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Messages - Jesse James

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17701
Watto's Junk Yard / Re: CreatureCantina.com 5-year Anniversary!
« on: April 11, 2006, 01:36 AM »
Welcome back Bill, glad to see your site didn't suck so bad it lost its spot on the web. ;)  Congrats on 5 years.

17702
I heard they had a contract that it should go to the city with the greatest NFL Team of 2005/2006, and the worst NHL team of the same year...

Obviously it goes to Pittsburgh, thank you.

17703
Customizing Tips and Tricks / Re: Casting of the Twins - wip
« on: April 10, 2006, 09:58 PM »
I've not generally had to coat things as you did Paul, though when I have, I've used THINNED vaseline...  I thin it with straight gasoline out of a can.  The only times I've had to use it is to keep two halves of a mold (for 2-part mold making) separate...

17704
EB kits have been clearancing like mad...  The due-date has come and gone though now in just the past couple weeks here, but I wouldn't put the "rare" lable on that figure at this point.  I'm sure someone otu there has a number of that Chewbacca available.  Honestly I'd like a couple more but the one I have will suit me...  The sets were in massive abundance around the country though, and many clearanced low quickly, so I'm sure the figures from the set will become available via trades.

Put it on a want list, you may get a taker.  You figure if someone got the set on clearance, they'd perhaps sell the figures for what average retail is on figures...  That's not a bad deal for everyone involved.

17705
Watto's Junk Yard / Re: Jeff For Fan Club President!
« on: April 10, 2006, 05:43 PM »


No No get out of the way, fun is being missed...  gah!

17706
That'd be correct.  That's the early bird Chewbacca figure, which uses the VOTC sculpt except a new ANH/ESB styled Chewbacca head.  A really great figure overall.

17707
Watto's Junk Yard / Re: Street Wars... A Game.
« on: April 7, 2006, 03:26 AM »
This was the first I'd ever heard of it...  Very unique I thought, though I guess it's not as unique as I'd imagined.  Nonetheless, I'd be interested in playing this game if there were a local chapter...  Not that I could devote the time to it I could've 8 years ago, but still it'd be fun I think to try at now and again...  Or being the target would have its own element of humor.

Hmm, I wonder if the targeted individual can fight back?  Packing a watergun themselves perhaps...  :)

17708
Watto's Junk Yard / Re: Happy Birthday Darth Slothus!
« on: April 7, 2006, 03:23 AM »
Happy birthday Jon, hope you had a good one man, you deserve it!

17709
Customizing Tips and Tricks / Re: Fodder Alert!
« on: April 7, 2006, 02:17 AM »
I have a full set of the first series...  They're quite nice figures.

The Hot Toyz Aliens Vs. Predator figures are "Snap Kit" figures.  In Asia, you can pick these up while at the check-out at the store I guess...  Like beside candy bars.

Anyway, they're blind packaged (in the first series at least), and what you got was just simply luck of the draw.  There's a number of chase figures, and I happened tog et a chase Alien in my case I ordered. 

The figures come in pieces, and you have to put them together.  It's fairly simple however you do need to heat them or they're prone to breaking.  They are nicely scaled to the SW figure's basic line...  Pretty spiffy overall.

The sculpting and detailing is unmatched by other Predator lines, though I think the MicroMan ones have cooler accessories, and probably more sturdy accessories.

The Hot Toyz figs are a little prone to falling udner their weight.  They're articulated with ball/socket joints EVERYWHERE which makes them fragile but they're really fun, I mean it's tough to describe how poseable they are and yet it's really well hidden.  The Predators even have little necklaces of skulls you can remove.  I have a Predator in my Cantina grabbing a drink and having a fight picked with him by Djas Puhr. :)  Bad move on Djas's part.

The Wave 1 figures included a number of somewhat "Basic" Predators and one cast in transluscent/clear plastic.  That one is to be using their see-through camoflauge from the movies remember?  Pretty neat idea, no? :)  I wound up with like an extra Scar instead of a chase Predator, but I got a blood red chase alien...  I also got 2 warrior aliens, a grid alien, and a transluscent alien.  There's an alien with a white brain too, dunno what that one's deal is but it's an Asian exclusive.  The Eldar Predator was the chase Predator but he is also regular release in the Wave 2 set (Fritz's is the Eldar Predator).

The Wave 2 set is different...  They may still be blindpacked, I'm not sure, but I do know that they EACH come with ONE piece to a massive Queen Alien figure.  You buy the set, you get the queen...  Unfortunately, not everyting in Wave 2 is "great".  Like one figure is just a facehugger egg pod, and another is an open egg pod...  Not much to it but that, and that blows if you ask me.

I want Wave 2 to get the queen.  You can get these for $10-ish a figure too, not $20, which is still pricey but worth it I think.  Check around and you can find them cheaper.  I got some for $7-$8 at one point to build a little army.

For the curious as to why I wanted these, if anyone is curious, I used to play Jedi Knight (Dark Forces 2) avidly on my computer.  The game was great, and at the time it had a VERY active editing community online...  Editors for games are people who take PC games and make new levels, new characters, new items, etc., and basically make the game fresh and new.  A lot of GREAT custom levels by editors are out there for the original Jedi Knight game... 

One level by one of the best editors out there is basically a whole long level in itself that is a cross-over Story of the "Aliens" universe with Star Wars.  In it the Empire has captured and isolated Aliens from the film Alien(s) in a research center...  The Rebels think it's biotechnology being created for the war, so they send an agent ala Kyle Katarn (may be Kyle, I forget now how the editor designed the story exactly) to infiltrate the bas eand obtain data.  In the process though he unleashes the aliens and the base goes to hell.

The editor made aliens for in the game, they're just like in the movie...  The level's amazingly professional in its looks and design, it's a BIG level too, it's very fun and the way he uses the effects and tools available to him, it's even scary as it should be.  Aliens go after stormtroopers, stormies ignore you tos ave themselves,it's great.

I got my AvP figs then to do some crossover customizing/scenes at some point.  The Hot Toyz figures are simply perfect for that if you ask me then. :)

17710
Toy Reviews / Re: New JD Review: Scorch (Republic Commando)
« on: April 7, 2006, 12:49 AM »
The torso doesn't even bug me really...  If the figure had knee joints (and by rights it should have articulation at the ankles too, but for argument's sake I'm willing to go with knees only), the figure would be 100x better...  Loose torso and all.  It's so close to being a good figure but Hasbro really left a steamer with this one I'm afraid.

Stuff like this just irks me...  On a Cantina alien, I maybe wouldn't be complaining as much...  Though let's face it, if they can do a whole wave of nicely articulated Cantina aliens in 2004/2005, why can't they do that now?  But still it wouldn't have bugged me QUITE as much...  I'm really looking forward to the Tatooine Wave because of that.

But with figures like Derlin and Veers, they're boring so articulation is all they have, and they got shorted...  Then comes Clone Commando "Scorch" and holy **** they just said "forget it, we're not articulating highly anticipated Clones anymore either". 

Bacara pissed me off some at the time...  It was tough to accept given all the other Clones available.  Now "Scorch" is right up there with Bacara...  It's excuseless for Hasbro to be this cheap this year.  They just came off, arguably, the best year they have ever had for Star Wars which was coming off ANOTHER great year for Star Wars (2004).  Admittedly they screwed the pooch in 2002 and most of 2003 (they got better at the end), but it's 2006 and figures are regressing in quality...  I'd hoped it was a fluke, that some of this was leftovers from past lines, but I'm seeing now that they just don't wanna spring for poseable figures like they should be.  It's really just BS, and I hope it changes soon.

17711
Jared's pics are already what we use in the reviews too btw. :)  I have no camera...  I'm lame.

17712
Watto's Junk Yard / Street Wars... A Game.
« on: April 6, 2006, 03:21 AM »
So I have gotten to where I watch G4TV a bit more...  Hey, they air ST:TNG re-runs all the time, that is enough of a hook for me.

I was watching ATtack of the Show though, another show, and they're talking about a game...  Street Wars.  It's not a video game though, it's a game game...  You get off your ass and play it.

The concept is that you are tasked with "assassinating" someone in the game...  Your weapon is a water gun...  You stalk them, you surprise them, you tail them...  It's really disturbing in a way but comical too.  I guess it's raising some dander among politicians and special interests groups, and it has come into the limelight someone as of late.

Anyone heard of this and I'm just behind the times by a lot or what?  This looks actually incredibly fun to me.  The planning, the executing the plan, the "chase", etc...  Just knowing my city as well as I do, I can imagine hunting people "for fun" in it...  It makes me want to shoot my buddy with a squirt gun just because.

This whole thing fascinates me...  I'm wondering if there's groups in many cities or just out in LA which was highlighted.  The whole thing was amusing to watch though...  Maybe I'm just easily entertained but this would be something I could find enjoyment in.

17713
Toy Reviews / Re: New JD Review: Scorch (Republic Commando)
« on: April 6, 2006, 01:51 AM »
Oh mama, Scorch...  Scorchy Scorch Scorch, where did you go wrong...

Well, my review's pretty thorough on this one...  The figure was one I was actually looking forward to because I do enjoy EU a bit, the game was ok (not great, just ok), and the books are supposedly quite good (I've yet to pick up any but I do want to soon).

The character's believable, the gear is too...  Great start to a potentially GREAT new style of Clone to get a figure of right?  Well, Hasbro took us to the limits on this one, then totally dropped the ball at the end...

The arms, while not super poseable, are quite nice, and the figure's torso even has a ball/socket joint.  The sculpt, fantastic...  The paintjob?  Great for a factory paintjob no doubt.  The figure is great......  until the legs.

Hasbro decided to make one of the weakest articulated Clones since Bacara and the 3-pack Clones...  Sadly, a Clone Commando, supposedly the most badass Clone ever, has leg articulation that rivals vintage figures...  Not unlike many figures in 2006, so am I surprised?  Not really...  Just annoyed.

The lacking leg articulation completely tanks such an action packed figure I'm afraid.  For every bit I griped about leg articulation on Derlin, Veers, or Carkoon Han, the lacking poseability on the Commando Clone's legs is that much worse.  :(  Sad to say this one got low marks based on the leg articulation exclusively with me.

You articulate Scorch's knees though, and the review's a 180...

I went from a plan of buying a couple dozen Scorch's to getting at most 3, and one of them is a gift...  It's not a horrible figure, but with lacking poseability, it's one of the weakest clones on the market if you ask me...  A bitch to find, but a weak figure nonetheless.

17714
Yeah Lucas isn't terrible about EU...  For instance the Boba Fett issue is classic as to exemplifying Lucas's stance on things.

Lucas approved the comics, which brought back Fett explicitly to capitalize on an over-hyped Star Wars background character with no real solid story...  Lucas set some "rules" for Fett's character for whoever wrote about him, but he didn't really say anything beyond the few guidelines...  Otherwise it was a thing where they could just have at it and put together a story people would enjoy and buy (that last bit being the key).

Lucas himself has gone on record saying Fett's dead to him...  In his "Star Wars World", Fett goes in the Sarlacc and starts a long painful death and that's that.  No glorious Sarlac vomiting and Fett resurrection. :)

Now, of course EU fans and Fett fans (most of them anyway) don't agree with that...  Even though Lucas himself says it's "how it is" to him, and he is the creator, but that doesn't seem to matter...

That's the fun about any form of outside analysis of art, be it literary or film or whatever...  When I had my Tolkien Studies course, one of the key concepts my prof wanted the class to keep in mind was that art is interpreted differently by everyone...  That includes Lucas's FILMS even...  The established "canon" as it were doesn't necessarilly mean you can't view it differently from different people.  The films have different points of view you can develope from watching them...  EU's kind of the same.  I think Canon is just a GOOD guideline for base arguments/discussions...  Like it sets some "facts" for lack of a better term since you're tyring to have solid discussion on a fictional universe...

The EU then is more loose and open to interpretation which makes its conversations sometimes more interesting, while the films are a little more "solid" and "factual" if you will...  It's good then because like if someone wants to argue the size of a ship or some such, you can say "no, the film clearly shows it is such and such feet long", and it's tough to debate because "the films are canon" and that's that.  Other elements of the films are really easily interpreted differently or viewed with different glasses by different people...  Like Luke's growth through the trilogy, or whatnot...

The discussion of the somewhat open-ended EU material though is great to me because there's more personal creative freedom one can use when looking at it.  Everything from EU art of a character varies from image to image, and the writing varies greatly too...  It's much more condusive to the imaginations of the readers/viewers interpeting it and discussing it as opposed to the films which are more solid and not all elements are easily interpreted in different ways.

17715
Worth picking up Hoth Customizing fodder...  Little else.

Oh, well maybe worth picking up VOTC Lando's too. :)

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