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JB0

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Everything posted by JB0

  1. JB0
    Her panties, obviously.
  2. JB0
    I tend towards screen-accuracy, in general. My logic is that the model was designed to be photographed, not viewed with the naked eye, and what the camera sees is how it was intended to look. In this case specifically, the deflector grid is documented as intended to be invisible on film. I sort of feel that citing its presence on the studio model is akin to colorizing a B&W movie and saying that is how it is supposed to look because you used the paint colors of the original set as references. It misses a very important point somewhere. But! I can certainly see the appeal of the grid. It livens up a design which, once you get past the nostalgia, is kind of dull with so little detail. I would probably do the deflector grid, were I building one, for that reason alone. A model should be more about personal preference than a perfectly true-to-life representation of a vessel that never existed in life(which is why I'd skip it and just build the movie version instead! The refit version is so sexy!). And given that CBS still kicks the argument back and forth internally, who are we to judge? Apparently, the mirror universe episodes of Enterprise were supposed to feature a 60s-accurate smooth Defiant, but the renderer took it upon themselves to tech it up in defiance* of instructions and there was no time for a do-over. *No pun intended. Honest.
  3. JB0
    Honestly, I assumed the game was a dramatized version of events, and the actual theft involved something less than going toe-to-toe with seven thousand and three stormtroopers. But I liked Katarn, and I wasn't alone given how he kept turning up in other things.
  4. JB0
    I don't understand why the drill isn't chromed.
  5. JB0
    Many bothans died correcting this information. We used to know that mercenary Kyle Katarn shot up an entire base in the process of securing those plans. But he isn't real anymore.
  6. JB0
    It is possible the pieces of jewelry were wildly expensive. It is also possible they weren't industrially useful pieces of fold quartz. Too small, too impure, too defect-laden... in any of those cases, they would be effectively garbage. Now, whether the government approved the distribution of junk stones or not... that is another story. I get the impression that Sheryl's are from before the full utility of fold quartz was realized. Hayate, though... I reckon there's a story behind that necklace, and we'll hear it before the show is over. It also seems like these small pieces might be getting reappraised in light of "current events". Hayate's shown repeatedly that these small fragments can have a powerful effect on a living being, and they seem like they might've been especially useful when Walkure was starting out.
  7. JB0
    What you're saying is... bring back Kyle Katarn? I am onboard with this message.
  8. JB0
    Yup. It's more-or-less the same thing as hyperspace or subspace or insert-name-here. The age-old solution for the universal speed limit: if you don't like the rules, then find a new roof. (Also works for teenage rebellion.) It isn't even a particularly interesting variant of hyperspace, since it apparently just messes with the universal constants for the most part. I've seen a setting or two where the actual geometry of space was different, so route planning became very important. I thought that was a neat wrinkle on the concept. On the other hand, the presence of fold energy becomes an interesting wrinkle itself. Especially when you manage to tick the other universe's natives off while stealing their stuff(Seven Did it!™!). I was thinking about that too, actually. It would be an interesting additional layer.
  9. JB0
    You are right, my internal editor corrected your quote without me noticing. Terry Pratchett, maybe? It is a very Discworld thing to do.
  10. JB0
    That is the breakdown as I read it, too. Aside from the obvious (off-road vehicle with a shield projector), It is something daft that is fun to say, as all the best Transformer names are. The only thing that could make it better is if Trailbreaker/blazer/whatever Hasbro calls him this week had a longstanding rivalry with Skywarp, where he could mirror the name pattern of his rival.
  11. JB0
    Terraegis is the clear winner, obviously. 1. Chrome weapons. 2. His name is friggin' TERRAEGIS. That is gold.
  12. JB0
    Obligatory "Grimlock's New Brain" joke goes here.
  13. JB0
    I did get the impression the tow-cable attack was a novel tactic in Empire(Luke's lightsaber/grenade strike was likely equally novel). But the things still had numerous apparent flaws, and I don't believe I've seen evidence it could aim guns upward, or very FAR downward. And the AT-ST was complete rubbish.
  14. JB0
    Arthur C. Clarke said it. He has been quoted on the subject quite a lot in quite a few places. And I think it is kind of funny that the part most everyone is taking at face value(ANIMA SPIRITIA!!!!!) is far closer to magic than the part everyone is complaining about(jetpacks and holograms).
  15. JB0
    Yeah, that is what I was thinking of. But the deflector grid pencilwork serves (more or less) the same purpose as panel lining would have: it breaks up the smooth surface and adds superficial detail. Only it doesn't really, because it was only meant to fool management. I simplified things a bit, mostly for the sake of not obfuscating the point, which is that there was a conscious decision to keep the original Enterprise "smooth" in the face of pressure to tech it up a bit. Incidentally, I made an unintended misrepresentation as well, due solely to faulty recollection. I take the opportunity to correct it here, for it was a large one. It was Jefferies that added the unphotographable lines, not Roddenberry(who had requested their addition). It was the final blow in a long-running battle to keep the design detail-light.
  16. JB0
    Are you suggesting that imperial ground assault doctrine may be lacking somehow? I honestly thought the AT-AT and AT-ST established that all on their own. They should probably be applauded for giving this one a stable center of gravity instead of balancing it atop gangly, spindly, tripwire-sensitive legs.
  17. JB0
    Apparently, the original filming model had panel lining on it... because Roddenberry wanted to shut people up when they told him it needed more detail, so he had faint lines put on that were visible to the naked eye but would never ever show up on film.
  18. JB0
    As I recall the MP Megatron imports were darn close to completely unimpeded. Customs doesn't care unless you are very blatant about it(like "importing an entire shipping container full" levels of blatant). I will buy, no questions asked, the first one that turns into a working cap gun.
  19. JB0
    Okay, yeah. A note in the logs makes a lot more sense. ... And I may be overestimating the micrometeor threat. I just realized everything I've seen about their velocity is orbital, not free-space. I apparently have no actual idea what the impact hazards of non-orbital spaceflight are.
  20. JB0
    I look forward to seeing all the Megatrons in one shelf.
  21. JB0
    The site is legitimate, but I suspect they have limited influence in Japan. They are not affiliated with May'n (or any other artist) in any way, and are up-front about this.
  22. JB0
    Honestly? Dome breaches probably shouldn't set off an alarm every time. Since auto-repair seems to be so robust, and the dome is an insanely large pile of spaceglass... I imagine they take micrometeor strikes all the time. If every breach set off an alarm people would rapidly start ignoring the alarms because "it's just another micrometeor hole, the auto-repair system will have it patched before we can even get eyes on it." Save the buzzer for when the-auto-repair fails. And yeah, the Sharon incident hopefully got people fired. Out of a cannon. I have NO IDEA who thought wiring a "black box"* computer into the central computer for the entire defense network was a good idea. That shouldn't even be part of the same SYSTEM as the concert hall. *No pun intended. Honestly.
  23. JB0
    Assuming, of course, that the information there is accurate... this is what I said they should do with the Wii U. TurboExpress/Nomad the dang thing so people can play their home games on the road and their road games at home. They still rule the portable market, and leveraging that is their best way to cram a foot back into the door.
  24. JB0
    I think the original ship's biggest problem is the deflector dish. After that, there's really nothing preventing them from panel-lining the thing and suddenly it looks "modern" again. But I have a wild nostalgia boner for it regardless. I admit that it is not objectively as nice-looking as some of the others, but I will rank it higher than it deserves every time. See, that is snazzy as hell and why isn't CBS doing it?
  25. JB0
    Pretty much, yeah. No matter how good the story is, for the most part I want plastic robots on my shelves and not plastic orangutans and deinonychuses. And damn if that Ginrai isn't tickling my nostalgia bones somethin' fierce. Powermaster Prime was my first Prime, and I still have a soft spot for the ol' brick.
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