Mechamaniac

Gasaraki and Patlabor. Gasaraki started out great, and then they went all wierd on us with the pilots being injected with hydraulic fluid from the TA's which made them berserker nuts etc etc. Then the series ended with everyone floating in goo pondering existence. If Gasaraki had stayed away from all the zen mysticism BS, it would have been the most realistic mecha series to date. However, given that Gasaraki went all strange on us, I have to say Patlabor comes out the winner. (At least until WXIII )

Sounds like the way my Dad is attached to his M14. He was in Viet Nam as well. I think he hit just when they were phasing out the 14 in favor of the 16, so he trained on the M1 and the M14 in Basic, but carried the M16 when he was in country. He doesn't dislike the M16, he just prefers the M14, and is still frighteningly accurate with iron sights despite the fact that he's pushing 60. The only enmity I have ever heard from him with regard to a service weapon was with the M60, and that was not as much a functionality issue, as it is that noone wanted to be the guy shooting the 60 in the sh!t because the 60 position would almost always draw the first RPG round.

Having had both the Bandai Fire Valk, and the Bootleg Blazer Valk. Sadly, the boots are just about as nice as the Bandai valks. A real low point in Bandai's history if you ask me. They give us the Chunky Monkey which everyone here reveres in one fashion or another, and then the Mac 7 POS Valks. I agree with Max, if someone could convert a Yamato, it would be sweet.

That would be cool, it looks like the Add New Event function is blocked to us at the peon level however. As with many things around here, if someone wants to volunteer the time to collate all the dates and happenings etc, then it could get done. Sounds like a good idea to me.

Like the Japanese, or the Germans were the only armies ever to do that?. You think American soldiers never made Germans and Japanese dig their own graves back in WWII?, think again. Besides, war is war, war is hell, and in ANY war, atrocities abound on both sides of the conflict. Just because we have come out in the W column in most of the wars we have fought doesn't mean we didn't commit atrocities to do so. It just so happens that history is written by the winners, and we have undoubtedly chosen to omit some of our darker moments. Like when we used OUR OWN GUYS to test the effects of radiation from the atomic bomb?. LINKY

I can top that... True story, though to this day, I still cannot believe that it happened to me. My dad has an old 1917 S&W that will shoot either 45 LC or 45 ACP (if you use half moon clips) He had it loaded with some old handloads using soft lead bullets when he gave it to me to test fire. 45 ACP using the clips. I went to the range, and popped off a round, then two, then three, then four, and then was surprised when I could not fire a fifth. I looked at the gun, and there was a round stuck in between the cylinder and the mouth of the barrel so the cylinder would not turn. I then pulled the target back, NO HOLES. I took the gun back to the gun shop where I worked at the time, and pulled three bullets out of the barrel that had lodged at different points, and actually had to cut through the fourth that was lodged in between the cylinder and the mouth of the barrel. Thankfully, the bullet was soft lead so that was easy. More thanfully, the gun did not blow up in my face. I guess Smith & Wesson just don't make em like they used to!.

Hmm, you don't say... After all, wasn't it you Rob (err George) who clued us all in as to the fingers up the arse thing that students like to do to teachers after the shock and awe of what Mao did to Shin in Macross Zero? It might have been someone else, but I thought it was you who told us that was a commonplace thing.

Unless you're in the military.

The Duke does have a point you guys. Very little has been done to the site since the new boards were installed and that was over a year ago. I'm not saying we need to be shut down or anything, but a couple of skins would be nice.

Insane Irish!

What scale are these??, how tall are the toys?

OK, so your phone does polyphonic ringtones, not MP3. You need something like this... LG Data Cable With that, you can connect your phone to your PC via a USB port, and with the correct software, upload JPG's to use as wallpapers etc. For more info, go here... Howard Forums - LG With a little perseverance, you should be able to hack your phone and upload your own ringtones etc. Hope this helps.

Curiously, the decline in the HK film industry seems to have coincided with the export of Chow Yun Fat, Jet Li, and John Woo to Hollywood. Edit - Doh, forgot Jackie Chan...

That largely depends on your phone. Does it do polyphonic or MP3 tones or both?

Hmm, that's a tough call. I mean, if you go strictly by date, then Star Wars came out in '77, therefore, Lucas wins since Gundam came out in '79. However, since Lucas has never really written an original story line in his life, and borrows heavily, and unabashedly from everyone else, who's to say where he might have gotten the idea.

Brit - "I claim India for Britain!" Indian - "You can't claim us, we live here!. 500 Million of us!." Brit - "Do you have a flag?" After a hard day of putting babies on spikes there's no movie I enjoy more than "A Room With A View, Of Hell". Ive never been able to sit through a whole Baliwood movie. They're pure cheese. LOL... Staircase of Satan! Pond of Death!

She doesn't really want to seperate herself from the whole Minmay persona as much as she just doesn't want to be remembered for just that... She stated that she would jump at the chance to be part of Macross again if they ever ask. I think people misinterpreted that about her. Plus, she still needs to eat. I can't imagine that she's still making residuals from Macross given that she was 19 when she played Minmay, and that it launched her career. I'm sure she didn't make alot of cash from it back then, or even today. Plus, I like Mari and all, and she's still cute as a button, but her non-Macross music is just kind of lost on me. I remember reading that she had moved to LA to do the music thing in the states etc, but the songs she sings in English are still in very heavily accented Japanese so I hope that her following in Japan is much bigger. In all, I'm sure she hates Minmay about as much as Shatner or Nimoy hated being Kirk and Spock during the lean years when they were desperately trying to break the typecast role. That being said, I wish she would come out to Otakon again, I would love to get hers or Kawamori's autograph on my Champagne box set.

Racking the slide on a shotgun is one of the most distinct and easily recognisable sounds in the world. Almost everyone knows that Ka-Chunk-Chunk noise when they hear it. It's also good if possible to yell out a "Dirty Harry" phrase ("I've got a 12 gauge loaded with doube oh magnum buck! This thing will cut you in half! I don't want that stain on my carpet so please leave now!") when racking the slide from behind a door to put the fear into them even more. Most criminals are cowards and usually want nothing to do with a determined homeowner with a loaded shotgun. Just remember what Opus said though, in most states your ability to defend your property and home can sometimes be quite limited. The only problem with that theory is that if you pull a gun, ANY GUN, you had better be prepared to use it. When I worked at the local gun shop, I used to have people all the time coming in, and saying..."I just want the gun, no shells." Or... "Do you have any without firing pins?" just because they wanted to be able to rack the slide and let fear do the rest. While there definitely is something to be said for that very distinctive sound, it is best to remember that IF you get the one psycho who cares not for your tactics, you better have the balls and the bullets to back up your threat. It would be embarassing to have to go to the hospital to have your unloaded and/or non-firing shotgun surgically removed from your ass. As John Wayne so eloquently put it in Rooster Cogburn - "A gun that's unloaded and cocked aint good for nothin!"

Brit - "I claim India for Britain!" Indian - "You can't claim us, we live here!. 500 Million of us!." Brit - "Do you have a flag?"

That was from Para Ord's website. Granted, that's like getting car parts from the dealer, but I remember back when they first banned those "evil" 14 round mags, that you got a certificate with each new Para pistol that you bought that you could redeem for as many mags as you wanted for like 20 or 25 bucks per. How things have changed... I'm still kicking this around. On the one hand, I'm a traditionalist. I qualified originally with the 1911A1 in the MP's, and was not too pleased when they took away my Man's caliber pistol in favor of the wimpy M9 Beretta. So, I'm old school enough to have been trained in the "If you can't hit em with 7 shots, then you're shite is weak" school. However, the Para Ord pistols are just so nice, and it still amazes me that they managed a double stack mag without any real discernible difference in the way the pistol feels. So, old vs new, traditional vs high cap etc etc? Either way, It's gonna be a 1911 pistol, since it's just about my damned favorite auto pistol design, but I just have to choose. That's because you are hurling a piece of non-aerodynamic metal with only the force of your arm. Shurikens are neat and all, but I'll pass. Nunchaku are sort of pointless to me too. I mean, what is the purpose of a weapon that is constantly folding in and around itself, which decreases it's effective range?. One of the good things about your standard Katana (at least if you have studied Iaido at all is that you have three feet of steel to keep between you and your opponent. IMHO, Shuriken, and Nunchaku are just overhyped thanks to the mid 80's chop socky movies that had kids giving themselves concussions all over the US.

OK, well CRAP!!! I was thinking about getting the Para Ordnance pistol they had when I bought my Springfield, but it only comes with a 10 round mag. 14 round .45 mags are 50 bucks?? I mean, damn, they weren't that expensive back during the weapons ban era, what gives?? Guess I'm gonna pass on the Para Ordnance after all.

Giant sliding thing in the back? Back of which mode? I meant this... The big sliding bracket with the hugely visible screws. At least it's in the back in Battroid mode, but I can't stand it.

Isn't that the title of a Barry White song?

Nice, but IMHO, the ugliest thing about the YF-19 is still that giant hideous sliding thing in the back. I wish someone would come up with a resin cap or something to de-fugly it a bit.

Ahh, it feels good to be bad!. Saturday, I stopped in to my local gun shop, and lo and behold, there was a nice used Springfield Armory 1911A1 that was one of their upscale modded guns. This one has the upgraded barrel bushing, the commander style hammer, replacement beavertail safety etc. So, I plunked down, and snagged it. I'll post pics when I pick it up next week. Also, they had another tempting item there. They had some of the old S&W K frame .357 Model 10's that used to be issued to our local PD before they went to automatics back in the late 80's. My Dad had one just like it. They were a real bargain as well, and I just have a soft spot for that old 4" .357. Plus, at that price, it's the perfect home defense weapon. Dunno, I might get weak when I go back to pick up the 1911, and snag that one too.