Jump to content

nugundamII

Members
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    760

  • Joined

  • Last visited

 Content Type 

Posts posted by nugundamII

    Astro Plan

    in Anime or Science Fiction

    Posted · Edited by nugundamII

    Im going to do what any self respecting chinese would do

    Im going to download the show

    copy it

    burn it onto a dvd

    scan some macross frontier posters stick it on the front cover

    and then scan a picture of Gundam Seed and stick it on the back cover

    put a BlueRay Sticker on the front

    say there are english subtitles when actually its german

    and sell it for a buck

    then if you want to buy two i give you special price for 1.99

    and when it doesnt work i tell you to go fuk yourself

    thats what im going to do

    The Gurren Lagann Thread.

    in Hall Of The Super Topics

    Posted

    I agree with you, and the only difference between what we say is our definition of "self doubt" and, conversely, "self-confidence."

    By self-doubt, all I meant was a recognition of limits. See, there are artificial limits and real limits, and Simon fights the former but bows before the latter. Gurren Lagann is about understanding the distinction between them. Roussieu didn't - which is why he let himself go down the "logical" path of absolute political power corrupting absolutely.

    Simon's self-doubt can also be identified with a different phrase: he does not lust for power. Kamina didn't either, by the by. Ultimately both sides were using power to fight for something they thought was just. Lord Genome, in a way, behaved like Simon - who gave up Spiral Power.

    Well - Lord Genome also gave up Spiral Power - he stopepd fighting and accepted a dull existence, accepted what he thought to be the 'natural' and rightful boundaries or limits of the universe - accepted that for humans to survive, they must live in a world as he crafted it - underground, with their evolution stinted, and that beast-men, who did not possess spiral power, were fitting heirs to the surface.

    This is no different, in a sense, from Simon giving up his Spiral Power and deciding not to bring back Nia. For Simon - that was his limit - that was his boundary. He was not going to use the Spiral Power to re-shape the world as he saw fit.

    But that is also the essential difference between Simon's limitations and those of Lord Genome (or of the Anti-Spirals and the Village Chief).

    The Anti-Spirals, the Village Chief and Lord Genome projected their view of the limits or boundaries of Nature onto others. Their theories about what was possible and impossible were foisted onto others.

    They did so because while they always doubted the capacity of others to handle great power wisely - they never doubted their own ability to do so.

    The Anti-Spirals questioned the wisdom of the Spiral beings in wielding spiral power - but they never questioned their own wisdom. Lord Genome lorded over the Earth "for its' own good" - but never questioned whether the power he used and the way he used this power were good for him? Whether he too might not be wise enough to use this power justly?

    This is what Nia questioned when she confronted him - and what Lord Genome ultimately learned at the end, when he thanked Nia "my daughter" while sacrificing himself to defeat the Anti-Spirals - something that he should have done in his first battle with them, but due to his fear - he did not.

    See - it's a tricky thing...

    Most characters feel self-confidence and when they acquire more spiral power, their confidence grows - then the Anti-Spirals show them the desperation and senselesseness of their quest and these once self-confident characters cringe in terror and re-assert themselves by using the spiral power in accordance with Anti-Spiral philosophy.

    They do so precisely because they never experienced self-doubt as Simon had. If they did, then like Simon, they would understand that they have no right, no claim of superior intelligence or purity of motive to use the Spiral power to advance their whims.

    Simon understood that bringing Nia back to life, or reclaiming his role as "Leader" of humanity or Kamina City or the Universe or whatever - was wrong. No person is by nature born to forever lord over other people and use power to change life and death to suit himself.

    Simon understood this because as a character, he was always doubting himself - and by doing so, he was doubting his lowest impulses. He made fear an ally insofar as he taught himself to fear his own vices and his own inclinations.

    Gurren Lagann is indeed about surprassing your fears and going all the way and doing the impossible - but there is also a more subtle layer to the teaching of the anime - and it is revealed it the ending, which people seem to be bothered by as being so "anti climactic."

    To me - the ending grows out of the entire series - it's a natural finish to the plot because it is the way Simon would act in accordance with all we've seen of his character.

    Gurren Lagann is not about power, it is not about will to power. That's what, I think, some people get confused about. This show is not Nietzschean.

    That's what the Anti-Spirals would have you think. Oh - Spiral Beings with their Will To Power will destroy the universe so we must place artificial limits on them and Noble Lies are necessary to keep them at bay otherwise everything will be destroyed etc etc etc.

    But that's not the teaching of Gurren Lagann - that's the fear of the Anti Spirals - that's one of the view points Gurren Lagann presents.

    But the anime as a whole, I think, teaches us that this fear of the Anti-Spirals births the destruction that they claim to wish to prevent. They themselves live a life of hollow living death and the universe they construct is one where life is stiffled - just as it "would be" if the Spiral Nemesis came into being.

    That is to say - to borrow from Neon Genesis Evangelion for a moment - remember when Gendo says "the Ultimate End of Evolution is Death" - and they decide that speeding up the Angel's evolution will lead it to death?

    Well - that's pretty much the Anti-Spirals in a nutshell. They fear the suffering associated with Death, so they reconstruct the universe to be one giant Euthenasia Factory where death is slow, painless and where no one is allowed to dream of happiness in this life so as to save them from disillusionment.

    Simon dreams - and Simon goes through disillusionment - and yet he does not regret it, and survives it, and does not destroy the universe in the process.

    He is able to do this because he always had a sense of his own limits - and I disagree that over the course of the show he shed them. I think that these limits matured along with him.

    I think you're projecting Kamina onto him with this view that he achieved some "ultimate self-confidence."

    Remember that after Kamina died, Simon mopped around because he couldn't be like his brother.

    My favorite episode, episode 11 (IIRC) is when Simon finds himself - he is Simon, the Digger, he is not Kamina. He says so explicitly and it's a powerful powerful scene because Simon accepts himself, with all his short comings - just like beauitful Nia accepts him.

    And in that scene Simon surpasses Kamina because he shows that it is possible to be confident while also being weak and humble.

    Simon never develops a Kamina-complex.

    Anyways - hope that clears up my view on the matter :)

    Pete

    I see your point and agree and can add a bit more in my own theory

    Life, nature, the universe is imperfect. Imperfection ism is the perfect system. It creates the dimensions and time. Without the Universe continually seeking perfection there would be no movement, no time. Just a sea of DEAD. In G.L. The Anti Spirals believed they were the culmination of Perfection and thus time around them and the universe was a sea of dead. Therefore they were the cause of destroying the universe. Spirals are expanding the universe. Life is the only antithesis to system decay and as soon as Lord G. gave up growth and expansion he was decaying the universe around him even if they were not his intentions. In the end of the OVA we see an older Simon and if you look at his eyes you can see the same spiral energy as Lord G. I interpret that as the growth of the imperfect power.

    Soul of Chogokin - part II

    in Anime or Science Fiction

    Posted

    I got it the first time it was released. Highly recommended!

    Could you please post comparison pics to a SOC Mazinger by Bandai. I want to know how it compares. I want to know what the metal content is and how the quality it. I saw a fewture figure for 250 US and its pretty similar to the going rate on Ebay.....

    Thanks

    Astro Plan

    in Anime or Science Fiction

    Posted · Edited by azrael

    As a side note: hooray for original bootleg toys!

    As a disappointed note:

    We finally get a delta-winged "valkyrie" and ... it's this? Come on, Yamato. Pick up the slack, here. I can't wait for a 0D forever.

    the profile is decent enough but look at all that bland solid shoulder molding and the back wing stabilizer part in gerwalk mode. Reminds me of the earlier bandai Macross 7 Bomber valks

    Astro Plan

    in Anime or Science Fiction

    Posted · Edited by nugundamII

    Immagine, if you will, a VF-1 tweaked by Chip Foose... GEEZE!

    The toy looks really cheap. Look at the shoulders and arms

    Its like cheap painted prototype plastic. Borders on a No Grade 1/100 by bandai

    Anything from Kawamori????? I mean they are his designs. I am assuming there is merit for a lawsuit. Maybe G-man can sneak some of these photos to Yamato and it will seep to Mr. Kawamori oh hell i call him myself!!!

    Transformers Super Thread 9

    in Hall Of The Super Topics

    Posted

    I don't usually buy TFs at all, I think I have had a total of maybe 3 over my entire life.. but when I saw MP Skywarp finally hit the shelves of my local Walmart, I couldn't pass it up. I had to make an exception for one of the very few relatively kibble free TF jets. And it was very much worth it. Not perfect, but for something I can drive to the other side of town and pick up, I have a hard time not buying a couple more for customizing. Looks very nice next to my Yammies. :)

    Now the question is whether they'll make a Ramjet later on. Would probably be a pretty simple custom actually.. If done right, you could eliminate the hip panels entirely, and just have the big delta wing in one large folding section, but you'd have to move the pivot point.. put it in the same place, and those delta wings would pop way over his head. Might be possible for a custom, but you'd need an entirely new wing mechanism.

    After getting this, I looked through this thread, and there were a couple of posts about custom jobs done. The best one I saw cut the hip plates into two pieces. The part with the tails they attached on a sliding joint to the lower legs, and the forward section they just permanently glued to the underside of the wing plates. It looked very good.

    I'm kind of surprised they didn't keep the original design, but I think understand why it was changed, even if it did mean adding FAST packs to the normal F-15C design. That forward section ahead of the wing would've been pretty fragile I think, and it dipped low enough to cause leg posing problems as well.

    I'm up in the air about the leg panels really.. I'm not a big TF purist, so I'm happy to have a nicely transforming plane that looks like it could fly, not like a plane they glued a robot to underneath, and hoped no one would see. <_< I do like the customized look, so I might buy a second and try that later though.

    On the other hand, if it weren't for the leg panels, this'd probably never work. :D

    skywarpgerwalk2.jpg

    skywarpgerwalk1.jpg

    um NO! God No

    Gundam Plamodel Thread III

    in Hall Of The Super Topics

    Posted

    Thanks for the tips.

    I was kind of dissapointed about the V-fin not being able to really stay aligned when transformed to Unicorn horn... and I guess now with your warning I'll just stop transforming it all together.

    Although technically, constant removal of the horn and replacement with the V-fin is bound to wear something or other out :( ...

    I generally get the feeling that the transformation to Psycho mode is very smooth. I've finished everything except the legs, backpack and weapons now and transformed the uper body, arms and head to get a feel for it.

    At first, it kind of annoyed me that you have to seperate all of the parts to transform him - but then, I guess it makes sense and it's better than the Gundam falling apart when you start to transform it...

    Personally, I prefer it in white Unicorn mode. It reminds me a little bit of the YF-19, but also has a distinct EVA-01 feel to it - and even the "psycho" mode feels EVA-01... after all, EVA also had a "psychotic" mode of sorts....

    All in all, this is my fourth MG Gundam and I'm enjoying it like the rest.

    The one thing that kind of annoys me is that my Turn-A-Gundam is fairly loose - it holds its' poses, but the shield is too heavy for the arm and so that kind of limits the kind of poses I can put him in... a pity, since Turn A is probably my favorite Gundam design next to Unicorn.

    Crossbone I like just because he's a pirate, but really he's pretty mundane. Wing Zero is also mundane; but I like his...err...well wings :)

    But only Turn-A and Unicorn have designs which I can appreciate in their totality.

    I'm considering whether to build the Force Impulse Gundam next - all those nifty jet/aircraft/space ship modes look tempting, but he is also kind of one of these "UBER FIRE SUPER POWER UP BANG BOOM" Gundams which I get the feeling dominate Seed and which I'm not too fond of...

    Zeta version 2 is also tempting me - but... I dunno... generally I'm more drawn to the really unorthodox Gundams; I like them to really stand out and stand apart from the rest... Turn A and Psycho Unicorn do this.

    EDIT: Finished everything but the gun and bazooka. Happy with him:

    2nuhlpt.jpg

    6qy8mx.jpg

    Pete

    Hmm looks like the Wing MG Custom doesnt look to bad. .....if you panel lined it and added the stickers it you would be perfect. BTW the Pirate one. Is it any good

    The Gurren Lagann Thread.

    in Hall Of The Super Topics

    Posted · Edited by nugundamII

    A scene from the 2nd gurren lagann movie. Looks like everyone will have their own tengen toppa...?

    POTENTIAL SPOILER

    http://i738.photobucket.com/albums/xx29/Ec...edc015dbaca.jpg

    wawawawahaaaaaaaaaaaaat

    i hope that studio does a second ova

    and Pete those are some beautiful bubbly jubblies I remember when I lived in Zurich and vacationed on the Croatian coast man those Polish girls are so well endowed. Ahh must be something in the milk! :p

    Post Apocalyptic Movies

    in Anime or Science Fiction

    Posted

    Recently got the novel "The Road" and flew through it in 2 days over Christmas break.

    I felt shaken and could not stop thinking about it for about a week. Gripping - highly recommended.

    But then I saw some movie clips on the web and wish I had never laid eyes on them. Not at all what I pictured.

    It looked like a rough camping trip compared to the utter bleakness and devastation I imagined while reading the book.

    All the actors should have been soaked in a vat of black brine prior to shooting and maybe do the whole thing in something very close to black and white.

    The book, the book, the book . . .

    Looks like I need to get the book. But I still like the movie. Too me it looked bleak...none the less Mad Max meets Moses Book of Eli I think will be pretty good. There have been good animes too. Nausicca and one which I cant remember the name of but humans injected trees with the human gene on the moon and started a chain reaction giving trees Goku like powers and incinerating earth I suppose cause their roots split the moon in half. Forward to the future much of Earth is desert with pockets of Sentient Fauna which control the water supply. The protagonist of the story is a girl from the technological past awakened from a cryosleep to unleash the doomsday mountain. A pretty good movie

    Post Apocalyptic Movies

    in Anime or Science Fiction

    Posted

    The trend towards "end of times" stuff (i.e. zombie takeover, 2012, supra-natural disasters) seems to be increasing in recent times. I attribute this rather unhealthy obsession to the fact that this decade has presented real challenges to Americans for the first time. To keep this non-political, I will simply state that this challenge relates to the general decline (perceived) of American influence in the world.

    Instead of focusing on how to fix "things", we spend all of our time worrying, fearing, and even hoping for some strange post-apocalyptic clean slate from which we can start over... which explains the irrational stocking of supplies, ammunition, etc for whatever the nuts think is coming.

    And with that in mind we enter the age of Blade runner where noodles and sex with cyborgs is a common thing

×
×
  • Create New...