Gypsyboy

I gotta admit, 1941 was possibly one of the least memorable movies ever made. On the other hand, Jaws was prior to SW, and Close Encounters was released the same year, so regardless of the success of SW, Speilberg had already made a significant mark. Who's to say what he might have done after that if Raiders had not come along? Besides, some of the "important events" highlighted in that chart are subjective... I won't point out which ones, but I am a bit hesitant to accept some of the stuff on there as particularly significant, or worthy of mention. Nor do I see a lot of it as being as directly linear as the chart implies. But, I'm a bit of a doubting thomas anyway.

That's interesting... but, I think some of the connections are a bit forced, or maybe not entirely represented as they should be. Just as a for-instance, Tom Hanks did not become known as an actor only after Forrest Gump. He was already quite well known from before that... from a number of movies, actually. And, who is to say that Dykstra wouldn't have started his company regardless of whether there was a Star Wars in his CV? Speilburg would have done his own thing regardless of the influence of SW, and he would have undoubtedly been every bit as successful. There might not have been a Raiders of the Lost Ark, but hey. Don't get me wrong, I too feel that SW had a great impact on the history of movies, games and entertainment technology, but I just don't think this chart really paints an accurate picture.

Seems like an odd topic for FISD, but hey, I'll bite... he he, just got the pun there myself. I'm a work-at-home dad, which means I'm usually the lunch-maker. My 4 yr old and I had mac and cheese for lunch today... not the stuff out of a box, but made with real pasta and real cheese. We here at my place are rather on the healthy food side of things. I wouldn't say everything we eat is healthy for us, but we try. I have eaten at McD's once in the last year or so. My daughter tried a happy meal and - although she loved the little toy she got with it - she only ate about 1/3 of the cheeseburger and about half the fries. All I can say is, I hope it stays that way for her. Fast food is the devil.

I wear pajamas to work. At least half the day I am in my pajamas. The rest of the day I'm in torn up, painted on, slob clothes. I work out of my home and I have no dress code. In fact, I dress better when I'm not at work. LOL When I go out for any reason I tend to wear L.L.Bean/Dockers variety of garments. No ties, but not jeans either.

My wife tells me of a kid she knew who had leukemia some years ago. He was a nephew of a friend of hers, and she was helping to organize what turned out to be his last birthday party. She found it tough because of that, but she said that despite the fact that the little fellow was so ill (and I mean having to run out of the room every so often to be physically ill) and the fact that he was in so much discomfort, he was amazingly optimistic, energetic and enthusiastic about the party. As hard as it was for her to be there, she wouldn't go back and change that now. It's very important to her that she was part of this child's happiness. I can't really speak from personal experience, but I know I too would find it very sad. I guess the thing to remember is that those kids are terminally ill whether or not you choose to be there, and a person has to decide if he/she can "put on the good show". Another thing to think about is that these kids don't really see you when you attend such a function, they see stormtroopers and droids and other cool Star Wars characters. It's like having the coolest movie ever come to life and walk into your room. As a child I would have thought that was just about the best thing that could happen, as an adult (as sad as it would be) I can hardly think of a better way to spend my day than dressed as a SW dude and chillin' with some kids.

It would make sense to bring it in with the others that way. No reason they should be off by their onesies.

I missed that message. Thanks for letting me know. Just wondered if there was something going on with my 'puter.

It's the 501st Red Guard site. That's the same error message I get. I'm wondering because there may be some PMs waiting for me to answer.... don't want people to think I'm ignoring them.

I've been trying to log onto the forcepike dot com for a few days now and I just get a page that says "document not found". Another member of the site says he's had no problem getting on the site. Is there anyone else out there having this problem? Does anyone know what the problem might be? I'm using the same link I've always used, so it isn't an incorrect address. I've checked that several times, and tried different ways of getting onto the site. Even when I google something and find a link to forcepike I still get the error message.

The two sets I have appear the same, but one set is just slightly larger. They both have the "Hovi Mix" embossed lettering. I should add that I *used* to have two sets... while inspecting them just now I dropped one (of the smaller ones) and broke the rim off the top edge. Grr, mumble, hiss, growl. Oh, well, at least I still have the set that came to me with the helmet, and I think they are the nicer ones anyway. The size difference is not in any way significant, and I doubt anyone would ever know without actually inspecting them... in fact I didn't notice until I tried to put the screen from one into the other. I expect they're just two different versions of the same microphone tip.

I know this is an older post, but it brings up a question I have about two sets of Hovie mics I have... they appear identicle in every respect, except that one set seems to have a *slightly* (just EVER SO SLIGHTLY) larger opening at the top where the screen goes. I know this because I have a set of screens for the one set, and they fit, but they don't quite fit in the other. Is this because they are different versions?

If the scratches are small enough you may be able to buff them out. If not I recommend something like bondo glazing/spot putty. Not the stuff with the hardener, the red stuff in a tube. Works wonders on small scratches and little holes.

OK, I just went through the pics again and I noticed this. I cropped it to focus on the spot in question. It definatly appears to be a casting artefact. In fact, this figure is not very well made. The painted features on the face are crooked, for one thing.

OK, so who's gonna be the first to send me a free suit to modify? What? Nobody? Sheesh!!! For now I'll give some thought to just the helmet. I'll see how that goes first, and then go from there.

Thanks MW. This would be a pretty cool suit to troop in. I wonder how much of the outfit could be either used directly, or modded from existing stormie suits. Could be a very interesting project.

Thanks for the links.

Although I have yet to sit down and finish it, I have been bouncing around a fan story (Star Wars) for some time, and it contains a lot of characters I created myself. Some would be impossible to do as costumes (such as the fish-like entity that lives inside a fluid-filled bubble built on top of a "droid", which it controls with its thoughts), but there are some characters I could "flesh out" and make some real world interpretations of. The main bad character in this story is what I call a Draluk (derived from the phrase "luck of the draw" because of the general slant of the story line), and their people are generally driven by a love of wealth and a loathing of all beings unlike themselves. Not surprisingly, all of their "military organizations" are mercenary at heart, and there are many factions of their social/government structure; they spend almost as much time fighting among each other as with other races. That means there are a lot of potential forms their clothing and armour can take.

Hmmm. An evo trooper would not be my own design, but it would be cool. Would you happen to know where I could find more info/pics about these dudes?

I've been thinking for some time that I would like to design some helmets that reflect the Star Wars "feel", but which do not currently exist in the known SW Universe. My question is this: Assuming (of course) the designs and constructions were done well enough, what are the chances that people might want to purchase such a thing? The general feel for the kinds of helmets I'm thinking of designing would be stuff like maybe soldiers from planet that has not really been looked at within the SW Universe, or perhaps bounty hunters, or droids, whatever. Some would look all shiny and new, while others would look like they've been kickin' around the universe for a while. I only ask this question because I am interested in making some for myself at some point in time, but materials for my construction methods are costly, so I would have to sell some to make back the $$ I put into it. I'm just looking to get a sense of what people think of this idea before I get myself too far into things. This is not a sale thread. It only barely constitutes an interest thread, as this is just an inkling of an idea at this time. You can check out my album in my profile to see some other stuff I've made, and that might give you an idea of what level of seriousness I have with regard to helmet-making. I'm not a chicken wire and papier mache kind of guy... I go all out with sculpting, silicone molds, and polyurethane resin for the castings. GB

Wow! Dude. I just saw this thread. Man, I'm glad to hear you weren't badly hurt, and that you're healing up so well. I occasionally ride a bike into town (although I gotta get my flat tire fixed) and even in areas where there is no traffic to speak of I keep my lid on. I'm glad to see that saved you. In my neck of the woods we get off-road vehicle drivers who race around with no helmets, no matter how much they're told by officials they gotta wear 'em. I just know I'm gonna hear bad news on one of those guys eventually. Hope you're up to 100% soon.

Sometimes it's no fun being a newb. I actually got a fair way into this thread trying to figure out where the tape dispenser came into things. Now that I know I will have to just live with the fact that I could never afford to pay what some people here are prepared to cough up for it. However, if anyone finds the one and only screen-used dustpan from from the Cantina scene please let me know. I might be in a position to talk business by then.

Hmmm. Fake or not, I found this most disturbing not because of the destruction of the "toys" but because of the gender-bashing going on. Dunno 'bout anyone else, but I think that's a bigger problem than broken toys.

The main thing is that nobody got hurt. That is the good news, and the best news. Now, as for the trooper's behaviour, I agree with those who wondered if you got his badge number. He needs a good reporting. Insurance issues are a pain no matter what happens, so try not to think of it as being difficult because of exactly what happened. I've never heard of a pleasant insurance proceeding... ever. I also recommend legal advice with regard to the insurance claim. You pro'ly know this, but don't agree to or sign anythng unless you truely understand the consequences - and what you think you understand may not be what the insurance company understands. If you get my drift.