Quote from: Keonobi on April 26, 2010, 12:27 PM

Quote from: Nicklab on April 25, 2010, 04:42 PM

Right now I'm reading Michael Crichton's Eaters Of The Dead.  It's the movie that the film The 13th Warrior was based upon.  Conceptually the way it's written is interesting, but I'm only a few chapters into it at this point.

IIRC isn't Eaters of the Dead based on the Beowulf epic poem?  Obviously Crichton is a lot easier to read than middle english...

Yes...loosely

I tore through everything Crichton in 1991 after I read and fell in love with Jurrasic Park...this was my least favorite of all of his books

Very loosely.  

I find it a little bit interesting that he tried to establish some backstory in terms of how this whole story was reported.  Notably with scholars having studied the scattered writings of Ahmed ibn Fahdlan, plus the footnotes along the way.  It makes the book read more like history, which seems to be Crichton's point with this book.

But the core idea is actually pretty interesting.  Crichton puts forth the notion that the Wendloe are the last remaining Neanderthal tribe in Europe, and they're in conflict with the Norsemen.  You have to figure that this kind of conflict did actually occur between Neanderthals and Cro Magnon.  But to have that happen as late as the 10th century?  The possibility is certainly there.  Especially since so little of Norse history was recorded in written form.  Rather, most of what we do know of the Vikings was relayed through the oral tradition of the sagas and epic poems.  Like Beowulf.

Right now I'm reading Michael Crichton's Eaters Of The Dead.  It's the movie that the film The 13th Warrior was based upon.  Conceptually the way it's written is interesting, but I'm only a few chapters into it at this point.

It looks like TRU is attempting to capitalize on the exclusive status of the EU wave.  I've seen prices on TLC basic figures jump up at TRU to $7.49 each.

I managed to score my last two comic 2-packs this morning at a local Target.  They had 2 of each on the pegs, so the pickings were pretty good.  It was good to see these show up, especially with them being the last mainline offerings of this line.

Quote from: Jesse James on April 15, 2010, 12:00 AM

Anyone know which figures come with the head/blaster of HK50?

I know the Red Clone Commander and Luke do, but which of the new repacks come with it?  If any?   

Plo "Meat Curtains" Koon

That's bizarre.  The ROTS wave Plo Koon has also had HK-50's left arm packed in with him in the TESB wave cases.

Good scoop Jayson!  It's nice to know that collectors can (somewhat) focus their efforts and hit the stores on May 1st.  Provided of course that they don't sell out in the next two weeks, of course.  It stinks when a basic figure wave winds up being exclusive to a single retailer.  But a piece of info like this can at least give collectors a better shot at getting a wave that's going to be a bit more scarce than usual.

It was cool to see so much of the Seperatist arsenal arrayed in the battle scene.  The Retail Droids made another appearance.  The ranks looked imposing.  And by the same measure the electron bomb affected not only the Seperatist forces, but also a lot of the Republic gear.  The small detail of Anakin's robotic arm being affected was a nice touch.

The M*A*S*H* reference?  Very funny.  Once I heard "Trapper, Rex, Hawkeye" I nearly bust out laughing!  The homages to past material has been almost a little over the top.

As for the Zillo beast?  The Godzilla references were almost hamhanded.  But the storyline of what to do with the Zillo beast was interesting.  The clashing of the Jedi ideals with the Dugs plans added to the overall tension.  And when it came to Palpatine's reactions about the Zillo beast being impervious to a lightsaber?  That was one of the few insights we've seen in the Clone Wars about Palpatine's Sith inclinations.  It's nice to see a number of plot points being examined subtly in the series.

The main army builder bad guys have already been released in those $1 store unarticulated incarnations, and I assume the articulated versions are coming in the later waves.

Anyone who saw the trailers knows what I'm talking about, but for SPOILER reasons i'll be quiet now.

Hasbro identified that assortment as their "Emerging Markets" line.  It's designed to be low end stuff that can get more of a foothold internationally and at discount retail in the US.