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Chronocidal

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  1. Chronocidal
    See, I'm going to disagree with this, purely on the fact that the EU exists, and has published hundreds, if not thousands of designs that fit perfectly well within the existing universe. For as often as they cherry-picked from EU concepts, if they weren't going to do something original, I would have much rather seen them just adapt existing EU designs, rather than make rehashes of every ship from the OT. Hell, I'm not even joking to say that they could have literally browsed DeviantArt for fan designs and wound up with hundreds of viable concepts. There is no shortage of creativity in the realm of starship design.. they just didn't hire any. I think the updated Stormtroopers were fine, if a bit unsettlingly reminiscent of the treatment in JJ Trek. BB-8 though.. I question whether anyone actually considered for two minutes at how impractical he was as a replacement for a single-piece R2-style droid. His mechanisms can't compensate well for hard acceleration, and his head literally flies off of his body at one point. I loved him as a character, and he worked fine outside of an X-Wing, but his use as an astromech made no sense whatsoever. As cool as his design was, it just didn't fit the role. Kylo's shuttle... ehhhhh... call me nit-picky, but I am really tired of seeing every high ranking enemy yutz get their own custom ride. I hated it just as much in Rogue One as I did here. If a standard Lambda-class shuttle was good enough for both Vader and Palpatine, it's good enough for any other Imperial official, and I would have much rather seen a progression of that design (like Lucas did in reverse for the prequels), than see Kylo get some sort of custom black death ship, with wings that actually destabilize the design, rather than looking like they serve some sort of purpose. I feel like they literally took a classic shuttle, and asked "What can we change just to make it look different?" "I know! Turn the wings upside down!" "Brilliant!" The troop transport though is the universe's second biggest example of function over form (Leia's Flying Taco Truck is the top spot). I'm not going to argue over its practicality, because that is all it is: a literal box with engines meant to cart people from here to there. That's all well and good, but did everyone just forget the concept of merchandising? (Please feel free to read this post in Mel Brooks' voice.) You made a perfectly practical design. Bravo! Maybe I can melt down all of the wasted plastic and metal used to manufacture those shelf-warmers, and recycle it to make something someone actually wants to buy. Why not use an evolution of the transport we saw in the OT? That started out as a design in the Shadows of the Empire game (ie, part of the EU), but Lucas had no trouble adapting that for his ANH special edition, and I have to give him credit for recognizing when adopting EU material was beneficial to the canon. I know I'm overly picky about ship designs, but it's a subject near and dear to my heart, as I absolutely grew up designing dozens of custom Star Wars universe designs, putting them into games like X-Wing Alliance, and enjoying the idea that I can make something fun that contributes to the universe. The decades of the EU provided an almost unending supply of potential designs they could have drawn from. They decided that they knew better. I hope the dumpster fires of unsold merchandise keep them warm at night. I actually read a very funny take on the saga as a whole recently. Everything actually runs a lot more smoothly if you just do not include the OT. Without all of the character development from that era, you can't recognize the surgical levels of character assassination going on in the sequels, and the overall story from the prequels and sequels boils down to The Palpatine Saga.
  2. Chronocidal
    I can't really explain the intricate details of the different releases, but I did do a quick slap-together build of the VF-31D this weekend. I will say flat out that the parts breakdown for that kit is just bonkers. I really think it was unnecessary, and I think it artificially inflated the cost of the VF-31D compared with the 31A (or the others), but the 31D includes duplicates of probably half the parts for the fighter, both in orange and tan plastic. Personally, I would have been happy with all tan parts, and you can build it that way (and it would probably be better to do so, so you can just mask and spray the orange sections), but you're left with huge sections of unused plastic in bright VF-1D orange. I'm glad the options are there, but it's just an odd choice.
  3. Chronocidal
    I think "derivative" is the operative word here. The "new" X-Wing and A-Wing designs were near copy-pastes of OT concept art. If CGI had existed back then, I'm fairly sure we would have seen those designs on the screen verbatim, but the physical models changed so they could incorporate existing kitbashed parts, rather than make everything from scratch. This wasn't the case in the prequels, so the concept art was essentially exactly what we saw on the screen. True enough, though I think in this case, on the audience end, the two might be indistinguishable. Playing it safe and being lazy both go hand-in-hand with saving money, time, and effort, so as lousy as I think the results were personally, I can't say it wasn't a practical decision. I think the funny part is that, to me, the process backfired. By playing it safe and changing nothing, they broke with the established trend in all the other movies of seeing new and different developments in each one. Certain things stayed the same, yes, but designs progressed over time, and every movie carried over elements from the previous ones in new designs. Now we just have rehashes of the existing designs, that, in some ways, actually look less developed, because they were based on concept art that was technically older than the OT designs. I feel like the new A-Wing in particular looked significantly less developed than the version in ROTJ, partly because it shares so many design cues with the animated version seen in Rebels. If you lined up all the A-Wing variants over the whole saga in a sort of "design lineage" infographic, what order looks like it makes sense? I'm not going to touch the original designs in the sequel trilogy, because I feel like those were almost universally terrible. I think as a whole, the designs in the new movies were just a perfect storm of playing it safe, and lack of talent for innovative design. This may be too bold an assumption, but I feel like if they -had- the necessary talent to truly design something remarkable and iconic for this new generation, they would have done so without hesitation. Instead, the few truly original designs we did see speak volumes as to why I think they just couldn't do it.
  4. Chronocidal
    I think it more comes down to a case of "Why should we expend the effort to design something original when we can slap a few new greeblies and paint on old concept art, and use that?" Throw a few new panel lines and asymmetrical features on classic McQuarrie sketches, and call it a day. I'm not going to argue that there isn't a real life precedent, considering how real aircraft have developed over the past 30 years, but it comes off as lazy as all hell. They were given the chance to establish an entirely new generation of iconic spacecraft, armor, and technology designs (something Lucas managed with each of the previous six movies), and they just couldn't be arsed to bother. The fleet of Death Star Destroyers in TRoS were the penultimate example of this nonsense, as well as being a prime example of peak-JJ. He pulled a JJ-Prise on the Rogue One CGI model, because making a new and more impressive star destroyer to mount his BFGs on was just too hard.
  5. Chronocidal
    Honestly, I would take this in an instant over the current state of things. "Fun, entertaining, and ultimately forgettable" is a huge step up from watching two directors in a pissing match over how much of the fanbase they can drive away. Seriously speaking though, there's a large portion of the MCU that I rewatch on a regular basis, because they're just good movies. I've watched the OT more times than I can possibly count, and even the prequels I rewatch on a semi-regular basis. These new movies? I haven't touched since leaving the theater. Having a competent lead producer to keep tabs on the entire franchise is something Star Wars needs desperately right now.
  6. Chronocidal
    Do you really want to tempt the fates by asking that? That's like offering to hold their beer for them.
  7. Chronocidal
    That would have required there to be an actual overall story plan from the beginning, though, which was apparently far too foreign a concept to Johnson. Apparently some new interview is circulating stating the way he approaches storytelling, and it basically can be summarized as, "I don't care what has been established before, I'm going to tell whatever story I want." I think the best thing about TRoS was watching Rian's disasterpiece repeatedly torpedoed as JJ retconned it on a point-by-point basis.
  8. Chronocidal
    Uhhh.. top ten mecha from Macross? I'm assuming that's the context there? I'm not going to argue with it taking two spots though. The technical reason is that it's in both the OAV and movie, but the YF-19 occupies multiple spots in my display space as well.
  9. Chronocidal
    Looking up the EU notes on Leia's mother, it looks like maybe the material didn't all agree, so that may be the source of my confusion. I'd thought there was material in some of the X-Wing books about Winter (her adopted sister) that discussed how they'd grown close after their mother died, but I guess that gives me one more reason to re-read that series. As far as her knowing whether or not she was adopted though, I'm not talking about what she remembered so much as just considering how she would have reacted to the knowledge, and whether she would have attempted to dig up the truth. It's entirely possible she knew, and was just told her parents died at the end of the Clone Wars. The bigger issue I have is that they ditched a perfectly viable and entirely believable explanation, for one that makes no sense. But I guess that's become the status quo for the franchise now.
  10. Chronocidal

    Hi-Metal R

    Chronocidal replied to joppewo's topic in Toys

    Now that I think of it, I wonder if small segments of clear surgical tubing like those used in IV equipment would work. I'm not sure how you would glue them on reliably, but they might not stand out quite so much against the wing, and you might be save time and effort from color-matching.
  11. Chronocidal
    I picked a wonderful time to finally upgrade my gaming PC. My brain hurts processing this... it looks like an FPS at ground level. People writing reviews have done flyovers of their own houses.
  12. Chronocidal
    I was able to cash in my VIP points on the 89 Batmobile, but it wasn't a direct exchange. I had to redeem the points as what amounted to gift cards, which worked alright, and I don't think the value changed from before, but there were only specific values of gift card available. It wasn't a problem for me, since I didn't have enough to get the whole set anyhow with my points, but it was a little awkward.
  13. Chronocidal
    All told, the VF-19 in general is the only airframe I have nearly as many of as I have VF-1s. I grabbed as many of the Bandai release as I could so I can spread the ordnance around all my Bandai valks.
  14. Chronocidal
    My only concern about this approach is what happened with the strike packs. For whatever reason, they just didn't forward any of the orders to Bandai before the window closed. Whether they knew there was a second order window coming or not, that delay in their process doesn't build my confidence that they'll be a reliable source.
  15. Chronocidal
    While I would like to know the source on this, and whether it was from Lucas himself or the EU, my understanding was that Breha also died when she was very young, so if her father remarried, she would have had a second adoptive mother, and remembered Breha as her real mother, because she was never told otherwise. My instinct is that this was an EU detail. I never thought Leia even knew she was adopted to begin with until Luke spilled the details to her. Given the facts of her parentage, I could easily understand never revealing that to her, for her own safety. The thing to keep in mind is that it was entirely within Disney's power to unscrew that mess of a line and have Breha die in Leia's early childhood, but it sounds like they have her living until Alderaan was destroyed? For all the cherry-picking they do from the EU, that was one element they absolutely needed to keep, but I think coherent storytelling and world-building is entirely beyond them at this point.
  16. Chronocidal
    As a TWE safety net, I've just accepted that I'm going to order a pair of everything, one each from NY and Anime Export. I've done the same thing with all the recent Bandai releases really, buying one from at least two different shops, but with standard releases you generally don't have a choice anyway, since most retailers limit you to one. I may not keep them all in the long run, but with how unpredictable order cancellations can be with Bandai's supply shenanigans, I can absorb the short-term cost for a little peace of mind until I have them in-hand. Unless it's something like the VF-31A or YF-19, in which case I'm just buying as many as I can get my hands on.
  17. Chronocidal

    Hi-Metal R

    Chronocidal replied to joppewo's topic in Toys

    Context is important.
  18. Chronocidal

    Hi-Metal R

    Chronocidal replied to joppewo's topic in Toys

    The biggest motivator for me was that Bandai went el-cheapo on the VF-1D, and didn't include any hardpointed wings. I'm just eternally baffled by their refusal to offer any option not explicitly seen on-screen for any of their toys.. (unless they decide to re-write the designs and give the M&Ms entirely different packs, weapons, and paintschemes, that is. ) Seriously, I don't care what's seen in the animation. There is no reason any VF-1 should not have standard hardpoints in the wings, including the VT-1, because how else do you mount training rounds? I need to do some paint matching, and just glue a few of those rings to my VF-1D wings so they can carry all those spare TV missiles I picked up.
  19. Chronocidal

    Hi-Metal R

    Chronocidal replied to joppewo's topic in Toys

    I've actually made a few hardpoint mounts by drilling out and slicing up a section of sprue, but it's not an easy process. The mounts really are just a ring though, and depending on the tolerances, it might be very easy to just make a series of properly-sized rings with a 3D-printer.
  20. Chronocidal
    I think people are fully aware of that, but the brainstorming board is also a good indicator of the writing team's priorities (or lack thereof). The fact that "actual ending" falls below "diversity" (which is on there twice even), "dinosaurs" got billing above the Sith, and the first entry under "Star Wars" is "Not pro-war" says a great deal about the thought processes currently involved in the planning for this series. Right at this point, I think a great number of fans have lost all faith in the direction the franchise is going, and want to head off any more massive mistakes before they build any momentum. The earlier a lookout raises the alarm, the easier it is to steer around the icebergs.
  21. Chronocidal
    I'm honestly not even sure if being a TWE release is a benefit anymore.
  22. Chronocidal
    Do we actually know they did last until Order 66 though? What if the traditions in KOTOR eventually faded into something less structured, but this new series explores a re-awakening of those schools of thought? A thousand generations is a long time. Not to get too deeply into any religious allegory, but think of how many major changes in establishment and policy an organization like the Roman Catholic Church has gone through in just one millennium. The Jedi Order could easily have mutated from a ruling class to a peacekeeping force and back again multiple times in that period of time.
  23. Chronocidal
    Not so much that, I'm more thinking in terms of why the Jedi Order became so blind. Less about the details of Palpatine's rise, and more about the Jedi becoming overly confident in themselves, fixed in their traditions. That can overlap with the way they were portrayed in a monk-like society by the time the prequels hit. Just theoretically speaking, what if the era we see is one where Jedi are not quite so restricted? Intermarrying, raising force-sensitive families, and reaching a point where they could almost be considered a type of nobility, rather than servants. Any organization lasting thousands of years is bound to have cycles of growth and recession, and there had to be periods where traditions were questioned, and reformed. Maybe we start at a point where the Jedi Order has grown influential in the Republic, and begins to press that for advantages of some sort. They absolutely referenced "houses" on the idea board, and having a bunch of Jedi families pushing for influence could be an interesting premise, if done well. Big caveat there, of course, and I don't want us having another Game of Thrones, but if you played on the idea of different factions and schools of thought within the Jedi, you could open up a lot of setup for exactly why the Jedi behaved as they did in the prequels. There's a lot of room to play with it, if they stick to what works, and don't get too agenda-driven. I think we could have a genuinely interesting drama between disparate Jedi factions fighting over policy in the midst of a larger conflict, or threat of one. The end goal would be establishing the Jedi Order policy as seen in the prequels, which led to Palpatine. Hell, if they want to take the easy route, just go back and establish where the "chosen one" prophecy came from. You have thousands of years to play with, and the Sith certainly seem to like playing the long game, so play up the long-term setup. Have a Sith agent manipulate the Jedi to implement the "no families" rule with the explicit intent to setup the fall of Anakin several hundred years later. We know certain races live that long, so it's entirely possible Plagueis takes Sideous under his tutelage during this era, or maybe we see Plagueis slay his own master and begin setting up things for his apprentice. We're talking about heroes and villains that have a distinct ability to see into the past and future. Just play with that in an interesting way.
  24. Chronocidal
    Only if Misa is wearing the helmet though!
  25. Chronocidal
    Developers have taken the fact that storage space continues to grow as an edict that they should simply bloat their own assets to fill the space. If Super Mario Bros. were released now, Mario's single-pixel eye would be in 4k. Meanwhile, physical media has gone the way of the dinosaur, and heaven help you if you live in an area without high speed internet access, because you're going to be trying to drink an ocean through a swizzle stick. A few years ago (before cable was available in this area), I literally received a set of physical discs through the mail faster than the download of a game completed.
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