Blaine23

Wal-Mart may be an evil corporate monolith... but Toys R' Us isn't exactly an old man selling apples from a fruit stand, either. I get upset when I read about Wal-Mart crippling generations old family business in small towns all over America - I can name several from my region alone. I could care less when they beat out their other international corporate competitors. Besides, like >EXO<, I haven't bought anything domestic since the 18" Spidey came out. And I got that at Wal-Mart. Because it was cheaper.

LOL... that's kinda like the Shatner on SNL skit - "Get a life you losers! Move out of your parent's basement! You there, have you ever kissed a girl?" Jon Lovitz looks down, sadly.

Yeah, Vincent's pretty much an modern incarnation of the devil throughout the first act. Sitting behind Max's shoulder, questioning his beliefs, encouraging him to action, and generally acting terribly. What makes Cruise's performance and the movie good is all through the second and third you see his mask start to slip and the fractured, stunted human that he is come through. All that being said - how great would it be to Vincent around if you got mugged? The way he dealt those guys in the alley - the whole audience actually cheered him in the theater I was at.

Word. But maybe we're being unfair to George... yeah, he's against colorizing B&W Stooges - but sources tell me he's all about adding CGI effects all over them.

We've been waiting on that Bandai cow for a looooooong time. Here Bessy!

Basically, no one knows anything about what goes on deep inside the heart of Bandai's underground bunker. We never knew what 1/55 was coming next... if a another 1/55 was coming... even the Max & Millia shortruns we didn't find out about until dealers were unable to fill all of their preorders. That, I remember very well. I never heard any good evidence as to why the rumor about Bandai letting the Macross license expire could be true. It was one of those, "well a guy who works in a toystore told me cousin's uncle's co-worker that it's totally true!" kinda things. I mean, as fans, we're completely in the dark w/ Bandai regarding what toys are coming, etc - then all of sudden, we're supposed to have reliable word about their licensing? Seems suspect. Of course, like any other license debate there's no real way to prove or disprove anything. It just seems unlikely to me that Bandai would let a license go. Halt production on reissues? Sure. Quit licensing a show that they've licensed for 20 years? Nah. They may or may not release anything for 20 years... but that doesn't mean they don't have the license to do so, should they choose to. For the record, this is a rational discussion, not any kind of argument.

Stress cracks? Not that I can see. Yamato did them right, by all the ones I've tested (I haven't tried the YF-19, but I have done all the others). They're actually pretty ingenious, especially the 1/48 clip - which will easily be the heaviest item on the stand. The point of attachment is hidden, centered, and very secure.

I don't think it's much different than it's ever been - with the exception that alot of Macross toys have been released in the last 4 years, thanks to Yamato (and formerly Bandai). People bought a bunch because there hadn't been anything but overpriced vintage toys and knock-offs for several years. Now some of those folks realize they have too much of it around the house, or their nostalgia vibe has worn off, or they simply need some money. The real indicator is whether new Macross toy sales are up or down. And nobody really knows that but Yamato, I suppose. But if the sold out production runs of the 1/48's are any proof - things are fine.

No discussing prices! Just kidding around... that sounds great to me. Can't wait to get my greedy, stinky hands on it.

It's a terrific Michael Mann movie - the reason for the resolution is that it was shot digitally, then converted to film using a particular process. The look was different, but it still felt like classic Mann camerawork to me. Cruise and Foxx are both at their best here. Cruise really manages to convince us that he not only kills people for a living, but is very good at it. Check his shooting positions - he comes off as a more realistic gun user than anyone I've seen on film in awhile. Also he manages to inhabit the soul of a guy who's missing something inside... which is what he is really best at - Jerry Maguire, Magnolia, Last Samurai - all of these movies are his best acting and they have that character trait in common. Foxx is a surprisingly good actor, like he was in Any Given Sunday. I'm looking forward to his Ray Charles biopic next. He doesn't seem like he'd be such a chameleon, but he really is. The only thing bad about the movie is that the plot is obvious and trite - especially the third act. But with all of the positives, Mann's direction, Cruise and Foxx's acting - you don't really care if the end is predictable.

Not a great pic of the arm, but I took this mainly to show off the Max & Millia 1J's. I love the arm. I think it's groovy.

If we let them take away our toys... Then the terrorists really have won.

I hope for Tom Welling's sake he doesn't play Supes in the movies (which I'm fairly certain he won't)... guys that play Superman tend to be typecast as Superman forever and have horrible luck. Besides, it's not a Smallville movie and it would be kinda dumb to have the guy play adult Superman in a movie, then go play Teen Clark the next week on TV.

This is a bad thing for the X-men franchise. I hope to god they get someone good to replace him, because it's fairly obvious that his skill and desire to make a good film won out over the suits' cheap instinct to throw something at the screen and take our dough. Shoulda offered the guy more cash... great job, Fox!

Or for his sig... dude, you want to throw in any more crap into that thing?

First off, any toy made by Yamato has a chance of having something slightly wrong with it - like your airbrake. Considering that it's a smaller toy company than the ones we're used to here - plus the fact that the toy has been bought, resold, and shipped across the world before you get it. These things can happen. All the more reason to buy from one of the many great resellers on the board - they'll do whatever they can to help if something's wrong with your toy. Now as for the 1J's in comparison the 1S - the two major issues are the FAST packs, which do require a slight bit of work to the arm armors to hold the gunpod - and the paint, which isn't quite as crisp as the earlier 1/48's. Personally, I think the paint on all of my 1J's are fine, I've never had anything break on ANY of my 1/48's. I take care to treat them well, and I take them out of the box as soon as I can. But I could blabber on all day about it... a picture says it so much better. These are great toys, folks. Get them while you can or miss out on awesomeness.

Congrats, Monkey-Pimp! She's adorable. Welcome to the world, Arisu Pamela!

Nothing says "future" like good old medieval weaponry. Looks fun. I'm definitely in. Screw the Alphas, I want the Cyclone/Power Armor to be as much fun as it should be.

[boston taaalk]That thing is so friggin' wicked awesome... [/boston taaalk]

As bad as that sounds, I seriously doubt that Catwoman is worse than Steel. Awww, dude.... I had totally managed to forget that movie existed until this moment, you bastard!

Eh... there's still no proof that Bandai has let their Macross license expire. If Yamato can't touch M7 due to Bandai's rights, I'd imagine that's a pretty good indication that Bandai doesn't sign short contracts. That and the 10 year gap or so between the most current reissues and the one before. I think it's an economics thing. They reissued but the market was flooded and the product didn't yield the returns they wanted. I still say they could make smaller runs and charge a higher MSRP and have a better profit margin. There are still enough collectors to justify the release and the "limited edition-ness" would probably get them better sales anyway. I know I'd pay a few bones more to complete my reissue collection. But I'd also expect them to release a GBP-1 while they're at it.

Considering that ALL of the 1/48 versions they have released have sold almost completely out... the tooling cost excuse doesn't make much sense. They went through the re-tooling w/ the 1/60's and I know that 1/60's never sold as well as the 1/48's have. I imagine that they're planning it. Possibly they're working the sculpts right now. It would just be dumb not to.

As far as Robbie Williams goes... no. No offense, but can't we limit our search to actual actors? I like Williams allright, but prancing about in a 3 minute video is not exactly qualification enough to headline a feature film. He's got actually say lines, not sing them. I'll admit he looks the part, but there's more to it than that. Here's an idea. Everybody put down their top 3 Bond choices. 1. Clive Owen - if you don't know why, rent Croupier then download the BMW films 2. Jason Statham - Yeah, he's bald - but he's still rather smooth and kicks ass well. 3. Jude Law - a bit too pretty, but still he'd add some class to the role.

Hell at this point, Blaine craves any decent version toy of the VF-0. They could make that thing out of bologna and if they could come up with a better design that the 1/100, I'd buy it.