F-ZeroOne

One things for sure: people will still be thinking "What the hell was he thinking?!" about the Turn-A, even during the 100th anniversary...

I think Amuro had slashed it in half with a beam sabre before I got a good look at it.

The ammo-tin box set is very cool but might be a little tricky to get hold now the publisher is out of business. The booklet is very well done, written by Tim Eldred. I can't recall the number of episodes, but there should be nine discs in it - eight series episode discs and a bonus content disc. VOTOMs is a pretty unique show; although the animation is rather rough the maturity of the plot for the time is striking. The basic message? Chirico Cuvie - don't mess. It also does some things I've never seen anywhere else, like moving the story along during the next episode previews...!

Why is it carrying a Colonial Marines assault rifle?

One of the most surprising things about the movie for me is that it has a soundtrack. Yes, I know that sounds rather bloody obvious, but when you've been used to reading the source material in silence for so long...

No Typhoon crashes that I know off but one suffered a front landing gear failure I think.

As it happens, I wasn't thinking of the US but those countries, such as Japan, that have expressed interest in the F-22.

Finally got fed up of Mr. Moore standing on the front lawn scaring the neighbours, huh?

Thrust vectoring is a possible future option, and from my point of view the F-22 is the foreign fighter... My point, though, was that anyone who wants a F-22 will probably want the "full" deal; there are other options available if you can live without fully specc-ed stealth, and as far as I understand the F-35 will be the primary Air-to-Ground vehicle for the US forces .

If you're after a less stealthy, but super-cruise capable air superiority fighter with good avionics and missiles... we have some Typhoons we'd like to sell you.

It becomes even more awesome when you find out that the destination everyone is trying to get to, Bangor, actually exists. Its in Wales, the UK. It used to be home to Anime Projects, who released various AnimEigo titles back in the good ol' days.

The story goes that it wound up being twin-engined in the end because they had budget problems, which George Lucas solved by snapping the wingtips off the test model and thus saving several tens of thousands of bucks.

Whatever you choose, read the book at some point, because you really don't want Alan Moore standing outside your house glaring at the windows until you do.

AESA radars don't hold all the advantages; my understanding is that range can come at the expense of a narrower field-of-view; I believe the Eurofighter consortium decided that the technology wasn't quite mature enough at the time they decided to go with a mechanically operated array (though an AESA is a possibble future upgrade).

I saw a magazine article with Raiders design concepts once. There were going to be Nazi rocket/jet fighter bases and even cyborg Nazis... Looking at that flying wing now - where was the landing gear supposed to go in-flight...?!

GAH! I'm an idiot! Turn-A Gundam has a number of aircraft of 1930s-fantasy vintage. Its also well worth watching...

Okay, now played the recently released H.A.W.X. demo through a couple of times. Graphics are pretty good, but they lack a bit of the sheen of Ace Combat 6. Mechanics are very similar to Ace Combat series, with some differences - I'm not convinced about the OFF system, it seems very difficult to keep on a straight heading to track a target (the Harrier, ironically, is very bad at this because its difficult to tell which way its pointed - just like the real thing) and the double-tap on the triggers to access is a bit iffy. Barely glanced at the radar, using the HUD tracking more; thats very different to Ace Combat, where the radar is an essential tool. I do like the bomb aiming reticule; it works like the semi-active AAMs in Ace Combat, a circle you keep the target in to guide the bomb. Theres an "ERS" system which involves flying through a series of triangles to track difficult targets like tanks near buildings or agile aerial targets. This does seem a bit pointless for aircraft as it takes an age to get into shooting position. Its also a bit fiddly to activate as you have to press "X". First go has you running all over the place reacting to instructions from controllers or ground troops - who will not shut the hell up - until you realise you have to eliminate a certain number of a certain kind of target to progress, again just like Ace Combat, and the frantic calls for air support are mostly window dressing. Earning XP is a nice touch but I think I prefer the Ace Combat credit system which allows you to choose which aircraft to buy. Music is one area where it really loses out to Ace Combat; the demo has rather muted, generic action music, compared to Ace Combats sweeping epic bombast. Slight oddity - your allies stand by and watch as enemy formations fly right over them without doing anything at all. Those look like AEGIS destroyers to me, surely they can handle a few landing craft? (in other words, theres - in the demo, anyway - no "Allied Force" help). Overall, its fun, especially if you've played and liked Ace Combat, with a few marks against and a few marks for. I think Ace Combat has the edge in presentation and overall charm (being, basically, an attempt to make Area 88: The Game), but HAWX is by no means bad going by the demo.

While not exactly what you might be looking for, Porco Rosso is the only title I can think of at the moment.

Uh... "Jettison canopy before triggering ejection seat"...?

Vintage wise: Takatokus X-Bomber Big Dai-X toys have a high metal content, even the smaller ST version. They are, however, getting pricier. Its hard to go wrong with a Takatoku 1/40 Orguss Orgoid, if you don't mind a mix of metal and plastic. My experience, though not recent, is that they tend to be cheaper than the Takatoku Valkyries from the same era. Takaras 1/72 Dougram toys are also pretty darn good: http://www.toyboxdx.com/datafiles/data/dougram/ Takaras "Dual Model" VOTOMs re-releases would probably interest a serious 80s mecha fan, but I'm not sure if they have any die-cast content...? A few years back, Bandai released several classic chogokin toys in a smaller size, under "THE CHOGOKIN" label. More recent: Another vote for the CMs Corp Patlabor Ingrams. Or, Soul of Chogokins Mazinger Angels - blinged up versions of classic Mazinger fembot designs. Because chrome goes with anything, dear. Incidentally, can I be your friend too?!

Being dead makes you wake up next to nekkid babes? Screw everything else, I'll take the Ideon, thanks!

Today being the day where I got my Star Fleet DVD set, I have to say Big Dai-X.

I'd tend to agree, but on the other hand if Yoshiyuki Tomino can't state what is "canon" in Gundam, who can? (though having said that, of course, his own Gundam novels don't follow the animated continuity either...!).

Turn-A is a bit of an odd case; it was Tominos attempt to tie all the then-current Gundam series together, so from Turn-As point of view, all Gundam series are Universal Century (or put another way, all Gundam eras are the same era). Yes, even the ones with the boy band Gundam pilots. I think the "official" view is that it is an alternate timeline, but on the other hand, its also possibly Tominos most personal take on Gundam. So, er. Yes. And no. Maybe.

One place the translators (of the official release, anyway) tripped up: Wales is not in England.