pengbuzz

5 hours ago, nightmareB4macross said:

Hmm. I wonder if I should make this into a 1/55 conversion kit. 🫠

 

That would rock!!

5 hours ago, nightmareB4macross said:

Those look almost exactly the same. I wouldn’t be surprised if they used one to sculpt the other. Both released near the same time frame. Possibly, even similar sculptors of the time.

Well, Shoji Kawamori is listed as one of the designers of the original G1 Convoy/ Optimus Prime 1984 toy.

8 hours ago, Seto Kaiba said:

... y'know, you're right.  There is a visible toilet on the Razor Crest in The Mandalorian.  

I guess poor Mando just has to cross his legs and wait now that he's got that Naboo starfighter. 🤣

 

Kiloparsecs.  It's difficult to believe Andor and The Rise of Skywalker are even in the same franchise, so vast is the difference in quality.

Imagine what we could have had if the likes of Tony Gilroy had been given creative control of the sequel trilogy instead of Jar-Jar Abrams.

Can we get them to:

4 hours ago, Big s said:

Can’t wait to see this one

 

From what I remember, the Arii gerwalk hands were strangely gigantic 

They're almost literally based  on G1 Convoy's (Optimus Prime's) hands from the 1984 toy-

Arii model:

G1 Convoy/ Optimus:

On 5/11/2025 at 7:12 PM, Papa Rat said:

So true. Those are some great examples   

Thanks; those are my builds.

12 hours ago, Thom said:

Anyone else getting Thor-vibes? Super strong hero with mystical weapon (sword instead of hammer) comes to Earth and must regain his memories (powers)? He even has a run-in with a car too! Yeah, they really should have kept this on Eternia.

Yeah; sounds like a cheat to use conventional locales instead of far flung exotic ones... >_>

On 5/11/2025 at 7:43 PM, Seto Kaiba said:

The point is that they didn't have enough people to lock down the entire building like you're proposing should be easy.

 

Anyone who actually knew her would know full well that she wouldn't hurt or kill anyone.

Mind you, it doesn't really matter in the end.  Those senators who are inclined to [believe in/support] Mon Mothma are going to question the Imperial official account of whatever happened no matter what and likely assume the Empire is lying or at least distorting the truth.  Senators who are inclined to support the Empire are going to accept the sanitized Imperial propaganda version of events likely without question.

Some of them have already seen one of their colleagues in the process of getting disappeared by the ISB, and are doubtless going to suspect that if Mon Mothma's escort did kill someone they did so in defense of their charge.

This.

13 hours ago, Seto Kaiba said:

Indeed, but not by a large enough force to conclusively lock down every single potential entrance and exit as we've seen in real world examples.

 

As far as the Empire is concerned, it's peacetime.

At this point in Star Wars history, the Rebel Alliance doesn't exist yet.  The Empire has yet to encounter a Rebel movement that's large and well-organized enough to present a real military threat to its control of the galaxy.  Up until now, they've only really encountered independent rebel cells of squad or at best platoon size that carry out nuisance attacks on lightly defended Imperial ships and bases.  The game changes when Mon Mothma declares the founding of the Rebel Alliance after reaching Dantooine, but even then the Empire doesn't truly start taking the Rebellion seriously as a threat until the destruction of the first Death Star.

Keep in mind also that the Emperor is pretty arrogant, and isn't overly concerned at this point. He probably doesn't even consider any speeches by a single senator to have much to threaten him with. And even if she got away, life for her is over. Her political career is gone, her connections are going to largely disown her (save for those to the Rebellion), and friends and family may prefer to remain on Palpatine's good side rather than stick their necks out for Mon.

At least, that's how I think the Emperor would feel right now, but I'd like to know your thoughts on what I said just now.

12 hours ago, Papa Rat said:

Test fitting the IMAI Gerwalk while finishing up the M.Lover Lieea. 
I don’t know why but I love these old kits soooo much. The detailing and fit is interesting I suppose, but they are so endearing. The price is right and it’s fun putting lipstick on a pig. Not sure if that’s the right expression?

 

The Imai kits do have a certain charm, and can actually be nice builds when some work is put into them:

1 hour ago, derex3592 said:

I'll share this quick story about customer service from my childhood which I will never forget...Huge GI Joe fan growing up in the 80's right?  So for Christmas on year I wanted the new Cobra Rattler more than ANYTHING on earth, there were TV ads for it everywhere, it was in the toy catalogs of Service Merchandise and Toys R Us, but there were NONE to be found in stores...I was beside myself. Apparently so much so, my dear mother, may she rest in peace, wrote a strongly worded letter to the President of Hasbro expressing her displeasure with all of this....  A few weeks later a GIGANTIC box showed up on our doorstep with NOT one but TWO brand new Cobra Rattlers and a brand new FULL GI JOE HEADQUARTERS playset, I don't remember for sure, but I believe there was a note as well from the Hasbro President apologizing to my mother for the trouble... The power of the pen IS mighty!!! ..... Now THAT was some good old 80's customer service!!! Bandai could learn a thing or two...LOL 

Do you still have Hasbro's address? Asking for a friend...

11 hours ago, Olitech Industries said:

Your wish is my command. *POOF*

 

WOW!!!!

BTW: great to see you back on the forums, Oiltech!!

34 minutes ago, Thom said:

I'm not all that excited about a prequel, esp about a character who we know what happens to. Would much rather something showing one of the battles/fronts in the war that kept the elves or dwarves from helping at Gondor.

Or maybe a new story set after RotK?

15 hours ago, Papa Rat said:

Hey thanks @Big s that’s nice to hear.

My 1 year anniversary of building models is coming up on the 17th. I have made some progress along the way, but I’m still very much a noob compared to most everyone here.

I’m here to soak up all the sage advice I can get. I figure I just need to keep building a bunch and challenging myself. Oh and have fun. 

Hey, we all start somewhere, and you're doing a great job thus far! Don't worry; each build will expand your skills and before you know it, you'll be helping new folks out as well!

2 minutes ago, Hikuro said:

Personally I still rather enjoy Rebels, I mean for me it's Clone Wars, Rebels, Bad Batch, Tales of the Jedi, Underground, Droids, Ewok's, Visions.................then Resistance (see what i did there?) They just have different tones and restrictions to what they can do and budgets and broadcasting compared to streaming services and live action. But I still like it.

Overall though I've absolutely adored this season, if anything I love LOVE L O V E the set designs, the backgrounds, the atmosphere, the overall esthetics being used compared to the first season and overall the live action shows in general. The odd thing though is when the Senate building is shown....in the prequels it was felt like it was smacked dab in the middle of a giant city, almost swallowed up. But in many shots of Andor, it's the complete opposite. I'm not sure if I'm articulating the differences accurately, but like lets say in Andor's version of area, it's like I'm looking at the Apple campus, very white, very open, modern, no buildings in sight. It's sort of odd considering Courscant is just one giant towering city of buildings and skyscrapers and speeders and ships. 

I wonder if the buildings surrounding it were removed/ relocated somehow?

9 hours ago, azrael said:

My only complaint about the Ghorman scenes were, in particular, the city plaza felt too small to be a city square. I know they made a 500 sq ft set at Pinewood Studios but was there no other location in the world that would have made a more grander city square? For a city that dominates an entire entrance to a valley, that city square felt more like a town square. It felt more the size of the Cour Carrée outside of the Lourve Museum in Paris and less like a Millennium Park in Chicago or New Have Green in Connecticut. I felt it should have been bigger.

You've been to New Haven? O.o

1 hour ago, Seto Kaiba said:

To be honest, the main cast of GQuuuuuuX is so underdeveloped that I can't say that either Machu or Nyan feels particularly distinct.

Ep5 seems to suggest that the reason we have two female leads is to tease a possible love triangle centered on Shuji.  Why either of the girls would be interested in a boy with no apparent personality traits to speak of and the emotional range of a cress sandwich remains to be established.

 

Five'll get you twenty the Red Gundam's Alpha Psycommu is...

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... haunted by the Newtype ghost of Char Aznable.

The hilarious irony is that this probably means the Red Gundam is constantly telling Shuji to go do murder because the Zabi family aren't dead yet, and Shuji's just vacantly tuning it out or trying to get Char's ghost to channel his murderous rage into art therapy.

 

 

Huh, yeah... GQuuuuuuX really is the first noteworthy property that Studio Khara has worked on since it was established in '06.

What the hell were they doing for the last 19 years besides desperately milking Evangelion fans with mediocre sequels?

Playing with their Tamagotchi?

3 hours ago, Seto Kaiba said:

Please do not give Dave Filoni ideas... as third Tales of series clearly shows, he is clearly desperate enough that he's not particularly picky.

On 5/2/2025 at 3:06 PM, F-ZeroOne said:

If you select the Ideon, does

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the universe end?

(hidden as it could be considered a major spoiler for "Space Runaway Ideon", though I'm probably over-reacting to something thats a bit open to interpretation anyway).

Please don't get me started on Ideon; I still have nightmares about that show (just ask @Seto Kaiba!!)

10 minutes ago, Seto Kaiba said:

Assuming Andor's story continues to skip forward one year for each three episode story arc, the Ghorman massacre and Mon Mothma's speech about it should occur in the block of episodes that drops tonight.

Season 2's first block of episodes started in 4 BBY.  The second block was in 3 BBY.  This next block should be set in 2 BBY, the same year as the Star Wars: Rebels episode "Secret Cargo".  That was the episode that depicted the final leg of Mon Mothma's escape from Coruscant to the rebel base on Dantooine after she made a speech in the Senate about the Ghorman Massacre.

That last batch of episodes should be in 1 BBY, the year before Rogue One.

Then they can do the sequel to Rogue One where Andor and Jyn Erso survived by hiding in a refrigerator.

On 5/3/2025 at 1:38 AM, Seto Kaiba said:

(NGL, a late night talk show starring a Hutt is a weird mental image I kind of actually want to see tho.  I have this bizarre mental image of a Hutt squeezing itself into a suit and tie doing a Stephen Colbert-style late show.)

Here's your skit delivery:

8 hours ago, Seto Kaiba said:

While I was thinking on this one I did a bit of research, and it turned out to be quite a rabbit hole when it comes to technologies for improving medical prosthetics.

Col. Johnson's artificial leg is described as a "robotic prosthetic" limb rather than a cybernetic one.  There's apparently a key distinction there in terms of how the prothesis is being controlled.  Cybernetic prosthetics would be directly integrated into the nervous system and controlled like a biological limb.  Robotic prosthetics, on the other hand, are indirectly monitoring motor nerves via EMG sensors, via magnets implanted in the muscles themselves, or using computer models to guess what the correct posture is instead of working like a biological limb.

So it sounds like Millard's leg is not actually tied into his nervous system... which explains why that was a career-ending injury.  It's enough to let him walk normally, but he likely doesn't have any feeling in that leg and limited-at-best control over the motions of the joints.

Understood; yeah, seeing how Isamu worked the foot pedals on the YF-19, Johnson wouldn't really be able to do that very well. By the time they made any serious advances (like Delta), Johnson would probably be retired anyways (or dead from a Dyson-induced stroke!).

5 hours ago, Chas said:

That's a great tip for old decals @pengbuzz and a nice job on that Bird of Prey.

Thanks! It took me a bit, but I finally got it to work!  Now I just have to find/ print ones for the 22 inch (1/537) cutaway TOS E that I'm working on. The ones that came with it are the wrong font and the wrong size; since this was a find 2nd hand, I cannot get replacement ones without paying a chunk for them. ANd that's also not counting  a replacement dome for the split one they included for the one war engine that's cut in half (trying to build a whole one).

5 hours ago, Chas said:

Anyway, updates on the mods to the Hase SDF-1. Just about done the build phase for the mods. Had to make some compromises with the details, but overall I'm happy with the progress.

Pics.

Looking pretty decent there Chaz!! Between both modes, the details flex and fluctuate  quite a bit (ran into this when I was rebuilding my 1/3000 Matchbox SDF-1).

3 hours ago, Seto Kaiba said:

Y'know, I'd always assumed that Millard Johnson's prosthetic leg in Macross Plus was a conventional prosthesis... but it appears you are correct.  His Macross Chronicle Character Sheet explicitly refers to his artificial leg as a "robotic prosthetic".

I didn't even know it was robotic; I wouldn't even call that a "lucky guess" so much as Macross Chronicle revealing something we didn't know. I just mentioned it in passing over Macross and replacement limbs/ implants. With that revealed, I suppose he has a post implanted that the leg attaches to and allows for some dexterity/ feel?

20 minutes ago, derex3592 said:

I uncovered and uncluttered the paint bench this morning! Cleaned up and 99% ready to paint with my new NO NAME compressor! Just need an adapter for the hose I just don't happen to have 🤨 The kit stash under the bench is only temporary, until wife and I get the back room closets emptied out of boxes from the renovations. Stay tuned! ACTUAL modeling shall resume......... soooon..... ish... 🙄 😂 

*drool mode activated*

7 hours ago, Seto Kaiba said:

Yep... that and other fodder for licensed spinoff comics and short story collections where the Glup Shittos of the Galaxy Far Far Away get their time to shine like the polished turds they are.

(NGL, a late night talk show starring a Hutt is a weird mental image I kind of actually want to see tho.  I have this bizarre mental image of a Hutt squeezing itself into a suit and tie doing a Stephen Colbert-style late show.)

I'll see if I can sketch that up for you later.