David Hingtgen

Well, AC is not the best place to reference to see if something really wore a scheme or not--they love to make up "fake yet realistic" ones.

Both of them wore the scheme you describe at one time, but in different shades: I also just found this, which considering how many times I've been to that site, I'm surprised I never knew this little gem was in there: http://www.habu2.net/vipers/xl/index.html More info on the XL there than probably the entire rest of the internet, and every book published, combined. Note: not mentioned very often (but easily seen)---the 2-seater has a GE engine. Don't know if it has the larger intake though, will have to scrutinize pics.

Quickly reading the thread at TFW2005: Apparently, Starscream and Ironhide are in the trailer. Yeesh--I've known what those characters now look like for months, and I STILL could only see "dark, jagged 4-limbed things running around" in that latest clip. "Ironide dives down to dodge, then returns fire"---I could only see "movement from a big metallic thing". The robots are so "shredded" I can't even tell who they are, or what they're doing half the time.

Don't know if I ever saw this scheme on it.

Cypher overall is the most fragile (stiffer plastic), but Fei-Yen's "skirt" (the two large pieces in the rear) I've had to glue probably a half-dozen times--they're far too large and heavy to be supported by a small pin at the extreme end, at an angle. But yeah, "intact" VO:OT figs are rare, no matter how cool they look. (I own all 5 variants of Fei-Yen----3 are intact only because two of them have NEVER been posed/moved---they remain in their "as packaged" poses to this day--and the Tiger version has no skirt) My RNA one is currently in pieces... Still disappointed they never made Angelan, or Cypher RNA colors.

It's possible Cullen dresses like a trucker, because of Prime.

Super Hornet passing gas (it's what they do best): http://www.airliners.net/open.file/1189785/L/

I'd just like to point out that country/western wear is INCREDIBLY popular among owner-operator truck drivers. It's darn near an unofficial uniform at times. Why do you think horses and bulls show up so often on custom-painted semis? Sure, it could be Cullen--but it's just as likely not to be. If you want to "blend in" and you're a robot semi, then having your holo-driver dressed like that is a sure-fire way to NOT attract attention. Western wear and semi-trucks, are like black leather and Harley-Davidsons. (of course, outfitting the truck itself like a rice-boy's Honda sure counters the whole "in disguise" thing)

M&M are molded in color, with quite a bit of white paint. In addition to the wing/nose/tail striping of course, the "collarbone" area is mostly white paint, as are the front of the thighs and knees. Most of the rest of the white is molded, like the lower legs and nosecone. I can't think of any red/blue that's painted besides some diecast bits--nose gear doors, hip bars, central "spine" bar.

I'll chime in to say I agree with Southpaw Samurai's first paragraph--she just doesn't do anything for me.

Tomcats do it better:

The only way it could be better, is if it was deep pink.

I'll probably wait for the cooler-running one, though I *really* would have liked to have a quieter one for Mass Effect, since I'll be putting a lot of hours into it. Of course, maybe ME will be an inherently quieter game---some seem to run the DVD full speed all the time, some can go almost silent for a while. All depends. I would gladly give MS like 50 bucks to take my 360 and just give it the latest BenQ drive they're using now. PS---I think I found the LCD technology I'm going to wait for: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=788306 Now, they just need to bring it down to 26/32in, and I'm sold. I'm guessing that won't be a Samsung-exclusive technology for long---the first company to give me that in a "bedroom-sized" screen gets my money.

The cable's kind of pointless for a lot of people, who'd like to trade in their old one, to get a new one. Not many people will buy the new one, transfer, THEN see what kind of money they can get for the old one. Darn, not the new cooler core. (That's actually the least of my concerns--I mainly want a quieter drive, and a new controller---maybe they've finally tweaked the molds a bit so the D-pad doesn't suck so much) (I can't do the controller mod if I plan to trade it in)

Well, since Russia seems to think just adding enough canards and vectoring to 20-year-old designs is enough to qualify as a new generation...

The Bioware forums are all abuzz over whether this is legit/viral marketing for MassEffect, or a very well-done fan trailer: I'd be *very* surprised if this is fan made.

The green "on" light (also used to indicate # of controllers hooked up), will turn to red in certain patterns to indicate specific errors. The most common failures will cause most or a total "ring" of red lights.

Fighter mode.

Internal missile bays are not new at all----using them because of stealth, is new. And bombers have had internal bays since the beginning. Makes me wonder--what was the first bomber with EXTERNAL bombs? See the F-102 for a much older example of an internal missile bay. http://members.aol.com/cba1974/myhomepage/...walkaround.html

I agree it's the overall best on a games/price/technical level, and will likely be my primary system for this gen. It's just noisy, hot, finicky, tempermental, and I'm already on my second one, and will soon be trading it in for a third.

Will be very interesting to see if there's been any changes---pretty big gap between first and second release.

360 issues seem 100x more common than any other system ever though.

That sounds like perfect GM-speak to me. Looking through a service manual is just as hard. There's no "trunk carpeting"--there's "rear compartment lower interior covering".

IE6 showed bookmarks, but not very many.

AFAIK that was identified long ago. I believe it came about from the US cars having slightly wider tires than the Australian ones. Pontiac/GM didn't check the clearance well enough--it SEEMED to fit, but I think using the the wheel/tire sizes it was designed for would have been a better option. GM rant: There's never anything wrong with GM cars, much like how the kind I have isn't prone to catching on fire due to injector O-ring problems, despite me personally witnessing it happen to another. (as have many other people). You see, they're not *fires*. That could cause a recall. They are merely: "UNCONTROLLED THERMAL EVENTS OF HIGH MAGNITUDE". According to GM. So, GTO's probably never have *tire failures*, heavens no. Probably just "unexpected rapid shearing of rubber compound". More about the GTO issue from the LS1 forum: "The 2004-2005 Pontiac GTO is an imported version of the Australia Holden Monaro. The Holden Manaro comes from the factory with 235/45R17 tires, tires that are generally 235mm (9.25") wide. However, when Pontiac spec'd the GTO for the US, they finally decided on a 10mm wider tire, a 245/45R17 BF Goodrich G-Force KDWS tire" That, combined with: "One thing that is loosely related to this is the fact that many of these cars are out of alignment on the showroom floor, and simply getting them aligned may or may not be enough because about half (by one trustworthy dealer's estimate) have the rear cradle (subframes) misaligned to the body. What is less clear is exactly how many cars have the front cradle misaligned to the body, because GM NA doesn't recognize the tool or procedure (against Holden's spec---you know, the people who designed the car). An Australian aftermarket company obtained one of the last tools for this job and used it as a template to create more to sell to their dealers in the US. Thank goodness, since Pontiac decided to ignore the problem. One car had the front cradle 1/4 in. out--might as well be a mile in terms of an alignment." In summary: GM thinks it can change things, or not follow the Australian designer's requirements, and not have any problems.