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F-ZeroOne

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  1. F-ZeroOne
    David, current UK news story that may interest you: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7194086.stm A British Airways 777 landed short of the runway at Heathrow today; only a handful of minor injuries have been reported but the pictures are pretty spectacular. You can clearly see damage to the wings near the roots and it appears it came down actually on the grass - you can actually see the dirt trails - before coming to a halt just on the runway. Reports are that the pilots says he lost all power and systems just before touching down. This could have been a lot worse...
  2. F-ZeroOne
    Its a name thats at least a few months old; I first saw it on Wikipedia before the New Year, but I can't say definitively when they were named that. Incidentally, second-of-class will be HMS Prince of Wales, and in a pre-emptive attempt to stop the jokes I can already hear, its a name with quite a long history in the Royal Navy, way before the current bloke with the ears held the title.
  3. F-ZeroOne
    "Trainspotting" is a quite well known term in the U.K, probably because we have a more noticeable passenger-used railway (rather than freight). "Trainspotter" is often used in a derogatory way, with meanings such as "sad", "nerd", "geek" (the insult versions, not the modern hip versions) and "science fiction/anime/role-playing/delete-anything-which-isn't-related-to-sports" fan. A group of U.K. plane-spotters got themselves into trouble in Greece a few years ago; the military accused them of spying and apparently the concept of watching military aircraft for enjoyment as a concept took some explaining...!
  4. F-ZeroOne
    Okay, thanks for the explanation, David. I'll have to try that one on a colleague of mine, hes been to the U.S. a few times trainspo... er, I mean, "railfanning"...
  5. F-ZeroOne
    I'm not entirely certain what you mean, David, but in the UK, train-spotters are a well known lack-of-social-skills subgroup. (in popular perception, anyway - as always, the ones I actually know through my job are all nice people... )
  6. F-ZeroOne
    He has a reputation to consider. How would you like to be labelled "Spare 'em all!"...?
  7. F-ZeroOne
    This is Yoshiyuki Tomino we're talking about. What were you expecting, mercy?
  8. F-ZeroOne
    Its not consistent, though - I'm almost certain its "Mu" in later episodes and occasionally some of the names used in earlier episodes aren't consistently applied. Still, its Orguss and its complete. Me like.
  9. F-ZeroOne
    I'd believe that theory more if it wasn't for the fact that they shared the same fate as just about all the supporting characters in V-Gundam...
  10. F-ZeroOne
    Yes, there were - now heres the spooky bit, most of them were made by Takatoku, who also made a certain transforming fighter plane toy you may have heard of... I own a couple - you can see them in action here: http://www.sfxb.co.uk/origins/toys.html - but there were also a couple of X-Bomber toys, various cheapie "vending stall" figures and the like, a Dai-X riding a tricycle (no, really!), a Jumbo Machinder, and my personal toy Holy Grail: the mighty Blitzkrieg Combination Big Dai-X! They occasionally turn up on e-bay, but I found mine in Tokyo. Oh, I forgot to mention a mostly plastic Dai-X figure which I also found but doesn't appear in the article linked above.
  11. F-ZeroOne
    True! Now that I think of it, though, can anyone explain why the Zanscare Empire AWBBAS?!! I remember a bit of dialogue about the V-Gundams pilot being scared of women, but... did someone on the staff notice that Tomino was looking depressed and think "This will cheer him up!"?
  12. F-ZeroOne
    "GUNDAM" is sometimes said to stand for General Usage Non-Discontinuity Augmented Manoeuvring System (with "SUIT" as Space Utility Instrument, Tactical), whilst ZAK was "Zeon Air Kommand", although recently "Zaku" seems to the accepted term. I'm not sure whether these were ever official, I think they originated in fan publications and later became sort-of-not-quite-canon. I think Bandai tried to "officialise" several different Gundam terms and spellings when the series was bought over to the West. SEED has come up with at least two different versions of what GUNDAM stands for, as seen on cockpit monitor screens. Possibly the longest full name for a mecha in Gundam history is the Full Armour Mobile Space Utility Instrument Tactical, General Usage Non-Discontinuity Augmented Manoeuvring System Zeta Zeta Variable Mobile Space Utility Instrument Tactical and Wave Rider System... Yes, I am slightly scared I didn't have to look up any of the above! Its worth bearing in mind, though, that with numerous sources and spellings down the years, theres lots of different variations on Gundam words. I've seen the Mobile SUIT "Gouf" rendered as "Guff" or "Goth" and everyones favourite evil space colony empire rendered as "Zeon", "Zion", "Jion" and "Gion". And then theres the strange case of Quattro Vagina...
  13. F-ZeroOne
    My opinion of V might be influenced by having seen it after Turn-A, which seemed such a breath of fresh air that it might have adversely affected my opinion a bit. It does have good character design and pretty good music. On the other hand, V also has the Zanscare Empire All-Womens Bazooka-wielding Bikini-clad Assault Squad, which has got to be worth a few points in anyones book.
  14. F-ZeroOne
    For all the bashing I do of the non-UC Gundams, I have actually watched and quite enjoyed all of SEED (although if anyone can explain to me just what the hell happened in the final five episodes of each series...!) and actually preferred Destiny to the original SEED series; it just felt like it had more of a history. I also own the entire series of Wing, plus Endless Waltz (though when I dug up my copy the other day, it had so much dust on it I think the Moonlight Butterfly must have got it...!). The way I've put it before is like this; SEED and its ilk are like highways; they take you where you want to go with the minimum of fuss but the views are a bit boring. Turn-A, on the other hand, is the road less travelled - harder and more difficult to navigate, but the views on the way are much more rewarding. The other thing about Turn-A is that its probably only seen in context by Gundam fans, who have seen the series which came before it (I saw V-Gundam after Turn-A and although I know Graham likes it - I can even sort of see why - I have trouble seeing that it was actually directed by the same person!) and properly realise just whats been achieved; having said that, it is one Gundam show I would strongly recommend even to people who aren't mecha fans, as its a pretty brilliant SF story in its own right.
  15. F-ZeroOne
    We doubted the Tomino, and now we are paying our penance.
  16. F-ZeroOne
    You know, in that sentence, I think you've just summed the entire Turn-A experience.
  17. F-ZeroOne
    True, but when its revealed what the cockpit is - very nearly at the end of the show - its just a beautiful moment. lechuck, you forgot that the Turn-A is also the greatest clothes spin-dryer ever...! This is also another one of the strengths of Turn-A, and it really harks back to a lot of the early Tomino stuff, where people are always doing chores and things; one episode of Turn-A largely resolves around an attempt to round up some cows! Theres also, I think its episodes 18, set at the field hospital - again, portrays the horror of war in a wonderfully understated way, and much better than, picking an example entirely at random off the top of my head, calling one of the lead characters "Peacecraft"...
  18. F-ZeroOne
    I think its main trouble is that its always seen out of context with the show, especially in black and white line-art - fully coloured you can see thats its probably a closer tribute to the original RX-78 than quite a few other more recent Gundams...
  19. F-ZeroOne
    You call that expensive - I used to have to pay thirty pounds - thats pounds! - per single volume of Bubblegum Crisis on VHS! And I had to cycle to Wales [1] on my Dads old unicycle to collect it! Then I had to find two pine cones to wind the tape around so that I could watch it... [1] Not actually part of England, despite what the translators of Negima might tell you...
  20. F-ZeroOne
    That one with the destroyed Valk should be called "Now I have a GU-11, HO HO HO!"...
  21. F-ZeroOne
    Haven't seen Southern Cross. I'd say Mospeada is worth it, its an interesting take on the alien invasion story and quite possibly the only such tale where humanity has had its butt kicked three times by the end of the first episode...
  22. F-ZeroOne
    "Supply Niner, this is LZ One - be advised we are taking fire, suggest abort cargo run, over." BBBRRRRRTTTTTTT!!! "LZ One, this is Supply Niner, not any more you're not... "
  23. F-ZeroOne
    Welcome... to the exclusive ranks of the Order of the Moustache! Collect your free stick-on 'tache from reception... As noted, Yoko Kanno did the music for Turn-A. As for the mecha designs, they grew on me a lot. Like everyone else, I hated the Turn-A when I first saw the designs, but its now my favourite Gundam design (I even have a cel of it on my wall, and I'm kicking myself that I didn't pick up some of the toys when I had the chance), and I think that a lot of the Turn-A stuff works much better when its moving (like the Flat) then when you see it in static art. I'm not so keen on the Turn-X, though. Now if only this blasted show would get licensed...
  24. F-ZeroOne
    Thanks for all the replies about the F-16 AMRAAMs - and to think, at one point it was proposed to put Sparrows on the F-18L wingtips...!
  25. F-ZeroOne
    One for David - I recently saw a picture of a F-16 carrying AMRAAMs on the wing-tip rails - is this common practice for F-16s and other aircraft with wing-tip rails these days?
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