drifand

Are you on OS 9? The long filename probably truncated the file extension, IF it has been probably unZip'd by Stuffit. Just erase a couple of letters and add your own '.mpg' to the end of the filename. Quicktime should have no problems with it. It's neat!!! Love those flying toys!

The second GITS-SAC soundtrack is out. It's called 'be Human' and the central theme is the Tachikomas. Less rock, more synth and pop. I love the track called 'A.I. Sentai Tachikoma', which is actually sung by the cutesy voices. :-)

Yeah I have this problem with mine, the large gun sags to the side a little. Any idea for a cure? Dengeki Hobby ran a couple of FIX articles in the past about cleaning up paint oversprays and straightening warped barrels and such. I recall the method was basically to cut the barrel off, then drill a shaft into it to hold a supporting piece of wire or metal rod. However, I wonder if such methods would work for the mega cannon on the FIX DS... Alternatively, you might want to consider replacing the barrel completely with your own custom part. Maybe get real copper tubing in the right diameter and paint it over in white? I have seen a finished model of the 1/100 DS kit at a local hobby shop, the bend in the cannon is much, much worse!

The FIX Deep Striker is basically a beautiful display piece. You can't really play with it. It's made mostly out of PVC, so some parts may deform in warm weather or over time due to its sheer weight. If you like the design a lot, it's definitely much cheaper than buying the super-expensive even larger 1/100 resin kit. Otherwise, the 1/48 would be a better value. Relatively.

FAST packs came with the F-15C, not the E. They were in service long before Macross came about. It's just that the E has them 99.9% of the time, and has almost no bombing capabilities without them, and is HEAVILY associated with them. The C rarely uses them, usually only North Atlantic intercept missions. ::quick check:: First FAST packs were flying by 1974--plenty of time for Kawamori to learn about them before Macross. Excellent! Tip of the hat to you, Dave. :-)

Yes, that's true! It happens in Goodbye Girl, just before Max's escort squadron takes off. I wonder why it was in the script but still isn't used in the books... Maybe because it IS a copyrighted term by Hughes/McDonnell? Even in the more recent VF-X2 Official Visual Guide, it's still referred to as "Super Pack". What's more interesting is that the F-15E was introduced in 1987... Perhaps Kawamori, being the plane buff that he is, had already been following developments in the early 80's?

I missed the super retro look of the first film that became all modern in Reloaded. The cars for instance...

I still believe the term 'FAST Pack' as we use it on the Super and Strike Valks is simply a modern term of convenience. Back in 82~83, the drawings of the Super Valk simply referred to these parts as 'outer-atmosphere boosters' in Kanji. You can look in the Macross Design Works or any other vintage volume - I doubt you'll find a single reference to them as 'FAST Packs'. :-)

Nah... that's only found on studly mecha like the 1/55 Armored Valk. "Next Objective" sticker anyone? ;-)

For Ages 5+.... Riiiiiiiiiight!

HP has absorbed Compaq's rep for poor consumer after-sales service. They are really good for corporate purchases though.

Hi Hubert, Yes, I can really understand what you're saying there! For me, I may occasionally spend big money on a vintage toy I really like. But where I draw the line is: If the toy is really OLD and I can't actually PLAY with it because it is fragile etc, it is no longer a toy but a real ANTIQUE. And I don't collect antiques! :-) So although I have paid hundreds of dollars for vintage toys, I love them because I like to play with them, not because they are worth a lot of money. Sometimes a friend will tell me: XX Toy you bought for $400 is available for a lot less now on eBay! Do I care? Not really. I got the toy I liked and that's all that matters to me.

Maybe you should just stick to MUGEN customizations? The Kanji for MUGEN means "infinity" or "without limits". Don't forget, Kanji are just basically CHINESE words adopted by the Japanese. Chinese folks who see a car labeled as 'CAR' are probably going to have a good laff. :-)

Ghost = soul, aura etc. Whatever truly defines you as a separate living entity from other people, and also separates people from machine-based A.Is. Machines shouldn't have a soul... and in GITS, human-cyborgs like Motoko and Batou retain their ghosts inside their organic brains despite the rest of their bodies becoming totally artificial. Shirow would have us consider that the increasing complexity of neural-networked memory systems and biotechnology COULD give rise to a new form of sentience and life... Hence Motoko's fusion with the new lifeform spawned from Project 2501, and reincarnation as Motoko Aramaki in GITS2: MMI.

Here's my attempt to make sense of Issue 08's technobabble... GITS2: MMI Issue 08 Chapter 05: Mold Of Life continued Motoko finally breaks in and starts subverting the enemy’s anti-virus (turning them INTO virii). ‘Mother’ still doesn’t realise that one of her jacked-in subordinates, Unit 28, has been infiltrated by Motoko and continues demanding reports from him regarding Fracto. ‘Mother’ does, however, institute a Total Barrier, a physical fire-wall against hackers that has real switches that can only be turned on or off from inside the building. A side note from Shirow confirms the establishment is indeed Stabat Mater, a “famous entertainment (religious) organisation physically located in Singapore”. Motoko digs thru the files accessible from Fracto and Unit 28, and discovers that ‘Mother’ is in fact Millennium, Stabat Mater’s resident Cyberdome Artist – not exactly what you’d classify as a dangerous e-thug. Still unaware of Unit 28’s compromise, Millennium accepts more reports from him that are supposedly ‘virus checked’. In a perhaps, overconfident move, Millennium throws down the Total Barrier and practically invites Motoko to enter for a showdown. Millennium seems intrigued by the high-level A.I. grade enemy she’s facing in Motoko. Motoko enters the system and throws back the potent virus that Millennium had unleashed on Poseidon earlier… and is immediately surprised by an unexpected counter-attack! Apparently the virus has been combining itself with the information Motoko has been sifting thru and mutated beyond her control. But Millennium is in for a surprise too, for her own antibodies seem to be disintegrating under Motoko’s undetected meddling earlier. Both parties take turns to be shocked at how capable the other is. But Millennium makes what seems to be a fatal mistake when she accepts yet another report from Unit 28. Motoko has been using those reports to slip in compound viruses which have now activated inside Millennium’s brain. Just when things seem to be under control, Motoko is stunned yet again by another furious attack, the scale of which causes her to suspect the enemy is also using a Decatoncale-class supercomputer. She seems to be getting into serious trouble as her first protection maze is taken apart. Motoko notices that the time lag for the attack is shorter than when she faced off Millennium – which means this new super-AI enemy is VERY close by. Without using any relays, the enemy could be right here in Poseidon HQ, or perhaps a direct line from an overhead satellite. Motoko accesses an attack satellite and discovers that the enemy already has control of it. She senses that the enemy is like a mirror – reflecting her own strategies and attacks. Motoko gets a little desperate as the satellite moves into attack position overhead, and attempts to shut it down with a master override. She experiences something like her own ‘Unit 28’ when 2 of her trusty drones are frozen by attacking forces. The downed drones are sealed off and Motoko attempts to have them analysed and repaired. Meanwhile, using an astro observatory in Hawaii, the remaining drone has managed to detect what appears to be an enemy space station, which is the likely source of the attacks. Even as the enemy attempts to shut down the power supply to the observatory, Motoko has found out that the transmission dish on the space station is made by none other than Poseidon! The cyber defenses on the station are also deemed ‘impregnable’ by our highly capable Motoko. She wonders why she has never encountered this enemy before… Still working thru Millennium’s hijacked brain, Motoko is warned by her drone that brain activity is reaching dangerous levels, and that Decatoncale is also 2% away from maximum load. To add to all this, a US nuclear sub has been detected as preparing to launch its missiles! Motoko stays cool and makes plans to intercept the sub as well as manoevering a disused reflector panel from the Hubble 3 telescope to cut off the enemy sat’s line-of-sight, and then use it to fry the enemy’s power generators. All this happens as the drones report greater levels of damage and more barriers penetrated by the enemy. A significant intrusion into Decatoncale causes Motoko’s physical body, ‘asleep’ as she’s jacked into the supercomputer, to lose one of her arms. Motoko is forced to back off a little while trying to affect repairs. She postulates that for an enemy to be able to create their own Decatoncale AND procure black shuttle launches to built the station, they would have to have access to one of Poseidon’s top execs. She knows the station’s system is in all probability a trap, but due to the nature of the enemy she simply cannot back down. She decides to replicate the enemy’s armor and plunge in with a “mirror shield tactic”. As her busted drones come back online, she instructs them to find a way around Decatoncale’s danger-avoidance systems (i.e. to ‘go beyond safety levels)… Motoko has decided to infiltrate the mysterious Poseidon President’s brain! As the issue comes to a close, the enemy is getting closer to taking over Decatoncale (and Motoko), as she prepares to make a physical link with the President’s body. End of Issue 08 Phew! That was a lot of talking!!! I hope this really makes sense to anyone else trying to follow the story. The suspicion about the enemy being closer than ever may well indicate it's one of Motoko's previous personalities... I don't know. Just have to wait for Issue 09

I just read GITS2 Issue 08. What can I say? If I were to remove ALL the damn cyber-speak, we'd have NOTHING to talk about!!! It's just one long chapter of virii versus antidotes and supercomps being used as giant clubs to beat the sh** out of each other. I'm gonna have trouble with this one...

That's Kanji for 'car'.

GBF, unless the Toynami versions are really superior in some way to the original DX, I wouldn't be in the market for it as a set or otherwise. I mean, we still haven't seen what the Mospeada Legioss (and hopefully Tread Bomber) will turn out. Toynami's predeposition for premium pricing sure doesn't help.

Hi JRock, Thanks for the offer, I will definitely keep you in mind. I think the reason Voltron/Golion hasn't been Rumbled on TBDX is... because it has such a separate and popular fan base that there're already tons of other sites that have more detailed info on it than any short article could ever pull off. If I were to do a Rumble, it would more likely be on the TOY's merits itself. Perhaps the best time for such an effort would be when the announced Toynami 'Masterpiece' Voltron is finally revealed. A retrospective would be excellent for fans of the series AND toy lovers to remember how good it was - and what the new toy is up against. What do you think? And GBF, You bet I would if I managed to snag one! :-)

Sorry GBF, I was still groggy from an all nighter Hi DestroidsRage, I get SOME of what you're saying. But I for one will buy a toy just for itself if it's really cool, even if it does cost a bomb. I never got to watch any of the shows that inspired the old Godaikins but I already loved those toys when I was a kid. Regardless of whether the show is cool or not, it won't change how I feel about a toy I like. Here's one example: I'm drooling over the possiblity of owning one of those Zillion bike-armors made by SEGA. Watched the show? No. Is the design cool? YES! Expensive? Very. Still want to buy it? Hell, yeah (If I had the cash)!

>Theyre probably the only american toys I'd ever consider collecting. Awww... You mean you didn't like stuff like STARCOM? Those motorised Power Deploy vehicles were da bomb!

Hi GBF, Sometimes it's the toys that really outshine the show... and I'll always take a cool toy no matter how dorky the show might have been. The problem then, might be what do we mean by 'cool'? For some folks that means ultra retro diecast toys that cost $$$. And they'll love it regardless of the show! Take the original Clover DX Gattai GUNDAM for example. How many MODERN fans of MS Gundam would even want to buy that very expensive, clunky toy? And yet it is highly cherished by vintage collectors precisely because of it's inaccuracies and outlandish gimmicks. It's part of Super Robot history and some folks really dig that! Personally, if a show turns out super cool AND the toys are great, then it's a bonus. I mean I haven't even watched Orguss and my handle is 'drifand'! And to JRock, DX Dairugger XV sounds like a really good idea! I'll see if i can pull it off...

Here's yet another old skool robot for 80's mecha fans - the DX Machine Henkei Gattai XABUNGLE. As Real Robots go, it is one heavy clunker. But it has a charm of its own! Head on down to TBDX and read all about the SOLID DISCO ROBO today. :-)

More sassy, don't you think? The stock bodies had really crappy articulation. Now Motoko can take on Trinity!

Ah, what the heck! Here's a pic of the black cyber-suit Motoko Aramaki with a bbi Perfect Body stuffed into her costume: