F-ZeroOne

Such an aircraft appears in the anime The Cockpit.

I'd love to see Typhoons in JASDF service, they have some interesting colour schemes. On that note, I saw a short clip of a Typhoon being put through its paces the other day and I think they should stuff the low-viz schemes, and make black the official Typhoon colour. It looks mean as hell in black.

Oh, I've seen it. I've just been waiting for someone to explain to me what the hell actually happened. Not sure if I mentioned this before, but Space Runaway Ideon really deserves to be better known, especially the movie "Be Invoked". I think if a few Evangelion fans saw this, they'd have little speech bubbles above their heads all going "Ah... "

Dammit, he gets everywhere!

I actually preferred the CGI ones. Made me feel a bit more like I was playing Area 88: The Game.

I'm almost certain at least one of the Outlaw Star vessels is in the second Design Works volume - it was probably a "guest" design...

The Doctor returns - with fresh companion, and foes new and old, on 31st March, on BBC1 in the UK. John Simm - of "Life on Mars" fame will be appearing as a very well known Who character...

Hmm, shades of Outlaw Star with the arms emerging from the front of the fighters - Kawamori did some design work for that, didn't he?

I remember playing God of War for the first time; first time I killed an enemy the feeling of horror-struck awe was just incredible. "What have I done?!".

It happens a few times in VOTOMS - theres another episode like that somewhat further in. I can only guess that they were either having production problems, or there was some sort of holiday in Japan at those times. A couple of the flashback episodes do show events that were skipped over earlier, such as Chiricos almighty punch-up with the Uoodoo City police when he tries to acquire a Scopedog at the Battling Arena.

Richard "The Hamster" Hammond also recently survived ploughing a furrow into the English countryside. With his head. At 300 miles an hour. Ah, Top Gear. Don't ever leave us.

I've watched Project A-Ko dozens of times and it still makes me laugh. Theres so many little in-jokes in there I still occasionally see something I didn't spot before.

Ah, okay - thanks for the correction.

Cats Eye was actually created by the same person as City Hunter (which you probably know). One of the reasons I like it is for Hitomis love interest Toshi, who as detectives go - well, thats just say hes not Batman. Votoms is really impressing me. I think the main factor is - aisdes from the gritty setting - Chirico, who has a stare that can laminate you to the wall, and unlike just about every other mecha pilot lead out there, is a professional.

At the moment - aided by a supply of, er, "acquired" anime from a friend - I'm on something of a retro kick. I've just had a rather heavy dose of Tomino shows, especially Ideon, and am currently making my way through VOTOMs (which is awesome). They're all shows that probably a lot of recent anime fans may well find unbearably tedious, so I can see where you're coming from. Even if you don't like Gunbuster, you heretic. I've also enjoyed a few obscure things myself - Cats Eye being a particular favourite of mine. Graham, Angels Egg was an experiemental Mamoru Oshii work. Its possible you might have seen it by accident, as parts of it ended up being used in a live-action Western science fiction film for reasons which must remain a mystery... Robot Carnival gets very good critical reviews, but AFAIK has never had a Western release despite having some real heavy hitters behind some of the sequences.

The Russians had this problem with a gatling-type gun they developed for the MiG-27. It was so powerful that bits would literally fall off the aeroplane when it was fired; one report even mentions the entire instrument panel breaking loose!

Well, at least not if the designers try and get too clever - remember the 25mm, twin-barrel Advanced Technology Gun for the ATF programme? Or the 25mm cannon for the Sea Harrier FRS.2?

One of the factors in deciding to keep training and support for the Typhoons gun in RAF service was recent experience with gun-less Harriers on operations. Guns might be rather less important than they used to be, but they do still give an option that a gun-less fighter doesn't have.

I know what you mean. You get so used to having the entire collective knowledge of humanity at your fingertips that when you can't actually find something its like the web slaps you in the face. Try finding information on "TechnoVoyager" toys for example...

Though to be fair to Graham, he does dress up as a girl along with Mr. Wong to escape from Tokyo.

Is that B-Kos dub actress (from the original VHS dub) as the teacher?!

No. 1/72. And, yes, ouch.

Sorry, I forget how many aircraft nuts - I mean, experts there are around here. It cost 4,700 yen, which is about three times the cost of the uncompleted version. And you thought that Yamato liked to hold its customers upside down until the money falls out...

...or, as its better known, "the plane from Porco Rosso". I've been waiting forever for someone to bring out a pre-assembled, pre-painted version of this, and Japanese model makers Finemolds have finally obliged. This thing is essentially a plastic model kit with the details already applied and requiring a small amount of self-assembly. It certainly betrays its kit origins as it feels as fragile as matchsticks; pretty much the first thing I did with it is snap one of the landing float attachments by applying not very much pressure at all (thankfully corrected with a bit of glue). The box is a minor work of art in itself, with a velcro flap so that you can admire the contents and a lovely design which evokes the true spirit of Miyazakis work. Experts will note that this is the original version of the aircraft, before the plane was rebuilt following events in Porco Rosso. I prefer the sleeker engine design of this one, but difficult decisions abound - the other version, after all, comes with a minature Fio as well...

And a species called the Nausicaans and two little mini-robot/computer things named after (IIRC) something from the Dirty Pair, and...