Opinion: best starfighter designs ever

[renegadeleader1]

I've been thinking about all the sci-fi movies I've seen and games I've played and the worst transformers ever thread got me thinking why not a best starfighter thread. Also feel free to add some ones you hate.

Off the top of my head there are four designs that I love

1.The X-wing from star wars

(no need for a link to a pic)

everything about this design reeks of coolness despite the armor looking like a 70's gremlin rusting in a junkyard.

2. The death blossom gunstar from the last star fighter

http://members.fortunecity.com/wendhausen/...ter/gunstar.htm

despite being a rip on the four wing design of the x-wing this thing has so many cool thing I consider it the x-wing redux. the gunners seat, the huge ass arsenal, and the whirling top of death that is the death blossom.

3.the TAC fighter from starship troopers

http://www.trooperpx.com/VidMods/HalfLife/TAC.html

you don't really see it much in the movie but the design was uber cool very reminicent of a cross between an AH-64 apache and a F-15 eagle

4. the SVA-43 Hammerhead from space above and beyond.

http://myweb.ecomplanet.com/ACME4155/mycustompage0005.htm

this ship alone is the biggest reason I miss the show.

honorable mentions

the hellcat V, Thunderbolt VII, and the arrow from wing commander III and IV

dishonorable mentions

all the designs from the wing commander movie. What the hell were they thinking?!?!?

the core booster from original recipe gundam don't know why but aside from its color I hate this things its just... mother fugly at least the dopp has style points with the twin gatling gun/missile pods

EDIT:

Edited April 18, 2004 by renegadeleader1

[GobotFool]

In no particular order,

A-wing

Tie-interceptor

Independance War Corvette (I know it's not a fighter, but damn I loved this thing)

Most of the Homeworld fighter craft

X-wing

Gunstar

B-wing (so fugly it's awsome)

[Mechamaniac]

While not really a fighter per se, I have to nominate...

The Drop Ship from Aliens

As to my favs...

The A-Wing (fast fast fast, maneuverable, at least in X-Wing vs Tie)

Starfury from Bab 5 - Not so much for its looks as for the fact that they at least tried to make it move like a space fighter would.

And sorry, I'll get flamed for this I'm sure, but the Gunstar, and The Last Starfighter take the cake for the gayest figher and the gayest movie ever.

[Zentrandude]

Not realy a starfighter but i like the escape/scout ship design from alien/aliens the one ripley used to escape the very cheap exploding frieghter.

[Yohsho]

I've always like the Tie Interceptor.

Others:

Jedi Starfigher

The dropship from Aliens

X-Wing

Jeez I can't remember others, but if I do there will be more.

[Druna Skass]

Well if not Macross VFs than the Legioss...

Though as for non-variable...

X-Wing

A-Wing

TIE Defender

Cosmograsper

G-Falcon

Vic Viper

That fighter from Ray Crisis

The Exo Fighter from Exo Squad

[muswp1]

Well mine are:

X-Wing

Tie Interceptor (it rocks in X-Wing vs Tie, plus it looks cool)

The Hammerhead from Space Above and Beyond

The Star Fury Mk 1 from Babylon 5, not the Mk 2.

[melancholic]

Pretty much all original trilogy Star Wars fighters like the Ties and the -Wings.

Mospeada Legioss

The R-9 from the video game R-Type

http://www.classicgaming.com/shmups/review...rtypepiccie.gif

The Cylon Raider

http://www.spacemodelmania.com/models/ipms...ipms_Raider.jpg

Buck Rogers Starfighter

http://www.jump.net/~jayb/jpeg/starfighter4.jpg

[GobotFool]

The Exo Fighter from Exo Squad

Man, I thought i was the only one that liked that thing

Well since they behaved like fightercraft in space, I'll nominate all exo-squad e-frames as well.

[Coota0]

All the Starwars fighters

The Hammerhead, but the rear vicibilty sucks ass

I like the Vipers from the new Battlestar Galatica

Exofighter is Cool

I not a big fan of the tac fighter, looking at it there's no vicibilty for the entire bottom half of the fighter.

[renegadeleader1]

The Exo Fighter from Exo Squad

Man, I thought i was the only one that liked that thing

Well since they behaved like fightercraft in space, I'll nominate all exo-squad e-frames as well.

heeheee the neosapien couterpart to that blue fighter looks a heck of a lot like an invid scout.

BTW if all E-frames act like fighters in space why have one that is actually a fighter that sacrifices the ability to walk on the ground?

Also I just want to say even though I only listed the X-wing I loved all the ships from star wars

one o more thing

doesn't this I-7 howlrunner from star wars

http://hangarbay.tripod.com/td-i7.html

look a hell of a lot like buck rogers fighter?

http://www.jump.net/~jayb/jpeg/starfighter4.jpg

[GobotFool]

heeheee the neosapien couterpart to that blue fighter looks a heck of a lot like an invid scout.

I've always wondered that as well.

[NERV]

the corsair and carrier in starcraft

the transforming dealies from The Returner that disguise themselves as human aircraft

all the dreads from vandread, i would list the vandreads as well but im only tlaking about ships, not bots

x-9 ghost

swordfish II and redtail

the winebago form spaceballs

the outlaw star

tie interceptor, b-wing, naboo fighter

i kno theres other but i cant tihnk of em at the moment

[DARTHTODD]

I don't care what anyone thinks about Star Wars (the movies). You have to admit that their fighters are the best (or at least that they're very good).

Edited April 18, 2004 by DARTHTODD

[renegadeleader1]

personally I think the writers for exo squad were macross/robotech fans. several episodes revolved around Kaz Takagi and the neo ace had stuff from them.

Kaz losing his friend much like Rick and Roy

the red and blue fighters fighting to a draw

Kaz and his friend talking about the enemy ace with almost exaclty the dialoge as Kyhron talking Miriya in robotech.

"There's a neosapian(micrionian) ace on mercury(the sdf-1) better than anyone you have fought before."

EDIT: heres a link

http://www.stwing.upenn.edu/~pdanner/exo/eps/step.html

does it sound familiar?

Edited April 18, 2004 by renegadeleader1

[Stamen0083]

I will offer my takes:

The Core Booster as drawn by Hajime Katoki in Sentinel 0079.

The Jet Core Booster from Gundam 08th MS Team.

While these are not fighters, I still really like the Type 61 MBT and Type 74 Hover Truck from the same OAV's.

I have a strong dislike as far as Star Wars is concerned, but I think the TIE Advance as flown by Darth Vader in A New Hope was pretty nice. What did that machine evolve into?

I'd list X-Wing, but everyone and their dog's mother think that ship is cool, so I won't bother.

As far as uglies go, nothing take the cake quite like 0079 Zeon fighter crafts. Flying eggs... Okawara should burn in hell just for that.

Now, if we were to talk starships, my favorite design is the Intrepid class ship from Star Trek, of which the most famous ship is, of course, the USS Voyager.

The Nova class (USS Equinox) ships are nice too. Of course, the Vector Assault Mode capable USS Prometheus can kick some serious ass.

[Radd]

I'm going to toss in another vote for the Legioss/Tread combination, followed by many of the fighters from Star Wars, the B-Wing possibly being my favourite.

[Greyryder]

The Colonial Viper from Battlestar Galactica (Mk II Viper in the new series)

X-Wing

Thunderbolt Starfury from B5 (The long nosed one)

That's all I can think of off hand. It's not a fighter, but I always thought that the Betty from Alien Ressyraction was pretty cool looking. (in that form over function butt ugly kind of way) It's inspired a couple of my designs.

[JsARCLIGHT]

I would have to say my favorite all time sci-fi space fighter would have to be the Gunstar from Last Starfighter.

It works on so many levels... not only do you have two crew and separate the jobs of attacking and piloting so you can have two people giving their full attention to both duties but you have a figher that has a 360 degree firing arc above, behind, below, everywhere. Comeplete with missles and cannon turrets you have one badass fighter... A handfull of Gunstars with Ace Starfighter pilots could hand almost anyone their ass on a platter.

[Radd]

I have a strong dislike as far as Star Wars is concerned, but I think the TIE Advance as flown by Darth Vader in A New Hope was pretty nice. What did that machine evolve into?

Well, in the movies the closest thing to a direct decendant appears to be the TIE Interceptor, based entirely on the crimped wing design. Nothing official, though. However, in the Extended Universe, the TIE Avenger is the direct decendant of Vader's ship. Same basic look, but cleaner and more streamlined.

Now, if we were to talk starships, my favorite design is the Intrepid class ship from Star Trek, of which the most famous ship is, of course, the USS Voyager.

We have seriously diverging tastes as far as starships go, I can't stand the look of the Voyager, ugliest ship in the Trek universe is my opinion. I prefere a lot of the older designs over the increasingly ugly new designs. I like the refitted original Enterprise, the Reliant, and the Excelsior. However, Trek ships generally aren't my favourite in general.

Give me the Yamato, the Arcadia, the Death Shadow, or even the Karyu from Matsumoto's stories.

The ships from the last episodes of MOSPEADA remain high among my favourites. What was that? The Jupiter fleet? With the dark blue, red, and orange colour schemes?

[F-ZeroOne]

Add another Gunstar fan to the list...!

I like the Y-Wing from Star Wars, for some reason.

Not strictly speaking a fighter, but the enemy fighter carrier from Star Fleet/X-Bomber is one of my all-time favourite designs.

[Phyrox]

Best:

- Aliens Dropship (my absolute favorite)

- Star Wars B-Wing

- Starcraft Corsair

- Megazone 23 Tivar

Worst/Overrated

- Star Wars X-wing (even as a kid I didn't see what made this cool)

- Last Starfighter Gunstar

- Battlestar Galactica (anything from this show)

- Babylon 5 (anything non-human)

Well that is my short list of good and bad starfighters. I see I conflict with several people here on my worst list...but am glad to see many have the same good taste with respect to my favs...

[CoryHolmes]

I like the Horizont dropships from Mospeada. Sleek and built for a purpose, reather than just looking cool.

[uminoken]

I'm gonna go with these as my top 3:

S:AAB Hammerhead SA-43 Endo/Exo Fighter

Star Trek: Peregrine-class fighter

http://www.kitsune.addr.com/SF-Conversions...n_Peregrine.htm (unfortunately the clearest good pic I could find - they're the little fighters buzzing about in all the DS9 fleet battles)

Star Wars: E-Wing fighter

http://www.sicqnus.com/swafcl8.htm

Honorable mentions:

B-Wing, Aliens Dropship, and the TAC fighter from the Starship Troopers crapfest-er movie

Worst in my opinion:

Anakin's "custom" Jedi Starfighter - they took a sleek design and added podracer engines *bleagh*

Edited April 18, 2004 by uminoken

[Vostok 7]

Best (No Particular Order):

SVA-43 Hammerhead (SAAB)

Starfury (B5)

Thunderbolt (B5)

Dropship (Aliens)

TIE Defender

TIE Advanced x2 (aka the TIE Avenger)

Assault Gunboat (SW/TIE Fighter)

Others I probably can't remember.

Vostok 7

[Max Jenius]

X-Wing sucks! B-Wing all the way baby! That and the Jedi Starfighter.

The hammerheads from space:aab were awesome too!

But that's just all VFs aside... VFs would own those wimps.

[Anubis]

I have always loved the Tie Interceptor and the Tie Advanced. The best as far as general starfighters go. Never liked any of the Rebel/New Republic fighters very much. Especially hated the Naboo fighter and the A-wing. The Tie Defender and the Assault Gunboat also kicked major ass, though the Interceptor/Advanced are my personal favorites. The Imperials just had the better designs. Period.

I liked the Star Furies in Babylon 5. The new version that appeared later was also cool.

The Legoiss in Mospeada is also a favorite, though the Tread never did as much for me.

I also really liked the Hellcat, the Dralthi (Kilrathi fighter), and the Vampire from Wing Commander. The movie designs were god awful, and ruined the movie. If it was hellcats and a real tiger claw it would have been better.

Darth Vader's fighter was a Tie Advanced prototype (X1?). The Real Tie Advanced was a large evolution over that with real shields, hyperdrive, points on the wings with the lasers, and just a sleek bad ass looking design. The Tie Defender took it up another notch with the 3rd panel array and added 2 ion cannons on addition to the quad lasers.

The Assault Gunboat, made by the guys that did the Lamba Shuttle, was also a favorite of mine with it's multiple winged design. Realy nice looking.

Edited April 18, 2004 by Anubis

[SupremeKaioshin]

My vote goes to the Gunstar:

And ALIENS drop ship:

Star Wars X-Wing is probably our most favorite star fighter

[JKeats]

How about Calvin's starfighter from Calvin and Hobbes?

[Gaijin]

Add another Gunstar fan.

The Vasteel and Gauntlet/Vambrance from the Thunderforce shooters

The Vic Viper from Gradius

and one of my all time faves:

The SA-77 Silpheed from the Silpheed games

Edited April 18, 2004 by Gaijin

[one_klump]

I liked the Aliens dropship based on its sheer ugliness factor, like an A-10 and an Apache had a basterd stepchild...

Most fav non-variable fighters:

1: GTF Hercules from 'Descent: Freespace' (OMG, what a fighter)

2: Gunstar

3: Thunderbolt fighter from babylon 5

4: GTF Apollo

5: Starfury

Least fav:

1: TIE fighter (zero side visiability)

2: X-Wing (enemy fighters can fit between lasers, wtf?)

3: Y-Wing (ugly, and not in a good way)

4: The human fighters from 'Enemy Mine'

5: Shivan fighters from Freespace 2

[Stamen0083]

How about Calvin's starfighter from Calvin and Hobbes?

I'm not sure, but I think I'd vote for the F-14's with the T-Rex pilots.

[Barpharanges]

I have the same tastes as most others here, but the fighter designs in both the anime's Gall Force and Crusher Joe are some of my all time favorites as well. I'll have to dig up pics...

[MSW]

CRUISE CHASER BLASSTY

Dunno what that is? then check out my avitar

[Vostok 7]

How about Calvin's starfighter from Calvin and Hobbes? 

I'm not sure, but I think I'd vote for the F-14's with the T-Rex pilots.

Exactly.

Vostok 7