Graham

I'll see if I can make it for the summer one as well. What's the exact date? I'll need several months to get my wife to accept the idea Be nice to finally meet Monkey-N and Bariaburu Faita in person. And of course it's always fun getting together with Noel. Perhaps we can persuade Shawn to go as well if his schedule is less hectic by then. Graham

Watched the new Appleseed over the weekend. Bleh.......didnt like it. It did nothing for me. Give me the original 80s anime anyday. Traditional cell anime = good . CG anime = bad . Graham

The HK bootleg DVD of Destiny eps # 5-8 came out last week. Watched half of it so far (up to ep # 6). Gotta say both the vol.1 and vol.2 HK DVDs have had excellent English subs so far. Not perfect, but pretty damn close. And all the names are pretty accurate and consistent from episode to episode, which is a good thing. One of the things that really pissed me off about my HK SEED box set (and a lot of other HK anime DVDs as well) is that the characters names keep changing from episode to episode. And just to echo what a lot of others here have said, it was very cool seeing the ZAKUs kick ass . Just a pity poor Lunamaria Hawke doesn't seem to be doing very well in combat so far, which is a pity as she is my favorite (and cutest IMO) female character in Destiny. I'm definitely enjoying Destiny much more than SEED so far. As Destiny seems to be taking a lot of cues from Zeta, much like SEED followed MSG to some extent, I'm betting Shin's mid series upgrade MS will be variable, just like in Zeta, Camile started with the non-variable RX-178 MKII and upgraded to the variable Zeta. Graham

What is it with Lucas and hands??? I am guessing you have never been in a sword fight. What do you think is most at risk... your ass? I do full contact sparring with padded swords, and I can testify that hands and forearms are the most commonly hit areas. Graham

While not a band, my favorite J-rock/J-pop singer is Nanase Aikawa. Graham

Well Raww is a famous ace so unless his group is some covert unit then he's probably been paraded every once in a while as a hero in PLANT. Mwu wouldn't have to see him face to face, but just see his face on a monitor or something. OK good point. Yeah, that makes sense. Graham

Good point. Could be. But I wonder whether it offers improved protection over regular Phase Shift? Graham

Getting back on topic, as this is supposed to be the SEED Destiny thread, not a PC spec comparison thread . I've just noticed that in the latest MAHQ update, they list the Impulse Gundam as having 'Variable Phase Shift' (VPS) armor. I wonder how this differs from regular Phase Shift armor? Graham

Ditto. Bought the individual disks, that's enough for me. Graham

I'll be getting myself a Konig Monster or two, that is assuming it's actually out in time for Christmas. Also going to buy myself the MMM GQ Force Impulse Toy, which should be out around the middle of the month. I've asked my wife to buy me some CDs. Graham

I actually have the original of 'Macross Since 1983'. Sorry, not for sale though. Graham

Wow, the MMMGQ Sword Impulse is looking really nice. Yay it comes with the beam rifle unlike the MSiA version (shame on you Bandai). I like how the screws on the legs and arms are now covered up, unlike on earlier prototype photos where they were still visible. Graham

Eh, why the mask if he doesnt have some mean ass scarring or something? Very dissapointed . Thanks for posting it though. I'm suspecting the mask is to hide from Mwu. Nah, personally, I don't see that as the reason. I mean just how many times does Le Creuset actually personally encounter Mwu? I mean actually face to face encounter, not fighting in MS or MA? I'm no expert on SEED and I'm still only up to about episode 38 or 39, but I only recall one time in the series so far where Mwu and Rau Le Creuset were actually close enough to see each other (a gunfight in some old colony or something). As Rau Le Creuset hides on his ship for most of the first three quarters of the series, why bother wearing a mask at all times just to hide is face from Mwu as he wouldn't have any chance to encouter Mwu anyway unless he left the ship or submarine or whatever it was he was skulking about on? And just who comes up with names like Mwu La Flaga anyway? Sunrise/Bandai, at least give your characters plausible realistic sounding names (apologies in advance if Mwu La Flaga is actually a common name in your country ). Names like Kira Yamato I can live with, it's real sounding. Heck even 'Lunamaria Hawke' sounds cool, but if somebody walked up to me and introduced themselves as 'Mwu La Flaga' I think I would be very hard pressed not to burst out laughing. Graham

I think that will be a long time (if ever) in happening. Call me old fashioned, a dinosaur or whatever, but I still prefer the experience of browsing and buying in an actual physical shop rather than buying something online. A great many people I know feel the same as wall. Shopping and searching for stuff in real shops is fun ya know . Although I of course buy stuff online, I only do when it's things that I can't easily buy here in HK, like some English language books, US or UK version console games etc. And getting back on topic, Half Life.....nah, never played it. Took one look at the nerdy looking main character and decided I didn't want to play as some dorky looking, glasses wearing, bearded scientist geek (apologies to all MWers who have beards and wear glasses or are scientist geeks ). Graham

Eh, why the mask if he doesnt have some mean ass scarring or something? Very dissapointed . Thanks for posting it though. He's shy? Graham

Bought the HK DVD earlier this week, haven't had time to watch it yet. Perhaps this weekend.....sigh! Graham

Bought 2 each of the Sword, Force & Blast Impulse MSiAs last week. Loving these toys. Probably one of my favorite MSiAs, chock full of features and certainly one of the better designed MSiAs IMO. Atriculation is generally excellent, especially the shoulders and arms. The only area where I find articulation to be lacking is the ankles, as the toy is unable to keep the soles of its feet flat on the ground when in a spread legged pose. I'm liking the fact that many of the weapons and accessories are made of hard POM or ABS plastic as opposed to soft PVC. The main wings on the Force Impulse's flight pack are so lovely and straight compared to the craptastic bendy Aile pack on the MSiA Strike Gundam. Also, as Dark Phoenix mentioned, the twin anti-warship swords on the Sword Impulse are nice and ridged as well . A huge improvement over the horrible floppy anti-ship sword that came with the Strike Rouge. Even the Impulse Gundam MSiA itself seems to look less rubbery and more like a proper toy IMO compared to many other MSiA. However, the MSiA Impulse Gundams are not without QC problems. Here's the issues I found with mine: - Force # 1 = Slightly warped barrel on beam rifle. Force # 2 = Waist ball joint too loose, toy kept coming in half at the waist. Problem fixed with a coat of clear nail polish to the ball joint and socket Force # 2 = Left side skirt armor came off the first time I tried to put the folding knife inside. Side skirt armor is held on by glue, so I had to reglue it with some super glue. Sword # 1 = Perfect, no QC problems. Sword # 2 = Perfect, no QC problems. Blast # 1 = Waist ball joint too loose, toy kept coming in half at the waist. Problem fixed with a coat of clear nail polish to the ball joint and socket. Blast # 2 = Black paint was missing from the right leg, upper, outer calf panel. All the above are only minor problems and this MSiA is light years ahead of the very first MSiA,the original ver.1 RX-78, which basically fell apart if you looked at it the wrong way Graham

About a year or so ago, there was a Japanese artbook released which focused on anime motorbikes (variable and otherwise). I didn't buy it and can't find it now. Sort of regret not buying it now. Anyboy have it? Graham

Yeah, I know, I've owned both the MMM Aile Strike & Sword & Launcher Strike for quite a long time already. Nice, toys, shame about the too long neck though, sorta kills the look of the toy IMO. The only HCM Pro I have is the Titans RX-178 MK I Gundam, which was a present from somebody. As others have said, these are all ABS, no PVC, so quite durable and very poseable despite the small size. Definitely recommended if you like UC MS. Graham

Here's the latest pics of an unpainted test shot. Before you all start complaining about the use of black plastic for the chest, please note that the black plastic used is not the final color. Test shots are made using whatever color plastic the factory has spare. Graham

Yeah, the GQ (Gundam Quality) MMM toy looks nice. Should be out around the middle of this month from what I've heard (either 16th or 18th in HK). Very little actual die-cast metal content though. Pics of the unpainted prototype in the Japanese hobby mags show that basically only the feet are die-cast. I'm definitely getting one Force and one Sword version and also the Blast if they make it. Graham

OK, thanks. Graham

Shawn should hopefully be back towards the end of December. Graham

Just saw on Gunota that it looks like Impulse & Zaku Warrior HCM Pro toys will be released next year. I'm going to be all over those. Graham

I actually bought a Strike Rouge MSiA two days ago. Also bought an MSiA Aile Strike as well. Not bad toys, although I find the ankle articulation is far too limited. Also, I wish the Aile pack's wings had been made of the same hard plastic as the Force Impulse wings. Regarding the Strike Gundam's big sword. I had a great deal of difficulty getting the main pink beam blade fitted. The two end tabs are a pain in the ass to get into the slots and once you do get them in it's apparent that the blade is too long so that it bends or sags. In the end, I ended up cutting both end tabs of the beam blade slightly shorter. Doesn't help much though, the blade still sags. Bandai should have made the beam blade wider like on the Sword Impulse. Can you tell me how is the Ginn MSiA, any problems? As I'm thinking of picking one up today. Graham