David Hingtgen

I just think this pic emphasizes the new 747's stretch:

Gripens are going to Libya, first Swedish AF deployment in decades: They're doing the "stritly air-to-air NFZ enforcement" thing like the Dutch.

Basara's shirt is too dark, should be more of a mint green.

Couldn't get in 30 secs ago. But I placed an order last night and my credit card was charged this morning.

About a zillion reports on bad hinges from the first batch. I'd wait a bit, personally.

As in, a new G1 Prime? That'd be a waste, unless they can make vehicle mode WAY better while keeping robot almost as good. An uber-awesome Movie Prime would be nice, though we've already got Buster Prime...

I said something like this months ago, I'll say it again: Chloe's most interesting when she's not herself, and having her permanently switch with someone would be an improvement/more useful to the crew.

Doesn't indoctrination require a reaper itself? The citadel doesn't do it either.

Madder red from Gunze? Definitely not IMHO. That's their "gundam scarlet red" paint. Too orange for Milia.

We are getting way OT here. That said---I'm an incandescent hoarder. I am incredibly picky about color temp, glare, etc.

Cool---a JDAM about 1 second from impact in Libya: No pics, but it seems a couple of A-10's sank some gunships off the coast with their Avenger cannon. I can't recall ever hearing of an A-10 being used for naval ops. I have not seen this angle of the T-50 before: Very interesting--the spine is very flat on top, the boat-tail seems to be almost a perfect hexagon in cross-section.

Ok, I'll rephrase it: Is it worth it purely for plot/characters/story?

In the long run--is it worth it? Shadow Broker is the only DLC that sounded worth buying, and is the only one I have.

IMHO, above all else, Millia's VF-1 is a bluish red, not at all scarlet. Personally I would start with something like "SOO red", which is a model train paint. To my eye, the one linked above is almost a coral-pinkish red. Like if hers had faded a bit. If you want a raw pigment color to work from, I'd suggest naphthol red: (most red paint is based on cadmium, which is utterly wrong for Milia IMHO)

Both her and the Venom girl (can never remember her name) had vehicles with figures.

One thing I've noticed on all the latest re-designs (MG Shenlong, Epyon) is that they've abandoned the "single large piece" of rear skirt armor in favor of two separate sections, very similar to the front bits. Much better for articulation, but bad for following the original look/style. More obvious on Shenlong than Epyon, but it's still "another change away from how most people remember it looking".

On a sad note: If you've ever been to an airshow in the US the past decade you've likely seen one or more of the Franklin family perform (jet-powered biplane, wing-walking, etc), and you might have heard about Kyle and Amanda's crash a few weeks ago. Kyle seems mostly healed up now, but Amanda is in *far* worse shape than most people realized: http://wjon.com/wingwalker-undergoes-surgeries-recovering-from-air-show-crash/ Kyle goes into greater detail here:http://www.facebook.com/notes/franklins-flying-circus/amanda-up-date-3-24-11/190332324341647 I couldn't help but notice that his description matches closely with her glove design, seems that was the difference: http://a1.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/200202_160489877342404_100001441784679_369393_7253236_n.jpg

I want MG Sandrock too---by far the most-ignored of the core GW suits. Anyways---I'm honestly disappointed with the MG Epyon. It's almost but not quite a re-design. I want how it appeared on the show (its only appearance so it's iconic---there's no need for a "prototype" or "EW" or "post-EW" look or anything). The arm-claw change is fine, but the upper chest is quite different (everything surrounding the "eye") and there's way more yellow on the torso. Wing tips are different too. And the shoulder armor--it's more triangular and simpler in overall outline, shorter in width but bulkier front-back. The shield is completely new and looks "over-complicated" like the new MG retro-EW-Shenlong's. Frankly, the animation version looks better/cooler. As does the old 1/100 kit in many ways. (sure it was floppy as hell, but it sure looked cool because it followed the line art pretty closely) The MG Wing (standard, normal, basic Wing) is nigh-perfect IMHO. This seems to be "making little tweaks for no apparent reason that would only irk fans of the suit". I might pass on it, despite Epyon being my first 1/100 kit ever and one of my all-time faves. I do not want "Epyon's similar-looking brother". Either go totally EW-redesign, or leave it alone. Do not "tweak" it just a bit. ::edit:: I don't really like the head either--looks too short/squat/wide/square/flat in those pics. ::edit 2:: Oh, just noticed it has the "opening wing" thing like MG Wing. Now that's a cool retcon IMHO, as it's "invisible" when closed up and really has no effect if you don't use it. ::edit 3:: The more I look, the more differences I see in the shoulder armor. And that to me is a shame, as Epyon had such uniquely-shaped shoulder armor. It's so much more "generic" now and they ruined the color pattern---the simple black outline angling up on the edges--now there's multiple bocks/plates of armor, and there's no real pattern/striping at all.

Quick little thought I had---you can usually spot an enthusiast just by how they spell "MiG". Most people won't capitalize the G.

The new movie should be animated. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SsHfWBLVr0

Hopefully this'll trigger a bit of nostalgia:

I have little desire for a BIGGER Voltron figure, I want a BETTER one. Really, no one's made that much of an improvement from the original 80's ones. I'm trying to think if Mattel has any experience with combining/transforming toys at all. I keep imagining they're just going to make a 2x upscaled Trendmasters due to inability to really do something new/improved.

The Navy is painting a ton of planes in historic schemes. You can see most of them here: http://www.airfighters.com/page.php?id=107

I've always wondered about the point of swing-wings on an ATF. They don't lack speed so don't need an increase in sweep angle vs the fixed design, and the swing-wing requires a large decrease in overall area, basically counteracting the low-speed lift increase (this is more notable with the -23 than the -22). I would imagine trading in the LE flaps for slats would be a better, simpler solution to getting more lift for takeoff and landing. The simple solution for "more lift" is "more wing", not "new wing that's smaller with more moving parts with less internal fuel capacity".

If anyone knows how to embed Dailymotion here, let me know. French Navy posted a nice video of Libyan ops from the Charles De Gaulle: