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technoblue

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Everything posted by technoblue

  1. technoblue
    Yep. The Barron is a talkative fellow in the book, in Lynch's version Dune, and the Sci-Fi miniseries. Villeneuve made him a quiet, brooding yet menacing antagonist. I wish he had kept that one line in part one, though. It's a good way to help ground the audience to what is going on at Arrakis. I am curious to see what is done with the Barron in part two. It will be cool if Villeneuve gives him back some of these character-defining lines of dialogue.
  2. technoblue
    There will be multiple stores to pre-order from. Any place that has carried the Sentinel/Riobot line before, especially the ride armors, should also get a pre-order for Fuke/Bartley. I’m in, but I don’t know if I want to stay up into the wee hours to place an order. I can wait.
  3. technoblue
    It's not a deal-breaker for me, but it would have been cool to see fewer MP-44 tricks at Legends scale in this updated Prime. I'm not sure the false gas tanks work as well as they do on the Masterpiece, and MP-44 is already compromised with so many false parts, although Magic Square was clearly inspired by the larger toy here. I do like their implementation of the fake chest/truck windows more than the double-thick chest that Newage went with.
  4. technoblue
    It is cool seeing Intel raise the competitive stakes with more CPU innovations. Next, I would like to see them work on their power efficiency. Maybe in the next generation or two those high numbers can be tamed? For now, the i5 12600k appears to be the smart option.
  5. technoblue
    Repeating what I wrote over on tfw, it looks enormous. I wonder what the piece count will be and how it will stack up to some of the better MOCs like the plus-sized AT-AT? I'm liking the interior detail, especially in the cockpit/head. Is this going to need a special tool to lock the legs in place? I'm not really sure what is going on in the lower right corner of the first photo. It seems to imply something about the legs, though.
  6. technoblue
    And it bears repeating. Thank you, @mikeszekely. Although I'm collecting both myself, I appreciate your perspective and the differences that were pointed out between the two. That said, I kind of wish I waited for Newage to release their Devastator set with the paint apps done up like the G1 toy. I feel that would have set them both apart just that much more but oh well. My bad on that one. NA is known for their multiple repaints. On a related tangent, carcel is another word for jail and morbus is another word for disease---we do get some creative names from third-party companies.
  7. technoblue
    I would be down for a separate DX pod add-on pack that includes this and other special use pods seen in Delta. At least, I’m hoping Bandai is considering it. They did toss the reaction missiles into the 31F and 31C super parts sets, so who knows?
  8. technoblue
    Both choices are good, IMO; however, I think NA will be easier to find right now. Their Ultra Magnus is sold as a complete box set and Magic Square's initial release was a separate trailer/armor add-on for their white Prime---and that Prime was released a while ago. I was lucky enough to find one on eBay at a decent price earlier this year, but I haven't checked recently to see what's available. That is to say, I bought both MS and NA, but I've also been pining for a good armored Prime style Magnus for years. It's quite a cool coincidence that I was able to pick up Iron Factory's Magnus, Magic Square's Magnus, and Newage's Magnus all within the same year. If someone can finally do Ultra Magnus justice at MP scale (maybe XTB?), that would be icing on the cake for me. Planet-X's Magnus is a cool voyager but is stylized to the video game releases. If some other company wants to do a toy/toonMagnus that is also voyager scale, they will have my attention. Hasbro's WFC/Kingdom releases didn't resonate with me either. The first siege release has the RID alt mode that I’m not all that familiar with and the bot mode was funky. The Kingdom release updated bot mode to be more G1, but as noted the alt mode is still off.
  9. technoblue
    That's where I'm at with regard to XTB's Magnus. I want to see more before I think about ordering a copy. That said, if everything is as good as we see in the teaser pictures, this will be a great way to add Ultra Magnus to an MP collection. I am also curious how FansToys might try to improve on it or if Takara is thinking of revisiting Ultra Magnus in their own official line. Will MP always follow the all-in-one motif or will someone attempt to give us a truck bot in armor at this scale? Circling back to Legends, I think NA made a better compromise by giving us a shorter car carrier/trailer to try to keep bot mode from being too exaggerated. I don't really mind the parts forming at this scale, either.
  10. technoblue
    NA Delta Magnus looks terrific, and do I spy a bonus Shattered Glass face and sword? LoL, it looks like I'll be double dipping again.
  11. technoblue
    Blaster looks good. With any luck we will get the two well-known "twin" repaints Rewind (for the Autobots) and Buzzsaw (for the Decepticons). However, given how long we've been waiting on Buzzsaw, I'm not going to hold my breath. If a third-party doesn't step in, another option may be to DIY with paint.
  12. technoblue
    This Ultra Magnus reveal is tempting but some things give me pause: 1) It's XTB and my experience with their price:quality ratio has been up and down. 2) There are announced electronics and things like light and sound effects haven't blown me away on any Transformers release to date. They range from fiddly and frustrating to okay but nothing special. The other downside is that if the electronics are poorly implemented and require chunky storage, they can complicate the design. 3) I'm not really into how XTB is including "Only Human" accessories. I do like the profile of XTB Magnus in bot mode--not as stocky or thick as MP-22. I'm also happy to see that XTB retained the matrix chamber, but I miss the transparent red windows in armored mode. Looking closer at the prototype images, my guess is that this will be using an all-in-one transformation rather than Prime in armor but if this can transform into a Prime bot, there must be some impressive origami going on.
  13. technoblue
    Does the sand walk...er...dance
  14. technoblue
    Same.
  15. technoblue
    I treat it like Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings. The film does things differently than the book. For new Dune, I think Villeneuve is even on record saying that he wanted to change up characters and shuffle things around. Part 2 could include things that were revealed early in the book or Lynch's movie so I try to tip-toe around that stuff. As for the ancillary "universe" details... I'm not too worried about that... Just trying to feed in extra information. Frank Herbert first published Dune in 1965. It won a Hugo Award and a Nebula Award a year later. Today, it's one of the well-known 20th century works of literary science fiction. He published his last book in 1985, before he passed. As has been noted up-thread, his son is continuing his legacy and continues to co-author books set within this universe.
  16. technoblue
    It's cool how the new movie is getting people to talk about the story. What they like, what they don't like, and what falls flat. Frank Herbert was blazing trails in science fiction along side the likes of Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clark back in the day. This content is a couple generations removed from what science fiction authors are writing today and--yeah--it shows. Herbert also wanted to make his work unique so he leaned into those anachronisms---the words and terminology that were unfamiliar and often misunderstood by his western audience. With Dune, I think the more layers you uncover, the more you're rewarded but it isn't for everyone and that's okay. One core conceit of the Dune universe that I find interesting, especially in Frank Herbert's original novels, is the idea that advanced computer/AI technology has been banned for millennia. This nudged humanity down a very different path. It feeds into why Guild Navigators, Mentats, and Bene Gesserit are a thing. As a writer, I can guess that it encouraged Herbert to create something that wasn't focused so much on technology and avoided the common sci-fi tropes. I think it worked. For the reader that is willing to put the time in, one of the questions that is asked over and over again is, was this engineered alternative path ethical?
  17. technoblue
    I am curious to know if Villeneuve was giving a nod to the idea of having different stages of spice mutation. I think that was one if the ideas that came out of the 84 film that Frank Herbert liked? I recall reading how he was into the big spice tank and created an in-universe reason for it in his later books.
  18. technoblue
    I suggest starting with the books that Frank Herbert wrote, especially if you want to focus on Paul’s part of the story. For that, you only need to read the first two books. If you want to continue and see what happens after Paul, you can dive into God Emperor and the rest.
  19. technoblue
    Ah, my pleasure. There is a lot to unpack with Dune. In the novels, some of it doesn't get explained well until later books like Children of Dune, God Emperor of Dune. Herbert's final two books: Heretics of Dune and Chapterhouse: Dune deal with events far in the future after Leto II's multi-millennial reign and after the scattering of humanity throughout the known universe. HaHa! Now that I think about it, I should add Frank Herbert's books to the reading pile again. I need my own refresher course.
  20. technoblue
    Yes! I was lucky to pick up my copy using a coupon at the chosen prime, so MP TC cost less than Starscream. No issues out of the box. I'm very happy with it.
  21. technoblue
    Indeed. There are political machinations at work that are only touched upon briefly using dialogue in the film, and I can only guess that Villeneuve pushed this into the background intentionally for a reason? It will be interesting to see if part 2 highlights more of what's going on, especially since Irulan's name was invoked, but I'm not going to be disappointed if we get more of the same. Anyway, the Landsraad is a council/body that represents the Great Houses in the Imperium. Through the Landsraad, the houses negotiate trade agreements, create alliances, announce government sanctioned vendettas, and the like. For instance, one of Frank Herbert's core characterizations in the novels was that it was a well-known fact that Houses Harkonnen and Atreides had a vendetta against one another lasting generations. This vendetta becomes very important since it sets the stage against House Atreides from the beginning. Knowing who the Emperor is, and to which house he belongs, is another important point. At the beginning of Dune, House Corrino is in its twilight. It has been the leading imperial house for millennia. However, Shaddam Corrino IV, has recently become jealous of his adoptive cousin Duke Leto Atreides I. Duke Leto has grown to become the well known, charismatic, and compassionate leader of Caladan. He has quickly gained popularity in the Landsraad. He has a Bene Gesserit concubine who gave him a son. He has built up an army which is rumored to rival the Emperor's own Sarduakar in strength. When these whispers reach the Emperor's ear, he decides that the Atreides are too much of a threat and that this house needs to be extinguished. Leto is essentially a man caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. The whole thing with House Harkonnen leaving was a ruse. It wasn't legitimate or an outright rebuke of the Harkonnen as Rabban thought, but a cunning ploy staged to reaffirm House Corrino's power. The Harkonnen's hatred of the Atreides made it that much easier for the Emperor to persuade them to do their part. A cool thing that the movie does is show how Leto I's own idealism works against him. He was tricked into thinking the issues were done more to disgrace the Atreides name in the Landsraad by crippling mining production. Of course, there is much more going on, and there are other betrayals that make for a bitter end. But yeah, the point really was about wiping the Atreides off the map.
  22. technoblue
    The Guild Navigators were there among the imperial delegation to Caladan, when the herald arrives to present Duke Leto with the Emperor's decree. It was interesting to see how Villeneuve's visual interpretation of spice mutation is quite different from the one Lynch used. Myself, I think I prefer Villeneuve's take on it. Lynch had an interesting take on the characters and was able to come pretty close to center target on some critical scenes, especially for someone who wasn't at all familiar with the book. That said, I appreciate how House Harkonnen was reimagined for the new film---unnerving, otherworldly, and odd for sure but not as visually grotesque as Lynch's Harkonnen. I enjoyed seeing them as being strategic, cruel, conniving, and insidious, but having their sadism only hinted at in this first part. To me, they felt more threatening and thankfully Bautista's Rabban doesn't come across as a fool. Perhaps that shows how much Villeneuve was paying attention to Herbert's core story? I don't know. For me, Lynch's vision is entertaining but clearly dated. His characterizations comes across as exaggerated and flamboyant now and that's okay---the movie is a product of its time. My only criticism is that this does make for some silly moments and Dune taken as a silly/hammy sci-fi story instead of a cautionary tale just seems wrong. Villeneuve seems to be headed down the cautionary tale path and if we're lucky it will be interesting seeing it all play out on the big screen. To date, the only other team to show this, other than Frank Herbert and his publisher, was the team at Sci-Fi and they did that over multiple series!
  23. technoblue
    I braved the cinema to see this too and thought it was terrific. I'm very much looking forward to the second half, and I thought Villeneuve chose a good place for the intermission.
  24. technoblue
    Hasbro's re-spin of Bulkhead looks all right for what it is. I am surprised with the cab transformation in bot mode, though. I would have thought there would be more to it. As it is, it seems very blocky and reminiscent of G1 truck transformers with how those hands and arms fold out. In my collection, I have a copy of FE Bulkhead (with add-on cannons) and that MMC repaint/remold of Dicamus which came out a couple of years back. I would be okay sticking with these two but the one release that I'm still keeping tabs on is the KO of Bulkhead from APC Toys. That looks interesting and I hope they're actually able to make it.
  25. technoblue
    Wow. That’s unexpected but also really cool.
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