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kajnrig

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Everything posted by kajnrig

  1. kajnrig
    Well, we can see where the budget and time and storytelling resources were unsurprisingly spent. Some bits of quite inventive sword and martial play. A Buddhist monk beating someone with his bare hands is always satisfying. I've never quite gelled with Nu-lightsaber tech. Unpopular opinion: Something about them using literal glow sticks makes it look like they're using literal glow sticks, and it's super distracting. There's something super funky about a blade made of light that doesn't emit light, and I greatly prefer it to the more "realistic" effect they use nowadays. If I ever get the chance to do Star Wars, I'm definitely going old-school with that aspect of it. The Jedi as protectors and followers of rules-based order strikes me as mildly odd, given some of the... is it Legends? The old Expanded Universe? Legacy? L-something... anyway, given some of the old material (and even RotJ IIRC) framed strict order and rules as an aspect of the Sith. But then this is Star Wars, where such things were "good" or "bad" almost on anyone's whim on any given day. So... meh. Anything else...? I dunno. I'll have to pay closer attention next time I see this episode, if I do see it again. Otherwise, back to mild indifference for me.
  2. kajnrig
    I thought we were talking just the general quality of the stuffs, not their function as money-makers. If we're talking about finances, sure, I could agree they're probably spending more on the shows than the shows are bringing in. I could even be persuaded that that's the case even if you factored in all the merchandising, licensing, etc. that said shows generate. But as far as the quality of the thing goes, Disney Wars is pretty similar to Lucas Wars, all things considered.
  3. kajnrig
    It's weird, I've generally had a decent if unmemorable time with the Star Wars shows. Mando season...2? When Luke shows up? was a good time. Boba Fett was perfectly fine up through the point I eventually dropped it (before that slo-mo speeder chase I caught years later on YouTube the other day, what WAS that???? ), same with Ahsoka. Obi-Wan Kenobi was ultimately worth it too, I think. So... yeah. I dunno, guys, this whole doom and gloom about Disney Wars seems overblown. Of course I say that yet have spent the last five pages absolutely trashing The Acolyte.
  4. kajnrig
    If this were the case, I - again - would have liked that to be conveyed. This was my very assumption when no explicit reason was given, but as it is, it IS just an assumption and not corroborated by the show itself. This was exactly my thinking as well. Why else would they bring the fact of their not being within Republic boundaries up? See, if there were an implied "shared best practices" type thing between these Force-believing religions that would compel the Witches to allow the Jedi to test them, I would find that extraordinarily interesting. Like, perhaps they both strongly emphasize the importance of developing Force sensitivity as children, and the Jedi invoke that similar belief to the Witches as something of an olive branch to convince them to allow the Jedi to test them. I'm guessing there's some sort of manipulation by the Mystery Sith as part of a Bigger Conspiracy. Recency bias also plays some sort of role here, I'm sure. I remember all the hardcore fans ragging on the Sequels for having "bad" lightsaber fights and thinking back to the supposedly good old days of the mid-2000s and... all the hardcore fans ragging on the Prequels for having "bad" lightsaber fights. Star Wars might be seen as poorly-written only now, but it's only building on the weak foundation that was allowed before. Creators shouldn't be scared of changing what doesn't work, and fans shouldn't be scared of Star Wars changing, maybe even drastically. I mean, yeeeah, but that was an old Jedi Knight reminiscing nostalgically. He speaks of the Jedi Knights the way, say, Sam Seaborn talks about the US of A (first thing that came to mind, dunno why): It's timestamped to provide some context, but at about 2:29 he waxes poetic about the US thusly: "This country is an idea, and one that has lit the world for two centuries! And treason against that idea is not just a crime against the living!" It's rhetorical language, it's theatrical language. It's language meant not necessarily to strictly convey facts, but to express a mood, an emotion, a devotion to and expression of a personal ideal. EDIT: Yes, let's make this wall of text wallier. Is she bald? I thought Kelnacca just had neatly-combed and -styled hair. Granted I wasn't looking very hard...
  5. kajnrig
    Personally, I've always thought the term "Jedi Knight" was weird because of its monarchical implications, and how such implications are at odds with the idea of a republic. But on the other hand I've also always associated the term "Jedi Knight" more with the religious term, ie a member of a militant arm of a religious order (a knight belonging to and fighting for specifically the Jedi) rather than any political state (a knight in service of the Republic/Empire/their king/etc. who happens to be a Jedi). That may be true; I think the show could have done a better job of informing us (or maybe just me ) of that. It's why I would have wanted an extended time frame for the events on Brendok. Or even something as simple as the characters referencing the past would have helped give me some context for how Osha is the way she is and why. There's a short scene in Attack of the Clones where Obi-Wan and Anakin talk about their past adventures while riding an elevator. It's hamfisted writing in its own way, and the acting is as stilted as it is throughout the rest of the movie, but it still serves to inform us about the characters, their past, their relationship to each other and the world and people around them, etc. Osha and Mae could have used something similar to at least give us an idea of what life used to be like for them. I watched the latest episode again just to make sure I caught anything I might have missed the first go around (btw @Seto Kaiba the subtitles say "ma-n-i-c-ally" not "ma-n-i-a-c-ally"), and a point occurred to me again that I neglected to mention before: we don't know or learn why Osha wants to be a Jedi. Or why she thinks they're good. Or why the Witches think they're bad. (There is the barest hint of religious persecution wrought by the Jedi upon the Witches, but it's extremely vague, almost like the writers haven't fully thought out what that persecution looked like.) Or why, despite thinking the Jedi are bad and possibly having an ugly history with them, the Witches let them impose their customs. Indara says to the head witch Aniseya, "You cannot deny that Jedi have the right to test potential Padawan."... immediately after both sides have made it clear that 1) they're on bad terms, and 2) this planet isn't part of the Republic and thus the Jedi presumably have no jurisdiction here. Do the Jedi have the right? What kind of right, ie divine/legal? Why? And yet Aniseya acquiesces. Again, why? Could she not simply tell them "No, frakk off out of here, unless you plan to show us the same hospitality that drove us here in the first place, in which case frakk off out of here AND take this parting gift of an arrow to your face while you're at it."?
  6. kajnrig
    Reina preorder is up. HLJ: https://www.hlj.com/v-f-g-macross-delta-vf-31a-kairos-reina-prowler-aos06526 Amiami: https://www.amiami.com/eng/detail/?gcode=FIGURE-171411 HS: https://www.1999.co.jp/eng/11096667 BBTS: https://www.bigbadtoystore.com/Product/VariationDetails/280496
  7. kajnrig
    Maybe I just wasn't paying attention, because my impression was that one of the twins wants doggedly to be her own person, as if she has always wanted doggedly to be her own person; the other acts as if "two of one" is so obvious as to be taken for granted, as if it has always been so obvious as to be taken for granted. At the very least, they and their elders take each other's attitudes and presumably disquieting attitudes in stride almost as if "oh boy there goes Osha with her rebellious streak again" or "oh boy there goes Mae again with her animal cruelty." Like, Osha isn't disturbed at all by Mae's aforementioned animal cruelty, nor does she cite it as a reason for her growing disillusionment with the coven; she just tells her to knock it off and they move onto the next scene. No voicing her concern to her mom(s), no reflecting on the incident in her room, no perhaps taking time to bring it to the attention of Sol in an act of intimation that brings them closer together... I've known a handful of twins IRL and they've swung all the way from one extreme to the other, from doing everything together and matching clothing to expressly avoiding being in the same room as each other. But regardless of how much they want to be like/different from each other, they DO tend to resemble each other in their behavior, mannerisms, thinking patterns, etc. But what I meant when I brought those things up wasn't so much that I wanted to see those specific things and that specific type of sibling relationship - empathy, prediction, separation anxiety, etc. - just that, whichever way the creators wanted to go with their sibling dynamic, their depiction of it could have allowed for more... flourish. Nuance. Expression. I wanted to see their being siblings reinforced through secondary and tertiary means, especially when they had prime reference material in the actresses themselves. Which is exactly my point. If Star Wars can get away with not having "bad writing" associated with it despite its "choicest cuts" being of iffy quality, then so too can fanfiction writ large. Or from the other way around, if fanfiction is synonymous with poor writing because the vast majority of it is poorly written, then so too should Star Wars be synonymous with poor writing because the vast majority of it is poorly written. The vast majority of everything is poorly written, as a matter of fact, but it's only fanfiction that gets lumped with the association. Thus I'll always go to bat for fanfiction. But anyway, that's the most minor of nits I've picked. I agree it's to do with the source material, I disagree that it's out of fear of losing the audience. Or rather, I don't think the two are necessarily so closely linked as the creators of The Acolyte fear think it is. The Jedi were a completely different beast before Lucas started his work on the prequels. The "source material" of Star Wars didn't include a literal Chosen One prophecy until he just decided to add it in alongside a tortured Jesus analogue. Fans have been open to more change to Star Wars canon than these creators seem to think they are, sometimes accepting even objectively bad changes. I get the feeling this show's creators write more out of fear of upsetting an imagined status quo rather than out of a desire to tell a compelling story. I will say, and this is starting to veer outside of The Acolyte specifically and into the Star Wars canon more broadly, I hate that the Jedi have become synonymous with The Republic. The show treats the Jedi's values as being one and the same as the Republic's values, which... no. No, religious dedication to a life of celibacy and worldly detachments(?) is not synonymous with dedication to running society via rules developed from the assent and often compromise of a variety of perspectives, no matter how much the Prequels might assert otherwise. The Jedi are (or should be, at any rate) like the monks of European monasteries, or the ninja clans of the Japanese warring states, or indeed the Shaolin monks across the breadth of Chinese history; unique, generally isolated communities whose interests occasionally align with their respective governing states but more often are merely inoffensive to them, and indeed occasionally are at odds or even threaten them. That last bit was clearly an idea Lucas was trying to express in his prequel depiction of the Republic and the Jedi Order. He just wasn't fully up to the task of it. I've heard vaguely of Force Witches before, but being the Star Wars plebeian that I am, I don't know anything beyond that they exist. I can't say I'm too surprised that their previous depictions have been as straight forward as they were. One more gripe I had with this Episode 3, kind of related to the others I've had: I would have liked to spend more time on Brendok and see the events play out over a longer period. Obviously there's more going on and my opinion might change as more is revealed, but with regards to the gripes I have so far, an extended time period of Witch-Jedi interaction could have settled many of them.
  8. kajnrig
    Poor writing and fanfiction aren't synonymous. Some of the best - heck, arguably THE best - parts of Star Wars are for all intents and purposes just "elevated" fanfiction. It IS poorly-written, though, that much is true. Or at the very least, it's muddled writing. Unclear. Imprecise. It seems to want to depict the Jedi as well-doing sages... but more often than not it shows them imposing themselves on others. It seems to want us to empathize with the witch coven... but it shows them being antagonistic and collectively a bit overquick on the figurative draw. It seems to want us to think of the personal drama between Osha et al as just that: dramatic... but more often than not it shows everyone kind of just talking past each other. The acting feels wooden, and I can only suspect that this was a result of the directing... or show-running... or something beyond the ability of the actors themselves to change, because I've seen better from all of them. (Or at least all of them that I recognize.) The sisterly relationship doesn't have any of the wrinkles, nuances, etc. that you see from real siblings, much less twins. I see that the actresses who played Young Mae and Osha are actual twins, and it would have been nice to see them maybe inject some of their real-life experience as such into the roles. Or tweak the script here and there to show as much. Have them be extra empathetic to each other. Have them able to predict the other's behaviors. Have them be increasingly perturbed by their lack of unity over their future. Let the actors chew the scenery a bit more than not at all. On the other hand, I suppose The Acolyte is again only following the lead of the prequel movies. Still doesn't make it okay, though.
  9. kajnrig
    I guess this show updates on Tuesdays then? For some reason I was thinking Wednesdays. Maybe because of X-Men 97.
  10. kajnrig
    I told myself I would only get the Makina, Reina, and Kaname ones... but then I saw preview pics of the Freyja and ended up preordering one. And now I'm already committing to 4 of 5 members, I may as well finish the group, right? After all, it only makes sense. Aye yay yay...
  11. kajnrig
    I think my one big gripe with the show - otherwise I feel for it about as much as I feel for anything Star Wars, which is to say, very little either way - is that they've decided to stick with the Prequels depiction of the Jedi as opposed to just, y'know, changing them to be more interesting. With this being Wuxia Star Wars and all, I'd have expected them to pattern the Jedi after the Shaolin monks of the big screen, from which they could have drawn all manner of varied tropes: the overly strict headmaster, the down-to-earth teacher who looks out for his students, the perpetually drunk one, the mischievous meat-eater, the entitled bully, etc. The Jedi of the Prequels was always a half-baked idea (much like a lot else of the Prequels), one that I'm disappointed to see persist. You can have a cast of pious monks who are still characters. This insistence on everyone being emotionless... it's such a detraction, I don't get why they don't just ignore it. Otherwise, I think it's alright. I think they could have undercranked the fights a bit to make them punchier, but they're alright. The edit on this three-second sequence (starting at 0:12 in case the timestamp doesn't stick) struck me as particularly bad - the first shot has her in the air, foot coming down from above, the second shot shows him defending a kick coming from below. I had a laugh at the whole edgelord Mae challenge thee to a duel pose. It was obviously meant to be a ridiculous display, which it was, and it illustrated an aspect of Mae's character, that being a bit of naivete and greenness. Yes, it's a bit stupid, the show as a whole is a bit stupid, but... how to put it? I sat through all four Ip Mans. I can sit through this.
  12. kajnrig
    For my part, this is basically everything I'd ever wanted from the franchise: wuxia-flavored Star Wars. Even the lightsaber whip is something that kid me yearned for, impractical as it is. Here's just hoping they can manage to bring the Force closer to its Taoist, amoral roots as well (though I don't foresee that happening). Of all the recent Star Wars fare, this has managed to excite me the most.
  13. kajnrig
    PG Inle plz thx u ok id settle for a hguc Inle thats ok too
  14. kajnrig
    Oh, I didn't see the big honking sticker sheet/decal sheet on the previous page. Yikes.
  15. kajnrig
    Oh for sure, after that initial shock I went right back to what I always do and pretended not to pay attention as I added to cart. Looking at the runner layout, I'm getting a decent idea of what the VF-22 will come with, I think. A1 will probably omit the intake covers and include extra yellow parts for the hand guards and a clear red visor for the head; A2 will omit the clear green parts and include the pearlescent red fighter mode canopy glass. B1 omits the fighter mode belly. C1 and C2 include color duplicates of part E-5 (the shoulder exterior accent). D has new cockpit parts for both fighter and battroid, as well as the new head and gray copies of the intake covers. E remains the same, meaning you'll be able to build two gunpods if desired, but also meaning the trigger finger hands will have to use yellow stickers for the hand guards. (I foresee a pretty extensive sticker sheet, actually.) F1 won't exist as the two parts on it are the YF-21-only side skirts. F2 will be new and include the VF-22 side skirts and the new fighter mode belly parts. And then of course there will be extra runners for the neon green effects parts and stand (the latter of which really should have been thrown in from the start of the line; or really just any basic stand at all would be appreciated). One general question I have, having finally snapped my YF-21 together today: Can someone tell me what the difference is between part A-3 and C-23? (The shoulder insert part, with the black hole details.) I haven't tried swapping them for one another, but from a glance it seems to me they're identical. On the subject of HLJ, I'm in agreement that it's an issue with Bandai: Kotobukiya, Plamax, etc. Even manufacturers who have made similar in-roads into the stateside domestic market - namely Kotobukiya - I can still get their stuff through HLJ (or Amiami, or Hobby Search, etc...) if I so desire. It's literally only Bandai who make it a pain. If they did something as simple as offer a parts replacement service or... something beyond mere access to their products, I'd be able to justify their stinginess. But alas... IIRC this practice was a result of Bandai's previously unpredictable but "regular enough" re-printing schedule. Especially when their product lineup was relatively minimal and, probably more importantly, demand was easier to keep up with, they could dedicate more time to small batch re-production runs of older MGs and HGs and so there was less of a need to, say, announce to distributors and customers their production schedule sometimes months ahead of time. They would announce special re-runs of super vintage stuff, but otherwise you could pretty safely bet on a kit being restocked at least every other year or so. Again IIRC there was word fairly recently, ie in the last five years or so, of them investing in new production facilities either in Japan or in the States, which would help alleviate some of those bottlenecks.
  16. kajnrig
    IIRC the RVF-171 and -25 have distinct radomes. A kitbash wouldn't look 100% right... but it'd be close enough, I think.
  17. kajnrig
    Link: https://p-bandai.com/us/item/N2723567001001 Incidentally, that is REALLY starting to feel like a ripoff... is what I would say if I didn't just now check the regular YF-21 price and see that it's $50!?!?!?. Sheesh, I've tended to ignore pricing decisions for the most part, but even I'm a bit sticker shocked.
  18. kajnrig
    As this is being distributed by All the Anime, am I correct in guessing this is limited to the UK(+EU?) region, and that prior US-specific shows/distributors are still as they were when announcements were made... last year? 2022? 2021? in the previous BD release announcement threads?
  19. kajnrig
    Y'know, Daniel Craig seems to really like this role, and it's doing pretty well for all involved, so good for him.
  20. kajnrig
    You're all wrong. As it turns out:
  21. kajnrig
    Is that confirmed? At least 3D model-wise, I thought it just reused the Alto -29 model. The -29B has a different... head...? This is the first I've seen it referred to as the B variant. I've only ever seen it referred to as a plain ol' YF-29.
  22. kajnrig
    I think it was one or both of you I spoke to a while ago (probably around the time the Hasegawa Armored Battroid was announced) about the anime-style hands and how they bother me, too. I had to come to peace with the laughably and literally sketchy lineart hands by headcanoning that they're "traditionally" mechanical hand skeletons covered in spongy and/or expansive materials that can squeeze into a small form factor for stowage. But just imagine the intricate mechanisms and tolerances you would have to design into that to make sure that they don't reliably catch on anything and tear while going through repeated transformations. Or maybe they do, and that becomes an infamous design flaw of the VF-1. Mechanics complain en masse about re-stuffing filling and duct-taping holes after nearly every mission, and it becomes standard practice to replace entire manipulators instead. At the height of the problem, otherwise perfectly useful hands are being tossed every two or three sorties. Penny pinchers realize that nearly 15% of the NUNS procurement budget is dedicated to purchasing or refurbishing manipulator units. NUNS and Northrom get into a tizzy over it, it becomes a whole political scandal that sacks a prominent chicken down company and several generals, and all future VF designs are mandated to follow strict manipulator design specs. General Galaxy and the YF-21 lose Project Super Nova because, as one GG engineer puts it, "our wings could look like anything, but the brass could only see balloon hands." Indeed, the gate of history turns on small hinges.
  23. kajnrig
    Given the YF-21's shape changing materials, it may actually not have any external hardpoints (aside from gunpod and FAST pack mounts). Still, more dakka can never hurt.
  24. kajnrig
    Seriously, scale these up to 1/8 or 1/7 - or, dare I dream, 1/6? Reach for the stars, even, 1/4??? - and I would jump on every single one of them.
  25. kajnrig
    Aw yeah, some more prototype shots of Kotobukiya's 30MM... Armored... Core... wait a minute!!! Yes, that's Kotobukiya's (presumably 1/72 scale) model kit also of the Steel Haze, Rusty's AC from Armored Core 6. I imagine it'll be a size class bigger than the 30MM and feature a more involved build because of it. I wonder if it'll have blade effects parts as well...
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