Graham

Actually, I'm quite looking forward to Ultraviolet. I enjoyed Equilibrium, the other film Kurt Wimmer directed. Graham

My wish list: - Number 1 wish for 25th anniversery = A new Macross TV series. My toy wish list includes: - 1/60 VF-0A, B, D (all color schemes). 1/60 SV-51 (all color schemes). 1/60 Reactive Armor & Ghost Booster sets for VF-0. 1/60 Destroid Cheyenne. 1/60 YF-19FP all new sculpt (1/72 is too small). 1/60 YF-21/VF-22 all new sculpt. 1/60 VF-11B/C all new sculpt. 1/60 Full Armor set for VF-11 1/60 Regults (1/48 would be too big IMO). 1/48 VT-1. 1/48 VE-1. Timescale wise, it's very unrealistic to expect all the above toys by the 25th anniversery, but hopefully Yamato will make at least some of them by then. Graham

They are correct. The VF-0 is supposed to have skinny arms. Graham

Here's the scan of the Viper MKII page from the BSG Official Companion Book. Click on thumbnail to enlarge. Armament is listed as: - Dual Thraxon MEC-A6 30mm Mass Accelerator Cannons (MECs) capable of firing 20 rounds per second. 800 round ammunition magazine per gun 8 x HD-70 Lightning Javelin Missiles capable of carrying conventional or up to 50 megatons of nuclear warhead. I'm guessing that Galactica doesn't have a large stock of missiles, which is why the are used infrequently. I would imagine that it's much easier for the fleet to manufacture new cannon rounds than it is to make new missiles, especially the nukes. Graham

Realistically speaking, missiles would be the prefered first line of defence against enemy fighters due to their longer range than guns. Graham

Is that scan from Figure Oh magazine? If so, which issue? No.95? It's good to see that they are at the stage where they are putting out test shots from the molds. That means hopefully they will be on schedule for April. I notice that the air brake does open after all. I thought it was just engraved on detail and didn't open from the pics we've seen previously. Graham

For some reason, it makes the A Team theme tune start up in my head ... 363249[/snapback] LOL Graham

That's a good point. I also remember reading somewhere that the Japanese don't make a big deal out of the 25th anniversery. Not sure if it's true or not. I don't think there was much in the way of celebreation of Gundam's 25th anniversery, but I may be wrong, as I don't pay that much attention to Gundam in general. However, I do seem to remember that there was quite a lot of coverage in the hobby mags of Gundam's 20th anniversery. Anyway, I'm gonna be the pessimist on this one and say that I'm not expecting much in the way of new stuff from Bandai or Big West for Macross's 25th anniversery next year. Graham

Yeah, it's hands are far too small . Graham

LOL...........poor 1/1 Lowviz Lurker, does anybody actually read all the way through his super-long posts Graham

The number of missiles a Viper MKII carries internally is mentioned in the Battlestar Galactica Official Companion Book. I'll have to go double-check when I get back home, but IIRC, it is 8 missiles. Graham

Am I the only one that thinks 'Van-Force' is a really silly name. Sounds like a bunch of super heroes that like drive round in a van or something Graham

You guys want this for your co-admin? Graham

While the movie deviates from the book in so many ways, I do prefer the casting and acting of the movie. I absolutely hate the casting choices in the mini-series. IMO, every actor/actress is completely miscast. And don't get me started on the extremely wooden acting. I really had to force myself to sit through the whole mini-series, and promptly threw the DVD in the trash as soon as I'd finished it. Graham

No sloppy seconds for me, thank you very much! Graham

Thanks for the clarification. Graham

I'm no expert, or rabid X-Men fan boy, but wasn't it Wolverine, not Cyclops who made the comment and I think he said yellow spandex, not blue. Graham

The new issues of Hobby Japan and Dengeki Hobby magazine should be out by next Tuesday (Jan 24). Hopefully, they will finally have some photos of the 1/60 VF-0S in Gerwalk mode (the only mode we haven't seen yet). I'll be buying the magazines on the day of release and will post any pics immediately. Graham

Finally rented the Spielberg WOTW on DVD over the weekend to watch with the wife. We both thought it was pretty bad overall, although some of the special effects were decent. Here's the things I disliked about the movie: - Tom Cruise's annoying grinning for the camera every few seconds at the beginning of the movie. I swear he's getting as bad as Will Smith in this regard. Thankfully he stopped doing this once all the bad stuff started happening. None of the 3 main characters (Cruise's character, his son and daughter) were at all likeable. In fact I found all of them really annoying. The whole idea of the Tripod's being burried underground for thousands or millions of years was so lame and flawed on so many levels. What's wrong with using the original concept of the Martians coming to earth in Giant cylinders? Thought the concept of the Martians coming to Earth on the lightning was pretty silly also. Even as sombody suggested they rode capsules down the lightning, the capsules must have been pretty small, as the holes the lightning made in the ground were not that large. Tom cruis's son should have died, that spoilt the whole ending. The lamest part of the movie was that the Tripods forcefields stopped working just because the Martians got sick. The design of the Martians were lame. Monkeys, crossed with ID4 Aliens crossed with ET. WOTW Aliens are supposed to be giant brains, bigger than bears with tenticles. IMO, the original H.G. Wells book is still better than all the movie adaptations put together, closely followed by Orson Well's radio adaptation, followed by the Jeff wayne musical. I never liked the George Pal movie either. Haven't seen the Pendragon Pictures version yet, but have it on order. LOEG Vol.2 is definitely worth a read for it's take on the Martian invasion of Earth. Graham

Hmm.....I would have thought that steel wool would have scratched the plastic. Graham

Just average IMO. Nothing special. Graham

Looks nice enough, but yeah I'm with EXO on this. Graham

I've owned and built several of these kits over the past decade. Yes, they are snap-fit, but like most snap-fit kits benefit from the odd dab of glue here and there. The kits are mostly molded in the correct colors and come with foil stickers. Of course they look much better if painted. They are not perfect transformation and the hands, head and lower torso section all have to be removed to transform from Battroid to Fighter mode. They are actually pretty sturdy kits (about the same as Gundam HG kits) as long as you treat them like models and not so much as toys. The only real weak point on the kits are a small tab on each wing, which slots into a hole on the outside of the lower leg in fighter mode. I've had this tab break on me before a couple of times. I'm actually having one built up for me now as a VF-19F by a professional model builder, although it won't be ready for a few months. I'll post pics when it's done. Graham

Probably licensing or royalty issues that prevented Paladium Games from using the original Studio Nue & Studio Artmic lineart. Graham

Mostly hookers at the moment Graham