Chronocidal

Team up, nothing. After all the nonsense the prequels introduced, the emperor would probably dump Vader for Sephy like last week's laundry.

So.. wait. The mashup/crossover potential here is ridiculously massive. You could have G.I. Mickey teaming up with Luke Skywalker, Optimus Prime, and.... Lightning. And they wind up fighting Caius Ballad, who teams up with Megatron and the Emperor. My brain can't even contain the epically insane levels of awesome and nonsense that could be introduced in a new Kingdom Hearts game if this happens. I mean, the only thing that could top this is if Disney goes off and acquires Bamco and Gainax. Then we can have Gurren Lagaan, Shining Gundam, and Eva Unit-1 duking it out with Megatron and Sephiroth on the surface of the freaking Death Star. While Jetfire flies around taking out Tie Fighters with Luke and Mickey leading a squadron of Skystriker F-14s. My brain hurts now. I mean.. seriously here. We're about to come within a few inches of there being an actual "Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny" Stop the world please, I'd like to get off. (my freaking brain.. I just imagined Disney Evangelion. Don't ask.) Edit: Also, I apparently broke the forum posting this.. it turned into a massive mess of html when I typed it out.

The 19F is beautiful, I might get a second one to complete Emerald Force. This one used to be quite painful to the eyes, the new red color is a huge improvement really. I have to agree in general though, I still don't care for the overall scheme. If they had stuck with red and white without resorting to random yellow/tan/beige/whatever bits, it'd look like a tribute to Hikaru's 1J, but the random spots of other colors just looks weird. And I really still hope the shoulder speakers are easy to remove, because they're an eyesore to the design. I still think that repaint idea from a few pages back would work though. Replacing all the red with black is a low risk option, since none of those areas are heavy on the wear and tear from transformation. I'll probably keep my first one unchanged (except the leg strakes.. I don't know what dingbat decided that particular panel should be red, but it looks hideous that way). I really hope this version goes on heavy clearance sale, because I would love to buy a few. It's going to be the go-to version for customs, since even if we can't get some normal gray, at least white is an easy base to work from. In fact, I'm picturing what this would look like in a Supernova style test scheme.

That would be awesome, and might convince me to keep my other preorders. It's still a decent chunk of stuff for December, but I was really looking forward to getting the VE-1 and strike pack reissues this month.

Red is also much better now. Not so orangey, I probably won't keep my preorder due to the delay and the holidays, but I'll probably be getting one somewhere down the road.

Well... considering the Lucasarts logo is on there, they probably already own it, or at least own a portion of that game itself.

Actually, if you happen to have one of the VF-1 v2 kits handy, cut some spare sprue loose, and rubber band one of the erasers to it. Should provide a nice test to see if the plastic can react with them Granted, it might take a long time. I don't know how long my ruler had that eraser on it before I noticed it had melted into it.

Ok, warning here, I cannot recommend erasers of any type at all. Granted, it will depend on the type, but I have had horrible things happen to things left in the vicinity of some kinds of erasers over time. You're worried about the stands eating paint... I've had erasers dissolve plastic. I have a ruler with the imprint of a large rectangular eraser eaten into the surface as if by acid, because they were stored next to each other in my office supplies drawer. Others have eaten the coating off of colored pencils, melted rubber bands, and left sticky gooey messes where they touched other materials. If you plan on using erasers, test them thoroughly, and do research. I don't think all erasers will do this, but many types of art erasers will have this effect. It's nasty, and will do horrible things to your valks if you use an eraser with the wrong material formula.

I'd honestly prefer they go fully animated/CG like with the Clone Wars, rather than try to hack together new movies by digitally de-aging the actors, or pulling the kind of shenanigans they did with Tron Legacy. Not that Tron Legacy was bad, it was pretty amazing how they managed to simulate a young Jeff Bridges; but I don't think the technique would hold up well in a natural environment, or for that long of a movie if it involves a main character. At this point, filming new Star Wars movies with the original main cast would be like asking William Shatner to go back and make a new movie as Kirk. Now... Ok, Mark Hamill might be capable of playing an Obi-Wan style role. I haven't seen him recently, but I could see him playing that part to a new crop of jedi students. If they go with the idea of him re-forming the Jedi Academy, sure, I could maybe believe that. I doubt he'd be doing much in the way of physical activity, but that didn't stop Alec Guinness back in the day. The rest of the cast.. I'm not so sure. Denis Lawson could come back as a grizzled old Admiral Wedge Antilles I suppose, and it's easy to dig up potential relatives/children for older characters (the EU is full of that already). This far after the originals, I just wonder what potential plot they could pursue. Given how you could say the entire "bring balance to the force" prophecy thing did actually come true with regards to Anakin (when he killed the Emperor), I'm not sure what they'll want to do. Or, they could reinterpret the entire thing, and say it was actually about Luke, then show that "balance" finally happening. But who knows. I still like Zahn's entire take on the way the force works though. My rough impression was basically, active/passive, dark and light. Luke and Vader were active light and dark, using it for active defense and offense. Yoda and Palpatine were the passive version.. no action, but using it for stealth, knowledge, and wisdom. Active use is like listening to your stereo too loud, it drowns out the quieter voice of guidance.

Actually.. now that I think of it, I'm pretty sure there was a particular model for Mara Jade who appears in a few different places. I want to say she did photos for the collectible card game, but I never played that myself. I only know she was in there because I had a roommate who played the game with his girlfriend, and I happened to be in the room one day when they had a total Jerry Springer moment, and Mara somehow wound up dueling with Padme. (trimmed due to size, and since they're not the one David was thinking of) Now, the thing about Mara though.. I'm pretty sure that she's one of the few EU characters to get semi-officially recognized by LucasFilm/LucasArts, since she was used pretty extensively in the later Dark Forces/Jedi Knight games. She kind of falls into the same oddball category as Dash Rendar, Thrawn, etc, EU characters that Lucas okayed to appear in official material. In her case, her background definitely isn't contradicted by the movies, and it makes perfect sense for Palpatine to have secret agents like her. This interview with Zahn about his novels is interesting though. http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.theforce.net/jedicouncil/interview/pics/marajade.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.theforce.net/jedicouncil/interview/zahn.asp&usg=__T544jhZYgmPvFHCjxPAK_OQYFmQ=&h=217&w=257&sz=39&hl=en&start=12&zoom=1&tbnid=nCWpHsDS6asdQM:&tbnh=95&tbnw=112&ei=oPqXUNzxO6rvigKb9YHYBA&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dmara%2Bjade%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26gbv%3D2%26tbm%3Disch&um=1&itbs=1

Maybe cuz Kate Beckinsale is freakin hot? I can't say I blame them. Seriously tho, could be the same artist, or artists with similar tastes. And honestly... I've randomly drawn people before who wind up looking like people I later meet in life, or know currently.. Sometimes you don't have to try to draw someone in particular, but because of tastes in features, your drawing winds up looking like someone you know, or know of.

I'll just stick this here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSe2FD9Vn1k Watch to the ending. It's really ... creepy. I shoulda known.. it was Jim Henson's evil plan all along.

They're probably just confusing it with the VF-25s, since all those are renewals. Plus.. releasing a renewal that includes super packs? This is Bandai we're talking about. They'd never do something that makes that much sense. Seriously though, it doesn't make much sense for them to make a renewal with the super packs already added, unless they figured the packs are so minor they couldn't market them separately. Besides, if this was a renewal version, I'd think there'd be a lot more buzz about it, and a lot more pictures taken.

I'm actually surprised those will hold a 1/48, though it's all about locating the center of gravity I guess. It's probably why they work so well for gerwalk. I just wish Yamato would work on coming up with better locations for their stand adapters. They're always so far forward of the CG. I'd think using the adapters is probably out for anything bigger than a 1/60 VF-1, maybe a VF-11. Heavy stuff like the Fire Valk is probably out of the question.

I tend to agree, but I think part of that comes from my love of being able to cram more detail into tight spaces. I grew up making kits, and I loved how much better detailed 1/48 cockpits were than the ones in my 1/72 kits. Over the years, I've just come to realize that it wasn't impossible to cram that much detail in.. I just was just buying cheap kits. I still love 1/48, but because of their size, I've cut down on building much in the past few years. Until I get room to display what I have, I'm not building any more big kits. I've just taken to focusing on getting better about my sanding/filling on sub-assemblies, cockpit detailing, etc. I'll do as much as I can to a kit, as long as it will still fit in the box. I've got quite a few wingless/tailless fuselages in my closet. Part of what I actually like about the Bandai 1/72 VF-25.. you can actually fit three completed kits in one of their boxes. So as I build those, the room they take up actually decreases.

See... that is beautiful weathering. Glad to see people paying attention to that kind of detail. Real aircraft actually do get shiny over time, since the paint wears smooth and the flat finish disappears. Anything on leading edge of anything will get worn smooth by friction with the air. Aircraft with completely dull paint do exist, but they don't stay that way long. I know a few pilots, and I got to walk around a fresh-from-the-factory superhornet once. It was the only time I've ever seen one that was completely flat-coated. In fact, it didn't even look quite real, specifically because of the lack of dirt and grime on it. The crew said they were having fun with it though, doing basic maneuver training flights and such. The plane itself was entirely clean, no mission equipment, external pylons, etc, so it was a real hotrod compared with the rest of the planes in the squadron.

Actually, they do make a point of explaining this, and expounding on the whole "humans only" deal throughout those books. There's been more books, and a few short stories that go into explaining more of his backstory as well, and just why he wound up in the Empire to begin with. The funny thing to think about though is that Thrawn and Pallaeon were both used as characters in the Tie Fighter game, and possibly other places, so they have appeared in semi-official content (unless LucasArts games are considered part of the EU as well). I don't remember how much of a role Thrawn had during the campaign, but I believe he may have been leading the fleet you were part of during some of the expansion packs. Pallaeon isn't specifically named, but Thrawn's right-hand man in the opening cutscene is definitely a guy with a big bushy mustache, which Pallaeon was written as having.

They did a lot of that nonsense with molding in the wrong color the first time too. The rear landing gear doors on the 25G were molded blue, and painted to match. It's still done with a surprising number of parts too, the tails are always molded in the base color of the valk and painted black. Not sure, but the ventral fins probably are too. I guess I halfway can't blame Bandai for it though.. outside of Alto's, all the VF-25 schemes are a royal pain in the backside to paint. So many panels in varying colors and shades, it's really a mess. Ozma's is almost something like you might see on a real aircraft, but the color on the underside is still varied across a bunch of panels with different shades of gray.

Yeah, a good portion of the EU is really a mess, and it keeps causing certain authors to write fixes into their books to help mitigate the nonsense (the whole Callista mess in particular). I've never even bothered with anything after the publisher switch, since Vision of the Future seemed like a pretty perfect way to close out things. I have to give major credit to Zahn for one aspect of his Hand of Thrawn duology though.. he pretty much slapped the entire rest of the EU upside the head for making certain characters so force-overpowered. There was just so much nonsense going on in some books... oy. I know Zahn and Stackpole collaborate to keep their characters and stories consistent, and while I'm not sure if Allston is so connected, his X-Wing novels are some of the best (and funniest) books I've read. I can understand people's gripes about them, but I just enjoy reading about the characters they've written. They're not great literature or anything, but they're entertaining. Plus, you know.. I was looking through some old computer games and realized where I'd seen Allston's name before. He wrote the original "magazine" manual for Wing Commander I.

Ok, so for anyone who follows Battletech/Mechwarrior stuff.. I've been fiddling around in Mechwarrior Online with some friends. I was initially really really skeptical about them doing anything worthwhile with a free to play online Mechwarrior title.. color me decently surprised and optimistic about it. Mechwarrior Online just went into open beta, and while it's very clearly still a beta (some would say more an alpha really), I was surprised at how in-depth it is. I was expecting some arcadey mech battle game, with simplified mechanics, top-down view, etc... No.. they actually made it a simulator. It's cockpit-view only, and you've got all the bells and whistles for controlling weapons groupings, sensors, IR/night vision, etc. I actually was able to set the game up and run it with a stick, throttle, and rudder pedals, but a mouse/throttle/rudder control is probably the best way to go. According to my Battletech junkie friend, they're staying pretty close to the actual tabletop mechanics too. It's definitely still lacking in game modes and features, so it's an in-progress title, but what I've played with it so far has been fun, and not too heavy on the "pay to win" side of things. That may change, but so far there's nothing you can get with real money that you can't get with in-game money, and weapons and equips can't be bought with cash credits anyway, just actual mechs to customize. You start out with default trial mechs that you can't customize, but aren't bad for learning in since you pay nothing to repair/re-arm them. Buying your own costs anywhere from 2-20 million in game credits, depending on how fancy/tricked out it is. While that seems like a lot, you can pretty much count on around 100k credits per match (you get paid whether you win or lose, you just get more for winning), so it doesn't take too long to build up funding for a mech and weapons. Warning though.. starting out is a pain. There's no tutorial, no practice range, and no way to test your control/graphics/weapons configs without just joining a game. Only available game mode currently is an 8 vs 8 base capture, and the matches are pretty short, since there's no respawning. Really steep learning curve for people who haven't played a MW title before though. Word is they plan to add tutorial missions or practice areas in the future, but it does seem really stupid to not do those before open beta launch. Hopefully they'll be there before it's out of beta.

Well really.. if you think about the scopes of those novels, you're not talking a movie a piece.. more like a trilogy a piece. You could easily break up many of the novels into multiple movies, just because so much stuff happens in them. Trying to cut them down to two and a half hours would probably butcher them. So yeah, the novels won't translate to movie format well. I'm ok with that. It will be sad not having the 20th Century Fox fanfare starting them out anymore (or should it be 21st century? ). But you know. I half expect Disney to pull some kind of intro shenanigans like they did with the castle in Tron Legacy. Probably couldn't get the rights to use the actual fanfare, but .. ooh. idea. Ok, you start with the first 19 seconds of this: This btw still claims my personal top spot for most beautiful/epic/triumphant music of all time. I also have a plot in mind to completely troll my younger sister on my eventual wedding day by slapping that same 19 seconds on to the beginning of the traditional wedding exit fanfare. IT JUST FREAKING FITS. Heck, I'd be tempted to use the entire piece as a wedding march... curse you, John Williams, for associating such beautiful music with such a holy grail of all things nerdy. Anyway, you crop that fanfare, and end it with a suitable fade. Then you take the CGI Disney castle from recent pixar movies, light it up with lightsaber-ish floodlights, and pan over it like the more recent Fox intro. Throw in a few ships flying over the castle, shooting off fireworks ala ROTJ and you're golden. Classy, functional, and epic. I've actually got a small 3d animation I did once for a powerpoint, so I might be able to toss that together very quickly for a visual example. You know though.. the one crossover I always wanted to see? I wanted Aaron Allston to throw in an encounter with a Star Tours transport during one of his X-Wing novels.

You know one thing I did notice about the gun stabilizers... they're not molded in clear plastic anymore. I don't know why, but they used to be in clear plastic, painted to match.

Only problem with that is that the EU has already written out the next 50-something years (and even beyond in some cases) after ROTJ. No matter what they do, they're not going to satisfy a large portion of the SW fanbase (though, those fans do tend to get stupidly picky.. not as bad as trekkies, since most of what goes into the SW EU has to at least get some passing approval by Lucas, but still). I guess there's three options. 1. They canonize some of the existing EU 2. They throw the existing EU under the bus and call it an alternate continuity 3. They go somewhere completely untouched by any of the existing material, and tell an original story (similar to what KOTOR did) Honestly, I wouldn't mind seeing a movie set in the distant past, but they've got to get better about making the technology look older. Given how TOR is doing, it wouldn't hurt to have a movie to tie into for publicity and content ideas. Still though.. any way they go, I STILL want a current gen update of the X-Wing/Tie Fighter games. Preferably using the plotlines from the X-Wing book series, because they're freaking awesome, and did a wonderful job of fleshing out the details of everything set up from the movies and original games.

Not sure whether to cheer that he's not going to be involved in the next movie, or cry because they're likely going to be relegating the entire Zahn/Stackpole/Allston (and those other guys) EU to alternate continuity status. Here's an idea. Just hire Zahn, and make his books the official episodes 7, 8, and 9. I think someone already composed a soundtrack for them.

Mhm, they're pretty good about working that kind of thing out. I had to make a similar request since I accidentally did the same thing with my VF-171 and it's armor set. They'll just ask for the difference in shipping, which came out to about $10 for me.