Graham

I think that a microwave emitter that can intantaneously, or in a very short period of time change a large amount of liquid to vapor is going to be non-descriminatory. If it will effect the drinking water in the water mains, then it will just as easily affect the water in a human body. I don't think you can program microwaves to bend to avoid a human . Graham

Thank you.

Not instantly, no. We've got our internal body heat to keep us warm, plus hopefully some clothes as well. However, put a naked person, or a person with only light clothing in a zero degrees celsius or lower environment for long enough with no way of keeping warm and they will eventually catch hypothermia, die and then freeze. Graham

I am Spartacus. Graham......erm, no damnit, I mean Spartacus

Something I thought of last night that's been bugging me. The stolen microwave device in the movie is designed to vaporize all water within it's area of effect, right? Now correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the human body made up of like 70% water? So, if this is the case, wouldn't any humans within the effective range of the machine have been killed by it? Sort of defeats the purpose of vaporising the city's water supply to spread the Scarecrow's hallucinogenic drug, if all the citizens are already dead . Graham

I think the battle damaged version looks better than the version with gold highlights. Graham

Ah, I see. I didn't know that. I might have to look for that then. Any idea of the price? Graham

OK, so the line up looks like: - 1) Max in DYRL Q-Rau flight suit. 2) Minmay in DYRL opening concert outfit. 3) Flower Girl from Macross 7. 4) Unknown, but possibly Minmay in UN Spacy uniform. 5) Isamu in flight suit, Mac Plus. 6) Cutaway VF-1S cockpit. Graham

Ah, stupid me, #3 is the Flower Girl from Macross 7. You know, the chick who's always trying to give Basara flowers. Graham

Heh, first time I read through those specs I thought the jump figures were inches and wasn't impressed, then I realised that that it was in feet.....wow! I wonder what the thrust of the jet engine is? Graham

We saw the Hotwheels version outside the cinema, remember. It had those inaccurate covers over the front wheels. Graham

On the third pic, it mentions Macross 7 underneath. I'm guessing Mylene in a skirt holding flowers. 2nd pic is definitely Minmay Damn, a VF-1S cockpit is boring, just a repaint of the last chase from set #2. They should have done a cutaway YF-19 cockpit instead. Graham

The Perfect Grade 1/60 Scale Sky Grasper & Aile Pack set has been out in Hong Kong for a few days now. Beautiful box art. It looks like it's done by Tenjin but I can't be sure. Even though I don't own the PG Strike, I'm tempted to pick up one of these as it looks so nice. Graham

Noel, What do the three red triangular buttons on the top of the toy do? Graham

So does anybody know if the movie Batmobile actually runs. I think I recall reading somewhere that it actually drives pretty well. Next question, does anybody have the Bandai model kit yet and if so, how is it? Graham

Hey, mullets are actually coming back into fashion here in Hong Kong. Lots of young HK teenagers and guys in their 20s currently sporting mullets. Graham

She looks pregnant in that photo if you ask me. Graham

That's great news that we're getting a set #3. While, I'd like to see some Macross Plus figures, especially Isamu and Guld in flight suits, it's unlikely as CM's haven't touched Macross Plus in the past. My guess for the line up is: - 1) Shin in flight suit (M0). 2) Ray or Viffidas (M7). 3) Max in Q-Rau Flight Suit (DYRL). 4) Nora in flight suit (M0). 5) Shower scene Minmay (DYRL) 6) Mystery Figure ??????? (maybe Gubaba). Graham

Doctor Who used to scare me shitless as a little kid in the 70s. Gave me lots of nightmares. Graham

Quick Review, also cross posted in the Movies & TV Series forum. OK, I got the Miyatake Design Works (MDW) book yesterday (20th June 2005). It's 113 pages long, which makes it slimmer than the Kawamori Design Works (KDW) book, which had a page count of 157 pages. Paper quality of the MDW book is also different, being rougher than the more glossy pages of the KDW book. Contents are as follows: - Pages 3-14: Macross. Pages: 15-30: DYRL. Pages: 31-46: Macross Plus. Pages 47-80: Macross 7. Pages 81-94: VF-X/VF-X2. Pages 95-109: Orguss. pages 110-113: Interviews. The Macross & DYRL sections of the book feature mostly lineart of ships and destroids. As with the earlier KDW book, both conceptual drawings and finished production lineart is featured. However, in these sections there was very little art that isn't already published in a dozen other Macross art books. Things start getting a bit better with the Macross Plus section, which features some never before seen conceptual art of the Renegade Powered Armor, Ghost X-9, Guld & Isamu's flight suit designs and also early designs for the first Macross Plus poster. Location settings and buildings also feature. For some strange reason, the Queadluun-Rau is included in the Macross Plus section, rather than in the Macross or DYRL sections! Moving onto the Macross 7 section, we get a lot of never before seen conceptual art of the Battle 7 ship as well as a lot of production line art of the other ships in the Macross 7 fleet and also the Varauta ships. This ship art is mostly the same as featured in the TIAS Macross 7 books though. Other highlights of the Macross 7 section include art of vehicles, mecha and buildings from Dynamite 7. Art and conceptual art of some of the Varauta mecha, lineart of Emilia's custom Q-Rau from D7 and some protodeviln and creature art. The next section features ships and enemy mecha from 3 Macross console games (VFX, VF-X2 & DYRL). Included is some never before seen conceptual art of the Macross 13. The next section covers mecha and ships from Orguss, followed lastly by an interview with Miyatake and Kawamori (in Japanese of course). Not quite as good as I thought it would be and certainly not worth the 5 year wait IMO. If you have a large collection of Macross artbooks, then you will have most of the art collected here already. While there are a few gems of previously unseen conceptual art included, there's nothing really mindblowing, at least to me. I was hoping that art of the City 7 Police Mecha from Macross 7 and the combining enemy mecha from the end of Macross M3 (Dreamcast game) would be included in this book, but perhaps they were not designed by Miyatake. And before anybody asks, there is no Macross Zero artwork featured in this book. Also, there are no color pages, like there were in the KDW book. It is however, quite interesting to remove the slip cover and see the DYRL SDF-1 art underneath. Graham

OK, I got the Miyatake Design Works (MDW) book yesterday. It's 113 pages long, which makes it slimmer than the Kawamori Design Works (KDW) book, which had a page count of 157 pages. Paper quality of the MDW book is also different, being rougher than the more glossy pages of the KDW book. Contents are as follows: - Pages 3-14: Macross. Pages: 15-30: DYRL. Pages: 31-46: Macross Plus. Pages 47-80: Macross 7. Pages 81-94: VF-X/VF-X2. Pages 95-109: Orguss. pages 110-113: Interviews. The Macross & DYRL sections of the book feature mostly lineart of ships and destroids. As with the earlier KDW book, both conceptual drawings and finished production lineart is featured. However, in these sections there was very little art that isn't already published in a dozen other Macross art books. Things start getting a bit better with the Macross Plus section, which features some never before seen conceptual art of the Renegade Powered Armor, Ghost X-9, Guld & Isamu's flight suit designs and also early designs for the first Macross Plus poster. Location settings and buildings also feature. For some strange reason, the Queadluun-Rau is included in the Macross Plus section, rather than in the Macross or DYRL sections! Moving onto the Macross 7 section, we get a lot of never before seen conceptual art of the Battle 7 ship as well as a lot of production line art of the other ships in the Macross 7 fleet and also the Varauta ships. This ship art is mostly the same as featured in the TIAS Macross 7 books though. Other highlights of the Macross 7 section include art of vehicles, mecha and buildings from Dynamite 7. Art and conceptual art of some of the Varauta mecha, lineart of Emilia's custom Q-Rau from D7 and some protodeviln and creature art. The next section features ships and enemy mecha from 3 Macross console games (VFX, VF-X2 & DYRL). Included is some never before seen conceptual art of the Macross 13. The next section covers mecha and ships from Orguss, followed lastly by an interview with Miyatake and Kawamori (in Japanese of course). Not quite as good as I thought it would be and certainly not worth the 5 year wait IMO. If you have a large collection of Macross artbooks, then you will have most of the art collected here already. While there are a few gems of previously unseen conceptual art included, there's nothing really mindblowing, at least to me. I was hoping that art of the City 7 Police Mecha from Macross 7 and the combining enemy mecha from the end of Macross M3 (Dreamcast game) would be included in this book, but perhaps they were not designed by Miyatake. And before anybody asks, there is no Macross Zero artwork featured in this book. Also, there are no color pages, like there were in the Kawamori book. It is however, quite interesting to remove the slip cover and see the DYRL SDF-1 art underneath. Graham

Visually, the BloodRayne character design is a complete rip off of the vampire bounty hunter character 'Durham Red', who first appeared probably about 15 years ago in the weekly British sci fi and fantasy anthology comic '2000AD'. As for the movie, I have only two words to say, 'Uwe Boll. Graham

Saw Batman Begins last Friday. Before the movie, I didn't like the new Batmobile design, but now I've watched it, I do. But I gotta ask what's up with having to lie flat on your belly in order to use some of the systems. I thought that was pretty silly. I guess it's one of those things that the producers or art director (or whowever) thought looked cool, but didn't really think it through carefully. And Neeson was Qui Gon (perhaps a darkside Qui Gon), but Qui Gon none the less. During the training swordfight on the ice, I kept expecting him to mention the force, especially when he started giving his speach about anger. I thought the begining set up explaining how Bruce Wayne became Batman could have been a bit shorter, by say 20-30 mintutes rather than take up half the film. It would have been nice for batman to have a bit more screen time. As for the fight scenes with Batman, I understand why they took the close up approach, but it would have been nice to have at least one major fight where we actually get to see Batman doing some moves, rather than just a flury of blurred movement and shadows. overall I did quite enjoy it and hope the same director and main cast members get the greenlight for a sequel. Graham

When there's no more room in hell, the dead will walk the Earth. Graam

Will pass on this. Just like Dawn of the Dead, the original Day of the Dead is a classic IMO, which does not need to be remade. And just for the record, I hated, the remake of Dawn, with it's Olympic sprinter zombies. Graham