mikeszekely

Transformers Prime is looking more and more like Bayformers Animated.

I haven't checked the Games forum since Ultimate Frontier came out. I didn't think A.C.E. would get talked about there, since it's not strictly a Macross game... but not that I think about it, I seem to recall that we discussed the other A.C.E. games there...

I suppose I'm stuck looking for him in stores. Lucky my local TRU is only 10 minutes away, give or take. I can look for him while I look for Peg and Thrust.

Apparently the ol' PS2 "get a bunch of mecha and characters from every license Banpresto has and jam them into one game" series A.C.E. is making the jump to PS3. I see Alto's VF-25 is one of the playable units. I've always liked this series, but not $80 worth. I might pick it up when it inevitably makes it's way to the "PlayStation the Best" line.

Then get Blurr. Transformers with swords are rare because... well, I'm sure you've seen that scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark where Indy shoots that guy with the scimitar.

I'm siding with A7 on this one. It's less like buying multiples than Starscream and Acid Storm... at least Blurr is coming with different accessories and a new head mold. Get Blurr because he's the Classics version of an iconic G1 character that you like, and get Peg because he's a joke given Deluxe-class form.

What type of connection are you using from the PC to the TV? I suppose, since the computer is working ok in safe mode, that you could uninstall the display driver in safe mode, reboot into normal mode, then update your display driver.

Lucky find. Grimlock was supposed to be out by now at US TRUs, but abruptly decided to wait until after Comic-con.

I've bought a few SDCC figs there, like Nemesis Prime. If I recall correctly, they kill you on the shipping, but otherwise I had no problems with them. EDIT: I'm still going to hold off another week. TRU's doing a buy one, get one half off on pretty much all Hasbro toys. If I can find Peg and Thrust, I'll be able to get them both for just under $20 after sales tax here, but it'll be $26 before shipping to get them from HTS. If I'm going to go the HTS route, I might as well wait and see what kind of comic-con toys they have and save on shipping.

I think they worked for the movie, I just think they make lousy toys. I get frustrated when something like Classics/Universe goes on hiatus so that the shelves can get clogged with more versions of the same handful of Bayformers. But I do confess, I am kind of a geewunner at heart.

Was out of town, so I stopped at their TRU. Tons of Hunt for Decepticons and Power Core Combiners, but not a single Generations figure. I'm sad. I still need Peg and Thrust.

You mean besides the gaudy flames? I'm not particularly surprised. But are you guys saying that the unnecessary parts/aspects are different from the previous two films?

Is there an English translation for that?

The problem with "Penntucky" is that I've really only got three local options for toys; Target, Walmart, and Toys R Us. I check my local ones multiple times a week when I hear toys I want are out, and if I can't find them there's a Kohl's and another Target in the next town over, then another Target and another TRU that I'll occasionally. If I'm really desperate, there's three other Walmarts and one K-Mart within a reasonable driving distance. And that's it. So far, I've found Generations War for Cybertron Prime and WfC Bumblee, but none of the other Generations toys, no Hunt for Decepticons, and no Power Core Combiners. Point-of-fact, I NEVER saw a RotF Voyager Mindwipe. Not once. Whatever that store in Greenhills you've got is, A7, be glad you have it.

I collect a lot of different stuff. Most of it's digital... I'll collect TV rips, comic book scans, ebooks, ROMS, ISOs, etc. Most of the time it's for stuff I already have in another format; for example, I have the Firefly Blu-ray box set, but I also have a DVD that I burned AVIs for each episode onto. Speaking of physical media, I have an ok CD collection, a large-for-my-apartment library, two shelves on a media rack of console video games, a shelf of Blu-rays, and a shelf of DVDs I've yet to replace with Blu-rays, as well as a smaller bookshelf near my desk full of PC games, plus I've got small stacks of PSP and DS games and a box of GBA games. If we're speaking more specifically of toys, I only really collect Transformers. I have two or three 1/144 Gundam kits I built, two die-cast Enterprises, and a Hot Wheels Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X that looks about as similar to the Lancer GTS I actually drive as an actual Evo X would. I bought those toys on whims. Oh, I started to collect the 4" Iron Man 2 figures, but I'd only bought 4 of them before reports started going around about the new Transformers Generations toys hitting shelves. Since I'm more interested in Transformers, I quit on Iron Man. Bittorrent, possibly. Physical media, doubtful. Transformers, I have no plans to, but unforeseen financial difficulties could occur, and if I can only choose one thing to spend my leisure funds on, video games trump toys for me. I really only started collecting Transformers when the first Classics line came out. I grew up with Transformers, and the nostalgia factor is what motivated me to start collecting them. My interests waned when the movie came out; I'd only bought a handful of toys, and all of them were characters who were actually in the movie. I had a renewed interest when Universe brought back the Classics, then my interest waned again with Animated (for the record, I LOVED the show, I just didn't care for the cartoony toys). I'd pretty much given up on Transformers with Revenge of the Fallen and, as I mentioned, started to look at the Iron Man 2 toys after really enjoying the film, but Transformers Generations has me fully back into Transformers. Tough question. Mostly I stick to the Deluxe and Voyager class Transformers (although I did get most of the Universe Ultras). Anything larger tends to take up too much space and is too expensive. Expense is also why I almost never import a toy. The exceptions to the size and expense rule would be Universe Unicron and the Masterpiece figures; I've bought all of the ones released in the US so far. The solitary exception to my import rule was MP Megatron. That leaves MP Megs as my most expensive toy at around $100 when all as said and done, but on average I don't pay more than $25 per toy. Depends on how many and what size are in a given Transformers line. I collected all of the Classics, most of the non-repaint Universe toys, and I'll probably collect all of the Generations toys. So I guess a few hundred dollars. She doesn't mind me buying the toys. While $12.99 here and there can add up real quick, I rarely spend more than $50 at a time, so it doesn't bother her. She's a little upset at how they've kind of taken over our apartment, though. The two Enterprises are flanking my monitor. The Hot Wheels Evo and the Gundam kits are on the bookshelf with the PC games. My desk has a raised section where CD roms go, and my MP Transformers are on that. Where things get hair is that I have a long bookshelf next to a filing cabinet, and My Classics/Universe Decepticons are sprawled out over it (Animated Waspinator and Blackarachnia, as well as movie Barricade and RotF Sideways and Bludgeon help fill out the Decepticon ranks). On a table at a right angle to and near the Decepticon shelf are my Classics/Universe Autobots. Unicron is on a small stand in the corner between them. The rest of the Transformers I have (mostly movie and Animated, but with a few random others) are in boxes in a closet. The opposite. For one thing, toys like RotF Voyager Mindwipe never turned up in my area. Not at Target, not at Walmart, not at Toys R Us, not anywhere. I only saw Bludgeon once at Walmart; thank goodness I bought him then. For another, I can be random about what I decide to buy. For example, I wasn't really interested in Alternators, but since Prime is my favorite Autobot, I eventually decided to buy Alternators Prime... only to find them all gone by then. So now, when new figures start to release, I'll drive to my three local options multiple times throughout the week. Every so often, I'll drive out to a Walmart or a TRU in one of the next towns over. I'll obsess, because I'm worried I won't be able to find one of the toys I want. Once I found all the toys from a line or wave that I want, then I'll play with them and mellow for a while before either boxing them or adding them to the standoff.

They were ok. Not good enough to keep me from seeking out fansubs later, but WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY better than an HK original Gundam set I found.

My wife wanted to eat Chinese for lunch, and there's a Chinese place right next to TRU, so I figured I swing by. On the plus side, they had War for Cybertron Optimus Prime and Bumblebee. On the minus side, no sign of Peg or Thrust, both of whom I wanted a lot more than Bee. Still, they're buy one, get one half off, so I spent less than $20 for Prime and Bee. Prime's pretty impressive so far. Kibble is limited to a bit on his back that looks way worse in photos than in person. Transformation is a little complicated, and involves lining up a lot of panels in truck mode. I am pretty pleased that both modes are pretty game faithful (in game, Prime has a bit less back kibble, and in game truck mode doesn't show his thighs the way the toy does). Something else I like is that Prime's truck mode windows are his chest windows, which you might not have guessed from the photos. His chest grill and truck grill are different, though. If I had one complaint, it'd be that he really should have been a voyager. Bee is huge compared to Prime. EDIT: Finally played with Bee. I wonder if I'm playing with the same toy as Blitzwing (at tformers.com) or David Willis (Shortpacked!). For one, both reviewers thought the transformation was overly complicated. For two, Blitzwing seems to think that Bee is the stronger of the WFC figures so far, and I really couldn't disagree more. Prime isn't perfect, but I don't think I've ever had a better Deluxe Prime (yes, I like him even better than Animated). If he'd been a Voyager, he might have been my favorite Prime period. Bee, on the other hand, has these spindly arms and legs and a squat body. The ball joints on his shoulders are set in such a way that his arms always stick out a bit. There's not a lot you can do with his feet. Frankly, I just don't feel he's as poseable as Prime is. I'm not sure why Blitzwing is so impressed with Bee's size it alt-mode, either. In his words "the size of the vehicle might fool you into thinking this is a scout class." He's maybe a cm shorter than Classics Bee, but 1.5cm wider and slightly taller at his highest point. When you park them together, my instinct is actually to say that WFC Bee is bigger than Classics Bee. Honestly, he looks pretty good in alt mode. Like Prime, there's a lot of panels that need to be aligned, but the direction of the lines seems fairly natural, as if such a vehicle would have those panel lines even if it didn't turn into a robot. As for transformation, Bee's tricky at times, but I think Prime's harder. Prime involves inverting his chest and moving his back kibble to his front side and moving panels on his arms, shoulders, and legs. Bee is really about stretching his torso out and tucking his arms and legs in to fill the gaps. The hardest part is actually figuring out what to do with his legs, since the directions aren't entirely clear, and then lining the panels up at the end, which you'll do about as perfectly as Death Star Darth Vader. It's obvious where most of his pieces go, and I only looked at the directions to figure out his legs, while I had to refer to Prime's directions even on the second time I transformed him.

I'll have to see. I might not be home tonight.

Hey, I was on from 10:00pm to midnight EDT last night. There was no sign of you, so I decided to try team Deathmatch. Mere moments in, the host gets shot and rage quits. Good times.

It's just a Japanese release of Leader Starscream? I wouldn't have guessed from the photo.

To anyone who's disappointed with Leader movie Starscream, perhaps this is what you were waiting for? EDIT: the_foul_fowl beat me to it.

Somehow, I must have watched a different show than you guys (or maybe I'm benefiting somehow from not having seen the original?). Not only did I find V entertaining, I'm pretty sure it's the best thing I've watched since the Sarah Connor Chronicles went off the air.

I'm up for MP campaign, as it seems no one else online wants to do it. (from looking tonight, it's about 90% team deathmatch---which gets annoying when hosts constantly quit)

Any reason why discussion of this show just died out? I know I'm a bit late to the party, but I just finished watching the first season. At first I was wondering how long they'd be able to keep up the whole "resistance fighting evil aliens everyone believes are good", but they pulled it off very well. I was hooked well before the finale, but after watching it I can't wait for the next season to start.

Seriously. I'm still waiting on that and a complete season 2 of Spectacular Spider-Man.