Jolly Rogers

I've had it with Yamatos since the 1/60 Super VF-1J and didn't even bother with a 1/48 after seeing one in person. The last ones I got were Bandai M&M chunky monkeys. If Bandai goes back to more Taka reissues I might get back into it.

Unheard of? Here's one example for you: Kotobukiya had some Gundam GKs made in the late 1980s / early 1990s whose molds were acquired by B-Club and reissued years later.

I wish that footage was shown when they were talking about it. Apparently the film's director of photography volunteered to do the restoration / color adjusting. No wonder it looks so damn good.

I'd recommend: Sakura Wars 3 - best of the 4 chapters released so far, with a combat engine overhaul that changes the grid-based system from the first 2 games. The graphics were so good, even when Sega remade the first chapter for the PS2 they couldn't get the game to look as good. Definitely worth chipping your system for, or getting a boot disc that can handle multi-disc games. The House of the Dead 2 - face it, the light gun game genre hasn't progressive much and this one remains one of the best out there. Illbleed - one of the most underrated "survival horror" game that doesn't take itself seriously. Great blend of humor and B horror movies. Once you get over the learning curve (the game uses an original interface instead of being a RE clone like everyone else) and upgrade your characters the game is incredibly fun to play. Federation vs Zeon DX - comes with an extra disc featuring the original Federation vs. Zeon. Virtually arcade perfect port with better graphics than the PS2 port. As is usually the case, a good Gundam game is import-only. Soul Calibur - Namco did an incredibly amazing job and this game does not look dated at all compared to Soul Calibur 2 (in fact it looks better in some instances). My only gripe is the way the music is streamed it makes this unholy noise with the DC's lens unit constantly.

CA governor has part time job working at Disney

Better grab it before they're all gone - the 2 disc limited edition are serially numbered so chances are they only get this 1 production run.

You guys got any? Here's my lame attempt at one: Yo mama's so ugly, she strikes more fear into them Zentradis then Minmey's songs.

I suspect the "20 kits max per con/year" rule was established as a way to control quality. As you can see, big resin manufacturers like Kotobukiya and Kaiyodo are not bound to such rules, since they have the resources to produce a large quantity of high quality kits. Most, if not all, of these convention-only kits are true garage kits that's usually the labor of love of one person who handles pretty much the whole project from the beginng to the end. Limiting the number of copies that can be sold ensures that the caster won't go crazy making too many kits at the expense of quality, and should the GK turn out to be an embarrassment, the damage done would be minimal. As you know, this rule was established by license holder (e.g. Big West) and not the people who design the products (e.g. sculptors), so the artist's ego does not come into play at all. Recasting of unavailable products or ones from defunct companies deprives the license holder of potential income from the license holders and the sculptors. The existence of recasts reduces or even eliminates potential interest from third parties to acquire the license to make new kits or reissue long extinct ones. With plans of new kits or reissues scrapped, companies and sculptors have less projects to work on and therefore their future/potential income reduced accordingly. As if that is not bad enough, the kit buying public also loses out because we are deprived of new and exciting kits and potential reissues as well. I think I heard this whole "public enjoyment" argument during the Napster fiasco, which obviously did not work at court.

Wow, I used to have one of those Henke toys when I was a kid.

yes, April fool. Welcome to April 1st.

Once you go down that path, you have to ask why does everyone in feudal Japan speak English... I am talking about the US version of Onimusha 2 of course. Samanosuke is a pussy. Jubei's the man!

That's pretty sad. I mean, at least that Mr. Wendy guy on TV gets paid to act as a company whore wannabe.

How in the world did you manage to draw at a punk concert? Did you ask your buddy to bend over so you can use his back as a drawing board?

Moral / ethical issues aside, as was pointed out on several occasions already, recasts devalues the potential of a new license or new production run of an existing kit. Even with a GK that's already out of production or the company that released is no longer around, the fact that people are recasting it devalues the original and makes the prospect of making a new production run unprofitable, whether by the original company or a new company looking to acquire the mold from the defuct company that owns it. Many will say "Hey, I don't give a rat's ass as long as I get myself a cheap kit." Trust me, it will hurt you. When people stop buying original kits in anticipation of cheap recasts, the original sculptors will stop working on new projects (Gundamhead's hesitation being a prime example) since they won't be able to sell enough kits to cover their time and effort put into the project. Eventually many gifted artists will leave this hobby and the consumers (us) get shafted in the end with less new kits released and an overall decrease in sculpt quality. People who are serious about finding a kit they want, even if's extremely limited and has been out of production for a long time, will eventually find it if they persist long enough. I think people just use excuses like "but Yahoo Japan auction sellers don't ship internationally!" "they don't take PayPal!" when the truth is there are always ways to get around whatever stands in your way if you want a kit badly enough and are willing to pay for it. I'm as cheap as the next guy and will pinch pennies every which way I can, but one must realize that this is a hobby and not a necessity. There's this entitlement mentality where people think they have a right to a kit and it shouldn't only be available to the rich and collecting type who don't build their kits. If you cannot afford it, go work your tail off and come back when you've earned enough to afford it. It'll be all the sweeter when you have a legit kit that was bought with your own blood, sweat and tears.

My eyes! MY EYES!!!

Before you put it into the DVD player, check and see if the disc has any scratches. The first copy I got from Best Buy has multiple scratches on the first disc even though it was not loose in the case when I opened it. The 2nd copy I exchanged today also had a scratch line on disc 1 right out of the case.

The art of pimping Star Wars at its finest

The Mara Jade character appeared in some Star Wars games. She might have done voice or even cosplayed as the character if they shot live action footage for the games.

There's always the birthday suit color scheme...

The battle was already lost the moment you let her move her stuff in, my friend.

Oh yeah, forgot about Droids and Ewoks. I thought he was referring to the Expanded Universe from around and after the classic trilogy, with characters mostly from the novels and Dark Horse graphic novels.

Nope. Clone Wars and the Xmas specials were the only Star Wars shows made for TV.

Actually one episode from this season was repeated, which worked out for me since the first time they showed it the signal was screwy from time to time, which was corrected when they re-broadcast it again the next week.

On Sale for $59.99 One of the first links from a Google search.