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Balsa posted:What I want to know is why control consoles in Star trek can even explode?! Because (hack) directors need a (cheap) way to demonstrate that a ship got damaged
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Jun 1, 2020 18:17
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And give a sense of "stakes" for the characters-- how will we know the crew is in trouble if the red and gold shirts aren't popping off? This is also why the really bad Star Trek movies like Nemesis, and Into Darkness will force the villain to target Earth in the third act even though it makes absolutely no sense for them to bother and the stakes are plenty high without them. "The audience will care more because they recognize Earth  ." This is also one reason why Star Trek: Beyond kind-of owns by spending a good chunk of the first act establishing Yorktown as somewhere to give a gently caress about.
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Jun 1, 2020 20:21
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banned from Starbucks posted:Hoverboards from Back 2 the Future 2. They dont even work on water unless you've got power. But the tech does work within the confines of the story, albeit you and I don't know HOW it works but they behave in a consistent way within the rules of the fictional universe and aren't inherently stupid or dangerous? I mean I do have questions i.e. how high above holes can it float (i.e. if you rode if off a cliff would it hover?) but it seems like they're sweet. Plus you can get a Mattel one for your nerd cave
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Jun 1, 2020 20:30
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banned from Starbucks posted:Hoverboards from Back 2 the Future 2. They dont even work on water unless you've got power. Most sci-fi tech doesn't work if you don't have power.
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Jun 2, 2020 07:17
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SlothfulCobra posted:It's great when something in a sci-fi story is written as being a horrible piece of garbage. It creates complications that can show off the depth of the setting. Why something is bad, why it's still in use. It's funny. So many writers will talk your ear off about how cool their stuff is, it's refreshing when they go the other way. I swear that punchline might be a reference the old joke "My father's gone crazy, he thinks he's a chicken! We'd get him help, but we need the eggs." banned from Starbucks posted:Hoverboards from Back 2 the Future 2. They dont even work on water unless you've got power. I think the joke is meant to be that, given the way people react to Marty, trying to use one on water is like thinking you can drive a motorcycle into the sea and it'll still work fine. General Battuta posted:It's the stargate, the loving stargate is the shittiest garbage to ever drop from the rear end of a civilization, it was made by engineers obeying the engineer code of ethics which is 'why would anyone use this device in any way except the correct way?' I'm pretty sure this might be intentional given the original builders and their henchmen are generally shown to have extremely advanced but impractical and poorly designed technology, which is what gives the troops a fighting chance to X-COM them. In part because they all have literal God complexes and design their stuff to look like holy artifacts to suit. For something to add, another case of a deliberately lovely piece of tech:  The ED-209 is meant to be a joke about American military hardware, in the same movie as the SUX, and it's the main competing bid to Robocop- on top of being obviously horribly ill-suited to being a peace officer (of course, the movie outright underestimated what American police are actually like) it's clearly a half-assed repurposing of a war machine that was probably rejected for being unsuited for any terrain besides flat roads. And the heavy rifles OCP makes can take them out in a single shot to the huge exposed grille in the centre. Ghost Leviathan fucked around with this message at 10:16 on Jun 2, 2020 |
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Jun 2, 2020 10:13
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Ghost Leviathan posted:I'm pretty sure this might be intentional given the original builders and their henchmen are generally shown to have extremely advanced but impractical and poorly designed technology, which is what gives the troops a fighting chance to X-COM them. In part because they all have literal God complexes and design their stuff to look like holy artifacts to suit. The Goa'uld didn't build the Stargates, but don't get me wrong, the Ancients are rear end in a top hat precursors.
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Jun 2, 2020 13:01
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Hunter Noventa posted:The Goa'uld didn't build the Stargates, but don't get me wrong, the Ancients are rear end in a top hat precursors. I was pretty much conflating the two because I never watched much of it and don't remember a lot, but iirc they kinda both are. The example mech-wagon in that comic, Girl Genius, is actually a bit of an interesting example in context; most crazy poo poo in that setting is built by Sparks, mad scientists who are like some degree of Reed Richards on meth in at least one field, and it's set in what's loosely the Napoleonic Wars- long before assembly lines and standardisation. (And I don't think those are implied to be invented prematurely in-universe) While there may be some mass production for individual parts (Which is probably why Sparks are so powerful at this point; before that, they'd have to built every bolt and gear for their inventions from scratch) every large piece of machinery is an artisan construction, using ultimately whatever was available at the time. So naturally, some of it's going to be a technically functional machine that's a pain in the rear end to operate. Like the goon said- it's funny and adds depth to the setting when there's reasons why a piece of sci-fi tech is crappy and still in use, especially because there's so many real-life examples of things exactly like that which people have to deal with every day. Like, printers. 1000 Brown M and Ms posted:Could be worse, could be this 1980s Lego set called 'All-Terrain Vehicle' I would play the poo poo out of a Mass Effect styled Lego game. Filthy Hans posted:it's because they're supposed to evoke ww2 light bombers and look cool Y-Wings according to manual stuff are cheap in the first place and horribly outdated, and fielded because the Rebel Alliance has to use anything that flies. They can carry bombs from point A to point B and that's what matters. TIE fighters are another fun example of a cheap piece of poo poo Star Wars spaceship, to the point where the pilots wear spacesuits because they didn't bother installing a life support system. (At least it means you have a chance of surviving a hull breach?) Of course, it's all pretty obvious that the Empire likes something they can build and deploy in the largest numbers possible. EU stuff though shows they can actually be quite effective in the right hands because they're super fast, and apparently they were built from stripped-down versions of Republic starfighters intended for Jedi, built to take full advantage of the capabilities of a precognitive pilot.
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Jun 2, 2020 14:21
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Ghost Leviathan posted:
The show made this point in a pretty unsubtle way: https://youtu.be/NjlCVW_ouL8
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Jun 2, 2020 19:02
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Those aren’t made by the guys who made the gates, though. It’s also kind of a dumb point. An energy weapon with no apparent need to reload/recharge and enough power to take down a helicopter? They’d be a military wet dream.
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Jun 2, 2020 20:20
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Proven even in the show by everyone adopting the alien zats as sidearms because they’re way more flexible and have better stopping power than a pistol.
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Jun 2, 2020 20:22
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Lemniscate Blue posted:The show made this point in a pretty unsubtle way: "This-"*Points weapon directly at the head of his compatriot*"Is a weapon of war!"
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Jun 2, 2020 20:46
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SolarFire2 posted:"This-"*Points weapon directly at the head of his compatriot*"Is a weapon of war!" Yeah, Amanda Tapping's reaction when he flags her with that barrel is funny as hell.
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Jun 2, 2020 21:37
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Lemniscate Blue posted:Yeah, Amanda Tapping's reaction when he flags her with that barrel is funny as hell. Oh sure, let’s imagine RDA giving a poo poo about gun safety. I always thought it would have been cool if they’d taken a staff weapon and earth-engineered it into something a little more gun like and less spear like* * Maybe they did? I only watched the later seasons sporadically
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Jun 3, 2020 03:14
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General Battuta posted:Those aren’t made by the guys who made the gates, though. It’s also kind of a dumb point. An energy weapon with no apparent need to reload/recharge and enough power to take down a helicopter? They’d be a military wet dream. Well yeah, but the point is they suck as a weapon against personnel because they're so oversized and cumbersome, and almost impossible to properly aim, while the P90 is the simple solution of putting out enough bullets to achieve the same result much more reliably with a much lower tech level. Of course I imagine both would quickly conclude the ideal solution would be to put the staves' power in a more practical form factor, but iirc the point is the Jaffa are working with tech they don't understand and can't fiddle with, while Earth humans know how their poo poo works and can improve it.
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Jun 3, 2020 05:21
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Theres a few times when someone rapid fires a staff at a decent rate. Just cut off the back end, integrate some sort of AR trigger and slap a piccatinny rail on that bitch and you're good to go.
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Jun 3, 2020 10:32
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the octagonal paper in BSG. or maybe more specifically, whatever printers they used to print the octagonal paper.
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Jun 3, 2020 11:50
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General Battuta posted:Proven even in the show by everyone adopting the alien zats as sidearms because they’re way more flexible and have better stopping power than a pistol. I've seen a few interviews where the cast mentions hating the zats. One of the reasons was they lacked any type of feedback. There are times in the show you can pick out where they keep firing zats but they end up not having the beams put in and it's pretty funny. Another reason some of the cast hated them was they said it looked like a dick. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOsYk0jZMt4
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Jun 3, 2020 19:35
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General Battuta posted:It's the stargate, the loving stargate is the shittiest garbage to ever drop from the rear end of a civilization, it was made by engineers obeying the engineer code of ethics which is 'why would anyone use this device in any way except the correct way?' LOL
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Jun 3, 2020 19:53
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GD_American posted:Is "light infantry" a tech? Because Starship Troopers. Just a bunch of easily punctured flesh dudes grabastically charging giant scything deathbugs and dying in droves. Sure would be neat if, oh, say, they were to create a powered suit of armor for these soldiers, maybe they should hire a sci-fi author or something This is something where media is really different from reality. In games at least, Light Infantry are dudes that exist to be cannon fodder, to die in droves while you research something worthwhile. In the real world, "light" and "heavy" refers to the logistics tail, mostly. Light Infantry are infantry that specialize in being infantry that don't require much in the way of supplies to do their job. In contrast, mechanicalized infantry are the dudes who roll with armor. The infantry themselves likely don't require much more in the way of supplies, but now the unit they are in drive APCs that need lots of fuel, ammo, maintenance etc. Actually, if they got gundam/power suits, I guess the term "mechanicalized infantry" is still valid  I don't know much about Gundam, it seems like they need as much work as a combat airplane at least professor metis posted:the octagonal paper in BSG. or maybe more specifically, whatever printers they used to print the octagonal paper. If we let ourselves off of the leash to criticize what was apparently a writing decision, it's *incredibly* stupid the humans can't detect Cylons. If Cylons were closer to human I can sorta get it, but the series makes it really clear that Cylons who look human are nothing like actual humans. At one point, I remember a Cylon taking a live data cable and then shoving it in her arm to communicate with a computer. At another point, we learn even a Cylon's blood is completely different from a human - it has greater packing efficiency or some poo poo, like it's a benzene ring instead of an ethanol molecule, which is why Cylon strength and endurance are heightened. A simple blood test would have clocked 'em
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Jun 4, 2020 23:38
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Nebakenezzer posted:If we let ourselves off of the leash to criticize what was apparently a writing decision, it's *incredibly* stupid the humans can't detect Cylons. If Cylons were closer to human I can sorta get it, but the series makes it really clear that Cylons who look human are nothing like actual humans. At one point, I remember a Cylon taking a live data cable and then shoving it in her arm to communicate with a computer. At another point, we learn even a Cylon's blood is completely different from a human - it has greater packing efficiency or some poo poo, like it's a benzene ring instead of an ethanol molecule, which is why Cylon strength and endurance are heightened. A simple blood test would have clocked 'em Moore probably gave it less thought than that. In DS9 they at least had some comments about how the Changelings would be smart enough to get around blood screenings.
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Jun 5, 2020 01:11
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Nebakenezzer posted:This is something where media is really different from reality. In games at least, Light Infantry are dudes that exist to be cannon fodder, to die in droves while you research something worthwhile. In the real world, "light" and "heavy" refers to the logistics tail, mostly. Light Infantry are infantry that specialize in being infantry that don't require much in the way of supplies to do their job. In contrast, mechanicalized infantry are the dudes who roll with armor. The infantry themselves likely don't require much more in the way of supplies, but now the unit they are in drive APCs that need lots of fuel, ammo, maintenance etc. Way more probably, most Gundams are about 18 meters (about 59 feet) tall. They're less power armor and more a humanoid vehicle.
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Jun 5, 2020 03:31
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Droyer posted:Way more probably, most Gundams are about 18 meters (about 59 feet) tall. They're less power armor and more a humanoid vehicle. Its honestly kind of terrifying Despite the title it doesn't do anything interesting, only the head moves
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Jun 5, 2020 04:32
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The only gundam I know of that is depicted as just garbage that can't win a fight is this one. Can't fight, but every year it makes it to the finals of the gundam tournament because nobody can find it when it's disguised as a windmill. I liked how the Millenium Falcon was a piece of garbage in the movies. Luke poo poo-talks it at first sight, and it spends the bulk of Empire Strikes Back on cinderblocks with engine trouble. But then the EU considered it some kind of gold standard for a ship.
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Jun 5, 2020 06:07
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Gundam is a series that treats the giant robots like actual military hardware for the most part. Aside from that one show with all the super goofy national stereotype designs, and the one where they're literally model kits, but that's for most part the exception to the dozen and counting shows that go full on war drama. Most giant robot animes that go into stuff like that also tend to have said robots be hangar queens that suck up a lot of time and money for maintenance and repairs, let alone upgrades. Usually the running gag is that the Space Nazi bad guys have multiple competing manufacturers trying to make the next wunderwaften, and the underdog protagonists steal one that works to use against them. Also that most of the whiz-bang prototypes have major flaws that make them impractical or need to be worked around, or are so high-performance that only a handful of pilots, often post-human ones, can use them properly. Gundam Wing has the Tallgeese, the first Mobile Suit built, which is so high-performance it kept killing its test pilots. The Wing Zero in the same series might be one of the most powerful Gundams in the series and is even worse; it can drive its pilots mad and might have eaten one of them. Zoids also comes to mind, being kinda halfway to Gundam but a bit more cartoony since the robots are giant animal mecha, some of which are implied to have some self-awareness and wander around like wild animals. The Liger Zero in New Century has a similar thing where it refuses any pilot except the weirdo thief who tries to steal it (although he might be able to say that it's more like it stole him) and starts out with no ranged weapons, til they figure out it's got an extremely modular design even by Zoid standards and can be outfitted for different mission profiles. Unfortunately, since the Blitz Team's owner is a goofy shopaholic and a bit of a certified mad scientist, while the first two armour modules are practical for their intended purpose and do well to beat certain opponents at their own game, the Panzer armour turns out to be the very definition of 'Just because you can, doesn't mean you should'. When you take a giant robot tiger/lion that's optimised for speed and melee combat and give it the armour of a literal walking tank, about forty zillion missile pods and two fuckoff huge charged particle cannons, you end up with something that can barely move and is in constant danger of overheating to levels causing terminal damage to both itself and the pilot. Sure, it obliterates the gently caress out of anything unlucky enough to be in its line of sight, but it becomes standard procedure to eject the entire armour set immediately after firing right there on the battlefield. Trast posted:Moore probably gave it less thought than that. In DS9 they at least had some comments about how the Changelings would be smart enough to get around blood screenings. Sisko's dad, a gourmet chef, figures out a way they could bypass the blood screenings with just like five minutes' thought. Not to mention an early episode shows Odo, who's the first to admit his shapeshifting abilities are extremely amateur, can fake liquids and containers enough to pretend to drink beer. And it turns out the Changeling is the guy giving the blood tests.
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Jun 5, 2020 07:02
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The best mech anime is Patlabor, because it's about keystone cops using their giant mech to cover up when they gently caress up fishing.
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Jun 5, 2020 07:07
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Lemniscate Blue posted:The show made this point in a pretty unsubtle way: which is funny because in the first season or two the goa'uld armor was definitely effective against bullets (sometimes requiring seemingly a whole loving magazine to drop a jaffa) whereas a staff bolt would typically drop them in one hit i feel like someone at some point said "uhhhhh why doesn't the air force capture and reverse-engineer some staff weapons into a more ergonomic shape already??" and the producers were all "gently caress, if we have everyone packing staff weapons we'll blow our loving effects budget... let's just make it so they actually suck instead"
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Jun 5, 2020 07:32
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Ghost Leviathan posted:
That's at least consistent, as the "liquid" is still in contact with him. It when a small part gets separated from the whole that it reverts to a gelatinous state. The should have just cut off fingers as proof.
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Jun 5, 2020 13:22
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Nebakenezzer posted:In contrast, mechanicalized infantry are the dudes who roll with armor. The infantry themselves likely don't require much more in the way of supplies, but now the unit they are in drive APCs that need lots of fuel, ammo, maintenance etc. Speaking of lovely pieces of garbage tech, what's the closest sci-fi analogue to the M2 Bradley 
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Jun 5, 2020 15:31
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Smart guns from Aliens seem cool but are extremely lovely if you need to do any of the following in a combat situation. * shoot over cover without exposing you're entire upper torso. * climb over something * go into a prone position * assist a teammate with any task
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Jun 5, 2020 18:18
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Ghost Leviathan posted:Sisko's dad, a gourmet chef, figures out a way they could bypass the blood screenings with just like five minutes' thought. Not to mention an early episode shows Odo, who's the first to admit his shapeshifting abilities are extremely amateur, can fake liquids and containers enough to pretend to drink beer. And it turns out the Changeling is the guy giving the blood tests. I really enjoy that scene. Grandpa Sisko had powerful "I'm through with this bullshit" energy. As far as Odo goes he does mention he has to fake the cup too. So at least for that scene it was never separate from him.
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Jun 5, 2020 18:24
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Ghost Leviathan posted:Gundam Wing has the Tallgeese, the first Mobile Suit built, which is so high-performance it kept killing its test pilots. The Wing Zero in the same series might be one of the most powerful Gundams in the series and is even worse; it can drive its pilots mad and might have eaten one of them. SlothfulCobra posted:The only gundam I know of that is depicted as just garbage that can't win a fight is this one. quote:I liked how the Millenium Falcon was a piece of garbage in the movies. Luke poo poo-talks it at first sight, and it spends the bulk of Empire Strikes Back on cinderblocks with engine trouble. But then the EU considered it some kind of gold standard for a ship.
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Jun 5, 2020 19:38
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I like how part of the joke in Robocop is that not only is the ED-209 a piece of crap, Robocop himself is largely a piece of crap.
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Jun 5, 2020 19:41
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mind the walrus posted:I like how part of the joke in Robocop is that not only is the ED-209 a piece of crap, Robocop himself is largely a piece of crap. A focus-grouped piece of crap, even. (Taken to extremes in the sequel) Ghost Leviathan posted:The Wing Zero in the same series might be one of the most powerful Gundams in the series and is even worse; it can drive its pilots mad and might have eaten one of them. wait what?
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Jun 5, 2020 21:33
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Don't forget the bridge consoles in the Stargate ships also tend to explode when poo poo gets tense. I think they at least don't spew loose rocks all over bridge like the Star Trek ones.
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Jun 5, 2020 22:16
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One of the gods they run into every third week demands a blood sacrifice of 100 red shirts. You go along to get along ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
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Jun 5, 2020 22:46
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Ghost Leviathan posted:Gundam is a series that treats the giant robots like actual military hardware for the most part. Aside from that one show with all the super goofy national stereotype designs, and the one where they're literally model kits, but that's for most part the exception to the dozen and counting shows that go full on war drama. Most giant robot animes that go into stuff like that also tend to have said robots be hangar queens that suck up a lot of time and money for maintenance and repairs, let alone upgrades. See that's the thing, I cannot imagine the supply system you would need to keep those fuckers running. I know that's not the point of the show but gently caress me the poor bastards that have to work on those things I can't imagine how they keep them going. Can just imagine the staff meeting where some poor fucker is getting raked over the coals for not having enough giant transforming robots mission capable for the days flying DUDE ITS FIFTY FEET TALL AND GOES INTO SPACE ITS ALL I CAN DO TO KEEP IT FUCKIN SERVICED
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Jun 6, 2020 00:12
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Slippery posted:See that's the thing, I cannot imagine the supply system you would need to keep those fuckers running. I know that's not the point of the show but gently caress me the poor bastards that have to work on those things I can't imagine how they keep them going. Can just imagine the staff meeting where some poor fucker is getting raked over the coals for not having enough giant transforming robots mission capable for the days flying They kind of go into that in one of the alternate universe stories, Iron Blooded Orphans, where the main characters run their own PMC but don't start out with a ton of funding.
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Jun 6, 2020 01:44
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muscles like this! posted:They kind of go into that in one of the alternate universe stories, Iron Blooded Orphans, where the main characters run their own PMC but don't start out with a ton of funding. Yeah, it always struck me as being along the lines of the folks who wonder about the upkeep of the Death Star bathroom-- glad to know it's not only me wondering! I'll have to check that series out - thanks!
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Jun 6, 2020 02:03
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Its on (US) Netflix.
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Jun 6, 2020 02:12
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I think most engagements with mobile suits involve fairly small numbers of units compared to how many tanks and jets the modern military fields. That probably helps for maintenance logistics. The space scenes of most gundam shows are fairly realistic aside from the giant robots. There's no artificial gravity aside from the centrifugal force inside the colonies, so there's all these people floating around and having to use handholds to scoot along hallways.
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Jun 6, 2020 04:13
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