Warmaker

haven't read the book yet, but does it say why Yoda acknowledges Qui-Gon as Yoda's master? I thought Yoda trained Dooku who trained Qui-Gon? I think in Ep. 2, Dooku said Qui-Gon was his padawan.... ok, gotta go buy the book today now. Yoda acknowledges Qui-Gon as his Master in the end of Ep.III since Qui-Gon discovered the immense power of being one with the force but still having influence in the world, i.e. what Obi-Wan became... a Force Spirit to stay around for a while and help Luke Skywalker in critical moments (Obi-Wan saying "I will become more powerful than you can ever imagine" or something like that). Yoda also reflected with regret on how he and the rest of the Council in the past had often looked down on Qui-Gon due to his somewhat reckless, rebellious nature, while Qui-Gon had become closer to the Force than anyone of them. As for who taught who: Yoda taught Dooku (discussed greatly in the book "Yoda") Dooku taught Qui-Gon Qui-Gon taught Obi-Wan and of course, Obi-Wan taught Anakin

That is good to hear, while whiping 3P0 makes perfect sense, as he'd just get everyone killed is a fit of mass stupidity, R2 was always on the ball. R2 definitely had his moments in the beginning of the movie. BTW, hate to keep saying stuff from the novel, but... while Obi-Wan, Anakin, and the Chancellor are trying to escape from the Grievous' flagship, they were in such a rush that they were going to leave R2 in the hangar. But Anakin absolutely refused, showing the same loyalty to his droid that he would to any friend. Obi-Wan couldn't really understand Anakin's attachment to the droid. R2 is the only character in all the movies to see pretty much every critical event. C3PO does also to an extent, but he gets his memory wiped.

I was surprised to see Yoda getting beat up quite a bit Yoda had to back out of the fight with Palpatine. Palpatine was handing him his a**, smiling while doing it. I also liked how Palpatine played the "helpless, defenseless prisoner" when Windu thought he had him defeated. It was just a ploy to pull on Anakin's feelings to draw him to the Dark Side. Ian McDirmid looked like he had some fun with the Chancellor.

The Phantom Menace wasn't too great, especially since me and a bunch of my buddies sat in line for a long time to make the midnight showing on premiere day. Attack Of The Clones I thought was okay, but I understand the criticisms this movie received from fans. I also understand that people hold these things, along with the Ewoks of Return of the Jedi, against Lucas. Episode 3 was a redemption for Lucas in a way! He made up for Ep.I & II. He still hasn't made up for those blasted Ewoks, however You'll come away from Ep.3 at the very least liking it. Will it stand better than the best of the Original Trilogy? Time will tell!

Well guys, on a whim, I saw Ep.3 this afternoon. I really like it, and I'll wait and see how it stands over time compared to the Original Trilogy, especially against Empire Strikes Back. Like I said, I really like Ep.3 but there are 4 things I felt could have been done better or fleshed out more. Firstly, I read the book way before the movie released, so keep that in mind. * The movie did a decent job on showing why Anakin turned to the Dark Side: He wanted to save Padme. In the book, there was no question his concern for Padme was what drove Anakin. The book however, did a magnificent job on showing how Palpatine's manipulations combined with the Jedi Council's backstabbing orders, tore Anakin apart. Palpatine twisted words and manipulated Anakin like the Dark Lord he was but Anakin didn't want to act as his spy. But the Jedi Council wanted to use Anakin's friendship to the Chancellor as a means of spying on Palpatine. This tore Anakin apart really well in the book. In the book and in the movie, there's a scene where Anakin is told by Obi-Wan that the Council secretly wanted him to spy on Palpatine for them. This drove Anakin crazy since friendship, trust, and loyalty were dear to him. He didn't want to spy on Palpatine since he was considered a dear friend. At the same time, he would never want to spy on the Council for Palpatine. In the book, Obi-Wan still asks Anakin to report on the Chancellor, but he said in return something along the lines of, "If the Chancellor asked me to spy on you, do you think I would?" In addition, the movie didn't have the book's moments the insulting nature of the Jedi Council to Anakin when he was finally admitted into it. The movie did show that he would not be given the title of Master, which was hugely insulting. The book had several instances where his opinions were quickly, and insultingly, disregarded, even though he sat on the Council. In short, the Jedi, except for Obi-Wan, only really saw Anakin as a tool, and nothing more. Also in the book, while Yoda, Mace Windu, and Obi-Wan were aboard the Rep.Gunship preparing to drop Yoda off for the Kashyyyk operation, Obi-Wan thoroughly explained why he felt the Council made a grave mistake in asking Anakin to betray a friendship for the political gains of the Council. Obi-Wan, after his meeting with Anakin felt guilty about asking his friend to betray another friend. The Jedi, Mace Windu, and even Yoda, have no inkling on what friendship, trust, and loyalty meant anymore, so they also had no freaking clue that they were tearing Anakin apart to play both sides. In the end of Ep.3, IMO, the Jedi got what they justly deserved. Annihalation. * The book also showed over its course that the main reason Anakin was staying on the right path was his constant attachment and closeness to Obi-Wan. Anakin didn't take comfort in other people too much it seemed other than Padme. But Obi-Wan was really the only other person that he could talk to. He couldn't even get help from Yoda, who wanted him to cut off all attachments, just like every Jedi. * The last thing was part of the ending. In the book, I believe just before the twins are born, Yoda is meditating on his failure to save the Republic. The Force Spirit of Qui-Gon appears and tells him about how to be one with the Force but still have influence in the world. Yoda later acknowledges Qui-Gon as his master, and informs Obi-Wan on these teachings. The movie cut the Yoda / Qui-Gon scene completely away, I believe. A shame, I really would have loved to seen Qui-Gon again. * They didn't show enough of Anakin slaughtering the Jedi and the Seperatist leaders, who were pleading for their lives as they were being cut down one by one. Lastly, Master Windu at least went out with his lightsaber swinging. He died quite horribly though

It's this series that I saw. It was from 1992, according to this. I also recall playing Nobunaga's Ambition. My friend rented it for his NES and we played for hours together. He was Uesugi Kenshin, I was playing as Oda Nobunaga. That game played in the same basic style as the other cool Romance of the Three Kingdoms games, so it always nice and familiar. If it wasn't for KOEI, there'd be almost no Samurai-centric games over here in the US.

I agree. I plan on seeing it Saturday morning over here. I read the book so I have a basic idea on what's going to happen. Just reading the book alone made me feel sorry for Anakin (without going into all the possible spoiler reasons why). The Jedi, IMO, just like in KOTOR2: The Sith Lords, justly had it coming to them for a long time.

In the early 90s, back over in Vallejo, California, the local "international channel" of course had their Japanese block of television. I used to love it since they frequently showed Samurai movies/series. I recall seeing one covering Takeda Shingen's life. A bunch of Samurai series also. But the best I saw was this series simply called "Nobunaga." I loved that show! It starts towards the last years of his father's life and all the way to Nobunaga's own death. His rise to power in Owari, his insane victory against a much, much larger army of Imagawa's, his dealings with the Portuguese missionaries (one of which frequently showed up or narrated the show from his point of view), and all the way to him nearly unifying Japan. The series showed his sharpness in tactics and strategy, willingness to utilize new forms of warfare, and of course his ruthlessness. It showed quite a bit of how he "discovered" Hideyoshi and his dealings with his ally, Ieyasu. Then there's the battles, which the series carried dumptrucks full of. I mean, the man was attacked at several points by many Daimyo simultaneously. And he still won! The battles looked great, too. For as great as Hideyoshi or Ieyasu were, they would have been nothing if Nobunaga had not succeeded as much as they did. He pretty much crushed most of the major opposition.

If Fine Molds can make 1/48 scale versions of their Star Wars kits...

Aw...still playing with kids toys, I see... I'd personally want one of these on the LA freeways as they are... a Maus! Ah yes, that behemoth! Too bad there isn't any speed on that beast, but you won't feel a bump when you run over that Semi

Bah, all these things are too girlie... they're civillian gear! You need something like this: M1A1 Those Germans and their tanks: Leopard 2A6 Maybe this: Challenger 2

I went out on a limb and bought it also with alot of curiousity. Pretty fun in its own, simple way. Looks cool, too.

My take on AVP2 For those that remember from back in the day of Beavis & Butthead over here in the USA: "Beavis, this sucks more than anything that has sucked before."

I finally saw AVP on DVD about a month ago. It was my friend's movie so I figured I could finally see what the dealio was and pass my judgement. AVP to me wasn't as bad as some have made it to be. What it did was underwhelm me. Which is just as bad, I guess... I thought, "That's it?" After watching this, I got back into some real goodness. I popped in Aliens again. By coincidence, Predator came on the following night on TV. The Movie Gods are in sorrow and felt my pain.

I vote for Capt. "I am Kirrokkk!" Kirk

Some old pics from my original character. I started SWG late February 2004. Here's me on Guard Duty at the Royal Palace of Theed That's Colonel Darkstar to you, trooper! The game has serious issues and I wonder exactly what the devs are aiming for. I'm hoping for the best with 2 critical revamps (Combat System & Galactic Civil War). But right now, it feels like they're selling out the Original Trilogy for the sake of the Prequels.

.45, .40, whatever. We needed to get rid of the 9mm already. As a SNCO, I have to deal with the M9, which I have no confidence with. I'd rather have an M16A2 issued to me.

Patlabor, as I knew it from the OVA, TV series, and 1st two movies, is done. It's been years since the second movie has come out. The 3rd one was Patlabor but wasn't Patlabor at the same time. Heck, the main characters that I knew and loved before were mere puppets for a few minutes. I'm betting that there could be new Patlabor material, but I doubt it would involve the old characters/cast anymore. It was a great, fun ride with Capt.Goto's group while it lasted!

HOOOoooooooo!

Ahh, I so love the F4U Corsair. I just recently received the Trumpeter F4U-1D. I guess I watched too many episodes of "The Black Sheep Squadron." I thought that squadron was fictional until I went into boot camp and was told about Boyington. Then I drop by years later in MCAS Yuma, Arizona. The Black Sheep are still around, as VMA-214. What's cool with some of the Marine squadrons is that some of them proudly display a Corsair on their logos still. VMA-214 does and VMFA-323. The Corsair was big, fast, funny shaped, but a bueatiful plane to me.

Wow, Tiny Toons. I haven't heard of that in a while. It was an OK show actually. Later on, that cartoon series with Yakko, Wakko, and Dot came out afterwards. For a kid's show it had alot of humor for adults, which was pretty cool. It also spawned Pinky & the Brain.

The AT-AT came out November last year. It's quite tall, maybe 1-1/2 feet tall. Real sturdy and nice looking. The thing was roughly $1,100 US. About 1,000 were made. Here's a link with some better pics of it. I'm starting to see the prices on these LE things go higher and higher. Esp. for this beast. I've seen somewhere that this thing is going for $1,600. One thing I have to say about these large AT-ATs. A small resin model company, SMT, had made a large model of an AT-AT way earlier last year. I believe it was 1/35 scale, so it was large. Some sites out there have 1/48, 1/53 (WTF?), or 1/35 as the scale. But that's the way I remember it from the SMT AT-AT promos. But the whole thing came to a big end since Lucasfilm told SMT to stop the production of all their Star Wars kits. It included TIE Fighters, TIE Interceptors, TIE Advanced, TIE Avengers, TIE Defenders, Snowspeeders, X, B, Y, and A-Wings, and the big AT-AT. The fighters were all 1/48 and well done, too. SMT did get a run or two of the AT-AT off to customers before they were told to stop, so I'm sure you can find someone willing to part with theirs. For a price, I bet. SMT's AT-AT I had already ordered and received the TIE Avenger and TIE Defender kits before they were forced to stop.

Ahh, GI Joes from back in the day. That and Transformers. Anyways, I loved the ones from the first couple of years. It seemed that they got "colorful" later on and had forsaken the military look they all had.

It lacks style, that's for sure. It should have substance to compensate *ducks behind sandbag wall*