areaseven

Wow...that artwork makes the Astro Plan 9 from Outer Space character art look like Studio Ghibli art.

New TF3 Character Revealed During Chicago Filming Some fans have suspected the character to be Alpha Trion. Yeah right.

That's because the Army and Air Force no longer sponsor NASCAR teams on a full-time basis. Navy and Marines do NASCAR, but not in the Sprint Cup Series. The only military branch that does Sprint Cup full-time is National Guard, which sponsors Dale Earnhardt, Jr.'s #88 car (one of the three NASCAR stock cars used during filming).

Yes, I know they're stand-ins. David Hintgen's question was centered on the Einstein-looking stand-in.

I went to GreattoysOnline.com in Greenhills and spotted this figure for roughly US$78. Excellent box design and layout. Unfortunately, whoever assembled the plane dropped a glob of something, resulting in a brownish white spot on the chest plate. That was enough for me to pass on this figure and wait for the VF-1S and FAST Packs.

Probably just a gag to prevent spies from finding out the identity of the character.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZrYPJ4Yc31g

Some pics of a couple of my kits:

Get both. I like the concept of Peg, but I'm not liking the paint finish. What I plan to do later this year is to get Peg and repaint him to something more Samurai-like - it'll be a coin-toss between the colors of Animated Prowl or the Masurao from Mobile Suit Gundam 00.

I'll probably get flamed for this, but I thought Inception was what The Matrix should've been.

Coming to cinemas on July 23 is Salt, directed by Phillip Noyce (Patriot Games, Clear and Present Danger), written by Kurt Wimmer (Equilibrium, Ultraviolet) and Brian Helgeland (L.A. Confidential, The Postman) and starring Angelina Jolie (like nobody here knows who she is...), Liev Schreiber (Sabretooth in X-Men Origins: Wolverine) and Chiwetel Ejiofor (Luke in Children of Men, Adrian in 2012). In the film, Jolie plays Evelyn Salt, a CIA operative who is on the run after a Russian defector tags her as a KGB sleeper agent plotting to assassinate the visiting Russian president.

Taken from RT.com: Yup, that's RT.com customer service for you.

Damn, should've paid attention to the interior. Still, I am so tempted to get Battle Ops BB, but around here, it's almost US$100.

The other day, I went to my local hobby shop and saw the store manager pull out a DX Chogokin Aquarion figure. Another customer was looking to buy it but noticed that the shades of gray on the Solar and Luna were inconsistent with each other. Anyone here have this figure?

Just wondering, how many variants of Human Alliance Bumblebee are there? I have the ROTF version, which has Sam wearing a black shirt. I saw a Hunt for the Decepticons version with Sam wearing a white shirt like yours, but the shirt has a pattern on the front.

More shots of the NASCAR Transformers. I'm surprised they didn't use Jeff Gordon's car.

Despite all the mixed reviews online, I went and picked up the HG 1/144 Susanowo Trans-Am Mode, as my 00 Raiser Gundam Trans-Am Mode was lonely on my display shelf. As with all of the Trans-Am kits, painting is almost unnecessary due to the sweet metallic finish (which is also a PITA to match on paint). In place of the black and white colors of the regular version, this kit is molded in Black Cherry metallic and pinkish white, while the gray parts have a glossy/metallic appearance. Yes, this model has a lot of mad poseability, a bunch of nifty gimmicks and some sweet blades, but because its design is heavily based on the Union Flag, it carries the Flag's inherent ball-joint problems. Hip and arm joints are extremely loose that they pop off at the slightest pose. The best remedy so far is to coat a layer of paint on the polycaps. If you want all of the working gimmicks and a figure that doesn't fall apart, save up a few extra bucks and get the Robot Damashii version. Otherwise, if you have a lot of patience, this kit is just for you.

Managed to find Peg and Thrust at my hobby shop. Will probably buy Peg on the next paycheck. BTW, len_d69, awesome figure. I should go save up for one myself.

Rather than start a new thread, I thought I'd review this movie here, since it's mainly about MMA. Never Back Down Mandalay Pictures/Summit Entertainment, 2008 Directed by Jeff Wadlow (Cry_Wolf) Running Time: 114 minutes Not Rated (originally rated PG-13). Contains martial arts violence, T&A and HLA. Cast Sean Faris (Kyo Kusanagi in The King of Fighters) as Jake Tyler Amber Heard (Angie in Pineapple Express, 406 in Zombieland) as Baja Miller Cam Gigandet (James in Twilight) as Ryan McCarthy Evan Peters (Todd in Kick-Ass 1-2) as Max Cooperman Djimon Hounsou (Juba in Gladiator) as Jean Roqua Leslie Hope (Teri Bauer in 24) as Margot Tyler Wyatt Smith as Charlie Tyler Synopsis Jake Tyler and his family move from Iowa to a posh neighborhood in Orlando, Florida, to start a new life. However, he has a habit of getting into fights, and it doesn't take too long before the entire campus receives wind of a video of a brawl involving him at his last school. One night, he is invited in a party, in which he is challenged by Ryan McCarthy, a local rich kid who uses his MMA skills to bloody up Jake to the ground. Seeking retribution, Jake enrolls in a MMA school run by Jean Roqua, a Brazilian of Senegalese descent. Under the wing of Roqua, Jake trains vigorously to improve his fighting abilities in hopes of squaring off with Ryan again; but he gets kicked out of the dojo for fighting in public - a violation of one of Roqua's main principles. With an underground MMA event coming up, Jake must do what it takes to regain Roqua's respect and prove himself as a fighter. Lowdown Over the weekend, my brother couldn't stop talking about this movie. Why, I had no idea. So when he finally got himself a DVD copy of the film, I kinda see why. Never Back Down is simply a loose remake of The Karate Kid (at least it doesn't shamelessly copy it like this year's remake starring Jaden Smith), only with MMA and a Tom Cruise lookalike (I kid you not - if Tom Cruise actually cloned himself, it would most likely be Sean Faris). The acting is, well, what you would expect from an episode of The O.C.: cheesy, spoiled teeny-boppers on screen. The only one actually doing a good job acting is Djimon Hounsou. We all knew he was tough in Gladiator, but it's amazing how much he trained just for this film. For a moment, I was almost convinced he was a legitimate MMA fighter. But how are the fights? Sadly, MMA does not translate well on the big screen, and it shows heavily in this film. Having to choreograph such moves is plain silly. And for some reason, I keep getting flashbacks of Kickboxer mixed with Best of the Best - and that's actually a bad thing. Making matters worse is that there aren't any legitimate MMA fighters in this movie at all! Overall, this film is a rental at most. If you want a better MMA movie, go watch Blood and Bone, starring Black Dynamite himself. At least that has real MMA fighters. And to think that some Tom Cruise clone is playing Kyo Kusanagi in the upcoming King of Fighters movie... Rating: C- Links Official Site References The Internet Movie Database

Here's a preview pic originally posted on the TF thread: Optimus Prime's Trailer Confirmed for TF3

It's now down to 80%. Expect it to go Rotten this weekend.

Wow...it's really different where you are. Over here, every branch of TRU, Toy Kingdom, Kidz Station and ToyTown has Voyager Class Mindwipe and Bludgeon as shelf-warmers. Worse is that Leader Class Prime and Jetfire continue to collect dust (talk about overproduced). Weird thing is that even with the new Hunt for the Decepticons line, these stores are doing nothing to get the ROTF toys off the shelves. (In comparison, they marked all Animated toys on final closeout; Voyager figures at Deluxe prices and Leader figures and Supreme Rollout Prime at Voyager prices.) Hell, the ROTF scouts are selling for roughly US$2 more than the new HFTD Scouts.

Apparently, a store in Greenhills got a shipment of the figure ahead of everyone else. What surprised me was that they were selling it about US$4 less than the going price for a Voyager Class figure.

What do you collect and why? I collect Transformers and Macross toys, as those were the top two franchises I grew up with. I also collect Gundam model kits and diecast model cars occasionally. Will you stop collecting at some point and why? I've stopped collecting model cars due to a lack of space in my apartment. Have your interests in collecting one line over another waned? Transformers for me was an on-again/off-again deal. I enjoyed G1 as much as everyone else here, but steered away from G2, Beast Wars and Beast Machines. Car Robots/Robots in Disguise rejuvenated my interest, but Armada and Energon killed it for me. I didn't regain interest until Alternators came out. Whats the maximum you will spend on one toy? The most I've spent was over US$200 for my VF-25S Armored Messiah. Whats the maximum you will spend in a year? I'd probably spend a maximum total of US$1,000 a year on toys. How do you like to display your collection? I have a shelf and a bedroom table. Do you get more excited about finding your white elephant and then get melancholy once in your possession? There is no such thing as a Holy Grail on my collection list.

I was never a fan of Nightwolf. And Cyrax & Sektor were two reasons I skipped the first version of MK3. At least Midway redeemed themselves by bringing back Scorpion and classic Sub-Zero in Ultimate MK3.