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JB0

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  1. JB0
    Because this way he can be stupid simple and still have rotating wrists and hips with two axes of motion and all that other good stuff. I'mma wager the original Star Saber toy had about as much articulation as Powermaster Optimus Prime did, and truly lived up to the name Space Brick.
  2. JB0
    Yeah. And I think Sega learned a lot about project management after Colonial Marines. Don't just ASSUME whoever you sublicensed a project to is actually working on it. Check in on them from time to time, and ask them for some proof of effort, not just "'Sup, you guys still in business? Coo', here's another check." Colonial Marines feels like it was slapped together in six months because it WAS. Gearbox basically stopped working on it entirely after Borderlands took off, until one day Sega came by and asked them "Hey, when are you gonna finish Colonial Marines for us? You've got two other games out since we signed you to make it, so we're kinda wondering what you've been doing with our money, you know?" and Gearbox went "Oh, fudgesicles!" and sublicensed it out to ANOTHER company and told them "Make this game in six months. No ifs, ands, or buts." and then told Sega "Naw, we've been workin' hard. Game's gonna be ready in six months. Promise." That said... did you ever read the change logs for the PC version patches? Because you should. They're hilarious, and I've never laughed so hard at a list of bugs. ... Though I still maintain "Ripley’s Flamethrower would sometimes fire continuously without player input" isn't a bug so much as just good characterization.
  3. JB0
    I admit, I'm still hyped for Alien: Isolation. It looks like it's done by competent developers who aren't going to get distracted and stop working on it until Sega asks them where their game is. And, you know, it's an Alien game designed to be SCARY. It's amazing it's taken this long for someone to make a survival-horror game out of the franchise. The only thing I don't like from what I've seen is that they're using Ripley's daughter. Sometimes, it's better to just let the backstory be backstory. And I think having her daughter tussle with the aliens too is a dangerous first step towards turning the Ripley clan into some sort of space-Belmont family. Ripley's already dealt with the aliens more than is sane without having her daughter get into the omnicidal space-bug business too. ... Oh, and if her daughter becomes popular, I have to stop calling Ripley "Ripley" because of confusion. That'll be problematic.
  4. JB0
    A japanophile cybertronian Transformers fanboy, best known for a series of fanfics about a Mary Sue character named Drift.
  5. JB0
    Spacebrick actually looks pretty awesome, though I have a hard time making him a Transformer in my head. ... Is Spacebrick going to be the new Peg? Because if it is, we need to start writing some backstory. I only ask because I was realizing Peg is my favorite Transformer(toy or character, take your pick), and he DOESN'T EVEN EXIST.
  6. JB0
    One that uses microswitches instead of silicone rubber dome switches. It's a bit of a misnomer, as both styles of keyboard are "mechanical". But whatcha gonna do?
  7. JB0
    Also worth pointing out that the native zentradi's attitude towards strangers isn't exactly unknown. They aren't assumed to be hostile. They ARE hostile. They could be won over with an extended psychological warfare campaign, but a colony fleet doesn't have the resources for it. And they most definitely don't need five million angry warships hot on the fleet's heels for the rest of it's likely-abbreviated existence. Obviously, this wasn't a problem for Seven fleet, but not everyone has Basara to open their eyes to the glorious majesty of DECULTURE! in thirty minutes. So standing orders for a colony fleet are probably: 1. Avoid contact with native zentradi. 2. If any native zentradi detect you, deal with it permanently. It's harsh, but it's rational. Also, I'm rewatching Fleet of the Strongest Women now because of this discussion. I HOPE YOU'RE ALL HAPPY(because I sure am). Edit: Okay, it's less nuanced than that. New UN Spacey command are just stinkyheads. Explicit orders not to negotiate for peace(which goes over with Max, Millia, and Exedol about as well as you'd expect).
  8. JB0
    I do feel obliged to point out that I didn't say the VF-1 was complete trash in space, just not-so-good. It does have documented defeciencies, and I think the FAST packs were critical to making it a mainline space fighter instead of a terrestrial fighter capable of space operation. I'm not budging on this. But I'd wager that it still well exceeded it's design goals for space combat operation. Otherwise, the Lancer II wouldn't be an evolutionary dead-end(which break smy heart, as the little bugger's just adorable). Everything I've seen suggests that variable fighters completely took over from dedicated space fighters, albeit only with the use of FAST packs in early designs. So clearly the VF-1 did something right. But at the same time, it's clearly not surpassing anything the Zentradi can do, or they wouldn't be fielding Q Rau derivatives in Frontier, or borrowing from the Q Rau to make the YF-21. Of course, it's likely not coincidence that they ONLY appear to do this for the Q Rau. The Reguld is little better than a TIE fighter. They're cheap, easy to produce in large quantities, and the pilot is expendable. I think part of the perception of the VF-1 being just flat-out BETTER than anything the zentradi have is that Skull Squadron led a charmed life. We HEAR about a lot of deaths, and see brownies blowing up left and right. But OUR guys keep coming through unscathed, so the zentradi sure don't LOOK that effective. If the camera was focusing on, say, Orange Team of Shrike Squadron, we'd have a much different, albeit shorter, perspective on the war. And, of course, the zentradi were operating outside their skill set from the moment they decided to CAPTURE the Macross, which didn't help matters any. They had no idea what they were doing, and Britai couldn't just hit them with overwhelming numbers because someone was liable to go and do things "the right way." SOMEONE would go "Why are we pussyfooting around like this instead of showing these filthy miclones our true might? It's better to ask forgiveness than permission, so let's take the kid gloves off and turn them all into so much hard radiation. It's the zentradi way." Or they might just try and blow up the bridge because it'd be funny. Go Kamjin! Anyways...
  9. JB0
    ME GRIMLOCK AM DRAMA KING!
  10. JB0
    Honestly, I suspect the zentradi probably didn't care about aerodynamics. I get the impression they believed pretty firmly in space warfare. Much like the VF-1 was great in terriestrial warfare, but kinda not-so-good in space(if it WAS, the FAST packs wouldn't exist). Both sides made all-environment vehicles, but made major sacrifices to get optimum performance in the environment they figured was most important.
  11. JB0
    Hasbro's stuff isn't CRAP, it just exists at an ENTIRELY different place in the market. If all these high-end collectible toys were showing up at twenty-dollar price points, THEN Hasbro stuff would be crap. But as-is, they're CHEAP, not crappy.
  12. JB0
    My Target had 3 in Whirl's entire class. 1 was Whirl. Think the other 2 were bith Rhinox. This is the only one I've ever seen.
  13. JB0
    And on non-Grimlock news that's PROBABLY old hat to everyone else... So I was at the store the other day and made my usual pass by the Transformers aisle on the off chance I would be met with something other than crushing disappointment*... and saw Classics/Universe/Generations/WHATEVER Whirl. As a sucker for less anthropomorphic Transformers, I immediately picked him up. Thought he looked a bit bland in the box. Was pretty surprised. Then I opened it and a STICKER SHEET fell out and for a few seconds I felt like I was eight years old and it was Christmas morning again. Yes, I know stickers are a pain in the butt and factory paint apps are better and more convenient too. I bet there's way better third-party sheets, I'm sure. But WHATEVER. It just ain't RIGHT for a toy to be ready to play straight out of the box! Stickers are part of the experience and THIS is what Transformers have been missing for the last decade! *As a side note, this is why I've largely stopped buying Transformers. I derive no joy from "The Hunt", and hearing about all these cool toys I can't find generates little more than frustration.
  14. JB0
    Nope, post is right where it belongs. This was ABSOLUTELY retro gaming related. Now excuse me while I hide in a corner for a while. (I really just like less-human robots. I know next to nothing about Whirl. Knowledge pretty much starts and ends at "He's a sarcastic jackass"... which, while endearing in and of itself, isn't enough to sell me on a character.)
  15. JB0
    Edit: Nothing to see here, move along.
  16. JB0
    G1 Jetfire. ... What?
  17. JB0
    It's a pretty solid show through the whole run. The big problem it DOES have is at the end it... just ends. They finish the arc they're adapting at the moment and then just call it quits. Which isn't to say it's a bad show, really. But at the point it ends, there's some major plot threads left unresolved.
  18. JB0

    1/48 dead?

    JB0 replied to RCB's topic in Toys

    I've been saying that for years, and people keep thinking I'm joking.
  19. JB0
    I applaude your wit, good sir. You could say I win... from a certain point of view?
  20. JB0
    You make some major factual errors in here, and whitewash some issues in favor of establishing a clear pattern of dominance. I take this dispute seriously enough to type it out twice! Stupid browser. The Pocket didn't add color. That was the GameBoy Color, which is a new system, not a revision. If you feel the need to specify "still plays the old games", you need to reconsider if you're talking about a new system or a revision of an old one. Pocket replaced the old green screen that smeared at the slightest hint of motion with a then-modern gray one that didn't smear. It was also much smaller. And better battery? The pocket used a pair of AAAs. Think how long it could've run on the 4 AAs of an original Gameboy(or even just 2 AAs). I omitted the GBColor because it's a new system. I also omitted the GameBoy Light, because it's japanese-only. It's a GameBoy Pocket with an "indiglo"-style backlight. The "better battery" is highly debatable, particularly as the GBA battery is designed to be changed out. I use NiMH cells in mine, giving me rechargables, longer run time than alkalines, AND the ability to change them out instead of tethering myself to a wall when they get low. As far as the display... it was a frontlit display for all but the last wave. And it was a terrible, washed-out frontlit display with internal reflection issues in high-contrast scenes. The last wave used the same kind of display as the DS, and if that's what ALL the SPs had used, I'd have no complaint on that front. I will concede the possibility my GBA is an outlier in terms of display visibility, but I had very little trouble seeing it, even while playing Circle of the Moon. I will also concede the SP has a better d-pad than the GBA. But the other, previously-mentioned ergonomic considerations offset it. It's too small to be comfortable in my hideous mutant gorilla hands, and the trigger buttons are too far out from the main inputs to be comfortable to use. It's also very front-heavy. And a proprietary headphone jack! In the charger connector! That's completely indefensible! I also dislike the slider volume control Nintendo changed to with the SP(and most subsequent portables). It makes it much harder to dial in a comfortable volume on my headphones. I'd like to skip the GBMicro revision of the GBA, because so did everyone else. But as we're being COMPREHENSIVE here... Better volume control than the SP, removed 8-bit backwards-compatibility, WAAAAAAAAAY too small. Possibly a better d-pad. The screen is apparently utterly GORGEOUS. It MAY have used a proprietary headphone jack again, I'm not sure. The bigger battery is not enough to offset the brighter backlight. On the higher brightness setting, it has LOWER play time than the DS it replaced in spite of the new 1000 mAh battery(the original DS battery is 850 mAh). Also: Improved control pad? It has sharp edges that hurt your thumb after extended play and is very difficult to get diagonals out of. And start and select were re-orphaned and hurt to use. Mostly because it's a new system, not a hardware revision. Apples and oranges. No one loved the DSi XL because of the greatly reduced pocketability. It's interesting to note that due to similar backlights, you actually DO get more playtime out of an XL's 1050 mAh battery than a regular DSi's 840 mAh. What about the 2k? You've forgotten a model AND misrepresent the situation terribly. First change: Early models of the Mk1 had a defective square button that was unresponsive(it was constructed oddly since the button overhung the edge of the screen). This was not a user-visible change, and is not counted as a hardware revision for most purposes, but made a major difference in playability once it was fixed(it still overhung the edge of the screen, but after the fix it merely felt odd as opposed to being unresponsive). The Mk2 changed to a more reliable drive mechanism that didn't eject games during overly-excited play. It also improved the efficiency of the hardware so they could get the same life out of a battery with almost half the capacity(1200 mAh VS the original 2200). The original Mk1 battery was available as an optional purchase for those that felt the battery didn't last long enough. It comes with a bulged battery door because the system is too thin to accomodate the original size battery. Mk2 also added TV out. And is much thinner than the original. And redesigned the square button again, making it feel exactly like it's companions in the diamond. If I recall, it also upped the brightness of the backlight. Mk3 is MOSTLY the Mk2. It replaces the screen with a less blurry one, and integrates a microphone for VoIP functionality without a proprietary headset. It also makes TV out far more versatile. Of course, there's some dozen different motherboard revisions in there, but the only people that care about that are homebrew users and pirates. I completely forgot about the Go even existing. Like most people, I laughed at it, then ignored it. But hey, if we include the GBMicro, may as well include the PSPGo. First, the Go came out BEFORE the Mk3. It follows off the 2k series. It actually premieres the new and improved display that would see wide acceptance in the Mk3. For about a year, it was the best display you could play PSP games on without a TV cable. I suspect the controls aren't as nice as the Mk2 and Mk3 inputs, but they seem servicable. Start and select are also more easily accessed on the Go than the mainline PSPs. I'm gonna have to disagree, especially since you missed a PSP. Sony has , by and large, actually made each revision an improvement. The PSP Go is debatable, but ALL of Nintendo's updates are debatable except the GameBoy Pocket. And I don't think it's unfair to hold the PS1 and PS2's reliability issues against Sony when talking revisions. Nintendo's only had ONE system out of ten wtih major reliability issues. And they would fix it. Sony laughed in people's faces when PS1s and PS2s blew up.
  21. JB0
    It's Nintendo. Their belief in control of information is so strong that I wouldn't be surprised if they pulled the system from the floor JUST to let them announce it on their own terms. Well, yes. That was kind of my point.And Sony has a consistent pattern of major visible hardware revisions that make the new version distinctly superior. Every piece of game hardware they've put out so far has had issues at launch and been revised to not suck so much later. Except the Vita, but if it survives through next year, I expect to see some changes. PS1 and PS2 launch units especially. They were both massively unreliable. While the PS3 has lost features at every step, they've been mostly uninteresting(exception: PS2 compatibility, which is STILL overblown), and they've gained the "not six hundred dollars" feature along the way. Nintendo has a pretty spotty pattern of major revisions, and it's usually debatable if the new one is better or not, GameBoy Pocket being about the only definite yes. Other than that one, there's tradeoffs made if you get the newer revision. Also, the place they made the most hardware changes isn't one people think of. There's over a dozen revisions of the NES, but it's fully transparent to the end user, so no one cares. And while they DO care about the toploading NES... RF output only, and terrible video quality. Which is arguably a fair trade for "actually works when you want it to."
  22. JB0
    Yes. Everyone was waiting for the 3DS XL. Okay, I admit I wanted a larger one, but... everyone else was "where's the smaller model with better battery life Nintendo always puts out six months later, except when they don't?"
  23. JB0
    The funny thing is... I've been wondering for quite some time where the 360's internet browser is. It seems to be the one place they HAVEN'T been playing bullet-point parity ever since the initial launch. I was sure they were going to add it with the last GUI overhaul, when they killed the original interface and made the 360 into a multimedia entertainment device instead of the friggen' VIDEO GAME PLAYER I paid money for.
  24. JB0
    Those are the best nuns.
  25. JB0
    What are you talking about? That movie was a hilarious parody, and that gives it redeeming value right off the bat. The fact that it was ACCIDENTAL parody is irrelevant.I saw that one in theaters and laughed my ass off. ... I got a few dirty looks from the other folks in the theater, but it's their own fault for trying to take it seriously after the crew crashed into a motherloving diamond supergeode. Heck, after the space shuttle crash-landed six inches from a construction worker's unprotected butt and he didn't even notice. It's got a serious case of so bad it's good. I'm gonna go ahead and say it. The worst sci-fi movie is Star Wars: The Phantom Menace. Objectively, it's not even close to the worst movie ever. But subjectively, the broken promises, crushed expectations, and shattered dreams were more than enough to push it to the head of the line.
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