DarkPhoenix

Oh, and the release date for the MMMGQ Sword Impulse is 29th January. Not long to wait .

Graham

Horray! Any signs of when the three new MSiA releases for the month will be coming out?

And what's with this leather bondage suit that Kira has taken to wearing?

I keep waiting for Lacas to say "Bring out the Gimp" .

Graham

Lacus has Kira whipped. I mean, she turned him hippy in the first series.. now he's her man-bitch. I bet you he puts on a leather mask instead of a flight helmet when he gets back into Freedom...

Gawd, now I'm remembering Family Guy.

"Now remember, tonight's safety word is 'banana'."

"I love you honey!"

"*Zips up Peter's mask and shoves him onto the bed!*"

Oh yeah... Given this is the 'Zeta' equivilent, any bets on one of the characters being reduced to a gibbering vegetable like Kamille by the end of the series?

Have Freedom, the Zaku Phantom twins, and the MMMGQ Sword Impulse on pre-order... can't wait for 'em. I'm /so/ going to be a Zaku whore. Plan on getting both Phantoms, the red Gunner, and quite likely the green Gunner just so I can have a grunt.

I'm sure you will be extremely impressed with the MMMGQ Sword Impulse. My MMMGQ Force Impulse blows the MSiA Force Impulse out of the water and is far superior IMO even to the MMM Strike toy.

The range of articulation on the MMMGQ Impulse is outstanding and the toy can pull off some awesome action poses. Also the MMMGQ is great quality all the way, excellent construction, well finished, super poseable, nice tight joints and holds its weapons and accesories really well.

I haven't been this impressed with a toy in many years. Highly recommended.

Graham

Hell, the fact it comes with a beam rifle puts it heads and shoulders over the MSiA.

Judging by the pictures and info I've seen on Force Impulse, I predict being VERY pleased with Sword Impulse... and it'll give my two MMM Strikes a companion.

My main hope for the MMMGQ Sword Impulse is for it to pull off that pose in episode two where it holds the combined beam staff/sabers in one hand while taking potshots with the beam rifle in the other.. I could get the MSiA to hold it for a while, but that left my Force Impulse without its beloved beam rifle and trigger hand, and it was... difficult to get it to hold the combined beam staff/sabers at the right angle. That, and the larger scale should make posing it like when Shinn went nuts in ep 12 a bit more ominous.

Awesome, can't wait for these to come out. The advanced MSIA Freedom was just crap for what I paid for it.

The ADMSiA Freedom Gundam made baby jebus cry. The new MSiA Freedom Gundam is dead sexah'.

Have Freedom, the Zaku Phantom twins, and the MMMGQ Sword Impulse on pre-order... can't wait for 'em. I'm /so/ going to be a Zaku whore. Plan on getting both Phantoms, the red Gunner, and quite likely the green Gunner just so I can have a grunt.

Also, as a note to those following Gundam SEED's DVD releases, volumes 6 and 7 are out today.

Part of me wonders, and the series doesn't really indicate one way or the other... did the Earth Federation government(s) surpress the information on ZAFT's efforts to minimize the damage, including Minerva's risky attack on it with the main cannon?

Athrun and Shinn said it best. It didn't matter that the Minerva tried to stop the tragedy, and prevented one big impact, but the fact remains that the fragments still fell, and the damage was enough for an outcry against PLANT.

Where the EA/BC showed that they were really asses though was when they decided to use it as an opportunity to murder EVERYONE at PLANT. Those nukes would have destroyed plant completely, annahilating every person there. The coordinators have plenty to be pissed about right now.

Good points. It was definitely a bad move on the EA/BC's part, as it pretty much showed the PLANTs from the get-go that no punches would be pulled. Hence, PLANT now has reason to attack the EA.. Or as the chairman put it, 'engage in agressive self-defense'.

Ack, fix your quotes.

At the moment, the Naturals' hatred of the Coordinators seems quite a bit less justified than the Coordinators' hatred of the Naturals.

What, dropping a PLANT on the world is not justifiable? Massive death toll and damage across the world ain't good enough?

Graham.. if you're comfortable using BitTorrent, AONE has fansubs up to episode 12 now. http://a.scarywater.net/aone/

As note, regarding what I quoted. It was a small portion of a plant. The part of Junius Seven that fell appeared to merely be the 'cap' of one end, with part of the interior tower superstructure attached. And half of that didn't even hit the atmosphere, but was broken off with the 'Meteor Buster' explosive devices.

The director/writer/SOMEONE in charge of story development for SEED Destiny mentioned wanting to incorporate current events into the story, so you're on the right track in regard to the 'The 9/11 attack fueled hatered for an entire race' train of thought in relation to the events of Junius Seven's fall. The people of Earth don't see "Oh, some renegade group of Coordinators dropped that big hunk of destroyed space colony (that we nuked into such a state) on us!", they see "'dem coords dropped something on us!"

Part of me wonders, and the series doesn't really indicate one way or the other... did the Earth Federation government(s) surpress the information on ZAFT's efforts to minimize the damage, including Minerva's risky attack on it with the main cannon?

AONE (http://a.scarywater.net/aone/) has eps 11 and 12 fansubbed already.

Uh... If your collection isn't taking up all the room in the house why SHOULD you get rid of it? She's getting rid of... two movies? That's it? To ALL the stuff you're getting rid of? That's BS, plain and simple. Wife or not, she should not have that kind of authority.

Even if it IS taking up a lot of room, why the hell should you be forced to sell it? Put some of it in storage, maybe.. or better store it so that it takes up less room.

The Gaia, Chaos and Abyss MSiAs have just been released in Hong Kong. I picked up one of each a few minutes ago.

They are presently sitting unopened on my desk. Give me a few minutes to get them out of their boxes and have a quick play and I'll write a mini-review.

Graham

Yay! I have Gaia and Chaos on order from hlj.com

Blaze Zaku Warrior

"Equipped with the high-mobility Blaze Wizard, it confronts the enemy!"

Blaze Zaku Warrior with Blaze Wizard?  Aile-type Pack for the Zaku's? Or the regular booster pack already used by Rey and Athrun?

Zaku Phantoms are the commander types (headfin, and dual shields), while Zaku Warriors are the grunt units (no fin, one shield). The 'blaze' pack is the twin gattlings you see Yzak using, I believe... so it's just a grunt using that beautiful gattling pack, and MAYBE also that beam pole-arm.

Actually Yzak's Zaku was the Slash Zaku Phontom. What Rey's been using was the Blaze Zaku Phantom.

Really? Huh. Okay then. We've already seen a Blaze Zaku Warrior, then.. Athrun was using that configuriation during the Junius Seven operation.

Uhmm... to be honest, I don't like the paintjob. It just doesn't look real cause the pattern of the battle damage doesn't look like it has been scratched by metal or some object.

Its more like its paint chipped due to all the movements and entering the atmosphere.....

But to be more anal....doesn't the color come from the phase-shift armour and not its actual color?

So an actual paint chipping on blue and red wouldn't occur i imagine.

Phase Shift armor wears down, so it could wear down in places.. although it SHOULD reform perfectly after its recharged. Regardless of how realistic or loyal to the show's canon it is, it DOES look rather nice.

Blaze Zaku Warrior

"Equipped with the high-mobility Blaze Wizard, it confronts the enemy!"

Blaze Zaku Warrior with Blaze Wizard? Aile-type Pack for the Zaku's? Or the regular booster pack already used by Rey and Athrun?

Zaku Phantoms are the commander types (headfin, and dual shields), while Zaku Warriors are the grunt units (no fin, one shield). The 'blaze' pack is the twin gattlings you see Yzak using, I believe... so it's just a grunt using that beautiful gattling pack, and MAYBE also that beam pole-arm.

here.. I just saw a pic of neo unmasked,, looks kinda fake

pic here

Holy crap, he looks like Mwu...

If that's legit then that nails that one. Clone Mwu.

Maybe not on the clone part.. In the compilation movie of SEED's end, they removed the helmet floating through space after Mwu takes the Dominion's shot to save the Archangel.

here.. I just saw a pic of neo unmasked,, looks kinda fake

pic here

Holy crap, he looks like Mwu...

But only the Newtype pilots could use those.

From what I understood, you only needed 'great spatial awareness' to use the Mobius Zero's weaponry.. which doesn't require you to be a newtype, but it certainly helps.

As for the Strike begin out dated, upgrading the internal systems can go a long way, just look at the F-4. When you think about it the only real edge Freedom and Justice hold over the Strike is the nuclear engine.

Yeah, like I said.. upgrade internals and avionics and leave the frame itself relatively intact. The IWSP handles most of its upgraded weaponry, with perhaps a new beam rifle (are there any stats on just how powerful the beam rifles are for SEED suits? They progressively rose in strength in the UC timeline..) and shield using a newer generation of beam absorbtion/deflection coating, or that Mirage Colloid tech like Force Impulse and Forbidden..

Kira or Mwu if it ever came down to them getting serious with each other.

If it was a level playing field and Kira couldn't go SEED on poor Mwu's ass, then I'd say Mwu would win thanks to his experience. The real fun question is.. if Mwu had the Gunbarrel strike-pack, would he be able to take down the Freedom?

Gundam really need to be updated though? It's only what 2-3 years old, so performance-wise it shouldn't be that far behind the curve.

With a good pilot and the ISWP it should be comparable to all but the most advanced suits.

Graham

If the synopsis from MAHQ are correct, then the Strike Gundam was already starting to become obsolete by the end of the war. I'd imagine if anything they would want to apply the newer PS technology to it, if they got their hands on it, as well as improved avionics, OS, etc.

Yeah, those two are powerful but they alone can't hold back a massive EA or even a decently sized EA force sent at them. Orb would be over taken sooner or later. Didn't last time they were trying to capture their spaceport? This time around they could be out to simply destory everything which means attacking any and everything, making the fight harder for Orb since there would be no one central location where the fight would take place. The whole island would be a battlefield, not simply taking place in the ocean and on the edge of Orb.

If I understand the synopsis I've read correctly (the Cartoon Network broadcasts aren't quite there yet..) then Orb had the only linear cannon capable of launching things into orbit left on the planet. ZAFT either had destroyed the rest either initially or scuttled them after retreating into space.

I wonder who the orange Zaku was. Seriously EA needs to get some ace pilots like that. I just seriously hope this series isn't pro-Zaft all the time. I had enough of Zaft getting the main attention in Gundam SEED.

Someone reported that the orange Zaku belonged to Miguel's brother.

Mass-produced Astrays and (possibly) the Strike Rogue wouldn't be enough to stand up to another invasion after all, but Freedom (and its pilot, who conveniently sought refuge in Orb) certainly could.

I don't know, Freedom and Justice couldn't hold back the last Alliance assault.

True, but they undoubtedly did better then the Astrays would of by themselves.

Well, we do see Strike Rouge with ISWP in the opening (or is it the ending, I forget?), so I think there's a good chance we will see it in the show later on.

Graham

It's in the intro, yeah. Astray Red Frame was in SEED's first intro, though, and it certainly didn't show up in the series.

I'd love to see Cagalli have to lay the smack down in an upgraded Strike Rogue. It's not too hard to BS and say Morgenwrate (sp?) upgraded its internals but left the external frame alone to make it comparable with the newest generation of MS and gave it the IWSP to avoid having to provide new Strike Packs.

By the look of it, Orb'll either bow down and be the EA's bitch or get slapped around like one (again) after they refuse.. I'm betting on the latter, really, just to give Kira more reason to get back in the saddle and pilot Freedom again. I agree with the others, by the way, who think Freedom still has its nuclear reactor and N-Jammer Canceler.. Freedom would of been kept as a "if it hits the fan.." back-up. Mass-produced Astrays and (possibly) the Strike Rogue wouldn't be enough to stand up to another invasion after all, but Freedom (and its pilot, who conveniently sought refuge in Orb) certainly could.

(At least I hope Kira kicks the crap Shinn).

Screw that, I want to see Cagali get into her Strike Rouge and put her foot up in his @ss.

Forget using Strike Rogue (although I /would/ love to see it with the IWSP in the show.. have 'em throw out BS and say they upgraded the internals, armor, etc but left the frame the same and upgraded it to the IWSP so it wouldn't have to rely on outdated striker packs) to kick Shin's ass. She has feet, she has boots.. Shin needs a REAL foot wedged up his ass so far he chokes on his "omg Orb is teh sux0rz11!1' crap. >.>

Although, really, all I want is for Kira to go nuts and lay waste to everything around him in Freedom. >.> Y'know, like the fun he had in the Sahara with Andy and his team.. but with the outragously overpowered mobilesuit of DEATH AND DOOM.

Maybe with him being a wanted man now he'll get cornered and snap out of his 'Cripple only' crap.

I don't really care about these lyrics thing, for the same reasons than Graham overally (except that I ordered this set and I'm happy in advance to get it... ) but the thing I don't get is: why does one Bandaï screws up the bizness of another Bandaï? Aren't they supposed to be the same company with different 'offices' in the world (sort of...)?

Bandai/Sunrise Japan has an interest in maximizing their profits and doesn't care if they screw over their US branch to do it. The reason they refused to let Bandai USA have the japanese language track for the DVDs is that they didn't want japanese people importing the American DVDs, since they had not yet released MSG over there on that format.

I'll have to go back an rewatch ep #1 again, but wouldn't Shin's family still have been killed in the blast from Freedom even if his sister hadn't gone back for her phone?

By the look of it, if they had just kept running they would of cleared the impact point.. maybe get blown forward by the shockwave, but they should of lived through it.

Anyone have a .torrent for a fansub of ep 9?

Personally, I'm hoping Kira gets the hippy slapped out of him by Shin.. although I noticed even Athrun was holding onto that, merely crippling the High-mobility Zakus in ep 7 (and it came back to bite him in the ass atleast once).