F-ZeroOne

Wait, you mean they installed the whole damn gun back in but it _cant_be_fired_? Or was the ammo deleted? Perhaps the only thing that can match British aviation genius in making such aircraft as the Spitfire, the Harrier, and the Lancaster bomber, is our politicians complete and utter insanity when it comes to making aviation decisions. We are the country that decided that manned aircraft were obselete and should all be replaced by guided missiles. Then someone decided that manned aircraft were OK after all and we went about building one of the greatest-that-never-was, the TSR 2. So superlative was it for its time, that the politicians scrapped the programme and decided to buy F-111s from the US instead. Boy, that worked... The Typhoon is simply following on a long tradition of what the RAF refer to as "Blue Circles" - after a famous cement company; early Tornados also carried concrete ballast in the nose due to radar problems...

We had full size carriers. Then the government of the time decided we couldn't have them, so we got "through-deck cruisers" instead. Then the Falklands happened, and it suddenly turned out aircraft operating from carriers were quite a good idea after all. Luckily for us, Hawker-Siddeley did some lateral thinking back in the 50s and 60s and invented the Harrier [1]. Flash forward a few years, and we currently have a couple of aircraft carriers - proper ones - on order. However, if you're aware of British military procurement history, don't hold your breath... [1] I've just been reading a book by someone who worked for Hawker, and he describes an incident where an aircraft overshot a 7,000 foot long runway and had a rather harder-than-intended landing. The aircraft involved was a Harrier. A jump jet. Think about it, and then wonder just how much runway this pilot must have needed...

Its probably not quite so silly to the Japanese. They are very close to a number of nations that have very good reason not to like them very much (at least two of the Japanese islands are actually in Russian hands) and who have long memories. Japan is still - and hopefully will remain - the only country to have been attacked by atomic bombs in anger. That tends to focus the populations thoughts a bit; its unlikely the Japanese public would give much support to any politician who suddenly took an interest in aircraft carriers (and in US service, the Harrier is a Marine support aircraft - and those large countries near Japan would take notice of an acquisition of an aircraft that could potentially support an amphibous assault. For the UK, the Harriers role is a little different, mainly because its the only adequate aircraft that can operate from our current aircraft carriers).

Noriko, thanks for the link - nice wallpaper ("Humankind had its chance"...!) An Appleseed TV series could potentially be awesome (if they don't grab Yoko Kanno to do the music I will do something nasty to the producers...! ) and I've always felt it would make a good live action movie, though I always had in mind something with a big Hollywood budget, but done sensibly - an intelligent SF film with kick-butt action scenes - just like, er, the manga...

Heres an obscure one - several years ago, Marvel Comics ran a parody comic called "What The?!" ("OhmiGod! We forgot the FIGHT SCENE!" and that kind of thing). One of the strips took a pop at Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. Depicted were some S.H.I.E.L.D "air-cars", which were an exact match for the Zentraedi non-combat shuttle pods as shown in Macross TV...! Marvel would repeat a similar trick years later when it introduced a Sentinel variant that bore more than a passing resemblance to mecha from Evangelion...

Shotguns? There were shotguns in that picture? Oh... there they are. Didn't notice them at first, for some reason... :-)

I did wonder - after all, I'm about six episodes into ZZ and only one person has died... :-) (whilst working on the earlier Zambot 3, Yoshiyuki Tomino allegedly earned the nickname "kill 'em all Tomino", due to the very high character death rate... )

Goofy - not serious, wacky. As I've been led to understand, Yoshiyuki Tomino - the creator of Gundam - was tired of it by the time it came to making ZZ Gundam and so he attempted to sabotage it by making it silly (which may explain the good quality animation but the very light-hearted feel compared to the grim-as-possible Zeta Gundam). This is reflected in its opening theme, "This ain't Anime!". Apparently, about half-way through, Tomino had a change of heart and ZZ Gundam became more serious, but not before a lot of damage had been done. I've only seen a few episodes of ZZ Gundam and can't personally say whether the tone of the early episodes does change later on.

Can you see that up in the sky? Why, it looks like someones taken a space colony and is dropping... it... on to the... Earth... ...no Zeta Gundam set this Universal Century, folks! Seriously, though, I'm really, really looking forward to this. I recently got a chance to see some ZZ Gundam, and while that was an experience (Gundam does "goofy!"), its rekindled my taste for Gundam at the moment...

The engine that drives Urusei Yatsura is that a total loser called Ataru Moroboshi lands himself the hottest girl in his sector of the Galaxy - Lum, who really needs no introduction - and he *isn't interested in her*, preferring to chase every other sentinent being in a skirt instead, much to the annoyance of the many, many other people who would like to be that close to Lum. Throw in an entire universe full of samurai, Lego ninjas, aliens, giant robots, dimensional rifts, biker babes from Mars, ice queens from Neptune, ogres, octopi, and much other weirdness, all of whom can drop in at any time, and you have Urusei Yatsura in a nutshell...

I've always liked the Titans (from Zeta Gundam) dark blue. Although a bit off-message, apparently one day one of the designers was working on an Ingram and a fellow worker commented "Its not nice to make jokes like that!", thinking it was a GM...! I've always wanted to see a mecha in Russian markings, too - red stars and the like. Edit: now I think about it, how about a Gerry Andersons Thunderbirds inspired scheme? Patlabor is often compared to it... Another edit: another interesting one to try would be a UK Police force scheme. UK police cars were once known as "jam sandwiches" because of their white and red stripe colour schemes. Here are some suggestions: http://www.ukemergency2.f9.co.uk/police14.htm This is a "jam sandwich": http://www.ukemergency2.f9.co.uk/donx0029.jpg Edit the third: along the same lines, you could try a traditional "British Bobby" look!

One word: "BBBBBRRRRRRRRRTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT!!!"

Two things: 1) Valks with beam sabres. Thats going to cause a few arguments. 2) When someone told the RX-93 that they'd "bury you", I don't think it was expecting to be taking it so literally...!

One alternative is actually a PSX game - Xenogears. Occasionally very frustrating, but worth it if you can invest the time.

Here you go: http://www.anft.net/f-14/f14-history-f14b.htm I also found reference to a World War II "XF-14C" made by Curtis, but details on that seem to be a bit scarce.

Man, can they speak english right? What's exaclty the purpose of this sign? Couldn't make much out of it. Caution, do not butt your head against the wall? A lot of shrines, temples and other old buildings in Japan have low roofs or low overhead beams - I suspect its a mangled warning. I found this out the hard way when visting Himeji castle with my friend, who is six feet tall. I told him he'd better take notice of the sign just before walking head-first into the thing it was warning about... Incidentally, its also a problem in modern Japanese buildings - some shops in Akihabara have padded ceilings and walls!

Half-Life 2 uses Real Physics as part of the game engine. You'll find a number of puzzles rely on using objects around you. Just be patient and use a little lateral thinking...

It could be worse. No, really. Certain of us who grew up with 8-bit home computers might remember a copy protection device called a "Lenslock"...

Ico was crtically acclaimed but did poorly at retail. It appears the World really does prefer "EA Sports Simulation 200X" to original games... Ico was at heart a basic platform/puzzle game. What elevated it into an almost unique catergory of its own was that a) the castle in which it was set was an absolute masterpiece of level design. You would finish one section, then move on to another, and at some point you'd look back at the section you'd just come from and think "My God". The only thing I can really compare it to is the castle in Miyazakis "Castle of Cagliostro", for feeling like a real imaginary place... and b) Yorda, the person you help throughout the game. She doesn't speak. Your only means of communicating with her is a phrase that sounds like "Mah-plah". Shes almost entirely helpless, but due to the ingenious trick of leading her around by the hand all the time, she becomes more of a character than countless other CGI'd scripted FMV entities. Ico isn't for everyone, but if you appreiciate a simple story beautifully told, then it might be for you. Edit: typos.

Or you can use this even more straightforward formula: It will be BIG.

Er... everyone?

http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/11/02/brain.dish/index.html Thanks to MegaTokyos Dom for the link.

Shin, I think Skull Leader has already answered your questions! Theres no doubt that if you want a brick of a toy the 1/55s feel much more solid and have much greater heft to them. The HCMs compensate with increased mobility, better (if not entirely accurate) detail and neat features like rubber landing gear and "proper" missile slots. I'm also a bit annoyed because I had the opportunity to buy the HCM "cannon fodder" VF-1A, and didn't, which is a shame, as I think its got a lovely colour scheme as a HCM. I've never handled a MPC, so I couldn't tell you how it compares, though its obvious in pictures just how much Toynami based the MPC on the original HCM design - and personally speaking, I think the HCM has better proportions; the MPC looks a bit too "stretched" into the larger scale.

The new Dalek - same as the old one! I wouldn't take those photos as being completely representive. Rumours of leaked storylines indicate that there could be one episode with a "classic" Dalek, and new Daleks appearing later on in the series, but I stress this is rumour, nothing definite yet. If that is the new Dalek, its interesting that they've kept the "sink plunger" arm, always a source of mirth among the public...! Edit: Forgot to mention: Daleks are "owned" by the estate of Terry Nation; its possible they didn't allow the BBC to make any radical changes, hence the "classic" alien pepperpot Overlords of the Galaxy shape...!

And now some fun! Hikaru: "C'mon, babe. You and me, we could show the Galaxy the power of love!. Who needs Minmay, anyway? <hic>!" Milia: "<blush> But what about...?" Max: "AHEM!"