Major Johnathan

Hmm, my last post was a bit off topic. Regarding Yamato; Imagine if at Guadalcanal, Adm. Yamamoto had actually USED his TWO Super Battleships, Yamato and Musashi, not to mention Nagato and Mutsu which were no slouchs', instead of just useing the 4 Kongo-class battlecruisers. At this time, Japan was the undisputed master of night combat and with Henderson field on Guadalcanal despertely hanging on, I can't see how Japan wouldn't have dealt a decisive defeat. Even in broad daylight, at this point Japan could still provide air cover (a distant memory by 1944~45) and the U.S. had just one or two carriers in theatre, Henderson couldn't put up enough bombers to sink those 2 monster BB's and 2 hefty BB's... There's a specific moment, during a Night Battle, where the Battlecruiser Kirishima duelled with BB's South Dakota and Washington, Kirishima fought admirably, but was utterly outgunned by the time Wahington got into the fight. It would have been very different if Yamato and/or Musashi appeared. But, the much vaunted 'visionary' Adm. Yamamoto was untterly unwilling to risk damaging, let alone losing, one of his precious Battleships, which belies his reputation as the great carrier air power admiral. When push came to shove, he'd send anything and everything against the Americans but not his majestic Battleships, they might get scratched after all. Tactically, during the crucial year of 1942, such timidness cost Japan dearly. Then look at the futile, nearly pathetic demise of Musashi and Yamato. No air cover in either instance and US was fielding just a 'slight' numerical advantage in everything imagineable.

There's always great debate about this, but I believe Japan had a real chance at winning, in spite of major disadvantages. Had they won Midway, who knows what they might have done, Hawaii and cutting off Australia were next on their 'to do list'. I even think, had they won the Guadalcanal/Solomons campaign, they still might have won. Japan never realistically intended to conquer America, it was believed they could so bloody U.S. forces, sink so many ships and capture so much island territory that America would buckle under the pressure and sign a peace agreement that would secure the Empire's new conquests. It's easy to say that would never happen since it didn't, but imagine if at Pearl, or Midway or even Guadalcanal, the last of the U.S. Carriers were sunk? What would have stopped Japan from severing the island chains that supplied Australia? Or prevented either the destruction of Pearl Harbor or even invasion of Hawaii?(thus pushing the USN all the way to San Francisco) There would also be great opportunity to finish the job against Britain, secure Colombo/Ceylon and even Madagascar while the Army swept into India. Then Imperial Japan could at last 'link up' with the Germans in N.Africa and Central Asia. This could have had dire consequences for the Soviet Union too. For about the first 2 years, an allied victory was far from a sure thing in the Pacific. Damn! I wish there was a really good Pacific War strategy game out there...

Damn, were all getting old. I'm a little surprised by this, I remember seeing Pat Morita in some interview not so long ago and he looked fine. Too bad, he was a nice guy and could be funny as hell. RIP Pat Morita.

One reason I have some hope this movie could be good is they got Joe Hisaishi to compose the soundtrack. He did Mospeada back in the day and recently he did Kikujiro(?) and Spirited Away. As well TONS of other stuff. Also, no they didn't have female crewmembers in WWII. They essentially had the same positioins as U.S. women at the time. (though Japanese women had considerably fewer rights in general) But they worked in factories, did clerical work,nursing etc. The love story seems to be between a sailor and his gf on shore. Hope this movie isn't lame

I do recognize other Battleships had some advantages, especially in Radar and fire control. But there's something to be said for sheer armor and shell size. It's ironic that Japan put such monumental resources, effort and prestige in the Yamato and Musashi and then failed to use them early in the war when it might have actually made a difference. (especially around Guadalcanal 1942, at night... ) (incidentally, Yamato entered service days after Pearl Harbor, but she certainly could have made her presence felt anywhere IF they'd actually risk useing her.) Yamato and Iowa class share the same peculiar history, that is they never really got into big BB vs. BB surface engagements. Only Yamto's fight with escort carriers and Destroyers, and that's hardly what they expected Yamato to duel against. Iowa's served overwhelmingly as flak ships, and downed quite a few planes too but I don't think that's what they had in mind when they built them.

It's looking good. Personally, and it's subjective, I like the shorter legs. Tall women are intimidating.

I'm a big WWII Imperial Japan afficianado. So I really hope they do justice for the Yamato. I'm still trying to figure out how they'll do the special effects. I haven't seen ANY of Yamato's escorts which really deserve to be seen. And I wonder if the USN planes will look good or not.(one shot in the trailer looks like a P-47, there were no USAF planes attacking Yamato.) Hellcats,Helldivers and Avengers only. Yamato class BB's dwarfed all the world's other Battleships, I'm tired of hearing about Bismarck, it was a pipsqueak to the Yamato. Even the Iowa class BB's were considerably outweighed, by about 15,000 tons if I remember right.

I never would have thought the base would look so good, it reminds me of the old Imai factory kit. Very Macrossy.

I'm a big fan of Magic Sculpt, it doesn't in any way heat up/melt plastic, I use it all the time as filler in airplane nose cones to hold led weight. Of course it's great sculpting material because it doesn't shrink and simply air dry's. It's also very non-toxic. You also don't have to worry about precise 50-50 mixtures, just eyeballing it works fine. I buy the 5lb kit and it easily lasts me a year or more. I still use putty on fine seams, but that's it. Yes, I too wrecked a model plane or two trying to use putty as filler...

Very nice again, the yellow and black really jump out. Who needs refrences, painting guides and instructions when we can just watch you do all the hard work WM... So... what's after the Launch Arm?

Excellent job WM , I've enjoyed reading the whole review. I'd like to see how the base comes out too. I hope you'll post more 'how to builds', you'd think we were reading right out of Fine Scale Modeler, only more detailed.

Blah. I like the original Terminator, T2 more or less stunk,IMHO. T3 was embaressing, I like Arnie and all, but he clearly aged quite a bit. In the original, they created a niffty apocalyptic future world. Rather than exploring that future in the following movies, they stuck with the time travel angle, which is always HIGHLY problematic, look at the tons of crappy Star Trek storylines, they never seem to really make sense. Plus, all due respect Agent One, Arnie really had no further role. It's the premise of the Terminator that's cool, not simply that Arnie played one. Yes he played it quite well, but in T2, what do they do but turn a stone cold killing machine into a teen's robot companion who makes wisecracks... almost as bad as a cheesy smiling Anakin/Darth Vader ghost at the end of ROTJ. The TV show sounds bizzare in it's lack of a plot. What else is left BUT the future?

Hey, Thomas Hayden Church was great as Billy Clanton in Tombstone... Sandman could make a fun villian, though I expect him to be an early distraction. (I assume Venom will be the main badguy) Speaking of the Vulture, someone mentioned, Kutwood Smith/Red Forman would be the perfect man for the role, I agree. Not that Vulture is a terribly frightening villain...

Oh yeah, Josh Hartnett, he's terrible. He's supposed to be the next big star? He seems to imitate Keanu Reeves, like that's a good thing? I do believe Hollywood Homicide is one of the very worst films I've ever seen. I think with that film, Harrison Ford's dignity officailly died. Ever since Harrison Ford started wearing an earing, he lost all sense of reason. And he acts embarressed at people identifying him with Han Solo or Indiana Jones???

There's so many that are so undeserving... I think 'Hollywood' has been in decline for 2 or 3 decades. It seems today anyone who either 'looks hot' or has connections get in. Talent and originality are in deep decline. (I feel the same about music and TV too.) I guess we all have our favorites to pick on. For me, I can't stand Ben Affleck, I never believe his performances, I caught 10 minutes of Daredevil and was amazed they actually made that film. Pearl Harbor was an atrocity. Will Smith is also perplexing, he's a nice guy, he can be funny etc. But that's it, how did he or anyone get the idea he was a serious drama actor? I think something about the early 90's changed and ANYONE who simply had ANY degree of fame landed them top movie roles. There's also this hideous rule that any half-witt, unfunny lame-ass on SNL AUTOMATICALLY gets mainstream Hollywood releases and they actually make millions?!? Adam Sandler!?? Even Jim Carey, who I like well enough, gets such hype and blaring publicity... he's not THAT good. And Colin Farrel or Titanic-boy, I can't believe the frantic hyper publicity these people get, you hear their names ALL the time in the news or on the talk shows, then you actually see their movies and your left going... huh? They all get what, $20 million or more per picture? The most worthless crop of actors ever. Maybe more CGI can cover it up? There's a few decent actors around, but not many and there's even fewer original scripts. I must be a little strange because most of the really good movies I like were made long before I was born. (Good actors: Bogie, Cagney, Joseph Cotten, Steve McQueen, Jimmy Stewart, Claude Rains, Carey Grant, Edward G. Robinson, to name a few.) I'd get into actress's, but this post is getting long. Suffice to say, today she only has to look hot, acting talent is quite optional.

Humans weren't that beaten down in Mospeada. Remember the village that Jim Austin returns too, there's a whole, normal social structure. You see poeple going about their business. In the 'old west' town(old geezer's episode), there's a sheriff and everything in town. Then there's the Rainy Boy episode where again, people form posse's to hunt Rainy Boy. In New York, they still practice for Broadway shows... So even though the Invid wipe out military forces, and even hunt them down, they also show an ambivilance to humans minding their own business. The Invid almost see people as cattle grazing in the fields. As long as they don't go near the hives or show military strenght, they're left alone. Though 'federal' authorities are largely wiped out, local governments still flourish, though some areas are clearly lawless, like Huke's hometown. In a lot of ways, the Mospeada world mirror's the Old West, where federal authority often existed in theory only. I can't help but think of 'Tombstone' as the ideal inspiration for a Mospeada town. "Hey Kansas law-dog, law don't go 'round here, savvy?"

Wow, Mospeada rarely gets such attention, let alone controversey. Yes the people on Earth were beat down, but not THAT severely. Canniblism? The Invid are more insect-like than humanoid, they don't care about humans unless your in their way or a perceived threat. So the Invid don't really care if people grow food or even drive around, just NOT near their hives. By the way, as far as I know, Aisha was not a clone of Marlene. That was a Robotech stroy line. Also, the name 'Stig' is an oddity of questionable translation, You clearly hear them say 'Stick' AND the 1/15 Imai model even spells it out in English. ("Stick-Type Ride Armor") I agree Stick was far more motivated by duty, accomplish the misssion no matter the odds or cost. Stick killing a bunch of kids just to get at some Invid? Man, that's a whole other show and a whole other character. He's a straight laced, military protocol kinda guy. Not a homicidal lunatic out for revenge. These novels sound like some dark, twisted stuff.

Anyways, I love Mospeada. It's my favorite anime, I enjoyed the Robotech version back in the olden days, but the original Japanese version is far superior. I like Mint too, she has her moments. Everyone seems to like the mecha and all, (I do too) but for me I love the cast, a really unique group of main characters. The guest characters are cool too, Major Johnathan ( ), Rainy Boy, the 'ol geezers etc. The story stands up quite well too, pretty sophisticated plots for a 'kids' show. I think the Invid make one of the coolest alien enemy ever dreamed up.

Belgium has Van Damme, the inventor of the saxaphone, Browning firearms, the HQ for the EU, Charles Van Depoele inventor of the electric railway, Audrey Hepburn, invented "french" fries, and most importantly created ME! (50%) What the hell has your country done? I guess you have some nice windmills. 336089[/snapback] But Arnie played 'Dutch' in Predator...

That's incredible, I hope it works out. I wonder if the Navy would dare go through with it, his private Tomcats would be blowing the Navy's Hornets away at the airshows. The first privately owned squadron capable or air superiority over anything else current.

Wow.... seriously, that's not a photoshop job? If I were one of those deck hands, I'd faint.

I'm pretty confident Topher will work out fine. They can't follow the comics too close, just never enough time. Topher and Tobey are so similar in size and looks and personality, I think that's exactly why they chose Topher. He'll represent what Peter would've been if he chose 'the dark side' in a sense. I assume Sandman will be like an early battle to show what Spidey's been up to since the last movie. Should be fun. I wonder if they'll ever do anything with the Lizard? They showed him (Peter's one armed Professor) in Spiderman 2. I think Kraven would make a great Villain... he'd have to eat Spiders to become one with his prey...

Good memory refresher. I wonder if Baltar would feel so sympathetic if he saw 6 killing that baby for the heck of it. Stop ganging raping and chuck her out the 'ol air lock already. That's good enough for Galactica after all.

I don't think there's really much controversey that 'human' cylons are sentient artificial life forms. As such, gang raping them seems cruel and unjustifiable in any scenario. So having the Pegasus behave like a bunch of inhuman thugs seems out of place. Your supposed to believe Galactica and Pegasus are from the same fleet, same civilization, but Pegasus comes straight out of the 3rd Reich? I enjoyed the mini series and most of seaon one, I guess I'm really in the minority, but season two has been seriously dissapointing. I think they've gotten a bit lost on how to progress the show so they resort to a lot of contrived melodrama that doesn't make much sense. Just a case in point; by the end of season one, they had done a great job of handling the Apollo/Adama relationship. They start out estranged, but Apollo realizes the old man really does care about him. The exchange about how if Apollo were missing (As Starbuck was), Adama would never end the search. Then there was the Asteroid mission where Adama gives Apollo the lighter for good luck etc. Next thing you know, Apollo turns back into a rebellious 15 year old joining Roslin on a religous-semi-coup, even after Adama is shot right in front of him, he STILL goes on with the coup, betraying his Father while he's not even out of a comma. Then he nearly makes a really tacky propaganda tape condemning his 'Tyrant' Father. It just ruined all the well written character development between the two for me. Now Apollo really does seem like a selfish,smug 'Daddy's boy' , i.e. he can do no wrong because Adama's his Dad. That just kind of ruined Apollo for me. What they've done to Starbuck is worse.

Sorry, damnable double posting!