jenius

Just watched it. My first impression is one that others have echoed, alt LA is not an actual location but a spiritual gathering place (purgatory-esque but a theologian would argue vehemently against that with the main commonality being that it's a point before heaven). The good news is that it being an alt location makes Eloise and Miles' fathers odd abilities in this alt universe easily dismissed. The stained glass window in the church represented all the major religions which was an interesting eye catch before we started getting told the answers. I agree with whoever said the alt universe was essentially a fan-wank although generally I think the fans wanted "and they lived happily ever after" rather than "and they all joined each other to move on from a plane of meandering souls to heaven." I wonder why Miles, Richard, and Milpitas weren't present? I assume they weren't there as to not confuse viewers into thinking the plane had crashed but since there was no "now" that doesn't make a ton of sense. I guess the argument might be that those three characters had more significant experiences off the island, or with different people on the island, so they might have gathered with others (same with Ekko I suppose). I'm guessing David elected to hold off so he could spend some time with the redhead since they never got to do that in their actual existence. Since David and Ben stuck around, that must mean the alt universe would keep going, so the next episode of Lost would open in the Alt universe with Anna Lucia arriving at a church where the original cast would be all found dead and the scene would be declared a cult suicide I suppose . Also, Wasn't Penny absent from the group? That makes sense in some regard since the island wasn't a memory to her... but does that mean she was just a place-holder spirit in that alt reality? Could an argument be made that the alt universe really is more like purgatory than I'm giving it credit for and since Ben and Anna Lucia did commit far more sins they MUST spend more time in the alt universe before moving on? That doesn't seem right though, it seemed like Ben was sticking around to be Alex's dad... LOL, or maybe kill Penny. In the end I feel a lot toward Lost like I did toward BSG. It was an awesome show, with some really intense episodes, but in the end I wished they had had a direction earlier on so it didn't feel like some avenues went no where (I'm looking at you Starbuck). Maybe I just need a Lostpedia book or something to tie all the kernels of info I got together to make everything a bit more cohesive but I have the impression that where we ended up is not something that was dreamed up until season 3. EDIT - is it just me or was the episode where Jack found his son at the recital now seem like it had a bunch of wasted time in it. If his son is utterly unimportant, why do we really care if he was bonding with him. I guess you could do some deep studies on that, in the fantasy spirit world Jack is trying to insert himself as a father figure but subconsciously he knows that's never been him... but still, with the show rushing to a conclusion it really seems like that time could have been better spent.

I don't know if this has been touched on already so forgive me if it has. Could HG do the following? 1) Send C&Ds to all companies selling Macross properties within the US. 2) Find a wholesaler in Japan and purchase the Macross items HG forbids other US retailers to sell 3) Become the sole US company importing and selling Macross goods in the US? It's not quite the same as receiving their rights payments (since it requires work beyond just receiving a check) but it's still better than nothing. If this were wrong to do, they could certainly start an affiliated company and make a very similar arrangment. This company would pay HG a fee for each Macross item sold (say, 1%) and thus get exclusive rights to sell Macross merchandise in the US. This way HG could still get some money from all the super sweet Macross merchandise out there and the Macross manufacturers wouldn't be screwed by their agreements with BW to not re-license their wares through HG. Heck, this could even be a new business model. If stores like BBTS still wanted to sell Macross items they could be allowed to, provided THEY paid the licensing right to HG since the manufacturers are forbidden from doing so.

Wow... a bit of a mark-up on that.

You're correct. Rods move the legs, the legs attach, the rods detach. The legs are not thrown into place. I don't recall the animation really bothering with showing things in that much detail.

I don't know if I ever tried and my toy is in storage, maybe someone else can help you out.

Uh... why wouldn't you be able to call the Yamato a "perfect transformation" toy? I think some of you believe there is a concrete definition of "perfect transformation" and it's not at all the same thing as what the term meant when it was originally used. There's clearly a difference between "perfect transformation" and "perfect for you transformation."

You might not need to swap parts on the Bandai either. It does have fist that retract into the arms, you don't NEED to use the landing gear or the gun, so the only question is the heatshield. The Takatoku is a perfect transformable toy without a heatshield (and it can't stow the gun in fighter) so if this thing can transform with the canopy shouldn't it be considered a perfect transformation too? There are degrees to the level of 'perfection' a toy's transformation achieves. My guess is the only part you'll absolutely need to swap is that heatshield, I'm guessing it has a groove for the chest that the canopy doesn't.

It's late... I think I'm seeing things. Never mind me.

You can see the fist pretty well in this picture of the pilot-less type: The fist has two pegs on either side that fit into slots in the gun. I don't think the gun will fit the hand without those pegs (or, if you can get it on that fist, the gun will move around all nimbly bimbly like a cat hopping from tree to tree).

The bummer about swappable wings is that, if the missiles are already connected on one set of the wings then we'll need yet another set of wings with Reaction Weapons attached if/when the Tamashii web exclusive super parts are annouced.

Thanks for the run down Exo. i'm still a little confused by the Others though. Basically it sounds like The Others are the invitees and the Dharma initiative wasn't really invited but originally was allowed to stay around because they weren't really interfering either. Seems odd if Jacob's duty is to keep the light safe that he'd allow a bunch of scientists to poke and probe his island. I get that The Others had their list of good and bad because Jacob was also seeking out people who were just naturally good but I don't get all the very bad things the others were doing... like kidnapping and murder. Isn't a Sawyer a candidate and didn't they blow his boat up and leave him in shark infested waters?

I'm at work now so I can't really go to my site so you should probably double-check everything I'm saying here against anymoon.com's dedicated post as I'm working off memory right now. Getting the upgrade parts are nigh impossible. If you want to buy a whole new Legioss/Tread you can usually find the whole kit on eBay (and not bad price either, like $170 shipped to US). The synchro cannon does have pegs that fit into the shoulders in fighter mode.

I don't remember the resolution to "the others." They were on the island already when Dharma showed up right? They showed up on the island during WWII and Widmore was with them? Is that pretty much all there is to them? Essentially now it seems like "the Others" were just pawns in a game MIB and Jacob were playing. What's up with Walt? Doesn't it seem like he should play a part in the end?

The CMs fixed posed hands available as upgrade parts fix the normal Legioss toys. The Dark Legioss uses a 'pinch over fist' connection... you swap the hand for one made just for the gun, no issues with fit or flop.

GERWALK looks useless unless there's some lock to keep the legs that way.

MSNBC has a little blurb on fan predictions for the Lost finale. Some are pretty standard, I'm sure things we've all considered, a couple seemed pretty cool to me. I liked one person's theory that the Kwon who was the candidate was neither Sun or Jin but rather their baby. It doesn't really make sense since Jacob said the candidates were people who were all already lost and obviously that little girl isn't... although I guess without her parents she may now be. Lots of theories focus around Jacob and MIB simply being replaced and the game continuing. Several people think Hurley is due to replace Jack in short order, I think that might stem primarily from Hurley's obviously not wanting the job in the last episode.

I agree, the base is the only thing that I'm waiting on. I'm sure it will be a let down but I've gotta at least see it before I make my choice.

It is definitely NOT 1/60. It looks to be approximately 1/100, very similar in size to Yamato's effort.

Even if Richard isn't the hardcore form of immortal, I remember after he failed to kill Jacob he handed MIB a stone(?) and there seemed to be the whole "you can do me no real harm" moment.

I don't believe Smokey killed Richard. The earlier scenes indicated that Richard was immortal and that Smokey would not kill him. I think what we saw was richard just being escorted, not so gently, far away. I also think the whole scene where Miles flipped out and Richard said "Oh yeah Ben, I buried your daughter here" is supposed to be what makes it easier to believe that Ben then would so rapidly change. The instant he saw Whidmore (Widmore?), just moments after being reminded of how that guy killed his daughter, it was easy for Ben to turn and be like "This mother f'er needs to die." The idea that alt Ben is now in a position to become an actual father-figure for Alex... by being with her mother was not something I expected.

I have a vague memory which may put MIB in the 70s action. Didn't Ben follow his dead mother out to the forest where he met Richard?

It would have been awesome if they said this was a 1/55 scale model... it would have left me more hope for a 1/60 scale toy some day.

Didn't the procreation thing become a problem after the 70s? Wasn't Ethan conceived and birthed on the island? Is that what you meant by the island influences not being as strong in the 70s because MIB was locked out of the Dharma area?

Some thoughts: At the time MIB was on the other island so maybe getting off that island seemed like an incredibly prudent thing to do. Taking more of his depleted people might have just made the flight more obvious and there's no real safety in numbers. Maybe he also thought that he'd be able to directly appeal to Desmond better or, since he had received his instructions from Jacob, that he was uniquely capable of accomplishing his mission more expeditiously if he could personally find Desmond and do whatever it is that needs to be done. Another thought, whatever happened to the rings of ash? Did they stop MIB?

I interpreted Ben's desperately wanting to speak to Locke alone as a hint that he was up to no good. I think he convinced the others not to run into the woods so that he could more easily sell them out. Richard struck me as the fool, he knew that Locke had seen the outrigger from Whidmore so there couldn't be a rational conversation between the two that ended well unless Richard was going to sell out Whidmore. I even wondered if Ben was giving Miles the radio so he too could be used as a chip to offer to MIB. Ben is a bit like James in that both do good and bad but are really just constantly watching their own behinds while trying to get a little something out of it for themselves. Ben is going to be looking to turn on MIB the first chance he gets and now that Whidmore's dead I don't see him trying to torture the dead man by continuing to make his daughter's life miserable (or even killing her or Des). I wouldn't be surprised if Jack's ultimate victory comes via yet another betrayal on Ben's behalf. The major obstacle of that theory is MIB knows exactly the type of scoundrel Ben is.