David Hingtgen

Felix is still being used: (this pic makes awesome wallpaper BTW)

You really can't judge from the animation, they didn't come anywhere near top speed. No dogfight has ever occured supersonically AFAIK nor likely ever will. Planes just can't turn well then---also, F-14's always have their wings swept back past Mach .95, and we see them swung out a lot during the fight. (not that M0 had realistically-moving F-14's) An F-14 can only hit Mach 2.4 when it's nearly empty, at very high altitude, with no weapons, no drop tanks, no pallets, no pylons. Which never ever occurs in combat. Add in the load Shin's was carrying and you're talking Mach 1.8 tops---and not at the low altitude they were fighting at. Very few planes can go past 1.8 with external weapons. No matter how fast you are, you basically have to slow down to sub-sonic to fight. The Sv-51 certainly has a huge power/acceleration advantage, but top speed would be of little use in combat, since it's unachievable. Speed-wise, the Me262, F-18, and F-15 are about equal in a dogfight, despite large differences in top speed. But the F-15 has the best acceleration and sustained turns due to its higher power.

I just inherently don't like the vehicle for Ironhide, never have. It's the ultimate poser vehicle. Just buy a friggin semi! Don't add stacks to a pickup... IMHO it's worse than the riciest of Hondas. And I just don't like Solstices either. Not to mention there's one at the local dealer that is WHITE WITH BLUE RACING STRIPES. The perfect scheme for Jazz already exists, but they made him silver in the movie? As we've already all seen, there's way too many grey/silver bots in the movie. So I'll wait for G1 color Jazz.

Did they ever get around to making a .45 Qui-Gon? I lost track after so many yes/no/maybe/exclusive/club rumors about it. It also sucks as Qui-Gon's the only other Force FX I wanted...

I'll post a pic again of an all-red 379: And if anyone wants to photoshop, you can get the frame of a 379 painted any color you want---it's just that 95% of them are still black. But I'm sure there's a red 379 with a blue frame out there somewhere. Add some blue half-fenders over the rear wheels and there you go. Or maybe someone could just recolor a pic of movie Prime vehicle mode into G1 colors.

That would make him greatly pre-date the "sudden evolution" of humanity though. It seems it's a recent thing, only 1 or 2 generations ago.

Currently, I'm waiting for either a G1-style leader-class Prime repaint, or an Ultra Magnus repaint. And a realistically-painted (and I darn well mean realistic, not "F-15E's are teal" realistic) F-22 leader-class mold. Or even better, Thundercracker colors. And that means deep metallic blue, not dull pale blue. Actually, I don't plan to buy ANY of the first wave of movie toys. I want repaints, or bigger/better molds. Deluxes are just too small for most any of the movie designs.

My guess was that Hiro's dad's power is "the ability to teach people really well, really quickly". I'm half-serious. Maybe he can mentally impart knowledge/skills. He's a living Matrix. My current question---how come Matt didn't "hear" Thompson sneaking up behind him? Can he hide his thoughts well? How would one do that? Even HRG can't do that, he needs the Haitian to mentally hide from Matt.

They could just "strip" Sylar of his powers----plenty of cliches to use.

Second that. 90%+ is basically the world's best paint stripper for "plastic toys painted in China"---like valks. But it usually won't harm any plastic in the slightest--I've soaked parts in 99% for days.

It was this guy: I didn't even see him until he stepped into the frame as he was standing behind someone else. Also note that I am far from the closest spectator to the plane. (Since I'm taking the pic) And I only have like a 2x zoom on that camera, I'm sure there was a guy 50 feet behind me getting better pics with his 20x zoom.

I'll cast my vote already for "hot chick wearing boots". Because you know there'll be one...

I intercepted one in validation this morning, only one I've seen today. And then another one while typing this post. ::grumble grumble::

Well, US sub technology usually *is* highly classified and off-limits, and there are no photos allowed, and will be confiscated immediately. But the F-22---as I said, you can go to any book store and get detailed pics of every inch of it. If it was classified, they wouldn't have allowed the guy to publish the book and make money off it, nor would they have given him access to one to photograph in the first place!

Who needs color when you can have "gritty realism"?

As I said--I can't risk dead pixels. I don't have very good luck with Nintendo portables, screen-wise. Nintendo of America has always been very good about replacing/fixing things---but if I get a Jp one with a pixel problem---there's nothing I can do.

The basic rule for military airshow photography is this: The more something has been photographed and published, the more stringent they are about preventing *you* from taking pics of it. Last time I tried to get within 50ft of an F-117 they said NO pictures AT ALL of it. WTF? 10 years ago I got a lot closer, and that's when it was so secret it was literally surrounded by MP's with machine guns. And it's not like you can't go to friggin' Barnes and Noble and buy the walk-around book which shows every single panel and rivet in exquisite detail. Which came out years ago. And the demo F-117 at the airshow was an old stripped-down one only used for airshows AFAIK, all the "interesting" stuff was removed anyways. Same for the F-22---the Aerofax book shows everything. Including the details of the engines/exhaust/vectoring. And they seem much more stringent when "at home in the US" than abroad. When the F-22 goes to the UK, France, Australia-----they tend to let more photographs be taken by foreign correspondents with high-quality cameras and zoom lenses while at arm's length.

And they're still having the same effect as mass shifting---now they just break down large parts into 10,000 shards, bundle them up and tuck them away. It's like when a junkyard crushes an old car into a little cube of steel---it's not technically mass shifting, it's just "optimizing the space". If you break it down into small enough pieces, it'll fit in a lot smaller space.

I own FFIII DS, but can't play it as I still haven't snagged a DS! Still waiting for a *color*. No black, no white. And definitely no pink. Sigh, why won't they give the US navy blue ones?!?!?! I'd import one, but can't risk dead pixels.

If you've seen me complain about the Xbox 360, you'd know I hate loud noise and droning. There's a big difference between a better-sounding exhaust, and a louder exhaust. Stock 98-99 T/A's sound *very* nice IMHO, any change would simply make them louder or drone while cruising, not sound *better*. (Now I know GXP's actually do sound better with Flowmasters, but I don't know how it affects overall loudness or drone) I have yet to hear my type of car sound *better* with any exhaust, even the GTX setup. They usually sound more "harsh" to my ears. Or they'll just sound "different"--no better or worse or louder. 06 GP GXP with flowmasters.

I must the only one here who likes the looks of Firebirds of that generation--all models. (Hate the 98+ Camaro nose, 97 was the best-looking year). PS---I also baby my cars (and they're usually Pontiacs--not that I've had all that many cars in my life). Modding a car often makes it less pleasant to drive. I'd rather spend the money on getting an inherently faster car in the first place that'll drive very nicely in its stock condition. I currently have a Grand Prix GTP but am looking at getting a GXP---303hp in them. (snow sucks, RWD is only an option here if you own multiple cars so you can still have a FWD/AWD in the winter) I came close to having a 97 Camaro RS+performance package at one point, but never happened. It sure looked nice though.

THAT's gotta suck: <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< Lockheed Martin's F-35 Joint Strike Fighter recovers from in-flight power failure By Craig Hoyle Lockheed Martin has launched a planned software modification to its lone F-35 test asset, after suffering an unexpected power failure during the aircraft’s 19th and most recent test flight on 3 May. “We had some very unusual electrical transient through the airplane,” says Joint Strike Fighter programme executive officer US Air Force Brig Gen Charles Davis. “All the electrics dropped offline and came back after a few milliseconds.” Lockheed confirms: “The test pilot observed a partial failure of the electrical power system. The issue required that the pilot return to base and the 45min flight was slightly shorter than planned. Although the aircraft’s redundant systems worked, we wanted to recover the aircraft to investigate the fault as soon as possible.” The JSF uses electrical power to control all its primary flight control surfaces. The conventional take-off and landing aircraft – AA-1 – has been returned to its run station for an engineering review and to receive flight software update FTU-2, which Lockheed says will adjust its flight parameters following the 20h flown to date and introduce on-board prognostic health management systems. “The F-35 team does not expect any overall delays in the flight testing programme as a result of the incident,” it says.>>>>>>>>>>>> It's bad enough to lose all electrical power in any plane, but when you have electrically-driven flight controls instead of cables or hydraulics...

yellowlightman---cool it. (As in, this is a mod warning) dejr8bud---flaming back in retaliation is almost as bad as starting a flame.

Well Shawn is upgrading MW...

I just figured Sylar had acquired yet another power, that he could "mask" his thoughts from Matt or something. Candice may have provided the base illusion, but another power makes it perfect/long-term/mental or whatever else is needed to keep even Matt from noticing.