Bloodcat

So some dude drew an unrealistic shell for the AC10. Or it might have been an LBX AC10, which is basically a shotgun. Artists are artists. And read the BT Novels. Air support is constantly mentioned. It usually ends up with whomever controls the air wins, but not always. (See every major war since WW2.) Mechs die to aerospace assets about as rapidly as tanks do. Play Battletech with Aerospace 2 rules included. Mechbuster conventional fighters become a nightmare for ground forces. And the missles are guided, but they are more like semiguided, more or less advanced versions of the FFAR rockets used on some helicopter gunships. What is so unrealistic about the universe? Other than the conceit there are huge numbers of possible human habitable planets and going into hyperspace, its all possibly doable technology. Humanity is still greedy and nations still bicker. Technology took a nosedive and was somewhat increased due to war and access to some old datafiles and advanced tech. Things plateaued out, dipped, then came back up. There isn't any mech that is super unstoppable, and very few pilots who would act ANYTHING like the characters in your average Gundam show, outside of some particularly well brainwashed Clanners. Which is why they lost with superior technology. (Sort of like oh.. the US Revolutionary War?) Mechs are more survivable compared to tanks for the reasons I already listed. Less crew, more compartmentalized design, and improved maneuverability. I can't comment too much on Heavy Gear since like almost everyone else I generally ignored it for Mechwarrior and Battletech. And its 60+ novels. And TV show. If I wanted a Votoms game I will open up my Votoms RPG book and use it thanks... The Battletech boardgame while considered complex now was considered a Beer & Pretzels game back when it was created in the mid 80s. (Compare it to Advanced Squad Leader and Starfleet Battles, the game it most resembles...) Some things in the game rules are a bit unrealistic, and the designers and fans generally accept and acknowledge it. It was considered to be an abstraction. Which is why the follow up spiritual successor to the Battletech line, Renegade Legion, did things a little bit different. Sadly, that game didn't do too well, though I loved the Leviathan ruleset for big, quick & dirty "Battle of Endor" scaled capital ship ops.. No idea how the Gundam RPG will do in realism, probably as poorly as the source material does...(Well, if R Talsorian ever actually RELEASES it..) These new little HCMs would be a good fit for the game. Too bad they suck ass in price. (Could always use MSIAs, but the scale on those things is all over the place according to those in the know..) (2nd edit to avoid further thread derailment: I actually played the Heavy Gear 2 PC game. I never felt once like I was in a robot. It was a nice power armor game, but it had the typical Activision Mecha game difficulty curve and I gave up somewhere during some insane stealth mission. I tried playing it again recently and gave up before even finishing the tutorials finding it bland, clunky, and requiring far too many control changes to be playable. I found the universe to be completely uncompelling, and the mecha design to be ugly and not in the cool tank kind of ugly Battletech gives off. I have been playing Battletech since 1988 so I am kinda biased. It was my first tabletop wargame outside of some educational simplistic games in some book the school library had. I still play Battletech and I attempted to be a Fanpro Commando for my area, promoting the game and running demos. Ive taught around 10 people the game, all of whom quite enjoyed it. It replaced Robotech and Transformers for me in a time when they were considered dead properties and Gundam was just some cool ass robots in shows I would never see but man o man did the articles in Protoculture Addicts and Mecha Press sound cool!.)

If they werent 12-14 US for a GI Joe sized toy they could be pretty cool minis for tabletop mecha wargaming. Sadly they are not, thus its just more redone UC crap. Bandai: Flogging a dead horse till otaku stop throwing money at us.

Die cast this die cast that. OOOHHH!!! ITS HEAVY!!! Diecast costs too much and never color matches the plastic by and large. Im so sick of hearing about how great diecast is. When its not. It sucks ass actually! But yay on new HCMs. However I don't wanna be woken for for it till they do Vifam 7 and any other cool 80s robots that aren't Gundam... As to giant robots? Well, Battletech wins on the realism front. Every mech is packed to the gills with weaponry, in some cases more than it could ever fire. Very few of them have any form of close combat weapon, because outside of city fighting there really isnt much need to give a multimillion dollar machine a weapon useable in 30 meters or less fighting when most fighting takes place at 300-1000. (Which is mostly a game design conceit. Realistically the Battletech weaponry range is 3 times that. But watching LRMs and Gauss rifles fire 60 hexes (inches, or 120 inches in proper scaled miniatures play) would be kind of complicated on players. The Battletech rules even give reasons why robots are used. They are highly mobile over multiple terrain types, capable of withstanding and surviving more damage than a tank, and capable of firing more weaponry at once. Also it only takes 1 pilot to command a mech while most tanks require 3-5 crewmen. Plus they are more salvagable than a tank. Lose a leg? The expensively trained pilot can escape. Lose a head? Mech still in good condition, it just needs a new head and possibly pilot. (Note tanks still outnumber mechs like 5 to 1 in the Battletech universe.) And their height means they have more visibility on the battlefield opposed to a ground based tank. Less need for spotter units and such. Or bridgelayers. They can go anywhere and do almost anything. They are big all terrain tanks with improved features that would apparently cost too much in a tank. Giant robots can be relatively realistic. Its just most anime and games don't make them so. Battletech comes closest, but at the expense of making "cool" looking robots. Most of em are butt ass ugly, just like modern war machines are. Most of Gundam has more in common with Super Robots than realistic robots. I find much of Gundam entertaining and I own my fair share of models and MSIAs, but its certainly not realistic. More realistic than Star Trek maybe, but generally less believable than Star Wars.

I consider the Turn A to be the 2nd coolest main hero Gundam. The Zeta is of course first!

These toys also need to pass drop tests and the like. Its much easier to make a simpler toy, which is also sturdier and safer from the get go. Drop Armada Jetfire from 5 feet off the ground. Do the same thing with a Yamato. Guess which one will be fine? It aint the Yamato! (You could also substitute your fave Soul of Chogokin or Diaclone era G1 toy here if you like. Same probable result.) Guess which toys I have more fun with as far as transforming or toying with while watching the TV? Yep, those silly kiddy Armada/Energon toys. I like the Alternators but TFing them is a 15-20 minute PROJECT...

And there have. The things definately are inspired by the Invid Scouts, but not enough so its a serious ripoff. Ive seen FAR closer things inspired by other things get away with it...

Reports from veteran MMORPGers are that the game blows ass, even more so than its predecessor, and similar in that they are both massively behind the times games. Update. Got my beta CD key. This is the first "pro" MMORPG where I was tired of it in under 2 hours. Its so mediocre and awful as to not be funny. Even some of the worst MMORPGs are better than this pile of dullness. Play the beta for yourselves of course, but you are better off with almost any other MMORPG that is doing moderately well, even the ones I think are crappy. MMORPGS better than Lineage 2: Shadowbane Asheron's Call Asheron's Call 2 Earth & Beyond (Being cancelled) Everquest Ultima Online Anarchy Online Star Wars Galaxies Multiplayer Battletech 3025 (Cancelled in Beta) Dark Ages of Camelot MMORPGs worse than Lineage 2: Rubies of Eventide (Being cancelled IIRC) Gemstone 3 Jumpgate MMORPGS I havent tried so can't comment on that I know of: All bazillion lameass Koream MMORPGs Final Fantasy 11 City of Heroes ( In Beta) Eve Online Meridian 59

A lot of the Energon figs are great. Some grow on you, some are just plain woah. Like Starscream and Rodimus. Best toy versions of these characters in any incarnation ever!

There was an original DVD specialish edition, the recent Divimax edition with only a commentary track seen at Wal Mart for 15 bucks, and another edition coming up this fall thats gonna be like 3 disks or something. Should go nicely with the Dawn of the Dead Special Edition Divimax released about 4-6 months ago.. Because Bub kicks ass....

Well, Id say Armada had a couple stinkers, but the back half of the original G1 line was nothing but ass. Then again, im not a raging G1 lover even though I grew up with it. I don't let nostalgia get in the way of asthetics like 90% of the mechahead/TF fanbase out there...

The good news? The new DOtD has twice the action of the original. The bad? Its also got half the intelligence. A fun little movie, but not all that and a bag of chips. And there are like 2 or 3 editions of the original on DVD, with an uber version coming up this fall.

I LIKE a lot of the Gobot toys. Ive got Puzzler and a bunch of Renegade Gobots piloting the Grungy Powersuit combiner right out in proud display next to my Transformers and Gundam MSIAs.. Its amazing how well made and complicated the Gobot toys were compared to the Transformers of the same timeframe. Puzzler outdoes all the G1 combiner teams except for Predaking in sheer quality and poseability. All their seperate robot modes blow ass, but so does Bruticus and he gets rereleased constantly..

Yeah, I really liked that particular bit in the AP RT comics. Actually I think it was the only AP RT story I actually enjoyed. If you are a McKinneyist (I am anyhow) there is a good explanation why the 15th was so low on personnel. Between the war itself and the final battle that released the flowers, the 15th were in some of the most dangerous fights of the war. And there wouldn't be many replacements possible, especially since Monument City was basically Robotech's answer to WW2 Stalingrad mixed in with Night of the Living Dead. Nobody was actually alive or capable of bringing them back to strength...

I know Kieth is cranky. Very cranky. Always. But do we have to devolve to almost personal attacks? Its mostly in harmless fun now, but its a slippery slope down the road of "TEH HATE!!11!!!", ya know?

Robotech was my first real start in anime too. Robotech got me into anime, anime fandom got me out of it. As to Animeigo? Its always been hard to take them seriously. I bought plenty of Streamline tapes back in the day as I wasn't about to pay 35 bucks for a 22 minute episode of Bubblegum Crisis when I could get Akira or Dirty Pair for 20, or Project Ako for 30. ADV? Well, theirs is a foundation built on porn, unlike US Manga Corps that just decided shows with cartoon teenaged girls being raped was more profitable than a timely release of oh THE FRICKIN PATLABOR TV DVDS... Not that I am bitter or anything.

Im making some pretty good coin, like 3-4K per mission solo. These days ya have vehicles or riding pets to get places fast. And the storyline missions are fun, if somewhat hard to solo. They have fixed up a number of broken quests and the theme parks all pay with MUCH better loot now. Im getting set to redo Jabbas Palace once I get my Jabba faction positive again. Those damned Rebels and their storyline missions that made me kill major Jabba dudes..

Ill stick to Star Wars Galaxies thanks. My Trandoshan (Like Bossk) Scout/Pistoleer/Creature Handler/Ranger is cool. If any of yall are ever on the Eclipse server, say hi to Dairugger, cuz that's me. And he has a Sludge Panther named GaoGaiGar.

I got Sailor Moon. BLEAGH. I want(ed) Sailor Jupiter. Oh well.

I was working and didnt care who won anyhow. Nice to see LOTR get some props though. Im anti fantasy and EXTREMELY anti elf (except for Arwen and Deedlit who get free passes) but it was a mighty fine series of movies, and far more enjoyable than the heartless Matrix series and Star Wars Prequels. As to Peter Jackson looking as he wants? More power to him. He has an assload of money, a wife, and kids, not to mention a metric butt ton of respect and clout. He SHOULD look how he wants. Bill Murray not winning? Well, the guy IS brilliant. But he isn't exactly the most likeable dude on the planet. In fact he is almost more well known for being hard to work with or talk to. I haven't seen the film he or the winner was nominated for (not interested), but his personality might have been what kept him from the prize.

Ive been a Transformers fan for 20 years now. Its the one line of stuff I have collected more than anything else outside of electronic games. Im all about the Transformers!

Most of the Dougram stuff got rereleased in Japan like 4 years or so back. I picked up the Dougram and Soltic Roundfacer. Old kits, but still very nice. (But I am also a Battletech fan, so having a big kit of the Shadow Hawk and Griffon is a GOOD thing for me.) Ive only assembled and painted the Soltic and it looks good. Went with metallic dark green spraypaint over white primer and the decals. I dunno if I would pay the prices most Robotech kits seem to fetch on ebay though. I remember most of the things going on megaclearance at Kay Bee and Zayre. 2 bucks for the transforming Valks seen in the pictures within this thread... Manoman.. why didn't I buy out the stock of em? Coulda sold a few on ebay for a PRETTY profit...

Stamen, comments like yours ARE EXACTLY WHAT I WAS TALKING ABOUT. Instead of insults and constantly belittling AC, why don't you try something like "Hey, ya wanna see where all this Gundam stuff started out from? Its pretty cool if you don't mind the older animation!" Most UC fans don't. I LIKE a lot of UC Gundam and I won't even call myself a UC fan because I don't want to be branded an elitist jerk. (I already get that from D&D and Final Fantasy fans. But its intentional. I troll them because its not only fun, its easy to do. Even when I tell them I troll them.) I got started with Wing, from fansubs since Animerica had talked up the show a bit when it first aired in Japan and it sounded mighty cool. I had been interested in Gundam since 90-91 when Mecha Press came out and had a number of articles and reviews on various things Gundam. I had no problem enjoying Wing or the other OVAs I could get a hold of. Except F91 which was lame. Im just as happy watching G Gundam as I am War in the Pocket.

Your view of what makes a real Gundam fan is actually part of the problem. I can understand being a UC fan or a long time Gundam fan and being a little annoyed at all the newbies who got into the geek thing of choice due to a newer product you don't like. Im an electronic RPG player. You have the Gundam Wing/G Gundam folks to be angry at, I have Final Fantasy players. However I understand you don't insult newbies just because they like a derivative and clearly inferior product (at least in our own opinion anyhow) instead of the pioneering classics that founded or reforged a genre. (Ok I mock Final Fantasy players endlessly, mostly because they took over the electronic RPG fandom. I supported em till around FF8-9 or so when they became unbearable. Now I insult, belittle, and mock them less to change them and more to amuse myself since they clearly have the self esteem of your average Dungeons & Dragons player. They all but own a niche hobby yet still can't take any form of joke without freaking out. Its funny.) All the new Gundam fans who probably would have stayed in that weren't just on a bandwagon saw how rude and mean much of the UC Gundam fanbase is, and just gave up, maybe joining or rejoining the Transformers fandom since Transfans as a whole are a MUCH nicer and friendlier lot. (Least now that the Beast era is over with and 80s holdouts have learned to shut up or play nice...) Gundam didn't have this. It seems like UC Gundam fans can't go a couple of minutes without badmouthing the alternate universe Gundams or anyone who likes them. The hardcore dug their own grave. And before we could get an SD wargame or Ghiren's Greed no less. GOOD JOB. Hell, I like much of UC and I remember how much crap I have gotten over the years for hating Char's Counterattack. I even had a girl 5-10 years younger than me telling me I haven't lived or don't know anything because I didn't understand the deep philosophy of Char. (Funny, to me he was just a lunatic who tried blowing up the Earth and using women to further his own nutzo agenda he came up with from being hit in the head a few times too many...) And Im supposed to want to support Gundam? Riiight...

I loved Armorcast. Their Imperial Guard superheavy tanks were like 60, 130 for the real metal tracks/superdetailed version. Forge World's are like 250. Least I still have 2 Tempests, Cannon of Khorne, and a Cauldron of Blood.

Sounds nice. Id like to see a customs gallery. Model customs too. I don't really have anything impressive for either though, but I love seeing the work of others. Its inspiring and depressing at the same time!