F-ZeroOne

ZZ is perhaps a touch under-rated - most peoples impressions of it are probably based on seeing a few episodes right at the start. It improves considerably after about ep. 22 when Tomino finally regains his senses. Its not perfect, and still has moments of silliness (and can't quite shake off the legacy of those first episodes), but the later half is much better. Turn-A classification is a bit odd - Tomino makes it very clear that all Gundams are part of the Turn-A universe (with the exception of SEED/Destiny, which were produced later), and after all, he did create the franchise in the first place. However, Turn-A is an excellent series in its own right and possibly the one most in keeping with the spirit of the original Gundam series. Recommended!

Pac-Man Begins!

I think they should diversify a bit. Experiment with new game concepts in the Ace Combat setting. Like... Ace Combat: Ace of Aces Volleyball! Extreme! With superb 3D sweat-on-skin-in-the-sun textures! Realistic muscle tone! 500 different collectable dog tags and sunglasses! Custom trunks sizes - from "Baggy" to "Speedos"! 30 playable ace pilots - all male! Its just like the beach volleyball scenes in Top Gun! Coming soon!

Heh. You've got to love quotes like: "It has been seen as a bit of a white elephant and Cold War relic but we have never had an aircraft that has performed like this. Best thing since the Spitfire." Now thats praise!

Oh, okay - sorry, I hadn't seen coasters like that before.

Does this mean... ...we have the TOUCH? We have the... POWER?

Knight 26, nice table - did you make it yourself with the aircraft instruments on the corners?

You are Dale Brown and I claim my free can of Yoshinol.

Do you mean "B-1" or "B-52" instead of B-17? The USAF must be in financial trouble if its sending Flying Fortresses into warzones again...! Nied has already pointed out that IR and radar waves are different parts of the elctromagnetic spectrum, and that opening the weapons bay doors would increase the F-22s radar signature. However, its also worth pointing out that stealth is not magic - in fact, in the "Skunk Works" book by Ben Rich, theres a quote from a F-117 pilot who stated that the Iraqi air defence network could in fact "see" the stealth fighters on occasion, but could not get a strong enough radar fix to lock on a missile (theres a difference between a search radar and a tracking radar) - although its possible the pilot was talking about other forms of detection, such as IR or low-light TV.

You guessed it! C,mon it was the Silver Age! 399220[/snapback] You know the worst part? Matter-Eater Lad was at least in the Legion of Superheroes. There were several groups formed of members whose powers were so bad, they had to form their own "legions" because they couldn't get in the real one.

Details seem to be a little thin, but 100KM + seems a fair estimate. Incidentally, and something I've only just realised recently, is that the Meteor perhaps shows the difference in design philosophy between the UK and the US: the US historically, has always had to "go there and do that". The UK, on the other hand, has generally always had to "let them come here and then we do that"...

It looks great in Ace Combat games, especially once you unlock the "Black" scheme...! The only thing I don't like is that you don't get the most advanced AAMs, unlike the F-22. Once Meteor enters service, the RAF will be shooting down aggressors across the oceans from Biggin Hill...

Guinness.

Okay, couple of things: 1) Its unlikely to be "a" round. Modern automatic wepaons have quite high rates of fire, and even a single barrel cannon is going to have a (in theory, anyway) ROF of at least several hundred rounds a minute. 2) Same goes for 23mm - the standard Russian AA gun of the 80s was the ZSU-23-4, which had four guns mounted on the same chassis. 3) Theres numerous reports of pilots - dating back to WWII - being shot down by either small-calibre rounds or lucky hits. The great Canadian ace "Screwball" Beurling once shot down an aircraft with less than five rounds... I guess you could debate whether Falcon is being "realistic" or just "mean"...

Hmm, Vinnie, you ever hear of a UK computer games programmer called Jeff Minter by any chance? Because thats the only way I can connect llamas and Macross...

MiG-23s are supposedly quite fast, they apparently have a fair bit of thrust: Russian 30mm guns are meant to be quite powerful; 30mm is quite a big round and there are reports - although I can't confirm them - that the gun on the early MiG-29s would often jam after a few rounds were fired, but the target was toast by then...

One other "Bangor" tidbit I forgot - Bangor was home of Anime Projects, a UK based anime company. Anime Projects released AnimEigo products in the UK, and one of those AnimEigo products was... Scramble Wars! Spooky or what?

A limited edition Kikis Delivery Service cel portrait from the Studio Ghibli museum. I can't remember the exact price - possibly I have wiped it from my mind - but £250 (about $450) is probably close to the mark...

Nice! I think Kawamori should hire you - seriously!

"Scramble Wars" and "Ten Little Gal Force" are very funny, at least if you know your 80s anime. Incidentally, Bangor, the "goal" of the race in Scramble Wars is a real place - in Wales. And, for those of you that read Magister Negi-Magi, Wales is most definitely not "in England"...!

"What do you want?" "Information." "You won't get it!"

The RN and RAF also saw a little bit of action over the Falklands. Might come in handy that, if someone one day wants to make a new V/STOL fighter...

395526[/snapback] Edit: oops. Next time, check the link first before making comments.

Ah, thanks, David. Sorry, my memory was playing tricks on me regards the F-4.

David can probably answer this one in more detail, but the subjects come up before (most famously, in relation to the anime series Area-88, where an aircraft is able to survive a cunning trap by folding its wings in flight) here. IIRC, the F-8 Crusader can fly in certain flight profiles with wings folded, but not the F-4.