David Hingtgen

Most of the ones at Hasbro's site are sold out, and have been for a long time. There's pretty much "sold out" and "pre-order". Not much actually in stock besides shelf-warmer Buzzer, and some recent comic packs.

The first couple Convair 880's proved to be so tough to scrap, that the scapper took a loss on them. While F-14's have thinner skin, their structure's even tougher. (Convairs are the friggin tanks of the jetliner world--Elvis had one)

Oooooh, quieter. I might have to wait for one of the newer ones. (A few months, not like a year)

For me it's not really affordability--it's availability. There are 2 places in 50 miles of here that sell good 32in HDTV's. BestBuy, and Sears. And due to coupon/gift cards, it's going to be BestBuy. My choices are limited to their stock. If they don't get in the 1080p version of Samsung's 32in, I can't buy it. (I will NOT buy a TV online, I've never had good luck with monitors/TV---plus my coupon and gift certificates would negate any online price savings at this point) For me, a concern is UPscaling. I still plan to play a lot of PS2 on my HDTV. The less it has to upscale, the better. Plus, Soul Calibur 2 is actually a 720p game (or so it says), despite being for the original Xbox. The only 1080p source I'll have will be my PS3 (when I buy one). And even if you set your 360 to do 1080p output, most games are actually rendered (and have texture maps for) 720p and then upscaled internally, as do a lot of PS3 games AFAIK. Just because something's coming through the cable at 1080p, doesn't mean it actually "has" 1080 actual different lines of resolution to start with. (unless it's a BluRay movie) Having your 360 internally upscale Mass Effect etc from 720p to send it via 1080p then showing it on a 1080p TV, really isn't any better than having it stay 720p all the way to your 720p TV. You've changed the resolution numbers, but for actual detail---you can't create/add what isn't there. Kind like scanning old newsprint at 1600dpi.

I went with a MKV codec with Media Player Classic to see the Gattai subbed ones. VLC ALWAYS stuttered along while playing them. (VLC can play ANYTHING, but not always smoothly) And my PC is only a month old and I put pretty high-end stuff in it---it certainly isn't a CPU bottleneck or anything. Plus I have XP really stripped down, service-by-service, so it's probably not a bloated OS causing issues. I'm guessing VLC just doesn't like MKV files THAT much.

I must preface this by saying I totally agree that contrast, color, processing, decoding, etc are all other important aspects---resolution could actually be the least important aspect. If resolution was THAT important, then the cheapest house-brand 720p TV would be just as good as the best Sony 720p XBR. But they're certainly not--it's all about contrast, color, response, etc. I'd rather have a really good 720 than a mediocre 1080. Part of the reason I really liked the Samsung 720p from last year over the Sharp 1080p of last year, though I know both were being fed (through a half-dozen splitters) 1080i when I viewed them together. Samsung's COLOR (and just overall "feel") blew away the Sharp. That said: Every single argument about 720 vs 1080 always says "unless you're close to a big screen"---and never give numbers. Or if they do, they're WAY outside of what I'm planning. They say stuff like "only if the screen is 50in at less than 8 feet". I'm doing 32in screen, 48in viewing distance. That's set in stone. And actually, at that close range, it's right at the "full benefit of 1080p is visible" line (attached) 48in is WAY closer than 99% of people talk about/consider, because they're always talking about putting a 50+in plasma at the opposite end of the living room. My TV is going to go on my nightstand next to my bed---WAY closer than most people's HDTV's. (Which is why even 32in is kinda big) (though I am REALLY close to getting the LN32A450 regardless--it just dropped 50 bucks this week, and the A550 still shows no signs of being at mass-market) (of course, at this range, if I push the TV back another foot, which is certainly possible--I won't know the EXACT viewing distance until I actually have it and can position/measure the stand base in 3D---it'd be a 5ft viewing distance, which just barely clears "1080p just starts to become noticeable"

For everyone in the US, "Carrier" starts tonight on PBS. (If you're totally unaware of it, it's a new 10-hour documentary on the Nimitz)

Only because he's seen on TV as clearly not being physically similar to Prime.

Kim Jong Il's been playing too much Ace Combat---underground runways/mountain tunnel runs: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/worl...icle3822538.ece

.ass goes with a raw, it is ONLY the subtitles. You need a raw, and a ass file, to see subs. VLC player can combine them, but I can never get them synched up right---the longer the ep goes on, the more out-of-synch the subtitles are for me. (I'm not talking about 2 secs of mouth movement, I mean an entire scene-time off) MKV is just another file format for video, it will (usually) be the video with the subs already attached. VLC player can play it, but I found that getting a MKV codec for MediaPlayer is MUCH smoother. (Though it did screw up one of my AVI files, but no others, so it seems worth it) (I doubt it's a lack of processing power/speed issue, as I have an E8400 now with an X38 Northbridge--VLC just can't play it back smoothly on my PC) PS---the Sendspace file/link works every time for me, it's just so slow it's not worth it. 50kb per second or so. Maybe I'll try again later tonight.

There's a Cyclonus coming?!?!??!!? PS--saw a boxed Titanium Skywarp. Exclusive? When/where?

Best Botcon ever. Period. I need ALL the new toys. I don't even like Ironhide, but he looks awesome. Everyone else doesn't really need comments. Except Silverbolt---now I'm leaning towards him being "like a kick-ass Soviet version of the FB-22".

Little request: I know some people prefer the "Fred" figure from the comics as opposed to the carded CG due to the helmet. But I actually like the helmeted ones better for most troops, but like "Fred" unmasked (for variety). However, the only Fred I could find for a while had a little paint smudge or something on his nose, and it can't be removed. But, if he was masked, it wouldn't make a difference. So---anyone willing to trade a "Fred head"? I'd really like a "flawless" head so I can display him unmasked all the time. If you like using masked Freds, the condition of his nose paint shouldn't matter to you.

Plus the fact that we did get Skywarp at "nearly" mass release (an exclusive yes, but one quite widely available and very cheap considering). There is no way anyone can argue that Thundercracker and Skywarp are not exactly equal in fame/fandom.

http://www.shortpacked.com/d/20080215.html (personally, as G1 Thundercracker is my all-time fave TF, I feel similar) PS to FFN: But what about all of us who wanted just our all-time personal fave seeker? Thrust and Dirge would be neat, but I'm not spending 300 bucks for them. I'd pay a decent chunk of change for a Classics Thundercracker--but nobody split up sets AFAIK, and even if they did, the price is still insane just for one. No matter how much you may like a character/toy, it's simply too dear a price to pay. I'd rather have a valk (or TWO) instead of paying 10x more than what the same toy cost in a different color. PPS--I will be that guy in the comic, bitching about Classic Thundercracker's non-availability forever.

Only at the Kaiyodo company store.

Dunno, I'm not familiar with the Gripen's design details. (I can tell a F-16C Block 30C from 30D, but not a Gripen prototype from production)

Basically "more". Better radar(AESA)/avionics, more fuel, more weapons, more thrust. (It has the Super Hornet's engine now, instead of the Legacy Hornet's) A quick blurb I saw said it can supercruise with an air-to-air load. There's not really an official name for it yet. Gripen N, Gripen DK, Gripen Demo are all used. I like Super Gripen. The first one will likely be a test-bed for the increased-thrust mods for the F414, 25,000lbs probably. (They're 22,000lbs normally). Technically, it's just a normal Gripen modified with a bunch of new features that COULD be used for a future Gripen E/F. But you can bet the next country to order Gripens will want some/all of those features, and others will want to upgrade their current Gripens.

Super Gripen rolled-out yesterday.

Really cool 787 article, worth reading for info about how composite planes are built alone. http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2008/fortun...tune/index.html

Apparently Hasbro's wholesale price to retailers went up 25%, BBTS I think said something about it.

Firebat would be nice, never had one. Anyways---any rumors of a 25th Ann. dress blues Gung-Ho? That was one of my all-time fave figures back when.

Because I couldn't think of anything truly funny to reference Blitzwing...

http://www.alert5.com/2008/04/georgia-behi...ions-putin.html MiG-29 shoots down a UAV. (as in it's an international incident--not training)

I still don't think we've seen a properly transformed one. He's got a LOT of joints. And there's always the possibility of "official instructions don't match the designer's obvious intent"---there could easily be a better way. Or not. Regardless, robot mode rocks so much he's a must-buy for me anyways. (And I'm usually not big on robot modes) Also, TF:A Blitzwing has the "BW" effect for me, which hasn't happened in a long time--the actual CHARACTER is a big factor in my purchase decision, not purely the engineering/aesthetics of the toy. Blitzwing has quickly grown on me. I must take back what I said earlier---the fact that he's 3 subtle variations of "a stereotypical German" is actually very interesting, and props to the voice actor(Bumblebee's IIRC) for making 3 distinct, yet subtle variations. Turned out better than if he was 3 completely different personalities/voices. More like 3 different aspects of the same person.