PlasmaWarrior

The time I ran it heroside, I logged on just in time to see Markus put up a call to arms on JFA for recruits and I happily joined his group. The team consisted of two tanks (very advantageous in the end, but I doubt it was intentional at the onset), three blasters, two defenders (one emp and one rad) and a controller... if I recall correctly.

About halfway through the TF, the emp had to leave for whatever reason, so we were down to seven going into the last mission or two. Since it seemed none of us knew exactly what to expect going in, we did brilliantly. It took an inordinately long time to kill Reichs, but a liberal use of Shivans and splitting the tanks to take out the reinforcement AVs worked well enough.

Add Karl Malden to that list. That makes 6.

See, these things DO happen in threes! There just happened to be two sets...

Can I have your stuff?

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Hope everything works out Kaiser!

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Agreed!

I actually have villains that can come to a red-side raid now!

Problem is, I'll most likely be asleep when it's happening since I have to work that night.

**********************SPOILER ALERT!!!**********************

If you don't want to read anything about the, ahem, "plot" of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, stop reading NOW!

I mean it! And yes, I realize the pun, but that was just a happy accident.

**********************SPOILER ALERT!!!**********************

Burning Questions: The 10 Most Confusing Things in 'Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen'

Burning Questions: The 10 Most Confusing Things in 'Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen'

by Matt McDaniel.
June 30, 2009

"Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" made over $200 million last week. What it didn't make, however, was one lick of sense.

Now, suspension of disbelief is usually not a problem for me. Tell me that a billionaire could put on a bat suit and swoop around fighting crime and I'll buy it. Or that a different billionaire could build flying armor in his basement. Or that in the future people will beam onto spaceships with their pointy-eared best friend. I'll accept all of it. I'll even take your word for it that a mechanized alien race can come to our planet, scan some cars, and turn themselves into vehicles.

That being said, there were moments in this new "Transformers" movie that were so confusing, so contradictory, or so corny that they completely took me out of the movie. Even days after watching it, some new inconsistency or plot hole would pop into my mind.

I can hear it already: "It's a popcorn movie. It's based on a bunch of toys. It's just supposed to be fun." And yes, all of those things are true. But that doesn't mean I can't ask questions about what in the world was going on. Here are the ten that I most want answered. (WARNING: contains spoilers).

1. In "Transformers," there was this giant battle in the middle of downtown Los Angeles -- excuse me, Mission City -- that was witnessed by thousands of people at the very least. But somehow the government was able to cover up the whole thing, and now the existence of alien robots is just an internet rumor? How did they do it? Pay off everyone who was there and quickly fix millions of dollars in damage? Also, didn't Keller (Jon Voight) go on TV and tell everyone we were being attacked by "a technological civilization far superior to our own"? How did they spin that?

2. There are two pieces of the Allspark cube left: the military has one under lock and key, and Sam discovers another. The Decepticons steal one and bring Megatron back to life. But when Sam (Shia LaBeouf) wants to bring back Optimus, he has to find the Matrix of Leadership on the other side of the globe. Why not use the other piece? Mikaela (Megan Fox) has it in her backpack the whole time. It brought his kitchen appliances to life, why can't it do the same for Optimus?

3. Speaking of Megatron's rebirth, when the Decepticons venture deep into the ocean to revive him, the Navy crew tracking them reads five contacts. When they get down there, they tear apart one of the robots for parts to rebuild Megatron. Then as they rise to the surface, the same Navy guys say they spot six contacts. The little "Doctor" robot popped out down there, but he's about a third of the size of a person. Would he have shown up on sonar?

4. That reminds me: even if I were to forgive the Doctor's German accent -- and director Michael Bay is asking me to forgive a lot of ridiculous accents -- why would a robot need glasses? He has little lenses that flip in front of his mechanical eyes. Couldn't he just get his eyes adjusted? You'd think with all the laser guns, someone could perform a Lasik procedure.

5. Apparently, Transformers can look like people now. How? And how is it that even though the robo-girl (Isabel Lucas) is made of metal, she can still straddle Sam without crushing him. And if Bumblebee knows something's wrong with her, why does he spit antifreeze at her instead of telling Sam? Yes, his voicebox is broken, but wasn't it fixed at the end of the last movie?

6. The Fallen is the last of the Primes, since they all sacrificed themselves to stop him from destroying the sun. But then he says that Optimus is a descendant of the Primes. First, Transformers have kids? And second, how could he descend from them if they were all dead? And if the Fallen could only be destroyed by a Prime, why didn't the originals just gang up on him back in the day? And what makes Optimus so special, anyway? Megatron beat him earlier, but all it takes is a few spare parts from creaky old Jetfire for him to take out the Fallen?

7. Sam, Mikaela, and Simmons (John Turturro) go to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C. to find Jetfire. Then they walk out the back onto a wide open field with old planes and mountains in the distance. When did the National Mall start to look so much like to Tucson, AZ (where they really filmed that scene)?

8. The geography is just as bad when they go to Egypt. The stone city of Petra in Jordan is over 250 miles away, over mountainous terrain, with few paved roads and the Israeli border between them, so how can they drive from one to the other in a couple of hours. And the Pyramids are said to be shooting distance from the Mediterranean, but they are actually well over 80 miles inland. Even if the Navy ship had a secret rail gun, and even if the captain would take an order to fire from a former agent of a government branch that no longer exists (over a walkie-talkie that inexplicably starts working again), how could it hit a moving target from that distance?

9. Sam briefly dies and goes to Robot Heaven. Robot Heaven?!?!

10. Where does Sam's bandage come from? What about his extra sock? Why does Sam's roommate not contribute anything at all? What was the Fallen doing for those thousands of years Megatron was frozen in ice? How does one satellite receive transmissions from everywhere on the planet? Why does Wheelie hump Mikaela's leg? Why do we have to see John Turturro's thong? Why are robots who join together to become Devastator also seen fighting the Army at the same time? Why does the government want only our military fighting Decepticons when our weapons seem unable to make so much as a dent on any of them? Why did the ancient Egyptians build a pyramid around the sun-destroying machines instead of just breaking it? Why is the Matrix of Leadership bigger in the Fallen's hand than in Sam's? And how do Mikaela's pants stay so clean?

OK, so I went overboard at the end, but the questions remain. And I'm sure more will pop up next time I think about the movie. But the movie did make a ton of money, and it's earned a solid B+ rating from our users. Maybe I should go see it again. My questions probably won't get answered in a second viewing, but if I can just clear them from my mind I can be in Robot Heaven, too.

Double XP Weekend!

Happy (Belated?) Birthday, BA!!!

Also, color me jealous for your being in Australia. If you're going to be anywhere near Melbourne anytime soon, you've gotta look up Azmeran and Hysterior... and maybe Vic's Secret. I heard Hard is in their neck of the woods as well. Noodle and Sol are all the way over in SA, though, but are also very much worth the visit if you can manage.

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WAFFLE SUPREME!!!!

'Nuff said.

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I would look at that ridiculous costume every hami raid and just laugh and laugh.

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'Strewf. I'll have to look through my screenshots on my desktop when I get home to see if I have any of him in those god-awful get-ups he had.

Or if I should bump into him on Facebook tonight, I'll see if he managed to save any screenies when his computer cratered a year or two ago.

Mega Grats! That's a fantastic piece of art!

And a further congrats on your anniversary, ya lucky dawg!

What the hell is going on? I thought these things only went in threes! This is totally messed up, man.

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/em thrillerdance, plz

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this
and can we have /e moonwalk too?

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New costume change emote (thriller dance) and moonwalk travel power?

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Might as well use his entire catalog of moves

/e touch little kid

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Michael Jackson Booster Pack! New glove costume piece where it only has one glove on and the other is bare. LOL. New power: "Show me on the doll where..."

Sorry...in bad taste considering. But the thriller dance and moonwalk would be great new emotes. We could always use new dances.

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I think the Jesus Juice temp power is in order. One sip and it makes you even more creepy than you already are.

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de mortuis nil nisi bonum

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Fixed.

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Is anyone else mostly waiting for the changes in i15 to come out before they decide to continue working on Story Arcs in the AE?

Seems kinda counter-productive to start a project now when there are so many changes about to go through.

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Quite a few arc writers were put off by the numerous undocumented changes without adequate redname response to continue with it currently.

No one can tell whether a change is a nerf or a bug in MA since it seems no redname can make any comment on what is really happening. Dropped maps and rescued allied 'exemping' without any response from any redname in the official thread is enough for me.

That, combined with the cone of silence surrounding pet nerfs and MA bans is quite enough to dampen my enthusiasm for trusting the devs to preserve my MA mishes with respect to content and balance.

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I haven't actually made any real legitimate story arcs in the MA for about 4 to 6 weeks. Hard to believe it's been that long, but yeah, when the devs yanked the Crey cloning facility and the Burning Forest maps with absolutely no warning or explanation, I stopped. Not knowing what story-crucial content might be on the chopping block next makes me hesitant to work on anything else.

Ahh, if the space chimp's pasta is intended to serve multiple people, that makes a LOT of difference.

Also, bowling was fun last time. I'm game for that again, though I'd very much miss not being able to give Ex a rematch.

Although... if there were a spare seat in the room and the participants didn't mind me sitting in, I'd love to just watch the D&D game - if one's being held again this year, that is. I've heard about 4th Ed. being much like an MMO, and since I haven't been able to partake what with my weekend schedule conflicts keeping me out of Sam's D&D games, I'd at least like to see how it's done by people who know what they're doing.

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Groovalicious! Although, this isn't Buca di Beppo, is it? Cuz that would be weird.

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It is indeed.

And Red, I trust that whatever location you choose will be the best. Just give me an address and I'll be there.

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So... it's really named after Beppo, the Kryptonian chimp? Because I checked out the link you posted, Arwen, and I didn't see anything about that on their website.

EDIT: Also, sweet Jeebus is that place expensive! Now, I expect an Italian restaurant to be expensive, having gone a couple of times to Carraba's, but holy empty wallets, Bat-Beppo!

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I'm not 100% certain, but wasn't Lou Costello the straight man? I think the routine got a little mixed up.

Other than that, it's good stuff.

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Costello was the short, round, funny one and Abbott was the tall, thin, straight man.

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Figures I'd get their names wrong and, by extension, mess up what should have been a decent routine. The Stooges I got, I can even tell you which was Laurel and which was Hardy (there's someone at my workplace who reminds me of Stan Laurel, but with a Southern accent and glasses - right down to the cowlick ), and Burns and Allen is a no-brainer (no pun intended, Gracie )... but I never quite got Abbott and Costello pinned down for whatever reason.

Groovalicious! Although, this isn't Buca di Beppo, is it? Cuz that would be weird.

Either way, as long as they have a large enough dining area to accommodate all the people we're going to wind up adopting to be honorary Justicites, then I'm very much looking forward to it!

I'm not 100% certain, but wasn't Lou Costello the straight man? I think the routine got a little mixed up.

Other than that, it's good stuff.

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First we have to find out where the event will be so we'll know which is either closest to the event location of closest to the route from SJC to the event.

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You mean... they won't have us back at the Hyatt again this year? Did we freak out the little old ladies from the Quilting Convention next door a bit too much?

Also, for the record, if I should happen to win the Powerball between now and HeroCon, I'll happily pay for tickets for the lot of you to attend. Now if I can just find a way around that whole 192 million-to-1 odds thing...

I've been hoping to throwing green fireballs since I started playing CoH four and a half years ago. That said, it'd probably be the only change I'd make... to one character. So, yay?

Other than that, I'd LOVE to play as the fire tank/fire blaster hybrid I made in the AE mission that the devs broke by taking out the Crey cloning map.

*sigh*

Open relationships are all well and good, but...

I thought we had something... special...

*sobs, runs away crying*

I'm definitely considering going.

It's been an odd year, but it would be a ton of fun to hang out with you guys again, even if it is just for one weekend in October.

Merc, Can I have your stuff?

Danman, Can I have your stuff?

I already wished you a happy birthday on Facebook.

That counts, right? <.<

Just in case...

Happy Birthday, Karo!!!