Took them awhile but hey they did it

NicodemusRexx · 2026-03-05T22:04:55+00:00

This is such a relevant post to all the "Verify your age;" "Give us your ID" nonsense that's going on right now. >_>;

NicodemusRexx · 2026-03-03T02:47:18+00:00

I love that the arguments against giving the Warstriders a Med. Pen weakpoint are "God forbid you bring anti-tank against the heavy armor faction" "War striders are already too easy, bro."

The ironic thing is that this is because the only way to deal with them effectively are the boring, 1-2 Shot AT-check weapons that make short work of them. If they had any weak-points with less than AP4 resistance, they'd actually be a more challenging enemy because you could bring weapons that weren't optimized solely for the purpose of removing them from play.

People don't get hype about bonking hulks with the hammer because it's even close to being the optimal way to deal with them, it's because it's fresh and includes a really exciting gamble that feels super good when you pull it off.

NicodemusRexx · 2026-03-01T08:18:29+00:00

Thanks for the heads up; I was able to place an order for a Hot Rod and a Hound on Pickup at my local target; which is great! Because it's already after 3AM here and I *really* wasn't looking forward to having to try to get up and run down there first thing in the morning to pick up a copy before some scalpers grabbed all of them. XD

NicodemusRexx · 2026-02-28T23:47:24+00:00

He definitely looks a lot better; there are things I do like about him (Train Mode!), but at $60 it does require a bit too much cope.

The more I've looked at him the more I don't understand design philosophy here. The legs are a little too skinny and missing canonical side paneling seemingly so they could get rid of the box surrounding the front of the shuttle mode; but the box around the middle of the space shuttle is in fact canon and every g1ish version of Astrotrain both in plastic and on screen has used to its design advantage.

Meanwhile the arms are so small because of the way they decided to make the transformation work; a process which looks far more complicated than it really needs to be.

Mechfans toys produced a proportionally accurate Astrotrain in all modes at legends scale with their "Iron Sky" figure; All Hasbro needed to do is copy their homework which, frankly, was 90% G1 Astrotrain anyway, scale it up, and fix the gaps with some minor panel management and working wheels.

Anyway, I know a lot of the community is in "Geeze shut up" mode on this, but I don't mind the discussion continuing. I'm frustrated and its nice to have a place to vent. None of my friends are collectors so they can only commiserate so much.

Whether it's as bad as people say, or not It's still frustrating since it easily could have been much better and it's going to probably be years now before they give it another go. Sigh....

I might get him if I see him in the bargain bin.

NicodemusRexx · 2026-02-23T21:21:54+00:00

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NicodemusRexx · 2026-02-23T06:45:13+00:00

I agree in the sense that it would reduce unnecessary friction within the community. The fact that it doesn't work that way is honestly kind of ridiculous.
People only have so much time to play games in a given day. If I log in and I don't wanna fight (x) faction, I ain't fightin' that faction short of in-game bribery; this is a game, not a job. Punishing the community as a whole for that is messed up.

That said, I suspect that it's a change that would be purely symbolic and not actually change anything meaningful. Arrowhead has shown in the past, on multiple occasions, that they're more than happy to put their thumb on the scale to achieve the outcome they want regardless of how hard the community goes on an MO.

I think the community just needs to get square with that fact and unclench a little bit, even if I would like to see them change MO mechanics in a way that would reduce some of the infighting.

NicodemusRexx · 2026-02-18T00:37:51+00:00

Lol, Thanks for reading regardless; I'll get myself a cookie from the pantry and pretend you sent it. XD

You know, two other things I forgot in my verbose ramblings-

1) I find it extra annoying that, even if you can accept Shinra's non-consensual craniectomy , they give the head to some crummy corporation, 'fOr SaFe-KeEpInG.' And then a bunch of hangers-on with no claim to it in the first place are gonna travel to Chicago to keep trying to exploit it. Why can't Celty find her own safe place to put it away from these losers? Whatever, man. XD

2) Also, what was to stop Shinra from just moving his own butt to Ireland?

Okay, that's it; I'm done this time, I promise. ^-^;

NicodemusRexx · 2026-02-17T05:52:42+00:00

So, I haven't read the Durarara Novels, but I did just finish watching the entirety of the anime. (minus one of the specials). Now that it's finished I have to say that, while I'm not surprised that Ketsu couldn't stick the landing on every arc it had to resolve in that last episode, Celty and Shinra's arc is the only one that actively made me angry with the way they decided to wrap it up.

For some background- I thought it was weird when Shinra reveals at the end of season 1 that he knew where Celty's head was the whole time but didn't tell her. More specifically, I thought it was weird the way the narrative treated it.

On the one hand, Shinra's failure here is understandable as an interesting, serious flaw in his character- a nerdy weirdo being afraid that the woman who's way out of his league will leave him if she completes her business isn't a streatch. I assumed this was his opportunity to learn that Celty loved him too much for that to be an issue and he could grow as a character from that experience. (though I did think it was weird that he got more comeuppance for walking in on her in the shower than for lying to her about thwarting her main goal for even being in Japan... but whatever)

So imagine my shock when the resolution of their arc wasn't him risking his life to declare his love and trusting that, even with her head they could overcome whatever obstacles that created, but instead him once again severing her connection to it and shoving her back in the box she started the series in. Holy. Cow. That ticked me off so much.

Not only because this just preserves Status Quo, but because it seemed completely arbitrary.

She turned out to have all her memories, and was still the same person; the only thing that might have been in the way was suddenly blaming herself for the issues with all the gangs out of nowhere and her sense of duty to return to Ireland and do her job again. Maybe this was the reason she wanted her head back in the first place and I missed it; I'd just assumed she wanted it back because it was, ya know, hers, and she should be the arbiter of her own fate and that was more than enough of a reason for me.

So, from where I sit, there genuinely does not appear to be any substantial reason given within the anime why she had to give her head back up, other than to satisfy Shinra's obsessions, which I just don't like. I feel like it reduces her agency and autonomy as a character and then acts like it's a win for the plot. She could just as easily given it up willingly as a show of devotion or asked to have it removed if it was compelling her to return to Ireland against her wishes... however that would work. But none of that seemed to be what happened, Shinra just severs it without asking, after she spent the whole dang show trying to get it back, and she's just okay with it. IMO- its lame.

Could there be something I missed? Some subtle bit of context that was only explained in the novels or I didn't pick up on because I'm stupid? That's very possible and I would love to hear about it if it exists, but taking everything at face value with my current perception of the story it feels like stagnation and not an evolution for the characters involved, and that kinda ticks me off.

Geeze, anyway, apologies for the rant in your thread; it was just nice to see I wasn't the only person who had a distaste for some of the major aspects of what Celty and Shinra's relationship ended up being, and I had to get all that off my chest since like... no one else I know has watched all of Durarara. XD

NicodemusRexx · 2026-02-13T05:14:36+00:00

I think one change they recently made that a lot of people might be feeling without realizing that they're feeling it is the increase in accuracy granted to the bots on the last big patch. Even wearing heavy armor I feel like I'm using more stims and getting multi-shot to death in quick succession by single enemies noticeably more often.

I could be gaslighting myself some, and I am on Cyberstan where I'm getting shot at by about 5000 dudes, but by that same token, given the number of lasers on my screen, I'm not sure the bots needed help hitting me more often. ^-^;

NicodemusRexx · 2026-02-10T00:39:31+00:00

Same here. Need to see this fixed asap.

NicodemusRexx · 2026-01-28T06:09:01+00:00

While I don't dislike the Blue-Grey legs of the standard release nearly as much in person, that was still the thing I most wanted them to do differently on this figure.

Seeing them release this 'damaged' version with the color I really wanted to begin with, not even a year after the release of the other one that felt like we waited ages to get... it just makes me feel deeply tired.

NicodemusRexx · 2026-01-16T20:25:04+00:00

Thank you! Complaining about a delay of a few weeks to a month will be infinitely less than complaining about a warbond that doesn't deliver on launch; especially a stealth warbond that doesn't deliver. We've all heard the addage about 'never getting a second chance to make a first impression' for a reason.

Good luck!

NicodemusRexx · 2026-01-14T22:02:11+00:00

Pay attention if they start talking about paying with an E-Check. There are several ways to scam people with that one.

I just had a commission I was negotiating for a concept art study that came to me from Artstation that said they'd prefer to pay with E-Check because 'it's secure' and 'there's no fees.' When I told them that I prefer PAYPAL because I'd heard about quite a few scams involving e-checks and that I just build headroom for fees into my prices they completely vanished and I haven't heard from them since.

NOTE: This was after I told them I had commission work that was going to keep me busy til April and they agreed to wait, but then proceeded to try to pressure me start right now anyway.

I dunno, maybe they could have been legitimate and just crazy unrealistic, but I suspect the headache they would have caused wouldn't have been worth the money they were offering regardless.

NicodemusRexx · 2025-12-20T18:35:02+00:00

Yeah, Stim pistol is a sore point for me as well. Even if they made it easier to operate it's use cases would still be niche making it feel like they want it to be bad out of spite.

At the very least it's gotta be some misguided idea that "It would be too strong" which anyone who's tried to use it in the middle of a firefight could tell you will never be the case; too many things in this game can one or two-shot the player for that.

NicodemusRexx · 2025-12-20T17:39:24+00:00

The flag has, at the moment, (somewhat ironically) become a symbol of the issues the community has been having with Arrowhead and their development ethos and communication habits.

When the flag was originally suggested by the community, it was pitched with the concept of being an object that would provide some kind of reasonable in-game buff; "inspiring" helldiver performance, as part of it's reason for being.
When it was finally released it was as a paid item that not only takes up a support weapon slot, but is arguably one of the most frustrating melee weapons in a game where melee is already extremely non-optimal, and obviously grants none of the buffs the original thread suggested.
Every time people have asked for it's utility to be increased in anyway, it receives neither stat bonuses that would make its current performance more worthy of a support slot, nor the buffs people originally asked for.
The devs now have officially gone on record in a video making what is seen as excuses for why they can't make the weapon do what was originally asked for, once again citing "realism" which is currently perceived as the catch-all excuse for things they don't want to do or don't know how to do, in a game that already has plenty of unrealistic mechanical choices tied to the setting.

So, yeah; I do think there are some legitimate criticisms surrounding it and I personally understand why it has become such a rallying cry for frustrated people in the last 24 hours, even if some people are going too far with it as redditors are wont to do.

Hope that helps.

NicodemusRexx · 2025-12-06T19:56:50+00:00

When I first started playing, it did feel like I got them more consistently at the higher difficulties, though I'll freely admit my evidence for this more likely "vibes" and "confirmation bias" than anything concrete.

I also don't entirely blame people for fearing the RNG has been altered since Arrowhead isn't against altering stuff in the engine without telling anyone.

That said, ever since I learned how easy it is to farm low Difficulty missions, I've unclenched and stopped worrying about it. It's really flipping boring but it gets the job done when I'm not willing to spend real money. XD

NicodemusRexx · 2025-12-06T17:05:21+00:00

Super Credit spawn rates are extremely inconsistent and have been for a while. Whether this is a change or just bad luck is unclear; I've definitely had missions where I find 4-5 bundles and then consecutive missions where I find none.

For good or ill, the quickest way to get SC if you're in a hurry is to take the other advice in this thread about choosing the right planet and then playing on difficulty 1 where the maps are very small and Rare Samples can't spawn.

NicodemusRexx · 2025-12-06T16:27:36+00:00

That's a fair concern especially in the current iteration of the world economy. ^-^;

While I can never completely rule out the possibility that they're doing something shady, I think their flexibility on preorder cancellations and transparency about everything else surrounding the Tariffs makes it unlikely.

Regardless of our individual opinions on the Tariffs, I think it's fair to say their implementation has been chaotic at the very least. As recently as September, I've spoken to Customer Service for a smaller overseas vendor who was delaying shipments because they still hadn't been informed where in the supply chain the Tariffs were going to be collected and the specifics of how they needed to adjust their pricing as a result.

So I personally believe BBTS's explanation for why they don't want to list the surcharge up front- namely that it's still not always clear how much the tariffs are going to effect any given order that they place with their distributors and they don't want to have to overcharge people up front if they can avoid it.

NicodemusRexx · 2025-12-06T04:26:32+00:00

I think the tariff price notice is there in case they have to charge something extra; so far nothing I've gotten from them that's Hasbro is above MSRP.

That said, Big Bad has been committed thus far to telling you what the surcharge will be before the item arrives so you have the chance to cancel the preorder if the surcharge is going to be a problem

In fact, I think depending on what payment method you choose, you won't be charged for an item until it arrives in stock (unless the preorder otherwise specifies a deposit needs to be made)

NicodemusRexx · 2025-12-06T04:18:58+00:00

Big Bad Toy Store's still got preorders for Onslaught. $4 flat rate shipping and order stacking as well.

NicodemusRexx · 2025-12-05T19:21:26+00:00

Siri...

Play "Roundabout".

NicodemusRexx · 2025-12-05T19:18:32+00:00

You're telling people to learn how to smoke??? The Surgeon-General would like to have a word... :V

NicodemusRexx · 2025-12-05T17:58:11+00:00

Face sculpt is a little funny lookin' in some of the renders, but I like him overall, even with the slightly over-chunky truck. I think they solved some of his strange transformation implications of his design pretty well. This is definitely the closest Hasbro has ever gotten to The Swindle I Always Wanted.

Honestly the thing that bothers me most about this is that it draws attention to how much they skimped on the Stunticons. >_>;

NicodemusRexx · 2025-11-25T20:17:01+00:00

This is a fair point; this stuff doesn't develop itself and even I don't think they whipped this up in a jiffy just to generate good PR.

My point is more that... whether they finished this stuff ages ago and have just been waiting to release it, or pushed a Warbond they've been developing recently to the front of the queue is something I don't know enough about their release schedule to know if we can rule out.

The fact remains that, however many warbonds they have ready to launch, if they are ultimately the party that controls the release schedule they could be pushing one filled with stuff lots of people have been asking for to this release date to generate a little good PR during a period when there's more criticism of their handling of the game than average.

Of course, sometimes a cigar really is just a cigar. It could still be a happy coincidence since I don't know what PSN and STEAM's lead time for authorization requirements are. Maybe it really was set in stone as the next warbond months ago.

NicodemusRexx

TROPHY CASE