F-ZeroOne

Number of my favourites already mentioned, but here are some others: 1) X-Bomber/Star Fleet: most of the space battles in this are pretty cool, but theres one where the heroes are having to fend off an attack by enemy fighters while protecting the female lead who is flying a kind of space scooter. Remarkably well done considering the shows chosen format. 2) Gunbuster when Gunbuster fights the alien fleet (not the final episode). Different yet a wonderful homage to old mecha shows. 3) The Death Star run. I've seen it dozens of times - we all have - but it still works. 4) Project A-Ko = humans vs alien dreadnaught. An amazing scene for a parody; according to the director, animated by someone with an axe to grind on DYRL! 5) Any of the battles in Peter F. Hamilitons Nights Dawn trilogy; enlivened by dialogue like "We'll have to jettison that hull plate, its got a half-life longer than some geological eras now!" and proper British swearing... 6) Any battle in 8-bit classic Elite. No-one - no-one - has ever been able to better it.

Jog my memory please, sounds familiar "Visionaries, Knights of the Magical Light!" Ahem. My favourite toyline? Takaras X-Bomber line. They only made something like five toys, but I would have given my soul as a kid to have owned any one of them... ...now I own two, and still have my soul...

I always feel guilty about not liking spiders because they do a lot of unsung good work in the ecological community. Snakes I can respect, even if I don't really want one sliding across the room, but spiders... One of the sites I looked at about brown recluse spiders mentions that is you get bitten by one, you should try and collect the spider. Oh, sure. Tell you what, you do that, I'll be outside with the flamethrower... Still, even spiders aren't the scariest things on Earth. I read in New Scientist the other day that they've just discovered a type of jelly-fish-like creature off Australia [1] that may just be the most human-lethal thing on the planet... (and no, its not the box jellyfish - its more dangerous than even that!) [1] What is it with that place and dangerous animals, anyway?

Closer examination - plus a more careful readthrough of the text that follows the picture - states that the image does indeed show two spiders/wind scorpions/unleashed beasties from Hell. Must make for some interesting radio chatter, though? "HQ, this is Charlie-Alpha-Whiskey Nine - request fire support, ASAP!" "Charlie-Alpha-Whiskey-Nine, this is HQ. Have you encountered strong enemy resistance?" "No, man - we're up against the giant killer desert spiders from Hell! Send in the A-10s, all of them!"

Possibly the wrong thing to ask given all the aviation nuts around here... Off the top of my head: P-51D Mustang, F-86 Sabre: six .50 calibre machine guns. P-47 Thunderbolt: eight .50 calibre machine guns. Supermarine Spitfire Mk. I, II, Hawker Hurricane Mk. I: eight .303 calibre machine guns. North American B-25 Mitchell, depending on configuration: up to eight .50 calibre machine guns, plus occasionally more in side pods and two more if turret locked to fire forward. One can also argue that multi-barrel guns like the M-61 Vulcan could be classed as multiple guns. It is unusual for an aircraft to have more than one gun larger than 20 or 30 mm calibre though - though the Macross Compendium only lists them as "large bore cannon"...

IIRC, "X-Com" was changed from "UFO: Enemy Unknown" due to copyright reasons - whether Gerry Andersons UFO was responsible I don't know, but it was definitely an inspiration, as were other Anderson productions - the Stingray missile in the first game was named for one of Andersons early shows, and UFO the TV series also had Interceptors... The best part of X-Com for me was the damagable scenery. I used to keep using the autocannon long after it was obselete - why? Incendiary rounds. I loved setting fire to barns and wheatfields and setting up ambushes so when the little aliens ran out of the flames on fire I could pick them off... By the way, X-Com was the ultimate evolution in a series of similar games by the same creative minds. Those of you interested in emulation may want to check out Laser Squad and Rebelstar - Laser Squad in particular has many elements that later went into X-Com, including grenades, collateral damage, and opportunity fire - but in only 48K!

Thanks for the comments, though I am aware of the issues - I just couldn't resist...! The Il-2 is something of an exception to a rule; if the web-link I posted is correct, then about a fifth of the airplanes empty weight was armour (another source I have puts it at about 10% of the structure), and there are a number of accounts of German pilots expending all their ammuntion and not being able to bring one down. On the other hand, Il-2s suffered a good deal of rear-gunner casualties as that posistion was added later and not nearly so well protected - in fact, I believe the joke went that the gunner was the pilot armour...!

Its very hard to show what desert pink looks like, as most people who see it only see a blur streaking past at zero feet, in front of the smoke column that used to be whatever they were defending... Nice colours, though!

Welcome home. Oh, yes. SMMMIIIIITTTTTHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

Well, maybe not in every case: http://www.allstar.fiu.edu/aero/STORMOVIK.htm Ahhh yes the Il-2 Shturmovik. The Flying Tank. Good call Vostok 7 Thanks - sorry if its sort of off-topic, though as the transformable Monster does seem to be some kind of flying artillery piece it does seem sort of suitable. I'm a bit surprised no-ones mentioned the A-10 yet, though...

Well, maybe not in every case: http://www.allstar.fiu.edu/aero/STORMOVIK.htm

0083 has a much "cleaner" look to the animation; however I think it makes use of more "shortcuts" than CCA, which probably benefitted from a movie budget. CCA, to me, is one of the last of the "old school" big-budget anime films...

You really dont think it gets Hot in the UK ?? was in Belgium for Three Summers.. (Hi Dude we met at F&S a Year ago Im SolScud's Big Brother) Its Mad Hot in europe god Bless AC Maybe true, but of about a month total I've spent in the UK, I can remember one day where it didn't rain. Maybe I'm just lucky. Additionally, the concept of "hot" in the UK can often be quite different. I remember a newspaper headline complaing about a 70 degree heatwave. That's quite chilly compared to the 100* days we've been having. The weather is one of the great British national obsesssions, like tea and that mysterious sport known as cricket. This is despite the fact that, compared to other countries, our weather treats us relatively mildly (famously, it only takes about an inch of snow to bring the whole country to a grinding halt...!) We have family friends in Canada and they told us it was down to -52C the other day. In England, that would be the dawn of a new ice age!

I remember those, the Adepta Sororitas figures, they only made two or three, I bought them (and yes I painted their armour pink) They didn't abandon the idea though, it simply evolved into the Sisters of Battle. But Warhammer 40K and Hello Kitty, what an inspired combination, I wish I had thought of it first. Oh, there still are female Space Marines? Sorry, I got out of gaming a long time ago, and WH40K a while before that! Theres probably some Blood Angels recruiting officer holding his head his hands and wailing "Where did I go wrong?! I told them we shouldn't let them mix the red paint, but would they listen...?!"

Thanks, David - I've just noticed I fell victim to forgetting that cases aren't bullets myself! A lot of pre-war US planes fired through the propeller, but most of the later generation either had guns in the wings, or put the propellers in the wings and the guns in the nose (P-38)!

A few decades ago, back when Warhammer 40,000 was still subtitled "Rogue Trader", GW did actually release some female space marine figures. Presumably they've since realised who their target market is...

Possibly its because Valk pilots follow what I believe is official US Army policy on what to do when confronted with a skilled melee fighter. Shoot them. ( the exact origin of this method of tackling sword-waving maniacs is not known for certain, but many make reference to some legendary figure known only as "Indy"... )

Spent shell fragements from AA fire was a fairly serious problem during WW. II, though generally speaking people tried not to be outside much if there was an air raid taking place! AA fire also tended to be towards the larger calibres, whereas many WW. II fighters used rifle or .50 calibre rounds ( or 20 - 30 mm cannon - and yes, I know about those monsters with 57mm guns and the like! ) I believe there have been modern reports of injuries caused by people firing AK-47s and the like into the air to celebrate one thing or another. Shell casings in space could actually be a big problem, if you take into account the damage that can be done by some very small objects to modern spacecraft if travelling fast enough! Though with energy-reinforced armour this might not be so much of a problem for the average Valkyrie pilot... "So, how'd do you get shot down, buddy?" "Bloody Valkyrie technician left a screw loose on my flight leaders Valk!"

So which one of you customisers is going to be first to build Graham a Baby-pod for his personal Valkyrie, then?! Good luck, Graham!

Ooh, can't resist this one! In no real order: 1) X-Bomber (X-Bomber/Star Fleet). Possibly just a touch on the small side, but a major part of my childhood. 2) Bloody Marys/Commander Makaras flagship (also X-Bomber/Star Fleet). Not sure if it actually has a name, but a very nice, seemingly fish-inspired design. 3) Narn battlecruiser and Omega-class destroyer, Babylon 5. One of the B5 designers said that Narn equipment was made to have a very industrial look, and it would seem they decided to give the Narn the space-going equivalent of a Russian tractor! Omega-class destroyers just "look", as we say in England, "well 'ard!", though it remains to be answered just how they actually turn! 4) Culture General Systems Vehicle. Iain M. Banks endeared himself to many a SF fan when he came up with the idea of calling his multi-kilometre long, sentinent spaceships, each one fully capable of laying waste to a solar system, names like "What Are The Civilian Applications?" 5) Culture Rapid Offensive Unit Killing Time (Iain M. Banks, Excession). Not only a brillant pun, but steals the show in the last part of this excellent book by taking on an entire battle fleet single handedly.

Am I the only one whos beginning to think that Yamato don't actually have any Japanese customers, and they only say they do for tax reasons or something?!

The Centauri have artificial gravity; in at least one episode Star Fury pilots are given a briefing on Centauri tactics and thats specfically mentioned. I'm not absolutely certain, but I believe the vessels of the "Hyperion" class [1] don't have gravity, as I think we always see the crew strapped down in them. I don't think its ever stated for definite that the Narn have artificial gravity, but as we usually see them strapped down the assumption would be no. And Haterist... I think this is relatively mild, comparatively speaking. I used to hang out on a UK B5 newsgroup, and long, heavily involved, complicated discussions on physics was pretty much another way of saying "hello" on that...

The aviation buffs probably know this already, but the Swordfish II is almost certainly a tribute to the original Fairey Swordfish, an aircraft that was about 30 years out of date when new but still managed to put the fateful torpedo into the Bismarck, and actually outlasted at least one of the aircraft intended to replace it! Mind you, I didn't get the reference until I saw the Cowboy Bebop movie, in which an original Swordfish makes a cameo...

Carefully. By the way, do you mean "wing-folding" or "wing-sweeping" - they're somewhat different, folding being used to reduce the space an aircraft takes up in a confined area (typically an aircraft carrier), while sweeping allows the wings to swing forward or back to alter the aerodynamics of the aircraft - we know the YF-19 can do this but I haven't seen anything to suggest it can fold its wings...?

When I think of Macross in general, it has to be "Voices" and "Information High". Yoko Kanno is a goddess who walks this Earth, and long may she grace us with her divinity... For Macross TV, "My Boyfriend is a Pilot"; I'm not even sure its a great song, I just always think of it and Macross TV. For Macross 7, Holy Lonely Light. I just love the screaming over the intro...!