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Oh yeah but I was talking more about some of the novels, comics, and the original animated movie that had a grittier tone. Even Beast Wars had a underlying serious tone to it with casualties that actually stayed dead, Animated was all right but if it didn't have all those nods to G1 fans I doubt it would have been half as good plus when they changed most of the guns Transformers used to axes, ball and chains, throwing stars ect. I knew something was up. I just want something on a large scale with a grand scope and a massive cast of characters, if you've seen G.I Joe Resolute then you can see that there is a way to take a 80's campy TV show and make it more mature.

To me Transformers is a "real" robot series in the same vein as Macross or Gundam. I quickly loose interest when it becomes to "childish" or to much of a theme series like Galaxy. It should be gritty and realistic and have a scope that shows that's this has been a war between hundreds if not thousands of beings that have lasted for millions of years. More like the original Animated movie where there are consequences and casualties in a WAR and have a seriousness of tone. I know I know these are basically half hour long commercials to sell toys, but if Macross or Gundam can have a more mature storyline, first class animation without a "style" to lean on and a seriousness of tone AND still sell toys and t-shirts and whatever I can't see why Transformers can't do the same.

I see no reason for this car to exist, if I wanted more cargo room I'd get a 5 station wagon, if I wanted a SUV I'd get a X5 or even a X6. But right now BMW is turning into a German Toyota with all these crossovers/SUV's/SAV's whatever and slicing a diminishing market even thinner. They should have spent the money and made a 5 series coupe to compete with the new E-class coupe, I know they have the 6 series but I personally think those cars are hideous and reminds me of a German Monte Carlo, big on the outside, tiny on the inside, and really no point to it other than a design exercise. At least BMW interiors are getting better and that Twin Turbo V8 is a real masterpiece.

The only way I see a pretty accurate Blackbird with minimal kibble was if Takara made it a Masterpiece Jetfire and totally changed the robot mode but the chances of that are .5-0%

Your probably talking about Hayato Jin who pilots Getter Jaguar and forms Getter 2 and later Getter Liger in Getter Robo G and believe it or not he's the badass of the team lol. Obviously his character was toned down for the tv show but in the manga and in New Shin Getter Robo (not Shin Getter Armageddon) he's much closer to what Go Nagai and Ken Ishikawa planned for the character.

Oh I know it could have been way better but Bandai is making constant changes with the DX just like Yamato is with the VF-1's with each new version getting better with minor improvements. They can't do anything radical because the tooling cost for these must be enormous and to expensive to just toss but constant minor changes is possible. Yeah what you mentioned would seem like a lack of future thought but then the same could be said of Yamato's whole shoulder design on the 1/60's which is just wonky. One is a production problem while the other one is a design problem.

Yamato Valks are nice and all and probably the best Valkyries you can buy, but compared to some of the stuff out there, there pretty average. I was just pointing out that there are toy lines that can exceed Yamato and that Bandai can put out first class stuff. I think what people are forgetting is that no matter if your looking at Yamato Valks or the Soul of Chogokin line or whatever it took about ten years to where they are today. No company can put out a perfect figure on the first try and I dare anybody to show me a perfect toy from a brand new toyline that didn't have any improvements or running changes. Sure the DX is far from perfect, but it's no worse than Yamato's first attempt at a Valk and like any toyline it's constant improvement and design changes that make any toyline better.

I wouldn't say that, the paint jobs on the Soul of Chogokin line is immaculate and those figures make Yamato Valks look like Happy Meal toys. Perhaps they've had trouble on the DX's but Bandai can put out first class paint jobs.

No thanks HHH is a goofball and would make a horrible Thor and as any Thor fan will know Thor is more about some big guy with a hammer smashing in heads. That would be like casting Brad Pitt for the role of Roy Focker just because you need a blonde good looking guy. Also for casting unknowns as super heroes well it started out that way with Superman then once the studios saw it could make money you got the Kilmer's and Clooney Batman's, Nick Cage as a possible Superman, Halle Berry as Catwoman the Fantastic Four with Jessica Alba Snipes as Blade ect. Untill Batman Begins with a then unknown Christian Bale and then Bryan Singer's casting Routh as Superman and so on.

I'm so stoked Thor is my favorite Super Hero and I've been reading him since the late 70's early 80's. As for the choice of who's playing Thor I think half of the problem is which big name actor out there can even match Thor's physical stature? In the comics Thor is 6'6" and over 600+ pounds, true this guy isn't THAT big but he is bigger than 99% of the big name actors out there (Tom Cruise is like what 5'7"). Plus I think Super Hero movies have done pretty good casting unknown actors or actors who aren't A-listers, and in any movie you have to suspend reality and believe so and so is this character and even more so in larger than life characters like Super Heroes. It shouldn't be actor "X" as Thor but Thor being portrayed by actor "X".

Oh yeah I know all about those shoulder problems. First thing I did was check the hinges, no crack but there is a white stress mark plus the clear parts on the wings popped of (easy fix) and a small black part for the fins on the legs came unglued (another easy fix) .

I got my first 1/60 VF-1S Valk yesterday and I love it. Here it is with the Yamato Danguard Ace and it's hard to believe these two figures are from the same company. There so different but good in there own way. Sorry for the crap pictures and if having Danguard in the pictures is a problem then please delete my post.

I like it, but do you think there will be a Strike Pack to go with this in black? I'm not sure if the standard ones would look good with this.

Honestly I think Detroit needs a car like the Fit and Insight, it already knows how to make good crossover's, suv's, minivans. The GTI and Miata sell in too few numbers and right now isn't worth it for Detroit while they already have cars that can compete and beat the A4 and Genesis. Hopefully the Chevy Volt and Caliber and those small cars from Chrysler and Ford (forget names) will help turn them around. Because if your a fan of the Domestics or not the Auto industry needs them.

Yeah if I had to choose to buy a Japanese car my first choice would be a Nissan. Maxima's have been like tanks and literally have saved my life and the old 300ZX Twin Turbo is STILL one of my all-time favorite cars with looks that still look modern. As for the Speed3 yeah I'm pretty used to torque steer, I owned a 04' Monte Carlo SS with the supercharger that had torque steer up the wazoo plus living in Canada torque steer + snow = zero forward motion and going around corners it would understeer so much I became a snowplow lol. But yeah it would be nice if Mazda would spread the Speed treatment to other models but I fear in this economy the Speed3 is it for now and that's mostly because it has almost a cult following and IMHO is the true heir to the VW GTI legacy but I do have a bad feeling about RX-8 lasting much longer.

The first car I ever drove was a red 89' 240SX and promptly drove into a ditch when going around a bend and hit a wet patch and the rear end came out on me, man I was 15 scared outta my mind and I just trashed my moms brand new car lol! She bought a 92' Maxima SE with the 190hp motor after which I rolled after doing 180km on a country road and hit black ice with a car full of people, last accident I've ever been in. Survived both without a scratch, she went on to buy another Maxima and then a Quest minivan, I guess she figured since I had a lead foot she either had a choice of keep buying Nissan's or a Abrams tank lol. By the way she drives a Altima now

Yeah, that's why next to the pick there's a little triangle which denotes that the Space Shuttle isn't to scale with the others.

Yeah that seems a little large. I think I'll wait for one of those official spec books to come out. Anyways here's a pic depicting all the Enterprises. Interesting it looks like the trend to go larger with each new version was starting to reverse with the Sovereign class ship.

I just received my Yamato Danguard Ace yesterday and I love it, it's quite large and you can kinda see my Maxfactory Mazinkaiser next to it so if you have that figure you can kinda quess how large Danguard is (about 11-12 inches). I know it's not a SOC but I figured I'd post a pic here instead of starting a new thread just for it. I'll be getting my first Yamato Valk in a week or so (1/60 VF-1S Focker with strike Pack) and can't wait to see how much it differs from Danguard. I'm guessing Danguard has a very simplistic transformation compared to the Valk but probably has more diecast in one arm than the Valk.

Well since Thor and the Avengers are being made into movies my biggest wish for a comic movie is coming true. But after that I would say Grendizer, but not as a live action movie but a high quality Anime movie like the Evangelions. I know it's technically isn't a comic book character but it did have a Manga which is the same thing. For traditional comics my wish again is a JLA movie since it seems it's been canceled yet again. I do think the Savage Dragon would be a great movie in the same vein as Hellboy. A little OT but I would LOVE to see either a OVA or Anime movie based on the SRW game series but without the OG characters but the big name new and old Super Robots like Mazinger, Getter, Daitarn, Gundam, Macross ect.

I'm so stoked for GX-46!!!! Here's some quick pics of my SOC collection.

Oh yeah I know all about the downfalls of the Wankel, low gas mileage, high oil consumption, low torque, and you basically have to drive it like you stole it. The engine in the RX-8 is much better than the old twin turbo RX-7 but it does have flaws which are just inherent in the Wankel design. I was thinking more about trying to keep the weight balance of the Miata and since the RX-8 is already in a rear drive car it should be much easier than putting the Speed3's engine in. If Mazda could solve the seal and oil burning problem I see no reason why they couldn't go back to turbocharging or supercharging the Wankel. Gas mileage will never be a Wankel's strong suite but you are buying a sports car so mileage is usually secondary. Unfortunately Mazda has pretty much painted itself in a corner with the RX's that they have to use a Wankel no matter what, the new 3.7 in the new Mazda 6 would be a perfect fit for the RX and with some work could be a real challenger to the 370Z.

Yeah the whole Warp Nacelles being on strut like things is a part of "Trek" science to create warp propulsion but is a major target. Supposedly there are multiple layers of shields protecting it and the whole ship but how many times have we seen a Klingon or someone hit it once and the Enterprise is basically a sitting duck and can only maneuver on impulse or thrusters. Of course that one hit ALWAYS causes some engineer to yell "coolant leak" and "we're venting gas", you'd think they would have built sturdier ships in the future, perhaps Starfleet ships are built by Yamato

I'm thinking about getting a new Mazdaspeed 3 since I need something practical but I want something with some balls. Went to the dealership and while I was there took out a new Miata, nice balanced car with decent power but I couldn't help wondering how better it would be if it had the RX-8 engine in it of even better the Mazdaspeed 3's engine. Although my dream car is still the Nissan GT-R (there's something just so Japanese about it) I've seen some spy shots of the new Ferrari F500 and a computer rendered picture in Car and Driver and if it turns out to be half as nice looking as that cg pic I may have a new dream car. Any more info on the new Ferrari?

Haven't seen the movie yet but I'm a huge Trek fan, I actually think that the later seasons of DS9 were some of the best Trek stuff ever. As for the movies well of course 4 is the high water mark but I did love 6 and First Contact was the best of the New Gen stuff. As for this new movie, well I know how Abrams is getting by the whole prequel continuity thing and for me that's my biggest beef. I'm a continuity buff and I just don't want the last 40 some years of Trek stuff to be thrown out because of this "new" Star Trek. Personally I think that the Next Gen crew could still make movies if they would just stop forcing the "family dynamic" that the original had and focus more on a universal threat, the original was a better "family" but the Next Gen were a better crew and should focus on that. But I'm sure I'll love this movie anyways since it seems to be the best Star Trek movie in over a decade.