Bri

Now this has an awesome noise.

Sounds great. Wish Mustangs/Shelby's were for sale around here.

Cool idea but shame it's a PS3 game. No M&K support and regionlocked for DVDs (and BR to a degree), just no

The Macross is 1200m in length. Roughly, 1200* 1/3000 = 0.4m so the model would be 40cm (15.75inch)

Fantastic battroid mode, love the way they proportioned it. Looks a lot better the YF-19. Really agree on the priority, given the anime, but I am curious what the eventual fighter will look like.

That looked awfully close to the camera position. Hope the audience was in a different spot. Glad to see the pilot made it out alive.

Haven't been convinced about the 1/100 line so far but this one looks too good to pass up.

Received the two VF-1S TV versions. Glad I bought them, the deep white color really matches up better with the vermillion team. It also frees up my Roy DYRL for the DYRL display. Shame Yamato isn't offering the Super/Strike DYRL parts at the moment, but I hope I'lll be able to pick them up in the future to complete the DYRL skull team.

Yellowing so far has been limited to the Hikky 1J. Oddly the 1/60 seems to yellow faster then the 1J 1/48 while I display them under identical conditions.

Yamato delivered pretty much what I hoped for, only thing remaining would be a 1/48 TV Roy, possibly as a web exclusive?

hmm, is the story not part of the authors' rights part of copyrights (though this might differ from country to country)? As far as I'm aware authors' rights mean a story can only be owned by a natural person and those rights are not transferable (except after death). Copyrights on stories by a firm can as such only pertain to economic rights.

Also watching Durarara!! and Baccano! right now. These shows are both extremely fantastic. I'm surprised, and not a little disappointed, that these shows haven't really taken off with anime fans. I hadn't even heard of them until a friend dropped them in my lap. Not certain which I like more. About halfway through both of them now. This is some of the most entertaining anime I've seen in years, and both have extremely stylish opening sequences.

Great music, solid animation, fantastic characters.

Durarara and Bacanno seconded. They are great shows but calling them unpopular is a bit of a stretch. Bacanno is considered one of the top titles of 2007. Durarara is currently the bestselling TV anime of 2010 (though Angel Beats is probably going to overtake them during the year).

Unfortunately these two are fairly unique. Only things remotely similar that come to mind are Bakemonogatari and Kara No Kyou Kai, mainly because of their integration of music, animation, interesting characters and non linear story telling.

I've said it before and I'll restate. Soon war will just be one big videogame. News coverage of these conflicts will occur via G4, SpikeTV, or whatever you local nerd interest cable network is, gone are the CNN's, NBC's, and Fox's.

We can also have an annual PvP tournament called "The World War" complete with pre-fight commentary from gaming nerds on each nation's drone arsenal.

We already got the World Cup for that

In flight close up of the air forces' demo bird escorting the World Cup team home

Fortunately it predicted the 2008 EC finals wrong, so assuming it fails again, things are looking bright

Nothing in the summer season really appeals to me on first glance except Cat poo One. I'll wait and see what the surprise hit will be but can't spot right away.

Other anime: I've marathoned Birdy the Mighty Decode seasons one and two. Was a lot better then I expected based on the rather silly concept. Fan service and otaku themes were kept within bounds and the superhero type story was given a nice twist. Occasionally the animation quality dropped a bit but that is fairly common for A1 productions.

"Working" will be the next project on the list.

There is a 1.56% probability that the Octo would nail all 6 games (3 group + octa + quarter + semi).

0.5^6 = 0.0156

So perhaps there is a bit more than luck involved .

That probability off course assumes that the choice of the octopus is purely random:p

Holy... $300-$400??? How can it be that much? I mean, the whole series costs, what, maybe $100 for both seasons on dvd? I know I saw season 1 for about $40 a while back.

Unless this is some ultra-super-extra-special-with-cookies version that includes a complete set of the novels, Haruhi-Chan, a bluray of the movie, and a complete set of SOS Figmas, I almost can't imagine what would make it cost so much. I mean, it's only twenty eight episodes about 25 min in length.. maybe each box set comes with a random real-life wearable copy of one of Mikuru's outfits?

It's actually very cheap (relatively speaking) for a full anime season on Blu-ray. Kyoani's other Blu-ray season boxes like Clannad and Kanon cost around 55,000 yen (around $600) per 24 episodes.

Japanese anime DVDs/Blurays just cost so much more as they target a very small market. Haruhi was an absolute record selling title for a late-night-anime in the mid 2000s by selling around 40,000 DVDs. We've debated anime pricing of original Japanese material before in other threads, some accept those prices, some won't.

wonder if there is a catch when pre-ordering it at amazon.jp, it's like 25% cheaper?

Also the new upcoming Yuki pvc figure from the Kyoani webstore looks very cool:

http://www.kyotoanimation.co.jp/shop/figure/haruhi/genkei.html#genkei_top

OMG, the finals, they actually did it. 'Oranje' is in a world cup final after 32 years.

Total madness here, celebrations everywhere, the commentators were crying on TV. It's going to be a long night

Spain or Germany. Spain has the better team but Germany has been on fire. I'm guessing Germany, history has a twisted sense of humor so it will be '74 all over again. Hopefully with a different result this time.

First of all... f**k Yeah!! The King is dead, '94 settled, semis inc.

No I mean it is a feminine sport. Designed for the weaker sex. (or weaker people)

Not only are the players the physiological equivalent of girls (weak, no muscle), but they bitch and cry like little girls too. The theatrics kill me. They get a little scratch and then roll around on the ground like little girls and scream.

If someone had done that when I was playing Division 1 rugby, his own team mates would have kicked his ass.

Nonsense, several positions require a lot of physical power. The top play makers (the nr. 10s) are pretty much all short and stocky (like weightlifters) with a low center of gravity so they can't be pushed of the ball. Forwards and wingers generally have sprinter type builds, CBs need to be taller and more powerful then strikers, but can't afford to lose speed, requiring a triathlon like athletic balance. However what sets football apart from the world of athletics is the far larger requirement in terms of game skills, control and spacial awareness. Most of the latter is acquired through competitive play. Super athletes, even those with a natural talent for the game, that do not posses those game skills are useless. Nor can these skills be easily acquired in a short amount of time. It's the main reason why football hasn't become a joke like the Olympics where a sports resources, funding and organization have a large impact on the amount of success.

As for "theatrics", unlike Rugby, football is not a contact sport so fouls affect game play a lot more. Faking fouls offers distinct tactical advantages. The theatrics are there to make it hard for a referee to distinguish between a real foul and a fake (a dive). If Rugby fouls offered similar rewards towards winning the players would be dropping like flies as well. Any top level team is able to play the referee, it's just an essential game skill, only frowned upon by the weak or the naive.

In my country, soccer is for girls.

In your country gender roles are reversed?

Pretty much caught all games so far. Really enjoying the tournament, though the heavy defensive styles did not provide to many beautiful games. The country pretty much comes to a standstill when the national team plays. The upcoming match against Brazil has been dominating the media the last few days.

So random comments: Plenty of drama, Italy and France imploding. The refs failing at critical points.

The English disappoint again. The billionaire toy Premier League really seems to hurt their development of new talent. Germany on the other hand was impressive with their young squad.

Spain has been really awesome after their initial misstep, though they seem to have a strange problem with converting the many chances they create.

Brazil and the Netherlands have given up on their traditional beautiful playing styles. Everything for the win now.

Argentina and Maradona are a breath of fresh air and slightly mental but very entertaining. Expecting a lot from them.

Argentina vs Germany and Brazil vs Holland are pretty much finals on their own. Going to be spectacular to see these heavy weights to go at it in the next few days.

Go Fedex, Yamato Patlabor shipped 16th received 18th, that's 4 times faster then the fastest EMS shipment I've ever received.

Robotech or no, this is too damn awesome NOT to participate in:

http://robotech-character-clash.blogspot.com/

A Robotech Saimoe contest? Minmay ought to win that one Much to the chagrin of the RT fans I'm sure

Regarding HLJ's shipping system, when they said to wait until the first item enters the shipping/payment phase, do they mean when you get an email confirming that HLJ's received payment for the item(s), and the open orders show the item in the shipment processing stage?

Or must the first item have to be already shipped out before I place the second order?

The open orders menu needs to show the item in the shipment processing stage.

Have you considered emailing HLJ before you actually ordered your stuff? I'm sure if you explain your dillema to them, along with what you're getting, they'll probably help you out. Heck, I'm not in this buisness, but it seems to me, that if a customer was about to order $200 of stuff, and asked me to split it up, I'd help him out. Sure he'll pay more for shipping in the end, but it'll get the loyalty of that customer.

I've discussed this problem with HLJ customer service when I had an issue with unwanted merging of orders that lead to forced EMS shipping. ( EMS = extortion by customs and mail service)

The response just pointed at the shipping rules: take it or leave it. They did not offer an option to contact them before ordering, just to wait with a second order till the first reaches the shipping stage. According to them most customers prefer the automatic merging of orders. As I am not part of that majority I'm testing other shops that either have SAL unregistered or are prepared to ship EMS with reduced value.

Thanks for your replies, guys.

I emailed HLJ and asked if they could separate the shipment for me, and they said that while they usually try to ship items together, they'd make an exception this time. The thing is, the guy said he'll have to cancel one of the orders, and then I'll have to RE-ORDER THE ITEM MYSELF to make it a separate shipment. To make matters worse, that item will no longer be eligible for free shipping.

It seems that if you want HLJ to ship your stuff separately, you'll have to wait until the first order has entered the shipment/payment processing stage before placing the second order. Not much of an option in my case, since I was trying to take advantage of the free shipping promo.

After this incident, I just learned that one of the biggest problems with online shopping in Asia is the hassle one has to deal with regarding the tax-free threshold. Not only are you getting taxed, you have to drive all the way to the airport to pay the taxes! The only other option is to get the local courier company to transport it for you to the nearest post office for you to collect, which necessitates an extra fee of about 15 USD. Your third option would be to use FED-EX as a shipping option, in which you're spared the hassle of collecting the items yourself. FED-EX pays for any necessary taxes at customs, and brings the item right to your doorstep, and then mails you the bill for the taxes.

It seems most people steer away from anything above 156 USD when using SAL or EMS, or request that the seller mark down their prices.

Yea, HLJ's order system that automatically combines shipments is a pain. Waiting till the first order hits shipment/payment processing stage isn't always handy, especially during sales. I'm happy that Ami Ami now offers unregistered SAL as well, as they are more flexible when it comes to splitting orders, I have switched most of my purchases to them.

That is certainly quite the chain of events. This thread has actually kind of stalled. I've only watched up to episode 20 because I have yet to download the remastered copies of any later episodes, so I've been late on that. Seems everyone else just got busy or forgot.

Maybe your return can reinvigorate the viewing.

Yeah, got behind a bit and planned to catch up. Run up to and the World Cup itself take up a lot of free time, that won't change till that event is over.

Completed the Birdy the mighty OVA, better then expected. Nice animation quality and Birdy shares Misato's voice actress.

Unrelated: Bandai is releasing Patlabor OVA I and II and the Patlabor TV series on Blu-ray.