eugimon

Hmmm, never read the book but I have heard the basic theory laid out before... and I thought it was interesting but rather loose in the interpretation of evidence. But anyhows... back on topic.... finally got around to watching all of samurai champloo in a marathon watching. I loved the mashup nature of it and its sense of humor.

oh, you were going in that direction. Actually it's commonly believed that Gilgamesh was based on older sumerian legends/stories. Given how prone to the rivers in that area were prone to cycles of flooding and rebuilding the basic story of game ending floods probably stretch back all the way to the beginning of civilization. Some archeologists actually think that the legend as well as the proto-europeans, the aryans, the proto-russians, and the people in the mediterranean all originated from a civilization in the (then) black sea valley and that when the mediterranean sea flooded that valley that people group spread out (which is their explanation for why those areas all developed writing and irrigation around the same time and have similar legends/myths). The book: Noah's Flood by William Ryan and Walter Pitman describes this theory.

well damn, if they fix the leg position in fighter mode along with this new neck, I'll be there!

errr, "noah's ark" which the modern equivalent would be the myriad "progenitor" stories including our own very popular Protoculture.

I get what you're saying. Personally, I don't care if an idea or even a story is recycled or retold as long as it's done well. There's one thing I've learned from my time reading old ass stories and that is there really is nothing new under the sun.

Well, to be fair, anthropomorphism is a time honored storytelling device. Aesop's fables did it and more recently Orwell used the conceit with Animal Farm nearly 40 years before Maus and had the idea of different types of animals as analogs for different political parties and/or social classes.

I'm so down for this. looks awesome, I can't wait!

hahaha, I said the exact same thing, "I'll just get this one 1/48 VF-1s..."

maybe too much paint chipping with the FAST pack thigh armor attached?

nice. I love the 1/48 love.

I believe that neck shot you posted is a non transforming fan mod?

looks good, really good with the new neck.

arthropod forms are good for unstable environments and in between movements they are stable, very stable... it's just during movement that they're not stable. During movement their weight actually isn't supported by alternating three legs, they're essentially falling forward and from side to side. Though, the stable human versions of arthropods do maintain stability by ensuring locomotion via alternating tripods but so far those forms are considerably slower and move with far more deliberation than the robots that actually move like real arthropods which move somewhat chaotically but very rapidly.

the discussion originated from your comments regarding weapons on tails and then your comparison to scorpions and other arthropods. However... after Wild Wild West giant mechanized insects somehow lost their charm and menacing qualities.

Loving Rideback but I'm hoping the baddies get a proper motivation other than cookie-cutter "world domination". So far they just seem bad for the sake of bad and I'd rather have something more nuanced. Not saying it wasn't cool to see the white riders get smacked around... cuz it was.

yup, it's one thing to have a very small object essentially falling down every time it takes a step but for a large multi ton machine to do it, it just puts a lot of unnecessary strain on the frame and mechanisms... which has a lot to do with why our large scale insect like robots tend to move very slowly, at least the ones that try to be stable. The ones that have abandoned the idea of stability can replicate the quickness though... but again, not ideal for a weapons platform. Well, unless you could have a computer basically predict how the frame was going to fall and then auto correct the aim on the weapon even before the frame moved thereby creating a stable mount... err... or you could just have a more stable mount to begin with.

yup and insects are actually inherently unstable in motion which makes their method of locomotion a poor choice for a weapon mount, imo.

Yeah... buyer beware maybe be legal and even ethical (if you deconstruct it using Kant's categorical imperative. And yes, whether or not it passes the 2nd and 3rd maxim is open to debate) but it sure as hell ain't moral.

but the laser tongue is offset by the mecha whisker dimples!

the laser tail makes the dog gundam all sorts of pure awesome.

so the crusader really is just a heavily modified VF-1 and not some giant version of?

Actually... not necessarily. If he doesn't make any claims as to the condition of the toy and sells it "as is" and "buyer beware" and the buyer buys it as such... than it's not fraud. If he claims it to be in "good" condition then yes, it's fraud.

True. I'll wait and see. Still, this show is not nearly as offensive as the first season of Chuck. That show went out of its way to be insulting towards minorities.

yeah, around 250 is what I see minty low viz units go for. That crack on the hip socket makes it look like a time bomb, it would be a pass for me.

Maybe if there were any asians on TV that weren't walking stereotypes, except for Lost... , I guess I would be more inclined to give it a pass. I guess the recent miley and jonas brother chinky eye pics and even lou dobbs doing his best "ching-chong" talk has me kinda keyed up on how asians are treated on american TV.