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F-ZeroOne

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Everything posted by F-ZeroOne

  1. F-ZeroOne
    And I thought "Turn-A Gundam" was hard to pronounce...!
  2. F-ZeroOne
    Yes, thats kind of been my impression; as I say, in the UK at least (and probably a fair bit of Europe) home computers were the dominant gaming platform probably from 1982 until at least 1989. Excepting arcades, of course.
  3. F-ZeroOne
    I saw that video the other day. What got me the most was the beginning, when game boxes came with stuff! (might be a bit different for most of you folks, I know you had your Apple IIs and things but the general impression I get is the NES is kind of the King of Retro for you; in the UK home computers held on for longer as a gaming platform; it was really the Mega Drive - Sega Genesis - that kicked off consoles here [1] whereas "big box" computer titles stuck around for some time). [1] Simplifying, the Sega Master System for example was popular here before that for example.
  4. F-ZeroOne
    The amazing thing about the return of the working class champion of British retro gaming is that its retailing (in the UK at least) for almost the same price as the original product!:
  5. F-ZeroOne
    A fond favourite of mine; back in the day when finding anime in the UK was something of a treasure hunt, it was possible on the British satellite TV receivers that existed at the time to receive certain European channels, and I stumbled across a number of anime that I would otherwise never have encountered, with the slight drawback that they were all in German. To this day, the German version of the "Sailor Moon" theme is the one that springs to my mind first. Here is the German opening and its rather literal title:
  6. F-ZeroOne
    If you walk without rhythm, you won't attract the nuclear-engined asteroid fortress?
  7. F-ZeroOne
    Hi, this may help. Note that there was an earlier incarnation of this toy, in different colours and with different play features, in the Palitoy "Action Force" line before it was re-purposed for the Red Shadows (the initial "Action Force" figures were essentially smaller incarnations of the 12" "G.I. Joe/Action Man" toys and did not initially have an enemy faction to fight other than what you could provide from your toy box). And I am yet again feeling my age because I remember reading the comic in which Baron Ironblood became Cobra Commander when it was released in the UK...!
  8. F-ZeroOne
    If you're referring to what I think you are, its the AIM-174B - essentially a naval SM-6 missile adapted for air-to-air use. Its basically the new Phoenix: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AIM-174B
  9. F-ZeroOne
    I'd also prefer the original, though TBH I didn't overly notice the changes until they were pointed out. It says something about how good the original design was that it still looks great to this day.
  10. F-ZeroOne
    Thanks, for a moment there I thought someone had found an old stash of paint they used for P-61s lying around... 😄
  11. F-ZeroOne
    The Tomcat couldn't do that if I recall, at least not the early ones with six Phoenix(es?) due to carrier weight landing limits. I know the missiles are getting all the attention, but thats not a Hornet colour scheme one sees often is it?
  12. F-ZeroOne
    What can one say? The voice of arguably the most iconic movie character of all time.
  13. F-ZeroOne
    An amazing artist; he illustrated probably my favourite story featuring The Dark Knight Detective, "Night on Earth".
  14. F-ZeroOne
    Oh, good grief, I feel old. I saw that at the cinema!
  15. F-ZeroOne
    I'm not sure if theres any external distinguishing features between the A and B, the main difference is that the B has 32K RAM as opposed to 16K. I always thought the Model type was labeled on the front but apparently not.
  16. F-ZeroOne
    Yes, as far as the British computing scene of the 80s goes, the Spectrum - the humble "Speccy" - is essentially our NES. In fact, its arguable that its impact was even greater here because it was an actual computer and inspired a good many industry figures of the day to get their start in coding (even if for the vast majority of users, games were the main use). There were other rivals, like the BBC Model B (roughly comparable to the Apple II in terms of cultural impact because it was, for a long time, the school computer here), the slightly more upmarket Amstrad CPC464 (often bought down to the Speccys level due its hardware being similar enough lazy ports that failed to take advantage of the Amstrads abilities were commonplace) and representing AMERICA! of course - much more so than the Apple II - the Commodore 64, the computer your friend down the road always had. Atari had a presence, but more through their arcade games than their computers which were relative rarities. As with many things here, even the retro computer scene can be argued to have an element of class rivalry - the BBC was the upper class, establishment offering and the Speccy the humble working class hero that could punch above its weight. How true that is in actuality, though... most owners choices were probably more dictated by what they, or in many cases, their parents could either afford or were talked into buying by a salesperson in "Dixons". The BBC did a fairly good comedy docudrama on this era called "Micromen" a while back. Its worth seeing just for Alexander Armstongs portrayal of Sir Clive Sinclair as a kind of low-rent Bond villain (not to mention the famous opinion on "Jet Set Willy"... ). As far as Oasis goes, I'm not a big music person but at the height of their fame they were pretty much inescapable.
  17. F-ZeroOne
    There were a number of toys that famously didn't start as "Transformers" but were co-opted into the line later; Jetfire is of course the most famous but there was also the toy that eventually became Omega Supreme and also Shockwave. Not sure if that fits your definition or not. It might be quite hard to find now, but slightly obscure anime-inspired puppet show "Star Fleet" - "X-Bomber" in its original Japanese form - had a toy line which featured at least one version of the Big Dai-X mecha (the "DX" toy) that could transform, kinda, into a sort of space-fighter thing (the actual mecha from the show, whilst a combiner, couldn't). Not sure if you'd count "Gundam", either, there have been a number of transforming mecha from that show over the years, though most representations of them will likely be model kits rather than toys.
  18. F-ZeroOne
    Lots of headlines in the British press today about some kind of huge comeback announcement, I presume they must be referring to this right? [1] [1] In case you missed it, popular Brit beat combo "Oasis" have announced a reunion tour. No way, sis!
  19. F-ZeroOne
    I honestly thought that was a Jaguar at first and my first thought was "But who is still flying those?!"...
  20. F-ZeroOne
    Thanks to all of you who suggested how to handle my Cobi broken track/missing piece, after contacting them they sent me replacement parts.
  21. F-ZeroOne
    There are certainly dubs from back in the day I am fond of - the original "Project A-Ko" for one - but as a fairly fast reader I generally preferred subs (although when it comes to videogames, even where a Japanese language version is included, I'll usually default to English voice acting just because of the sheer amount of dialogue usually involved; possibly I'm also slightly biased as certain big-ticket console RPGs seem to have fondness for British accents now!). Probably worth pointing out that dubs are probably pretty helpful for those with difficulties reading etc.
  22. F-ZeroOne
    Not sure if they're related, but "Kiseki" was a fairly short-lived brand releasing anime in the UK. They released an infamous version of "Gunbuster", though to be fair to them I think the UK censors hit them pretty hard during certain scenes (I just found my copy lurking in my DVD Containment Facility and its rated UK "PG" - "Parental Guidance" - which I'm pretty sure an uncut version wouldn't be, in fact I know it isn't because I recently picked up the UK Blu-Ray release and thats rated "15").
  23. F-ZeroOne
    One report I saw was that he has had skin cancer in the past and requested it. How true that is I'm not sure. They do take that kind of thing pretty seriously where he hails from. I'm not entirely sure the film is the saviour of the Marvel Universe, but it was great fun. And, yeah, there were some great nods there. Anyone else spot at least one reference to a certain series of TV movies from way back when...?
  24. F-ZeroOne
    Just seemingly continuing my self-appointed role of highlighting lesser-known British-produced media of popular 80s toylines, how many of you are familiar with the British "Zoids" comic?: https://zoids.fandom.com/wiki/Zoids_(comics) I really enjoyed the issues I got as a kid - I'd forgotten the stories were bundled in with a certain friendly neighbourhood web-slinger! - but like many of these tie-ins, it just faded away as the toy lines popularity declined in the UK. Like many UK versions of universes created solely for toy sales, there was some serious talent involved; one of the artists was Steve Yeowell, who would later go on to draw that very British take on the superhero genre, "Zenith", in "2000AD" and scripts were by Grant Morrison, who probably needs no introduction. I also remember there being a pre-cursor mini-comic to this, about when the first big motorised "Zoids" kits started appearing; I can't now recall if it was a promotional tie-in given away at toy shops, published as advertising in British comics of time or as "free" gift in certain British comics (I think the latter). Edit: ah, apparently the "mini-comic" was originally a fold-out poster magazine, then resized to a mini-comic given away in toy shops.
  25. F-ZeroOne
    Wow, takes me back to the time when - at least in my part of the West - it seemed Rumiko Takahashi was anime and manga...
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