GU-11

Thanks for all the tips and instructions, guys! @Mechtech: A thousand thanks for the recommendation. I totally suck at mixing paint. @ Penguin: Admitedly, I'm a little thick when it comes to written instructions, but regarding step 2, do I also let the clear gloss flow into the seams themselves, as I seal the edges of the masking tape? Secondly, and I know this sounds stupid and plain cheap, but would clear nail varnish work in lieu of clear gloss? I've only got clear flat with me right now, and the place where I get my paint is pretty out of the way.

I wonder if Ridley Scott considers Predators canon to the Aliens universe.

I just ran into the same problem. I'd decided to try getting online using the PS3 after reading some posts here, when I stumbled upon your post and realized, I'd completely forgotten the password to my router as well. In any case, it's no use. I searched for more info on the WFC freezing glitch, and to date, High Moon has not been able to resolve the problem. Word is, the same freezing problem happens in the DOTM game as well, which is their most recent TF game. Can't believe I paid good money for a defective game.

Well, at least I tried asking. Guess I'll have to break open the manual and start hooking up the modem to my PS3 just this once. Damn these game designers and their dependency on the Net to fix their own crap. *edited for typos.

The Tumbler cost approximately $500 USD. Keaton's Batmobile might cost just about as much, if not more.

Hahah, "immortal supermodels that can't dress" is right! I mean, they dress Alisa up like she's a theme park attraction, and expect her to blend in?! And don't get me started with Anna and her "flapper" outfits. As for Soul Calibur, I do agree that it's got a much richer story and premise to explore than Tekken. To me at least, the whole evil sword/good sword thing, while cliche, is better than the convoluted mess that is the Tekken continuity. I also find the characters more interesting, more fleshed out [literally and figuratively ] and ironically more believable than Tekken.

I really don;t see why they had to cut off the legs halfway and put the stumps onto stands. It certainly can;t be to save plastic, as the base probably requies at least as much plastic to make as a pair of legs. Either way, these are gorgeous. especially the redhead in the back right corner holding what appears to be a cyberpunkish, high-tech looking sword. Mind telling me her name and what manga/anime/comic/game she came from?

B-But...I like my animal skins and wooden club. Seriously though, I'm just too damn lazy to set things up in the first place, and since I don't download DLC's or play online games, there's very little in PSN to make me want to go online. Hence, my post: can I download the patch onto my computer and install it via thumbdrive?

They probably figured Tekken is more popular than Soul Calibur.

Pretty good, but the feet could have been sculpted better. Don;t like the clear red plastic on his upper arms, either.

Watched it a while ago, and I've come to the same conclusion as you, areaseven. Eye candy, not much of a plot, and pretty much filler between Tekken 5 and 6. What pisses me off is that they didn't set the story on the one character I'd like to know more about: Lars Alexanderson. This dude just pops out of nowhere in Tekken 6, claiming to be the son of Heihachi [with blonde hair and totally Caucasian features? WTF?]. Blood Vengeance could have delved into his background and fleshed him out more. But no, instead they decided to take us on a diversionary ride with a brand new character who was totally wasted in the story.

I can't beleive I didn;t realize this earlier! There's an online patch for War for Cybertron's hanging glitch?! One question though: can I download this to my computer and then transfer it via thumbdrive? I'm not a fan of DLC's and never bother setting up the internet connection for my PS3. I'd hate to have to set everything up just for a patch. Any advice?

As far as Medicom, I entered the figure collecting hobby a little too late to pick up Cyborg Raiden and Naked Snake. But seeing as HT is getting their turn for the MGS license, I'm waiting with bated breath for MGS4 Cyborg Raiden and Vamp. IMO, the two have the most epic battles in the game [that sadly doesn't involve the player], and IMO, they sort of overshadowed Snake here in his own game. BTW, wasn't there a Mr. 47 fig by either Medicom or Enterbay? Another of my holy grails. As for the BRS bike, I remember seeing pics of it, and it doesn't look like it can steer much, if at all. There are two front wheels, making something of an ATV than a conventional bike. The handlebars, if there are any, might be articulated, as might the wheels, but I'm not sure they can or will rig the wheels to move when you turn the handlebars. Either way, it's definitely earned a spot as a future centerpiece on my display shelf. Hell, I might even get a custom glass display for it. Such awesomeness must be protected from dust. Wonderfest...I wonder what surprises they might hold. I'm worried about budget, too. As it is, I've already pre-ordered Bandai's VF-25S Ozma, and I'm hoping to pounce on the super parts if and when my local hobby store brings them in. I'm an Evangelion fan myself, but since I missed out on Rei and Asuka last year thanks to Yamato and its feverish VF releases, I don't see a point in collecting the others. BTW, how are the joints in the Kaiyodo Revoltech EVA's? I'm a little hesitant to Revoltech stuff, after hearing complaints of loose joints. As for PlayArts Kai's MGS line, the only things that might bring me back to collecting anything from them would be Metal Gear Rex, Ray, and GEKKO's. I've a soft spot for chicken walkers--needless to say, GERWALK is my favorite mode for a Valk!

Man, now I'm really kicking myself for not having bought at set of those weathering kits while they were still available at my ocal hobby store! If I could get results as good that those on your VF-22S Max Custom without an airbrush, I'd have several set of those kits. Would diluting and mixing the paint with Future do the trick? I've heard that Future is pretty durable, and quite a few people prefer to dilute acrylic paints with the stuff to enhance durability and prevent chipping.

Yeah, the design for the latest Appleseed movie and GitS SAC are very nice. I'd kill for MGS Figmas! Relatively cheaper than the Playarts stuff, but so much better in the articulation and joints department, not to mention more accessories. I'd love to see some Macross characters as Figmas, pilots or otherwise. Too bad Bandai's still got the MF license; imagine Alto and gang in EX-gear! I know Bandai's got a fig of Alto, but the figure by itself seems less than proportionate, and I'm possitive Figma can do a better job. BTW, you excited about the BRS bike? I can't wait for them to finally announce it and come up with a release date!

I'm surprised that 3rd party companies haven't made movie-accurate add-on Jetfire parts for ROTF leader class Optimus. I'd pick those up in a heartbeat.

I've got Jetfire sitting on my shelf right now, and I do agree to a degree. Half the thickness of his body is contributed by the sound box. Still, the main problem I see here is that he's forced to do double duty with the alt mode and superparts WHILE staying relatively non parts-forming. In the CG model, his turbines become his legs, and the nose and neck of the jet become his head and torso. But as super parts, the turbines remain turbines, but are relocated to Optimus' back as thrusters, while his alt mode nose and neck split in half to become "pauldrons." I don't think it's possible to make Jetfire's turbines transformable into legs and yet be able to detach and be relocated to Optimus' back. And I have no idea how they will be able to make the Blackbird's nose and neck transformable into Jetfire's head and torso, and still be able to split in half AND be relocated to Optimus' shoulders. Fact is, I don't think Jetfire in the movie was mean to actually to be able to convert his whole body into super parts like the toy. The movie shows only selected parts of Jetfire attaching onto Optimus as super parts. The toy on the other hand necessitates his entire being to convert into the parts, becoming more like power armor ala Q-Rau or the power loader from Aliens rather than individual parts. Even if it were possible, budget and the need for it to be simple enough for kids to transform would render such designs unfeasible. Therefore, taking away the electronics only makes his alt mode much better, and even then its only possible if the super parts design concept was removed. Just my two cents' worth.

The one thing that truly bugs me about the Alter fig is that the face looks too sweet. Even Figma's face sculpt could have done with just a little more coldness. The Alter fig looks too cute, like an anime cyber-nurse or something. That said, if you disregard the source material and look at it in purely aesthetic terms, it's a VERY nice figure. Good proportions, plastic looks solid, clean paint aps, and there seems to be even more accessories than the Figma version [looks like two arm swords instead of one, and proper stands for the Gatling guns]. For now, I'm staying off PlayArts Kai figs for a while. The Figma ones seem to offer more value for money, although they seem to be concentrating a little too much on bishojo characters. But I guess that's what sells figs. Would be awesome to see Figma make something classic from the 90's, aka the golden age of anime; something like GUNNM figs, Appleseed or GitS. Plenty of good characters to choose from.

Which Alter KOS-MOS were you referring to? I googled "alter+KOSMOS," and found a ton of different figs alter made of the character, some articulated, others statues. I found this one by Volk pretty attractive, although the face isn't accurate to the game's GC model: I'll admit it doesn't have KOS-MOS's cold expressionlessness in the game, but it is nice to look at. As for BRS, trust me, when ou get your hands on it, you'll be spending hours posing it in different dynamic stances and positions. Since she's supposedly flight-capable, there are tons of great posing possibilities. Honestly, I find that more WTF than interesting. Some feministic pseudo-artist tries to take out her frustrations against sexism by using the anime/manga genre as a scapegoat, and in turn making money off of more pseudo-artistic types. ...which is basically repeating what anime52k8 just said, but with different words. You mean this pic? IMO, I think that's more of a reflection of background lighting than an LED. I've been following the MGS line from PlayArts Kai myself, and there's been no mention so far of light-up eyes. The recommended retail pricing is the same for the upcoming Solid Snake fig who doesn't seem to have any light-up gimmicks, so it's not likely that there will be any electronics on this.

NOTE: A thousand apologies for double posting, but I just realized THIS is the place for asking advice, after posting an identical question on the model kits forum. I'm about to start work on a new project: the Anubis Zone of the Enders Jehuty [who knew Egyptian gods made such cool action figures?]. Know those cool energy lines that run along its body? Well, they're not painted in the actual product. The manual tells you know to make mix a batch of paint for it [white and clear blue], but will regular panel washing do the trick? I'm planning on using Tamiya acrylic gloss white and clear blue [thinking of diluting it with Future], but I've no idea which is the best way to add the energy lines. Should I paint it using a fine tip brush or panel wash? And do I use water or Tamiya acrylic thinner to clean it up? I'm concerned about diluting it too much, because the light blue color might not show when dry, unlike black panel washing. The naked plastic is pretty glossy, but should I gloss coat it anyway? Should I gloss coat it for protection after applyingthe lines like I usually do for Gundam models? Any advice is much appreciated. On a side note, I hate that they've used blue clear plastic shoulder parts, instead of fluorescent green. The lines were green in the game, and I have a Gundam eye green marker that would have been perfect for the task.

I'm not sure about Imai, but the ARII kit I bought ages ago [Hikaru VF-1J GERWALK] had a pretty dinky GERWALK mode, and the Valk painted illustration was deceptively dynamic. You might have to do a little customizing of your own if you want an A-stance for your GERWALK, as there's no telling with these old kits.

Why is it that the Gundam universe seems to be populated by short bishonen protags whose heads are disproportionately larger than their bodies? I understand that pretty boys are the staple of anime, but what's with the kiddie proportions? SEED is the biggest offender, though. BTW, I haven;t even watched 00 yet. Maybe I'll give AGE a try first, since it's newer and probably easier to track down. I can already see TF fan customizing this into a Seeker or even TF Prime Megatron, due to the whack-a-mole head alt mode.

That was an interesting read. Wow, visual equipment from Radio Shack? Locating the "kill engine switch" beside the one that lowers the landing gear? I'm surprised there were'nt more crashes. You're right in that 38 crashesis a lot of crashes, though. I agree that UCAV technology hasn't reached the point where it can completely replace manned fighters, and even then, manned fighters will still be in use in certain "delicate" areas of combat. To be honest, it's hard to say exactly what the future holds, as technology often goes in completely unexpected directions and leads us to paths we'd never have thought of. BTW, I didn't say that UCAVs are ready to replace manned fighters, only that current fighter technology has reached a plateau because of the limited G's a pilot can endure, and that aerial performance can be substantially boosted once the human factor is removed.

Heheh, just don't mind the poor quality pics. I'm the furthest person you can find to a professional photographer. My only two cameras are a decade-old entry level digital camera, and the one built into my smartphone. As for BRS, I agree. Next to Figma's KOS-MOS, it has the most accessories, and the only one I can recall that came with a DVD. BTW, if you can still find it, I totally recommend BRS 2035, aka the game version. While she might seem derivitive of the original BRS at first, she's still got a nice design; more futuristic, and the fins on her waist give her a cybernetic look. Besides, she'll make a good companion for the upcoming bike [no release date yet, though]! I understand that art is what you make of it, but...really? I mean, couldn't she have at least come up with something of her own, instead of taking end product merchandise and rearranging them? Honestly, if that's all it takes to be an artist, we'd all be Picasso's and Leonardo's here. ...or Matisse, considering the "ero" nature of the subject matter.

Almost all the leader class Bayverse figs could benefit from the omission of those damn electronics. ROTF Optimus would be at least a third slimmer without the batteries on his back, and Starscream would have a decent jet mode. ROTF Megatron would have a sleeker tank mode and actually be able to move his elbow. I'll reserve my comments on Ironhide and Battle Ops Bumblebee, as I don't own the two. Jetfire seems like a lost cause, though, as he has to do double duty as a Blackbird AND super-parts for Optimus. I'm surprised he was actually able to pull off these two modes at all without noticeable parts-forming [the backplate that transforms into a gun sort of counts as parts-forming, if one pushed the issue.] But it's Starscream's jet mode is what really pisses me off. It would have been the perfect Starscream fig if only the jet had been slimmer. As it is, the jet mode is actually twice it's accurate girth, no thanks for the batteries and sound chip. Now I won;t say it would be perfect, as you'd still have to deal with the legs, but the girth would definitely be far less noticeable and visually obstrusive. I've only transformed SS into jet mode twice. Most of the time, he's displayed in bot mode, which was the only reason I bouth him at all. Except for the wrist and fingers, his bot mode is near-perfect.