as bare as you can. They actually are quite fast, I had my replacement in like 10 days. Still, I'd rather have waited and gotten my own one back, repaired. The refurb was NOT mint. It's in good shape, better than most used stuff--but it was not as nice or clean as mine. You'd think they could at least wipe off or clean the refurb'd units before sending them out. You'll get a free month of live, that's what I got. Also, see my post one page ago: http://macrossworld.com/mwf/index.php?s=&a...st&p=505232

Sumdumgai--you've never had a YF-21 toy or kit? They all move the engine nacelles--it's a required part of the transformation. If they didn't, the engine nozzles would be next to the feet in battroid mode---if not projecting beyond. Anyways---better pic of battroid mode CAD here: http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=11...1433&size=o People are welcome to try to and photoshop out the Sv-51 in front of it.

Hey, I'm sure this is what Kawamori says Nora's plane REALLY looks like. It just looks pink and yellow because of the animators. And Yamato has no plans to issue a more anime-accurate version in the future. Probably with a daisy-cutter...

Somewhat related--I have a lot of import/older stuff to get rid of, going back to the Turbo Duo era. Any non-eBay suggestions on how to get rid of it? My local import VG store closed with little notice, I never got around to selling it off to them. (That would have been a lot easier---put in all in the trunk and sell it all as one giant lot to them)

IMHO, set every possible setting to the middle to start with, then work from there. Most TV's will SUCK BIG TIME in the image category, when set to factory default. Factory default isn't "a resonably good picture". It's "super bright to catch your eye in the store". And usually has the color way red or way blue, again to catch your eye. It is purely to "throw out a noticeable light" your way in the store. As for temperature---put something with white on. A basketball game with a team wearing white or something along those lines is great. Depending on if the settings are labled normal or backwards (cooler temp means redder, but a cooler color means bluer---TV makers can't agree what to label as) you'll find either a redder or bluer tint to the white. Basically it sets---"how white is white?" on the TV. Things in life are rarely as pure stark white as many TV's are set. Kind of like how something looks "white"---until you compare it to a piece of paper. Lots of people like a super-bright, super-blue white to things. But that usually leads to extreme loss of detail. The best test for any TV IMHO is sweaters. Try to identify fabric/textures on a pure bright red and a pure bright white sweater. Make them rich and vibrant, but not bleeding out their color, so bright it's blending details together. Get red and white set nicely, and everything else should be pretty good.

I was reading some more: That TV has a game mode to help eliminate lag etc, but it turns off the 120hz----as 120hz interpolation probably takes a good chunk of the TV's processing power/time and could induce lag. However, I wonder just how much difference it makes. If 120hz makes the picture smoother and better anyways, and there's minimal lag to start with, maybe games in "normal" mode with 120 hz look better than most other TV's "game" mode? I'm sure a few people will have tried out 360's with the TV's I'm interested in by the time I'm ready to buy, just have to keep watching the forums.

My only request (which I know won't happen due to Hollywood stupidity) is that an actual redhead play Scarlett. PS--Baroness. She's pale, and ethnically eastern European (specifically Czech I think, based on latest comic canon). That means NOT Jessica Alba.

We could also use it to repaint into a Milia.

Ha, I'm still only at 2 "permanent" games in my 360 collection. DOA 4 and Oblivion. Everything else was merely rented/borrowed, or sold or is to be sold. (anyone want DOA XBV2?) But again--in Oct/Nov, I'm buying quite a few games I plan to keep forever. Ironically, while the Gamecube had quite a few games early. Then a huge drought. Then there was Metroid Prime 2, RE 4, and that was about it for the GC. Never did feel I got my money's worth out of the console. The 360 is getting a slow start, but within a year I'll probably have more games for it than I ever did for the GC. (Though I just bought Zelda: TP for the GC, since I don't plan on finding nor buying a Wii any time soon at this point)

"Normal" stuff on an HDTV looks bad. Not the opposite. So a PS3 on a 30-year-old TV will look great. Also, a PS3 can play CD, DVD, and SACD. As for regions---Japan and the US are now the same region for *Blu-Ray*. So even if it was region-locked---the US and Japan are the same. However, it cannot "retroactively" override DVD/game regions of stuff made in the past, which still have the US and Japan different. So you could watch import Japanese Blu-Ray stuff with no problems, but import DVD's will still be region locked. Same for games---import PS3 games will play fine, but not PSX/PS2 ones. And seconding---if you want to play PSX/PS2 games a lot on it, snag the 60gig version. I don't have the money for a PS3 now even with the price drop, so I'll probably have to leave my PS2 hooked up for all eternity.

Quick question: What does it mean when a TV is advertised with 3 HDMI inputs, but two of them are "without audio input"? Doesn't HDMI inherently have audio built-in? My best guess is that 1 of them has additional separate audio inputs nearby for people using a DVI-to-HDMI converter, while the other 2 are purely HDMI and it'll be a bit more work to get audio if your source is DVI. "1 HDMI, 2 HDMI without audio input" sounds a bit weird/inaccurate. It should be more like "3 HDMI, one with additional audio inputs for DVI sources" or something.