Axelay

Is anyone still looking for the 08 Camaro Bumblebee? I happened across an extra one yesterday and would be happy to trade it. Y'all let me know?

Anyone aware of variant boxes (5-packs)? I was in Walmart last night and opened the box with Duke, Scarlett, etc. and I swear they were in a different order than the box I picked up. And Duke didn't have his Kevlar on in this box.

Indeed, there are at least two variants of the 5-packs of which I know. For instance, one Cobra pack has Storm Shadow doing his best attempt at a jumping split kick, while the other has him doing a lunging attack.

Where are you in NC? I ran into Wave 3 in a Target in Durham but didnt pick them up. I have been looking everywhere for Sigma figures and cant find the new commando set or the new combat figures.

Say hey, I'm right over in Raleigh! Perhaps we can help each other out - I know where to find Combat Squad wave 2. Also, the latest Commando wave has been appearing on and off on walmart.com over the past week. I got a Samurai Storm Shadow sent to my nearest store in less than a week's time and didn't have to pay a penny for shipping. Let me know if you'd like some hunting help.

Wave 3 is indeed out! I scooped up all of them at a Target store here in NC. Firefly is amazing - up there with Beachhead as far as I'm concerned. My Zartan has a really bad facial paint job. His eyes are nothing more than little black beady dots. I think I may attempt to whiten his whole eye to look like the original. Very strange gun choice for Stalker... and the too light camo pattern is unusual looking. I'm keeping my eye out for the running change with the proper colors. Red Ninja is a surprise to me - I like it a LOT more than I thought I would. The sauce for the goose? Cobra Officers are shipping with this wave.

I found all of wave 2 here in NC, of all places! We NEVER get new things this early, so I'm still in shock over it. I've been on a really lucky streak finding GI Joes here in NC, actually. I found not one but TWO silver cape Sigma Six Cobra Commanders last month.

Beachhead is probably my favorite of the entire line as of now. Yes, I actually like him better than V1 Storm Shadow. Serpentor is growing on me, but Buzzer has been a huge surprise. Lady Jaye is pretty good, but the eyes on mine are a little bigger than probably should be. Still, her accessories are fantastic.

Of course, out of all the figures to do something stupid with, I broke the left hand at the wrist of the Cobra trooper. Anyone have a spare Cobra trooper left hand they'd be willing to part with?

If we're counting tanks from games, then I'm definitely going to say the Harkonnen Devastator from Dune II (and Dune 2000). Slow as molasses, but nearly unstoppable and with more firepower than anything else in the game. And if you manage to destroy one, you had better be a LONG way away from it 'cause it's going to leave quite a nasty hole in the world when it explodes.

A very close second would be the GDI Mammoth Tank from Command and Conquer.

*whew*

After almost 2 weeks of no high speed internet, I finally got my 360 back on Live again last night. I was thrilled to download and play Puzzle Fighter. Anyone else into this game? If so, hit me up. I'm Silent Scope EX. I also tremendously enjoy racing in Forza 2, but have yet to run any ranked races.

Also, does anyone have any experience with the XCM XFPS Pro adapter?

Linky

I have read a lot of trash about the original adapter not having the ability to adjust its mouse deadzone (a major no-no) and thus not being worth the money. This Pro version looks to have wheels which control the sensitivity of the X and Y axis deadzones, so I wonder if this is a good fix? I had the Smart Joy FRAG for the original Xbox and it was simply fantastic because it was customizable and cheap (~$30). This XFPS is neither (~$90)... but I utterly refuse to play Halo with a pad ever again.

One clever person figured out that by connecting the XFPS to the 360, then connecting the PS2 version of the Smart Joy FRAG into the XFPS, and then connecting a mouse into the FRAG, you could completely solve the deadzone problems. If the Pro version is a solution unto itself, though, then I'd give it a shot.

Say, has anyone seen these yet? I am very curious about their quality. They appear to be about the size of 3.75" action figures. They're reasonably priced, and each comes packaged in an alien agg.

Hot Toys Aliens and USCM Snap Kits

I am so curious as to how multiplayer will fare. With no countermeasures to speak of, one would think that the special weapons on each plane (particularly the short range high-maneuverability missiles - QAAM, was it?) would be exceedingly powerful. I'm already envisioning a Crimson Skies-type dogfight where you get shot down pretty regularly. I enjoyed Crimson Skies multiplayer immensely, but I hope AC6 is not going to work like that.

Very nice work with Flint. The gloves do make him look substantially better. Now if only he didn't have that joint at midarm.

Anyone else really want a nice, big, Barricade? Before I saw the movie, he was probably my least-fave Decep. But now he's my fave. He deserves more than a $10 toy with a gimmicky arm. For being BB's "counterpart" he sure isn't getting nearly as good/many toys. Lots of folders, pens, etc merchandise, but the toys are lacking.

Do I ever. The toy is sorely lacking in robot mode. Seeing how we didn't see Barricade die in the movie, I feel like that in and of itself should make him worthy of a better toy.

So...? Who has the demo? C'mon, surely someone out there can tell us all about it.

I remember when the New York Battle first aired on Food Network! I was SO excited when I heard the Macross Plus music. Once I heard it, I just knew that Bobby Flay was going to get his butt kicked.

I actually checked out the book last year but never got around to reading it, was pointed to it as a quasi-vampire/zombie book with a last man on earth theme. The movie trailer didn't really thrill me too much, but the premise of the book is interesting. Wonder why they moved the locale from LA to NY though.

I can't help but wonder if it has something to do with the scene in the trailer where the jets destroy the bridge? I was trying to rationalize why they'd be ordered to do that, and the only thing I could come up with was that it'd make it harder for... something... to get off of the island? Kind of a strange plot point if the last survivor can't find a way to get a boat and get off, though.

Hmmm. Gamespot is reporting only 20 planes in this game. I'm not sure how I feel about that yet - I was expecting a lot more than 20. I wonder if they are counting the different versions of some of the planes as one plane? (i.e. all of the F-16 variations in AC5 come to mind) Anyone seen a list of fighters yet?

What is the not-quite-YF-21 looking dark-colored plane which is seen flying with the Super Flankers? It's marked 009, and appears in quite a few places.

I saw a Mirage 2000 S listed on the mission briefing screen. Don't think I saw one anywhere else in the trailer.

I hope the Rafale is in this game.

Unfortunately, Exedor is the only giant sized Zentradi on screen at any given time, so there's no real way to get a descent size reference. Refer back to DYRL since he was playing himself in the film.

What about the two giant Zentraedi actors who are at the cast party of the DYRL tribute movie?

So then... hypothetically speaking, if one were to choose a uniform theme for Macross dogfighting kill marks for fighters, what form would they take? Battlepods? Or perhaps Zentraedi flag logos?

I'm not sure if current bootlegs still have this, but the bootleg Blazer Valkyries I recall having seen over the years have the incorrect wings and canards. They used the same wings and canards as the Fire Valkyrie. The Bandai Blazer doesn't have canards at all (nor should it), and its forward-swept wings are much stubbier.

While on a recent visit to the USS Yorktown, I noticed that a significant part of the carrier's island is adorned with kill marks from WWII battles. Several of the planes on display also feature these. I don't recall having ever seen a Valkyrie with them, though. Anyone have pictures of them, if they exist? And if not, what would you think they'd look like?

I can't believe this. I installed X-COM and did some tweaking with it... and I actually became bored with it. I know, I know, it's heresy. It's still got elements of fun, but what drives me crazy is that the combat is so predictable even on harder difficulty levels. I was still feeling an X-COM jones, so I decided to install TFTD.

Holy crap.

It is about 900 times harder than I remembered, and that's even with my customized rifles! I have to say that the missions in it are infuriatingly fun, although the whole Geoscape makes little sense to me. I had forgotten how annoyed it made me that you can't shoot down anything over dry land. How stupid. Ah well, I'm 3 months into a new game, and the aliens have already attacked my main base once, started sending Battleships to engage me, and have attacked 2 shipping routes. I think I have pissed them off a bit.

How does one aquire this "editing" weapons thing.

Everything you could ever want can be found here.

Lovely collection of X-COM editing tools

Do not mess with the ClarkWehyr Enterprises X-COM Editor Suite unless you have the very original X-COM for DOS. I have an old Microprose compilation set which has X-COM, TFTD, MOO, and MOM, and even though it's a DOS version this press has different install paths than the original DOS version did. I couldn't tweak the editor program enough to realize that it should be looking for new paths, so I just have to let it fall by the wayside. Damn shame, too, as that used to be everything I used.

I recommend this editor for tweaking weapons.

UFO.EXE editor

What's nice about it is that it can be run in Windows. Bear in mind that it makes changes to the default values of the game, so better be really sure you want to change something before you do it. I currently have my troops carrying standard assault rifles which use pistol magazines (AP) with 30 rounds and slightly increased power, rifle magazines (HE) with 12 rounds and increased power, and proximity grenades (stun) which can either be rifled or thrown. I just like the notion of having a good weapon which the aliens can't use against us. It's not overpowered, but it is versatile. I still have to buy all of the ammo all the time, and I don't mess with the time values or accuracy for the weapons. Plus, I've used XCOMUTIL to give the aliens a boost to all of their stats so that we can really have some knockdown fights.

Damn you all, you got the bug to bite me. I spent a significant chunk of my day setting up X-COM instead of working like I should have been. LOL.

So while I was playing with editing weapons once again, something occurred to me. Why not make proximity grenades be stun weapons? They'd be a lot more useful that way, and there's less likelihood of doing something truly stupid in case I should forget where I tossed one.

WOW!

X-COM for Windows Mobile!

OK, I think I'm going to have to check this out. After all, it's free!

Well crap. After reading the forums on the website, it would appear that 1.25 is the last version of the game. It would seem that it had some pretty nasty bugs - non-arming grenades, disappearing Elerium, etc. I really had my hopes up that this would be a perfect port.

I really wish that back in the day, the engine had been capable of handling complete building destruction. Like when you spot an alien on the roof of a building, and you are sure there are others inside it, you wanna just blow out everything on the bottom floor and collapse the whole building. I cannot count the number of times I've wanted to be able to do that. Some buildings are small enough that you can throw a HE pack in the middle of the floor and it'll blow out at least 80% of the ground floor walls.

Say, I'm reminded of something. I seem to recall figuring out that if any of your own team gets mind controlled, you can taze/stun them and pick up their bodies so that they will return to base with you at the end of the mission instead of going MIA.

I really miss weapons editing. I used to take the model for the standard assault rifle but would make it so that it could use either pistol or rifle magazines as well as stun bombs. Pistol magazines were beefed up AP rounds, and rifle magazines were HE rounds with a nasty explosion like a rifled grenade. Stun rounds were obviously for those "bring 'em back alive" opportunities. I just enjoyed this because it made so much more sense to consolidate weapons to have multiple functions. And hey, I didn't wanna use no stinkin' alien weapons.

Funny, I seem to remember actually stalking enemy Battleships until they landed so that I could take them intact and get all of their Elerium. I honestly don't recall losing many supporting countries so long as my troops were on the ground to take out the threat just as soon as it landed.