Anubis

Look at it this way. Time to save money. I wanted a Low-vis, but couldn't. Next year will be expensive. After this insane summer, I need time to save for the next onslaught. Q-rau, SDF-1, Macross 0 stuff, YF-19 (gonna buy two of those), and lord knows what else. Remember, too, because of the conventional engines, the SV-51 and VF-0 are big valks. At 1/72 they should pair up with our existing stuff.

I have 2 regular stands right now, and two SS stands on the way. When the other two come I'll have Reg - 1/48 VF-1A Hikaru w/ Fast Packs SS - VF-11B FP Reg - YF-21 flying along side an SS VF-19A all in fighter mode of course. I'll try to get some pics after the stands arrive.

I might pose Basara with my VF-17S stepping on him, for a couple of days. Nor really in scale, but might be funny. Then banish him. If he is in the second run that is, which wouldn't surprise me. Underwear Minmei is kind of funny.

Technically, it's still Gerwalk. Arms out or not.

Just finished watching 49 during lunch. It was definately Sutherland's ship that Yzak destroyed, after he beat the crap out of Forbidden. You don't get to see dual beam sabers used that often. Was kind of nice. Azrael so needed to die. Even though I never liked Natarle, he didn't need to shoot her 4 times. He was a poor shot even not to kill her after that, though the last two were to try to get her to unlock the door. Fllay at least tried to do something descent, trying to warn off archangel. Two points I liked were the dendrobium style beam sabers the meteors used, and I thought Providence's funnels would be on cables like the Mobuis Zero's, but sure enough they are straight up remote control funnels that move and sound just like UC's. Still no explanation on how they are controlled either. Just the blurb in 48 about "You understand the theory, right?" The episode was pretty much straight space combat, very packed. The finale will be one of those ones you feel tired after watching, I would guess. It will take the whole episode just to finish this up. We might get some Kuruze info, but that's about it for this series. I would say he escapes, but maybe Kira or Asuran will finish him off. Man, did Mwu go out. Sucks that he died, but he took the big Lorengreen shot. Like Druna Skass said, I wonder if Ramius will be pregnant in the second series. Would be plausible, and would kind of fit the tone things have gone. I wonder what kind of time gap there will be between the series, if any. One more episode and then we can have a break. Side note: One thing I kind of missed in this series was the other colonies. True there was really no space to include them in, but still. Heliopolis was an Orb colony, and if I remember right, in the beginning they implied there were other colonies out there. There have to be others, if there is a big abondoned cluster that Achangel and co. hid inside, and had been caught in the crossfire of the war, and was supposedly used for various purposes by other shady folk. PLANT was it's own entity, and was the one Earth was at war with. Could there be other colony clusters that just stayed out of this fight? May be interesting to see some of those next time around, if indeed there were others.

Sweet.

If anything I would guess he mght have been one of Sigel's advisors when Sigel was chairman. I don't think they specified, but it's a logical guess IMO. Or maybe Lacus's caretaker as a child? I'm curious myself.

No tech TV for me either. Though I have no desire to see the Man-Faye. I have been lucky enough to avoid seeing any pics of him so far.

Personally, I like to have my legit DVD's. I would rather download fansubs instead of buy a bootleg for the simple reasons of 1: I use broadband so the speed isn't really an issue, unless I use Kazaa, which I do on occasion, 2: I don't want to pay twice for the same show, and 3: the studios don't see a dime. If anything I might use fansubs to preview a couple of episodes of a show and see if it gets my attention. If I get cought up in it, and it won't be out for a while, I may download the whole thing. For instance, I liked read or die, but had no idea if the TV series would interest me or not. It helps with my buying priority list a little. The only show so far that I haven't bought that I downloaded was Chobits, since I ended up not really caring for the show. As soon as my discs arrive I delete the digisubs. Gundam Seed I have to finish at this point. Inu-Yasha I keep up with, though it is starting to drag out. That's really it. I do agree that downloading mass fansubs, not planning to buy the DVD's or only buying bootlegs is not ethical. Selling Zeta Gundam bootlegs knowing the legit, high quality box set is well on it's way is wrong. Macross DYRL and FB2012 are the only bootlegs I have bought, or really plan to right now. Maybe M7 if I have a slow purchasing month. Simple reason there is that's the only way to get those on DVD. Thanks to HG. I spend average $120-160 a month on DVD's as it is, sometimes, EDIT IN: usually, more. I love rightstuf.com. I get my preorders really cheap there. Back to the topic at hand, for Macross Zero, I have downloaded it, and will download the remaining episodes. You can count on my buying two legit copies when it comes out though, one for me and one for my brother. Separate plug, buy the Animeigo Macross discs if you haven't already. I'm amazed how many fans here have not seen it, and only remember SDF Macross from watching robotech, or owning the boot with pitiful subs. It can't stack up. Animeigo did a good job on it. The gerwalk hug in Episode 3 of Zero seems pretty sweet. You can tell from the color though it is dark that it's nora's and shin's valkyries. And I would guess the girl that whipped Shin would have the red valk. I am going to go do some actual work now.

Maybe they angle Shin in as another squadron commander, assuming they do some epilogue at the end of Zero.

It's hard to say for sure why or wether it was necessary, maybe to give Hikaru the lead for the remainder of the show, maybe only way to get him out of Roy's shadow. Maybe to insert some drama. Suits his character though that he forced himself to live until he could at least see Claudia for another moment.

In the desert arc, Barfelt called Kira a Berserker, and explained its definition to him. The only one so far the has mentioned anything about Kira or anyone posessing a "seed" is Markio, the blind guy. Of course, he hasn't elaborated any. Yet. There are several plot threads that should see some screen time in Seed 2.

This statement is not meant to spark a dub/sub debate, just my opinion. I prefer subtitles myself, but it often helps for those new to anime to watch a few good quality dubs first to wean them in a little. Then you feed them subtitles. After a while you don't notice them anymore really, unless it's a very busy scene, for me at least. I like to treat it as "to each their own." If a show has a good dub, I might try it. But the voices have to fit the character good, and I do it with the subtitles on anyway to see how much dialog changes. If it's too much, then it goes right back to Japenese.

They had to kill him. I wanted Mwu to live, dammit. At least he goes out well. Guess they had to kill someone to make it a dramatic ending. Shame the 3 Astray girls didn't get more screen time. Gave them just enough screen time to go awww when they died. On the plus side 2 of the 3 stooges get whacked. Seed mode will likely be one of the topics for Series 2. Along with the other dangling plot threads that will be left hanging.

For first-timers into anime I find it's better to stick with movies or shorter OVA's to get them primed up. It's always best to try to stay in the kind of areas they like to watch. Action movies, Sci-Fi flicks, Comedies, or if they pride off stuff like Usual Suspects. Find the corresponding anime to their tastes. Not all people will enjoy Mahoromatic, and others will not enjoy Vampire Hunter D. Either of them. I knew a guy whose wife was all for watching anime, but she refused to watch anything resembling a Vampire, live-action or not. Go figure. Same girl sat through Fist of the Northstar. Not happily, but she sat though it. Some general crowd-pleasers I've seen work, and since the dubs are good for all of these, you don't have listen to complaints of having to read. <_< Except for Kenshin. Dub sucks on that one, ruins all of the impact. Make them watch it subtitled. 1. Rurouni Kenshin OVA. First. It will immediately disperse any remaining "cartoon" notions for the duration of the night or weekend. And it completely kicks ass. 2. FLCL 3. Cowboy Bebop movie 4. For a guy's only night, Vampire Hunter D, and Ninja Scroll, maybe Blood, are easy picks. 5. Jin-roh and Perfect Blue are also good viewings for the aforementioned Usual Suspects or Resevoir Dogs crowd, or film buffs. 6. Macross Plus works as well. The first time a friend and I put it on for friends in the dorm a few years ago, some people didn't recognize what it was, more just a cool transforming fighter show, "kind of like top gun" was the lure my friend that rented the tapes thought of, I think. This was over 5 years ago, mind you. Then we get to part 3 when they show the SDF-1 and some of the novices went "Hey, that's the thing from Robotech!!" It was kind of funny. They didn't catch the VF-1 or Monster earlier on I guess. Whether they recognize it properly or know the proper backstory doesn't matter too much since they'll enjoy it anyway. If they want a Macross refresher afterwards, put on DYRL.

I still think thess guys are artificially souped up from that drug (performance enhancer or some kind of anti-rejection agent?), and any other treatments they are given. Kind of like a poor man's artificial newtype. In this case artificial coordinator. Would help to explain their instability. Also note that one is classified as a Stage 4, one as 3, and one as stage 2. This would leave Kuruze to be Stage 1, hence all the pills he has to pop. Although Kira and Athrun did comment that these guys were like neither coordinators or naturals. Hmmm. Maybe I'm reaching a little far. We'll see. I am waiting for those 3 to be stepped on as well, by the way. Especially the guy in Forbidden and his bug eyes. Yeah, I meant to say that, they are kind of like artificial coordinators, but to do it, they had to wipe all their memories etc, that's why the ultra homo Azrael keeps referring to them as Unit X's CPU etc. And the reason why Klueze is popping all those pills was explained in like episode 45 or 46, it's because he is a clone job of fmfmfmflaga's father gone bad. They mentioned something about advanced aging as a result, so I think he pops the pills to keep from aging too fast. Notice that the trio pilots seem to get their drugs via injection as well. Oh, yeah, forgot about that. -Smacks forehead- But: It could still be some kind of medicinal cocktail. He still has to have something though because he is not actually a coordinator, yet he is an ace among them. I'm afraid that this may be something that may not be delved into completely until the second series, as to how the hell they made the trio. Also, who is the Stage 1? My money is still on Kuruze. Also, he spasms kind of like the trio when the drugs start wear off.

I have one on my shelf, too. My only complaint is that the warp nacelles are not very sturdy or secure on their mounts. If I had to do it again I would have cemented them on. Looks great though. The Enterprise-E is now shipping at HLJ, by the way. Don't plan on getting one of those personally, but I would buy an Excelsior.

Wasn't it promised before that they acknowledged the screw-ups of the past two films, and they would go back to batman's gothic root for the next movie? I could have sworn I read that a while back. They just needed a proper script and cast. Hopefully they get it right. Batman and Robin pretty much sunk it in for Hollywood that you can't make comic adaptions so campy and stupid and expect to turn a profit. X-men, Daredevil, even the Hulk to a degree did their properties at least some justice. Batman and Robin was one of the worst movies I have ever seen, and it would really be wise for them to get the next one right, if they don't want to permanently bury the franchise. Bale has potential to be a good Batman.

I still think thess guys are artificially souped up from that drug (performance enhancer or some kind of anti-rejection agent?), and any other treatments they are given. Kind of like a poor man's artificial newtype. In this case artificial coordinator. Would help to explain their instability. Also note that one is classified as a Stage 4, one as 3, and one as stage 2. This would leave Kuruze to be Stage 1, hence all the pills he has to pop. Although Kira and Athrun did comment that these guys were like neither coordinators or naturals. Hmmm. Maybe I'm reaching a little far. We'll see. I am waiting for those 3 to be stepped on as well, by the way. Especially the guy in Forbidden and his bug eyes.

They really did cook up some wierd names for this show. The official spellings make them seem wierder than the first batches of fansubs did. Frey (older fansub) vs. Fllay (actual) for example. But, go figure. Makes better sense to cook up something original at least, which they accomplished. I do think Engrish played a role in the namings, though. They are better than some of the names some people cook up for their kids these days though.

Sorry to go kinda OT but I haven't bought from HLJ in more than a year. I know they've changed their shipping options within the last several months, I'm probably gonna pick up my MPC Prime from HLJ. What's the best shipping option when ordering from HLJ (since they've stopped using UPS)? EMS is the fastest, more reliable way to get your item. You pay for that convenience though. With SAL you kind of roll the dice. I haven't trusted it enough to try it, and I still remember when they had UPS, they advised against using SAL. Some people get their stuff pretty quick, others after a few weeks. And there is no way to track it. There is still Tam and Kevin, too, hopefully they get their preorders up soon.

The outline somehow reminds me of the Virsago in X, torso looks like a re-designed RX-78, lower legs seem reminicent of the Zeta, I don't think it looks TOO bad, but the back pack, ugh... I think that design would be better in Wing, than SEED... I wonder if the Strike Rouge, will have a Super Gundam style add on... The Strike Rouge has the Aile Strike package. Same as the first Strike, just the suit itself is pinkish/reddish. In deactive mode it looks identical.

The Nu Gundam's funnels were sweet indeed. We need episode 49 of Seed so we can see how Providence's work.

A funnel was Newtype-specific weapon Mobile Suits like the Nu Gundam and Sazabi used in UC. Mind controlled remote lasers. Usually around 6 of them per Mobile Suit. The Quebley had 12.

Don't get me wrong. Resurrection had some good points, Ripley was OK, the acidic blood and what not was kind of a neat addition, but the ugly white monstrosity at the end was not necessary. The end monster kind of ruined it. It is still better than Alien 3, though.