dougefresh

Best Christmas movie EVAH!!!!!!! "Scott Farkus had yellow eyes! So help me God, YELLOW eyes!" " I like the Wizard of Oz ... ... ... I like the Tin Man." "Don't bother me.... I'm... uh... I'm thinking." I could quote from that movie all day long... seriously... I have to admit, I'm a sucker for a good Perry Como Christmas tune. My Mom used to play him on 8-track around the holidays. It reminds me of being a little kid.

Okay-- I guess I'll be the board's token hipster doofus... Here's my favorite bands of all time... Soul Coughing Radiohead The Clash The Police The Beatles The Jam Elvis Costello Tom Waits English Beat Talking Heads Madness Buzzcocks Joy Division Blur Charles Mingus Thelonious Monk The Beastie Boys Public Enemy And my favorite bands du jour: The Fratellis Artic Monkeys Gomez Wilco Secret Machines Clap Your Hands Say Yeah Elbow The Arcade Fire Doves Eagles of Death Metal Editors Futureheads Tegan and Sara Lady Sovereign Interpol New Pornographers Phantom Planet Andrew Bird Lily Allen What Made Milwaukee Famous Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds The Flaming Lips LCD Soundsystem... The list goes on and on and on and on..... I'm a GIANT music geek.

The should give Paul his own CSI Show. Seriously-- you'd probably make a great forensic detective. You notice even the tiniest detail. I am going to ask TM before I do ANYTHING on my armor.

I haven't been back home in a while, but I thought it sounded wrong that you guys didn't have it. You need to hip Alain-- apparently, he is unitiated to the wonders of Craig and his list.

Even scarier -- one day, they might BREED.

Are you SERIOUS? That was their post? You need to switch departments... no more being a motorcop.... "GENE POLICE!" "OUT OF THE POOL!" Isn't it amazing what a person can do with a fourth-grade education and a liberal dose of alcohol?

Well said, my friend. Spot on.

I've already used a search on MySpace to rule out two graphic designers we were thinking of hiring at work. Note to potential job candidates: when interviewing with an Internet-based company, it *might* be a good idea to remove the twelve photos of you clearing an 8-foot "tobbacco" device. Just a tip.

I'm sorry -- I couldn't read anything past the bit about mortgage payments. The room started spinning, and I don't remember much after that. Totally off-topic, but what island do you live on, Guns? I was just in Maui -- Ka'anapaili -- this August and LOVED it. My second day there, I called my CEO and started reading from the "office space available" section of the classifieds. He wasn't havin' it. Anyway, I want to go back next summer-- maybe we could go get a beer or something.

Hey Paul-- I have a dumb question for you, if it's alright; what does GML stand for? I lose track of all the acronyms around here.

SO cool! I don't even own a TE2, and this has me completely fascinated. Thanks for taking the time to share all this with us! It's awesome!

Lookin' good, guys! I did the same thing over Thanksgiving weekend. I had all kinds of fun; goofed-up on post-turkey tryptophan, geeking out with my AP helmet. It was awesome! Can't wait to get started on the armor!

Hey Mike.... I'm a newbie when it comes to this stuff, so take what I say with an elephant-sized grain of salt, but here's my $.02.... Opinions about accuracy and quality of armor differ wildly, but this seems to be the general consensus... TE makes beautiful, incredibly authentic stuff, but he prices at a hefty premium. GINO makes amazing, highly authentic stuff as well, but it's incredibly scarce, and fabled to have a very sizeable price tag. TE2 and AP also have ties to the actual screen-used armor, but are in wider distribution and carry a mid-level price tag. Both makers/distributers seem like really solid, stand-up guys to boot. The four kits listed above do tend to be a little spendy though, and it should be noted that they were all originally built for extras and actors built between 150-160 lbs, 5'10" to 6'. The helmets are 1:1 scaled to the originals, so they're not as roomy as some of the other buckets. But such is the cost for accuracy. TM's armor is hands-down the best fan-made, all-original sculpt out there, but it's priced accordingly, and the exchange rate compounds it. (He's in England). The FX armor is widely reputed to be a good fit on larger builds, and is probably the cheapest in the bunch, but it has many inaccuracies, most notably a helmet that's oversized by about 15%. RT-Mod is another make that gets mentioned a lot as being a good fit for bigger guys. An option that seems to be growing in popularity with larger guys is purchasing a headless FX kit, and upgrading it with a more accurate bucket. If you have a smaller head, you can always pick up a TE, GINO. TE2, or AP to compliment your armor. You may have to paint everything to get it to match, however. Many people recommend an RT-Mod, or a ANH2 helmet if you have a bigger noggin', but still want something relatively accurate. All that said, if I've learned one thing, it's this: this hobby isn't cheap. Even the "bargain" FX is going to run you a few C-Notes. Prepare yourself to part with some significant cash, regardless of what armor you go with. And that's to say nothing of boots, holsters, blasters, et al. It's gonna add up. And it's addictive. The general consensus is that you can minimize costs somewhat by doing business with people through the board, and avoiding eBay. You're also 100x more likely to receive a quality product. Other than that -- you're entering the fray, my man. The merits of each set of armor make for a pretty lively debate around here. Some more civil than others. You're going to have to sift through quite a bit of salesmenship and hyperbole, unfortunately. But the bottom line is that it's all subjective. In the end, your own opinion and your own budget should be your only watermark. People will give you their opinion until your ears bleed, but ultimately, you're the one shelling out for the stuff, and you're going to be the one trooping in it. If you think it looks cool, and it makes you happy, and you can afford it, go for it. 99.99% of the guys on the board will support you, regardless.

Easy there, buddy. I may live in Denver, but I was born and raised a Canuck in Calgary, AB. Sure, you may think we Canadians seem all cute with our politeness and our exaggerated vowel sounds ("aboot"), but are we really that harmless? ... Consider the following: Almost the entire population lives within 2 hours of the US border. We're virtually indistinguishable from our US counterparts. We kick an impolite person at pond hockey. We've developed a seemingly imperturbable immunity to the French. The fact that we have legalized both medical marijuana and gay marriage without a catastrophic collapse in social sructure proves that we're indestructable. Be afraid. Be very afraid.

Al -- Craigslist is one of the best/worst things ever to hit the internet in the US. It's basically a massive community-generated classified section. You can list anything -- from a house for sale, to help wanted ads, to dating personals. It's great because it's free, and is completely open. It's awful, because it's free, and completely open. It'll come to Canada soon enough, I'm sure.

Great tip, Tom! Thanks! I did the same thing when I was dremmeling out the eyes on my AP bucket. I ended up just sanding it out with some 1500 grit paper and it looks A-Okay, but I'll definitely keep your post in the back of my head when I start on the armor. God knows I'm bound to have one or two more slip-ups, as this is my first build. It never ceases to amaze me how inventive people on the board are... Seriously, if you guys channled all this creativity, you could be curing cancer, or something.

A girlfriend who not only tolerates a Star Wars obssesion, but one who *contributes* to it? She's a keeper, buddy! Good for you!

Oh, that's always a smart policy -- tease the guy with the badge and the loaded firearm. Sounds like you're dealing with a real genius there, Craig. Try to get their email address again, so I can be sure to send them their MENSA application.

I tried the same method -- 2 coats of nickel-metallic, and then two of flat black. When I sanded it down, I didn't really get the results I wanted, and I ended up using a paper towel to dab the nickel on top of the black anyway. So, basically, I put down some metallic primer. I was in a hurry to get ready for a Make-A-Wish event when I made it, and I'm not the world's most patient guy to begin with, so you'll probably have better luck. Worse-case scenerio, you'll have to do what I did. And if you ever end up scratching it untentionally, you'll probably get a cool effect, seeing that you'll have plenty of layers to go through before the plastic will start showing. As long as you're a decent painter and use thin coats, I don't see how you can go wrong.

Happy birthday! Here's to many more!

No, sweat, man. happy to help. I'm dreading having to buy everybody's X-Mas presents this month, so I can defintielty relate to having to troop on a budget. It's tough to be the compassionless foot-soldier of unmitigated tyranny when you have to clip coupons for blaster ammo. I feel your pain.

Hopefully this will help -- CaBoots has a store on eBay, which sells the exact same boots as on their website for $60 instead of $80. Why the difference in price between their corporate site and their eBay storefront , I'm not entirely sure, but they're the exact same boots, directly from the manufacturer. I dunno if that puts you within your budget, but it saved me $20 and I wanted to pass it along.

Yup. I put it on my blog.

Thanks a lot, dude -- you just brought productivity in my office to a screaching halt. There's 10 of us all watching Star Wars in ASCII now. Hehehe .... I believe that is possibly the deepest commitment to nerdery I have ever seen in my life. Thanks for passing that on! It's hilarious!

D.) All of the above. It's about 29 degrees here, with 70% humidity, and I was shivering like a chiuaua on amphetimines, so I just sprayed it in hurry and hustled my skinny a$$ back inside. Maybe I'll take another crack at it when it's nice out, and take your advice. I know I was doing *something* wrong... and it turns out it was everything. Hehehe.... I really did know better, but my enthusiasm got the better of me. Wouldn't be the first time. So... you're saying that if I'm not a complete spaz about it next time that it will work?