Knight26

Looks interesting, but reinforces the idea, in my head, that he is not "The Joker" but someone taking on the mantle.

I love my 3D printers (I have a CR-10S that I upgraded and an Ender-5) and am just waiting on the Ender-5+ (The CR-10 sized Ender-5) to come down in price so I can pick that up. I'm also looking at getting one of the LCD SLA printers this year for my small and clear parts (like canopies). I really should post the pictures of the fighters and other stuff I have 3D printed from my books.

Emphasizes my point. The bigger a hand Disney has in a production the less original and creative it is. Marvel was successful because Disney, by and large, have let them do their own thing. But even then, they are using established characters and stories and just putting a new spin on things. Pixar was a break away from Disney and then was brought back into the fold. Their best stuff was from when they were acting as an independent, now, it's sequel after sequel. Lucasfilm was doomed from the start, with Disney installing a puppet in charge (Kathleen Kennedy) that they could pull the strings on. None of the new movies have been original, Rogue One came closest, but it was a (AWESOME) nostalgia fest that was meant to close a plot hole. Rebels was meh at first, but once Filloni really got going it turned good, especially when he/LF/Disney struck whatever deal they did to get Thrawn in the series. BTW the Thrawn books are great and I home Zahn gets a chance to play with the character more in the post Rebels timeline. The Mandalorian looks good, but it is the draw to pull people to Disney+ and may only work because of who is behind it. I doubt Favreau would have done it if Disney kept too heavy a hand in it after how he got screwed out of IM3. Resistance I could just never get into, and it was about fighter pilots, but in typical Disney style they wanted it to be totally tied to the new movies and you got a pretty bad series. I don't really blame Filloni on this one, he tried his best with what his corporate overlords handed to him. Who knows, maybe Season 2 will actually have some merits, but I am more looking forward to Clone Wars Season 7.

Is it just me or does the poster debacle and the latest trailer really point to how creatively bankrupt Disney really is? And always has been? Have they produced any truly original movies since 60/70s?

@Kanedas Bike I honestly don't have a major issue with the character of Rey either. I have issue with how the filmmakers have used her. As I said, a handful or lines here and there could have thrown the Mary Sue argument right out. Unfortunately, as is Darth Abrams' way, he relied on the secondary media to build up her story and present that she had so many of these skills before. I also agree with you about Finn and Poe. Finn is supposed to be this guy we feel for, he was kidnapped and raised to be a storm trooper yet is obviously not cut out for it. He has the skills, but not the blood lust. Poe is an awesome character in Ep7, but is played for a fool in Ep8 and is wasted, as is Finn. The two had such a great dynamic in Ep7 and I think most people wanted to see that continue.

I hate to give HG money, but I do like the overall look, and price point, of these KC Valkyries. I haven't bought a Valk in ages, kids come first after all, and I can't justify spending the kind of money Bandai and Arcadia VFs for go, but I can stretch it to allow for $125 one. But, is it even worth that much given the QC/Fit/Build issues?

Revell and the Networks from the accounts I have read, with more of the pressure coming from the networks, which makes more sense. Why would Revell care if it was an anthology series instead of one long story? Their models came from numerous properties, and most didn't even feature in the three Robotech series. Keeping it as an anthology series would have worked in their favor because that would have opened the door for Dorvack, Dougram and other series they had the models for getting air time.

The Luke is a Gary Stu argument is tired. Throughout the movies, we seen lines of dialogue or actions leading to abilities that we see later, as well as training that he undergoes. Part of the Gary Stu argument comes from the uncertain amount of time he spent on Dagobah. Kirshner stated it was at least months, but Lucas edited it in such a way to make it seem shorter and Lucas shot down ideas regarding the crew of the Falcon looking like they'd spent months in transit. Anakin, again, it is implied via dialogue that he has been using his force skills innately to become a successful pod racer, and later, fighter pilot. After which he undergoes years of training to become a Jedi. The Mary Sue argument regarding Rey is because of how suddenly she comes upon her force powers, how she knows how to fly the Falcon without ever having flight training etc... ANd that is all JJA's fault because he assumes you will pick up the supplementary material (comics, books, toys, etc...) that explain that backstory instead of giving you those hints in dialogue or with other onscreen evidence. There is plenty that could have been done to kill the Mary Sue argument in the film, see my earlier post regarding that. All that also leaves out one of the biggest factors of being a Mary Sue/Gary Stu, likability. A true Mary/Gary is liked by everyone and never has to overcome any hurdles or obstacles. Luke and Anakin do not fit that requirement, they are constantly faced with people who distrust, don't like, or push them aside. They also both have to overcome obstacles on their journey and get nothing handed to them. The same cannot be said for Rey, she is instantly liked, trusted, or wanted by everyone she comes across with the exception of the scrap merchant.

I agree that it has issues and honestly treating them as three separate properties is still the best idea. But, the question remains, had HG done something more like that, would BW have been more willing to work with them on releasing future projects? Or would they still tell them to go stuff it for messing with their IP?

They clearly look to be mothballed, no lights on, and that formation is way too tight and linear to be operational ships. I think it is a Katana Fleet type setup, but in reverse. Though how F'n cool would it be if Grand Admiral Mother Freaking Thrawn shows up in this and it is his plan to steal those ships for the resistance, because he doesn't like the First Order, and we get the Chiss Ascendency coming in on the Resistance/Republic side. Ok, need to calm down, a fan can dream.

This is probably the first Legioss I have been excited about since the original. All the proportions look "right enough" it doesn't appear to be a floppy mess and even like how they dealt with the cockpit, a weakness on even Legioss toy. The sternum and crotch still seem to hang a little low in fighter mode, but not as bad as the Toynami POS. My only real crit would be the massive gap in the hip/thigh in fighter mode. I hope they come up with a good solution to that.

My biggest takeaways from the trailer: The end shot, from the lighting and mood was a force vision. That is who Rey was supposed to be, or could become. The fleet of Star Destroyers were mostly ISD-1s, which is interesting, I agree with @Dobber they resistance is going to make a play to steal those. The attack group of fighters made me happy, especially the B-Wings, but can we see some new fighters and maybe the T-75/80s? I HATE the T-70 design with an unreasonable passion, lol. The rest left me pretty flat, Rey still carrying the Anakin Saber, I mean it was destroyed, why not build an all new one? The Leia shots were interesting, the village leaves a lot of room for speculation, perhaps they are recruits to man the ISD-1s. This movie will have to cover a lot to make up for the mess that was Ep8. And, I must say, will probably be the first SW movie that I will wait on the reviews before buying tickets, even the kids aren't all the jazzed to see it. ANd that is saying something.

So I was, doing what I do, and out for a drive when I had a thought. Could Robotech, aside from the original anthology of mecha series idea, have been done in such a way that it didn't insult the originals as badly? And I came up with an answer, yes. Ok, put away the torches and pitchforks and hear me out. Thanks to the Macross sequel series, and even some SDF and DYRL lore, we know that other alien races do/did exist in the Macross universe, the Protoculture just had a habit of modifying or wiping them out. Using that as a starting point I figured HG could have made SDC Southern Cross and GC Mospeada quasi sequels to Macross, without majorly rewriting the stories. #1 Macross stays as written in Japan, maybe westernize the names like was their original intent: Hikaru Ichijo become Rick Yamata and so forth. #2 Put more emphasis on the colonization efforts at the end of Macross. #3 SDCSC becomes exactly what it was originally, a startup colony on an abandoned, yet habitable world. The OG inhabitants come back, possibly a protoculture offshoot race, and aside from that the story remains the same. Also Dana would not be Komillia, but the green haired girl could be. #4 GCM still takes place on Earth, but have a voice over that the UN Spacey was so busy creating colonies and sending out colony fleets that they left the devastated Earth largely undefended. The Inbit come, the colonies strike back, Mospeada can be left alone. And if they absolutely need a connection to the OG Macross, Make Stick Max's Nephew or a minor characters child. Other series could also then be integrated assuming that remained a hit, which it likely would. Megazone would take place somewhere between SDCSC and GCM. You might be even be able to bring in series like Orguss, Dougram, Dorvack and maybe even Votoms, each taking place on another colony world. Then when Big West started making sequels, HG could have gone to them, hat in hand, showing them what they did and ask permission to use the real Macross sequels. How that would have effected the stories that came later, who can say, but it might have made the issues between BW and HG far less contentious and could have allowed proper releases of Macross series and merch in the US easier. Anyway, just a random thought that came to me.

So, I stopped watching about midseason, when does this take place? Because KR has the facial scar from his battle with Rey in Ep7. Does that mean they skipped fowards at some point through episodes 7 and 8?

Crazy enough, sure, head trauma seems to be a job requirement there. Stupid enough to think that Big West would allow/play that game, no. But you're right, the way they handled even the notion of protoculture would ruin that possibility. You could, possibly, rewrite the Masters as an offshoot of the OG Protoculture, but their whole insistence that Protoculture was a fuel source, nope that really doesn't sell, given that Macross has always said that the ships were powered by fusion reactors.

Good point, I was thinking the EU when it restarted under Tim Zahn. I had also forgotten that Daley was involved.

I had forgotten that. But they started writing those before the Star Wars EU became a thing. Still, the whole notion that the SDF-3, which was built from parts of the destroyed SDF-1 and 2, plus extra parts, was sent back in time to become Zor's Battlefortress, which was then rebuilt into the SDF-1 creates a bootstrap paradox of such massive proportions it would take all 13 iterations of the Doctor, plus Doc Brown, the Enterprises, the USS Nimitz, Time Rider, Jean Claude Van Damme and every other time traveler ever to rectify it.

Basically at this point, they are getting ready to break the circle, or time loop they created back when the coke was flowing in the Sentinels writing room. Whether that is a good thing or not, who can say. I will admit to reading the McKinney books back in the day, early-mid 90s when I had only an inkling of the truth about RT, and getting righteously pissed off. In those pre-internet days the only way to express ones rage was to write a letter to the publisher and author. Which I did. The whole timeloop thing they created in those books was beyond drivel and drove me to write even more. So, yes I think they are getting ready to break the time loop, and in doing so attempt to erase the mistakes of RT past, and collapsing all the alternate realities where things like Sentinels, RT3K, Shadow Chronicles, Antarctic Press, etc... exist. This "Restoration" of the timeline will still be a righteous mess however based on the previews of their next planned series, which at least appears to have better art, that, from the looks of it, will steal heavily from Mac+ and Mac7.

He's a poster over on Robotech.com forums who is the only person there posting in the thread for the comic, and all he does is these spoiler posts.

Why? Reeves has a strong career without dipping back into that well, and unless I'm remembering wrong didn't he and Carrie's characters die at the end?

I like that head sculpt, a good mix of McGreggor and Guinness.

I, Jedi worked so well because it was a better version of the Jedi Academy trilogy. Yes, I went there.

For a peacetime mission, sure but I would hate to take one into battle. As was shown many times, they are glass cannons.

Whenever I see the Ent-D with the lifeboats so prominently painted it just reinforces that the Galaxy Class was never meant for combat, survivability, or long range exploration. It's like a modern cruise liner, the sides stacked high with obvious lifeboats. Then there's the overabundance of windows, an issue with most Trek ships to be honest, a pretty ship but seriously vulnerable to attack.

Ok, I got bored and decided to do it. Star Wars Episode 7 Fixes The recent discussion got me thinking about Star Wars Ep 7 could be fixed. Overall, TFA is not a terrible movie, it is just typical of its director, slapping a shiny new coat on something that came before. While it obvious that Star Trek 2009 is basically the original Star Wars with a Star Trek skin, it is even more obvious in TFA, which many described as a paint by number remake of Ep-4. Though to be fair Ep-1 also hit many of the same points as Ep-4, just differently. To start, the biggest issue with the new Trilogy is the First Order. They come off as Empire Light. A bunch of wannabe Imperials in Cosplay who are taking it too far. Instead, establish, in the opening crawl that they are a terrorist organization. They have crawled their way out of the rim planet by planet, taking over planet using terror tactics, before enslaving their populations and are funded by some mysterious backer(s) (Snoke and maybe others). Also establish in the crawl, again, that Luke’s new Jedi academy was destroyed from within, forcing him to reevaluate what it means to be a Jedi and how to train the next generation. So he goes to look for the OG Jedi temple. We then move into the first scene, the attack on the Jakku Camp. First off, make Max Von Sydow some character we already know by name, even if they are obscure or from the EU, throwing the EU fans a bone. For now, I will call him Jansen, former member or Rogue Squadron and someone Luke would trust. We here commotion outside of the tent, Poe and Jansen look out to see a DoomTrooper, an FO Storm Trooper packed with explosives dragging along a hostage. Jansen starts to head out but Poe stops him and points up. “You can’t save her, this is how they always begin.” Then the Doom Trooper explodes (not Disney friendly but establishes on screen their use of terrorist tactics). The village goes into a panic and the troop ships arrive. The rest of the scene plays out largely as before, with FOST rounding people up and some dying in the process, along with the flame troopers lighting buildings, and some people on fire. When Finn’s buddy dies insert a couple of second flashback of someone else dying in a child’s arms, also smearing a bloody palm print on them. This will come into play later. The next few scenes play out largely the same. But, show some subtle force usage, unconscious, on Rey’s part. When she swings, she swings just to far, or a gust of wind just helps her a long. When she’s looking at two panels, she stops, leans back to think before opening one to find her prize on the first try. Then when she turns in her salvage have her talk to Uncar Plut (sp?) and ask to rent the heavy lifter to pick up a big piece of salvage. Pan over to show the show it and a tarped up familiar shape on edge of frame. Plut agrees, makes comments about how she always returns it the least banged up, but it is booked for the week, and how she’ll have to do the maintenance on it after as part of her rental fee, and he might even let her play around in his special ship to help him find an annoying bug in it. Doing this establishes several things: First, she is a scavenger and knows her way around imperial tech (they did this well in TFA and used it later in the film as well). Second, she has some innate, if untapped and untrained, force ability. Third, in two to three lines of dialogue we’ve established that she knows how to fly and maintain ships. The final bit gives a hint of how the Falcon is found so easily. When Phasma talks to Ren and Hux about the FOST she mentions how the mental conditioning might be breaking down in some. Hux says this is impossible, that his mind wipe and imprinting has been flawless. This sets up how the FO has grown the ST corp so fast, they are basically wiping the minds of people on their captured worlds and reprogramming them into whatever role they need filled. The Finn and Poe escape plays out largely as before. But add in how Finn has no idea how long he’s been in the FOST Corp, and has been having flashes of a life before it. THen when they crash, show them eject, even if it’s just Poe grabbing the ejection handle and yelling. “Been nice meeting you Finn, if we survive this, meet me at the nearest spaceport!” The next scenes again can remain largely untouched, but when Rey and Finn escape, have a quick couple lines about where they are jumping. Rey can point to a readout and say, “Plut has an emergency escape route already in the nav computer, we just jump and wait before we head back.” Remember, jumping into Hyperspace ain’t like dusting crops, so in the event of things going sideways Plut would likely have a hide out to head to. While in hyperspace have Rey notice they are transmitting, and it is coming from the Hyperdrive. This leaves them distracted as she tries to root out “the bug,” and is what allows Han to find them. The scenes aboard Han’s freighter are good world building, they can stay. As can the bits on Maz’s world up to the destruction of the New Republic Capital. But here is where things change. Starkiller base is just that, a base on a capture FO world. The actual super weapon is built into a Star Destroyer. While Hux talks to this troops, he transmits to them, and breaking into the holonet, every other world, the destruction. Back to Terror tactics. The bow mounted super laser doesn’t destroy the planet, it is a crust cracker. When the laser hits it shatters the planet’s crust causing the mantle to boil over and consume it. We cut to people running in terror from oncoming lava, collapsing buildings and mountains, basically 9-11 when the towers fell. This shocks everyone watching to the core, except the FO, as this is a highly mobile weapon. But Finn comments that it’s a bit of a glass cannon. The main gun can only fire so many shots before they have to replace the Kyber Crystal at its core, and that is done at Starkiller base. The FO then shows up, they have the battle on Maz’s world where Rey is captured. Biggest change here, is that TR-8R is actually Phasma. This gives her character more to do, and also intimidates Finn more, plus it explains what she does later better, she is already hurt. Leia and the Resistance show up and that is when Finn reveals the issue with the new Crust Cracker super laser to them. They decide to mount a two pronged attack. Han with Chewie, Finn and a Commando team go after the Kyber Crystal mine on Star Killer base, as well as the shield generator that the Star Destroyer is within while making repairs. Meanwhile Poe’s squadrons (yes with multiple fighter types) and starship backup standby to take out the Star Destroyer, or are set to protect the Resistance base while the Star Destroyer comes to attack it. During Rey’s interrogation by Kylo we hear Luke’s voice for the first time. “Remember, when you open a docking port into someone’s mind you leave yours open as well.” Rey reacts like she hears this and resists Kylo’s mental attacks. When he leaves we again here Luke’s voice. “And don’t forget to close it when you leave.” This is a subtle thing, but it helps to justify where Rey learns all these force powers so quickly, she went tromping around inside Kylo’s memories, not deep, but just into how to use the Force, and this can explain her motives in the next movie on how to save him. She felt the good within him. The show downs on Starkiller can go as before for the most part. When Han, Chewie and Finn attack Phasma, she is already injured, and show Chewie hurting her more and actually cracking her helmet open slightly. She lowers the shields and they get access to the crystal mine where they can deploy charges. Rey is rescued and Kylo confronted, Han killed, etc… In orbit the Resistance goes up against the Star Destroyer. It deploys its super laser killing several ships, but they notice that when it does the forward shields drop. They lure it into attacking again and that is when Poe Strikes. He dumps his whole load of Proton Torpedoes into the super laser as it prepares to fire, shattering the focus and causing it to explode and the blast to glance against Starkiller base. The Star Destroyer gets knocked out of orbit as a result and falls towards Starkiller Base. Rey, Finn and Kylo have their lightsaber battle. Finn gets his butt handed to him immediately, but make Kylo’s wound far more obvious, though the thing with him pounding on his side was a great touch. When Rey gets the lightsaber we have another brief series of flashbacks, of it in use, in Anakin’s hands, Luke’s, and even see some of young Kylo Ren’s training. They engage in battle, but we here subtle whispers in multiple voices (Luke, Anakin, Obi-Wan, Palp, Vader, even Kylo and Snoke) “block up, block down, swing up, forward strike.” Have these so low that you wouldn’t really hear them in theatre, but it is the saber, and the door into Kylo’s mind. He realizes the latter and moves to shut the door, closing his eyes. That is when, loud enough for the audience, we here “DO IT!” and she strikes his face, knocking Kylo back, disabling him. And yes, the ground is still breaking up due to the exploding mine and Star Destroyer crash and super laser near miss. The end goes as before with the mini-celebration at the Resistance Base, Hux picking up Kylo to take him to Snoke and then Rey heading off to meet Luke with R2-D2. Subtle changes, and while it still is basically Ep-IV it is following the trilogy opening style established by Ep-1 and 4. But, we have established the FO as a real force to be reckoned with, more so than in the original. We have made Rey not a Mary Sue, but a quick learner with skills that she had already developed, but needed to be honed. We have shown how Death Star Tech has been developed into an even more terrifying and mobile weapon, though still with some serious flaws. We also get to actually hear Luke, even if we just get a glimpse of him at the end.