Eh, ok I'm not the one to suddenly turn into 50 cent, but whatever...

Anyway, what's your take on droid colors?

It's obvious that battledroids come in a silver metal color if not painted, because it's clearly seen UNDER the paint on their scrapes.

OK, fine...  But why were Fed. BD's tan, and the BD's on Geonosis are red?  And why are SBD's their gunmetal color and not red?

With HBO showing AOTC now, I've had plenty of time to see AOTC over and over again, and likely will see it plenty more...  and even longer still when Skinemax gets it (if they get it?) like they do most HBO shows.

I have come to a personal conclusion that BD's are actually painted as a way of camoflauging them...  Most military products are on Earth, and it makes sense to do so with BD's...  I've seen no clear indication of them being painted for any other reason than that, and the red does quite nicely match Geonosis.

I would assume the tan of the Trade Fed's lineup was either the "base" paint used and camoflauging wasn't a priority to them, or it was intentionally used as an "Urban" camo deco to blend into the architecture of Naboo's cities.  Awfully tan looking place anyway, and it makes some level of sense.

SBD's I've come to the conclusion that their coating, which I believe is what gives them their gunmetal look (I assume they're as "silver" underneath as a standard battledroid) is something of a  blaster-retardant material...  A simple thing that gives them a lil extra "umph" on the battlefield that a Standard droid does not have.

I must admit, seeing the movie for about the 8th time now has enlightened me to the military strategy and coordination of droids...

Did you know there's commander battledroids on the field in the Geonosis battle for instance?  The one Windu summersaults over is one for sure, which I personally did not realize before.  I find it interesting...

Also, I believe the edited droid control ship raid implies that Battledroids no longer have the "Knock out the ship, knock out the droid army" weakness that the TF's army had on Naboo?

Droids independantly thinking and acting?  Seems to me that clones aren't so darn superior anymore, especially when one sees BD's acting pretty darn intelligently on Geonosis.

I've not got the Visual Dictionary for Episode II, so maybe they shed some EU light on what the droid's red color variation is for exactly, but I was curious if any of the rest of you had thought of this at all?  

I seem to recall seeing some awfully tan looking droids in a hangar on Geonosis though too, with blue "pilot" markings...  Very odd to mix them in there too.

I was thinking about this tonight because it's 4 a.m., I can't sleep, and I think I have a chemical imbalance.

Anyway, So we see the political climate in Episode One right?  It's a half-@$$ed democracy of sorts, where not only do individual planets have representation but also financial institutions, and Business organizations...  It's also likely that trade guilds and labor organizations have some say in the galactic political process as well.

At the same time, it's this obviously corrupt and very slow process that leads to a civil war.

The "Separatists", or Confederacy join together to form an independant government aside from the Republic.  The Republic doesn't want this...  The most "recent" event we can liken this to on Earth (That the majority of us reading/contributing to this topic can relate to anyway) is the U.S. Civil War...  The Confederate States of America seceeded from the United States of America over individual rights.

It's similar in a way...  

Now, we're led to believe the leaders of the Separatists are inheritly evil by Episode Two.  I don't necessarily BELIEVE they're all bad (Though I think it's established the Neimodians are).  EU has established several planets joining the secession as well who are leaving because they're genuinely fed up with the crap government handed them by the Republic.

OK, so by this we see that regime change was needed, right?  I mean, WE know the Republic was crap...  

Problems could abound in the Republic's world that we have no clue of...  We know the Naboo conflict was one issue, and thinking of it in Earth terms it's as if the whole of our world's population were overthrown by an invading force, with millions of casualties...  That's a mass issue.  That's the equivalent of World War 2 happening within a month or so, for an example.

That's ONE conflict out of who knows how many other civil wars, conflicts and other issues that can be directly blamed upon the Republic's very poor structure.

OK, so the "dark times" come...  The Clone Wars end, and the Empire takes over...  The Empire gives some "System's rights" up until the events of A New Hope we know, because it's not until the Death Star's completion that the Emperor dissolves the Senate.  

The Empire brings with it a change of rules I guess...  In some EU writing, the Empire's got some "fine points" set out that you cannot possibly get from movies that show it as 100% evil.  For instance the Empire sets up control on trade so that groups like the Trade Fed. cannot pull their blockade BS.  The Empire restricts arms trading, and expands space exploration/colonization.  The Empire takes a personal interest in every colonized world, either through small patrols or full garrisons.  The Empire attempts to curtail the "Scum" of the galaxy like Han Solo.  The Empire establishes training and schools.  In the game TIE Fighter, the Sepan Civil War (A system of human inhabited planets) is ceased by Imperial Intervention that's fair and just for both sides.  

Anyway, we all know the "bad" stuff that comes with Imperial control as well...  The slavery, Alien prejudice & human priority, martial control of the galaxy, mass propoganda, control of personal freedoms, etc...

Now, during the Empire's time, the another civil war breaks out...  Several planets ally with each other, much like the separatists did prior to the Clone Wars onset.  They title themselves "The Alliance to Restore the Republic".  Sounds better I guess.  The Alliance seems hunky dorry by the film's view, but what are they asking for?

Well if they're truly wishing to restore the Republic, are they wishing to restore it to how it was?  It was pretty darn crappy by my estimation...  So why would you WANT to restore it?  Would crime run rampant again?  Would political backstabbing the wheeling/deeling of politicians not take over once more?

What's so great about the Alliance other than they say the Emperor's a bad guy, and point out where he is bad?  

OK, so here's my question...  Which government do you want?  I'm going to request that you THINK of this as a human...  IE: Don't think "Well man I like wookies, and so I'd hate to be one in the Empire's reign"...  Just think of it like you're a human, though  having some sympathy is fine if that's what makes you choose the choice you do.

Alright, this is a goofy topic, I'm sorry...  Maybe it's just me, and stuff like this keeps my interest.    Feel free to ignore the topic all together if you find this 100% boring.

I'm thinking that I'm actually leaning towards the Empire...  I'm disheartened with the Republic after seeing the prequals.  The Empire sort of brings a "hope" the Republic didn't.  The only thing is, the Alliance is thinking idealisticly, and maybe they'd planned government changes to curtail political wrong-doings that ran rampant in the Old Republic.  I dunno...  

I'm a bit on the fence on the issue I guess.  If you've played TIE Fighter, you'd be on the fence too.  It's quite an interesting story, and after playing it (And reading some of the "Empire's Side" in various forms) you'd question this too I believe.

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While I'm disappointed to see a game that may not have improvements on blaster/ranged weapons, I still think the game looks sweet.

The screen of the docked ship at a Tatooine-Esque spaceport is VERY nice work.

Take note that the Jedi are wearing "Hoth Rebel" uniforms while on that cold weather planet...  Pretty nice attention to detail.

Check TRU.com (Amazon I guess it is) also, as they WERE clearancing their exclusive landspeeder.

It's a nice piece even at $20.  The new one's to-scale, has a decent pack-in Luke, and Luke's hunting rifle even clips to the side of the new Landspeeder just as the rifle did in the movie.

I'd gotten a couple on sale earlier in the year for customizing, and just ordered 2 more the other night because that ship really is a nice piece of work.

I hope those of you who don't have it take advantage, because I felt that was one of the surprise hits of 2002, and it's sold out of every TRU I've been to since around December of last year so online (And for 50% off) is a great deal guys!

Don't pass it up!

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Check it out folks!

Republic Commando, a new FPS set to use the Unreal Engine is going to come out sometime in the near future...

A "Dark and realistic" combat experience.  Could the Tom Clancy clone game be a reality?

I sure as hell hope so!  This is easily my most anticipated game at this point!

For X-Box and PC (Glad I got a GC because I always would rather play stuff on PC, and everything for X-Box is on PC, haha).

Things look bright for gaming this year!  For me anyway...  This game sounds cool, and unlike past FPS gaming in the Star Wars universe...  Could be much MUCH more intense.  I'm giddy!

So, ya think?  

Star Wars Tech commentaries made mention of this possibility, and the game Force Commander also made mention of General Veers being a Colonel aboard the DS who escaped upon seeing the possible destruction of her.

The distance away that the Falcon, X-Wings and the one Y-Wing were could suggest that there was some time between the DS's explosion for some personnel to make it to shuttles or fighters and leave...

Veers' shuttle was damaged in the escape and he crashes on Yavin IV (He's a secondary goal in one of the missions you are commanding).

It's an interesting debate...  I personally feel several of the station's crew might've made their way to shuttles to bug out...  Guys like Bast who saw a distinct possibility in the station's destruction maybe were making early preps...

Your take?  What do you believe?  Think I'm nuts?  

Yup, it's been announced (yesterday or the day before).

It's up at www.lucasarts.com

Also, one of the gamer mags has the first screenshots.  The game will include at least SOME kind of multiplayer, and it will be a Gamecube exclusive just as Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader was/is.

Visually it looks stunning in the few screens pictured so far, but I'll wait till I play it to critique gameplay.  There's actually 3rd person shooter levels judging by the screens (Even slicing open an AT-AT and blowing it up with a grenade).  I'm not sure how I'll like those mixed in with the flight gaming.

I hope the game has a decent story, more atmospheric missions, and that the game is as BIG as Rogue Leader (Or bigger) in flight combat, and that the 3rd person stuff is just a side thing between missions sometimes.

Rogue Leader didn't have much of a story though, and was too "Space" based...  2 aspects I missed from the original Rogue Squadron.

Should be cool though I do believe, so I'm looking forward to this immensely.