Ghadrack

I saw it this weekend. My take on it was that half of the story was way over kids heads. The theatre I saw it in Sunday morning was packed with families with kids, about an hour into the movie the kids had nearly all lost interest, when the story slows down and goes to the "small towns a suffering in America due to impatience" subplot, I had little terds patting me on the head and playing tag in the aisles. I think the theme is a gret topic for discussion, documentary whatever, but in a movie aimed at kids whose parents were still infants when the small towns in our country started to die, it was just way, way over their heads. I love Pixar films, this one was my least favorite, I loath the main voice actors in the film "Larry the cable dummy" and Owen "I can hear his smooshed nose through the screen" Wilson, I couldn't forget them for the characters, they didn't help me immerse myself in the movie. I liked the story, but it didn't hold the attention of the intended audience, which in turn resulted in a poor theatre experience for me (although most people I talk to agree that common courtesy beign what it is today is the real culprit there). The cameos didn't bother me, because I detest sports personalities to the point where I don't watch or suppor them, so they might as well have been extras from off the street I didn't recognize the voices enough to pull me out of the movie to think about some idiot with too much money, dead race car driver's son was in the movie? Cool, whatever. The morals of the story were good, I liked the message of the movie, but for me at least, it just wasn't my favorite Pixar flick. I still think it is good and better than a lot of stff out there, but my expectations for a Pixar flick are very high.

I'd commit my money to the Phalanx immediately. In the 100 range I more than likley would want 2. Bravo!

Hmmmm...... 1/32....Macross....... Kit...... I don't even know if I want to know, the thought frightens me. My first thought was the fan racer, or maybe a destroid. Either way, I am totally excited by the thought of something big and Macrossy

I often fall in love with the idea of mods, but I'll be damned if I have ever seen one that was completed. They almost always fall apart because the creative team disbands due to school/work/personal life. I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you. 404721[/snapback] Dear sweet Bacon slathered Jesus, dont tell me you didn't play though all of the Neil Manke Half-Life mods "They Hunger" 1 through 3. This was absolutely the best ever game mod pack, the story wrapped up and I kid you not, I literally fell out of my chair from fright no less than three times playing through. It is old with dated graphics now but I would be remiss if I didn't get everyone that loves halflife to play those mods. Absolute perfection.

That is awesome, I would absolutely pay for the plans to build this. Great job and an excellted, original piece of fan work

Nice thoughts, seriously. Thanks for the quote taking a step back and looking at this from a different perspective, the true value of the internet.

I got a littel too excited and now I have four kits running at one time, error! error!! Anyhow, I am working on one of Cap's Regults, and a seperate standing pilot figure, an old, old 1/100ish scale gerwalk kit and I just got started cleaning up a Farscape Moia kit I plan to give to my Mom for Mother's Day, she loved that show If it comes out alright I'll try to post a few pics. Unfortunately, the underside of the ship is a little warped probably my fault for improper storage, I have some work to do to get it all straightened out.

Dropping the boomerang was a bad move, I have the old EB exclusive boomerang controller for my PS-1 and let me tell you guys, there is no better controller for racing/driving of flight shooter games on the market (except for a steering wheel for racing ). I think they shoulda put those controllers in people's hands before scrapping the idea. I hope they manufacture them as an option, I'll buy. Now that game system prices are hovering around the $500.00 mark, the extra hundred is frankly justifiable if Blue-Ray does win the war, if not, I think the comparrison to the Panasonic 3DO is a fair one. (I actually pre-paid for a 3DO all those years ago, scrimping and saving from my job at Burger King, and trust me, that was a lot of money back then, I think that system cost me $300ish). I have a feeling that the pricepoint is going to damage Sony's market share, it will bolster Nintendo as the most cost effective (presumably) of the "Next Gen" systems and give. At the end of the day, none of this crap really matters. DEVELOPER SUPPORT. We can debate, we can chant the mantra of our favorite system, but it doesn't matter The best games dictate which system is going to be desired. Lots of game are multi-platform these days, but it is the exclusives that drawn people back and forth from console to console. Sony seems to still have some of the big names buttoned up and if they keep the Square-Enix, Capcom, Konami's rolling out exciting exclusive content for their consoles then they will keep me buying their machines. Microsoft has not had a single exclusive game that has made me want to to X-box. Halo? I play FPS's on my computer, console FPS's can't draw me away from that. Anyhow, I plan to buy a PS3 and a Wii Maybe someday if the 360 gets something stunning I will think about it, at this point it isn't gonna happen.

Toolarmy or the Replica Prop Forum

Agreed, awesome episode. Period.

Asking isn't a problem, but you come off as very demanding, you are posting to a global message board demanding that someone find you a particular can of spraypaint and then throwing attitude laden messages at the board when you don't get a response in 45 minutes. Basically, chill out, we're all friends here, or at least try to be. If someone knows how to get what you are looking for in your neighborhood I'm sure they'll share. In the meantime, do a little reading, scope out some modelling forums for other suggestions, you may find an easier fix utilizing products that you can obtain locally, whereever you are that won't require you to get a 2dollar can of spraypaint shipped around the globe at a cost of about 50 bucks. Good luck in your quest.

I know this is off topic, and I apologize for the selfish use of the space, but I am looking for some assistance from a member in Japan. I didn't know who to go to so I thought I would ask here. My brother and I have always wanted to go to Japan, a trip to see our favoraite musical group and see the country sounds like a perfect excuse. We can take care of our own trip, But do you have any idea how we could go about securing tickets to a concert, is there somethign akin to ticketmaster in Japan? I am specifically interested in the Osaka and Tokyo dates TooL has posted for the 12th and 13th of August, dates listed on the web site. Thank you for any help you can provide. -Zach Edit, Well I found what I was looking for, there is a Festival of rock acts playing in Osaka and Tokyo, they are going as part of that show that has it's own website and will make tickets available to international users next month. Sorry for the post, if you are interested the site is www.summersonic.com Thanks for looking

I think what he is going for is instead of Corn Flakes and Oatmeal what might be a normal breakfast in mainland China, is there a big difference in the diet of people in the population centers? Not meant to be offensive, just curious about some of the common points of normal day t day life in other parts of the world

Mine showed up this morning, thanks again for yet another smooth transaction, great work again.

Worst Anime Crap I bought and watched was the Panda-Z shorts. I expected something a little more "Adult Swim", these 2 minute shorts were apparently aimed at 2 to 3 year olds with the attention span of a cat. I haven't thrown the disc away yet, maybe I will gift it to someone with an ADD baby.

How about a Wonder Woman style invisible jet for the next low vis. Transparent except for lights, tires and the visor

I haven't bought any Vallejo paints yet, but they have been "all the rage" in the warhammer communities for the past few years, vibrant colors, supposedly have very good mixture consistency and high paint quality. Personally, I have been using Polly-S / Testors water based acrylics and Tamiya paints for years and just haven't felt any compulsion to add a new brand to the mix. I'll end up breaking down and getting a couple bottle eventually and giving them a try.

I missed the timeline, is it time to get ready to start sending money to someone?

Back to the topic, I had the day off and pulled out my Rogue Trader, I was wrong, the section on the Transformation to a Space marine, wasn't in there, it was in the Warhammer 40K White Dwarf Presents Compilation from 1989 from the Compilation: " Phase 19 - Black Carapace. This is the last and the most distinctive implant. It looks like a film of black plastic when it's growing in the tanks. This is removed from its culture-solution and cut into sheets which are implanted directly beneath the skin of the Marine's torso. Within a few hours the tissue expands, hardens on the outside, and sends invasive neural bundles deep inside the Marine. After Several months the carapace will have fully matured and the recipient is then fitted with nerual sensors and transfusion points cut into the hardened carapace. These artificial 'plug in' points mesh with features integral to the powered armor, such as the monitoring, medicinal and maintenance units. Without the benefit of a black carapace a Space Marine's armour is relatively useless." On the subject of the Emperor, from teh Rogue trader, here is a short passage from the two pages dedicated to the Emperor of Mankind, I think it illustrated their original concept of the emperor and his role in the game: " It is ironic that this creature, whose will extends to over a million worlds, is no unable to leave the life giving machinery of his imperial throne, unable to so much as lift a shrivelled finger or twitch a shrunken eye. The living caracss of the Emperor if immobile, held fast within the bio-machine that sustains his spirit. Held within this perversion of science lies the Emperor himself, or rather what now remains of his carcass, the seat of his omnipotent will. he Emperor is now the custodian of his race, and he alone bears the knowledge of its fate. To this end the Emperor maintains strict control over the development of humanity and contributes directly to its survival by utilising his pwers. He plays a vital role in space travel within the Imperium. In order to steer a craft over great distances, a human navigator uses a mental homing signal, a sort of psychic beacon to guide him through warp space. To provide a mental signal throughout human controlled space would not be possible to any ordinary psyker - his powers go beyond those of mortals. Even so the strain of transmitting a contnuous signal would prove far too sternuous, and he merely concentrates his powers on directing a signal created by others. These are the imperial servants known as Adeptus Astronomicua, psykers whose bodies and souls are leeched of energy. This energy is projected by the mind of the Emperor in the form of the psychic beaconknown as the Astronomican. For the Emperor the only viable form of sustenance is the human life-force-soul and he has a great insatiable appetite. " It goes on and on

Yeah, with friend's it was great, once we started forming Leagues and having prizes at the end of the League Season competition forced the arms race till it turned into a farce, even with league rules, there were so many ways to exploit the game mechanics of the Rogue Trader rulebook that it always turned ugly in the end. Second edition ruined the game for some races, it made orks the comic relief of the game with the Malfunction deck, I switched over to Eldar in second edition then started on my Marine army, by third edition I had given up on GW because of the completely ludicrous price structure they have set forth, and the bogus basis of the Lead to "Pewter" miniature production, now their price structure is based upon the utility and power of the figure in the army, which is just out and out theft from theri customers. Every time I start talking about it I end up ranting, I absolutely love their stuff, and have been addicted to it for the past 15+ years, but I haven't bought anything from them in 6 months, they have just lost their minds on prices.

First edition was the worst for kitted out characters that wipe out armies. I fought in a league battle with seom friends one of which had a 2000 point Ratling on a Hoverboard, on the front of the hoverboard he had a Phase Field Generator, the Hoverboard moved 72" a round which gave a minus 7 to hit him he had 10 Synchronized strength 10 power fieldswhich meant you had to do more than 100points of damage in a round to hurt him, for weapons he wore a Harlequin double grenade launcher loaded wiht Vortex grenades on his back and used 10 Jakaero Digital weapons, 5 needlers with death poison, and 5 flamers. First edition was fun with friends, it was horrible for competition though, because if you wanted to you could really break the game. The worst I ever saw was a league battle 8,000 points a side, 4 on four, one team was comprised of 4 Level 4 Psychers in a teleporting predator tank, each round they used the time control power to take away the enemys Psychic and Firing Phases while they got used for target practice with various psychic attacks and missile barrages. It was totally weak. A close second, was another friend of mine created a vehicle it was an apache helecopter, it flew 90 inches above the board and used a Defense Laser (Planetary defense weapon with unlimited range to shoot his apponnent who could not hit him because he was out of range of anything but two weapons in the game that the opposing player (me) didn't have. Fun when playing with freinds. no fun competetively.

Btw...I keep hearing Rogue Trader, but that's such a weird name...you play traders and barter stuff in the the universe? I think that it was intended to be considered from the viewpoint of you are perusing an equipment or army catalog through which you (the commander, general, mercenary pirate, whatever) would buy your army and equipment. No telling though. It had some great flavor text throughout. I have read much of the latest edition and they are returning some of the gore factor to the game, but if you read any of the original rules for Chaos or the first edition stuff, there is a glaring difference, second edition was a blatant attmept to soften the image of the game and draw in a different, more family friendly crowd. GW has really alienated most of their old player base anyhow, they now consider players and their retailers for that matter to be a revolving door resource. I could rant at length about their business practices, but this isn't the place for that. Cool miniatures, neat game.

Check your used book stores for a copy of the first edition Warhammer 40K rules, the Rogue Trader, they have the detailed process under which a recruit who has survived the process was transformed into a marine. I don't have the book with me here at work, but the original process involved the marines having carapace plates implanted in their body and it grew inside them and fused with their skin and bones internally, the process was very painful and dangerous, many marines die at this stage in the process. So far as I know, Sisters of Battle do not have the Geneseed treatment. Can marines father children? I have never read any place that they were castrated so I would assume that if they could mate without killing their partner then probably, take some artistic license, chapters are meant to be unique. IG's becoming marines is pretty improbable. But again, make what you want, if your story is cool, some will like it and the idiot rules-lawyers will poo-poo it like they do anything original. Shoulder armor colors vary by unit, by regiment, by rank, they are probably both right, depending on the unit and rank of the troop you are looking at. I think someone else got you on the marine chapter in the game, I never played it. The emperor was badly wounded in the battle with Horus the assension to the Golden Throne, well he was essentially put on Life Support, In the old lore, essentially the status of the Emperor is a big secret, no one knows if he is capable of cognizant thought, he is in stasis and like Lenin's Body for old Russia was a source of inspiration. The Emperor's power however is still supposed to be affecting the Fate of mankind in some abstract sense. Still going from memory here, so I'd have to check up on the books, but there were several chapters wiped off the books of the original founding chapters I want to think it was the Thousand Sons and the Emperor's Children that sided with Horus and Chaos and were wiped from the records as any exposure to or knowledge of the powers of Chaos was cause for cleansing with fire in the old game. 40K used to be so very dark, they really lost a lot of their Umph when they started trying to make it a family game. A buddy of mine has been playing Legion of the Damned since he read about them in White dwarf long, long ago, I'll see if he has the original back story on them.

I too have a regult kit set aside for an upgrade kit. If you re-release the regult pods in light of an expansion kit, I would probably get another depending on what option kits you made available. 1/72 Glaug A-La The Patented Moscato treatment any macross model fan would be a fool not to jump on one of those, I know I couldn't resist.

I have the equipment and have been too lazy to research the reformatting of video material for my Ipod, if you wanted to link or post a tutorial for PC users I'd be happy to read it