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JB0

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  1. JB0
    My understanding was that snowspeeder referred specifically to the modified ones on Hoth, not to the entire family of vehicles. The movie, of course, just calls them speeders. I'd wager the "snow" prefix was added by Kenner to make room for other toy variants, and then the demand dried up after Return of the Jedi and the variants all got cancelled.
  2. JB0
    Meanwhile, the windemereans are probably wondering how humans can stand to look at each other long enough to procreate without a nice shiny rune springing out.
  3. JB0
    So, in not-MP, not-unlicensed, doesn't cost a million dollars news... I was out shopping earkuer and was utterly shocked to see a Titans Galvatron and Skullcru-err, SkullSMASHER on the shelf. They both looked decent enough, so I picked them up. There was also a Hardhead, but he didn't look particularly compelling at the time. Oh, and a sea of leader Skywarps, but all that does is remind me I never found the original Jetfire version of that mold(which I actually WANTED grumblegrumble ). I am not disappointed with either of the two I bought. For the most part, I think Galvatron succeeds in all three modes, though I suspect the jet mode was a late addition and he was originally intended to have a gun mode. Jet mode is solid enough, but is missing a few pegs that would keep the tank-tread landing gear oriented right. And the jet cockpit does nothing but stick out like a sore thumb in robot and artillery mode(though it falls short of getting in the way in both modes), as well as being one swivel joint away from being a perfect pistol grip. It screams "added on at the last minute" to me. The legs don't peg together well in artillery mode, but I think that is down to tolerances in my unit. Everything looks fine, they just refuse to stay pegged. It is the ONLY thing that doesn't peg together nicely in artillery mode or robot mode. Robot mode looks snazzy, and is decently articulated. I see little to complain about. The big shoulder plates and tank treads on the back of his forearms have surprisingly little effect on posability. There was clearly a lot of thought put into getting the original toy homage in there without hindering functionality. Galvatron's headmaster's mold is not sharp enough to actually carry off the "miniature Megatron" look they were trying for in it's robot mode(and show in the box art), but the thought was appreciated. There is a spring-loaded mask that pops up from his chest and goes over his headmaster unit's face to complete the Galvatron head. Which is fun, but using it means you basically give up on the head swivel entirely if you choose to deploy the mask. The compartment it comes out of is large enough that I am pretty sure there's a non-headmaster version of the design somewhere in Hasbro's labs that stores the entire head in that chest compartment. I thought he had hollow forearms from looking in the box window. And he does where the hands flip out, but back from that there turned out to carry recessed mechanical detailing. The backs of his legs have flip-open doors to keep them from being big gaping voids. As with the headmaster feature and jet cockpit, I suspect a retrofit. They don't really go anywhere in the other modes(they tab into the side of the legs to keep them from flopping around underneath the artillery and jet modes), and their recessed nature makes them rather obviously doors in robot mode. But they are still far better than a gaping void of that scale would have been. I've seen complaints that they don't match the legs, but they seem intended to carry the black of his knees down the back of his legs, and it isn't a color choice that bugs me. He's obviously not perfect, but I feel he is highly enjoyable, looks decent, and is suitably posable. The biggest complaint I have is actually that the gun barrel doesn't have glitter mixed into it like the original toy did. The plain transparent orange is a disappointment. The neatest detail is a flip-up plate on his butt that hides his power cell abs outside of robot mode. It was unexpected, but greatly appreciated. Skullsmasher is a green-and-pink crocodile. He executes both modes quite nicely, and even has a joint for tail articulation(which I did not expect at all). The gator head is balljointed and fairly detailed, even inside the mouth. The only bad things I can say are he has no LEG articulation in crocodile mode, the cockpit door is made of rubber for some indecipherable reason, and he carries a completely pointless tailpiece around in robot mode. But I feel they are minor criticisms. There's almost nothing to do with the tail aside from set it aside. I probably spent a half hour trying to figure out a way to snap it over the gator head. I've settled for inserting the pistol into the tail and using it as a big pink rifle, which works nicely aside from giving him more of a gunarm look, of the grossly misbalanced type. The rubber cockpit door is his largest flaw. Particularly as it tends to smoosh INTO the cockpit when I am handling the crocogator mode. won't deform. Oh! SPEAKING OF COCKPITS... both of them have tiny molded control panel displays for their little head-dudes to stare vacantly at(I expected blank cubicles) . Galvatron's deserves special note because the cockpit screen panel has a three-bar graph molded into it that reminds me of the original headmaster tech spec gauges.
  4. JB0
    In other news, the latest SRW OG game is out in english. Just import the mainland Asia version instead of the Japan version and experience the glorious engrish!
  5. JB0
    The gravy train's kept accelerating continuously since the publication of Heir to the Empire, why would it stop now?
  6. JB0
    That may replace Ninja Golf as my favorite golf game.
  7. JB0
    Extremely.
  8. JB0
    I've called them that a few times.
  9. JB0
    Still a thing. Still sees active support from Valve. Still not a thing most people want. http://store.steampowered.com/steamos/
  10. JB0
    Also according to Wookiepedia, Kenner had a sandspeeder toy designed and ready to launch "back in the day". They just never shipped it. I assume the collapse of the initial Star Wars gravy train killed that plan.
  11. JB0
    So... I've been introducing someone to Macross, and we went from SDF(which he loved) to Delta(because it was current). I sorta figured Delta would be mostly standalone like the past shows, so no real harm. I was most definitely NOT expecting it to go ahead and explicitly spoil Plus, Seven, and Frontier all in the space of two minutes. Fortunately, we get together on mondays and the delay on the subs means I screened this before they did. Now I just have to figure out damage control. Lady M is Dr. Chiba confirmed!
  12. JB0
    According to Wookiepedia, swampspeeder, sandspeeder, and skyspeeder are all things that existed in canon before the (Disney) Empire began the great purge. But of course they didn't get toys, because you do that once snowspeeders stop selling.
  13. JB0
    As I recall, the speeders were actually modified to make them work in the extreme cold of Hoth. The implication is that they were designed for a more temperate climate, so it seems a reasonable guess.
  14. JB0
    It looked like it blew up one of the small guns on the side of the head. Which is, yes, problematic for the guy with the rocket launcher since the thing still has a working head and three more guns.
  15. JB0
    That's hardly fair. They had SAMs, but they didn't function properly in the extreme cold of Hoth. Edit because I need to clarify because Star Wars: This is not canon to my knowledge, though climate-induced equipment failures were..
  16. JB0
    Darth Vader turns into the Darksaber, obviously.
  17. JB0
    And really, who doesn't want to?
  18. JB0
    I now want a shot of the Executor doing a roll. Make it happen, Disney!
  19. JB0
    I have to say... in all the years since Gundam Wing first aired, I have never spent even one second thinking about what Relena's bust looked like until now. You have made my life objectively worse with that statement. I hope you are happy.
  20. JB0
    Pretty much. They weren't allowed to really pry open Paramount's purse. I mean, when they replaced the Defiant, the replacement got the registry number changed to match the original Defiant so they didn't need to order a new set of CG Defiant clips.
  21. JB0
    Bumblebee is second in command... because everyone else died.
  22. JB0
    It's space. There is no up or down, you can orient the Death Star however you please. And I'm pretty sure that was basically the point of the shot, as otherwise why shoot it "weird".
  23. JB0
    I so wanna see that Super Defender in an anime.
  24. JB0
    It seems to me like it should be economically feasible to build a destroid around an engine similar in spec to an older Valk engine. Build a destroid around a VF-11 engine and it'd be a monster in its field while still being far cheaper than a modern Valk. While the pun was not intended, that seems to be exactly what they did with the Konig Monster. Though the VF-11 was in regular service when the Konig was introduced, so it was not cheap. And the Konig in Frontier was apparently upgraded with VF-25-class energy armor, so it is STILL not cheap. The joys of filling a niche the VFs can't, your machine still gets catered to while all the other destroids are kicked into the gutter. But imagine, say, a Defender or Tomahawk getting the Konig treatment. Not "made into a variable vehicle", but "redesigned using modern technology". They'd be exceptional machines within their respective niches. (Even if one of those niches is "anti-aircraft turret") What they HAVE done is update the Cheyenne to use the same class of power plants as the original SDF Destroids, and then used it as a jack-of-all-trades ground device. It does most of the Tomahawk's job, a bit of the Defender's job, and has adorable little wheels for when you gotta go fast(a feature which would've been very useful on the Defender). ... And since the Cheyenne already HAS a CG model, they will update the Cheyenne again the next time they need a new destroid instead of making a new mech for a minor part. Destroid fans will suffer forever!
  25. JB0
    True story: I tuned out as soon as the holodeck showed up. I didn't WATCH the finale.
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