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mikeszekely

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Everything posted by mikeszekely

  1. mikeszekely
    What's wrong with just bigger? In Grimlock, I got a toy that looks spot on in both modes and can be easily converted between them on a whim. Contrast that to Megatron, who was such a pain to transform that I'm pretty sure I'll never do it again. Or Prime, who's truck sides are missing doors and windows (and who's trailer is sold separately). Or the Seekers, with their extra kibbley bot modes. I can't help it that Takara got Grimlock right back in the 80s, but a Transformer doesn't need to be overly complicated to be a Masterpiece in my book... just awesome. That's why Grimmy's actually my favorite so far. Rodimus is looking good, but time will tell. The Takara release is too rich for my blood anyway.
  2. mikeszekely
    God help me, I actually miss this show. Maybe it's because I was like four when the original was on, but when you give bad actors a talking car, I'm hooked. It's kind of a bummer that the show was broadcast in HD, but there was no blu-ray release, just standard-def DVD.
  3. mikeszekely
    His front end is a little high, and either it's too thin or his rear is too thick. His silhouette is almost like Wheelie's. Plus his sides seem a bit rounded, and his pipes seem pointed too mouch toward the ground at the back.
  4. mikeszekely
    As much as I'd love to have him, $100 is my limit for Transformers.
  5. mikeszekely
    They're all canon. Transformers is multiversal. But G1-ish aesthetics aside, War for Cybertron is stated to be a prequel to Transformers Prime. And Prime's been stated to be set in the Bay-verse.
  6. mikeszekely
    I sold my old Core Duo MacBook (hadn't used it much in the last two years, and not at all since I got my Asus laptop), and I decided to take the plunge on the iPad. For the record, although I don't really like Apple the company, I'm mostly neutral on their products. I've got a lust of almost any new and shiny gadget. I'm mostly satisfied with it. It is what it is... more than an iPhone, but less than a "real" computer. It's more of an extension of a computer than a replacement for one. If I'm going to type something long, like an email or document (or this post) I want to use my desktop. I also tend to work on various projects on my desktop. But those things aside, I still used my desktop a lot for stuff like Twitter or just reading various websites. The iPad handles that really well, and in a form factor that allows me to take it to the sofa or the bed when I'm tired, or the kitchen when I when I'm cooking. Or the bathroom... Another huge strength I'm getting from the iPad is as an e-reader. Sure, an e-ink device has some advantages (weight, battery life, easier to read outside, less eye strain), but the iPad does magazines and comic books really well. I haven't bothered to put videos or music on my iPad, but I loaded it with plenty of cbr and cbz files, a handful of magazines in PDF format, and maybe a dozen books in the epub format that I'd been meaning to read. I'm also liking the way some apps (mostly the Apple ones) work together. Like today, my wife and I couldn't decide on where to get food. She thought it was cool enough that typing "food" into the search on the Maps app caused a number of dots to appear on the map that indicated restaurants, but I was more impressed that tapping one seamlessly brought up its website in Safari. I think that actually brings me to the iPad's biggest flaws: no tabs in Safari (opening new pages for stuff I'd tab on my desktop browser is a pain, especially when the page wants to reload when you actually get around to it) and no multitasking. I guess iOS 4 helps with that? I don't know, I don't have an iPhone. It's fair to say that tablets, when done well (and I think the iPhone is), could be a game changer the way the original iPhone was (say what you want about it and Apple, the iPhone did mark the beginning of a smartphone boom). But I do think the iPad's asking price is too high for what it is and what it does. I wouldn't have bought it if I hadn't sold that laptop first, but having bought it I'm glad I own it, if that makes sense. Now I'm curious to see the Android tablets that are going to be hitting the market soon. Not crap like the Gentouch that was advertised at Kmart awhile back, but stuff like Samsung's Galaxy Tablet, MSI's WindPad, or Toshiba's Smart Pad. If they're priced right, have a newer version of Android, and have access to the Android Marketplace (flaws that, combined with lousy touch screens, make some of these drugstore tablets not even worth their sub-$200 price tags), I'd consider buying one of those, too.
  7. mikeszekely
    Speaking of all this iPhone stuff, does anyone here have an iPad? If so what are your thoughts, especially vs an iPhone or iPod touch? My previous iOS experience is limited to a first-gen touch.
  8. mikeszekely
    One of the board members called him that when he couldn't remember the name. It instantly became his MW nickname.
  9. mikeszekely
    Funny thing is, Peg's alt mode looks like IDW Blurr's Earth mode. I know, I said we were going to ignore TF ongoing, but I meant because of Don Figouera's freakish bots. I'm not saying a Peg repaint is the best Blurr ever, but I don't think it's really a bad choice, either.
  10. mikeszekely
    Here's a drawing from one of the covers for Spotlight: Drift. It's his Cybertronian mode, so you can figure he'd have some differences when he gets to Earth (we're going to ignore the controversial style that Don Figueroa used for the first couple issues of the newer ongoing series). I wouldn't say he's chunky, but he's definitely sporting some kibble that could correspond to the car kibble from the Peg mold. And the head is spot on. I feel you on the sniper thing, though. In the IDW-verse, that'd be more like Perceptor. We there you go. I paid like $50 for my reissue Prime, and don't actual 1984 Prime's go for closer to $80? My reissue Prime has a rub sign.
  11. mikeszekely
    Not if you're expecting a square-headed Blurr that turns into a hover car. But he's actually very reminiscent of IDW Blurr. G1 Prime is less than $20?
  12. mikeszekely
    Thank you! I'm not the only one. Which kind of sucked, because while I can see why they'd think she looks like a good choice for Kim Pine, I always figured Kim would be hotter.
  13. mikeszekely
    All the hullabaloo about Assault Horizon reminded me that this game is also coming, and apparently soon. Amazon lists it for 8-31.
  14. mikeszekely
    I liked the film a lot. I was impressed with how they got the feel of the books down without copying them panel for panel. The result was a coherent whole, athough the pacing is a lot quicker than the books. While it made for a good flick, I felt some of the deeper themes of the books (like growing up, owning up to past mistakes, and believing that people can change) were kind of glossed over. I gotta say, they did a really good job casting the movie, too. Almost everyone was spot on, especially Ellen Wong as Knives Chau and Mark Webber as Stephen Stills. The only casting I'd change would be to ditch Alison Pill as Kim Pine (she's got the freckles and the attitude, but looks too much like a boy for me), and maybe have Michael Cera and Johnny Simmons (Young Neil) switch roles. Cera's good at playing geekier characters, but he's too much of a weenie for me to believe that he's "the best fighter in the province".
  15. mikeszekely
    Well there you go. Does Verizon still replace the manufacturer's software with their own crappy software? My wife is kind of like you... she really just wants a phone that can text. She doesn't want to pay for the mandatory data plans Verizon puts on every smartphone, so she's been using a first-gen LG Chocolate for just about four years now. Whenever she looks at the Verizon store at their selection of dumbphones, she concludes that all of them suck and that she doesn't want any. Kind of works for me... seems I want a new smartphone every year, so I wind up using her upgrades as well as my own.
  16. mikeszekely
    Managed to skip over the whole RAZR shebang, but my last non-smartphone was a KRZR. While I don't miss the crappy Verizon software or the cheap construction, I actually really liked the design. It had a nice aesthetic.
  17. mikeszekely
    Fixed.
  18. mikeszekely
    I think you might mean the Covenant.
  19. mikeszekely
    Ace Combat: Assault Horizon PS3 owners, of which there are a good number on these boards, will be happy to note that they're included this time. Although the game looks a bit different. Some odd camera angles, helicopters, and a triangle button prompt are all shown in the trailer, plus it looks like they're setting it in the real world this time. Music in the trailer is definitely Ace Combat, though.
  20. mikeszekely
    I don't mind you asking. I'm about an hour east of Pittsburgh, in Greensburg PA. So I'm not exactly one state away, but you can take some solace that I'm East Coast. I'll say this, if you're lucky to find him, he sells fast. They get trucks on Saturday mornings, and my wife was there 20 minutes after they opened. She said they had two when she got there.
  21. mikeszekely
    I had to work this morning, but my wife was going to go to a grocery store near the part of town where my TRU is located. I asked her to stop in. She said she wouldn't, but she did, and I'm glad she did, because she found me a MP Grimlock. EDIT: Had some time to play with him. He might be my favorite Masterpiece so far. In dino mode, he's very faithful to his animated counterpart, but more detailed (what looks like a plain red stripe on the cartoon is a red and gray patch of some mechanical stuff) and the pale yellow on his underbelly and neck are a translucent gold. He also has some red stripes on his legs/bot-mode shoulders that are not in the animation, but I think they were on the original toy. He's likewise very accurate in bot mode as well. His shoulders are bigger, and again his pale yellow cartoon coloring is replaced with gold. He has some extra white on his pelvis (that's on the original toy) and some paint on his thighs (that I have no idea where they came from). I especially like how his tail folds up into his legs so that a big chunk that folds onto the outside of his lower leg on the G1 toy (and the Animated toy, for that matter) is neatly tucked away. The result is a toy that is faithful to his animation model and his toy, and is relatively simple for an MP, but is still much more dynamic and life-like and much less block in bot mode than the original toy. However, and I don't know if this is just mine, common to the US release, or common to the mold, but while things fit seem all fine and dandy when he's fully transformed into either mode, he's very floppy and loose mid-transformation. For example, part of his transformation has you fold back the dino-mode torso, then bring the bot-mode torso up. It's supposed to clip together, but it won't stay there until his waist slides up. Also, there's a small slot on his back that's supposed to peg into the top of his dino-head, so his dino-head rests flush against him. I can't get that to stay pegged for the life of me. One final complaint I have is his price, and what you get for that price. He's got a bit more girth, I suppose, but he's really not much taller than the MP seekers (not even a head taller), and significantly shorter than MP Prime (the top of Grimlock's head barely makes it to the bottom of the white stripe on Prime's arm). And Prime came with his gun, an Energon Axe, a little Megatron gun, and a talking display stand. Heck, even the Seekers came with a stand, null rays, missiles, and a little Dr. Arkeville. Considering that the Seekers wound up retailing for $49.99 and Prime was going for $79.99, you think Grimmy would be closer to the Seekers in price. Nope. $20 more than the Seekers, and just $10 less than Prime. And what do you get for that price? Grimlock, his sword, his gun, and the crown he wore when he was the Autobot leader during the Marvel Comics run. That's it. You'd think for $70 they could include the brain gizmo, the serving tray, and the apron that the first Japanese release had, but no. I'm not complaining too hard, because on the whole I love him. He looks fantastic in both modes, which is more than I can say for Prime (awesome bot mode, truck mode had some issues and the trailer never even had a US release), Megatron (gun mode ok but missing parts, bot mode had spindly thin legs holding up his heavier upper-body on small feet and a narrow ball joint) or the Seekers (realistic jet modes that, as David will tell you, aren't make for kibble on the bot mode). And while his transformation is less-complicated than some newer Deluxe figures, that beats so frustrating I'll never do it again, like Megatron. As much as I was awed when I first saw MP Prime back in the day, I really think MP Grimlock takes the cake.
  22. mikeszekely
    I did try Chrome, when it was shiny and new. I didn't care for it, and I haven't seen anything that's changed since then to compel me to try it again. Is it compatible with Xmarks? Maybe I'll try it on the laptop. Maybe. I don't bother with any extensions that block ads or other scripts, because it seems like they're always blocking something I don't want blocked. Well, except for Flash Killer, which I have set not to kill any Flash objects unless I click the button. Other than that, I'm just running Download Statusbar, DownloadHelper, and Invisible Hand.
  23. mikeszekely
    It's good to know if I ever decide to dump Firefox... and Opera.
  24. mikeszekely
    Because I don't have any of the problems you seem to be having with Firefox. Are you using any add-ons? You're system, IIRC, was pretty similar to mine spec-wise. But there's got to be something going on besides the fact that I'm using Windows 7 and you're still using XP. In any case, I think Firefox's popularity is mostly because it's very customizable and very tweakable, but it never wins in any browser speed contests. The disparity isn't usually as bad as you're experiencing, though. Yeah, and I especially love the way it sends data about my browsing habits back to Google. Seriously, I know Chrome is fast. Safari's been pretty fast too, and they're both built on Web-kit. But I have a deep mistrust of Google that's 5% mistrust of any company as big as Google, 20% the fact that they really do collect a lot of data on users of their services, and 75% the unconditional love that so many on the internet seem to have for them.
  25. mikeszekely
    Yeah, I saw it the first time it was on. I think it was a little hard on the '80s Turtles... they weren't that goofy. But let's take off the rose-tinted glasses of nostalgia for a minute, and admit that they were pretty goofy. And yeah, Krang and Shredder really were the poster children of fail. It was still pretty entertaining, though.
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