motley

that's the Gundam Mk II in either the super gundam or full armor configurations. so your GBP vibe is not to far off. looks like i'm going to have to update my list again. the dom looks pretty good though. as for the SOCs, the evas are listed as #s 21 and 22, which puts them after the Getter Dragun trio. a Zamobt three has been officially announce, but all we saw was very early blueprints, so these are probably just line padding to give them time to finish Zambot.

its not so much that we're a second class market, as much that bandai doesn't want to spend too much money on us. they are committed to releasing gundam products in the states, at least toywise. we've seen the release of many toys that have either seen no japanese release or only a limited or much belated release, but for new toys they tend to use us as a test market. many of the gundam action figures are released here in the states first, but because of the way the release schedual works they release a lot of different figures all at once. so these figures tend to start out with poor paint aps and crappy plastic colors. but as the line runs, the paint anc plastic colors improve. bandai and sony probably didn't want to spend the money translating LWC and dubbing the character voices when previous UC games had done poorly. granted they'd have been better off to have released LWC and not JtJ, but oh well. Encounters in Space is the sequel to both JtJ and LWC, and after all the bad press its gotten, its good to hear a couple good reviews. how are the space flight controls and how do they compare to Federation vs Zeons less than stellar space controls?

i was always under the impression that LWC never came out in the states because all the other gundam games had such poor sales, but its probably a combination of that and Apollo Leaders reasons. and i may just be overly cynical, but i seriously doubt we'll be seeing Aueg vs Titans, especially since Zeta's DVD release has been pushed back so far, and its not going to get any tv airtime. this is not to say i wouldn't like to see it released, i'm just doubtful. heck, i bought a PS2 because i thought Gihren's Greed and Lost War Chonicles were coming out in the states. whoops.

this question gets asked a lot. but since hasbro has no rights to the mold, and bandai and takara are competitors in japan, AND harmony gold has been hexing the import of VF-1 toys, the odds of it happening so small its not even worth considering.

yes, solomon becomes konpei island, and after the titans take over A Baoa Qu they rename it the gate of zedan. axis starts out an asteroid in the asteroid belt. several very large nuclear thrusters are incorporated into one end of the asteroid, as well as a spinning gravity block, and loads of tunnels. later they turn on the thrusters and start off in the direction of earth, and about two years later they show up, right at the end of the Zeta tv show.

maybe, but you'll notice that though plans were announced for SEED 2, the project has now been shelved, and that statements were made that the next show would attempt to make the long term fans more happy, though its air date has been pushed back as well.

from what i've gathered, the ratings were pretty good, and dvd sales for the episodes are doing very well. but it seems that the show was slightly popular with parents for some of the content, but there were other content elements that got it in trouble. as a run of the mill anime it seems a success, its main problem seems to be that its tied to the gundam franchise, and the gundam fans weren't happy.

bandai hasn't completely given up on the MSiA, but their distribution seems to have gone into the crapper again. part of the problem is that the last wave or two of G gundam figures didn't sell well, nor are the battle scarred figures selling well, so most of the places i look are overstocked with pegwarming figures from the mid-summer. the other problem is that the new releases right now are mostly just upgraded wing figures. there are some new figures, transforming epyon and wing, and the manguanacs. but the other figures are pretty much just the old figures with better joints and a few remolded parts. they do seem to be selling well though, or at least i'm having a hard time finding them. it should be interesting to see what they do with the zeta line. since cartoon network has officially stated that it won't show Zeta the toys won't have a supporting tv show. F-91 is supposed to get a limited theatrical release, but so far there are no new toys being hinted at. if we get a gundam show next year, it will probably be SEED, but the seed toys so far are not suited to the US market, nor am i especially interested in them. SEED will probably breathe quite a bit of new life in to the US gundam market, as it seems to have been tailor made for the wing obsessed US fanbase. this will, of course, delay the releases of the rest of the UC shows as well as X and turn A. SEED, however, has scored as the least popular gundam show ever in a poll taken of gundam fandom. check out the numbers HERE its towards the bottom of the page. granted the results are mostly from the hardcore long term fans, but they are an important segment of the market.

as i recall, japanese law is a little less restrictive when it comes to images (and toys and such). as for the energon unicron... i actually like the color scheme better. yeah the orange with the greenish circuitry is a little meh. but the overall presentation is much better. the original color scheme in grey with a little orange is boring and very remeniscent of a particular time in the 80's when everything was either pale, pastel or neon. energon unicron molded primarily in black just looks better. the transluscent chest and hands were tacky from the get go, but transluscency seems to be the gimmink of choice for energon, so we might as well be happy that more of him is transluscent. i haven't seem a single figure in energon i have liked, nor do i expect to. i dislike all the armada figures, and really regret buying the ones i bought (unfortunately i opened them). i don't know, maybe i'm too picky, but the only transformers i really like after G1 are the beast machine line (mostly the vehicles). so maybe its less important to have a realistic alt mode than it is to have a relatively well done figure in all modes. (actually the same is true of any transforming toy)

i would imagine that if such divisions remained after space war one that the would be more specified references. navy personel are those personel running the capital ships in space and any remaining wet navy ships. air force personel are the pilots and their ground crews. marines would be the destroid forces on capital ships as well as the human security and soldier forces on-board ships and stations. if the army was retained (and it probably was) it would probably consist of those personel used to physically occupy young worlds, as well as to maintain permanent bases on earth and the colonies. the term spacy probably refer to the combined forces, with the probable exception of the army, the role of the army after space travel and combat are realized decreases significantly, especially if one isn't subjegating hostile populations.

i have a couple chips on the front left fender, from where the shoulder rotates up against the fender part of the torso, but they are currently small. plus a few other chips from the parts designed to rub and lock against each other (which are almost all on the underside of the car or inside). and i did notice the similarity in the guns and the transformation, its a very cool toy.

not banned, but i visit the site so infrequently that i've forgotted my password twice, and had my first account deleted from lack of use.

are we absolutely positive its a purple helmet, despite Grahams assurances otherwise? my first impression was that it was a ver. Max helmet to go with Roy's yellow and Hikaru's red. the colors on the photo are a little washed out, even the red on the ver. Hikaru looks a little orange. a max helmet makes more sense than a game tie-in in a questionable color.

my longstanding favorite is the Zaku line, every single one from the Zaku I to the Geara doga, including the Zaku III and the Hi-zak. though my favorites are the Geara doga and the Zaku FZ from 0080. as for gundams, i prefer the Zeta and the nu gundam. after that, its the Zeta plus C1 and the gundam MK III, with the RX-78 and the alex lagging behind. beyond that the gyan, gouf, and kampfer are favorites, along with the shining and master gundams from G, and any incarnation of the GM. i loves the cannon fodder, leos too.

as someone said its lousy as a toy, most of the GFFs are, though in the gerbera tetra get-up, its worse than most. it is, however, one of the most gorgeous toys out there, and if it represents katoki's take on the gerbera tetra, its one of his best pieces of design work. in the GP04 gundam gerbera get-up, its also very nice, not especially play worthy, but its well designed and has a lot of nice detailing. all in all i'd call it one of the better GFFs, but i never recomend the GFFs except as display pieces, they look good, but have little to no play value.

i vote for custom titles too. post count based titles are too generic.

my first valk was a joke machine, the Max J-type, still have it, though its missing armor and an arm. my brother had the JM VF-1S. i love the little guys, beat up as they are, wish bandai would reissue them, but fat chance.

argh, now i'm going to have to get two of the damn things. i think i'm going to wait for the grey one, though the red one is still damn tempting. i am, however, not surprised that the transformation was tricky. the plastic used on the GFFs is just too soft for transforming toys, i have the GFF wing and have only transformed it a couple times because i was afraid i was going to mangle it. when you have locking tabs, they need to be fairly firm, meaning ABS plastic, diecast, or other hard substances, the PVC, or whatever they're using on the GFFs tends to mush instead of bending or giving in, in a specific direction.

well i didn't get mine recently, but i have a couple pics i posted back when i got mine. i only have one stand, but i'm seriously considering getting several more, especially for the elint. currently my stand is supporting my VF-11 FP.

i just got back from seeing the movie, GOOD GOD!!!! THAT is how vinyl is supposed to be done!!!! make no mistake, she ain't wearing much leather, its vinyl. and with that out of my system, i thought it was a good movie. its not great, its just another well done action flick. maybe i'm liking it for the fantasy and science fiction elements that are rarely done well, but i thought it was decent. of course if you don't like vampire or werewolf stuff, the movie won't appeal to you. i thought it was nicely deficient on dialog (too much talking is bad), but what dialog there was was mostly good, mostly. the gunfights were decent, reminiscent of the matrix and the killers, but not so over the top. as for the movie's originality, well, i'm not familiar enough with the whitewolf gaming system to know. but i highly suspect that it borrowed from that fanfic. it was obvious that it was shot with a low budget, and in a short span of time. there were only a handful of sets, lots of similar visuals, much like recyled animation for certain anime we all bear a fondness for. the slick cinemetography and direction as well as what had to have been an extremely well written screenplay saved the movie though. the whole thing felt too rushed for the depth of the backstory and setting. so unless the screenwriter and the first time director had been working together and babysitting this script for years, i'm thinking its borrowed. i'd say that they managed to put plenty of distance between the original fanfic and movie, except for the basic nature of the subject matter. there's a lot of borrowing going on in the movie, but then there's a lot of borrowing going on period when you start writing about werewolves and vampires. they're fricking folklore afterall. credit should be given where credit is due, but i don't think whitewolf's case is strong enough. unless you plan to take it seriously, i think most people will enjoy it. i just wish they'd had a few more shots of katy's vinyl clad :censored:

as i recall, the A, J, and D varients are roughly the same performance-wise. the S features an improved communications suite and more powerful engines. i've heard of a B varient that came out after the war, and basically upgraded all A types with the S type's improvements. the X version, i've gathered, is a further upgrade in performance for both communications and engines, and was blanket applied to all VF-1's available. i suspect the VT-1, VE-1, and VEFR-1 all have performance specs similar to the A types.

to be done right, this kind of movie needs an ensemble cast of good, but lower tier actors, it shouldn't be that hard to fill up the roles. i think a couple good choices have been made, lets see if i can give some more. baroness- famke jansen (good choice) scarlett- jennifer garner (with a minor dye job) snake eyes- ray park (we know he's good with the silent bit) storm shadow- jet li (this way they're both short, so it works) rock and roll- Matthew McConaughey (think reign of fire, but without the suckage) jinx- Zhang Ziyi ship wreck- bruce cambell (how can you go wrong?) flint- Michael Biehn i'm not so sure about the others, but the movie would have to include Zartan and the dreadnoks, and some decent armor designs for the vipers, crimson guards and the standard masked cobra baddies. we'd also have to see roadblock, duke, destro, and cobra commander. its more difficult deciding who not to include than it is casting people.

SAL is a mixed bag. i've had HLJ shipments take three weeks, and then my last one came in one week. for the price, i think SAL is worth it, i miss the UPS, but not that much. the other option, EMS is probably faster, but its so much more expensive that i don't think its worth it.

hmmm. there's an interesting idea. yeah an unrealistically large alt mode would be less appealing, but lets face it, the masterpiece prime is designed to give a perfected robot mode, and the truck very much suffers (granted not too badly, but it's not all that pretty). a super sized handgun would probably get around the censors, and give us a megatron capable of standing toe to toe with prime. i don't know, i'd be ok with a decent tank mode, especially if it gave us a robot mode on a level with the anniversery prime, and looked like an actual tank (maybe a german leopard tank?).

while i have a lot of plastic toys and relatively few diecast toys, i have been growing rapidly disenfranchized with my plasticy toys. many, many of my toys would be so much better if they just had a bit of metal in them. given the choice i will so choose metal over plastic. plastic may not exactly suck, it just needs metal to keep it from falling apart. i have succombed to the chogolust. too bad i already emptied my wallet on the plastic toys. doh. <_<