Kanedas Bike

4 hours ago, tekering said:

Villeneuve's Dune is a lot more restrained than Lynch's vision.  While it shares (and often exceeds) the epic scope of the '84 film, the production design is considerably more muted in its color schemes and architecture.  It's a much more convincing future world, but it's not nearly as striking or memorable as how Lynch envisioned it... particularly given the absence of a monstrous third-stage Navigator.  Think of it less like Star Wars and more like Blade Runner.

Knowing the film was only covering the first half of the book -- and thus had twice as much run time to tell the story -- I was actually shocked at how much material was excised, far beyond the mere absence of characters like Princess Irulan, Feyd, or the Emperor himself.  While I was happy to see a lot of awkward dialogue removed ("mood is a thing for cattle and women," "no woman-child ever withstood that much," "the sleeper must awaken," etc.) I was equally dismayed by how much exposition and backstory was sidelined, if not outright ignored. 

As a sci-fi geek, I know full well about the Butlerian Jihad, but isn't the average viewer likely to wonder why there's no artificial intelligence in Dune?  Or what a Mentat is?  What about the Navigators, or the Spacing Guild?  The art of Kanly?  Suk Imperial Conditioning, and why Dr. Yueh would've been above suspicion?  Hell, they barely even mention the function of the spice, the central concept that drives the plot.

I'm surprised viewers like @mikeszekely weren't left cold and befuddled by the lack of proper world-building. 

While I neither agree or disagree (because I am not versed in the source material), I really enjoyed reading your .02. Just wanted to state my appreciate for how you presented your thoughts on this iteration of Dune.

3 hours ago, sqidd said:

Have you seen most popular movies? The average viewer doesn't wonder much. As long as the opening scene has EXPLOSIONS, they like the movie.

You rang? Where do I buy my ticket??? 🤣

-b.

3 hours ago, sqidd said:

Maybe there is hope for humanity Hollywood.

As a species we're still screwed lol

Ripley said it best;

You know, Burke, I don't know which species is worse. You don't see them f***ing each other over a goddamn percentage.

-b.

6 hours ago, TangledThorns said:

 

Looks dumb, lol. Seriously though, they couldn't make the store's name a... S MART?!?

😁

I'm totally going to waste my money to get this on-demand, and won't have a single complaint about it.

-b.

18 hours ago, sh9000 said:

Amused at myself because the first thing I thought of when I saw the arrow in the background was a "downvote". 😅

I'm not that excited for this one, I'll watch it but my hype-meter is pretty low.

-b.

Saw this last night, looks like a good bit of stupid fun;

-b.

1 hour ago, sqidd said:

I was blown away about how beautiful it was and how perfectly odd the technology, etc was.

The music, while sometimes overwhelming the dialog a little, had a great mood to it. Very appropriate and odd. I didn't really have any trouble with the dialog though. Sure I had to pay attention, but I could always understand what was going on. You guys need a crappy 22yr old surround system.

Or subtitles...which is how I'm going to watch at home 👴

Not my favorite Hans Zimmer score, but I agree that it really fit the movie. Makes me very happy I ordered this last week when it went on sale; https://mondoshop.com/products/the-dune-sketchbook-music-from-the-soundtrack-3xlp

-b.

2 hours ago, levzloi said:

Just saw it in IMAX, really enjoyed it.  I think Hanz Zimmer might have been trying to give Tenet a run for it's money in the volume over dialogue department, and they really allowed most scenes to develop and breath (maybe just a tad to much).  Still a really good adaptation, I'll plan on seeing it again in IMAX.  I really hope they make the second. 

Decided to see this first in theaters and then watch it a second time via HBO Max. I also thought it was fantastic but as you mention the music sometime drowned out the dialogue.

I was pleasantly surprised that the Friday and noon showing was packed so hopefully that's a good sign. Week 2 box office numbers will be the real test.

22 minutes ago, technoblue said:

I braved the cinema to see this too and thought it was terrific.

I'm very much looking forward to the second half, and I thought Villeneuve chose a good place for the intermission.

Also agreed about the intermission, while not as smooth as The Fellowship of the Ring that's immediately what I thought of and not abrupt like some of the online reviews/comments were making it out to be (even from folks that loved the movie).

D.V. sure does now how to make gorgeous movies, like recent Ridley Scott, but infinitely better in the story department (*cough*Prometheus*vomit*Alien:Covenant*).

-b.

On 9/29/2021 at 10:00 AM, Alex GS said:

has somebody here a received AmiAmi payment request email for the set?, thanks.

Nope not yet. HLJ billed right on release date.

On 9/29/2021 at 10:51 AM, borgified said:

I haven't yet, not sure if @eXis10z has either. I think Amiami is slow in getting invoices as I ordered another item (not Macross related) and it took a week after getting their batch in and then came the invoice later.

Surprised, but not worried in the slightest about the lack of an invoice from AmiAmi. They'll ask for money sooner or later, or if something crazy happens they'll cancel the order and I'll save $300-400 from the toy + shipping.

I went overboard and ordered (3) of the stand-alone sets so I'm fine with having just one combo.

-b.

At this point I'd be happy if they just finished the "hero" lineups of either DYRL or SDFM. If they do that then delve into the other on-screen variants.

-b.

Ordered my Deadpool(s). Glad I didn't wait because the usual suspects sold out pretty quickly (AmiAmi, Hobby Search and HLJ). The typical, but a little less hectic than the average DX Chogokin or Metal Build pre-order experience at all three, but I love that HS waited until 3 AM eastern to even make the listing live, I think that was their way of combatting bots, or at least it worked out as I was able to get an order there.

-b.

On 9/29/2021 at 7:34 PM, no3Ljm said:

I think so. Because the original release, it was listed around Y35000 something on their site prior.

 

The price on Luna is reasonable IMHO, 25,800 against retail (in Japan) of 22,000. I did place an order for the CHOGOKIN x GUNDAM FACTORY YOKOHAMA RX-78F00 GUNDAM -Night illuminated version and while in no way discounting the experience of others, I've been very happy with the handful of times I've ordered from Luna Park Toys.

11 hours ago, no3Ljm said:

It's part of their regular Chogokin line. I haven't really played on my figure yet. But upon my initial inspection, the joints are tight and it's good to display along side with MB Strike. The gripe I have is that there's no Core Fighter and the weapons are incomplete as per an RX-78 does.

Just want to share @Kanedas Bike and @carlsylar posts way back in December when I requested a comparison photos with MB Strike.

 

Forgot about those pics @no3Ljm!

I absolutely love the first release to me it's definitely better than the GFFMC 40th Anniversary RX-78-02 and original versions. It just "feels" better and the articulation is about what I'd expect from GFFMC, which is to say it's not as articulated as a Metal Build but it's far from a statue. It's playable and it poses just fine. 

And I say all of this having severely over-payed for the original CHOGOKIN x GUNDAM FACTORY YOKOHAMA RX-78F00 GUNDAM at initial release.

-b.

Wait. The Stealth Suit is a REAL thing with Aquaman??? Too funny

-b.

Just now, no3Ljm said:

+2 Hahaha!  

But no plans of selling it due to the color scheme.  

 

Noel!

Welcome to the party! That's right, Hikaru colors for the win.

-b.

17 minutes ago, derex3592 said:

TESTIFY.  Couldn't agree more. 

Glad I'm not the only one lol

We will however have to back away of this thread cautiously, the 30 is beloved by many.  

-b.

On 9/3/2021 at 7:14 PM, Mommar said:

I'm baffled you decided to sell it to begin with.

Don't regret selling mine one bit, never really cared for the design and the toy wasn't executed that well to begin with.

-b.

1 hour ago, Thom said:

Wished they'd stayed with the gold.

Stealth Suit? 🤣

-b.

19 hours ago, jenius said:

I love those pitch meetings but gotta wait until you watch the movie before you watch the pitch.

Yeah, the Pitch Meetings are always freaking hilarious. But definitely spoilery

"...barely an inconvenience" LMAO

-b.

On 9/5/2021 at 10:41 PM, TangledThorns said:

IO

 

Probably because not many are willing to go to the theaters again. I do plan on seeing the movie on the 15th though.

My showing was packed, 12:40 PM on a Friday. While everyone was masked, and I'm fully vaccinated I was annoyed to see no more social distancing.

On 9/5/2021 at 10:52 PM, levzloi said:

It was good, make sure you watch the “All Hail the King” Marvel short on Disney+ first.  
 

I did feel that it jumped around in time a lot, as a result the main story felt really short.  Happened very fast. Also the final fight was over the top.  I did really like the actor who played Shang Chi.  

That's my biggest gripe, most of the action/fights were as grounded as they could be for a Marvel movie. The fight scenes weren't gritty per say, but they weren't comic book over the top like the final showdown was.

11 hours ago, kalvasflam said:

You are far kinder than I am on this movie.  All I can say is one word:  Awfulfina.  Marvel needs to get rid of these useless characters.  The movie had some good points, but they needed to not have Awfulfina, I really don’t dig the connections to the US, as she is obviously a shitty attempt to form some kind of connection to second or third generation Chinese kids who are basically clueless about China.

Interesting. I'm not Chinese so I can't relate to the cultural implications of what it's like growing up in a Chinese American household where parents/grandparents have one set of ideas/principles and kids/grandkids have another having grown up in the states. But the movie very much centered around parents and the legacy they leave, and expectations they have for their children. Shang Chi being THE main character with this theme.

In any event, I feel she plays the same character in every movie I've seen with her in it, but she didn't distract or ruin the movie nor did she pull me out the scenes she was in. Just kind of this side-kick, maybe something more in future-installments kind of character.

-b.

Surprised to see this thread so quiet, went to see Shang-Chi earlier today and thought it was absolutely fantastic. Easily in my top 3-5 MCU films behind Endgame, The Winter Soldier.

Even Awkwafina who I find to be generally annoying in everything I've seen her in didn't bother me. Don't get me wrong, she was still very much Awkwafina, but her character was relatively likable and the movie did not suffer at all from her being in it. Hell, I even rooted for her in a few instances.

The first two thirds of this movie were just really, really good. The third act was good too but the climax went full Marvel with the CGI - something that felt extraneous when compared to the rest of the movie. A minor critique at best.

Great action/fight choreography, strong emotional arcs, GREAT cameos, good humor, solid soundtrack and it left me wanting more.

If I can find the time I want to see this in the theatre again.

-b.

24 minutes ago, Black Valkyrie said:

 

https://www.taghobby.com/archives/561254

 

https://www.taghobby.com/archives/561283

 

TAKE MY MONEY!

*edit, if they release a Luke from the final episode of Season 2 I will absolutely lose it (in a good way)

*2nd Edit - links from Tamashii

Mandalorian; https://tamashii.jp/item/13709/

Boba Fett; https://tamashii.jp/item/13708/

-b.

13 hours ago, sqidd said:

Upppgraaaayyydddd on the left. Man, Bandi knocked it all the way out of the park with this one. I'm super impressed. Now, to figure out where it's actually going to live.

The one on the right is going up for sale.

Sweet!

I haven't opened my re-issue KB yet (from Hobby Search), I don't have any place to display it. And I've still got one at HLJ that I haven't shipped yet.

I get from your feedback that it's a pretty solid release, is there anything in particular you really like, or you're annoyed with?

-b.

On 8/21/2021 at 4:03 AM, no3Ljm said:

That's a sh!t ton of stuff tacked onto one Gundam. 

-b.

14 minutes ago, sqidd said:

I was guessing since you had to get it through a proxy that it was TWE? Or is this a different flavor TWE? Anyone?

So I'm not that adept at using specialized proxies like others are (I know it's not rocket science, I'm just too lazy to deal with much besides "click and order"). I typically just order from the sites that have listings up for the stuff that I want, or I wait until after release and stalk the usual sites like Mandarake.

-b.

3 minutes ago, sqidd said:

So this is a TWE item? Do you by any chance have a link to the Tamashii site where I can view the page? I can never find those things without a direct link. I keep getting stuck on a US site or something. Thanks!

 

Not sure if it's exactly TWE, but an event exclusive that will be available online because of COVID. Those that know more about this stuff can probably explain it better than I can.

The same thing happens to me with Tamashii links. I have to click into them twice before I can view the actual pages sometimes.

Here's the overall event page; https://tamashii.jp/special/tamashii_nation/

Here's the page to the Metal Build; https://tamashii.jp/special/tamashii_nation/items/06.html

-b.

3 minutes ago, Scyla said:

Can you order it already via a proxy service? I though preorders would start on 08/26.

Yep, my first choice - Big in Japan was already sold out yesterday when I looked. Hobby Genki was one of (3) stores I recognized by name that had listings, also sold out.

I'm not sure when either of those listings went live.

-b.