Zonetrooper

(Engineering)

According to movies:

1. We spend our entire workdays in the lab.

2. Whenever anything is turned on, there's a loud whirring and a big shower of sparks. Computer screens with big flashing "WARNING!" signs are optional.

3. Something is inevitably spinning on the lab bench. It's unclear if it does anything.

4. Fixing a major problem is solved when someone has an "Ah-hah!" brainstorm moment, wires up something on the spot, and it magically works perfectly.

5. Assembling a new thingymajig involves lots of power tools and pieces which fit together seamlessly. If they don't fit, they can be made to fit with some elbow grease and definitely won't fail horribly the first time you turn them on.

6. Labs are festooned in such random pieces of hazardous equipment as high-voltage power lines, random chemicals, blowtorches, and radioactive materials.

In reality, we spend a lot of our days at our desks, the equipment is surprisingly quiet (and that which isn't, you stay well away from while it is operating), and spinny stuff largely went away in the 1980s. Assembling a new thing is 30 minutes of grumbling, 3 hours of pulling your hair out, and day(s) of waiting for a new part because someone screwed up tolerances or signal polarity. The most dangerous thing in the lab is stuff sloppily left laying on the floor, which I have tripped over and nearly cracked my skull before.

In fairness, #4 happens sometimes. It's extremely rare, but occasionally you do get those moments where you figure out what the bug in the system is and can rectify it in an hour or two. Most of the time, a fast fix for one problem causes another.

The only problem with reading the Manga is that after you finish it, the film seems so simplistic and flat in comparison. The Manga has so much greater nuance, tragedy, and depth to it.

This. I don't understand why murdering your alt-self is "necessary". Wouldn't you actually want to preserve your alternate-self at all costs, to ensure you can continue to make return trips?

The real issue here is that - if your home reality works by the same rules - once you leave it, you can never return home ever, because no alternate version of yourself exists in the one you originated from after you leave it.

Before you say "hey, that sounds awesome, this place sucks!", consider that finding a better reality is not guaranteed.

Finally, another "No magic zombies" person!

What are your thoughts on a "28 X Later" style scenario? Where the they're still subject to injuries/starvation/etc, and the risk is more due to the sheer speed of the infected, ability to ignore pain in the short term, and asymptomatic carriers of the disease?

"...scientists can't explain."

This kind of headline is infuriating to me, and I really expect better from a media outlet like the BBC. It betrays a fundamental failure to honestly discuss science as a constant process of learning. Just because don't have an answer today doesn't mean it can't be explained, only that it isn't currently explained.

I mean, I like my giant robot fights to have some decent story and characters too, y'know? The grey, gritty, grounded portrayal of war is what makes me a gundam fan over other mecha series.

But yeah, in this case, the gorgeous mecha animation at the very least balances out the basic writing.

CAD options also flow over to the whole GPU debate as well. Yes, Nvidia's company practices are awful. Yes, I'd love to have more options. But this doesn't change that most of the heavyweight CAD options out there don't play well with non-Nvidia GPUs.

I'd love it if there were FOSS / GPU-agnostic CAD options. But until then, focusing on what works is important, y'know?

Pretty much. Writing is mediocre but not awful, mobile suits (and all the machinery, really) are A+, human animations are awful.

I'm not sure what they're on about that the story and protagonist are "no good"?

Like, I'll admit the writing is pretty basic and blunt. Characters are shallow and nobody really has time to develop. But apart from like, one moment, nothing really made me upset? I'd still give it a mid/10.

You know those people who restore old machinery and equipment? Locomotives, historic warships, industrial sites and so on? I'd absolutely be dedicating my day to that. There's something so satisfying about seeing that old stuff work, but they're always chronically understaffed and struggling to keep up with everything.

Oh, and write a novel.

Okay, but how are we rating them, not against what?

In other words, is this question "Who is more skillful than who?" or "Who is better-written than who?", or "Who do I just personally like better than who?"

Thanks! I remembered that Zeon ships were noted to store their suits in whatever orientation was most efficient (since gravity wasn't a concern) while the Earthnoid-built Federation ships mostly stored them "upright" relative to atmospheric operation. I'd forgotten that 0083 had them launching like that as well.

I also take your point about accuracy, but ships being attacked at very short range also seems to be a fairly common thing. Seems to be at least once a series a suit gets no more than a few hundred meters from a ship, sometimes even straight into boarding/melee range.