JB0

Ahhh, good ol' Sega. Even if it WAS Sega Europe. Sega America ran similar ads at times.

SOC Dancouga = bigger. SOC Dancouga = cheaper. SOC Dancouga = better-looking. SOC Dancouga = not related to the horrible Dancouga Nova TV show. The choice is clear. Sorry, CM's

The RX-8 mold is the best, because it is Shockwave. I suppose Mirage was pretty good, from a technical standpoint. But he was not Shockwave.

My Slag's still in.... relatively good shape. By which I mean all the parts are still attached. Pretty much every last speck of chrome has been rubbed off at this point, the stickers are gone(he went in the swimming pool a few times), and the tail is a bit worn, but... by favorite childhood toy standards, he did good. Actually, most of my Transformers came out of things fairly well. Even still have a lot of the guns. I was an odd kid. I never noticed that on mine.

Heh. I'm biased. Slag was my first Dinobot, and for a long time was my only dinobot. Add to that the fact that triceratopseses were always my favorite dinosaur, and.... Slag could've been a Micromaster and I'd still think he was the best TF ever.

You did NOT just say that! Triceratops > *. By extension, Slag > *. Also not insultable is Swoop. Pterodactyls are ALMOST as awesome as triceratopses... triceratopsii... triceratopsen?

Hikaru's head gets bashed in by Kamjin at one point in the TV series too. And crushed by Britai at another.

Yes. that's exactly it. I'm an operative of Al-Quada. You've found me out. Now I will bomb your house. Hail Bin Laden. I really think that statement speaks for itself. I see no need to deal with it in a remotely serious manner. I could probably ignore the entire rest of this pile of lies and insults and just leave that statement sitting there to shame you. But I'm going to plow ahead anyways. More wild assumptions with no basis in fact. And a few blind zealous lies thrown in on top of it. I watch TV news for laughs, not real coverage. You can't adequately cover an issue in the pathetic soundbites of space granted TV news. Hell, you can't adequately cover an issue in the few-pages spread a large newspaper article gets. I SUPPORTED the invasion of Iraq. Not on grounds of ZOMG TERRARIST!111, but on grounds of "Saddam Hussein is a sick, sadistic man and needs to be removed from power." I have subsequently been embarrassed by the mishandling of the war and occupation. But I still believe that the invasion was the right idea, just implemented very wrongly. And while it is clearly NOT going according to plan, I strongly advocate a continued military presence because... let's face it, things would be even MORE in the crapper if we pulled out and left things to descend further into anarchy. It's too late to stop now, and has been ever since we took Baghdad. BTW... Iraq isn't part of the "war on terror." There were, and still are, no credible links between Hussein's regime and international terrorism. Actually, no clause of the PATRIOT act has been used in the investigation of a terrorism suspect. The broad powers it granted were only used against US citizens with no known ties to any terrorist organizations, explicitly in violation of the promises made by US intelligence agencies to get these powers granted (or reinstated, in some cases). It's a rehash of the things that got wiretapping so heavily restricted in the first place. And despite one highly visible failure, the government has proven remarkably good at stopping terrorist attacks WITHOUT these powers. The only good thing about the PATRIOT act is that the powers it granted had clearly defined sunset periods, and those dates have come and gone without extension in most cases. Amendment 4 The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized. Amendment 5 No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation. Amendment 6 In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense. The above paragraphs are not idealist concepts. They are calculated responses to abuses of the people by a government that was supposed to be protecting them, and were crafted to prevent the government that followed from abusing it's people in a similar manner. They have been proven necessary multiple times in this nation's history. Yes, we could probably stop a lot more crimes, of all types, without such nagging trifles as due process and innocent until proven guilty, but AT WHAT COST? What you call "collateral damage" I call gross irresponsibility and unconstitutional. The prison in Guantanamo shames me deeply as a US citizen. It should do so to everyone. Sadly, it's easier to turn the other way and ignore it. For the record, in my area we're busy re-investigating and overturning thousands of convictions by a district attorney that shared your view of the law. The DA office under his tenure operated under the belief that everyone was guilty of something, and that a conviction by any means was acceptable. The end result was a huge number of people railroaded into jail for crimes they never committed. Some of them may in fact be guilty, but will get out anyways because a crooked DA office tainted their case so badly that it's not possible to prove the point. Oh, well that's okay then. I'm pretty sure the heads of the CIA and FBI don't have wiretaps on their personal lines. Check into Hoover's tenure as FBI director. It's a large part of what got wiretaps so restricted in the first place. Wrong. I made no Chuck Norris jokes, and that was established early on in this thread as the gold standard for anti-military propaganda. I have, as of yet, not made a single anti-military comment. Except in your deluded fantasies where I'm burning soldiers in effigy. I feel a mixture of pity and envy for you. I pity you for your stupidity, which is shamelessly displayed for the world to see. And I envy your naivete, which is evident in your belief that constitutional restrictions on law enforcement are un-needed and only the bad guys have any reason to worry about them. Barring any tremendously offensive instances of slander against me, I'll be dropping this now. It's worth arguing, but this isn't the place.

One word: Jamming. That is why a more-autonomous drone is an appealing idea. As countermeasures evolve, it will be desirable for the vehicle to be capable of independent decision-making should it lose contact with the base. Then if it suspects tampering with the signal. Then, since it's proven so capable of self-control before, they remove the pilot totally.

The Intercooler is, and always has been, the biggest issue as far as external coolers go. Remember, we're talking about a device that was arcing out and scorching the power connector here. It's NOT the pinnacle of good design. For what it's worth, standing the system vertically creates a slight chimney effect, if nothing else. Hot air rises, and the airflow is far less obstructed that way than if the system is horizontal. The vertical stand fans also have the advantage of forcing air into a vent that's not normally fanned instead of just stacking more fans directly on top of the existing ones. I believe that bottom vent acts as an intake normally(which means standing it vertically makes it harder to bring air into the system). But the USB-powered coolers have always been far safer bets than the Intercooler regardless. Anyways, the article strikes me as questionable. Not a real author, and an uncredited source. MOST of what's been stated there is well-known across the 'net. The rest is already widespread rumor.

Though WW2 was localized to Europe, and at a time when the Earth's overall population density was lower(though the ASS-1's arrival on Earth apparently caused enough chaos to reduce the population a fair bit without the help of warfare). I'd say, based on the WW2 numbers, that a death toll surpassing a hundred million is not only probable, but likely on the low side. *running through the Compendium Chronology section* In 2006... "October In the Central Russian Administrative Region, the Anti-U.N. Army uses strategic [tactical] nukes. St. Petersburg's [Leningrad's] destruction demonstrates that the Anti-U.N. Army also has the capability for retaliatory strikes using thermonuclear reaction weaponry on the earth's surface. " That city has a current real-world population of 4.6 million. Assuming it was orchestrated for maximum destruction in minimum time... that's almost 5 million people dead in ONE attack. Also, in 2005... "April 14 Founding Earth U.N. Government prime minister [representative] Harlan J. Niven [Niiben (sic)] is assassinated. Robert A. Rhysnink [Rhysling] is installed as his successor. " HAHAHA!!!! A world ruled by people named after Harlan Ellision, Larry Niven, Robert Heinlen, and they Rhysling awards(which are themselves named after a bard from one of Heinlen's stories)? It's no wonder the UN built humanoid robots and transforming jets. With nerds like that holding the checkbook, it was inevitable.

I mean laws passed on federal, state, and local levels that erode the rights of US citizens, most commonly their right to privacy. Warrantless wiretaps being a commonly-publicized one, but far from the only one. Bull. You're sitting there slurring other people because you're looking for anti-military comments to get offended over where none exist, and blaming me because I have the audacity to call you on it.

Another wild assumption with no basis in fact. Not what I was talking about. That's great. Maybe you should find a place where bashing is happening before you start griping about it.

I'd so buy a George Foreman Grill Transformer.

Actually, I didn't. And I'd be careful about your claims. Law enforcement and protecting freedoms aren't getting along too well lately. Never said they weren't. You said going to defend a colony was unpatriotic. Arguably... no military = no rebuilt Macross + no reaction weapons = no war with the Zentradi = no need TO rebuild. I dunno.... the colonies don't have giant shells of assault satellites around them. The Earth forces have it a LOT easier than the colonies. Just like the US Coast Guard has it a LOT easier than the rest of the armed forces, and everyone but you knows it. Things are actually more drastic in Macross, since the colonies are semi-autonomous. A colony may have to make do with VF-7s while the Earth forces are playing with their shiny new VF-19s, just because the colony can't afford the new planes. Way to make completely unfounded assumptions. All I said was that serving away from the homeworld wasn't unpatriotic. But what would I know? I'm just a mindless sheep. Baaaaaaaa! Baaaaaaa! Of course, I'm a sheep that gets to order the sheepdogs around instead of vice-versa. So.... hooray for sheep! Ug say you am wrong! Ug say caveman no have army! Caveman just poke mammoth with stick 'til dead! You've got a serious chip on your shoulder. I'd recommend putting it away and not taking every comment as a slur against the military.

I thought he meant the Coronation Starscream pics.

Meh. World needs more sidescroller Duke. Manhattan Project doesn't count.

Original Duke, or Duke 3D?

Yes. That was the solution to everyone's whining about the hip danglers. They put balls on the hip AND the ankle so you could mount them in either place... or set them aside totally if you're so inclined. And if you're feeling daring, you can cut off the unwanted mounting points to get rid of the extra balls. In this case, it looks like they sliced off BOTH sets of mounting points in favor of aesthetics. Looks pretty good that way, but you wind up with loose parts.

Supervision Army, not Zentradi. Or Meltrandi, if we go DYRL-style.

? He's serving his people. The whole point of the colony missions is that if push comes to shove, there's simply no way that a human race confined to one planet will survive. There's nothing "unpatriotic" about going out on an expeditionary fleet. The Sol system is the equivalent of the New UN Coast Guard. A safe familiar, cushy, no-risk post. ... Nothing unpatriotic about staying home and making babies either. 'S a vital task to sustain the human race, especially with so many colonies being set up so rapidly.

Thirded. The world needs more Shockwave.

The Ghost and Lancer names are the same in both franchises, surprisingly. Ghost seems to be the name for all UNS drones. And the Lancers are manned fighters.

Ah. I haven't played either, so I just took people's word that Zero sucked. I really WILL have to play PDark some day. That was one of the things that impressed me about Dark Forces and company. Though tha alt modes covered the entire spectrum, from "totally different weapon" to "utterly useless gimmick."

Actually, I think it's more a matter of sophisticated AI not being there yet. I don't think it's a good idea(even without the sci-fi Terminator/MacPlus/Stealth-type insane self-ware AI), but I think that's where we're going. UN Spacey's had combat drones even in the original SDF Macross. Not variable, but... They just don't get any attention, for the same reason the destroids never get any real attention. The VFs are what it's all about.