Katarn07

Hello all! For those that were around in the days I frequented here, you may remember my amazingly huge action figure collection. I've slowly been taking possession of all of that stuff from my parents' house. I only have two shelves in my house dedicated to Star Wars collectibles instead of the whole basement/bedroom I grew up with so I have to be very careful with my planning on what pieces I keep, what I put in storage to pass on to my son, and what I sell off. The top shelf is completed and features main characters from the original trilogy in 12" form. Rather than just recreating the movie characters for the bottom shelf with the 3.75" figures, I have decided to make a Dark Forces/Jedi Knight shelf. I'll post pictures of the whole display later when I think it's complete but for the time being, I'll tease you with two props that will be featured in the setup: Custom Built Resin Bryar Blaster Pistol Machine Fabricated Aluminum/Brass Lightsaber I already own the lightsaber. Found it on eBay last year. They're pretty scarce. I've seen them for auction as low as $150 and as high as $300. This was the "grail piece" I always dreamed of having as a kid so I couldn't help but pull the trigger on the first one that popped up. I have also seen Yun's saber and the Jedi Outcast version on there. I only have the money and space for one so I picked what I believe to be the most iconic of the three Katarn sabers. I just recently found that Bryar Pistol for sale. They're offered up as raw resin kits that you have to finish, assemble and paint yourself for $125 or they're offered up as completed, fully assembled, and painted props for $300. They're made to order so even though I ordered it already, I have to wait a couple more weeks to get the raw kit and then I have to assemble and paint it up. You can order one for yourself here. I'll be sure to post a picture of the whole display when it's finished. In addition to these props, the display will feature 3.75" figures of Kyle and all the enemies he encounters (some of them will be custom made), miniature game pieces, the game jewel cases with cover art inserts, the Dark Horse Illustrated Novellas, and a framed image of Kyle Katarn from the FMV cinematics signed by actor Jason Court.

I remember spending YEARS trying to beat the original Dark Forces as a kid. Anoat City, the Detention Block, and the Imperial City levels' puzzles were ridiculously challenging. And don't get me started on the levels where it was tough just to stay alive! Truth be told, I've never beaten the game on hard without cheats. I can't remember which levels off the top of my head but I've had to bump the difficulty down to medium and even easy on a few of them. Here is a guy who played through the game on easy from start to finish in just 20 minutes and 34 seconds without using console cheats. (This BBCode requires its accompanying plugin to work properly.)

Dark Forces was released on this day twenty years ago. It was among the first FPS of that era to introduce an actual narrative, mission objectives, puzzles, platforming, and a Z-Axis to the world. But most importantly it began the legacy of Kyle Katarn and the whole series of games. This is probably still my immediate response when asked what my favorite game is. Sure, it's no feast for the eyes by today's standards and the lack of modern mouse control is off putting for modern gamers, but I can still remember spending hours on end pre-internet exploring the levels, solving puzzles, and being absolutely terrified by some of the enemies (dianogas especially).

I don't believe underdeveloped characters, continuity mistakes, plot contrivances, and an overreliance on CGI that makes it look like you're watching a cartoon instead of films in an established movie series are subjective problems. They're very real problems. The prequels, Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, the TNG Trek films, and too many modern films released today are plagued with these things. Enjoyment of art is subjective. I can look past some movies' problems and enjoy viewing them over and over again. Other films like the prequels? Not so much. I'm not looking for an argument or fight. I don't like ragging on the prequels nonstop like some folks do. I enjoyed them at the time of their release. They're an integral part of my childhood and they established a lot of additional lore to the saga which I appreciate. There were some cool story ideas presented, some cool characters introduced, and a handful of great performances. I just can't sit through them and enjoy them the same way I can with the originals. No knock to anyone else that can say otherwise I quit collecting 3 3/4" figures after the RotS line came to an end. I went into the minis for a while but gave that up as the factor of random chance priced me out of the hobby. The quality began to suffer as well for the money I was putting into them. I too got sucked into the 6" figures but I think the quality dipped by wave 3 for the price they cost. Vintage collecting is cool. My Indy and Planet of the Apes collections consist of modern and vintage stuff. I won't dare dabble with the SW line though! Too many to get and some fetch expensive prices. Happy to hear he kept the PotF2 stuff. In the end that is my favorite line produced. I did get married, got a full-time job as a teacher, got a house, and we recently had a son this summer. My time and money is pretty much revolving around other priorities but I do have a limited display area in my TV room. Only two shelves are devoted to Star Wars. The rest of the collection includes Indy, Apes, Batman, TNG Trek, Xena, Spawn, Disney's Gargoyles, Nickelodeon's Avatar: The Last Airbender, USA's Burn Notice, and I have a small spot saved for some upcoming Mass Effect statues and I want to get a few of the old Toy Biz LotR figures. Then my collection will be "complete." But you know how that goes Great hearing from you! Happy I popped by this place again!

What fallacious reasoning are you referring to? I will concede that no one needs to take his videos seriously. If you like the movies, don't let anyone tell you otherwise. But I do think the videos describe the fundamental problems with the trilogy that make it a let down for so many people. I love Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and I consider Star Trek Generations my favorite Trek movie. I don't disagree with any of the problems he finds in them. I watched the videos on those films and walked away refusing to let their problems affect my enjoyment of them. I suppose I should clarify it wasn't Plinkett's videos that made me grow to dislike the prequels. I stopped caring for them after my third or fourth viewing of RotS.

Of all the people to creep out of the woodwork to respond, I didn't expect it to be ZBomber! How are you doing Mike? Long time no see! I remember posting here for hours a day as a teenager and remember a bunch of usernames and avatars but I genuinely considered you and Andrew as friends. I wasted so much time on MSN Messenger and AIM with the two of you. We were all passionate about collecting and were overall immature. Are you two still in contact with one another? Either of you still collecting?

I haven't been here in ages. I came across the Swamp randomly in a Google search. I can't believe how many familiar faces I see here! It is disheartening to see the amount of users in this area has dwindled to so few members though. Quality over quantity though, right? I thought I'd make up for my eight year absence and share some cool finds I came across with fellow Star Wars fans: 1) The Star Wars Radio Drama. Sure, I'd heard about this while growing up with Star Wars but I only just experienced it last Christmas. I had the opportunity to listen through A New Hope and it was quite an experience! Some stand out moments for me include the T-16 Skyhoppers racing through Beggar's Canyon, Luke wasting time with his friends in Anchorhead and witnessing the battle above Tatooine through his macrobinoculars, Biggs Darklighter as an actual character, and Bail Organa and Alderaan making a brief appearance before their inevitable fate. I feel the additional content added a new depth to the film I never experienced. Mark Hamill and Anthony Daniels reprise their roles and it's filled with actual sound effects from the movie and features John Williams' score. 2) Red Letter Media's Mr. Plinkett reviews the Prequel Trilogy. Whether you love or hate the prequel trilogy, I think we can all admit it is flawed. This hilarious although NSFW review spells out all of its problems and missed opportunities. I won't bash the prequels here. I remember how exciting of times it was drooling over new Star Wars movies and speculating what was to come in the next ones. Let's just say I don't care for them anymore. In fact, I don't own them anymore. I only own the originals. 3) Harmy's Despecialized Edition. When I say I only own the originals, I mean the originals! Do you wish you can watch the original theatrical cuts in anamorphic widescreen with 5.1 surround sound? Look no further than here! I do like some of the SE changes such as the updated Battle of Yavin, Ian McDiarmid as the Emperor, and those floating sentry droids in Mos Eisley. But the bad outweighs the good. Greedo shooting first, Temura Morrison as Boba Fett, the weird dance number in Jabba's Palace, and Hayden's ghost rub me the wrong way. I didn't bother with the Blurays but understand there are even more changes? 4) Star Wars Miniatures by Wizards of the Coast. Ok it's true I didn't recently discover this one. After all I've been rocking this awesome picture signature here made up of these little guys! But back when I was buying them, I was doing so as a collector. I just played the game for the first time a couple summers ago. It's pretty awesome. It takes a long time to set up and play and it's pretty pricey as far as games go but if you like tactics, strategy, and d20 RPGs then it may be worth looking into. The game is discontinued so you'd have to pick up most of it off eBay or something. 5) X-Wing Miniatures by Fantasy Flight Games. A very different table top game but fun nonetheless! This is cheaper to get into, quicker to set up, quicker to play, but no less tactical. This game is not discontinued and new pieces are being made. They even make the Moldy Crow! So any other Star Wars news I may have missed in the past eight years? I heard they're making a new one or something?

Is it considered necroposting when the years old topic is still on the first page? Edit: Holy cow. I posted here once last year in the DF forum and before that it was in 2006?! I quit coming here mostly because I was addicted to it. I posted 30-50 this a day probably and spent hours on here. I'm afraid to dig to much into the past. I was an annoying teenager it'd be embarrassing to read my older posts. Anyways, nice seeing so many familiar faces here!

What is the most recent version of this? Has the entire single player campaign been updated to look as great as those screenshots let on? I am about halfway through replaying Dark Forces for the first time in nearly a decade. I had never gotten it to run on Windows XP and just managed to get it working on Windows Vista a few weeks ago. I'll finish this play through but it'd certainly be nice to have modern controls and updated graphics next time I revisit the game!

And even then, they will be rereleased. Lucas and the original cuts of SW after we all bought the other set? He's now going back and redoing the prequels? He wants to put his movies in 3D? Now with Bladerunner, there's a set with all three versions. But read the article again. There's no word of this theatrical "Final Cut" being on there. So of course that'll eventually be released after everyone runs out for that three version set. I just think it's annoying.

I like Bladerunner, but not enough to watch it again and certainly not to own it. It was slow and kind of confusing. The unicorn dream threw me off. How exactly is Deckard an android? I missed something there. Well, the LOTR extended trilogy is quite amazing, and I do happen to own the extended Gladiator (which gives you the option of watching the theatrical cut). But that is only because I don't own the original versions. An extended cut I would have wanted to have is Sin City (which does contain the theatrical cut too), but I got the original before I heard about any extended cut And as for the extended cut of Kingdom of Heaven, the IGN review praised it and like me, thought very little of the original theatrical cut. That movie was too slow and the only character worth while died in the first 20 minutes.

http://dvd.ign.com/articles/710/710537p1.html A third version of Blade Runner is due out? The guy just did an expanded version of Gladiator and a 4 disc extended cut of Kingdom of Heaven. I guess this should come as no surprise. But still, these DVD rereleases are becoming just as annoying as all the Hollywood sequels/ remakes.

Why does it have to be political? From a website I found: Source: http://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/index.php/First_amendment Movies, books, and even comics all contain graphic violence and the majority of people just blame video games nowadays. Why single these out? I think they communicate the same messages most action flicks and comics do. They might as well start banning those too and while they're at it, all violence and sex should be removed from both history classes and the Bible.

Let's go back to the rating system that was around in the mid '90s with that thermometer in the corner that showed how much violence and sex is in a game! Maybe that was simpler for ignorant parents to figure out than the much more detailed content descriptors on the back of the packaging

Battles of Prince of Persia, though I believe both players must have their own copy of the game to play multiplayer. Check out my review here. I'd lower the rating slightly due to the restricitons I mentioned on multiplayer.