pengbuzz

For the foreseeable future, I will no longer be posting here at Macrossworld.

My wife of 15 years, Rosemary (she went by her middle name "Meg") passed away Monday morning at 8:26AM. 

I've been crying non-stop... and the tears won't stop coming.

I wish everyone the best with their projects here.

-Robert.

On 3/6/2026 at 3:01 PM, Seto Kaiba said:

I just realized, Nus Braka's whole master plan is just...

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... NuTrek's creators returning to the pile of rejected series pitches from decades past and coming up with Star Trek: Final Frontier for the second time.  They already did this one once already with Discovery's third season "Burn" storyline.

That whole series pitch revolved around an unknown foe using omega particle weapons to collapse the Federation by making warp travel impossible.

 

All that managed to do was to make an impossbile storyline even more impossible.

18 hours ago, Seto Kaiba said:

Haruna not Hakuna, lol.

It's named either for dormant volcano Mount Haruna in Gunma prefecture or for one of the Japanese warships named for said mountain... either the Kongou-class battleship Haruna from WW2 (that ARMD-10 was named for) or the Haruna-class destroyer JS Haruna used by the JMSDF from 1972-2009.

I know... it was admittedly a bit of a stretch, but it made for some good material.

13 hours ago, Seto Kaiba said:

Max's first command, which he is promoted to at the end of Macross M3 Episode 6, is the stealth space cruiser Haruna.  (ステルス宇宙巡洋艦ハルナ suterusu uchuu jun'youkan Haruna)  Oddly, this is the second Spacy ship Haruna with the first having been ARMD-10.  We're never told what class the second Haruna was, but given the circumstances it's probably also an Algenicus-type stealth space cruiser.

It was probably the Matata class... another ship in that class was named the Simba...

56 minutes ago, Seto Kaiba said:

Yeah, we gotta go through that footage and find the first one that gets named and just use that... the same way Star Trek does for ships without an official class name.

Northampton-class, by any chance?

8 hours ago, Thom said:

Well, it did have some corny moments - or twelve!

I'd post about it, but another one of my posts vanished, this time in this thread.

I'm done trying to do anything here; I don't need this, so I pulled the rest of my latest posts to save them the trouble.

Enjoy the board folks; I'm out.

Whoever had my post removed: I'm not posting in this topic ever again.  Hope you're happy with yourself. 😠

11 minutes ago, Dynaman said:

If the WRITERS would overthink things it would be better.  WE can think all we want but it won't change anything till the writers do.

No, it won't. But thinking is a good thing; too bad the writers don't do enough of it.

4 hours ago, Dynaman said:

I said you were overthinking it, not that the thoughts are wrong.  A major difference.  You both put more thought into it then the writers.  

I would much rather overthink something than underthink it. That's how we ended up with Discovery and Dave Filoni's take on Star Wars.

2 hours ago, Marcion said:

I want to ask if I want to panel line and paint fluorescent colour on my 1/3000 SDF1, do I need to spray clear coat or just straight paint?

I'd do a clearcoat to protect it; even after it's dried, paint can rub off after a while and you also don't want the paint to pick up dirt and grime.

3 hours ago, Thom said:

Your cruiser is looking real good, @pengbuzz

Thanks! I wanted to develop a new adversary for my pet project, Star Trek: Alpha Centauri. It was getting to be a "one-villain show" if you know what I mean.

😭

15 minutes ago, MechTech said:

@pengbuzz I like the cool mods to the Naboo (or whatever it will be now🙂). You going for a cruiser or battleship looking model design?

Thanks  Going for more of a cruiser design really (I don't see it as being a "battleship" per se.

This is it as of this morning:

Still working out some details, but this is the color I was going for.

Now, if they could resissue them until I can afford one!

10 hours ago, Thom said:

No, it isn't, but it's better than leaving the dog home all alone. At this point in her narrative, she's no shining example of responsibility, but neither is she completely complacent.

At this point in her narrative, she needs to attend AA meetings! 

9 hours ago, Big s said:

Bumble Bee is the only one of those movies that really holds up. 
As far as good storytelling, that’s where most franchises fail. Marvel, Star Wars, DC and quite a few others need to start with hiring good writers before greenlighting projects. You can get away with bad effects if the story is good. let’s hope the story here is gonna be good, because that will be the thing that gets me into the theater 

And not being afraid to rewrite a script if it begins to veer off-course.

10 hours ago, Dynaman said:

I had a philosophy professor who told us to try to prove to him a door was not alive, it was an interesting lesson on when to leave a conversation topic alone...

Well, I'm the one who asked, and I'm satisfied with Seto's answer:

11 hours ago, Seto Kaiba said:

After all, the question being answered was "Why have something as off-brand for Starfleet as a War College?"

I felt a "war college" wasn't something Starfleet would have had; Seto explained the concept of war college for me so I understand that a bit better now. And I agree with him that it wouldn't be a rival to the Academy, and that Kurtzman is trying to set up more drama for the story (in a rather ham-fisted way IMO).

9 hours ago, Thom said:

Liking the mods @pengbuzz!

Thanks Thom! Here's the ship in primer:

My plan is to paint it black, then drybrush the entire ship in metallic blue/grey (blue-silver) until the main color is built up.

50 minutes ago, Chronocidal said:

Just.. wow Bandai.  Reissuing it and not including missiles like you did for the Hikaru re-release... and apparently not even bothering with a stand this time?

I mean.. great for people missing one, but yikes.  Feels like they're pushing the franchise along in maintenance mode.

They might be trying to conserve funds while getting more sales out of this mold in preparation for brand-new release of a different mech.

(Kinda hoping they might do a TV SDF-1 )

12 hours ago, Thom said:

Now that's a mean looking Glaug! Interesting that it's using a targeting pod. Very cool.

Looks kinda perverted though.... 🫤

UPDATE:

Slapped together the Naboo fighter from Star Wars:

Then I got to thinking about it: what if I really made this something unique?

SO, I took it back apart and stripped the chrome off the parts:

Then I got to work:

Still needs work (paint to cover the "clown colors, etc.); not sure which franchise I'm leaning towards, but I'd like to aim for Star Trek with this. :D

Stay Tuned...

Found this on facebook:

Couldn't find any other sources but FB; at least I was able to post the pics. Here's a link to their FB (for those who can see it):

https://www.facebook.com/CreationsByLendy

14 hours ago, derex3592 said:

Iced in today, tomorrow and possibly Monday down here in North Texas, so we're going full steam ahead down here on dropping down a gazzilion little as yet unpainted parts on the Texas deck! Also panel lining up the BUFF with some Flory's Black wash... 

Man, that bird is REALLY beginning to come alive!

39 minutes ago, Seto Kaiba said:

Okie-dokie, we got a new episode... "Vitus Reflex".  

Also in Academy relevant news, apparently Kurtzman is personally directing the season two finale (since this series got renewed before it ever aired in Paramount's usual "set huge piles of money on fire and hope it finds an audience" approach.

 

The episode opens on Cadet Reymi recording a personal message for his parents after about three weeks of classes at the Starfleet Academy San Francisco campus.  It seems that his parents hold him to absurdly high standards?  Apparently they made him promise to be last to sleep and first to wake up?  Seems like he's being set up to be Well Done Son guy.

I am, I must admit, obscurely pleased that the old tradition persists... light-up props that absolutely DO NOT need to light up in order to be "futuristic".  Cadet Reymi's workout earbuds and jump rope have bright green LED illumination.  Kinda gross that he's cracking raw quail eggs into his post-workout creatine tho.  It is bizarrely disappointing in retrospect that they didn't make the Academy's actual gymnasium look more futuristic.  It looks like a completely ordinary school gymnasium right out of the 1990s.  The banners are fun though... the War College sports teams are the fighting Mugatos.  Apparently the Starfleet Academy mascot is the Lapling, an endangered species known for being harmless.

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Given that we've already kind of established that Starfleet Academy isn't military basic training, what exactly is the point of Lura Thok being Drill Sergeant Nasty?  Her obsession with being a warrior definitely makes her feel like a better fit for the War College.

 

OK, so apparently all of this is in favor of doing a sports episode centered around the rivalry between Starfleet Academy and the Federation War College?  Not gonna lie that does not feel like a great starting point for an episode given how forced the whole thing feels.  It's less actual "rival schools" and more Dodgeball: a True Underdog Story level banter.  It's trying really hard to be funny and it's not really sticking the landing.

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A rivalry that escalates almost immediately to a potentially lethal prank where the War College beams the Starfleet Academy cadets out of the coed locker room and into various places around the Academy including the temporal mechanics classroom (Caleb), one of the water features in the lobby (with one cadet materializing UNDERWATER), the top of the large staircase (leading to a cadet falling all the way down said staircase), and 6-10 feet off the floor in the cafeteria.

For some reason, this is apparently allowed to slide and even Drill Sergeant Nasty seems to think that nothing can prevent this from escalating like discipline isn't literally her entire job.  Captain Ake also acts like this somehow is not her problem and seems willing to allow the prank war to escalate even at the risk of Starfleet Academy getting shut down for doing a subpar job.  Apparently despite only being open for three weeks there are already people lobbying the government to shut the Academy down, including Commander Kelrec, the head of the War College.

Colbert as the computer voice Dean of Students really was not a wise decision since he seems to exist solely to dispense mildly cringeworthy dad jokes... and even the characters in-series are starting to notice.  Captain Ake asks if the voiceover for what's apparently a Starfleet Academy promotional video (that looks like it was cut together in 20 minutes) is "too stupid".  (Colbert's only role seems to be to interject with what's supposed to be funny dialog anytime the writers think the series has gone too long without someone saying some funny line... it's pretty insipid.)

 

 

OK, real talk time for a second.  Did Quentin Tarantino script this?  Because the amount of time spent getting Holly Hunter's bare feet into frame is beyond the point where I can write it off as accidental.  We're into "probably someone's fetish" territory.  (A point I feel is supported by the fact that the conversation veers into a literal discussion of fetishes shortly thereafter.)

 

 

There's a shot where the cadets are discussing the prank war in what I guess is supposed to be a botany lab, but the room has an obviously green-screened background that looks less like a botany lab and more like a video game subway tunnel from about 15 years ago?

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Apparently the solution to this prank war is to plant flowers that look like plastic toys and mimic words like a trained parrot.

Yeah, their solution is to introduce an invasive species to the academy grounds to annoy the War College.  I feel like that might be problematic on a lot of levels.

Finally Caleb says something that makes me like him.  He doesn't want to engage with the tribalist attitude surrounding the prank war or team sports.  

Sadly, the series undermines that and some earlier respect shown to Kraag when his decision to abstain was respected by depicting the rest of the cadet class as braindead idiots who are too clumsy, too busy flirting, or so dumb they're literally attempting to eat the potting soil.  I really feel badly for Kerrice Brooks because the character she's playing WILL draw a lot of criticism for being a very unkind depiction of autism that's closer to a cognitive deficit.  

 

Apparently Calica is a game-ified combat simulation "sport" that is essentially a Serious Business version of laser tag.  Enough so that a direct comparison is drawn by SAM.

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The Calica tryouts look more like a warzone.  It's dark, it's smoky, everything is on fire and things are periodically exploding.  Getting shot doesn't just score the other team a point, it removes the hit player from the game for the duration of the round via transporter.

Seems less like an actual sport and more like a way to give the cadets PTSD.

Also, SAM seems to have an unfair advantage in that she can make herself selectively permeable to phaser fire... 

The Betazoid president's son does so poorly he's appointed to wear the "Lappy" mascot costume, and it comes down to a contest between the two tryhards to become team captain.  Reymi has to pull a dick move to get made team captain.  They immediately get trolled by the War College with footage of them stumbling around the arena like an inept pack of idiots.

Apparently the War College has actual working security with restricted access.  Kelrec even takes a shot at Ake for the swiss cheese security at the Academy.  (Thok was not kidding about Kelrec's obsession with tea bordering on a fetish.) 

As soon as I wrote that, the showrunner started channeling the spirit of Quentin Tarantino again with Holly Hunter needing to get her bare feet in frame.  Someone on this show has a foot fetish.  It's really REALLY blatant.

 

Apparently they didn't have enough of a budget to redress the gymnasium or construct a proper set for the Calica field, so the Calica match is taking place inside the Academy's atrium which has been relit in red and blue.  

 

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Starfleet Academy's team do a predictably awful job and suffer a humiliating defeat in their first match because none of them are working together and even the ones who claim to have been captains of teams as kids can seem to hit anything from only a few feet away.  Oddly, they also don't seem to be familiar with the rules.  

For some reason, the training phasers that have Only One Setting (a non-injurious "transport" setting) are able to destroy the atrium's replicators?

The War College also makes a fair point that SAM's ability to make herself permeable to phaser fire is probably cheating... but the Academy team invokes the Air Bud clause that there's no rule specifically against it therefore it's allowed.

The match ends up being cancelled for some reason they don't bother to mention right as Reymi is rage-quitting.

 

So Lura and Reno are a thing?  Weird relationship dynamic, but whatever.  It honestly makes more sense than the Dax/Worf one with the free spirit and stick in the mud.  This is two extremely cantankerous women with sharp tongues.  Talk about a pairing with Statler and Waldorf energy.

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OK, so the Calica match was not authorized?  How did they lock off and redecorate the Atrium without anyone noticing?  

The Unspoken Plan Guarantee isn't being invoked here, so something will go off the rails.

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Caleb and Tarima have a moment, and that's where the plan goes off the rails since she trips the intruder alert.  Caleb and Reymi just beam out, because apparently that was an option the entire time.

The first actual laugh the series got out of me was how exaggeratedly casual the cadets look watching the absolute havoc unfold at the War College across the quad.

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Rather than grow the cute little talking flowers we saw earlier, they've created a monstrous talking kudzu tentacle monster that overtakes the entire War College dormitory in a matter of just a few minutes and can't be removed because it's a protected species.

 

Captain Ake's office has a bunch of model starships scattered about including a refit Excelsior-class (Enterprise-B-type), Oberth-class, NX-class, Defiant-class, Intrepid-class, Galaxy-class, and one or two others too small to identify properly.

AND AGAIN WITH THE FEET.  I need an old priest and a young priest.  We need to cast the ghost of Tarantino out of this series!

 

 

Creepy and intrusive foot fetish aside, this series appears to be slowly improving.  Holly Hunter's character is still an eyesore and the writers are still treating the academy more like a Buffy the Vampire Slayer-era high school than the incredibly exclusive university or post-graduate education it's supposed to be, and its humor is way too contemporary to not feel immediately dated, but graduating from offensively bad to indifference-inducingly mediocre is a hell of an improvement.  If they ditch the dad jokes and maybe start treating these 20-something year old cadets like adults instead of braindead children who need to be told not to eat dirt it could actually be... dare I say... good.

What bothers me here is that Starfleet has a "war college". I thought they were peaceful explorers?

Seriously though: they could have named it "strategic college", or "planning" something or another. "War"? Erm, not something the Federations starts...

On 1/21/2026 at 8:14 PM, Seto Kaiba said:

Give it a couple projects... Filoni might not repeat whole plot references, but he'll repeat plot beats and characters to death and beyond.  

You'll be wishing for the Death Star Trench Run v3.0 around the time Rey is coming back from the dead for the fourth time with the help of the Mortis Gods to assist an aging Finn and Poe with the rescue the kidnapped granddaughter of Jar-Jar Binks (who is also force sensitive and a princess) from a resurgent Second Final Order under the command of Palpatine's forty-third heretofore unmentioned super-secret Sith apprentice assassin Darth Expy and his brutal gimp-suited enforcer Lzmp Stimpy.  It'll be absolutely critical that the audience has read Star Wars: The Rise of The Fall of the Newer Jedi Order Part XIVI: Biflo Scrungus goes to Quiznos so they'll know Lzmp Stimpy is really a clone of Rey's long lost cousin's uncle's neighbor's ex-boyfriend's former roommate's biological son by sperm donation, that his real name is Ichabod, and that he turned evil because his mom divorced and married an elderly and abusive Sebulba.

That's how Filoni writes 90% of the time.  The man is deathly afraid of original ideas and wants to build stories around existing characters and set pieces whenever possible because to develop original characters and ideas is too much like work.  He just wants to play with his action figures in peace.

That's why the next series up is ANOTHER attempt to shake Darth Maul down for gangland drama.  He's already been back to that well TWICE!  Once in The Clone Wars and again in Rebels.

He seems to feel a pathological need to "connect his characters to legacy characters" in order to somehow boost their authenticity/ credibility. Like they aren't "Star Wars" officially unless a legacy character is somehow attached to them.