F-ZeroOne

There are only two kinds of 90s movie fighter planes, F-18s and "Stealths". This has been recently updated to F-22s and F-35s.

I'm - surprisingly enough - "FZeroOne", though I haven't ventured on-line too much yet. You might hear me saying "Tally Ho!" in an authentic 1940s RAF fighter pilot voice just before buying the farm in a volley of AMRAAMs...

I'm afraid you have - although elements of the British Army have "Royal" suffixes, like the Royal Engineers, the Army as a whole is just "the Army". This is apparently because it originated from a number of separate units that formed a land force, rather than being a generally coherent organisation from the off. Its an easy mistake to make though - after all, you did mention the Marines, which are the Royal Marines...

The Royal what now...?

There was an initial run of "Action Force" figures which, AFAIK, were unrelated to the smaller-size US G.I. Joe figures. Later, US-type G.I. Joe figures were sold under the same "Action Force" name. Even the Marvel UK comic was labelled as "Action Force" (if you ever see a UK comic, you can see where the text has been edited in speech bubbles and the like), though later on the figures and comic were relabelled as "G.I. Joe". It was bloody Snickers/Marathon and Opal Fruits/Starburst all over again...

"Thing with wings there - five rounds rapid."

That does look like fun, like a video game made into a film.

Heh, just discovered a fun fact about the Tornado GR4 - its fitted with the Tornado Advanced Radar Display Information System. I've pleased to know that the RAF will be able to deal with many types of threats, including Daleks, by equipping Tornados with TARDIS...

But will they give the poor guy a damn brain this time round? Grimlock is not dumb! (in Marvel UK territory, anyway... )

Actually, some of our mere Earth jet engines can be designed to be very tolerant of disturbed air flow - early MiG-29s had intake covers that could be fully closed in flight, and apparently it was possible to fly at up to about 300 knots or so with them closed...! (although there were vents on top of the intakes IIRC for air intake when the covers were closed). Take that, OverTechnology!

Yes, theres a couple of things I learnt from reading those forums that I hadn't realised - like the "High-G" ability. Missed the thread about customising the paint - maybe I'll finally be able to get a Typhoon in RAF Desert Pink at last!

The old ideas are the best ones then, eh? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthquake_bomb

Oops - posted in wrong thread!

Yes, the music in the last mission of Zce Combat Zero is superb, and I'm liking the music in the demo and trailer. Must give it a try with a little Fire Bomber, though... I noticed the "one missile, one kill" thing too. I did wonder if perhaps it might be an off-set to the insanely huge amount of targets...

Yes, so that means you chaps had better get cracking so that we have something to fly from them by then!

So, will the pilot figure come with actual painted-on burst eyeballs?

Davids right. The trailer does indeed rock. You may have seen it on-line, but thats nothing compared to seeing it on even a small HD screen.

Well, that explains why Tomino was seen coming back to the office one day in the 80s with mud on his shoes, a shovel over one shoulder and wearing a bloodstained shirt...

IIRC, the series of books was "# (e.g. 101) Un-Useless Inventions. They weren't failed inventions as such, but part of a sort of design concept where the invention had to actually work or function but be completely impractical at the same time. There was a Japanese word for them but I forget what it was.

My slightly overblown impression of the demo... There are often to be found, in great legends, smaller legends. One of them is enclosed in the immensity of a certain eternal summer, in the year 1940. A Fighter Command squadron was scrambled to intercept an enemy raid. Closing in on the contact, it became apparent that their small band of fighters were about to engage an opposing formation of over a hundred aircraft. As the distance closed between them, one of the RAF pilots became concerned that they appeared to be taking no action. He got on the radio and asked his Squadron Leader, Ted Graham - who suffered from a stutter - what the matter was. Had Graham not seen the huge metal cloud approaching? There was a pause before Squadron Leader Graham replied. It was his answer that would became that small legend: "Of course I've seen the b-b-b-b*****ds! I'm t-t-t-trying to work out w-w-w-what to do!" [1] Playing the Ace Combat 6 demo for the first time, I can understand a little of what Squadron Leader Graham probably felt. Of course, this being a virtual battlefield, I did not face the danger of being killed or terribly injured in a fireball. Nor would my opponents plummet to the ground, their last minutes alive spent trapped in mortally wounded aircraft. But... facing me on the screen were indeed a lot of b*****ds, and initially I was at a loss as to what to do. This is perhaps the most immediate shock upon playing the demo. Other games in the series have some mighty aerial punch-ups, but nothing quite like this. The entire screen seems to be filled with green targeting reticules and you feel just a touch outnumbered. The impression was reinforced by a glance at the bottom-left hand corner of the screen, revealing that my F-16 - the Ford Escort [2] of the Ace Combat series - was loaded with about 140 missiles, nearly twice as many as I've ever seen in any of the earlier games. Obviously, I was expected to expend quite a few of them. However, an Ace Combat game is an Ace Combat game, and after getting over my initial shock, I almost instantly felt at home. Missiles. Check. Guns. Check. Right trigger throttle. Check. Left trigger air-brake check. Stirring music. Check. Slightly ridiculous flight name. Check. Time to emulate Squadron Leader Graham, then. Get over it and dive in to the attack... [3] After the first play, more signs that this is indeed an Ace Combat game appear. The at first bewildering array of opponents becomes less heart-stopping when one realises that, as ever, there are red targets on the radar, which are the mission objectives. You can, if necessary, ignore the chaos erupting around you and concentrate on those. Not that theres any fun in letting an enemy aircraft slip past without an AMRAAM in pursuit, of course... The demo is a bit too short to give a major impression of some of the additions we've been promised. At the moment, it plays, and looks, much like any other Ace Combat game but on steroids. We shall have to see how much control we will have over the dynamic battles. There appear to have been a number of changes to accommodate the greater scope, noticeably that one missile = one kill (this could be a demo thing or a difficulty setting though). And, oh, it looks gorgeous. Its not just the planes - Ace Combat 6 has always given good planes - but the details. One guy I know has waxed lyrical about the realism of the afterburner effects [4]. Smoke trails criss-cross the sky. Clouds can be flown to and in. Missiles ignite, boost, point up and shoot away. Go down low, and the increased solidity of the ground environment becomes apparent in the rush of speed that one feels. Like all Ace Combat games, this won't be for everyone. For those like myself, though, who do get it... I think we're in for a treat. Tally ho, chaps! [1] Source: The Most Dangerous Enemy by Stephen Bungay. A very similar account also appears in Fighter by Len Deighton. [2] Not sure if the Escort has the same name in non-UK markets - it is, basically, the "default" of cars. [3] Well, the squadron leader being a little bit smarter than that, he curved round, gained height, and then attacked. [4] Wonder who that is...?

Its the car that tried to kill The Stig. Wheres my Airwolf movie, eh?

I can beat all that, though not with sound, but image. Lynn Minmei. In EastEnders (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EastEnders). Yes, she didn't disappear mysteriously after all but hitched a ride back in time with the Doctor and now lives a quiet life - well, as quiet a life as can be had in an Albert Square populated by the cast of EastEnders - in good ol' Lahn-dan town. Rumour has it shes the real reason Den and Angie split up... ...someone who isn't already resident in the U.K. please tell me you know what I'm babbling about...?

Tomino was one the happy pills at the time. ZZ does get better later. Honest.

IIRC, the aircraft fuselage will block some of the radar signal, particlularly immediately underneath the body. This blind spot prompted the RAF to go with a bulbous nose and tail Nimrod AEW prototype, but they never got it to work right and almost as an afterthought created one of the ugliest looking aeroplanes of recent times. They ended up buying Sentries instead. It might be possible to get round this now, or at least mitigate the effects. Not sure what effect rudders etc might have. Not all AWACs aircraft have dishes - Australia has gone for a design dubbed a "fantail" which is more of a wedge shape.

Speaking from the point of view of the UK military just at the moment, thats still way too much.