Amped

TOUR OF DUTY-2ND SEASON (4 DISC SET) here: http://www.deepdiscountdvd.com/dvd.cfm?itemID=COL008372 As for Droids... just for nostalgia sake, I'd probably consider picking up a subsequent, cleaned-up release that was also not edited as poorly as the current one.

A fascinating look at 'non-lethal' weapon concepts developed by the U.S. Military from 'a 1997 report from the Institute for National Security Studies - part of the US Air Force Academy...' http://www.thememoryhole.org/mil/nl-weapons_terms/ PDF file downloadable here: http://www.thememoryhole.org/mil/nl-weapon...apons_terms.pdf Quite a few tantalizing hints at high tech systems in this report. The bibliography alone is verrrrry interesting! I'm intrigued by mention of a Soviet 'sonic' bullet the size of a baseball said to have a range of hundreds of yards. Air that packs a wallop! The report even (too) briefly mentions 'wetworks' bio-implants. The military world of the near future will, mark my words, appear to have stepped out of a cyberpunk novel... Stuff like the C-CLAW (Close Combat Laser Assault Weapon) have even ended up on human right watch lists as being an 'inhumane' weapon... http://www.hrw.org/reports/1995/Us2.htm ...like its more inhumane to blind a soldier than kill him. Yee-ah. from http://www.anti-mafia.com/D.E.A.-Tech.htm (BTW, WTF is up with that 'cloaking pyramid' thingie - is that for real?!?)General Laser Weapon development info: http://members.rogers.com/biglasers/continuous/weapons.html

Man, I LOVE Leone's Man with No Name trilogy. Clint is note perfect in the main role. IMO, one of the best scenes EVER occurs in For a Few Dollars More, when uber-baddass Lee Van Cleef lights a match offa the hump of the psychotic hunchback bandit, played by the suitably psychotic Klaus Kinski. Speakin' of ol' Klaus... I just ordered a DVD on reputation alone recently called The Great Silence. Supposed to a really great Western. Anyone ever seen it?

Wow, this is a great opportunity for those who are bummed that they missed out on the Yamato SOP's first release! Personally, I don't think it's worth nearly 200 bucks. Honestly, I don't think it's worth 100. I sold mine way back for almost double what I payed for it originally... and I've seen some go for 600 +... which is just insane. The Yamato SOP, while not quite a 'POS' as people like to joke, is not nearly as cool as most folks make it out to be. IMO, it's cheap and plastic-y with a painful lack of diecast. It is nicely detailed, has some cute gimmicks, and a damn fine sculpt, but I just am in awe that people are clamoring for it at this price. As ol' saying goes: 'a fanboy and his money are soon parted...'

NASA 'Scramjet' Soars at Almost 7,000 Mph Day-mn! Now that's faaaaaaast! http://apnews.myway.com/article/20041117/D86DA1MG0.html

OMG! I need an ass tampon, that was... so... BAD. What a weird pose Vader is contorted into on the slab... looks like he's an old bendie toy. Not a very powerful pose. And ummmm... everything looks too video-gamey... super-saturated colors... errrr, wow.... I miss the old puppet Yoda... CGI Yoda is just bizarro. I know. I know... fanboy bitching. But this looks just a s goofy to me as the previous two prequels. Godspeed to those who are excited about this film. Still, the space battle looks like it will be impressive!

Sweet! Thanks Duke! Thank goodness for download managers! It's actually downloading! I'll haveta post impression after I've had a chance to view it...

Wow, awesome deals. My 2 Cents: As an owner of 2 Dells (and as the de facto tech dork for about 12 in my design department), both a laptop and a workstation: I must concur that Dell quality is superior... for the desktop. Avoid Dell laptops. Big, hot, slow 'n' heavy sum 'em up. Tech support is pathetic. I'm an avowed PC guy, but even I recommend the Apple Powerbook if yer lookin' for a laptop. We've got 2 in my department (mainly for our Mac-loyal graphic designers) and they are amazing. Still, if I were a budget-concious student, those Dell sale prices'd be dang tempting...

I picked up those boots that Keith mentioned earlier in this thread... and they are damn fine! Nice packaging, excellent sound quality, and clean video... a tad soft, but then this is pre-uber restoration. The static menu screens could've been a bit better, but they work well and all the extras offa the LD definitive Collection appear to be present, spread out across all three DVDs. No video hiccups from flipping the laser discs... they've made a seamless viewing, as far as I can tell. I'd be curious to view the original laser disc source side-by-side with these boots on a good home entertainment system to see how they compare. For boots, color me very impressed. I am entirely content in that I now have a nice looking DVD copy of the OT without all the added gobbledy-gook GL has felt compelled to add on. Mainly I like 'em since there's none of the new changes that'd jar me out of enjoying the experience of viewing these cinematic treasures as I remember and love 'em. Sitting here watching these flix in their original glory, I too feel like a kid again!

Just downloaded the demo... can't wait to try it out! LOL!!!

Man, I love the butt-fugly Logan. It'd be cool if somebody made a toy version... but I doubt that'd ever happen. Anyhow, seems like you've described a plausible way of reconciling the animation with the available line art.

What's really amazing is that most of the scenes in that 'teaser' have yet to have backgrounds and stylized effects added... and it's still stinkin' with style!!! I have high hopes for this one. Because of all the acting talent (and eye candy thrown in for good measure)... and Miller's gritty take on the film noir storytelling genre, I think that, at best, this flick could be a real cinematic and stylistic stortytelling gem. At worst it'll be a vissually stunning 'flop' like Dark City or Dune.

Here's an updated link - you can direct-download as well! http://www.movie-list.com/trailers.php?id=sincity

Check out the Comic Con footage link! WOW! Clive Owen... cool! Jessica Alba... WOWEEEWOW!!! http://www.themoviebox.net/movies/2005/STU...ity/trailer.php

Sweet! Thanks for the info Keith! This looks to be a different set from the one my friend bought & returned. Gonna haveta order these so I have a halfway decent DVD version of the orginal theatrical versions of the films...

Keith, Regarding those boots ya picked up... Any chance you can do a screen capture of the menu screens? I'd like to see if this is the same set (also copied from the Definitive Laser Disc Set) that a buddy of mine picked up recently. He returned them for a full refund because there were significant portions of some scenes that were 'skipped' (probably due to poor video editing at the moments where the Laser Disc would have been flipped). Aside from the slightly grainy image quality, could you go into any more detail on the overall quality? Thanks!

Of course, this is all part of the effort to prepare us for when we make contact for real.

Yeah Bob mitchum deserves bad ass status. While you're at it, check Mitchum out in Night of the Hunter. He plays a freaky-deaky psycho killer ex-con preacher who has Love & Hate tatooed on his knuckles. A very surreal film... plus I think it finally got released on DVD. Great example of how not all films from the days of yore were all peaches 'n' cream... a dark, dark flic...

I agree... I doubt it's supposed to be an actual Nike Hercules. The modeler probably just thought it looked cool and used it. Wild... that model brings back memories, although not of the Macross variety. There was a National Guard Armory off of 8 Mile (yes, that 8 Mile) here in Detroit that had a Nike Hercules and some other cold war-era missle displayed on the front lawn painted up all patriotic-like in red, white 'n' blue. I haven' been out that way in a long time... I wonder if they're still on display...

Don't forget the guy that attempted to make that POS transform... http://www.pimbrecords.com/mfo/3.0/customvalk.html

If you don't like harsh 'black' panel lines, you could apply Tamiya Smoke transluescent paint with a fine brush. It makes for a nice dark grey wash. Plus, you can simply clean up any excess with a Q-tip & rubbing alcohol (although I'd test a small spot of the alpha to make sure the alcohol doesn't attack any of the stock paint job). I'm gonna try that with my Alpha since I gotta fix those few factory flaws anyhow...

Now that I cooled down somewhat, I've decided I'm just gonna buff out the defects & color match 'em to the base paint job. It's a flat finish tho, so it might take some experimenting to get it just right. It's one thing for me - an experienced modeler - to try this, but for consumers that don't have that skill... they're left holdin' an egg. I appreciate Kevin's offer to exchange it, but I don't wanna put him through the hassle... I'm still gonna let Toynami have an earful tho. Kev is awesome. I feel sorry for him and other retailers that are havin' to deal w/ less-than-pleased customers over this product Again, she looks purdy, but its obvious they coulda saved themselves a lot of hassles by making it a slightly larger scale. Everythings a bit too small and delicate. All the gimmicks, while neat, are kinda scary and overly delicate at this small oa scale. I would've definitly prefered it to be bigger and all plastic, as the diecast is basically useless. If anything it makes it kinda scary to handle and prone to paint flaking (already an issue). I can't bring myself to try to transform it at the moment. The paint issue still has me a little P-O'd. Oh well, the sticker assortment is impressive. BTW, mine is #03274

Thanks Kevin! I PM'd ya! You definitly deserve the awesome sales rep you've earned here on MacrossWorld! But to Toynami: SHAME ON YOU TOYNAMI FOR HAVING QUALITY INDEPENDENT RETAILERS PICK UP YOUR MESS!!!

Dude... read the post on the previous page...

MOTHERF*CK!!! What SH*T. Graham, you can mark me down as the first person to notice obvious quality defects before I even opend the F'n box!!! First off, thanks to Kevin for the fast & well-packed shipping. Now, if Toynami spent less $$$ on uselessly overdone packaging and more on hiring decent quality control folks, they might've had something here, as the sculpt looks nice. However, I can't comment on playability or poseability, cause I never even broke the seal! I felt like Ralphie in A Christmas Story... as soon as I opened the flap, I was like 'OH FUUUUUUUUUUUDGe...' Only I most assuredly did not say FUDGE. It was obvious that the paint was NOT EVEN F'N DRY before they packaged the piece of MasterCRAP because the paint on the flaps at either side of the cockpit was STUCK to the inside of the clear cover!!! I've circled the defects in the attached pic. It wasn't easy to get a halfway readable photo beacuse of the reflections, but you get the idea. How do you like that crap? I take it Kevin doesn't do returns? I guess I'll haveta email Toynami customer service. 1st Toynami toy = LAST Toynami toy I don't want a replacement from those turkeys... I want a refund.