David Hingtgen

F-35B still a year late since production started, #1 still hasn't left the ground in many months due to tech issues, much less hover. But Sec. Gates says "we can't afford not to have the F-35" so they're gonna spend another dozen billion or whatever to continue fixing/developing it... Should have just bought more F-22s---they work! At this point, I wouldn't be surprised if the F-35B is abandoned (especially with the UK cancelling), and we only have the A and C variants, and the Marines just have to lose their VTOL jets, and settle for a fleet of Ospreys and Hornets...

That's canon to on-screen. Bandai didn't make it that way---Kawamori (or at least the animators) did.

Awesome footage: 747 firefighting in southern Cali: http://www.myfoxla.com/dpp/news/local/Stat..._Video_20090831

I ended up with the PS3 version----camera's supposed to be zoomed out a bit when fighting, and I do like the general dual-shock design over most controllers. (the 360 and Dreamcast are actually among my least-favorite for long-term use)

Anyone get the latest PS3 system update? (3.00). Everything's sparkly! New logo, too. However, either PSN itself is down, or it killed the ability to sign in.

Oh, they mean unit as in single--I thought they meant unit as in wing/squadron.

My first impression: All merchandise pricing is going to go up.

My worry is that the 360 version will get a different/better DLC exclusive in the future. Playing as the Joker actually has little appeal to me. Other characters intereste me far more.

Um, I was asking WHICH version to get, not IF I should get it. (I admit my post wasn't very clear)

Arkham Asylum---PS3 or 360? Anyone heard anything one way or the other?

Not a thing.

That's weird. 30 secs ago I got a "this website is attempting to ask you for information." "Click here to temporarily allow scripted windows". I don't think I've ever gotten that from this site. (also, today was the first day in several that I had issues)

A bit OT but cool: Papa John found his original Camaro. http://www.papasroadtrip.com/ (if you eat their pizza, you know the story from the box) In appreciation, if you showed up in a Camaro, you got a free pizza: http://www.camaros.net/forums/showthread.php?t=164162

Ironically, I just started modding my Lego X-Wing into Red 2. (It comes with Wedge, but markings for Red 3...)

Sounds like a giant bubble bubbling up.

Basically---yes. Everyone's been talking about them in this thread: http://www.macrossworld.com/mwf/index.php?...&start=1025

Actually, Hasegawa decals usually like HOT water, not merely warm/tepid.

This is a "Final Countdown" plane: http://www.anft.net/f-14/f14-photo-vf084-01xl.jpg Note the "cut off" black area at the nosecone, the grey stabs, and grey flaps. But still has a white belly.

Most of my pics of that era are in books or "a website that's currently down". But here's what I can show: Key notes: First pic---see the separation between white and grey on the nacelles? It's very wavy, not straight. Second pic---see the stabilators and flaps? They're white. The above 2 notes are true for all the early high-vis Tomcats, it is the factory/delivery scheme for them all. But as the Jolly Rogers moved into low-vis, they "straightened out" (and lowered slightly) the grey/white separation line, painted the stabs grey, the flaps grey, the wing undersides grey, and finally the entire belly grey---in approximately that order. But any plane could be at any stage of repainting, and sometimes went "out of order". You'll often find that the nosecone is missing the black area at the top, abruptly "cutting off" the glareshield painted ahead of the canopy. Century Wing's well-regarded Jolly Rogers models actually don't exactly match any scheme---they're mostly delivery, yet they have the "straightened" white separation line. Never happened from what I can tell--stabs always went grey first. Their AJ201 release fixed that though, it has a wavy line. (I don't really know any other squadron that did the "straight line" thing---every other squadron went directly from wavy white to pure grey bellies) The "wavy white line with white stabs" is THE standard F-14 scheme and it had no variations, from the very first plane of VF-1, to just before VF-111. (The Sundowners were the first squadron to be delivered in low-vis camo) There was no interim scheme---some just ended up that way due to being at sea at the change---including VF-84 and VF-41. The short version is that any scheme variation that is not pure delivery or pure low-vis camo, is a temporary hybrid scheme that was not "intended" but merely how they "ended up for a short time while awaiting full repainting". (I hate hybrid schemes of all sorts on all planes)

Pics of what?

I've got "lack of Grace art" withdrawal.

How exactly are the new Camaro and Challenger heavily influenced by Japanese cars? (since we're talking fast/showy cars) There's plenty of "new American rice", but they are intentionally targeting the rice crowd---the G6 GXP is about the best example I can think of.(though that's almost a dub/rice hybrid) Many of the smaller Chevys to a lesser degree. For "big American cars" (which is about half of all American cars) they are about as un-Japanese as can be I think.

Yeah, Russia's now #1 in "making new CGI fighter planes".

Oh, a hybrid transitionary scheme while they were doing partial repaints at sea, on the wrong mold. Even better. (if you look close, you'll note that almost no two planes in that movie are painted the same--because they were changing over from high-vis to low-vis while it was being filmed, so nearly every plane is a Frankenstein of parts/schemes, with some variations never seen before nor since) That's the basic problem with using that movie as a reference---it's NOT the high-vis scheme. It's "bits of high-vis leftover since they didn't finish getting them into low-vis yet". I would bet they actually paint it how they looked "the year before", when they were fully painted in a proper scheme, and NOT specifically how they looked in The Final Countdown.

All to make room for my own...