Pat Payne

I love that kind of talk........ On the other hand, there is such a thing as going too much to the other extreme...

D*mn straight. I've never understood these people who look at everything as an "investment." If you want a toy, buy a toy. If you want an investment, buy stocks.

Have they nemed a price for this thing when it comes out in the US?

So, if I have to, I just pull -- carefully -- the assembly out, and then unscrew?

That is correct. and the board is yours, remembering that it's "S-words," and not "swords."

Nah, back in the '80s, from the Dark Phoenix Saga up to Muir Isle, that's when it rocked. Blue and Gold teams were OK, but they had lost Chris Claremont by then, and even though he's back doing Xtreme X-Men, I'm still not sure they've found him again. The rest of the X-books are unreadable these days, since they dropped the old formula and have tried to make it "hip" and "postmodern" and as boring as a French film. The writers of Spider-Man (JMS et.al.) at least had the good sense to keep the characters somewhat familiar while still letting them evolve (Pete Parker, high school teacher? I could see that...) So endeth the rant.

OK...now for a Jeopardy-style question... In the catagory of "characters:" "They were originally named 'Aki' and 'Sai'." Remember to please phrase your answer in the form of a question.

D'oh! Anyway, the argument about region lockouts vis-a-vis Gundam Wing doesn't hold water either, because quite a few fans (like here int he States) have region-free players. Lockouts wouldn't affect them.

Simple: It was the Air Force/Navy competition for the Advanced Tactical Fighter between Northrop-Grumman's YF-22 and Lockheed-Martin's YF-23 (which became the F-23 Raptor)

One thing you have to remember in a lot of "future earth" productions (anime and otherwise) is that nobody expected the deep historical chamges that were going to happen in 1989 and onwards. Even Star Trek (the original 1960's through ST VI) presupposd that there would be a Soviet Union of some sort by the show's time frame (eg: Chekov: "Scotch?" 'Twas inwented by a little old lady from Leningrad!) So, for the purposes of Macross' fictional history, there was every expectation from Kawamori et. al in 1981 that there would be a USSR in 1999 who would join into the UN Spacy (after being part of the Anti-UN). Also, remember the "Jetsons" syndrome...everything looks more futuristic in the cinematic future than it would be in the real life future (Dammit! I want my rocket car and dehydrated pizza! )

They almost have to be a sophisticated gunpowder-propelled type. First, there's the muzzle flash, which you probably wouldn't have from a Gauss gun. Second, the bullets obviously use shell casings (the rear brass compartment that holds the gunpowder charge) which would be superfluous in a Gauss gun.

Am I much mistaken, or were the Machine Robo toys released here as GoBots (just with a different cartoon to go with them)? And I agree partly with you, Duymon. A lot of anime today is kinda flat. But there is still hope. Cowboy Bebop, Excel Saga and anything by GAINAX still have life in them.

This is quite easy to fix, although the problem will continue to rear its ugly head. Just remove the legs from the swingbar. Takes a bit of force, but they are not screwed on. (However, if you break it, don't blame me!) What you'll have is 2 halves of retangular plastic that encase the ball joint at the end of the swingbar. Get a screw driver and remove the screw and make extra sure the screw driver is a good fit. You don't want to end up mutlilating the screw head. Once you seperate the two pieces, you can reposition the little black rubber cap, then screw everything back together and slide the leg back on. Does anyone have pictures that could illustrate it a little clearer? If it has to come to that, I'd like to know as much as possible before taking apart a $130 toy... Also, if the black seal does fall out, what does that mean for my Valk's leg?

I've got one problem with my Hikaru -1S that I'm not quite sure is a problem, or something that is something I'm just losing sleep over for nothing: When I went to transform my Valk yesterday, I noticed that on the right leg, a black rubber or plastic seal was peeking out of the joint, and was crimped between the two plastic pieces that close around the leg swingbar. Is this going to do anything that might make the leg fall off (or a catastrophe comparable) and is there anything I can or should do about it?

Doubtful as most of those looney toons wartime reels were very "racist"... I fear another Song of the South treatment for those Bugs and Daffy cartoons when they plaster the buck-toothed Japanese soldier and Hitler. Not all of them: Cartoon Network was able to get away with showing some of them uncut (or 99% uncut) on a special episode of "Toonheads" in 2001. This included "Herr meets Hare" (important as the first ever "Wrong toin at Alberquerque" ), Tex Avery's "Blitz Wolf," and two others whose names escape me. In fact, CN wanted to show every Bugs Bunny cartoon ever made in the annual "June Bugs" marathon in 2001, but eleven or so were vetoed by Warners on grounds of racial insensitivity. I've see the WW2 anti-Japanese Bugs Bunny short (I won't repeat the name here, it is blatantly racist) and it is admittedly cringe-inducing in a couple of spots.

I am suitably impressed. If nobody had called my attention to it, I would have sworn on a mixed stack of Bibles and Macross Gold Books that that was a real photo! :thumbsup:

That was the whole point. It wasn't meant to be mecha fanservice. It was meant to be an inversion of the usual Gundam mecha-action orgy by bringing characters to the fore and making them real human beings as opposed to just adjuncts to the machines.

I always knew there'd be another Macross serries after Zero. I mentioned once before that the last tiem we had a release of Macross anime, it was in twos (Mac 7 and Mac Plus). I just knew history was goign to repeat itself. I'd like to see another show with the original Valks...maybe set with Max and Millia's squadron or another in that era just after the Megaroad departs...

C'mon...you know they've gotta do a M&M no matter what

Whee! Teddybears! As for this toy flap, I see both sides, to an extent. I wouldn't give my child a Clive Barker "Tortured Souls" action figure (wouldn't have one myself--they're disturbing and sick) or something of that ilk. Probably wouldn't give a young child a Yammie, either, because of the sharp edges and small bits. Yet a GI Joe? Ninja Turtle? Transformers? I had those when I was a kid, and I turned out mostly fine. I do believe that in a way, this is a group of people who do want to try to change the world without changign the world. More damaging to a child, IMHO, is abuse. That's what really screws a child up and gets him to believe that violence is the answer to everything.

Not to mention the article itself says explictly that this is a wish-list of things the author would like to see. Some of them are flat-out unfeasable, such as reshooting footage today and expecting it to meld seamlessly with movies shot now close onto 30 years ago -- particularly any attempt to reshoot Vader's death scene with Hayden Christiansen subbing for Sebastian Shaw. The differences in film media from 1982-83 and today are so jarring as to make it impossible. The one that I hope they do the most, though is get rid of that stupid "Greedo shoots first" thing in the cantina. And I pointedly hope that they do NOT replace Jeremy Bullock's voice with the actor for Jango Fett.

I can read, Trebek! It says "anal bum cover." I spent the last five years trying to invent an anal bum cover, not succeeding was my greatest regret!

I think the LAPD has some battering tank things, and many police department bomb squads use remote-controlled robots to do the initial investigation of suspicious packages (If a robot gets blown up, you're out just the money you paid for it, rather than risk an officer being seriously injured or killed)

The fact that she had composed her own song and sang it at the audition. The song was "Cinderella". Do I get extra points for mentioning that it features in episode 4 of the TV show, in the movie, in FlashBack 2012 and is a track on Mari's second album, Blanche? Or do I just get branded a geek? Sorry, I almost forgot Renato, your answer was absolutely correct!

I thought I just got through telling you, Mr. Connery...