Mog

Finally saw the missing Webisode 9. ....So, THAT'S what Baltar whispered in "Butterfingers" Gaeta's ear.

Considering how practically all the other missile launchers are forward facing, I figure that yellow array is used to surprise anyone who gets behind the Tread and thinks they got her dead-to-rights............Surprise! A missile is coming straight at you!

^^I believe DarrinG is talking about the missiles that are supposed to pop up and out of the Tread's/Beta's blue shoulders. On the CM's, in addition to the missiles stored right behind the white chest areas, there's also a cache of missiles hiding in the dorsal/blue shoulder areas of the Tread. These missile racks (which are missing on the Toynami Beta) are directly behind the "MB" and "21" in the picture above. EDIT: Shouldn't the numbering on the Tread be "07" instead of "21"? Unless, this is supposed to represent the Tread that Stig initially crash-landed in.

Personally, me likey this one: Simple, yet effective pose and shot, with everything nicely in focus (including the image on the reflective surface!).

In case anyone's been holding out on purchasing the UBP's, they're selling at Target now for $38-and-change.

Starting with my absolute favorites of 2008: Two 1/60 YF-21's (Loved that bastard love-child so much, I had to make a custom out of the second one!) One long-awaited Beta (She may have her flaws, but DAMN is she a beaut'!! ) After being treated to these two awesome mechas, everything else was pretty much gravy for the year. But just for the record: 28+ GI Joe figures (excluding additional customizing fodders); and Only 3 Star Wars figures (the two Imperial Knights and the accurately-scaled Grievous). I think Star Wars had a bit of a "down" year on the action figure front. Undoubtedly, they kicked ass on the vehicle front. But I just don't have the space to collect all those nicely detailed vehicles and crafts.....Plus, I think the wife would kill me!

Yup, I remember those pics. Sam, your customized connecting boom actually made CM's fighter combo look respectable. All trash-talking aside, the simplest thing CM's could've done was modify the stock connecting boom and make the Legioss sit higher up. It would've made one hell of an improvement. Of course, then I'd still be griping about the exposed tailfins and the just-hanging-up-there Tread missile rack.

Here's the link izzyfcuk was talking about: Linky. Admist the minor overkill of photoshop pics, there's some really good nuggets of info--almost a tutorial if you will--about taking shots and doing lighting and mini-studio set-ups. Best basic/beginner tips I personally learned over the years: Use the macro function, especially for the detailed/close-up pics. Never, NEVER use flash. Use a tripod or some kitbashed (but solid) stand to stablize and settle your camera on. Read your digital camera's manual and learn about some of your camera's advanced/rarely-used features (You'll be surprised by what your camera is capable of!). After doing Number 4, experiment with numerous shots at different settings, angles, lightings, etc. (Don't worry; if it's crap you can just delete the pic. But you'll never learn what works best, unless you experiment a little.). P.S.--The above tips were for some of the newer folks here on the board. Your photo-taking skills and pics are already solid, Vegas!

It's gonna be interesting to see what color-scheme and surprises you have in store for us, Wicked. Looking forward to more updates!

I don't really think it's intentional. Yes, there might be an optical illusion of a slight upward slope because of the paint scheme. But on some of the Alphas I own, the nose and dorsal parts of the fighter look straight. But with my Shadow Alpha, which sports a solid-colored nose? Its got that banana-back look. Something's probably not collapsing/connecting properly somewhere. As has been said before, the tolerances to get the Alpha into a tight/almost gap-less fighter mode are pretty small. It's a flaw in the design and/or how the factory assembled the Alphas.

Yeah, it's called Knights of the Old Republic.

Which is truly unfortunate, since there's still a ton of untapped schemes for the non-VF-1 mecha fighters. Just on this board alone, there's the Dobber scheme for the SV-51, Wicked Ace's Vampires scheme (was that the correct name?) for the YF-19, takatoys' Roy scheme also for the YF-19, my own Blackjack scheme for the YF-21, Scream Man's DYRL Max scheme for the VF-0, Kurt's Enigma scheme for the VF-0, and Wicked's Sundowners scheme for the VF-0. Off the top of my head, Yamato could still do any of the following non-canon schemes for non-VF-1 fighters: * Low-Viz Grey; * Black/Stealth (at least for the -21 and Zeros); * VF-X schemes; * Blue Angels; * Roy schemes; * Minmei Guard (or should those be Sara Nome Guard, Sharon Apple Guard, and Basara Assassin/Hit Squad )

Or we'll have anime-inaccurate toys with a plethora of QC issues that cost three-times what they're currently going for. Competition is good for us consumers/collectors.

The Dobber Scheme strikes back!!! Very nice.

Yeah, it's one of the four or so songs that would be randomly picked as you're racing around the track ("Lose Control" and Garbage's "As Heaven is Wide" were the only two that I still remember fondly). I also loved Maniac Street Preacher's "Everything Must Go," which is the intro music for the US release of GT1. Hell, GT2 had a solid soundtrack too: * Cardigan's "My Favourite Game"; * Apollo 440's "Cold Rock the Mic"; * STP's "Sex Type Thing"; and * Garbage's "I Think I'm Paranoid" Good ol' fashioned balls-to-the-walls music that makes you wanna drive fast! Heck, the GT soundtracks inspired me to burn my own CD of fast driving music.

I still remember playing the original Gran Turismo and being totally blown away by the kick-ass guitar riffs of Ash's "Lose Control." Always got a little more excited for a race when I heard that TIE Fighter flyby start up in the background!

Well, a few folks on this board have upped the color-scheme numbers for the YF-19 and YF-21, thanks to their custom efforts. But it kinda sucks that the 1/48 VF's and the old school chunkies are the only ones that seem to have a plethora of custom paint jobs out there.

Ahh, much better! My display is finally complete*. * I left myself some extra shelf space for that other blue Beta I'll eventually purchase.

So, after watching each webisode and their related commentaries, I think it's safe to say that any shred of interest I may have had in Underworld 3 has been crushed by having to sit through that bloody trailer each and every frakkin' time!!! Who's bright idea was it to have that trailer pop up every single time (without fail) when we decide to click a webisode link? Yeah, yeah, advertising and such. But is pissing off your target audience the best way to generate interest in your film? There's no chance it would cause a backlash and blow up in the marketers' faces, would it? Heck, why not add a Quizno's survey at the end of each webisode too for good measure? I'LL KILL YOU!!! ALL OF YOU!!!!!! (Well at least Sci-Fi's or BSG's marketing folks ).

The shelf's about chest or shoulder high for me. So, it's probably somewhere around 5.5 feet high. The Stealth Valk did take a stage dive off another bookshelf during the last earthquake here in Cali'. Parts came off (mostly the FP items). But nothing broke or was seriously damaged. Since this pic was taken, the Alpha/Beta's been moved to my home desk. I didn't like how crowded the shelf looked with the three sharing the same space. Plus, I'll probably want to display the combo at an angle other than head-on. As for the Blackjack, I'm just a little concerned. Chances are it will probably just collapse onto the shelf itself with minimal to very minor damage during another similar-sized earthquake. So, I'm not too stressed about what may or may not happen with the remaining Macross birds.

Hopefully, God has a sense of humor, or I'm royally screwed with this next caption: Father, Son, and Holy Combo

"C'mon Honey. Our child needs an in-scale, fully articulated, panel-lined, and weathered 1/60 destroid.......Oh! The extra one? Well, our child needs to learn to share and play with others. And I'm willing to make that sacrifice and spend time teaching our child that lesson!"

Happy New Year's from the Eastern Pacific time zone!! Yeah, so I'm practically five hours (and ONE SECOND ) late. Cut me some slack! It's gonna be hard for 2009 to top all the great things that happened to me in 2008, both on the toy and personal fronts: * More cool GI Joe figures were released; * I got more opportunities to refine my toy painting and customizing skills; * I made a custom GI Joe Motor Viper; * The YF-21 was released and came complete with FP's and a nice clear stand; * I was finally able to make my idea for a custom YF-21 become a reality; * The long-awaited Beta was released right before year-end (allowing me to finally retire my Beta avatar and bring back the Mog avatar). And more important than all of that, I lucked out in the best way possible: I married a beautiful woman who loves me and is cool with my somewhat crazy toy collections. I'm sure 2009 will have its share of joys too: another Blue Beta to be purchased, some Airborne figures to be finally found, one or a few more customized action figures to be made, and maybe some KOTOR figures to be finally released (if Hasbro was smart ). So, I'm looking forward to what awaits in 2009. But I will always look back at 2008 with a lot of thanks and fond memories.

They're just your average peel-and-stick variety. If you mean the custom Mars Base ones on the wing, those are also peel-and-stick too.