March Hauls!

[JediTricks]

6x12" extra high density foam cylinder - $10 off Amazon, really nice, doesn't crush down like the normal foam cylinders. These are used for exercise and stretching.

I'm not sure how much he's moved around in the last almost 6 years--I wasn't around. So it's possible he could have been sitting out in an overly sunlit room (I do know he was on the sunrise end of the house for a while), which might attribute to most of the damage.

If it's sun damage, you'll be able to tell by plastic that was hidden from the light still being white. If it's smoke damage it'll be pretty uneven and it'll smell from it. If it's the material outgassing or breaking down over time, which it often is, then it will have even wear on parts not exposed to sun and it won't stink. A buddy of mine is a expert toolmaker with tons of experience in materials, this is consistent with what he's told me about ABS discoloring.

Sorry to hear it. Fishing line from the ceiling? Actually, no, you can't live with a woman and expect to get away with that one.

You underestimate how cool my woman is. If I weren't afraid of them falling down, I'd do it.

Damn, that is pretty cool. 3M Command hooks hold 8lbs a piece and don't mark walls if you remove the command strips slowly (when I moved out of my last place, I did most of them slow and then did one medium and it ruined the paint, and one fast and it pulled the drywall out of its spot!), a few of those on the wall should do the trick fine, if you keep the line short enough there won't be any sway, if you put a piece of paper behind him the paint won't rub, it should be fine. Give it some thought, it's worth displaying.

My primary worry is that he appears to be made out of very GPS-looking gold plastic, but I could just be being paranoid, as I’d hope Hasbro would’ve learned their lesson on that by now.

I can't remember the last figure I had that showed any damage from gold plastic syndrome. I've had plenty of QC issues too, you know I'm thorough about such things.

Thanks to JT, (and Honey Bear), I ended up with two FoC Starscreams. (They both found Starscream for me within an hour of each other. Honey Bear ended up taking the extra for himself, and buying some Kreons off of me.)

Dom
-review coming soon.

Man is that fast, I had that FOC Starscream in my hand 48 hours prior, glad you got him so quick even if it would have panned out without that.

[Onslaught Six]

If it's sun damage, you'll be able to tell by plastic that was hidden from the light still being white. If it's smoke damage it'll be pretty uneven and it'll smell from it. If it's the material outgassing or breaking down over time, which it often is, then it will have even wear on parts not exposed to sun and it won't stink. A buddy of mine is a expert toolmaker with tons of experience in materials, this is consistent with what he's told me about ABS discoloring.

I think it's the material breaking down, then, because all the areas that would have been covered up, like the inside of Magnus's arms are yellowing, too. (The arms turn inside out for God Fire Convoy, if you recall.)

I can't remember the last figure I had that showed any damage from gold plastic syndrome. I've had plenty of QC issues too, you know I'm thorough about such things.

Torca and TM1 Megatron are the last figures I know of who are reported to suffer from GTS. I know from experience on both.

[138 Scourge]

God of War: Ascenscion! Normally I don't get a game this soon after it comes out, but my tax return's due in the nextcouple days, and we're supposed to get a bunch of snow this weekend, so iI figured it was a good time to pick this up.

[JediTricks]

I think it's the material breaking down, then, because all the areas that would have been covered up, like the inside of Magnus's arms are yellowing, too. (The arms turn inside out for God Fire Convoy, if you recall.)

Yeah, I figured as much. This can be corrected with a more careful batch, it's possible your second version might never have this problem due to a better mix on the material, but there's no way to know for sure at this point.

Torca and TM1 Megatron are the last figures I know of who are reported to suffer from GTS. I know from experience on both.

I forgot how gold those figures really were compared to something like FOC Grimlock, I don't think hasbro's bothered to even attempt another figure that way since. I think even the cheap Chinese knockoff brands have stopped using it.

God of War: Ascenscion! Normally I don't get a game this soon after it comes out, but my tax return's due in the nextcouple days, and we're supposed to get a bunch of snow this weekend, so iI figured it was a good time to pick this up.

Opinion? I'm totally holding off on that game until I hear word of mouth, the last game really put a pin on the franchise and going backwards is worrisome.

[andersonh1]

Yesterday's haul, via air mail from the UK: Big Finish's production of Treasure Island, starring Tom Baker. Also autographed by Tom Baker! Woo!

[BWprowl]

I managed to find FoC Kickback in a store! He’s kinda hit or miss. Robot mode’s great, I really like the overhead claws and wing-sword-things he can hold, and he’s very nicely articulated, but the huge disc launcher weapon isn’t super impressive, doesn’t look great when he holds it, and rather hampers the figure then due to its size and weight. It’s kinda fun to attach the wings to the back of it to make a neat little beetle-drone-thing, but the fact that it’s got nowhere else to go if you don’t have him holding it means it ends up set off to the side most of the time. Transformation’s not bad, the way the head/chest section changes and moves around is clever, but the end result I’m kinda weird about. It certainly *looks* rather half-assed, especially the legs. They just don’t look right and can’t be repositioned in any decent way. But according to the art of his CG model on the box, that’s actually what they’re supposed to look like! It’s just weird because I can’t actually fault them for half-assing or cheating a transformation, but I’m amazed the design itself is so lazy. Overall the insect mode is kinda dumpy and looks more like Bob from the IDW comics, rather than actually evoking Kickback. Least the robot mode is nice, even if the weapon isn’t.

[Dominic]

Thanks to JT, I got an FoC Starscream. Review will be in the "Generations" forum shortly.


Dom

[Dominic]

On my way back from a job fair in Boston, I popped in to Marshall's and grabbed the "Kre-O" Wheeljack/Knock-out two pack. $18 is not a bad price for what I am essentially treating as a 4 pack of Kreon figures, especially given how much I like Wheeljack as a character.


Dom
-and, ya know, drowning sorrows.

[138 Scourge]

God of War: Ascenscion! Normally I don't get a game this soon after it comes out, but my tax return's due in the nextcouple days, and we're supposed to get a bunch of snow this weekend, so iI figured it was a good time to pick this up.

Opinion? I'm totally holding off on that game until I hear word of mouth, the last game really put a pin on the franchise and going backwards is worrisome.

I'm liking it a lot. I was kind of bothered by the prequel thing, too, because I can't think of any good prequels to anything ever. But I can't think of what would have followed the events in GoW III. Going after other pantheons? Maybe taking out the Roman versions of the Greek gods? Kratos waking up in the modern day? I dunno. Maybe a prequel is the best way to go, story-wise. Whether the story holds up to the previous games, the game's still a lot of fun to play and throws some just insane visuals at you. There was one scene in particular where my fiancee had to come downstairs to figure out why I was yelling "Holy fuck is that happening?!". The only downside I've found is that the controls in some points of the game seem a little buggy and off, particularly in monster-fighting mini-games, where you've got to dodge and attack while holding a particular monster. I'll be going along with it and then Kratos and said monster become unresponsive for a minute while I yell, "C'mon, man, do something!" Still, that's not a frequent thing, or a deal-breaker for me. Maybe there's patches coming to fix that, too? I don't know how these things work. Overall, I give it really high marks, and am looking forward to having time to finish the thing.

Plus the thing comes with just an absurd amount of demos for other games, which is something I really haven't seen before on a PS3 game, even on games I've bought new. So kind of a cool touch, I guess? It's been kind of fun for me to try out short versions of other games before I get in to a couple hours worth of mythology-murdering.

Oh, and there's multiplayer, if you're into that. I'm not really too into that, myself, so I haven't messed with it. But the option's there, anyway.

[JediTricks]

Received TF:RID vol 1 and 2 from Amazon.

Picked up MTMTE annual and issues 13, 15 at Golden Apple halfway across town. (Issue 14 was at my local shop already.)

Ticket to GI Joe Retaliation in laser-projected 3D last night.

Now to start reading.

I'm liking it a lot. I was kind of bothered by the prequel thing, too, because I can't think of any good prequels to anything ever. But I can't think of what would have followed the events in GoW III. Going after other pantheons? Maybe taking out the Roman versions of the Greek gods? Kratos waking up in the modern day? I dunno. Maybe a prequel is the best way to go, story-wise. Whether the story holds up to the previous games, the game's still a lot of fun to play and throws some just insane visuals at you. There was one scene in particular where my fiancee had to come downstairs to figure out why I was yelling "Holy fuck is that happening?!". The only downside I've found is that the controls in some points of the game seem a little buggy and off, particularly in monster-fighting mini-games, where you've got to dodge and attack while holding a particular monster. I'll be going along with it and then Kratos and said monster become unresponsive for a minute while I yell, "C'mon, man, do something!" Still, that's not a frequent thing, or a deal-breaker for me. Maybe there's patches coming to fix that, too? I don't know how these things work. Overall, I give it really high marks, and am looking forward to having time to finish the thing.

Plus the thing comes with just an absurd amount of demos for other games, which is something I really haven't seen before on a PS3 game, even on games I've bought new. So kind of a cool touch, I guess? It's been kind of fun for me to try out short versions of other games before I get in to a couple hours worth of mythology-murdering.

Oh, and there's multiplayer, if you're into that. I'm not really too into that, myself, so I haven't messed with it. But the option's there, anyway.

Thanks for the 411 on it. I'm surprised to hear the controls are off in parts, that's kind of the area they always got right before. Is it weird to have a big change in the weapons available?

I kinda would like to see them follow up GOW3 with the ending of GOW1, where Kratos remained the god of war into the 21st century, there are a lot of avenues to bring him back such as your Roman idea.