F-ZeroOne

You missed my favourite quote of all: "One Gunstar? Against the whole Amarda? It'll be a slaughter!" "Thats the spirit!" "No, MY slaughter!" Oh, and: "I've always wanted to fight a desperate battle against incredible odds." Not a great movie, but a memorable one!

And the Supermarine Spiteful > everything mentioned so far with a propeller... However... one should always be careful with this sort of thing; the P-47M was a much later model than the MiG-3, although the basic design dates from nearly the same period. The Spiteful only just qualifies as a wartime model - the first production version was delivered to RAF service in March 1945, but full service entry didn't start until November, too late for the war. And its generally considered that the P-47 could dive faster than any other aircraft around, simply because it was seven-odd tons of metal behind a monster radial engine. Performance also varies with altitude, aircraft condition, type of powerplant...

Theres a couple of other possible candidates - IIRC, the Germans experimented or used large-calibre cannons on the Me-210 and Junkers Ju-88, but along with the others I think I'd put my bets on a Henschel-Hs-129. Hs-129 Trivia: the aircrafts cockpit was so narrow that some of the engine instruments had to mounted on the outside of the engine nacelles!

Batou is right - the picture in Perfect Memory does indeed have "UN SPACY" down the leg; however other shots in other modes don't. The same goes for other Valkyrie model variants in the book, but the few colour scenes from the TV series which feature the VF-1J don't have it...

Actually, I've come across the same story in a couple of books on Japan I've read - though where the original sources spring from, I don't know. It does seem to be a fact that gay characters are more accepted in Japanese manga and anime than they are in the West. Whether it was more common than in any other occupations at the time I've no idea. If it is true, its perhaps yet more evidence for Arthur C. Clarkes assertion that homosexuals should be prevented from taking military careers - if only because [/i]they're too warlike by far!

When I saw Alien 3 a few years back I also thought it was a touch underrated. Its not as good as the two before it, but I don't think it deserves quite as much hate as it gets. There are far, far worse films out there. I will say that I do tend to think of it as the "British" Alien movie, due to the casting...

I haven't seen this film yet, but I was rather amused by the publicity shot thats appeared in this thread. Having had the opportunity to wear a set of samurai armour once, I couldn't help but think "The wuss! Hes not wearing the helmet!" (its heavy and nearly made me fall off the horse... ) Also, when I saw the trailer recently, theres a shot where they're walking up the steps under this huge temple/shrine [1] gate. At the back of my mind, I couldn't help thinking "now just pull the camera back and show us the roadway thats right in front of that shot... " [1] There is a difference, I knows theres a difference, and I can never remember it...!

I love Urusei Yatsura - along with Patlabor on TV (which shared a lot of the same creative talent) - its perhaps my favourite anime TV series and the movies are wonderful. This website might help you: http://www.furinkan.com/tomobiki/uy/index.htm And I probably won't do my credentials much good by stating that my favourite UY theme is "Born to be Free" from the opening of Remember My Love...

Heh, can't resist this Stargate SG-1 quote, as two of the team are running down the checklist for a new fighter: "Inertial dampers?" "Inertial dampers?! Cool! ... ...and, er, check."

Hmm, seems like Kawamori has been taking cues from the Russian Mi-28 Havoc helicopter (which has a small compartment for a couple of people, despite its anti-tank role ) and the Israeli Merkava tank, which can also carry a small squad of soldiers if its ammunition load is reduced - having seen the size of the hatch they go through, I'm not sure how they fit in there either! Possibly people carrying Octos lose some weapons/ammo capacity when acting in a troop carrioer role?

Sigh... I don't really think its anything to worry about ( well, obviously asides from the deceased and the accuseds relatives ). In almost every case of this kind that I've heard of, there is always some other factor that made the person more inclined to react in a violent way to something they read or saw (drug habit, problems at home, etc... ) Frankly, by the sounds of it, it could have been almost any SF-related item from the past hundred years that could have set the guy off; Evangelion isn't unqiue in its bleak outlook for humanity - heck, H.G. Wells had much the same view over a hundred years ago. Besides, if Evangelion really was the direct cause, then we should have been looking at a vast murder spree from the time of its broadcast to the present, and yet this is the first case I've heard of since then... ...frankly, the only desire I had after watching End of Evangelion was a sudden need to grab someone and have them explain what the heck had just happened...

The S-Tank does indeed look cool, and its certainly a novel concept. However, the British Army tested the type a while back and found it had a number of drawbacks; it could not fire with any great accuracy while on the move and had to expose a large area of the vehicle when in a hull-down firing posistion. I would imagine there are drawbacks to not having a turret as well ( for example, I've often seen on the news US tanks traversing Iraq in a staggered column, with each tanks gun covering a different direction; I'd be interested to know how the S-Tank would do that...! ) Also, given the general downsizing of most NATO armies recently, I would imagine the Leopard 2s were available and the Swiss army felt they represented better value for money than an up grade. I can't believe I'm going to say this next bit, but... the S-Tank is actually a guest star in at least one episode of the infamous "Legend of the Overfiend" series, for reasons that can only be be guessed at...

Fans of obscure 80s cartoons: note the "Others" box. As a ( technically ) European, I voted for Mysterious Cities of Gold and Star Fleet ( X-Bomber ); I suspect quite a few people here would like to see a Western release of the first, and I know a small but dedicated group who would like to see the second. Now... did anyone vote for the Care Bears, and where can we find you? Edit: by "here", I mean Europe, not Macross World. You all probably have better taste!

Sorry, when I said "totally unrelated" I was thinking of the anime elements that were used to make up Robotech - of which Orguss wasn't one, at least, AFAIK, in Western regions. I'd forgotten that some of the designs were used in the Robotech Defenders model line, though.

I forgot to mention - if it is a 1/40 scale Orguss Orgoid, they're pretty nice toys... but going by all the other mis-information in this auction, I think I'd be inclined to look elsewhere for one... ( being charitable, it is possible the seller themselves doesn't know the history and thinks it is a Beta, but... )

Its a bit difficult to tell from the size of the image, but it looks like its actually one of the large 1/40 scale Orguss Orgoids ( and as Rob has said, nothing to do with Robotech whatsoever ). I have one on top of my PC as I type this, but like I say, it is a bit hard to tell from the image and I'm going by certain design traits. Going by my experience in Tokyo, they're not that rare a sight in second-hand toy shops, and in fact I found them more common than some original 1/55 Valkyries. There is a colour variation, slightly different design, the Olsen Special, which is much rarer and can fetch up to three or four times the price, but the standard version is, at least in Japan, not as rare as this guy makes out.

I sympathise ( though my problem is less affordable, and more space ) but does anyone remember when the problem was there weren't enough Valkyrie toys...?

First, to stay on topic, since Kawamori-san models his Valkyrie designation loosely on the modern U.S. style, my "nitpicks" are with this in mind. Second (to hellohikaru), your comment on WWII Zeros is way off, as far as I can tell. "Zero" referred to the Mitsubishi A6M series specifically. And not all Russian fighters are called MiGs (at least not accurately). The term MiG refers specifically to aircraft designed/manufactured by the Mikoyan-Gurevich Design Bureau. "Zero" did indeed refer to the A6M, but hellohiakru isn't far off - one book I have on WWII aircraft tells how Allied pilots would report "Oscar-type Zeroes". Draykov, I understand what you're saying but I guess Kawamori was just as attracted to the name as many other anime creators before him, regardless of the "realistic" designations.

Actually, there is one... Mitsubishis Model A6M is much better known as the "Rei-Sen", or "Year 00 model", or simply "Zero"... Probably not coincidentally, it was also the most well known Japanese aircraft of World War II. There have been a lot of Zeroes in anime before, including Evangelion and Gundam Wing...

Prince of Space, which is an obscure little black and white Japanese SF movie from way back when, is my runner up. But Battlefield Earth is absolutely the worst SF film I've seen. Its not so much that you can't watch it, but as soon as you start to think about it, and then think about the effort that must have gone into it, your brain just starts to dribble out of your ears. Films like that are why SF fans don't get no respect!

Main criticism I would have of that is the same one thats been made about the Space 1999 Eagle, which is also, ahem, "well endowed" with engine nozzles... ...where does the fuel go?!

I believe it was called "Zero Wing", for the Sega Genesis ( Mega Drive in Europe/Japan ). The jokes rather worn thin now, but if you haven't seen the intro yet it is worth taking a look at. It is, in its own way, a masterpiece, and a reminder of one of the more interesting periods in gaming.

M.D. Geist was one of those anime with a good concept but very poor execution. I can kind of see how people can like it, but I'm also annoyed that it means stuff like Patlabor on TV don't get no respect... For a much better take on a similiar concept, may I recommend the ( original ) Rogue Trooper, from the UK SF comic 2000AD? "Naughty Norty!"

Oh, one thing I feel I must say; while, like Graham, I tend to prefer more robotic mecha designs, I think the Eva designs were clever not for what they looked like but for what they did. Other mecha run; Evas sprint, for example, and Anno was able to take advantage of their semi-organic design in other ways - when an Eva has its arm twisted right round, you feel it that it really hurts...!

I admire Evangelion; I'm not entirely sure I like it. I've just been getting the chance to see it in Japanese for the first time ( UK anime DVD releases - they no longer suck, but we've got quite a bit of catching up to do...! ) and I've been able to pick up on a couple of little language things you might not get from the dub. I do really admire Hideki Anno for the way he completely deconstructed the mecha genre with Evangelion ( I also find it amusing that Evangelion is often ignored as actually being a mecha show...! ); nothing has really been able to be the same since, and it should not actually be possible to release something like Gundam SEED after something like Evangelion! [1] [1] I find SEED cynical, unoriginal, and rather lacking in original thought. On the other hand, I can't stop watching it. It has something, even if its someones elses...! Edit: typo.