JB0

You remember right. Actual enforcement varies with the poltical environment, but the Guitar Hero issue was pretty blatant to anyone that actually took the time to look. I think Red Octane was using it more to stall for time while they made their own wireless guitar than actually get the courts to shut down legitimate competition. Though since they didn't get the injunction they were trying for, it didn't do 'em a lot of good, and only served to raise awareness of the competing brand.

Can you say "wedgie"?

The big "problem" was Red Octane was mad that TAC's 3rd-party Guitar Hero controllers were cutting into sales of their own guitars. Especially the wireless one. It was nothing more than a blatant attempt to abuse the courts to create a monopoly. And it failed miserably. And I agree. ... Oooohhhh... Macross DDR+GuitarFreaks! Dance while you jam!

Nice trailer. Seems like it'll be a good movie if the trailer's any indicator(not that trailers aren't explicitly intended to be misleading, but...) Not sure I like the evil space aliens, but it's not like the Turtles haven't fought those in every other media. Actually, the comics had gray bandannas. It was a black+white comic with colorized graphic novels. I dunno how much input the creators had into what colors went where, though.

And Guitar Hero is a shameless knockoff of GuitarFreaks. Not that I'm objecting, especially given the absolutely STELLAR job Konami's done selling GuitarFreaks... It's just kind of absurd when the GuitarHero people sue the designers of the GuitarFreaks controller for pre-emptively stealing an idea.

Which was a sunken city, exposed for the first time in millenia when the Earth's oceans got burned off(presumably by a Zentradi orbital bombardment). It's safe to assume it floated at one point.

Megatron always was a little "special." Being turned into a purple sex toy just pushed him over the edge.

SHORT CIRCUIT'S IN THERE! BAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!

May 03... I'm a regular whippersnapper.

It's the thread that wouldn't die!

! You, sir, are awesome!

But to be fair, Starscream's ARMS are a major issue because the wings are in the way. And I have trouble making 'Screamer stable. I can neither confirm nor deny rumors that this is because I have him standing on one foot and pinning Hot Rod down with the other.

You could make a spiel about your unhealthy affection for doorknobs...

EVEN Mirage? He's the only wave 2 bot I CAN find!

http://macross.anime.net/characters/index.html "Akiko Houjoh"

Which in SOS-dan fashion will be season 3, with season 2 to follow later.

If I recall, it was flagged Phoenix, then unflagged shortly thereafter. I don't think it has an official name right now.

"OUR slaughter!"

UN Spacy seems to use a hybrid rank system that doesn't totally match any real-world equivalent. Which is a nice way of saying that the writers were probably pulling ranks out of their asses.

Kakizaki and Max are presented as equals, essentially. Kakizaki has slightly more flight time, but it's not a significant amount. The 2 are really an entire sub-story of their own. Complete with moral! They're supposed to be pretty much identical skill levels. But Kakizaki gets overconfident and rushes into situations unprepared, while Max stays humble and assumes there's someone better than him. Kakizaki gets shot down. A lot. Max kicks some serious mecha butt. Ironically, Kakizaki seemed to be shaping into a decent pilot when he died, through no fault of his own.

I would assume that just proves that the numbers are irrelevant. Hikaru was the official leader of Vermilion team. He was a "seasoned" veteran(well, lightly spiced, anyways). And he HAD A MEDAL!111 Max and Kakizaki were quite clearly his subordinates, as well as raw recruits with absolutely no combat experience. OR MEDALS!111

It's got nothing to do with tradition, personally. A lot of the Cybertron stuff bears very little similarity to the original designs. Chicken-feet instead of blocks, for example. Don't hear me griping about them, though. I LIKE the Cybertron line. The problem here is that I just don't like skeletal robots. The toys are a lot less skeletal, and they actually appeal to me. I think the entire tradition argument is a silly red herring anyways. You're covering fans of realistic vehicles with chunky robots, robot animals with chunky... umm... robots, futuristic vehicles with chunky robots, futuristic vehicles with sleek robots, and whatever other inane variant I missed, all with the same "tradition" label. And completely ignoring the new cartoon lines, Beast Wars, and arguably even parts of the Alternators/Binaltech line. There's a fairly wide range of fans that deem the movie designs crap, and they aren't ALL just obsessed with bright primary colors and robot bricks. It's ever so slightly possible that the movie designs are just ugly.

Too bad they also said "Screw aesthetics!" while they were at it. Not like the original cartoon designs had a lot to do with the toys in many cases. Heck, Ratchet and Ironhide didn't even have heads in the toys.

And a hell of a lot better. Not GREAT, but a lot better. I could actually REALLY LIKE the Bumblebee toy. Hell, I'm starting to see hints of Bumblebee IN the design at this level. His limbs are a bit spindly, but aren't really a deal-breaker here. I can't see enough detail in his face to be sure, but it looks like the weak point(actually, the heads look kinda weak on all 3 toys to me). *looks over at Classic 'Bee* Okay... Hasbro, paint him red and sell him as Cliffjumper. I'll buy it. Barricade DESPERATELY needs real arms. Having the entire side of the car mounted to his shoulder is lame. Other than that, I like his toy. And I don't think the arms are set up right anyways. While I may think the movie is a disaster, I STILL love the script they put on the side of his alt-mode. While they're the same size, the fact that they're solid black makes his legs look far more substantial than Bumblebee's. Overall, he's a far better design. Assuming he has real arms. Sidenote: Where's Frenzy? All I see is a Soaron bootleg. Brawl... I'm less fond of. Let's leave it at that.

But all of those make it fairly obvious what they transform into. Optimus Primal is still pretty ape-like in his robot form and everyone can tell Cybertron Prime is a firetruck with wings. And the younger kids it will probably be scared off by Scorponok slaughtering GI Joe so they don't count. I'll probably see it once it hits the dollar movies. I figure for a buck I can see how bad it came out. I won't pay full price for this train-wreck, though.