Graham

I've always thought a canopy on a star fighter is a poor idea, purely because it weakens structural integrity. Far better to have the pilot in a solid armored cockpit, with view relayed to him, by external cameras and sensors, which are displayed either on 360 degree wrap-around screens ala Gundam MS cockpits, or though goggles/visor worn by the pilot, which allow him to see anywhere outside the craft simply by looking in the relevant direction. Graham

As long as an Ace Combat game has a Typhoon, A-10 & F-22, I'm happy. I seldom fly anything else. Although the F/B-22 in AC-X is kinda fun. Graham

Depending on how many problems they encounter from now to then, that need to be overcome,I'd say another 4-6 months to make sure everything is just right. Graham

Err.............."Top 10 Movies You've Probably Never Heard Of",!!!!!? Hardly, at least not for the many of us on this board that grew up in the 80s'! Graham

Will finally be seeing it this Wednesday. Graham

In AC: X, 8 out of the 40 planes are fake. Graham

The poor cockpit visibilty and lack of a HUD bugs me the most about most classic Western sci-fi starfighter designs. Pretty much any star fighter from Star Wars is guilty of this. Not only do they have poor to lousy front visibility, but they have little to no rear visibility and then to top it all, the pilot has to look down into the cockpit to aim, losing his situational awareness. Lack of a HUD, whether tradional glass panel, helmet (visor) mounted or holographic (Like many Macross VFs have), bothers me far more than lack of a HOTAS. Even in new BSG, I don't think any sort of HUD or aiming symbology was ever shown or implied (correct me if I am wrong). Graham

Just picked up Joint Assault on Sunday, but haven't tried it yet. Still need a few more days to finish off AC:X first. I hope Joint Assault has more real world planes. One thing I disliked about AC:X, was the large amount of made-up sci-fi planes, which I have no interest in buying and flying. I don't mind concept stuff based on real world designs, like the F/B-22, but not all those planes that Namco make up that look straight out of Yukikazi or something. Does anybody know yet if the T-50 Pak-Fa is in this game? Graham

Yeah, Ultimate mode can be a bitch! Graham

Who drew the Con pic? Graham

Hmmmm.......if fighter mode is useless, then I won't be buying this game (even if I had a PS3, that is)! Not really interested in any of the other mecha, except possibly FMP. Although killing those ugly Gundams would be fun! Graham

Have none ouf you guys got this yet? Really looking forrad to a review and comments. Graham

Very nice. I'm a sucker for anything VF-17 related. Graham

If it's a new story to be serialized in Dengeki Hobby magazine, I imagine it will be something similar in format and content to the monthly Gundam 'Advance of Z' or '00P' stories serialized in Dengeki Hobby. If that's the case, it could either be really interesting or complete crap as these Gundam side-stories that get serialized in Dengeki Hobby tend to be full or really wacky and hideously ugly looking MS variations, that have all sorts of crap hanging off them. I hope the VFs don't inherit the same curse. Graham

Looking good. I think the VF-171 canopy and longer nose are going to be the most difficult part to do of this custom. Graham

Big 'NO' to any transformers style gimmicks in Yamato Macross toys. Definitely no light piping. As someone else mentioned, to have light piping for the eyes, that usually means the back of the head also need to be clear plastic. No light up or sound gimmicks please, either. They are usually pretty tacky. Unless they can be fitted into an accessery part such as a booter, they will usually compromise the sculpt in some way. When Harmony Gold tried the light up eye gimmick with their MPC VF-1, most us us hated it. As for joints, I don't recall being impressed by the joints on Transormers toys. Most of my sons Transformers have at least some floppy joints. Graham

I used to love the underwater level! Graham

How exactly does the gunpod attach to the connecting piece? It's not quite clear from the pic. Does the gunpod's handle (grip), just slot into a rectangular hole in the connecting piece? Graham

That looks really cool in a retro kinda way. Will have to look and see if they have more on YouTube. Graham

Renato, would the gunpod attachment peice also work with the VF-19S's gunpod do you think? Graham

+10 on that. Graham

Glad to hear that the game play will be similar to MUF. Graham

The middle head laser is still okay on mine, but then, I haven't tried pushing it. I hope you guys were able to glue yours back on OK. Graham

Will be watching this project with great interest. Good start so far. Graham

Anytime a director whose only experience is music videos is asked to direct a genre movie, it's a disaster just waiting to happen. And agreed, we don't need another origins movie. Is there anybody on this planet that doesn't know how Spider-Man got his powers by now. Graham