David Hingtgen

You're not taking a team of cadets in a lone Defiant, are you? (god is that a nerdy in-joke)

Also, opposite of "surviving ME 2", I'd like it to actually take some effort to beat the reapers. You have to TRY to kill Shepard in ME 2. I don't mean difficult as in actual combat of the final boss, but as in "you have to do more than the minimum plot missions". For ME 3, I'd like it so you can finish the game quickly and see AN ending, but if you want to actually beat the reapers, you better have a decent number of upgrades/companions etc.

Seeing that task force in action would be been pure eyecandy for the fans, as it included multiple class leaders---the Galaxy and Intrepid themselves for starters. (though the Galaxy had already been seen on DS9) But I think that would have been about our only look at an Intrepid that wasn't Voyager.

Hey, fight-wise, Nemesis is among my all-time faves. It's just all the non-ship scenes that suck.

I finished ME 1 again yesterday, to get a female Paragon save ready to import. And realized at the very end, that since that was actually started with a newgame+ character, I'm going to have a "ruthless" paragon. Though, it seems your "reputation" matters very little in ME 2, and I doubt it'll have much effect in ME 3. Just a line or two of dialogue I bet. Actions/choices are far more important. Which leads me to hopes for ME 3 overall---I wish (but don't except much) that ME 3 will play out VERY differently depending on ME 1 and 2 choices. Since it's "the end" and won't need to "match up" to an ME 4 etc, they could have extremely different paths. Entire planets that do or don't appear due to choices made. Characters that will only join if you're a paragon etc. Perma-deaths midway through the game of essential members. Just imagine how awesome it could be if say the first half of ME 3 is pretty "standard" but then it starts splitting drastically between paragon/renegade, and what allies you have etc. One path could have the final assault be a lone team against a reaper flagship in dark space, while the other could be a space-borne battle against the reaper fleet near Earth. Etc. A truly DIFFERENT game depending on what you do. (Valkyrie Profile 1 is still the best example of this, though Phantasy Star III also attempted it)

I got Archangel first.

According to John Eaves, the Valdore is Valdore-class.

I could swear I fought a Valdore in the beta. Lasted a good 0.5 secs before I was vaporized. I tried to get a screen cap the moment I saw it, but I was all blown up before I could even hit the prtscrn key...

Yeah, that happened with FF VII too. PS, keep forgetting to mention this: It's very easy to miss Shepard's private bathroom.

Most important. And obviously, the mold-maker is a much bigger fan of Grace than the box artist...

Actually I don't think I can take pics, I think it'd damage that section to open it up. There really is nothing more to explain/say anyways---drill a hole through the tab, break the bit off inside of it. Thus, the tab has a steel rod inside of it now.

It's always Kos-Mos V4, the fugly version. V1 is best, followed by V3. I'd buy V2 as well. But there's already been a zillion V4 figures/statues etc, we don't need more. We need a V1 figure, and a V2/V3 anything (other than gashapon).

Is there an achievement for getting every upgrade in the game or something? I'm failing to see the point/effort.

Yup, that's the spot it breaks. I pre-emptively strengthened mine there by drilling a hole through the tab and inserting an old steel drill bit to hopefully reinforce that spot.

No, this plastic is among the worst I've ever dealt with. It repels the paint like few others I've encountered. Anyways, I matched the hue, but as for the intensity and metallicness---not without spending more on new paints than I did for the toy. (I'd need like a ruby red metallic to start with if I want to match every aspect--and it's not worth it for how small the areas are) I'll post pics when I'm done, but don't expect anything "Radicons-worthy".

The collector's edition disc was vastly inferior to the old one. No themes for the 360, no gamer pics, no "the making of" really. Just every trailer packed onto the disc.

I'm still trying to mix up a paint match for the main dark pink color. I've got most of the face painted, I just need a few more details--but matching the factory color has been very difficult.

Wow, this is the most necromanced thread ever. Check the top page. There's multi-year gaps between posts.

Acrylics+toothpicks are the only way I ever get crisp lines nowadays.

The Dominion's kind of all "defeated and retreated". Same as Cardassia, but without the Federation reconstruction help.

I seriously considered going with the USS O'Connor...

That's why I'm waiting before ordering---I don't want a set of feet/hands/shoulders that completely clashes with my Energon set. And they very well may release a recolored set later, that matches the Energon version. (also, we don't even know the main colors for Blast-Off and Swindle yet---totally G1, totally realistic, or somewhere between?) Personally I want a match to G1---that'd actually match the Energon set quite well, as Barricade has a lot of warm silvery plastic, which is close to the head/feet/hand color for G1 Bruticus. Energon Barricade and ROTF Onslaught seem to both have large amounts of "warm silvery grey", though in different areas. Neither quite matches the dull silver of G1 Bruticus, but it's close, so I think the smart thing would be to make the main color of the new accessory parts in "slightly brownish silver" as it should match parts of both versions as well as a G1 homage.

That'll probably be the next main expansion.

Mica is inherently sparkly, it's the main thing used to make metallic paints metallic.

Bigger engines tend to be quieter, simply due to increased bypass ratio. Cold air is quiet air. Slow air is quiet air. Bypass air is cold and slow compared to what goes through the turbine. The more bypass air, the colder and slower the overall exhaust. Note that afterburners are very loud, becuase they speed up the air and increase its heat beyond what's already coming out. Know what's REALLY loud? Air heated to an extremely high temp, being displaced very rapidly---AKA thunder, caused by lightning. The noise of moving air is HEAVILY influenced by its heat and velocity. (as both impart energy, and more energy makes more noise) As for thicker walls/fuselage---not really. All airliners are extremely similar in that regard. The Convair jets are an exception, they had notable thicker skins, and were quieter inside as a result. (good thing too, as they were loud even by early jet standards). It also made them very hard to scrap, the first couple were scrapped at a loss, as the machines simply couldn't chew through them, despite many a 707 and DC-8 being scrapped easily by the same machines. Insulation is added weight, so there's really only enough to help keep the fuselage the right temp (heating and air conditioning costs fuel, so it's worth a bit of weight to save a lot of environmental system use). Noise insulation is more an after-effect, rather than reason for it.