Warmaker

I was just browsing around HLJ. My focus on Macross collectibles is on the 1/48. But I browsed the 1/60 section for the sake of it, especially since I have yet to buy a Macross Zero item. Shock of all shocks, I was laughing when I saw the ridiculous prices being asked for Yamato's 1/60 Macross Zero line. SV-51 $173 U.S. Preorder VF-0A Kudo Shin w/QF-2200D-B Ghost Booster $165.98 U.S. Preorder Contrast it to past, highly sought 1/60 Valks: Max TV Super VF-1J $82.15 (discontinued) Millia TV Super VF-1J $82.15 (discontinued) Hikaru TV Armored VF-1J $82.15 (discontinued) Roy Strike VF-1J $82.15 (discontinued) Contrast it to the larger 1/48 Valks which on average sell for $124.06 U.S. Even better are the new Preorders for the Max & Millia 1/48 TV VF-1J Reissues, with each costing $165.98, Valks that alot of people missed and really wanted more of when they first came out... the E-Bay prices for them prior to news of the reissue are a case in point. The Max & Millia TV Super Valks are also stacked with godly heaps of accessories. Thank goodness I'm not a fan of Macross Zero. I'd be paying more for something that's smaller and less sturdy than the 1/48 VF-1 Valks, with less accessories of moderate cost, and not exceedingly more detailed than the 1/48's. To top it off, a quick browse of various online stores reinforce the HLJ costs for the Macross Zero 1/60's, some going $30 U.S. more!

The poorly implemented X-Com Collector's Edition it seems goes for alot on E-Bay... after all, it has Enemy Unknown, Terror From The Deep, and Apocalypse. I arrived on the X-Com scene too late for Enemy Unknown and TFTD, but in time for the release of Apocalypse. I had alot of great moments on that one, when my friend introduced it to me. X-Com traditionally is a single-player game. But there was so much to do with all the factions, production, research, and of course combat, it was fun for us to make decisions together on the game. Like I said, there were alot of great moments. One example was a report that there was a considerably large alien infiltration in one part of the city, a big public garden / greenhouse complex. I sent enough troopers to fill 3 squads, 1 of which was the heavy weapons section (1 Rocket Launcher, 2 Auto Cannons with Explosive & Incendiary Rounds, 1 poor sap equipped with a pistol to lug around the extra ammo for all the weapons). We had the squads approach on bounding overwatches to the target area, slowly and meticulously clearing each greenhouse. Funny, everything was clear. That left the main administrative building, which was 3 stories high. We deployed 2 squads, including the heavy weapons section to cover the building in case any aliens pop up. We intended the 3rd squad to close in using as much cover as possible at a side entrance. When they got a few feet away from a door, all hell breaks loose. Alien disruptor fire starts blazing out of the windows, zapping the closest trooper dead in one volley. The squad pulls back immediately to a short wall. The covering sections immediately lay down fire using explosive rounds for the Auto-Cannon. 1 Explosive Rocket was sent for good measure. This suppresses the Aliens enough where the 3rd squad withdrew in safety. After a while, the Aliens poured out alot of fire again. I mean, ALOT! Even those face hugger things tried to rush the distance as fire was being traded. Despite all the rounds being used, we were still getting too much fire from there. Too dangerous for an assault, we figured. We'll burn them out. The Auto-Cannon gunners laid down scattered incendiary fire to ignite the place. This built up alot of smoke inside the building. 3rd squad quickly approached the building and threw Incendiary Grenades through windows into rooms not accessable to the heavy weapons section. Afterwards, they withdrew back to their cover. The fire spread quickly. We waited and waited. You hear and see the Aliens, panicking we hoped. Eventually they did and began to exit the building. That's what we wanted. We shot them to pieces as they exited in panic. We waited a bit more, shot a few more. We just waited until a good portion of the building collapsed. Once the fire mostly died down, we sent 2nd squad to clear the building. We shot a few seemingly unconscious aliens, but made certain we kept alive at least 1 of each type of alien for... research back in HQ The owning organization of the area was pissed with the damage. But we ironed it out with them after a while. Money tends to do that. Hopefully this "UFO Extraterrestrials" can bring back that feeling.

I remember about a year ago H&K also developed a far more reliable and cleaner upper receiver for the M4, the HK416. I just remembered now that you reminded me of it. I wonder if they'll try something for the full sized version instead of just the M4. Edit to add: I know the Marine Corps refuses to bite onto the M4 carrot, and still does... thank goodness, IMO. I know the M4 has inherent reliability issues in the field. Anyways, even the Army refuses to adopt the HK416 ("Better than M4 but you can't have one") despite the great improvement in reliability.

Which one? The original? I still have my X-Com Apocalypse CD but WinXP hates DOS games I'm looking at DOSBox to help me out.

Well, this question could go into the Guns Thread but since this is ground military related, I figured I would pose it here. Is the US military going to a new service rifle anytime? I know the military was looking at H&K's XM8 for a while, namely the Army. I know even the Marine Corps took a look at some examples. But the program was put to a grinding halt, silently, especially after all the promotions and hoopla showing off the XM-8. Since the XM8 has been canned, has anyone heard of a new service rifle down the sideline? OICW is no more. Some people have mentioned the FN SCAR's, but those are catered out for SOCOM. I have also read years ago that the possible fielding of a new service rifle like the XM8 also opened the possibility of a new standard round. I read about the 6.8mm SPC and 6.5mm Grendels as possible replacements for the 5.56mm round. I have extensively trained with and have supreme confidence in the M16A2, but the '16 is a weapon that demands alot of maintenance attention, especially compared to certain rifles out there (even the old AK-47's and such). A little bit of dirt? Stoppage. The carbon building up quickly? Stoppage. I was looking forward to a new service rifle... and I said rifle, not carbine!... that means the M4

I wouldn't mind. It sort of looks out of place on an aviation-themed thread.

It may be. I didn't have that magazine issue, but glancing over the preview screenshots, it seems to fit the bill. It even has the "UFOpedia." The troopers, maps, outfitting, etc. seem to have that old school feel. Now, "looks" are one thing, I just hope it's executed right. There's been several "successors" to X-Com. Wikipedia does a decent glossover on it. I've played UFO Aftermath. The biggest grievance I had with that game was the tactical aspect where your squads come into play. The maps looked good, but I was dismayed that you couldn't enter buildings and such. You couldn't destroy terrain, i.e. the aliens have all the entrances covered. I'll take my rocket launcher and make my own doorway, have some guys approach and lob incendiary grenades inside, then we wait outside in a perimeter At least that's what I used to do in X-Com Apocalypse. I loved X-Com Apocalypse but I did miss the ability to bring armor / apc's with my grunts.

I was an avid X-Com player on the PC back in the 90's. UFO Extraterrestrials I have heard nothing about in previews and whatnot. But it's releasing real soon and sifting through the screenshots seems to be a bit of a revamp to the old game. Graphics aren't comparable to modern day games, but as long as the research, production, overall strategy, and the awesome squad based fighting in completely destructible terrain is there... I think I'll like it Hopefully it turns out right. It'll be fun burning down the neighborhood again to root out the alien infestation

Did somebody say... Wing Commander!?!

Millia was bad as f**k. TV or DYRL? version. End of story!

The helmet looks funky, a bit bug-like. Anyways, just as long as the thing works as advertised, the pilots like it, and it's reliable.

Yeah, I believe it could be a cool remake. The basic idea is still sound sci-fi goodness! The possible effects today would be nice compared to the 80's mini-series / regular series. How the Visitor swould be depicted may be interesting also, as long as they retained the reptilian thing underneath. V: For some good 80's cheese! I thought Diana was cool, in her own, evil, twisted reptilian ways It even had Marc Singer, a.k.a. "The Beastmaster" along with Michael Ironside, a.k.a. Viper from "Top Gun." How about this for another remake? Buck Rogers! (or maybe not) I still vividly remember the late 70's series with Gil Gerard and Erin Grey. I remember watching the reruns of the show, along with Star Trek and BSG, as a kid and thinking Col.Deering was hot as hell... Then again, I also liked Linda Carter's Wonder Woman also as a kid The late 70's and 80's were also a really interesting time for sci-fi. Star Wars kicked the craze off then you saw alot of sci-fi shows and movies, all of which of various quality. The 90's finally came out with the longer lasting, still remembered sci-fi shows: Star Trek TNG, Babylon 5 top the list. I also loved Space: Above and Beyond. I bought the DVD set which was released some time ago. It's too bad the show only lasted 1 season since I liked the idea and style of the show (Marines in space again! good fun). But I recall that FOX here in the USA changed its showtime alot. I tune in on the typical broadcast day to be surprised some other show in its slot, and then finding a commercial way later stating the new time slot. Anyways, the show was handled poorly by FOX and we got a very, very abrupt, unsatisfying ending that pissed me off.

Thanks for the pointers, especially about enamels. I have a bunch of those and was going to use them, especially since past experience with enamels showed that they can be pretty tough. But I was reluctant to do it without guidance since I feared some sort of "meltdown" as you just described The size of the 3 Sandtroopers are just under 1 foot. Anyways, a section about Kotobukiya's Star Wars vinyle figures are right here, halfway down the page.

I got a question, though Star Wars related and one I asked at Starshipmodeller's forums but never got an answer. A while back, I preordered and received Kotobukiya's 3 Sandtrooper Vinyl Figures. The builds, detail, etc. are great! However, the weathering was absolutely atrocious. Seriuosly, it looked like they got some untrained f**k to get cotton balls, dip them in paint, and dab the armor here and there. I intend to repaint the white armor with semi-gloss white and then dirty it u. But I have never worked with Vinyl kits before. Are there certain paint types & finishes that I shouldn't use on Vinyl kits? As for the subsequent Kotobukiya figures, the subsequent Imperial & Republic troopers are all finished and weathered very nicely (Scout Trooper, Snowtrooper, 501st Clonetrooper, Cmdr.Bly, all of which I own). I guess Koto had to kick someone's a** about the lackluster weathering of the Sandtrooper line which preceded these.

Like being left under a truck's tire

jwinges, you put up pictures of the two Macross 25th Anniversary Repaints... those are horrid! We've seen them elsewhere on the MW forums and my eyes and memory have yet to recover

Heheh, talent and practice. For those of us like myself without the former, alot of the latter. Inspiration is another key ingredient. Some people are naturally talented in these ways. The rest of us need to practice. I felt I drew decently. I love doing lots of details. I used to draw alot when I was in school, even in High School. Machinery was my expertise and people I had to devote alot of effort in making look right. There were 2 things that drove me to keep working back then: - Seeing professional work. I looked at some of the Comic Book artists of the early 90's (Jim Lee, T.McFarlane, etc). But I was a bigger fan of Japanese Animation. We really didn't get manga released here in the USA at the time. Getting an imported issue of Newtype was a quest in itself back in the early 90's here in the US. The point for me on seeing the pros' work was inspiration. - Fellow drawers at school... I personally treated it as friendly competition. We had some really great artists in different "styles" like American Comics and Japanese Anime-inspired. We show the stuff in class or to each other. I see a great piece of work from one of my buddies, it got me inspired to try to outdo it. It didn't matter if I actually finally topped it, but it gave me initiative to keep working. Like I said, I used to draw alot. Sheets of paper, book covers, even my desks at Junior High and High School. Book covers I used to decorate alot. School book covers I usually put inside out, with the all white portion on the outside. Great surface to draw on and ink. It's just too bad I threw away the cover at the end of semester / school year. Desks? I used to draw on desks all the time in pencil. I'll day dream about something and I'll start scribbling on the desk. I just had to hide the work whenever the teacher walks around. The best test for how well the work I did on the desk was how long it stays on the desktop. When a subsequent student from other periods uses the desk, if they think it's stupid, they'll take their hand or sleeve and rub it away. If not, it stays there for days, sometimes weeks I had one friend in Junior High and into High School who was d**n good. He could draw people very well and drew machinery with perfection. He could do draw like an American Comic artist or switch and do Anime style. Looking at his work, there was no drop in quality when he switched back and forth. Angles, proportions, etc. He could do it all. Back in 7th grade, he was doing a short series of comic strips following an F-14 Tomcat crew. I was looking at his WIP's throughout and I couldn't help but feel jealous of the guy's ability. Not only that, he was striving for accuracy in his drawings. He checked out books on the F-14 and researched the same way older modellers would before building a truly accurate kit. I still wonder what the guy did after High School. I felt he could be a professional artist, because not only was his stuff good, but he could do it fast. He was the kid in school that always had stacks of paper all with drawings in a disorganized manner in his backpack. I recall being pained to see a fabulous carrier deck scene drawing he made but was wrinkled up on the side of his backpack -------------- Regarding pro's, there's several Japanese artists that I've followed and admired their works. * Kosuke Fujishima - Ah! My Goddess, Sakura Taisen, You're Under Arrest top my list of his works. What's awesome is that you really see his quality pick up over time. Case in point? His AMG manga which still is going. If you pick up his early stuff, i.e. Volume I's, and look at his Volumes as time progresses, he really improves... alot! * Haruhiko Mikimoto - Well, we have this thread, don't we? * Hiroaki Samura - The only set of works that I know of him are from Blade of the Immortal. I saw the US domestic release versions when I was stationed in Okinawa... go figure, buying a US version of a Japanese Manga at a US military base in Okinawa in 1996 or 1997. Anyways, I bought his Volume I of Blade of the Immortal and was immediately impressed with his style. Characters, scenes, and of course the flow of action. The series still continues and is still religously released here domestically in the US. * Masamune Shirow - Predominantly his older works. I absolutely loved his character style, scenery, and meticulous attention to detail. Everyone knows of his works with Ghost in the Shell. But what drew me in was his work on Appleseed. Everything was absolutely impressive! In the very early 90's, Appleseed was one of the very few Japanese Manga that were translated over here into the US. What's interesting to see (and I'm still witholding judgement) is the computerizing of his work. His follow ups to Ghost in the Shell are the prime example. Yes, I know he's also done some work in the *ahem* more descrete side of the house * Kia Asamiya - I unfortunately have not caught as much of his work as much as I wanted to. But the series that he did that I was able to get most of was Silent Möbius, which was introduced to me in the really early 90's by a friend of mine. What's kind of funny with him was he does get official work with some Western franchises. I bought his manga adaptation of Star Wars Episode I. I also bought his Batman: Child of Dreams. There's probably more that I didn't know about.

Callsigns... always a fun thing. We had a batch of brand new pilots come into our squadron a few months ago (welcome aboard, we're going to Iraq in a few months). I saw in the Ready Room a list of possible Callsigns for the new pilots. None of course were flattering. Then, you saw one name, something like "Viper" in the list, obviously added by the soon-to-be-named Officer. "Oh please," I thought, "Not Top Gun again." One of the senior Officers thought the same and wrote next to it in a "highly tactful" manner that your Callsign will be given to you, not chosen

Yeah, that's it, sorry I didn't notice earlier. It had the badguy from "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly" The show came in during the height of Ninja craze in the mid-80's. I recall one Halloween where all of the boys in my Elementary School (in San Francisco) were practically all Ninjas, including me. Recess was fun that day. A big Ninja fight in the schoolyard, with all the kids wearing the black outfits and toy swords. Ahh, the fun of being a kid We had one boy in our class show up without a costume. He got to wear a Pumpkin outfit :lol:

I rate him as great simply due to his older work. His characters, predominantly from Macross, are what made his name for me. I'm not too familiar with his newer stuff in the timeframe of Macross 7's production and after it.

That's because alot of these shows were mid-80's. If you weren't born yet or weren't old enough, you didn't see the Pure Cheese that was American TV of the era. Knight Rider... "Turbo boost, KITT!!!!" A-Team... When you see Hannibal put on his black leather gloves, someone was going to get their a** beat. I also recall a Ninja-based TV show in the USA... hey anyone remember that short lived TV show Still, it doesn't take away from the fact that Ninjas are like, really cool and stuff. Then there's the glory of 80's era movies, which really is another thread in itself. George Lucas of course graced us with 2 out of his 3 Original Trilogy movies in the 80's. Great stuff, except for the blasted Ewoks. Speaking of Ewoks, "The Great Flannelled One" gave us the 2 horrid Ewoks TV shows. *shudder* At least we didn't get the Holiday Special in the 80's. That's a legacy of the late 70's

For every Snatcher, Lunar, or Shining Force CD on the SegaCD, there was a multitude of cr*p like Marky Mark's video making game and Star Wars Rebel Assault. The SegaCD's library never got to be big, so the "stain" of games like the latter 2 really hurt what reputation the platform had left. But this pales in comparison to Sega's failure with the 32x. Then there's Nintendo's weird "Red/Black-Graphics-Portable-System-Mounted-On-Huge-Ridiculous-Goggles-Which-Sits-On-A-Tripod-But-Isn't-Really-Portable" thingie. Really, these make Sega's half-a**ed promotion of the Saturn seem like a Godsent Success!

Funny that you mentioned "V" since I liked that back in the 80's. But it was a "love it or hate it" kind of show.

That airline paint design is more boring than looking at a piece of asphalt.

I had the Sega CD also, and there were a few noteworthy titles in the library. But that thing was swamped with bad games like Bram Stoker's Dracula *Hideo Kojima's Snatcher. Too bad the sequel, Policenauts never came over stateside *sob* *Shining Force CD - I was a big fan also of the original Shining Force on the Genesis. *Lunar I & II